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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44726 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Italics are indicated by _underscores_, "oe" ligatures have been
+removed, and small capitals have been converted to full capitals.
+
+Discrepancies between the detail of the list of illustrations, and the
+text accompanying the illustrations themselves, have been retained.
+
+The list also omits the table of Te Rauparaha's wives and children,
+that has been inserted at the end of the book before the map of his
+and Te Puoho's raids. It has been transcribed in this version.
+
+Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in
+hyphenation have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER
+
+ [Illustration: TE RAUPARAHA.
+ After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin.
+ Frontispiece.]
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER
+
+OR, TE RAUPARAHA, THE NAPOLEON OF THE SOUTH
+
+BY
+
+T. LINDSAY BUICK
+
+AUTHOR OF "OLD MARLBOROUGH," "OLD MANAWATU"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+WHITCOMBE & TOMBS, LIMITED
+
+LONDON MELBOURNE
+
+CHRISTCHURCH, WELLINGTON AND DUNEDIN, N.Z.
+
+1911
+
+
+To
+
+S. PERCY SMITH, ESQ., F.R.G.S.
+
+"A WELL-DESERVING PILLAR" IN THE TEMPLE OF POLYNESIAN LEARNING,
+
+I GRATEFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+I have been constrained to write the story of "An Old New Zealander"
+largely to gratify the frequently expressed desire for a more
+comprehensive sketch of Te Rauparaha's career on the part of many
+readers of my former books, in which fitful glimpses of the old chief
+were given. These references have apparently awakened some
+considerable interest in the life and times of the great Ngatitoan,
+and although this period of New Zealand's history is by no means
+barren of literature, I am hopeful that there is still room for a
+volume in which much heterogeneous matter has been grouped and
+consolidated. There may be some amongst the reading public who will
+question the need, or the wisdom, of recording the savage and
+sanguinary past of the Maori; but history is always history, and if
+this contribution serves no other useful purpose, it may at least help
+to emphasise the marvellous transformation which has been worked in
+the natives of New Zealand since Te Rauparaha's time--a transformation
+which can be accounted one of the world's greatest triumphs for
+missionary enterprise. It may be, too, that some critics will not
+subscribe to my estimate of the chief's character, because it has been
+the conventional view that he who refused to part with his own and his
+people's heritage was destitute of a redeeming feature. Owing to the
+misrepresentation of the early settlers and traders he has been
+greatly misunderstood by their successors; and they have further added
+to the injustice by sometimes seeking to measure one who was steeped
+in heathen darkness by the holy standard which was raised by the
+Founder of Christianity. As in the careers of most conquerors, there
+is much in the life of Te Rauparaha that will not bear condonation;
+but in every British community there is a wholesome admiration for
+resourcefulness, indomitable will, and splendid courage; and, if the
+succeeding pages serve to balance these high qualities of the chief
+against his failings, they may assist in setting up a more equitable
+standard whereby future generations will be able to judge him.
+
+In compiling this work I have necessarily had to draw upon many of the
+existing publications on New Zealand, and I now desire gratefully to
+acknowledge my obligations to their authors. I have also to thank Mr.
+S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., for the kindly interest he has displayed in
+the progress of my work, and in no less degree must I pay my
+respectful acknowledgments to Mr. H. M. Stowell and to Mr. J. R.
+Russell for their judicious criticisms and suggestions, whereby I have
+been assisted in arriving at a correct historical perspective. To Mr.
+T. W. Downes, of Whanganui, who has enthusiastically co-operated with
+me in procuring some of the illustrations, and to Mr. J. W. Joynt,
+M.A., for his careful revision of the proofs, I am equally indebted,
+and now beg to tender to these gentlemen my sincere thanks for their
+assistance.
+
+Humbly acknowledging the force of Carlyle's dictum that "Histories are
+as perfect as the historian is wise and is gifted with an eye and a
+soul," I now present the result of my last year's labour to the reader.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+VICTORIA AVENUE, DANNEVIRKE, N.Z.,
+
+_May 23,_ 1911.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+ CHAPTER I
+ WHENCE AND WHITHER?                                                 1
+
+ CHAPTER II
+ ARAWA AND TAINUI                                                   16
+
+ CHAPTER III
+ A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING                                            29
+
+ CHAPTER IV
+ THE LAND OF PROMISE                                                62
+
+ CHAPTER V
+ THE SOUTHERN RAIDS                                                121
+
+ CHAPTER VI
+ THE SMOKING FLAX                                                  189
+
+ CHAPTER VII
+ WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU                                          235
+
+ CHAPTER VIII
+ THE CAPTIVE CHIEF                                                 293
+
+ CHAPTER IX
+ WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE                                            331
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PORTRAIT OF TE RAUPARAHA                               _Frontispiece_
+ _After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin_
+
+                                                           FACING PAGE
+
+ DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND                           16
+ _From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland.
+ By kind permission of the Artist_
+
+ POMOHAKA PASSAGE, KAWHIA                                           32
+ _From a photo by Jonston_
+
+ BURNING OF THE "BOYD"                                              48
+ _From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland.
+ By kind permission of the Artist_
+
+ TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA                                                64
+ _The Point from which the Ngati-Toa migration commenced_
+
+ THE MEMORIAL TIKI, KAIAPOI                                        128
+ _Erected on the site of the pa destroyed by Te Rauparaha_
+
+ GILLETT'S WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842                           144
+ _By kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.
+ From a sketch by her Father_
+
+ MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU                                 256
+ _Erected by public subscription, 1869.
+ Photo by Macey_
+
+ TAUPO PA, PORIRUA                                                 288
+ _After a drawing by G. F. Angas_
+
+ TE RANGIHAEATA                                                    304
+ _After a drawing by C. D. Barraud, Esq._
+
+ MAP DELINEATING JOURNEYS OF TE RAUPARAHA AND
+ TE PUOHO                                                     _At end_
+
+
+
+
+LAMENT ON THE CAPTURE OF TE RAUPARAHA
+
+_Composed by Hinewhe, and supposed to be sung by Te Rangihaeata._
+
+
+I
+
+              Alas! my heart is wild with grief:
+                  There rises still
+                  The frowning hill
+      Of Kapiti, in vain amid the waters lone!
+                  But he, the chief,
+              The key of all the land, is gone!
+
+
+II
+
+      Calm in the lofty ship, O ancient comrade, sleep,
+          And gaze upon the stillness of the deep!
+                  Till now, till now,
+          A calm was but a signal unto thee
+              To rise in pride, and to the fray
+          Despatch some martial band in stern array!
+                  But go thy way,
+              And with a favouring tide
+              Upon the billows ride,
+      Till Albion's cliffs thou climb, so far beyond the sea.
+
+
+III
+
+      Thou stood'st alone, a kingliest forest tree,
+                  Our pride, our boast,
+              Our shelter and defence to be.
+          But helplessly--ah, helplessly wast thou
+          Plucked sword-like from the heart of all thy host,
+              Thy thronging "Children of the Brave,"
+                  With none to save!
+          Not amid glaring eyes;
+          Not amid battle cries,
+          When the desperate foes
+          Their dense ranks close:
+      Not from the lips of the terrible guns
+      Thy well-known cry resounding o'er the heath:
+              "Now, now, my sons!
+      Now fearless with me to the realms of Death!"
+      Not thus--not thus, amid the whirl of war,
+      Wert thou caught up and borne away afar!
+
+
+IV
+
+              Who will arise to save?
+              Who to the rescue comes?
+          Waikato's lord--Tauranga's chief,
+      Thy grandsons, rushing from their distant homes,
+  They shall avenge their sire--they shall assuage our grief.
+          While you, the "Children of the Brave,"
+          Still sleep a sleep as of the grave,
+  Dull as the slumbering fish that basks upon the summer wave.
+
+
+V
+
+          Depart then, hoary chief! Thy fall--
+          The pledge forsooth of peace to all--
+  Of Heaven's peace, so grateful to their God above,
+          And to thy kinsmen twain, by whom
+  Was brought us from the portals of the "land of gloom,"
+          This novel law of love--
+              This law of good:
+      Say, rather, murderous law of blood,
+      That charges its own crimes upon its foes--
+  While I alone am held the source whence these disasters rose!
+
+
+
+
+An Old New Zealander
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHENCE AND WHITHER?
+
+
+Probably no portion of the globe is so pregnant with the romance of
+unsolved problem as the Pacific Ocean. For thousands of years before
+Vasco de Balboa, the friend of Columbus, stood upon the heights of
+Panama and enriched mankind by his glorious geographical discovery,
+this great ocean and the islands which its blue waters encircle had
+remained a world in themselves, undisturbed by the rise and fall of
+continental kingdoms, unknown even to the semi-civilised peoples who
+dwelt on the neighbouring continental shores. But although thus shut
+out from human ken and wrapt in impenetrable mystery, we are entitled
+to presume that during all this period of time Nature, both animate
+and inanimate, had been there fulfilling its allotted part in the
+Creator's plan, though no pen has fully told, or ever can tell, of the
+many stupendous changes which were wrought in those far-away centuries
+either by the will of God or by the hand of man. That vast and
+far-reaching displacements had been effected before the Spanish
+adventurer's discovery of 1513 broke this prehistoric silence, there
+is little room to doubt, for the position and configuration of the
+island groups are as surely the results of geological revolutions as
+their occupation by a strangely simple and unlettered people is
+evidence of some great social upheaval in the older societies of the
+world. Precisely what those geological changes have been, or what the
+cause of that social upheaval, it would be imprudent to affirm, but
+there is always room for speculation, even in the realm of science and
+history, and there is no unreasonable scepticism in refusing to
+subscribe to the belief that the Pacific Ocean always has been,
+geographically speaking, what it is to-day, nor rash credulity in
+accepting the ruined buildings and monolithic remains which lie
+scattered from Easter Island to Ponape, as evidences of a people whose
+empire--if such it can be called--had vanished long before the
+appearance of the Spaniards in these waters.
+
+But even if the opinion still awaits scientific verification that the
+islands and atolls which sustain the present population of the Pacific
+are but the surviving heights of a submerged continent, there is less
+room to doubt that the dark-skinned inhabitants of those islands can
+look back upon a long course of racial vicissitude antecedent to the
+arrival of the Spaniards. What the first and subsequent voyagers found
+was a people of stalwart frame, strong and lithe of limb, with head
+and features, and especially the fairness of the skin, suggestive of
+Caucasian origin.[1] Although of bright and buoyant spirits, they were
+without letters, and their arts were of the most rudimentary kind. Of
+pottery they knew nothing, and of all metals they were equally
+ignorant. For their domestic utensils they were dependent upon the
+gourd and other vegetable products, and for weapons of war and tools
+of husbandry upon the flints and jades of the mountains. Their
+textiles, too, were woven without the aid of the spindle, and in much
+the same primitive fashion as had been employed by the cave-dwellers
+of England thousands of years before. In the production of fire they
+were not a whit less primitive than the semi-savage of ancient
+Britain. They thus presented the pathetic spectacle of a people
+lingering away back in the Palæolithic period of the world's history,
+while the world around them had marched on through the long centuries
+involved in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
+
+But though devoid of these mechanical arts, the higher development of
+which counts for much in national progress, these people were no
+sluggards. They were expert canoe-builders, and their skill in naval
+architecture was only equalled by the daring with which they traversed
+the ocean waste around them. They were bold and adventurous
+navigators, who studied the flow of the tides and the sweep of the
+ocean currents. They knew enough of astronomy to steer by the stars,
+and were able to navigate their rude craft with a wonderful degree of
+mathematical certainty. Whether their wanderings were in all cases due
+to design or sometimes to accident, cannot now be definitely affirmed;
+but there is abundant proof that their voyages had extended from
+Hawaii in the north to Antarctica in the south, and there was scarcely
+an island that was not known and named in all their complex
+archipelagos.
+
+Of literature they, of course, had none, but they revelled in oral
+traditions and in a mythology rich in imagination and poetry, which
+accounted for all things, even for the beginning of the world and for
+the ultimate destiny of the soul. Being deeply religious and as deeply
+superstitious, they interpreted natural phenomena in a mystic sense,
+and Pope's lines on the poor Indian would have been equally applicable
+to the ancient Maori in Polynesia--
+
+  "Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind
+  Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind:
+  His soul proud science never taught to stray
+  Far as the Solar Walk or Milky Way.
+  Yet simple Nature to his hope has given
+  Behind the cloud-capt hill an humbler heaven;
+  Some safer world in depths of woods embraced,
+  Some happier island in the watery waste,
+  Where slaves once more their native land behold,
+  No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold."[2]
+
+The cradle of the Polynesian race was undoubtedly Asia; and to arrive at
+a clear understanding as to how it became transported from a continental
+home into this island world it will be necessary to carry the mind back
+probably more than 200,000 years. At that time the dominating section
+of the human family was the Caucasian--fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and
+revelling in the glory of long, wavy hair. Their civilisation,
+however, like their weapons of chipped stone, was of the most
+primitive character; but they had advanced sufficiently in the
+ascending scale of human progress to show that they valued life by
+paying pious respect to their dead. They preserved the memory of the
+departed by erecting over their burial-places huge blocks of stone,
+many of which monuments stand to-day to mark the course of their
+migrations. And, except possibly a flint axe-head or a rude ornament
+found deep in some ancient gravel-bed, these megalithic monuments are
+amongst the most convincing evidence we have of the wide diffusion of
+the human race in prehistoric times. From the most westerly point in
+Ireland, across the European and Asiatic continents, they stretch by
+the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the former, and
+the plains of Siberia in the latter, until they reach the waters of
+the Pacific. Even this wide expanse of ocean proved no insuperable
+barrier to the onward march of wandering man; for it is by the
+presence of his stone-building habit in so many of the Pacific Islands
+that we are able to construct a probable hypothesis of the process by
+which Polynesia first became inhabited.
+
+In the light of modern knowledge, the theory which finds most ready
+acceptance is that in Palæolithic times the Caucasian race, being more
+or less a maritime people, had obtained possession of the coastal
+districts of Europe. As they multiplied and spread, they followed the
+ocean's edge to the northward, and, as the Arctic regions were then
+enjoying a temperate climate, there was a plenteous and pleasant home
+for them even in the most northerly part of Siberia. But later a
+drastic climatic change began to take place. The great ice-sheet,
+which is known to have twice covered northern Europe and Asia, began
+to creep down upon the land, driving man and beast before it. Impelled
+by this relentless force, there began a momentous migration of
+Palæolithic man, who swept in hordes southward and eastward in search
+of a more hospitable home. In course of time a section of these
+fugitives, travelling across the Siberian plains, reached the Pacific
+coast, and here their old maritime spirit reasserted itself. With the
+pressure of climate behind them, and in their breasts the love of
+adventure, the sea soon became as much their domain as the land.
+
+At first their canoes were of the frailest character; but experience
+and unlimited opportunity soon taught them the art of constructing
+safe sea-going craft, which could carry considerable numbers on a
+course of discovery. The tales of new lands found, and their warm and
+genial climate, no doubt stimulated the spirit of exploration, so that
+gradually, and almost imperceptibly, the tide of migration which was
+flowing from the centre of the continent was drawn across the sea to
+the region of eternal summer.
+
+From somewhere in the vicinity of the Japanese archipelago, fleets of
+canoes set off at various times carrying with them a freight of
+humanity destined to found a new people in a new land. But, in order
+to account for the transportation of large numbers of women and
+children on vessels which, at the best, must have been mainly
+constructed of reeds, we must assume smaller intervals of ocean than
+exist now. There are evidences of other kinds that startling
+geological changes have occurred in this portion of the globe; and
+this assumption would help to explain feats of travel otherwise
+apparently impracticable to a rude and poorly equipped people.
+
+For how many centuries this stream of venturesome humanity flowed
+southward no one can tell; but it is safe to assume that great numbers
+must have taken the plunge into the unknown, some resting by the way,
+others pushing on to a point beyond the furthest preceding colony,
+until the main groups of islands were occupied, and outpost after
+outpost was firmly established. With them these people carried their
+simple mode of life, their primitive arts and customs, not the least
+of which was their stone-building habit, which, as already shown, had
+originated in their desire to perpetuate the memory and preserve the
+bones of their dead. Hence arose in their new home those strange
+structures of uncemented stone which astonished the early discoverers,
+and which stand to-day, broken and decrepit relics, like ghostly
+wraiths from a long-forgotten past.
+
+But, whatever its duration may have been, two causes operated to bring
+this period of migration to a close. The first of these influences was
+the dispersion of the Mongolian race from Central Asia; the second,
+the subsidence of the land along the Asiatic coast. Either of these
+events would have been in itself sufficient to cut off the supply of
+emigrants to the islands. The descent of the more warlike Mongols from
+their high plateau would effectually close the inland route across the
+north of Asia to the gentle Caucasians; while the sinking of the
+land-bridge, along which they had been wont to pick their way, would
+so increase the hazard of the journey that none would care to risk a
+voyage across the greater stretch of sea. Thus the first stratum of
+the Polynesian race was laid by an invasion of European people
+embarking from Asia; and these light-skinned, fair-haired Vikings,
+who were driven out of their ancient home by the descent of the giant
+glaciers, plunged into the abyss of uncertainty, little dreaming that
+from their stock would arise a people whose life-story would be, as it
+still is to some extent, one of the world's unsolved problems.
+
+Amongst the many features which have seemed to intensify the shroud of
+mystery enveloping these people is the combination of a dark skin with
+tall and stalwart frames and a head-form usually belonging to fair
+races. Also the strange stratification of their customs discloses a
+social condition so contradictory as to amount almost to a paradox.
+Why a dark-skinned race should possess features which find their
+counterpart in the whites of to-day, or why the most primitive method
+of obtaining fire--by friction--should be found side by side with
+highly scientific methods of warfare, especially displayed in the art
+of fortification, seemed difficult of explanation, until the idea of a
+second invasion, comprised of dark-blooded people, had been conceived
+and had taken root.[3]
+
+The theory of a grafting of a dark race on to the Caucasian stem which
+had already been planted in Polynesia explains much. It would account
+for the olive-coloured skin of the present-day natives, and it would
+provide the reasonable supposition that, being later comers, they
+would import with them newer ideas and more modern customs, some of
+which would be adopted in their entirety, others in a modified form.
+With the advantage of many centuries of contact with neighbouring
+peoples, they had necessarily learned much of the art of war, which
+had been quite unknown to the islanders in their isolation. These dark
+invaders were therefore able to come in the spirit of conquerors; and
+consequently the masculine arts, such as the making of weapons and the
+building of forts and canoes, received an impulse which placed them
+considerably in advance of anything of which the original people had
+ever dreamed. But the domestic arts would be but little changed, for
+the reason that the invasion, being one of warlike intent, would be
+comprised largely of males, the women who were taken to wife after
+their lords had been vanquished being allowed to retain their old
+modes of life. Hence the methods of twisting threads of fibre, of
+weaving mats, and of making fire, would remain the same as had been
+practised by them from time immemorial, while there would be a
+distinct advance in those arts which came more exclusively within the
+domain of the males. In two respects, however, these newcomers did not
+better the condition or raise the standard of art amongst the people
+with whom they were about to mingle their blood. They introduced
+neither pottery nor the use of metals. It is therefore clear that the
+section of the human family to which they belonged had not advanced
+beyond the Stone Age when their invasion took place; and this fact
+helps us to some extent in our inferences as to the period when this
+second migration commenced and when it terminated.
+
+For the direction whence these dark-skinned invaders came we have to
+rely on a careful comparison of the traditions and genealogies of the
+present-day people, who have preserved in a remarkable way certain
+leading facts, which serve as landmarks by which their journeys can
+still be traced. By the aid of these, the thread of their history has
+been followed back to a time at least several centuries before the
+birth of Christ, when a dark-skinned people dwelt upon the banks of
+the river Ganges. Here, by contact with other races, probably the
+Egyptian and Semitic, they acquired that smattering of mythology
+which, as preserved by the ancient Maori, resembled so closely the
+beliefs still prevalent in many parts of the Old World. But although
+versed in the mysterious philosophy, if such it can be styled, of
+their time, they were entirely ignorant of the principles of the
+Buddhist religion; and from this circumstance it is fair to deduce
+that they had left India before Gautama, who died in 477 B.C., had
+commenced his teaching of "Nirvana and the Law."
+
+But when we come to inquire into the causes which operated to inspire
+this migration, we get little information beyond the explanation
+commonly given as the root of all Polynesian movements, that "great
+wars prevailed." If this be the true reason why a whole nation should
+move _en masse_, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that the
+future Polynesians were the defeated people, and were forced by
+irresistible waves of invasion to abandon their home in India. Slowly
+they were pushed southward and eastward by the more warlike tribes who
+came down from the north; and as they made their way along the coasts
+of the Malayan Peninsula, circumstances, climate, and assimilation
+with other peoples continued the process of racial modification which
+had commenced before they abandoned the valley of the Ganges. For
+three hundred years or more they drifted from point to point. We know
+little more, for there occurs a comparative blank in the story of
+their journeyings as they moved along the coast of Sumatra and down
+the Straits of Malacca.
+
+In the year 65 B.C., however, we again get a glimpse of them
+on the island of Java. From this point, although their movements are
+often vague and shadowy, they are never entirely lost to sight.
+Tradition, at this period, speaks of a renowned personage named Te
+Kura-a-moo, who "went to the east, to the rising sun, and remained
+there." To precisely what spot in the east he journeyed is uncertain,
+but his objective is generally supposed to have been the island of
+Java, which was then known as Avaiki-te-Varinga. This is the first
+suggestion of migration which we have in Polynesian tradition; and as
+it corresponds in date with other large ethnic movements which are
+known to have occurred in the Malayan archipelago, it is more than
+probable that pressure from other invaders compelled the occupation
+of Java, which thus became the parent Hawaiki, towards which the Maori
+stands in much the same relationship as does his brother _pakeha_ to
+the Garden of Eden.
+
+But the same cause which drove these wandering Asiatics into Java, at
+a latter period led to its evacuation. And still the movement was in
+an eastward direction, towards the islands of Indonesia, the people as
+they moved becoming more and more expert in the art of navigation and
+sea-craft. In view of the scattered nature of the archipelago in which
+they now found themselves, their voyages became gradually longer,
+requiring larger canoes and more daring seamanship. They were
+beginning to leave the beaten path which hitherto had been the common
+course of the human race--the mountain, the river, and the plain. With
+them the sea was gradually becoming the broad highway which had to be
+traversed in order to find fresh resting-places, or to maintain
+communication with established outposts in more advanced situations.
+The spirit of the sea-gipsy, which led them to do and dare, was
+rapidly developing within them, and the knowledge thus born of courage
+and experience was shortly to prove invaluable to them in carrying to
+a successful issue their own great policy of conquest.
+
+Wars and rumours of wars are again heard of, and are given as the
+underlying cause of the next movement southward from Indonesia, the
+date of which is so uncertain that it cannot safely be defined more
+strictly than as between the first and fourth centuries. It is
+unfortunate that we are driven to this loose estimate of time for so
+important a national event, because it was this final migration which
+led to the actual entry into Polynesia of these dark-blooded
+wanderers, and if our first hypothesis be correct, to their ultimate
+fusion with the fair-skinned, stone-building people who had preceded
+them by many centuries.
+
+They had obviously come into contact with strange people and strange
+animals, for the existence of the former has been preserved in their
+traditions and the memory of the latter in their fantastic carvings.
+Not the least interesting of their stories is the finding of a
+fair-complexioned people, whom their fancy has elevated into the realm
+of fairies, and from whom they claim to have learned the art of
+net-making. Whether these mysterious people, who are said to have
+laboured only at night and to have vanished when the sun rose, were
+the original Caucasians who, we have supposed, set out from the
+eastern coast of Asia, and who were about to be absorbed by the more
+virile emigrants from India, or whether they were, as some suggest, a
+few wandering Greeks or Phoenicians on the coast of Sumatra, we cannot
+pretend to decide. But, in all its vagueness and fanciful setting, the
+tradition is interesting, as indicating the existence on their route
+of a people fairer than themselves, and the fact that they must have
+come into close personal contact with them. A careful reflection upon
+the probable circumstances attending the story of how Kahu-kura
+captured one of the fairy's nets inclines us to the opinion that it is
+the first evidence we have of the contact of the Indian branch of the
+Polynesian race with their whiter predecessors. These they would meet
+in island after island as they moved down the Pacific towards Fiji,
+which group they are believed to have occupied about A.D. 450.
+
+Like all other dates connected with Polynesian migrations, this one
+can only be approximate, for the people were without any mode of
+reckoning time, except by reference to ancestral lines. But there is
+traditional authority for supposing that their descent upon Fiji was
+made in considerable numbers, and that for a time these islands
+constituted one of their principal colonising centres. Whether Tonga
+and Samoa were settled from this point seems doubtful; but it is
+certain from the marvellous stories which find credence in the
+traditions of this period that an era of extensive voyaging had set
+in, and that the newcomers began to spread themselves with
+considerable rapidity from atoll to island and from island to
+archipelago. These excursions into new realms naturally gave promise
+of an attractive home amongst the palm-covered islands; and,
+simultaneously with their policy of conquest and colonisation, they
+began the absorption and assimilation of the resident people. As the
+defending warriors were driven out or annihilated, the women of the
+vanquished were taken possession of by the victors, and their domestic
+arts were taken with them. This blending necessarily, in the course of
+many centuries, worked appreciable modifications in the physique and
+customs of both races, and gave to the world the Polynesian people as
+we know them to-day.
+
+A race of stalwarts, long-headed, straight-haired, and brown-skinned,
+warriors from birth, full of courage, and ardent for adventure, they
+were not altogether devoid of those higher ideals which make for the
+elevation of man. They were deeply imbued with a love of poetry, which
+enabled them to appreciate in a rude way the beautiful in life and to
+preserve in quaint song and fantastic tradition the story of their
+wanderings and the prowess of their heroes. They were even
+enterprising enough to attempt the solution of the marvellous natural
+phenomena everywhere presented to them, which, to their simple minds,
+could have no origin except in the intervention of the gods.
+
+With a continuous stream of fresh immigrants flowing in from the north
+to reinforce the southern outposts, the conquest and colonisation of
+the islands was now only a matter of time. Before we come to the
+period directly connected with our story, some seven hundred years had
+elapsed, during which every trace and even the memory of the original
+people had been effaced, and but for their stone monuments, which have
+withstood alike the shock of invasion and the ravages of time, their
+very existence would have remained as one of the problems of a
+forgotten past. But long before this period had been reached, some
+great ethnic or geographical event had occurred to terminate the
+further inflow of these invaders from the north. Either the movements
+of the nations upon the Asiatic continent supervened to make
+continued migration unnecessary, or geographical changes in the
+distribution of land and sea operated to make it more difficult, if
+not impossible. Certain it is that the supply of warriors was
+effectually cut off, and that at a time before the parent people had
+learned the use of metals. From this period, down through the ages
+until the day of their discovery by the Spaniards, the gulf which
+separated them from the rest of the human family remained unbridged,
+and the Polynesians were suffered to evolve their own racial
+peculiarities and develop their own national spirit, untrammelled by
+exterior influences. Isolated from the rest of the world, they lived
+in total ignorance of the progress with which other peoples were
+advancing towards a higher type of human development and loftier
+ideals of national life. They knew nothing of the growth of science or
+of art, and they derived no benefit from the stimulating effect of
+competition, or from the bracing conditions of a strenuous life.
+Nature was bountiful to them in the ease and abundance with which
+their simple wants were supplied, for it required neither labour nor
+ingenuity to provide for their daily needs. Hence there was little
+incentive to depart from traditional customs, or to seek more advanced
+methods than their fathers had learned and applied in that far-off
+time when they lived on the banks of the Ganges. Had it been
+otherwise, the Polynesians would not have been found still clinging to
+their stone clubs and flint axes, while the continental peoples
+surrounding them had acquired a written language, the use of metals,
+and the arts of husbandry, pottery, and weaving. The complete absence
+of these primary evidences of civilisation amongst the islanders gives
+us the right to assume that they came into the South Seas before man
+had acquired any knowledge of the metallic arts, and that their
+migration ceased before pottery and the weaving spindle were known.
+
+Polynesia must, therefore, have been occupied during the Palæolithic
+and Neolithic periods of the world's history. From that time down to
+the Spanish era all communication with the surrounding nations was
+completely cut off, and the Polynesians were allowed to sleep the
+sleep of centuries and to work out their own destiny in the midst of
+their tragic isolation. As the evolution of the race progressed, there
+was gradually developed a rude system of tribal government,
+administered by acknowledged chieftains, who claimed and obtained
+unquestioned obedience. So, too, victory or defeat became gradually
+the chief factor in determining the home of each tribe. These tribal
+boundaries were, however, by no means arbitrary lines of exclusion,
+and, in fact, there were frequent visits of friendship between the
+different sections of the race. These voyages necessarily led to a
+wide knowledge of the Southern seas and their archipelagos, and often
+contributed surprising results. While the sea-captains navigated their
+canoes with wonderful accuracy, unaided as they were by chart or
+compass, their vessels were not always under absolute control, and in
+stress of sudden storm, or influenced by some unexpected current, they
+were frequently carried far out of their intended course.
+
+It is probable that in some such way the first canoes reached New
+Zealand, for it is known that individual vessels had visited these
+shores long before the historic migration known as "the fleet" left
+Rarotonga in or about the year 1350 A.D. The stories brought
+back by these pioneering mariners excited the cupidity and fired the
+imagination of the islanders, and when a fleet of several great canoes
+arrived at Rarotonga, and found that group already fully occupied,
+they decided to set out in search of the strange land which had been
+dragged from the depths of the sea by the miracle-working Maui, and
+discovered by the great sea-captain Kupe.[4] Here they hoped to
+capture the giant bird, the flesh of which Ngahue had preserved and
+brought back with him, but more than all they were eager to enrich
+themselves by the possession of the _toka-matie_, or much prized
+greenstone, the beauty of which they had heard so much extolled.
+
+The story of this migration is recorded amongst the classic traditions
+of the New Zealanders: how the Arawa canoe came perilously near being
+lost in a tempest, and descended into the mysterious depths of the
+whirlpool, Te Parata; how the crew of the Taki-tumu suffered the pangs
+of starvation; how the Kura-haupo suffered wreck; and how, on landing,
+the crew of the Arawa practised the deceit upon the sleeping Tainui of
+placing the cable of their canoe under that of the latter, in order
+that they might, with some hope of success, set up a claim to first
+arrival. One by one the canoes reached these shores, the major part of
+them making land in the vicinity of East Cape, thence sailing to the
+north or to the south, as the whim of the captain or the divination of
+the _tohunga_ decided their course. In this way they spread to
+almost every part of the North Island, which they found already
+peopled with the remnants of prior migrations, who were living in
+peaceable possession. With these the warlike Vikings from the Pacific
+fought and contended until they gained undoubted supremacy, thus
+giving a starting-point to New Zealand history by establishing
+ancestral lines from which all Maoris love to trace their descent.
+These tribes soon became the dominant power in the land. The weaker
+_tangata whenua_[5] were subdued and absorbed. Their traditions,
+arts, and customs disappeared, except in so far as they may have
+unconsciously influenced those of their conquerors. The latter grew in
+strength and numbers, extending their influence far and wide, as they
+marched towards the development of their national existence and their
+final consolidation into the Maori race.
+
+Unto these people was born, about the year 1768, a little brown babe
+who was destined to become the great Te Rauparaha, chief of the
+Ngati-Toa tribe.
+
+[1] "The distinguishing characteristic of the Marquesan Islanders, and
+that which at once strikes you, is the European cast of their
+features--a peculiarity seldom observable among other uncivilised
+peoples. Many of their faces present a profile classically beautiful,
+and I saw several who were in every respect models of beauty"
+(_Melville_).
+
+[2] "I found that the Natives had not formed the slightest idea of
+there being a state of future punishment. They refuse to believe that
+the Good Spirit intends to make them miserable after their decease.
+They imagine all the actions of this life are punished here, and that
+every one when dead, good or bad, bondsman or free, is assembled on an
+island situated near the North Cape, where both the necessaries and
+comforts of life will be found in the greatest abundance, and all will
+enjoy a state of uninterrupted happiness" (_Earle_).
+
+[3] "It is most certain that the whites are the aborigines. Their
+colour is, generally speaking, like that of the people of Southern
+Europe, and I saw several who had red hair. There were some who were
+as white as our sailors, and we often saw on our ships a tall young
+man, 5 feet 11 inches in height, who, by his colour and features,
+might easily have passed for a European" (_Crozet's Description of
+the Maoris at the Bay of Islands_).
+
+[4] The knowledge which the Polynesians possessed of the Southern sea,
+and their skill as navigators, was such that when "the fleet" set out
+from Rarotonga, they did not go to discover New Zealand, but they went
+with the absolute certainty of finding it.
+
+[5] "Man of the land, native, aboriginal." Probably these people were
+a mixture of the Melanesian and Polynesian types.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ARAWA AND TAINUI
+
+
+If the genealogies of the Maori race can be relied upon, it may be
+accepted as a fact that the immediate ancestors of Te Rauparaha came
+to New Zealand in the canoe Tainui, which is said to have been the
+first vessel of the fleet after the Arawa, prepared for sea. By an
+unfortunate circumstance there sprang up between the crews of these
+two canoes a fatal rivalry, which repeated acts of aggression and
+retaliation were continually fanning into open ruptures, even after
+they had landed and were widely separated on the shores of New
+Zealand. This ill-humour, according to the tradition, was first
+engendered by Tama-te-kapua, the chief of the Arawa, depriving the
+Tainui of her high priest, Ngatoro-i-rangi, by inviting that renowned
+_tohunga_ on board his vessel for the purpose of performing some
+of the all-important ceremonies which the complex ritual of the Maori
+demanded on such occasions, and then slipping his cable and putting to
+sea before the priest had time to realise that he had been
+deliberately led into a trap. But this act of treachery on the part of
+the bold and unscrupulous captain cost him dear, and bitterly must he
+have repented before the voyage was over his trifling with the dignity
+of so consummate a master of magic as Ngatoro-i-rangi. But that story
+belongs to the voyage of the Arawa. Of the voyage of the Tainui, under
+Hoturoa, we know little; but presumably she had a comparatively
+uneventful passage until she touched land at a point near the
+north-east end of the Bay of Plenty, which her people named
+Whanga-poraoa, for the reason that there they found a newly stranded
+sperm-whale. But scarcely had they disembarked than a dispute arose
+between them and the Arawas, who had beached their canoe at a spot
+close by, as to the ownership of the carcase. The result of the debate
+was an agreement, arrived at on the suggestion of a Tainui chief,[6]
+that the crew which had first touched land should be the acknowledged
+owners of the fish, and to establish the date of arrival it was
+further agreed that they should examine the sacred places which each
+had erected on the shore, and on which they returned thanks to the
+gods for guiding them safely across the ocean. Here the ingenuity of
+the Arawa people enabled them to outwit the Tainuis. While the latter
+had built their shrine of green wood, the followers of Tama-te-kapua
+had taken the precaution to dry the poles of their altar over the fire
+before sinking them into the sand. Precisely the same process had been
+applied to their hawsers, so that when the examination was made for
+the purpose of determining priority of arrival the Arawa temple
+carried with it the appearance of greater age, and the Tainuis,
+without detecting the trick, conceded the point and yielded the prize
+to their rivals.
+
+ [Illustration: DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND.
+ From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland,
+ by kind permission of the artist.]
+
+Hoturoa then decided to make further explorations to the north, and
+moved off in that direction with his canoe, to be followed a few days
+later by the Arawa. The Tainui skirted the coast, noted and named many
+of its prominent features as far as the North Cape, and then, as the
+land terminated at this point, the canoe was put about and retraced
+her course as far south as Takapuna.[7] Here a halt was called, and
+exploring parties were sent out to ascertain if all the district
+promised was likely to be realised. Upon ascending one of the many
+hills[8] which mark the landscape in this particular locality, the
+voyagers were surprised to observe flocks of sea-birds, some flying
+over from the westward, others wheeling with noisy flight in mid-air.
+To the experienced eye of the native, who had been bred on the borders
+of the sea, this circumstance bespoke a new expanse of water to the
+west. The canoe was once more launched, and on their crossing the
+Wai-te-mata[9] harbour a critical examination of the eastern shore
+revealed to the astonished visitors the fact that a narrow portage
+existed at the head of the Tamaki River, over the ridge of which lay
+another arm of the sea, apparently as wide and as deep as that which
+they had just entered.
+
+In the meantime they had been joined by the Tokomaru canoe, and the
+joint crews decided upon the bold scheme of hauling their vessels over
+the narrow portage at Otahuhu.[10] The Tokomaru was the first to be
+taken across, and under the guidance of the chiefs she glided with
+perfect ease and grace over the carefully laid skids into the deep,
+smooth water. But when the drag-ropes were applied to the Tainui, pull
+as they would, she remained fast and immovable. Tradition says that
+Marama-kiko-hura, one of Hoturoa's wives, being unwilling that the
+weary crews should proceed at once upon this new expedition, which the
+chiefs were evidently projecting, had by her power as an enchantress
+so rooted the canoe to the ground that no human strength could move
+it. Against this supernatural agency the stalwart boatmen struggled
+unavailingly, for, although there was a straining of brawny arms, a
+bending of broad backs, and much vocal emulation, inspired by the
+lusty commands of those in authority, the charm of the enchantress
+could not be broken. In this distressful emergency the womanly
+sympathy of a second wife of the chief was stirred within her, and
+she, being even more gifted in the art of magic than her sister,
+chanted an incantation so great in virtue that instantly the spell was
+loosed and the wicked work of a disappointed woman undone.[11]
+
+The song which was chanted on this memorable occasion has long since
+been embalmed amongst the classics of the Maori, and has become the
+basis of many another chant which is used while canoes are being drawn
+down to the sea.
+
+  "Drag Tainui till she reaches the sea:
+  But who shall drag her hence?
+  What sound comes from the horizon?
+  The Earth is lighting up,
+  The Heavens arise,
+  In company with the feeble ones
+  Welcome hither! Come, O joyous Tane!
+  Thou leader and provider.
+  Here are the skids laid to the sea,
+  And drops the moisture now from Marama,
+  Caused by the gentle breeze
+  Which blows down from Wai-hi;
+  But still Tainui stays,
+  And will not move.
+  Red, red is the sun,
+  Hot, hot are its rays,
+  And still impatient stands the host:
+  Take ye and hold the rope,
+  And drag with flashing eyes
+  And drag in concert all.
+  Rise now the power
+  To urge. She moves and starts,
+  Moves now the prow,
+  Urge, urge her still."
+
+Under the exhilarating influence of the singer's musical voice,
+together with a profound faith in her skill as a mistress of magic,
+the weary crews once more bent themselves to their task. Their renewed
+efforts were rewarded with success; for with one vigorous pull the
+canoe was seen to move, and was soon slipping and sliding on her way
+to the bosom of the bay below.[12] Once fairly launched, the Tainui
+was soon speeding her way to the open sea; and, having successfully
+crossed the Manukau bar, she passed out into the Western Ocean to
+battle with adverse winds and tides. Evidently, the physical features
+of this coast were not greatly to the liking of the explorers. Unlike
+the eastern side of the island, there were fewer shelving beaches and
+favourable landing-places; the predominating aspect was high and
+abrupt cliffs, fringed with jagged and evil-looking rocks, against
+which the surf beat with deafening roar. The sea, too, was much more
+turbulent; so that, after travelling only some eighty miles, the canoe
+was headed for the sheltered harbour of Kawhia,[13] and there Hoturoa
+and the tribes who accompanied him determined to bring their
+wanderings to an end.
+
+The canoe which had brought them safely over so many miles of open
+ocean was hauled to a secure spot on the beach, there to await the
+ravages of decay, the spot where she rested and finally rotted away
+under the _manuka_ and _akeake_ trees being still marked by
+two stone pillars,[14] which the natives have named Puna and Hani. The
+next thing was to erect an altar to the gods for having thus far
+prospered their journey. The spot chosen was that afterwards called
+Ahurei, in memory of their old home in Tahiti;[15] and, doubtless for
+the same sentimental and patriotic reason, the spot on which the wives
+of Hoturoa first planted the _kumara_[16] was called Hawaiki. With
+these preliminaries settled, the pilgrims from the east were now faced
+with the most serious duty of all, to arrive at an equitable division
+of the new land which was about to become their permanent home. What
+method of adjudication was employed in the apportionment we cannot now
+say; but two main divisions mark the final arbitrament. The Waikatos
+occupied the country from Manukau in the north to the Marokopa River
+in the south, while the tribe afterwards known as Mania-poto occupied
+a domain which extended from that point to one about two miles south
+of the Mokau River. Within these comprehensive boundaries was embraced
+the acknowledged territory of the numerous sub-tribes; but to only two
+of these need we refer at this stage, namely, to the Ngati-toa, who
+lived on the shores of Kawhia Bay, and to the Ngati-Raukawa, who had
+settled further inland, in the country of which Maungatautari is now
+the centre.
+
+When the Tainui people landed on the shores of Kawhia and began to
+spread their settlements throughout the valleys of the district, they
+did not find, as they might have expected, an empty land. At some
+time, and by some means, man had already established himself in New
+Zealand, and before the organised migration, of which the Tainui was a
+part, had set sail from Rarotonga, the country was already extensively
+peopled. Whether these _tangata whenua_, as the Maoris called
+them, were Polynesians like themselves, and the fruits of some of the
+prior migrations which are known to have taken place, or whether they
+were a lower order of mankind struggling through the process of
+evolution to a higher plane of civilisation, is a point which cannot
+well be debated here. But whatever manner of men they were who lived
+in the balmy climate of Kawhia, they were already well established
+there in their villages and gardens, and for many generations--perhaps
+for many centuries--they had been burying their dead in the secret
+caves which honeycombed the limestone cliffs that rise in beetling
+precipices sheer from the harbour's edge. Although they are generally
+credited with being a less combative and virile race than the fierce
+and hardy tribes who came with the fleet, they were not disposed to
+surrender or divide their estate without a struggle, and Hoturoa found
+that, if he was to become master of Kawhia, it could only be as the
+outcome of a successful war. But Kawhia was a country worth fighting
+for. Early travellers through New Zealand, who saw it before the
+devastating hand of man had marred its beauties, speak with eloquent
+enthusiasm of its extremely picturesque and romantic landscape.[17] At
+full tide the harbour shines in the sunlight like an unbroken sheet of
+silver, in which the green and gold reflections of the surrounding
+bush are mirrored and magnified. For many miles in length and breadth
+the sea runs inland from the bay's bar-bound mouth, stretching its
+liquid arms right to the base of the mountains which encircle the
+harbour like a massive frame. Rugged and picturesque are these
+mountains, with their cloak of deep verdure, through which huge masses
+of limestone rock protrude their white faces, suggesting the bastions
+of some old Norman tower covered with gigantic ivy. So marked, in
+fact, is this resemblance, that the character of the peaks has been
+preserved in their name--the Castle Hills.[18] Down the sides of these
+slopes run innumerable streams, the largest being the Awaroa River,
+which enters the harbour at the north-east end, where the scenery
+attains its most impressive grandeur. A little to the north-east of
+Kawhia, and over the ranges, lies the broadly-terraced valley of the
+Waipa, and between this district and the harbour stands "an ancient
+and dilapidated volcano," called Pirongia, upon which the evening sun
+directs its blood-red darts, lighting up its many peaks and towers
+until they resemble a giant altar raised by some mighty priest. The
+climate, too, is mild and soft, like that of Southern Spain, and there
+the orange and the lemon might bud and blossom with all the
+luxuriance found in the valleys of Granada.
+
+Such was the home in which the people of the Tainui canoe sought to
+gain a footing, when they abandoned their vessel; but these exiles
+from far Hawaiki were yet to pass through the bitter waters of
+tribulation before their arms were blessed with success and their
+claims ceased to be contested. In the quaint language of an old
+_tohunga_ we are told: "In the days of the ancient times the
+descendants of those who came in the Tainui made war on the people who
+had occupied the interior of Waikato. These people were called Te
+Upoko-tioa, and were the people who had occupied the land long before
+the Tainui arrived at Kawhia. These people were attacked by those who
+came over in the Tainui. The men they killed, but the women were saved
+and taken as wives by the Tainui. Those who attacked these people were
+of one family, and were descended from one ancestor, who, after they
+had killed the inhabitants of Waikato, turned and made war each on the
+other--uncle killed nephew, and nephew killed uncle: elder killed the
+younger, and the younger killed the elder."
+
+Of the various battles which the Tainui people fought during the
+conquest of their new home we have scarcely any account, beyond vague
+and general statements of the most fugitive character. These,
+unfortunately, do not afford us any wealth of detail, the possession
+of which would enable us to picture in vivid colours the doughty deeds
+by which the invaders overcame the strenuous resistance of the
+_tangata whenua_, who maintained the struggle with the desperation of
+men who were fighting for their very existence. The story of the
+conquest of Kawhia may be regarded as lost in the misty distances of
+the past, but it is not surprising to discover by shadowy suggestion,
+such as quoted above, that, after the original inhabitants had been
+effectually subdued, the turbulent nature of the Maori should lead to
+devastating and sanguinary internecine wars. One of the traditions of
+the Tainui tribes is that they left the South Pacific because of a
+great battle called "Ra-to-rua," which originated in a quarrel between
+Heta and Ue-nuku; and it would be quite unreasonable to expect that
+they should suddenly forsake their warlike passions on reaching New
+Zealand, a country in which there was so much to fight for. With the
+Maori war had now become more than a passion: it had become part of
+his nature; for, through all the long centuries of migration, the
+story of the race had been one of incessant struggle with other races
+and with circumstances. They fought their way into the Pacific, and
+were in turn submerged under the tide of a second invasion, which gave
+to the world a people inured to the hardships inseparable from strife,
+who had tasted the bitterness of defeat as well as the joys of
+victory--a proud and haughty race, sensitive to the slightest insult,
+and so jealous of their honour that they were ever ready to vindicate
+their fair name before the only tribunal to which they could
+appeal--that of war. Steeped as they had been from birth in this
+atmosphere of strife, they had grown to expect the clash of arms at
+every turn, and, as they grew to expect it, they grew to love it. It
+is small wonder, then, that, when they found their enemies at Kawhia
+and its neighbourhood vanquished, they occasionally turned their hands
+upon each other, in the attempt to efface some real or imagined wrong.
+
+But, fatal to national progress as these inter-tribal wars must have
+been, they, nevertheless, played an important and valuable part in
+spreading the Maori over New Zealand. A tribe defeated in battle was
+forced to fly before the pursuing enemy, with no alternative but
+either to appropriate some district still unoccupied or to displace
+some weaker people, upon whom the burden was cast of again
+establishing themselves where and as best they could. Thus the tide of
+fortune and misfortune rolled and recoiled from Te Reinga to Te
+Ra-whiti, until an asylum was sought by the last of the refugees even
+across the waters of Cook Strait. Although we have no accurate
+information on the point, it is probable that these blood-feuds
+contributed in no small measure to the ultimate distribution of the
+Tainui people; for their subsequent history is eloquent of the fact
+that, while they claimed common descent from the ancestral line of
+Hoturoa, this family bond did not prevent hatred and hostility
+springing up, and at times bathing their country in blood.
+
+The first migration, however, of which we have any record did not
+apparently ensue upon the result of a battle, although a quarrel was
+its underlying cause. Hotu-nui, who was one of the principal chiefs of
+the canoe, is said to have taken as his wife a daughter of one of the
+_tangata whenua_, and was apparently living in the same village and on
+terms of perfect friendship with her people. Having been wrongfully
+accused of an act of petty thieving, he determined to rid the _pa_ of
+his presence; and so, with one hundred of his immediate followers, he,
+it is said, moved off towards the Hauraki Gulf. As the years rolled
+on, and the systematic exploration of the country began to be
+undertaken, many similar expeditions, no doubt, went out from the
+parent home at Kawhia, one at least of which was fraught with fateful
+consequences. A chief named Raumati,[19] whose story has been embalmed
+in tradition, had taken a band of followers with him and travelled
+across the island, past Rotorua, until he finally came to the shores
+of the Bay of Plenty, where his mother's people lived. Here he was in
+the Arawa country, and it was not long before he heard that their
+canoe was lying at Maketu, some distance further to the southward. It
+will be remembered that there had never been good feeling between the
+Tainui and Arawa peoples, and Raumati determined upon an act which
+would demonstrate beyond all doubt that he, at least, was not disposed
+to hold out the olive-branch to Arawa. His scheme was to effect the
+destruction of the great canoe which had brought the hated rivals of
+his tribe to New Zealand. Once decided upon, his plan was put into
+execution with a promptness worthy of a better cause. Travelling along
+the coast from Tauranga to Maketu, he and his followers arrived at the
+latter place when all its inhabitants were absent in quest of food.
+But his trouble was that the Arawa had been berthed on the opposite
+side of the Kaituna River, where she had been housed under a covering
+of reeds and grass to protect her from the ravages of the weather.
+Nothing daunted, however, Raumati soon proved that his ingenuity was
+equal to the desperate circumstances in which he found himself placed.
+Taking a dart, and attaching to the point of it a live ember, he
+hurled the smoking stick across the water with unerring aim, and, to
+his intense satisfaction, he saw the firebrand fall in the midst of
+the combustible material which formed the covering of the canoe. The
+fire was soon in full blast: the glare of the flames lit up the
+surrounding country and was reflected in the red glow of the evening
+sky. The first impression of the people out in the forest was that the
+Maketu _pa_ had been destroyed; but in the morning they were
+undeceived, for then they saw that it was their beloved canoe which
+had been burned, and all that remained of her was a heap of glowing
+ashes.[20]
+
+The unanimous conclusion was that this had been the work of an enemy,
+and messengers were sent far and wide to acquaint the tribesmen of the
+fate of the canoe and call them to council upon the subject. At the
+meetings the debates were long and serious, for the tribe was torn
+between its desire to live in peace with all men and its natural
+impulse to revenge the burning of the Arawa, which "they loved and
+venerated almost as a parent." They remembered the injunction which
+had been given to them by Hou when on the point of leaving Hawaiki: "O
+my children, O Mako, O Tia, O Hei, hearken to these my words: There
+was but one great chief in Hawaiki, and that was Whakatauihu. Now do
+you, my children, depart in peace, and, when you reach the place you
+are going to, do not follow after the deeds of Tu, the God of War: if
+you do, you will perish, as if swept off by the winds; but rather
+follow quiet and useful occupations, then you will die tranquilly a
+natural death. Depart, and dwell in peace with all; leave war and
+strife behind you here. Depart and dwell in peace. It is war and its
+evils which are driving you hence: dwell in peace where you are going;
+conduct yourselves like men; let there be no quarrelling amongst you,
+but build up a great people."
+
+These were, no doubt, excellent words of advice, and they expressed a
+very noble sentiment; but the practical question which they had to
+determine was whether they could afford to adopt an attitude of
+passivity while these acts of aggression went on around them: whether
+they should declare war on account of the destruction of their canoe,
+or permit the act to pass without notice. This was the problem over
+which they pondered; and, as they discussed and debated it, "impatient
+feelings kept ever rising up in their hearts." But at last an end was
+made of deliberation, the decision of the tribe being in favour of
+battle as the one and only sufficient means by which they could be
+compensated for the burning of their canoe. In the words of the old
+tradition, "then commenced the great war which was waged between those
+who arrived in the Arawa and those who came in the Tainui."[21]
+
+[6] On this occasion Hotu-nui is credited with having addressed his
+people in the following terms: "Friends, hearken! Ours was the
+first canoe to land in New Zealand before any of you had arrived
+here. But let this be the proof as to which of our canoes landed
+first. Let us look at the ropes which the various canoes tied to the
+whale now before us, and also let us look at the branches of the
+trees which each have put up in building an altar, then the owners
+of the rope which is the driest and most withered, and of the altar
+the leaves of which are the most faded, were the first to land on the
+coast of the country where we now reside."
+
+[7] After the canoe left Whanga-poraoa the first stopping-place was
+at Whare-nga, where the crew amused themselves with various
+games on the beach. To mark the spot, one legend has it, they
+placed one large stone on top of another, while a second story has
+it that this monument, which is still existent and is called _Pohatu
+Whakairi_, represents one of the crew who was turned into stone.
+The next point of interest was Moe-hau, now known as Cape
+Colville. They then landed at Te Ana-Puta, where, it is said, the
+canoe was moored to a natural arch of rock jutting into the sea.
+For some reason the anchor was left at a spot between Wai-hou
+and Piako, and under the name of _Te pungapunga_ (the pumice
+stone) is still to be seen on the coast by those who are curious
+enough to look for it. The course was then deflected slightly to
+the west, and the canoe crossed to Whaka-ti-wai and coasted along
+the mainland past Whare-Kawa, where, it is said, Marama, one
+of the wives of Hoturoa, desired to be put ashore with one of her
+male slaves. Here they were left, and, according to one version of
+the tradition, it was her misconduct with this slave which prevented
+the crew dragging the Tainui over the portage at Otahuhu. The
+canoe then went on, some accounts say, as far as the North Cape,
+and others seem to imply that she was shortly afterwards put about
+and, returning into the Hauraki Gulf, sailed past the islands of
+Waiheke and Motu-Korea, until land was once more made at Takapuna.
+
+[8] Now called Mount Victoria or "Flagstaff Hill."
+
+[9] Waitemata may be interpreted as "the waters of volcanic obsidian,"
+no doubt a reference to the eruptive disposition of Mount Rangitoto.
+
+[10] Otahuhu signifies "ridge-pole." This portage is only 3,900 feet
+long and 66 feet high.
+
+[11] There are different versions of this tradition, some attributing
+the transfixing of the canoe to Marama, others crediting her with
+releasing it. The version given in the late Sir George Grey's
+_Polynesian Mythology_ has been here adopted.
+
+[12] Some authorities are of opinion that the Tainui was not taken
+across the portage at Otahuhu (ridge-pole), and they base this
+contention upon the fact that no traditional marks have been left
+inside the Manukau harbour. All the points of interest which have been
+handed down, and are remembered, are on the sea coast; and from this
+circumstance it is argued that the canoe was never in Manukau harbour
+at all. Others say that some of the skids of Tainui were left at South
+Manukau Heads.
+
+[13] As they were passing the mouth of the Waikato, the priest of the
+canoe, noticing that the river was in flood, named it by calling out
+"_Waikato, Waikato, kau_." Further on, noticing that there were
+no landing-places, he threw his paddle at the face of the cliff and
+exclaimed, "_Ko te akau kau_" (all sea coast). The paddle is said
+to be still embedded in the face of the rock, and is one of the
+traditional marks by which the course of the Tainui can be traced. At
+the entrance of Kawhia Harbour they ran into a shoal of fish, and the
+priest gave this haven its present name by exclaiming "_Kawhia
+kau_." Another account is that the name comes from Ka-awhi, to
+recite the usual _karakia_ on landing on a new shore, to placate
+the local gods.
+
+[14] The distance between these stones is 86 feet, indicating the
+probable length of the Tainui canoe.
+
+[15] Now called Te Fana-i-Ahurei (or, in Maori, Te Whanga-i-Ahurei,
+the district of Ahurei).
+
+[16] The Tainui brought the species of kumaras known as
+_Anu-rangi_ (cold of heaven) and the _hue_ or calabash.
+Those planted by Marama did not come up true to type, but those
+planted by Whakaoti-rangi, another of the chief's wives, did.
+
+[17] "I reckon this country among the most charming and fertile
+districts I have seen in New Zealand" (_Hochstetter_).
+
+[18] The natives call them Whenuapo.
+
+[19] His full name was Raumati-nui-o-taua. His father was Tama-ahua,
+who is reputed to have returned to Hawaiki from New Zealand, and his
+mother was Tauranga, a Bay of Plenty woman.
+
+[20] The date of this incident has been approximately fixed at
+A.D. 1390, or forty years after the arrival of "the fleet."
+
+[21] "It is to be presumed that Raumati's relatives and friends at
+Tauranga made his cause their own, for they met the Arawa people
+somewhere near Maketu, where a great battle was fought. Raumati's
+party, though successful at first, were defeated, and their leader
+killed by the power of _makutu_, or witch-craft, for Hatu-patu,
+the Arawa chief, caused a cliff to fall on him as he retreated from
+the battle, and thus killed him" (_Polynesian Journal_).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING
+
+
+In one of the many sanguinary battles of those intertribal wars which
+raged in Old New Zealand from this period down to the introduction of
+Christianity, Werawera, the father of Te Rauparaha, was captured,
+killed, and eaten. The subject of our sketch was at that time a mere
+child, and the grim old warrior who had made a meal of Werawera was
+heard to remark that, if ever the youngster fell into his hands, he
+would certainly meet a similar fate, as he would make a delicious
+relish for so great a warrior's _rau-paraha_. The _rau-paraha_ here
+referred to was a juicy plant of the convolvulus family, which grew
+luxuriantly upon the sand-dunes of the seashore, and was largely used
+by the Maori of those days as an article of food. Such a tragic
+association of the child with the plant was never forgotten by his
+tribe, and it was from this circumstance that he derived that name
+which has stood paramount amongst Maori _toas_[22] of all time--Te
+Rauparaha--the convolvulus leaf. The branch of the Tainui people to
+which Te Rauparaha belonged was the Ngati-Toa tribe, who have already
+been described as occupying the country immediately surrounding the
+shores of Kawhia harbour. Like all the other Tainui tribes, these
+people claimed direct descent from Hoturoa, the admiral of the canoe;
+but the ancestor from whom they derived their name was Toa-rangatira,
+and from him Te Rauparaha was descended in a direct line on his
+father's side. Werawera, however, had married a Ngati-Raukawa lady,
+named Pare-kowhatu, and this fact, placing a bar sinister across Te
+Rauparaha's escutcheon, destroyed in a measure the purity of his
+pedigree from the Ngati-Toa point of view, although, as compensation,
+it gave him an influence with the Ngati-Raukawa tribe, which in after
+years carried with it fateful results.
+
+The Ngati-Raukawa people were closely allied to Ngati-Toa by ties of
+blood and friendship; for Raukawa, the ancestor who gave them name and
+individuality as a tribe, was related to Toa-rangatira, both chiefs
+being descendants of Raka, and through him of Hoturoa. This common
+ancestry gave these two tribes a common interest and sympathy, which
+were steadily increased by frequent inter-marriages; and to these
+bonds they appear to have been faithful through all the varying
+fortunes of their history. Conflicts between the Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa tribes were less frequent than was the case with the
+majority of the tribal families; and when the time came to mould their
+affinities into a closer union, Te Rauparaha used this long-standing
+friendship as the central argument, by which he eloquently sought to
+convince Ngati-Raukawa that there was but one destiny for them and for
+Ngati-Toa.
+
+Te Rauparaha had two brothers and two sisters, all older than himself;
+but none of them ever achieved a great position or reputation in the
+tribe, except perhaps Waitohi[23], who might claim the reflected glory
+of being the mother of that fiery and volcanic soul, Te Rangihaeata.
+This chief, whose life enters largely into early New Zealand history,
+rose to be the fighting lieutenant and trusted adviser of his more
+famous uncle, and, in these questionable capacities, he was probably
+the most turbulent spirit who crossed the path of Wellington's pioneer
+colonists. Towards them he ever manifested an uncompromising hatred,
+the one redeeming feature of his hostility being the absolute
+frankness with which he proclaimed it.
+
+Unfortunately but little is known of Te Rauparaha's boyhood.
+Presumably he was brought up by his mother, after his father's death,
+between the settlements at Maungatautari[24], where he was born about
+the year 1768, and Kawhia, where his father's relatives lived. As he
+grew in years, the greater part of his time was spent at Kawhia with
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, by whom he was regarded as a hereditary chief and
+as one of their future leaders. His influence with Ngati-Raukawa did
+not commence until he had attained to early manhood; and the visits
+which he paid to his kindred at Maungatautari during this period had
+no military importance, and could only be regarded as interchanges of
+friendship. His sojourns at Maungatautari were always welcome, for as
+a boy he is said to have had a particularly sunny disposition, and to
+have entered eagerly into all the amusements dear to the heart of
+Maori children of that day. These enterprises frequently led him into
+mischief, and into those moral pitfalls which beset the path of
+high-spirited lads. But, for all his boisterous spirits, the boy never
+failed to pay respect to his elders, and one of the marked
+characteristics of his nature at this time was his willing obedience
+to those who were entitled to give him commands. He was even known to
+have performed services at the request of a slave, whom he might very
+well have ordered to do his own work, since his birth and breeding
+placed him far above the behests of a menial.
+
+As Te Rauparaha grew to youth and early manhood he began to display
+qualities of mind which soon attracted the attention of the leading
+Ngati-Toa chiefs; but, strange to say, his mother was the last to
+discern these exceptional talents in her son, and always maintained
+that Nohorua, his elder brother, was the clever boy of the family.
+These maternal expectations, however, were not destined to be
+realised.
+
+Before the introduction of Christianity amongst the Maori, it was the
+custom to assign to a young chief some girl from his own or a
+neighbouring friendly tribe as his wife. Neither of the parties most
+directly interested in the alliance was consulted, and their feelings
+or wishes were not considered to have any important bearing upon the
+question. Such a system frequently led to unhappiness and
+heart-burning, but in the case of Te Rauparaha, the choice made for
+him proved to be a happy one, and Marore[25], a girl of tender grace,
+made him an admirable wife. Of her he became extremely fond, and out
+of this affection arose the first military enterprise which gave him
+fame and reputation as a leader of men.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by Jackson._
+ POMOHAKI PASSAGE, KAWHIA.]
+
+As not infrequently happened in Maori life, his own people had
+prepared a great feast for some visiting tribesmen; but when the food
+which had been collected for their entertainment was distributed to
+the various families, Te Rauparaha observed with considerable
+displeasure that the portion given to Marore was of the very plainest,
+and contained no dainty morsel which she was likely to enjoy. The want
+of consideration thus shown towards his child-wife preyed upon the
+young chief's mind, and he speedily determined that, come what might,
+he would find with his own hand the relish which his friends had
+failed to provide. Accordingly he petitioned those in authority at
+Kawhia to permit him to organise a war party for the purpose of
+invading the Waikato country, where he hoped to take captive in
+battle some warrior who would make a banquet for his bride. At first
+his proposals were received with opposition, for the reason that he
+was himself at this time in delicate health, and it was deemed prudent
+that he should await recovery before embarking upon so desperate a
+venture. Moreover, the tribe being then at peace with Waikato, the
+chiefs were naturally reluctant to sanction any act which would
+inevitably embroil them in a quarrel with their neighbours. But the
+fiery enthusiasm which Te Rauparaha displayed for his own scheme, and
+the persistency with which he urged its claims, overcame the
+resistance of the tribal fathers, who thus acknowledged, for the first
+time, the strength of the personality with whom they had to deal.
+
+Armed with this authority, he at once set about marshalling his
+forces, and his call to arms was eagerly responded to by a band of
+young bloods equally keen for adventure with himself. The
+_taua_[26] made its way safely to the nearest Waikato _pa_,
+where the profound peace prevailing at the time had thrown the
+defenders off their guard. In the belief that the visitors were on a
+friendly journey, they invited their advance guard within the walls of
+the village. Soon, however, the error was discovered; and the
+inhabitants, realising the position, flew to arms with an alacrity
+which sent the invaders flying through the gate of the _pa_. The
+impetuous energy of the Waikatos, led by Te Haunga, induced them to
+push the pursuit a considerable distance beyond the walls of their
+stronghold; and it was the strategic use which Te Rauparaha made of
+this fact that gave him the victory and established his claim to
+leadership in future wars. Owing to the difficulty which he
+experienced in walking, he had not been able to march with the
+leaders, but was following with a second division of his men, when he
+saw, to his dismay, his warriors being chased out of the _pa_.
+His own force was as yet concealed behind an intervening hill, and,
+quickly taking in the situation, he ordered his men to lie down
+amongst the _manuka_ scrub, which grew to the height of several feet
+beside the narrow track which they had been traversing. He saw that
+the fugitives would follow this line, in order to rejoin him as
+speedily as possible, and in this anticipation his judgment proved
+correct. At full run they swept past, closely followed by the angry
+Waikatos, who, having escaped from one trap, little dreamed how simply
+they were falling into another. Close in his concealment, Te Rauparaha
+lay until the last of the pursuing body had rushed by; then, bursting
+from his hiding-place, he attacked them in flank and rear with such
+vehemence that they were at once thrown into disorder. The tumult of
+his assault checked the flight of the Ngati-Toas, and the Waikatos,
+now wedged in between two superior forces, sustained heavy losses. Te
+Rauparaha is credited with having slain four of his opponents with his
+own hand, and the total killed is said to have numbered one hundred
+and forty. Amongst these was Te Haunga, the principal chief of the
+_pa_, who formed a specially valuable trophy in view of the purpose
+for which the raid had been organised. His body was carried home to
+Kawhia to provide the relish which Te Rauparaha so much desired for
+Marore.
+
+Although this attack upon Waikato was only one of the many sporadic
+raids so common amongst the Maori tribes, and could not be regarded as
+a military movement of national importance, Te Rauparaha had conducted
+it with so much skill and enterprise that his achievement became the
+chief topic of discussion throughout the neighbouring _pas_, and,
+in the words of an old narrator, "he was heard of as a warrior by all
+the tribes." The fame which he had thus suddenly achieved, and the
+desire to live up to his reputation, inspired him with a new sense of
+responsibility, and he became a keen student of all that pertained to
+the art of war as practised in his day. He was shrewd enough to see
+the advantages attending military skill amongst a people with whom
+might was right, and, even at that age, he was ambitious enough to
+dream dreams which power alone would enable him to realise. He aimed
+at making the acquaintance of all the great chiefs of the surrounding
+tribes; and, when it was safe to visit them, he travelled long
+distances to sit at the feet of these old Maori warriors, and learn
+from them the subtle methods by which fields were won. These journeys
+gave him a familiarity with the country and the people which was very
+useful in the disturbed and precarious relations between Ngati-Toa and
+the neighbouring tribes. In these warlike excursions, which were as
+often of an aggressive as of a defensive nature, Ngati-Toa was not
+invariably successful. But, even in their defeats, the reputation of
+Rauparaha increased with his years, for he was ever turning to account
+some new device of tactics or giving some fresh proof of his personal
+courage.
+
+Nor did he neglect to cultivate the good opinion of his tribe by
+generosity in the discharge of his social duties. His bounty was never
+closed against the stranger; and when he invited his friends to a
+feast, his entertainment was always of the most lavish kind. Even to
+his workmen he was strikingly considerate. He abolished the practice
+indulged in by the field labourers of giving a portion of the food
+provided for them to strangers who happened to arrive at the
+settlement, by insisting that the kumara-planters should retain their
+full ration and the strangers be fed with food specially prepared for
+them. This unconventional liberality speedily created the desired
+impression,[27] and became the subject of general remark amongst those
+who were on visiting terms with the Kawhia chief. It even became
+proverbial, for it was sometimes said of a benevolent Maori, "You are
+like Te Rauparaha, who first feeds his workmen and then provides for
+his visitors."
+
+Reference has already been made to the fact that Te Rauparaha had been
+in the habit of making frequent visits to parts of the country distant
+from Kawhia, for the dual purpose of completing his education in the
+art of warfare and of strengthening his personal relations with
+influential chiefs, who might be useful to him in future diplomacy.
+During one of these excursions he had proceeded as far as what is now
+known as the Valley of the Thames, in the Hauraki Gulf, to pay his
+respects to the chiefs of the Ngati-Maru[28] tribe, who were then both
+numerous and influential in that part of the island. How much he was
+esteemed by the leaders of this people may be judged by the fact that,
+when he was about to return, they, amongst other gifts, presented him
+with a firearm and a few cartridges, his first acquisition of the
+kind. To us the gift of an old flintlock might seem a trivial
+circumstance; but to a Maori, who was lingering on the fringe of the
+Stone Age, such a weapon was a priceless treasure. So dearly were they
+prized by the natives at this time that only the consideration of
+warmest friendship could have induced the Ngati-Maru to part with even
+one. There was in these rusty and erratic "fire-spears" that which
+would before long revolutionise the whole system of native warfare;
+and the shrewdest of the natives saw that the tribe which acquired the
+largest number of guns in the least time would have an enormous
+advantage in the field of battle.
+
+For some years a few vagrant and adventurous voyagers, together with
+the more honest whalers, had been making the Bay of Islands one of
+their principal rendezvous; and in the desultory trade which had been
+carried on between the crews and the natives, guns had first fallen
+into the possession of the Nga-Puhi tribe. The deadly use which these
+warriors had made of this new instrument of destruction, in their
+skirmishes with their neighbours, had so impressed the native mind
+that forces hitherto well-disciplined were seized with panic when
+marched against guns, until it was felt by the inland tribes that such
+weapons were absolutely indispensable to safety or victory.[29] Many
+of the natives, whose curiosity had been aroused by the novel sights
+which they had seen on the visiting whalers, had shipped as seamen
+before the mast in the hope of seeing more of the great world from
+which the _pakeha_ came. In this way they had been carried to Port
+Jackson, where they had witnessed on a more extensive scale the
+destructive power of the European weapons. Owing to the misjudged
+generosity of the Sydney public, some had been able to bring a few
+muskets back with them, while others had secured hatchets and
+bayonets, which, fastened on the end of long handles, were soon
+recognised as weapons vastly superior to the spears and _taiahas_ of
+their fathers. These discoveries accentuated the desire to replace
+their obsolete arms with others of a more modern type; and as a result
+of the excessive demand thus created, the commercial value of a musket
+rose in the market, until the traders asked, and the Maoris willingly
+gave, as much as a cargo of flax for a single weapon. The effect of
+this musket-hunger was to change completely the existing relations
+between the _pakeha_ and Maori, going far to remove the estrangement
+and distrust which had been generated between the two races. Up to
+this time but little respect had been shown to the dark-skinned
+natives of these far-away islands by the rude sailors who had visited
+them; and in their contempt for the "niggers" they had been guilty of
+many outrages which would have staggered humanity, had humanity been
+able to grasp the full measure of their ferocity.[30] Retaliation,
+culminating in the murder of Marion du Fresne and the burning of the
+_Boyd_, followed upon outrage, and hatred, fed by misunderstanding,
+was daily driving the two peoples further and further asunder.[31] But
+the need and the hope of acquiring muskets suddenly changed all this,
+for the natives now saw that it was necessary to their very existence
+that they should cultivate the European, in order that they might
+trade their flax and pigs for guns; while the white man, seeing that
+he could procure these valuable products at so insignificant a cost,
+was nothing loath to forget the many injuries which had been inflicted
+upon his own race.
+
+Thus the spirit of crime and revenge, which for years had darkened the
+page of New Zealand's history, suddenly disappeared in the eagerness
+for trade, and in its stead came the spirit of industry, which sent
+countless natives toiling in the swamps and on the hill-sides,
+preparing in feverish haste the fibre wherewith they might purchase
+this new weapon of destruction. This mad rush for muskets did not
+escape the keen observation of Te Rauparaha, who saw with unerring
+precision what its ultimate effect must be. Had he been a resident of
+the east coast there is little doubt that he too would have plunged
+with enthusiasm into the fatal scramble, trusting to his natural
+shrewdness and business acumen to secure for him a fair share of the
+market's prizes. But he was at the outset placed at this disadvantage.
+His country was on the west coast of the island, where the whalers and
+traders seldom came; and the Ngati-Toa, unlike the Nga-Puhi, had few
+or no opportunities of holding intercourse with the _pakeha_, from
+whom alone the coveted muskets could be procured. It was therefore
+with a heavy heart and sorely perplexed mind that Te Rauparaha
+returned to Kawhia, for he knew with absolute certainty that so soon
+as the Waikatos succeeded in arming themselves with firelocks it was
+only a question of time when they would decide to attack him and his
+people, in satisfaction for many an old grudge. Then the day would go
+hard with Ngati-Toa, who could only encounter this new invasion with
+stone clubs and wooden spears.
+
+As the result of many years of intertribal wars the country
+surrounding Aotea harbour, to the north of Kawhia, had become almost
+denuded of population. A few inconsiderable _pas_ still remained,
+but their defenders were so inefficient as to constitute a living
+invitation to some stronger people to come down and exterminate them.
+Thus it was not surprising that a section of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe,
+whose home was at Raglan, should, after a successful raid in this
+quarter, decide to permanently occupy so inviting a district. They
+immediately attacked and drove out the feeble occupants, and then sat
+down to enjoy the fruits of their conquest. This act of aggression was
+hotly resented by Te Rauparaha, who could not suffer his allies to be
+buffeted in so unceremonious a manner, and within an incredibly short
+period of time he had his fleet of canoes on the water carrying a
+_taua_ to Whanga-roa, where he met and decisively defeated
+Ngati-Mahanga. The report of this Ngati-Toa victory soon spread
+throughout the enemies' domain, and in due course reached the ears of
+those branches of the tribe living at the mouth of the Waikato River,
+who at once resolved to espouse the cause of their defeated friends.
+Manning seven large canoes, they came down the coast with a
+well-disciplined force under the renowned leader Kare-waho, and
+landing at Otiki, they first demolished the _pa_ there and then
+passed on to Ohaua, whither the fugitives had fled, and delivered
+their attack upon that stronghold. No decisive result was achieved, as
+the rupture appears to have been healed before victory crowned the
+arms of either side, and the invaders were as eager to return as the
+besieged were glad to see them go. But the peace thus hastily made was
+as speedily broken, and a series of events was soon to ensue which was
+fated to have far-reaching results. Shortly after the return of the
+northern raiders a noted Waikato warrior, named Te Uira, came into the
+disputed Aotea territory, and while there varied his sport as a
+fisherman by killing a stray Ngati-Toa tribesman. On hearing of this
+tragedy Te Rauparaha and a war party promptly went over and retaliated
+by slaying Te Uira. Though to all appearances strictly within the code
+of morality which sanctions the taking of a life for a life, the
+Waikato people chose to regard this act as one of treachery, and the
+magnitude of the crime was measured by the value of the life taken. Te
+Uira was a man who had ranked high in their esteem. As a warrior and a
+leader of men he was a _toa_, indeed, and his death was to them a
+disaster. They therefore determined that the annihilation of Ngati-Toa
+was the only adequate solace for their injured feelings, and on this
+end they now concentrated their energies. War party after war party
+was sent over to Kawhia, and many desperate battles were fought, out
+of which Ngati-Toa seemed to emerge generally with success. But the
+gloom of impending disaster was gathering round Te Rauparaha, for the
+powerful Ngati-Mania-poto tribe became leagued with Waikato against
+him; and, although he had no difficulty in defeating them singly when
+they met, their coalition with his old enemy was a more serious
+matter. Stung by a recent repulse at Ta-whitiwhiti, they hurried
+messengers to all their distant friends, and in answer to their call a
+combined force of 1,600 men under Te Rau-Angaanga, father of the more
+famous Te Wherowhero, was soon marching against Kawhia's diminishing
+band of defenders. Crossing the ranges, they soon fell upon the
+Hiku-parea _pa_, which they invested at the close of the day. During
+the night half their force lay concealed in ambush, and when the
+garrison emerged in the morning to give battle to an apparently small
+body of besiegers they were mortified to find themselves so hopelessly
+outnumbered and outgeneralled that there was nothing left for them to
+do but die as bravely as they might. The invaders then marched to
+attack the great Te Totara _pa_, where Te Rauparaha was personally in
+command, and here again the defenders were driven in before the swift
+onslaught of the allies. But where his arms had failed him Te
+Rauparaha's diplomacy stood him in good stead. He managed to soothe Te
+Rau-Angaanga into agreeing to a truce, and a temporary peace was
+patched up, only to be broken by the turbulent temper of the
+Ngati-Toa, who saw no impropriety in committing fresh aggressions so
+soon as their militant neighbours had returned home.
+
+The position was thus becoming grave for Te Rauparaha, and in an
+effort to stem the threatening disaster he sought to turn to some
+practical purpose the influence and prestige which he had now gained
+with the neighbouring chiefs. He suggested to his more trusted friends
+amongst the Maori leaders the need and wisdom of a confederation of
+all their tribes against the oppression of the Waikato people. But,
+though conducted with consummate tact and skill, these negotiations
+were destined to be futile. While all were friendly enough with Te
+Rauparaha, mutual jealousies existed amongst the other tribes, which
+destroyed any prospect of that unanimity and cohesion so essential to
+the success of such a scheme. Nga-Puhi remembered how Ngati-Maru had
+invaded their territory in days of old, and now that they were
+possessed of muskets they saw a prospect of repaying the debt--a
+chance much too promising to be lightly thrown away. Te Heuheu, the
+great chief at Taupo, would not coalesce with Ngati-Maru, and the
+Arawa still nursed their grudge against Tainui. These ancient
+grievances, which never seemed to die, kept the tribes outside Waikato
+apart, while the fact that Te Wherowhero had been able to form an
+offensive and defensive alliance with the Blücher of Maoridom, Te
+Waharoa, so strengthened his position that, after months wasted in
+fruitless appeal, Te Rauparaha returned to Kawhia more than ever
+convinced that if his tribe was to be spared the humiliation of
+defeat, and perhaps annihilation, self-reliance must be the keynote of
+his future policy.
+
+During the next two years (1816-1818) Te Rauparaha devoted himself to
+occasional excursions against Waikato, in which he was moderately
+successful; but his more important operations at this period were
+directed against the tribes of Taranaki. The peculiar ethics of Maori
+warfare were largely responsible for the first of these southern
+descents upon a people with whom he was now beginning to enjoy
+considerable intercourse. A marriage had been celebrated between
+Nohorua, his elder brother, and a Taranaki lady,[32] and by way of
+commemorating the solemnity, a feast on a sumptuous scale had been
+given to the bridegroom's friends. Te Rauparaha, with the generosity
+for which he was at this time remarkable, was not slow to return the
+compliment, and in the course of a few months he journeyed southward
+to Te Taniwha _pa_, where Huri-whenua, the brother of Nohorua's
+young wife, lived, bringing gifts of dried fish and other seasonable
+foods. These social amenities led to still more intimate relations,
+and at the end of the following kumara and taro harvest the chief of
+Te Taniwha proceeded northward in his fleet of canoes on a promised
+visit to Kawhia. A fair wind beating into their triangular sails
+carried the canoes to within ten miles of their destination, and at
+the close of day the fleet headed for the shore at Harihari. Next
+morning they were met at their camp by Te Rauparaha and Rauhihi, who
+assured them of a cordial welcome at Kawhia and then proceeded
+overland to prepare their reception. In the meantime a rolling surf
+had set into the bay where the canoes were beached, and in the
+operation of launching them several were overturned and their crews
+nearly drowned. This misfortune, which involved the loss of all the
+food intended for the feast, angered Huri-whenua exceedingly, and he
+adopted a strange but characteristically Maori-like method of seeking
+balm for his injured feelings. Gathering a party of his people
+together, he set off in pursuit of Te Rauparaha and his friend, and,
+attacking them, succeeded in killing Rauhihi, but not Te Rauparaha,
+who reached Kawhia after an exciting chase. His assailants, knowing
+full well that this unprovoked attack upon their chief would excite
+the indignation of Ngati-Toa, retired in haste to their home, which
+they immediately began to place in a condition of defence against the
+day when Te Rauparaha would return to seek satisfaction for the
+contemptuous disregard of his hospitality and the menace offered to
+his life. Nor were their precautions taken a moment too soon. Scarcely
+had the walls been strengthened and the Waihi stream dammed up so as
+to form a wide lake on one side of the _pa_ than Te Rauparaha
+appeared, accompanied by Tuwhare,[33] one of the most celebrated
+Nga-Puhi chiefs of his day. This was Tuwhare's first visit to the
+south. He had gladly accepted the invitation to join the expedition,
+for his purpose in coming to Kawhia had been to lead an invasion into
+Taranaki territory, in order to secure some of the valuable mats, for
+making which the people of that part were widely famed.
+
+Tuwhare's contingent consisted of not more than two hundred men, but
+they brought with them something which, at this period, was more to be
+dreaded than men--the deadly musket. A few of these arms were carried
+by the invaders, while the defenders had not as yet even heard of or
+seen them.[34] The precautions of the garrison had robbed the
+northerners of all hope of successfully capturing the _pa_ by assault,
+and so they sat down to besiege it in the most leisurely fashion. For
+several weeks besiegers and besieged watched each other across the
+wide lagoon which had been formed by the waters of the Waihi. At last
+Te Rauparaha and his people, growing weary of the enforced inactivity,
+sent proposals of peace to Huri-whenua. These were accepted, and
+subsequently ratified, but not before the pride of Ngati-Toa had been
+salved by their insistence upon a quaint condition. Te Rauparaha,
+recognising that the damming of the Waihi stream had been the means of
+frustrating his plans, demanded that, before the siege was raised, the
+dam should be removed. The point was conceded and the barrier broken
+down; and, as the waters rushed back into their bed, the northerners
+ostentatiously discharged their muskets in token of victory, and
+"then," says a Maori chronicler, "this ignorant people of these parts
+heard for the first time the noise of that weapon, the gun." The war
+party remained for some time on amicable terms at Te Taniwha, and
+before they had resolved to return home they were importuned to engage
+in further aggressions by Te Puoho, of whom we shall hear more anon.
+This warrior was a man of influence amongst the Ngati-Tama tribe, who
+held what has been called "the gate of Taranaki"; and it was due to
+the numerous connections by marriage between the northerners and
+Ngati-Tama that the former had been permitted to pass unmolested to
+the attack upon Te Taniwha. Te Puoho now sought recompense for his
+friendship by enlisting the sympathies of the northern leaders in the
+redress of his own grievances. He solicited their aid in an attack
+upon Tatara-i-maka _pa_, the home of those who had been responsible
+for the death of his sister not long before.
+
+Obedient to Te Puoho's summons, and eager to secure mats and heads and
+slaves, the war party marched upon the _pa_, which stood with its
+terraced ramparts upon the sea-coast eleven miles south-west of New
+Plymouth. Seeing the invaders approach, the defenders went out to meet
+them, and gave them battle on the open space in front of the _pa_; but
+the sound of the guns, and the sight of men falling as by the hand of
+some invisible enemy, so terrorised the defenders that their lines
+were soon broken, and they fled, a demoralised host, back to their
+stronghold, which was immediately stormed and taken with great
+slaughter. This incident inspired the following lament, which was
+composed by one of the Taranaki people, in memory of those who fell at
+Tatara-i-maka:--
+
+  "Sweet is the Spring, the September month,
+  When brilliant Canopus stands aloft,
+  As I lay within my solitary house,
+  Dazed with sad thoughts for my people
+  Departed in death like a flash.
+  To the cave of Rangi-totohu--
+  Emblem of sad disaster--
+  They are gone by the leadership
+  Of Uru, of the fearsome name.
+  'Twas there at the hill of Tatara-i-maka
+  The foe advanced in wedge-like form,
+  Whilst our gathered people bid defiance
+  At the entrance of the _pa_,
+  Where Muru-paenga[35] forced his way--
+  The army-raiser, the leader--
+  His was the fatal blow delivered,
+  At the ascent of Tuhi-mata:
+  Hence I am dried up here in sorrow."
+
+From Tatara-i-maka the _taua_ moved southwards, attacking
+Mounu-kahawai as they went. This _pa_ was taken under cover of
+the smoke caused by firing the dry _raupo_ which grew in the
+neighbouring swamps, and then Tapui-nikau was invested. Here the
+defenders, though fighting only with their _rakau maori_, or
+native weapons, made so gallant a resistance that not even the guns of
+the invaders could penetrate it. They had filled the fighting towers
+of the _pa_ with huge boulders and smaller stones, and the
+branches of the trees which overhung the trenches were lined with men,
+who handed the missiles to those best able to drop them upon the enemy
+as they swarmed round the walls.[36] Changing their tactics, the
+invaders drew off to a position which closed all communication with
+the _pa_, and at the same time gave them complete control of the
+surrounding country, so as to prevent the possibility of succour
+reaching the beleaguered _pa_. It was during the respite from
+active hostilities thus secured that there occurred one of those
+strange incidents which, though common enough in Maori warfare, appear
+so anomalous in the light of European custom. Te Ratutonu, one of the
+defending chiefs, had been so conspicuous in repelling attacks that
+his gallantry and skill in arms became the subject of universal
+admiration throughout the northern camp. But not alone upon the men
+had his bravery made its impression. Rangi Topeora, Te Rangihaeata's
+sister, had witnessed his prowess, and, charmed by his handsome figure
+and manly strength, had been seized with a desire to have the hero for
+her husband. When the clash of arms had ceased, she persuaded her
+uncle, Te Rauparaha, to have Ratutonu "called," a ceremony which was
+performed by some one approaching the beleaguered _pa_, and under a
+guarantee of safety, inviting the warrior into the camp. Ratutonu
+obeyed the summons, and came down from the _pa_ to meet Topeora; and
+to her he was married after the orators had delivered themselves of
+speeches rich in eulogy of their new-found kinsman, and full of
+admiration for the virtues of his bride.[37]
+
+This unexpected union had raised a hope in the breast of the defenders
+that the rigour of the siege would now be relaxed, and that peace
+would be made as a fitting sequel to the romantic nuptials. In this
+they were, however, doomed to disappointment, for the Nga-Puhi,
+knowing that the food of the _pa_ must be failing, would listen
+to no suggestion of compromise. But, moved by a more generous impulse,
+Ngati-Awa, the Taranaki section of the allies, entered into secret
+communication with the garrison, and finally arranged that the
+defenders should be allowed to pass through their lines by night and
+escape to the neighbouring hills. Next morning, great was the
+excitement in the camp when it was discovered that there was neither
+smoke ascending from the fires nor sound from the ramparts of the
+_pa_. The enemy had slipped from under their very hand; had flown
+from under their very eyes; and, as Ngati-Awa kept their own counsel,
+there was not a trace to show or suggest how the trick had been
+accomplished. Nothing, therefore, remained for the outwitted besiegers
+to do but avail themselves of what plunder had fallen into their
+hands, and make the best of their way back to their homes.
+
+Upon the return of the _taua_ to Kawhia, its composite forces
+separated and departed to their respective districts, but not before
+the plans of a still more extensive campaign had been discussed. These
+operations, however, did not commence for a year, and, in the
+meantime, the seriousness of his position in relation to the Waikato
+people was more than ever apparent to Te Rauparaha, whose inability to
+come into contact with the whalers, and the consequent difficulty he
+experienced in becoming possessed of muskets, brought him much
+"darkness of heart." But, as he meditated, his anxiety of mind was to
+some extent relieved by the arrival at Kawhia of the northern portion
+of the war party, the raising of which had previously been agreed
+upon. In accordance with this arrangement, Tuwhare, accompanied by
+Patuone, and his brother, that picturesque figure in Maori history,
+Tamati Waka Nene[38]--whose influence and eloquence were subsequently
+to be so powerfully used to secure the acceptance by the natives of
+the Treaty of Waitangi--left Hokianga in November, 1819, and
+proceeding by a circuitous route which embraced the country of the
+Waitemata, reached the home of Te Rauparaha, and found there a force
+of four hundred men waiting to welcome them.
+
+ [Illustration: BURNING OF THE "BOYD."
+ From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland,
+ by kind permission of the artist.]
+
+Accredited estimates give the strength of the combined contingents
+at fully one thousand men, and they were armed with a greater number
+of muskets than had ever previously been carried into the field by any
+Maori organisation. A further distinction was the presence of many
+leaders whose deeds were to be deeply imprinted upon the records of
+Maori history. Each tribal section was under chiefs who are
+acknowledged to have been amongst the classic warriors of their time;
+so that, in the matter of skilful direction and heroic example, the
+_taua_ might consider itself more than usually fortunate. The primary
+purpose of the expedition appears to have been no more than a love of
+adventure and a desire to kill and eat a few of their enemies; but
+embraced within this scheme was a secondary motive, which involved the
+redress of a grievance which Te Puoho had acquired against the
+Whanganui people, whom he considered accountable for a slight put upon
+his daughter. The friendly relations which prevailed between Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Tama ensured the war party an uncontested passage through
+"the gate of Taranaki"; and, although Ngati-Awa assembled to oppose
+them, they were satisfied to desist, upon Te Rauparaha consenting to
+pay the tribute of ownership by requesting permission to pass through
+their territory.
+
+The first important halt was made at Manu-korihi, on the north bank of
+the Waitara River, where a stay of some length was made for the
+purpose of finally determining the order of their plans. The
+Manu-korihi people became deeply interested in the muskets which the
+visitors had brought with them; and curious to observe their
+effect--at the expense of some one else--they persuaded Te Rauparaha
+and his friends to commence hostilities against the famous
+Puke-rangiora _pa_, whose inhabitants had been guilty of some
+cause of offence. The invitation to attack the great stronghold was
+accepted with alacrity; but when the war party presented themselves
+before the walls, they found it so strongly fortified and so keenly
+defended that discretion dictated a less valiant course, and so they
+passed Puke-rangiora, and went over the mountain track to Te
+Kerikeringa in search of a meaner enemy. This _pa_ was a central point
+in the system of defence set up by Ngati-Maru, who had established
+populous settlements and made great clearings in the forest east of
+the present town of Stratford. Their great fighting chief was
+Tutahanga, who in former days had subdued the pride of both the
+Waikato and the Nga-Puhi. Now he was old, but his martial bearing was
+still such that, when the invaders inquired of their guides how they
+might distinguish him from those of inferior rank, they were told, "He
+is a star."
+
+Graced by the red plumes of the tropic bird, the northerners moved up
+to the attack, but were met with so stout a resistance by the
+defenders, who had donned the white feathers of the sacred crane,
+that, in spite of their muskets, their combination broke, and they
+retired in disorder to the western slopes, where they were compelled
+to resort to the tactics of a regular siege. From these heights, which
+dominated the _pa_, they were occasionally able to shoot down an
+unwary defender who exposed himself to their fire; but they did not
+rely entirely upon this method of fighting to effect their conquest.
+Frequent assaults were made upon the gateway, in one of which they
+succeeded in shooting Tutahanga, and in another Patu-wairua, his
+successor in command. Before his death, Patu-wairua, persuaded that
+the _pa_ could not hold out much longer, desired to make peace if
+possible; but his conciliatory views were overruled by the less
+diplomatic leaders of the tribe. Patu-wairua then sat down and sang a
+lament for his people, whose impending fate he deplored with all the
+affection of a father. In the next sally he was killed in the
+fore-front of the fighting line, bravely sustaining the unequal
+contest, in which the _mere_ was matched against the musket.
+
+With their two great leaders gone and many of their tribesmen dead, a
+feeling of depression settled down upon the garrison, whose position
+was daily growing less secure. But while they were sinking under the
+weariness begotten of incessant vigilance, a Maori-like episode
+occurred, in which the arts of the women were employed to do that in
+which the stalwart arms of the men had failed. As a last device, the
+Ngati-Maru generals hit upon the idea of sending all the young women
+of the _pa_ into the camp of the invaders, to beguile the warriors
+with their charms, and so induce them temporarily to relax the
+severity of the siege. History does not record the fate of these
+maidens of Te Kerikeringa; but they deserve at least a certain
+immortality. For during the diversion thus caused the _pa_ was
+silently evacuated, the survivors of the siege making their escape
+across the Waitara River along the Tara-mouku Valley, and through the
+dense forest which stretched for many miles into the heart of the
+island.
+
+The tidings that Kerikeringa had fallen spread with such rapidity
+that, before the rejoicings of the victors had concluded, the tribes
+to the southward had succeeded in concealing themselves within their
+mountain fastnesses. Consequently we hear of no conflicts with
+Ngati-Ruanui or Nga-Rauru, as the victorious _taua_ passed over
+the old forest track which leads out into the open country near the
+town of Normanby. This peaceful passage was not interrupted until they
+reached the Whanganui River, where they found the resident tribes
+drawn up in battle array to oppose them at the Turua _pa_. This
+_pa_ was situated on the eastern bank of the river, a little
+above the present town of Whanganui; but, in reaching it, the
+northerners were faced with a serious initial difficulty, inasmuch as
+they had no canoes of their own, and Te Anaua, of Whanganui, had taken
+the precaution to remove his flotilla to the opposite shore. But the
+ingenuity of Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha was equal to an emergency of
+that kind. Ordering their men into the neighbouring swamps, they
+employed a month in cutting dry _raupo_ leaves, out of which they
+constructed a _mokihi_ fleet, and on these vegetable rafts the
+whole force was eventually transported across the wide and deep
+river. The capture of the _pa_ was a work of no great difficulty; for
+here, as elsewhere, the muskets exercised their terrifying influence
+upon natives coming into contact with them for the first time.
+
+Southward the march was once more directed, and skirmishes followed
+with Ngati-Apa in the Whangaehu and Rangitikei districts. No
+protracted fighting was possible where the panic-stricken inhabitants
+fled before the all-destroying guns. Across the Rangitikei the
+_taua_ passed into the fertile district of the Manawatu, which
+since the traditional days of Whatonga had been the home of the
+Rangitane people. Of this hostile descent upon the coast the Rangitane
+people declare that they, secure in their mountain fortresses, heard
+nothing until the arrival of the war party at Otaki. Thither some of
+the children of Toki-poto, the chief at Hotuiti, near Awahou (Foxton),
+had gone on a visit to their friends; and there they met Te Rauparaha,
+who inquired of them the whereabouts of their people and the number
+and strength of their _pas_.
+
+The patronising and fatherly demeanour which this warrior could
+assume[39] when his ends were better served by the concealment of his
+true purpose completely won the confidence of the lads, and, in their
+innocence of the man, to whom they were confiding the secrets of the
+tribe, they readily told him all that he wished to know. When the
+desired information had been obtained some of Te Rauparaha's followers
+proposed, as a precautionary measure, that the children should be
+killed; but Te Rauparaha, more far-seeing than they, interposed, for
+he had not yet exhausted their usefulness. In the depths of his
+cunning he had conceived the idea of making the children of Toki-poto
+the instruments by which that chief should be delivered into
+Ngati-Toa's hands. Accordingly, he resisted the demand for their
+blood, saying, "No, let them alone, they are only children. Rather
+let us go and take Toki-poto out of the stern of the canoe." This was
+his expressive and figurative method of conveying to his warriors that
+he sought a more valuable trophy than the life of a child, and that he
+had resolved upon no less a scheme than the assault of the Hotuiti
+_pa_. To Mahuri, the eldest son of Toki-poto, he then turned, and in
+dulcet tones he said, "Go to your father, I will see him."
+
+Accompanied by the Ngati-Toa warriors and their leader, the lad led
+the way to a small lake _pa_ at Hotuiti, whither Toki-poto had
+gone with the major portion of his people from their main settlement
+on the banks of the Manawatu River. The _pa_ itself was built on
+one of the many miniature islets which dot the face of the lake; and,
+while Te Rauparaha and his followers lurked in the bush which fringed
+the margin, he sent the unsuspecting Mahuri to tell his father that Te
+Rauparaha wished to talk with him. The first thought to arise in the
+mind of the Rangitane chief was one of suspicion, and he at once
+exclaimed, "No, I will not go. I shall be slain." But the boy, into
+whose good graces Te Rauparaha had completely ingratiated himself,
+ridiculed these fears, and urged his father to go. To these entreaties,
+and possibly to fears of retaliation if he did not comply, Toki-poto
+at last yielded, and, taking a few of his people with him, went in his
+canoe, unarmed, to welcome his visitor.
+
+Scarcely had they reached the edge of the wood when they were set upon
+by the secreted warriors, and in the massacre which followed the chief
+and a number of his followers were killed, the remainder, with the
+exception of two, being taken prisoners. The two who escaped were
+Mahuri, the innocent cause of the disaster, and Te Aweawe, the father
+of the well-known family who still reside upon the Rangitane lands in
+the Manawatu. Side by side with Toki-poto, there fell that day another
+chief named Te Waraki, whose greenstone _mere_, a weapon famous
+in the annals of the tribe, was buried on the site of the massacre by
+the mourning people, and there it remained hidden for full sixty
+years, until it was discovered in 1882.
+
+Strange to say, Te Rauparaha did not press the advantage gained by the
+removal of Hotuiti's chief by attacking the _pa_, but contented
+himself with carrying off his prisoners to Otaki, where he rejoined
+Waka Nene. Here the two chiefs rested for a time, pursuing vigilant
+inquiries into the number and disposition of the resident tribes. They
+visited for the first time the island stronghold of Kapiti, and found
+it in the possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people, under the
+chieftainship of two men named Potau and Kotuku. The visit was made
+with a simulation of friendship, for the time was not ripe for an
+attack; and the northerners were satisfied for the moment with
+examining the strategical features of the island, and extorting from
+Potau and Kotuku a considerable quantity of the greenstone which they
+had accumulated during the course of their traffic with the Ngai-Tahu
+of the South Island.
+
+Refreshed by their sojourn at Otaki, and considerably enlightened as
+to its military possibilities, the northern war party then pushed on
+southwards, fighting as they went, first at Wai-mapihi, a fortified
+_pa_, the remains of which are still to be seen not far from the
+Puke-rua railway station. The _pa_ was captured, it is said, by
+treachery suggested by Te Rauparaha, and the Muaupoko, whose valour
+had defied the most desperate efforts of their assailants, were hunted
+in and through the bush by their fierce pursuers. Here, and at
+Porirua, a number of canoes fell into the hands of the invaders, some
+of whom now decided to vary the monotony of the land journey by the
+exhilaration of the sea route. This determination ended disastrously.
+Ignorant of the silent currents and treacherous tides of Cook Strait,
+the Nga-Puhi men of two canoes were swamped while taking the outer
+passage in rounding Sinclair Head, and fully one hundred of them were
+drowned. The remainder of the canoes, steering a course inside the reefs,
+escaped the danger of shipwreck, and reached Whanganui-a-Tara[40]
+almost simultaneously with the party who had journeyed by land.
+
+The country surrounding this great basin was then held by the
+Ngati-Ira, a sub-branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, whose
+possessions practically extended from Gisborne to Cape Palliser, on
+the eastern side of the North Island. They were a brave and numerous
+people, and when their _pa_ at Pa-ranga-hau was attacked, they
+fought with a desperation which extorted admiration even from their
+enemies. Though considerable numbers of Ngati-Ira were killed in this
+conflict, Nga-Puhi did not escape scatheless; for one native account
+says: "Ngati-Ira charged them in the face of the flames of their
+muskets, and with their native weapons killed many Nga-Puhi." Hunger
+was now beginning to assert its inconvenience; and the war party were
+at this time compelled to live exclusively on the flesh of their
+slaves, of whom large numbers were killed, each chief undertaking
+successively to provide the necessary supply. Disease also attacked
+their camps, of which there were two; and some mysterious pestilence
+was responsible for the death of many warriors and several chiefs,
+whose heads were preserved and their bodies burned, to prevent them
+falling into the hands of the enemy. Scarcely had the stricken host
+recovered from the prevailing sickness than the Ngati-Ira swept down
+upon the bivouac at Te Aro in the dead of night, and, in the first
+shock of the surprise, inflicted sore loss upon the sleeping warriors.
+Thanks to their guns, the northerners were ultimately successful in
+beating off the attack, and immediately afterwards the pas which
+skirted the harbour were deserted by their inhabitants, who, reluctant
+to accept the responsibility of battle under such unequal conditions,
+beat a stealthy retreat into the Hutt Valley, whither the northern
+chiefs followed them, though their force was now only a remnant of
+what it had formerly been. They travelled by canoe up the river which
+waters the valley, and, as they went, the resident people, confident
+in their numbers, collected along the banks to jeer at them, and
+contemptuously invited them on shore to be eaten.
+
+The details of this campaign are but a repetition of successive
+slaughters; for the panic created by the strange sound and deadly
+power of the gun left the unhappy defenders no spirit to resist the
+onslaughts of their assailants. For several weeks they remained in the
+valley, guided from _pa_ to _pa_ by their slaves, who, to
+save their own lives, were forced to sacrifice those of their
+tribesmen. Every nook of the dark forest was penetrated, and even the
+steeps of the Rimutaka Range were climbed in vengeful pursuit of the
+fugitives. In connection with these manoeuvres the reputation of Te
+Rauparaha has again been besmirched by suggestions of treachery--and
+treachery of the blackest type; for nothing could be more hurtful to
+the honour of a high chief than that he should prove faithless while
+feigning hospitality. It has been recorded by the Nga-Puhi chroniclers
+that, as they pushed on through the forest, they came upon a strongly
+built and populous _pa_, which left some room for doubt as to
+what the issue of an attack would be. To tempt the warriors into the
+open was the policy advocated by Te Rauparaha, and to achieve this end
+he sent messengers to the Ngati-Ira chiefs with offers of peace. To
+render the bait more seductive, a feast was prepared, to which the
+warriors of the Hutt were invited; and, on assembling, a northern man
+sat down beside each one, prepared at a sign from their chief to
+spring upon the unsuspecting guests. Into the _marae_ the women
+brought the food, and, as the unsuspecting Ngati-Ira were revelling in
+the delights of the banquet, the fatal signal was given by Te
+Rauparaha, and a massacre commenced, which ended only with the capture
+of the _pa_ and the rout of its inhabitants.[41] Whether the name
+of Te Rauparaha will ever be cleared of this odious imputation which
+the Nga-Puhi record has branded upon it is uncertain. But, as a
+counterpoise, it must be remembered that those who have made the
+accusations were at least willing participators in the schemes which
+they ascribe to him, and that, if the plans were his, the execution of
+them was undoubtedly theirs.
+
+Having exhausted the field of conquest open to them in the valley of
+the Hutt, the war party returned to the harbour where their canoes
+were beached, and, undeterred by the fact that their numbers had now
+dwindled to less than three hundred, they set off by sea for Palliser
+Bay, by which route they had determined to enter the Wairarapa. A
+successful reprisal by the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, who had cut off and
+annihilated a small party of the northerners, was the immediate
+justification for this new development in the plans of Tuwhare and Te
+Rauparaha. The opposing forces met at the Tauhere Nikau _pa_,
+near Featherston, which was strongly fortified and bravely defended;
+but the muskets which these rude imitators of Cortés carried with them
+were here, as elsewhere, sufficient to spread consternation through
+the opposing ranks, and the _pa_ soon fell before the Ngati-Toa
+assault. Numbers of the besieged escaped to the hills, where they
+suffered the biting pangs of hunger, and the bitterness of soul
+inseparable from the aftermath of war.[42] Others, keeping to the open
+country, were pursued as far as Porangahau, in Hawke's Bay; and then
+the war party, weary of their bloody work, made their way back to
+Tauhere Nikau, where they spent some days demonstrating their contempt
+for the enemy by eating the bodies of the slain.
+
+When hunger and tribal hatred had been sated, the victorious warriors,
+observing ominous signs of a gathering storm, returned to the west
+coast, and remained for a few days' rest at Omere.[43] While here,
+the eagle eye of Waka Nene descried a vessel[44] in full sail beating
+through Cook Strait. To the quick intellect of the chief, the sight of
+the ship opened up in an instant fresh possibilities; for he knew what
+intercourse with the _pakeha_ had done for the Nga-Puhi, and he saw no
+reason why the same advantages should not be shared by his friend and
+ally, Te Rauparaha. Doubtless that chief had confided his fears to
+Waka Nene, and they had probably consulted long and anxiously as to
+the growing weakness of the position at Kawhia. When, therefore,
+Tamati beheld the passing ship, he saw at a glance that, if this part
+of the coast was frequented by vessels of the white man, it offered
+the same facilities for obtaining arms and ammunition which Hongi
+enjoyed at the Bay of Islands. With unrestrained excitement he called
+out to his comrade: "Oh, Raha,[45] do you see that people sailing on
+the sea? They are a very good people; and if you conquer this land and
+hold intercourse with them, you will obtain guns and powder and become
+very great." This optimistic little speech was apparently all that was
+required to confirm Te Rauparaha in his growing desire to take the
+decisive step of migrating with the whole of his people from the
+storm-threatened Kawhia; and when the chief turned his face towards
+home, it was with the full resolve to come back at the first
+convenient season and make the country his own.
+
+The homeward journey was characterised by the same ruthless behaviour
+towards the resident people which had been practised on the way down,
+those who were captured being killed and eaten without any
+unnecessary ceremony.[46] What occurred within the confines of the
+Manawatu district we do not know, because the present-day
+representatives of the Rangitane people declare that they saw and
+heard nothing of the invaders. As they proceeded further north,
+however, we hear more of them; for while they were in the Rangitikei
+district an incident occurred which it suited the Ngati-Apa people not
+to forget. In one of the many excursions made into the interior in
+search of prisoners, a young chieftainess, named Pikinga, was captured
+by a party of Te Rangihaeata's men. Pikinga was the sister of Arapata
+Hiria, the Ngati-Apa chief against whom Waka Nene and Te Rauparaha
+were operating at the moment; and, if the gossip of the day is to be
+believed, she was possessed of no mean personal charms. She, at least,
+was attractive enough to captivate the most ruthless of the party, for
+it was not long before Te Rangihaeata fell a victim to her charms and
+made her his wife.
+
+Whether this was merely a passing whim on the part of an amorous young
+warrior or a move in a much deeper game of diplomacy, it would be
+difficult to say at this distance of time, particularly as each tribe
+now imputes to the action of the chief a different motive. The
+Ngati-Apa claim, with some insistence, that the marriage was the
+expression of a bond of perpetual peace between them and Te Rauparaha:
+while the Ngati-Raukawa, to whose lot it fell some fifty years later
+to contest the point, contend that no such wide construction could be
+put upon Rangihaeata's action, and that, even if it involved the
+tribes in a treaty of friendship at the time, the compact was
+subsequently denounced by Te Rauparaha on account of the treachery of
+Ngati-Apa. It is quite within the region of possibility that Te
+Rauparaha, having regard to the political aspect of the situation,
+would, so soon as he had measured their strength, lead the Ngati-Apa
+to believe that he desired to cultivate their goodwill; because
+immediately he had determined to seize the country opposite Kapiti, he
+would perceive the wisdom of having some friendly tribe stationed
+between him and his northern enemies, upon whom he could rely to
+withstand the first shock of battle in the event of a Waikato
+invasion. Such tactics would not be foreign to the Ngati-Toa leader,
+for that part of his life which was not spent in battle was occupied
+in the development of schemes whereby the efforts of one tribe were
+neutralised by the efforts of another; and if he could make pawns of
+the Ngati-Apa, he would chuckle to himself and say, "Why not?"
+
+But Te Rauparaha was not the man to seriously contemplate anything in
+the way of a permanent peace with Ngati-Apa, or with any one else whom
+he felt strong enough to destroy. And even assuming that he encouraged
+them in the belief that Rangihaeata's devotion to Pikinga was a common
+bond between them, he would not dream of maintaining such an
+understanding a moment longer than it suited his purpose. It seems,
+therefore, more likely that, when he satisfied himself that the people
+of the Rangitikei were no match for his own warriors, and that he
+could subdue them at his leisure, he was at some pains to impress them
+with a sense of his magnanimity, but only because he desired to use
+them as a buffer between himself and the Waikatos. Years afterwards,
+when he felt secure against invasion, he repudiated all friendship
+with Ngati-Apa, and ordered his people to wage eternal war against
+them. The claim which the Ngati-Apa subsequently made to the land in
+the Rangitikei-Manawatu districts, on the ground that they were never
+conquered by the Ngati-Toa, because this marriage protected them from
+conquest, was therefore not well founded, the ordinary occurrence of a
+chief taking a captive woman to be his slave-wife being invested with
+a significance which it did not possess. Upon the consummation of
+this happy event, the war party, laden with spoil and prisoners, made
+their way back to the north. When they reached Kawhia, after an
+absence of eleven months, Tuwhare being dead,[47] Waka Nene, who had
+now assumed command of the northern contingent, took his leave of Te
+Rauparaha, and Te Rauparaha prepared to take leave of the land of his
+fathers.
+
+[22] Braves.
+
+[23] Waitohi had other children, one of whom, Topeora, afterwards
+became the mother of Matene Te Whiwhi, one of the most influential and
+friendly chiefs on the west coast of the North Island. Topeora is
+perhaps more famed than any other Maori lady, for the number of her
+poetical effusions, which generally take the form of _kaioraora_,
+or cursing songs, in which she expresses the utmost hatred of her
+enemies. Her songs are full of historical allusions, and are therefore
+greatly valued. She also bore the reputation of being something of a
+beauty in her day.
+
+[24] There appears to be some doubt as to the exact locality of Te
+Rauparaha's birth, some authorities giving it as Maungatautari and
+others as Kawhia.
+
+[25] Marore was killed by a member of the Waikato tribe--it is said,
+at the instigation of Te Wherowhero--while she was attending a
+_tangi_ in their district, about the year 1820.
+
+[26] War party.
+
+[27] The traditional accounts of the Maoris have it that at this
+period Te Rauparaha was "famous in matters relative to warfare,
+cultivating generosity, welcoming of strangers and war parties."
+
+[28] This tribe was afterwards partially exterminated during the raids
+of Hongi and Te Waharoa.
+
+[29] "When Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of Whanga-roa,
+in 1819, the terrified people described him as having twelve muskets,
+while the name of Te Korokoro, then a great chief of the Bay of
+Islands, who was known to possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with
+terror for upwards of two hundred miles beyond his own district"
+(_Travers_).
+
+[30] "If we take the whole catalogue of dreadful massacres they (the
+New Zealanders) have been charged with, and (setting aside partiality
+for our own countrymen) allow them to be carefully examined, it will
+be found that we have invariably been the aggressors: and when we have
+given serious cause of offence, can we be so irrational as to express
+astonishment that a savage should seek revenge?" (_Earle_).
+
+[31] Marsden, writing of this time, says that such was the dread of
+the Maoris that he was compelled to wait for more than three years
+before he could induce a captain to bring the missionaries to New
+Zealand, as "no master of a vessel would venture for fear of his ship
+and crew falling a sacrifice to the natives." As an extra precaution,
+all vessels which did visit the country were supplied with boarding
+nets.
+
+[32] Whare-mawhai, sister of Huri-whenua, chief of the Ngati-Rahiri,
+who lived at Waihi, four or five miles north of Waitara.
+
+[33] Tuwhare belonged to the Roroa branch of the Nga-Puhi tribe.
+
+[34] When the musket was first introduced into Taranaki, a slave was
+very anxious to know how it was used. A Nga-Puhi warrior explained to
+him the method of loading and priming, then told him to look down the
+muzzle. The slave did so, whereupon the Nga-Puhi pulled the trigger,
+and the top of the unfortunate slave's head was blown off, much to the
+amusement of the surrounding crowd.
+
+[35] Associated with Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha in this raid was another
+and equally famous chief, named Muru-paenga. That he was a great
+warrior is proved by the fact that his enemies speak of him in the
+lament already quoted as "the army-raiser, the leader," while his
+friend Te Taoho, in a _tangi_ composed after his fall, refers to
+his "warlike eloquence," and compares him to "a richly-laden vessel,
+with all knowledge and great courage." But Muru-paenga is not merely
+famed in song, for his achievements have in a measure passed into
+proverb. In the taking of _pas_, one of his favourite stratagems
+was to stealthily approach the enemy's fort at nightfall, and pounce
+upon it with the first light of dawn. This involved the sleeping of
+his men amongst the tender ferns growing on the outer edge of the
+bush, which in the morning necessarily bore a trodden-down appearance,
+a fact which did not escape the keen observation of those who had oft
+been the victims of his tactics. Consequently, when Muru-paenga was
+killed by Nga-Puhi in 1826, the joyful news went through the country
+which he had previously devastated, and the saying was composed, in
+significant suggestion that the ferns and the people would no longer
+be crushed, "Rejoice, O ye little ferns of the woods, Muru-paenga is
+dead."
+
+[36] "During the siege, Tawhai (afterwards Mohi Tawhai), father of the
+late Hone Mohi Tawhai, M.H.R., who was with the northern contingent of
+the taua in the attack, was close under one of the towers of the
+_pa_ when one of the defenders hurled a big stone at him which
+split open his head. But by careful doctoring he recovered--careful
+doctoring according to Maori ideas meant that they poured hot oil into
+the wound and then sewed it up" (_Polynesian Journal_).
+
+[37] Topeora did not secure her husband without a struggle, for
+another lady, Neke-papa, had also taken a fancy to the handsome
+warrior, and as Te Ratutonu was leaving the _pa_, a dispute arose
+as to which should have him. But Topeora, being fleet of foot, ran to
+meet the advancing warrior, and cast her _topuni_, or dog-skin
+mat, over him, "and this being in accordance with Maori custom, Te
+Ratutonu became the husband of Topeora."
+
+[38] His home was on the banks of the Hokianga River, on the western
+side of the country, opposite to the Bay of Islands. He afterwards
+became a convert to the Wesleyan Mission, and received at his baptism
+the prefix "Thomas Walker" to his old Maori name of Nene, hence the
+name by which he is known in history--Tamati Waka Nene.
+
+[39] The late Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, who knew Te Rauparaha well, has
+assured the writer that when it suited him the wily old chief could
+"lend a most angelic expression to his countenance."
+
+[40] Now known as Wellington.
+
+[41] "All these works of treachery, ambushes, murders, and all these
+wrongs done by the _taua_ of Nga-Puhi, were taught them by Te
+Rauparaha" (_Nga-Puhi account_).
+
+[42] The female prisoners were secured by plaiting flax ropes into
+their long hair, and the men were imprisoned in enclosures made for
+the purpose.
+
+[43] Omere is a high bluff just to the south of Ohariu Bay. This bluff
+was the place which Maoris always visited to see if the Straits were
+calm enough to cross: hence the reference in the old song--
+
+  Where Omere projects outside,
+  The look-out Mount for calms.
+
+[44] It has been suggested that this vessel was either the _Wostok_
+or the _Mirny_ of the Russian scientific expedition sent out by
+Czar Alexander I. in 1819, and which visited Queen Charlotte Sound. If
+this is so, the date of this event was either late in May or early in
+June, 1820.
+
+[45] A contraction for Rauparaha.
+
+[46] On one occasion, when Te Rauparaha was conversing with Mr. George
+Clarke, then Protector of the Aborigines, the latter asked him how he
+made his way from north to south. With a wicked twinkle in his eye, Te
+Rauparaha replied, "Why, of course, I ate my way through."
+
+[47] On reaching Whanganui, a division in the councils of the leaders
+took place, Ngati-Toa and Nga-Puhi remaining on the coast, while
+Tuwhare made an intrepid dash up the Whanganui River with his own
+immediate followers. They fought their way up into the "cliff
+country," in the upper reaches of the river, and here, in an
+engagement at the Kai-whakauka _pa_, Tuwhare received a wound on
+the head from which he shortly afterwards died. On receiving the fatal
+blow, he contemptuously remarked to his assailant: "If thine had been
+the arm of a warrior I should have been killed, but it is the arm of a
+cultivator."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LAND OF PROMISE
+
+
+When the period of feasting and enjoyment, which invariably followed
+upon the return of a successful Maori war party, had terminated at
+Kawhia, Te Rauparaha immediately became involved in a fresh struggle
+with Waikato. The cause of the hostility was remote; but, as Waikato
+had vowed to drive him out, no pretext was too slight upon which to
+base a quarrel. Thus the killing of one of their chiefs by a Taranaki
+warrior, to whom Te Rauparaha was related, was sufficient to justify
+the marching of a large war party against him. Their force advanced in
+two sections: the one came down the inland track, and the other, which
+was to actively engage Te Rauparaha, entered Kawhia from the sea. Two
+_pas_, Tau-mata-Kauae and Te Kawau, speedily fell before the
+invaders, and again Ngati-Toa were defeated at the battle of Te
+Karaka, on the borders of Lake Taharoa, after an heroic struggle, in
+which it is said that three hundred Ngati-Toa fought more than a
+thousand Waikatos. These disasters were indeed darkening the outlook
+for Ngati-Toa, and the position has been graphically described by one
+native historian, who states that "the losses of the tribe of Te
+Rauparaha were very great; by day and by night they were killed by
+Ngati-Pou." Success had also attended the arms of the section of
+Waikato who, under Te Wherowhero, had swept through the Waipa Valley
+and across the forest plateau until they reached the Wai-Kawau
+_pa_ on the sea-coast, just north of the Mokau River. This they
+stormed and sacked by force of overpowering numbers, and, surfeited
+with victory, they united with their comrades at Te Karaka, and then
+triumphantly marched home.
+
+With so many of his _pas_ obliterated and his warriors slain, Te
+Rauparaha retired upon Te Arawi, a coastal stronghold built upon the
+summit of a forbidding-looking rock, which at full tide is completely
+surrounded by a breaking sea. Here he had leisure to reflect upon the
+lessening radius of his freedom and to formulate his plans for
+extricating his people from a position of increasing peril; and we may
+fairly assume that it was now that his final decision to migrate from
+Kawhia to Kapiti was taken. Once resolved on this course, he applied
+himself systematically to the task of persuading his people to enter
+into the spirit of the scheme, over which he himself had become so
+enthusiastic, and which he now deemed necessary to their safety. The
+task was by no means a simple one, for the impending danger was not so
+apparent to all the tribe as it was to their chief; and, moreover,
+there centred in the spot which he was asking them to leave the
+traditions and associations of all the centuries which had passed
+since their forefathers had first landed there from the pilgrim canoe.
+They knew each nook and corner, from the caves to the hill-tops, every
+point of which spoke to them of the beloved past. Here a rock which
+had been a trysting-place in some tragic love affair, there a haunt of
+spirits, yonder a burying-ground made sacred by the bones of their
+ancestors, and there again a battlefield hallowed by the memory of the
+fallen. Each of these was a tie dear to the Maori; and they were loath
+to leave all that linked them to the past and face a future full of
+doubt and uncertainty.
+
+But the confidence which Te Rauparaha had inspired, and the prospect
+of guns and ammunition in abundance, gradually overcame these
+sentimental objections; and before long the Ngati-Toa people agreed to
+follow their chief whithersoever he might lead. Te Rauparaha was,
+however, prudent enough to recognise that his own section of the
+tribe, though brave at heart, were few in numbers for so serious an
+undertaking as the conquest of a new territory. As soon, therefore, as
+he had secured the consent of his own tribe, he paid a visit to
+Maungatautari, for the purpose of obtaining the co-operation of
+Ngati-Raukawa. With them he was no more successful at first than he
+had been with his own people. He pointed out their liability to
+attack, the difficulty in obtaining guns, shut out as they were from
+communication with the whalers, and the prospect of an easy victory
+over the weakened tribes of the coast. But they were reluctant to give
+up all that they possessed for a visionary and problematical success,
+and it was not till quite a year later that he was able even partially
+to break down their resistance. In pressing his claims upon the
+Ngati-Raukawa, he was materially aided by a somewhat romantic incident
+which occurred during his stay at Maungatautari. Although his mother
+was a Ngati-Raukawa woman, and by virtue of that fact he could claim
+chieftainship amongst them, Te Rauparaha was not regarded as a
+particularly brilliant star in their peerage; but what he lacked in
+pedigree was more than compensated for by his mental initiative and
+personal courage. Conscious of his own power, he never lost an
+opportunity of impressing it upon others; and it is therefore not a
+matter for surprise that he made the death of the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+the occasion of advancing his own claims to leadership.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by Jackson._
+ TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA.
+ From which the Ngati-Toa migration commenced.]
+
+Thus it was a fortunate circumstance for him that, while he was
+advocating the conquest of Kapiti, Hape Taurangi, the great chief of
+Maungatautari, was seized with a fatal illness, and, while the whole
+tribe sat silently waiting for the end, the question of succession
+seemed to trouble him, as he probably realised the absence of a
+master-mind amongst his own sons. To them he put the question: "Can
+you tread in my steps and lead my people to victory? Can you uphold
+the honour of the tribe?" To these interrogations not one of his sons
+replied, and the silent suspense remained unbroken, until Te
+Rauparaha, springing from the ring of warriors, exclaimed, "I am able
+to tread in your steps, and even do that which you could not do." The
+apparent presumption of this speech was lost in the general
+satisfaction, and, when Hape passed into the Great Beyond, Te
+Rauparaha took over his wives and his leadership, the latter of which
+he retained to his dying day.[48] But the measure of authority which
+had passed to him on the death of Hape did not include the sole
+direction of Ngati-Raukawa's affairs. The tribe still looked to their
+natural leaders for guidance in domestic matters, and the new
+influence gained by Te Rauparaha in their councils, though
+considerable, was not sufficient to overcome the obduracy of the tribe
+towards what they chose to regard as his chimerical proposal.
+
+Nothing daunted, however, by the refusal of his kinsmen to participate
+in his bold enterprise, Te Rauparaha proceeded with patient
+deliberation to make his own arrangements. These involved the most
+careful planning and delicate negotiation, for failure in any one
+direction might wreck the whole scheme. The first consideration was to
+secure safe conduct for his people through the territory of the
+Taranaki tribes, and the establishment of resting-places where the
+very old and very young could recover their strength, and where
+sufficient food could be grown to carry them on to the next point of
+vantage. To this end negotiations were entered into with the Ngati-Awa
+and Ngati-Tama chiefs, who were more or less connected with Ngati-Toa
+by inter-marriage. It would, however, be a mistake to elevate this
+racial relationship into a bond of sincere friendship between these
+tribes, for neither would have hesitated long about a proposal to
+destroy the other, had a favourable opportunity presented itself.
+Their attitude towards each other was distinctly one of armed
+neutrality, which at any moment might have broken out into open
+rupture. But even this negative attitude of the tribes proved useful
+to Te Rauparaha, as it enabled him to approach Ngati-Awa and
+Ngati-Tama with at least the semblance of friendship, while it
+deprived them of open hostility as a reason for refusing his requests.
+The concessions which the Ngati-Toa leader asked for were therefore
+granted, though grudgingly; but he could no more persuade Ngati-Awa to
+go with him than he could impress the Ngati-Raukawa; and when he
+reminded them of the change which was coming over the system of Maori
+warfare, and the weakness in which they would be left by his
+departure, they laughed at his misgivings, boasted of their ancient
+_mana_, and told him that his fears were altogether unworthy of a
+chief of his standing. How dearly they paid for their lack of
+foresight is told in the fall of Puke-rangiora _pa_ a few years later,
+when the Waikatos swept down upon them and drove them flying into the
+arms of the man whose counsel they had so carelessly despised.
+
+Having thus diplomatically arranged an open road for the passage of
+his people to the south, he found it equally essential to secure an
+unmolested departure from the north. He therefore appreciated the
+necessity of making terms with his old enemy, Te Wherowhero, of
+Waikato, and in this important negotiation he availed himself of the
+services of two Ngati-Mania-poto chiefs, who occupied the country
+close to Kawhia and were on friendly terms with Te Wherowhero. These
+chiefs paved the way for a conference, at which Te Rauparaha appears
+to have been unusually candid with his old antagonist. He frankly
+unfolded to him the details of his proposed migration, and, in
+consideration of Te Wherowhero's guaranteeing him immunity from
+attack, he, on his part, agreed to cede the whole of the Ngati-Toa
+lands to the Waikato tribes after his people had vacated them. Such
+easy acquisition of a valuable piece of country was not without its
+influence upon Te Wherowhero. But he was even more impressed by its
+strategic than by its inherent value. The migration of Ngati-Toa
+would rid him of a troublesome enemy on the west, and enable him to
+concentrate all his forces on his eastern frontier, where he would be
+the better able to resist the aggressions of that other remarkable
+figure in Maori history, Te Waharoa, should it ever occur to that
+warrior to attack him. On the understanding, then, that Kawhia was to
+be formally ceded to him, Te Wherowhero undertook not to molest the
+migrating tribe, either during their preparations or on the actual
+march.
+
+The question of immunity from attack having been thus satisfactorily
+disposed of, the next matter which Te Rauparaha had to consider was
+the securing of an adequate supply of provisions for his people during
+their pilgrimage. As it was impossible to complete the journey in a
+single season, it was necessary not only that large quantities of food
+should be carried with them, but that planting-places should be
+established at various points along the route of march, where these
+supplies could be renewed from time to time. None of these details
+were overlooked, but all were worked out with mathematical exactitude
+by the consummate organiser in whose brain the migration had been
+planned; and the smoothness and precision with which these precautions
+dovetailed together furnish a remarkable example of high organising
+capacity. As a final preparation, it was necessary that the
+disposition of his fighting men should receive some attention, because
+he could not hope to conceal his real purpose from the people whose
+country he was about to invade. It is true he did not anticipate any
+serious opposition, because the defeats inflicted upon them by the
+recent expedition under Tuwhare, Waka Nene, Patuone, and himself had
+so reduced their strength as to render serious opposition impossible;
+but, in view of the limited force at his command, and the unlikelihood
+of increasing it, unnecessary waste had to be guarded against. He
+therefore divided his warriors into suitable sections, and, appointing
+a sub-chief to lead each company, he retained the supreme command of
+affairs in his own hands. The carrying out of these varied
+preparations had now occupied several months, and when all was ripe
+for departure he paid a last visit to the surrounding tribes and
+chiefs--to Kukutai, of Lower Waikato, to Pehi-Tukorehu, of
+Ngati-Mania-poto, to Te Kanawa, of Waikato, bidding them good-bye,
+and, as an example in good faith, he kept his word to Te Wherowhero,
+saying to that chief: "Farewell! remain on our land at Kawhia; I am
+going to take Kapiti for myself: do not follow me." At Mungatautari a
+final effort was made to induce the Ngati-Raukawa to join him; but,
+although there were evidences of weakening resistance, he had still to
+wait several months before their objections were so far overcome as to
+permit him any measure of hope that they would yet yield and follow
+him. The tour of leave-taking at an end, Te Rauparaha returned to his
+_pa_ at Te Arawi, and there summoned his people to prepare for the
+fateful march. When all was ready, the blazing flaxstick was put to
+the walls of the great carved house which had adorned the _pa_, and as
+the smoke of its destruction arose, the whole tribe of fifteen hundred
+souls passed through the gate which they were never again to enter.
+
+In the case of unlettered peoples there is necessarily some difficulty
+in determining the precise periods at which important incidents in
+their history have occurred; and in this instance we have nothing to
+guide us except the arrangement and comparison of subsequent events.
+By this mode of reasoning we are led to the conclusion that the
+migration from Kawhia must have occurred during the latter months of
+the year 1821. But, whatever obscurity rests upon this point,
+tradition is clear[49] that the circumstances under which the exodus
+commenced were singularly auspicious. The day broke with a cloudless
+sky, and, as the sun rose into the blue dome, the landscape for miles
+was lit by the rosy tints of morn, rendering every peak and valley
+more beautiful. On the route of march lay the hill of Moeatoa, and to
+its summit the pilgrims climbed, in order to take a last fond look at
+their ancient home. As they turned and gazed upon old Kawhia the
+memories of the past came crowding back upon them, and it is easy to
+understand their deep manifestations of sorrow at leaving their
+ancestral domain. The softer sentiments associated with home and
+country are not the exclusive prerogative of civilised beings. These
+people, savage and ruthless though they were, thrilled with the same
+patriotic feeling which prompted the Prophet of Israel to exclaim: "If
+I forget thee, O Jerusalem! may my right hand forget her cunning." And
+although their form of expressing it was neither so beautiful nor so
+poetical, they were, nevertheless, quite as sincere when they cried
+upon the mountain-side: "Kawhia, remain here! The people of Kawhia are
+going to Kapiti, to Waipounamu." "The love of a New Zealander for his
+land is not the love of a child for his toys," says a well-known
+writer.[50] "His title is connected with many and powerful
+associations in his mind, his affection for the homes of his fathers
+being connected with their deeds of bravery, with the feats of their
+boyhood, and the long rest of his ancestors for generations." And
+there is no reason to suppose that these feelings were less active in
+the Ngati-Toa at such a moment than they were in other Maori tribes.
+
+The closing scene in the life of the Ngati-Toa at
+Kawhia has been beautifully described by Thomas
+Bracken, whose word-picture of the scene on Moeatoa
+Hill is amongst the finest that came from his poetic
+pen:--
+
+  "Beneath the purple canopy of morn,
+  That hung above Kawhia's placid sheet
+  Of waters crystalline, arose on high
+  The golden shield of God, on azure field,
+  With crimson tassels dipping in the sea!
+  And from its burnished face a shower of rays
+  Shot up the hills and gilt their spires and peaks
+  In lambent sheen, until the turrets seemed
+  Like precious ornaments of purest gold
+  On mighty altars raised by giant priests
+  In olden times, to offer sacred fire
+  As sacrifice unto the Fount of Light,
+  From whence the planets and the myriad stars
+  Drink their effulgence!
+                          In the wild ravines
+  And gorges deep, the limpid babbling creeks
+  Sang matins as they left their mother hills
+  To mingle in united waters, where
+  They lost their little selves, and merged in one
+  Pellucid flood that gathered stronger life
+  From day to day! as God's great human church,
+  Now building on the earth shall gather all
+  The little sects and creeds and small beliefs
+  That split mankind into a thousand parts,
+  And merge them in one universal flood
+  Of boundless charity.
+                          The dazzling points
+  Of morning's lances pierced the bursting hearts
+  Of all the flow'rets on the fertile slopes,
+  And waked red Kawhai's drops from sleep
+  And shook the dew buds from the Rata's lids,
+  Until its blossoms opened up their breasts
+  And gave their fragrance to the early breeze
+  That played amongst the Koromiko's leaves,
+  And stole the rich Tawhiri's sweet perfume,
+  And strung the flax-leaves into merry tune
+  To woo the Bell-bird from his nest, to ring
+  The Tui up to sing his morning hymns.
+  The scene was made for man, not savage man,
+  The cunningest of brutes, the crafty king
+  Of beasts! but Man the Spiritualised,
+  With all the light of knowledge in his brain,
+  With all the light of love within his heart!
+  And yet they were but savages who stood
+  On Moeatoa's hill, above the scene,
+  Mere savages, a step beyond the brute!
+  But still there were bright sparks of God-lit fire
+  Within their breasts! they loved their native vales
+  With heart and soul! for they had hearts and souls
+  Far nobler than some milk-faced races who
+  Have basked 'neath Calv'ry's sun for ages long,
+  And yet lie grov'lling in the nations' rear,
+  With hearts encased in earth too coarse and hard
+  For Calv'ry's glorious light to penetrate.
+  Poor savages! that Orient had not yet
+  Shed its benignant rays upon their souls,
+  To melt the dross that dragged them down to earth
+  In carnal bonds! they knew not yet the road
+  To reach the standard of their better selves.
+  Yet they were men in all save this! brave men
+  With patriots' hearts, for as they stood and gazed
+  O'er fair Kawhia's hills and vales
+  That stretched into the sea, o'er which their sires
+  In ages past sailed from Hawaiki's shores,
+  The tears ran down their tattooed cheeks, and sobs
+  Welled from their bosoms, for they loved the land
+  With all the love intense a Maori feels
+  For childhood's home! The hist'ry of their tribe
+  Was written there on every rock and hill
+  That sentinelled the scene, for these had known
+  Their deeds of prowess, and their fathers' deeds
+  Of valour! And the caverns held the bones
+  Of those from whom they'd sprung! Their legends wild,
+  And weird traditions, chained them to the place,
+  And ere they burst those links of love they gave
+  A long sad look on each familiar spot
+  And wailed above Kawhia's lovely vale:
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      Cavern, gorge, and bay,
+    Valley, and hill, and plain--
+      We are going away.
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      Take our tears and our sighs;
+    Spirits of heroes slain,
+      Rise up from Reinga, rise.
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      With thee, Tawhaki, stay;
+    Long may he o'er thee reign--
+      We are going away."
+
+The first stage of the journey ended with the close of the fourth day,
+when the _pa_ of Puohoki was reached; and here Te Rauparaha
+decided to leave his wife Akau[51] and a number of the women and
+children under a suitable guard, while he and the bulk of the people
+pushed on as far as Waitara. Here they were received by the Ngati-Tama
+and Ngati-Awa tribes, in whose _pas_ they were quartered for the
+season; and, except that a spirit of parsimony seemed to pervade their
+welcome, they had every reason to feel rejoiced at the success which
+up to this moment had attended their venture.[52] After the lapse of a
+brief period spent in perfecting his arrangements, Te Rauparaha
+decided to return for his wife and her companions, and on reaching the
+_pa_ where they were staying he learned to his great joy that
+Akau had borne him a son. This infant lived to be the well-known
+missionary chief, Tamihana te Rauparaha. Against the advice of his
+tribe, Rauparaha had only taken a band of twenty warriors with him,
+and on the journey back to Waitara his strategic abilities were tested
+to the full to escape annihilation. Three days after his arrival he
+left on his return journey, carrying his infant son in a basket on his
+back. Knowing that he had left Kawhia, a party of the restless
+Ngati-Mania-poto had crept down the coast in the hope of finding some
+stragglers of his party whom they might conveniently kill. But instead
+of meeting, as they had expected, a few irregulars, they came suddenly
+upon Te Rauparaha himself near the mouth of the Awakino River. To some
+extent the surprise was mutual, but the stress of the position was all
+against Te Rauparaha. Supported only by a limited force and hampered
+by the women and children, he was in serious difficulties, as the
+enemy might cut off his retreat and then attack him in force. Suddenly
+a brilliant idea struck him. Before the enemy approached within
+striking distance he ordered twenty of the most active women to
+disrobe and don the mats and headgear of fighting men. Then arming
+each of them with a stone club, he placed them under the charge of
+Akau, who was a woman of magnificent physique, with instructions to
+march in the van brandishing their weapons after the manner of veteran
+warriors. The more helpless women and children were placed in the
+centre, while he and his fighting men covered the retreat. Misled by
+the stratagem, the Ngati-Mania-poto were tricked into the belief that
+the Ngati-Toa force was much stronger than it really was, and instead
+of attacking they began to retire. Observing this, Te Rauparaha
+immediately accelerated their panic by charging down upon them, and in
+the skirmish which followed Tutakara, their chief, was killed by Te
+Rangi-hounga-riri, Te Rauparaha's eldest son by his child-wife Marore,
+who was rapidly making a name for himself as an intrepid warrior. But,
+although the position was somewhat relieved, Te Rauparaha felt that
+the danger was not yet at an end. He was experienced enough in native
+tactics to know that the Ngati-Mania-poto would be tempted to return
+at nightfall and renew the attack in the hope of avenging the death of
+their chief. He therefore could not consider himself safe until the
+Mokau River was crossed, and, unfortunately, when he reached its banks
+the tide was full and the river was in flood. Nothing remained to be
+done except to wait, but in order still to maintain the deception
+twelve large fires were kindled, at each of which three women and one
+warrior were stationed, while the chief and the rest of his followers
+lay prepared for emergencies. It was also an injunction to the
+sentinels at the fires to address each other occasionally in the
+heroic language of the time. "Be strong, O people, to fight on the
+morrow if the enemy return. Take no thought of life. Consider the
+valour of your tribe." These stimulating exhortations, which were
+intended for the enemy's ears as much as for their own, were
+supplemented by fervid speeches from the women, whose shrill voices
+were carried out into the night air as a warning to the enemy that
+they would not lag behind their lords in the coming battle.
+
+Meantime, Te Rauparaha lay waiting for the enemy, who never came.
+Either having no stomach for another encounter with so redoubtable a
+warrior, or still not understanding the true position, they wisely
+declined to provoke a battle, about the result of which they could be
+by no means sanguine. At midnight the tide turned, and the river fell
+sufficiently to be fordable.[53] Leaving their fires burning, the
+Ngati-Toa crept silently down to the bank, and, wading across, made
+their way to the _pas_ of their friends, which they reached
+amidst general rejoicing. Early next morning the scene of the previous
+day's battle was revisited and the bodies of the slain enemy
+recovered to make a feast, at which the sweet revenge harboured
+against Ngati-Mania-poto was surfeited.
+
+While the Ngati-Toa plans were developing in Taranaki, another
+misfortune was falling upon the people of the southern districts from
+the opposite direction. Towards the middle of 1820 a band of six
+hundred warriors, under Apihai Te Kawau, of Ngati-Whatua, Te Kanawa,
+and Tu-korehu, of Waikato and Ngati-Mania-poto, and other prominent
+chiefs, longing for some new excitement, had journeyed down the east
+coast through Hawke's Bay and the Wairarapa, for no particular purpose
+except to kill, eat, or make slaves of whoever might fall into their
+hands. In the course of this pilgrimage of blood they crossed over to
+the west, and there attacked in succession the Muaupoko, Rangitane,
+and Ngati-Apa tribes, upon whom they inflicted sore and mortal wounds;
+and when they retired back to the north they left the conquest of
+Kapiti a matter of comparative simplicity to Te Rauparaha. But they
+were soon themselves to feel the sting of defeat. Passing into the
+Taranaki country on their homeward march, they were set upon by the
+Ngati-Awa people, who strenuously opposed their further progress at
+Waitara. This was a strange reversal of all previous policy on the
+part of Ngati-Awa, who had always been friendly to, and had frequently
+co-operated with, the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato peoples on similar
+raids. By some authorities this new antagonism has been attributed to
+the sinister influence of Te Rauparaha, who was still at Ure-nui
+waiting to harvest his crops. He had not forgotten the anxious moments
+to which he had been subjected on the banks of the Waitara River, and
+it would have been more than human on his part had he not sought to
+balance accounts now that the opportunity offered. "By means of
+plotting and deceit," says one writer, "he succeeded in rousing
+Ngati-Awa--or the greater part of them--to take up his quarrel."
+Whatever the cause of Ngati-Awa's hostility, the effect was a series
+of determined and well-organised attacks upon the northern _taua_,
+which ultimately drove them to seek refuge with a friendly section of
+the Ngati-Awa in the famous Puke-rangiora _pa_. Here they were
+besieged for seven months, fighting repeatedly, and, towards the end
+of that period, suffering intense privations. Frequent attempts were
+made to send intelligence of their straits through the enemy's ranks
+to their friends; but so close and vigilant was the investment that
+their messengers were invariably captured, and their heads fixed upon
+poles and exhibited to the besieged in a spirit of exultant derision.
+One, Rahiora, a young man of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe, did at length
+succeed in evading detection, and travelling into the Waikato by
+Kete-marae and Whanganui, thence by Taupo and Waipa, was able to
+communicate to the great Te Wherowhero the critical plight of his
+tribesmen. Te Wherowhero immediately made his call to arms, and soon a
+numerous relief party was on its way to join the force already in the
+field, which had vainly endeavoured to cut off Te Rauparaha at the
+Mokau. The junction of these forces was successfully accomplished, and
+the pride of Waikato's military strength, under two of the greatest
+chiefs of that time, Te Wherowhero and Te Waharoa, marched southward
+for the dual purpose of raising the siege of Puke-rangiora and of
+attacking Te Rauparaha. Though they failed to reach within striking
+distance of the beleaguered _pa_, their movement indirectly achieved
+its object, for the advent of so large a force lightened the pressure
+of the siege by drawing off a considerable number of the besiegers. Of
+these Te Rauparaha took command, and to his strategical genius was due
+the victory which he ultimately achieved on the plain of Motu-nui.
+This plain stretches along the sea-coast between the Ure-nui and Mimi
+Rivers. At this point the shore is bounded by perpendicular cliffs,
+fully one hundred and fifty feet high, along which are dotted several
+small _pas_, used as fishing-places in olden times. Away to the
+eastward of the plain run the wooded hills, on the steep sides of
+which rise the numerous streams which rush across the plain to the
+sea. On the southern end of one of the spurs descending from the
+range was built the strongly fortified Okoki _pa_, which was made the
+point of assembly by the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Toa warriors.
+
+The Waikato _taua_ came on as far as a place called Waitoetoe on
+the southern bank of the Mimi River, and there commenced to make a
+camp preparatory to throwing down the gage of battle. To the watchers
+in the Okoki _pa_ their fires had been visible for several miles;
+and when it was seen that they had determined to pitch camp, there was
+a general request that their position should be at once attacked.
+Personally, Te Rauparaha preferred to take no risks until the portion
+of his force which was still holding Tu-korehu in check at
+Puke-rangiora should have come up. He, however, yielded to the
+importunities of some of his chiefs, and consented to send out a
+_hunuhunu_, or reconnoitring party, to test the mettle of the
+enemy. To meet the possibility of the skirmish developing into a more
+serious encounter, he took the precaution of concealing a strong
+reserve force, composed of the older men, in the bed of one of the
+wooded streams which ran close beneath the _pa_. Having
+instructed Rangiwahia, of Ngati-Mutunga, in whose charge he left these
+supports, he took eighty of the younger men with him, and advanced
+across the plain by stealthy marches. So secretly was the movement
+effected, that they were within a stone's-throw of the Waikato camp,
+and had actually commenced the attack upon some of the Waikato
+warriors, before their presence was discerned. In the first onset Te
+Rauparaha's followers were roughly handled, and, in accordance with
+their preconcerted plan, they began rapidly to fall back, sustaining
+severe losses the while from the guns of the enemy. Their retirement
+soon developed into a general retreat, which might have been much more
+disastrous but for a fatal division of opinion which sprang up amongst
+the Waikato leaders, as to whether or not the fugitives should be
+pursued. Te Wherowhero was content to have repulsed them, and advised
+resuming the interrupted work of building their shelters; but others,
+not so cautious, urged immediate pursuit, and, these counsels
+prevailing, the whole Waikato force was soon in full cry after the
+retreating scouts. The chase was fierce and stern, and many a good
+Taranaki warrior dropped upon the plain as he sped towards the _pa_,
+for the pursuers kept up as hot a fire as their rapid movements
+rendered possible. Seeing the men falling round him, a chief who was
+running close to Te Rauparaha repeatedly urged him to turn and attack
+the pursuers; but the crafty general, knowing that the time was not
+yet, declined to forestall his prearranged strategy. He held on his
+way, only urging his men to faster flight, while Te Wherowhero incited
+his marksmen to single out the Ngati-Awa chiefs for death. Some two
+miles of the plain had been covered, and the southern warriors were
+nearing their supports. As the foremost reached the wooded gully, they
+waited there to recover their breath, and allowed the pursuers to
+close in upon them. Weary and blown with their long and exciting run,
+the Waikatos came straggling up, innocent of the trap into which they
+had fallen. At the psychological moment Te Rauparaha gave the signal,
+and out dashed his veterans, fresh and eager for the fray, charging
+down upon the exhausted and astonished Waikatos. Their chiefs who were
+in the forefront of the chase were the first to go down, and their
+numbers were perceptibly diminished as they were beaten back by
+repeated charges across the blood-stained field. Te Wherowhero fought
+through the reverse with supreme courage, engaging and vanquishing in
+single combat no less than five of Taranaki's greatest warriors; and
+to his fine defence and heroic example is attributed the fact that his
+tribe was not completely annihilated on the field of Motu-nui. On the
+other hand, it has been whispered that his companion in arms, Te
+Waharoa, did not bear himself in this fight with his wonted gallantry.
+Waikato paid a heavy toll that day. They left one hundred and fifty
+men dead on the field, and the slaughter of chiefs was a conspicuous
+tribute to their bravery--Te Wherowhero and Te Waharoa being the only
+leaders of eminence to escape.
+
+For some inexplicable reason, Te Rauparaha did not pursue his victory
+to the bitter end, as was his wont.[54] This forbearance on his part
+is especially surprising in view of the fact that Te Wherowhero had
+specifically promised to remain neutral during the progress of the
+migration. Possibly the consciousness that he would have done the same
+thing himself induced him to take a lenient view of his old
+antagonist's want of good faith; for there can be no doubt that the
+bloody wars which were at this time ravaging the country had
+completely sapped the old Maori sense of honour. "At the period in
+question, more perhaps than at any other in the history of the race,
+moral considerations had but little weight in determining the conduct
+of either the individual or the tribe. Even the nearest relatives did
+not hesitate to destroy and devour each other." There was thus nothing
+unusual about Te Wherowhero's conduct; but his experience of Te
+Rauparaha on this occasion was such that from that day onward he left
+him severely alone.
+
+The effect of these successive victories was to enhance enormously the
+prestige and power of Te Rauparaha. He began to be regarded with
+reverence by Ngati-Awa and with something akin to worship by
+Ngati-Toa. As a tangible proof of the gratitude which his hosts felt
+for the services which he had rendered them, food, which had been
+grudgingly supplied up to this time, was now given in abundance to his
+people, and, what was of even greater moment to Te Rauparaha,
+adherents began freely to flock to his cause. But, although he had
+beaten off both the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato tribes, the position
+was still unsatisfactory to him from the point of view of numbers, and
+so he resolved to make one more effort to persuade Ngati-Raukawa to
+join him. Accordingly he journeyed back to Opepe, a village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo, where he met young Te Whatanui, a chief destined
+to become famous in after years as the protector of the Muaupoko
+people whom Te Rauparaha wished to destroy. Upon the assembled tribe,
+and upon Te Whatanui in particular, he again impressed the merits of
+his scheme, pointing out the altered position occupied by the tribes
+who had managed to become possessed of fire-arms, as compared with
+those who had only wooden spears and stone _meres_. He dwelt upon the
+fact that ships were beginning to frequent Kapiti, and that there they
+could obtain guns, as Nga-Puhi had done at the Bay of Islands. He also
+reiterated all that he had formerly told them about the fertility of
+the soil and the ease with which the country might be conquered: but
+in vain. Te Whatanui volunteered no sign of approval. He gave many
+presents to Te Rauparaha, as marks of respect from one warrior to
+another. He also made him a long oration, skilfully avoiding the
+all-important topic upon which Te Rauparaha had travelled so far to
+consult him; nor did the majority of his people conceal their
+objection to coming under Te Rauparaha's immediate command, to the
+exclusion of their own chiefs. Angered at this perversity, Te
+Rauparaha shook the dust of Opepe from off his feet and proceeded to
+Rotorua, and as far as Tauranga, where he sought the aid of the great
+Te Waru. But he met with no success, for Te Waru had schemes of his
+own which claimed his personal attention. While resting with the
+Tu-hou-rangi branch of the Arawa tribe on his return to Rotorua from
+Tauranga, Te Rauparaha (according to accounts) perpetrated an outrage
+upon Nga-Puhi which was destined to inspire one of the most disastrous
+wars and one of the most daring assaults known in Maori history. His
+motive for "sowing the seeds of evil counsel" is not clear. By some it
+is alleged a jealous envy of Nga-Puhi's success in procuring arms,
+while others find it in the consuming desire for revenge for the death
+of a young relative killed a few weeks before at the fall of the Te
+Totara _pa_ at the Thames. Whatever the motive, before leaving he took
+occasion to recite a _karakia_, or song, informing the Tu-hou-rangi
+that there was a small band of Nga-Puhi travelling about in their
+vicinity, and broadly insinuating that "death and darkness were very
+good things." This hint, however enigmatical, was taken and acted
+upon. When Te Pae-o-te-rangi, Hongi's nephew, and a company of his
+Nga-Puhi followers arrived at the Motu-tawa _pa_, from which Te
+Rauparaha had just departed, they were treacherously set upon and
+killed by the Tu-hou-rangi people. It was to avenge the death of Te
+Pae-o-te-rangi that Hongi performed the Herculean task of dragging his
+canoes from Waihi, near Maketu, to Lake Rotorua, and on the island of
+Mokoia slaughtered the unfortunate Ngati-Whakaue (Arawas), who had
+been entirely innocent of the original crime.
+
+Before quitting Rotorua, however, Te Rauparaha had the good fortune to
+fall in with the Nga-Puhi chief Pomare,[55] who handed over to him a
+few of the men who had accompanied him to the Lake district on a mission
+of bloodshed. With this small reinforcement Te Rauparaha returned to
+Taranaki and prepared to resume his journey southward, having in the
+meantime enlisted the services of some four hundred Ngati-Awas under
+one of the most famous men of his time, Rere-ta-whangawhanga, father of
+Wi Kingi Rangitake.[56] The force at Te Rauparaha's command now
+numbered about eight hundred fighting men and their families. With
+these he resumed his march in the autumn of 1822, when the kumara had
+been gathered in, and advanced without interruption or mishap until he
+reached Patea. Here a slight skirmish took place, and six of the
+invaders were killed, their deaths being immediately avenged by the
+slaughter of some Waitotara people. From them a large canoe was
+captured, and was employed in the transportation of some of the women
+and children by sea, thus saving them the labour and fatigue involved
+in the land journey. Te Rauparaha himself also travelled by water with
+the women, but, with the exception of those required to propel the
+canoes, the men continued on foot along the coast, capturing and
+killing an occasional straggler who had lingered too long in the
+vicinity of the warpath.
+
+At the mouth of the Rangitikei River the canoe was drawn up on the
+beach, and the whole party halted for several days. Hearing of their
+arrival, the friends of Pikinga came down to the camp to welcome her,
+but the remainder of the Ngati-Apa tribe fled to the hills and
+concealed themselves amongst the mountain fastnesses. It would
+therefore appear that the friendship which they afterwards alleged to
+have existed between Te Rauparaha and themselves was not of a very
+substantial character.[57] Nor did the marriage of their chieftainess
+with Te Rangihaeata avail them much; for while the bulk of his people
+rested by the river, odd bands of their fighting men were continually
+scouring the country in search of some plump Ngati-Apa who was needed
+to keep the ovens fully employed. While the weather continued fine, Te
+Rauparaha was anxious to lose no more time than was absolutely
+necessary. So soon, therefore, as his people had been refreshed by the
+rest, he pushed on again, making his next stage the mouth of the
+Manawatu River, where he harassed the Rangitane people by the inroads
+of armed parties on their settlements. But comparatively few captures
+were made, as the _pas_ were deserted immediately the inhabitants
+scented the danger.
+
+The migration which Te Rauparaha was thus conducting had for its
+objective a sweet and fertile spot on the banks of the Ohau stream;
+and when the remaining portion of the coast had been traversed without
+opposition, and the tribe had reached its journey's end in safety,
+preparations were at once made to establish them permanently on the
+land. A _pa_ was built large enough to accommodate the whole
+party, and ground was cleared for cultivations, in which the potato
+was planted for the first time on this coast. Their nearest neighbours
+were the Ngati-Apa, who held possession of the island of Kapiti, and
+the Muaupoko tribe, who were settled round the shores of Lakes
+Horowhenua and Papaitonga. In what light the former regarded the
+aggression upon their borders it is difficult to say; but the latter
+were evidently very ill at ease, for they had a heavy presentiment of
+what the ultimate result would be. But how to avert the danger was no
+simple problem, as they had learned enough in the stern school of
+experience to recognise that victory in open battle was not to be
+hoped for. Strategy was therefore determined upon. Learning from two
+Whanganui chiefs, who were then on a visit to Horowhenua, that Te
+Rauparaha's vulnerable point at this period was his desire to obtain
+canoes, they resolved to tempt him with the bait to which he was most
+likely to fall a victim. The ease with which the chief fell into the
+trap was due to his excessive ambition and the further large schemes
+towards which his aspirations soared.
+
+He had heard strange stories of a treasure-trove of greenstone which
+the Ngai-Tahu people had stored in their _pas_ over on the Middle
+Island; and as he stood on the beach at Ohau and looked across the
+Strait towards the hills of Waipounamu, he dreamed of this wealth and
+how he could possess himself of it. Without a fleet of canoes to
+convey his warriors over the intervening sea, the project of invasion
+was visionary; but even with the frailest vessels he might make it a
+reality, and at one bold stroke add to his dominions, gratify his
+avarice, and satiate his hate by waging war upon the southern tribes.
+
+Of canoes the Muaupoko had many. Residing as they did upon the shores
+of two lakes, these vessels were almost as essential to them as
+gondolas to the Venetians; and when they learned of Te Rauparaha's
+eagerness to obtain what they possessed, a device was cautiously
+planned by which they might rid themselves of a neighbour whose coming
+they felt boded them no good. Into this conspiracy of murder the
+Rangitane people of Manawatu were admitted; and for thus allowing
+themselves to be made the cat's-paw of others they paid a bitter
+penalty, for they succeeded in nothing except in arousing the eternal
+hatred of the great chief, who seemed invulnerable alike to their
+cunning and their force. The authors of the scheme were Turoa and
+Paetahi, both of the Ngati-Apa tribe; and the willing instrument in
+their hands was Toheriri, a leader of the Muaupoko, whose part was,
+shortly after the arrival of the Ngati-Toa at Ohau, to send an
+invitation to Te Rauparaha and a number of his followers to pay a
+friendly visit to his _pa_ at Papaitonga. As already indicated,
+the inducement held out to Ngati-Toa was the promise of a gift of
+canoes, and, under the circumstances, a more artful pretence could not
+have been conceived. "Canoes were at this time his great desire, for
+by them only could he cross over to the island of Waipounamu," is the
+explanation of the position given by Tamihana Te Rauparaha; and, if
+the Muaupoko could gratify that desire, Te Rauparaha was not the man
+to refrain from making a convenience of his enemies, as well as of
+his friends. Accordingly he accepted the invitation, notwithstanding
+the earnest remonstrances of his nephew and lieutenant, Te
+Rangihaeata, who declared his irresistible conviction that murder,
+rather than hospitality, was the secret of the Muaupoko invitation.
+
+Rauparaha was in no mood to speculate about omens, good or evil.
+Canoes he wanted, and canoes he would have, even if the gods or the
+devils were against him. His unusual recklessness even carried him so
+far that he selected only a few warriors to accompany him, and with
+these he arrived, just at the fall of evening, at Papaitonga. The
+party was, of course, received with the most profuse expressions of
+friendship. Toheriri and his fellow-chief Waraki conducted their
+visitors in state to view the canoes which were to be handed over in
+the morning; but, on returning to the _pa_, they were careful to
+conduct Te Rauparaha to a house at one end of the settlement, while
+his followers were provided for at the opposite end. This fact appears
+to have aroused no suspicion in the Ngati-Toa mind; for at night all
+slept soundly, until the shouts of the combined Rangitane and Muaupoko
+war parties were heard in the early morning as they rushed upon the
+slumbering _pa_.
+
+The assailants appear to have been too precipitate in their onset.
+Instead of first surrounding the _whare_ in which Te Rauparaha
+lay, they commenced the massacre of his followers at the other end;
+and Toheriri, who was lightly sleeping in the same compartment as Te
+Rauparaha, was compelled to go out and direct them to the particular
+hut in which their common foe was lying. This delay was fatal to their
+design, but fortunate for Te Rauparaha. In the absence of his host, he
+stayed not to take his leave, but bursting through the _raupo_
+wall which formed the end of the _whare_, he slipped away between
+the houses; and when the tardy Rangitane rushed up to the hut, their
+prey had flown, and nothing remained but to wreak their vengeance upon
+the less distinguished victims, whom they slaughtered without mercy.
+Included amongst these victims of treacherous onslaught were several
+of Te Rauparaha's wives and children. Of the latter, however, two were
+spared, Te Uira and Hononga, the former of whom was a daughter of his
+child-wife Marore. The reason for this partial clemency is not clear;
+apparently vengeance was satisfied by sending them prisoners to the
+Wairarapa, where they afterwards became wives of men of renown in the
+district.[58]
+
+Amidst the chaos of treachery which surrounds this incident, it is
+pleasant to record an act of chivalry of an heroic type. Amongst those
+who accompanied Te Rauparaha on this eventful visit was his son,
+Rangi-hounga-riri, who, it will be remembered, had distinguished
+himself by slaying Tutakara, the chief of the Ngati-Mania-poto, when
+that tribe attacked Ngati-Toa at the Awakino River. He, being strong
+of body and lithe of limb, had managed to break through the attacking
+cordon, and, had he chosen, might have made his escape. But, as he
+hurried away, his ear caught the sound of a girl's piteous crying for
+help. He recognised the voice as that of his sister, Uira. Heedless of
+consequences he rushed back to the _pa_, and, forcing his way to
+the side of the girl, placed his protecting arm around her, and fought
+her assailants until overpowered by superior numbers. By his death, Te
+Rauparaha lost one of his most intrepid lieutenants, and the Ngati-Toa
+tribe one of its most promising leaders. As chivalrous as he was
+brave, he was the type of chief whose nobility lifted the ancient
+Maori above the level of the mere savage, and illustrated the manly
+qualities which so impressed those early colonists who took the
+trouble to understand the people amongst whom they had come. The
+qualities are still there, and justify the hope that, by sound laws,
+and sanitary and educational reforms, such as are now being effected,
+it may yet be possible to stay the process of degeneration which set
+in as the result of the first contact of the Maori with the European.
+
+Te Rauparaha, having slipped from the snare of his enemies, plunged
+into the long grass which surrounded the _pa_, and, in the
+semi-darkness, succeeded in eluding his pursuers, eventually reaching
+his settlement at Ohau, weary, angry, and almost naked. Bitterly
+disappointed at the result of his mission, and deeply enraged at the
+treatment he had received, he in his wrath cursed the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples, and, calling his tribe around him, he charged his
+followers to make it the one special mission of their lives "to kill
+them from the dawn of day till the evening." This doctrine of
+extermination was not preached to unwilling ears; and from that day
+the fixed policy of the Ngati-Toa tribe was to sweep the Muaupoko and
+Rangitane from their ancestral lands. In the reprisals which followed
+as the result of Rauparaha's vow of eternal vengeance, the former tribe
+seems to have suffered most; and there is little room for doubt that
+they would have been ultimately uprooted and effaced from amongst the
+tribes of New Zealand, but for the kindly offices of that dark-skinned
+humanitarian, Te Whatanui, who, years afterwards, took them under his
+protecting mantle, and declared, in the now historic phrase, that
+"nothing would reach them but the rain from heaven."
+
+The Rangitane people were more fortunately situated, having the
+impassable forests of the Manawatu and its inaccessible mountain
+fastnesses to protect them. But they by no means escaped the
+bitterness of persecution, as bands of Ngati-Toa were constantly
+roaming their country in search of some one to kill and devour. The
+constant absence of these parties convinced Rauparaha that the small
+band of men whom he had with him was by no means sufficient for the
+magnitude of the task which his ambitious mind had conceived, and so
+he determined upon doing two things. The first was to strengthen his
+position by conquering the island of Kapiti, which was still in the
+possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people; the second, once
+again to despatch ambassadors to the north, to persuade some of his
+former allies to join him in mastering a district which promised a
+rich supply of guns and ammunition. As a preliminary to the former
+scheme, he extended his frontier as far as Otaki, from which point he
+could the better watch the movements of the islanders and sweep down
+upon them at a favourable moment. But the intervals in which there was
+lack of vigilance were few and far between, and consequently the first
+series of attacks failed signally. The defenders were strongly posted
+and incessantly watchful; so Rauparaha, seeing that the frontal
+attack, however well delivered, would not avail, decided upon a
+stratagem which, judged by its success, must have been admirably
+planned.
+
+His device was to lull the defenders of the island into a false sense
+of security by apparently withdrawing all his forces from Otaki for
+the purpose of some larger movement in the north, at the same time
+leaving a small band of well-tried men, whose duty it was to make a
+dash for the island and seize it before its inhabitants had recovered
+from their surprise. He accordingly marshalled his forces one morning,
+and, with an amount of ostentatious display which was calculated to
+attract the attention of the Ngati-Apa spies, he marched away to the
+Manawatu at the head of his warriors. The Ngati-Apa saw this movement,
+but did not understand it. Believing that the absence of Te Rauparaha
+meant a period of respite, they withdrew their sentries and gave
+themselves up to rejoicing. This was precisely what the Ngati-Toa
+chief had hoped for and calculated upon. He also had the satisfaction
+of knowing that the most critical part of his scheme was in safe
+hands. His uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, who was left in charge of the attacking
+party, was a tried and grim veteran, and, true to the trust imposed
+upon him, he came out of his concealment just before dawn on the
+morning after Te Rauparaha had left. Silently the intrepid little band
+launched their canoes, and as silently they paddled across the
+intervening water, reaching the island at the break of day. They found
+the inhabitants still sleeping, and unconscious of any danger until
+the shouts of their assailants and the cries of the wounded warned
+them that some desperate work was on hand. Not many of them stayed to
+fight, and those who were not killed in the first onslaught scrambled
+into their canoes and made for the mainland, thus ingloriously leaving
+the last independent stronghold of the Ngati-Apa in the hands of the
+invaders.
+
+It has been charged to the discredit of Te Rauparaha, that, in
+planning this attack upon Kapiti, he cherished a guilty hope that Te
+Pehi might fall in the assault, and by his death rid him of a powerful
+rival in the councils of the tribe. But, while his critics have never
+been slow to attribute to him the grossest treachery towards his
+enemies and infidelity to his friends, there is absolutely no evidence
+that on this occasion he meditated a crime, such as sacred history
+imputes to the King of Israel when he placed Uriah the Hittite in the
+forefront of the battle. Te Pehi was a great chief. He was Te
+Rauparaha's senior in years and his superior in birth. His prowess in
+battle was known far and wide, and the circumstances under which he
+afterwards emulated the example of Hongi by visiting England, and like
+him, subsequently procuring for his tribe, guns and ammunition at
+Sydney, stamp him as a man of strong initiative and individuality. But
+he did not possess the political genius with which his nephew was
+endowed; he lacked the organising power, the tact, and the gift of
+inspiring others with his own enthusiasm. While Te Pehi might lead a
+charge with brilliancy, Te Rauparaha could often gain more by
+diplomacy than he by force of arms; and these statesmanlike qualities
+gave the younger chief an influence with the tribe which Te Pehi did
+not and never could possess. Indeed, the tragedy associated with his
+death at Kaiapoi, in 1828, is sufficient to convince us that he was
+strangely lacking in conciliation and tact. So far as can be learned,
+there is nothing to lead us to suppose that Te Pehi ever questioned
+his nephew's superiority in the diplomatic department of his tribal
+office; on the contrary, he seems to have cheerfully accepted a
+secondary position, and loyally aided Te Rauparaha in all his
+projects. Under these circumstances, it is somewhat difficult to
+imagine what Te Rauparaha was to gain by sacrificing so brave an ally.
+Moreover, the intense grief which he manifested when Te Pehi was
+killed at Kaiapoi, and the signal vengeance which he took upon the
+Ngai-Tahu tribe for their act of treachery, render the suspicion of
+foul play on his part utterly improbable. In view of these
+considerations he may fairly be exonerated from any criminal intent
+towards Te Pehi. It is clear that the seizure of Kapiti was but an
+essential move in his policy of conquest, and that the manner of its
+seizure was but a cleverly designed piece of strategy, certainly not
+unattended by risk, but affording very reasonable chances of success.
+
+The capture of this natural fortress did not result in its immediate
+occupation, for Te Rauparaha still had abundance of work to do on the
+mainland before he could regard the power of the enemy as broken and
+the conquest of his new home complete. In pursuance of his policy of
+extermination, he had been interspersing his larger movements with
+repeated raids upon Rangitane and Muaupoko, in which he invariably
+made them feel the sting of his revenge. Finding that these attacks
+were becoming more frequent and more vigorous, the chiefs of the
+latter tribe conceived a plan by which they hoped to elude the
+persistency of their implacable pursuers. Hitherto their _pas_
+had been built on the shores of the picturesque lakes, around which
+they had lived since their advent into the district, centuries before.
+But they now decided to abandon these strongholds, which were exposed
+to every raid of the enemy, and build their dwellings in the centre of
+Lakes Horowhenua and Papaitonga. At the cost of an amazing amount of
+industry and toil, they constructed artificial islands upon the beds
+of these lakes at their deepest parts, and upon these mounds they
+built a miniature Maori Venice. The construction of these islands was
+most ingenious, and desperate indeed must have been the straits to
+which Muaupoko were driven before they imposed upon themselves so
+laborious a task.
+
+Proceeding to the bush, their first operation was to cut down a number
+of saplings, which were pointed and then driven into the soft mud,
+closely enclosing in rectangular form sufficient space on which to
+place the foundations of the houses. Smaller stakes were then driven
+into the centre of the enclosure, upon which were spitted those
+compact masses of vegetation known as "Maori-heads." A layer of these
+gave the builders a solid basis upon which to work, and huge stones,
+earth, and gravel were brought in the canoes from the shore, and
+poured into the enclosures until the pile of _débris_ rose some
+height above the level of the water. Six such islands were formed on
+Lake Horowhenua and two on Papaitonga, and on these _whares_ were
+erected, which were gradually extended by the addition of platforms
+reaching a considerable distance beyond the islands. Round each of
+these platforms ran a stout palisade, which served the dual purpose of
+preventing the very young children from falling into the water and
+offering a formidable barrier to the assaults of the enemy. As the
+only means of communication with these islands was by canoe, and as it
+was well known to the Muaupoko people that Te Rauparaha had few such
+vessels, they felt comparatively secure from attack so soon as they
+had transferred themselves to their new retreat.
+
+But they little reckoned on the kind of man with whom they had to
+deal, when they imagined that a placid sheet of water could interpose
+between Te Rauparaha and his enemies. Canoes he had not, but strong
+swimmers he had; and it is a fine tribute to their daring that, on a
+dark and gloomy night, a small band of these undertook to swim off to
+one of the Horowhenua _pas_ and attack its sleeping inhabitants.
+With their weapons lashed to their wrists, they silently entered the
+water, and by swift side strokes reached the walls of Waipata, the
+_pa_ which they had chosen for their attempt, and were swarming over
+the palisades before a note of warning could be sounded. Taken at such
+a disadvantage, it was not to be expected that the Muaupoko resistance
+would be effective, for they were both stunned by surprise and
+paralysed by fear at the awful suddenness of the attack. Flight was
+their first thought, and such as were not slain in their sleep or
+caught in their attempt to escape, plunged into the lake and made for
+the nearest shelter. In this endeavour to escape death all were not
+successful, and it is estimated that, between the killed and drowned,
+the attack upon Waipata cost the Muaupoko several hundred lives,
+besides adding to their misfortune by shattering utterly their belief
+in the inaccessibility of their island _pas_. The adjoining _pas_ upon
+the lake, warned of the impending danger by the tumult at Waipata, at
+once prepared for a stubborn defence; but the attacking party, feeling
+themselves unequal to the task of a second assault, discreetly
+withdrew to the mainland before it was yet daylight, and at once made
+preparations for another attack upon a more extensive scale. But both
+prudence and necessity dictated the wisdom of delay; it was wiser to
+wait until Muaupoko had relapsed into their former state of
+confidence, and, moreover, the plan upon which it was proposed to make
+the attack required time for its development.
+
+Recognising the strength of the Waikiekie _pa_, against which the
+energies of his tribe were next to be directed, Te Rauparaha saw that
+success was not to be expected unless he could attack it in force.
+This involved the transportation of a large body of men over the
+waters of the lake, which could only be effected by means of canoes.
+These he did not possess in numbers, and, even if he had, he must
+still devise means of conveying them to the lake, which was several
+miles from the coast. His ingenious mind, however, soon discovered an
+escape from these perplexities, and he at once decided upon a plan,
+which was not without precedent in European warfare or imitation in
+subsequent Maori history. His scheme involved the haulage of his
+canoes over the belt of land which separated the lake from the sea,
+and the enterprise seems to have been as cleverly executed as it was
+daringly designed. Out of the lake runs an insignificant stream, which
+slowly meanders over shallows and between narrow banks down to the
+ocean; and to the mouth of this creek were brought such canoes as had
+fallen into Te Rauparaha's hands at the taking of Kapiti, and a larger
+one which had been procured from his friends at Whanganui-a-Tara.[59]
+Where the water was deep enough, or the reaches straight enough, the
+canoes were floated up the bed of the stream; but as this was possible
+only at rare intervals, the greater part of the distance was covered
+by dragging the vessels over the grassy flats and ferny undulations.
+Such a task would be laborious enough under any circumstances; but on
+this occasion it was rendered even more wearisome by the necessity for
+conducting it in absolute silence. As the success of the expedition
+depended mainly upon the completeness of the surprise, it was
+essential that no note of warning should be given, and therefore it
+was impossible to encourage the workers to greater exertions by song
+or speech; but so heartily did they bend themselves to their
+monotonous task, that the three miles of toilsome road were traversed
+before the break of day.
+
+The outflow of the lake was hidden by a clump of trees which grew
+close to the water's edge, and behind this natural screen the canoes
+were concealed, and the men lay down to rest until the moment came to
+strike. At the first appearance of dawn, the canoes were shot into the
+lake, and before the inhabitants of Waikiekie had shaken slumber from
+their eyes, the shaft was on its way that would send many of them to
+their last long sleep. The _pa_ was attacked on every side, and
+with a vigour which left little chance of escape. Such resistance as
+was possible in such a situation was offered by the drowsy defenders.
+But the mortal fear with which they had come to regard the Ngati-Toa,
+together with the fury of the onslaught and the completeness of the
+surprise, spread panic amongst them, and the resistance was soon left
+to a desperate few. Their valiant efforts brought them nothing but the
+glory which attends the death of the brave. They were quickly borne
+down before the onrush of the assailants, whose shouts of triumph,
+joined with the terrified cries of the fugitives, filled the morning
+air. Large numbers, who looked to discretion rather than valour,
+plunged into the lake, and by swimming, diving, and dodging, a few
+managed to elude both capture and death. But many were slain as they
+swam, and, while their bodies sank to the bottom, their blood mingled
+with the waters of the lake, until it lay crimson beneath the rising
+sun. Warriors and women, old men and children, to the number of two
+hundred, we are told, perished on that fateful morning, which saw the
+Muaupoko tribe driven from Horowhenua, and the epoch of their
+greatness brought to a close. A mere remnant of the tribe escaped, and
+made their way through the forests and mountain fastnesses towards the
+south, where, within the space of another year, they were again
+pursued, hunted, and slaughtered, with all the old relentless hatred
+of their destroyer.
+
+Having inflicted this crushing blow upon Muaupoko, and feeling
+convinced that they could never again be a serious menace to
+Ngati-Toa, the section of the Ngati-Awa tribe who, under
+Rere-ta-whangawhanga and other chiefs, had accompanied Te Rauparaha
+from Taranaki, now determined to return to their own country at
+Waitara;[60] and it was this decision which made it imperative that
+the Ngati-Toa leader should seek efficient aid from some other
+quarter. He accordingly, without delay, despatched messengers to the
+north, once again to invite his kinsmen of the Ngati-Raukawa tribe to
+come and join him. These emissaries, having arrived at Taupo, learned
+that an attempt to reach Kapiti by way of the east coast had already
+been made by Te Whatanui, but without success, as he had been defeated
+by a Hawke's Bay tribe and driven back. This experience had somewhat
+cooled his ardour; but when Te Rauparaha's messengers came with the
+news that Kapiti had been taken, and told of his marvellous success at
+Waipata and Waikiekie, interest in the project at once revived.
+Especially was a young chief, named Te Ahu-karamu, fired with its
+romantic prospects, and he immediately organised a force of one
+hundred and twenty men and set off for the land of promise.
+
+Almost simultaneously with the arrival of these reinforcements,
+additional strength was gained by the accession of another band of
+Ngati-Awa from Taranaki; and, with these additions to his ranks, Te
+Rauparaha felt himself strong enough to resume once more active
+operations in the field. He accordingly moved upon a skilfully built
+_pa_ situated at Paekakariki, some miles to the southward of
+Kapiti, whither the escaping Muaupoko had fled and taken refuge. In
+this adventure a larger force than usual was employed; for not only
+were the new arrivals keen for a brush with the enemy, but the natural
+strength of the _pa_ was such that Rauparaha knew it would be
+useless to approach it without a force of adequate proportions. In
+these anticipations his judgment was correct, as usual, for the
+struggle proved to be an exceedingly obstinate one and the death-roll
+on both sides considerable. After some days of incessant attack, in
+which the few muskets possessed by Ngati-Toa played their fatal part,
+the Muaupoko defence was pierced, and the victory was sealed with all
+the atrocities associated with the savage warfare of the ancient Maori.
+
+The capture of this _pa_ proved to be a rich prize for Rauparaha.
+Not only did it uproot the last stronghold of the Muaupoko people, but
+it brought a substantial addition to his supplies. Large quantities
+of provisions were discovered within the stockade, evidently collected
+in anticipation of a lengthy siege. So provident, in fact, had the
+inhabitants of the Paekakariki fort been in this respect, that the
+large attacking force spent the succeeding two months feasting upon
+the captured stores, interspersed with an occasional cannibal repast.
+This period of rest the visitors were prepared to enjoy to the full;
+for after a battle nothing was more congenial to Maori warriors than
+to lie idly about the sunny places in the _pa_, and discuss in every
+detail the stirring incidents of the fight.
+
+It was while thus basking in fancied security that the tables were
+suddenly turned upon them, and from a most unexpected quarter. Hearing
+from some of the fugitives of the capture of the Paekakariki
+_pa_, and burning to avenge the raid which Ngati-Toa had
+previously made into the Wairarapa, the members of the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe residing at Wairarapa and near Wellington believed that this was
+their golden opportunity. Secretly collecting a fighting force of
+considerable strength, they made their way through the bush to
+Paekakariki, and there fell upon the unwary and self-indulgent
+invaders. To them it was something of a novel experience to be thus
+repaid in their own tactics; but the swiftness and audacity with which
+the blow was delivered completely demoralised them, and the erstwhile
+assailants suffered the humiliation of being beaten back upon Waikanae
+with inglorious precipitancy. The whole procedure necessarily involved
+considerable loss on the part of Ngati-Toa and their allies, and the
+bitterness of the reverse was especially galling because it was the
+first occasion on which they had been worsted in arms since their
+occupation of the country had commenced. The closeness of the pursuit
+did not slacken until the fugitives had reached Waikanae; but beyond
+this point Ngati-Kahungunu did not press their advantage. They were
+now rushing into touch with Rauparaha's permanent settlements, from
+which the echoes of the strife might draw reinforcements at any
+moment. Unwilling to overrun their victory, the men from
+Whanganui-a-Tara withdrew to the south, well pleased with their
+achievement, which was not without its lesson for Te Rauparaha.
+
+The chief saw that the time had not yet arrived when he could relax
+his life-long vigilance. Heavy as had been the defeats which he had
+inflicted upon the resident people, he saw that their spirit had not
+yet been completely crushed. Brave as his own followers were, he saw
+that they were not proof against the panic which often springs from a
+surprise attack. The thing, however, which caused him most concern was
+the hostile attitude which was now being adopted towards him by the
+Ngati-Kahungunu people. Hitherto this powerful tribe, whose domain was
+a wide and populous one on the eastern coast, had remained
+comparatively neutral in the contest for supremacy in the west. But
+now this attitude was abandoned, and under the encouragement afforded
+by this prospect of protection, the displaced tribes were gradually
+venturing back to their deserted settlements. Should an effective
+alliance be formed between his enemies on the two coasts, the position
+would at once become so charged with danger that his comparatively
+small force would find itself in a most critical situation. It was,
+then, the threatening attitude of his neighbours which caused the
+Ngati-Toa chief to decide finally upon the abandonment of the mainland
+and the transference of the whole of his people to Kapiti, there to
+await the result of his mission to his friends at Maungatautari. In
+the meantime three strongly fortified _pas_ were built upon the
+island, and every preparation made against possible attack. These
+_pas_, situated one at either end, and the third in the centre of
+the island, were designed with as keen an eye for trade as for the
+purposes of defence. Te Rauparaha had not lost sight of the main
+purpose of his conquest, which was to bring himself into close
+association with the whalers, from whom he hoped to obtain, by
+purchase, barter, or bullying, additions to his store of guns and
+ammunition. For this purpose Kapiti was easily the key to the
+position. Favoured by deep water and safe anchorage, it afforded the
+securest of shelter to vessels seeking to escape from the dirty
+weather which comes whistling through the Strait. Boats lying snugly
+at anchor under the lee of the land would have opportunities for trade
+from which all others would be cut off; and there is little doubt that
+this commercial advantage was coolly calculated upon when the _pas_ on
+the mainland were evacuated and those on the island were occupied.
+This much at least is certain, that, whether part of a premeditated
+scheme or otherwise, the move proved to be a masterstroke, for it gave
+to Te Rauparaha a virtual monopoly of the white man's patronage, a
+privilege which for years he guarded with jealous exclusiveness.
+
+When it became known that Te Rauparaha had retired to Kapiti, and
+there seemed less danger of immediate molestation, the Rangitane
+people again began to collect in force near their old home at Hotuiti.
+They built a strong _pa_ near the present town of Foxton, and
+here they were joined by a number of Ngati-Apa chiefs and people from
+Rangitikei. This proceeding Te Rauparaha regarded as a danger and a
+menace to his safety; for he had no reason to believe that he enjoyed
+their friendship, and no means of ascertaining when they might think
+fit to wreak their vengeance upon him. He therefore decided to take
+the initiative and attack them. Accordingly, with Rangihaeata and his
+Ngati-Apa wife Pikinga, he marched his war party up the coast and at
+once invested the place. The method by which he sought to reduce the
+_pa_ to submission was a clever stratagem--perfectly honourable,
+perhaps, according to the Maori code of warfare--but utterly repulsive
+to civilised ideas; and, to those who judge him by the latter
+standard, it lowers Te Rauparaha from the high plane of a classic
+warrior to the level of a cunning and unscrupulous savage. His first
+act of generalship aimed at separating the two tribes, a step which
+has been attributed by some to a desire to spare the Ngati-Apa,
+because of their relationship with Pikinga. Others, however, can see
+in it nothing but a clever ruse to divide the defending force, so that
+he might the more easily attack and defeat them singly. He therefore
+sent Pikinga to the Ngati-Apa chiefs with a request that they would
+withdraw to their own territory beyond the Rangitikei River. Probably
+he promised them safe-conduct on their journey; but, if he did, it was
+of no avail, for they firmly refused to evacuate the Hotuiti _pa_, and
+doggedly remained where they were. Feigning, then, to abandon his
+campaign, Te Rauparaha sent to the Rangitane chiefs, inviting them to
+come to him and negotiate terms of peace.
+
+In view of their past experiences it might have been expected that
+such a request would be scornfully declined; but after long and
+anxious debate it was decided--mainly, it is said, on the advice of
+the Ngati-Apa chiefs--that the leading Rangitane warriors should meet
+the Ngati-Toa leader and make the best terms possible with him. The
+result was, of course, the old story: the ruthless slaughter of the
+confiding ambassadors, who found that Te Rauparaha had come, not with
+peace, but unrelenting war. Treachery was no more suspected inside the
+_pa_ than out of it; and while the people were deluded into the
+belief that the war-clouds had passed away, they were being secretly
+and silently surrounded. At a given signal the walls were stormed and
+a bloody massacre followed, from which the Ngati-Toa warriors emerged
+sated with gruesome triumph. The slain were eaten on the spot, and the
+prisoners were taken to Waikanae, there to await the returning
+appetite of their captors.
+
+So dastardly an attack upon their friends and so gross an insult to
+their tribal pride could not be ignored; and although time might
+elapse before the Ngati-Apa peoples would be able to strike an
+avenging blow, it was quite certain that so soon as the favourable
+moment arrived the Ngati-Toa would have to pay the penalty of their
+treachery. But Te Rauparaha never dreamed that they would have the
+temerity to attack him upon his own land, and while he was lying in
+fancied security at Waikanae, the storm suddenly burst upon him. The
+Ngati-Apa, under Te Hakeke, had hurriedly collected their war party,
+and obtaining reinforcements from the fugitives who had escaped from
+the massacre at Hotuiti, came by stealthy marches down the coast and
+fell upon the unsuspecting Ngati-Toa in the dead of night. Next
+morning the camp was in ruins, Te Rauparaha's force was in flight, and
+sixty of his followers, including four of Te Pehi's daughters, were
+lying dead amongst the _débris_. The balance of battle honours having
+been thus somewhat adjusted, the aggressors retired, well satisfied
+with the result. They were allowed to depart without a resumption of
+hostilities, for the supports who had come over from Kapiti were
+either not strong enough, or not keen enough, to pursue them.[61]
+
+Whatever may have been Te Rauparaha's previous disposition towards
+Ngati-Apa, whether he was genuinely disposed to befriend them or
+whether he was merely playing on their credulity, is of no further
+importance, for from that day he took on an attitude of undisguised
+hostility towards them, revoking all promises of peace, stated or
+implied, and becoming, in the characteristic language of
+Matene-te-Whiwhi, "dark in his heart in regard to Ngati-Apa." The
+shield of friendship having been removed, this unfortunate tribe was
+now exposed to all the fury of the most ruthless man in New Zealand;
+and in the raids which his warriors made against them, neither man nor
+woman was spared who was unfortunate enough to fall into his hands.
+These misfortunes created a bond of sympathy between Ngati-Apa and
+their neighbours, the Rangitane and Muaupoko, and paved the way for an
+alliance against the common enemy. Although banished from Horowhenua
+and wandering about the solitary places of the coast, a broken and
+shattered people, there was still sufficient energy and hatred
+remaining in one of the Muaupoko chiefs to make a final effort to
+recover their departed _mana_.
+
+Te Raki, who had suffered captivity at the hands of Te Pehi, aspiring,
+after his escape, to be the regenerator of his tribe, became the
+active apostle of a federation which was to embrace the tribes who had
+felt the weight of the Ngati-Toa hand. From Waitotara in the north to
+Arapawa and Massacre Bay in the south, and Wairarapa in the east, he
+organised an alliance which could hurl two thousand fighting men
+against their redoubtable adversary. Canoes from far and near brought
+this host to the appointed rendezvous, the northerners assembling at
+Otaki and the southerners at Waikanae. From these two points this army
+converged upon Kapiti, their canoes "darkening the sea" as they went.
+The magnitude of the armada, however, was greater than its discipline,
+and before it had proceeded far its movements were discovered. The
+noise of the paddles, as the canoes approached the island in the early
+morning, caught the keen ear of Nopera, and when the right wing landed
+at Rangatira Point, they were opposed by the people whom they had
+expected to surprise. The attack was fierce and desperate, and when
+Pokaitara, the Ngati-Toa commander, found himself being driven back
+towards Waiorua, he astutely proposed a truce. It would give him a
+welcome respite while it lasted, and perhaps some advantage in the
+first moment of its violation. Ignorant of the fact that a message had
+been sent to Te Rauparaha, who happened to be at the centre of the
+island, and hoping for the speedy arrival of his own laggard
+reinforcements, who were still at sea, Rangi-maire-hau, the Ngati-Apa
+chief from Turakina, in a weak moment, agreed to a suspension of
+hostilities. Scarcely had this been arranged, when Te Rauparaha, with
+the major part of his people, arrived upon the scene, and repudiating
+the agreement to which his lieutenant had committed himself, he
+recommenced the sanguinary work, and fought to such purpose that the
+issue was soon placed beyond doubt. With one hundred and seventy of
+their tribesmen slain, the Ngati-Apa attack began to slacken.
+Presently their ranks were seen to waver, and an impetuous charge at
+this decisive moment drove into rout what had hitherto been an
+impenetrable front. The slaughter of pursuit was scarcely less than
+that of resistance. Dead and dying lay on every side, and many found a
+watery grave in their vain effort to swim to the canoes, which had not
+yet reached the shore.
+
+News that disaster had overtaken the advance guard quickly spread to
+the other sections of the allied forces; and, without attempting to
+retrieve the fortunes of the day, they turned and precipitately fled
+in whichever direction safety seemed to lie. When he realised that his
+host had been worsted in the battle, Rangi-maire-hau disdained to fly,
+but threw himself upon the mercy of Te Rangihaeata, who had borne
+himself with conspicuous bravery throughout the attack. That haughty
+chief, however, saw no reason why he should spread his protecting
+mantle over his would-be exterminator, even though the appeal was
+founded on the bond of relationship with his Ngati-Apa wife; and,
+steeling his heart against every entreaty, he ordered Rangi-maire-hau's
+immediate death. With this exception, it is recorded to the credit of
+Ngati-Toa that they used their victory with unusual moderation. Thus,
+the largest force which had ever been marshalled during the Maori wars
+along this coast was defeated by one of the smallest; the organisation
+of two years was dissipated in as many hours; and the invaders were
+only the more firmly established in the land by this futile attempt to
+uproot them. This great victory, which settled for ever the question
+of supremacy, was duly celebrated by feasting and dancing, during
+which Te Rauparaha chanted a song of triumph, which was especially
+offensive to his enemies, taunting them, as it did, with a lack of
+courage, and foretelling even greater misfortunes that were yet to
+befall them:--
+
+  "When will your anger dare?
+  When will your power arise?
+  Salute your child with your nose.
+  But how salute him now?
+  You will see the rejoicing tide
+  Of the warrior's coming glee,
+  And the departure of Rongo-ma-whiti."
+
+While Te Rauparaha was enjoying the fruits of his victory, his forces
+received welcome reinforcements from two quarters. The news of battles
+fought and laurels won had reached Taranaki, where the Ngati-Tama
+chief, Te Puoho, and some of his followers, whose curiosity had been
+aroused by the tales told by their returned tribesmen, came down to
+learn the truth of the matter for themselves. Close upon their heels
+came the long-hoped-for band of Ngati-Raukawa, who signalised their
+advent by at once attacking the settlements in the Rangitikei and
+Manawatu districts. While one party skirted the coast,[62] the other
+struck inland, and under their chiefs, Te Whatu and Te Whetu,
+surrounded and captured a Ngati-Apa _pa_ at Rangiure, and then
+proceeded to Pikitane, where they killed a number of the resident
+people and made the rest prisoners. These two settlements had been
+taken completely by surprise, their people little dreaming that a war
+party was marching through the land. No better prepared were the
+Ngati-Apa then living at Awahuri, who were next attacked, and their
+chief, named Te Aonui, was added to the train of captives. The
+invaders then pushed their victorious march down the course of the
+Oroua River, as far as its junction with the Manawatu. Here they
+crossed the larger stream, and immediately attacked the _pa_ at
+Te Whakatipua. This assault was stoutly resisted by the chiefs,
+Kaihinu and Piropiro, who paid the penalty with their lives, but the
+remainder of the people who were not shot by the invaders were spared
+on proffering a humble submission. This was practically the only
+discreet course open to them. Not only were they placed at a serious
+disadvantage, away from their fighting _pas_, but many of the
+Ngati-Raukawa were armed with guns, while the Rangitane people had not
+as yet been able to discard the wooden spears and stone clubs of their
+forefathers.
+
+The rapid movements of the Ngati-Raukawa, and the completeness of
+their captures, had prevented the news of their presence being
+despatched to the adjoining settlements; and, as a consequence, when
+they ascended the Manawatu and came upon the little _pa_ at
+Rotoatane, situated not far from Tiakitahuna,[63] they were able to
+attack and capture it almost before the people could be summoned from
+the fields. Not that it was a bloodless victory. A Rangitane chief,
+named Tina, fought with desperation, and, before he was overpowered by
+superior numbers, three of the assailants were stretched dead at his
+feet. Once more the advance was sounded, the objective this time being
+the _pa_ at Tiakitahuna itself. This settlement was under the
+chieftainship of Toringa and Tamati Panau, the latter being the father
+of the chief Kerei te Panau,[64] who until recently lived at Awapuni.
+These men were evidently more alert than their neighbours, for no
+sooner did the _taua_ come in sight than they took to their
+canoes and paddled across to the opposite bank of the river. While the
+two tribes were thus ranged on opposite sides of the stream, the
+Rangitane had time to consider the position. Tamati Panau was the
+first to seek an explanation, by calling out to Te Whatu, "Where is
+the war party from?" Clear and quick came the answer back, "From the
+north." That was sufficient for Toringa, who had already tested the
+mettle of the northerners, and he at once sent a curse across the
+water, hurled at the heads of the invaders with all the venom that
+tribal hatred and a sense of injured vanity could instil. Whether it
+was the dread of Toringa's denunciation, or whether the Ngati-Raukawa
+were satisfied with their unbroken course of victory, is not clear to
+the present-day historian; but the Rangitane traditions relate that,
+after firing a single shot from one of their muskets, the invaders
+retired from the district, taking their prisoners with them, and made
+their way south to join Te Rauparaha, who was anxiously awaiting their
+coming.
+
+The prospect opened up to these new-comers was far beyond anything
+that they had dreamed. In fact, so fascinated was Te Ahu-karamu with
+the new and beautiful country which his great kinsman had conquered
+that, after a reasonable rest, he returned to Taupo for the purpose of
+bringing the whole of his people away from a position which was daily
+becoming more exposed to the aggression of the Waikato tribes. But his
+designs in this direction were nearly thwarted by the persistency with
+which the tribe clung to their northern home, even in defiance of his
+threat to invoke the wrath of his _atua_[65] if they dared to
+question the command of their chief. Finding that the terrors of his
+god had no influence upon them, Karamu adopted an instrument of the
+devil, and, taking a torch in his hand, brought his obdurate tribesmen
+to their senses by burning every house in the _pa_ to the ground.
+Rendered thus houseless and homeless, there was nothing for the
+dejected people to do but to follow their imperious leader. In his
+journey back to Kapiti he was joined by two of the most famous chiefs
+of that day--Te Whatanui and Te Heuheu, the former of whom was
+destined to become the patriarch of Horowhenua and the protector of
+its persecuted people. Collecting a strong retinue of followers, the
+three chiefs set off in 1825 by the same route which Karamu had
+previously travelled down the valley of the Rangitikei, varying the
+monotony of the journey[66] through the Ngati-Apa country by
+occasionally chasing frightened fugitives, in order to gratify their
+pride and glut their appetite.
+
+Upon their arrival at Kapiti long and anxious consultations followed
+between the chiefs, the result of which was that Te Whatanui at last
+consented to migrate[67] and throw in his fortunes with Te Rauparaha.
+This was eventually accomplished in 1828-29, the consolidation of the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa tribes making their future absolutely
+secure and bringing Te Rauparaha's wildest dreams of conquest within
+measurable distance of accomplishment. His broadened aspirations had
+long before this extended across the Strait; and, next to the conquest
+of the coast on which he was now operating, it had become his greatest
+ambition to measure his strength against the natives of the Middle
+Island. Their reputed wealth in greenstone had aroused his avarice,
+while the prospect of acquiring additional territory appealed
+strongly to his love of power.
+
+But before he was able to perfect his plans for carrying into effect
+this new stroke of aggression, an event occurred which was destined to
+have important results. It will be remembered that the crowning
+circumstance which had induced Te Rauparaha to leave Kawhia was the
+sight of a vessel beating through Cook Strait. He had there and then
+settled in his mind that this part of the coast was soon to become an
+important rendezvous for whalers, &c., and already his anticipations
+were being realised with an amazing rapidity. The whalers were now
+frequent visitors to Kapiti, and many were the marvels which they
+brought in their train. But most of all were the natives absorbed in
+the prospect of securing from these rough seafarers guns and
+ammunition, steel tomahawks, and other weapons, which would give them
+an advantage over their enemies in the only business then worth
+consideration--the business of war. Many of these ships, however, had
+not come prepared for this traffic,[68] and the lack of guns, rather
+than any hesitation to part with them, made the process of arming a
+tribe a slow one. It had at least proved much too slow for some of the
+more restless spirits of the race; and impatience, added to a natural
+love of adventure, had led some of them to ship to Sydney, and even to
+England, in the hope of bringing back with them the means of
+accelerating their enemies' destruction. Of these latter Hongi had
+been a conspicuous example, and the success which had attended his
+mission to England roused a spirit of emulation in the breasts of
+other chiefs, who were only waiting the opportunity of following his
+example. Of these, Te Pehi Kupe, the conqueror of Kapiti, was one of
+the few who were signally successful. Knowing no language but his own,
+having only the vaguest notions of what a voyage to England meant,
+and a very precarious prospect of ever being brought back, this man
+had thrown himself on board an English whaler, and, resolute against
+all dissuasions, and even against physical force, had insisted upon
+being carried to a country of which he had but two ideas--King George,
+of whom he had heard, and guns, which he had seen and hoped to
+possess.
+
+Thus it came about that, while the ship _Urania_ was lying
+becalmed in Cook Strait, about five or six miles from the land, on
+February 26, 1824, Captain Reynolds perceived three large canoes,
+fully manned, approaching the vessel. Doubtful what such a
+demonstration might portend, Captain Reynolds put his ship in a
+condition to resist an attack if necessary; and when the canoes were
+within hail, he, by word and sign, endeavoured to warn them off. Had
+he chosen, he might easily have sent the frail-looking barques to the
+bottom by a single shot from the ship's guns; but, unlike many another
+skipper of those days, Captain Reynolds was a man actuated by
+considerations which went beyond himself, and the thought of the
+retaliation which might fall upon other mariners coming to the shores
+of New Zealand restrained him from committing any such act of
+brutality. Fortunately there was no need for drastic action, and the
+behaviour of the natives was such as to leave no doubt in the mind of
+the captain that their intentions were of a peaceable character. Te
+Pehi boldly directed his crew to paddle alongside the ship, and,
+divesting himself of all his clothing except a mat which was slung
+across his shoulders, he, with the swiftness of an athlete, climbed on
+board. When he reached the deck, he endeavoured by signs and gestures
+to convey to Captain Reynolds that what he wanted was arms and
+ammunition, and, on being informed that the ship had none to spare, he
+coolly indicated that, such being the case, he had decided to remain
+on board and proceed to Europe[69] to see King George. These words he
+had evidently learned from some of Captain Reynolds' predecessors, for
+he was able to pronounce them with sufficient distinctness to be
+clearly understood. The audacity of this proposal completely staggered
+the master of the _Urania_, and he at once tried to nip such ambitious
+hopes in the bud by peremptorily ordering the chief back to his canoe.
+Te Pehi, however, met this direction by calling to his men to move the
+canoe away from the ship, and the captain next sought to give his
+command practical force by throwing the chief overboard, in the hope
+and belief that the canoes would pick him up out of the sea. But in
+this he was again checkmated. The chief threw himself down on the deck
+and seized hold of two ring-bolts, with so powerful a grip that it was
+impossible to tear him away without such violence as the humanity of
+Captain Reynolds would not permit. At this critical juncture a light
+breeze sprang up, and Te Pehi improved the favourable circumstance by
+ordering his men to paddle to the shore, as he was going to see King
+George, and that he would soon return. This command was at once
+obeyed, and the breeze carrying the _Urania_ off the land, Captain
+Reynolds was reluctantly compelled to keep the chief on board that
+night. But, far from satisfied with his self-constituted passenger, he
+next day made another effort to force Te Pehi on shore, and nearly
+lost his ship in the attempt. This narrow escape, and the favourable
+conditions for getting away from New Zealand, to some extent
+reconciled the captain to an acceptance of the situation; but his
+chagrin was as great as was the delight of the chief, when it was
+found that there was no option but to keep him on board for the
+remainder of the voyage.
+
+With more intimate acquaintance, the relations between the captain
+and chief grew to be of the most friendly nature, and they lived
+together, both on shipboard and on shore, the captain taking a kindly
+interest in explaining to his protégé the mysteries of the great world
+upon which he was entering, while the native clung to his new-found
+friend with a confiding affection.[70] The _Urania_ ultimately reached
+Liverpool, where Te Pehi was the subject of much public attention. He
+was shown over the principal manufactories in Manchester and London,
+his great anxiety to see King George was gratified, and, although he
+was subject to a good deal of sickness, yet, thanks to the care of
+Captain Reynolds, he made an excellent recovery. After about a year's
+residence in England, he was placed on board H.M. ship _The Thames_,
+and in October, 1825, he sailed for his native land, loaded with
+presents of clothing and agricultural implements, which were given him
+by benevolently minded people in the hope that, combined with the
+knowledge of their use and blessing, which he had acquired in England,
+they would exercise an elevating influence upon his countrymen when he
+should return amongst them. Vain hope; for on his arrival at Sydney,
+Te Pehi reversed the beautiful biblical allegory, and turned his
+pruning hooks into spears and his ploughshares into guns and
+ammunition, to aid in the work of waging eternal warfare against the
+enemies of his tribe.[71]
+
+Early in the year 1824, and immediately after Te Pehi's departure for
+England, Te Rauparaha found that, in consequence of the many recent
+additions to his forces, the number of natives who had placed
+themselves under his command was then sufficient to enable him to
+begin the main purpose of his conquest, namely, the systematic
+occupation of the land.[72] He and his own immediate tribe having
+decided to occupy the island of Kapiti, where they could be in closer
+touch with the whalers, he now proceeded to partition the country
+along the coast amongst the new arrivals. The first division led to
+civil war and domestic feuds between a section of Ngati-Raukawa and
+the Ngati-Tama from Taranaki, under Te Puoho, which at one time
+threatened to destroy all that he had already accomplished; and it was
+not until a new allotment was agreed upon, by which Ngati-Awa, to whom
+Ngati-Tama were closely related, were given exclusive possession of
+the country south of the Kukutauaki stream, and the Ngati-Raukawa sole
+dominion over the district northward of that boundary as far as the
+Wangaehu River, that his power to resist his enemies was restored by
+the restoration of harmony amongst his friends. Not that there was any
+immediate danger of attack; for his incessant raids upon the Ngati-Apa
+and Muaupoko tribes had reduced them to the condition of a shattered
+and fugitive remnant, incapable alike of organised attack or organised
+defence.
+
+It was probably one of the proudest days of Te Rauparaha's life when,
+standing on Kapiti, he formally transferred the whole of the coast to
+his followers by right of conquest, than which no Maori could hope for
+a better title, and proclaimed to the assembled people the precise
+districts which were to be their future homes, where they were to
+cultivate, to catch eels, to snare and spear birds. These
+dispositions, however, did not imply that he was prepared to surrender
+his supreme authority over the lands, and the fact that he desired to,
+and intended to, retain his right of suzerainty was made abundantly
+clear. "The lands I now give you are in our joint rule, but I shall be
+greater in power than you individually"; such were the terms in which
+the transfer was made, and the people acquiesced in a unanimous "It is
+right, O Raha! it is as you say." But Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa were commissioned to do something more than merely occupy
+the land. In imperious tones the great chief commanded them: "Clear
+the weeds from off my field." In other and less figurative words, they
+were to kill and persecute the conquered peoples without pity and
+without mercy; and perhaps it would have been well for Ngati-Raukawa
+had they more faithfully obeyed his instructions, instead of extending
+a sheltering arm to Ngati-Apa and Muaupoko, both of whom subsequently
+proved themselves so unworthy of this clemency.[73]
+
+Under the arrangement thus determined upon at Kapiti the country round
+the beautiful lake at Horowhenua was taken possession of by that grand
+old member of a magnificent race, Te Whatanui, and those people who
+had come from the north with him. The district now known as Lower
+Manawatu was occupied by another section of the Ngati-Raukawa people,
+under Te Whetu, and, still higher up, Rangitikei came under the
+dominion of Nepia Taratoa, a chief who seems to have been as generous
+to Ngati-Apa as Whatanui was to Muaupoko. Southward of Horowhenua, as
+far as the present harbour of Wellington, the country was subsequently
+given over to Ngati-Awa, who were in settled possession when the
+first European colonists arrived. Here in 1825-26 Pomare, their chief,
+led the Ngati-Mutunga _hapu_ of the Ngati-Awa people, who forcibly
+occupied the shores of the great bay, where they hoped to cultivate
+the friendship of the whalers,[74] whose commerce was so profitable to
+them. Their tenure, however, was not an undisputed one. They were
+subjected to frequent raids and incessant harassment from the
+Wairarapa tribe, whom they had displaced, and who deeply resented
+being thus deprived of their one avenue of communication with the
+_pakeha_. This tribe, though powerless to retrieve the aggression of
+Ngati-Awa, missed no opportunity of irritating them, and Pomare was
+not reluctant to hand over his trust to some other chief, so soon as
+he could be honourably relieved of it. This opportunity came when,
+after the fall of the Puke-rangiora _pa_ in 1831, the survivors of
+that (for Ngati-Awa) disastrous day, together with the flower of their
+tribe from their other settlements, abandoned Taranaki, and came down,
+a fugitive host, to shelter under the protecting wing of Te Rauparaha.
+
+With Te Puni, Wi Tako, and Wharepouri, an arrangement was entered into
+in 1834, whereby the land round the harbour and the right to contest
+the ownership of the territory with the unexterminated portion of the
+Ngati-Kahungunu were to be ceded to them for the consideration of a
+greenstone _mere_. Pomare was perhaps the more ready to relinquish
+possession of what is now amongst the most valuable land in the
+Dominion, because he had become possessed of information which seemed
+to open up a much more agreeable prospect than resisting the
+inconvenient incursions of his Wairarapa enemies. One of the young men
+of his tribe, Paka-whara, who had shipped on board a whaler, had just
+returned from a southern cruise, with the intelligence that the
+Chatham Islands were populated by a sleek and inoffensive people, who
+might be expected to fall an easy prey to such hardened veterans in
+war as Ngati-Awa could now furnish. Pomare at once acted upon the
+inspiration; and chartering, partly by payment and partly by
+intimidation, the British brig _Rodney_, he sailed with his followers
+in November, 1835, for the Chathams, where, by a fearful destruction
+of human life, the well-conditioned, unwarlike Morioris were reduced
+within the short space of two years to a remnant of two hundred souls.
+
+Whether the allocation of these districts to these particular chiefs
+was due to their own choice or to the will of Te Rauparaha is not
+known; but in the case of Te Whetu the former appears to have been the
+fact. During the raid which he made upon Manawatu while migrating to
+Kapiti, he had secured amongst his captives a handsome young Rangitane
+woman named Hinetiti, whose charms so pleased him that when he reached
+Kapiti he made her his wife. Hine's gentleness moved her lord and
+master in a way that sterner methods would not, and she soon obtained
+such an influence over him that her will became his desire. Doubtless
+the memory of her old home was ever present with her, even amongst the
+beauties of Kapiti; and, when the partition of the country was being
+spoken of in the _kaingas_, she urged Te Whetu to take her back
+to the banks of the Manawatu, where she might be once more with her
+friends and relatives. In deference to this wish, Te Whetu brought her
+to a little settlement named Te Iwi te Kari, near Foxton. With them
+came the Ngati-Wehiwehi _hapu_, bringing the prisoners whom they
+had taken eighteen months before, and together they occupied the
+district around Matai-Kona.
+
+The Manawatu was still well stocked with Rangitane, for many of their
+larger settlements in the upper portion of the district had not been
+so completely depopulated as some of the more southern _pas_ by
+the captures and slaughters of the marauding northerners. The
+presence of the Ngati-Raukawa in the midst of their country put no
+check upon their freedom, and, according to their ancient custom, they
+moved about from one _kainga_ to another at their pleasure. Indeed,
+the relations between the Rangitane and Ngati-Raukawa appear to have
+been of the most friendly nature after the return of the captives from
+Kapiti, a fact which the former attribute to the marriage of Te Whetu
+with their chieftainess, but which in reality was due to the
+generosity of the Ngati-Raukawa, who, had they chosen, might have left
+nothing but smoking ruins and bleaching bones to tell of the
+Rangitane's former existence.
+
+The feeling, however, was not so cordial between the Rangitane and the
+natives immediately under the leadership of Te Rauparaha, who allowed
+no circumstance to mitigate his extreme desire for revenge; and,
+although no pitched battles took place, there were occasional
+skirmishes and massacres which served to keep alive the fires of hate.
+In like manner he constantly harried the Muaupoko and such members of
+the Ngati-Apa tribe as he now and then fell in with, until these
+people, feeling life to be unbearable if they were to be hunted like
+beasts of prey, decided to place themselves beyond the reach of so
+relentless a tormentor. They accordingly, to the number of three
+hundred souls, including women and children, determined upon flight
+into the Wairarapa; and there they threw themselves upon the mercy of
+the Ngati-Kahungunu, who might be expected to display some sympathy
+for other victims of the suffering from which they themselves had not
+escaped. But here again the hapless people were doomed to a bitter
+experience. Instead of being received with the open arms of welcome,
+they were cruelly set upon and driven back over the Tararua Ranges,
+because of some old and unavenged act of violence which their friends
+had committed, but of which they had probably never heard.
+
+Spurned from the only asylum which appeared to be open to them,
+Ngati-Apa returned to Rangitikei and sought the protection of
+Rangihaeata and Nepia Taratoa, to both of whom they paid tribute for
+the right to live. Muaupoko placed themselves under the protecting arm
+of a Ngati-Raukawa chief named Tuahine, whose heart was touched by
+their destitute and defenceless condition. But his intervention was of
+little avail. However willing he might have been--and there is no
+reason to doubt his sincerity--he proved quite unable to shield them
+against the never-dying wrath of Te Rauparaha. Hearing from some of
+the Ngati-Raukawa people that the remnant of the Muaupoko tribe was
+once more beginning to gather round the Horowhenua and Papaitonga
+lakes, he organised a force of Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Huia and Ngati-Tama
+warriors, and marched upon Papaitonga in defiance of the vehement
+protests of Tuahine and many other Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who wished to
+have done with this incessant slaughter. This lake, which covers an
+area of about one hundred and twenty-five acres, lies a few miles to
+the southward of Horowhenua. From time immemorial it had been the home
+of the Muaupoko tribe, by whom it was originally called Waiwiri, but
+in more recent days the name of the larger of the two gem-like islands
+encircled by its waters has been applied to the whole lake.
+Papaitonga, which signifies, "the islet of the South," is a name which
+reveals in bright relief the poetic fancy of the Maori; for, even now,
+when its scenic charms have to some extent succumbed to the demands of
+settlement, the lake and its surroundings still present one of the
+most charming beauty spots in the whole Dominion. A deep fringe of
+tree-ferns and underwood, backed by a dense forest of native bush,
+skirts its north and northeast shores. Southward, through occasional
+breaches in the woods, can be seen the open undulating ground,
+gradually rising until it reaches the foot of the Tararuas, whose
+snow-capped peaks seem to touch the azure sky. Westward, stretching
+away to the sea, are the low flats over which meanders the
+slow-winding Waiwiri stream, which forms the outlet of the lake. Here
+the visitor is indeed on classic ground, for there is scarcely a
+feature of the landscape which has not, for the Maori, some historic
+association, some tragic story, some deepening memory of the hoary
+past. To this day the island of Papaitonga, so restful with its
+luxuriant crown of soft foliage, but which in the days of old was a
+sanguinary battle-ground, remains "a perfect necropolis of human
+bones," lying concealed beneath a living shroud of vegetation, which
+has silently risen to obscure from human sight the gruesome evidence
+of human savagery.
+
+It was to this spot that Te Rauparaha now, in 1827-28, led his
+warriors, arriving there late in the afternoon. His first care was
+effectually to surround the lake. This he did by posting strong
+detachments of men at various points, the reason for this disposition
+being a doubt as to which direction the fugitives would take in their
+flight, which rendered it expedient to intercept them at every
+possible avenue of escape. Ten men were then left in concealment near
+the canoe-landing, the smallness of the number being designed to
+deceive the inhabitants of the island, who at this time numbered
+several hundred. It was arranged that these men should, in the early
+morning, call to the people on the island to bring them a canoe, the
+intention being to create the impression in the minds of the islanders
+that they were a party of friends. Accordingly, when those in the _pa_
+began to be astir, Te Riu called out to Kahurangi:--
+
+"_E Kahu, e! Hoea mai te waka ki au. Ko tou tangata tenei._" (O Kahu,
+bring over a canoe for me, I am your man.)
+
+Either the call was not heard, or a lurking suspicion forbade a ready
+compliance with the request, for no movement was made by the islanders
+in the direction desired until Te Riu had called again:--
+
+"_Hoea mai te waka, kia maua ko to tangata. Ko Te Ruru tenei._" (Send
+a canoe for me and your friend. Te Ruru is here.)
+
+This last appeal was not without avail. A chief named Takare ordered
+two men to paddle a canoe across and bring Te Ruru to the island, at
+the same time impressing upon them the need of keeping a sharp
+lookout on shore to prevent unpleasant surprises. No sooner had the
+canoe put off than two of the Ngati-Toa divested themselves of their
+clothing, and waded out amongst the _raupo_ flags which grew near the
+landing, keeping only their heads above the water. One was armed with
+a tomahawk, and the other with a stone club known as an onewa, and
+their mission was to prevent the return of the canoe, should the men
+who brought it refuse to take the party on board. On came the canoe;
+but when passing the bulrushes, the rowers, who were peering
+cautiously about, detected the heads of the two men amongst the
+_raupo_, and in an instant the conviction of treachery flashed upon
+them. The man in the stern of the canoe excitedly called to his
+companion to shove off; but Whakatupu, the Ngati-Toa, was too quick
+for him. Springing from his concealment, he laid hold of the bow of
+the canoe and began to haul it towards the landing. The Muaupoko
+nearest to him made a lunge at his head with the paddle, but Whakatupu
+skilfully parried the thrust with his short-handled axe, and then,
+turning upon his assailant, with an unerring blow cleft his skull, and
+sent the lifeless body reeling back into the water. When the man in
+the stern of the canoe saw the fate of his companion, he immediately
+leaped overboard, and dived, coming to the surface again well out of
+the reach of the enemy. By diving and swimming, he at length succeeded
+in reaching the shore, where he concealed himself amongst some low
+brushwood, only to find that he had been tracked, and that it was his
+fate to be shot by Aperahama.
+
+The report of the gun, echoing through the silent bush and across the
+face of the placid lake, was the signal to the concealed warriors that
+the day's work had commenced, and to the unhappy islanders the
+announcement that the dogs of war had again been let loose upon them.
+They instantly prepared for flight, for to men without guns resistance
+was hopeless, even had it been possible. While they were swarming into
+their canoes, their panic was considerably accelerated by the sight
+of a Ngati-Huia warrior swimming towards the island discharging his
+musket as he swam. He had tied his cartouche box round his neck, and
+with his hands he loaded and re-loaded his gun, while he propelled
+himself through the water by his legs. When he reached the island, the
+inhabitants had already left, and were making for the shore. Here they
+were met by a deadly fusilade from one of Te Rauparaha's detachments,
+who were quietly waiting for them. They then turned their canoes, and
+made an effort to land at another point, only to be driven back by a
+second attack as disastrous as the first. Attempt after attempt was
+made to land, and here and there a strong swimmer or a swift runner
+succeeded in escaping; but the harvest of death was heavy, the bulk of
+the people, including all the chiefs, being shot. "As for the few who
+escaped," says a native account, "some took refuge at Horowhenua, and
+others fled to the mountains. After the fall of Papaitonga, the war
+party went on to Horowhenua, where there was more killing. Driven from
+there, the Muaupoko fugitives crossed over to Weraroa and fled to the
+hills. Then the war party returned to Papaitonga. What followed was
+according to Maori custom, but who would care to tell of it? I have a
+horror of that part of the story. If you want to know, ask the old men
+of the Ngati-Toa--Ngahuku, Tungia, and the others. That is all."
+Amongst those who were slain in this fight was Toheriri,[75] a
+Muaupoko chief, whose wife was inspired by the occasion to compose a
+lament in which she mourned the death of her husband, and implied that
+Tuahine had broken his pledge by exposing her people to the raid. But,
+in justice to that chief, it has to be admitted that he was entirely
+powerless to interpose on their behalf; while, on the other hand, the
+whole incident serves to show how ruthlessly Te Rauparaha cherished
+his desire for revenge, and how inadequate he considered the lapse of
+time and the slaughter of hundreds to satisfy the _manes_ of his
+children murdered by Muaupoko at Papaitonga.
+
+So Muaupoko died--or what was left of them lived, and were suffered to
+retain some of their lands around Horowhenua Lake. Pathetic laments
+for their lost lands and their departed _mana_ have been
+composed, and are still sung amongst them. One chanted by Taitoko in a
+lamentation over the dead of his tribe is universally known and sung
+by the Maoris of the coast:--
+
+  "The sun is setting,
+  Drawn to his ocean cave--
+  Sinking o'er the peak of Pukehinau.
+  Here wild with grief am I,
+  Lonely as the bird in the
+  Great waste of waters.
+  Wait, wait awhile, O Sun,
+  And we'll go down together."
+
+[48] "It is not unusual for the natural _ariki_, 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" (_Travers_).
+
+[49] I have here followed the narrative of Travers; but, in his
+_History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast_ Mr. Percy Smith
+makes it appear that at the moment of migration Te Ariwi was being
+besieged; that the exodus was not premeditated, but was suggested to
+Te Rauparaha by a Waikato chief as the only means of escape, and that
+the evacuation of the _pa_ was carried out at night. As affording
+an interesting sidelight upon the diversity of opinion which prevails
+as to the cause of Te Rauparaha's migration, I here append the
+following note which I have received from Mr. H. M. Stowell, a
+descendant of the great Hongi. "There is one striking Rauparaha fact
+which has not yet been properly given: Rauparaha had become a pest
+among his own people, and they warned him to beware--this at his
+Kawhia home. Consequently, when the _taua_, or war party, of my
+people, under Waka Nene and his brother Patuone, arrived at Kawhia on
+their way south, and invited Te Rauparaha to join them, he was only
+too willing. He was in personal danger at home, and he could only lose
+his life, at the worst, by coming south. He therefore came. When the
+war parties returned to Kawhia, Rauparaha at once gave out to his
+people that he intended to move south permanently. This being so, his
+people did not take any steps to molest him, and in due course he came
+south. These facts are important, as showing that his coming south was
+not a mere whim or accident; on the contrary, it was imperative,
+because he had made himself obnoxious to his own people."
+
+[50] John White, _Ancient History of the Maori_.
+
+[51] This woman was one of the wives whom Te Rauparaha had taken over
+after the death of Hape Taurangi at Maungatautari.
+
+[52] On the way down one disaster overtook the party. In the passage
+of the Mokau a canoe capsized and the only child of Te Rangihaeata was
+drowned. It was due to this circumstance that Rangihaeata in after
+years sometimes adopted the name of Mokau.
+
+[53] During the night a peculiar incident, illustrative of Maori life
+at this period, occurred. One of the women, the wife of a chief, had a
+child with her, which, in its restlessness, began to cry. Te Rauparaha,
+fearing that his stratagem would be betrayed by the wailing of the
+child, told its mother to choke it, saying, "I am that child." The
+parents at once obeyed the command, and strangled the child.
+
+[54] As illustrating the peculiar methods of Maori warfare, it is said
+that during the night following this battle Te Wherowhero came close
+to the Ngati-Toa camp and called out: "Oh Raha, how am I and my people
+to be saved?" To which Te Rauparaha replied: "You must go away this
+very night. Do not remain. Go; make haste." Following this advice, the
+Waikatos left the field, leaving their fires burning, and when the
+Ngati-Awa reinforcements arrived in the morning, no enemy was to be
+seen.
+
+[55] This is according to Travers's account. Some authorities say that
+Pomare could not have been there at that time.
+
+[56] Afterwards a thorn in Te Rauparaha's side: the saviour of
+Wellington in 1843, and the honourable opponent of the British forces
+in the Waitara war in 1860.
+
+[57] Between the years 1863-69 a violent dispute raged between the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as to their respective rights to
+sell a valuable block of land known as Rangitikei-Manawatu to the
+Provincial Government. Ngati-Raukawa claimed the land on the ground of
+conquest, while Ngati-Apa urged that the marriage of Pikinga, their
+chieftainess, with Rangihaeata was a bond between them and Te
+Rauparaha, which induced him to protect rather than to destroy them.
+Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were furious when they heard of these
+pretensions, and severely upbraided Ngati-Raukawa for not having
+permitted them to exterminate Ngati-Apa, whom they described as "the
+remnant of their meal."
+
+[58] Te Uira was at this time the wife of Te Poa, who was killed at
+this massacre. Hononga was Te Rauparaha's daughter by his second wife,
+Kahui-rangi.
+
+[59] Now Wellington.
+
+[60] This decision, it is said, was taken partly because they took
+umbrage at Te Rauparaha's overbearing manner, and partly because they
+had heard that another Waikato raid upon Taranaki was imminent. This
+was in the year 1823.
+
+[61] This would be about the year 1824.
+
+[62] This force, to the number of 120, was led by Te Ahu-karamu, a
+chief who afterwards became a prominent and progressive leader of the
+Maori people on the west coast.
+
+[63] Called by the early European settlers "Jackeytown."
+
+[64] Kerei te Panau was at this time a lad of about ten years of age,
+and probably owes the fact that he lived to be about ninety-four years
+of age to this flight across the river in the canoes.
+
+[65] _Atua_--a god.
+
+[66] This migration is known to the Ngati-Raukawa tribe as the _Heke
+Whirinui_, owing to the fact that the _whiri_, or plaited
+collars of their mats, were made very large for the journey.
+
+[67] For this purpose, he and Te Heuheu returned to Taupo, some of the
+party passing across the Manawatu block, so as to strike the
+Rangitikei River 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 Rangataua, where a female
+relative of Te Heuheu, famed for her extreme beauty, died of wounds
+inflicted upon her during the journey by a stray band of Ngati-Apa. 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 ground, 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 Rangitikei, where the chief was
+presented with three Ngati-Apa prisoners. These were immediately
+sacrificed, and then the whole party resumed the journey to Taupo.
+Amongst the special events which occurred on the march was the capture
+of a Ngati-Apa woman and two children on the south side of the
+Rangitikei River. The unfortunate children were sacrificed during the
+performance of some 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 Ngati-Raukawa
+leaders. Shortly after this, Te Whiro, one of the greatest of the
+Ngati-Apa 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
+Ngati-Apa long before, but the women were saved (_Travers_).
+
+[68] The native trade consisted of dressed flax and various kinds of
+fresh provisions, including potatoes, which, prior to the advent of
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, had not been planted on the west coast of the
+North Island.
+
+[69] The words which Te Pehi is reported to have used were "Go Europe,
+see King Georgi." Dr. John Savage in his _Account of New Zealand_,
+refers to the apparent preference which the natives had for the word
+Europe over that of England. He says of a native whom he took to
+London with him, from the Bay of Islands: "I never could make
+Mayhanger pronounce the word England, therefore I was content to allow
+him to make use of Europe instead, which he pronounced without
+difficulty." Possibly Te Pehi experienced the same difficulty of
+pronunciation.
+
+[70] The Maori became popular in the _Urania_, and at Monte Video
+plunged into the sea and rescued the drowning captain, who had fallen
+overboard (_Rusden_).
+
+[71] Captain Reynolds was allowed a sum of £200 by the British
+Government as compensation for the trouble and expense to which he had
+been put by his enforced alliance with Te Pehi (see _N.Z. Historical
+Records_). The account of the chief's visit to England will be
+found in the volume of The _Library of Entertaining Knowledge_ for
+1830.
+
+[72] One of the migrations which took place about this time consisted
+of 140 Ngati-Raukawa men under the leadership of Nepia Taratoa. It is
+known in history as the _Heke Kariritahi_, from the fact that
+those warriors who were armed with muskets had hit upon the shrewd
+plan of enlarging the touch-holes of their guns, in order to save the
+time which otherwise would be occupied in priming. They were thus able
+to keep up a much more rapid fire upon the enemy. Te Whatanui came
+down with this _heke_, to consult further with Te Rauparaha, but
+finding him absent from Kapiti, he returned to Taupo to prepare for
+the migration of his own people.
+
+[73] During the hearing by the Native Land Court in 1869 of the
+dispute which arose between the Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as
+to the right to sell the Rangitikei-Manawatu block of land to the
+Provincial Government of Wellington, Chief Judge Fenton remarked to
+Mr. Travers, who was appearing for Ngati-Raukawa, "The fact is, Mr.
+Travers, it appears to me that the flaw in your clients' title is that
+they did not kill and eat all these people."
+
+[74] At times there were many whalers there--as many as a hundred--of
+various nations. Here they stayed while whales came near the coast:
+but when these ceased to come near the coast, the whalers went out on
+the ocean, and the ships which were full of oil went each to its own
+land, and Rauparaha went back to his people and home at Kapiti
+(_Ngati-Toa account_).
+
+[75] Toheriri was prominent in the conspiracy of 1822 in connection
+with the gift of canoes. After that event, he, with his particular
+_hapu_, went to the Wairarapa for two years, and then returned to
+Papaitonga, where he was killed on this occasion, it is said, with
+great barbarity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SOUTHERN RAIDS
+
+
+The events just narrated have brought us in point of time to early in
+the year 1828, by which period Te Rauparaha was unquestionably master
+of the whole coast from Whanganui to Wellington. Not only was his
+supremacy indisputable in that he had completely silenced his enemies,
+but success had brought its natural result in the shape of numerous
+reinforcements, which had come from the shores of Taupo to share in
+his adventurous cause. Thus he was both free and able to give his
+undivided attention to the realisation of a dream which he had long
+cherished, and which he one day hoped to realise. This was no less
+ambitious a scheme than the invasion and conquest of the Middle
+Island, the forest-clad hills and snow-capped mountains of which were
+plainly discernible as he gazed wistfully across the broken waters of
+Raukawa (Cook's Strait). But it was not the scenic beauties of the
+island which attracted the keen eye of Te Rauparaha, for these alone
+would have no charm for him. His mind was cast in the material rather
+than in the æsthetic mould; his thoughts ran to practical rather than
+to artistic ends, and the real magnet which attracted him southward
+was the hope of possessing himself of the large store of greenstone
+which, according to report, the Ngai-Tahu people had collected at
+Kaikoura as the result of their periodical excursions to the west
+coast, where alone this valuable jade could be obtained.[76] Avarice
+and love of conquest were driving forces in his plans, but there was
+yet another motive operating to impel him onward. If the reader will
+recall the circumstances attending the battle of Waiorua, it will be
+remembered that the host which on that occasion invaded Kapiti had
+been collected from far and near. Some among them had even come from
+the tribe of Ngai-Tahu, which was then the most powerful branch of the
+Maori race occupying the Middle Island, of which they had dispossessed
+the Ngati-Mamoe some two hundred years before. One of the principal
+_pas_ of these people in the northern end of the island was situated
+on a high cliff overlooking the bay of Kaikoura, which at this time
+was estimated to contain between three and four thousand souls, living
+under the direction of a chief named Rerewaka. When the fugitives from
+Kapiti reached their settlements on the Middle Island, and carried
+with them marvellous tales of Te Rauparaha's prowess in battle, these
+stories only tended to intensify the feelings of hatred and envy
+already cherished by the southern chiefs. Their impotent rage found
+expression in a vain and unfortunate boast made by Rerewaka, which
+supplied Te Rauparaha with the strongest of all incentives to a Maori
+raid--the desire for revenge. Rerewaka had not himself been present at
+the battle of Waiorua, otherwise he might have been more modest in his
+language towards the invincible Te Rauparaha. But he had had friends
+with the allies, and the chagrin felt at their annihilation, and the
+taunting song of triumph chanted by the victorious Ngati-Toa, in which
+the subjection of the Ngai-Tahu was hinted at, provoked him to declare
+in an unguarded moment that "if ever Te Rauparaha dared to set foot on
+his land, he would rip his belly open with a _niho mango_."[77] This
+oral indiscretion was overheard by a slave standing by, who shortly
+afterwards, making his escape, reported Rerewaka's boast to
+Rauparaha. The chief of the Ngati-Toa heard with placid countenance of
+his threatened fate, and in answer merely remarked, "So he has said,"
+the apparent unconcern of his reply justifying the native proverb
+concerning him: "_Ko te uri o kapu manawa whiti_" (No one knew his
+thoughts, whether they were good or evil). He was really glad at heart
+of this further pretext for attacking and conquering the tribes of the
+Middle Island.[78] But while he had his mind bent upon revenge and his
+eyes fixed upon the treasure of greenstone, he was in no haste to put
+his design into execution. Leisurely action would enable him to
+mobilise his own forces, and serve to wrap his enemies in imagined
+security; and so for two years he waited patiently, keeping his
+warriors in fighting trim by repeated skirmishes with the shattered
+remnants of the Muaupoko and other northern tribes. But now his plans
+had fully matured, and by this time he had succeeded in gathering a
+large quantity of arms and ammunition from the Europeans, who, having
+learnt its advantages, were making Kapiti a frequent port of call and
+a place of some importance in the whaling industry. With these weapons
+he equipped his chosen men, who, when fighting with their native
+_meres_, were superior even to the best of the Ngai-Tahu or Rangitane,
+but, when armed with the more modern implements of the _pakeha_,
+became simply invincible. His fleet of canoes[79] also had been
+strengthened by the captures he had made after the battle of Waiorua,
+so that he had ample accommodation for the three hundred and forty men
+who comprised his expeditionary force. With this force, the most
+perfectly equipped that he had yet commanded, Rauparaha crossed the
+Strait, making Rangitoto (D'Urville Island) his first place of call.
+Here he found a section of the Rangitane tribe, the descendants of the
+people whom Captain Cook had first met at Ship Cove, who had now
+become powerful in the sense of being numerous. But where the odds of
+skill and arms were against them, numbers only supplied more victims
+for the cannibal feast which followed the battle. Everywhere the
+islanders were defeated and put to rout, many of them being eaten on
+the spot, and as many more carried back to Kapiti, there to await the
+dictates of their captors' appetites. Or, if they were fortunate
+enough to have their lives spared, the reprieve only enhanced their
+misfortune by carrying slavery and degradation with it.
+
+Rauparaha on this occasion swept like a withering blast over the whole
+of the northern portion of the Marlborough Province, neither the
+seclusion of the Pelorus Sound nor the inaccessibility of the Wairau
+and Awatere Valleys protecting the inhabitants from the rapacity of
+his warriors. Deflecting their course from D'Urville Island, they next
+proceeded to the point known in Maori legend as "Kupe's spear," but
+more recently styled Jackson's Head. Here a temporary division of
+their forces took place, the Ngati-Awa allies proceeding up Queen
+Charlotte Sound as far as Waitohi, the Pelorus Sound being the
+objective of Te Rauparaha. The tribe who occupied the shores of this
+great waterway was the Ngati-Kuia, an offshoot of Ngati-Apa, who were
+famed for their skill as fishermen, but who did little cultivation.
+Their principal _pa_, a semi-fortified village called Hikapu,
+stood at the junction of the Pelorus and Kenepuru reaches; and, when
+the fleet of northern canoes was seen sweeping up the Sound, the cry
+was raised "_Te Iwi hou e!_" (The newcomers! the new people!) That
+their coming boded them no good, Ngati-Kuia knew, and those who could,
+disappeared into the forest, while those who could not stayed to fight
+for the _mana_ of their tribe and the honour of their ancestral home.
+For them the battle was one against fearful odds; for, this being
+their first acquaintance with firearms, they were seized with panic,
+and the fight soon degenerated into a massacre. "What are those lights
+and the smoke we see at the village?" inquired a boy as he was being
+hurried through the bush by his fugitive father. "That," replied the
+sobbing parent--"that is Ngati-Toa burning your ancestors' and our
+houses."[80]
+
+Whatever hesitation Te Rauparaha may have had about raiding the Wairau
+during this campaign, was dispelled on its being reported to him that
+the Rangitane chief of the valley, Te Rua-Oneone, whose _pa_,
+called Kowhai, was situated near the mouth of the Wairau River, had
+heaped a curse upon his head, an insult which called for prompt and
+vigorous action. As yet the Wairau natives had had no experience of
+Rauparaha's qualities as a fighting chief. But they had heard rumours,
+and had listened to tales of his doings on the other island, which,
+although painted in glowing colours, had nevertheless been regarded
+with contempt by many of the leading chiefs. Amongst these incredulous
+persons was Te Rua-Oneone, who treated the matter so lightly as to
+remark that "Te Rauparaha's head would one day be beaten with a
+fern-root pounder." According to the Maori code, there was but one way
+of dealing with a scoffer who could speak so contemptuously of a
+chief; and therefore, when the natives of Pelorus, D'Urville Island,
+and Totaranui had been hopelessly beaten, the canoes were ordered to
+the Wairau, where the boastful Te Rua-Oneone had direct experience of
+what manner of man Te Rauparaha was. The fight, which took place on
+the land now enclosed within Bank Farm, was soon over, and could only
+have one result. The Rangitane were brave men, but their stone and
+wooden weapons were useless against the muskets of the Ngati-Toa. Te
+Rua-Oneone was captured and carried as a slave to Kapiti, where he had
+time and opportunity to reflect upon his defeat, which Rauparaha, with
+appropriate sarcasm, called _tuki tuki patu aruhe_, which signifies
+"beaten with a fern-root pounder."
+
+Nor was this merely a raid of bloodshed. Rauparaha sought territorial
+aggrandisement, and adopted the Roman principle of securing the fruits
+of his conquest by planting a colony of his tribe at every centre
+along the route of his victorious march. In each case the newcomers
+made slaves of the strong amongst the men and the beautiful amongst
+the women of the people whom they vanquished.[81]
+
+No sooner had this shattering blow been delivered against the fortunes
+of Ngai-Tahu than Te Rauparaha gave his attention to a matter which
+from force of circumstances had been neglected for many months. At the
+earnest solicitation of Ngati-Raukawa, he now agreed to march against
+the Whanganui people, who, it will be remembered, were responsible for
+the destruction of one of the several Ngati-Raukawa migrations prior
+to the first visit to the South Island. A force which, it is said,
+numbered nearly a thousand fighting men, led by the most distinguished
+chiefs of the allied tribes, with Te Rauparaha in supreme command,
+proceeded up the coast and attacked the Putikiwharanui _pa_, which was
+defended by a garrison almost twice as numerous as the assailants.
+Though not protracted, the struggle was fierce. The defenders made
+many desperate sorties, fighting with great determination and
+affording a fine example of courage, during the two months over which
+the investment extended. The damage, however, which they were able to
+inflict had no effect in causing the forces of Te Rauparaha to
+relinquish their grip. After a spirited defence of eight weeks, the
+assailants succeeded in carrying the place by storm, and the
+inhabitants suffered so severely that they were never afterwards able
+to seek the satisfaction of retaliation.[82]
+
+While the Ngati-Toa were engaged in these minor operations, an event
+occurred which increased the _mana_ of their chief amongst his
+own people and added considerably to his reputation abroad. This was
+the opportune arrival of his uncle and former comrade, Te Pehi Kupe,
+who, laden with the store of weapons which he had procured in Sydney,
+was brought back to New Zealand at this critical juncture in the
+history of the tribe.[83] The jubilation at such an event was
+necessarily great; not so much, perhaps, because of the wanderer's
+return, as because of what he had brought with him. There is at least
+no denying the fact that Te Pehi soon forgot what little of
+civilisation he had learned, except in so far as it enabled him to
+become a more destructive savage. He at once coalesced with his former
+leader; and with this valuable addition to his staff of councillors,
+and the enhancement of his munitions of war, Te Rauparaha felt more
+than equal to the task of carrying the battle to the gates of
+Kaikoura.
+
+Out of this extreme confidence grew a further development of the
+Ngati-Toa scheme of conquest. Their forces were now divided into two
+sections, the one proceeding to the great bays on the Nelson Coast,
+where they intended forcibly establishing themselves, while the
+remainder, under their old leader, aided by Te Pehi and a staff of
+other warriors, prepared to test the merits of Rerewaka's boast. It
+was a fateful day in the summer of 1829 when the canoes with three
+hundred men left D'Urville Island and turned their prows to the south.
+Although few in numbers compared with the enemy they were going to
+meet, they knew that the advantage of arms was with them, almost every
+man being provided with a musket. Moreover, they were full of the
+animation which is born of complete confidence in one's leader, and
+which, in this case, almost amounted to a superstition. No war party
+with Rauparaha at its head ever took failure into account, some of the
+warriors even going so far as to declare that "it was only necessary
+to strike the enemy with the handles of their paddles in order to
+secure a victory."
+
+ [Illustration: THE TIKI, KAIAPOI.
+ Erected on the site of the old Kaiapoi Pa.]
+
+Thus, well-armed and confident, the Ngati-Toa proceeded down the
+coast, resting the first day at Cloudy Bay, and subsequently at
+various other points, and arriving off Kaikoura before dawn on the
+fourth day. Not knowing what the exact disposition of the enemy's
+forces might be, and not being disposed for risks, Rauparaha anchored
+his canoes under the shadow of the peninsula, and then waited for the
+light. In this decision his characteristic good fortune did not desert
+him. It so happened that the Kaikoura natives were at that very time
+expecting a visit from some of their tribesmen in the south; and, when
+the first glimmering of dawn revealed a fleet of canoes on the bay
+below, there being nothing to indicate the direction from which they
+had come, the unsuspecting Ngai-Tahu assumed that their anticipated
+visitors had arrived. The early risers in the _pa_ set up the song
+of welcome--_Haere-mai, Haere-mai_--and soon the whole settlement
+throbbed with life and activity, indicative of the jubilant
+expectation of a reunion of friends. Whilst the elders busied
+themselves with preparations for the hospitable entertainment of the
+strangers, the younger people rushed, shouting gaily, down to the
+beach, to escort the guests back to the _pa_. The quick eye of Te
+Rauparaha at once saw the trap into which his enemy had fallen; and,
+elated at his amazing good fortune, he ordered the advance of the
+canoes, which, with a few sweeping strokes of the paddles, were driven
+swiftly across the intervening water. Before the unwary victims had
+recognised their mistake or recovered from their surprise, the
+Ngati-Toa warriors were amongst them, dealing death-blows on every
+hand. As might have been expected, the Ngai-Tahu, being totally
+unarmed and unprepared for the attack, were slaughtered without
+remorse or resistance, and, as their only safety lay in flight, they
+beat a breathless retreat towards the _pa_, where for a time the
+semblance of a stand was made. But the muskets of their assailants
+were now doing their work of death, while their ruthless charges
+increased the havoc. Before long Rerewaka was a prisoner, over a
+thousand of his people were slain, and his stronghold was in the hands
+of his most detested enemies.
+
+This decisive achievement was fully celebrated during the next ten
+days, with all the atrocities peculiar to cannibal feasts; and after
+the savage appetites of the victors had been surfeited with the flesh
+of their victims, and the nephritic treasures of the _pa_ had
+been collected, the war party returned to Kapiti, carrying Rerewaka
+and four hundred additional prisoners with them, to be killed and
+eaten at the leisure of their conquerors. The majority of them in due
+course met this fate, Rerewaka himself being killed with especial
+marks of cruelty and indignity, because of the insulting nature of his
+language towards the Ngati-Toa chief.[84] In consideration of the
+circumstances which led to this attack upon Kaikoura, the victory has
+ever since been known as _Niho Mango_, or "the battle of the shark's
+tooth."
+
+After the humiliation of Rerewaka and his people at Kaikoura,
+Rauparaha's greatest ambition was to pit himself in battle against
+that section of the Ngai-Tahu tribe who, under Tamaiharanui,
+Rongotara, and other powerful chiefs, held the strongly fortified
+_pa_ at Kaiapohia. But before he had a reasonable excuse for
+picking a quarrel with the people of Kaiapoi, and so attacking them in
+a manner that would be strictly _tika_, or proper, he had another
+opportunity of returning to Kaikoura, to retrieve the dignity of
+himself and his friends. The cause of this second invasion, like the
+previous one, was somewhat remote; but, unlike it, it arose out of a
+superabundance of love rather than of hate. The offence complained of
+was not committed against Te Rauparaha, but against his nephew,
+Rangihaeata. Rangihaeata was at this time rapidly rising into fame as
+a daring and successful warrior, and his place in the tribe naturally
+demanded that much of his time should be given up to the business of
+war, with the result that his functions as the head of his household
+were much neglected. During one of these prolonged periods of absence,
+his _pa_ at Porirua was visited by a chief of the Ngati-Ira (a
+branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu) tribe, named Kekerengu. According to
+tradition, this Kekerengu was a man of remarkable beauty of figure and
+grace of deportment. Tall and stalwart of frame, easy of carriage, and
+engaging in manner, his personal charm was still further enhanced in
+Maori estimation by a particularly artistic _moko_, or tattoo
+decoration. The introduction of this social lion into Rangihaeata's
+family circle was the cause of all the trouble. Kekerengu had so
+insinuated himself into the affections of the warrior's wives, that
+when Rangihaeata returned from the wars, the breath of scandal was
+busy with the proceedings of his family circle during his absence. The
+anger of the chief, on learning what had occurred, knew no bounds.
+Forthwith he sent the fiery cross from _pa_ to _pa_, and in a short
+space of time a force sufficient for his purpose was enrolled. Te
+Rauparaha, to whom the scent of battle was sweet, at once espoused the
+cause of his injured relative, and together they set out in search of
+the destroyer of Te Rangihaeata's domestic happiness.
+
+Kekerengu knew that, as the result of his indiscreet conduct,
+retribution would in some form follow him; but, in order to delay the
+evil day, he judiciously took to his canoe, and with a few of his
+followers crossed the Strait and sought refuge amongst the Ngai-Tahu
+of Kaikoura.[85] Thither Te Rauparaha tracked him; but the inhabitants
+of the _pa_ were not to be taken by surprise a second time.
+Knowing that they were no match for the force they saw approaching,
+they at once abandoned their settlement and flew down the coast,
+through the Amuri, towards Kaiapoi. But this escapade was not to stand
+between the Ngati-Toa and their revenge. When they arrived and found
+the _pa_ empty, they at once decided to go in pursuit. The march
+was swift and forced, and the invaders soon fell in with the
+fugitives, as they were camped at the Omihi stream. Here the unhappy
+wretches were attacked and routed with great slaughter, the few who
+escaped death or capture flying in precipitate haste into the bush,
+through which they made their way to the minor settlements further
+south. Kekerengu's guilt[86] was now expiated in his own blood and
+that of his hosts, and therefore Ngati-Toa might have returned to
+their homes fully satisfied with the results of their expedition. But
+the opportunity was so favourable for carrying out the long-cherished
+design of attacking Kaiapoi, that Te Pehi strenuously counselled going
+on. Te Rauparaha, it is said, was seized by some dark foreboding that
+Fate was trifling with him, and endeavoured to argue his lieutenant
+out of his warlike enthusiasm, but without avail. Te Pehi was bent
+upon storming Kaiapoi, and for once Te Rauparaha allowed himself to be
+overruled by his less cautious comrade. To facilitate the movements of
+the war party, which numbered about one hundred men, all encumbrances
+in the shape of prisoners were left in charge of a detachment at
+Omihi, and the canoes, which had been brought round from Kaikoura,
+were manned and taken as far down the coast as the Waipara River.
+There the force disembarked, and hauling the canoes beyond the reach
+of the tide, pushed on across the plains towards the southern
+stronghold.
+
+Kaiapoi was one of the oldest of the Ngai-Tahu _pas_, as it was
+admittedly one of their strongest fortresses. It had been built by Tu
+Rakautahi in 1700 A.D., at the close of the thirty years' war, which
+had resulted in the expulsion and the almost total annihilation of the
+Ngati-Mamoe people. Its position had been selected with some strategic
+skill, for it stood on a narrow tongue of land about five acres in
+extent, which ran out into the Tairutu lagoon, and was surrounded on
+three sides by the dark waters of that extensive swamp, which
+stretched for several miles to the north and the south. On the
+landward side it was protected by a wide and deep ditch, which in
+peaceful times was bridged over, while its double row of palisades,
+erected upon massive earthworks and surmounted by curiously carved
+figures representing gods and ancestors, rendered it so impregnable in
+the popular estimation that it was sometimes compared to "the
+inaccessible cliff of God," which none had dared to scale. The
+internal arrangements were in keeping with the importance of the _pa_
+as the social and military centre of the tribe. Its population was
+numerous, wealthy, and distinctly aristocratic, and therefore the
+domains of the _rangatiras_ and the commonalty were well defined. The
+dwellings of the chiefs were large and commodious structures,
+"ornamented inside and out with carving and scroll work." There were
+storehouses for the man physical, shrines for the man spiritual,
+playing grounds for old and young, and a burial-place for both when
+their earthly sojourn was over. The commerce of the _pa_ was conducted
+through three gates, two of which, Kaitangata and Hiaka-rere, faced
+the deep moat, and the third, Huirapa, the lagoon on the western side,
+being connected with the opposite shore by a light wooden footway. But
+with all its vaunted strength, the _pa_ had, according to critics, a
+fatal weakness, in that, if subjected to a close investment, it was
+liable to have its food supply cut off owing to its semi-insularity.
+Its builder had been twitted with this supposed defect when he
+determined upon the site of his stronghold, and he silenced his
+critics more by his ready wit than by the soundness of his military
+judgment. For he said "_Kai_" must be "_poi_," or food must be swung
+to the spot. "Potted birds from the forests of Kaikoura, fish and
+mutton birds from the south, _kiore_ and _weka_ from the plains and
+the mountain ranges"; and so down through the century or more which
+had passed since then it had been an essential part of the policy of
+those in authority at the _pa_ to see that its commissariat was not
+neglected, and that its _whatas_ were always full against the day
+when its gates might have to be barred to a troublesome enemy.[87]
+
+Such was the place which, in the opening months of 1829, the northern
+force marched to assault; but they had sadly misjudged the position if
+they imagined that they could take it by surprise. Ngai-Tahu had
+warning enough to enable them to gather their people within the
+palisades, to cut away their bridges, and to stand upon the alert at
+all the most vulnerable points. When, therefore, Te Rauparaha arrived
+under the walls of the _pa_, he adopted the most diplomatic
+course open to him, and made a virtue of necessity by feigning that he
+had come only with the most peaceful intent. His first care was to
+select a suitable site for his camp; he fixed it upon the
+south-western side of the lagoon, and there calmly sat down to await
+developments. Nor had he long to wait. Tamaiharanui, the high priest
+and leading chief of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, accompanied by a native
+named Hakitara, proceeded under commission from the people in the
+_pa_ to inquire the purpose of so unexpected a visit. Hakitara
+was a Nga-Puhi native, having come originally from the northern
+portion of the Auckland Province. When Te Rauparaha had exchanged
+salutations with him and the venerable Tamaiharanui, he proceeded to
+furnish the explanation which they had come to seek. In the course of
+his oration he recited a _tau_, or war song, the idiom of which
+was more apparent to the Nga-Puhi than to his companion, who was less
+learned in northern lore. This battle chant conveyed a message to
+Hakitara which was sinister and disturbing. The protestations of Te
+Rauparaha were most ardent in the direction of peace, and his
+declarations full of the promise of friendship; but the words of his
+song had been so suspiciously indicative of evil intent, that Hakitara
+felt it incumbent upon him to advise the immediate return of
+Tamaiharanui to the _pa_, while he himself remained in the Ngati-Toa
+camp to pick up what scraps of useful information might drop from the
+lips of incautious retainers. By dint of sedulous inquiry,
+particularly amongst the slaves, he gleaned enough to stimulate his
+suspicions, which were more than confirmed when he heard that the
+northerners had desecrated a newly made grave which they had passed on
+the march to the _pa_. Such an outrage to the dead of Ngai-Tahu was
+not the act of friends; and now the living witnesses of Te Rauparaha's
+hostility began to pour into Kaiapoi, viz., the fugitives who had
+escaped from the slaughter at Omihi. For days they had wandered in the
+bush and in the by-paths of the open lands, hoping to evade the clutch
+of their pursuers; and when they arrived with their tale of terror,
+something more than fair words were needed to convince the inhabitants
+of the semi-beleaguered _pa_ that Ngati-Toa had come so far south on a
+mission of peaceful commerce, and not of resentful war. Te Rauparaha,
+with his usual clarity of vision, saw the predicament in which the
+inopportune arrival of the fugitives had placed him, and promptly
+determined upon a desperate expedient, which, he hoped, would allay
+the dark suspicion which he hourly saw growing up around him, and
+which, if unchecked, would assuredly frustrate his enterprise. Not
+only did he feel it necessary to reiterate his assurances that nothing
+but a desire to trade for greenstone had brought him to Kaiapoi, but
+he did more. With a recklessness which only a critical situation could
+justify, he permitted his principal lieutenants--a liberty hitherto
+denied them--to freely enter the enemy's _pa_, and carry on, with
+well-simulated earnestness, negotiations for the exchange of
+greenstone for their own ancient fire-arms and doubtful powder.
+
+Amongst the first of the Ngati-Toa chiefs to avail himself of this
+permission was Te Pehi,[88] who, it will be remembered, had, with
+fatal enthusiasm, inspired the raid, and urged it upon an unwilling
+leader. Together with Pokaitara, Te Aratangata, Te Kohua, Te Hua Piko,
+and several other chiefs equally renowned in Ngati-Toa warfare, Te
+Pehi continued to visit and revisit the _pa_ for several days,
+carrying on a brisk trade, and incidentally noting the interior
+arrangements of the fortress, its people, and the chances of its
+speedy capture. Meanwhile, the Ngai-Tahu agent in Te Rauparaha's camp
+was not idle, and not the least of Hakitara's successes was the fact
+that he had been able to ingratiate himself into the good opinion of
+Te Rauparaha. That astute personage, usually so keen a judge of
+character, was completely deceived by the clever Nga-Puhi, whom he had
+hopes of weaning from the Ngai-Tahu cause. To this end he presented
+him with one of the most attractive of his slaves, a lady named Te
+Aka, whose charms it was hoped would prove sufficiently strong to draw
+the Nga-Puhi warrior back to the north. But Te Rauparaha's cold
+calculations were soon set at naught by the warmth of a human heart.
+Te Aka was not a free woman. She was a slave, whose _pa_ and
+whose people had been overrun and destroyed by the ruthless invader,
+and within her breast there burned the undying desire and hope for
+revenge. Therefore, when she and Hakitara came to understand each
+other, there was soon a joint wit at work to worst the man who fondly
+believed that the human passions were being harnessed to his
+political schemes. So confident was he that he would win Hakitara
+over, that he neglected even ordinary prudence in discussing his plans
+within his hearing. To such excess was this overconfidence carried,
+that one night he called his chiefs together to a council of war,
+which was held under the eaves of the _whare_ which Hakitara occupied,
+where every word could be heard by the occupants. Here the whole
+scheme of the capture of Kaiapoi was discussed and decided upon; and
+so hopeful was Te Rauparaha of success, that he boastingly remarked to
+Te Rangihaeata, "Soon we shall have our _pa_." "Beware of the Nga-Puhi
+man," was Rangihaeata's whispered advice; but Rauparaha dismissed the
+warning by an impatient gesture and a petulant remark that nothing was
+to be feared from that quarter. Hakitara had, however, been greedily
+listening to all that had passed, and when the council broke up he was
+in possession of every detail of the tactics by which the _pa_ was to
+be assaulted on the morrow.
+
+As might be surmised, sleep came but fitfully to the faithful Hakitara
+that night, and just as the first silver ray of dawn was breaking in
+the east, he rose, and, wrapping himself in a large dog-skin mat,
+crept out of the hut into the grey morning, determined to warn his
+friends in the _pa_, if fortune did not desert him. The Maori
+system of warfare, though quaint in many respects, was practical
+enough to include the posting of sentries round the camps; and, even
+if they were not invariably vigilant, there was always the risk that
+one might happen to be watchful at an awkward moment. This fear
+haunted Hakitara as, with beating heart, he wormed his way between the
+huts and through the tufts of waving tussock grass. Tradition records
+that he was successful in eluding a direct challenge; and when he was
+well beyond the circuit of the sentries, he rose to his feet and ran
+with all his speed to the nearest gate of the _pa_. The gate was
+instantly opened to him, and in a hurried whisper he bade the keeper
+summon the chiefs to a conference in a neighbouring house. When the
+warriors were assembled, he disclosed to them in hot, hurried words
+all that he knew of Ngati-Toa's intentions, which, in remembrance of a
+treaty negotiated only the previous day, could be regarded in no other
+light than as a shameless breach of faith. The council decided that
+they would not wait for the blow to fall upon them from outside, but
+would forestall the northerners in their own methods. They knew that
+some of the Ngati-Toa chiefs would, in keeping with the custom of the
+past few days, visit them again for the purpose of trade; and they
+were hopeful that, by a special effort, they might be able to induce
+the great Te Rauparaha himself to come within the gates. It was agreed
+that the chiefs, once within the walls, should be attacked and killed,
+and that then a sortie should be made upon the unsuspecting camp
+outside. Scarcely had this decision been arrived at, when Te Pehi and
+several of his fellow-chiefs entered the _pa_ and began to mix with
+the populace, who were now busy preparing for the business of the day,
+and were in total ignorance of the decision of their leaders or the
+circumstances which had dictated it. There was thus no change in the
+demeanour of the people to excite uneasiness in the minds of Te Pehi
+and his friends. They, on the other hand, knowing that their plans
+were nearing fruition, and believing that the _pa_ was virtually in
+the hollow of their hands, adopted a more insolent air, and were at no
+pains to conceal the contempt with which they regarded the rights of
+Ngai-Tahu property. Thus, Te Pehi boldly entered one of the houses,
+and seizing a large block of greenstone, attached to it a rope of
+flax, and proceeded to drag it towards the Hiaka-rere gate, evidently
+intending to carry it into the northern camp.
+
+The _pa_ was now alive with men and women, for the day was well
+on, and the audacious cupidity of Te Pehi aroused both astonishment
+and anger. As he strode towards the gate, he had to pass a group of
+excited onlookers sitting in the _marae_, or open space which served
+the purpose of a sports ground. One of these, Moimoi, rose and
+challenged Te Pehi's right to purloin his greenstone in that
+unceremonious fashion. With scorn unspeakable, Te Pehi turned upon his
+interrogator, and in tones of bitter contempt inquired by what right
+he, a menial, dared to call in question the actions of a chief. "You
+of the crooked tattoo, what use would your ugly head be to me if I
+were to carry it back with me to Kapiti? It would be worth nothing
+towards the purchase of a musket. But," said he, turning to a stalwart
+native standing near by, "here is a man whose head would be worth the
+taking, but you with the worthless head, how dare you cavil at the
+actions of the great Te Pehi?" The slighting reference to the
+inartistic facial decoration of Moimoi was intended to be particularly
+insulting, for every native was wont to pride himself upon the
+completeness of his _moko_, and Te Pehi had good reason to regard
+himself as something of an authority upon this branch of Maori art,
+for his own tattoo was more than usually elaborate. But the most
+alarming portion of his taunt was his thinly-veiled reference to the
+sale of Moimoi's head. Every one knew that at this period a
+considerable traffic had sprung up in native heads,[89] which were
+preserved by a crude process and traded away to Europeans in exchange
+for muskets. Te Pehi's reference to the matter could, then, only be
+taken as an indication that during his visits to the _pa_ he had lent
+his eye to business, and, in this connection, business meant the
+assault and sacking of the fortress. The full force of this indiscreet
+admission had flashed upon the astonished listeners; but, before they
+could reply, their attention was diverted from the arrogance of Te
+Pehi by another incident which had occurred at the Hiaka-rere gate.
+Pokaitara, one of Te Rauparaha's most intrepid lieutenants, had
+approached this entrance, and was seeking admission to the _pa_, which
+was being denied him. Observing who the visitor was, Rongotara, the
+superior resident chief of Kaiapoi, ordered the keeper of the gate to
+admit him, exclaiming as he did so, "Welcome my younger brother's
+lord," a reference to the fact that Rongotara's brother had been made
+a prisoner at Omihi by Pokaitara, and was at that moment in his
+keeping. The gate was immediately thrown open; but the Ngati-Toa had
+no sooner bent his head beneath the portal than Rongotara dealt him a
+crushing blow with his _miti_, or stone club, which he was carrying in
+his hand, and the lifeless body fell with a heavy thud to the ground.
+
+It was this opening episode in the Ngai-Tahu policy of checkmate which
+had suddenly diverted attention from Te Pehi. But the incident had
+been as visible to him as to those around him, and the moment he saw
+it, the critical nature of his own position dawned upon him, and,
+taking no further thought of the greenstone, he sprang with the
+agility of a tiger towards the south-western angle of the palisading,
+and commenced to scramble up the wall by clutching the vines which
+bound the upright posts together. His plunge for safety would probably
+have proved successful--for several shots which were fired at him flew
+wide of the mark--had not Tangatahara, a Ngai-Tahu warrior of great
+strength and personal courage, closed with him, and, pulling him to
+the ground, despatched him with a blow from his tomahawk.[90] The
+other northern chiefs who were in the _pa_ were apprised of the mêlée
+which was proceeding by the sound of the fire-arms discharged against
+Te Pehi, and were not slow to grasp the situation. Realising that they
+had been trapped, they knew that it would be of little use attempting
+to escape by the regular gateways, which were all securely guarded;
+and, with one exception, those who were free to do so flew to the
+walls, hoping to scale them, and so get safely to their camp. But they
+were for the most part either overpowered by numbers and tomahawked on
+the spot, or were shot while scrambling up the _aka_ vines. The
+exception referred to was Te Aratangata, who happened to be at the
+northern end of the _pa_, and was at this juncture bargaining to
+secure a famous greenstone _mere_ called by the Ngai-Tahu people "Te
+Rau-hikihiki." The moment he saw what was happening, he dashed toward
+the gate Huirapa, hoping to force his way past the guard, who, he
+supposed, could offer but feeble resistance to his own exceptional
+strength, courage, and skill.
+
+There is every reason to believe that Rongotara rather precipitated
+matters by killing Pokaitara at the gate, as it had been decided that
+an attempt should first be made to induce the great Te Rauparaha
+himself to enter the _pa_, in the hope of including him in the
+holocaust. Still, the plans of the Kaiapoi chiefs were sufficiently
+mature to meet the emergency when it suddenly arose; and so Te
+Aratangata discovered to his alarm that, although he was at the
+further end of the _pa_ from that at which Te Pehi had been
+attacked, he was just as closely surrounded by enemies. When he
+started for the gate, he had virtually to fight every inch of the way.
+He had little difficulty in disposing of the first few who intercepted
+his path; but, as he drew nearer to the gate, his assailants
+increased, and before he had struggled on many yards he was attacked
+by over twenty persons armed with all manner of weapons. Against those
+who ventured at close quarters he valiantly defended himself with his
+_mere_, all the time pressing on towards the gate. A gun-shot wound
+temporarily checked his onward course, and he was soon further
+handicapped by several spear-thrusts, which left the spears dangling
+in the fleshy parts of his body, and from which he found it impossible
+to disengage himself, pressed as he was on every side. These
+difficulties perceptibly weakened his defence, but he was still able
+to fight on, keeping his opponents at bay by swift and desperate blows
+with his _mere_, which, up to this moment, had accounted for all who
+had ventured within his reach. The brave Ngati-Toa had now reached
+within a few paces of the gate, and may have even yet had dreams of
+escape, when the crowning disaster came in the breaking of his _mere_.
+A shot, which had been intended for his body, struck the greenstone
+blade, and shattered the faithful weapon into a hundred fragments,
+leaving only the butt in Aratangata's hand. Now utterly defenceless,
+weakened by his wounds, and hampered by the dragging spears, the
+undaunted chief turned upon his assailants, and, with his last
+strength, grappled with those who came within his reach. The unequal
+struggle could not, however, be long maintained. Emboldened by his
+helpless condition, his pursuers pressed in upon him with angry
+tumult, and he was borne to the ground by Te Koreke, who finished the
+deadly work with a succession of blows with his tomahawk upon the
+prostrate warrior's head and neck.
+
+So fell Te Aratangata, and so fell the flower of the Ngati-Toa tribe
+that day. In all, eight great chiefs[91] were killed, who, by their
+heroism on the field and their sagacity in council, had materially
+aided Te Rauparaha in all his great achievements. They had added
+brilliancy to his battles, lustre to his victories, and had lent a
+wisdom to his administration, whereby the fruits of his enterprise
+had not been wasted by internecine strife. So dire a tragedy as the
+death of the princes of his tribe was a great blow to Te Rauparaha.
+But it is doubtful whether the sacrifice of so much mental and
+physical fibre was more keenly felt by the Ngati-Toa chief than the
+loss of prestige and damage to his reputation, which he might
+reasonably apprehend from his being outwitted at his own game, and
+that, too, by a people whom he had hitherto despised as opponents.
+That they would turn upon him in what he chose to regard as an
+unprovoked attack was something which was not reckoned upon in his
+philosophy, for he had trusted to his blandishments to soothe away
+their suspicions, or to his great name and reputation to awe them into
+submission. And when the blow fell, and he saw his patiently laid
+plans tumbling about his ears, he received the result with mingled
+feelings of surprise, indignation, and something akin to dismay. In
+this frame of mind he deemed it expedient to anticipate any further
+unexpected eventualities by withdrawing his force and making good his
+retreat with as little delay as possible. Consequently his camp was at
+once broken up, and the little army made its dejected way across the
+plain to Double Corner, where the canoes had been left, and next day
+Te Rauparaha set sail for Omihi and Kapiti, having, as the result of
+his first raid upon Kaiapoi,[92] added neither greenstone to his
+treasure nor glory to his reputation as a warrior.
+
+For the better part of two years Te Rauparaha nursed his wrath against
+Ngai-Tahu, and spent the intervening time in devising schemes whereby
+he might secure a vengeance commensurate with the disgrace of his
+repulse and the death of his well-loved friends. One thing on which he
+had fully determined was that Ngai-Tahu should pay for their temerity
+with the purest of their blood, for he would take no plebeian in
+payment for so royal a soul as Te Pehi. His schemes were therefore
+directed against the life of Tamaiharanui,[93] who has already been
+described as the embodiment of spiritual and temporal power in the
+southern tribe. He was the hereditary representative of all that stood
+for nobility amongst the sons of Tahu. His person was regarded as so
+sacred that the common people scarcely dared to look upon his face. He
+could only be addressed by his fellow-chiefs with the greatest
+deference and in the most reverential language; and if, while passing
+through the congested streets of a village, his shadow should fall
+upon a _whata_ or a _rua_, the storehouse and its contents would be
+immediately destroyed, to prevent the sacrilege of a tribesman
+consuming food upon which even the shade of so sacred a personage had
+lighted. Indeed, so sanctified and ceremonious an individual was he,
+that his presence was sometimes oppressive to those who were not
+accustomed to live in an atmosphere of ritual; for the slightest
+disregard of what was due to one so endowed with the spirit of the
+gods might involve them at any moment in the loss of possessions, and
+even of life.
+
+ [Illustration: GILLET's WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842.
+ From a sketch by Gilfillan,
+ by kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.]
+
+To secure so eminent a scion of Ngai-Tahu aristocracy would be a
+trophy indeed; but Te Rauparaha knew that it was no ordinary task that
+he was contemplating. An attack upon regular lines might easily defeat
+its own purpose, for a chief so sacred to the tribe as Tamaiharanui
+would scarcely be permitted to sacrifice himself upon the field of
+battle, even if his own inclinations impelled him to lead his people,
+a point of personal courage by no means too well established.[94]
+Strategy must therefore be employed, and it must be strategy of the
+most delicate kind, for, in the naïve language of the younger Te
+Rauparaha, "the chief must be enticed, even as the _kaka_ is enticed."
+For the scheme which was finally adopted it has been claimed that Te
+Rauparaha was not originally responsible, but that the idea was first
+conceived by a relative of his, named Hohepa Tama-i-hengia, who had
+been working on board a whaler in the southern latitudes, and heard
+the story of Te Pehi's death on the ship calling in at a bay on the
+coast of Otago. Hohepa, who, in his contact with the European, had
+lost none of that eternal thirst for revenge which marked the ancient
+Maori, at once besought the captain to employ his vessel in the
+capture of Tamaiharanui, promising a large reward from Te Rauparaha on
+his handing over the prisoner at Kapiti. The captain, however, was
+discouraged in the idea by the rest of the ship's company, who were
+eager to reach Queen Charlotte Sound, there to resume their whaling
+operations; and thus the execution of the brilliant suggestion had
+perforce to be suspended until the ingenious author of it himself
+reached Kapiti. There the daring plan was laid before the fighting
+chiefs of the tribe, who were readily convinced of its practicability.
+
+Their first overtures were made to Captain Briggs, whose ship, the
+_Dragon_, was then lying at Kapiti. This seaman has, with a frankness
+amounting to brutality, explained that he ultimately declined their
+proposals, not because the enterprise was repugnant to him, but
+because Te Rauparaha insisted upon taking more men with him than he
+deemed it prudent to carry in his ship. The manner in which the
+captain of the _Dragon_ was approached was diplomatic in the extreme.
+The chiefs explained to him that Te Pehi had been to England, and
+that, as a mark of gratitude for his generous treatment there, he had
+always been the friend of the English. Tamaiharanui, on the other
+hand, had killed more white men than any other chief in New Zealand,
+from which fact they adroitly argued that they and Captain Briggs had
+a mutual interest in compassing his death. Briggs seems to have been
+convinced that Tamaiharanui was a "monster," whose death would be a
+distinct benefit to society, and he unhesitatingly offered to take Te
+Rauparaha and two of his best men to Akaroa to effect the capture. Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko, however, stipulated for twenty men; but, as the
+cautious Briggs considered that "this would have given the chiefs more
+power in the vessel than he cared to part with," he declined further
+discussion. This rebuff delayed, but did not extinguish, the purpose
+of the chiefs. They still hoped that other captains would be more
+amenable to persuasion or more susceptible to reward. There was thus
+considerable excitement at Kapiti on a certain day towards the close
+of the year 1830, when a vessel was seen rounding the Taheke Point,
+and the cry of "A ship, a ship!" was raised from every corner of the
+settlement. Rauparaha immediately ordered out his canoe, and, putting
+off with Te Hiko and a full crew, boarded the stranger, which proved
+to be the British brig _Elizabeth_ of 236 tons, commanded by Captain
+Stewart.[95] The chiefs were fortunate in the type of man with whom
+they had come to negotiate. Stewart was one of the semi-buccaneer
+breed, who, at this period, were all too common in these waters, and
+whose depredations have contributed so many of the ugly pages of our
+country's history. Nor was this case to be an exception. Before
+committing himself, however, Stewart took the precaution of consulting
+Captain Briggs, who advised him not to undertake to carry more natives
+on board than he could safely control. But this counsel[96] was not
+followed, and a bargain was eventually struck, whereby it was agreed
+that the captain was to carry the chiefs and their party to Whanga-roa
+(now Akaroa) Harbour in Banks's Peninsula, in consideration for which
+he was to receive fifty tons of dressed flax--valued roughly at
+£1,200--immediately upon his return to Kapiti. The conclusion of this
+contract gave intense satisfaction to the chiefs, and according to his
+son, "the heart of Te Rauparaha lived in joy."
+
+Some of the apologists for Captain Stewart have endeavoured to show
+that he was not made fully aware of the real intentions of the chiefs,
+and that, when the savage purpose of the voyage was borne in upon him,
+he was then powerless to avert the tragic scenes which were afterwards
+enacted. It has been further urged in extenuation of his crime that,
+when he arrived on the coast of New Zealand, he discovered to his
+dismay that his cargo was totally unsuitable to excite trade with the
+natives, and that he was, therefore, constrained, in the interests of
+his employers, to accept a charter against which there was no law, and
+which promised a rich and speedy remuneration. What measure of truth
+there may be in the former defence it is now difficult to determine.
+It is possible that events developed in a manner and to an extent that
+had not been contemplated by Stewart; but it must be remembered that
+he had discussed with due deliberation the whole project with his
+friend Captain Briggs, and that, if he afterwards found himself
+powerless to control the passions of his charterers, the blame was
+entirely his own for disdaining the advice of his fellow captain
+regarding a limitation of numbers. As to the unmarketable nature of
+his cargo, that specious plea is flatly disproved by the ship's
+manifest. So far from the goods carried being unsuitable for trade,
+there was scarcely anything brought in the _Elizabeth_ for which the
+natives were not eagerly craving. Indeed, there is no room to doubt
+that, had Captain Stewart chosen to confine himself to legitimate
+commerce, he could have easily bartered his guns and his powder, his
+flints and his tobacco, for a cargo which would have given his
+employers an adequate return, without requiring his zeal in their
+behalf to outrage the feelings of humanity. Similarly, it is scarcely
+to be supposed that Stewart's knowledge of the law was so wide that he
+was aware there was no statutory decree prohibiting his entering into
+this unholy compact. He was clearly just as indifferent to its moral
+aspect as he was unaware of its legal bearing. Otherwise he would have
+known that, viewed from this standpoint, there was no distinction
+between a crime committed against a savage and that perpetrated upon a
+civilised being. The absence of any law regulating the conduct of
+individuals placed in such circumstances is no palliation for the
+outrage which he committed; and, so far from his being unwittingly led
+into an error of judgment, his treatment of Tamaiharanui after his
+capture dispels any supposition that he had repented of his bargain,
+or that he was in the least degree revolted by the excesses of the
+natives. Having regard to these facts, the impression conveyed by a
+study of the general character of the man, as revealed by his actions,
+is, that the purpose of the voyage would not have caused him much
+scruple, so long as the reward was ample and easily obtained. Howbeit,
+a few days after the bargain was struck, he received on board his
+vessel Te Rauparaha and one hundred and seventy of his followers,
+accompanied by five of his remaining lieutenants--Te Rangihaeata, Te
+Hiko, Tungia, and Tama-i-hengia, and on October 29th set sail for
+Banks's Peninsula.
+
+The voyage appears to have been propitious enough, for, in due course,
+the vessel arrived at Whanga-roa Harbour, on the shores of which then
+stood the Takapuneke _pa_, and now nestles the sequestered town of
+Akaroa.[97] The coming of a ship was an event much more rare at Akaroa
+than it was at Kapiti, and, consequently, the natives of the _pa_ were
+stirred to the highest pitch of excitement, and desired to enter into
+immediate trade with the vessel, which they misjudged to be an honest
+whaler.[98] Meanwhile Te Rauparaha had carefully concealed all his men
+beneath the hatches, and enjoined upon them the strictest seclusion;
+for the success of his scheme altogether depended upon the concealment
+of the fact that a force of natives was on board. Acting under
+instructions from the chief, Captain Stewart, through his interpreter,
+forbade any of the resident natives to board the _Elizabeth_ until
+Tamaiharanui had returned; for it so happened that, at the time of the
+brig's arrival at Akaroa, that chief was absent from his _pa_,
+superintending the preparation of a cargo of flax which he had sold to
+an English captain. A message was accordingly despatched to Wairewa,
+urging him to come and see a _pakeha_ who was eager to trade. It was
+not, however, till the eighth day that Tama arrived, and, during all
+that time, the Ngati-Toa warriors had been cooped up under the
+hatches, being permitted only a few minutes on deck under the cover of
+darkness. These precautions prevented any suspicion reaching the
+shore; and yet some doubt seems to have lurked in the minds of the
+resident people, for they eagerly inquired of Cowell, the interpreter,
+whether there were any natives on board, and were put off with the
+laughing assurance that such was impossible, as the vessel had just
+come down from Sydney. This statement was seemingly fair enough; but,
+if Sydney was the last port of call, how came those _hutiwai_ burrs
+clinging to the clothes of some of the crew, which a keen-eyed native
+had just espied? _Hutiwai_ burrs do not grow in Sydney, nor upon the
+broad ocean. Then the lie that came handiest was that on the way down
+they had called at the Bay of Islands, and the sailors had probably
+picked up the burrs while carousing on shore. The evasion, however
+palpable, was at least successful in silencing the doubts which were
+just growing to dangerous proportions in the minds of Tamaiharanui's
+people, and the incident had no influence in cooling their ardour for
+trade, for further messengers were shortly afterwards despatched to
+hasten their chief's coming. When Tamaiharanui came, he brought with
+him his wife, Te Whe, his sister, and his little daughter
+Ngaroimata,[99] a name full of pathetic suggestion. He was cordially
+welcomed by the captain, who invited him to his cabin below with every
+show of courtesy and hospitality. But no sooner was the chief seated
+than the door opened, and, to his intense amazement, his mortal
+enemies, Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko, stood before him. To overpower and
+bind him was the work of but a few moments, and then the Ngati-Toa let
+loose upon him the full flood of their invective, taunting him in
+bitter scorn with his infantile simplicity in falling so easily into
+their trap. Te Hiko added insult to injury by advancing and drawing
+back the captive's upper lip, sneeringly remarking, "So these are the
+teeth which ate my father."
+
+In all innocence of what was passing within the cabin, the followers
+of Tamaiharanui swarmed round the ship's side in their canoes,
+clamouring for admission, so that they might trade for the needful
+guns and casks of powder. This permission was granted to a few at a
+time, who, immediately they reached the deck, were conducted by the
+crew to the open hatchway and promptly shoved headlong into the hold,
+where they were secured by Te Rauparaha's men and made prisoners as
+easily and as simply as their chief had been. The failure of these
+people to return to the shore evidently did not excite any
+uneasiness. It was no uncommon thing for natives visiting a ship in
+the offing to remain for several days, or even longer, if their
+presence could be tolerated. Events were thus playing into the hands
+of Te Rauparaha more effectually even than he might have reasonably
+expected; and so, on the evening of the second day after the capture
+of Tamaiharanui, having secured all the visitors to the ship, he was
+now in a position to deal with those who had remained on land. Boats
+were accordingly got out some hours after nightfall, and a strong and
+well-armed party was sent ashore to attack the Takapuneke _pa_.
+Ngai-Tahu accounts of this fight would have us believe that an heroic
+resistance was offered to a cyclonic assault; but the circumstances
+render such an account most improbable. The place was not a fighting
+_pa_, and for the purposes of war was practically defenceless. The
+people, too, were awakened from their sleep by the tumult of the
+attack, and, shorn as they were of their leaders and their warriors,
+there was little hope of any organised defence being made. The attack
+therefore became a rout, and the rout a massacre; and before morning
+broke the people of Akaroa were either helpless captives, bound in the
+evil-smelling hold of a ship, fugitives flying for dear life, or lying
+dead amongst the smoking ruins of their ancestral home.
+
+Having achieved a complete success, Te Rauparaha collected a quantity
+of human flesh for consumption on the voyage, and set sail for Kapiti,
+where the final scene in the tragedy was to be enacted. Tamaiharanui
+and his family were housed in one of the fore cabins, and apparently
+some degree of liberty was permitted him, for on the first night out
+from Akaroa,[100] he, after consultation with his wife, seized a
+favourable opportunity to strangle his little daughter as she lay
+asleep, and afterwards cast the lifeless body into the sea. This
+extreme course he justified to his conscience as averting the eternal
+disgrace of her ever becoming the wife of one of his enemies. His
+unnatural action, however, had the effect of rousing the fury of his
+captors.[101] Fearing that his next step would be to take his own
+life, and so deprive them of the legitimate fruits of their mission,
+they took immediate and adequate precautions by pinioning him fast in
+a position which caused him exquisite torture, and his sufferings they
+watched with intense delight. On the voyage northward high revels were
+kept by the natives, who, if the interpreter's testimony is to be
+credited, were even permitted to cook the flesh of their victims in
+the ship's coppers, without protest from the captain or any of his
+equally degenerate crew.
+
+Upon the arrival of the _Elizabeth_ at Kapiti, on the 11th of
+November, the _pas_ were almost deserted, the majority of the
+people being absent in the swamps and on the hill-sides, preparing the
+flax which was to be Captain Stewart's payment. The news, however,
+soon spread that the great Ngai-Tahu chief was a captive on board, and
+crowds came flocking from the mainland to verify the reported triumph
+of their leader. The major part of the prisoners were landed on the
+12th of November, and the natives now expected that Tamaiharanui would
+also be handed over to them at once, to be disposed of in their own
+fashion. But on this point Captain Stewart was obdurate, for he
+probably saw but little prospect of securing his flax if once the
+prisoner passed beyond his keeping. He therefore resisted the tribe's
+demands for this species of _habeas corpus_, and detained the
+chief, heaping upon him the additional pain and ignominy of keeping
+him in irons until he could be redeemed by the fulfilment of Te
+Rauparaha's promise. Either this was no simple matter, or, more
+likely still, his followers, having to some extent satisfied their
+craving for excitement and revenge, relaxed their efforts in the
+fields, preferring to discuss in the _kaingas_ the strange adventures
+of their comrades at Akaroa. From whatever cause, there was a distinct
+failure on their part to complete the contract. Day after day went
+past, and still a residue of the flax was wanting. At the end of six
+weeks, Captain Stewart was persuaded that it was hopeless to wait
+longer, and, probably wishing himself well out of the whole business,
+he handed Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha, and made his course with
+all speed to Sydney, arriving on January 14, 1831.[102]
+
+The prisoner was taken on shore in Rauparaha's canoe, and, at a great
+feast held in honour of the occasion, was surrendered to the wives of
+Te Pehi to do with him as they pleased. A final appeal for life was
+made to his captor by Tama; but Te Rauparaha took high ground, and
+replied that if it was a matter that rested with himself, he would
+most certainly spare him, but the death of Te Pehi was a calamity
+which affected the whole tribe of Ngati-Toa, and hence the final
+decision must rest with them. About the precise time and mode[103] of
+the unfortunate chief's death there is much doubt, for scarcely any
+two accounts agree, except in the central fact that Tamaiharanui
+subsequently met his fate at the hands of Tiaia, Te Pehi's principal
+widow. The most favourable view of this lady's conduct in revenging
+the death of her lamented husband is given us by her own tribe, who
+have averred that "on landing, the chief was given up to the widow of
+Te Pehi, who took him and his wife to her own house, giving up half to
+their use. They talked like friends to each other, and the widow
+behaved so kindly to him, that a stranger would have taken them for
+man and wife, rather than a doomed captive and his implacable enemy.
+She used even to clothe him in her finest garments and deck his head
+with choice feathers. This continued for about two weeks, until she
+had assembled her friends, or thought her victim sufficiently fat to
+kill.[104] She then suddenly caused him to be seized and bound, with
+his arms stretched to a tree, and whilst he was in this position she
+took a long iron spear, with which she stabbed him in the jugular
+artery, and drank his warm blood as it gushed forth."
+
+Harrowing as this spectacle must have been, and awful as it is to
+contemplate, it must be remembered that the manner of Tamaiharanui's
+death was not more savage than that of many another leader of men,
+perpetrated in Christian countries and in the name of a higher cause.
+By the Maori code the death of the Akaroa chief was not only
+justified, but necessary to appease the spirit of the departed Te
+Pehi, and the more humiliating his death, the more adequate the
+compensation to the dead. A student[105] of Maori life and character,
+than whom perhaps none have had better opportunities of mastering
+Ngai-Tahu history, and who, from his calling, could scarcely be
+accused of callousness towards Tamaiharanui's sufferings, has given it
+as his mature opinion that, "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 Ngati-Toa was little more than a
+repetition of the cruelties which he had himself inflicted upon
+members of his own tribe." Possibly the knowledge that he would not
+have acted differently himself assisted the unhappy captive to resign
+himself to his fate. For, although he has been described as both cruel
+and cowardly, by one whose verdict it is not easy to challenge, this
+much must be laid to his credit: that neither the mental nor the
+physical torture invented for him by his barbarous enemies was
+sufficient to break down his rugged fortitude or to tame his defiant
+spirit.
+
+When the _Elizabeth_ reached Sydney, the circumstances attending
+the death of the Akaroa chief were reported to Governor Darling by Mr.
+Gordon Browne, and the Governor, with commendable promptitude, ordered
+the arrest of Stewart and proceeded to put him on his trial. The
+depositions were referred to the Crown Solicitor on February 17, but
+that official expressed doubts as to the statutory power of the colony
+to bring the offender to justice, it not being clear whether offences
+committed in New Zealand against New Zealanders were punishable under
+the laws of New South Wales.[106] Darling was in no way disconcerted
+by this legal difficulty, but urged with some vehemence that the point
+should be tested, holding that it was "a case in which the character
+of the nation was implicated, and that every possible exertion should
+be used to bring the offenders to justice." Stewart retained Dr.
+Wardell, a lawyer eminent in his day, for his defence, and while the
+officers of the Crown were seeking to make good their ground, the
+delay was utilised to spirit away the witnesses whose testimony might
+be fatal to Stewart. Meanwhile, the _Elizabeth_ was allowed to put to
+sea under another captain, and Stewart was held on bail,
+notwithstanding the strenuous protests of his counsel. With the
+witnesses out of the way, Dr. Wardell became more confident, and
+boldly demanded the release of his client. But the Governor could not
+but be influenced by the prayer of the more honourably disposed white
+residents of New Zealand, who expressed the fear that their "lives
+would be made answerable for the proceedings of their countrymen," or
+by the touching appeal of the natives, who came personally to plead
+that speedy steps might be taken by England to put a curb upon the
+unbridled behaviour of her degenerate sons. The curb which Darling
+proposed to apply was to appoint a resident representative of the
+colony in New Zealand, and he suggested to the Secretary of State for
+the Colonies that Captain Sturt[107] should be employed in this
+capacity. The carrying out of this scheme was delayed by the recall
+of the Governor, and the appointment of Sir Richard Bourke as his
+successor, to whom Darling deemed it prudent to leave the initiation
+of a system which it would be his lot to administer.
+
+All this time justice was tardily picking her way amongst the
+complicated meshes of the law, and it was not until the 21st of May
+that Stewart was called upon to face his trial. Even then the Crown
+Solicitor was not prepared to proceed upon the main indictment, but
+sought to get a conviction upon a minor offence, to which course Dr.
+Wardell took the strongest exception, and warmly demanded the
+discharge of Stewart's recognisances. The Crown justified its action
+on the ground that its witnesses were not forthcoming, for great
+remissness had been shown in letting them depart; and, notwithstanding
+Dr. Wardell's protest that it was unfair "to hold Stewart to bail in a
+sum of £2,000 for an indefinite period," the Chief Justice decided to
+adjourn the matter, and allow it to come up for consideration on a
+future day. When that day arrived, the Crown Solicitor was still
+unready, and applied for leave to abandon the charge of misdemeanour,
+and proceed upon the main information so soon as his witnesses were
+available. But his witnesses were the same intangible quantity that
+they had been ever since they had first vanished, and there was not
+the remotest prospect of their appearing. Dr. Wardell knew this, and
+bantered his learned friend upon his unfortunate predicament, in which
+he was compelled to "skip from a charge of murder to a misdemeanour,
+and then to murder back again." He earnestly pleaded the hardship
+imposed upon Stewart by these delays, for which he was in no way
+responsible, and claimed either instant dismissal or immediate trial
+for his client, who, he believed, or affected to believe, was the
+unhappy victim of circumstances.[108] To all this the Crown might
+have justly retorted that the disability placed upon Stewart was
+gentleness itself compared with his own conduct towards his fettered
+captive. Possibly this view was influencing the Court, for it still
+refused to take the responsibility at that stage of discharging the
+prisoner, but appointed the 20th June as the day on which Dr. Wardell
+might make application for the discharge of Stewart's recognisances.
+But when, after further adjournments, that application was argued on
+June 30th, the Crown was unable to convince the Court that the accused
+man should be indefinitely detained, and the Bench, reluctantly, no
+doubt, announced that he must be "discharged on his own recognisances
+in the sum of £1,000." So ended Governor Darling's sincere endeavour
+to make national reparation for one of the blackest crimes which have
+ever dishonoured the relations of the white man with the Maori, a deed
+which must be counted dark even at a time when the spirit of humanity
+seemed to slumber. Whatever palliation the apologist may find for the
+rough sea captain, whose occupation and environment were not conducive
+to the gentler qualities, it is not to the credit of a civilised
+community that its public opinion was apathetic in the presence of
+such an atrocity as that in which Captain Stewart had steeped his
+hands. It is to be feared that the Governor failed to receive the
+support from his officers, or from the community, which a jealousy for
+the national honour might have demanded;[109] while it is equally true
+that active sympathy with Stewart was largely responsible for the
+ease with which the witnesses were got out of the way. It was,
+perhaps, due to the fact that he was never brought to trial, rather
+than to any other cause, that no jury of Sydneyites acquitted Stewart.
+
+The tidings of Te Rauparaha's successes in the south were rapidly
+filtering to the ears of his friends in the north, by the agency of
+the devoted messengers who were repeatedly travelling backwards to
+their old home. With each fresh tale of victory told by ardent tongues
+to wondering ears, some new hope or ambition was awakened in the
+breast of the Ngati-Raukawa who still lingered in their settlements
+round Lake Taupo. Apart from the larger migrations which from time to
+time came down to join Te Rauparaha, less important bands were
+continually being attracted by the glory of Ngati-Toa's splendid
+achievements. Many of these soldiers of fortune reached Otaki and
+Kapiti with little adventure; for there was no inclination on the part
+of the subdued remnant of the Ngati-Apa to risk a conflict with these
+fiery spirits as they pushed across the ferny hills of Rangitikei. But
+one small company, travelling further to the northward than was
+customary, came into conflict with, and met disaster at the hands of,
+the Whanganui people, who secured the momentary advantage of a
+victory. From out of this defeat, two young men, Te Puke and his
+brother, Te Ao, succeeded in making their way to Kapiti, where the
+story of their misfortune made a deep impression upon chiefs and
+people alike. But matters more urgent and nearer home were pressing in
+upon the chief, and because of lack of opportunity, rather than of
+desire, the day of reckoning with Whanganui must be indefinitely
+postponed.
+
+The business which thus preoccupied the mind of Te Rauparaha was the
+need of adjusting the differences and unravelling the complications,
+which were daily accumulating, as the result of accretions to his
+forces. With the arrival of every new contingent of warriors,
+provision had to be made for their immediate entertainment, and for
+their ultimate settlement on the land, in order to leave them
+comfortable and contented. This their mutual jealousies made somewhat
+difficult, and no small measure of diplomacy was needed to avert civil
+ruptures, such as afterwards threatened to destroy all that unity and
+unquestioning devotion to his authority had accomplished. Though there
+was this simmering of discontent between the men of Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa, fortunately for Te Rauparaha no crisis occurred, and any
+ill-feeling that might lead to such an event was soon forgotten in the
+thrilling announcement that another attempt was about to be made to
+capture the great _pa_ at Kaiapoi. This decision was, we are led to
+understand, arrived at somewhat hurriedly, and was largely accelerated
+because of a vision seen by a hoary seer of the tribe, who had
+interpreted the manifestation as a mandate to go forward to the
+attack. His _mata_, or prophecy, has been preserved amongst the oral
+treasures of Ngati-Toa, and has been freely translated as follows:--
+
+  "What is the wind?
+  It is north-east, it is south.
+  It is east in the offing, oh!
+  Come then, O Raha!
+  That you may see the fire
+  On the crimson flat of Kaiapohia.
+  By the prow of the 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."
+
+It might be supposed that, with the capture and death of
+Tamaiharanui, and all the carnage that had followed upon the Akaroa
+raid, Te Rauparaha would have felt that he had taken sufficient
+vengeance upon Ngai-Tahu for the slaying of Te Pehi and his comrades
+in arms. We are, however, assured by an authority deeply versed in the
+intricacies of Maori etiquette that no such limit was placed upon his
+actions, and that, so far from his proposal to again attack Kaiapoi
+being anything but strictly "correct," no alternative course would
+have adequately met the exigencies of the case. No sooner, therefore,
+was the chief's decision to obey the _tohunga's_ call to arms publicly
+proclaimed, than preparatory measures on an exceptional scale were
+commenced with alacrity and enthusiasm. There was to be no trifling
+with the occasion, which, it was generally understood, would be
+pregnant with the fate of tribes; for Te Rauparaha had determined that
+as the result of this priest-ordained raid either Ngati-Toa or
+Ngai-Tahu would be for ever humbled in the dust. The force to be
+raised was to consist of seven hundred and fifty warriors, and only
+the pick of the men were to be taken--the Ngati-Toa, the Ngati-Raukawa
+and Ngati-Awa tribes contributing their quota in nearly equal
+proportions. The traffic in arms and ammunition had now become so
+lucrative at Kapiti that there was no difficulty in arming every man
+with a musket more or less serviceable. Food was also abundant, for so
+rich had been the harvest of captives that at this time, it is said,
+Te Rauparaha had upwards of two thousand slaves constantly employed in
+planting or reaping the crops, which grew abundantly on the alluvial
+flats along the mainland coast. The question of transport presented
+greater difficulty. The conveyance of so large a force across the
+rough waters of Cook Strait was a serious problem, as there was no
+adequate supply of canoes for the purpose. This perplexity was,
+however, solved by the decision to transport the force in sections.
+The first division was to be landed at the Wairau, with instructions
+to march over the inland track, which led through the wild and
+picturesque Wairau Gorge, and over the Hanmer Plains, to a rendezvous
+appointed for them at the mouth of the Waipara River. While this
+detour was being made purely in the interests of adventure, the
+remainder of the warriors were to embark at Kapiti, and make their way
+by slow stages down the coast, until they should unite with the inland
+party at the Waipara. Here the canoes were to be beached, and the
+whole force was then to march rapidly upon the doomed _pa_, in the
+hope of surprising the inhabitants and carrying the fortress by one
+swift and resolute stroke.
+
+So soon as the summer of 1831 was sufficiently advanced,[110] these
+plans were put into execution, and, as far as is known, were carried
+out with admirable precision. The two sections of the allied forces
+met at the appointed place, and, with as little delay as was
+permissible, set off in good order across the plain. But their
+movements had not been so secretly conducted as could have been
+wished; for the fleet of canoes had been espied coming down the coast,
+and a breathless messenger had carried the startling intelligence to
+the people in the _pa_. The first impulse of the latter was to
+gather all the people in from the fields and out-stations, and then to
+consult the patron deity of the tribe, and endeavour to ascertain by a
+process of revelation what the issue of the invasion was to be. The
+Rev. Canon Stack has left on record a description of the elaborate but
+idolatrous ceremonial by which the movements of a wooden image,
+dangled in the hands of a shrieking priest, were to reveal the future.
+The consultation of the _atua_ was most piously performed at a
+spot outside the _pa_, consecrated for the purpose of this and
+similar religious rites. There the prescribed questions were put to
+the nodding image, in the presence of a trembling people, and the
+answer, as read by the priests, was that there was to be one defeat.
+This prophecy they immediately interpreted as foretelling the ultimate
+repulse and humiliation of the approaching enemy. So satisfactory a
+termination to the toro was received with much congratulation, and
+served instantly to revive the drooping spirits of the people, who
+returned in jubilant procession to the _pa_. But the gates were
+scarcely closed before the muskets of Te Rauparaha's men were heard
+snapping in the distance, as they kept up a running fire upon some
+belated stragglers.
+
+That the _pa_ was surprised is now a matter of history, but
+fortunately for its slender garrison, Te Rauparaha did not realise how
+hopelessly unprepared they were. During the year or more which had
+elapsed since his raid upon Akaroa, the people of Kaiapoi had been
+deeply immersed in the endeavour to cultivate a trade with the
+itinerant whalers who paid their fitful visits to Whangaraupo[111] and
+other parts of Banks's Peninsula. In their anxiety to make the utmost
+of these infrequent opportunities, they had lost sight of the
+probability of another attack upon their settlement, and this unwary
+attitude had been encouraged by the fond belief that the difficulties
+of transporting from Kapiti a force large enough to assault the
+_pa_ with any prospect of success were so formidable that even Te
+Rauparaha would never seriously contemplate such an undertaking. How
+illusory these dreams of safety were, and how little they understood
+the dogged spirit of the man against whom they were called upon to
+contend, they now realised to their cost. At the moment of Te
+Rauparaha's arrival the _pa_ was deserted, except for a guard of
+old people and a number of women and children. The greater part of the
+population had only a few days before gone off to Whangaraupo, in
+company with the influential Otago chief Taiaroa, who had been paying
+a friendly visit to Kaiapoi. Some had gone merely to bid their great
+kinsman farewell; and so remote was the need of strong arms and stout
+hearts at home considered that many of the younger men were purposing
+to travel southward with him to Otakou.[112] Kaiapoi was thus
+practically denuded of its fighting men, and it says much for the
+courage and ingenuity of those who were left that, in this sudden
+emergency, they were able to make so brave a show along its ramparts
+as to utterly deceive the northern leader. Had the _pa_ been attacked
+promptly and vigorously, there is no room to doubt that it would have
+fallen, for its thin veneer of resistance must soon have been pierced;
+but this was one of the few occasions on which the Ngati-Toa chief's
+clearness of perception and promptness of decision failed him, and the
+price of his vacillation was a long weary siege, and the loss, to him,
+of many valuable lives.
+
+As a preliminary step in the defence of the _pa_, the Kaiapoi
+people had hurriedly removed the few temporary houses and fences which
+had been erected immediately in front of the landward approach, and
+which would have afforded some degree of shelter to the approaching
+enemy. Their destruction left not only an unbroken view of the
+movements of the enemy, but deprived them of every vestige of cover,
+so that, in rushing to the assault, they had to pass over ground
+exposed to the pitiless fire of the defenders. For this reason, the
+first attack was repulsed with considerable loss, as was also a
+second, which was delivered with some additional energy. The defenders
+had entrenched themselves behind the first line of palisades, and,
+with their bodies protected by the deep ditch which ran the whole
+width of the narrow isthmus between the converging swamps, they were
+able to concentrate their fire upon the advancing warriors with so
+deadly an effect that Te Rauparaha was led to believe the defence to
+be much more formidable than it really was. Surprised that his coming
+had been so evidently anticipated and so amply provided against, and
+irritated to find himself baffled in his hope of snatching a victory
+from a napping victim, he retired beyond the range of the Ngai-Tahu
+guns to deliberate on his next move. As the result of a consultation
+with Rangihaeata, Te Hiko, and his other lieutenants, it was agreed
+that all hope of carrying the fortress by a _coup de main_ must
+now be abandoned, and it was decided to adopt the more prosaic
+course of investing the _pa_ and subjecting it to the annoyance
+and humiliation of a regular siege.
+
+A camp was formed immediately in front of the _pa_, and so placed
+as to intercept the path which led to its main entrance. A wing of
+this camp stretched round amongst the sand-hills to the westward, so
+as to command the approach to the Huirapa gate. In these quarters
+Ngati-Toa and their allies sat down in patience, to tempt the enemy to
+a sortie, but ever ready to profit by any momentary looseness or
+indiscretion on the part of the defenders. Meantime a few of the
+residents of Kaiapoi who had been shut out when its gates were closed,
+but had succeeded in evading capture by their superior knowledge of
+the surrounding maze of swamps, had fled southward to carry the news
+of the invasion to their friends who had gone to Whangaraupo with
+Taiaroa. These messengers were fortunate in intercepting their
+tribesmen before they had departed for the south, and, at the earnest
+solicitation of his Kaiapoi relations, Taiaroa agreed to return and
+lead the defence of their fortress. All possible reinforcements were
+speedily gathered from the Peninsula _pas_, and the combined
+forces set off along the coast to endeavour to raise the siege. Their
+march to the Waimakariri River was rapidly executed; but here some
+delay was occasioned, owing to the difficulty in getting the people
+across the broad and rapid stream. At the cost of much labour, a
+_mokihi_ flotilla was constructed, on which they crossed to the
+northern bank; and then, fearing that their movements might be
+discovered if they approached nearer to the _pa_ before darkness
+set in, they lay down to await the fall of evening. Under the cover of
+darkness they resumed their march, which was still conducted with the
+utmost caution, more especially as they approached the vicinity of the
+besieged _pa_. By the glowing watch-fires which they saw in the
+distance they knew that the enemy was sleeplessly alert, and that any
+impetuosity on their part might easily prove fatal to themselves, and
+equally disastrous to their friends watching and waiting their coming.
+It had been decided that the attempt to enter the _pa_ should be made
+on the western side, where the swamp which fringed the fortress was
+narrowest, and where they could be admitted by the Huirapa gate. It is
+probable that when Taiaroa came to this determination he was not aware
+that he must pass near to a section of the enemy's camp. But here
+fortune favoured him, for the high wind which was blowing at the time
+drove those of the besiegers who were keeping watch to crouch closely
+over their fires, and, by agitating the surrounding foliage, aided
+materially in concealing the movements of the warriors as they crept
+cautiously through the long and waving grass. By adroitly advancing
+when the breeze blew with greatest violence, and throwing themselves
+flat upon the ground when it lulled, they drew so near to the
+Ngati-Toa lines that they could plainly hear the sentries conversing
+amongst themselves. Their position at this juncture was most critical,
+and in the intensity of their excitement they scarcely dared to
+breathe. Nothing, however, occurred to betray their presence,[113]
+and, at a preconcerted signal, every man rose from his concealment,
+and shouting, "Taiaroa to the rescue! Taiaroa to the rescue!" plunged
+into the dark waters of the swamp and swam towards the _pa_.
+
+It is doubtful whether the surprise of the Ngati-Toa sentries or of
+the defenders was the greater, as they were suddenly aroused by the
+tumult of the struggling horde which had swept in upon the scene. The
+first thought of the defenders was that a clever ruse to gain
+admission to the _pa_ was being practised by Te Rauparaha, and they
+at once lined the walls, and began a brisk fusilade upon the splashing
+forms in the water below. Darkness, uncertainty, and excitement,
+however, made their aim extremely erratic, and no damage of any
+consequence was done before the voices of the leaders were recognised,
+and what had seemed a daring and ingenious assault was discovered to
+be the eagerly-looked-for succour. The firing instantly ceased, and
+the Huirapa gate was thrown open to the dripping warriors, who, as
+they emerged from the water, were received in the warm embraces of
+their grateful friends.
+
+With the arrival of Taiaroa and of the Kaiapoi chiefs whom he had
+brought with him, a new spirit animated the population of the _pa_,
+and its defence was organised upon a more systematic plan than before.
+To Whakauira was entrusted the defence of the Kaitangata gate, and
+Weka was given a similar responsibility over Hiaka-rere. Other
+vulnerable points were similarly entrusted to the personal care of the
+best and bravest of the chiefs, who were not only to defend their
+particular positions against attack, but were to lead all sorties made
+by their own companies. In guarding against surprises, the garrison
+were greatly aided by a watch-tower, which stood close to the
+Kaitangata gate. This tower was no pillar of masonry, such as a Norman
+of old would have attached to his castle, but was merely the tall
+trunk of a totara tree, firmly set in the ground, on the top of which
+was perched a little wooden hutch, after the form of a native
+_whata_.[114] The sides of this cabin were constructed of thick
+wooden slabs which had been carefully tested, and demonstrated to be
+proof against any bullet fired from the nearest point to which an
+enemy could safely come. Before daylight every morning a faithful
+watcher crept into this elevated cabin, and, peering through slits cut
+in the sides, was able to command a view of all that was passing
+within the enemy's camp, and communicate the results of his
+observation to those within. In this way the defenders were able to
+anticipate and successfully counteract the tactics of Te Rauparaha,
+who, much to his chagrin, found all his movements checked. But the
+rôle of attack was not confined to the Ngati-Toa; for, in the early
+stages of the siege, frequent sorties were made by the defenders,
+though, it must be admitted, with but doubtful success. Their fighting
+was of a more emotional order than that of the northern men, who were
+desperate fellows, and just as willing to submit to punishment as they
+were to administer it. Their tenacity of purpose, combined with the
+fact that they were led by the most skilful native tactician of his
+day, gave them an undoubted superiority in these hand-to-hand
+contests; and the Ngai-Tahu defenders derived but little comfort from
+their spasmodic efforts to disperse the enemy's camp. One excursion of
+this kind, however, was more than usually heroic. Intelligence having
+been brought that Te Rauparaha had moved his canoes down the coast
+from Double Corner, where they had been left when he first landed, to
+the mouth of the Ashley River, Taiaroa, on a dark and stormy night,
+took a few men with him, and, swimming and wading through the swamps,
+succeeded in reaching the spot where the fleet was lying securely
+beached. The purpose of the sortie was to destroy the canoes. But here
+was furnished an example of that want of forethought which is to be so
+frequently noted in Ngai-Tahu warfare, and which stood in such marked
+contrast to the methods of Te Rauparaha. The expedition had armed
+itself with only light hatchets, which proved to be quite incapable of
+making any material impression upon the heavy hulls of the canoes.
+Consequently, Taiaroa and his men had to content themselves with
+merely slashing at the lighter timbers and severing the cordage which
+lashed the thwarts and side boards, which would, at least, render the
+vessels unseaworthy until repaired. Finding it impossible to achieve
+their object with the axe, an attempt was made to burn the canoes; but
+the blinding rain-storm which was raging at the time rendered futile
+every effort in this direction, and the bold little band was compelled
+to return to the _pa_, having succeeded in nothing beyond risking
+their own lives and imposing a passing inconvenience upon the
+besiegers.
+
+Three anxious months had now passed since the siege began, without
+anything decisive having been accomplished on either side. Te
+Rauparaha had hoped that hunger and the losses they had suffered would
+have sapped the strength of the defence; but in this he was mistaken,
+for events were proving that the old idea, that the _pa_ could be
+starved into submission, was a delusion. As a matter of fact, the
+defenders were well supplied with food, their storehouses having been
+filled with the fruits of the early crops, while the surrounding
+swamps provided them with an abundant supply of eels. On the other
+hand, Te Rauparaha was frequently hard pressed for supplies; while, on
+the score of losses, he had fared rather worse than the defenders.
+Finding that he was making no progress along the orthodox lines of
+attack, he now decided to revolutionise his methods. He recalled to
+mind the words in the song of the seer Kukurarangi, "Embrace it, get
+closer and closer"; and, acting upon this prophetic injunction, he
+conceived the idea of sapping[115] up to the walls of the _pa_
+and demolishing the palisades by fire. He accordingly ordered three
+trenches to be dug, one by the Ngati-Toa, one by the Ngati-Raukawa,
+and the third by Ngati-Awa, no doubt relying upon a spirit of friendly
+rivalry between the tribes to accelerate the work. At first they
+suffered considerably, for the men working in the open trenches
+offered a conspicuous mark to the riflemen concealed behind the
+outworks of the _pa_. The casualties were, however, sensibly
+reduced when Te Rauparaha ingeniously deflected the line of the sap
+and carried the trenches forward in a zigzag direction. The spademen
+were thus protected by the angle at which they worked, and additional
+security was given them by the placing of slabs of wood across the top
+of the open sap. These precautions almost entirely neutralised the
+efforts of the sharpshooters, and the sap proceeded rapidly, and with
+a regularity and precision which excited the admiration of those early
+colonists who saw the trenches before their symmetry had been
+destroyed.
+
+These proceedings were naturally viewed with considerable alarm by the
+garrison, and frequent sorties were resorted to for the purpose of
+putting a check upon the progress of the work. These excursions,
+whether unskilfully conducted or badly executed, may have hindered the
+operations of the sappers, but they certainly failed to compel the
+abandonment of the sap. As an answer, the besiegers occasionally
+delivered a surprise attack, and it was in repulsing one of these that
+Te Ata-o-tu fought with such heroic courage that by his signal bravery
+he has helped to redeem the general ineptitude of the defence. The
+story of how "Old Jacob" (for as such he was known to the early
+Canterbury colonists) slew Pehi Tahau has been worthily told in the
+warrior'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. 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.
+Happening 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 being that he might shoot me before I could grapple with him.
+
+"I had only a tomahawk on a long handle, having left my 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 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 nigger-heads 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 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 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 loath 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, contenting 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 complimentary acknowledgments 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_, Rauparaha
+strolled amongst us inquiring whether the man who killed the chief
+Pehi Tahau was 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 battlefields of the North Island."
+
+At the end of the fourth month the trenches had, by dint of incessant
+labour, and in the face of repeated attacks, been brought to within a
+few feet of the wall, and then Te Rauparaha was in a position to
+develop the second phase of his scheme--the burning of the hitherto
+impregnable palisades. For many weeks his people were employed in
+cutting down and binding into bundles the _manuka_ scrub which
+grew in abundance on the flats in the immediate vicinity of his camp,
+and when these bundles had been dried in the sun, they were carried
+into the trenches and passed along to the further end, where a
+stalwart warrior seized and threw them with all his power in the
+direction of the doomed _pa_. This was a work which cost Ngati-Toa
+dearly, for there was an interval of time, in the act of hurling the
+sheaf of _manuka_ forward, during which the body of the thrower was
+exposed to the galling fire of the defenders; and they placed their
+best marksmen in a position from which they were able to take unerring
+aim at the unprotected figure in the trench. Many a brave fellow who
+had passed safely through the stress of siege and sortie met his fate
+in that twinkling of an eye. But, notwithstanding the peril of the
+post, there was no lack of volunteers to accept its awful
+responsibility, and as soon as one martyr to duty went down with a
+bullet in his brain, another sprang forward to fill his place. So the
+work of piling up the combustible material went on with scarcely an
+interruption. At first, the defenders made bold to emerge from the
+gates of the _pa_ at night, and hurriedly scattered the piles of
+brushwood which had been accumulated during the day. But this was only
+a temporary respite, and no permanent obstruction to the policy of Te
+Rauparaha. Day by day the process went on of hurling the bundles of
+_manuka_ from the trenches, until at last the quantity to be moved
+became so great that the defenders, in their brief rushes, were unable
+to disperse it. Then it began to mount higher against the palisades,
+and every night saw the position becoming more and more critical, with
+scarcely any resistance on the part of the besieged.[116] Indeed, the
+semblance of a panic was now beginning to make its appearance within
+the _pa_, and the opinion was rapidly taking root that their
+relentless enemy was slowly gathering them within his toils. A feeling
+of deepest depression fell upon the populace, and proposals were even
+secretly discussed by some of the younger men to abandon the _pa_
+before the inevitable catastrophe plunged them in disaster. Taiaroa
+actually adopted this course. Taking his Otago contingent with him, he
+left the _pa_ under cover of night, and made good his escape through
+the gloomy swamps. To some this might appear an act of base desertion;
+but it is the duty of the historian to rescue the name of so brave a
+chief from so dark an imputation. The secret motive which impelled him
+to leave Kaiapoi at this juncture was his settled conviction that some
+diversion must be created, during which the inhabitants would have a
+reasonable prospect of clearing the walls of the dangerous pile of
+_manuka_. His intention was, therefore, to proceed southward to his
+own dominion, where he hoped to raise a large force, and return to
+meet Te Rauparaha in a decisive battle on the open field. Events,
+however, moved too rapidly for him. Before he was able to give effect
+to his plan, Kaiapoi had fallen, and nothing remained to him but to
+shelter its unhappy fugitives.
+
+With the departure of Taiaroa for the south, the people seemed to feel
+themselves deprived of the moving spirit of the defence, and, instead
+of redoubling their energies, they sullenly yielded to the pessimistic
+impulses of their mercurial nature, and abandoned themselves to
+brooding and despair.[117] Te Rauparaha, now finding his tactics less
+seriously opposed, made strenuous efforts to ensure the perfection of
+his plans; and, having done all that remained to be done, he resigned
+himself to wait with such patience as he could command for a
+favourable wind to carry the fire from his flaming bundles against the
+walls of the _pa_. And now a curious contest arose between the
+_tohungas_ of the opposing tribes; for, while the priests of Ngati-Toa
+were daily repeating incantations for the purpose of inducing a
+southerly wind, the priests of Ngai-Tahu were as piously imploring the
+gods for a wind from the north. The impartiality of the deities in
+these circumstances was remarkable, and distinctly embarrassing; but
+it is nevertheless a fact well remembered in connection with the fall
+of Kaiapoi, that while the conflicting prayers filled the air, an
+atmospheric calm set in, and for several weeks no breeze of any
+violence blew from either direction. But it was not to be supposed
+that this condition of aerial negation would continue for ever. At
+length, on a day some six months after the siege had been commenced,
+the dawn came in with a nor'-west wind blowing strongly across the
+plains. To the besiegers, this appeared to be all in favour of the
+besieged. But those within the _pa_ knew from long observation that
+the nor'-wester was an exceedingly treacherous wind; that sudden
+changes were apt to be experienced when the wind was in that quarter;
+and that, regarded in the light of experience, their situation was by
+no means as rosy as it looked. That their fate was hanging by the most
+slender thread was a fact perfectly apparent to the chiefs in command,
+who, after consultation, came to the conclusion that their only hope
+of safety lay in the bare chance that, if the menacing brushwood,
+which lay piled against the wall, was fired from the inside, the wind
+might hold out long enough to carry the flames away from the _pa_
+until the source of danger was removed. This view was strongly held by
+Pureko, who was now entrusted with the defence of the threatened
+portion of the _pa_; and he decided to take upon himself the
+responsibility of proving the accuracy of his theory. Accordingly, he
+seized a firebrand, and thrust it into a pile of _manuka_, which
+instantly became a seething mass of flame.
+
+When Te Rauparaha saw that his enemy was likely to circumvent him, he
+at once ordered his men to belt up, take their weapons with them, and
+carry the burning brushwood against the palisades, so that the fuel
+which had been collected at such infinite pains might not be consumed
+in vain. Without staying to question the wisdom of this order, a rush
+was immediately made by the younger warriors to obey the command; but
+they were met by a fusilade from the defenders who lined the walls,
+which worked havoc amongst their ranks. Had the contending parties
+been left to fight the issue out untrammelled by the intervention of
+external agencies, it is more than probable that Te Rauparaha would
+have been worsted in this attempt to fire the _pa_, and would have
+been compelled either to abandon the siege till the ensuing summer or
+to repeat during the impending winter the toilsome process of laying
+his fire train to the gates of the fortress. But at this juncture, as
+in so many others of his eventful life, his characteristic good
+fortune did not desert him. While his men were being mown down under
+the galling musketry of the enemy, the wind suddenly swung round to
+the south, and the whole aspect of the combat was instantly changed.
+The flames were carried high against the walls, licking the palisades
+with fiery tongues, while dense clouds of smoke rolled backwards,
+driving the garrison from the trenches and from every station of
+defence.
+
+By this marvellous reversal of fortune Te Rauparaha was not slow to
+profit; and no sooner had the firing of the defenders slackened than
+his men crept up to the walls, and, as an essential precaution, filled
+up the loopholes through which the Ngai-Tahu marksmen had taken aim.
+This must have seriously hampered the defenders, had they been
+disposed to stand to their posts. But they were no longer animated so
+much by the desire to save the _pa_ as to save themselves. Panic
+had now taken the place of heroism, and despair had completely
+extinguished all idea of defence. The _sauve qui peut_ of
+Napoleon became equally the policy of Ngai-Tahu, and from this point
+there was nothing heroic in the defence of Kaiapoi. In a marvellously
+short space of time, the flames had completely enveloped the outer
+works; and, while they were eating their way through the wooden
+walls, many of the besiegers were indulging in the wild joy of the war
+dance, which, according to one native chronicler, was so vigorously
+conducted that "the noise they made was like thunder, and the earth
+trembled." As soon as a breach had been made, the attacking force
+rushed between the burning palisades, and the massacre--for it can be
+described by no other word--commenced.
+
+  "Through the fire, and through the smoke,
+  Swiftly Ngati-Toa broke
+  With a scream and a yell;
+  And the glare and the flare
+  Of the fire-tongues in the air
+  Flung a demoniac light
+  On the horrors of the fight:
+  And the children in affright,
+  And the women in despair,
+  Shrieked for mercy, but in vain.
+  And the blazing timbers threw
+  A ghastly lurid hue
+  On the wounded and the slain.
+  And, as the fierce light gleamed
+  On the warriors, they seemed
+  Like fiends unloosed from hell.
+  A struggle, fierce and short,
+  And the keepers of the fort
+  Were slaughtered for the feast:
+  And the red sun in the west
+  Went down as Kaiapoi fell."
+
+No semblance of resistance was offered except by a desperate few, and
+those who still lingered were either struck down by their infuriated
+pursuers, or were captured and bound, to be spared or killed, as
+future circumstances might dictate. When the stampede commenced, the
+Huirapa gate was made the first avenue of escape, as it led directly
+into the surrounding swamp. But Te Rauparaha had provided against this
+by posting a strong body of men on the opposite bank; and, as fast as
+the fugitives landed, they fell into a snare as fatal as that from
+which they had just escaped. Numbers of the more active, impatient at
+the delay caused by the total inadequacy of this single outlet,
+scaled the walls, and dropped down into the swamp below, swimming or
+wading in the direction of the plains to the westward. Those who
+selected this mode of retreat were almost all successful in making
+good their escape, for they were able to secure the friendly shelter
+of those dense clusters of vegetation[118] which freely studded the
+face of the swamp; while the black smoke-clouds, which were carried on
+the wind, hung low upon the water, and effectually screened them from
+the searching eyes of their pursuers.
+
+It is estimated that some two hundred of the fleeing garrison reached
+safety by concealing themselves in the slimy waters and rank
+vegetation of the Tairutu lagoon, until the vigilance of the
+northerners had relaxed sufficiently to enable them to creep out and
+slip away to the southward, or to Banks's Peninsula, where they could
+rely upon finding shelter in some of the tribal _pas_.[119] But
+by far the greater part of the inhabitants, who could not have
+numbered less than a thousand souls, met death in various ways. Many,
+especially the women and children, who essayed to cross the swamps,
+were either drowned in the attempt or shot down as they swam. Others,
+who, owing to age and infirmity, were slow in eluding the attack, were
+never able to leave the _pa_ at all. The aged and the very young
+were killed without ceremony; but the more comely were for the most
+part overcome and bound, destined either for the feast or for a life
+of slavery, adorning the household of a chief or working as menials
+in the fields. Pureko, who had put the brand to the burning, was one
+of the first to fall, being disembowelled by a gun-shot; and within a
+few moments there was also witnessed the pathetic death of the
+patriarchal Te Auta,[120] the venerated priest of the tribe, who was
+slain as he knelt at the shrine of his patron deity, vainly imploring
+the assistance of Kahukura[121] in this their hour of greatest need.
+The air was rent by the shrieks of the dying, the shouts of the
+victors, and the crash of falling timbers, mingled in one hideous din,
+which typified all that is blackest and most brutal in human
+passion.[122] When an end was made of this gruesome work, and the
+smoking walls were ruined beyond repair, the captives were removed to
+Te Rauparaha's camp, situated on the spot now known as Massacre Hill;
+and there the full rites of the cannibal feast were celebrated at an
+awful cost of human life,[123] every detail being observed which, in
+the light of national custom, would ensure the eternal humiliation of
+the defeated tribe.
+
+Kaiapoi having now fallen, and the dispersal of its people being
+complete, Te Rauparaha might have reasonably retired from the scene,
+satisfied with the laurels which his conquest had brought him. But it
+would seem that lust of victory and greed of revenge were in him
+insatiable. He knew that there were still some well-populated
+_pas_ on Banks's Peninsula, and he was determined not to return
+to Kapiti until he had reduced them also. The canoes which had been
+damaged by Taiaroa were, therefore, repaired with all possible speed,
+and, after provision had been made for the prisoners who were to be
+taken to Kapiti, the remaining canoes were directed to proceed to
+Banks's Peninsula. A small _pa_ on Ri-papa Island, in Lyttelton
+Harbour, was first attacked and reduced, and then the canoes were
+steered for Akaroa, from which point the war party was to move to the
+assault of Onawe. This _pa_ had been but recently constructed,
+and owed its existence to the widespread dread which the name of Te
+Rauparaha had now inspired. When it was known on the peninsula that
+he had laid siege to Kaiapoi, a feeling of insecurity crept over the
+natives there, who were seized with a grave presentiment that their
+turn might come soon. And how inadequate were their small and isolated
+_pas_ to withstand the shock of assault or the stress of siege! They
+accordingly hastened to concentrate their forces in one central _pa_,
+and the spirit-haunted hill of Onawe[124] was the point selected for a
+united stand. The _pa_, which was built upon the pear-shaped
+promontory which juts out into the Akaroa Harbour, dividing its upper
+portion into two bays, was both extensive and strong, and into its
+construction several new features were imported, to meet the altered
+conditions of warfare caused by the introduction of fire-arms.
+
+With the fall of Kaiapoi, the alarms and panics to which the people of
+the peninsula had been subjected through Te Rauparaha's foraging
+parties were brought to an end, and they then knew that their worst
+fears were about to be realised. On the day after the sack of the
+_pa_, a few of the fugitives had arrived at Onawe with the
+doleful intelligence that the fortress had fallen, and that, so far as
+they could gather, the northern canoes were at that very moment being
+made sea-worthy, for the purpose of conveying the victors to Akaroa.
+Hurried messengers were then sent to all the outlying _pas_,
+calling the people in to Onawe, and preparations were at once made to
+resist the impending attack. Tangatahara, who, it will be remembered,
+had been the immediate cause of Te Pehi's death, was placed in chief
+command, with Puka and Potahi as his subordinate chiefs. The garrison,
+which consisted of about four hundred warriors, was reasonably well
+equipped for the struggle, for they had been moderately successful in
+securing fire-arms from the whalers, and those who did not carry
+muskets were at least able to flourish steel hatchets. In these
+circumstances, Te Rauparaha found them a much more formidable foe than
+had been the Muaupoko of Horowhenua, or the Ngati-Apa of Rangitikei.
+There he had all the advantage of arms; here he was being opposed on
+almost even terms; but there still remained in his favour a balance of
+spirit, courage, and tenacity of purpose. In the matter of provisions
+the _pa_ was well provided against a protracted siege, while one of
+the features of the new fortification was a covered way, which led to
+a never-failing spring on the southern side of the promontory.
+Scarcely were the people gathered within the _pa_, and all the
+preparations for its defence completed, than the sentinels posted on
+the lookout descried, in the early morning, the northern fleet
+sweeping up the harbour. The alarm was at once given, and every man
+sprang to his post to await the oncoming. The canoes paddled to the
+shore below the _pa_, and there Te Rauparaha committed an error in
+tactics, the like of which can seldom be laid to his charge. He had
+hoped that, by his early arrival, he would have been able to take the
+garrison by surprise and effect an easy victory; but in this the
+vigilance of the defenders had frustrated him, and he therefore
+decided to delay the attack. In the meantime, he permitted his men to
+land, but unwisely allowed them to become separated. The Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa went to what is now known as Barry's Bay, and Ngati-Awa
+occupied the beach at the head of the harbour. In these positions
+respectively the sections of the invaders immediately began to
+establish their camps, and numerous fires, eloquent of the morning
+meal, were soon smoking on the shore.
+
+Tangatahara saw with some satisfaction the disposition of the enemy,
+and shrewdly determined to profit by the advantage which their want of
+cohesion gave him. He resolved upon the manoeuvre of first attacking
+Ngati-Awa, in the hope that he might defeat them before Te Rauparaha
+could come to their assistance, and then he would be able to turn
+upon the unsupported Ngati-Toa and drive them back to the sea. But
+either Tangatahara was much mistaken in his calculations or his
+directions were only indifferently executed, for his manoeuvre failed
+ignominiously. As his men sallied out of the _pa_, their movements
+were noticed by the sentries of Te Rauparaha, who lost no time in
+communicating the fact to their leader. Instantly, the Ngati-Toa camp
+was in a state of intense excitement; every warrior dropped his
+immediate employment and rushed to secure his belt and arms. When
+equipped, they went off in hot haste, floundering through slime and
+soft mud, to reinforce the threatened Ngati-Awa. Tangatahara, seeing
+that his movement was observed and understood, hesitated and was lost.
+A halt was called, and, while his men stood in indecision upon the
+hill-side, the advancing Ngati-Toa opened fire upon them with fatal
+effect. Tahatiti was the first to fall, and several were wounded as
+the result of the opening volley. The Ngai-Tahu then began to fall
+back, firing the while; but their musketry failed to check the onrush
+of Te Rauparaha's veterans, who were now thoroughly seasoned to the
+rattle of bullets and the smell of powder. The retreat to the _pa_ was
+safely conducted; but, for some reason, the defenders did not
+immediately pass through the gates and shut them against the invaders.
+They continued to linger outside, possibly to watch with greater ease
+the approach of the enemy. As they were thus engaged, a number of the
+captives taken by Te Rauparaha at Kaiapoi suddenly came over the brow
+of the hill and entered into conversation with those of their own kin
+who were still outside the gates. During this friendly parley, Te
+Rauparaha came boldly up to the walls with his own followers and
+demanded the surrender of the _pa_. Those within the walls were now
+placed in the dilemma that they could not fire upon the enemy without
+imperilling the lives of their own friends; and it was equally unsafe
+to open the gates to admit them, as the besiegers might rush in with
+an impetuosity that could not be resisted. In these circumstances the
+parley was continued, Te Rauparaha pointing to the presence of so many
+Kaiapoi notables as a living evidence of his clemency, while the
+captive Ngai-Tahu joined with him in advising the policy of surrender,
+chiefly, no doubt, through a jealous apprehension that the inhabitants
+of Onawe might escape the misfortune and disgrace which had befallen
+themselves.
+
+Thus the battle, which had opened with visions of courage, degenerated
+into a war of words, of which the best that can be said is that the
+insincerity of the invaders was only equalled by the indecision of the
+defenders. Only one man in the _pa_ appeared to have a clear idea
+of what his duty was. This was Puaka, who, recognising Te Rauparaha
+amongst the crowd, pushed his gun through a loophole, took aim, and
+fired almost point-blank at the chief, whose miraculous escape was due
+to the fact that one of the Kaiapoi captives, who was standing close
+to Puaka, pushed the muzzle of the musket aside just in time to
+deflect the shot. As might be supposed, the incident served only to
+intensify the confusion and disorder. Some of the invaders seized a
+moment's want of vigilance on the part of the sentries at the gate to
+force an entrance into the _pa_, where they commenced killing
+every one around them. All the brave vows which had brought the Onawe
+_pa_ into existence were then forgotten, and the high hopes which
+its fancied strength had inspired were shattered in this moment of
+supreme trial, which revealed in all its nakedness the inherent
+weakness of the Ngai-Tahu character. Panic seized the people, and for
+some time the _pa_ was the scene of the wildest confusion. Here
+and there a brave show of resistance was offered; but for the most
+part the defenders were too dazed at the swiftness of the Ngati-Toa
+rush even to stand to their arms, which, in their distraction, numbers
+of them even threw away. Of those outside the _pa_, not a few
+dashed for the bush as soon as the fighting commenced, and made good
+their escape. But those within the walls were caught like rats in a
+trap; and, during the conflict, the shrieks and imprecations of the
+miserable fugitives were mingled with the hoarse shouts of the
+victors, as they rushed bleeding and half naked from one place of
+fancied security to another. The conquest of Onawe, though swift, was
+none the less sanguinary. After the last vestige of resistance had
+been stamped out, the prisoners were collected and taken down to a
+flax-covered flat. There the old and the young, the weak and the
+strong, were picked out from their trembling ranks; and, at the
+command of the chief, those who from excessive youth or extreme age
+were regarded as valueless were at once sacrificed to the _manes_ of
+the dead, while the more robust were preserved as trophies of the
+victory.
+
+For a few days following the fall of Onawe, the surrounding hills and
+forests were scoured by the restless victors, in search of such
+unhappy fugitives as might be found lurking in the secret places of
+the bush. Few, however, were captured, and in some instances
+successful retaliation reversed the fortune of the chase, and the
+pursuers became the pursued. When the prospect of further captures was
+exhausted, the northern warriors asked for and obtained leave to
+return to their homes, and the canoes, with the exception of that of
+Te Hiko, immediately put to sea, a rendezvous being appointed for them
+at Cloudy Bay. Te Hiko was detained by the fact that his canoe stood
+in need of repair, and, during the operation, an incident occurred
+which justified the high estimate of his character which was
+subsequently formed by many of the earliest colonists.[125] He was the
+son of Te Pehi, whose death two years before was the immediate and
+avowed cause of this southern raid. If, then, the fires of hate and
+fury against Ngai-Tahu had burned more fiercely within him than in
+others of his tribe, there might have been some justification for it.
+But Te Hiko proved to be more chivalrous than many who had received
+less provocation. Amongst the prisoners who had fallen into his hands
+at the taking of Onawe was Tangatahara, the commander of the fortress,
+who, it will be remembered, had been the most active agent in causing
+the death of Te Hiko's father. What ultimate fate was intended for
+Tangatahara is uncertain, but he was fortunate enough to be spared an
+immediate death. He was, however, closely guarded; and, as he was
+sitting on the beach surrounded by Ngati-Raukawa warriors, two of the
+women who had accompanied Te Rauparaha's forces espied him, and
+immediately put in a claim to Te Hiko for his death, in compensation
+for the injury which the captive chief had caused them. The claim,
+though clamorously made, was firmly resisted by Te Hiko who
+endeavoured first to persuade and then to bribe them, by a gift of
+rich food, into a more reasonable frame of mind. Neither his
+blandishments nor his bribes were successful in appeasing their desire
+for the captive's life; and it was not until Te Hiko gave them plainly
+to understand that he was determined not to give his prisoner over as
+a sacrifice to them, and that he regarded his authority as outraged by
+their persistency, that they sullenly consented to compromise their
+claim. What they now asked was the right to debase the chief by using
+his head as a relish for their _kauru_, a vegetable substance which a
+Maori chewed, much as an American chews gum or tobacco. To this
+modified proposal Te Hiko reluctantly consented, and the women,
+approaching the captive, struck his head twice with their _kauru_,
+which they proceeded to masticate with enhanced enjoyment because of
+the flavour which it was thought to derive from his degradation.
+
+Though he had thus far humoured the women, the want of consideration
+shown by them for his position as a chief so incensed Te Hiko that he
+there and then determined to release his prisoner, and so prevent his
+authority in regard to him being flouted by irresponsible personages.
+That night he roused Tangatahara from his sleep, and, taking him to
+the edge of the bush, bade him escape, a command which he was not slow
+to obey, nor found it difficult to fulfil.[126]
+
+[76] To the ancient Maori greenstone was invaluable as a material out
+of which to manufacture weapons and ornaments; but after the
+introduction of fire-arms the _mere_ was superseded by the
+musket, and it is doubtful if, when the trinkets of the European were
+available, the native would take the trouble to laboriously work out
+an ornament from so hard a substance.
+
+[77] A shark's tooth fixed upon a stick and used as a knife.
+
+[78] This could scarcely have been otherwise, for Rerewaka's insolent
+speech amounted to a _kanga_, or curse, which, according to the
+Maori code, could only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.
+
+[79] The canoe used by Te Rauparaha on many of these southern raids
+was called Ahu-a-Turanga, and for this reason it is supposed that it
+came from the Manawatu, that being the name of an ancient track over
+the Ruahine Ranges near the Manawatu gorge. It is said that this canoe
+is now lying rotting at Porirua Harbour. Another famous canoe of this
+period was called Te-Ra-makiri, a vessel captured from the
+Ngati-Kahu-ngunu at Castle Point by Ngati-Tama, and presented by them
+to Te Rauparaha. This canoe was held to be exceedingly sacred, and now
+lies at Mana Island.
+
+[80] "Having reached at sunset to within a mile of the spot where the
+_Pelorus_ anchored, we again encamped on a shingly beach in a bay
+on the east side of the Sound. At this spot there were some ten or
+fifteen acres of level ground, on which we were shown the remains of a
+large _pa_, once the headquarters of the tribe conquered and
+almost exterminated by Te Rauparaha" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[81] It was to this policy of settlement, following upon conquest,
+that Marlborough owes the presence of the little cluster of northern
+natives who are settled on the banks of the Wairau River--the most
+southern outpost that now remains to mark the aggression of Te
+Rauparaha.
+
+[82] Hori Kingi Te Anaua, a chief well-known in after years as the
+firm friend of the Whanganui settlers, escaped from this defeat, as
+one quaint native account puts it, "by dint of his power to run."
+
+[83] Some difficulty has been experienced in closely tracing the
+movements of Te Pehi. He left England on board H.M.S. _Thames_ in
+October, 1825, and the _Thames_ reached Sydney on April 11, 1826.
+Whether she came on to New Zealand bringing the chief with her, I have
+not ascertained. The probabilities are that she did, for the late
+Judge Mackay, who is an excellent authority, says Te Pehi returned
+direct to New Zealand, but afterwards made the voyage back to Sydney
+to procure arms, from which place he returned in 1829, at the juncture
+referred to in the text.
+
+[84] Here we meet with one of the many discrepancies in the published
+histories of the time. The Rev. Canon Stack makes it appear in his
+_Kaiapohia_ that Rerewaka was killed during the battle, but Mr.
+Travers (_Life and Times of Te Rauparaha_) states that he was
+taken prisoner; and this version is sustained by Tamihana te Rauparaha
+in his published account of his father's life, wherein he says
+Rerewaka was taken to Kapiti to be "tamed."
+
+[85] Canon Stack would seem to imply that Kaikoura and Omihi were one
+and the same place; but from a petition presented to the House of
+Representatives in 1869 by the Ngai-Tahu tribe, it seems clear that
+they were separate places, and that their destruction took place at
+different times. Omihi is about 15 miles south of Kaikoura, near the
+Conway River, but the battle took place on the hills near the valley
+which leads down to the Waipara.
+
+[86] Some accounts make it appear that Kekerengu was killed by a
+wandering band of Ngai-Tahu after he landed on the Middle Island, and
+that, although he had greatly offended Te Rangihaeata by his
+impropriety, it was really to avenge his death and not to punish him
+that this raid was made upon Kaikoura and Omihi. But these are
+variations in tradition that we can scarcely hope to reconcile at this
+date.
+
+[87] Kaiapoi is a popular abbreviation of the old name--Kaiapohia,
+which signifies "food gathered up in handfuls" or "a food depôt," but
+Kaiapohia was seldom used except in formal speeches or in poetical
+compositions. The name originated in the incident related in the text,
+and the place became in reality a food depôt, because, owing to its
+peculiar situation, large quantities of food, particularly kumaras,
+were raised every year, not only for local consumption, but for the
+purposes of exchange with other branches of the tribe which possessed
+abundance of particular kinds of provisions which could not be
+procured at Kaiapoi.
+
+[88] Tamihana te Rauparaha would lead us to suppose that his father
+was averse to this course, and was again overpersuaded by Te Pehi's
+impetuosity. He makes him say to Te Pehi, "Be cautious in going into
+the _pa_, lest you be killed. I have had an evil omen: mine was
+an evil dream last night," But what, says Tamihana, was the good of
+such advice to a man whose spirit had gone to death?
+
+[89] At first only the heads of chiefs were sold, as they were the
+most perfectly tattooed, but when chiefs' heads became scarce, the
+native mind conceived the idea of tattooing the heads of the slaves
+and selling them--the slave being killed as soon as his head was ready
+for the market. Sometimes the slave was audacious enough to run away
+just as he was attaining a commercial value, and the indignation of
+one merchant who had just sustained such a loss is humorously
+described in Manning's _Old New Zealand_.
+
+[90] In an account of this incident given by a Captain Briggs to the
+newspaper _Tasmanian_, in 1831, he states that a European named
+Smith, who had been left at Kaiapoi by a Captain Wiseman, for the
+purpose of trade, attempted to save Te Pehi's life, and was himself
+killed for his interference. If this was so, the Ngai-Tahu accounts
+are discreetly silent on the point; but Briggs infers that Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko made it one of the arguments by which they
+sought to convince him that he ought to assist them to capture
+Tamaiharanui, and so revenge the death of his countryman.
+
+[91] The names of the chiefs who were killed on this fatal day were Te
+Pehi, Te Pokaitara, Te Rangikatuta, Te Ruatahi, Te Hua-piko, Te Kohi,
+Te Aratangata, and Te Rohua. Tamihana te Rauparaha states that in all
+some twenty of his father's people were killed, but that a number were
+successful in escaping by clambering over the palisades.
+
+[92] The Rev. Canon Stack considers that this event occurred either
+late in 1828 or early in 1829.
+
+[93] It is doubtful whether Tamaiharanui took any part in the killing
+of Te Pehi and his comrades, but that would not relieve him of his
+liability to be killed in return, as the whole tribe was responsible
+for the acts of every member of it.
+
+[94] 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 cowardly, cruel, and capricious--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 (_Stack_).
+
+[95] The _Elizabeth_ arrived in Sydney in July, 1830, and in the
+following month left for New Zealand. A contemporary Australian
+newspaper described her cargo as consisting of four cases and eighteen
+muskets, two kegs of flints and bullets, two bales of slops, two kegs
+of gunpowder, one bundle of hardware, and five baskets of tobacco and
+stores.
+
+[96] A more or less exaggerated account of this raid appeared in the
+newspaper _Tasmanian_ on January 28, 1831, and in a subsequent
+issue, Captain Briggs, in passing some comments upon it, said the
+penalty which Captain Stewart had to pay for disregarding his advice
+was that "the natives wanted to do as they pleased with him and his
+ship." He further said that he endeavoured to persuade Stewart not to
+deliver Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha after their return to
+Kapiti, but that worthy declined to carry the chief to Sydney, on the
+ground that "The Marinewie," as he called him, "had been too long on
+board already."
+
+[97] Properly spelt Akau-roa--"the long coast line"; doubtless
+referring to the deep inlet which forms the harbour of Akaroa.
+
+[98] According to a Parliamentary Paper published in 1831, the
+_Elizabeth_ carried eight guns, two swivels, and a full supply of
+small arms. This fact, it is said, deluded some of the natives into
+the belief that the ship was a British man-o'-war.
+
+[99] Signifying "tear-drops."
+
+[100] Some accounts say that this occurred before the vessel left the
+harbour.
+
+[101] It is said that the action of Tamaiharanui also so roused the
+righteous anger of Captain Stewart that he deemed it his duty to have
+the chief triced up to the mast and flogged. This met with the most
+marked disapproval from Te Rauparaha, who maintained that as his
+prisoner was a chief he should not be punished like a slave.
+
+[102] The _Australian_ newspaper records the arrival of the
+_Elizabeth_, Captain Stewart, in Sydney, on the above date, with
+a cargo of thirty tons of flax, and carrying Mr. J. B. Montefiore and
+Mr. A. Kemiss as passengers.
+
+[103] When the _Elizabeth_ returned to Kapiti, her company was
+increased by a Mr. Montefiore, who was then cruising round New Zealand
+in his own vessel, in search of commercial speculations. Hearing of
+what had occurred at Akaroa, he became apprehensive of his own safety,
+and fearing that all the white people in the country would be killed,
+he joined the _Elizabeth_ in the hope of being carried away from
+New Zealand at the earliest possible moment. In giving evidence before
+a Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1838, he related what he
+knew of the capture and death of Tamaiharanui. He claimed credit for
+having protested to Captain Stewart against the chief being held in
+irons, and succeeded in getting the fetters struck off, as the
+prisoner's legs had commenced to mortify. He also stated that his
+appeal to Captain Stewart to take the chief to Sydney, and not to hand
+him over to his enemies, was futile. According to Mr. Montefiore, who
+said he went ashore and "saw the whole process of his intended
+sacrifice," Tamaiharanui was killed almost immediately after being
+given up, but other accounts supplied by the natives place it some
+weeks later. The wife of Tamaiharanui, unable to bear the sight of her
+husband's agony, ran away from the scene of the tragedy, but was
+recaptured and subsequently killed. Tamaiharanui's sister became the
+wife of one of her captors, and lived at Wellington. It is generally
+admitted that Te Rauparaha did not witness, or take any part in,
+Tamaiharanui's death. Heaven knows, he had done enough.
+
+[104] If this is an accurate statement of what occurred--and there is
+every reason to believe that it is--the treatment of Tamaiharanui
+presents an interesting parallel to the manner in which the Aztec
+Indians of Mexico regaled their prisoners, destined to be sacrificed
+at the annual feast to their god Tezcatlipoca.
+
+[105] Rev. Canon Stack.
+
+[106] The Sydney _Gazette_, in referring to the case, remarked
+that its peculiarity lay in the fact that it involved "the question of
+the liability of British subjects for offences committed against the
+natives of New Zealand." The point was never tested, but it is
+doubtful whether the Imperial Statute constituting the Supreme Court
+of the Colony of New South Wales (9 Geo. IV., cap. 83) gave express
+power to deal with such offences as that of Stewart. An amendment of
+the law in the following year (June 7, 1832) made the position more
+explicit.
+
+[107] Captain Sturt afterwards did valuable work as an explorer in
+Australia, but received no suitable recognition from the Imperial
+Government. Sir George Grey vainly endeavoured to procure for him the
+honour of knighthood.
+
+[108] There is not much doubt that, had the case gone to trial,
+counsel for the defence would have endeavoured to prove that Stewart
+was compelled by the natives to do what he did; for the
+_Australian_, a paper controlled by Dr. Wardell, argued that it
+"could not divine the justice of denouncing Stewart as amenable to
+laws which, however strict and necessary under certain circumstances,
+were not applicable to savage broils and unintentional acts of
+homicide, to which he must have been an unwilling party, and over
+which he could not possibly exercise the slightest control."
+
+[109] It will be charitable, and perhaps just, to suppose that this
+feeling arose more from personal antipathy to the Governor than from
+any inherent sympathy with crime. Governor Darling had succeeded in
+making himself exceedingly unpopular with a large section of the
+Sydney community, which resulted in his recall in 1831.
+
+[110] The expedition probably started about the end of January or
+beginning of February.
+
+[111] Now Lyttelton Harbour.
+
+[112] His _pa_ was in the vicinity of what is now the city of
+Dunedin.
+
+[113] The Rev. Canon Stack relates how one of the Ngai-Tahu men, Te
+Ata-o-tu, was carrying his infant son on his back during this march.
+When they approached the _pa_, some of his companions, seeing how
+closely it was invested, whispered to him to strangle the child, lest
+it might cry at a critical moment and betray them. The father,
+however, could not find it in his heart to take this extreme step, but
+he wrapped the boy tightly in a thick mat, and, strapping him across
+his broad shoulders, carried him safely through the dangers of that
+terrible night. The child, however, was only spared to be drowned in
+the waters of the swamp as his mother vainly endeavoured to escape a
+few months later, when the _pa_ fell.
+
+[114] A storehouse erected upon a high central pole, to
+protect the food from the depredations of rats.
+
+[115] So far as is known, this was the first occasion on which the
+principle of the sap was applied in Maori warfare.
+
+[116] An interesting parallel to these proceedings is to be found in
+Gibbon's description of the siege of Constantinople: "To fill the
+ditch was the toil of the besiegers; to clear away the rubbish was the
+safety of the besieged; and, after a long and bloody conflict, the web
+which had been woven in the day was still unravelled in the night."
+
+[117] It is a popular belief in some quarters that the reason why the
+defenders so lost heart was that they were oppressed by the guilty
+knowledge that they had acted treacherously in killing Te Pehi and his
+companions.
+
+[118] Popularly known as "Maori-heads" or "Nigger-heads." Flax and
+_raupo_ also grew freely in the swamps.
+
+[119] This was rendered more difficult owing to the fact that for many
+days Te Rauparaha's followers were scouring the country, far and wide,
+in search of fugitives. The Rev. Canon Stack mentions the pathetic
+instance of two young children who were in hiding with their father.
+He left them to go in search of food, promising to return; but he
+never did so, having in all probability been captured and killed. The
+children, who afterwards lived to be well-known Canterbury residents,
+sustained themselves by eating _raupo_ roots for several months,
+until they were found by an eeling party in the bed of the Selwyn
+River.
+
+[120] Te Auta is described as a man of grave and venerable appearance,
+who was a strict disciplinarian in all matters pertaining to the
+religious ceremonies of the _pa_, his authority in these respects
+being considerably enhanced by his long white hair and flowing beard.
+He was one of the last of the Ngai-Tahu _tohungas_, who were
+deeply versed in all the peculiar rites of Maori heathendom.
+
+[121] Kahukura was the patron divinity of the Ngai-Tahu tribe. His
+cultus was introduced by the crew of the Takitimu canoe, who were the
+ancestors of the Kaiapohians (_Stack_).
+
+[122] Amongst the prisoners taken was a boy named Pura, who excited
+the interest of Te Rauparaha. The chief took him under his personal
+protection, and on the night that Kaiapoi fell, he led him into his
+own _whare_. In order to prevent any possibility of escape,
+Rauparaha tied a rope round the boy's body and attached the other end
+to his own wrist. During the early hours of the night the chief was
+exceedingly restless, but after he fell asleep Pura quietly disengaged
+himself from the rope, and tied the end of it to a peg which he found
+driven into the floor of the _whare_. He then crept stealthily to
+the door, but in passing out he had the misfortune to overturn a pile
+of _manuka_ which was piled up outside. Luckily, the brushwood
+fell on top of him, completely covering him, but the noise aroused Te
+Rauparaha, who, as soon as he perceived that his captive had flown,
+raised the alarm, and in an incredibly short time the whole camp was
+in a state of uproar and panic. The warriors, suddenly aroused from
+their sleep, were in a condition of extreme nervous tension after the
+excitement and exertion of the day. Some imagined that the prisoners
+had risen in revolt, while others believed that the fugitives had
+returned in force to attack the camp, and it was some time before
+order could be restored and the true position explained. Meanwhile,
+Pura lay panting with fear and trembling lest he should be found, for
+recapture meant certain death. His hiding, however, was not
+discovered, and when the camp had once more settled down to sleep, he
+quietly pushed the brushwood aside, and, threading his way out into
+the swamp, made good his escape to the south, where he afterwards
+joined the main body of the fugitives. Pura subsequently became a
+well-known resident of Lyttelton, under the name of Pitama.
+
+[123] "Some conception may be formed of the numbers slain and eaten
+when I mention that some time after the settlement of Canterbury the
+Rev. Mr. Raven, 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 from the present town of
+Kaiapoi to the north. Ghastly relics of these feasts still strew the
+ground, from which I myself have gathered many" (_Travers_).
+
+[124] "The summit of Onawe was called Te-pa-nui-o-Hau. There, amongst
+the huge boulders and rocks that crown the hill and cover its steep
+sloping sides, dwelt the Spirit of the Wind, and tradition tells how
+jealously it guarded its sacred haunts from careless intrusion"
+(_Tales of Banks's Peninsula_).
+
+[125] "Te Hiko struck us forcibly by his commanding stature, by his
+noble, intelligent physiognomy, and by his truly chieftain-like
+demeanour. His descent by both parents pointed him out as a great
+leader in Cook Strait, should he inherit his father's great qualities.
+He was sparing of his words and mild in speech. He had carefully
+treasured up his father's instructions and the relics of his voyage to
+England.... He was said to pay his slaves for their work, and to treat
+them with unusual kindness, and the white men spoke of him as mild and
+inoffensive in his intercourse with them" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[126] "Before the northern fleet got clear of Banks's Peninsula, a
+number of the prisoners escaped, the chief person amongst 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 Ngai-Tahu after Te Rauparaha's last raid" (_Stack_).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SMOKING FLAX
+
+
+The conquest of the southern districts being now completed, and the
+winter months approaching, the whole of the northern fleet took its
+departure for Cloudy Bay, where, according to the records of the
+whalers who were there at the time, scenes of the wildest excitement
+prevailed for many days, and the unhappy condition of the captives was
+observed with much compassion by persons who were powerless to
+intervene. From Cloudy Bay the main body of the conquerors passed over
+to Kapiti, and there the scenes of unbridled ferocity were resumed,
+until sufficient slaves had been killed and eaten to fittingly honour
+the returning warriors. These rejoicings at an end, Te Rauparaha set
+himself to seriously administer the affairs of his own people, which
+were always in danger of violent disturbance, due to the mutual
+jealousies of the tribes when not preoccupied by the excitement of
+war. This work of domestic management almost wholly absorbed his
+attention during the next few years; and it was fortunate for the
+Kaiapoi captives that he had so much on hand, as the pressure of
+circumstances and the stress of inter-tribal complications more than
+once compelled him to treat them with greater consideration than might
+otherwise have been their lot. While these events were proceeding in
+the North Island, the Maoris in the south were slowly reorganising
+their forces. The majority of the fugitives from Kaiapoi and Onawe had
+travelled southward until they reached Taiaroa's settlement at Otago,
+where, under his guidance, they began to formulate their plans for
+avenging their many humiliations. Amongst these fugitives was
+Tu-te-hounuku, the son of the treacherously captured Tamaiharanui, who,
+recognising that his own people were not equal to the task of
+accomplishing vengeance, sought the aid of the great Otago warrior,
+and chief of Ruapuke, Tu-Hawaiki. This chief had received from the
+whalers the startling appellation of "Bloody Jack,"[127] not so much
+because of his sanguinary disposition as from the lurid nature of his
+language. He was a warrior of the progressive type, who at once saw
+the advantage of intimate intercourse with the white man; and to this
+end he made common cause with all the whalers stationed along the
+coast. He assisted them in their quarrels, and they in return supplied
+him with the implements of war necessary to overcome his tribal
+enemies. In this way he managed to acquire the mastery over a large
+area of country, and to amass a considerable amount of wealth. He
+owned a small vessel, which was commanded by one of his whaler
+friends, in which he frequently made trips to Sydney. There he formed
+an acquaintance with Governor Gipps, who presented him with a number
+of old military uniforms; and on his return to New Zealand he enrolled
+a squad of his own tribe, clothed them in the soldiers' garb, drilled
+them, and on state occasions paraded them as his personal bodyguard,
+"all the same the _Kawana_."[128] To this enterprising barbarian the
+prospect of a brush with Rauparaha--or with any one else for that
+matter--was a most agreeable one, and so the alliance with
+Tu-te-hounuku was entered upon after the most trifling negotiation.
+
+Although Taiaroa appears to have taken some part in organising the
+expedition, he did not accompany it. The leadership was therefore
+entrusted to Tu-Hawaiki, who came and secreted himself in the vicinity
+of Cape Campbell, being thus favourably situated for an attack upon
+the Ngati-Toa, who now had entire control of the northern portion of
+the Middle Island, where a section of their people were continuously
+settled. Moreover, it had become one of their practices to visit Lake
+Grasmere for the purpose of snaring the paradise duck, which then, as
+now, made this sheet of water one of their favourite breeding grounds;
+and it was while upon one of these bird-catching expeditions that Te
+Rauparaha nearly lost his life. Being intent upon the manipulation of
+his snares, he was unconscious of the approach from behind the Cape of
+Tu-Hawaiki and his horde, until, with a savage yell, they pounced upon
+the unwary Ngati-Toa. For the latter the situation was indeed
+critical, and all its difficulties were taken in by Rauparaha at a
+glance. He saw that in point of numbers the odds were terribly against
+him, and that to stand his ground and fight it out with such a
+formidable foe could only result in certain death. On the other hand,
+the chances of escape had been almost completely cut off; for when the
+party landed at the lake, the canoes, with one exception, were drawn
+up on the beach, and were now high and dry. The delay in launching
+these meant the difference between life and death, so closely were
+they pressed. But fortunately for him, one still remained in the water
+some distance from the shore; and on observing this solitary gleam of
+hope, Te Rauparaha swiftly made up his mind that discretion was the
+better part of valour. He raced for the sea, and, plunging into the
+surf, swam to the canoe with rapid and powerful strokes, followed by
+at least forty of his own people. At the canoe a general scramble
+ensued, in which only the fittest survived, the remainder being left
+struggling in the water to escape as best they could, or be despatched
+by their enemies as opportunity offered.
+
+In the meantime, those of the Ngati-Toa who had not been able to
+plunge into the sea were unceremoniously killed on the spot, and those
+of the attacking party who were not actively engaged in this
+sanguinary work at once launched the canoes lying on the Boulder Bank,
+which divides the lake from the sea, and set off in hot pursuit of the
+retreating Rauparaha. As might be expected, the chase was a desperate
+one, each party straining every nerve to defeat the object of the
+other. Rauparaha, standing in the stern of his canoe, by word and
+gesture urged the men at the paddles to renewed exertions; not that
+they required much exhortation, for they knew that their lives
+depended entirely upon themselves. But, notwithstanding their utmost
+endeavours, it soon became painfully evident that their pursuers were
+gaining upon them, owing to the overloaded condition of the canoe.
+Rauparaha then determined upon a course which can scarcely recommend
+him to our admiration, although Nature's first law, self-preservation,
+might be urged in extenuation of his crime. Without further ceremony
+he ordered half the people in the canoe, many of whom were women and
+children, to jump overboard, and those who demurred were forcibly
+compelled to obey.[129] Thus relieved of some of its burden, the canoe
+gradually forged ahead, and the diversion of the pursuers' attention
+to the jettisoned passengers, who were struggling in the water,
+enabled Rauparaha to make good his escape to Cloudy Bay. The Ngai-Tahu
+people are especially proud of this encounter, which they regard as a
+brilliant victory, and have called it _Rua Moa iti_, or "The battle of
+the little Moa's feather."
+
+It could not, of course, be supposed that a man of action, such as Te
+Rauparaha was, would long remain idle while so black a stain upon his
+reputation as a warrior remained unavenged. He therefore lost no time
+in sending his messengers to a branch of the Ngati-Awa tribe, who then
+resided at the Wairau, soliciting their aid in a mission of
+retaliation. The request was readily granted, and, with this
+reinforcement, a war party of considerable strength set sail in their
+canoes for the _karaka_ groves which grew luxuriantly at
+O-Rua-Moa Bay, immediately to the south of Cape Campbell, where it was
+fully expected that the enemy would be resting. In these anticipations
+they were disappointed. The prey had flown; and if the purpose of the
+expedition was not to fail utterly, there was nothing for it but to
+push on until the object of their search was found. They were soon
+rewarded, for close to the shore, at the mouth of the Flaxbourne
+River, Tu-Hawaiki and his braves were encamped, and here the gage of
+battle was thrown down. That the encounter was a desperate one may be
+judged by the fact that both sides claimed the victory, and they seem
+to have withdrawn from the combat mutually agreeing that they had each
+had enough. According to the Ngai-Tahu account, Te Rauparaha's
+stratagem of sending one hundred and forty men of Ngati-Awa down the
+steep face of a cliff to cut off Tu-Hawaiki's retreat was successfully
+circumvented, the flanking party being caught in their own trap and
+every one of them destroyed. The Ngati-Toa are equally positive that
+the palm of victory rested with them; but in that event the advantage
+gained was not sufficiently great to justify them in following it up,
+for Tu-Hawaiki was allowed to depart next morning unmolested to
+Kaikoura. On the journey down an incident occurred which betrayed the
+savage side of this man's nature, and showed how much he deserved, in
+another sense, the title of the old whalers, when they styled him
+"Bloody Jack." During the voyage the canoe commanded by Tu-te-hounuku
+was capsized in a southerly gale, and the young chief was drowned,
+although every other man was saved. The selfishness of the men in
+seeking their own safety and letting their leader perish so enraged
+the fiery Tu-Hawaiki, that as soon as he heard of the accident he
+ordered the canoes ashore, and with his own hand slew every one of the
+surviving crew.[130]
+
+Immediately after this skirmish Te Rauparaha returned to the North
+Island, where there was urgent need of his presence. With the coming
+of the Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Ruanui, and other Taranaki tribes, the domestic
+disagreements, of which he stood in daily dread, began to ferment, and
+were already breaking out into open rupture. The Ngati-Awa had cast
+envious eyes upon a piece of country under tillage by Ngati-Raukawa,
+in the vicinity of Otaki, and were openly boasting of their intention
+to make it their own. Their cause was espoused by their Taranaki
+relatives, and even a section of Te Rauparaha's own people threw in
+their lot with them against their old allies, the Ngati-Raukawa. This
+defection, which was especially distressing to Te Rauparaha, arose from
+some act of favouritism--real or fancied--displayed towards Te
+Whatanui, the great Ngati-Raukawa chief, for whom Te Rauparaha ever
+felt and showed the highest regard. These strained relations, however,
+did not break out into actual civil strife until the Ngati-Raukawa
+people discovered the Ngati-Ruanui malcontents looting their
+potato-pits at Waikawa. Up to this point the Ngati-Raukawa had borne
+the pin-pricks of the Taranaki braggarts with some degree of patience;
+but this act of plunder satisfied them that, unless they were prepared
+to defend their property, they would soon have no property to defend.
+They therefore stood no longer upon ceremony, but straightway attacked
+the Ngati-Ruanui settlement, and thus let slip the dogs of civil
+war.[131] In the conflict which ensued Tauake, a Ngati-Ruanui chief,
+was killed, an incident which only served to fan the flame of
+internecine strife, and hostilities of a more or less virulent nature
+involved all the settlements along the coast from Waikanae to
+Manawatu. Both sides were equally well armed, for guns and ammunition
+were now plentiful, the traders having learned the Maori's weakness,
+and being prepared to pander to it for the sake of cheap cargoes of
+flax and potatoes. The consequence was that in each skirmish numbers
+of the belligerents were killed, and Te Rauparaha saw with increasing
+dismay the havoc wrought amongst his fighting men, and the useless
+waste of tribal strength which must ensue from these insane
+proceedings. Only too clearly he realised that, watched as he was by
+enemies both on the north and to the east, this state of division
+might at any moment be seized on as an opportunity for attack. His own
+efforts to reconcile the disputants were unavailing; and when he saw
+the spirit of insurrection growing and spreading beyond his power of
+control, he determined upon making an appeal for outside aid. He
+accordingly dispatched a mission to Taupo, requesting Te Heuheu to
+bring down a large force wherewith to crush out the seeds of
+rebellion, by inflicting a telling defeat upon the most turbulent
+insurgents. Te Heuheu's reply to this appeal was of a practical kind.
+Within a few months he marched out from Taupo with an effective
+fighting force of eight hundred men, officered by some of the most
+famous of his own and the Maungatautari chiefs of that time. Almost
+immediately upon their arrival on the coast, they, in conjunction with
+Ngati-Raukawa, proceeded to attack the Ngati-Awa at a pa close to the
+Otaki River, and for several months the conflict was maintained with
+fluctuating success. Notwithstanding the numbers brought against them,
+the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Ruanui proved themselves stubborn fighters,
+maintaining their ground with heroic desperation.
+
+In several of the battles the slaughter was exceedingly heavy, amongst
+the slain being counted many important chiefs attached to both sides;
+but still the issue hung in doubt, and so it remained until the great
+battle of Pakakutu had been fought. On this occasion a supreme effort
+was made by Te Heuheu, and the struggle culminated in the decisive
+defeat of Ngati-Awa. Their _pa_ was taken, and their chief
+Takerangi was slain. With his death was removed one of the principal
+factors in the quarrel, and the way was paved for a settlement
+honourable in its terms to all the parties. A conference of
+considerable importance was immediately held at Kapiti, at which the
+disquieting issues were discussed, and in the debates upon these
+contentious points both Te Heuheu and Te Whatanui raised their voices
+with force and eloquence in the cause of peace. As a result of these
+negotiations, the differences which had so nearly wrecked Te Rauparaha's
+consolidating work of fourteen years were amicably settled.[132] The
+general result was that Ngati-Raukawa were reinstated in their
+possessions at Ohau and Horowhenua and as far north as Rangitikei,
+while Ngati-Awa retired southward of Waikanae, and extended their
+settlements as far in that direction as Wellington, where they
+replaced Pomare, and where, under Te Puni and Wharepouri, they were
+found by Colonel Wakefield and his fellow-pioneers of the New Zealand
+Company when they came to the spot in 1839.
+
+But, though the civil war had thus ended in a manner satisfactory to
+himself and to his friends, Te Rauparaha was stung to the quick by the
+knowledge that his authority had been so completely set at defiance by
+Ngati-Awa. And this feeling of irritation was further intensified by
+the fact that some of his own tribe had shown him so little regard as
+to aid and abet them in their rebellion. Their disloyal conduct so
+preyed upon his mind that, as the result of much serious reflection,
+he determined to absolve himself from all further responsibility on
+their behalf, by abandoning the business of conquest and returning
+with Te Heuheu to Maungatautari, where he proposed to live for the
+remainder of his days the quiet and restful life, to which waning
+years look forward as their heritage. To this end he collected a
+number of his most trusty followers, and, shaking the dust of Kapiti
+from his feet, had travelled as far as Ohau in the execution of his
+petulant decision, when he was overtaken by representatives of all the
+tribes, who begged him to return and once more become a father to
+them. In these entreaties the suppliants were joined by Te Heuheu,
+whose advocacy broke down the chief's resolution. He at length agreed,
+amidst general rejoicing, to retrace his steps, and none rejoiced more
+sincerely than the repentant Ngati-Awa.
+
+Between the date of the battle of Pakakutu and the arrival of the ship
+_Tory_, Te Rauparaha does not appear to have been engaged in any
+conflict of great importance in the North Island, the years being
+spent in visiting the various settlements which had been established
+under his guiding genius. These journeys frequently led him across
+Cook Strait to the Middle Island, where, at Cloudy Bay, there was now
+a considerable colony of his own and the Ngati-Awa people, who were
+actively cultivating the friendship of the whalers.[133] These visits
+also more than once led him into sharp conflict with his old enemies,
+the Ngai-Tahu, who were ever vigilantly watching for the favourable
+moment to repay their defeat at Kaiapoi. Once they met him on the
+fringe of Port Underwood, at a spot still called Fighting Bay, where
+they claim to have defeated him with considerable slaughter. From this
+engagement, in which his small force was neatly ambushed, the great
+chief only escaped by diving into the sea and hiding amongst the
+floating kelp, until he was picked up by one of his canoes, and,
+availing himself of a heavy mist which suddenly enveloped the scene of
+strife, fled, leaving his allies, the Ngati-Awa, to continue the
+unequal struggle. After the fight, the bones of the slain were left to
+bleach on the beach, where they were repeatedly seen by the first
+settlers at the port.[134]
+
+This success did not induce the Ngai-Tahu to pursue the retreating
+enemy across the Strait; but, elated in spirit, they returned to the
+south for the purpose of fitting out an expedition on a much more
+extensive scale, with which they hoped to inflict a crushing blow on
+their hated enemy. These operations were superintended by Taiaroa, who
+in a few months had gathered together a flotilla of canoes and boats
+sufficient to transport some four hundred men. These he commanded in
+person, and with them proceeded by slow stages to the neighbourhood of
+Cloudy Bay. Hearing that Te Rauparaha was at Queen Charlotte Sound,
+the southern warriors steered their fleet for Tory Channel,[135] but
+failed to encounter the enemy until they had reached Waitohi, near the
+head of the Sound. Here they met, and immediately attacked a large
+party of Te Rauparaha's followers, who were under the personal
+direction of their chief. The ground upon which the battle took place
+was broken and wooded, and it was difficult to bring the whole of the
+respective forces advantageously into action at once; and therefore
+the combat resolved itself into a series of skirmishes, rather than a
+pitched and decisive battle. At the end of the first day Te Rauparaha
+shifted his position, a fact which has encouraged the Ngai-Tahu people
+to claim the credit of a victory. But Ngati-Toa did not retire from
+the field altogether; and for several days hostilities continued to be
+carried on in a succession of duels between the champions of the
+opposing tribes, in which the battle honours were fairly evenly
+divided between them. In these contests Te Rauparaha is said to have
+warned his men against risking defeat by coming too confidently into
+close quarters with the enemy. Numerous incidents during the siege of
+Kaiapoi had served to impress him with Ngai-Tahu's prowess in this
+class of warfare, and any recklessness on the part of his warriors
+might therefore easily lose him a valuable life. Thus, when a
+Ngati-Toa and a Ngai-Tahu were struggling upon the hill-side in full
+view of both forces, and victory ultimately rested with the southern
+warrior, Te Rauparaha exclaimed to those about him, "_I kiia atu ano_"
+(I told you it would be so). But though an occasional success of this
+kind attended the southern arms, nothing of a decisive nature was
+accomplished by Taiaroa on this raid. Scarcity of provisions shortly
+afterwards compelled him to withdraw to the south; and before he had
+time or inclination to devise fresh reprisals, events of an external
+nature had so operated upon the Maori mind as to make any further
+conflict between the Ngati-Toa and Ngai-Tahu tribes undesirable if not
+impossible.
+
+It is now fitting to remember that, while these events had been
+proceeding along the eastern coast of the Middle Island, the process
+of subduing the southern tribes had not been neglected on its western
+shore. Out of the extreme confidence which pervaded the Ngati-Toa mind
+upon the return of Te Pehi from England, a wider field of conquest was
+sought than appeared to be provided by the plains of Canterbury. In
+obedience to these aspirations, an important division of their forces
+was sent across the Strait for the purpose of forcibly establishing
+themselves in the bays of the Nelson coast. _Hapus_ of the Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Awa united in this expedition, which was attended with
+unqualified success. They immediately moved to attack the Ngati-Apa
+settlements in Blind and Massacre Bays, from out of which they drove
+the inhabitants with ruthless severity, and immediately assumed
+possession of the soil. Those who had fought under Te Koihua and Te
+Puoho, the Ngati-Awa leaders, built _pas_ and remained in permanent
+occupation of the conquered country;[136] but Niho, a son of Te Pehi,
+and Takerei took their Ngati-Tama, and perhaps a few of their
+Ngati-Rarua, warriors across the wild and almost trackless mountains
+which intervene between Blind Bay and the west coast. From the Buller
+district they worked their way southward, killing and taking prisoners
+almost the entire population as they went, until they reached the
+Hokitika River, where resistance ceased and the need for further
+aggression disappeared.
+
+Niho and Takerei settled at Mawhera, on the banks of the Grey River,
+the centre of that romantic region, the greenstone country, which for
+centuries had been the Eldorado of Maori dreams.[137] At various other
+points, both to the northward and southward of Mawhera, the
+northerners established themselves in permanent _pas_, to the
+total exclusion of the weaker tribes, who had formerly controlled the
+barter of the precious nephrite. From these points of colonisation the
+restless spirit of the invaders was ever carrying them further
+southward and eastward in search of excitement and adventure. No
+systematic occupation of the land appears to have been attempted
+southward of Hokitika; but stray bands of marauders were frequently
+setting off on predatory expeditions into the pathless mountain-waste
+of western Otago, which then sheltered the shadowy remnant of the
+Ngati-Mamoe race. Further and further these adventurers penetrated
+into the deep glens, rugged passes, and dark forests, until they knew
+the geographical secrets of the interior almost as intimately as did
+its former conquerors.[138]
+
+In the absence of written records, many of these militant journeys
+have necessarily been effaced from memory, and no tradition has been
+left to commemorate those whose valiant spirit led them into the wilds
+of a hostile country, from which only a lion-hearted courage could
+bring them safely back. Of one such venture, however, undertaken about
+the year 1836, for the purpose of attacking Tu-Hawaiki on his island
+fortress at Ruapuke, the story has been preserved; and, because of its
+ambitious conception and dramatic ending, it is worthy of being
+narrated here as it has been told in the tribal traditions. The chief
+concerned in leading the adventure was Te Puoho, who came originally
+from the country south of the Mokau River, in Taranaki, to assist Te
+Rauparaha in his policy of conquest. He was at this time the head
+chief of the Ngati-Tama tribe, who were closely allied to Ngati-Awa,
+and whom the fortune of war had now settled round the great bays on
+the Nelson coast. Hearing that the inhabitants away to the south were
+"a soft people," Te Puoho conceived the idea of raiding their country,
+and, in addition to matching himself against Tu-Hawaiki, securing a
+large number of slaves,[139] whom he intended to use as beasts of
+burden. To this end he first completed a strong stockade, in which he
+intended to herd his captives, and then he set off with a fighting
+force of some seventy men, and a small number of women, to pierce his
+way through the dense forest and dangerous passes of the overland
+route. Arrived at the Grey River, where Niho and his people were
+settled, he expected to be largely reinforced from amongst his former
+friends; but, to his consternation, he found that his old comrade,
+Niho, was distinctly hostile, and most of his people coldly
+indifferent. A number of his own followers, finding that the purpose
+of the expedition was not approved by Niho, declined to proceed
+further in the enterprise and returned to Cook Strait. But at length
+Te Puoho, nothing daunted, succeeded in persuading a section of the
+Ngati-Wairangi to reverse their decision not to accompany him, and
+then with about a hundred followers he commenced his march southward.
+
+His first route took him over the sinuous tracks which hugged the
+coast line until they reached Jackson's Head, a distance of many
+hundred miles from the point of departure. Few particulars of this
+stage of the journey have been preserved: but it is known that they
+returned northward as far as the Haast River,[140] where they
+deflected their course to the eastward, and proceeded inland by way of
+the Haast Pass. At Lake Hawea they met a Ngai-Tahu eeling party, from
+whom they ascertained that the chief with his two wives had gone to
+Lake Wanaka. On the pretence of guiding two of Te Puoho's men thither,
+the chief's son, Te Raki, succeeded in getting them deeply entangled
+in the bush; and then, abandoning them to their own resources, he
+slipped away to his father's camp and advised him of what had
+occurred. Arming themselves, they went in search of the two men, who
+were now wandering aimlessly about, and, finding them floundering in
+the forest, they soon succeeded in killing them. When it dawned upon
+him that he had been duped, Te Puoho exacted _utu_ from amongst the
+other members of the eeling party, and pushed on further into the
+interior. They navigated the upper waters of the Molyneaux on
+_mokihis_, and made their way down the valley of the Mataura through
+the country of Wakatipu. In view of his previous achievements in that
+direction, no one would have been surprised had Te Rauparaha or his
+people attempted an invasion of these far southern districts by sea;
+but no one ever dreamed of a blow being struck at them by an inland
+route. Consequently, when this war party marched down the valley of
+the Mataura, the inhabitants were wholly off their guard, and fell an
+easy prey to the invaders. An eeling party was captured at Whakaea,
+and their store of food proved exceedingly welcome to the hungry
+wanderers, whose only provender up to this time had been wild cabbage,
+the root of the _ti_ palm, and a few _wekas_. These wanderings had now
+occupied the northern men nearly two years, during which many of them
+had died of cold and hunger. But, though a "dwindled and enfeebled
+band," they were still strong enough to secure another party of
+Ngai-Tahu, whom they found camped in the midst of a clump of _korokiu_
+trees, which then grew upon the Waimea Plain. Te Puoho believed that
+he had secured the whole of the party, but in this he was mistaken.
+Some few escaped, and, hastening off to the Tuturau _pa_, warned the
+people there of the approaching danger, the fugitives making their way
+to the Awarua whaling station. Te Puoho and his party immediately
+proceeded to occupy the abandoned _pa_, in the hope that a prolonged
+rest would recruit their exhausted powers; and, innocent of the fact
+that retributive justice was at hand, they settled down to leisurely
+enjoy the recuperative process.
+
+From Awarua news of the raid was dispatched to the island of Ruapuke,
+where Tu-Hawaiki and his men were. Memory of the event is still well
+preserved on the island, as the last occasion on which oblation was
+offered to the god of battle. In accordance with ancient Maori custom,
+this ceremony took place in an immense cavern, which opens to the sea
+beach beneath the island fortress. It may still be seen, a dark abyss;
+and, although geological periods must have elapsed since it was
+instinct with the life of mighty waters, the echo-swish still sounds
+and resounds, as if acting and reacting the story of its birth. Shut
+up amidst these ghostly sights and sounds, the tribal _tohunga_ spent
+the night in severe exorcisms. Outside in the open was heard the clash
+of arms, plaintive wails and lamentations of the _tangi_ for the dead.
+At dawn of day the prescribed spells to weaken the enemy were cast and
+the invocation to the spear was spoken. The followers of Tu-Hawaiki
+then sailed for the mainland and effected a landing at what is now
+known as Fortrose. Concealing themselves during the day, they marched
+under cover of night, reaching Tuturau early on the morning of the
+third day. Being unapprehensive of danger, the inmates of the _pa_
+were in their turn caught napping, and the recapture was effected as
+smartly as had been the original capture. As the attacking force crept
+cautiously within gunshot, Te Puoho was observed sleeping on the
+verandah of one of the houses. A slight noise fell upon his quick ear
+and startled him. He sprang to his feet; instantly the report of a gun
+rang out, and he fell a lifeless heap upon his bed. Some thirty in all
+were killed. The rest, with one exception,[141] were taken prisoners,
+and confined on Ruapuke Island, whence they were afterwards smuggled
+away by a pakeha-maori boatman named McDonald, who, under an
+arrangement with the Ngati-Toa tribe, landed them safely back at
+Kapiti.
+
+The Haast River raid, as the exploit of Te Puoho is known in Maori
+history, becomes interesting not only because it was on this occasion
+that the followers of Te Rauparaha reached the most southerly limit of
+their aggressions upon Ngai-Tahu, but because it affords another
+evidence, if such were needed, of the extremes to which the Maori was
+ever ready to go in order to get even with an enemy. Primarily, the
+raid was designed as a stroke of retaliation upon Tu-Hawaiki, whom
+they hoped to surprise by pouncing upon him from a new and unexpected
+quarter. To effect this, a long and dangerous journey had to be
+braved; they had to penetrate into a region in which Nature seemed to
+have determined to impose in the path of human progress her most
+forbidding barriers. Not only had this band of half-clad savages to
+cross what the late Sir Julius Von Haast has described as "one of the
+most rugged pieces of New Zealand ground which, during my long
+wanderings, I have ever passed," but they had to contend with
+snowfields lying deep in the Southern Alps, the swollen torrent, the
+pathless forest, and the foodless plains. Not even the roar of the
+avalanche as it swept down the mountain-side, the impassible precipice
+as it loomed dark across their path, nor the severity of the climate,
+with its oscillations from arctic cold to tropical heat, was
+sufficient to chill their ardour for revenge. So for two years they
+wandered amidst some of the grandest and gloomiest surroundings, at
+times suffering bitterly from cold and hunger. In the stress of these
+privations the weaker ones died; but the survivors were sustained by
+the enthusiasm of their leader, who directed their course ever to the
+southward, where they hoped some day to meet and vanquish their hated
+rival. Of the fate which overtook them, history has told; and, though
+future generations may be reluctant to endorse the purpose of their
+mission, they will not refuse to credit them with a certain spirit of
+heroism in daring and enduring what they did to accomplish their end.
+
+The peace which had been dramatically concluded at Kapiti by Te Heuheu
+breaking the _taiaha_ across his knee, and which closed what is
+known as the Hao-whenua war, was sacredly observed by all the tribes
+for some years; and this respite from anxiety afforded Te Rauparaha
+freedom of opportunity to pursue his grudge against the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples. The humiliated remnant of the Muaupoko tribe had by
+this time sought and obtained the protection of Te Whatanui, who had
+promised them, in his now historic words, quoted many years afterwards
+by Major Kemp, that so long as they remained his dutiful subjects he
+would shield them from the wrath of Te Rauparaha: "I will be the
+rata-tree that will shelter all of you. All that you will see will be
+the stars that are shining in the sky above us; all that will descend
+upon you will be the raindrops that fall from heaven." Although
+slavery was the price they had to pay for the privilege of breathing
+their native air, it at least secured them the right to live, though
+it did not secure them absolute immunity from attack. More than once
+Te Whatanui had to protest against the inhumanity of Ngati-Toa towards
+those whom he had elected to save from utter destruction; and these
+distressing persecutions did not cease until the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+told Te Rauparaha, in unmistakable language, emphasised by
+unmistakable gestures, that, before another hair of a Muaupoko head
+was touched, he and his followers would first have to pass over his
+(Te Whatanui's) dead body. Unwilling to create a breach of friendship
+with so powerful an ally as Te Whatanui, Te Rauparaha ceased openly to
+assail the helpless Muaupoko, though still continuing to harass them
+in secret. He plotted with Te Puoho to trap the Rangitane, and with Wi
+Tako to ensnare the Muaupoko: the scheme being to invite them to a
+great feast at Waikanae, to partake of some new food[142] which the
+_pakeha_ had brought to Kapiti. So far as the Rangitane were
+concerned, the invitation was prefaced by an exchange of civilities in
+the shape of presents between Mahuri and Te Puoho; and when it was
+thought that their confidence had been secured, the vanity of the
+Rangitane was still further flattered by an invitation to the feast. A
+considerable number of them at once set out for Waikanae; but, when
+they arrived at Horowhenua, Te Whatanui used his utmost endeavours to
+dissuade Mahuri, their chief, from proceeding further. Knowing Te
+Rauparaha as he did, he felt convinced that he could not so soon
+forget his hatred for those who had sought to take his life at
+Papaitonga: and, while he would have had no compunction about killing
+in open war every man and woman of the tribes he was protecting, his
+generous soul revolted against the treachery and slaughter which he
+feared lay concealed beneath the present invitation. His counsel was
+therefore against going to Waikanae; but the impetuous young Mahuri
+saw no reason for alarm, and, heedless of the advice of Te Whatanui,
+he led his people to their destruction.
+
+On their arrival, the hospitality of Te Puoho was of the most
+bountiful nature. The visitors were shown to their houses, and no
+effort was spared to allay any suspicion of treachery. But one night,
+as they sat around their fires, the appointed signal was given, and
+the guests were set upon by a force superior in numbers by two to one,
+and, to use the words of a native[143] who knew the story well, "they
+were killed like pigs," only one man escaping from the massacre. This
+was Te Aweawe, whose life was spared at the instigation of Tungia, in
+return for a similar act of humanity which the Rangitane chief had
+been able to perform for him some time before. In justice to Te
+Rauparaha, it should be stated that this massacre was not entirely
+prompted by his old grudge against the Rangitane people, but partly
+arose out of a new cause of grievance against them, which serves to
+illustrate the complexity of Maori morality and the smallness of the
+pretence upon which they deemed a sacrifice of life both justifiable
+and necessary. The offence of which the Rangitane people had been
+adjudged guilty enough to deserve so terrible a punishment was the
+fact that they were somewhat distantly related to the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe, resident in the Wairarapa. These people had some time
+previously killed a number of Ngati-Toa natives, whom they believed to
+be plotting their destruction; for, while they were discussing their
+plans in one of the _whares_, a Ngati-Kahungunu, who was sleeping with
+at least one ear open, overheard their conversation, and at once gave
+the alarm, with the result that the tables were turned on the scheming
+Ngati-Toa. Their deaths, however, had to be avenged; and it is easy to
+understand how gladly Te Rauparaha would avail himself of this new
+excuse for wiping out old scores.
+
+The morning after the massacre, Tungia took Te Aweawe outside the
+Waikanae _pa_, and, placing a weapon in his hand, said, "Go! come
+back again and kill these people." The released chief at once made his
+way back as best he could to the Manawatu, where he found most of the
+settlements deserted by the terror-stricken inhabitants, in
+consequence of the appalling news which had just reached them of the
+death of their friends. He, however, succeeded in collecting about
+thirty warriors, and with these he travelled down the coast, receiving
+additions by the way from a few stragglers belonging to his own and
+the Muaupoko tribes. When they reached Waikanae, they found the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa peoples busily engaged in gathering flax to
+trade away for guns and powder and little suspecting an attack. They
+had beguiled themselves into the false belief that the shattered
+Rangitane would not be able to collect in so short a time a force
+sufficiently strong to harm them. When, therefore, Te Aweawe, at the
+head of his brave little band, burst in upon them, dealing death at
+every blow, they, in their turn, were at all the disadvantage of being
+taken completely by surprise. Upwards of sixty of the followers of Te
+Rauparaha were killed, amongst them a chieftainess named
+Muri-whakaroto, who fell into the hands of the enraged Te Aweawe, and
+was despatched without the slightest compunction. Matea, the Rangitane
+chief second in command, was more chivalrous to Tainai Rangi, for he
+spared her and brought her back, a prisoner certainly, but still
+alive. Such of the flax-gathering party as were not slain made good
+their escape down the coast; and the avengers of Mahuri, fearing that
+they might soon return with a large and active war party, beat a hasty
+retreat, well satisfied with the result of their mission of
+revenge--the last great act of slaughter perpetrated by the resident
+people as a protest against the conquest of their country.
+
+Any policy of retaliation which Te Rauparaha and the chiefs who were
+co-operating with him may have contemplated, as a step towards
+restoring the equilibrium of tribal honour, had to be indefinitely
+delayed, owing to the rapidity with which events developed in another
+direction; and that delay robbed them of future opportunity. The death
+of Waitohi, Te Rauparaha's sister, and mother of Rangihaeata, had just
+occurred at Mana, where she had been living with her son. The demise
+of so high-born a woman necessarily demanded a _tangi_ on an
+unusually elaborate and extensive scale, and the whole of the tribes
+who had been associated with Te Rauparaha in his scheme of conquest
+assembled on the island to attend the obsequies of the honoured dead.
+Levies of provisions were made upon all the tributary tribes on both
+sides of the Straits, and for several weeks the peculiar rites of a
+Maori funeral were continued without intermission.
+
+It is said that, for no other purpose than to appear opulent in the
+eyes of his guests, Te Rauparaha ordered the killing and cooking of
+one of the poor slaves who had come from the Pelorus with his people's
+tribute to the feast. Be this as it may--and it is by no means
+improbable under the circumstances--the strange admixture of funeral
+and festival, which marks the Maori _tangi_, was observed at Mana
+in all its completeness and elaboration. But the death of Waitohi
+brought in its train something more than a great _tangi_; for
+indirectly it was the cause of the renewal of hostilities between
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Raukawa, culminating in the engagement known in
+Maori history as Kuititanga, which was fought on October 16, 1839. It
+is not clear why or in what way the old sore between these comrades in
+arms was re-opened, but the weight of testimony inclines towards the
+assumption that Te Rauparaha's irrepressible passion for intrigue was
+the moving impulse in urging Ngati-Raukawa to take the step they did.
+Whether he had grown jealous of Ngati-Awa's increasing numbers and
+power, or whether, having achieved all he could hope to accomplish, he
+wished to shake himself free from any further obligation to them,
+cannot of course be asserted with any confidence. Ngati-Raukawa were
+nothing loath to join in any conspiracy against Ngati-Awa. Living, as
+they did, north of Kapiti, they began to find themselves somewhat out
+of touch with the whalers; and probably it was the rapid extension of
+trade, enabling Ngati-Awa to procure guns as readily as Rauparaha
+himself, that induced him to instigate Ngati-Raukawa to break the
+truce which had existed since the battle of Pakakutu. No breach of the
+peace actually occurred at Mana, but bickerings and threats foretold
+the coming storm; and when Ngati-Awa returned to their _pas_ on
+the mainland, it was with the full consciousness that the attack would
+not be long delayed. The Ngati-Raukawa mourners remained at Mana for
+some time after Ngati-Awa had left, and it would have caused the
+latter no surprise had Ngati-Raukawa made an attack upon them--as
+indeed they invited it--as they passed Waikanae on their way to Otaki.
+This Ngati-Raukawa did not do, but went on with every semblance of
+peace, even ignoring the shots of defiance which were fired by
+Ngati-Awa as they passed. Towards evening, however, they altered their
+tactics, and, doubling back, surrounded the Kuititanga _pa_ during the
+night, in preparation for the attack at daybreak. A reconnoitring
+party was sent out to investigate the state of the defences, one of
+whom was indiscreet enough to enter a house, and, rousing a boy by his
+intrusion, attempted to cover his blunder by asking him for a light
+for his pipe. The boy sharply recognised his visitor as a
+Ngati-Raukawa; and knowing that no friendly native would be prowling
+about at that unseemly hour, sprang for his gun, and fired point-blank
+at the intruder. The echo of the shot rang through the clear morning
+air, and was the signal for a general movement on both sides. The
+women and children made a hurried flight to the neighbouring
+settlements, from which Ngati-Awa reinforcements swarmed up to the
+assistance of their beleaguered tribesmen; and by daylight the full
+strength of both forces--variously estimated at between eight hundred
+and a thousand men--was actively engaged. The _pa_, which bore the
+brunt of the first assault, stood close to the seashore on a narrow
+tongue of sand, between the Waikanae and Waimea Rivers.[144] At the
+inception of the attack it was defended by a slender company of thirty
+men, who offered so stubborn a defence that the assailants were held
+in check until assistance arrived. A strong company of Ngati-Awa
+crossed the Waikanae, and, catching Ngati-Raukawa between two fires at
+this point, caused them to deploy and so open an avenue, by which the
+supports reached the _pa_. Trenches were now hurriedly dug in the
+loose soil, which, together with the protection offered by the
+stockade, afforded them a friendly shelter from the fire of the enemy.
+In this respect they were more fortunate than the aggressors, who,
+fighting in the open, suffered a greater number of casualties,
+including several of their principal chiefs.
+
+Te Rauparaha took no part in the battle; but that he anticipated its
+occurrence is proved by the fact that he landed from his canoe shortly
+after it commenced. And when, at the close of an hour's desperate
+fighting, Ngati-Raukawa, who had his silent sympathy, if not his
+active help, began to waver under their heavy losses, he thought it
+prudent to get beyond the danger zone, and, plunging into the surf,
+swam towards his canoe. Ngati-Awa, who knew that he was inside the
+enemy's lines, saw the movement, and made a spirited effort to
+frustrate it, in the hope of capturing the man to whose subtle
+intrigues they attributed all their misfortunes. An equally vigorous
+rally on the part of Ngati-Raukawa intercepted their rush, and saved
+the chief, though at heavy cost to themselves. With Te Rauparaha safe
+amongst the whalers, who were watching the conflict from their boats,
+Ngati-Raukawa began rapidly to fall back; and, after maintaining a
+slackened fire, retired from the field altogether, taking their
+wounded with them, but leaving to Ngati-Awa the victor's privilege of
+burying the dead. Sixty of the Ngati-Raukawa had fallen, but only
+sixteen of the defenders. There were, however, many wounded in both
+camps. These were attended to by the medical men on board the
+_Tory_, which arrived at Kapiti on the day that the battle was
+fought; and, as Dr. Dieffenbach has left a graphic account of what he
+saw, no better authority can be here quoted:--
+
+ "All the people of the village were assembled; and, though grief was
+ expressed in every face, they received us with the greatest kindness
+ and attention, and we were obliged to shake hands with everybody.
+ They regarded us as friends and allies, for we had brought with us
+ from Te-Awaiti some of their relations; and when they saw the medical
+ men of our party giving assistance to the wounded, their confidence
+ and gratitude were unbounded. Some of the women gave themselves up to
+ violent expressions of grief, cutting their faces, arms, and legs
+ with broken mussel-shells, and inflicting deep gashes, from which the
+ blood flowed profusely. We had brought with us E Patu, the son of a
+ chief in East Bay, whose uncle had been killed in the battle. We
+ found the widow standing on the roof of a hut, deploring in a low
+ strain the loss of her husband. When E Patu approached she threw
+ herself upon the ground, and, lying at his feet, related to him, in a
+ funeral song, how great had been their happiness, how flourishing
+ were their plantations, until the Ngati-Raukawa had destroyed their
+ peace and bereft her of her husband. During this time E Patu stood
+ before her, convulsively throwing his arms backwards and forwards,
+ and joining in her lamentations. An old woman, bent down under the
+ burden of many years, had her arms and face frightfully cut; she was
+ painted with red _kokowai_, with a wreath of leaves round her
+ head, and gesticulated and sang in a similar manner. In this place
+ there were no wounded; they had been carried to the principal and
+ most fortified _pa_, which lies a little to the northward. This
+ latter village was very large; it stood on a sand-hill, and was well
+ fenced in, and the houses were neatly constructed. Everything was
+ kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many
+ villages in Europe. The population seemed to be numerous, and I
+ estimated it, together with that of the first-mentioned village, and
+ a third, about a mile higher up, to amount, on the whole, to seven
+ hundred souls. Several native missionaries, some of them liberated
+ Ngati-Awa slaves, live here; and the natives had built a large house,
+ neatly lined with a firm and tall reed, for their church and
+ meeting-house. At the time of our visit they were expecting the
+ arrival of a missionary of the Church of England from the Bay of
+ Islands, who purposed living amongst them. The medical aid which they
+ had given to their wounded was confined to binding the broken limbs
+ with splints made of the bark of a pine, or of the strongest part of
+ the flax-leaves, and carefully protecting the wounds from external
+ injury by means of hoops. Some of these bandages had been very well
+ applied. I went to the beach on the following day to attend my
+ wounded patients and to visit the scene of battle. This was at the
+ third village, and many traces of the strife were visible: trenches
+ were dug in the sand of the beach, the fences of the village had been
+ thrown down, and the houses were devastated. The Ngati-Awa buried
+ their own dead; and the improved state of this tribe was shown by the
+ fact that, instead of feasting on the dead bodies of their enemies,
+ they buried them, depositing them in one common grave, together with
+ their muskets, powder, mats, &c., a generosity and good feeling as
+ unusual as it was honourable to their character. The grave of their
+ enemies they enclosed, and made it _tapu_ (sacred)."
+
+While this internecine strife raged up and down the coast, its
+disturbing influence had almost completely suspended the systematic
+settlement of the land by Europeans. There were many in Australia who,
+but for the peril of life and uncertainty of title, would long before
+this have swarmed over to New Zealand and occupied its shores. Only
+the most wanton and the more adventurous had come, and of these latter
+a few had been invited by the chiefs to remain, land being given to
+them on which to reside and establish themselves as traders. In
+isolated instances attempts had been made, chiefly by some subterfuge,
+to acquire from the natives large tracts of country for a nominal
+consideration; but these examples of dishonesty almost invariably
+brought their own punishment. One of the most unscrupulous of such
+perfidious transactions was that of Captain Blenkinsopp. He had sailed
+these seas in command of the whaler _Caroline_, and had made more
+than one trip to Cloudy Bay. There he became infatuated with a Maori
+woman of the Ngati-Toa tribe. His alliance with her gave him influence
+with Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who, about the year 1834, entered
+into a bargain with him, the spirit of which was that for the right to
+procure wood and water for his ship while at Cloudy Bay, the captain
+was to present the tribe with a ship's cannon,[145] which he had then
+with him at Kapiti. The conditions of this bargain were reduced to
+writing by Blenkinsopp, but not the bargain Te Rauparaha had counted
+upon. For wood and water, Ocean Bay and the magnificent Wairau Plain
+were substituted in the deed; and Rauparaha, with that reckless
+disregard for the value of his signature which he exhibited at all
+times when fire-arms were concerned, had signed it with the lines of
+his _moko_.
+
+The Wairau Plain is the floor of the valley through which the Wairau
+River runs. Terminating on the shores of Cloudy Bay, it recedes in
+ever-increasing elevation and diminishing breadth back for many miles,
+until it vanishes in the gorge at the foot of the Spencer Range.
+Covering an area of 65,000 acres, it comprises some of the richest
+agricultural and pastoral land in the Middle Island, and was at this
+time treasured by Rauparaha as one of his principal food-producing
+centres. Eager as he was to procure weapons with which to slaughter
+his enemies, he was equally sensible of the value of this valley; and
+it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he would have parted with so
+rich an estate for a single piece of rusty artillery, subject to the
+additional disadvantage of the difficulty involved in its transport.
+Knowing that he was, for such purposes, ignorant of the English
+language, Blenkinsopp, with a touch of irony, presented Te Rauparaha
+with a copy of the deed, and told him to show it to any captain of a
+man-o'-war who might visit Kapiti. Te Rauparaha did not wait for a
+naval officer, but gave the document to a whaler protege of his, named
+Hawes, then living at his island fortress. Hawes explained to
+Rauparaha that by the deed he had parted with all his land at the
+Wairau: whereupon the chief, in a fit of anger, tore up the paper,
+threw the fragments into the fire, and declared that, so far as he was
+concerned, the contract was at an end. Not so with Blenkinsopp. He
+sailed to Sydney, and there proceeded to raise a substantial sum of
+money upon the security of his deed from a solicitor named Unwin, then
+practising in that city. For reasons which need not be discussed here,
+Mr. Unwin eventually claimed the valley as his own; and his attempt to
+occupy the district, its disastrous failure, culminating in the
+massacre at the Wairau Bar, in 1840, of his manager and all his men,
+are now matters of history, affording another instance of how the just
+sometimes suffer for the unjust. Nor were the deception of Mr. Unwin
+and the death of Mr. Wilton and his fellow employees the full measure
+of the toll exacted as the result of Blenkinsopp's perfidy. When
+Colonel Wakefield met at Hokianga the native woman who had formerly
+been Captain Blenkinsopp's wife, and was now his widow, she showed him
+a document which purported to be the original deed to which her late
+husband had secured Te Rauparaha's signature. As a matter of fact, the
+document was no more than a copy which had been left amongst the
+captain's papers, but, believing it to be genuine, Wakefield purchased
+it for £300;[146] and it was largely on this spurious foundation that
+his brother, Captain Wakefield, subsequently, and with such fatal
+results, sought to build up the New Zealand Company's claim to the
+Wairau. This transaction, in which Captain Blenkinsopp was so
+scandalously concerned, was but typical of many another, by which the
+credulity of the natives was cunningly exploited. Their influence had,
+however, been so far comparatively harmless, and the measure of injury
+they had inflicted had told more heavily upon the unscrupulous
+speculators than upon the natives.
+
+But now Te Rauparaha, and those tribes with whom he was associated,
+were about to be brought into contact, and to some extent into
+conflict, with a more persistent earth-hunger, and more powerful
+land-buyers, than any which had yet operated upon the coasts of New
+Zealand. The spirit of colonisation was abroad in England, and the
+restless genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield[147] was busy coining
+schemes whereby the spirit of the hour might be embodied in action.
+Canada and South Australia had each attracted his attention; and now
+his eyes were turned to New Zealand as a field suitable for the
+planting of his quasi-philanthropic projects. His writings upon the
+subject of colonisation had drawn within the circle of his influence a
+galaxy of men, whose liberal education, lofty ideals, and generous
+impulses had earned for them the title of "philosophic radicals," and
+with these men, who stood for the most advanced development of English
+political aspiration, as its sponsors, the New Zealand Company was
+founded in 1839. With the story of this Company's early political
+troubles we are not concerned, for they bear only slightly on
+subsequent events in New Zealand. But the central fact with which we
+are concerned is that the Company was established for the purpose of
+acquiring land from the natives and transporting emigrants from
+England to settle thereon. To this end, the expeditionary ship
+_Tory_ was hurriedly despatched from the Thames, and arrived
+safely in New Zealand waters, bringing with her Colonel Wakefield,
+brother of the founder of the Company, with a staff of officers
+charged with the duty of conducting the negotiations for the purchase
+of land and arranging other preliminaries--which appeared to be
+regarded in the light of mere formalities--incidental to the
+introduction of a great colonising scheme. In furtherance of her
+mission, the _Tory_ paid a brief visit to Queen Charlotte Sound
+and Port Nicholson, and reached Kapiti on October 16, 1839, the day on
+which Ngati-Raukawa had been routed by Ngati-Awa at the fight of
+Kuititanga.
+
+The first tidings of this engagement was brought to the officers of
+the _Tory_ by a canoe-crew of natives who had just left the scene
+of strife; and although the sea was high, a boat's company had been
+organised, and was on the point of starting for the battlefield, when
+a message came from Te Rauparaha, who had returned to Evans' Island,
+that he wished them to pay him the honour of a visit. Accordingly, the
+course of the boat was deflected to the island, and there the chiefs
+of the two races met for the first time. Te Rauparaha was sitting upon
+the ground beside his wife, a woman who has been described as being of
+the "Meg Merrilies" type. He was deeply smeared with red ochre, and
+evidently in an uneasy frame of mind. His manner was restless, his
+glance furtive, and he was obviously depressed at the result of the
+battle. As Colonel Wakefield and his party approached, Te Rauparaha
+rose and hastened to exchange with them the missionary greeting,
+shaking them by the hand. With equal alacrity he sought to convince
+them that he had been in no way concerned in promoting the fight. In
+these protestations it cannot be said that he was in the least
+successful, for the Englishmen had already been prejudiced against him
+by the tales of his duplicity told them by both whalers and Ngati-Awas
+at Cloudy Bay; whilst his wandering, distrustful glances, as he spoke,
+were not calculated to inspire confidence. Though, on the whole, his
+conduct was unsatisfactory, the interview was occasionally illumined
+by flashes of his imperious nature, the inborn power to lead and
+command momentarily asserting itself, only to be again clouded by a
+mean cringing, which seemed to bespeak a craven spirit.
+
+Being assured that there were no hostile natives harbouring on board
+the _Tory_, Te Rauparaha left Evans' Island for Kapiti, promising
+to visit the ship on the following morning. Next day he was received
+by Colonel Wakefield with a salute of guns, which filled him with
+alarm, until it had been made clear that the demonstration was
+intended as a great compliment to him and those chiefs who were with
+him. The preliminaries of the reception being over, the question of
+the land purchase was introduced to the chiefs; but Colonel Wakefield
+discovered them to be distinctly hostile to his proposals, an
+opposition which he attributed to the influence of Mr. Wynen, the
+agent for a Sydney land syndicate, whose headquarters were then at
+Cloudy Bay. The energies of this gentleman had been insidiously
+applied to prejudice the native mind against the Company's scheme of
+colonisation; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the
+Colonel was ultimately able to dissipate these prejudices, and to
+obtain their consent "to look over their land, and if he found it
+good, to take it." A gale which raged through the Strait prevented all
+communication with the shore and suspended the negotiations until the
+21st, when Colonel Wakefield made a definite proposal to purchase all
+the Ngati-Toa possessions, together with their rights and claims on
+both sides of the Strait. After he had exhibited to their wondering
+eyes a great portion of the goods--the finery and the trumpery--which
+he intended to dignify by the term "payment," his proposals were
+doubtingly accepted, Te Hiko pressing for more soap and clothing, and
+Te Rauparaha clamouring for more arms. Te Rauparaha dictated to Mr.
+Jerningham Wakefield the names of the localities involved in the sale;
+and the binding nature of the bargain was impressed upon the natives
+as clearly as the linguistic limitations of Dicky Barrett, the
+interpreter, would permit.
+
+These preliminaries settled, the following day was appointed for the
+distribution of the goods; but the ceremony was intercepted by the
+indisposition of Te Hiko, whom Colonel Wakefield regarded as an
+indispensable party to the transaction, and he refused to proceed
+without him. This refusal greatly aggravated Te Rauparaha, whose hands
+were itching to grasp the guns, which had been thrown like leaven
+amongst the heap of worthless stuff; and he railed bitterly against
+the deference paid to one whom he designated "a boy," destitute alike
+of any interest in, or knowledge of, land. "Give us the goods," said
+he, "with more powder and arms. Of what use are blankets, soap, tools,
+and iron pots, when we are going to war? What does it matter whether
+we die cold or warm, clean or dirty, hungry or full? Give us
+two-barrelled guns, plenty of muskets, lead, powder, cartridges and
+cartouche boxes." This militant appeal was coldly ignored by Colonel
+Wakefield, who steadfastly declined to consider the question of
+distribution until Hiko's return, which did not occur until two days
+later. On the 23rd, however, the chiefs again assembled, and the
+merchandise, which the Company offered as payment for the land, was
+ostentatiously displayed on the deck of the _Tory_. The
+consummation of the transaction was, however, still to be delayed.
+While Te Hiko was busy trying on one of the coats which he had
+selected from the pile of clothing, Te Rauparaha, Tungia, and several
+of the warlike chiefs made an unseemly rush to secure some of the
+fowling-pieces, which were lying on the companion hatch ready for
+distribution. This exhibition of selfishness so exasperated Te Hiko
+that he at once threw down the garment, and, calling to Rangihiroa to
+accompany him, went down over the ship's side and made for the shore
+in a fit of ill-humour, out of which he could not be cajoled until
+next day.
+
+Colonel Wakefield immediately suspended the proceedings, whereupon Te
+Rauparaha again became deeply offended at the consideration shown for
+one whom he regarded as so much his inferior; but, in spite of
+importunities and threats which sorely tried his patience, the Colonel
+refused to recede from his former attitude, and declined to take one
+step towards the sale in Hiko's absence. As Wakefield was adamant
+against all their menaces and blandishments, nothing remained but to
+return on shore for the purpose of placating Te Hiko, which they
+shortly succeeded in doing. Next day, unsolicited by Colonel
+Wakefield, both Te Hiko and Te Rauparaha came off to the ship, and,
+after entertaining themselves for some time with the novelties of the
+_pakeha_, they asked that the deed of sale might be read over to
+them, the map being at the same time consulted. After questions had
+been asked and answered, and all doubts on either side apparently
+cleared away, the fateful document was signed, Te Rauparaha making a
+mark peculiarly his own, and Te Hiko subscribing the sign of the
+cross. Each then left the vessel, possessed of a gun, promising that
+the rest of the chiefs would come on board and sign on the next day.
+This ceremony was duly performed, but only eleven signatures were
+obtained, Te Rauparaha and two minor chiefs signing as proxy for the
+natives on the opposite side of the Strait. A share of the gifts was
+reserved for Te Rangihaeata, who was at Mana, and had taken no part in
+the negotiations. On Thursday, 24th October, Colonel Wakefield was
+able to report to his Directors in London that he had acquired by his
+purchases at Port Nicholson and Kapiti, at a cost of a few guns, some
+powder, lead, and miscellaneous goods, "possessions for the Company
+extending from the 38th to the 43rd degree of latitude on the western
+coast, and from the 41st to the 43rd on the eastern." But Colonel
+Wakefield still had some reservations as to the completeness and
+validity of his purchases; for he added to his report this qualifying
+sentence: "To complete the rights of the Company to all the land
+unsold to foreigners in the above extensive district, it remains for
+me to secure the cession of their rights in it from the Ngati-Awa,
+and, in a proportionately small degree, from the Ngati-Raukawa and
+Whanganui peoples."
+
+Three days later he had an interview with the Ngati-Awa people at
+Waikanae, and they, being excited by the spirit of war and fearful of
+another attack by Ngati-Raukawa, were easily tempted by the sight of
+guns and the prospect of powder. Several of the elder chiefs addressed
+the assemblage, and urged their followers to acquiesce in the
+Colonel's proposals, conditionally upon their receiving arms and
+ammunition. To this stipulation Wakefield felt no reluctance in
+agreeing, and, for the purpose of giving it effect, a conference was
+arranged to take place on board the _Tory_. On the appointed day
+(8th November) the natives were astir bright and early; soon after
+daylight they "began to come on board, and by 12 o'clock more than two
+hundred had assembled on the deck, including all the principal chiefs
+of the Sounds." To these unsophisticated dealers in real estate was
+produced the deed, phrased in stilted terms, which purported to convey
+to the Colonel, as agent for the Company, and in trust for the
+Company, a vast area of country, over much of which the signatories
+had absolutely no authority whatever.
+
+"Know all men that we the undersigned chiefs of the Ngati-Awa tribes,
+residing in Queen Charlotte's Sound, on both sides of Cook Strait, in
+New Zealand, have this day sold and parted with, in consideration of
+having received, as full and just payment for the same, ten
+single-barrelled guns, three double-barrelled guns, sixty muskets,
+forty kegs of powder, two kegs of lead slabs, two dozen pairs of
+scissors, two dozen combs, two pounds of beads, one thousand flints,
+the land bounded on the south by the parallel of the 43rd degree of
+South latitude, and on the west, north and east by the sea (with all
+islands), and also comprising all those lands, islands, tenements,
+&c., situate on the northern shore of Cook Straits, which are bounded
+on the north-east by a direct line drawn from the southern head of the
+river or harbour of Mokau, situate on the west coast in latitude of
+about 38 degrees South, to Tikukahore, situate on the east coast in
+the latitude of about 41 degrees South, and on the east, south and
+west by the sea, excepting always the island of Kapiti, and the small
+islands adjacent thereto, and the island of Mana, but including
+Tehukahore, Wairarapa, Port Nicholson, Otaki, Manawatu, Rangitikei,
+Whanganui, Waitotara, Patea, Ngati-Ruanui, Taranaki, Moturoa, and the
+several sugar-loaf islands and the river or harbour of Mokau."
+
+The goods which were specified in the deed as the price of the land
+were carefully arranged on deck; but during the process of distribution
+a violent altercation took place, which was only quelled by a threat
+from the Colonel to send the wares below and proceed to sea, if peace
+was not immediately restored. Advantage was taken of the "momentary
+calm" thus secured to obtain the coveted signatures, and consenting
+chiefs to the number of about thirty appended their marks to the
+document. Scarcely had the distribution of the beads and bullets
+recommenced than another mêlée, even more violent, took place. "In a
+moment," says the Colonel in his report to the Company, "the most
+tumultuous scene we had ever witnessed took place, in which many blows
+were exchanged: never did a ship witness such a scene of violence
+without bloodshed." A similar, "if not more unfriendly," riot occurred
+on shore amongst those natives who had first conveyed their goods to
+land before they commenced their peculiar method of division; but it
+mattered nothing to the Company's representative how the natives
+abused their goods or each other so long as they had put their marks
+to his deed. Equally was it a matter of indifference to the Maoris how
+many deeds they signed, so long as they became possessed of arms and
+ammunition. It was sufficient for the one that he had outwitted his
+rivals, and appeared to be doing well for his employers, and for the
+other that they had satisfied the most pressing need of the moment.
+Neither looked beyond the immediate present, or took a single thought
+for the long years of mistrust and misunderstanding that were to
+follow upon their hasty and ill-considered transactions. Confident
+that he had made "a full and just payment" for the land described in
+the deed, Colonel Wakefield on 9th November went on shore and took
+possession of the estate, in the name of the Company; and, in order to
+distinguish their possessions, "which so greatly predominate in this
+extensive territory," from those of other buyers, he designated them
+North and South Durham, according to the respective islands in which
+they were situated. Having completed his purchases at Kapiti to his
+own satisfaction, Colonel Wakefield, on 18th November, sailed northward,
+intending to call in at Whanganui for the purpose of perfecting his
+purchases there, as he regarded that district as one of some
+importance. But before he left he had received a glimmering that his
+proceedings had not been perfectly understood, and the first shadow of
+doubt must have crossed his mind when Te Rauparaha calmly informed him
+that he (Te Rauparaha) wanted more guns, and, in order to get them,
+intended to make further sales, embracing territory which the Colonel
+believed he had already bought. Language of the most reproachful
+character was used towards the chief, and his speedy repudiation of a
+solemn bargain was characterised in unmeasured terms; but Te Rauparaha
+steadfastly maintained that, so far as he was concerned, the sale in
+the Middle Island had not included more than D'Urville Island and
+Blind Bay at Nelson. Subsequent investigations proved that Te
+Rauparaha was right and the Colonel was wrong; but it is doubtful
+whether, when he left for Whanganui, the latter had realised the full
+extent of his error, and therefore he parted from the chief with
+bitterness in his heart and an angry word upon his lips.
+
+While these events were in progress in New Zealand, the operations of
+the Company and its contemporary land-speculators had not passed
+unnoticed in England. The British authorities were beginning to regard
+those islands with an anxious eye, but they displayed a painful
+indecision in adopting measures to meet the political emergency which
+they were commencing to realise was inevitable. As a tentative step,
+Mr. Busby was sent from New South Wales in the capacity of British
+Resident; but his usefulness was shorn down to the point of nullity by
+the purely nominal nature of the powers with which he was endowed.
+Negative as the results of this experiment had been, it nevertheless
+encouraged the British authorities to take a still bolder step in the
+appointment of Captain Hobson, R.N., as the accredited British Consul,
+who was authorised to negotiate with the chiefs, and, if possible, to
+acquire the country by cession, preparatory to annexing it as a
+dependency of New South Wales. Even Hobson's position was extremely
+anomalous until the now famous Treaty of Waitangi had been formulated
+and successfully promulgated amongst the tribes. The ratification of
+this document by the chiefs was a severe blow to the New Zealand
+Company, while it is doubtful whether the Maoris had more than a
+nebulous idea of its real meaning. It, however, gave the British
+Government the colour of right to institute the principles of
+established authority in those islands, where it had become their
+imperative duty to control the colonisation which their indifference
+had not been able to thwart. With the policy of the Treaty of Waitangi
+we are not now concerned, beyond recording the fact that, in order to
+give effect to that policy, it became necessary to procure the
+signatures of all the principal chiefs, as acknowledging their assent
+to the solemn obligations involved in the covenant. To this end
+Archdeacon Williams came southward, and in due course reached Kapiti,
+where, on May 14, 1840, he succeeded, but by what means we are not
+told, in inducing Te Rauparaha to sign the treaty. Similarly, Major
+Bunbury, an officer of the 80th Regiment, had been despatched by
+Captain Hobson in H.M.S. _Herald_, charged with the mission of
+securing the assent of the chiefs in the Middle Island to the
+proposals of the Government. After having visited all the southern
+_pas_ of importance, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Queen
+both at Stewart Island and Cloudy Bay, he arrived at Kapiti on June
+19th, and to him we are indebted for the following account of what
+there occurred:--
+
+ "When we arrived off the island of Kapiti several canoes were leaving
+ the island, and on my preparing to go ashore, fortunately the first
+ canoe we met had on board the chief Rauparaha, whom I was anxious to
+ see. He returned on board with me in the ship's boat, his own canoe,
+ one of the most splendid I have yet seen, following. He told me the
+ Rev. Mr. Williams had been there, and had obtained his signature to
+ the treaty, and on inquiring for the chiefs Rangihaeata and Te Hiko,
+ I was informed that we should meet them both, probably at the island
+ of Mana, and, as this lay on our route to Port Nicholson, thither we
+ proceeded, the chief Rauparaha remaining on board the _Herald_,
+ his canoes following. On our arrival, the _Herald_ having
+ anchored, I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Williams and Rauparaha.
+ We learnt that Hiko, son of the late chief Te Pehi, had gone out on a
+ distant expedition. The other chief, Rangihaeata, after some time
+ returned with us on board, accompanied by Rauparaha, when both signed
+ the treaty."
+
+What arguments or other inducements were held out to the chiefs to
+lead them to append their marks to the document is not clear.
+Rauparaha subsequently boasted that he had received a blanket for his
+signature, but whether this gift, or bribe, was tendered by the
+missionary or the Major is equally a matter of doubt. It would,
+however, be safe to assume that the blanket was a more potent factor
+in securing the allegiance of the chief to the policy of the treaty
+than any arguments that could have been pressed upon him. It is
+certainly asking much of the intelligence of Te Rauparaha to assert
+that he was seized with the full significance of the step he had
+taken, seeing that the terms and intentions of the treaty were
+afterwards so diversely interpreted by cultured Englishmen.[148] Major
+Bunbury, when being sent out on his southern mission, was instructed
+by Captain Hobson to assemble the chiefs, to explain the provisions of
+the treaty to them, and further, to give them "a solemn pledge that
+the most perfect good faith would be kept by Her Majesty's Government,
+that their property, their rights and privileges should be most fully
+preserved." In direct conflict with this official view, which was an
+accurate reflex of the instructions given to Captain Hobson himself by
+the Marquis of Normanby, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies,
+Lord Howick persuaded a Committee of the House of Commons to condemn
+the treaty as "a part of a series of injudicious proceedings," and
+with a light-hearted ignorance of Maori reverence for landed
+rights,[149] to assert that the acknowledgment of Maori property in
+wild lands subsequent to the Queen's assumption of sovereignty was
+"not essential to the construction of the treaty, and was an error
+which had been productive of serious consequences."
+
+Whether or not Te Rauparaha and his fellow-signatories were able to
+analyse the language of the treaty with the precision of an English
+statesman, they had certainly never placed upon it such a loose
+interpretation as this. And when tidings of the Committee's deliberations
+reached the colony, the alleged "serious consequences" which had
+followed upon the observance and administration of the treaty as laid
+down by Captain Hobson were safety itself compared with the
+catastrophe which might have followed from this rash attempt to
+repudiate, in the interests of the New Zealand Company, the essential
+principle of the treaty--that the "full, exclusive, and undisturbed
+possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other
+possessions" was guaranteed to the natives by the Queen. Fortunately,
+at this time there was at the head of Britain's Colonial Department a
+Minister who held national honour to be dearer than personal gain.
+Lord Stanley, to his credit, refused to comply with the recommendations
+of the Committee to confiscate the native land "without reference to
+the validity or otherwise of its supposed purchase from the natives,"
+and at the end of the famous three days' debate induced the House of
+Commons to adopt his view of the nation's obligations to the Maoris.
+
+The Crown having now assumed sovereignty over New Zealand, it became
+necessary to administer its affairs impartially in the interests of
+both Maori and _pakeha_ population; and, in this connection, one
+of its first and most pressing duties was to make an honest effort to
+unravel the complex web of land claims, in which both races had become
+unhappily entangled. The Government of Lord John Russell accordingly
+appointed as a commissioner to adjudicate upon claims of all classes
+of buyers Mr. Spain, an English lawyer, who, it is said, had been a
+prominent electioneering agent on the side of the Liberals. Mr. Spain
+arrived in New Zealand on December 8, 1841, and immediately took steps
+to establish his court. He has been described as a man of solid
+intelligence, but burdened with a good deal of legal pedantry; slow in
+thinking and in his apprehension of ways of dealing with new
+emergencies; steady and plodding in his methods, thoroughly honest in
+his intentions, and utterly inflexible to threats, though, perhaps,
+not unsusceptible to flattery. Considering the magnitude of their
+alleged purchases, the claims of the New Zealand Company naturally
+took precedence over all others in the business of the court; and,
+having regard to the temperament of the Commissioner, an inauspicious
+start was made by the representatives of the Company metaphorically
+shaking their fists in his face. In some degree their annoyance may
+have been pardonable, for they, believing themselves to be the
+pioneers of a great colonising scheme, had flattered themselves that
+not only the merit of their cause, but the fact that they had made
+their purchases prior to the proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty,
+would have placed them outside the exacting conditions of the Treaty
+of Waitangi.
+
+The coming of Mr. Spain, and his insistence upon an exhaustive
+examination of their titles, was a heavy blow to them, which they at
+first thought to ward off by affecting an attitude of amused
+indifference. They laughed at the treaty, with its engagement to
+respect Maori rights in land, and its elevation of the Maori to a
+civil status equal to themselves. But amidst this simulated merriment
+they exhibited an ill-concealed chagrin that the little self-governing
+community, which they had hoped to set up on the shores of Cook
+Strait, had been so unceremoniously superseded by the sovereignty of
+the Queen, and they resented with fear and anxiety the appointment of
+a commissioner, who might deem it his duty to ask awkward questions
+regarding their titles. Their policy was, therefore, one of delay and
+evasion, which was inaugurated by their raising technical objections
+to the constitution of the court, its jurisdiction, and its forms of
+procedure, but, most of all, to Mr. Spain's determination to call
+native evidence. That was surely an unnecessary elevation of the
+savage, and a corresponding degradation of the white man. In fact,
+they openly asserted that to put the testimony of the one against the
+other was a gratuitous insult to the dignity of the British subject.
+But this was not the full measure of Spain's offending in the eyes of
+the Company's champions. He was audacious enough to ask Colonel
+Wakefield to submit proof that those natives who had signed the
+Company's deed had the right to sell the land which they thus
+purported to convey to the Company; and some of them made themselves
+conspicuously offensive in the manner in which they ridiculed this
+demand as preposterous and ridiculous.
+
+The proceedings of the court at Wellington[150] do not materially
+concern our purpose, for Te Rauparaha took no part in the sale of Port
+Nicholson, nor need we burden the narrative with the interminable
+finesse which took place before the court was able seriously to attack
+the work which lay before it in other districts. When this condition
+was at length reached, Spain soon saw that he was faced with a most
+serious problem. That the Company's purchases were in most instances
+bad he had little hesitation in declaring. But there was no blinking
+the fact that hundreds of settlers had risked their all on the
+assurances of the Company that they could give them a title, and it
+would have been cruel indeed to visit the sins of the Company upon the
+unfortunate colonists. Spain, therefore, halted between justice to the
+Maoris and equity to the settlers, satisfying the requirements of his
+office by issuing interim reports, hoping that in the meantime some
+workable compromise might be evolved. This was ultimately found in an
+arrangement whereby Mr. Clarke and Colonel Wakefield were to agree
+upon what additional compensation was to be paid for the land
+purchased, and, failing their arriving at an understanding, Mr. Spain
+was to be the final arbitrator. At the outset of these negotiations,
+Mr. Clarke stipulated that the natives were not to be evicted from
+their _pas_ or their cultivations, nor were their burial-places
+to be disturbed; but to these reasonable reservations Colonel
+Wakefield could not at first be induced to frankly agree, while his
+unwillingness, or his inability, to comply with the ultimate awards
+tended to accentuate rather than to soothe public irritation.
+
+Meanwhile, Rangihaeata had been busy entering his practical protest
+against what he believed to be a violation of his rights at Porirua.
+He, in conjunction with Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,[151] stoutly
+contended that Porirua, like the Wairau, had never been sold; and
+when, in the early part of 1841, the Company's surveyors went there to
+survey, Rangihaeata blocked up the forest track, levelled the
+surveyors' tents to the ground, and, at the end of each day, undid all
+the work which they had performed. This interference with the survey
+was obviated by an assurance being given to the chief, that, even if
+the land were surveyed, the Company's title must still be investigated
+by Mr. Spain before the settlers would be permitted to enter upon it.
+But, in defiance of this assurance, Colonel Wakefield, in April, 1842,
+issued leases to four settlers--Joseph Hurley, Thomas Parry, Benjamin
+Lowndes and Josiah Torr--who at once proceeded to erect houses and
+occupy their holdings. Two of the houses were nearly finished when the
+intelligence was brought to the chief. Rangihaeata immediately gave
+the settlers notice of his intention to pull their houses down; and
+this threat, so chivalrously declared, was duly executed next day,
+without any unnecessary violence, by the chief and a band of fifty
+men. The indignation which followed this assertion of native authority
+found expression in a public meeting at Wellington, at which the
+arrest of Rangihaeata was violently demanded, and those present
+declared their readiness to assist the Sheriff in effecting his
+capture. With the mandate of this meeting Mr. Murphy, the magistrate,
+refused to comply,[152] and when, in the following June, the huts were
+again demolished, he wrote to the Governor declaring his determination
+not to interfere "to prevent any natives keeping land which they state
+they have not sold, until Mr. Spain decides upon the claims." This
+determination to regard the Porirua land claims as _sub judice_
+met with the entire concurrence of Captain Hobson, but was as bitterly
+assailed by Colonel Wakefield, who committed the indiscretion, almost
+criminal under the circumstances, of declaring, when speaking at
+Wellington, that he had not treated with the natives for a settlement
+of their claims, but preferred to employ the inconvenience created by
+these claims as grounds of complaint against the Government, and as
+arguments in aid of his efforts to secure the removal of the Governor.
+With such a feeling of declared insincerity pervading Colonel
+Wakefield's conduct, it is small wonder that the differences between
+the natives and the Company were slow of settlement, or that the
+efforts of Spain and Clarke to that end were unduly protracted.
+Equally true is it that thereby the cares and worries of the Governor
+were unnecessarily aggravated, while both brown and white populations
+were exasperated almost to the point of desperation by the vexatious
+delays. The irritated state of the public temper thus engendered not
+only made acts of violence possible, but even encouraged them, and
+these only added fuel to the threatened conflagration. A native woman
+was found by her friends murdered at Wellington, and suspicion fell
+upon a European. Only a few months later a settler was discovered
+lying upon the Petone road with his skull fractured, and questioning
+eyes were at once turned in the direction of the Maoris. The
+burial-grounds of the natives were being repeatedly desecrated by
+_pakeha_ looters in search of greenstone ornaments, and in the
+prosecution of this shameful traffic, deep offence was given by the
+secret exhumation of the body of Te Rauparaha's brother, Nohorua, at
+Cloudy Bay. For this act of violence to the honoured dead the natives
+would at one time have taken swift vengeance; but, acting under the
+restraining counsel of Mr. Clarke, they consented to refer their
+complaint to the Government for settlement, a forbearance which the
+Protector, in his letter to Captain Hobson, assured the Governor
+greatly surprised him.[153] The weight of these and other accumulating
+troubles began to tell heavily upon the frail physique of Captain
+Hobson, and borne down by the stress of his increasing responsibilities,
+he died at Auckland in September, 1842. Before his successor, Captain
+Fitzroy, arrived in the Colony, the tragedy for which the country was
+being rapidly prepared had been enacted, and the faithlessness of the
+New Zealand Company had been written in letters of blood on the floor
+of the Wairau Valley.
+
+[127] "Amongst these, there was a great chief named Tu-Hawaiki in
+Maori, 'Bloody Jack' by the Englishmen, because in his English, which
+he learned mostly from the rough whalers and traders, he often used
+the low word 'bloody'" (_Memoirs of the Rev. J.F.H. Wohlers_). Tu
+Hawaiki was both the patron and the pupil of the whalers, and was
+referred to by them as an evidence of what they had done in civilising
+the aborigines. "He was undoubtedly the most intelligent native in the
+country in 1840, and his reputation for honesty was such that
+Europeans trusted him with large quantities of goods" (_Thomson_).
+
+[128] "Just like the Governor."
+
+[129] Travers doubts the occurrence of this incident, holding that had
+Te Rauparaha been guilty of such conduct towards his own people, he
+could never have retained the respect of his fellow-chiefs. Wakefield,
+on the other hand, insists upon it, and it is also referred to in a
+Ngati-Toa account of Te Rauparaha's life found in White's _Ancient
+History of the Maori_.
+
+[130] A modified version of this incident states that all the crew
+were drowned except an old woman, who escaped by clinging to the
+overturned canoe. Tu-Hawaiki and his friends waited about the shore
+for some days until the bodies were cast up, and then the old woman
+was killed, her death being part of the religious rites performed at
+the funeral ceremonies. But there are discrepancies in the tradition,
+upon which it is now impossible to arbitrate.
+
+[131] This war is known in Maori history as the Hao-whenua war.
+
+[132] Te Heuheu's peace was made at Kapiti. He took a _taiaha_
+and broke it across his knee. Some people then gave him a long-handled
+tomahawk, and Hoani Tuhata gave a sword, and peace was made (_Native
+Land Court Record_).
+
+[133] I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Robert McNab, for the following
+note, culled from an American whaling captain's log, which probably
+refers to this period, the incident described having occurred at
+Cloudy Bay on Saturday, April 30, 1836:--
+
+"At 4 had visit from Roabolla (Rauparaha), the head chief of this Bay
+(just returned from a marauding expedition), accompanied with the
+customary demand of lay of tobacco, muskets, and cask of powder, which
+I peremptorily denied. This they returned with a threat that I should
+not whale here, to which I replied I was perfectly willing to go to
+sea, for I would not submit to any imposition, although I would
+present them with the same the English ships and parties did, but no
+more, and if they would not take that they should have nothing. They
+finally consented to receive a dozen pipes, 10 lbs. tobacco, and a
+piece of low-priced calico of about 30 yards, priced 17s. 4d., and a
+tin pot, then dismissed them with a blessing. He afterwards came and
+demanded supper, which I, of course, declined furnishing him, and bade
+him goodbye. There is no other way to deal with these people only to
+be positive with them, and let them know you do not fear them, as if
+any timidity is shown, they demand everything they see, nor would the
+ship hold enough for them, and the bad conduct of masters has
+encouraged them to be very importunate. I am willing to allow a lone
+ship here, not well armed, might be obliged to comply with their
+requisition, but no excuse can be offered for any one to do so now, as
+there are seven ships here all partially armed, and yet he showed me
+three muskets given him by the captains of ships the other side, to
+their shame be it spoken, for if they only reflected they would know
+'tis for the interest of these natives to keep on good terms with us,
+as they know if ships are hindered coming here, adieu to their darling
+tobacco, muskets, and pipes. I have adopted this line of conduct from
+my own conviction, and the advice of the English masters now here who
+know them well."
+
+[134] This fight is known in Ngai-Tahu tradition as _Oroua-moa-nui_.
+The Rev. Canon Stack says that Paora Taki, afterwards a well-known
+Maori Assessor at Rapaki, who was fighting under Tu-Hawaiki,
+recognised 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 with which to assault him.
+
+[135] Dieffenbach says: "Ten or twelve years ago (1827-29) the
+southern headland of Tory Channel was the scene of a sanguinary
+contest between the original natives of the channel and the tribes of
+the Ngati-Awa. Rauparaha, at the head of the latter people, earned
+inglorious laurels by shutting up his opponents on a narrow tongue of
+land and then exterminating them."
+
+[136] "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
+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_" (_Travers_).
+
+[137] "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" (_Stack_).
+
+[138] When Mr. Edward Shortland was travelling in the Middle Island in
+1843-44, an account of which he has left us in his _Southern Districts
+of New Zealand_, he had for guide and assistant a native named
+Huruhuru, who employed the leisure of his evenings in giving Mr.
+Shortland information about the interior of the country, with which he
+was well acquainted. He drew a map of the four great lakes in central
+Otago, described the country through which the path across the island
+passed, and was able to name the principal streams, and even to point
+out the various stopping-places at the end of each day's journey.
+
+[139] In confirmation of at least one purpose of the expedition--that
+of securing slaves--it is interesting to note that, with the exception
+of two children who were killed and eaten at Lake Wanaka, none of the
+prisoners were sacrificed, although the temptation to do so must have
+been difficult to resist, as the party often suffered severely from
+hunger.
+
+[140] "For three miles we followed this stream, flowing in a
+north-north-east direction, through a comparatively open valley, with
+occasional patches of grass on its sides, and arrived then at its
+junction with a large stream of glacial origin, and of the size of the
+Makarora, which came from the eastern central chain, and to which,
+according to the direction of His Honour the Superintendent, I gave my
+name. This river forms, before it reaches the valley, a magnificent
+waterfall, several hundred feet in height" (_Haast's "Geology of
+Canterbury and Westland"_).
+
+[141] The exception above referred to was Nga-whakawa, Te Puoho's
+brother-in-law, who escaped in the dim light of the early morning. Mr.
+Percy Smith, writing in the _Polynesian Journal_, says: "His was
+a most unenviable position. A distance of nearly five hundred miles in
+a straight line separated him from his own people, the intermediate
+country being occupied by tribes bitterly hostile to his, who would
+welcome with joy the opportunity of sacrificing him. But notwithstanding
+the exceeding difficulties which lay in his path, this brave fellow
+decided to try to rejoin his relatives at Massacre Bay, at the extreme
+north end of the South Island. How long his arduous journey took I
+know not, but it must have been months. He dare not keep near the east
+coast, which was inhabited by his enemies, but had to follow the base
+of the mountains inland, seeking his sustenance in roots of the fern,
+which is very scarce, and of the _taramea_, occasionally snaring
+a _weka_ or other bird. So he made his toilsome way by mountain
+and valley, swimming the snow-cold rivers, ever on the alert for signs
+of wandering parties of his enemies, only lighting fires after dark by
+the arduous process of _hika-ahi_, or rubbing two sticks together,
+enduring cold, fatigue, and hunger, until, after making one of the
+most extraordinary journeys on record, he at last reached the home of
+his people at Parapara, Massacre Bay. Here he was the first to bring
+the news of the disaster which had befallen Te Puoho and his
+companions. The daughter of this man, born after his return, named Ema
+Nga-whakawa, was still living at Manawatu a few years since."
+
+[142] This food was composed of pumpkins, probably the first grown on
+the coast.
+
+[143] The late Rangitane chief at Awapuni, Kerei te Panau.
+
+[144] Kuititanga means the wedge-shaped piece of land which is
+formed by the junction of two rivers.
+
+[145] This celebrated cannon is now at the town of Blenheim. Its
+history has been stated as follows, by the late John Guard, of Port
+Underwood. In 1833, his father, the original "Jack Guard" of the
+_Harriet_, brought this gun from Sydney and traded it away to
+Nohorua, a brother of Rauparaha, for the right to establish a whaling
+station at Kakapo Bay. This bargain was greatly facilitated by a
+demonstration which Guard gave by loading the gun and firing it off,
+for its power vastly pleased the natives, who christened it
+_Pu-huri-whenua_, "the gun that causes the earth to tremble." In
+1834, Captain Blenkinsopp came upon the scene, and is said to have
+carried the gun away from Kakapo Bay "without leave or licence," and
+bartered it to Rauparaha for the Wairau Plain and Ocean Bay.
+Subsequently, it was brought back to Port Underwood by Rauparaha, and
+again given to Guard's father. After his death, it was taken
+possession of by the province of Marlborough as an historic relic,
+during the superintendency of Mr. Eyes.
+
+[146] "Previous to sailing, Colonel Wakefield purchased from a lady,
+representing herself to be the widow of Captain Blenkinsopp, some
+deeds professing to be the original conveyances of the plains of the
+Wairau by Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and others to that gentleman, in
+consideration of a ship's gun. They were signed with elaborate
+drawings of the _moko_ or tattoo on the chiefs' faces" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[147] According to Lord Lytton, Edward Gibbon Wakefield was "the man
+in these latter days beyond comparison of the most genius and widest
+influence in the great science of colonisation, both as a thinker, a
+writer, and a worker, whose name is like a spell to all interested in
+that subject."
+
+[148] Mr. Somes, one of the champions of the New Zealand Company in
+London, thus expressed the views of the Directorate upon the treaty:
+"We did not believe that even the Royal power of making treaties could
+establish in the eye of our courts such a fiction as a native law of
+real property in New Zealand. We have always had very serious doubts
+whether the Treaty of Waitangi, made with naked savages by a Consul
+invested with no plenipotentiary powers, could be treated by lawyers
+as anything but a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment." To this Lord Stanley replied through his
+secretary that he was "not prepared, as Her Majesty's Secretary of
+State, to join with the Company in setting aside the Treaty of
+Waitangi after having obtained the advantage guaranteed by it, even
+though it might be made with 'naked savages,' or though it might be
+treated by lawyers as a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment. Lord Stanley entertains a different view of
+the respect due to obligations contracted by the Crown of England, and
+his final answer to the demands of the Company must be that, as long
+as he has the honour of serving the Crown, he will not admit that any
+person, or any Government, acting in the name of Her Majesty, can
+contract a legal, moral, or honorary obligation to despoil others of
+their lawful and equitable rights."
+
+[149] "Long before the arrival of the white man in New Zealand there
+was a proverb amongst the Maoris--'_He wahine he whenua, e ngaro ai
+te tangata_,' which may be rendered in English 'For land or wife man
+stakes his life'" (_Clarke_).
+
+[150] When the court opened at Wellington on 16th May, one of the
+first witnesses called was Dicky Barrett, who had acted as interpreter
+to Colonel Wakefield when making his purchases, and Mr. George Clarke,
+who appeared as the representative of the natives, has left us the
+following sketch of Dicky's appearance in the box: "Barrett was a
+shore whaler who had married a native woman; he was a decent fellow
+enough among men of his class, but he was very ignorant, and I soon
+made him show, in the course of his evidence, that he did not even
+understand the English meaning of the deeds he professed to interpret.
+He admitted, too, that instead of telling the natives, as the deed set
+forth, that one-tenth of the surveyed lots should be reserved for
+their use, he had simply put it that one lot of the alienated land
+should be kept for the Maoris and one for the _pakehas_, and so on
+through the whole--that is, one half the land should be kept for their
+use. He admitted, further, that he had taken no account of many
+natives who were unwilling to sell. It soon became clear that Barrett's
+qualification to interpret was that he spoke whaler Maori, a jargon
+that bears much the same relation to the real language as the pigeon
+English of the Chinese does to our mother tongue."
+
+[151] "Te Hiko, whose signature Colonel Wakefield had boasted of
+obtaining in 1839, being examined before the Governor, the Chief
+Justice, Colonel Wakefield, the Rev. O. Hadfield, and others, denied
+that he had signed any deed of sale of Porirua. E. J. Wakefield
+asserted the contrary. The ignorant Barrett ... admitted that Hiko's
+signature was 'not obtained willingly,' and Clarke, the Protector,
+skilled in the language, declared that the document signed was
+calculated to mislead the natives. Hiko was constant in his denial of
+Wakefield's statements, and Hobson's mind was 'left with the
+impression that he had not sold' the land" (_Rusden_).
+
+[152] Subsequently, a similar application was made to Chief Justice
+Martin, when he arrived in Wellington in October, 1842, but he also
+declined to issue a warrant for the arrest of Rangihaeata, partly
+because the application was _ex parte_, and argument was
+requisite before judgment could be given on so grave a matter, and
+partly on technical grounds connected with the Police Magistrates
+Ordinance.
+
+[153] Mr. Spain, writing to Captain Hobson in 1842, remarked that the
+natives at Wellington had, upon many occasions, shown the greatest
+forbearance when deprived of their cultivations, and he very much
+doubted whether their white brethren would have followed their example
+if placed in similar circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU
+
+
+Amongst the many unsatisfactory negotiations for the purchase of land
+entered into between Colonel Wakefield and Te Rauparaha, few seem to
+have been so ill-defined as that relating to the Wairau Plain. Whether
+Wakefield really believed that he had bought it, or whether Rauparaha
+was equally confident that he had not sold it, will never be known.
+Certainly it is difficult to understand how such a wide difference of
+impression could have arisen between them, had they both been sincere
+in the transaction. It is true the Colonel might have considered that
+the plain was included in the purchases made in 1839, when he
+bargained for four hundred miles of country, extending from the 38th
+to the 43rd degree of latitude on the west coast, and from the 41st to
+the 43rd degree on the east coast. But he knew that the plain had
+never been specifically named, and in his heart he must have felt that
+no valid title could rest upon a purchase made as this one was, its
+full purport not being clearly explained by Dicky Barrett, who acted
+as interpreter, and the signatures of three chiefs only being obtained
+to the deed, when thirty thousand natives had, by native law, a voice
+in its disposal. That Colonel Wakefield did have some reservation,
+later on, about his right to the land is almost certain, for, after
+the settlement of Nelson had been in progress about a year, he
+strongly opposed the suggestion of his brother, Captain Wakefield, to
+include the Wairau in the district to be surveyed, partly because he
+considered that its occupation might militate against the success of
+the Wellington colony, but chiefly because he anticipated that the
+Company's title would be disputed by other claimants and by the
+natives. It would therefore seem that Captain Wakefield, the resident
+agent of the Company, was the more to blame for the improper
+occupation of the valley and for all the subsequent trouble, which he
+expiated with his life. He was as conversant as the Colonel with the
+whole circumstances of the case, perhaps more so; and, had it not been
+that he had no alternative between opening up the Wairau and
+acknowledging the ignominious failure of the Nelson settlement, he
+would hardly, in the face of so many warnings, have persisted in his
+high-handed and injudicious course.
+
+The story of the Nelson settlement repeats the tale of undue haste,
+imperfect preparations, a disposition to make florid promises and hold
+out inflated inducements, that characterised all the New Zealand
+Company's attempts at colonisation. One of the essential features of
+this settlement was that each settler should receive 150 acres of
+rural land, 50 acres of suburban land, and one town acre. But after
+the most thorough exploration of the region round Blind and Massacre
+Bays, it was found that, although a great deal of inferior country had
+been included in the sections laid off by the surveyors, there was
+still an enormous deficiency in the area required to provide for all
+the settlers who had either paid for their land in advance or were
+waiting to settle on it. Misled by the reports of some of his
+officers, Captain Wakefield had caused it to be broadly published that
+there was more than sufficient land at Port Whakatu to meet the
+requirements of the settlement, and it was while looking round for
+some tangible fact to justify his assertion that he bethought him of
+the Wairau.
+
+During his many excursions in search of rural land, Mr. Tuckett, the
+Company's chief surveyor, had discovered a route via Top House, by
+which the Wairau might be reached after a journey of 110 miles. This
+fact was reported to Captain Wakefield, who ordered that a complete
+examination of the district should be made by Mr. Tuckett. He,
+accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Davidson, and Captain England, a
+landowner in the settlement, made an extensive exploration, and
+subsequently conveyed the discomfiting intelligence to the resident
+agent that the Wairau Plain was the only available surface between
+Cape Farewell and Cape Campbell sufficient to afford the number of
+sections required to complete the settlement. The survey of the plain
+was then decided upon, but intelligence had reached Kapiti that the
+_pakehas_ had been down to the Wairau and that they intended to
+take possession of it. Immediately upon the receipt of this news,
+Rauparaha, accompanied by Hiko and Rangihaeata, crossed over to Nelson
+and sought an interview with Captain Wakefield. In plain and
+straightforward terms the natives told the Europeans, who had gathered
+in Dr. Wilson's residence to hear the _korero_, that they had not
+sold the Wairau to the principal agent of the Company, and that they
+had no intention of doing so, unless (to use Rauparaha's own
+expressive phrase) "the cask of gold was very great." They therefore
+warned them not to go there, as they had no right to the land.
+
+Captain Wakefield's answer was that he intended to proceed with the
+survey, as he claimed the land in the name of the Company. Rangihaeata
+vehemently denied the sale, and backed up his protestations by a
+threat that if Captain Wakefield attempted to carry out his intentions
+he would meet him and take his head. The agent was in no way disturbed
+or shaken by the hostile attitude of the chiefs; and to Rangihaeata's
+boisterous manner he calmly replied that, if any interference was
+offered, he would come with three hundred constables and arrest the
+belligerent natives. This unconciliatory attitude did not in the least
+assist to clear the atmosphere, for Rangihaeata went about the
+settlement during the next few days openly threatening with death
+every one who, he conceived, had any authority amongst the colonists,
+if they ventured to annex the Wairau, unless they could first succeed
+in killing him, in which event, he said, the land would remain as the
+lawful possession of the conqueror. Rauparaha, on the other hand,
+assumed the air of the diplomat, and professed not to sympathise with
+the policy of his lieutenant, whom he described as a "bad man." At the
+same time, in his fawning fashion, he entreated the Europeans not to
+go to the Wairau, and begged that the dispute might be referred to Mr.
+Spain, the Government Land Commissioner, who had been appointed to
+investigate the claims of the Company. But Captain Wakefield
+repudiated the jurisdiction of Mr. Spain in the matter, and refused to
+comply with the request. The chiefs, finding that neither threats nor
+persuasion could shake Captain Wakefield in his determination to take
+possession of the Wairau, indignantly left the settlement, Rauparaha
+expressing his intention to lay the whole circumstances of the case
+before the Queen's Commissioner and demand an immediate settlement of
+the claim.
+
+Scarcely had the angry Ngati-Toas left Nelson than the three chiefs
+who were resident at the Wairau arrived. These natives were sons of
+Rauparaha's elder brother, Nohorua, the oldest of whom, Rawiri Puaha,
+had previously informed Mr. Tuckett, when that gentleman visited his
+_pa_, that the plain was theirs and that Rauparaha had no power
+to sell it. They were gratified at the idea that the Europeans looked
+upon it with a favourable eye, but, at the same time, they were in no
+haste to enter into any negotiations for its sale until they had
+considerably extended their cultivations, in order that they might
+fairly claim a larger compensation. Doubtless one of their reasons for
+desiring closer intercourse with the _pakehas_ was that, in
+addition to their clearings, they had a large number of pigs running
+on the plain, which they used as a marketable commodity with the
+settlers at Port Underwood. But as fast as they cleared and cultivated
+the land and reared their pigs, Rauparaha was in the habit of coming
+over and coolly helping himself, with the result that his relations
+with the resident people were by this time considerably strained, and
+they probably thought that the presence of the settlers would check
+these depredations on the part of their high-handed relative. When
+they heard that Rauparaha had been to Nelson, they, being utterly
+mistrustful of his methods, at once concluded that he had gone there
+for the purpose of selling the plain; and it was to counteract this
+policy, as far as possible, that they went to see Captain Wakefield.
+The latter had always been much more considerate to resident natives
+than to those whom, like Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, he described as
+"travelling bullies."[154] He was therefore most anxious to make a
+valid and binding bargain with Puaha, to whom he offered a small
+schooner, and any reasonable quantity of goods, if he would
+acknowledge that the Wairau had been purchased by his brother, the
+Colonel. This Puaha refused to do, and therefore, at a subsequent
+interview, the resident agent adopted another line of argument,
+contending that the Company had already a legal title to the district
+by virtue of its being included in the latitude and longitude
+purchases made in 1839, and by right of a deed bought from Captain
+Blenkinsopp's widow for £300. Puaha denied the validity of both
+titles, pointing out that "the Wairau" had evidently been written into
+the first deed after signature; and that, in the second case, if
+Rauparaha had sold any portion of the land to Blenkinsopp, he had no
+right to do so without his (Puaha's) consent, which had never been
+asked and never given. For three days the conference was continued by
+the agent and the chief, without either being able to convince the
+other; but, at last, Puaha withdrew, still protesting in manly and
+dignified language against the views of the agent as to his title to
+the land.
+
+After these animated interviews, it might have been supposed that
+Captain Wakefield would, in his calmer moments, have seriously
+reviewed the position, and that against the vague and shadowy rights
+of the Company, as expressed in the two deeds in his possession, he
+would have set the fact that the authenticity of these sales was being
+stoutly contested by the resident and non-resident natives interested.
+He might have been expected also to recognise that the whole question,
+having been placed in the hands of Mr. Spain, was _sub judice_, and as
+such should remain in abeyance until the court had pronounced its
+judgment. These considerations were, however, altogether outweighed by
+the desire to placate the settlers, who were clamouring for their
+land, and to prevent the exposure of the Company's inability to fulfil
+its engagements. The fear that, if this could not be done, he would be
+open to crushing censure from all with whom they had entered into
+engagements, and the desire to rescue his own and his brother's
+reputation from public anger and ridicule, biased his otherwise
+judicial mind against the merits of the opposing case. Accordingly, he
+decided to act upon the impulse that moved him most, and on April 15,
+1843, he entered into three contracts for the survey of the plain with
+Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson, Mr. Cotterell, and Mr. Parkinson. In
+view of the probability of native interference, a special provision
+was inserted in the tenders that the contractors were to be
+indemnified in case of loss; and, on this understanding, the
+surveyors, with forty assistants, arrived a few days later, and
+commenced operations--Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson at the Marshlands
+side of the valley, Mr. Cotterell in the neighbourhood of Riverlands,
+and Mr. Parkinson still higher up the plain, towards Grovetown.
+
+At first, the resident natives allowed the work to proceed with but
+slight resistance. Once or twice they refused to permit timber to be
+sawn for pegs and ranging rods; but with the exercise of a little tact
+and patience these difficulties were overcome, and the work had
+proceeded with so little friction that before Rauparaha arrived Messrs.
+Barnicoat and Thompson had practically completed their contract, the
+others not being quite so far advanced.
+
+Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were at Mana when the news of these
+proceedings reached them, and they at once engaged with their English
+friend, Joseph Toms, to convey them and a portion of their party in
+his schooner, _Three Brothers_, to Port Underwood, whence they
+intended to reach the Wairau in their canoes. On the 1st of June the
+schooner and the canoes arrived at the port, and Rauparaha, with one
+hundred armed followers, at once proceeded to the house of Mr. Cave,
+who for seven or eight years had been employed there as cooper for the
+whaling stations, and with whom they were on the best of terms. To him
+they declared their intention of burning the surveyors' camps, and for
+that purpose they left for the Wairau the same evening, in eight
+canoes and a whaleboat. Next morning Rauparaha, with thirty of his
+people, appeared at Mr. Cotterell's camp on the Opawa River, and,
+after stripping his huts, burned the _toetoe_ grass with which
+they were covered, as well as the survey pegs and ranging rods
+prepared from manuka sticks. They then assisted the surveyors to carry
+their belongings to the boats, and shipped them off to the _pa_
+at the mouth of the river. Their next proceeding was to paddle up the
+Wairau to Mr. Barnicoat's camp, which was situated on the river-bank
+close to the Ferry Bridge, and there they re-enacted their settled
+programme. In these proceedings Rauparaha was very firm, yet
+conciliatory. There was no exhibition of temper or violence towards
+persons or property. He simply gave the surveyors to understand that
+he would have none of them or their surveying there, and that the
+sooner they returned to Nelson the better he would like it;[155] and,
+to this end, he assisted them to remove their instruments and personal
+effects to a place of safety before demolishing their _whares_.
+In logical fashion, he argued that the _toetoe_, having grown
+upon the land, was his, that he was entitled to do what he pleased
+with his own, and that so long as he did not interfere with any of the
+articles brought from England, he was committing no breach of justice.
+
+The instruments and baggage were placed in the boats and taken down to
+the _pa_, where they were safely landed and their owners treated
+with every consideration. But, before matters had reached this crisis,
+the contractors had despatched a joint letter to Mr. Tuckett, at
+Nelson, explaining the gravity of the situation, and asking him to
+come down at once and certify to the work already done. On receipt of
+this communication Mr. Tuckett, accompanied by Mr. Patchett, at once
+set out for the Wairau; and, on his arrival at the bar, on 3rd June,
+he was met by Mr. Cotterell, who briefly related all that had
+transpired since the arrival of Rauparaha, and the present position of
+natives and contractors respectively.
+
+So soon as he had grasped the situation, Mr. Tuckett hastily wrote a
+letter in pencil to Captain Wakefield, giving details, and intimating
+his intention of remaining on the scene until the Captain should make
+his pleasure known to him. This letter he entrusted to Mr. Cotterell,
+who at once left with his men in the boats for Nelson. The chief
+surveyor then set off up the Opawa River to the site of Mr.
+Cotterell's camp, where he pitched a tent and remained all night. In
+the morning he proceeded, in company with Mr. Patchett and Mr. Moline
+(Mr. Cotterell's assistant), to search for Mr. Parkinson, and, when
+they arrived at his hut, they found it in possession of a few natives,
+who had in no way interfered with it. The surveyor and his party not
+being there, Mr. Tuckett inquired for Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who
+he was informed were in the bush. He thereupon explained that he
+intended to go over to the Awatere, that he would be absent about
+three days, and that at the end of that time he desired to meet the
+chiefs at Mr. Cotterell's camp, where he would converse with them over
+the recent events. The natives gladly undertook to convey this message
+to Rauparaha, who, with Rangihaeata, a number of their followers, and
+Mr. Parkinson's men, were awaiting them at the appointed place of
+meeting when the party returned from their explorations beyond the
+Vernon Hills. Here the expected conference took place, Rauparaha
+calmly but firmly explaining his reasons for interference. He claimed
+the Wairau as his own, but since there was a dispute about it, he had,
+on his return from Nelson, placed the matter in the hands of Mr.
+Spain, who had appointed a day on which to hear the case, Rauparaha on
+his part undertaking that in the meantime none of his people should
+enter upon the land. The day appointed by Mr. Spain had passed, and
+fearing that, if the survey was finished before he adjudicated upon
+their claim, they would lose their land, they had determined to stop
+the proceedings. Rauparaha expressed himself as being still willing to
+abide by Mr. Spain's decision, but the survey must cease and the
+Europeans must leave, until such time as that judgment should be
+given. Mr. Tuckett vainly endeavoured to point out the hardship this
+course would impose upon the contractors and their men, who were
+dependent upon their work for their living.  He also explained that he
+was expecting instructions from Captain Wakefield, and asked
+permission to remain until he heard from his superior.
+
+His request for delay was met by a command to remove his tent to the
+boat, and, upon his refusing to obey, Rangihaeata burst into a violent
+passion, and, in a torrent of invective, reminded Mr. Tuckett of the
+warning he had given him in Nelson, ironically remarking that, if he
+was so fond of the Wairau, he (Rangihaeata) would bury him there. This
+insulting outburst was treated with studied contempt by the chief
+surveyor, who quietly rebuked Rangihaeata for his ungentlemanly
+behaviour, telling him that he would not converse with him until he
+mended his manners. While this brief altercation was proceeding,
+Rauparaha had remained silent, although he was evidently exercising a
+restraining influence upon his comrade. But he now advanced, and once
+more politely requested Mr. Tuckett to have his tent removed; but
+that gentleman still persisted in his right to remain, whereupon
+Rauparaha, becoming impatient, ordered some of his own people to carry
+out his behest, and in a few minutes the tent was struck and stowed
+away in the boat. Mr. Tuckett then deemed it unwise to offer further
+objection, and, together with the two chiefs, he agreed to go back to
+the _pa_.
+
+It had been Mr. Tuckett's intention to embark for Nelson next morning,
+but in the night a south-easterly gale came up and blew for three
+days, causing such a surf on the bar that Rauparaha advised him not to
+attempt to cross it. During this compulsory stay, the chief was most
+profuse in his expressions of goodwill towards the Europeans, and by
+his fawning and obsequious manner created a feeling of revulsion in
+the minds of the Englishmen. Rangihaeata, on the other hand, left them
+severely alone, seeking neither favours nor intercourse of any kind,
+and, save on one occasion, his isolation was complete. That exception
+arose from the fact that one of the men reported that he had lost a
+handkerchief and a billhook, which he had seen in the possession of
+Rangihaeata's people. Mr. Tuckett at once approached the chief, and
+asked to have the property returned. His reply was that he had some
+bad men as well as good ones amongst his followers, with the sarcastic
+addition that perhaps Mr. Tuckett was in the same position; but that,
+as he had come to the Wairau to defend his own and not to thieve, if
+the surveyor could identify the man, he would have his property back;
+failing that, he could have _utu_ instead. The billhook was soon
+found, and here the incident ended; but the impression it made upon
+Mr. Tuckett was that, if Rangihaeata was more violent than Rauparaha,
+he was up to this point certainly the more noble of the two.
+
+As soon as the weather cleared, the chief surveyor prepared to take
+his departure, but, as the boat would not carry both passengers and
+baggage, it was finally decided that Messrs. Barnicoat and Parkinson
+should remain, while Messrs. Tuckett, Patchett, and Moline proceeded to
+Nelson, although the chiefs raised no objection to the whole party
+remaining until additional boats could be brought, or until they could
+be conveyed to one of the whaling stations at Port Underwood. By noon
+on the following day Mr. Tuckett and his companions had got well into
+Blind Bay, when they observed the Government brig _Victoria_ under
+full sail. A gun was fired from the ship as a signal to board her. On
+doing so, they learned that the vessel had just left Nelson, and was
+proceeding to the Wairau with the police magistrate (Mr. Thompson),
+Captain Wakefield (the Company's agent), Captain England, J.P., Mr.
+Cotterell, and some of the would-be proprietors of the proposed
+settlement, as well as the chief constable, Mr. Maling, and
+twenty-four labouring men who had been sworn-in as special constables.
+The agent informed the chief surveyor that, after Mr. Cotterell had
+arrived at Nelson and made his report, it had been decided to proceed
+as soon as possible to the scene of operations, and arrest the chiefs
+on a charge of arson, a warrant having been granted by Messrs.
+Thompson, P.M., Captain Wakefield, Captain England, and A. McDonald,
+Esq., Justices of the Peace. Mr. Tuckett was naturally surprised and
+deeply grieved at this intelligence, and, in deprecation of the rash
+and impolitic step he informed Captain Wakefield of Rauparaha's
+interview with Mr. Spain, and of the chief's willingness to abide by
+the decision of the court. He further pointed out the great care
+observed by the natives not to interfere with any of the surveyors'
+property, or to injure the persons of any of their employees. He
+proceeded to argue that the men on board would not number one-half the
+strength of the natives then at the Wairau; and contrasted this
+numerical weakness with the threat made by the Captain at Nelson,
+that, if Rangihaeata interfered with the survey, he would come with
+three hundred constables to arrest him. His impression, therefore, was
+that the smallness of the party would inspire confidence in the minds
+of the natives rather than dread, and he strongly urged that, however
+satisfied the agent might feel about the result, prudence demanded
+that they should appear on the plain with such a force as would
+completely overawe the Maoris, and to which there would be no
+humiliation in surrendering. In support of his views, he handed to
+Captain Wakefield a letter which he had received from the Rev. Mr.
+Ironside on the day that he had met Mr. Cotterell at the bar, in which
+the missionary, ripe in experience of Maori feeling, and knowing how
+tenaciously they clung to their rights in landed property, ventured
+the opinion that, unless this dispute was most diplomatically handled,
+the result might be extremely serious.
+
+Mr. Ironside, taking the missionary view of the Company's scheme of
+colonisation, expressed great anxiety lest a collision might arise out
+of the subject of the claims to land, which would eventually terminate
+in the extinction of the native tribes, as had been the case in other
+countries settled by Europeans. He urged upon Mr. Tuckett not to be
+precipitate in endeavouring to include the Wairau in the Nelson
+survey, informing him that the resident natives and Rauparaha were at
+issue about the land, to such an extent that the former, if left to
+themselves, would probably withdraw from the Wairau, and treat with
+the Nelson agent for the sale of it.
+
+Captain Wakefield expressed himself deeply thankful for the counsel
+contained in Mr. Ironside's letter, and also for the advice tendered
+by Mr. Tuckett, with whose whole conduct he entirely acquiesced. So
+impressed was he with the force of the chief surveyor's arguments that
+he at once went into the cabin where Mr. Thompson was, and requested
+him to read Mr. Ironside's letter, stating that from it and other
+considerations urged by Mr. Tuckett he had come to the conclusion that
+it would be wiser to return to Nelson. Mr. Thompson was totally averse
+to turning back. He begrudged missing the opportunity of giving the
+natives what he called "a prestige for the law," and of showing the
+Government the correct way to deal with such troublesome fellows. At
+the same time he expressed the opinion that, if the authorities at
+Wellington had dealt with these chiefs as he had dealt with Ekawa at
+Massacre Bay, they would long ago have ceased to give annoyance. He
+also stated that, if they returned at that stage, they would simply be
+laughed at by the settlers, and he was not going to put himself in
+that undignified position. In his determination to go on Mr. Thompson
+was seconded by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. Richardson), who begged that
+the expedition might not be given up, as he considered it was "only a
+lark"; and, in deference to the aggressive mood of the magistrate and
+the jocular anticipations of the lawyer, Captain Wakefield surrendered
+his better judgment. Mr. Tuckett, still apprehensive that disastrous
+consequences would follow if these unwise counsels prevailed,
+earnestly remonstrated with Mr. Thompson, taking up the attitude that
+he was exceeding his rights in proceeding to execute his warrant with
+an armed force. The magistrate admitted the correctness of Mr.
+Tuckett's premises, but hotly resented the assumption that he intended
+to use the force at all. He explained that he was not sure that he
+would land the men. Certainly he would not give out the arms or take
+the force into the presence of the natives until he had first
+exhausted every plausible means of getting the chiefs to submit
+themselves to trial on board the brig. Should they refuse to do so,
+which he did not expect, then he would investigate the charge on the
+spot, and afterwards decide whether he should call in the aid of the
+armed party or not. Had this plan of operations been strictly
+observed, much that afterwards happened might have been averted; but
+in no single particular did the magistrate follow his promised line of
+action, for as soon as the vessel arrived at Cloudy Bay, the men were
+supplied with fire-arms and landed at the mouth of the Wairau River.
+
+On seeing the Government brig enter the bay, the Maoris had abandoned
+the old _pa_ at the bar and retired further up the plain. Next
+morning the magistrate's band of special constables was ordered to get
+ready and go in pursuit. Perceiving that his worst fears were likely
+to be realised, and that the magistrate would not go without the armed
+force, Mr. Tuckett made a final appeal to Captain Wakefield, and
+offered to go himself and see Rauparaha, in company with the chief
+constable and the interpreter, if only the men bearing arms were
+allowed to remain where they were. To this suggestion the Captain
+readily agreed, and at once put the proposal before Mr. Thompson, who
+also consented, and ordered the chief constable to prepare himself for
+the journey; but when Mr. Maling announced himself ready to go, he
+presented such an armour-plated appearance that the chief surveyor
+absolutely refused to be seen in his company. He wore a cutlass at his
+side, a brace of pistols and a pair of handcuffs in his belt, while in
+his hand he carried a pair of heavy leg-irons. How he proposed to get
+Rauparaha down to the bar when he was both handcuffed and hobbled is
+not very clear, nor did he have time to explain. Mr. Tuckett at once
+drew attention to his accoutrements, and pointed out that the
+leg-irons would have an especially exasperating effect upon the
+natives; while, if he insisted upon carrying pistols, it would at
+least be judicious to conceal them, and so avoid the appearance of
+intimidation. The magistrate at once ordered that the irons should be
+discarded, but also intimated that he had changed his mind as to the
+mode of procedure, and that he had now determined that the whole force
+should participate in the arrest, a decision from which no amount of
+persuasion could induce him to deviate.
+
+At the outset an attempt was made to ascend the river in boats, but as
+the tide was on the ebb and the wind unfavourable, the travelling was
+both slow and laborious, and before they had proceeded very far, the
+boats were abandoned, and the party, except Mr. Cotterell and his men,
+who remained in a whaleboat, commenced the march along a survey track
+which ran parallel with the river. By this time the ardour of the men
+had considerably cooled; the bitter cold night experienced at the bar
+had helped to extinguish their enthusiasm, and now the keen morning
+wind and bad walking through the long wet grass completely dissipated
+all idea that the affair was to be regarded in the light of a pleasure
+trip. During the course of the journey, which was both a slow and
+irritating one, Captain Wakefield expressed the opinion that the
+natives were more inclined for trade than for war, and that the
+prospect of their attempting to fight in the event of a forcible
+arrest being made was very small. In reply to this, Mr. Tuckett still
+adhered to his former opinion that the Maoris would most certainly
+offer resistance if the armed force was taken into their presence.
+While this discussion was going on, the party reached the bend in the
+river at the back of Grovetown, where they met a number of resident
+natives, who, in consequence of their differences with Rauparaha, were
+quitting the Wairau and returning to Port Underwood. Amongst them were
+Puaha, a lad named Rore (who afterwards became the honoured and
+respected chief of the Wairau natives), his father, and a few other
+Maoris cutting timber in the bush. Of these they inquired the
+whereabouts of Rauparaha, and were informed that he was a few miles
+further up the valley, at the Tua Marina stream. Night coming on, they
+decided to camp in the Tua Mautine wood, but took the precaution to
+send Puaha forward to acquaint Rauparaha with the nature of their
+visit; and he was followed by the remainder of the natives at a later
+hour. Mr. Thompson was careful to explain to Puaha that he had not
+come to interfere with him; but it was noticed that his countenance
+bore a most anxious and concerned expression, and in the brief
+interview which he had with the magistrate, he not only advised, but
+earnestly entreated him not to precipitate a quarrel by taking the
+armed men into the presence of Rauparaha and his followers. If he did
+so, it would be impossible to convince them that he had not come for
+the purpose of shedding blood. The pained look that fell upon the face
+of Puaha when he realised the magistrate's intentions made a deep
+impression upon Captain Wakefield, and he several times made reference
+to it. Even when waking from his sleep in the night, he spoke of the
+fact as though he had a gloomy presentiment that all would not be well
+on the morrow. Mr. Thompson did not appear to be troubled with any
+such forebodings; his concern was that he would not have the
+opportunity of arresting the chiefs, who would probably make good
+their escape as soon as Puaha conveyed his message to them. He
+endeavoured to make light of the agent's fears by explaining that
+Puaha's troubled looks were due to the conflict between the dictates
+of his barbarous nature and the influence of his Christian teaching,
+which, under the circumstances, would naturally burn within him--a
+course of reasoning that Captain Wakefield seemed to cheerfully
+accept.
+
+At dawn next morning,[156] the camp of Te Rauparaha was easily located
+by the smoke rising through the forest trees at the mouth of the
+Waitohi Valley, about four miles away. The magistrate then mustered
+his constables, and served out to each man eighteen rounds of ball
+cartridge. All told, they numbered forty men, bearing muskets,
+bayonets, and cutlasses, besides ten or twelve gentlemen who were
+without arms, the chief surveyor and Mr. Cotterell being members of
+the Society of Friends, and refusing, in accordance with their
+religious principles, to carry them. After a short march across the
+plain through the fern and _toetoe_, they arrived at the foot of
+the Tua Marina hills, and there they halted, having, during the course
+of the journey, been cautioned not to fire unless ordered to do so.
+
+The constitution of the arresting party was not calculated to ensure
+success in the event of resistance on the part of the Maoris. They
+were untrained and without discipline. Some of them were even
+unwilling participants in the expedition, for they had been coerced
+into coming by the threat that they would lose their employment in the
+service of the Company if they refused to assist in the arrest of the
+chiefs. Their arms were old-fashioned and not in the best of repair;
+there was a total lack of organisation, and apparently no common
+understanding as to who was in authority. Under these circumstances,
+the result could scarcely have been different, regard being had to the
+character of the men with whom they had to deal.
+
+Anyone sitting on the hill-side even now can, without the aid of a
+vivid imagination, picture the animated scene which unfolded itself on
+that bright June morning. What are now grass paddocks were flats, more
+or less covered with native scrub. Of what was then dense bush only a
+few detached fragments now remain, but otherwise the physical features
+of the landscape are but little changed. The Maoris, when they first
+observed the Europeans, were squatting around their camp-fires on the
+western side of the Tua Marina stream. They immediately hailed them
+and inquired if they intended to fight. Mr. Thompson answered in the
+negative, and, after explaining the purpose for which he had come,
+asked the natives to place a canoe across the stream that he might
+come over and talk the more freely to them. Rauparaha consented to
+this course, but stipulated that the armed men should not be allowed
+to cross over; and, the magistrate agreeing to this condition, the
+special constables were left in charge of Captain England and Mr.
+Howard, who had instructions to act if called upon. He himself,
+accompanied by Captain Wakefield, Mr. Patchett, Mr. Tuckett, Mr.
+Cotterell and Mr. Brooks,[157] the interpreter, crossed over in the
+canoe, which was immediately drawn back again alongside the bank by a
+native nicknamed Piccawarro (big-fellow), to prevent any surprise from
+the force on the other side of the stream. When the magistrate walked
+into the presence of the natives, he observed that they numbered about
+ninety men and thirty-five women and children; but, as an indication
+of their peaceful intentions, they had placed in the midst of their
+group three women, the wives of Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and Puaha,
+while the party of resident natives sat on one side, and the immediate
+followers of Rauparaha on the other. The noble and dignified Puaha
+stood in the centre with a Bible in his hand, reading from it select
+passages, and exhorting both parties to peace, while the natives
+sitting around chanted the usual welcome, _Haere-mai, Haere-mai_.
+Rangihaeata lay concealed behind some bushes, but Rauparaha came
+forward frankly when Mr. Thompson inquired for him, saying "Here am
+I," and offered to shake hands with the strangers. But this courtesy
+was declined by the magistrate, who pushed the chief's hand away, and
+it was left to Mr. Tuckett and Mr. Cotterell to perform the politeness
+of a friendly greeting.
+
+In reply to Rauparaha's inquiry as to what had brought them there, Mr.
+Thompson proceeded to explain to him, through Brooks, the interpreter,
+that he was their prisoner. Rauparaha disdainfully replied that it
+would be time enough to indulge in such talk when Mr. Spain had made
+his inquiry about the land. They then strove to make him understand
+that, as this case had nothing to do with the land, but was a charge
+of arson, it did not come within the province of Mr. Spain to inquire
+into it, but that the charge must be heard on the brig. Rauparaha
+declared that he had not destroyed any European property, in proof of
+which he appealed to Mr. Cotterell, who admitted the truth of his
+assertion, and therefore he would not go on board the brig, but he was
+quite willing that the matter should be adjudicated upon there and
+then, and, provided the compensation demanded was not excessive, he
+would be prepared to pay rather than there should be any ill-feeling
+between the two races. Thereupon he was told that, if he would not go
+voluntarily he must be taken by force, and a pair of handcuffs were
+produced to impress him with the sincerity of this threat. His
+chieftain blood was aroused by this insult; he indignantly dared them
+to try to imprison his hands in such implements and bind him like a
+slave, but begged for longer time to talk the matter over. The
+magistrate, who was now rapidly losing his temper, began to stamp and
+rave, and scorning the need for further argument, desired the
+interpreter to finally ask Rauparaha to say whether he would go on
+board the brig or not; and, upon his still firmly refusing to do so,
+Mr. Thompson turned to Brooks and exclaimed, with a violent gesture in
+the direction of the opposite bank, "Then tell him there are the armed
+party; they will fire on them all." A native from the Bay of Islands
+who was present amongst Rauparaha's people, and who understood a
+smattering of English, told those of Rauparaha's party that an order
+to fire had been given, and sixteen of them at once sprang to their
+feet, and, presenting their muskets at the magistrate, awaited the
+order from their chief to fire. The mistaken impression under which
+this hostile display had been made was at once removed by the chief
+surveyor and Mr. Patchett, who walked over to them and explained that
+only a threat, and not an order, to fire had been given, and on this
+assurance they immediately subsided to their seats on the ground.
+
+The altercation between Mr. Thompson and Rauparaha still proceeded.
+The former produced his warrant, which he told the chief was the
+"book-a-book" of the Queen "to make a tie," and that he was the Queen,
+again adding, in high and excited tones, stamping his foot the while,
+that if Rauparaha did not consent to surrender himself, he would order
+the Europeans to fire on them. This was quickly interpreted to the
+armed natives by the stranger from the Bay of Islands, and they
+instantly sprang to their feet and pointed their muskets at Mr.
+Thompson and his companions, as before. At this point, the peace-making
+Puaha[158] stepped forward with his Testament in his hand and said,
+"Don't fight, don't fight! This book says it is sinful to fight. The
+land has been made good by the preaching of the missionaries. Don't
+make it bad again." In this way he strove to reason with Mr. Thompson,
+but the latter in his frenzy and rage pushed the native aside, and
+angrily called out for Rangihaeata to come forward. That chief, on
+hearing his name, came from behind the bushes which concealed him,
+and, leaping into the midst of the throng, began to brandish his
+hatchet in dangerous proximity to the magistrate's head, meanwhile
+upbraiding him in a most violent manner. "What do you want with
+Rangihaeata that you come here to bind him? Do I go to Port Jackson or
+to Europe to steal your lands? Have I burned your house? Have I
+destroyed tents or anything belonging to you?" Such were the pertinent
+inquiries made by the angry chief; and, as it was quite evident from
+his flashing eyes and bitter tones that he was in no mood to be
+trifled with, Mr. Patchett appealed to the chief surveyor to
+interfere, "otherwise," he said, "we shall all be murdered."
+Rauparaha, seeing that his companion's manner was not likely to
+improve matters, ordered him to retire and leave the settlement of the
+matter to Puaha and himself, at the same time leading Rangihaeata's
+lame wife, Te Rongo, to him, so that she might be under his
+protection. Mr. Tuckett then seized the opportunity of pointing out to
+Captain Wakefield that, in the event of Rangihaeata's temper getting
+the better of him, they would be completely at the mercy of the
+natives, seeing that their retreat had been cut off by the removal of
+the canoe. After a brief consultation with Puaha, they agreed that it
+would be wiser to restore the means of communication between
+themselves and their party on the other side of the stream. Captain
+Wakefield, taking the initiative, jumped into the canoe, and with the
+aid of a pole shoved the bow down the stream until he found a
+convenient landing-place on the other side. While this movement was in
+progress, Mr. Thompson[159] had made another attempt to place the
+handcuffs upon Rauparaha's wrists. Just at that moment, when the chief
+had indignantly wrested his hand from the magistrate's grasp, and was
+bitterly protesting against the conduct of the Queen's officers,
+Captain Wakefield stepped on to the opposite bank of the creek, and,
+noticing a threatening movement towards Mr. Thompson on the part of
+the natives, in a loud voice gave the command, "Men, forward;
+Englishmen, forward!" The company at once obeyed, and four of the men
+who were in the front, Morgan, Clanzey, Ratcliffe and Tyrrell, jumped
+into the canoe for the purpose of crossing over to assist Mr.
+Thompson. Almost simultaneously the latter turned and entered the
+canoe at the other end, with the result that she was nearly capsized.
+A momentary confusion ensued, during which one of the Englishmen, in
+striving to get in front of his companions on the bank, tripped and
+fell, and in the fall his gun was accidentally discharged. That was
+the fatal crisis, for it turned what had hitherto been only stirring
+drama into fearful tragedy.
+
+The natives had now no doubt that the Europeans had come to fight, and
+Te Rauparaha, believing death to be imminent, turned, and, stretching
+his arms heavenward, exclaimed, "_Hei kona e te ra, hei kona e te ao
+marama--haere mai e te po, haere mai e te mate_" (Farewell, O sun,
+farewell, thou world of light; come on, O night, come on, O death).
+This was a cry which a chief would only utter in a situation of
+deepest stress, and no Maori loyal to his leader would refuse to obey
+the call, even though it should cost him his life. The natives
+therefore briskly returned the fire, the first volley being fatal to
+Tyrrell, who was shot in the throat. Clanzey and Ratcliffe were also
+shot by the first discharge of musketry, and their bodies fell into
+the water and sank to the bottom. The Englishmen returned volley for
+volley, and, in the midst of the general fusilade, Mr. Thompson and
+his party passed safely over in the canoe. Mr. Tuckett was the last to
+leave the bank on which the natives were, which he did by entering the
+stream, and, with one hand on the canoe, pulling himself through the
+water. At this stage of the fight the natives might easily have killed
+every one of the leading Europeans; for, when the latter started to
+cross the stream, the muzzles of the native guns were no more than a
+few yards away from them. The fact that they were not shot must have
+been due to some chivalrous sentiment on the part of the natives, who,
+seeing them unarmed, honourably abstained from attacking them. For
+some ten minutes after crossing the creek, Mr. Tuckett stood no more
+than twenty yards away, fully exposed to the fire that was being kept
+up by the natives and fourteen or fifteen of the European rank and
+file. Beside him stood Messrs. Barnicoat, Cotterell, Richardson,
+Patchett, and Maling. The two latter were shot almost at the same
+moment. Mr. Richardson bent over Mr. Patchett and inquired if he was
+hurt, to which he replied, "I am mortally wounded--I am mortally
+wounded; you can do no good for me; make your escape."
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by W. Macey._
+ MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU.]
+
+The bullets now began to rain down upon them thick and fast. As
+several of the labourers had fallen in the vicinity, including
+Northam, Smith, and Burton, Mr. Tuckett and his friends retired to the
+foot of the ridge, whither the other officers had gone with a portion
+of the men to consult as to the best course to pursue. They decided to
+retreat up the hill, and called to Mr. Tuckett and the rest of the
+party to follow them. This act of mistaken generalship cost them dear,
+for up to that time their fire had kept the natives penned up on the
+other side of the stream. But the moment they observed the Europeans
+falling back, they dashed into the water, and, carrying their guns
+above their heads to keep them dry, crossed over and took possession
+of the trees which grew on the opposite edge. Secure within this
+cover, they opened a galling fire upon the Europeans, who were now
+hopelessly exposed upon the face of the fern-clad hill.
+
+Mr. Thompson did his utmost to steady the party by exclaiming, "For
+God's sake, men, keep together!" But his appeals were for the most
+part disregarded, not more than a third of the men remaining with
+their leaders, the rest retreating up the ridge and firing haphazard
+as they went. Captain Wakefield's attempts to instil something like
+discipline into the men were likewise frustrated by some panic-stricken
+individual rushing up and shouting out, "Run for your lives, lads,
+run!"--an injunction which they were not slow to obey. In an instant
+all semblance of organisation had disappeared. Time after time a few
+men were got together, but the majority were always utterly beyond
+control. On the last partial rally Captain Wakefield and Warrant
+Officer Howard ordered the men to fix bayonets and charge the natives;
+but on one of the men (Richard Painter), who had been in the
+artillery, pointing out that there was no one visible to charge at,
+the idea was abandoned. The natives were still maintaining a steady
+fire, and a protest on the part of the artilleryman, who declined to
+remain where he was "and be shot down like a crow," led to a further
+retreat up the hill-side. On the second brow of the hill they met Mr.
+Cotterell, who was sitting down with a double-barrelled gun at his
+side. At the commencement of the quarrel he had been unarmed, but he
+had now seized this weapon in self-defence. He appeared deeply
+distressed at what had occurred, and expressed his intention of
+quitting the scene; but he was dissuaded from this course by Captain
+Wakefield, who, addressing him in most earnest tones, said, "For God's
+sake, Mr. Cotterell, don't attempt to run away; you are sure to be
+shot if you do." Mr. Cotterell therefore remained with the party, only
+remarking to Painter, one of his own men, "This is bad work, Dick."
+
+Being now out of range of the native fire, a council of war was held
+of such of the party as could be got together, and finally it was
+decided that Captain England and Mr. Howard should bear a flag of
+truce to the natives, and endeavour to settle the dispute by
+negotiation. A white handkerchief was accordingly fixed on a stick,
+and, with this fluttering in the breeze, the two officers started
+towards the wood. As an indication of their sincerity in desiring to
+relinquish fighting, Captain Wakefield ordered all those who were with
+him to lay their arms on the ground, and the natives, seeming fully to
+appreciate the nature of the advances that were being made to them,
+ceased firing, and a number of them left their muskets behind the
+trees and came out to meet the bearers of the flag. Captain England
+and his comrade had almost reached the wood, when some of the
+Englishmen who had halted much higher up the hill than Captain
+Wakefield, seeing the Maoris emerging from the bush, commenced to fire
+upon them, notwithstanding that they had seen the flag of truce, as
+well as their companions laying down their arms. Regarding this as a
+dastardly act of treachery, the Maoris beat a hasty retreat into the
+bush, and reopened a rapid fire upon the Englishmen, whereupon Captain
+England and Mr. Howard ran back to the hill, and reached the spot from
+which they had started, uninjured by the native bullets.
+
+This attempt at conciliation having failed through the folly of their
+own people, the magistrate and Captain Wakefield decided to go further
+up the hill and meet those who were in advance of them, to induce
+them, if possible, to act in concert with the rest. In this they were
+no more successful than before, for no sooner did the one section
+begin to advance than the other began to retreat. Seeing that this
+must go on indefinitely, Mr. Tuckett endeavoured to persuade Captain
+Wakefield that their best hope of reaching the beach and getting back
+to the brig was to abandon the ridge which they were climbing, and
+strike down into the plain. Although this advice was twice pressed on
+Wakefield, he took no notice of it, and Mr. Tuckett thereupon, calling
+to Mr. Barnicoat and a labourer named Gay to follow him, descended in
+an oblique direction on to the plain below. For a moment Mr. Cotterell
+hesitated which course to take, but finally decided to go up the spur
+with the rest, and this decision cost him his life. When Captain
+Wakefield and his party began their last retreat, most of them left
+their muskets lying on the brow of the hill, and were therefore quite
+defenceless; but the Maoris kept up a running fire as they gradually
+crept up the side of the range. As they approached the summit of the
+first knoll, Mr. Cotterell stopped and surrendered himself when the
+natives reached him, calling out, "Enough, enough! that will do the
+fight," in the hope of assuring them that the Europeans wanted peace.
+But he was immediately struck down and his body thrown into a manuka
+bush. Captain Wakefield followed his example by surrendering a few
+minutes later, as did also Captain England, Messrs. Richardson,
+Howard, Brooks, Cropper, McGregor, and the magistrate. A few of the
+younger natives were in the van of the pursuit, and these held the
+prisoners in hand until the arrival of Rauparaha, whom they had
+outstripped. At first gold was offered as ransom, and it seemed as if
+the feud would end without more bloodshed, for the chief had accepted
+the assurances of Captain Wakefield that the shooting had been a
+mistake, and had shaken hands with them all. But Rangihaeata, who had
+killed the wounded as he found them lying on the hillside, panting
+with haste and anger, rushed up and called out to Rauparaha, "What are
+you doing? Your daughter Te Rongo[160] is dead. What are you doing, I
+say?"
+
+Scorning the acceptance of gold, he then fiercely demanded the lives
+of the principal Europeans as the only _utu_ that would compensate him
+for the loss of his wife, exclaiming in impassioned tones, "We are
+sure to be killed for this some day. The white people will take _utu_;
+let us then have some better blood than that of these _tutua_ (common
+men). We are chiefs; let us kill the chiefs, and take _utu_ for
+ourselves beforehand." To this Rauparaha was at first reluctant to
+agree, and his objections were well supported by Puaha and the other
+Christian natives; but he felt that, in view of Te Ronga's death, the
+demand was a reasonable one, and he at length yielded to the powerful
+appeal of his lieutenant, and delivered the unfortunate colonists over
+to their fate.
+
+At this juncture Mr. Thompson seemed, for the first time, to be
+apprehensive of serious consequences attending his conduct, and he
+implored Rauparaha to save their lives. But that chief haughtily
+answered, "Did I not warn you how it would be? A little while ago I
+wished to talk with you in a friendly manner, and you would not; now
+you say 'Save me.' I will not save you." The whole party then retired
+a little lower down the hill, and there the massacre commenced.
+Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were killed by Te Oru,[161] a son
+of Te Ahuta, the first native who fell in the fight, as a retribution
+for the death of his father. Brooks, the interpreter, was struck down
+by Rangihaeata and despatched by the slaves, which would account for
+the mangled condition in which his body was found by the burial party
+from Port Underwood. The rest of the slaughter, according to native
+accounts, was conducted mainly by Rangihaeata. His method of procedure
+was to glide silently behind the victims while they were standing
+amongst the crowd of natives and brain them with a single blow of his
+tomahawk. The peculiar part of the tragedy was that none of the
+Englishmen, except Captain Wakefield, made the slightest resistance,
+and even he was checked by Mr. Howard exclaiming, "For God's sake,
+sir, do nothing rash!" Perhaps their ignorance of the native language
+prevented them from understanding all that was passing around them
+until they received the fatal blow. But there was no struggle, no
+cries, except from the native women, led by Puaha's wife, who pleaded
+with the men to "save some of the _rangatiras_, if only to say they
+had saved some." No Englishman who survived actually saw the massacre,
+and therefore it is impossible to describe the exact method of its
+execution; but the colonists to all appearances met their fate with
+the greatest equanimity. George Bampton, who had concealed himself
+amongst the fern only a few yards from the spot where the tragedy was
+enacted, in giving evidence at Nelson a few days after the event,
+deposed that "he heard neither cries nor screaming, but merely the
+sound of beating or chopping, which he supposed at the time to be
+natives tomahawking the white people."
+
+In accordance with Rauparaha's express orders, none of the dead bodies
+were mutilated or stripped, although Captain Wakefield's watch was
+taken by Rangihaeata and buried with Te Rongo, while one native
+furnished himself with a pair of white gloves and another with a pair
+of silver-mounted pistols. After burying their own dead in the Waitohi
+Valley, the two chiefs, with their followers, came down to the mouth
+of the Wairau River, bringing with them their own canoes and the
+whaleboat which had been taken up by Mr. Cotterell and his men. In
+these they went first to Robin Hood Bay, and then to Te Awaiti, in
+Tory Channel, where they remained a few days, finally crossing the
+Strait to Mana and Otaki, there to await developments.
+
+Shortly after the skirmishing began, a Sydney merchant named Ferguson,
+who had been a passenger in the brig to Nelson, and had accompanied
+her to the Wairau under the impression that he would have a pleasant
+outing, had taken one of the wounded men, Gapper, down to the river
+where the boats had been left that morning, and, with him and the
+boatman who had been stationed in charge, had paddled down the river
+to the bar, and reached the brig that afternoon. A number of the men
+had also gone down the Waitohi Valley, which was then densely bushed,
+and by this means had evaded pursuit until they could return to Nelson
+by the overland route. Others, again, who had broken away from the
+main body had made for the sea, so that before Mr. Tuckett and his two
+companions had proceeded very far they were joined by eight of the
+original party, one of whom, John Bumforth, was badly wounded in the
+shoulder. Mr. Tuckett first proposed that they should divide into two
+parties, the one to proceed to the bar and the other to the vicinity
+of Port Underwood, thinking that by this means the chances of some of
+them reaching the brig would be increased. But the men stoutly refused
+to separate, and the chief surveyor then decided to proceed to the
+corner of Cloudy Bay nearest the port, where luckily they found one of
+Mr. Dougherty's fully equipped whaleboats riding in the bay a few
+chains off. They hailed the boatmen, and explained that they wished to
+be taken to the brig, which was anchored some seven or eight miles
+away; but owing to the heavy swell that was rolling into the bay at
+the time, and the large number of the party, there was the greatest
+difficulty in persuading the whalers to comply with the request. Even
+after the danger of embarking had been overcome, the headsman had
+almost made up his mind not to risk the voyage to the brig, but to
+land the party at Port Underwood. But fortune still favoured the
+fugitives, for at this moment another boat's crew, who had been
+watching their movements, imagining that they had sighted a whale,
+came out in pursuit, and the two boats raced for the brig, which was
+almost reached before the pursuing crew discovered the true position
+of affairs. Up to this point the whalers had not been informed why Mr.
+Tuckett and his friends desired to get on board the brig, but they
+were now told that a _fracas_ had occurred between the Europeans and
+the natives, that the leaders of the party were Rauparaha's prisoners;
+and a promise (that was never fulfilled) was extracted from the
+boatmen that they would convey the intelligence to the other settlers
+at the port, and prepare them to act as they might think best under
+the circumstances. The captain of the brig then sent his boats to
+search the shore, in the hope that other fugitives might have reached
+the beach; but no one was seen, and no unusual circumstance was noted
+except the burning of a large fire at the mouth of the river, which
+had been lit for some purpose by the natives. The brig then weighed
+anchor and sailed for Wellington, the captain, whose inclination was
+to enter Port Underwood, adopting this course at the earnest
+solicitation of Mr. Tuckett, who believed that, if assistance was
+necessary, it could be more easily obtained from the larger centre of
+population.
+
+When the news of what had happened spread through the infant
+settlement early next morning, the excitement ran wild and high, and
+the settlers, believing that at the worst Captain Wakefield and his
+friends were only prisoners in the hands of the natives, immediately
+organised a band of volunteers to effect their forcible rescue. Their
+departure was, however, delayed by a gale, which had the effect of
+making most of the volunteers seasick; and, by the time the storm had
+abated, wiser counsels prevailed, and it was decided that only a
+quorum of magistrates and Dr. Dorset, the surgeon of the settlement,
+should proceed to the scene, the impression having gained ground that
+intercession was more likely to prevail with the Maoris than the
+presence of an armed force. The brig left Wellington for Cloudy Bay
+that night, and it was when she arrived at Port Underwood that Colonel
+Wakefield and Mr. Tuckett learned for the first time the appalling
+nature of the tragedy which had been enacted. They also learned that
+the natives, both resident and visiting, had hurriedly left the
+Wairau, believing that retaliatory measures would speedily be taken
+against them.
+
+Altogether about twenty-seven of the arresting party had managed to
+elude the pursuit of Rangihaeata's warriors. After undergoing intense
+privations, some wandered back to Nelson, but most of them went to
+Port Underwood, a few suffering from wounds, and all from protracted
+hunger and exposure. The first to arrive were Morgan and Morrison, who
+reached Ocean Bay with their trousers worn to their knees, and they
+were shortly followed by others who were in no better plight. Their
+wants and wounds were attended to by Mrs. Dougherty, who ministered to
+them with the kindest of care, and it was by these few survivors that
+the whalers were first apprised of the catastrophe. The Rev. Mr.
+Ironside had heard vague rumours about impending trouble between the
+chiefs and the Government; but, as he had not seen the arrival of the
+brig, he paid no heed to them until the following Sunday, when, in the
+midst of a heavy rain-storm, he noticed a Maori swiftly paddling his
+canoe up the bay. Knowing that a native would only be out on such a
+day under exceptional circumstances, Mr. Ironside sent one of his
+mission-boys to inquire. The boy did not return, which only increased
+the anxiety, and later on, when a few particulars did reach the
+station, they were only sufficient to indicate that a collision had
+taken place, without any details. That night the missionary and his
+wife retired to rest a prey to harrowing suspense.
+
+Next morning the storm had increased to a perfect hurricane, and as it
+was impossible to launch a boat, they could do nothing but wait. By
+Tuesday the weather had moderated, and a boat's crew of whalers took
+Mr. Ironside down to Ocean Bay, where the two chiefs and their
+exultant followers had arrived. From them the whole story was gleaned,
+and by them the tragedy was justified; "for," said Te Rangihaeata,
+"they killed my wife, Te Rongo, and they did not punish the murderer
+of Kuika."[162]
+
+Mr. Ironside at once asked permission to go and bury the dead,
+whereupon the fiery Rangihaeata ejaculated, "What do you want to go
+for? Better leave them to the wild pigs. But you can go if you like."
+Still the gale was too severe to admit of venturing across the twelve
+miles of open sea; but so anxious had they all become, that next
+morning a start was once more made from Ngakuta, and at the imminent
+risk of their lives the brave crew pulled their boat across the stormy
+bar into the river. On arriving at Tua Marina, Mr. Ironside and his
+party found that all the bodies had been left as Rauparaha had
+directed--unmutilated. The watch of Captain Wakefield was gone, one of
+the pistols, which he had evidently attempted to fire, had been laid
+across his throat in compliance with Maori custom, and a piece of
+"damper," in savage derision, had been placed under his head. The body
+of Brooks, the interpreter, was found to be in the most mangled
+condition, the others apparently only having received the one final
+and decisive blow, when they were struck down by the enraged
+Rangihaeata. Five bodies were discovered in the bush close to the
+creek, and were there interred with the benefits of Christian burial,
+while those who were slain on the brow of the hill, thirteen in
+number, were buried close by with similar rites. This fatiguing work
+had been almost completed by the devoted missionary and his band of
+native helpers when Colonel Wakefield, with the party from the brig,
+arrived to assist. On an extended search being made by the combined
+parties, one more body was found at the point where the road turns
+into the Waitohi Valley, and it was buried where it lay. Probably it
+was that of Isaac Smith, who had either sought to escape after being
+mortally wounded, and had died in the attempt, or had been overtaken
+in his flight and killed where he was found. Mr. Patchett was buried
+in a single grave on the spot where he fell, and Tyrrell and Northam
+were interred together close beside him.
+
+In recognition of the kindly and humane service rendered by Mr.
+Ironside during this critical and anxious period, the Nelson settlers
+presented him with a testimonial in the shape of a handsome edition of
+the Bible, bound in three volumes. The gift was gracefully
+acknowledged by the reverend gentleman in a letter to Mr. Domett,
+dated from Wellington on February 20, 1845.
+
+Upon the return of the party to Port Underwood, Messrs. Spain and
+McDonough (the magistrate at Wellington) set about collecting, with
+all possible speed, all available information concerning the disaster
+from those of both races who had been present, and who had now arrived
+at the settlement. Amongst those whose depositions were taken were two
+Maori boys, who had both been wounded, and were being taken care of by
+female relatives. Their story was a general corroboration of the Maori
+version, and they were both unanimous in declaring that, when the
+Europeans were overtaken on the brow of the hill, Puaha, who was one
+of the first to reach them, offered them his hand and did all in his
+power to obviate further bloodshed by pointing out that he had counted
+the slain, and, as both sides had exactly the same number shot, there
+was no need for further _utu_. In this view Rauparaha at first
+concurred, but he finally gave way before the vehement protestations
+of Rangihaeata, who reminded him in violent tones of his duty to his
+dead relative, Te Rongo. He had then allowed his enraged lieutenant to
+work his wicked will, which Puaha and his people, being unarmed, were
+powerless to prevent. At the conclusion of his inquiry, Mr. Spain left
+for Wellington, taking the wounded with him; and those of the
+survivors who had escaped uninjured proceeded back to Nelson, some in
+the boats and some overland. Before leaving the port Mr. Tuckett was
+authorised by Colonel Wakefield to act as agent for the settlement
+until the pleasure of the New Zealand Company should be known. His
+journey home was rather an adventurous one, as he had a very narrow
+escape of being intercepted by the natives when sailing through the
+French Pass. Some of his companions who were venturesome enough to
+call in at Tory Channel, were detained there for a week by the
+natives, but were ultimately permitted to take their departure
+unharmed.
+
+The body of Mr. Maling, the chief constable, had not been found when
+Mr. Ironside made his first search upon the scene of the massacre, a
+fact which created no surprise at the time, for it was thought
+probable that he had succeeded in making good his escape into the
+bush. But, as he had not arrived at any of the settlements, the
+missionary again returned to Tua Marina for the dual purpose of making
+an extended search and of protecting the graves already made from
+desecration by the wild pigs, with which the valley was at that time
+thickly stocked. He was successful in finding two bodies floating in
+the stream, being the remains of Clanzey and Ratcliffe, who had been
+shot while crossing in the canoe. These were reverently interred on
+the banks of the creek near where Mr. Patchett had been laid. The last
+resting-place of these men bears no mark to distinguish it from the
+surrounding landscape, but a plain though substantial monument has
+been raised over the spot where Captain Wakefield and his companions
+fell; while a memorial church, built by the Wakefield family, stands
+prominently upon the point of the hill, and solemnly presides over the
+whole scene.
+
+It would be difficult to describe the intense excitement which
+agitated the whole colony as the tidings of the massacre flew from
+settlement to settlement; and in the white heat of their anger the
+settlers were guilty of saying and doing many rash and intemperate
+things. Few of them had made themselves conversant with the whole
+facts of the case, and fewer still stayed to reason out the natural
+actions of men under the circumstances. All that they knew, and all
+that they cared to know, was that their countrymen had been, as a
+Nelson settler forcibly expressed it, "brutally butchered by a parcel
+of miscreant savages, ten thousand of whose useless lives would have
+all too cheaply purchased their survival, let the cant of
+ultra-philanthropists say what it will." But this fierce indignation
+was not participated in by the Europeans alone. Flying from the scene
+of the tragedy, Te Rauparaha arrived with his retainers at Waikanae,
+cold and wet with the sea spray which had swept over him on the
+passage across the Strait. He immediately assembled the Ngati-Awa
+people and told them the tale of the massacre, holding their attention
+by the graphic nature of his narrative. At first his listeners were
+unsympathetic, but he appealed to their sympathies by feigning
+physical distress. Bent in body and trembling in voice, he appeared to
+speak with difficulty, and used a hacking cough with some effect to
+melt their sternness. But his most telling point was made when,
+advancing a few steps, he held up his shaking hands and dramatically
+exclaimed, "Why should they seek to fetter me? I am old and weak; I
+must soon pass away. What could they gain by enslaving me? by
+fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not what they
+seek. It is because through my person they hope to dishonour you. If
+they can enslave me they think they can degrade the whole Maori race."
+
+This was the dart that struck deep into Maori pride, and wounded their
+sense of honour. Instantly the tribe rose responsive to the
+suggestion, and weapons were gripped, eyes flashed, and the spirit of
+war surged in every breast. Missionary Hadfield was present, and saw
+the sway wielded by the old chief's oratory. He saw, too, how critical
+was the position, and gladly availed himself of the timely suggestion
+made by one of the missionary natives to ring the bell for evening
+prayers, and thus bring back the warriors' thoughts to a more peaceful
+frame. Next morning Te Rauparaha journeyed to Otaki, and there
+harangued the fighting men of Ngati-Toa. Here there was no need to
+adopt the arts of the stage. His auditors were his own followers, many
+of whom had been with him since childhood. They knew him and trusted
+him, and with them his word was law. He therefore threw off the guise
+of broken manhood, of fettered limbs, of tottering steps, and stood
+before them the bold and imperious chief that he was. His words
+ringing with the timbre of commanding confidence, were direct and to
+the purpose. "Now is the time to strike. You see what the smooth
+speech of the _pakeha_ is worth; you know now what they mean in their
+hearts. You know now that tyranny and injustice is all that you can
+expect at their hands. Come then and sweep them from the land which
+they have sought to bedew with our blood."
+
+In these warlike counsels he was ably seconded by Te Rangihaeata, who,
+reasoning as a Maori would reason, had always strongly held the view
+that, as the white men would be certain to seek satisfaction for the
+massacre, their duty was to get what _utu_ they could while the
+opportunity to do so was theirs. He therefore joined with his chief in
+urging an immediate march upon Wellington, in order by one swift
+stroke to obliterate the _pakeha_ and his settlements. These
+sanguinary proposals were not preached to unwilling ears, for it was
+but natural that the Maori should judge the settlers by their leaders,
+the representatives of the New Zealand Company, whose bad faith now
+appeared so audaciously transparent. But there was one chief who was
+proof against the hysteria of blood which had seized the tribes. Side
+by side with Hadfield he stood like a rock above the billows of hate
+which surged around him, and by his calm and stedfast loyalty broke
+the fury of the storm. This was Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake, the
+Ngati-Awa chief of Waitara. His resolute opposition to Te Rauparaha's
+plans was an obstacle which that chief could not overcome. He carried
+his own people with him, while Hadfield soothed the Ngati-Raukawa into
+neutrality. Without Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Toa was not
+equal to a task which with their united forces would have been a
+simple matter. That the Maoris had the power at this time to drive
+the colonists into the sea, had they chosen to exercise it, has been
+freely admitted by the settlers themselves,[163] so that the service
+which Wiremu and the good missionary Hadfield rendered to the Colony
+at this juncture can only be estimated at the value of the infant
+settlement itself. And, with regret be it said, Wellington is even now
+destitute of any monument to which the passing generations might point
+as a public recognition of the fact that these two men once stood
+between it and extermination.
+
+Before Te Rauparaha was able to extend his projects for avenging his
+wrongs beyond his own immediate sphere of influence, he was visited by
+Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the aborigines, who gave him
+his most solemn pledge that the Government would not attack him
+without first hearing his side of the question, and begged him to try
+and keep the natives quiet until the case could be investigated.
+Following close upon Mr. Clarke came Mr. Spain, deputed by the
+magistrates at Wellington, and empowered to speak as one in
+authority.[164] He strove to assure the natives that they were
+mistaken if they imagined that the Europeans would wage war against
+them indiscriminately by way of retaliation for the death of Captain
+Wakefield and his comrades. The question of punishment rested solely
+with the Governor, and, until he could decide who should be punished
+and what the punishment should be, there would be no act of aggression
+against the natives.
+
+"Your words are very good, but who can tell what will be the words of
+the Governor?" was the comment of one of the chiefs upon these
+assurances. To this Spain could only reply by pointing to their past
+intercourse, and asking if during their long acquaintance they had
+ever known him to deceive them. Fortunately, his record stood him in
+good stead, and the chief agreed that he for one would help to protect
+the Europeans. While this discussion was proceeding, Rauparaha had
+joined the assembly, and at this point he rose and delivered what Mr.
+Spain considered "a most powerful speech." He traversed anew the
+events which had led up to the _fracas_, and vehemently asked,
+"Is this the justice which the Queen of England promised to the Maori?
+You are not satisfied with having taken all our land from us, but you
+send a Queen's ship headed by a Queen's officer to fire upon us and
+kill us." Spain endeavoured to expound to the angry chief the niceties
+of British law, under which a warrant to arrest did not necessarily
+imply established guilt; had he surrendered he would probably have
+been admitted to bail until the day of the trial, and, so far from the
+Queen and the Governor being to blame for the conduct of the
+magistrate, they had never heard of the warrant. On Spain expressing
+his abhorrence of the killing of the captives, Te Rauparaha admitted
+the error of the step, which he palliated as due to their own custom
+and Rangihaeata's grief at the death of his wife. He then proceeded to
+question Spain with an acumen which astonished the lawyer, and forced
+him to form a very high estimate of the chief's intellectual capacity;
+for his examination was as keen "as if I had undergone that ordeal in
+Westminster Hall at the hands of a member of the English Bar." What Te
+Rauparaha wished to guard against was treachery. He wanted everything
+open to the light of day, and the conference ended by his saying to
+Spain, "If the Governor should decide upon sending soldiers to take
+me and Rangihaeata, let us know when they arrive, because you need not
+take the trouble to send up here for us. If you only send word I will
+come down to Port Nicholson with a thousand Maoris and fight with the
+_pakehas_. If they beat us, they shall have New Zealand, and we will
+be their slaves, but if we beat them, they must stand clear."
+
+Mr. Spain next proceeded to Otaki. There he was told that the natives
+intended to stand loyally by their chiefs, and that any attempt to
+seize them would lead to immediate reprisals. Following closely upon
+Mr. Spain's departure, Mr. Jerningham Wakefield reached Otaki. He came
+from the north, and, as he drifted down the Whanganui River, he
+received the first tidings of the death of his uncle. It was difficult
+at first to give credence to the nebulous rumours which reached him;
+but the constant reiteration of the same story about a fight with the
+_pakehas_ and the death of "Wideawake" gradually compelled
+attention, and ultimately received confirmation at the white
+settlement then known as Petre.[165] Here Wakefield was the recipient
+of a message from Te Rauparaha, demanding to know whether he was for
+peace or for war, and preferring a request that "Tiraweke" would come
+to Otaki to _korero_ with him. In the meantime he had sent his
+canoes to Manawatu, and was preparing for his retreat into the
+interior should he be attacked. Wakefield left Petre, and at the end
+of the first day he was met at Rangitikei by the old Ngati-Raukawa
+chief Te Ahu karamu,[166] who had gone thither with an armed party to
+conduct his friend safely through the disturbed district. On reaching
+Otaki, Wakefield went to Rangi-ura _pa_, the principal settlement,
+where the Maoris placed only one interpretation upon his
+coming--vengeance upon Te Rauparaha for the death of his uncle.
+
+For two days Wakefield rested at Otaki, but saw nothing of the chiefs.
+Rangihaeata was reported to be some distance in the interior, building
+a strong _pa_, where it was understood that the chiefs had
+determined to make a stand should the authorities seek to pursue them.
+Te Rauparaha was at the Pakakutu _pa_ at the mouth of the river,
+endeavouring to break down the influence of Mr. Hadfield and Wiremu
+Kingi. His efforts to consolidate his forces were various, as suited
+the circumstances. He sought to ingratiate himself into the good
+opinion of the missionary natives by appearing to become zealous in
+religious observances; on the feeling of others he played by a recital
+of his wrongs; and towards the European residents of Otaki he assumed
+an attitude of unconcealed hostility, and ordered their removal from
+the district. This step he deemed to be necessary, in order that he
+might be free to act unhampered by spies in the supposed impending
+campaign against the Queen's troops, and it was this mandate which
+brought the chief and Wakefield face to face.
+
+As a result of Rauparaha's prohibition, a _pakeha_ settler named
+White, who had been living under the patronage of Te Ahu karamu, found
+himself suddenly stopped at the Otaki River while in the act of
+driving some thirty head of cattle on to the land upon which his
+patron chief had invited him to settle. This high-handed action
+naturally aroused the anger of the Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who had
+hitherto assumed that they were masters of the territory which they
+had chosen to "sit upon" when the division of the conquered lands was
+made. Te Ahu was especially angered at what he regarded as an
+uncalled-for encroachment upon his prerogative as a chief. He
+therefore announced his determination to proceed to the Pakakutu
+_pa_ and demand from Te Rauparaha a complete renunciation of his
+views. Wakefield was invited to be present, and to his facile pen we
+are indebted for a graphic account of what followed. The _korero_ did
+not commence immediately upon the arrival of Te Ahu's party at the
+_pa_, and Wakefield employed the interval in the kindly office of
+helping to dress the wounded leg of a Maori, whom he has described as
+one "particularly gentle and dignified in his manners." While thus
+engaged, Te Rauparaha approached him, and, with evident signs of
+apprehension as to the propriety of his doing so, offered a friendly
+salutation. Wakefield coldly declined to grasp the hand which he
+naturally believed was imbrued in his uncle's blood; and Rauparaha,
+immediately acknowledging the delicacy of his position, muttered "It
+is good," and returned to his seat. The speech-making commenced by his
+entering upon a lengthy narrative of himself and his conquests, for
+the evident purpose of riveting in the minds of his hearers the fact
+that he was the brain and the heart of the tribe. His story was
+eloquently told, for not the least of his great natural endowments was
+the precious gift of the silver tongue. The tale of conquest ended, he
+was proceeding to refer to the incidents of the Wairau, when Wakefield
+rose and checked him. Naturally the latter was sensitive upon the
+point of prejudging so dreadful a tragedy, by listening to an
+_ex-parte_ statement of its facts, when he was fully persuaded that at
+no distant date he would hear the truth disclosed before an impartial
+tribunal. He therefore told Te Rauparaha that he would not remain if
+he proposed to discuss the affair of the Wairau, but begged him to
+confine his speech to a justification of his extreme and arbitrary
+desire to drive the Europeans away from Otaki.
+
+Te Rauparaha acknowledged the reasonableness of this request, but so
+anxious was he to excuse himself in the eyes of Wakefield, that his
+oration had not proceeded far before he reverted to the subject of the
+massacre. Thereupon Wakefield rose, and, walking to the stile at the
+outer fence, was in the act of stepping over it to proceed home, when
+a chorus of shouts called him back, and a promise was given that there
+would be no further reference to the Wairau. Te Rauparaha then
+earnestly addressed himself to the status of the _pakehas_ at Otaki,
+claiming the land as his alone. He admitted the validity of the sales
+of the Manawatu, Whanganui, and Taranaki, but not those of Otaki or
+Ohau, and insisted that the white people, whalers included,[167] must
+remove to those districts which the Company had fairly bought. He
+upbraided the Queen for sending her constables to tie his hands. "Who
+is she," he asked, "that she should send her books and her constables
+after me? What have I to do with her? She may be Queen over the white
+people; I am the King of the Maori! If she chooses to have war, let
+her send me word, and I will stand up against her soldiers. But I must
+have room; I must have no white people so near."[168]
+
+Challenged as to the inconsistency of these views with his action in
+signing the Treaty of Waitangi, he wheeled sharply round and
+exclaimed, "Yes; what of that? They gave me a blanket for it. I am
+still a chief, just the same. I am Rauparaha. Give me another blanket
+tomorrow and I will sign it again. What is there in writing?" The
+attitude of absolute authority assumed by the chief distinctly alarmed
+Wakefield, who saw in it the elements of unlimited trouble for the New
+Zealand Company. For if Te Rauparaha's claim to exclusive jurisdiction
+over the land was well founded, then verily many of their purchases
+had been brought to the brink of repudiation. Turning hastily to Te
+Ahu and several of the chiefs around him, he sought enlightenment on
+the point, reminding them that they had frequently laid claim to
+large possessions in the neighbourhood, but had never acknowledged Te
+Rauparaha as having the least right or interest in them. Then Te Ahu
+proceeded in a tone of apology and regret to elucidate one of the many
+intricate phases of Maori land tenure which were now beginning to
+prove so embarrassing to the Company. He explained that when the tribe
+burned their houses at Maungatautari and came down to assist Te
+Rauparaha in his conquest, they had selected Otaki out of the
+conquered lands to be their future home. In times of peace Rauparaha
+would have made no claim to the land, nor would his claim have been
+acknowledged if he had. In proof of this, he quoted the scorn with
+which Rangihaeata's assumptions over the Manawatu had been rejected by
+Ngati-Raukawa; but now that the war clouds were in the air, the
+_riri_, or anger, had completely altered the whole aspect of affairs;
+the land had reverted to him who had conquered it, and Ngati-Raukawa
+had no land which they could call their own. "And then he rose," says
+Wakefield, "and endeavoured to persuade Rauparaha to change his
+determination. He reminded him of the 'war parties which he had
+brought to him on his back to assist him against his enemies, through
+dangers and troubles more than he could count.' He related how 'he had
+burned the villages of the tribe at Taupo to make them come with him
+to be by the side of Rauparaha on the sea-coast.' He counted how many
+times he had adhered to him 'in his feuds with Ngati-Awa,' and
+described 'how much of the blood of Ngati-Raukawa had been spilt for
+his name.' Te Ahu had now warmed with his subject, and was running up
+and down, bounding and yelling at each turn, and beginning to foam at
+the mouth, as the natives do when they seek to speak impressively.
+'Let the cows go!' he cried. 'Let them go to my place!'
+
+"Rauparaha seemed to consider that Te Ahu's eloquence was becoming too
+powerful, and he jumped up too. They both continued to run up and down
+in short parallel lines, yelling at each other, with staring eyes and
+excited features, grimacing and foaming, shaking their hands and
+smacking their thighs. As they both spoke together, it became
+difficult to hear what they said, but I caught a sentence here and
+there, which gave me the sense of the argument. 'No!' cried Rauparaha;
+'no cows; I will not have them.' 'Let them go!' yelled Te Ahu. 'Yield
+me my cows and my white man--the cows will not kill you.' 'No cows, no
+white men! I am King! Never mind your war parties! No cows!' answered
+Te Rauparaha. 'The cows cannot take you,' persisted Te Ahu; 'when the
+soldiers come we will fight for you, but let my cows go.' 'No, no, no,
+indeed,' firmly replied the chief, and sat down.
+
+"Te Ahu remained standing. He took breath for a minute, then drew
+himself up to his full height, and addressed his own people in a
+solemn kind of recitative. 'Ngati-Raukawa,' he sang, 'arise! Arise, my
+sons and daughters, my elder brothers and my younger brothers, my
+sisters, my grand-children, arise! Stand up, the families of
+Ngati-Raukawa! To Taupo! to Taupo! to Maungatautari! To our old homes
+which we burned and deserted; arise and let us go! Carry the little
+children on your backs, as I carried you when I came to fight for this
+old man who has called us to fight for him and given us land to sit
+upon, but grudges us white people to be our friends and to give us
+trade. We have no white men or ships at Maungatautari, but the land is
+our own there. We need not beg to have a white man or cows yielded to
+us there if they should want to come. To Maungatautari. Arise, my
+sons, make up your packs, take your guns and your blankets, and let us
+go! It is enough, I have spoken.' As he sat down, a mournful silence
+prevailed. An important migration had been proposed by the chief,
+which no doubt would be agreed to by the greater part of the Otaki,
+Ohau, and Manawatu natives, on whom was Rauparaha's chief dependence
+for his defence.
+
+"I noticed that he winced when he first heard the purport of Te Ahu's
+song; but, while Te Ahu continued, his countenance gradually resumed
+its confidence. Much as I abhorred his character, I could not but
+yield my unbounded admiration to the imperious manner in which he
+overthrew the whole effect of Te Ahu's beautiful summons to his tribe.
+Instead of his usual doubting and suspicious manner, his every gesture
+became that of a noble chief. He rose with all the majesty of a
+monarch, and he spoke in the clearest and firmest tones, so that the
+change from his customary shuffling, cautious and snarling diction was
+of itself sufficient to command the earnest attention of his audience.
+'Go,' said he, 'go, all of you!--go, Ngati-Raukawa, to Maungatautari!
+Take your children on your backs and go, and leave my land without
+men. When you are gone, I will stay and fight the soldiers with my own
+hands. I do not beg you to stop. Rauparaha is not afraid! I began to
+fight when I was as high as my hip. All my days have been spent in
+fighting, and by fighting I have got my name. Since I seized by war
+all this land, from Taranaki to Port Nicholson, and from Blind Bay to
+Cloudy Bay beyond the water, I have been spoken of as a King. I am the
+King of all this land. I have lived a King, and I will die a King,
+with my _mere_ in my hand. Go; I am no beggar; Rauparaha will fight
+the soldiers of the Queen when they come, with his own hands and his
+own name. Go to Maungatautari.' Then, suddenly changing his strain, he
+looked on the assemblage of chiefs, bending down towards them with a
+paternal smile, and softening his voice to kindness and emotion. 'But
+what do I say?' said he; 'what is my talk about? You are children! It
+is not for you to talk. You talk of going here and doing that. Can one
+of you talk when I am here? No! I shall rise and speak for you all,
+and you shall sit dumb, for you are all my children, and Rauparaha is
+your head chief and patriarch.'"
+
+This fearless rejection of Ngati-Raukawa assistance, culminating in an
+arrogant assumption of absolute authority over their movements,
+completely won him his point, and one of the highest chiefs said to
+Wakefield, "It is true, Tiraweke! He is our father and our
+_Ariki_. Rauparaha is the King of the Maori, like your Queen over the
+white people." The others, full of conscious dignity in being
+followers of such a leader, acknowledged his authority by bowing a
+silent assent. Rauparaha remained inflexible in refusing to permit the
+cattle to enter the district, but, in deference to the urgent
+persuasions of the chiefs, he subsequently relaxed his prohibition
+against the white men already settled in the district, but stoutly
+refused to sanction the coming of any more.
+
+But this effort of Te Rauparaha to consolidate his forces was in no
+sense the full range of his preparations. To augment his fighting
+strength was as much his policy as to unite those who already
+acknowledged allegiance to him. And this he sought to do in a quarter
+which, in view of past events, he would have been least expected to
+approach, and where his advances, once made, would have been least
+likely to touch a responsive chord. His scheme involved no less a
+delicate task than salving the wounds of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, and
+negotiating a friendly alliance with the men whose _mana_ he had
+so rudely trampled in the dust at Kaikoura and Kaiapoi. To this end he
+collected a number of the most influential prisoners whom he had taken
+at the latter place, and, bidding them go back to their tribe, charged
+them to use their utmost endeavour to promote a good feeling towards
+him amongst their people. This unexpected act of clemency--or apparent
+clemency--which restored to them their much esteemed chief Momo, their
+great warrior Iwikau, and others equally noted in their history, went
+far to soothe the injured pride of Ngai-Tahu, who, after much serious
+debate, decided to forget the past, make peace, and accede to the new
+proposals. As an earnest of their acceptance of Rauparaha's terms,
+Taiaroa at once paid a visit to Kapiti, and, as he professed to be
+aggrieved at the manner in which some land transactions had been
+conducted in the south, there is little doubt that, had an attack upon
+Wellington been contemplated, he and his people would have combined
+with their former enemies to effect the annihilation of the
+colonists.[169]
+
+A fearful uncertainty thus continued to agitate the breasts of the
+settlers; and when H.M. ship of war, _North Star_ arrived in
+Wellington on 31st August, as the result of a memorial sent by the
+settlers to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, she was
+received with a salute of guns and a display of bunting, which
+indicated a belief that the day of retribution was at hand. It was
+not, however, for four days that her commander, Sir Everard Home, was
+able to enter into communication with Major Richmond, the principal
+officer of the Government in Cook Strait. By him he was assured that
+"he had received various reports of meditated attacks upon Wellington
+by the natives under Te Rauparaha; that the chief was at a _pa_
+not more than fourteen miles away, with between five hundred and a
+thousand of his fighting men; that Taiaroa, the chief from the Middle
+Island, had joined Te Rauparaha, and, having been an ancient enemy to
+him, had made peace; that the _pa_ at Porirua was fortified, and
+every preparation made for an attack on the town of Wellington." To
+this Sir Everard, having regard to his explicit instructions not to
+intervene unless the natives and the whites were at actual war,
+replied that, in his judgment, the circumstances did not warrant his
+interference, but that he would keep his ship in the harbour as a
+salutary check upon Maori aggression. In the meantime he penned the
+following letter to Te Rauparaha:--
+
+ "FRIEND RAUPARAHA,--It has come to my knowledge that you are
+ collecting the tribes round you, because you expect that I am going
+ to attack you. Those who told you so said that which is not true.
+ It was to keep the peace and not to make war that I came here.
+ You know that where many men are met together, and continue without
+ employment, they will find something evil to do. They had best go
+ home."
+
+Sir Everard Home, having satisfied himself that no immediate crisis
+was likely to arise at Wellington, unless it was precipitated by the
+settlers themselves, was constrained by reports of seething discontent
+at Nelson to visit the settlements in Blind Bay. But, before
+proceeding thither, he decided to call in at the island of Mana, and
+there personally discuss the situation with Te Rauparaha himself.
+Accompanied by Major Richmond and Captain Best, he left Wellington
+Harbour on the morning of October 5th, and anchored the _North
+Star_ under the lee of Mana that afternoon.
+
+ "As soon as the ship anchored," says Sir Everard in his official
+ report, "I landed, attended by Major Richmond and Captain Best,
+ who commanded the detachment on board the _North Star_. We
+ first went to the whaling station, or great _pa_, where we found Mr.
+ Chetham (clerk of the Court), who had been sent to join us. We
+ also soon after met Mr. Clarke. He informed us that Te Rauparaha
+ had left that morning at daylight for Waikanae, which must have
+ been a voluntary movement, as no person knew our intention till
+ the Strait was entered. We immediately went round to the _pa_
+ where the tribe was established. Here we found no one on the
+ beach to receive us, and, having landed, walked to the huts, where
+ we found a few persons sitting together. Rangihaeata, they said,
+ had fled to the bush, Te Rauparaha was at Waikanae, and, finding
+ that nothing could be done, we returned on board."
+
+During this visit to Porirua, the attention of the official party had
+been directed to the presence of the New Zealand Company's boat, which
+had been brought by the natives from the Wairau, after the massacre,
+and hauled up on the shore of Taupo Bay amongst some twelve or fifteen
+canoes; and this fact was made a subject of discussion next day when
+the frigate reached Kapiti.
+
+Landing at Waikanae, where the interview was to take place, Sir
+Everard Home says:--
+
+ "We were received by the Rev. Mr. Hadfield, a missionary, a
+ gentleman of high character and great intelligence, who, living in
+ the _pa_ amongst the natives, knows every movement, for none could
+ take place without his knowledge. He at once declared all the reports
+ (of an intended attack upon Wellington) to be without foundation.
+ Having walked to his house, which is within the _pa_, we
+ proceeded to his school-yard, and the chiefs, Te Rauparaha, and Rere,
+ chief of the tribe inhabiting the _pa_ of Waikanae, came,
+ accompanied by about fifty men. I then stated to the chief all that
+ was reported of him, and asked him what he had to say to contradict
+ it. He replied that, far from wishing to continue the quarrel with
+ the Europeans, which had been commenced by them, and not by him, his
+ whole time was occupied in travelling up and down the coast,
+ endeavouring to allay the irritation of the natives and to prevent
+ any ill consequences arising from the provoking language and threats
+ with which they were continually annoyed by the Europeans travelling
+ backwards and forwards. That, for himself, he believed them to be
+ lies invented by the white men, having been assured by the Police
+ Magistrate that no steps would be taken until the arrival of the new
+ Governor, or the pleasure of the Queen was known. He also declared
+ that they all stood in fear of the white men, and asked why I had
+ come if it was not to fight with and destroy them, for they had been
+ told that was my intention.
+
+ "I told them that the Queen's ships went to all parts of the world,
+ and that my object was to preserve peace rather than to make war, and
+ he was advised to believe no reports which he might hear, but to
+ inquire into the truth of them of Major Richmond, through Mr. Clarke
+ or Mr. Hadfield."
+
+The conference then dispersed, but at a later hour Te Rauparaha was
+sent for to Mr. Hadfield's house, and asked if he would send a letter
+to the principal chief at Porirua, requesting him to deliver up the
+Company's boat to Sir Everard Home. His reply was that he had but
+little influence amongst the Porirua people, but that, as he had
+always been against the retention of the boat, he would assert what
+authority he had to secure its return. He then became curious to know
+if the surrender of the boat would end the quarrel; but Major Richmond
+discreetly declined to commit himself on the point, and appealed to Te
+Rauparaha's position as a chief to see that justice was done. Te
+Rauparaha then penned the following letter, which he addressed to the
+Porirua chiefs:--
+
+ "Go thou, my book, to Puaha, Hohepa, and Watarauehe. Give that boat
+ to the chief of the ship; give it to the chief for nothing. These are
+ the words of Te Rauparaha. Your avarice in keeping back the boat from
+ us, from me, Mr. Hadfield, and Mr. Ironside, was great. This is not
+ an angry visit, it is to ask peaceably for the boat. There are only
+ Mr. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, and the chief of the ship: they three who
+ are going peaceably back to you that you may give up the boat.
+
+ "This is my book,
+
+ "TE RAUPARAHA."
+
+Armed with this authority Sir Everard Home returned to Porirua, where,
+after lying at anchor all day on Sunday, he landed on the following
+day, and made a formal demand for the return of the boat. At first, Te
+Rangihaeata was inclined to resist the request, but, on receipt of a
+private message from Te Rauparaha that a refusal might mean trouble,
+he yielded the point, and the boat was ultimately handed over with
+"the greatest good-humour."
+
+During the interview at Waikanae, Te Rauparaha had given the most
+profuse assurances that he, relying upon the promise that there would
+be no reprisals until the facts surrounding the massacre had been
+investigated, was employing his best endeavours to pacify his people.
+But his efforts, he said, were often nullified by the disturbing
+rumours which reached them of armings and drillings[170] by the
+settlers at Wellington, which seemed to portend war rather than peace.
+But the seeds of irritation and mistrust had already been sown much
+further afield than Waikanae and Otaki; for the natives, on leaving
+the Wairau, had taken with them, as well as the boat, the handcuffs
+and leg-irons which had been foolishly brought down by Mr. Maling to
+ensure Rauparaha's capture. These were sent from one _pa_ to
+another, and wherever they were exhibited, the enemies of the
+_pakeha_ were not slow to insinuate that, when the English became
+numerous in the land, they would provide leg-irons for the whole of
+the natives. The sight of these manacles, and the dark hints with
+which they were everywhere accompanied, created bitterness and
+resentment against settlers, with whom the Maoris had always lived in
+perfect harmony; so that before many weeks had passed away it only
+required a single spark of indiscretion to set the whole colony in a
+blaze of war. At no period of her history has New Zealand stood so
+much in need of firm, discreet and conciliatory guidance as in this
+critical juncture;[171] and fortunately the hand of authority was
+strong enough to prevent the spark being kindled. Acting-Governor
+Shortland, taking a bold but unpopular initiative, on July 12, 1843,
+issued the following proclamation:--
+
+ "Whereas it is essential to the well-being of this Colony that
+ confidence and good feeling should continue to exist between the two
+ races of its inhabitants, and that the native owners of the soil
+ should have no reason to doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's solemn
+ assurance that their territorial rights should be recognised and
+ respected. Now, therefore, I, the officer administering the
+ Government, do hereby publicly warn all persons claiming land in this
+ Colony, in all cases where the claim is denied or disputed by the
+ original native owners, from exercising rights of ownership thereon,
+ or otherwise prejudicing the question of title to the same, until the
+ question of ownership shall have been heard and determined by one of
+ Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to investigate claims to land
+ in New Zealand."
+
+The wisdom of thus holding the hands of the settlers until the title
+to their lands had been settled by a constitutional course was not at
+first apparent to the pioneers, who treated the proclamation with
+scant respect, and roundly abused it and its author in the public
+press.
+
+ "If," said one writer, "it had been the desire of its framer to hound
+ a troop of excited savages upon a peaceable and scattered population,
+ to destroy the remains of friendly feeling existing between the two
+ races, to imbrue in blood the hands of both, and lead to the
+ extermination of one or the other, such a proclamation might have
+ served its purpose."
+
+This style of exaggerated invective will serve to show the unreasoning
+pitch to which even the better class of colonists had allowed
+themselves to be worked by the news of the catastrophe. Nor were they
+content with merely upbraiding the authorities in the press and at
+public meetings; deputations waited upon the Acting-Governor at
+Auckland, urging him to take immediate steps to avenge the death of
+Captain Wakefield. The Nelson deputation consisted of Dr. Monro and
+Mr. A. Domett, and the essence of their petition was contained in the
+following paragraph:--
+
+ "We have no hesitation in stating that it is the general opinion of
+ the settlers at Nelson that our countrymen who were killed at Wairau
+ Plain lost their lives in endeavouring to discharge their duties as
+ magistrates and British subjects, obedient to British law, and that
+ the persons by whom they were killed are murderers in the eyes of
+ common sense and justice."
+
+They therefore hoped that impartial justice would be done, and that
+the penalties of the law would certainly overtake those whom its
+verdicts pronounced to be guilty. But to this and all other petitions
+of a similar tone Mr. Shortland staunchly refused to accede. In his
+reply to Dr. Monro and Mr. Domett he clearly set forth the error under
+which the settlers were labouring, when they ascribed the disaster to
+the performance of duty on the part of the magistrates, and pointed
+out that it might be more fairly attributed to an excess of duty on
+the part of those officials, in attempting to annex land which had
+never been legally purchased. After dwelling upon the criminality of
+those who were responsible for the final conflict, he proceeded:--
+
+ "But whatever may be the crime, and whoever may be the criminals, it
+ is but too clear that the event we must all deplore has arisen from
+ several parties of surveyors, without the concurrence of the local
+ Government, proceeding to take possession of and to survey a tract of
+ land in opposition to the original native owners, who had uniformly
+ denied its sale. His Excellency therefore deems it proper to inform
+ you that the New Zealand Company has not selected any block of land
+ in the valley of the Wairau, nor has the local Government yet
+ received any intimation that it is the intention of the Company to
+ select a block in that district."
+
+To say that the Englishmen were trespassers is the mildest way in
+which the case against them can be stated, especially in view of the
+forceful opinion expressed by Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General, who
+described their conduct as "illegal in its inception and in every step
+of its execution, unjustifiable in the magistrate and four constables,
+and criminal in the last degree on the part of the attacking party."
+Writing from Port Nicholson ten days after the massacre, Mr. Spain
+confirmed Mr. Swainson's condemnation of their conduct, which he
+declared to be "an attempt to set British law at defiance and to
+obtain, by force, possession of a tract of land, the title of which
+was disputed, and then under the consideration of a commissioner
+specially appointed to investigate and report upon it." From the
+information he had been able to collect, Mr. Spain arrived at the
+conclusion that at the commencement of the affair the natives
+exhibited the greatest forbearance, and the utmost repugnance to fight
+with the Europeans. His views were cordially endorsed by Mr. Clarke,
+the Protector of the aborigines, who reported to the Acting-Governor
+that he was "satisfied that such an unhappy affair as that of the
+Wairau could never have occurred had not the natives been urged to it
+by extreme provocation." These emphatic opinions from men who were not
+only capable of arriving at a judicial conclusion, but were impartial
+in the sense that they were not concerned in the catastrophe, together
+with the decision of the Attorney-General that no act of felony had
+been committed by the natives in burning the huts, fortified His
+Excellency in ignoring the violent clamour of the settlers for
+revenge. They induced him even to go further, and prohibit the
+military displays which they were beginning to organise amongst
+themselves under the plea that they were in imminent danger of being
+attacked by the natives. This prohibition was to their excited minds
+the crowning injustice of all; and in October, when H.M.S. _North
+Star_ arrived at Port Nicholson, the Wellington and Nelson settlements
+were practically in a state of open rebellion. When Sir Everard Home
+was applied to by the colonists to execute a warrant against Rauparaha
+and Rangihaeata for murder, he was compelled to "decline the honour,"
+and admit candidly that he did not consider a force so necessary to
+put a check upon the natives as to keep in subjection the irate
+settlers themselves. The settlers further memorialised Sir Eardley
+Wilmot, Governor of Tasmania, for assistance, and he immediately sent
+a battleship to their aid. But he took the precaution to warn Captain
+Nicholson not to land his troops unless the natives and Europeans were
+in actual conflict; and this not being the case when the ship arrived,
+she soon after took her departure. In their extremity the settlers
+then turned to a French frigate which was lying in New Zealand waters;
+but Major Richmond, on hearing of the proposal to call upon her
+captain for aid, indignantly vetoed it as being "a stain upon British
+arms."
+
+The social and political atmosphere was still in this condition of
+ferment when, towards the close of the year, Captain Fitzroy, the
+newly appointed Governor, arrived. It was not, however, until February
+that he was able to give his undivided attention to the adjudication
+of matters connected with the massacre; but he then spared no pains to
+make himself master of all the facts upon which a decision was to be
+based. He first studied the merits of the European case, and then
+journeyed to Waikanae, where he landed on February 12, 1844, with his
+suite, consisting of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Spain, the officers of the
+_North Star_, Major Richmond and Mr. Symonds, the Wellington
+magistrates, and Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the
+aborigines. There he met Rauparaha and Rangihaeata with upwards of
+four hundred of their tribe, congregated for the _korero_ in an
+enclosure in the centre of the _pa_, the Governor being provided
+with a chair, Rauparaha sitting by his side. His Excellency,
+addressing the assembled natives through Mr. Clarke, said:--
+
+ "I have heard from the English all that happened at the Wairau, and
+ it has grieved my heart exceedingly. I now ask you to tell me your
+ story so that I may compare the two and judge fairly. When I have
+ heard your account of that dark day, I will reflect and then tell you
+ what I shall do. The bad news I have just heard about killing the
+ English after they had ceased fighting, and had trusted to your
+ honour, has made my heart very dark, has filled my mind with gloom.
+ Tell me your story that I may compare it with the English, and know
+ the whole truth. When I first heard of the death of my friends at the
+ Wairau, I was very angry and thought of hastening here with many
+ ships of war, with many soldiers, and several fire-moved ships
+ (steamers). Had I done so your warriors would have been killed, your
+ canoes would have been all taken and burnt, your houses and your
+ _pas_ would have all been destroyed, for I would have brought
+ with me from Sydney an irresistible force. But these were hasty,
+ unchristian thoughts: they soon passed away. I considered the whole
+ case. I considered the English were very much to blame even by their
+ own account, and I saw how much you had been provoked. Then I
+ determined to put away my anger and come to you peaceably. Let me
+ hear your story."
+
+Rauparaha then arose, and after being exhorted by several of his tribe
+to speak out that all might hear, he began in slow and measured tones
+to narrate their land troubles with the Company in the Wellington
+settlement, and then he passed on to the Wairau. This land, he
+declared, was taken away by Thompson and Captain Wakefield, and he
+described the visit of Rangihaeata and himself to Nelson to protest
+against its occupancy; nor did he omit to mention the threats then
+used towards them by Captain Wakefield. Then he told how they had gone
+over and stopped the survey, and brought Messrs. Cotterell and
+Barnicoat down to the bar, and how they had afterwards met Mr.
+Tuckett, and likewise refused him permission to remain.
+
+ [Illustration: TAUPO PA, PORIRUA.
+ Where Te Rauparaha was captured.]
+
+ "After Mr. Tuckett had gone to Nelson," said Rauparaha, "we continued
+ our planting, till one morning we saw the _Victoria_ (the
+ Government brig). Then were our hearts relieved, for we thought Mr.
+ Spain and Mr. Clarke had come to settle the question of our lands.
+ Being scattered about on the different places on the river, we took
+ no further notice, expecting a messenger to arrive from Mr. Spain;
+ but a messenger came up to say that it was an army of English, and
+ that they were busily engaged in cleaning their arms and fixing the
+ flints of their guns. They met Puaha, and detained him prisoner. They
+ said, 'Where are Rauparaha and Rangihaeata?' Puaha said, 'Up the
+ river.' After Puaha and Rangihaeata arrived, we consulted as to what
+ we should do. I proposed going into the bush, but they said 'No, let
+ us remain where we are: what have we done that we should be thus
+ beset?' The Europeans slept some distance from us, and, after they
+ had breakfasted, came on towards us in two boats. We remained on the
+ same spot without food. We were much alarmed. Early in the morning we
+ were on the look-out, and one of the scouts, who caught sight of them
+ coming round a point, called out, 'Here they come! here they come!'
+ Our women had kindled a fire and cooked a few potatoes that we had
+ remaining, and we were hastily eating them when they came in sight.
+ Cotterell called out, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha answered, 'Here I am,
+ come here to me.' They said again, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha again
+ saluted them. Cotterell then said, 'Where is a canoe for us to
+ cross?' Thompson, Wakefield, and some other gentlemen crossed over
+ with a constable to take me, but the greater number stopped on the
+ other side of the creek. Thompson said, 'Where is Rauparaha?' I
+ answered, 'Here.' He said, 'Come, you must come with me.' I replied,
+ 'What for?' He answered, 'To talk about the houses you have burnt
+ down.' I said, 'What house have I burned down? Was it a tent
+ belonging to you that you make so much ado about? You know it was
+ not; it was nothing but a hut of rushes. The materials were cut from
+ my own ground; therefore I will not go on board, neither will I be
+ bound. If you are angry about the land, let us talk it quietly over.
+ I care not if we talk till night and all day to-morrow; and when we
+ have finished, I will settle the question about the land!' Mr.
+ Thompson said, 'Will you not go?' I said 'No,' and Rangihaeata, who
+ had been called for, and who had been speaking, said so too. Mr.
+ Thompson then called for the handcuffs and held up the warrant,
+ saying, 'See, this is the Queen's book, this is the Queen to make a
+ tie, Rauparaha.' I said, 'I will not listen either to you or your
+ book.' He was in a great passion; his eyes rolled about and he
+ stamped his feet. I said I would rather be killed than submit to be
+ bound. He then called for the constable, who began opening the
+ handcuffs and advancing towards me. Mr. Thompson laid hold of my
+ hand. I pushed him away, saying, 'What are you doing that for?' Mr.
+ Thompson then called out 'Fire!' The Europeans began to cross over
+ the creek, and as they were crossing they fired one gun. The women
+ and children were sitting round the fire. We called out, 'We shall be
+ shot,' After this one gun, they fired a volley, and one of us was
+ killed, then another, and three were wounded. We were then closing
+ fast; the _pakehas_' guns were levelled at us. I and Puaha cried out,
+ 'Friends, stand up and shoot some of them in payment.' We were
+ frightened because some of them were very close to us. We then fired;
+ three of the Europeans fell. They fired again and killed Rongo, the
+ wife of Rangihaeata. We then bent all our energy to the fight, and
+ the Europeans began to fly. They all ran away, firing as they
+ retreated; the gentlemen ran too. We pursued them and killed them as
+ we overtook them. Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were brought to
+ me by the slaves, who caught them. Rangihaeata came running to me,
+ crying out, 'What are you doing, I say?' Upon which some heathen
+ slaves killed them at the instigation of Rangihaeata; neither Puaha
+ nor the Christian natives being then present. There was no time
+ elapsed between the fight and the slaughter of the prisoners. When
+ the prisoners were killed, the rest of the people were still engaged
+ in the pursuit, and before they returned they were all dead. I forgot
+ to say that during the pursuit, when we arrived at the top of the
+ hill, Mr. Cotterell held up a flag and said, 'That is enough, stop
+ fighting!' Mr. Thompson said to me, 'Rauparaha, spare my life.' I
+ answered, 'A little while ago, I wished to talk to you in a friendly
+ manner, and you would not; now you say, 'Save me,' I will not save
+ you. It is not our custom to save the chiefs of our enemies. We do
+ not consider our victory complete unless we kill the chiefs of our
+ opponents. Our passions were much roused, and we could not help
+ killing the chiefs."
+
+At the conclusion of Rauparaha's address, Captain Fitzroy desired time
+to reflect upon what he had just heard, and, at the expiration of
+half-an-hour, he announced his decision as follows:--
+
+ "Now I have heard both sides, I have reflected on both accounts, and
+ I am prepared to give my judgment. In the first place, the English
+ were wrong; they had no right to build houses upon lands to which
+ they had not established their claim--upon land the sale of which you
+ disputed; on which Mr. Spain had not decided. They were wrong in
+ trying to apprehend you, who had committed no crime. They were wrong
+ in marking and measuring your land in opposition to your repeated
+ refusal to allow them to do so until the Commissioner had decided on
+ their claim. Had you been Englishmen, you would have known that it
+ was wrong to resist a magistrate under any circumstances, but not
+ understanding English law, the case is different. Had this been all,
+ had a struggle caused loss of life in the fight--wrong and bad as it
+ would have been to fight in the sight of God--I could not have blamed
+ you so much as the English. The very bad part of the Wairau
+ affair--that part where you were very wrong--was the killing of the
+ men who had surrendered, who trusted to your honour as chiefs.
+ Englishmen never kill prisoners; Englishmen never kill men who have
+ surrendered. It is the shocking death of these unfortunate men that
+ has filled my mind with gloom, that has made my heart so dark, that
+ has filled me with sorrow; but I know how difficult it is to restrain
+ angry men when their passions are aroused. I know you repent of your
+ conduct, and are now sorry that those men were killed. As the English
+ were very greatly to blame, as they brought on and began the fight,
+ and as you were hurried into crime by their misconduct, I will not
+ avenge their death."[172]
+
+In arriving at this determination, Captain Fitzroy may have been
+actuated to some extent by considerations of expediency; for, had he
+decided in any other way, the reprisals of the English would
+undoubtedly have created a war with the natives, which the Government
+was not in a position at that juncture to carry to a successful issue.
+Therefore, to have provoked hostilities with Rauparaha would have
+meant the obliteration of all the settlements before the necessary
+reinforcements could have arrived. At the same time, there was a large
+measure of justice in the course he chose to adopt, which, in the
+calmer judgment of to-day, must receive the endorsement of all
+impartial men, as it did that of Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, immediately the Governor's decision was known to the
+Home authorities. In his despatches on the subject, Lord Stanley made
+it clear that, in his opinion, Mr. Thompson and Captain Wakefield had
+needlessly violated the rules of English law, the maxims of prudence,
+and the principles of justice; and having thus provoked an indefensible
+quarrel with a barbarous tribe, they could not reasonably complain at
+the barbarities practised in the subsequent conflict. He was therefore
+satisfied that, in declining to make the Wairau massacre a subject for
+criminal proceedings, the Governor had taken a wise, though
+undoubtedly bold, decision. As might have been expected, the action of
+Captain Fitzroy in refusing to arrest the two chiefs created a tempest
+of ill-will against him amongst the settlers, but, on the other hand,
+the Maoris were overjoyed at the prospect of once more possessing the
+friendship of the _pakeha_, and instantly resumed a sociable
+demeanour towards the colonists. This feeling, upon the advent of
+Captain Grey as Governor, was gradually reciprocated by the Europeans,
+who in time came to recognise the folly of their fears, and the
+absurdity of their hostile attitude. In this way, the startling nature
+of the catastrophe, which had paralysed the efforts of the New Zealand
+Company and thrown a pall over the settlement of the whole Colony,
+began to lose its deadly effect, and the splendid scheme of setting a
+new gem in the British Crown was rescued from the disaster which
+threatened it.
+
+[154] On the 13th June, Captain Wakefield wrote to his brother from
+Nelson: "The magistrates have granted a warrant, and Thompson,
+accompanied by myself, England, and a lot of the constables, are off
+immediately in the Government brig to execute it. We shall muster
+about sixty, so I think we will overcome these travelling bullies."
+
+[155] As told to the author by the late Mr. Barnicoat.
+
+[156] Saturday, June 17, 1843.
+
+[157] John Brooks had been engaged as a sawyer at Cloudy Bay. He was
+thoroughly acquainted with the native language and habits, having been
+eight years resident amongst the Waikato tribes.
+
+[158] Rawiri Kingi Puaha was born at Kawhia, and belonged to one of
+the best of the Ngati-Toa families. He migrated southward with Te
+Rauparaha, and was married to one of Te Pehi's daughters. He died at
+his own village, Takapuahia, Porirua Harbour, on September 6, 1858. He
+was a man widely respected by the colonists, and to the day of his
+death he "maintained a high character as a consistent and
+conscientious Christian."
+
+[159] "The conduct of Mr. Thompson has been unquestionably the means
+of bringing about the fatal conflict in which he himself lost his
+life. There is only one way of accounting for the part he has acted in
+that affair; as far as he is concerned, no more blame can be attached
+to him than to any other lunatic, for such he was to all intents and
+purposes, and such he was well known to be, even to Mr. Shortland"
+(_Martin's Letters_).
+
+[160] Te Rongo was not the _daughter_ of Te Rauparaha, as that
+word is generally understood by Europeans, but a much more distant
+relative. She was the widow of Te Whaiti, a nephew of Rauparaha and a
+first cousin of Rangihaeata, who married her because she was the widow
+of his near relative. The story that she was shot while standing in
+front of Rangihaeata to protect him is pure romance. She was killed by
+a stray bullet while hiding in the swamp at the rear of the Maori
+camp.
+
+[161] "Yesterday we passed (near Maraekowhai) the grave of Te Oru, the
+chief who killed Captain Wakefield at the Wairau" (_Crawford's
+"Travels in New Zealand"_).
+
+[162] This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A
+degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman,
+Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The
+natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev.
+Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried
+according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the
+crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being
+mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him
+do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was
+a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever
+after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in
+not punishing him.
+
+[163] Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in
+1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the
+shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven
+hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was
+stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to
+massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and
+Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."
+
+[164] On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr.
+McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the
+Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of
+Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to
+communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their
+determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take
+vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the
+whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will
+inquire into it and decide according to law."
+
+[165] Now known as Whanganui.
+
+[166] Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this
+journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in
+revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki
+natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon
+Wellington."
+
+[167] "Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many
+friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor,
+among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe
+for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha
+turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[168] Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen,
+but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he
+was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently
+vindictive towards those from whom he differed.
+
+[169] "Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting
+jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so
+that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better
+understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake'
+(Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land,
+and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he
+did not get plenty of _utu_" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[170] These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the
+native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that
+the settlers meditated an attack upon them.
+
+[171] The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the
+massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and
+there was no vessel of war on the station (_Mundy_).
+
+[172] This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke
+to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim
+the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood--a course which
+the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own
+customs--British prestige and power are said to have suffered
+considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have
+remarked, "_He paukena te pakeha_" (The Governor is soft, he is a
+pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa
+and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the
+payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends
+killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CAPTIVE CHIEF
+
+
+The decision of which Governor Fitzroy had delivered himself, as the
+result of his hurried investigation into the circumstances attending
+the tragedy at the Wairau, brought him into bitter conflict with the
+more influential colonists, and added to his native troubles a
+European difficulty, which ultimately played no small part in his
+official undoing. Fitzroy had, with a patriotism worthy of the best
+traditions of our race, sacrificed place and high prospects in the
+homeland to assume the Governorship of New Zealand, a post which was
+afterwards described by Lord Stanley as "a laborious, responsible, and
+ill-remunerated office in a distant colony." Without money, or the
+means of obtaining it, to carry on his civil administration, and
+destitute of military support wherewith to assert his authority, he
+found himself defied by the natives and thwarted by the Europeans. His
+appeals for soldiers were unheeded, and his schemes for supplementing
+his revenue were disallowed by the Home authorities, who, instead of
+repairing their policy of parsimony, recalled the Governor. Thus was
+cut short a career upon which Robert Fitzroy had entered with only the
+highest motives, throughout which he had acted with the utmost
+devotion, and in which he had failed only because with his limited
+opportunities it was humanly impossible to succeed. His successor in
+the arduous task of soothing the dual discontent was Captain Grey,
+late of the 83rd Regiment, who was then serving the Crown with
+conspicuous distinction as Governor of South Australia. His success
+in dealing with native difficulties there, his achievements as an
+explorer, added to his valuable personal qualities, were his chief
+recommendations for the new responsibilities which it was proposed to
+ask him to assume. That the judgment of those responsible for the
+selection was sound, history has proved; but the administrations of
+Fitzroy and Grey cannot fairly be compared, for the reason that, while
+the former was expected to rule a turbulent population without either
+men or money, the latter was freely supplied with both. The new
+Governor was further invested with the additional prestige derivable
+from the title of Governor-in-Chief, and from the fact that he was
+supported by a Lieutenant-Governor, who, in his subordinate authority,
+was stationed in the Southern province. Captain Grey assumed the
+duties of his new office on November 18, 1845. His first recorded
+contact with Te Rauparaha was on the occasion of his receiving from
+him and other chiefs a memorial, in which they expressed their anxiety
+to know his political intentions, and begged him to give them someone
+skilled in both native and European laws, who would advise them how
+best to avoid conflict with the _pakeha_. They were, they said,
+deeply anxious to obey the laws of the Queen, and just as they had
+teachers amongst them to lead them to a proper understanding regarding
+the will of God, so, in order to avoid misunderstanding, they desired
+some one to act as their guide and friend in the matter of the
+temporal law. Grey was more than gratified with this evidence of
+loyalty and desire for harmony, and, in his reply, endeavoured to make
+it clear that it was his duty so to direct his authority as to secure
+the peace and happiness of all under his jurisdiction. "Maoris and
+Europeans," wrote the Governor, "shall be equally protected and live
+under equal laws, both of them alike subjects of the Queen and
+entitled to her favour and care. The Maoris shall be protected in all
+their property and possessions, and no one shall be allowed to take
+anything from them or to injure them; nor will I allow Maoris to
+injure one another. An end must be put to deeds of blood and
+violence." This clear and explicit declaration of his determination to
+permit of only one law for the _pakeha_ and Maori, and to hold the
+racial balance justly before the eyes of the world, touched a
+responsive chord in the heart of the Maori nation; and Te Rauparaha
+was but expressing the general sentiments of the people when he wrote
+in reply to the Governor's message: "We have heard your words, which
+are like the light of day to us; our hearts are glad. Friend, now will
+I hold fast your words for good, and for living in quiet, both of
+natives and Europeans. Your protecting word has come forth for one and
+for the other; your kind words are a light to us. Now, for the first
+time, I can say the light has dawned for the Maoris, and now no
+wrong-doing shall spring from me. I mean the errors of the natives. If
+you cannot come hither, will you write to me?" Not less reassuring was
+the word of Wi Kingi Rangitake, of Ngati-Awa.
+
+With these pronouncements of loyalty from the two most powerful chiefs
+on the west coast, Grey felt more than equal to the task of subduing
+the malcontent natives under Taringa-kuri, chief of the Kaiwara
+_pa_, whose depredations in the Hutt Valley had been causing the
+greatest anxiety to the Wellington settlers. Both Te Rauparaha and
+Rangihaeata had laid claim to part payment for the land which the New
+Zealand Company had purchased in this valley, their claim being based
+upon the alleged conquest of the country. This conquest Mr. Spain held
+to be incomplete, inasmuch as they had not resided on the land, which
+was really occupied by Ngati-Awa. He therefore disallowed their claim,
+although Mr. Clarke, junr., was anxious to pay out of the £1,500
+awarded to the natives a sum of £400 in liquidation of their rights,
+he having come to some such arrangement with Rauparaha at an interview
+which took place at Waikanae in the presence of the Governor. Hearing
+of Mr. Spain's objection, Rauparaha, on February 3, 1844, penned a
+letter to him, Mr. Clarke, and the Governor, in which he warned them
+against paying the purchase-money for Port Nicholson over to "wrong
+parties," and listening to "strange men," at the same time urging them
+to make haste and come to Otaki for the purpose of explaining their
+intentions to Rangihaeata and himself.
+
+ "FRIEND MR. CLARKE, MR. SPAIN, AND THE GOVERNOR,--This
+ letter is from me and Rangihaeata, respecting your foolish work in
+ paying for the land. This was the cause of you and us going wrong
+ at the Wairau, the foolish paying to wrong parties. Do not listen to
+ strange men, but make haste and make known to us your intentions,
+ that the truth of what you have said may be seen. Friend Clarke,
+ make haste. Desist from listening to any man. Son Clarke and
+ Mr. Spain, desist also from carrying your payment to men who have
+ nothing to do with it, but bring it straight to us--myself and
+ Rangihaeata. This is all my speech to you by us.
+
+"RAUPARAHA.
+"RANGIHAEATA."
+
+To this Mr. Clarke replied on the 29th, assuring Rauparaha that
+anything that he had promised him in the matter of payment would be
+carried out. Simultaneously, Mr. Spain arranged to hold a court at
+Porirua, in order to comply as speedily as possible with Te
+Rauparaha's request. This court, which was opened on 8th March, was
+attended by most of the leading chiefs and upwards of two hundred
+natives. After the preliminary addresses had been disposed of, Mr.
+Spain formally opened the court by saying, "Rauparaha, I received your
+letter asking me to settle the Port Nicholson purchase, and after
+inquiry I have decided that the natives who owned the land are
+entitled to more money, and I therefore offer you new terms." To this
+Te Rauparaha answered, "My wish was to settle my claims at Port
+Nicholson, but you want me to give up the Hutt." "Did you not consent
+to receive £300 for Port Nicholson and the Hutt?" inquired Mr. Spain
+in an injured tone; to which Te Rauparaha replied that he had not
+regarded the bargain in that light. Efforts were made to convince him
+that he had signed a deed in which the Hutt was included, but he
+insisted that the boundary was not to go beyond a creek known as
+Rotokakahi. "I am aware of the cause of this objection," said Mr.
+Spain. "That man sitting by your side, Taringa-kuri, is cultivating
+land at the Hutt to which he has no right." Te Rauparaha's answer was
+that the land belonged to Taringa-kuri, as he was the oldest man of
+the resident natives; whereupon Mr. Spain rose to depart, and as he
+did so he turned, and, more in sorrow than in anger, upbraided Te
+Rauparaha for thus breaking faith with him in so flagrant a manner.
+
+The court then adjourned without either party having been able to
+convince the other. But Te Rauparaha did not permit the grass to grow
+under his feet, for he at once despatched Taringa-kuri to cut a line
+through the scrub and bush dividing the Upper from the Lower Hutt
+Valley, in order to define clearly what territory he considered
+belonged to the _pakeha_ and what to the Maori. On hearing that
+this work was in progress, Mr. Spain felt it incumbent upon him to go
+out and warn Taringa-kuri that he was committing an illegal act, and
+that the boundary he was attempting to create would not be recognised
+by the Government. Mr. Spain's reception was not an encouraging one.
+"If you have come to make remarks about our cutting this line, you may
+as well return, as we will listen to nothing you have got to say, nor
+will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen,"
+was the truculent declaration of the first native whom he met.
+Taringa-kuri was not less uncompromising. "I am cutting a line to
+divide the lands of the settlers from our own, and I am doing it under
+Te Rauparaha's orders," was his emphatic reply to Mr. Spain's demand
+for information as to why this work was proceeding. And in answer to
+the Commissioner's protest that the line being cut was not the line
+agreed upon, the chief, with a fine show of indignation, accused him
+of hostile intentions. "It is plain," he said, "you are not peaceably
+disposed; you heard at Porirua that Rauparaha would not agree to your
+boundaries, and you appear determined to insist upon them. You had
+better return to the land of your birth."
+
+Immediately upon his return to Wellington, Mr. Spain despatched a
+letter to Rauparaha again severely censuring him for committing a
+breach of faith in sending Taringa-kuri to cut the line contrary to
+his (Mr. Spain's) decision, and concluding by saying, "Let me tell you
+that after all that has occurred, Kuri is acting contrary to the laws
+of the Governor, and, if he persists in his illegal acts, he will be
+punished by the law accordingly." This letter Mr. Spain first showed
+to Mr. Hadfield, who approved its contents, and translated it into the
+native tongue for him, Mr. Spain thinking that this course would
+enhance its value in the native estimation. On the 27th Rauparaha
+replied that it was not he who was withholding the land, but
+Rangihaeata, who had negatived his voice in the councils of the tribe.
+But he still reiterated his former contention that he had never agreed
+to sell the Hutt.
+
+The remonstrances on the part of Mr. Spain having proved fruitless,
+the Governor first pacified Heke[173] and Kawiti in the north, and
+then came south in February, 1846, with all the prestige of a
+successful "fighting Governor," to direct his operations against the
+truculent Taringa-kuri. In an interview, the Governor peremptorily
+demanded the evacuation of the valley. The chief pleaded for time to
+reap and remove the standing crops; but the Governor, strong in the
+knowledge that he had right on his side, and an ample force to sustain
+his demand, refused to consider any compromise, and gave the chief no
+alternative between immediate compliance and a declaration of war. The
+natives hesitated to test the question by an appeal to arms, and
+sullenly withdrew from the disputed territory, but not from the valley
+itself. They fell back upon a _pa_ up in the ranges, which the
+Governor afterwards described as "the strongest position he had seen
+in any part of the world." From this mountain fastness they made
+sudden and destructive raids upon the peaceful settlements in the vale
+below. Two hundred soldiers were left to render the settlers what
+measure of protection they could, by defensive tactics. Their
+instructions were not to attack the rebels in their stronghold, but,
+by vigilantly preventing them from securing supplies, to endeavour by
+starvation to render its continued occupation impossible. This policy
+had early the anticipated effect, and, acting on Te Rauparaha's
+assurance that the rebels had abandoned the _pa_, the Governor visited
+the spot, and has thus described what he saw:--
+
+ "The forest which had been held by the enemy was traversed by a
+ single narrow path, almost impassable for armed Europeans. This path
+ ascended a narrow ridge of rocks, having a precipice on each side
+ covered with jungle. The ridge of rocks was so narrow that only one
+ person could pass along it at a time, and it led to a hill with a
+ broad summit, upon which a fortress had been constructed in such a
+ manner as completely to command the path, which was rendered more
+ difficult by an abattis placed across it. The rear of this position
+ was quite as inaccessible as the front, and on each flank was a
+ precipice; from the number of huts placed upon it, it must have been
+ occupied by from three hundred to four hundred men."
+
+No sooner was this position abandoned than another, almost equally
+impregnable, was taken up, and from this lair in the depth of the
+hills a band of marauders crept down through the forest early in April
+of 1846, stole past the troops, and late in the afternoon murdered a
+settler named Gillespie and his son, while they were engaged threshing
+wheat. There were soldiers in the vicinity at the time, but they were
+more intent upon getting grog from Burcham's public-house than upon
+protecting the settlers; and so stealthily was the attack carried out,
+that no one knew of the tragedy until Charles Gillespie, returning
+home in the dusk, found his father and brother in the throes of death.
+Te Rauparaha disclaimed, and probably with truth, all knowledge of or
+participation in this treacherous act, and even offered his assistance
+in bringing the murderers to justice. Rangihaeata was not so frank--or
+it may be that he was even more frank--for he instantly betook himself
+to the hills, and openly declared himself in sympathy with those who
+were thus contesting the question of the supremacy of the races. He
+refused to give the murderers up to the authorities, and busied
+himself with preparations for continuing the contest. Nor had the
+military long to wait for his onset. The most advanced British post in
+the valley was known as Boulcott's Farm, commanded by Lieutenant Page,
+who had a force of fifty men with him. Here, just before dawn, on May
+16, 1846, the sentry, as he kept his lonely vigil, was startled by
+seeing some dark body creeping through the grass towards him. Without
+waiting to challenge, he fired, and in an instant the air was rent
+with the savage yells of a horde of warriors, who, under Mamaku, had
+left Rangihaeata's _pa_ at Pahautanui on the previous day, and,
+scaling the mountain range, had fallen upon the sleeping camp. The
+sentry and the picket were soon overpowered and killed, but not before
+the alarm had been given by Allen, the bugle-boy attached to the
+company. Roused from sleep by the commotion, he seized his bugle, and
+was in the act of sounding the call to arms, when a blow from a
+tomahawk struck the instrument from his hand. He still had time to
+recover it, and blow a blast which awakened his sleeping comrades,
+before he was laid low by a second stroke of the murderous axe. A
+galling fire was at once opened upon the outpost from the surrounding
+bush by the secreted natives, and Lieutenant Page and two men, who
+were with him in one of the out-buildings, hurried off to join their
+comrades who had been sleeping in the stockade. Intercepted by a swift
+rush on the part of a band of natives, they were only rescued from
+their perilous position by a determined effort on the part of the
+sergeant, who rallied some of the men and went to his commander's
+relief. Three men went down with wounds, and the remaining six fought
+the savages hand to hand, checking their onslaught until the wounded
+were got safely away and the remainder were able to retreat to the
+barn. Here the available force was assembled, and, leaving a
+sufficient garrison to defend the position, Lieutenant Page[174] and
+his men sallied out in extended order, firing as they went. Under this
+pressure the attack soon slackened, and, on the arrival of
+reinforcements, was turned into retreat, but not before six men had
+been killed and four wounded. During the following month there was
+another skirmish in the valley, which did not redound greatly to the
+credit of the British arms.
+
+These repeated raids convinced the Governor that he must lance the
+lairs which were harbouring these human wolves, who represented all
+that was worst in the native race. He had been desirous of deferring
+field operations against these malcontents until the winter was over;
+but, realising that every successful attack only encouraged the enemy
+to further excesses, and diminished the enthusiasm of the loyal
+natives, he now determined upon an immediate and active campaign. The
+policy of road-making, which had been initiated some months before,
+was vigorously prosecuted, the friendly natives, as well as the
+soldiers, being employed in the work. The deep paths which were thus
+cut through the luxuriant beauty of the wilderness to Porirua and into
+the heart of the Hutt Valley robbed the forest of much of its terror,
+and were masterly counter-strokes to the secret tactics of
+Rangihaeata's followers. That chief's reply to the Governor's policy
+was to build a _pa_ at Pahautanui, so skilfully situated and so
+strongly fortified that he openly boasted that nothing but British
+artillery could drive him from it. But he did more than this. A
+_tapu_ placed on the Porirua track for a time disturbed and
+paralysed our native allies; but the inconvenience was only
+temporary, and the Governor succeeded in gradually breaking down the
+chief's authority.
+
+An important military post was established at Porirua, garrisoned by
+three hundred men, and the services of the friendly natives were
+enlisted in the contemplated movement against the forces of
+Rangihaeata. His _pa_ was reconnoitred on the night of July 8th
+by Lieutenant the Hon. Charles Yelverton, of the Royal Artillery, and
+Mr. McKillop, then a midshipman on board H.M.S. _Calliope_, and
+the conclusion at which they arrived was that the artillery might
+easily be brought forward against the _pa_, and that in all other
+respects its investment was feasible, so soon as the Governor had a
+sufficient force at his disposal for the purpose. But there was one
+other factor to be taken into account. What would Te Rauparaha's
+attitude be if Rangihaeata were attacked? In his _pa_ at Taupo,
+on the shores of Porirua Harbour, he occupied a strong strategical
+position; and, though he had consistently professed his friendship for
+the Governor and his loyalty to the Queen, he was supremely
+distrusted, both by the authorities and by our native allies. As early
+as June of 1846, Major Last had reported to the Governor, from
+Wellington, that he was "a little suspicious of Te Rauparaha";[175]
+but the insinuation of disloyalty coming to the chief's ears, he
+challenged the Major's suspicions by offering to come to Wellington to
+prove the contrary. In view of the intensely hostile feeling
+prevailing amongst the European population against the chief, Major
+Last deemed the proposed visit to be ill-timed and impolitic, and
+declined to encourage Rauparaha in his intention. But the bold and
+fearless proposal must have shaken the officer's confidence in the
+grounds for his aspersion. The position of the chief at this time was
+a most unenviable one, for there is evidence that the Governor had
+begun to share the doubts of Major Last. It must not be forgotten,
+however, that the seeds of suspicion may have been assiduously sown in
+his mind by Rauparaha's tribal enemies, who would have exulted in
+embroiling him in a dispute with the local authorities. Even his
+friends who were with Rangihaeata in the field, either to further
+their own schemes or out of resentment at his passive attitude, sought
+to draw him into the vortex of the struggle. The _mana_ of the chief
+was still great, and Rangihaeata and Mamaku endeavoured to conjure
+with his name and claim his sanction for a letter to some tribal
+comrades containing an appeal for assistance.
+
+The native carrying this letter was captured, and the intercepted
+document placed in the hands of the Governor, who immediately sailed
+for Porirua in H.M.S. _Driver_. On board the vessel he was
+visited by Te Rauparaha, and, during the interview, the incriminating
+message was produced and handed to the chief, who instantly denounced
+its contents as falsehoods and its writer as his enemy. "I watched him
+narrowly at the time," says Grey, "and his manner was such as to lead
+me to think that he really had no knowledge that such a letter had
+been written." Though thus frankly confessing that the letter was an
+injustice to the chief, the Governor, either from some innate mistrust
+of his visitor or a too ready disposition to listen to the sinister
+suggestions made against him, resolved that he would take no risks as
+to the future conduct of the man whom he believed he had to checkmate.
+He therefore determined that, before moving against Rangihaeata, he
+would forestall any possibility of an attack upon his lines of
+communication by capturing Te Rauparaha and holding him hostage for
+the good behaviour of his tribe. Without indicating by sign or word to
+the chief that the friendship between them was at an end, and without
+permitting him even to suspect the existence of any doubts as to his
+loyalty, the Governor took his farewell of Te Rauparaha, and on the
+afternoon of July 22 left Porirua. For the purpose of allaying
+suspicion, the _Driver_, in which he sailed, ostentatiously steamed to
+the north; but during the night she returned and stealthily anchored
+at the entrance of the harbour. Boats were lowered, and a company of a
+hundred and thirty men, under Major Last, Captain Stanley, of H.M.S.
+_Calliope_, and Lieutenant McKillop,[176] landed, and silently
+surrounded the stockade of the Taupo _pa_, in which the chief and his
+people were sleeping. The arrangements of the capturing party were so
+admirably made that no suspicion of what was moving around them was
+allowed to reach the natives until the stormers rushed into
+Rauparaha's _whare_, and, seizing the chief in his bed, carried him,
+in spite of his struggles and protestations, down to the boat side.
+Lieutenant McKillop, who personally accomplished the seizure of the
+chief, has left on record the following account of the exciting
+incident:--
+
+ [Illustration: TE RANGIHAEATA.
+ After a drawing by C. D. Barraud. Esq.]
+
+ "I was sent for soon after we arrived, and had an interview with the
+ Governor, who informed me of Rauparaha's treachery, and his wish to
+ have him and three others taken prisoners, if possible by surprise;
+ and knowing that I was acquainted with their persons and locality, he
+ asked me if I would undertake the capture of the 'Old Serpent'
+ myself, allowing me to choose my own time and method of doing it,
+ Major Durie, the Inspector of Police, being selected to take the
+ others. Accordingly it was arranged that we were to leave the ship
+ before daylight the next morning and land quietly on the rocks some
+ little distance from the _pa_ in which our treacherous allies
+ lived, taking a mixed force of bluejackets and soldiers, amounting to
+ two hundred men, to support us in the case of the natives rising
+ before we had effected our object. It was the Governor's particular
+ desire that we should not lay our hands on these men until we had
+ told them they were prisoners for treason, but on no account to let
+ old Rauparaha escape. I took Mr. Dighton with me to act as
+ interpreter, and four of our men unarmed, giving them instructions to
+ seize upon the old chief as soon as he was made aware of the charge
+ preferred against him, and to hurry him down to the boat before he
+ could rouse his people, the principal object being to secure him. We
+ landed at break of day, and while they were forming the troops on the
+ beach, I with my small party ran on, as it was then light, fearing
+ that conscious guilt might sharpen their ears and frustrate our
+ plans. When we reached the _pa_ not a soul was stirring, but our
+ heavy footsteps soon brought some of the sleepers to the doors of
+ their huts, knowing we were not of the barefooted tribe. We could not
+ wait to give any explanation, but pushed on to the hut which
+ contained the object of our search, whose quick ears had detected
+ strange footsteps. Never having liked me, he did not look at all easy
+ on perceiving who the intruder was, although his wife showed no alarm
+ and received me with her usual salutation. Upon informing him that he
+ was my prisoner, he immediately threw himself (being in a sitting
+ posture) back into the hut, and seized a tomahawk, with which he made
+ a blow at his wife's head, thinking she had betrayed him. I warded
+ the blow with my pistol and seized him by the throat, my four men
+ immediately rushing in on him, and, securing him by his arms and
+ legs, started off as fast as his violent struggles would allow of,
+ which for a man of his age (upwards of seventy) were almost
+ superhuman. He roared out lustily 'Ngati-Toa! Ngati-Toa!'
+ endeavouring to bring his tribesmen to his rescue, and in a few
+ seconds every man was on his legs and came rushing over to see what
+ was the matter with their chief; but the troops and bluejackets
+ coming up at the same time and surrounding the _pa_ prevented
+ any attempt at a rescue, as he was already in the boat. His last
+ effort to free himself was fastening with his teeth on to my
+ coxswain's shoulder, who bore this piece of cannibalism unflinchingly.
+ I sent Mr. Dighton off to the ship with him, there being not much
+ chance of his escaping from the boat, particularly as he was informed
+ that he would be shot if he attempted to escape. I then returned to
+ the _pa_ to search for arms and ammunition, and also to see if
+ the other prisoners had been secured. The interior of the _pa_
+ presented a woeful spectacle, the women all howling in chorus with
+ the pigs and the children, the two latter being much knocked about in
+ the search for arms."
+
+In the mêlée which ensued upon the capture of Te Rauparaha, four other
+natives were also seized by Major Durie, and in the same arbitrary
+manner were carried off to the ship.[177] Two of these were the
+influential chiefs, Te Kanae (the _ariki_ of the Ngati-Toa tribe) and
+Hohepa, and two were men of inferior rank. By some writers who have
+been at no pains to conceal their hostility to Te Rauparaha, it is
+alleged that upon his arrival on board the _Driver_ he manifested the
+most craven spirit, until he was assured that it was not the
+Governor's intention to hang him from the yard-arm. But, whatever be
+the truth of this assertion, he at least retained sufficient dignity
+and self-respect as a chief to strenuously object to the additional
+humiliation of being imprisoned in company with men of no standing in
+the tribe; and, in deference to his injured pride and his vehement
+expostulations, Pohe and his companion were sent ashore and released
+from their brief captivity.
+
+Naturally, the little settlement at Taupo was thrown into a state of
+intense excitement. The seizure of their chief was so sudden, so
+unexpected, that its reality could not for the moment be grasped; but
+when its full significance broke in upon the astonished tribe, the
+startling tidings was immediately despatched to Te Rangihaeata, who
+was still sitting in defiance in his stronghold at Pahautanui. He at
+once made for the coast, but was too late. The Governor had several
+hours' start of him, and he was compelled to make a wide detour to
+avoid the British post at Porirua. He arrived on the wooded hill-side
+above Te Rauparaha's _pa_ only in time to see the war-ship with
+her captives steaming down the coast.[178] Enraged and disappointed at
+what he must have regarded as the perfidy of the _pakeha_, and
+disheartened at his own impotency, he gloomily retired to his lair,
+there to sing[179] that beautiful lament, in which he mournfully
+acknowledges the increasing ascendancy of the stranger, and chides the
+waning loyalty of his own people.
+
+             "My brave canoe!
+    In lordly decoration lordliest far,
+              My proud canoe!
+          Amid the fleet that fleetest flew--
+    How wert thou shattered by the surge of war!
+          'Tis but the fragments of thy wreck,
+          O my renowned canoe,
+    That lie all crushed on yonder war-ship's deck!
+          Raha! my chief, my friend!
+          Thy lonely journey wend:
+  Stand with thy wrongs before our god of battle's face:
+          Bid him thy foes requite!--
+  Ah me! Te Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace--
+          Ah me! the English ruler's might!
+
+          Raha! my chief of chiefs!
+          Ascend with all thy griefs
+  Up to their Lord of Peace--there stand before His face--
+          Let Him thy faith requite!--
+  Ah me! Te Toa's sad defection and disgrace--
+          Ah me! the English ruler's might!
+
+          One counsel from the first I gave,
+          'Break up thy forces, comrade brave,
+          Scatter them all about the land
+      In many a predatory band!'--
+          But Porirua's forest dense,
+          Ah, thou wouldst never stir from thence,
+          'There,' saidst thou, 'lies my best defence,'--
+          Now, now, of such design ill-starred,
+      How grievously thou reap'st the full reward!
+
+         Hence, vain lamenting--hence, away!
+         Hence, all the brood of sorrow born!
+         There will be time enough to mourn
+      In the long days of summer, ere the food
+      Is cropped, abundant for the work of blood.
+      Now I must marshal in compact array,
+  Great thoughts that crowding come of an avenging day!"[180]
+
+The seizure of Te Rauparaha, at such a time and in such a manner, is
+one of the many debatable points in the history of this period, and,
+notwithstanding that many pages have been written upon the incident,
+the ethics of the act are apparently as far from final determination
+as ever. To the present writer its justification lies in its success.
+There is no doubt that, however high-handed and arbitrary, it was a
+tactical stroke which compelled waverers to pause, and paralysed those
+who were already in active hostility. On the other hand, it might just
+as easily have roused the whole Maori race into a frenzy of injured
+pride, and plunged the country into the vortex of a retaliatory war.
+Only one thing saved New Zealand from this calamity, and that was the
+tribal dissensions. Had the Maori been a united people, this
+unprovoked indignity put upon one of their greatest men must have
+excited their bitterest passions against the perpetrators of the deed;
+and one almost shudders to realise in what a hair-balance the fate of
+the little Colony trembled at this moment of her history. In
+criticising the Governor's policy, however, it must be borne in mind
+that he, with his knowledge of Maori conditions, may have counted upon
+these very intertribal hatreds to prevent anything in the nature of a
+general rising. This being assumed, his action is shorn of some of its
+rashness and impolicy, and he becomes entitled to credit for the
+success of his methods of overawing the turbulent spirit of the
+malcontent Maoris. On no other ground than that the end justifies the
+means can the seizure of Te Rauparaha be defended, nor, so far as the
+writer is aware, has any other defence ever been seriously attempted.
+The most that can be urged against the chief is that, unlike Te Kingi
+Rangitake, he did not join the allies and enter upon active
+hostilities against the so-called rebels. Of the fact that he secretly
+aided them there is little evidence and no proof. What evidence there
+may be is confined to the intercepted letters, admitted by the
+Governor himself to be forgeries, and to the unsupported statements of
+natives, some jealous of his power, and others aggrieved at his
+previous treatment of them. In this respect Te Rauparaha must have
+felt that, having sown the wind, he was now reaping the whirlwind; for
+those natives who had gone down under his hand in war, or had been
+outwitted by his diplomacy, were only too anxious to represent him in
+an unfavourable light to the Governor, and were never tired of
+insinuating, and even broadly asserting, that his spirit was behind
+the rebellion, even though his hand might be invisible.
+
+In communicating with Mr. Gladstone on July 23, 1846, Grey described
+his military operations, which were designed to check a company of
+some two hundred rebels who, he had reason to believe, were marching
+from Whanganui to join Te Rangihaeata. He landed at Waikanae, Otaki,
+and Ohau, where he had a conference with the friendly chiefs. He
+proceeded to say: "The whole of the chiefs with whom I had interviews
+declared that these disturbances were to be entirely attributed to the
+intrigues of Te Rauparaha." How much his mind was influenced by the
+opinions of the chiefs may be judged by the fact that on the following
+day he launched his successful stroke, but how little he had weighed
+the value of their testimony may also be inferred from the
+circumstance that a year later he wrote a despatch to Mr. Gladstone's
+successor at the Colonial Office, in which he was forced to admit that
+after retaining Te Rauparaha in captivity for ten months his
+difficulties in deciding how to dispose of him were enhanced by the
+fact that all his "efforts made to secure the evidence of Pohi[181]
+failed, consequently it was not possible to prove Te Rauparaha's guilt
+in a court of law."
+
+It is strange, if so many chiefs knew that the brain of Te Rauparaha
+was forging the balls which Rangihaeata was firing, that none were
+able to testify to the fact in an established court of law, and,
+travesty upon British justice though it may seem, it is nevertheless a
+fact that the man who had relied upon the Treaty of Waitangi to
+secure him his rights and liberties was detained a prisoner without
+formal charge and without the chance of a trial until it was thought
+possible to prove his guilt. How far Te Rauparaha's seizure and
+continued detention were a palliation to the wounded feelings of the
+European settlers it is difficult to pronounce, but it is not in the
+least unlikely that the Governor paid some regard to the popular
+effect of the step, even if he totally ignored its judicial aspect. In
+all probability Te Rauparaha was at this time the best-hated man in
+New Zealand. The memory of the massacre at the Wairau had not yet died
+out, and there were many who, misunderstanding that fatal event, could
+not look upon the chief whose name had been so tragically associated
+with it in any other light than as a social and moral outcast. To this
+not inconsiderable section of the community imprisonment was much too
+good for Te Rauparaha, but it was preferable to the negative attitude
+of Governor Fitzroy, and Grey, no doubt, counted upon standing well
+with these extremists by the initiation of a policy in which there was
+a touch of retribution, however barren it might be of justice.
+
+With the European population, then, the kidnapping of the Ngati-Toa
+leader was, on the whole, a popular move, and with a number of the
+natives it was hailed as an act of retribution, long delayed, but
+nevertheless a judgment at last. Upon his own people the effect was
+different. They were stunned by the swiftness of the blow and
+confounded by its audacity. Here in a twinkling the very eye had been
+plucked out of their head, the heart torn from their body, and that,
+too, at a time when they had no quarrel with the Government, and by a
+man whom they had been wont to regard as their friend. Their first
+impulse was to fly to arms. To attack Wellington, to sweep the
+_pakeha_ into the sea, to avenge the wrongs of Te Rauparaha, was
+the cry. Te Rangihaeata called his own followers about him and sent
+out his appeals to the northern tribes: "Friends and children, come
+and revenge the injuries of Te Rauparaha, because Te Rauparaha is the
+eye of the faith of all men. Make haste hither in the days of
+December." But his design for the extermination of the Europeans was
+doomed to be frustrated. His own particular faithfuls were few in
+number, and the one great chief, Te Heuheu, to whom he might have
+looked for encouragement in such an emergency, was dead, buried
+beneath a huge landslide which had overwhelmed his village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo. Of others with whom he had been accustomed to
+co-operate in the days gone by, some were espousing the cause of the
+enemy, and some, having embraced the Christian faith, had grown weary
+of incessant war. Their reply, which was something in the nature of a
+rebuke, betokened that they had realised the futility of opposing the
+further progress of the _pakeha_. "How can you dry up the sea? That is
+why we say, finish fighting with the European." Such was their answer
+to his summons to arms, and Rangihaeata was left to fall back upon his
+small band of war-worn desperadoes to carry on a struggle which was
+hopeless from the first.[182]
+
+Abandoned to his own resources, he applied himself to his duties of
+leader with the energy of despair. Realising that his position at
+Pahautanui was no longer tenable, as its swamps and shallows were no
+protection against the artillery which he knew was collected at
+Porirua, he withdrew his forces into the deeply wooded Horokiwi
+Valley. Through this forest defile, tangled and matted by an almost
+impenetrable undergrowth, he was pursued by a force of 1,000 men,
+composed of militia and native allies, under Major Last. Te
+Rangihaeata's generalship proved equal to the peculiar circumstances
+in which he found himself, and his genius for war won for him the
+warmest encomiums from British officers, who have generously expressed
+their admiration for the skill with which the chief conducted his
+retreat. Into the density of the wooded valley he led his pursuers,
+enticing them by a simulated resistance, but abandoning his camps as
+soon as they pressed too closely upon him. In one of these
+semi-fortified resting-places the British soldiers discovered the
+bugle which had been taken from the boy Allen when he was struck down
+at the fatal fight at Boulcott's Farm.
+
+At length, retreat being no longer possible, the rebel chief turned at
+bay and fought his pursuers at a point near the head of the valley.
+His decision to throw down the gage of battle here was not the result
+of accident or impulse, but was due to deliberate calculation. The
+position was admirably chosen, and he held the enemy in check long
+enough to enable him to fortify it effectively. He threw a rough
+breastwork of tree-trunks across the narrow neck of a spur springing
+from a densely wooded hill, the approach to which was flanked by steep
+ravines, leaving so narrow a ridge that it could only be passed
+abreast by a very limited force of men. This wooden rampart, which
+presented so imposing a front to an enemy, was liberally perforated
+with loopholes, through which the defenders were able to concentrate
+their fire with deadly effect upon any approaching force. This
+arrangement, combined with the inaccessible nature of the ground, made
+its seizure by storm practically impossible. Nevertheless, an attack
+was determined upon, and on the morning of August 6, 1846, fire was
+opened upon the position, but with no other visible result than that
+Ensign Blackburn[183] and two privates were killed and nine others
+wounded. On the following day the assault, which had been so
+inauspiciously commenced, was suspended, for Major Last had now seen
+enough to convince him that some projectile more searching than
+bullets was necessary to dislodge the defenders from their stronghold.
+He accordingly sent to Porirua and procured two small mortars, which,
+after infinite labour spent in dragging them into position, were
+discovered to be absolutely worthless for purposes of attack, for the
+high forest trees made accurate gunnery impossible. Seeing his troops
+in a deplorable condition, even after this short bush campaign, and
+hopeless of driving Rangihaeata out, except at an enormous sacrifice
+of human life, Major Last decided to withdraw the regular troops and
+leave the friendly natives, under Puaha, to watch and wait for hunger
+to work its effects upon the stubborn garrison. A few days sufficed
+for this. On the 13th the allies were surprised by a hail of lead
+suddenly raining down upon their lines. No sooner had they sprung to
+arms than they saw that the enemy was afoot, the volley which they had
+fired being the signal for retreat. Immediately the real nature of the
+movement was ascertained, Puaha and his loyalists rushed forward over
+the fallen trees and broken ground, and reached the breastwork only in
+time to see the last of the defenders escape by the thickly veiled
+forest track, where they were swallowed up by the bush and lost to
+human view.
+
+Hunger and cold had done their work, for there were no signs of food
+supplies inside the camp except some edible fern. Nor did the escape
+of the defenders to the open avail them much, for they were so harried
+by the followers of Puaha as they fled along the snow-covered mountain
+ridge that the opportunities for procuring food were few and
+uncertain. Some made their perilous way to the coast, in the secret
+hope of finding food and shelter amongst their friends in the
+_pas_, but these were for the most part found by the vigilant
+Wiremu Kingi, and either driven back into the mountain fastnesses or
+promptly secured as prisoners of war.[184] Deeming himself fortunate
+to have so far evaded death or capture, Te Rangihaeata retreated
+northwards with his famished adherents until he reached the lowlands
+of the Manawatu. There, beaten though still defiant, he retired to a
+_pa_ built in the midst of the swamps and marshes of Poroutawhao,
+where he laid down his arms and, sullenly drawing his mat about him,
+prepared to watch the irresistible march of the _pakeha_, though
+refusing to acknowledge defeat at his hands. "I am finished," he wrote
+to the Governor, "but do not suppose that you conquered me. No; it was
+these my own relatives and friends, Rangitake and others. It was by
+them I was overcome, and not by you, O Governor."[185]
+
+A new cause for anxiety, in the outbreak of hostilities at Whanganui,
+now diverted Grey's attention momentarily from the fugitive chief,
+who improved the respite thus given by refraining from any act of
+violence. Although no formal peace was declared, Grey wisely decided
+not to precipitate further trouble by following him into the marshes
+of Poroutawhao. True, on the very day (April 18, 1847) that the news
+of the outbreak at Whanganui reached Wellington, the chief made a
+sensational descent upon Kapiti. In the grey of the early morning a
+whaler named Brown was awakened by a sound at the door of his hut,
+and, as he raised himself on his elbow, he saw the tall form of
+Rangihaeata enter the room with a tomahawk in his hand. The whaler not
+unnaturally thought he had come to take his life, and, in his
+subsequent narration of the incident, he indulged in some heroics,
+telling how he had challenged the chief to slay him on the spot. But
+Rangihaeata was not in search of a defenceless whaler's blood. He had
+come to demand some powder which was rightly his, and which he had
+left there for safe keeping. When he had secured his property, he went
+harmlessly away, after shaking hands in the most friendly manner with
+the frightened seaman. Some of his followers, however, were not quite
+so scrupulous; and, in searching the hut for the powder, they had
+appropriated a bundle of bank notes and some sovereigns, and secreted
+them about their persons until they returned to the _pa_. Here
+Rangihaeata discovered the theft, and immediately sent back the
+plunder to the Governor, accompanied by a characteristic note, in
+which he made it clear that, however much he might be in opposition to
+the Government, he had no desire to be esteemed a common thief.
+
+With Rangihaeata beaten out of the field, we may now return to Te
+Rauparaha, whom we left in the hands of his captors. To ensure his
+greater security, he was, immediately upon the arrival of the
+_Driver_ at Wellington, transferred to H.M.S. _Calliope_,[186] where
+he was placed under the watchful eye of Captain Stanley, for whom, we
+are told, he afterwards acquired a high regard. On board this ship he
+was detained with some show of liberty for upwards of ten months,
+visiting the principal ports of northern and central New Zealand, as
+the duties of the station demanded the presence of the vessel. During
+all this period no attempt was made to bring him to trial, though no
+pains were spared by the Governor to secure the evidence which would
+ensure his conviction. In a despatch written to the Colonial Office on
+December 1, 1846, Grey endeavoured to explain his position and justify
+his halting attitude, but, in the trenchant words of one of his
+critics, his was a justification which itself required to be
+justified:--
+
+ "A number of designing Europeans, who are annoyed at my
+ interfering with their illegal purchases of land, have thought it
+ proper to agitate the question of the justice and propriety of my
+ arresting Te Rauparaha. Some most improper publications have
+ already appeared, and I regret to state that I find a great effect is
+ being produced upon the minds of the native chiefs. The difficulty
+ of my position is that I am not yet quite satisfied whether or not it
+ will be expedient or necessary to bring the old man to trial. In fact,
+ I am rather anxious to avoid doing so, and I fear that, were I to
+ make public the various crimes for which he has been seized by the
+ Government, and the proofs of his guilt upon which the Government
+ justify his detention, a large portion of the European population
+ would be so exasperated against him that it would be difficult
+ for the Government to avoid bringing him to trial; and, if I were
+ compelled to adopt this step from having made known the charges
+ against him, I should probably be accused of having ungenerously
+ prejudiced the public against him previously to his being brought to
+ trial."
+
+The only impression which the unbiassed student can derive from a
+perusal of this specious reasoning is that the Governor, in seeking to
+excuse himself for an unjustifiable action, has in reality delivered
+his own condemnation for a grave breach of trust. If the "various
+crimes" of which the chief was suspected were as defined as the
+Governor implies they were, and if "the proofs of his guilt upon which
+the Government justified his detention" were clear and unimpeachable,
+obviously then it was his bounden duty to the Colony and to Te
+Rauparaha that the chief should be brought to trial at the earliest
+possible moment. But the real fact was that the offences of Te
+Rauparaha were as imaginary as the proofs of his guilt were mythical,
+and he was kept captive on a ship of war while the Governor was
+diligently endeavouring to find Pohi, who was supposed to be possessed
+of important secrets, or was sedulously filling in the missing links
+in the chain of evidence which he hoped would establish the fact that
+certain messengers, who were known to have carried information to
+Rangihaeata, were indeed sent by Te Rauparaha.
+
+A fruitless ten months was spent in these endeavours to bring home
+guilt to Te Rauparaha, and at the end of that time Grey was forced to
+admit that he was still unable to prove the chief guilty in a court of
+law. He therefore began to consider how far he was justified in longer
+detaining him, while still refusing to do him the justice of giving
+him a clear acquittal. He temporised with other reasons, from which it
+is clear that he regarded the step as one of expediency rather than of
+right. "The detention of the prisoners," he wrote to Earl Grey, "has
+caused expense and inconvenience to the Government"; and therefore, to
+relieve his administration of something which it had forced upon
+itself, he was magnanimous enough to loose the chains from off the
+chief. But the Governor was also influenced by other considerations.
+He believed that the capture and long captivity of Te Rauparaha had
+completely destroyed his _mana_, so that he was now incapable of
+originating any new mischief, even if he were so inclined. But we
+may also do him the justice of believing that he was genuinely anxious
+to placate the Ngati-Toa people, who had repeatedly petitioned him for
+their leader's release, and to allay an ugly suspicion, which had
+gained credence amongst them, that Te Rauparaha had been murdered, and
+that his so-called detention was merely a subterfuge to cover a
+desperate crime.
+
+ "Repeated applications," wrote the Governor, "have been made
+ by Te Rauparaha's tribe for his release, and this step seems to be
+ quite justified by his ten months of good conduct. Waka Nene and
+ Te Wherowhero also petitioned for his release, and went guarantee
+ for his good behaviour. Upon the whole, with the larger force that
+ will be placed at my disposal, and after the convincing proofs which
+ the natives have so frequently afforded of their regarding their
+ interests as identical with those of the Government, I entertain no
+ apprehension of Te Rauparaha being able to effect further mischief,
+ even if he were disposed to do so. I therefore determined to order
+ his release, merely requiring Te Wherowhero and Waka Nene to
+ pledge their words for his future good conduct, and although I
+ exacted no conditions either from themselves or from the prisoners,
+ I recommended them to require both Te Rauparaha and Hohepa to
+ reside on the northern portions of the island until I felt justified in
+ stating that I had no objection to them permitting Te Rauparaha to
+ return to his own country."
+
+Under the guarantee of good conduct given by Te Wherowhero and Waka
+Nene, Te Rauparaha was released at Auckland, and was received as a
+guest into Te Wherowhero's house, which had been built for him by the
+Government in what is now the Auckland Domain. Here, though nominally
+free, he must have felt the bitterness of his exile, for he frequently
+displayed the humiliation which was surging within his soul by
+relapsing into periods of deep melancholy, during which he doubtless
+meditated upon the departed glory of the past and the hopelessness of
+the future. With him times had indeed changed. From the imperious
+leader of a victorious tribe, supreme and absolute, his word the word
+of authority, his very look, his merest gesture, an unquestionable
+command, he found himself shorn of his power, degraded by captivity,
+destitute of influence, and little more than a memory--the hoary
+vestige of a stately ruin. But his path was not all strewn with
+thorns, and there were not wanting those, both Maori and European, who
+strove to lighten his burden and salve his wounded soul. Visitors
+frequently sought to cheer his drooping spirits, and, as a compliment
+to the conqueror of Kapiti, Te Wherowhero brought the flower of the
+Hauraki chiefs to do him honour. In September, 1847, two hundred of
+these warriors, casting aside their tribal prejudices, came and
+visited him. As the kilted band of strangers advanced, Te Rauparaha,
+dressed in a dogskin mat and forage cap, went out to meet them. He
+saluted several of the leading men according to native custom, and
+then followed the speechmaking inseparable from Maori gatherings.
+Squatting in a semicircle upon the ground, the assemblage listened
+with rapt attention to the oration delivered by Te Rauparaha, of whom
+all had heard, but whom few had previously seen. His speech was a
+dignified recitation of his past deeds, and while he spoke of his
+struggles with Waikato, his pilgrimage, and his conquests, he
+delivered himself brilliantly and dramatically, for the fire of the
+old warrior seemed to burn again within him and the blood of the
+victor to pulsate once more through his veins. But when he came to
+describe his seizure and captivity, the injustice and humiliation of
+it all bore down his valiant spirit, and he concluded his oration with
+difficulty and almost in tears. To this great effort of Maori
+eloquence replies of a lengthy and ceremonial nature were delivered by
+Taraia, Te Wherowhero, and several members of Hauraki's aristocracy,
+and then food was served on a sumptuous scale to the strangers. It
+was, however, noticed that Te Rauparaha ate but sparingly and was ill
+at ease. He rose and walked to his house, into which he was followed
+by two of the women, who there sang to him of the deeds of his
+fathers, and of the heroes of the ancient line from which he had
+sprung, the lament bringing a flood of tears to the old man's dim eyes.
+Still under the surveillance of Te Wherowhero, Te Rauparaha spent six
+months in the country of the Waikatos, the scene of some of his
+youthful exploits; but, feeling his freedom to be liberty only in
+name, and himself a stranger in a strange land, he preferred a request
+to the Governor to be allowed to return to his own people by the
+shores of Cook Strait, where was centred everything in life that he
+valued. The Governor granted his request, believing that he had now
+nothing to fear from the chief, and recognising that his return would
+have a quieting influence upon Rangihaeata, who, during his uncle's
+absence, had steadfastly refused to believe that the man by whose
+orders Wareaitu[187] had been executed would be more merciful to Te
+Rauparaha. Accordingly, in January of 1848, the Governor, Lady Grey,
+Lieut.-Colonel Mundy, Te Wherowhero, Taraia, Te Rauparaha, and several
+other chiefs, embarked on board H.M.S. _Inflexible_ and steamed
+for Otaki. Arrived there, the vessel was immediately boarded by
+Tamihana Te Rauparaha, who, clothed in the garb of a clergyman, came
+off to welcome his father.
+
+The morning of January 16, 1848, was the time appointed for the
+restoration of Te Rauparaha to his people. When the boats had been
+lowered to row the party ashore, the old chief came upon the
+quarter-deck dressed in full naval uniform, even to the cocked hat and
+the epaulets. His surprise and indignation were, however, considerable
+when he observed that the Governor and his suite had no idea of
+regarding the event as a State occasion, and were clothed in simple
+undress coats. Nor was his ill-temper improved when the Governor
+further robbed the incident of ceremonial importance by refusing to
+accord to him the honour of a salute from the ship's guns as he left
+the vessel's side. With eyes flashing and nostrils dilated, he sprang
+back into his cabin, and, throwing off his brilliant uniform,
+immediately reappeared wrapped in the sombre folds of an ancient
+blanket. Wounded in spirit at the absence of those impressive features
+which would have made his homecoming something of a triumph, he landed
+on the Otaki beach in no enviable mood; and, as the party proceeded
+towards the inland _pa_, he turned away from them, and sitting down in
+the sand with his face towards the ocean, covered his old grey head
+with his mat, and for two hours sat and sobbed like a child. During
+this meditation of tears no one approached him. Maori etiquette
+forbade his kinsmen breaking in upon his grief, and European courtesy
+dictated a discreet respect for the feelings of one who had come back
+to find the times so vastly changed, and for him so sadly out of
+joint.
+
+In that brief time, as the old warrior sat sighing in sympathy with
+the sobbing sea, there must have passed before him in vivid picture
+the whole panorama of his eventful life--his struggles, his schemes,
+his dreams, the anguish of defeat, the glut of victory, and then the
+final triumph in which tribe after tribe went down before him, and his
+name became wonderful and mighty throughout the land. But now, because
+of the advent of the _pakeha_, power had melted in his hand like
+snow. His life, like the wind-swept ruin of his old heathen _pa_,
+which stood broken and dilapidated a few chains off, had become but a
+shadow and a memory of the past; an exemplification of the fallible
+and transitory nature of mundane things. At length, rousing himself
+from his reverie, he proceeded to the new Christian settlement of
+Hadfield, at Otaki, which had been built mainly by the efforts of his
+son, Tamahana te Rauparaha, and his nephew, Matene te Whiwhi. A motley
+crowd of five or six hundred people poured out of the little
+settlement to welcome their chief, the Governor, and Lady Grey; and,
+as an evidence of the elevating influences which were operating
+amongst them,[188] prayers in the native tongue were read in the open
+air, before the feast which had been prepared for the visitors was
+placed before them. A glass-windowed, carpeted _whare_ was the
+banquet-room, and a clean damask cloth covered the table at which the
+guests were seated, while a daughter of Rangihaeata courteously
+discharged the duties of hostess.
+
+On the following day Te Rauparaha presented himself before
+the people, and was received with the usual evidences of Maori
+jubilation--interminable speeches, wild and barbarous dances, and
+endless feasting. Almost immediately he exercised the prerogative of
+his freedom by visiting Rangihaeata, who was hovering in the
+neighbourhood of Otaki, but with what intent no one knew. Te Rauparaha
+was accompanied by Te Wherowhero and some of the visiting chiefs, and
+the _korero_ lasted several days. What the precise nature of their
+discussions was will never be known; but that they were not of a
+treasonable nature may be inferred from the fact that the Governor,
+hearing that Rangihaeata was at that time harbouring a notorious
+murderer, whom he refused to deliver up to justice, sent a letter to
+Te Rauparaha calling upon him and his compatriots to show their
+displeasure at Rangihaeata's conduct by instantly withdrawing from his
+presence. At the time the letter arrived, the chiefs were on the point
+of sitting down to partake of Rangihaeata's hospitality; but without
+hesitation they rose and left, though not before telling the obdurate
+chief their reason for doing so.[189]
+
+This evidence of unfailing loyalty to the Crown was as gratifying to
+the Governor as it must have been aggravating to Rangihaeata, who,
+when he met His Excellency at Otaki, roundly abused him and all the
+_pakehas_ for their presumptuous interference with his affairs.
+He declared that he was not tired of war, but evidently men and women
+had changed with the times, and now preferred to fight with the tongue
+rather than the _mere_ or the musket. His contempt for the
+Europeans and all their doings was still as vehement as ever,[190] and
+in his violent denunciation of their encroachment upon his privileges
+as a chief, he declared that he wanted nothing of them, and he wore
+nothing of their work. He was then standing before the Governor, a
+tall and picturesque figure arrayed in a lustrous dogskin mat, with
+adornments in his hair; and when Grey quietly exposed his
+inconsistency by pointing to a peacock's feather dangling about his
+head, he angrily muttered, "True, that is _pakeha_," and cast it
+scornfully from him.
+
+Though Rangihaeata never accepted the Christian faith, in course of
+time his feelings mellowed and his attitude somewhat modified towards
+the occupation of the land by the white people. He not only acquiesced
+in the policy of road-making, which he had at first so strenuously
+opposed, but in 1852 he constructed two lines at Poroutawhao at his
+own expense. A school was even established at his _pa_, and
+subsequently his declared principles not to use British goods were so
+far modified that he purchased and drove in an English-made buggy
+along roads made by British soldiers. His feelings, too, towards the
+Governor considerably softened, and when, in 1852, Sir George Grey was
+about to proceed to England for a holiday, the chief wrote to him in
+terms of genuine friendship, which gave proof of the surprising change
+which had come over the hitherto untamable spirit of "the tiger of the
+Wairau":--
+
+ "O Governor! my friend, I send you greeting. I need scarcely
+ call to your remembrance the circumstances attending my flight
+ and pursuit: how it was that I took refuge in the fastnesses and
+ hollows of the country, as a crab lies concealed in the depths and
+ hollows of the rocks. You it was who sought and found me out,
+ and through your kindness it is that I am at this present time
+ enjoying your confidence and surrounded with peace and quietness.
+ This, then, is the expression of my esteem for you, which I take
+ occasion to make now that you are on the point of leaving for your
+ native land."
+
+The release of Te Rauparaha was the signal for a furious outburst of
+hostile criticism against the Governor, and Colonel Wakefield led the
+agitation in one of the biased and bitter effusions usual with him
+where Te Rauparaha was concerned.[191] But the anticipation of the
+Governor that the chief could, or would, cause the authorities no
+further trouble, appears to have been amply justified. So far as is
+known of him from this time until his death, he lived quietly and
+unostentatiously at the Otaki settlement. It would seem that he
+accepted with as good grace as he might the new order of things, and
+even sought to assist his people in reaching a higher plane of
+civilisation than at his advanced years he himself could ever hope to
+attain. It is at least accounted unto him for righteousness by his
+son, Tamahana, that it was at his suggestion the Ngati-Raukawa people
+built the now famous church[192] at Otaki, wherein the tribe has so
+often heard the glad tidings of "peace on earth and goodwill towards
+men," so strongly contrasted with their old heathen doctrine of blood
+for blood. A striking feature in the architecture of this church is
+its central line of large totara pillars, which rise to a height of 40
+feet, carrying the solid ridge-pole above. These wooden columns were
+hewn out of the forest on the banks of the Ohau, which in those days
+ran into the Waikawa, forming one large stream. The trees were felled
+in the bush, floated down the river to the sea, and thence dragged
+along the coast, one native standing on the tree with pole in hand to
+guide it through the surf, while a string of stalwart men tugged at
+the heavy tow-ropes, as they marched along the sandy beach. Column
+after column was, in this way, eventually landed at Waitohu, near
+Otaki, and then hauled across the sandhills by hundreds of brawny arms
+to the site where the church now stands. There the trees were, with
+infinite labour, dressed and prepared with native adzes, which are
+still kept in the church as interesting mementoes. No machinery of any
+kind was available to assist in the construction of the sacred
+edifice. Hand labour was everywhere brought into requisition, and only
+the most cunning workmen were employed, men of reputed skill being
+brought from the Manawatu to design and execute the carvings of the
+interior, while the reed lacework round the walls was also dexterously
+woven by these same masters of Maori art.
+
+Some attempt has been made, but with dubious success, to prove that Te
+Rauparaha ordered the building of this church because he had become
+deeply and genuinely religious, and his son has given us the pious
+assurance that he spent these last of his days "continually
+worshipping."[193] "I saw," says an intelligent but newly arrived
+clergyman, who visited him at this time, "amongst the other men of
+note, the old and once powerful chief, Te Rauparaha, who,
+notwithstanding his great age of more than eighty years, is seldom
+missed from his class, and who, after a long life of perpetual
+turmoil, spent in all the savage excitement of cruel and bloody wars,
+is now to be seen every morning in his accustomed place, repeating
+those blessed truths which teach him to love the Lord with all his
+heart and mind and soul and strength, and his neighbour as himself."
+This amiable picture, drawn in a spirit of enlarged charity, is
+unfortunately dimmed, and the sincerity of the chief's religious
+convictions discounted, by the story related of him by a
+conscientious, if unfriendly, critic. "A few days before his death,"
+says this writer,[194] "when suffering under the malady which carried
+him off, two settlers called to see him. While there, a neighbouring
+missionary came in and offered him the consolations of religion.
+Rauparaha demeaned himself in a manner highly becoming such an
+occasion, but the moment the missionary was gone, he turned to his
+other visitors and said: 'What is the use of all that nonsense?--that
+will do my belly no good.' He then turned the conversation on the
+Whanganui races, where one of his guests had been running a horse."
+Such an incident, if true, leaves behind it the impression that the
+chief was shrewd enough to observe that the Christian faith had taken
+root amongst his people, and conventional enough to adopt it for
+fashion's sake, without realising any real spiritual change. But we
+will not attempt to pass judgment upon one who was at so manifest a
+disadvantage in grasping the mysteries of a faith which centuries of
+science and learning have left still obscure to many more fortunately
+circumstanced. But, whatever the chief's spiritual condition may have
+been, it was not vouchsafed to him to witness the completion of his
+building scheme. He had long passed man's allotted span, and life's
+last stage was closing in upon him. He was in his eighty-first year,
+and was stricken with an internal complaint, the precise nature of
+which has not been ascertained, but which necessitated his taking much
+rest. His last days were therefore spent in enforced inactivity, and,
+while practically an invalid, his greatest delight was to recount to
+those capable of appreciating his narrative the stories of his early
+campaigns. The late Bishop Hadfield was especially favoured in this
+respect; and when he grew weary of the company of his own people (of
+whose intellectuality he had so small an opinion that he once remarked
+that they could talk of nothing better than dogs and pigs), he would
+send for the missionary, and regale him with stories of the past, told
+with a native force which aroused astonishment and admiration in the
+mind of his hearer. His descriptions of former fights were generally
+dramatic, frequently graphic, and always eloquent, for his vocabulary
+was rich in words and phrases which were far beyond the linguistic
+capacity of the natives by whom he was surrounded. It is to be
+regretted that these recitals have perished with the good Bishop.
+Until quite late in his life a vivid impression of them remained in
+his memory, and his constant readiness to refer to them confirms the
+claim that Te Rauparaha was a man of superior intellect, in so far as
+that term may be applied to a Maori of his day.
+
+Towards the end of November, 1849, the complaint from which he was
+suffering begun to assume a more malignant form. On the 24th of that
+month he received a last visit from Rangihaeata, and bade farewell to
+his erstwhile comrade in arms. Three days later he was dead; the event
+was consummated for which Colonel Wakefield so devoutly wished when,
+ten years before, he wrote: "It will be a most fortunate thing for any
+settlement formed hereabouts when he dies, for with his life only will
+end his mischievous scheming and insatiable cupidity." Had Te
+Rauparaha been asked to pen his opinion of the promoters of the New
+Zealand Company, he might have couched his judgment in much the same
+terms. But now that he was dead there was no need, and little desire,
+to keep open the floodgates of vituperation, and there were many who
+in his lifetime could find no kindly thought for him, but were willing
+to bury the bitterness of racial misunderstanding in the grave wherein
+the chief was so soon to be laid.
+
+The news that Te Rauparaha was dead spread like a prairie fire, and
+natives from all parts of both islands flocked to Otaki to swell the
+weeping multitude who wailed around the bier of the dead chief. So
+altered, however, had the times become, that, though there was a
+feast, there was little _tangi_ of the barbarous sort, for his son
+Tamahana, who was sincere and consistent in his emulation of European
+methods,[195] discouraged in the native people, as far as possible,
+the indulgence in their time-honoured mourning customs, and, according
+to a contemporary authority, the whole proceedings were conducted "in
+a most decorous manner." The interment took place on 3rd December, the
+last resting-place being a spot chosen by his friend Rangihaeata,
+within the church enclosure, and immediately in front of the unfinished
+building. A procession of fifteen hundred people followed the body to
+the grave, where the beautiful burial service of the Anglican Church
+was read by Mr. Ronaldson, the native teacher from Whanganui. The
+coffin, made in the usual manner, was covered with black cloth, and
+the final chapter in the life of this remarkable man was written on
+the brass plate which adorned the casket:--
+
+KO TE RAUPARAHA I MATE I TE
+
+27 O NOWEMA 1849
+
+[Te Rauparaha died on November 27, 1849.]
+
+[173] Heke had asked the pertinent question, "Is Rauparaha to have all
+the credit of killing the _pakeha_?"
+
+[174] "From what I know of the young lieutenant, I have no doubt he
+laid about him vigorously. Even had burly Rangihaeata confronted him,
+I should not have feared the result" (_Mundy_).
+
+[175] It was quite the orthodox thing for natives on opposite sides to
+hold intercourse with each other during war, and Rauparaha, having
+many relations engaged with Rangihaeata, would, in accordance with
+this custom, keep up a certain connection with them, and they with
+him. This, not being understood by the British authorities, was
+probably mistaken for treachery.
+
+[176] Afterwards McKillop Pasha, an Admiral of the Khedive of Egypt.
+
+[177] Grey, in his despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies,
+describing the seizure of Te Rauparaha, states that a "considerable
+quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the disaffected portion
+of the Ngati-Toa tribe" was also seized, though he makes no attempt to
+explain what steps were taken under the exciting circumstances to
+ascertain who the precise owners were.
+
+[178] On the voyage to Wellington the prisoners were quartered in the
+workshop above the boilers. During the night a great disturbance was
+heard in this direction, and, on an examination being made, it was
+found that the room was full of steam. One of the boilers had sprung a
+leak, but the natives imagined that their vapour bath was an ingenious
+contrivance to compass their death.
+
+[179] Mr. Percy Smith is my authority for saying that Rangihaeata did
+not actually compose this lament, as is generally supposed, but merely
+adapted it from a very old original.
+
+[180] In October, 1850, Dr. Dorsett, as Chairman of the Settlers'
+Constitutional Society, in a letter addressed to Earl Grey, complained
+of the inadequacy of Te Rauparaha's punishment. Sir George Grey
+replied by quoting two laments, of which this was one, "to show the
+light in which the natives regarded the punishment inflicted on him."
+
+[181] Pohi was one of the inferior chiefs arrested with Te Rauparaha
+and afterwards released. Subsequently, Grey discovered that this man
+was supposed to possess "important information."
+
+[182] For the passive attitude adopted by many of the Ngati-Toa people
+some credit must be given to Te Rauparaha, who had already advised his
+son to go to the tribes and tell them to remain in peace. "I returned
+on shore," says Tamahana, "and saw Ngati-Toa and Rawhiri Puaha. We
+told them the words of Rauparaha respecting that which is good and
+living in peace. Two hundred Ngati-Raukawa came to Otaki. Rangihaeata
+wished to destroy Wellington and kill the _pakehas_ as satisfaction. I
+told them the words of Te Rauparaha, that they must put away foolish
+thoughts, live in peace, and cast away bad desires. They consented."
+
+[183] Ensign Blackburn, who was a fine officer and a great favourite
+with the troops, was shot by a native secreted in a tree, and he in
+turn was almost immediately brought down by an artilleryman.
+
+[184] Under the chilling atmosphere of bleak winter the enthusiasm of
+our native allies soon began to cool and the vigour of their pursuit
+to slacken. Power, in his _Sketches in New Zealand_, gives an
+amusing account of a big _korero_ held at Otaki to decide whether
+or not they would continue the chase, in which he says: "Rangihaeata's
+sister was present and addressed the meeting in favour of her absent
+brother, making at the same time some very unparliamentary remarks on
+the aggressions of the _pakehas_ and the want of pluck of the
+Maoris in not resisting them, as her illustrious brother was doing. An
+old chief requested her to resume her seat, informing her at the same
+time that she was the silly sister of a sillier brother. He then put
+it to the meeting whether pigs and potatoes, warm fires and plenty of
+tobacco, were not better things than leaden bullets, edges of
+tomahawks, snow, rain, and empty bellies? All the former, he distinctly
+stated, were to be enjoyed on the plain; the latter they had had
+plentiful experience of in the mountains, and was it to be expected
+that they--and he confidently relied upon the good sense of the
+meeting--could be such fools as to hesitate for a moment? The applause
+of the old man's rhetoric was unanimous, and it received no slight
+help from the timely appearance of a procession bearing the materials
+for a week's feasting."
+
+[185] Lieutenant McKillop, writing on this point, says: "We never had
+any such decided advantage over him in our various skirmishes with his
+tribe as to dishearten him, and had we been unassisted by friendly
+Maoris I have no doubt he would have held out and carried his point."
+
+[186] While the _Calliope_ was lying at Wellington, Te Rauparaha
+was visited by his son Tamahana, who has left it on record that, in
+that trying moment of his life, his father displayed a spirit of calm
+forgiveness towards those who had so treacherously deprived him of his
+liberty. His advice was: "Son, go to your tribes and tell them to
+remain in peace. Do not pay for my seizure 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."
+
+[187] In his _Travels in New Zealand_, Crawford remarks: "During
+the march to Pahautanui, a Maori named Martin Luther (Wareaitu) was
+taken prisoner and was some months afterwards tried by court martial
+and hanged. I cannot help thinking that this was a blunder." Dr.
+Thomson is even more emphatic, and declares that "Luther's death is a
+disgrace to Governor Grey's administration."
+
+[188] Visitors to modern Otaki cannot fail to notice a tall pole
+erected near the roadside opposite the church. The totara tree out of
+which the pole was hewn was brought there at the outbreak of the Maori
+war. It was intended as a flagstaff, but Mr. Hadfield persuaded the
+Maoris to remain perfectly neutral and make no demonstration one way
+or the other. The tree lay for many years on the common until the Rev.
+Mr. McWilliam induced the Maoris to shape the tree into a tapering
+obelisk 40 feet high, with the dates 1840 (the year when Christianity
+was established at Otaki) to 1880 (the year the obelisk was erected)
+going spirally round it from bottom to top, and so it became a
+memorial of the English Church Mission at Otaki. It was first erected
+in the middle of the common, but in 1890, that is, the fiftieth year
+of the mission, it was moved into the corner opposite the church gate.
+It is called by the Maoris the "Jubilee." There was a great gathering
+of Maoris on that occasion, and fifty of them were clad in white and
+took part in the ceremony. The chief speaker was Kereopa Tukumaru, an
+old chief from Kereru, who had been one of the first converts to
+Christianity, and was now able to tell what great things the religion
+of Christianity had done for the Maoris. "This man," says Mr.
+McWilliam, "was the most consistent Christian I have ever had the
+privilege of knowing." He was most industrious, but when not working
+he was reading his Bible. He knew nearly the whole of it by heart. His
+grave may be seen near the Kereru railway station on a small natural
+mound. It is an oblong raised vault, built of concrete, with a
+beautiful white marble angel standing over one end.
+
+[189] Colonel Mundy mentions that a remarkably plausible report was
+circulating in Wellington at this time, to the effect that
+Rangihaeata--in order to prove himself a convert to civilisation--had
+signified his intention to kill and eat the aforesaid murderer, and
+then "go into the best society."
+
+[190] As illustrating Rangihaeata's intolerance of Europeans,
+Crawford, in his _Travels in New Zealand_, mentions that when he
+visited Fraser's whaling station on Mana in 1839, he saw sitting in
+the corner of the room a large Maori wrapped in his mat. "He listened
+to the conversation, but said nothing. At last, as if displeased, he
+uttered a hideous and prolonged grunt, and rose to his feet: I was
+struck with his height and imposing, although savage, appearance--he
+grunted again and walked out of the room without speaking. This was
+Rangihaeata, the great follower or coadjutor of Te Rauparaha--the Ajax
+of his tribe, as the other was the Ulysses."
+
+[191] As illustrating the feeling of the time, we may mention that
+very great indignation was expressed in Wellington because Bishop
+Selwyn had taken Te Rauparaha to the house of the Rev. Mr. Cole, a
+clergyman of Wellington, to stay there during a visit to the city.
+Major Richmond, the Superintendent, and the Sub-Protector, Mr.
+Forsaith, had gone to Porirua and provided for his safe escort to
+Wellington. The Bishop had publicly refused to shake hands with
+Rangihaeata, showing to the natives his horror of the massacre at the
+Wairau on every occasion. But he refused to recognise Te Rauparaha as
+responsible for it, and did no more than his clear duty in providing
+for his safety on this occasion. The outcry raised against him was
+bitter, but was quietly ignored by him (_Brett's "Early History of
+New Zealand"_).
+
+[192] The church, which is a noble specimen of native architecture,
+was built under the supervision of Archdeacon Hadfield and Rev. H.
+Williams. It was commenced in 1849 and opened in 1851. Its length is
+80 feet, its breadth 36 feet, and its height 40 feet. The ridge-pole
+is hewn out of a solid totara tree, 86 feet long.
+
+[193] "Te Rauparaha was not baptized, and, although his son wished the
+burial service of the Church to be used at his funeral, the minister
+did not feel himself justified in doing so; however, a lay member of
+the Church Missionary Society from Whanganui, opportunely passing
+through the place, read the service over him, and thus terminated the
+eventful life of the New Zealand warrior" (_Rev. Richard
+Taylor_).
+
+[194] The late Sir William Fox in his _Six Colonies of New
+Zealand_.
+
+[195] In 1868, Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife Ruta (Ruth) lived by
+themselves about half-way between Otaki and Waikanae on his sheep run,
+but he now and again came to his town house in Otaki and stayed a few
+weeks. He was a fine, handsome man, tall and stout, but active and
+mentally energetic. He always dressed well, and in cleanliness and
+neatness was a thorough English gentleman. He had been home to England
+and presented to the Queen. He never forgot what he saw there, and he
+wished to be considered an English gentleman. For that reason he lost
+influence with his tribe. He held aloof from _tangis_ and other
+Maori feasts, but was most hospitable and generous to Europeans. His
+wife was a most ladylike and charming woman. She was not so well
+educated as Tamihana, but for all that she had the manners and taste
+of an English lady. She died several years before him, and he erected
+a small marble stone over her grave; but when he died, and was laid by
+her side, no monument of any kind was erected to his memory; the
+cast-iron fence, which had been broken accidentally, was not even
+repaired. The Maoris did not care much for him, because he was too
+civilised and _pakeha_-like for them, so they made no general
+mourning at his death. In his youth, Tamihana te Rauparaha and Matene
+te Whiwhi had journeyed all the way to the Bay of Islands to beg for a
+missionary, and in response to their request Mr. Hadfield (who was
+afterwards Bishop of Wellington and Primate) came back with them to
+Otaki, and lived amongst them and taught them Christianity for thirty
+years.
+
+The graves of Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife are enclosed with an
+iron railing. On the tombstone of the wife is the inscription: "_Te
+ohatanga tenei mo Ruta te Rauparaha wahine O Tamihana te Rauparaha, i
+mate ki Otaki i te 10 o nga ra o Hurae, 1870._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE
+
+
+Te Rangihaeata survived his uncle by seven years, living during this
+time quietly at Poroutawhao. Though ceasing his violent opposition to
+the occupation of the land by the settlers, he still clung to his
+refusal to traffic in the native estate, either with individuals or
+with the Government. Almost immediately after the close of the war,
+Lieutenant-Governor Eyre and the Rev. Richard Taylor penetrated
+through the bush and swamps which surrounded Poroutawhao, and met the
+chief in the very heart of his stronghold. He was then, says Mr.
+Taylor, an old man with a head as white as the top of Tongariro, and a
+spirit somewhat resembling that active volcano, always fuming. His
+white hair strongly contrasted with his bronzed features and highly
+tattooed countenance. The missionary thus describes the retreat in
+which they found him, and the reception they met with:--
+
+ "A long, low, narrow strip of land, running through deep swamp, led
+ to his retreat; the name of the place aptly describes it, being a
+ cork, or stoppage, to war, and few would have liked to draw it out.
+ The _pa_ was on a mound, the only one in the vicinity, and
+ strongly fortified in the native style, with thick, lofty posts
+ deeply sunk in the ground, and bound together with a _huahua_,
+ or connecting pole, running round at a height of about ten feet.
+ Inside the outer fence there was another, behind which the defenders
+ could post themselves, and take aim through the outer one. The
+ _pa_ was divided into a number of small courts, each equally
+ well defended, and connected by very narrow passages. We found the
+ chief with his wives and his head men assembled in the chief court,
+ or _marae_, sitting on mats in front of his house. Fresh fern
+ was strewed on the ground, and new mats laid on it for us; we were
+ received with great respect, and welcomed with a loud
+ _haeremai_: we sat down on the chief's right hand, and conversed
+ on various subjects, until we were invited to enter a neighbouring
+ house, where no one followed us, except a neatly dressed and
+ good-looking lady, who was appointed to wait upon us according to
+ Maori etiquette: there was a kind of table formed of two boxes, one
+ placed on the other, with a new red blanket placed over it, and a
+ form similarly covered in regal style. On the table was placed a dish
+ of good fresh-baked cakes, another containing sugar, a knife, spoon,
+ and two basins, one nearly allied to a wash-hand basin in size. The
+ lady then brought a tea-kettle, and filled our cups with an infusion
+ of mint, which she called tea. The wash-hand basin was, of course,
+ placed before the representative of Majesty, who viewed with dismay
+ its enormous capacity, which, being given him from respect, he could
+ not well avoid draining to the bottom. After enjoying the Governor's
+ perplexity, when the lady left the room, I emptied the contents of
+ our bowls into a calabash, from which our natives were drinking; our
+ repast being ended, we returned to the chief and sat by his side. The
+ Governor requested me to ask the chief to sell some land, which I
+ respectfully declined doing. He then attempted to do so himself: at
+ first he was not understood, but when the chief comprehended what he
+ meant, he gave a savage look of defiance, thrusting out his tongue
+ and rolling about his eyes in such a way, that his Excellency, who
+ had never seen such a display before, stared in amazement, and
+ evidently felt anything but at ease. It need not be said that the
+ land negotiations were speedily terminated, and we were soon
+ threading our way back along Rangihaeata's swamp-girt road."
+
+Not less interesting was the experience of Lord Charles Butler and Mr.
+Carnegie, two officers of the _Calliope_, who, upon the cessation
+of hostilities, conceived the adventurous idea of visiting the chief
+in his lair at Poroutawhao. Starting from Wellington, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Servantes of the 96th, who during the war had acted as
+interpreter with the Government troops, and Tamahana Te Rauparaha,
+they experienced considerable difficulty in pushing their way across
+the country to the place of Rangihaeata's retreat. By dint of
+perseverance they at length reached the borders of the swamp
+surrounding the small hillock on which the _pa_ was built, and,
+meeting some of the natives there, they sent them on to the chief to
+ascertain if he would be prepared to receive them. A messenger soon
+returned to say that Lord Charles and Tamahana might come on, but that
+if Ewie (Lieutenant Servantes) attempted to do so, he would be shot.
+Rangihaeata had persuaded himself that Servantes had been acting the
+spy in the late proceedings against him. This impression, which was
+quite erroneous, doubtless arose from the fact that this officer had
+been a great deal in the company of the natives before the outbreak of
+hostilities, that he was thoroughly conversant with their language,
+customs, and haunts, and consequently was frequently acting in
+conjunction with the native allies when no other Europeans were near.
+There being no opportunity to offer explanations which might remove
+the chief's prejudice, Servantes deemed it prudent to respect
+Rangihaeata's mandate, and remained where he was, the others
+proceeding to the _pa_. As they approached, sounds and evidences of
+excitement, which they were at a loss to understand, greeted them, and
+as they drew nearer, several armed natives came out of the _pa_,
+pointing their muskets at Mr. Carnegie, at the same time abusing him
+with a tornado of picturesque native epithets. This hostile
+demonstration arose from the fact that they had mistaken the naval
+officer for Servantes; but, when the guides had silenced the clamour
+sufficiently to obtain a hearing, the necessary explanations were
+made, and the party was led into the _pa_. They found Rangihaeata
+leaning against his _whare_, and taking aim at the gateway with his
+gun, having fully determined to end the days of the supposed spy if he
+dared to enter the _pa_. The introductions were, however,
+satisfactory, and, putting away his musket, he gave his hand to his
+guests, whereupon his tribe likewise disarmed themselves, and prepared
+to extend hospitality to the visitors. Lord Charles opened the
+proceedings diplomatically, by presenting Rangihaeata with a few
+pounds of tobacco and a red blanket; and, as soon as the chief had
+filled his pipe with the fragrant weed, and adjusted the blanket to
+his brawny shoulders, he sat down and entered into a most amiable
+conversation with the _pakehas_, for whose refreshment he took care
+that food should be brought. He plied his visitors with many questions
+concerning Te Rauparaha and those natives who were prisoners with him,
+and closely inquired of those Europeans with whose names he was
+acquainted, making special reference to Lieutenant McKillop, of whose
+conduct in the war he had formed an excellent opinion. He was also
+exceedingly complimentary to Lord Charles, of whom he said he had
+received very flattering reports, but he was equally regretful of the
+conduct of his own people in deserting his standard, and spoke
+bitterly of his experiences since he had abandoned his _pa_ at
+Porirua. These misfortunes did not, however, detract in the least from
+his hospitality to his visitors. He begged them to remain with him
+until next day, in order that he might have the opportunity of killing
+a pig and regaling them with due splendour on the morrow. This kind
+invitation they modestly declined, and, after explaining that their
+visit was of purely a private nature, and not one which would warrant
+them in carrying back any message to the authorities, they took their
+leave of the chief, whom they have described as being particularly
+dirty, but a fine handsome man.
+
+By his winning ways and the generous use of presents, Governor Grey
+several times induced Rangihaeata to leave his retreat at Poroutawhao
+for the purpose of holding conferences with him; and when he believed
+that he had sufficiently ingratiated himself into the good opinion of
+the chief, he ventured to propose the sale to the Government of the
+Waikanae district. "It would have been the subject for an artist,"
+says one writer, "to picture the indignant look of the chief as he
+flatly and rudely refused, telling the Governor to be content with
+what he had already got. 'You have had Porirua, Ahuriri, Wairarapa,
+Whanganui, Rangitikei, and the whole of the Middle Island given up to
+you, and still you are not content. We are driven up into a corner,
+and yet you covet that also.'" But, though his overtures were thus
+indignantly spurned and rejected, the _mana_ of the Governor did not
+suffer any diminution in the estimation of the chief, who to the end
+of his days continued to regard Grey with that chivalrous respect
+which is extended by one warrior to another whom he deems to be worthy
+of his steel.
+
+In 1856, while still residing at Poroutawhao, Rangihaeata was stricken
+with measles in a particularly malignant form, but, with his
+characteristic recklessness of consequences, he refused to take the
+ordinary precautions to facilitate his recovery. Though still in a
+high state of fever, he decided to visit Otaki, and ordered his groom
+to drive him thither. When passing the Waikawa River, he thought to
+abate the fever by taking a cold bath; and, stopping the buggy, he
+plunged into the river, from which he emerged with the hand of death
+upon him. He was taken on to Otaki, where his malady rapidly increased,
+and two days afterwards he passed away. His body was taken back, at
+the head of an enormous procession, to Poroutawhao, where he was
+buried beside his wife, the _tangi_ in his case being marked by
+all the barbarous features of native mourning, interspersed with not a
+few of the prevailing European vices.
+
+When in the prime of life, Rangihaeata stood over six feet in height,
+a handsome man, magnificently built. Like his more notorious uncle, he
+too had features of aquiline mould, lit up by a pair of piercing black
+eyes, which instantly flashed out their resentment on any real or
+fancied insult. He was exceedingly jealous of his _mana_, and quick
+to blaze into a fit of indignation at any word or act which he might
+construe to be a reflection upon his authority as a chief. That
+authority he frequently asserted by levying toll upon the settlers and
+whalers, but never in any case from pure cupidity, or where he did
+not, by Maori law, have some good and valid claim to _utu_. Against
+these extortions, as they were pleased to regard them, the whalers
+appealed to such authority[196] as they could find in the islands; and
+when they were unable to obtain what they deemed to be justice in that
+quarter, they took the law into their own hands, and tried to rid
+themselves of their tormentor by means of the poison-cup. Frequent
+attempts were made to poison him at the whaling stations; and we are
+credibly informed that, on one occasion, he was induced to swallow a
+pint of raw rum heavily drugged with arsenic. But, in their excess of
+zeal to compass the chief's death, they had been led to apply too
+great a quantity of poison, and instead of its acting as they
+anticipated, it merely acted as an emetic. If this statement be
+well-grounded, or if the whalers were as Major Bunbury described them
+to be, when he visited Mana in order to procure Rangihaeata's
+signature to the Treaty of Waitangi, it is not to be expected that
+such dissolute associates would afford the chief much light and
+leading in the path of rectitude.
+
+The reckless disregard by the settlers and whalers of the sanctity of
+native custom was responsible for many of the misunderstandings, which
+they have debited against Rangihaeata for malice and mischief; while
+no attempt has been made to exonerate him on the ground that he
+probably saw the act only from the point of view of his native origin
+and upbringing. He was in spirit and in the flesh a Maori, and gloried
+in it, openly professing a detestation for the _pakeha_ and all that
+he had brought to the country. He affected a supreme contempt for the
+luxuries of the white man; but the weakness of human nature had
+blinded him to the inconsistency of which he was daily guilty in
+acquiring and gratifying an uncontrollable love of tobacco and rum.
+When under the influence of liquor he was querulous and violent; but
+his drinking indiscretions were generally redeemed as far as possible
+by the payment of ample compensation, for, savage though he was,
+Rangihaeata was not destitute of a liberal sense of justice.[197] This
+he applied to himself as rigorously as to others. When he was flying
+before the troops in the Horokiwi Valley, he frequently inquired if
+those who were hottest in pursuit were relatives of the victims of his
+anger at the Wairau; for to him "a life for a life" was an inexorable
+law, to which even he must bow, if the friends of the massacred men
+should overtake him. In the cause of what he believed to be the
+liberty of his people he did and dared much, enduring intense
+hardships for the maintenance of a principle, and when we charge him
+with harbouring criminals and refusing to deliver them over to
+justice, our resentment against his conduct may be mitigated by the
+reflection that his loyalty to these misguided friends was not so much
+due to a sympathy with crime, as it was a practical protest against
+what he believed to be their unfair treatment by the New Zealand
+Company. Rangihaeata stoutly resisted all attempts to convert him to
+the Christian faith, clinging to his heathen gods as closely as he
+clung to his antipathy to European settlement. His convictions on
+these points were deep-rooted and irrevocable; and he died as he
+lived, a savage, guilty of much bloodshed, yet not altogether devoid
+of nobility. Though he never rose to the level of Te Rauparaha as a
+warrior or a statesman, he was, nevertheless, a strong man amongst his
+people, opposed alike to the missionary and the settler, but only
+because he saw with a prophetic eye that the growing ascendancy of the
+_pakeha_ meant the ultimate subjugation of the Maori race. Viewed from
+this standpoint--the only one equitable to Rangihaeata--his policy of
+hostility cannot be characterised as that of a stubborn rebel, but may
+with greater justice be regarded as the policy of a patriot.
+
+The character and personal attributes of Te Rauparaha have been the
+subject of much conflicting comment, and the pen-portraits of him
+which have come down to us have consequently varied, in sympathy with
+the mood or interest of his critics. In physical appearance, all,
+however, agree that he was short of stature and aquiline of
+feature;[198] and, though at times obsequious in manner, he was
+equally capable of displaying an imperious dignity of deportment which
+marked him as a man accustomed to wield unquestioned authority. While
+in repose, the general expression of his countenance was placid and
+thoughtful; but when under the influence of excitement or agitation, a
+receding forehead, a furtive glance, and tusk-like teeth, revealed by
+a curling lip, detracted considerably from his impressive appearance.
+Though upwards of sixty years of age when he came into contact with
+the Europeans (for he claimed to have been a boy when Cook visited the
+country), he was still possessed of a wiry frame, and was capable of
+exerting great physical strength and activity, his limbs being
+straight, his step elastic, and his athletic vigour little diminished
+by age. Perhaps the most graphic description given of the chief is
+that penned by Mr. Jerningham Wakefield, whose cameo-like portrait may
+be accepted as faithful, and typical of others given by contemporary
+writers of equal integrity, if of inferior literary skill. Wakefield
+saw Te Rauparaha for the first time on the morning after the battle of
+Kuititanga, from which the chief had just returned; and to the
+excitement of that event may be attributed the agitation observable in
+his manner, the "wandering watchful glances" he threw around him, and
+the air of "evident fear and distrust," all of which contributed so
+forcefully to the creation of an unfavourable impression on the minds
+of his visitors.
+
+ "As we leaped from our boat, he advanced to meet us, and, with looks
+ of evident fear and distrust, eagerly sought our hand to exchange the
+ missionary greeting. During the whole of the ensuing conversation he
+ seemed uneasy and insecure in his own opinion, and the whalers
+ present described this behaviour as totally at variance 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 every one. 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, were plainly discernible on
+ a nearer view."
+
+Such was the man who, in or about the year of Bonaparte's death, began
+to play the Napoleonic _rôle_ in New Zealand.[199] Like the
+Corsican conqueror, to whom his life affords an interesting historical
+parallel, he derived no especial advantage from hereditary lineage,
+for his place in the Maori peerage was only sufficient to lift him
+above the native plutocracy. In his rise to eminence birth played but
+a minor part, his path to fortune being carved out by innate
+enterprise, inherent courage, wonderful executive capacity, and that
+dash of political unscrupulousness which is seldom absent from leaders
+of men. From his youth up he displayed masterful qualities of
+mind,[200] which infallibly lift their possessor above the level of
+mediocrity, and when such qualities are found, whether in savage or
+civilised society, the measure of success attained is only limited by
+the degree of opportunity offered. Te Rauparaha's escapades as a boy
+reveal his natural bravery; his care as a young man for the generous
+entertainment of his visitors indicates an appreciation of the value
+of a good social impression; his exertions to master the art of war
+were sustained by a clear recognition of the fact that authority in an
+age of strife was impossible without military success; and his
+ambition to furnish his people with guns was just as clearly the
+result of the knowledge that military success was impossible without a
+weapon as efficient as that wielded by the enemy. It was not any doubt
+of the bravery or fidelity of his people that induced his anxiety
+regarding their safety at Kawhia, but a conviction that, unless they
+could procure muskets and fight Waikato on equal terms, their doom was
+sealed.
+
+But there was also that in him which made him hunger for conquest just
+as keenly as he desired to evade being conquered; and if the discovery
+of an escape from his dilemma at Kawhia was accidental, he was, as a
+rule, careful to leave nothing to accident in the execution of his
+fully matured plans. The migration from Kawhia to Kapiti was a bold
+and daring conception, fraught as it was with difficulties of
+transport, peril to old and young, and, more than all, with the
+certainty that every inch of the way would have to be either bargained
+for or fought for. Yet it is the manner in which the idea was executed
+rather than the idea itself that calls for our admiration. It was
+characterised by wise planning, discreet forethought, accurate
+calculation, clever diplomacy, skilful strategy; and, when all else
+failed, there were the strong right arm and the courageous heart to
+compel compliance, if compulsion were needed. That Te Rauparaha was
+blessed with abundant confidence in his own prowess is demonstrated by
+the lightheartedness with which he assumed the rank and
+responsibilities of the dying Hape Tuarangi; and it was just this
+spirit of cheerful self-sufficiency which inspired others with that
+unbounded trust and confidence in him, which enabled him to lead his
+people away from the ties of their ancestral home, and induce them to
+share with him the dangers and uncertainty of a great enterprise. It
+is at least a tribute to Te Rauparaha's talents as a leader that, so
+long as the Maori remained unchanged by European influences, he
+continued to receive the loyal support and unfailing allegiance of his
+people. He was always popular with the masses, otherwise he could not
+have accomplished a tithe of what he did. No criticism of Te Rauparaha
+is sound which represents him as wholly bad. There is in human nature
+a rough method of arriving at what is right; and no public, whether
+savage or civilised, will for long tolerate, much less venerate, a
+leader whose only policy is his own aggrandisement.
+
+The undisputed position which Te Rauparaha enjoyed in the affections
+of his own people, the fidelity with which they followed him, till the
+_mana_ of the chief was superseded by the ascendancy of the
+_pakeha_, afford proof that they, at all events, were able to
+discern some meritorious qualities in him, even though not endowed
+with the higher ethical vision of a modern critic. It has been
+suggested that, in after years, when dissensions arose amongst the
+tribes which acknowledged his chieftainship, the revolt was due to
+shattered confidence, this shaken faith being traceable to a belief
+that he was treacherously plotting with Ngati-Raukawa to compass the
+expulsion of Ngati-Awa from Waikanae. But it must not be forgotten
+that, by this period, the advent of the _pakeha_ had created a
+new atmosphere around the Maori, and the policy of the missionary in
+extolling the convert to the disparagement of the chief had, in a
+measure, destroyed the power of the people's leaders. And, in the
+general decline of hereditary authority, Te Rauparaha's _mana_
+had suffered with the rest. It had therefore become more
+difficult--and it may have been impossible--for him to quell
+internecine strife by the peremptory means which he would have
+employed in the days of his absolute supremacy.
+
+No candid review of the chief's career can, however, fail to take
+cognisance of the fact that his methods frequently gave rise to
+suspicions of deepest treachery, the doubtful honour of these
+proceedings having long since passed into song and proverb. In common
+with all successful leaders, he possessed the virtue of keeping his
+own counsel. He made his plans, nursed them in his own mind, and, in
+the fullness of time, gave his orders accordingly--a secretive habit
+which gave origin to the saying: "No one knew his thoughts, whether
+they were good or evil." This reticence has, by some writers, been
+given an interpretation which does not rightly belong to it: because
+he was reserved, therefore he was treacherous. Such a deduction does
+not necessarily sum up the whole position. But, even when this has
+been admitted, there still remains the imputation of treachery, left
+by the derisive songs and proverbs, to be either admitted or combated.
+The unblushing apologist for Te Rauparaha might conceivably argue that
+these chants were but the creation of prejudiced or malignant minds;
+but the charges of deception, amounting to treachery, are too
+frequently reiterated to be rejected as altogether groundless.
+Barbarous though the Maori was, he had a code of honour which could
+not be lightly violated; and when a member of a tribe was killed, it
+was not the fact that he was dead which agitated his friends, but the
+circumstances of his dying. "Was his death _tika_?[201] Had it been
+compassed in fair fight? Or was it _kohuru_?"[202] These were
+questions always demanding a satisfactory answer, for the laws
+governing life and death were well defined. And, judged by these laws,
+it is impossible to hold Te Rauparaha blameless of the crime of
+treachery. The killing of the Rangitane chief, Toki-poto, the capture
+of the Hotu-iti _pa_, the seizure of Tamaiharanui, and possibly many
+another similar deed not so specifically recorded, were all acts of
+treachery, and serve to dim the lustre of his larger achievements
+conducted strictly in accordance with Maori military law.
+Nevertheless, it is possible that there has been much exaggeration in
+relation to this phase of the chief's character. When his troubles
+with the New Zealand Company began to develop, and more particularly
+after the Wairau massacre, it became the mission of a section of the
+European community to represent him as the incarnation of all that was
+cruel, treacherous, and unspeakably wicked. In this connection it
+becomes especially dangerous to accept unreservedly the judgment of
+the Wakefields, who were early prejudiced against him by his
+opposition to their colonising methods, and were afterwards deeply
+embittered towards him by the death of their relative at the Wairau.
+Impartiality under such circumstances is almost too much to expect;
+and it is only just to Te Rauparaha to say that they availed
+themselves fully of their special opportunities for disseminating a
+prejudice against him, so that a view so long uncontradicted can
+hardly now be eradicated.
+
+In no respect has the reputation of Te Rauparaha suffered more from
+bitter hostility than in connection with the Wairau massacre. And we
+cannot wonder; for at the time of its occurrence he had arrayed
+against him a galaxy of literary talent, such as the Colony has never
+seen since, and day by day these wielders of facile pens fed with
+scholarly vituperation the flames of racial animosity, which were
+already burning at white heat. They spoke of murder; they clamoured
+for revenge; and all who failed to see as they saw were exposed to the
+darts of their merciless sarcasm. But, with the softening influence of
+time, men's hearts have mellowed, stormy passions have subsided, and
+we of this day are able to review the facts with more sober judgment
+than was possible to those who lived and wrote in the heated
+atmosphere of the time. In this unhappy quarrel it must now be
+accepted as an established fact that the New Zealand Company were the
+aggressors. The Wairau Valley may, or may not, have been included in
+their original purchases; but Captain Wakefield knew that this point
+was being contested by the natives. He knew further that the dispute
+had been by them referred to Mr. Spain, and therefore no reasonable
+excuse can be advanced for his attempt to seize the valley while its
+title was still subject to judicial investigation. Te Rauparaha's
+attitude in the early stages of the trouble amounted to no more than a
+temperate protest. He personally interviewed Captain Wakefield at
+Nelson; he was as conciliatory in requesting the surveyors to leave
+the field as he was decided that they must go; he calmed Rangihaeata's
+violence at the conference with Mr. Tuckett; and, as Mr. Spain's final
+decision was fatal to the Company's claim, the charge of arson
+preferred against him dwindles into a legal fiction. The conciliatory
+tone thus manifested by the chief was equally marked in the more acute
+stage, which arose at Tua Marina. While the magistrate fumed and
+raged, the chief stood perfectly calm. He more than once begged that
+time should be taken to talk over the case; but the mad impetuosity of
+Thompson would brook no delay in determining a cause the merits of
+which he, the judge, had already prejudged in his own mind. For the
+precipitation of the conflict which followed, who shall say that the
+fault was Te Rauparaha's? It was neither his hand nor his command
+which put the brand to the bush, nor does it appear that it was ever
+within his power to control the outburst of human passion which flamed
+up upon the firing of the first shot. What part he took in the fight
+is uncertain. It has never been suggested that he bore arms, and
+therefore we may assume that he was an excited spectator, rather than
+an active participant in the mêlée. That he was early on the brow of
+the hill, after the retreat had ceased, would appear to be beyond
+doubt; but his first act on reaching the Europeans was to shake hands
+with them, a proceeding which seemed to imply that, even after all
+that had passed, his friendship had not been irretrievably lost.
+Indeed, there is nothing to lead us to suppose that he harboured any
+thoughts of retaliation, until Rangihaeata violently demanded _utu_
+for the death of Te Rongo.
+
+This demand placed Te Rauparaha in a serious dilemma. Against any
+feeling of friendship for the Europeans which may still have lingered
+in his heart, he had now to set a claim which was wholly in accord
+with native custom; a right, in fact, which had been recognised by
+his forefathers for more centuries than we can with certainty name; a
+feature of Maori justice supported by ages of precedent, and which,
+imbibed from infancy, had become a part of his nature. This was
+undoubtedly the crisis of the tragedy. Had Te Rauparaha decided
+against Rangihaeata, there would have been no massacre; but where his
+detractors are unfair to him is in appearing to expect that he should
+have suddenly risen superior to his Maori nature, and, in place of
+allowing his actions to be governed by Maori law, that he--a
+heathen--should have viewed the attempt to seize his land and his
+person, together with the death of Te Rongo, in the forgiving spirit
+of a Christian. No Ethiop was ever asked to change his skin more
+rapidly; and if Te Rauparaha failed in the performance of the miracle,
+he only failed when success was morally impossible to him. In the
+massacre itself he had no share; and, beyond the fact that, under
+intense natural excitement, he gave a tacit consent to Rangihaeata's
+deed, he appears to have stood outside it.
+
+Of his relations with the whalers, accounts vary. If we accept the
+Wakefield view, we must believe that by them he was heartily detested
+and distrusted. That he was acquisitive to the point of aggression is
+possible; that he was often overbearing towards them may be equally
+true, for these are characteristics frequently seen in the powerful
+savage; but there are also instances recorded in which he showed a
+ready generosity and a strict sense of justice towards the whaling
+community.
+
+ "The whalers and traders, who had the best opportunity of being
+ intimately acquainted with him, and that, too, at a time when his
+ power to injure was greatest, invariably spoke of him as ever having
+ been the white man's friend. He always placed the best he had before
+ them, and in no instance have I heard of his doing any one of them an
+ injury. Speaking of him to an old whaler, he said emphatically that
+ Te Rauparaha never let the white man who needed want anything he
+ could give, whether food or clothing; in fact, his natural sagacity
+ told him that it was his interest to make common cause with the
+ Europeans, for it was through them that he acquired the sinews of
+ war, guns, powder, and shot, and everything else that he
+ required."[203]
+
+The impartiality with which he held the balance between the two races
+may be gathered from the following incident: A whaleboat had left
+Waikanae to proceed to Kapiti, the crew taking with them a native, who
+sat in the bow. On the journey over the Maori managed to secrete
+beneath his mat the small hatchet which the whalers used to cut the
+line, and was quietly walking off with it when the boat reached the
+island. Before he had gone many steps one of the crew whispered to the
+headsman what had happened, whereupon that worthy picked up the
+harpoon and drove it straight through the Maori's back, killing him on
+the spot. The native population was at once thrown into a state of
+uproar and fury, threatening dire vengeance upon the whalers, but Te
+Rauparaha quelled the disturbance in an instant, and, after inquiring
+into its cause, walked away, declaring that the native had only met
+with his deserts.
+
+Towards his native enemies Te Rauparaha was unquestionably merciless
+and cruel, though not more so, perhaps, than was sanctioned by the
+spirit of the times in which he lived. Yet that he was not wholly
+incapable of admiration for a worthy opponent is shown by his seeking
+out and sparing Te Ata o Tu, the Ngai-Tahu warrior, who fought so
+bravely against him at Kaiapoi. Even in this case there are persons
+who affect to believe that self-interest rather than chivalry may have
+been the moving impulse in his conduct, for he possibly counted upon
+so skilful a fighter being invaluable to him in his northern troubles.
+But surely we can afford to be magnanimous enough to concede to so
+fine an example of generosity a less mercenary motive?[204] Though
+relentless to a degree towards those tribes who came between him and
+his ambitions, it must always be remembered that his ruthlessness is
+not to be judged from the Christian standpoint. His enormities, which
+were neither few nor small, were those of a savage, born and bred in
+an atmosphere into which no spirit of Divine charity had ever entered.
+Compared with the excesses practised in civilised warfare by such
+champions of the Cross as Cortés and the Duke of Alva, his deeds of
+darkness become less repugnant, if not altogether pardonable.
+
+The attitude which he adopted towards the European was in exact
+opposition to that assumed by Te Rangihaeata. He welcomed rather than
+resented the coming of the white man, although he found reason to
+protest against the methods employed by the New Zealand Company in
+acquiring land on which to settle them. Nor in this respect can it be
+said that his objections were captious or ill-founded; in fact, with
+the exception of the Hutt dispute, the Commissioner's decisions were
+invariably a vindication of his contentions. Some doubt has
+necessarily been cast upon his loyalty to the Government (which he
+accepted when he signed the Treaty of Waitangi), by virtue of the fact
+that he was seized and held captive because of his supposed
+infidelity. There are those with whom it is only necessary to accuse
+in order to condemn. In this case accusation carried condemnation with
+it, but condemnation without proof of guilt is injustice. Whatever the
+measure of Te Rauparaha's duplicity may have been, the Governor
+conspicuously failed to do more than suspect him, and as conspicuously
+failed to bring the chief face to face with his accusers. It was never
+proved, nor was any attempt ever made to prove before a court of
+competent jurisdiction, that Te Rauparaha had held communication with
+the enemy. Even if he had so communicated, an easy explanation might
+have been found in the native practice, under which individuals in
+opposing forces frequently visited each other during the progress of
+hostilities. Te Rauparaha had many friends with the rebels, and it
+would appear perfectly natural to him to hold friendly correspondence
+with them, whilst himself maintaining an attitude of strict
+neutrality. Considering the contemptuous disregard which many British
+officials displayed towards rites and customs held sacred by the
+Maori, it is not to be expected that they would trouble to understand,
+or try to appreciate, this subtlety in the native character. And so,
+what was to the Maori a well-established and common custom, was by
+them translated into treachery, for which Te Rauparaha was made
+captive in a manner which leaves us but little right to talk of open
+and honourable tactics.
+
+His conduct while a captive on board the _Calliope_ appears to
+have been exemplary enough, and he succeeded in impressing those with
+whom he came into contact by his quick perception, particularly of
+anything meant to turn him into ridicule, of which he was most
+sensitive. He frequently became much excited and very violent, and at
+other times, when talking of his misfortunes, he would become deeply
+moved, and the tears would run down his wrinkled cheeks. It is
+recorded that he was very grateful for any kindness shown him; and
+when Lieutenant Thorpe left the ship to return to England he expressed
+the most intense sorrow, crying the whole day, and repeating the
+officer's name in piteous accents. This, it was noted, was not merely
+a temporary affection. When, a year later, the _Calliope_ was
+leaving the New Zealand station, he sent his favourite a very handsome
+mat, begging the officer by whom it was sent to tell Lieutenant Thorpe
+how glad he would be to see his face once more, and how well he would
+treat him now that he was free. Similarly, when Lieutenant McKillop
+was proceeding home, Te Rauparaha took him aside and entreated him to
+go, on reaching England, and convey to Queen Victoria his regard for
+her and express his keen desire to see her, only his great age and the
+length of the voyage standing between him and the consummation of that
+desire. "He hoped, however, she would believe that he would always be
+a great and true friend of hers, and use all his influence with his
+countrymen to make them treat her subjects well, and that, when he
+became free again, there would be no doubt as to his loyalty, as he
+would himself, old as he was, be the first to engage in a war against
+any who should offend her or the Governor, of whom he always spoke
+with the greatest respect." During his captivity the news of the
+outbreak of the war in the Sutlej reached the Colony, and, noticing
+the excitement on board the _Calliope_, he asked to be informed of the
+contents of the papers giving details of the battles. In this subject
+he maintained the liveliest interest; and, when he had sufficiently
+grasped the details, he was perceptibly impressed by the magnitude of
+the armies engaged and the tremendous resources of the Empire, about
+which he, in common with all natives, had been distinctly incredulous.
+That his release was marked by no exhibition of resentment is at least
+something to his credit, and the ease with which he afterwards adapted
+himself to the strangely altered order of things is proof that his
+nature was capable of absorbing higher ideals than are taught in
+savage philosophy, although it is doubtful if he ever reached the
+purer heights attained by a clear conception of the beatitudes of the
+Christian religion.
+
+In the life of Te Rauparaha there is much that is revolting and
+incapable of palliation. But, always remembering his savage
+environment, we must concede to him the possession of qualities which,
+under more enlightened circumstances, would have contributed as
+fruitfully to the uplifting of mankind as they did to its destruction.
+His superiority over his fellows was mental rather than physical; his
+success lay in his intellectual alertness, his originality, strategic
+foresight, and executive capacity. He was probably a better diplomat
+than he was a general, but he had sufficient of the military instinct
+to make him a conqueror. And if, in the execution of his conquests,
+the primary object of which was to find a safe home for his people,
+the weaker tribes went down, history was but repeating amongst the
+Maoris in New Zealand the story which animate nature is always and
+everywhere proclaiming, and which, in the cold language of the
+philosophers, is called "the survival of the fittest."
+
+[196] "On shore, I was much tormented by the zeal of some European
+sailors, who appeared to be a drunken set of lawless vagabonds,
+belonging to the different whaling establishments in the neighbourhood.
+The only respectable person amongst them was a stock-keeper in charge
+of some sheep and horned cattle, and the captain of a whaling vessel
+ahead of us. I asked the sailors, who were complaining that some of
+the property taken was theirs, if they had any specific charge to make
+against Rangihaeata, who was the most powerful chief in the
+neighbourhood. However, I could get nothing from them but vague
+declarations against native chiefs in general, to which I replied that
+the fault was probably as much on their side as on that of the
+natives. The old chief, who was present, appeared to understand the
+drift of the conversation, for he went into his hut and brought out
+several written testimonials of good conduct; on which I desired Mr.
+Williams to explain to him how much I was gratified in perusing them,
+and that I trusted that under the Queen's Government he would continue
+equally to deserve them: that he would find the Government just and
+even-handed, and that punishment would follow evil-doers, whether they
+were natives or Europeans. To which he replied, 'Kapai,' apparently
+much satisfied" (_Major Bunbury_).
+
+[197] "On Saturday (November 24, 1849), Rangihaeata and a party of his
+followers paid a last visit to Te Rauparaha. At the Ohau ferry
+Rangihaeata demanded some spirits from the temporary ferryman (the
+regular one being absent). On being refused, he knocked him down, and
+then helped himself, but afterwards tendered _utu_ for the
+violence offered and the spirits taken" (New Zealand _Spectator_,
+December 1, 1849).
+
+[198] In an enclosure opposite the Maori church at Otaki there stands
+upon a pedestal a marble bust of Te Rauparaha. The bust was procured
+in Sydney by Tamihana te Rauparaha at a cost of £200, and the
+likeness, which is said to be a very faithful one, was copied from a
+portrait painted by Mr. Beetham. Because Te Rauparaha had not become
+even "nominally Christian," Mr. Hadfield refused to permit the
+erection of the bust within the church enclosure, and for two years it
+lay upon the common, packed in the case in which it had come from
+Sydney. Subsequently, Mr. McWilliam, the native missionary, collected
+a few pounds with which to purchase the pedestal, and had the bust
+erected where it now stands. On the authority of Dieffenbach and
+Angas, it is said that Te Rauparaha possessed the physical curiosity
+of six toes on each foot.
+
+[199] It is estimated that during the course of Te Rauparaha's
+campaigns no less than 60,000 lives were sacrificed.
+
+[200] Mr. Spain, in one of his reports, has said: "Rauparaha is the
+most talented native I have seen in New Zealand. He is mild and
+gentlemanly in his manner and address; a most powerful speaker; and
+his argumentative faculties are of a first rate order."
+
+"He must have been a most powerful man, and, if his mind had been
+cultivated, would, no doubt, have been a most clever one. As it is, he
+seldom gets the worst of an argument about his own proceedings, puts
+such searching questions and gives such evasive answers, that he
+puzzled the best of our logicians on many occasions when endeavouring
+to get him to give a decided answer about his not giving us the
+assistance he promised when we were trying to capture the murderers
+from Rangihaeata" (_McKillop_).
+
+[201] Correct, according to prescribed rules.
+
+[202] Treachery, amounting to murder.
+
+[203] Rev. Richard Taylor.
+
+[204] "I must not omit to mention that, cruel and bloodthirsty as this
+man appears to have been, he must occasionally have made exceptions,
+as one of his slaves voluntarily accompanied him into captivity on
+board the _Calliope_, waiting on him and paying him every
+attention for a period of eighteen months, knowing from the beginning
+that he was quite free to leave him at any time. He was offered a
+rating on the ship's books, but this he refused, saying there would be
+no one to wait on the old man if he was otherwise employed"
+(_McKillop_).
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF TE RAUPARAHA'S WIVES AND
+CHILDREN
+
+
+            { = Marore (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (the trap).
+            { +---------------+-------------+-------+
+            {   |             |             |       |
+            { Uira.  Ranga-hounga-riri.  Tutari.  Poaka.
+            {
+            { = Kahui-rangi
+            { | (stranger).
+            { +---+------------+
+            {     |            |
+            {  Hononga       Atua
+            { (landslip).   (god).
+            {
+            { = Ranga-ta-moana (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (day of taking at sea).
+            { +-------+-------------------+
+            {         |                   |
+            { Whetu-kai-tangata       Puta-kino
+            { (man-eating star).   (note of evil).
+            {
+            { = Hope-nui (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (big waist).
+            { +---+-----------------+
+            {     |                 |
+  Rauparaha {  Motu-hia         Te Malata
+  (leaf of  { (cut off).   (carry on a litter).
+   paraha). {
+            { = Akau (Tu-hou-rangi)
+            { | (sea-coast).
+            { +------+------------------------+
+            {        |                        |
+            {  Tamu-whakairia         Tamihana Rauparaha
+            { (king lifted up).   (Thompson leaf of paraha).
+            {
+            { = Kutia (Tu-hou-rangi)
+            { | (nipped together).
+            { +--+
+            {    |
+            { Paranihia
+            { (Frances).
+            {
+            { = Kahu-kino (Ngatirangitihi)
+            { | (evil garment).
+            { +---------+
+            {           |
+            { Rangi houngi-riri tuarua
+            { (day of battle, second).
+            {
+            { = Kahu-taiki (Ngati-Toa)
+            {   (garment of wicker work).
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: MAP OF NEW ZEALAND]
+
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44726 ***
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of An Old New Zealander, or
+      Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.
+      By T. Lindsay Buick.
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44726 ***</div>
+
+<div class="tnote">
+
+<p>Transcriber's Note:</p>
+
+<p>Discrepancies between the detail of the list of illustrations, and the
+text accompanying the illustrations themselves, have been retained.</p>
+
+<p>The list also omits the table of Te Rauparaha's wives and children,
+that has been inserted at the end of the book before the map of his
+and Te Puoho's raids. It is reproduced in this version.</p>
+
+<p>Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in
+hyphenation have been retained.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="frontm">
+<span class="size180">AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 375px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="frontis" id="frontis">
+  <img width="375" height="600" alt="frontis" src="images/004-frontis.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TE RAUPARAHA.<br />
+                      After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin.</p>
+    <p class="right">Frontispiece.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+ <h1>AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER<br />
+ <span class="size080">OR, TE RAUPARAHA, THE<br />NAPOLEON OF THE SOUTH</span></h1>
+
+<div class="frontm">
+<span class="size080">BY</span><br />
+<span class="size120">T. LINDSAY BUICK</span><br />
+<span class="size080">AUTHOR OF "OLD MARLBOROUGH," "OLD MANAWATU"</span><br /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img width="50" height="49" alt="emblem" src="images/005-emblem.jpg" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="frontm"><br /><br />
+<span class="size120">WHITCOMBE &amp; TOMBS, LIMITED</span><br />
+<span class="size100">LONDON MELBOURNE<br />
+                      CHRISTCHURCH, WELLINGTON AND DUNEDIN, N.Z.<br />
+                      1911</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2><br />
+<span class="size075">To<br />S. PERCY SMITH, <span
+      class="smcap">Esq.</span>, F.R.G.S.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="frontm">
+<span class="size100">"A WELL-DESERVING PILLAR" IN THE TEMPLE<br />
+                      OF POLYNESIAN LEARNING, I GRATEFULLY<br />
+                      DEDICATE THIS BOOK</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">I have</span>
+been constrained to write the story of "An Old New Zealander"
+largely to gratify the frequently expressed desire for a more
+comprehensive sketch of Te Rauparaha's career on the part of many
+readers of my former books, in which fitful glimpses of the old chief
+were given. These references have apparently awakened some
+considerable interest in the life and times of the great Ngatitoan,
+and although this period of New Zealand's history is by no means
+barren of literature, I am hopeful that there is still room for a
+volume in which much heterogeneous matter has been grouped and
+consolidated. There may be some amongst the reading public who will
+question the need, or the wisdom, of recording the savage and
+sanguinary past of the Maori; but history is always history, and if
+this contribution serves no other useful purpose, it may at least help
+to emphasise the marvellous transformation which has been worked in
+the natives of New Zealand since Te Rauparaha's time&mdash;a transformation
+which can be accounted one of the world's greatest triumphs for
+missionary enterprise. It may be, too, that some critics
+will not subscribe to my estimate of the chief's character, because it
+has been the conventional view that he who refused to part with his
+own and his people's heritage was destitute of a redeeming feature.
+Owing to the misrepresentation of the early settlers and traders he
+has been greatly misunderstood by their successors; and they have
+further added to the injustice by sometimes seeking to measure one who
+was steeped in heathen darkness by the holy standard which was raised
+by the Founder of Christianity. As in the careers of most conquerors,
+there is much in the life of Te Rauparaha that will not bear
+condonation; but in every British community there is a wholesome
+admiration for resourcefulness, indomitable will, and splendid
+courage; and, if the succeeding pages serve to balance these high
+qualities of the chief against his failings, they may assist in
+setting up a more equitable standard whereby future generations will
+be able to judge him.</p>
+
+<p>In compiling this work I have necessarily had to draw upon many of the
+existing publications on New Zealand, and I now desire gratefully to
+acknowledge my obligations to their authors. I have also to thank Mr.
+S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., for the kindly interest he has displayed in
+the progress of my work, and in no less degree must I pay my
+respectful acknowledgments to Mr. H. M. Stowell and to Mr. J. R.
+Russell for their judicious criticisms and suggestions, whereby I have
+been assisted in arriving at a correct historical perspective. To Mr.
+T. W. Downes, of Whanganui, who has enthusiastically co-operated with
+me in procuring some of the illustrations, and to Mr. J. W. Joynt,
+M.A., for his
+careful revision of the proofs, I am equally indebted, and now beg to
+tender to these gentlemen my sincere thanks for their assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Humbly acknowledging the force of Carlyle's dictum that "Histories are
+as perfect as the historian is wise and is gifted with an eye and a
+soul," I now present the result of my last year's labour to the reader.</p>
+
+<div class="sigbloc">
+  <span class="right">THE AUTHOR.</span>
+  <span class="smcap">Victoria Avenue, Dannevirke, N.Z.,</span>
+  <span class="left"><i>May</i> 23, 1911.</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table class="toc" summary="table of contents">
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td></tr>
+ <tr><td></td>
+     <td class="page"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">WHENCE AND WHITHER?</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">ARAWA AND TAINUI</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE LAND OF PROMISE</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE SOUTHERN RAIDS</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE SMOKING FLAX</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE CAPTIVE CHIEF</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<table class="toc" summary="table of illustrations">
+ <tr><td class="titl">PORTRAIT OF TE RAUPARAHA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td></td>
+     <td class="page"><span class="small">FACING PAGE</span></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#fleet">16</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland.<br />
+                      By kind permission of the Artist</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">POMOHAKA PASSAGE, KAWHIA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#kawhia">32</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">From a photo by Jonston</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">BURNING OF THE "BOYD"</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#boyd">48</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland.<br />
+                      By kind permission of the Artist</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#arawi">64</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">The Point from which the Ngati-Toa<br />
+                      migration commenced</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE MEMORIAL TIKI, KAIAPOI</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#kaiapoi">128</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">Erected on the site of the pa destroyed<br />
+                      by Te Rauparaha</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">GILLETT'S WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#gillett">144</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">By kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.<br />
+                      From a sketch by her Father</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#wairau">256</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">Erected by public subscription, 1869.<br />
+                      Photo by Macey</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">TAUPO PA, PORIRUA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#porirua">288</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">After a drawing by G. F. Angas</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">TE RANGIHAEATA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#rangihaeata">304</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">After a drawing by C. D. Barraud, Esq.</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">MAP DELINEATING JOURNEYS OF TE RAUPARAHA<br />
+                      AND TE PUOHO</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#map">At end</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">LAMENT ON THE CAPTURE OF TE RAUPARAHA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Composed by Hinewhe, and supposed to be sung by Te Rangihaeata.</i></p>
+
+<div class="lament-ctr">
+<div class="lament">
+
+<span class="i12">I</span>
+<span class="i6">Alas! my heart is wild with grief:</span>
+<span class="i8">There rises still</span>
+<span class="i8">The frowning hill</span>
+<span class="i2">Of Kapiti, in vain amid the waters lone!</span>
+<span class="i8">But he, the chief,</span>
+<span class="i6">The key of all the land, is gone!</span>
+
+<span class="i12">II</span>
+<span class="i2">Calm in the lofty ship, O ancient comrade, sleep,</span>
+<span class="i4">And gaze upon the stillness of the deep!</span>
+<span class="i8">Till now, till now,</span>
+<span class="i4">A calm was but a signal unto thee</span>
+<span class="i6">To rise in pride, and to the fray</span>
+<span class="i4">Despatch some martial band in stern array!</span>
+<span class="i8">But go thy way,</span>
+<span class="i6">And with a favouring tide</span>
+<span class="i6">Upon the billows ride,</span>
+<span class="i2">Till Albion's cliffs thou climb, so far beyond the sea.</span>
+
+<span class="i12">III</span>
+<span class="i2">Thou stood'st alone, a kingliest forest tree,</span>
+<span class="i8">Our pride, our boast,</span>
+<span class="i6">Our shelter and defence to be.</span>
+<span class="i4">But helplessly&mdash;ah, helplessly wast thou</span>
+<span class="i4">Plucked sword-like from the heart of all thy host,</span>
+<span class="i6">Thy thronging "Children of the Brave,"</span>
+<span class="i8">With none to save!</span>
+<span class="i4">Not amid glaring eyes;</span>
+<span class="i4">Not amid battle cries,</span>
+<span class="i4">When the desperate foes</span>
+<span class="i4">Their dense ranks close:</span>
+<span class="i2">Not from the lips of the terrible guns</span>
+<span class="i2">Thy well-known cry resounding o'er the heath:</span>
+<span class="i6">"Now, now, my sons!</span>
+<span class="i2">Now fearless with me to the realms of Death!"</span>
+<span class="i2">Not thus&mdash;not thus, amid the whirl of war,</span>
+<span class="i2">Wert thou caught up and borne away afar!</span>
+
+<span class="i12">IV</span>
+<span class="i6">Who will arise to save?</span>
+<span class="i6">Who to the rescue comes?</span>
+<span class="i4">Waikato's lord&mdash;Tauranga's chief,</span>
+<span class="i2">Thy grandsons, rushing from their distant homes,</span>
+<span class="i0">They shall avenge their sire&mdash;they shall assuage our grief.</span>
+<span class="i4">While you, the "Children of the Brave,"</span>
+<span class="i4">Still sleep a sleep as of the grave,</span>
+<span class="i0">Dull as the slumbering fish that basks upon the summer wave.</span>
+
+<span class="i12">V</span>
+<span class="i4">Depart then, hoary chief! Thy fall&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i4">The pledge forsooth of peace to all&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Of Heaven's peace, so grateful to their God above,</span>
+<span class="i4">And to thy kinsmen twain, by whom</span>
+<span class="i0">Was brought us from the portals of the "land of gloom,"</span>
+<span class="i4">This novel law of love&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">This law of good:</span>
+<span class="i2">Say, rather, murderous law of blood,</span>
+<span class="i2">That charges its own crimes upon its foes&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">While I alone am held the source whence these disasters rose!</span>
+
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">{1}</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="frontm"><span class="size180"><br />An Old New Zealander</span></div>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER I</span><br /><span
+class="size070">WHENCE AND WHITHER?</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">Probably</span>
+no portion of the globe is so pregnant with the romance of
+unsolved problem as the Pacific Ocean. For thousands of years before
+Vasco de Balboa, the friend of Columbus, stood upon the heights of
+Panama and enriched mankind by his glorious geographical discovery,
+this great ocean and the islands which its blue waters encircle had
+remained a world in themselves, undisturbed by the rise and fall of
+continental kingdoms, unknown even to the semi-civilised peoples who
+dwelt on the neighbouring continental shores. But although thus shut
+out from human ken and wrapt in impenetrable mystery, we are entitled
+to presume that during all this period of time Nature, both animate
+and inanimate, had been there fulfilling its allotted part in the
+Creator's plan, though no pen has fully told, or ever can tell, of the
+many stupendous changes which were wrought in those far-away centuries
+either by the will of God or by the hand of man. That vast and
+far-reaching displacements had been effected before the Spanish
+adventurer's discovery of 1513 broke this prehistoric silence, there
+is little room to doubt, for the position and configuration of the
+island groups are as surely the results of geological revolutions as
+their occupation by a strangely simple and unlettered people is
+evidence of some great social upheaval in the older societies of the
+world. Precisely what those
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">{2}</a></span>
+geological changes have been, or what the cause of that
+social upheaval, it would be imprudent to affirm, but
+there is always room for speculation, even in the realm
+of science and history, and there is no unreasonable
+scepticism in refusing to subscribe to the belief that the
+Pacific Ocean always has been, geographically speaking,
+what it is to-day, nor rash credulity in accepting the
+ruined buildings and monolithic remains which lie
+scattered from Easter Island to Ponape, as evidences of
+a people whose empire&mdash;if such it can be called&mdash;had
+vanished long before the appearance of the Spaniards in
+these waters.</p>
+
+<p>But even if the opinion still awaits scientific verification that the
+islands and atolls which sustain the present population of the Pacific
+are but the surviving heights of a submerged continent, there is less
+room to doubt that the dark-skinned inhabitants of those islands can
+look back upon a long course of racial vicissitude antecedent to the
+arrival of the Spaniards. What the first and subsequent voyagers found
+was a people of stalwart frame, strong and lithe of limb, with head
+and features, and especially the fairness of the skin, suggestive of
+Caucasian origin.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_1" id="Ref_1" href="#Foot_1">[1]</a></span>
+Although of bright and buoyant spirits, they were
+without letters, and their arts were of the most rudimentary kind. Of
+pottery they knew nothing, and of all metals they were equally
+ignorant. For their domestic utensils they were dependent upon the
+gourd and other vegetable products, and for weapons of war and tools
+of husbandry upon the flints and jades of the mountains. Their
+textiles, too, were woven without the aid of the spindle, and in much
+the same primitive fashion as had been employed by the cave-dwellers
+of England thousands of years before. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">{3}</a></span>
+the production of fire they were not a whit less primitive
+than the semi-savage of ancient Britain. They thus presented
+the pathetic spectacle of a people lingering away
+back in the Palæolithic period of the world's history,
+while the world around them had marched on through
+the long centuries involved in the Bronze and Iron Ages.</p>
+
+<p>But though devoid of these mechanical arts, the higher development of
+which counts for much in national progress, these people were no
+sluggards. They were expert canoe-builders, and their skill in naval
+architecture was only equalled by the daring with which they traversed
+the ocean waste around them. They were bold and adventurous
+navigators, who studied the flow of the tides and the sweep of the
+ocean currents. They knew enough of astronomy to steer by the stars,
+and were able to navigate their rude craft with a wonderful degree of
+mathematical certainty. Whether their wanderings were in all cases due
+to design or sometimes to accident, cannot now be definitely affirmed;
+but there is abundant proof that their voyages had extended from
+Hawaii in the north to Antarctica in the south, and there was scarcely
+an island that was not known and named in all their complex
+archipelagos.</p>
+
+<p>Of literature they, of course, had none, but they revelled in oral
+traditions and in a mythology rich in imagination and poetry, which
+accounted for all things, even for the beginning of the world and for
+the ultimate destiny of the soul. Being deeply religious and as deeply
+superstitious, they interpreted natural phenomena in a mystic sense,
+and Pope's lines on the poor Indian would have been equally applicable
+to the ancient Maori in Polynesia&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind</span>
+<span class="i2">Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind:</span>
+<span class="i2">His soul proud science never taught to stray</span>
+<span class="i2">Far as the Solar Walk or Milky Way.</span>
+<span class="i2">Yet simple Nature to his hope has given</span>
+<span class="i2">Behind the cloud-capt hill an humbler heaven;</span>
+<span class="i2">Some safer world in depths of woods embraced,</span>
+<span class="i2">Some happier island in the watery waste,</span>
+<span class="i2">Where slaves once more their native land behold,<span
+class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">{4}</a></span></span>
+<span class="i2">No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_2" id="Ref_2" href="#Foot_2">[2]</a></span>
+</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The cradle of the Polynesian race was undoubtedly Asia; and to arrive at
+a clear understanding as to how it became transported from a continental
+home into this island world it will be necessary to carry the mind back
+probably more than 200,000 years. At that time the dominating section
+of the human family was the Caucasian&mdash;fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and
+revelling in the glory of long, wavy hair. Their civilisation,
+however, like their weapons of chipped stone, was of the most
+primitive character; but they had advanced sufficiently in the
+ascending scale of human progress to show that they valued life by
+paying pious respect to their dead. They preserved the memory of the
+departed by erecting over their burial-places huge blocks of stone,
+many of which monuments stand to-day to mark the course of their
+migrations. And, except possibly a flint axe-head or a rude ornament
+found deep in some ancient gravel-bed, these megalithic monuments are
+amongst the most convincing evidence we have of the wide diffusion of
+the human race in prehistoric times. From the most westerly point in
+Ireland, across the European and Asiatic continents, they stretch by
+the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the former, and
+the plains of Siberia in the latter, until they reach the waters of
+the Pacific. Even this wide expanse of ocean proved no insuperable
+barrier to the onward march of wandering man; for it is by the
+presence of his stone-building habit in so many of the Pacific Islands
+that we are able
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">{5}</a></span>
+to construct a probable hypothesis of the process by
+which Polynesia first became inhabited.</p>
+
+<p>In the light of modern knowledge, the theory which finds most ready
+acceptance is that in Palæolithic times the Caucasian race, being more
+or less a maritime people, had obtained possession of the coastal
+districts of Europe. As they multiplied and spread, they followed the
+ocean's edge to the northward, and, as the Arctic regions were then
+enjoying a temperate climate, there was a plenteous and pleasant home
+for them even in the most northerly part of Siberia. But later a
+drastic climatic change began to take place. The great ice-sheet,
+which is known to have twice covered northern Europe and Asia, began
+to creep down upon the land, driving man and beast before it. Impelled
+by this relentless force, there began a momentous migration of
+Palæolithic man, who swept in hordes southward and eastward in search
+of a more hospitable home. In course of time a section of these
+fugitives, travelling across the Siberian plains, reached the Pacific
+coast, and here their old maritime spirit reasserted itself. With the
+pressure of climate behind them, and in their breasts the love of
+adventure, the sea soon became as much their domain as the land.</p>
+
+<p>At first their canoes were of the frailest character; but experience
+and unlimited opportunity soon taught them the art of constructing
+safe sea-going craft, which could carry considerable numbers on a
+course of discovery. The tales of new lands found, and their warm and
+genial climate, no doubt stimulated the spirit of exploration, so that
+gradually, and almost imperceptibly, the tide of migration which was
+flowing from the centre of the continent was drawn across the sea to
+the region of eternal summer.</p>
+
+<p>From somewhere in the vicinity of the Japanese archipelago, fleets of
+canoes set off at various times carrying with them a freight of
+humanity destined to found a new people in a new land. But, in order
+to account for the transportation of large numbers of women and
+children on vessels which, at the best, must have been mainly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">{6}</a></span>
+constructed of reeds, we must assume smaller intervals
+of ocean than exist now. There are evidences of other
+kinds that startling geological changes have occurred in
+this portion of the globe; and this assumption would
+help to explain feats of travel otherwise apparently
+impracticable to a rude and poorly equipped people.</p>
+
+<p>For how many centuries this stream of venturesome humanity flowed
+southward no one can tell; but it is safe to assume that great numbers
+must have taken the plunge into the unknown, some resting by the way,
+others pushing on to a point beyond the furthest preceding colony,
+until the main groups of islands were occupied, and outpost after
+outpost was firmly established. With them these people carried their
+simple mode of life, their primitive arts and customs, not the least
+of which was their stone-building habit, which, as already shown, had
+originated in their desire to perpetuate the memory and preserve the
+bones of their dead. Hence arose in their new home those strange
+structures of uncemented stone which astonished the early discoverers,
+and which stand to-day, broken and decrepit relics, like ghostly
+wraiths from a long-forgotten past.</p>
+
+<p>But, whatever its duration may have been, two causes operated to bring
+this period of migration to a close. The first of these influences was
+the dispersion of the Mongolian race from Central Asia; the second,
+the subsidence of the land along the Asiatic coast. Either of these
+events would have been in itself sufficient to cut off the supply of
+emigrants to the islands. The descent of the more warlike Mongols from
+their high plateau would effectually close the inland route across the
+north of Asia to the gentle Caucasians; while the sinking of the
+land-bridge, along which they had been wont to pick their way, would
+so increase the hazard of the journey that none would care to risk a
+voyage across the greater stretch of sea. Thus the first stratum of
+the Polynesian race was laid by an invasion of European people
+embarking from Asia; and these light-skinned, fair-haired
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">{7}</a></span>
+Vikings, who were driven out of their ancient home by
+the descent of the giant glaciers, plunged into the abyss
+of uncertainty, little dreaming that from their stock would
+arise a people whose life-story would be, as it still is
+to some extent, one of the world's unsolved problems.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the many features which have seemed to intensify the shroud of
+mystery enveloping these people is the combination of a dark skin with
+tall and stalwart frames and a head-form usually belonging to fair
+races. Also the strange stratification of their customs discloses a
+social condition so contradictory as to amount almost to a paradox.
+Why a dark-skinned race should possess features which find their
+counterpart in the whites of to-day, or why the most primitive method
+of obtaining fire&mdash;by friction&mdash;should be found side by side with
+highly scientific methods of warfare, especially displayed in the art
+of fortification, seemed difficult of explanation, until the idea of a
+second invasion, comprised of dark-blooded people, had been conceived
+and had taken root.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_3" id="Ref_3" href="#Foot_3">[3]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The theory of a grafting of a dark race on to the Caucasian stem which
+had already been planted in Polynesia explains much. It would account
+for the olive-coloured skin of the present-day natives, and it would
+provide the reasonable supposition that, being later comers, they
+would import with them newer ideas and more modern customs, some of
+which would be adopted in their entirety, others in a modified form.
+With the advantage of many centuries of contact with neighbouring
+peoples, they had necessarily learned much of the art of war, which
+had been quite unknown to the islanders in their isolation. These dark
+invaders were therefore able to come in the spirit of conquerors; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">{8}</a></span>
+consequently the masculine arts, such as the making of
+weapons and the building of forts and canoes, received
+an impulse which placed them considerably in advance
+of anything of which the original people had ever
+dreamed. But the domestic arts would be but little
+changed, for the reason that the invasion, being one of
+warlike intent, would be comprised largely of males, the
+women who were taken to wife after their lords had been
+vanquished being allowed to retain their old modes of
+life. Hence the methods of twisting threads of fibre,
+of weaving mats, and of making fire, would remain the
+same as had been practised by them from time immemorial,
+while there would be a distinct advance in those
+arts which came more exclusively within the domain of
+the males. In two respects, however, these newcomers
+did not better the condition or raise the standard of art
+amongst the people with whom they were about to
+mingle their blood. They introduced neither pottery
+nor the use of metals. It is therefore clear that the
+section of the human family to which they belonged had
+not advanced beyond the Stone Age when their invasion
+took place; and this fact helps us to some extent in
+our inferences as to the period when this second migration
+commenced and when it terminated.</p>
+
+<p>For the direction whence these dark-skinned invaders came we have to
+rely on a careful comparison of the traditions and genealogies of the
+present-day people, who have preserved in a remarkable way certain
+leading facts, which serve as landmarks by which their journeys can
+still be traced. By the aid of these, the thread of their history has
+been followed back to a time at least several centuries before the
+birth of Christ, when a dark-skinned people dwelt upon the banks of
+the river Ganges. Here, by contact with other races, probably the
+Egyptian and Semitic, they acquired that smattering of mythology
+which, as preserved by the ancient Maori, resembled so closely the
+beliefs still prevalent in many parts of the Old World. But although
+versed in the mysterious philosophy, if such it can be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">{9}</a></span>
+styled, of their time, they were entirely ignorant of the
+principles of the Buddhist religion; and from this
+circumstance it is fair to deduce that they had left India
+before Gautama, who died in 477 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, had commenced
+his teaching of "Nirvana and the Law."</p>
+
+<p>But when we come to inquire into the causes which operated to inspire
+this migration, we get little information beyond the explanation
+commonly given as the root of all Polynesian movements, that "great
+wars prevailed." If this be the true reason why a whole nation should
+move <i>en masse</i>, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that the
+future Polynesians were the defeated people, and were forced by
+irresistible waves of invasion to abandon their home in India. Slowly
+they were pushed southward and eastward by the more warlike tribes who
+came down from the north; and as they made their way along the coasts
+of the Malayan Peninsula, circumstances, climate, and assimilation
+with other peoples continued the process of racial modification which
+had commenced before they abandoned the valley of the Ganges. For
+three hundred years or more they drifted from point to point. We know
+little more, for there occurs a comparative blank in the story of
+their journeyings as they moved along the coast of Sumatra and down
+the Straits of Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 65 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, however, we again get a glimpse of them
+on the island of Java. From this point, although their movements are
+often vague and shadowy, they are never entirely lost to sight.
+Tradition, at this period, speaks of a renowned personage named Te
+Kura-a-moo, who "went to the east, to the rising sun, and remained
+there." To precisely what spot in the east he journeyed is uncertain,
+but his objective is generally supposed to have been the island of
+Java, which was then known as Avaiki-te-Varinga. This is the first
+suggestion of migration which we have in Polynesian tradition; and as
+it corresponds in date with other large ethnic movements which are
+known to have occurred in the Malayan archipelago, it is more than
+probable that pressure from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">{10}</a></span>
+other invaders compelled the occupation of Java, which
+thus became the parent Hawaiki, towards which the
+Maori stands in much the same relationship as does
+his brother <i>pakeha</i> to the Garden of Eden.</p>
+
+<p>But the same cause which drove these wandering Asiatics into Java, at
+a latter period led to its evacuation. And still the movement was in
+an eastward direction, towards the islands of Indonesia, the people as
+they moved becoming more and more expert in the art of navigation and
+sea-craft. In view of the scattered nature of the archipelago in which
+they now found themselves, their voyages became gradually longer,
+requiring larger canoes and more daring seamanship. They were
+beginning to leave the beaten path which hitherto had been the common
+course of the human race&mdash;the mountain, the river, and the plain. With
+them the sea was gradually becoming the broad highway which had to be
+traversed in order to find fresh resting-places, or to maintain
+communication with established outposts in more advanced situations.
+The spirit of the sea-gipsy, which led them to do and dare, was
+rapidly developing within them, and the knowledge thus born of courage
+and experience was shortly to prove invaluable to them in carrying to
+a successful issue their own great policy of conquest.</p>
+
+<p>Wars and rumours of wars are again heard of, and are given as the
+underlying cause of the next movement southward from Indonesia, the
+date of which is so uncertain that it cannot safely be defined more
+strictly than as between the first and fourth centuries. It is
+unfortunate that we are driven to this loose estimate of time for so
+important a national event, because it was this final migration which
+led to the actual entry into Polynesia of these dark-blooded
+wanderers, and if our first hypothesis be correct, to their ultimate
+fusion with the fair-skinned, stone-building people who had preceded
+them by many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>They had obviously come into contact with strange people and strange
+animals, for the existence of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">{11}</a></span>
+former has been preserved in their traditions and the
+memory of the latter in their fantastic carvings. Not
+the least interesting of their stories is the finding of a
+fair-complexioned people, whom their fancy has elevated
+into the realm of fairies, and from whom they claim to
+have learned the art of net-making. Whether these
+mysterious people, who are said to have laboured only
+at night and to have vanished when the sun rose,
+were the original Caucasians who, we have supposed,
+set out from the eastern coast of Asia, and who were
+about to be absorbed by the more virile emigrants
+from India, or whether they were, as some suggest, a
+few wandering Greeks or Ph&#339;nicians on the coast of
+Sumatra, we cannot pretend to decide. But, in all its
+vagueness and fanciful setting, the tradition is interesting,
+as indicating the existence on their route of a
+people fairer than themselves, and the fact that they
+must have come into close personal contact with them.
+A careful reflection upon the probable circumstances
+attending the story of how Kahu-kura captured one of
+the fairy's nets inclines us to the opinion that it is
+the first evidence we have of the contact of the Indian
+branch of the Polynesian race with their whiter predecessors.
+These they would meet in island after island as
+they moved down the Pacific towards Fiji, which group
+they are believed to have occupied about A.D. 450.</p>
+
+<p>Like all other dates connected with Polynesian migrations, this one
+can only be approximate, for the people were without any mode of
+reckoning time, except by reference to ancestral lines. But there is
+traditional authority for supposing that their descent upon Fiji was
+made in considerable numbers, and that for a time these islands
+constituted one of their principal colonising centres. Whether Tonga
+and Samoa were settled from this point seems doubtful; but it is
+certain from the marvellous stories which find credence in the
+traditions of this period that an era of extensive voyaging had set
+in, and that the newcomers began to spread themselves with
+considerable rapidity from atoll to island and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">{12}</a></span>
+from island to archipelago. These excursions into new
+realms naturally gave promise of an attractive home
+amongst the palm-covered islands; and, simultaneously
+with their policy of conquest and colonisation, they began
+the absorption and assimilation of the resident people. As
+the defending warriors were driven out or annihilated,
+the women of the vanquished were taken possession of
+by the victors, and their domestic arts were taken with
+them. This blending necessarily, in the course of many
+centuries, worked appreciable modifications in the physique
+and customs of both races, and gave to the world
+the Polynesian people as we know them to-day.</p>
+
+<p>A race of stalwarts, long-headed, straight-haired, and brown-skinned,
+warriors from birth, full of courage, and ardent for adventure, they
+were not altogether devoid of those higher ideals which make for the
+elevation of man. They were deeply imbued with a love of poetry, which
+enabled them to appreciate in a rude way the beautiful in life and to
+preserve in quaint song and fantastic tradition the story of their
+wanderings and the prowess of their heroes. They were even
+enterprising enough to attempt the solution of the marvellous natural
+phenomena everywhere presented to them, which, to their simple minds,
+could have no origin except in the intervention of the gods.</p>
+
+<p>With a continuous stream of fresh immigrants flowing in from the north
+to reinforce the southern outposts, the conquest and colonisation of
+the islands was now only a matter of time. Before we come to the
+period directly connected with our story, some seven hundred years had
+elapsed, during which every trace and even the memory of the original
+people had been effaced, and but for their stone monuments, which have
+withstood alike the shock of invasion and the ravages of time, their
+very existence would have remained as one of the problems of a
+forgotten past. But long before this period had been reached, some
+great ethnic or geographical event had occurred to terminate the
+further inflow of these invaders from the north. Either the movements
+of the nations upon the Asiatic continent supervened to make continued
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">{13}</a></span>
+migration unnecessary, or geographical changes in the
+distribution of land and sea operated to make it more
+difficult, if not impossible. Certain it is that the supply
+of warriors was effectually cut off, and that at a time before
+the parent people had learned the use of metals. From
+this period, down through the ages until the day of their
+discovery by the Spaniards, the gulf which separated
+them from the rest of the human family remained unbridged,
+and the Polynesians were suffered to evolve their
+own racial peculiarities and develop their own national
+spirit, untrammelled by exterior influences. Isolated from
+the rest of the world, they lived in total ignorance of the
+progress with which other peoples were advancing
+towards a higher type of human development and loftier
+ideals of national life. They knew nothing of the growth
+of science or of art, and they derived no benefit from the
+stimulating effect of competition, or from the bracing conditions
+of a strenuous life. Nature was bountiful to them
+in the ease and abundance with which their simple wants
+were supplied, for it required neither labour nor ingenuity
+to provide for their daily needs. Hence there was little
+incentive to depart from traditional customs, or to seek
+more advanced methods than their fathers had learned and
+applied in that far-off time when they lived on the banks
+of the Ganges. Had it been otherwise, the Polynesians
+would not have been found still clinging to their stone
+clubs and flint axes, while the continental peoples surrounding
+them had acquired a written language, the use
+of metals, and the arts of husbandry, pottery, and weaving.
+The complete absence of these primary evidences of
+civilisation amongst the islanders gives us the right to
+assume that they came into the South Seas before man
+had acquired any knowledge of the metallic arts, and that
+their migration ceased before pottery and the weaving
+spindle were known.</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia must, therefore, have been occupied during the Palæolithic
+and Neolithic periods of the world's history. From that time down to
+the Spanish era all communication with the surrounding nations was
+completely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">{14}</a></span>
+cut off, and the Polynesians were allowed to sleep
+the sleep of centuries and to work out their own
+destiny in the midst of their tragic isolation. As the
+evolution of the race progressed, there was gradually
+developed a rude system of tribal government, administered
+by acknowledged chieftains, who claimed
+and obtained unquestioned obedience. So, too, victory
+or defeat became gradually the chief factor in determining
+the home of each tribe. These tribal boundaries
+were, however, by no means arbitrary lines of exclusion,
+and, in fact, there were frequent visits of friendship
+between the different sections of the race. These voyages
+necessarily led to a wide knowledge of the Southern seas
+and their archipelagos, and often contributed surprising
+results. While the sea-captains navigated their canoes
+with wonderful accuracy, unaided as they were by chart
+or compass, their vessels were not always under absolute
+control, and in stress of sudden storm, or influenced by
+some unexpected current, they were frequently carried
+far out of their intended course.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that in some such way the first canoes reached New
+Zealand, for it is known that individual vessels had visited these
+shores long before the historic migration known as "the fleet" left
+Rarotonga in or about the year 1350 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> The stories brought
+back by these pioneering mariners excited the cupidity and fired the
+imagination of the islanders, and when a fleet of several great canoes
+arrived at Rarotonga, and found that group already fully occupied,
+they decided to set out in search of the strange land which had been
+dragged from the depths of the sea by the miracle-working Maui, and
+discovered by the great sea-captain Kupe.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_4" id="Ref_4" href="#Foot_4">[4]</a></span>
+Here they hoped to
+capture the giant bird, the flesh of which Ngahue had preserved and
+brought back with him, but more than all they were eager to enrich
+themselves by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">{15}</a></span>
+the possession of the <i>toka-matie</i>, or much prized greenstone,
+the beauty of which they had heard so much
+extolled.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this migration is recorded amongst the classic traditions
+of the New Zealanders: how the Arawa canoe came perilously near being
+lost in a tempest, and descended into the mysterious depths of the
+whirlpool, Te Parata; how the crew of the Taki-tumu suffered the pangs
+of starvation; how the Kura-haupo suffered wreck; and how, on landing,
+the crew of the Arawa practised the deceit upon the sleeping Tainui of
+placing the cable of their canoe under that of the latter, in order
+that they might, with some hope of success, set up a claim to first
+arrival. One by one the canoes reached these shores, the major part of
+them making land in the vicinity of East Cape, thence sailing to the
+north or to the south, as the whim of the captain or the divination of
+the <i>tohunga</i> decided their course. In this way they spread to
+almost every part of the North Island, which they found already
+peopled with the remnants of prior migrations, who were living in
+peaceable possession. With these the warlike Vikings from the Pacific
+fought and contended until they gained undoubted supremacy, thus
+giving a starting-point to New Zealand history by establishing
+ancestral lines from which all Maoris love to trace their descent.
+These tribes soon became the dominant power in the land. The weaker
+<i>tangata whenua</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_5" id="Ref_5" href="#Foot_5">[5]</a></span>
+were subdued and absorbed. Their traditions,
+arts, and customs disappeared, except in so far as they may have
+unconsciously influenced those of their conquerors. The latter grew in
+strength and numbers, extending their influence far and wide, as they
+marched towards the development of their national existence and their
+final consolidation into the Maori race.</p>
+
+<p>Unto these people was born, about the year 1768, a little brown babe
+who was destined to become the great Te Rauparaha, chief of the
+Ngati-Toa tribe.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_1" id="Foot_1" href="#Ref_1">[1]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"The distinguishing characteristic of the Marquesan Islanders, and
+that which at once strikes you, is the European cast of their
+features&mdash;a peculiarity seldom observable among other uncivilised
+peoples. Many of their faces present a profile classically beautiful,
+and I saw several who were in every respect models of beauty"
+(<i>Melville</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_2" id="Foot_2" href="#Ref_2">[2]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"I found that the Natives had not formed the slightest idea of
+there being a state of future punishment. They refuse to believe that
+the Good Spirit intends to make them miserable after their decease.
+They imagine all the actions of this life are punished here, and that
+every one when dead, good or bad, bondsman or free, is assembled on an
+island situated near the North Cape, where both the necessaries and
+comforts of life will be found in the greatest abundance, and all will
+enjoy a state of uninterrupted happiness" (<i>Earle</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_3" id="Foot_3" href="#Ref_3">[3]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"It is most certain that the whites are the aborigines. Their
+colour is, generally speaking, like that of the people of Southern
+Europe, and I saw several who had red hair. There were some who were
+as white as our sailors, and we often saw on our ships a tall young
+man, 5 feet 11 inches in height, who, by his colour and features,
+might easily have passed for a European" (<i>Crozet's Description of
+the Maoris at the Bay of Islands</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_4" id="Foot_4" href="#Ref_4">[4]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The knowledge which the Polynesians possessed of the Southern sea,
+and their skill as navigators, was such that when "the fleet" set out
+from Rarotonga, they did not go to discover New Zealand, but they went
+with the absolute certainty of finding it.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_5" id="Foot_5" href="#Ref_5">[5]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Man of the land, native, aboriginal." Probably these people were
+a mixture of the Melanesian and Polynesian types.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">{16}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER II</span><br /><span
+class="size070">ARAWA AND TAINUI</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">If</span>
+the genealogies of the Maori race can be relied upon, it may be
+accepted as a fact that the immediate ancestors of Te Rauparaha came
+to New Zealand in the canoe Tainui, which is said to have been the
+first vessel of the fleet after the Arawa, prepared for sea. By an
+unfortunate circumstance there sprang up between the crews of these
+two canoes a fatal rivalry, which repeated acts of aggression and
+retaliation were continually fanning into open ruptures, even after
+they had landed and were widely separated on the shores of New
+Zealand. This ill-humour, according to the tradition, was first
+engendered by Tama-te-kapua, the chief of the Arawa, depriving the
+Tainui of her high priest, Ngatoro-i-rangi, by inviting that renowned
+<i>tohunga</i> on board his vessel for the purpose of performing some
+of the all-important ceremonies which the complex ritual of the Maori
+demanded on such occasions, and then slipping his cable and putting to
+sea before the priest had time to realise that he had been
+deliberately led into a trap. But this act of treachery on the part of
+the bold and unscrupulous captain cost him dear, and bitterly must he
+have repented before the voyage was over his trifling with the dignity
+of so consummate a master of magic as Ngatoro-i-rangi. But that story
+belongs to the voyage of the Arawa. Of the voyage of the Tainui, under
+Hoturoa, we know little; but presumably she had a comparatively
+uneventful passage until she touched land at a point near the
+north-east end of the Bay
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">{17}</a></span>
+of Plenty, which her people named Whanga-poraoa, for the reason that
+there they found a newly stranded sperm-whale. But scarcely had they
+disembarked than a dispute arose between them and the Arawas, who had
+beached their canoe at a spot close by, as to the ownership of the
+carcase. The result of the debate was an agreement, arrived at on the
+suggestion of a Tainui chief,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_6" id="Ref_6" href="#Foot_6">[6]</a></span>
+that the crew which had first touched
+land should be the acknowledged owners of the fish, and to establish
+the date of arrival it was further agreed that they should examine the
+sacred places which each had erected on the shore, and on which they
+returned thanks to the gods for guiding them safely across the ocean.
+Here the ingenuity of the Arawa people enabled them to outwit the
+Tainuis. While the latter had built their shrine of green wood, the
+followers of Tama-te-kapua had taken the precaution to dry the poles
+of their altar over the fire before sinking them into the sand.
+Precisely the same process had been applied to their hawsers, so that
+when the examination was made for the purpose of determining priority
+of arrival the Arawa temple carried with it the appearance of greater
+age, and the Tainuis, without detecting the trick, conceded the point
+and yielded the prize to their rivals.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 600px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="fleet" id="fleet">
+  <img width="600" height="390" alt="fleet" src="images/035-fleet.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND.<br />
+             From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland, by kind permission of the artist.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Hoturoa then decided to make further explorations to the north, and
+moved off in that direction with his canoe, to be followed a few days
+later by the Arawa. The Tainui skirted the coast, noted and named many
+of its prominent features as far as the North Cape, and then,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">{18}</a></span>
+as the land terminated at this point, the canoe was put
+about and retraced her course as far south as Takapuna.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_7" id="Ref_7" href="#Foot_7">[7]</a></span>
+Here a halt was called, and exploring parties were sent
+out to ascertain if all the district promised was likely to
+be realised. Upon ascending one of the many hills<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_8" id="Ref_8" href="#Foot_8">[8]</a></span>
+which mark the landscape in this particular locality, the
+voyagers were surprised to observe flocks of sea-birds,
+some flying over from the westward, others wheeling
+with noisy flight in mid-air. To the experienced eye of
+the native, who had been bred on the borders of the sea,
+this circumstance bespoke a new expanse of water to the
+west. The canoe was once more launched, and on their
+crossing the Wai-te-mata<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_9" id="Ref_9" href="#Foot_9">[9]</a></span>
+harbour a critical examination
+of the eastern shore revealed to the astonished visitors
+the fact that a narrow portage existed at the head of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">{19}</a></span>
+Tamaki River, over the ridge of which lay another arm
+of the sea, apparently as wide and as deep as that which
+they had just entered.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime they had been joined by the Tokomaru canoe, and the
+joint crews decided upon the bold scheme of hauling their vessels over
+the narrow portage at Otahuhu.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_10" id="Ref_10" href="#Foot_10">[10]</a></span>
+The Tokomaru was the first to be
+taken across, and under the guidance of the chiefs she glided with
+perfect ease and grace over the carefully laid skids into the deep,
+smooth water. But when the drag-ropes were applied to the Tainui, pull
+as they would, she remained fast and immovable. Tradition says that
+Marama-kiko-hura, one of Hoturoa's wives, being unwilling that the
+weary crews should proceed at once upon this new expedition, which the
+chiefs were evidently projecting, had by her power as an enchantress
+so rooted the canoe to the ground that no human strength could move
+it. Against this supernatural agency the stalwart boatmen struggled
+unavailingly, for, although there was a straining of brawny arms, a
+bending of broad backs, and much vocal emulation, inspired by the
+lusty commands of those in authority, the charm of the enchantress
+could not be broken. In this distressful emergency the womanly
+sympathy of a second wife of the chief was stirred within her, and
+she, being even more gifted in the art of magic than her sister,
+chanted an incantation so great in virtue that instantly the spell was
+loosed and the wicked work of a disappointed woman undone.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_11" id="Ref_11" href="#Foot_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The song which was chanted on this memorable occasion has long since
+been embalmed amongst the classics of the Maori, and has become the
+basis of many another chant which is used while canoes are being drawn
+down to the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Drag Tainui till she reaches the sea:<span
+      class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">{20}</a></span></span>
+<span class="i2">But who shall drag her hence?</span>
+<span class="i2">What sound comes from the horizon?</span>
+<span class="i2">The Earth is lighting up,</span>
+<span class="i2">The Heavens arise,</span>
+<span class="i2">In company with the feeble ones</span>
+<span class="i2">Welcome hither! Come, O joyous Tane!</span>
+<span class="i2">Thou leader and provider.</span>
+<span class="i2">Here are the skids laid to the sea,</span>
+<span class="i2">And drops the moisture now from Marama,</span>
+<span class="i2">Caused by the gentle breeze</span>
+<span class="i2">Which blows down from Wai-hi;</span>
+<span class="i2">But still Tainui stays,</span>
+<span class="i2">And will not move.</span>
+<span class="i2">Red, red is the sun,</span>
+<span class="i2">Hot, hot are its rays,</span>
+<span class="i2">And still impatient stands the host:</span>
+<span class="i2">Take ye and hold the rope,</span>
+<span class="i2">And drag with flashing eyes</span>
+<span class="i2">And drag in concert all.</span>
+<span class="i2">Rise now the power</span>
+<span class="i2">To urge. She moves and starts,</span>
+<span class="i2">Moves now the prow,</span>
+<span class="i2">Urge, urge her still."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Under the exhilarating influence of the singer's musical voice,
+together with a profound faith in her skill as a mistress of magic,
+the weary crews once more bent themselves to their task. Their renewed
+efforts were rewarded with success; for with one vigorous pull the
+canoe was seen to move, and was soon slipping and sliding on her way
+to the bosom of the bay below.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_12" id="Ref_12" href="#Foot_12">[12]</a></span>
+Once fairly launched, the Tainui
+was soon speeding her way to the open sea; and, having successfully
+crossed the Manukau bar, she passed out into the Western Ocean to
+battle with adverse winds and tides. Evidently,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">{21}</a></span>
+the physical features of this coast were not greatly to the
+liking of the explorers. Unlike the eastern side of the
+island, there were fewer shelving beaches and favourable
+landing-places; the predominating aspect was high
+and abrupt cliffs, fringed with jagged and evil-looking
+rocks, against which the surf beat with deafening roar.
+The sea, too, was much more turbulent; so that, after
+travelling only some eighty miles, the canoe was headed
+for the sheltered harbour of Kawhia,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_13" id="Ref_13" href="#Foot_13">[13]</a></span>
+and there Hoturoa
+and the tribes who accompanied him determined to
+bring their wanderings to an end.</p>
+
+<p>The canoe which had brought them safely over so many miles of open
+ocean was hauled to a secure spot on the beach, there to await the
+ravages of decay, the spot where she rested and finally rotted away
+under the <i>manuka</i> and <i>akeake</i> trees being still marked by
+two stone pillars,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_14" id="Ref_14" href="#Foot_14">[14]</a></span>
+which the natives have named Puna and Hani. The
+next thing was to erect an altar to the gods for having thus far
+prospered their journey. The spot chosen was that afterwards called
+Ahurei, in memory of their old home in Tahiti;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_15" id="Ref_15" href="#Foot_15">[15]</a></span>
+and, doubtless for
+the same sentimental and patriotic reason, the spot on which the wives
+of Hoturoa first planted the <i>kumara</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_16" id="Ref_16" href="#Foot_16">[16]</a></span>
+was called Hawaiki.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">{22}</a></span>
+With these preliminaries settled, the pilgrims from the
+east were now faced with the most serious duty of all,
+to arrive at an equitable division of the new land which
+was about to become their permanent home. What
+method of adjudication was employed in the apportionment
+we cannot now say; but two main divisions mark the
+final arbitrament. The Waikatos occupied the country
+from Manukau in the north to the Marokopa River in the
+south, while the tribe afterwards known as Mania-poto
+occupied a domain which extended from that point to
+one about two miles south of the Mokau River. Within
+these comprehensive boundaries was embraced the
+acknowledged territory of the numerous sub-tribes; but
+to only two of these need we refer at this stage, namely,
+to the Ngati-toa, who lived on the shores of Kawhia
+Bay, and to the Ngati-Raukawa, who had settled further
+inland, in the country of which Maungatautari is now
+the centre.</p>
+
+<p>When the Tainui people landed on the shores of Kawhia and began to
+spread their settlements throughout the valleys of the district, they
+did not find, as they might have expected, an empty land. At some
+time, and by some means, man had already established himself in New
+Zealand, and before the organised migration, of which the Tainui was a
+part, had set sail from Rarotonga, the country was already extensively
+peopled. Whether these <i>tangata whenua</i>, as the Maoris called
+them, were Polynesians like themselves, and the fruits of some of the
+prior migrations which are known to have taken place, or whether they
+were a lower order of mankind struggling through the process of
+evolution to a higher plane of civilisation, is a point which cannot
+well be debated here. But whatever manner of men they were who lived
+in the balmy climate of Kawhia, they were already well established
+there in their villages and gardens, and for many generations&mdash;perhaps
+for many centuries&mdash;they had been burying their dead in the secret
+caves which honeycombed the limestone cliffs that rise in beetling
+precipices sheer from the harbour's
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">{23}</a></span>
+edge. Although they are generally credited with being
+a less combative and virile race than the fierce and hardy
+tribes who came with the fleet, they were not disposed
+to surrender or divide their estate without a struggle,
+and Hoturoa found that, if he was to become master of
+Kawhia, it could only be as the outcome of a successful
+war. But Kawhia was a country worth fighting for.
+Early travellers through New Zealand, who saw it before
+the devastating hand of man had marred its beauties,
+speak with eloquent enthusiasm of its extremely picturesque
+and romantic landscape.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_17" id="Ref_17" href="#Foot_17">[17]</a></span>
+At full tide the
+harbour shines in the sunlight like an unbroken sheet
+of silver, in which the green and gold reflections of the
+surrounding bush are mirrored and magnified. For
+many miles in length and breadth the sea runs inland
+from the bay's bar-bound mouth, stretching its liquid
+arms right to the base of the mountains which encircle
+the harbour like a massive frame. Rugged and picturesque
+are these mountains, with their cloak of deep
+verdure, through which huge masses of limestone rock
+protrude their white faces, suggesting the bastions of
+some old Norman tower covered with gigantic ivy. So
+marked, in fact, is this resemblance, that the character
+of the peaks has been preserved in their name&mdash;the
+Castle Hills.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_18" id="Ref_18" href="#Foot_18">[18]</a></span>
+Down the sides of these slopes run innumerable
+streams, the largest being the Awaroa River,
+which enters the harbour at the north-east end, where
+the scenery attains its most impressive grandeur. A
+little to the north-east of Kawhia, and over the ranges,
+lies the broadly-terraced valley of the Waipa, and
+between this district and the harbour stands "an ancient
+and dilapidated volcano," called Pirongia, upon which
+the evening sun directs its blood-red darts, lighting up
+its many peaks and towers until they resemble a giant
+altar raised by some mighty priest. The climate, too, is
+mild and soft, like that of Southern Spain, and there the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">{24}</a></span>
+orange and the lemon might bud and blossom with
+all the luxuriance found in the valleys of Granada.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the home in which the people of the Tainui canoe sought to
+gain a footing, when they abandoned their vessel; but these exiles
+from far Hawaiki were yet to pass through the bitter waters of
+tribulation before their arms were blessed with success and their
+claims ceased to be contested. In the quaint language of an old
+<i>tohunga</i> we are told: "In the days of the ancient times the
+descendants of those who came in the Tainui made war on the people who
+had occupied the interior of Waikato. These people were called Te
+Upoko-tioa, and were the people who had occupied the land long before
+the Tainui arrived at Kawhia. These people were attacked by those who
+came over in the Tainui. The men they killed, but the women were saved
+and taken as wives by the Tainui. Those who attacked these people were
+of one family, and were descended from one ancestor, who, after they
+had killed the inhabitants of Waikato, turned and made war each on the
+other&mdash;uncle killed nephew, and nephew killed uncle: elder killed the
+younger, and the younger killed the elder."</p>
+
+<p>Of the various battles which the Tainui people fought during the
+conquest of their new home we have scarcely any account, beyond vague
+and general statements of the most fugitive character. These,
+unfortunately, do not afford us any wealth of detail, the possession
+of which would enable us to picture in vivid colours the doughty deeds
+by which the invaders overcame the strenuous resistance of the
+<i>tangata whenua</i>, who maintained the struggle with the
+desperation of men who were fighting for their very existence. The
+story of the conquest of Kawhia may be regarded as lost in the misty
+distances of the past, but it is not surprising to discover by shadowy
+suggestion, such as quoted above, that, after the original inhabitants
+had been effectually subdued, the turbulent nature of the Maori should
+lead to devastating and sanguinary internecine wars. One of the
+traditions of the Tainui tribes is that they left
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">{25}</a></span>
+the South Pacific because of a great battle called "Ra-to-rua,"
+which originated in a quarrel between Heta and
+Ue-nuku; and it would be quite unreasonable to expect
+that they should suddenly forsake their warlike passions
+on reaching New Zealand, a country in which there
+was so much to fight for. With the Maori war had
+now become more than a passion: it had become part
+of his nature; for, through all the long centuries of
+migration, the story of the race had been one of incessant
+struggle with other races and with circumstances.
+They fought their way into the Pacific, and were in
+turn submerged under the tide of a second invasion,
+which gave to the world a people inured to the hardships
+inseparable from strife, who had tasted the bitterness
+of defeat as well as the joys of victory&mdash;a proud
+and haughty race, sensitive to the slightest insult, and
+so jealous of their honour that they were ever ready to
+vindicate their fair name before the only tribunal to
+which they could appeal&mdash;that of war. Steeped as they
+had been from birth in this atmosphere of strife, they
+had grown to expect the clash of arms at every turn,
+and, as they grew to expect it, they grew to love it.
+It is small wonder, then, that, when they found their
+enemies at Kawhia and its neighbourhood vanquished,
+they occasionally turned their hands upon each other,
+in the attempt to efface some real or imagined wrong.</p>
+
+<p>But, fatal to national progress as these inter-tribal wars must have
+been, they, nevertheless, played an important and valuable part in
+spreading the Maori over New Zealand. A tribe defeated in battle was
+forced to fly before the pursuing enemy, with no alternative but
+either to appropriate some district still unoccupied or to displace
+some weaker people, upon whom the burden was cast of again
+establishing themselves where and as best they could. Thus the tide of
+fortune and misfortune rolled and recoiled from Te Reinga to Te
+Ra-whiti, until an asylum was sought by the last of the refugees even
+across the waters of Cook Strait. Although we have no accurate
+information on the point, it is probable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">{26}</a></span>
+that these blood-feuds contributed in no small measure
+to the ultimate distribution of the Tainui people; for
+their subsequent history is eloquent of the fact that,
+while they claimed common descent from the ancestral
+line of Hoturoa, this family bond did not prevent
+hatred and hostility springing up, and at times bathing
+their country in blood.</p>
+
+<p>The first migration, however, of which we have any
+record did not apparently ensue upon the result of a
+battle, although a quarrel was its underlying cause.
+Hotu-nui, who was one of the principal chiefs of the
+canoe, is said to have taken as his wife a daughter of one
+of the <i>tangata whenua</i>, and was apparently living in the
+same village and on terms of perfect friendship with
+her people. Having been wrongfully accused of an
+act of petty thieving, he determined to rid the <i>pa</i> of
+his presence; and so, with one hundred of his immediate
+followers, he, it is said, moved off towards
+the Hauraki Gulf. As the years rolled on, and the
+systematic exploration of the country began to be
+undertaken, many similar expeditions, no doubt, went
+out from the parent home at Kawhia, one at least
+of which was fraught with fateful consequences. A
+chief named Raumati,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_19" id="Ref_19" href="#Foot_19">[19]</a></span>
+whose story has been embalmed
+in tradition, had taken a band of followers with him
+and travelled across the island, past Rotorua, until he
+finally came to the shores of the Bay of Plenty, where
+his mother's people lived. Here he was in the Arawa
+country, and it was not long before he heard that their
+canoe was lying at Maketu, some distance further to
+the southward. It will be remembered that there had
+never been good feeling between the Tainui and Arawa
+peoples, and Raumati determined upon an act which
+would demonstrate beyond all doubt that he, at least,
+was not disposed to hold out the olive-branch to Arawa.
+His scheme was to effect the destruction of the great
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">{27}</a></span>
+canoe which had brought the hated rivals of his tribe
+to New Zealand. Once decided upon, his plan was
+put into execution with a promptness worthy of a better
+cause. Travelling along the coast from Tauranga to
+Maketu, he and his followers arrived at the latter place
+when all its inhabitants were absent in quest of food.
+But his trouble was that the Arawa had been berthed
+on the opposite side of the Kaituna River, where she
+had been housed under a covering of reeds and grass
+to protect her from the ravages of the weather. Nothing
+daunted, however, Raumati soon proved that his ingenuity
+was equal to the desperate circumstances in
+which he found himself placed. Taking a dart, and
+attaching to the point of it a live ember, he hurled the
+smoking stick across the water with unerring aim, and,
+to his intense satisfaction, he saw the firebrand fall
+in the midst of the combustible material which formed
+the covering of the canoe. The fire was soon in full
+blast: the glare of the flames lit up the surrounding
+country and was reflected in the red glow of the evening
+sky. The first impression of the people out in the forest
+was that the Maketu <i>pa</i> had been destroyed; but in
+the morning they were undeceived, for then they saw
+that it was their beloved canoe which had been burned,
+and all that remained of her was a heap of glowing
+ashes.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_20" id="Ref_20" href="#Foot_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The unanimous conclusion was that this had been the work of an enemy,
+and messengers were sent far and wide to acquaint the tribesmen of the
+fate of the canoe and call them to council upon the subject. At the
+meetings the debates were long and serious, for the tribe was torn
+between its desire to live in peace with all men and its natural
+impulse to revenge the burning of the Arawa, which "they loved and
+venerated almost as a parent." They remembered the injunction which
+had been given to them by Hou when on the point of leaving Hawaiki: "O
+my children, O Mako, O Tia, O Hei,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">{28}</a></span>
+hearken to these my words: There was but one great
+chief in Hawaiki, and that was Whakatauihu. Now do
+you, my children, depart in peace, and, when you reach
+the place you are going to, do not follow after the deeds
+of Tu, the God of War: if you do, you will perish, as if
+swept off by the winds; but rather follow quiet and
+useful occupations, then you will die tranquilly a natural
+death. Depart, and dwell in peace with all; leave war
+and strife behind you here. Depart and dwell in peace.
+It is war and its evils which are driving you hence:
+dwell in peace where you are going; conduct yourselves
+like men; let there be no quarrelling amongst you, but
+build up a great people."</p>
+
+<p>These were, no doubt, excellent words of advice, and they expressed a
+very noble sentiment; but the practical question which they had to
+determine was whether they could afford to adopt an attitude of
+passivity while these acts of aggression went on around them: whether
+they should declare war on account of the destruction of their canoe,
+or permit the act to pass without notice. This was the problem over
+which they pondered; and, as they discussed and debated it, "impatient
+feelings kept ever rising up in their hearts." But at last an end was
+made of deliberation, the decision of the tribe being in favour of
+battle as the one and only sufficient means by which they could be
+compensated for the burning of their canoe. In the words of the old
+tradition, "then commenced the great war which was waged between those
+who arrived in the Arawa and those who came in the Tainui."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_21" id="Ref_21" href="#Foot_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_6" id="Foot_6" href="#Ref_6">[6]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On this occasion Hotu-nui is credited with having addressed his
+people in the following terms: "Friends, hearken! Ours was the
+first canoe to land in New Zealand before any of you had arrived
+here. But let this be the proof as to which of our canoes landed
+first. Let us look at the ropes which the various canoes tied to the
+whale now before us, and also let us look at the branches of the
+trees which each have put up in building an altar, then the owners
+of the rope which is the driest and most withered, and of the altar
+the leaves of which are the most faded, were the first to land on the
+coast of the country where we now reside."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_7" id="Foot_7" href="#Ref_7">[7]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+After the canoe left Whanga-poraoa the first stopping-place was
+at Whare-nga, where the crew amused themselves with various
+games on the beach. To mark the spot, one legend has it, they
+placed one large stone on top of another, while a second story has
+it that this monument, which is still existent and is called <i>Pohatu
+Whakairi</i>, represents one of the crew who was turned into stone.
+The next point of interest was Moe-hau, now known as Cape
+Colville. They then landed at Te Ana-Puta, where, it is said, the
+canoe was moored to a natural arch of rock jutting into the sea.
+For some reason the anchor was left at a spot between Wai-hou
+and Piako, and under the name of <i>Te pungapunga</i> (the pumice
+stone) is still to be seen on the coast by those who are curious
+enough to look for it. The course was then deflected slightly to
+the west, and the canoe crossed to Whaka-ti-wai and coasted along
+the mainland past Whare-Kawa, where, it is said, Marama, one
+of the wives of Hoturoa, desired to be put ashore with one of her
+male slaves. Here they were left, and, according to one version of
+the tradition, it was her misconduct with this slave which prevented
+the crew dragging the Tainui over the portage at Otahuhu. The
+canoe then went on, some accounts say, as far as the North Cape,
+and others seem to imply that she was shortly afterwards put about
+and, returning into the Hauraki Gulf, sailed past the islands of
+Waiheke and Motu-Korea, until land was once more made at Takapuna.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_8" id="Foot_8" href="#Ref_8">[8]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now called Mount Victoria or "Flagstaff Hill."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_9" id="Foot_9" href="#Ref_9">[9]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Waitemata may be interpreted as "the waters of volcanic obsidian,"
+no doubt a reference to the eruptive disposition of Mount Rangitoto.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_10" id="Foot_10" href="#Ref_10">[10]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Otahuhu signifies "ridge-pole." This portage is only 3,900 feet
+long and 66 feet high.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_11" id="Foot_11" href="#Ref_11">[11]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+There are different versions of this tradition, some attributing
+the transfixing of the canoe to Marama, others crediting her with
+releasing it. The version given in the late Sir George Grey's
+<i>Polynesian Mythology</i> has been here adopted.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_12" id="Foot_12" href="#Ref_12">[12]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some authorities are of opinion that the Tainui was not taken
+across the portage at Otahuhu (ridge-pole), and they base this
+contention upon the fact that no traditional marks have been left
+inside the Manukau harbour. All the points of interest which have been
+handed down, and are remembered, are on the sea coast; and from this
+circumstance it is argued that the canoe was never in Manukau harbour
+at all. Others say that some of the skids of Tainui were left at South
+Manukau Heads.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_13" id="Foot_13" href="#Ref_13">[13]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As they were passing the mouth of the Waikato, the priest of the
+canoe, noticing that the river was in flood, named it by calling out
+"<i>Waikato, Waikato, kau</i>." Further on, noticing that there were
+no landing-places, he threw his paddle at the face of the cliff and
+exclaimed, "<i>Ko te akau kau</i>" (all sea coast). The paddle is said
+to be still embedded in the face of the rock, and is one of the
+traditional marks by which the course of the Tainui can be traced. At
+the entrance of Kawhia Harbour they ran into a shoal of fish, and the
+priest gave this haven its present name by exclaiming "<i>Kawhia
+kau</i>." Another account is that the name comes from Ka-awhi, to
+recite the usual <i>karakia</i> on landing on a new shore, to placate
+the local gods.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_14" id="Foot_14" href="#Ref_14">[14]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The distance between these stones is 86 feet, indicating the
+probable length of the Tainui canoe.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_15" id="Foot_15" href="#Ref_15">[15]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now called Te Fana-i-Ahurei (or, in Maori, Te Whanga-i-Ahurei,
+the district of Ahurei).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_16" id="Foot_16" href="#Ref_16">[16]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Tainui brought the species of kumaras known as
+<i>Anu-rangi</i> (cold of heaven) and the <i>hue</i> or calabash.
+Those planted by Marama did not come up true to type, but those
+planted by Whakaoti-rangi, another of the chief's wives, did.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_17" id="Foot_17" href="#Ref_17">[17]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"I reckon this country among the most charming and fertile
+districts I have seen in New Zealand" (<i>Hochstetter</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_18" id="Foot_18" href="#Ref_18">[18]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The natives call them Whenuapo.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_19" id="Foot_19" href="#Ref_19">[19]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+His full name was Raumati-nui-o-taua. His father was Tama-ahua,
+who is reputed to have returned to Hawaiki from New Zealand, and his
+mother was Tauranga, a Bay of Plenty woman.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_20" id="Foot_20" href="#Ref_20">[20]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The date of this incident has been approximately fixed at
+<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1390, or forty years after the arrival of "the fleet."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_21" id="Foot_21" href="#Ref_21">[21]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"It is to be presumed that Raumati's relatives and friends at
+Tauranga made his cause their own, for they met the Arawa people
+somewhere near Maketu, where a great battle was fought. Raumati's
+party, though successful at first, were defeated, and their leader
+killed by the power of <i>makutu</i>, or witch-craft, for Hatu-patu,
+the Arawa chief, caused a cliff to fall on him as he retreated from
+the battle, and thus killed him" (<i>Polynesian Journal</i>).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">{29}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER III</span><br /><span
+class="size070">A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">In</span>
+one of the many sanguinary battles of those intertribal wars which
+raged in Old New Zealand from this period down to the introduction of
+Christianity, Werawera, the father of Te Rauparaha, was captured,
+killed, and eaten. The subject of our sketch was at that time a mere
+child, and the grim old warrior who had made a meal of Werawera was
+heard to remark that, if ever the youngster fell into his hands, he
+would certainly meet a similar fate, as he would make a delicious
+relish for so great a warrior's <i>rau-paraha</i>. The
+<i>rau-paraha</i> here referred to was a juicy plant of the
+convolvulus family, which grew luxuriantly upon the sand-dunes of the
+seashore, and was largely used by the Maori of those days as an
+article of food. Such a tragic association of the child with the plant
+was never forgotten by his tribe, and it was from this circumstance
+that he derived that name which has stood paramount amongst Maori
+<i>toas</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_22" id="Ref_22" href="#Foot_22">[22]</a></span>
+of all time&mdash;Te Rauparaha&mdash;the convolvulus leaf. The
+branch of the Tainui people to which Te Rauparaha belonged was the
+Ngati-Toa tribe, who have already been described as occupying the
+country immediately surrounding the shores of Kawhia harbour. Like all
+the other Tainui tribes, these people claimed direct descent from
+Hoturoa, the admiral of the canoe; but the ancestor from whom they
+derived their name was Toa-rangatira, and from him Te Rauparaha was
+descended in a direct line on his father's side. Werawera, however,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">{30}</a></span>
+had married a Ngati-Raukawa lady, named Pare-kowhatu,
+and this fact, placing a bar sinister across Te Rauparaha's
+escutcheon, destroyed in a measure the purity of his
+pedigree from the Ngati-Toa point of view, although, as
+compensation, it gave him an influence with the Ngati-Raukawa
+tribe, which in after years carried with it fateful
+results.</p>
+
+<p>The Ngati-Raukawa people were closely allied to Ngati-Toa by ties of
+blood and friendship; for Raukawa, the ancestor who gave them name and
+individuality as a tribe, was related to Toa-rangatira, both chiefs
+being descendants of Raka, and through him of Hoturoa. This common
+ancestry gave these two tribes a common interest and sympathy, which
+were steadily increased by frequent inter-marriages; and to these
+bonds they appear to have been faithful through all the varying
+fortunes of their history. Conflicts between the Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa tribes were less frequent than was the case with the
+majority of the tribal families; and when the time came to mould their
+affinities into a closer union, Te Rauparaha used this long-standing
+friendship as the central argument, by which he eloquently sought to
+convince Ngati-Raukawa that there was but one destiny for them and for
+Ngati-Toa.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha had two brothers and two sisters, all older than himself;
+but none of them ever achieved a great position or reputation in the
+tribe, except perhaps Waitohi<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_23" id="Ref_23" href="#Foot_23">[23]</a></span>,
+who might claim the reflected glory
+of being the mother of that fiery and volcanic soul, Te Rangihaeata.
+This chief, whose life enters largely into early New Zealand history,
+rose to be the fighting lieutenant
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">{31}</a></span>
+and trusted adviser of his more famous uncle, and, in
+these questionable capacities, he was probably the most
+turbulent spirit who crossed the path of Wellington's
+pioneer colonists. Towards them he ever manifested
+an uncompromising hatred, the one redeeming feature of
+his hostility being the absolute frankness with which he
+proclaimed it.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately but little is known of Te Rauparaha's boyhood.
+Presumably he was brought up by his mother, after his father's death,
+between the settlements at Maungatautari<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_24" id="Ref_24" href="#Foot_24">[24]</a></span>,
+where he was born about
+the year 1768, and Kawhia, where his father's relatives lived. As he
+grew in years, the greater part of his time was spent at Kawhia with
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, by whom he was regarded as a hereditary chief and
+as one of their future leaders. His influence with Ngati-Raukawa did
+not commence until he had attained to early manhood; and the visits
+which he paid to his kindred at Maungatautari during this period had
+no military importance, and could only be regarded as interchanges of
+friendship. His sojourns at Maungatautari were always welcome, for as
+a boy he is said to have had a particularly sunny disposition, and to
+have entered eagerly into all the amusements dear to the heart of
+Maori children of that day. These enterprises frequently led him into
+mischief, and into those moral pitfalls which beset the path of
+high-spirited lads. But, for all his boisterous spirits, the boy never
+failed to pay respect to his elders, and one of the marked
+characteristics of his nature at this time was his willing obedience
+to those who were entitled to give him commands. He was even known to
+have performed services at the request of a slave, whom he might very
+well have ordered to do his own work, since his birth and breeding
+placed him far above the behests of a menial.</p>
+
+<p>As Te Rauparaha grew to youth and early manhood
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">{32}</a></span>
+he began to display qualities of mind which soon
+attracted the attention of the leading Ngati-Toa chiefs;
+but, strange to say, his mother was the last to discern
+these exceptional talents in her son, and always maintained
+that Nohorua, his elder brother, was the clever
+boy of the family. These maternal expectations, however,
+were not destined to be realised.</p>
+
+<p>Before the introduction of Christianity amongst the Maori, it was the
+custom to assign to a young chief some girl from his own or a
+neighbouring friendly tribe as his wife. Neither of the parties most
+directly interested in the alliance was consulted, and their feelings
+or wishes were not considered to have any important bearing upon the
+question. Such a system frequently led to unhappiness and
+heart-burning, but in the case of Te Rauparaha, the choice made for
+him proved to be a happy one, and Marore<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_25" id="Ref_25" href="#Foot_25">[25]</a></span>,
+a girl of tender grace,
+made him an admirable wife. Of her he became extremely fond, and out
+of this affection arose the first military enterprise which gave him
+fame and reputation as a leader of men.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 570px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="kawhia" id="kawhia">
+  <img width="570" height="400" alt="kawhia" src="images/053-kawhia.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">POMOHAKI PASSAGE, KAWHIA.<br />
+             <i>Photo by Jackson.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>As not infrequently happened in Maori life, his own people had
+prepared a great feast for some visiting tribesmen; but when the food
+which had been collected for their entertainment was distributed to
+the various families, Te Rauparaha observed with considerable
+displeasure that the portion given to Marore was of the very plainest,
+and contained no dainty morsel which she was likely to enjoy. The want
+of consideration thus shown towards his child-wife preyed upon the
+young chief's mind, and he speedily determined that, come what might,
+he would find with his own hand the relish which his friends had
+failed to provide. Accordingly he petitioned those in authority at
+Kawhia to permit him to organise a war party for the purpose of
+invading the Waikato country, where he hoped to take
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">{33}</a></span>
+captive in battle some warrior who would make a banquet
+for his bride. At first his proposals were received with
+opposition, for the reason that he was himself at this
+time in delicate health, and it was deemed prudent that
+he should await recovery before embarking upon so
+desperate a venture. Moreover, the tribe being then at
+peace with Waikato, the chiefs were naturally reluctant to
+sanction any act which would inevitably embroil them in
+a quarrel with their neighbours. But the fiery enthusiasm
+which Te Rauparaha displayed for his own scheme, and
+the persistency with which he urged its claims, overcame
+the resistance of the tribal fathers, who thus acknowledged,
+for the first time, the strength of the personality
+with whom they had to deal.</p>
+
+<p>Armed with this authority, he at once set about marshalling his
+forces, and his call to arms was eagerly responded to by a band of
+young bloods equally keen for adventure with himself. The
+<i>taua</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_26" id="Ref_26" href="#Foot_26">[26]</a></span>
+made its way safely to the nearest Waikato <i>pa</i>,
+where the profound peace prevailing at the time had thrown the
+defenders off their guard. In the belief that the visitors were on a
+friendly journey, they invited their advance guard within the walls of
+the village. Soon, however, the error was discovered; and the
+inhabitants, realising the position, flew to arms with an alacrity
+which sent the invaders flying through the gate of the <i>pa</i>. The
+impetuous energy of the Waikatos, led by Te Haunga, induced them to
+push the pursuit a considerable distance beyond the walls of their
+stronghold; and it was the strategic use which Te Rauparaha made of
+this fact that gave him the victory and established his claim to
+leadership in future wars. Owing to the difficulty which he
+experienced in walking, he had not been able to march with the
+leaders, but was following with a second division of his men, when he
+saw, to his dismay, his warriors being chased out of the <i>pa</i>.
+His own force was as yet concealed behind an intervening hill, and,
+quickly taking in the situation, he ordered his men to lie down
+amongst the <i>manuka</i> scrub,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">{34}</a></span>
+which grew to the height of several feet beside the narrow
+track which they had been traversing. He saw that the
+fugitives would follow this line, in order to rejoin him as
+speedily as possible, and in this anticipation his judgment
+proved correct. At full run they swept past,
+closely followed by the angry Waikatos, who, having
+escaped from one trap, little dreamed how simply they
+were falling into another. Close in his concealment, Te
+Rauparaha lay until the last of the pursuing body had
+rushed by; then, bursting from his hiding-place, he
+attacked them in flank and rear with such vehemence
+that they were at once thrown into disorder. The tumult
+of his assault checked the flight of the Ngati-Toas, and
+the Waikatos, now wedged in between two superior forces,
+sustained heavy losses. Te Rauparaha is credited with
+having slain four of his opponents with his own hand,
+and the total killed is said to have numbered one hundred
+and forty. Amongst these was Te Haunga, the principal
+chief of the <i>pa</i>, who formed a specially valuable trophy
+in view of the purpose for which the raid had been
+organised. His body was carried home to Kawhia to
+provide the relish which Te Rauparaha so much desired
+for Marore.</p>
+
+<p>Although this attack upon Waikato was only one of the many sporadic
+raids so common amongst the Maori tribes, and could not be regarded as
+a military movement of national importance, Te Rauparaha had conducted
+it with so much skill and enterprise that his achievement became the
+chief topic of discussion throughout the neighbouring <i>pas</i>, and,
+in the words of an old narrator, "he was heard of as a warrior by all
+the tribes." The fame which he had thus suddenly achieved, and the
+desire to live up to his reputation, inspired him with a new sense of
+responsibility, and he became a keen student of all that pertained to
+the art of war as practised in his day. He was shrewd enough to see
+the advantages attending military skill amongst a people with whom
+might was right, and, even at that age, he was ambitious enough to
+dream dreams which power alone would enable him to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">{35}</a></span>
+realise. He aimed at making the acquaintance of all the
+great chiefs of the surrounding tribes; and, when it was
+safe to visit them, he travelled long distances to sit at the
+feet of these old Maori warriors, and learn from them
+the subtle methods by which fields were won. These
+journeys gave him a familiarity with the country and the
+people which was very useful in the disturbed and precarious
+relations between Ngati-Toa and the neighbouring
+tribes. In these warlike excursions, which were as often
+of an aggressive as of a defensive nature, Ngati-Toa was
+not invariably successful. But, even in their defeats,
+the reputation of Rauparaha increased with his years,
+for he was ever turning to account some new device
+of tactics or giving some fresh proof of his personal
+courage.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did he neglect to cultivate the good opinion of his tribe by
+generosity in the discharge of his social duties. His bounty was never
+closed against the stranger; and when he invited his friends to a
+feast, his entertainment was always of the most lavish kind. Even to
+his workmen he was strikingly considerate. He abolished the practice
+indulged in by the field labourers of giving a portion of the food
+provided for them to strangers who happened to arrive at the
+settlement, by insisting that the kumara-planters should retain their
+full ration and the strangers be fed with food specially prepared for
+them. This unconventional liberality speedily created the desired
+impression,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_27" id="Ref_27" href="#Foot_27">[27]</a></span>
+and became the subject of general remark amongst those
+who were on visiting terms with the Kawhia chief. It even became
+proverbial, for it was sometimes said of a benevolent Maori, "You are
+like Te Rauparaha, who first feeds his workmen and then provides for
+his visitors."</p>
+
+<p>Reference has already been made to the fact that Te Rauparaha had been
+in the habit of making frequent visits to parts of the country distant
+from Kawhia, for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">{36}</a></span>
+the dual purpose of completing his education in the art
+of warfare and of strengthening his personal relations
+with influential chiefs, who might be useful to him in
+future diplomacy. During one of these excursions he
+had proceeded as far as what is now known as the Valley
+of the Thames, in the Hauraki Gulf, to pay his respects
+to the chiefs of the Ngati-Maru<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_28" id="Ref_28" href="#Foot_28">[28]</a></span>
+tribe, who were then
+both numerous and influential in that part of the island.
+How much he was esteemed by the leaders of this people
+may be judged by the fact that, when he was about to
+return, they, amongst other gifts, presented him with a
+firearm and a few cartridges, his first acquisition of the
+kind. To us the gift of an old flintlock might seem a
+trivial circumstance; but to a Maori, who was lingering
+on the fringe of the Stone Age, such a weapon was a
+priceless treasure. So dearly were they prized by the
+natives at this time that only the consideration of
+warmest friendship could have induced the Ngati-Maru
+to part with even one. There was in these rusty and
+erratic "fire-spears" that which would before long revolutionise
+the whole system of native warfare; and the
+shrewdest of the natives saw that the tribe which
+acquired the largest number of guns in the least time
+would have an enormous advantage in the field of
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>For some years a few vagrant and adventurous voyagers, together with
+the more honest whalers, had been making the Bay of Islands one of
+their principal rendezvous; and in the desultory trade which had been
+carried on between the crews and the natives, guns had first fallen
+into the possession of the Nga-Puhi tribe. The deadly use which these
+warriors had made of this new instrument of destruction, in their
+skirmishes with their neighbours, had so impressed the native mind
+that forces hitherto well-disciplined were seized with panic when
+marched against guns, until it was felt by the inland tribes that such
+weapons were absolutely indispensable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">{37}</a></span>
+to safety or victory.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_29" id="Ref_29" href="#Foot_29">[29]</a></span>
+Many of the natives,
+whose curiosity had been aroused by the novel sights
+which they had seen on the visiting whalers, had shipped
+as seamen before the mast in the hope of seeing more of
+the great world from which the <i>pakeha</i> came. In this
+way they had been carried to Port Jackson, where they
+had witnessed on a more extensive scale the destructive
+power of the European weapons. Owing to the misjudged
+generosity of the Sydney public, some had been
+able to bring a few muskets back with them, while others
+had secured hatchets and bayonets, which, fastened on
+the end of long handles, were soon recognised as
+weapons vastly superior to the spears and <i>taiahas</i> of
+their fathers. These discoveries accentuated the desire
+to replace their obsolete arms with others of a more
+modern type; and as a result of the excessive demand
+thus created, the commercial value of a musket rose in
+the market, until the traders asked, and the Maoris willingly
+gave, as much as a cargo of flax for a single
+weapon. The effect of this musket-hunger was to
+change completely the existing relations between the
+<i>pakeha</i> and Maori, going far to remove the estrangement
+and distrust which had been generated between the
+two races. Up to this time but little respect had been
+shown to the dark-skinned natives of these far-away
+islands by the rude sailors who had visited them; and
+in their contempt for the "niggers" they had been guilty
+of many outrages which would have staggered humanity,
+had humanity been able to grasp the full measure of
+their ferocity.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_30" id="Ref_30" href="#Foot_30">[30]</a></span>
+Retaliation, culminating in the murder
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">{38}</a></span>
+of Marion du Fresne and the burning of the <i>Boyd</i>, followed
+upon outrage, and hatred, fed by misunderstanding,
+was daily driving the two peoples further and further
+asunder.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_31" id="Ref_31" href="#Foot_31">[31]</a></span>
+But the need and the hope of acquiring
+muskets suddenly changed all this, for the natives now
+saw that it was necessary to their very existence that they
+should cultivate the European, in order that they might
+trade their flax and pigs for guns; while the white man,
+seeing that he could procure these valuable products at
+so insignificant a cost, was nothing loath to forget the
+many injuries which had been inflicted upon his own race.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the spirit of crime and revenge, which for years had darkened the
+page of New Zealand's history, suddenly disappeared in the eagerness
+for trade, and in its stead came the spirit of industry, which sent
+countless natives toiling in the swamps and on the hill-sides,
+preparing in feverish haste the fibre wherewith they might purchase
+this new weapon of destruction. This mad rush for muskets did not
+escape the keen observation of Te Rauparaha, who saw with unerring
+precision what its ultimate effect must be. Had he been a resident of
+the east coast there is little doubt that he too would have plunged
+with enthusiasm into the fatal scramble, trusting to his natural
+shrewdness and business acumen to secure for him a fair share of the
+market's prizes. But he was at the outset placed at this disadvantage.
+His country was on the west coast of the island, where the whalers and
+traders seldom came; and the Ngati-Toa, unlike the Nga-Puhi, had few
+or no opportunities of holding intercourse with the <i>pakeha</i>,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">{39}</a></span>
+from whom alone the coveted muskets could be
+procured. It was therefore with a heavy heart and
+sorely perplexed mind that Te Rauparaha returned to
+Kawhia, for he knew with absolute certainty that so soon
+as the Waikatos succeeded in arming themselves with
+firelocks it was only a question of time when they would
+decide to attack him and his people, in satisfaction for
+many an old grudge. Then the day would go hard
+with Ngati-Toa, who could only encounter this new
+invasion with stone clubs and wooden spears.</p>
+
+<p>As the result of many years of intertribal wars the country
+surrounding Aotea harbour, to the north of Kawhia, had become almost
+denuded of population. A few inconsiderable <i>pas</i> still remained,
+but their defenders were so inefficient as to constitute a living
+invitation to some stronger people to come down and exterminate them.
+Thus it was not surprising that a section of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe,
+whose home was at Raglan, should, after a successful raid in this
+quarter, decide to permanently occupy so inviting a district. They
+immediately attacked and drove out the feeble occupants, and then sat
+down to enjoy the fruits of their conquest. This act of aggression was
+hotly resented by Te Rauparaha, who could not suffer his allies to be
+buffeted in so unceremonious a manner, and within an incredibly short
+period of time he had his fleet of canoes on the water carrying a
+<i>taua</i> to Whanga-roa, where he met and decisively defeated
+Ngati-Mahanga. The report of this Ngati-Toa victory soon spread
+throughout the enemies' domain, and in due course reached the ears of
+those branches of the tribe living at the mouth of the Waikato River,
+who at once resolved to espouse the cause of their defeated friends.
+Manning seven large canoes, they came down the coast with a
+well-disciplined force under the renowned leader Kare-waho, and
+landing at Otiki, they first demolished the <i>pa</i> there and then
+passed on to Ohaua, whither the fugitives had fled, and delivered
+their attack upon that stronghold. No decisive result was achieved, as
+the rupture appears to have been healed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">{40}</a></span>
+before victory crowned the arms of either side, and the
+invaders were as eager to return as the besieged were
+glad to see them go. But the peace thus hastily made
+was as speedily broken, and a series of events was soon
+to ensue which was fated to have far-reaching results.
+Shortly after the return of the northern raiders a noted
+Waikato warrior, named Te Uira, came into the disputed
+Aotea territory, and while there varied his sport as a
+fisherman by killing a stray Ngati-Toa tribesman. On
+hearing of this tragedy Te Rauparaha and a war party
+promptly went over and retaliated by slaying Te Uira.
+Though to all appearances strictly within the code of
+morality which sanctions the taking of a life for a life,
+the Waikato people chose to regard this act as one of
+treachery, and the magnitude of the crime was measured
+by the value of the life taken. Te Uira was a man who
+had ranked high in their esteem. As a warrior and a
+leader of men he was a <i>toa</i>, indeed, and his death was to
+them a disaster. They therefore determined that the
+annihilation of Ngati-Toa was the only adequate solace
+for their injured feelings, and on this end they now concentrated
+their energies. War party after war party was
+sent over to Kawhia, and many desperate battles were
+fought, out of which Ngati-Toa seemed to emerge generally
+with success. But the gloom of impending disaster
+was gathering round Te Rauparaha, for the powerful
+Ngati-Mania-poto tribe became leagued with Waikato
+against him; and, although he had no difficulty in
+defeating them singly when they met, their coalition
+with his old enemy was a more serious matter. Stung
+by a recent repulse at Ta-whitiwhiti, they hurried
+messengers to all their distant friends, and in answer to
+their call a combined force of 1,600 men under Te Rau-Angaanga,
+father of the more famous Te Wherowhero,
+was soon marching against Kawhia's diminishing band
+of defenders. Crossing the ranges, they soon fell upon
+the Hiku-parea <i>pa</i>, which they invested at the close of
+the day. During the night half their force lay concealed
+in ambush, and when the garrison emerged in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">{41}</a></span>
+morning to give battle to an apparently small body of
+besiegers they were mortified to find themselves so hopelessly
+outnumbered and outgeneralled that there was
+nothing left for them to do but die as bravely as they
+might. The invaders then marched to attack the great
+Te Totara <i>pa</i>, where Te Rauparaha was personally in
+command, and here again the defenders were driven in
+before the swift onslaught of the allies. But where his
+arms had failed him Te Rauparaha's diplomacy stood
+him in good stead. He managed to soothe Te Rau-Angaanga
+into agreeing to a truce, and a temporary
+peace was patched up, only to be broken by the turbulent
+temper of the Ngati-Toa, who saw no impropriety in
+committing fresh aggressions so soon as their militant
+neighbours had returned home.</p>
+
+<p>The position was thus becoming grave for Te Rauparaha, and in an
+effort to stem the threatening disaster he sought to turn to some
+practical purpose the influence and prestige which he had now gained
+with the neighbouring chiefs. He suggested to his more trusted friends
+amongst the Maori leaders the need and wisdom of a confederation of
+all their tribes against the oppression of the Waikato people. But,
+though conducted with consummate tact and skill, these negotiations
+were destined to be futile. While all were friendly enough with Te
+Rauparaha, mutual jealousies existed amongst the other tribes, which
+destroyed any prospect of that unanimity and cohesion so essential to
+the success of such a scheme. Nga-Puhi remembered how Ngati-Maru had
+invaded their territory in days of old, and now that they were
+possessed of muskets they saw a prospect of repaying the debt&mdash;a
+chance much too promising to be lightly thrown away. Te Heuheu, the
+great chief at Taupo, would not coalesce with Ngati-Maru, and the
+Arawa still nursed their grudge against Tainui. These ancient
+grievances, which never seemed to die, kept the tribes outside Waikato
+apart, while the fact that Te Wherowhero had been able to form an
+offensive and defensive alliance with the Blücher of Maoridom, Te
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">{42}</a></span>
+Waharoa, so strengthened his position that, after months
+wasted in fruitless appeal, Te Rauparaha returned to
+Kawhia more than ever convinced that if his tribe was
+to be spared the humiliation of defeat, and perhaps annihilation,
+self-reliance must be the keynote of his future
+policy.</p>
+
+<p>During the next two years (1816-1818) Te Rauparaha devoted himself to
+occasional excursions against Waikato, in which he was moderately
+successful; but his more important operations at this period were
+directed against the tribes of Taranaki. The peculiar ethics of Maori
+warfare were largely responsible for the first of these southern
+descents upon a people with whom he was now beginning to enjoy
+considerable intercourse. A marriage had been celebrated between
+Nohorua, his elder brother, and a Taranaki lady,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_32" id="Ref_32" href="#Foot_32">[32]</a></span>
+and by way of
+commemorating the solemnity, a feast on a sumptuous scale had been
+given to the bridegroom's friends. Te Rauparaha, with the generosity
+for which he was at this time remarkable, was not slow to return the
+compliment, and in the course of a few months he journeyed southward
+to Te Taniwha <i>pa</i>, where Huri-whenua, the brother of Nohorua's
+young wife, lived, bringing gifts of dried fish and other seasonable
+foods. These social amenities led to still more intimate relations,
+and at the end of the following kumara and taro harvest the chief of
+Te Taniwha proceeded northward in his fleet of canoes on a promised
+visit to Kawhia. A fair wind beating into their triangular sails
+carried the canoes to within ten miles of their destination, and at
+the close of day the fleet headed for the shore at Harihari. Next
+morning they were met at their camp by Te Rauparaha and Rauhihi, who
+assured them of a cordial welcome at Kawhia and then proceeded
+overland to prepare their reception. In the meantime a rolling surf
+had set into the bay where the canoes were beached, and in the
+operation of launching them several were overturned and their crews
+nearly drowned. This
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">{43}</a></span>
+misfortune, which involved the loss of all the food
+intended for the feast, angered Huri-whenua exceedingly,
+and he adopted a strange but characteristically Maori-like
+method of seeking balm for his injured feelings.
+Gathering a party of his people together, he set off in
+pursuit of Te Rauparaha and his friend, and, attacking
+them, succeeded in killing Rauhihi, but not Te Rauparaha,
+who reached Kawhia after an exciting chase.
+His assailants, knowing full well that this unprovoked
+attack upon their chief would excite the indignation of
+Ngati-Toa, retired in haste to their home, which they
+immediately began to place in a condition of defence
+against the day when Te Rauparaha would return to seek
+satisfaction for the contemptuous disregard of his hospitality
+and the menace offered to his life. Nor were their
+precautions taken a moment too soon. Scarcely had the
+walls been strengthened and the Waihi stream dammed
+up so as to form a wide lake on one side of the <i>pa</i> than
+Te Rauparaha appeared, accompanied by Tuwhare,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_33" id="Ref_33" href="#Foot_33">[33]</a></span>
+one
+of the most celebrated Nga-Puhi chiefs of his day. This
+was Tuwhare's first visit to the south. He had gladly
+accepted the invitation to join the expedition, for his
+purpose in coming to Kawhia had been to lead an invasion
+into Taranaki territory, in order to secure some of
+the valuable mats, for making which the people of that
+part were widely famed.</p>
+
+<p>Tuwhare's contingent consisted of not more than two hundred men, but
+they brought with them something which, at this period, was more to be
+dreaded than men&mdash;the deadly musket. A few of these arms were carried
+by the invaders, while the defenders had not as yet even heard of or
+seen them.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_34" id="Ref_34" href="#Foot_34">[34]</a></span>
+The precautions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">{44}</a></span>
+of the garrison had robbed the northerners of all hope
+of successfully capturing the <i>pa</i> by assault, and so they
+sat down to besiege it in the most leisurely fashion.
+For several weeks besiegers and besieged watched each
+other across the wide lagoon which had been formed
+by the waters of the Waihi. At last Te Rauparaha and
+his people, growing weary of the enforced inactivity,
+sent proposals of peace to Huri-whenua. These were
+accepted, and subsequently ratified, but not before the
+pride of Ngati-Toa had been salved by their insistence
+upon a quaint condition. Te Rauparaha, recognising
+that the damming of the Waihi stream had been the
+means of frustrating his plans, demanded that, before
+the siege was raised, the dam should be removed. The
+point was conceded and the barrier broken down;
+and, as the waters rushed back into their bed, the
+northerners ostentatiously discharged their muskets in
+token of victory, and "then," says a Maori chronicler,
+"this ignorant people of these parts heard for the first
+time the noise of that weapon, the gun." The war party
+remained for some time on amicable terms at Te
+Taniwha, and before they had resolved to return home
+they were importuned to engage in further aggressions
+by Te Puoho, of whom we shall hear more anon. This
+warrior was a man of influence amongst the Ngati-Tama
+tribe, who held what has been called "the gate of
+Taranaki"; and it was due to the numerous connections
+by marriage between the northerners and Ngati-Tama
+that the former had been permitted to pass unmolested
+to the attack upon Te Taniwha. Te Puoho now sought
+recompense for his friendship by enlisting the sympathies
+of the northern leaders in the redress of his
+own grievances. He solicited their aid in an attack
+upon Tatara-i-maka <i>pa</i>, the home of those who had
+been responsible for the death of his sister not long
+before.</p>
+
+<p>Obedient to Te Puoho's summons, and eager to secure mats and heads and
+slaves, the war party marched upon the <i>pa</i>, which stood with its
+terraced ramparts upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">{45}</a></span>
+the sea-coast eleven miles south-west of New Plymouth.
+Seeing the invaders approach, the defenders went out
+to meet them, and gave them battle on the open space
+in front of the <i>pa</i>; but the sound of the guns, and the
+sight of men falling as by the hand of some invisible
+enemy, so terrorised the defenders that their lines were
+soon broken, and they fled, a demoralised host, back
+to their stronghold, which was immediately stormed and
+taken with great slaughter. This incident inspired the
+following lament, which was composed by one of the
+Taranaki people, in memory of those who fell at
+Tatara-i-maka:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Sweet is the Spring, the September month,</span>
+<span class="i2">When brilliant Canopus stands aloft,</span>
+<span class="i2">As I lay within my solitary house,</span>
+<span class="i2">Dazed with sad thoughts for my people</span>
+<span class="i2">Departed in death like a flash.</span>
+<span class="i2">To the cave of Rangi-totohu&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Emblem of sad disaster&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">They are gone by the leadership</span>
+<span class="i2">Of Uru, of the fearsome name.</span>
+<span class="i2">'Twas there at the hill of Tatara-i-maka</span>
+<span class="i2">The foe advanced in wedge-like form,</span>
+<span class="i2">Whilst our gathered people bid defiance</span>
+<span class="i2">At the entrance of the <i>pa</i>,</span>
+<span class="i2">Where Muru-paenga<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_35" id="Ref_35" href="#Foot_35">[35]</a></span>
+forced his way&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">The army-raiser, the leader&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">His was the fatal blow delivered,</span>
+<span class="i2">At the ascent of Tuhi-mata:</span>
+<span class="i2">Hence I am dried up here in sorrow."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">{46}</a></span>
+From Tatara-i-maka the <i>taua</i> moved southwards, attacking
+Mounu-kahawai as they went. This <i>pa</i> was taken under cover of
+the smoke caused by firing the dry <i>raupo</i> which grew in the
+neighbouring swamps, and then Tapui-nikau was invested. Here the
+defenders, though fighting only with their <i>rakau maori</i>, or
+native weapons, made so gallant a resistance that not even the guns of
+the invaders could penetrate it. They had filled the fighting towers
+of the <i>pa</i> with huge boulders and smaller stones, and the
+branches of the trees which overhung the trenches were lined with men,
+who handed the missiles to those best able to drop them upon the enemy
+as they swarmed round the walls.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_36" id="Ref_36" href="#Foot_36">[36]</a></span>
+Changing their tactics, the
+invaders drew off to a position which closed all communication with
+the <i>pa</i>, and at the same time gave them complete control of the
+surrounding country, so as to prevent the possibility of succour
+reaching the beleaguered <i>pa</i>. It was during the respite from
+active hostilities thus secured that there occurred one of those
+strange incidents which, though common enough in Maori warfare, appear
+so anomalous in the light of European custom. Te Ratutonu, one of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">{47}</a></span>
+defending chiefs, had been so conspicuous in repelling
+attacks that his gallantry and skill in arms became the
+subject of universal admiration throughout the northern
+camp. But not alone upon the men had his bravery
+made its impression. Rangi Topeora, Te Rangihaeata's
+sister, had witnessed his prowess, and, charmed by his
+handsome figure and manly strength, had been seized
+with a desire to have the hero for her husband. When
+the clash of arms had ceased, she persuaded her uncle,
+Te Rauparaha, to have Ratutonu "called," a ceremony
+which was performed by some one approaching the
+beleaguered <i>pa</i>, and under a guarantee of safety, inviting
+the warrior into the camp. Ratutonu obeyed the
+summons, and came down from the <i>pa</i> to meet Topeora;
+and to her he was married after the orators had delivered
+themselves of speeches rich in eulogy of their new-found
+kinsman, and full of admiration for the virtues of his
+bride.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_37" id="Ref_37" href="#Foot_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This unexpected union had raised a hope in the breast of the defenders
+that the rigour of the siege would now be relaxed, and that peace
+would be made as a fitting sequel to the romantic nuptials. In this
+they were, however, doomed to disappointment, for the Nga-Puhi,
+knowing that the food of the <i>pa</i> must be failing, would listen
+to no suggestion of compromise. But, moved by a more generous impulse,
+Ngati-Awa, the Taranaki section of the allies, entered into secret
+communication with the garrison, and finally arranged that the
+defenders should be allowed to pass through their lines by night and
+escape to the neighbouring hills. Next morning, great was the
+excitement in the camp when it was discovered that there was neither
+smoke ascending from the fires nor sound from the ramparts of the
+<i>pa</i>. The enemy had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">{48}</a></span>
+slipped from under their very hand; had flown from
+under their very eyes; and, as Ngati-Awa kept their own
+counsel, there was not a trace to show or suggest how
+the trick had been accomplished. Nothing, therefore,
+remained for the outwitted besiegers to do but avail
+themselves of what plunder had fallen into their
+hands, and make the best of their way back to their
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the return of the <i>taua</i> to Kawhia, its composite forces
+separated and departed to their respective districts, but not before
+the plans of a still more extensive campaign had been discussed. These
+operations, however, did not commence for a year, and, in the
+meantime, the seriousness of his position in relation to the Waikato
+people was more than ever apparent to Te Rauparaha, whose inability to
+come into contact with the whalers, and the consequent difficulty he
+experienced in becoming possessed of muskets, brought him much
+"darkness of heart." But, as he meditated, his anxiety of mind was to
+some extent relieved by the arrival at Kawhia of the northern portion
+of the war party, the raising of which had previously been agreed
+upon. In accordance with this arrangement, Tuwhare, accompanied by
+Patuone, and his brother, that picturesque figure in Maori history,
+Tamati Waka Nene<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_38" id="Ref_38" href="#Foot_38">[38]</a></span>&mdash;whose
+influence and eloquence were subsequently
+to be so powerfully used to secure the acceptance by the natives of
+the Treaty of Waitangi&mdash;left Hokianga in November, 1819, and
+proceeding by a circuitous route which embraced the country of the
+Waitemata, reached the home of Te Rauparaha, and found there a force
+of four hundred men waiting to welcome them.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 570px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="boyd" id="boyd">
+  <img width="556" height="400" alt="boyd" src="images/071-boyd.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">BURNING OF THE "BOYD".<br />
+             From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland,
+             by kind permission of the artist.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Accredited estimates give the strength of the combined
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">{49}</a></span>
+contingents at fully one thousand men, and they were
+armed with a greater number of muskets than had ever
+previously been carried into the field by any Maori
+organisation. A further distinction was the presence of
+many leaders whose deeds were to be deeply imprinted
+upon the records of Maori history. Each tribal section
+was under chiefs who are acknowledged to have been
+amongst the classic warriors of their time; so that, in the
+matter of skilful direction and heroic example, the <i>taua</i>
+might consider itself more than usually fortunate. The
+primary purpose of the expedition appears to have been
+no more than a love of adventure and a desire to kill
+and eat a few of their enemies; but embraced within
+this scheme was a secondary motive, which involved
+the redress of a grievance which Te Puoho had acquired
+against the Whanganui people, whom he considered
+accountable for a slight put upon his daughter.
+The friendly relations which prevailed between Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Tama ensured the war party an uncontested
+passage through "the gate of Taranaki"; and,
+although Ngati-Awa assembled to oppose them, they
+were satisfied to desist, upon Te Rauparaha consenting
+to pay the tribute of ownership by requesting permission
+to pass through their territory.</p>
+
+<p>The first important halt was made at Manu-korihi, on the north bank of
+the Waitara River, where a stay of some length was made for the
+purpose of finally determining the order of their plans. The
+Manu-korihi people became deeply interested in the muskets which the
+visitors had brought with them; and curious to observe their
+effect&mdash;at the expense of some one else&mdash;they persuaded Te Rauparaha
+and his friends to commence hostilities against the famous
+Puke-rangiora <i>pa</i>, whose inhabitants had been guilty of some
+cause of offence. The invitation to attack the great stronghold was
+accepted with alacrity; but when the war party presented themselves
+before the walls, they found it so strongly fortified and so keenly
+defended that discretion dictated a less valiant course, and so they
+passed Puke-rangiora,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">{50}</a></span>
+and went over the mountain track to Te Kerikeringa
+in search of a meaner enemy. This <i>pa</i> was a
+central point in the system of defence set up by Ngati-Maru,
+who had established populous settlements and
+made great clearings in the forest east of the present town
+of Stratford. Their great fighting chief was Tutahanga,
+who in former days had subdued the pride of both the
+Waikato and the Nga-Puhi. Now he was old, but his
+martial bearing was still such that, when the invaders
+inquired of their guides how they might distinguish him
+from those of inferior rank, they were told, "He is a
+star."</p>
+
+<p>Graced by the red plumes of the tropic bird, the northerners moved up
+to the attack, but were met with so stout a resistance by the
+defenders, who had donned the white feathers of the sacred crane,
+that, in spite of their muskets, their combination broke, and they
+retired in disorder to the western slopes, where they were compelled
+to resort to the tactics of a regular siege. From these heights, which
+dominated the <i>pa</i>, they were occasionally able to shoot down an
+unwary defender who exposed himself to their fire; but they did not
+rely entirely upon this method of fighting to effect their conquest.
+Frequent assaults were made upon the gateway, in one of which they
+succeeded in shooting Tutahanga, and in another Patu-wairua, his
+successor in command. Before his death, Patu-wairua, persuaded that
+the <i>pa</i> could not hold out much longer, desired to make peace if
+possible; but his conciliatory views were overruled by the less
+diplomatic leaders of the tribe. Patu-wairua then sat down and sang a
+lament for his people, whose impending fate he deplored with all the
+affection of a father. In the next sally he was killed in the
+fore-front of the fighting line, bravely sustaining the unequal
+contest, in which the <i>mere</i> was matched against the musket.</p>
+
+<p>With their two great leaders gone and many of their tribesmen dead, a
+feeling of depression settled down upon the garrison, whose position
+was daily growing less
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">{51}</a></span>
+secure. But while they were sinking under the weariness
+begotten of incessant vigilance, a Maori-like episode
+occurred, in which the arts of the women were employed
+to do that in which the stalwart arms of the men had
+failed. As a last device, the Ngati-Maru generals hit
+upon the idea of sending all the young women of the <i>pa</i>
+into the camp of the invaders, to beguile the warriors
+with their charms, and so induce them temporarily to
+relax the severity of the siege. History does not record
+the fate of these maidens of Te Kerikeringa; but they
+deserve at least a certain immortality. For during the
+diversion thus caused the <i>pa</i> was silently evacuated,
+the survivors of the siege making their escape across the
+Waitara River along the Tara-mouku Valley, and through
+the dense forest which stretched for many miles into the
+heart of the island.</p>
+
+<p>The tidings that Kerikeringa had fallen spread with such rapidity
+that, before the rejoicings of the victors had concluded, the tribes
+to the southward had succeeded in concealing themselves within their
+mountain fastnesses. Consequently we hear of no conflicts with
+Ngati-Ruanui or Nga-Rauru, as the victorious <i>taua</i> passed over
+the old forest track which leads out into the open country near the
+town of Normanby. This peaceful passage was not interrupted until they
+reached the Whanganui River, where they found the resident tribes
+drawn up in battle array to oppose them at the Turua <i>pa</i>. This
+<i>pa</i> was situated on the eastern bank of the river, a little
+above the present town of Whanganui; but, in reaching it, the
+northerners were faced with a serious initial difficulty, inasmuch as
+they had no canoes of their own, and Te Anaua, of Whanganui, had taken
+the precaution to remove his flotilla to the opposite shore. But the
+ingenuity of Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha was equal to an emergency of
+that kind. Ordering their men into the neighbouring swamps, they
+employed a month in cutting dry <i>raupo</i> leaves, out of which they
+constructed a <i>mokihi</i> fleet, and on these vegetable rafts the
+whole force was eventually transported across the wide and deep river.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">{52}</a></span>
+The capture of the <i>pa</i> was a work of no great
+difficulty; for here, as elsewhere, the muskets exercised
+their terrifying influence upon natives coming into
+contact with them for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>Southward the march was once more directed, and skirmishes followed
+with Ngati-Apa in the Whangaehu and Rangitikei districts. No
+protracted fighting was possible where the panic-stricken inhabitants
+fled before the all-destroying guns. Across the Rangitikei the
+<i>taua</i> passed into the fertile district of the Manawatu, which
+since the traditional days of Whatonga had been the home of the
+Rangitane people. Of this hostile descent upon the coast the Rangitane
+people declare that they, secure in their mountain fortresses, heard
+nothing until the arrival of the war party at Otaki. Thither some of
+the children of Toki-poto, the chief at Hotuiti, near Awahou (Foxton),
+had gone on a visit to their friends; and there they met Te Rauparaha,
+who inquired of them the whereabouts of their people and the number
+and strength of their <i>pas</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The patronising and fatherly demeanour which this warrior could
+assume<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_39" id="Ref_39" href="#Foot_39">[39]</a></span>
+when his ends were better served by the concealment of his
+true purpose completely won the confidence of the lads, and, in their
+innocence of the man, to whom they were confiding the secrets of the
+tribe, they readily told him all that he wished to know. When the
+desired information had been obtained some of Te Rauparaha's followers
+proposed, as a precautionary measure, that the children should be
+killed; but Te Rauparaha, more far-seeing than they, interposed, for
+he had not yet exhausted their usefulness. In the depths of his
+cunning he had conceived the idea of making the children of Toki-poto
+the instruments by which that chief should be delivered into
+Ngati-Toa's hands. Accordingly, he resisted the demand for their
+blood, saying, "No, let them alone, they are only children. Rather let
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">{53}</a></span>
+us go and take Toki-poto out of the stern of the canoe."
+This was his expressive and figurative method of conveying
+to his warriors that he sought a more valuable
+trophy than the life of a child, and that he had resolved
+upon no less a scheme than the assault of the Hotuiti <i>pa</i>.
+To Mahuri, the eldest son of Toki-poto, he then turned,
+and in dulcet tones he said, "Go to your father, I will
+see him."</p>
+
+<p>Accompanied by the Ngati-Toa warriors and their leader, the lad led
+the way to a small lake <i>pa</i> at Hotuiti, whither Toki-poto had
+gone with the major portion of his people from their main settlement
+on the banks of the Manawatu River. The <i>pa</i> itself was built on
+one of the many miniature islets which dot the face of the lake; and,
+while Te Rauparaha and his followers lurked in the bush which fringed
+the margin, he sent the unsuspecting Mahuri to tell his father that Te
+Rauparaha wished to talk with him. The first thought to arise in the
+mind of the Rangitane chief was one of suspicion, and he at once
+exclaimed, "No, I will not go. I shall be slain." But the boy, into
+whose good graces Te Rauparaha had completely ingratiated himself,
+ridiculed these fears, and urged his father to go. To these entreaties,
+and possibly to fears of retaliation if he did not comply, Toki-poto
+at last yielded, and, taking a few of his people with him, went in his
+canoe, unarmed, to welcome his visitor.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had they reached the edge of the wood when they were set upon
+by the secreted warriors, and in the massacre which followed the chief
+and a number of his followers were killed, the remainder, with the
+exception of two, being taken prisoners. The two who escaped were
+Mahuri, the innocent cause of the disaster, and Te Aweawe, the father
+of the well-known family who still reside upon the Rangitane lands in
+the Manawatu. Side by side with Toki-poto, there fell that day another
+chief named Te Waraki, whose greenstone <i>mere</i>, a weapon famous
+in the annals of the tribe, was buried on the site of the massacre by
+the mourning people, and there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">{54}</a></span>
+it remained hidden for full sixty years, until it was discovered in 1882.</p>
+
+<p>Strange to say, Te Rauparaha did not press the advantage gained by the
+removal of Hotuiti's chief by attacking the <i>pa</i>, but contented
+himself with carrying off his prisoners to Otaki, where he rejoined
+Waka Nene. Here the two chiefs rested for a time, pursuing vigilant
+inquiries into the number and disposition of the resident tribes. They
+visited for the first time the island stronghold of Kapiti, and found
+it in the possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people, under the
+chieftainship of two men named Potau and Kotuku. The visit was made
+with a simulation of friendship, for the time was not ripe for an
+attack; and the northerners were satisfied for the moment with
+examining the strategical features of the island, and extorting from
+Potau and Kotuku a considerable quantity of the greenstone which they
+had accumulated during the course of their traffic with the Ngai-Tahu
+of the South Island.</p>
+
+<p>Refreshed by their sojourn at Otaki, and considerably enlightened as
+to its military possibilities, the northern war party then pushed on
+southwards, fighting as they went, first at Wai-mapihi, a fortified
+<i>pa</i>, the remains of which are still to be seen not far from the
+Puke-rua railway station. The <i>pa</i> was captured, it is said, by
+treachery suggested by Te Rauparaha, and the Muaupoko, whose valour
+had defied the most desperate efforts of their assailants, were hunted
+in and through the bush by their fierce pursuers. Here, and at
+Porirua, a number of canoes fell into the hands of the invaders, some
+of whom now decided to vary the monotony of the land journey by the
+exhilaration of the sea route. This determination ended disastrously.
+Ignorant of the silent currents and treacherous tides of Cook Strait,
+the Nga-Puhi men of two canoes were swamped while taking the outer
+passage in rounding Sinclair Head, and fully one hundred of them were
+drowned. The remainder of the canoes, steering a course inside the
+reefs, escaped the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">{55}</a></span>
+danger of shipwreck, and reached Whanganui-a-Tara<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_40" id="Ref_40" href="#Foot_40">[40]</a></span>
+almost simultaneously with the party who had journeyed
+by land.</p>
+
+<p>The country surrounding this great basin was then held by the
+Ngati-Ira, a sub-branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, whose
+possessions practically extended from Gisborne to Cape Palliser, on
+the eastern side of the North Island. They were a brave and numerous
+people, and when their <i>pa</i> at Pa-ranga-hau was attacked, they
+fought with a desperation which extorted admiration even from their
+enemies. Though considerable numbers of Ngati-Ira were killed in this
+conflict, Nga-Puhi did not escape scatheless; for one native account
+says: "Ngati-Ira charged them in the face of the flames of their
+muskets, and with their native weapons killed many Nga-Puhi." Hunger
+was now beginning to assert its inconvenience; and the war party were
+at this time compelled to live exclusively on the flesh of their
+slaves, of whom large numbers were killed, each chief undertaking
+successively to provide the necessary supply. Disease also attacked
+their camps, of which there were two; and some mysterious pestilence
+was responsible for the death of many warriors and several chiefs,
+whose heads were preserved and their bodies burned, to prevent them
+falling into the hands of the enemy. Scarcely had the stricken host
+recovered from the prevailing sickness than the Ngati-Ira swept down
+upon the bivouac at Te Aro in the dead of night, and, in the first
+shock of the surprise, inflicted sore loss upon the sleeping warriors.
+Thanks to their guns, the northerners were ultimately successful in
+beating off the attack, and immediately afterwards the pas which
+skirted the harbour were deserted by their inhabitants, who, reluctant
+to accept the responsibility of battle under such unequal conditions,
+beat a stealthy retreat into the Hutt Valley, whither the northern
+chiefs followed them, though their force was now only a remnant of
+what it had formerly been. They travelled by canoe up the river which
+waters the valley, and, as they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">{56}</a></span>
+went, the resident people, confident in their numbers,
+collected along the banks to jeer at them, and contemptuously
+invited them on shore to be eaten.</p>
+
+<p>The details of this campaign are but a repetition of successive
+slaughters; for the panic created by the strange sound and deadly
+power of the gun left the unhappy defenders no spirit to resist the
+onslaughts of their assailants. For several weeks they remained in the
+valley, guided from <i>pa</i> to <i>pa</i> by their slaves, who, to
+save their own lives, were forced to sacrifice those of their
+tribesmen. Every nook of the dark forest was penetrated, and even the
+steeps of the Rimutaka Range were climbed in vengeful pursuit of the
+fugitives. In connection with these man&#339;uvres the reputation of Te
+Rauparaha has again been besmirched by suggestions of treachery&mdash;and
+treachery of the blackest type; for nothing could be more hurtful to
+the honour of a high chief than that he should prove faithless while
+feigning hospitality. It has been recorded by the Nga-Puhi chroniclers
+that, as they pushed on through the forest, they came upon a strongly
+built and populous <i>pa</i>, which left some room for doubt as to
+what the issue of an attack would be. To tempt the warriors into the
+open was the policy advocated by Te Rauparaha, and to achieve this end
+he sent messengers to the Ngati-Ira chiefs with offers of peace. To
+render the bait more seductive, a feast was prepared, to which the
+warriors of the Hutt were invited; and, on assembling, a northern man
+sat down beside each one, prepared at a sign from their chief to
+spring upon the unsuspecting guests. Into the <i>marae</i> the women
+brought the food, and, as the unsuspecting Ngati-Ira were revelling in
+the delights of the banquet, the fatal signal was given by Te
+Rauparaha, and a massacre commenced, which ended only with the capture
+of the <i>pa</i> and the rout of its inhabitants.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_41" id="Ref_41" href="#Foot_41">[41]</a></span>
+Whether the name
+of Te Rauparaha will ever be cleared of this odious imputation which the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">{57}</a></span>
+Nga-Puhi record has branded upon it is uncertain.
+But, as a counterpoise, it must be remembered that those
+who have made the accusations were at least willing participators
+in the schemes which they ascribe to him, and
+that, if the plans were his, the execution of them was
+undoubtedly theirs.</p>
+
+<p>Having exhausted the field of conquest open to them in the valley of
+the Hutt, the war party returned to the harbour where their canoes
+were beached, and, undeterred by the fact that their numbers had now
+dwindled to less than three hundred, they set off by sea for Palliser
+Bay, by which route they had determined to enter the Wairarapa. A
+successful reprisal by the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, who had cut off and
+annihilated a small party of the northerners, was the immediate
+justification for this new development in the plans of Tuwhare and Te
+Rauparaha. The opposing forces met at the Tauhere Nikau <i>pa</i>,
+near Featherston, which was strongly fortified and bravely defended;
+but the muskets which these rude imitators of Cortés carried with them
+were here, as elsewhere, sufficient to spread consternation through
+the opposing ranks, and the <i>pa</i> soon fell before the Ngati-Toa
+assault. Numbers of the besieged escaped to the hills, where they
+suffered the biting pangs of hunger, and the bitterness of soul
+inseparable from the aftermath of war.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_42" id="Ref_42" href="#Foot_42">[42]</a></span>
+Others, keeping to the open
+country, were pursued as far as Porangahau, in Hawke's Bay; and then
+the war party, weary of their bloody work, made their way back to
+Tauhere Nikau, where they spent some days demonstrating their contempt
+for the enemy by eating the bodies of the slain.</p>
+
+<p>When hunger and tribal hatred had been sated, the victorious warriors,
+observing ominous signs of a gathering storm, returned to the west
+coast, and remained for a few days' rest at Omere.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_43" id="Ref_43" href="#Foot_43">[43]</a></span>
+While here,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">{58}</a></span>
+the eagle eye of Waka Nene descried a vessel<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_44" id="Ref_44" href="#Foot_44">[44]</a></span>
+in full sail
+beating through Cook Strait. To the quick intellect of
+the chief, the sight of the ship opened up in an instant
+fresh possibilities; for he knew what intercourse with the
+<i>pakeha</i> had done for the Nga-Puhi, and he saw no reason
+why the same advantages should not be shared by his
+friend and ally, Te Rauparaha. Doubtless that chief had
+confided his fears to Waka Nene, and they had probably
+consulted long and anxiously as to the growing weakness
+of the position at Kawhia. When, therefore, Tamati
+beheld the passing ship, he saw at a glance that, if
+this part of the coast was frequented by vessels of the
+white man, it offered the same facilities for obtaining arms
+and ammunition which Hongi enjoyed at the Bay of
+Islands. With unrestrained excitement he called out to
+his comrade: "Oh, Raha,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_45" id="Ref_45" href="#Foot_45">[45]</a></span>
+do you see that people sailing
+on the sea? They are a very good people; and if you
+conquer this land and hold intercourse with them, you
+will obtain guns and powder and become very great."
+This optimistic little speech was apparently all that was
+required to confirm Te Rauparaha in his growing desire
+to take the decisive step of migrating with the whole
+of his people from the storm-threatened Kawhia; and
+when the chief turned his face towards home, it was
+with the full resolve to come back at the first convenient
+season and make the country his own.</p>
+
+<p>The homeward journey was characterised by the same ruthless behaviour
+towards the resident people which had been practised on the way down,
+those who were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">{59}</a></span>
+captured being killed and eaten without any unnecessary ceremony.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_46" id="Ref_46" href="#Foot_46">[46]</a></span>
+What occurred within the confines of the
+Manawatu district we do not know, because the present-day
+representatives of the Rangitane people declare that
+they saw and heard nothing of the invaders. As they
+proceeded further north, however, we hear more of
+them; for while they were in the Rangitikei district an
+incident occurred which it suited the Ngati-Apa people
+not to forget. In one of the many excursions made
+into the interior in search of prisoners, a young chieftainess,
+named Pikinga, was captured by a party of Te
+Rangihaeata's men. Pikinga was the sister of Arapata
+Hiria, the Ngati-Apa chief against whom Waka Nene
+and Te Rauparaha were operating at the moment; and,
+if the gossip of the day is to be believed, she was
+possessed of no mean personal charms. She, at least, was
+attractive enough to captivate the most ruthless of the
+party, for it was not long before Te Rangihaeata fell a
+victim to her charms and made her his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Whether this was merely a passing whim on the part of an amorous young
+warrior or a move in a much deeper game of diplomacy, it would be
+difficult to say at this distance of time, particularly as each tribe
+now imputes to the action of the chief a different motive. The
+Ngati-Apa claim, with some insistence, that the marriage was the
+expression of a bond of perpetual peace between them and Te Rauparaha:
+while the Ngati-Raukawa, to whose lot it fell some fifty years later
+to contest the point, contend that no such wide construction could be
+put upon Rangihaeata's action, and that, even if it involved the
+tribes in a treaty of friendship at the time, the compact was
+subsequently denounced by Te Rauparaha on account of the treachery of
+Ngati-Apa. It is quite within the region of possibility that Te Rauparaha,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">{60}</a></span>
+having regard to the political aspect of the situation,
+would, so soon as he had measured their strength, lead
+the Ngati-Apa to believe that he desired to cultivate their
+goodwill; because immediately he had determined to
+seize the country opposite Kapiti, he would perceive the
+wisdom of having some friendly tribe stationed between
+him and his northern enemies, upon whom he could rely
+to withstand the first shock of battle in the event of a
+Waikato invasion. Such tactics would not be foreign to
+the Ngati-Toa leader, for that part of his life which was
+not spent in battle was occupied in the development of
+schemes whereby the efforts of one tribe were neutralised
+by the efforts of another; and if he could make pawns
+of the Ngati-Apa, he would chuckle to himself and say,
+"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>But Te Rauparaha was not the man to seriously contemplate anything in
+the way of a permanent peace with Ngati-Apa, or with any one else whom
+he felt strong enough to destroy. And even assuming that he encouraged
+them in the belief that Rangihaeata's devotion to Pikinga was a common
+bond between them, he would not dream of maintaining such an
+understanding a moment longer than it suited his purpose. It seems,
+therefore, more likely that, when he satisfied himself that the people
+of the Rangitikei were no match for his own warriors, and that he
+could subdue them at his leisure, he was at some pains to impress them
+with a sense of his magnanimity, but only because he desired to use
+them as a buffer between himself and the Waikatos. Years afterwards,
+when he felt secure against invasion, he repudiated all friendship
+with Ngati-Apa, and ordered his people to wage eternal war against
+them. The claim which the Ngati-Apa subsequently made to the land in
+the Rangitikei-Manawatu districts, on the ground that they were never
+conquered by the Ngati-Toa, because this marriage protected them from
+conquest, was therefore not well founded, the ordinary occurrence of a
+chief taking a captive woman to be his slave-wife being invested with
+a significance which it did not possess.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">{61}</a></span>
+Upon the consummation of this happy event, the war
+party, laden with spoil and prisoners, made their way
+back to the north. When they reached Kawhia, after an
+absence of eleven months, Tuwhare being dead,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_47" id="Ref_47" href="#Foot_47">[47]</a></span>
+Waka
+Nene, who had now assumed command of the northern
+contingent, took his leave of Te Rauparaha, and Te
+Rauparaha prepared to take leave of the land of his
+fathers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_22" id="Foot_22" href="#Ref_22">[22]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Braves.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_23" id="Foot_23" href="#Ref_23">[23]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Waitohi had other children, one of whom, Topeora, afterwards
+became the mother of Matene Te Whiwhi, one of the most influential and
+friendly chiefs on the west coast of the North Island. Topeora is
+perhaps more famed than any other Maori lady, for the number of her
+poetical effusions, which generally take the form of <i>kaioraora</i>,
+or cursing songs, in which she expresses the utmost hatred of her
+enemies. Her songs are full of historical allusions, and are therefore
+greatly valued. She also bore the reputation of being something of a
+beauty in her day.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_24" id="Foot_24" href="#Ref_24">[24]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+There appears to be some doubt as to the exact locality of Te
+Rauparaha's birth, some authorities giving it as Maungatautari and
+others as Kawhia.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_25" id="Foot_25" href="#Ref_25">[25]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Marore was killed by a member of the Waikato tribe&mdash;it is said,
+at the instigation of Te Wherowhero&mdash;while she was attending a
+<i>tangi</i> in their district, about the year 1820.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_26" id="Foot_26" href="#Ref_26">[26]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+War party.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_27" id="Foot_27" href="#Ref_27">[27]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The traditional accounts of the Maoris have it that at this
+period Te Rauparaha was "famous in matters relative to warfare,
+cultivating generosity, welcoming of strangers and war parties."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_28" id="Foot_28" href="#Ref_28">[28]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This tribe was afterwards partially exterminated during the raids
+of Hongi and Te Waharoa.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_29" id="Foot_29" href="#Ref_29">[29]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"When Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of Whanga-roa,
+in 1819, the terrified people described him as having twelve muskets,
+while the name of Te Korokoro, then a great chief of the Bay of
+Islands, who was known to possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with
+terror for upwards of two hundred miles beyond his own district"
+(<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_30" id="Foot_30" href="#Ref_30">[30]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"If we take the whole catalogue of dreadful massacres they (the
+New Zealanders) have been charged with, and (setting aside partiality
+for our own countrymen) allow them to be carefully examined, it will
+be found that we have invariably been the aggressors: and when we have
+given serious cause of offence, can we be so irrational as to express
+astonishment that a savage should seek revenge?" (<i>Earle</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_31" id="Foot_31" href="#Ref_31">[31]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Marsden, writing of this time, says that such was the dread of
+the Maoris that he was compelled to wait for more than three years
+before he could induce a captain to bring the missionaries to New
+Zealand, as "no master of a vessel would venture for fear of his ship
+and crew falling a sacrifice to the natives." As an extra precaution,
+all vessels which did visit the country were supplied with boarding
+nets.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_32" id="Foot_32" href="#Ref_32">[32]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Whare-mawhai, sister of Huri-whenua, chief of the Ngati-Rahiri,
+who lived at Waihi, four or five miles north of Waitara.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_33" id="Foot_33" href="#Ref_33">[33]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Tuwhare belonged to the Roroa branch of the Nga-Puhi tribe.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_34" id="Foot_34" href="#Ref_34">[34]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When the musket was first introduced into Taranaki, a slave was
+very anxious to know how it was used. A Nga-Puhi warrior explained to
+him the method of loading and priming, then told him to look down the
+muzzle. The slave did so, whereupon the Nga-Puhi pulled the trigger,
+and the top of the unfortunate slave's head was blown off, much to the
+amusement of the surrounding crowd.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_35" id="Foot_35" href="#Ref_35">[35]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Associated with Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha in this raid was another
+and equally famous chief, named Muru-paenga. That he was a great
+warrior is proved by the fact that his enemies speak of him in the
+lament already quoted as "the army-raiser, the leader," while his
+friend Te Taoho, in a <i>tangi</i> composed after his fall, refers to
+his "warlike eloquence," and compares him to "a richly-laden vessel,
+with all knowledge and great courage." But Muru-paenga is not merely
+famed in song, for his achievements have in a measure passed into
+proverb. In the taking of <i>pas</i>, one of his favourite stratagems
+was to stealthily approach the enemy's fort at nightfall, and pounce
+upon it with the first light of dawn. This involved the sleeping of
+his men amongst the tender ferns growing on the outer edge of the
+bush, which in the morning necessarily bore a trodden-down appearance,
+a fact which did not escape the keen observation of those who had oft
+been the victims of his tactics. Consequently, when Muru-paenga was
+killed by Nga-Puhi in 1826, the joyful news went through the country
+which he had previously devastated, and the saying was composed, in
+significant suggestion that the ferns and the people would no longer
+be crushed, "Rejoice, O ye little ferns of the woods, Muru-paenga is
+dead."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_36" id="Foot_36" href="#Ref_36">[36]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"During the siege, Tawhai (afterwards Mohi Tawhai), father of the
+late Hone Mohi Tawhai, M.H.R., who was with the northern contingent of
+the taua in the attack, was close under one of the towers of the
+<i>pa</i> when one of the defenders hurled a big stone at him which
+split open his head. But by careful doctoring he recovered&mdash;careful
+doctoring according to Maori ideas meant that they poured hot oil into
+the wound and then sewed it up" (<i>Polynesian Journal</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_37" id="Foot_37" href="#Ref_37">[37]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Topeora did not secure her husband without a struggle, for
+another lady, Neke-papa, had also taken a fancy to the handsome
+warrior, and as Te Ratutonu was leaving the <i>pa</i>, a dispute arose
+as to which should have him. But Topeora, being fleet of foot, ran to
+meet the advancing warrior, and cast her <i>topuni</i>, or dog-skin
+mat, over him, "and this being in accordance with Maori custom, Te
+Ratutonu became the husband of Topeora."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_38" id="Foot_38" href="#Ref_38">[38]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+His home was on the banks of the Hokianga River, on the western
+side of the country, opposite to the Bay of Islands. He afterwards
+became a convert to the Wesleyan Mission, and received at his baptism
+the prefix "Thomas Walker" to his old Maori name of Nene, hence the
+name by which he is known in history&mdash;Tamati Waka Nene.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_39" id="Foot_39" href="#Ref_39">[39]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The late Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, who knew Te Rauparaha well, has
+assured the writer that when it suited him the wily old chief could
+"lend a most angelic expression to his countenance."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_40" id="Foot_40" href="#Ref_40">[40]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now known as Wellington.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_41" id="Foot_41" href="#Ref_41">[41]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"All these works of treachery, ambushes, murders, and all these
+wrongs done by the <i>taua</i> of Nga-Puhi, were taught them by Te
+Rauparaha" (<i>Nga-Puhi account</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_42" id="Foot_42" href="#Ref_42">[42]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The female prisoners were secured by plaiting flax ropes into
+their long hair, and the men were imprisoned in enclosures made for
+the purpose.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_43" id="Foot_43" href="#Ref_43">[43]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Omere is a high bluff just to the south of Ohariu Bay. This bluff
+was the place which Maoris always visited to see if the Straits were
+calm enough to cross: hence the reference in the old song&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">Where Omere projects outside,</span>
+<span class="i2">The look-out Mount for calms.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_44" id="Foot_44" href="#Ref_44">[44]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It has been suggested that this vessel was either the <i>Wostok</i>
+or the <i>Mirny</i> of the Russian scientific expedition sent out by
+Czar Alexander I. in 1819, and which visited Queen Charlotte Sound. If
+this is so, the date of this event was either late in May or early in
+June, 1820.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_45" id="Foot_45" href="#Ref_45">[45]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A contraction for Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_46" id="Foot_46" href="#Ref_46">[46]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On one occasion, when Te Rauparaha was conversing with Mr. George
+Clarke, then Protector of the Aborigines, the latter asked him how he
+made his way from north to south. With a wicked twinkle in his eye, Te
+Rauparaha replied, "Why, of course, I ate my way through."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_47" id="Foot_47" href="#Ref_47">[47]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On reaching Whanganui, a division in the councils of the leaders
+took place, Ngati-Toa and Nga-Puhi remaining on the coast, while
+Tuwhare made an intrepid dash up the Whanganui River with his own
+immediate followers. They fought their way up into the "cliff
+country," in the upper reaches of the river, and here, in an
+engagement at the Kai-whakauka <i>pa</i>, Tuwhare received a wound on
+the head from which he shortly afterwards died. On receiving the fatal
+blow, he contemptuously remarked to his assailant: "If thine had been
+the arm of a warrior I should have been killed, but it is the arm of a
+cultivator."</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">{62}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER IV</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE LAND OF PROMISE</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">When</span>
+the period of feasting and enjoyment, which invariably followed
+upon the return of a successful Maori war party, had terminated at
+Kawhia, Te Rauparaha immediately became involved in a fresh struggle
+with Waikato. The cause of the hostility was remote; but, as Waikato
+had vowed to drive him out, no pretext was too slight upon which to
+base a quarrel. Thus the killing of one of their chiefs by a Taranaki
+warrior, to whom Te Rauparaha was related, was sufficient to justify
+the marching of a large war party against him. Their force advanced in
+two sections: the one came down the inland track, and the other, which
+was to actively engage Te Rauparaha, entered Kawhia from the sea. Two
+<i>pas</i>, Tau-mata-Kauae and Te Kawau, speedily fell before the
+invaders, and again Ngati-Toa were defeated at the battle of Te
+Karaka, on the borders of Lake Taharoa, after an heroic struggle, in
+which it is said that three hundred Ngati-Toa fought more than a
+thousand Waikatos. These disasters were indeed darkening the outlook
+for Ngati-Toa, and the position has been graphically described by one
+native historian, who states that "the losses of the tribe of Te
+Rauparaha were very great; by day and by night they were killed by
+Ngati-Pou." Success had also attended the arms of the section of
+Waikato who, under Te Wherowhero, had swept through the Waipa Valley
+and across the forest plateau until they reached the Wai-Kawau
+<i>pa</i> on the sea-coast, just north of the Mokau River. This they
+stormed and sacked by force of overpowering
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">{63}</a></span>
+numbers, and, surfeited with victory, they
+united with their comrades at Te Karaka, and then
+triumphantly marched home.</p>
+
+<p>With so many of his <i>pas</i> obliterated and his warriors slain, Te
+Rauparaha retired upon Te Arawi, a coastal stronghold built upon the
+summit of a forbidding-looking rock, which at full tide is completely
+surrounded by a breaking sea. Here he had leisure to reflect upon the
+lessening radius of his freedom and to formulate his plans for
+extricating his people from a position of increasing peril; and we may
+fairly assume that it was now that his final decision to migrate from
+Kawhia to Kapiti was taken. Once resolved on this course, he applied
+himself systematically to the task of persuading his people to enter
+into the spirit of the scheme, over which he himself had become so
+enthusiastic, and which he now deemed necessary to their safety. The
+task was by no means a simple one, for the impending danger was not so
+apparent to all the tribe as it was to their chief; and, moreover,
+there centred in the spot which he was asking them to leave the
+traditions and associations of all the centuries which had passed
+since their forefathers had first landed there from the pilgrim canoe.
+They knew each nook and corner, from the caves to the hill-tops, every
+point of which spoke to them of the beloved past. Here a rock which
+had been a trysting-place in some tragic love affair, there a haunt of
+spirits, yonder a burying-ground made sacred by the bones of their
+ancestors, and there again a battlefield hallowed by the memory of the
+fallen. Each of these was a tie dear to the Maori; and they were loath
+to leave all that linked them to the past and face a future full of
+doubt and uncertainty.</p>
+
+<p>But the confidence which Te Rauparaha had inspired, and the prospect
+of guns and ammunition in abundance, gradually overcame these
+sentimental objections; and before long the Ngati-Toa people agreed to
+follow their chief whithersoever he might lead. Te Rauparaha was,
+however, prudent enough to recognise that his own
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">{64}</a></span>
+section of the tribe, though brave at heart, were few in
+numbers for so serious an undertaking as the conquest of
+a new territory. As soon, therefore, as he had secured
+the consent of his own tribe, he paid a visit to Maungatautari,
+for the purpose of obtaining the co-operation
+of Ngati-Raukawa. With them he was no more successful
+at first than he had been with his own people. He
+pointed out their liability to attack, the difficulty in
+obtaining guns, shut out as they were from communication
+with the whalers, and the prospect of an easy victory
+over the weakened tribes of the coast. But they were
+reluctant to give up all that they possessed for a visionary
+and problematical success, and it was not till quite a year
+later that he was able even partially to break down their
+resistance. In pressing his claims upon the Ngati-Raukawa,
+he was materially aided by a somewhat
+romantic incident which occurred during his stay at
+Maungatautari. Although his mother was a Ngati-Raukawa
+woman, and by virtue of that fact he could
+claim chieftainship amongst them, Te Rauparaha was not
+regarded as a particularly brilliant star in their peerage;
+but what he lacked in pedigree was more than compensated
+for by his mental initiative and personal
+courage. Conscious of his own power, he never lost an
+opportunity of impressing it upon others; and it is therefore
+not a matter for surprise that he made the death
+of the Ngati-Raukawa chief the occasion of advancing his
+own claims to leadership.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 530px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="arawi" id="arawi">
+  <img width="530" height="400" alt="arawi" src="images/089-arawi.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA. From which the Ngati-Toa
+                      migration commenced.<br /><i>Photo by Jackson.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus it was a fortunate circumstance for him that, while he was
+advocating the conquest of Kapiti, Hape Taurangi, the great chief of
+Maungatautari, was seized with a fatal illness, and, while the whole
+tribe sat silently waiting for the end, the question of succession
+seemed to trouble him, as he probably realised the absence of a
+master-mind amongst his own sons. To them he put the question: "Can
+you tread in my steps and lead my people to victory? Can you uphold
+the honour of the tribe?" To these interrogations not one of his sons
+replied, and the silent suspense remained unbroken, until
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">{65}</a></span>
+Te Rauparaha, springing from the ring of warriors,
+exclaimed, "I am able to tread in your steps, and even do
+that which you could not do." The apparent presumption
+of this speech was lost in the general satisfaction,
+and, when Hape passed into the Great Beyond, Te Rauparaha
+took over his wives and his leadership, the latter
+of which he retained to his dying day.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_48" id="Ref_48" href="#Foot_48">[48]</a></span>
+But the measure
+of authority which had passed to him on the death of
+Hape did not include the sole direction of Ngati-Raukawa's
+affairs. The tribe still looked to their natural
+leaders for guidance in domestic matters, and the new
+influence gained by Te Rauparaha in their councils,
+though considerable, was not sufficient to overcome
+the obduracy of the tribe towards what they chose to
+regard as his chimerical proposal.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted, however, by the refusal of his kinsmen to participate
+in his bold enterprise, Te Rauparaha proceeded with patient
+deliberation to make his own arrangements. These involved the most
+careful planning and delicate negotiation, for failure in any one
+direction might wreck the whole scheme. The first consideration was to
+secure safe conduct for his people through the territory of the
+Taranaki tribes, and the establishment of resting-places where the
+very old and very young could recover their strength, and where
+sufficient food could be grown to carry them on to the next point of
+vantage. To this end negotiations were entered into with the Ngati-Awa
+and Ngati-Tama chiefs, who were more or less connected with Ngati-Toa
+by inter-marriage. It would, however, be a mistake to elevate this
+racial relationship into a bond of sincere friendship between these
+tribes, for neither would have hesitated long about a proposal to
+destroy the other, had a favourable opportunity presented itself.
+Their attitude towards each other was distinctly one of armed
+neutrality, which at any moment might have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">{66}</a></span>
+broken out into open rupture. But even this negative
+attitude of the tribes proved useful to Te Rauparaha, as it
+enabled him to approach Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Tama
+with at least the semblance of friendship, while it deprived
+them of open hostility as a reason for refusing his
+requests. The concessions which the Ngati-Toa leader
+asked for were therefore granted, though grudgingly;
+but he could no more persuade Ngati-Awa to go with
+him than he could impress the Ngati-Raukawa; and
+when he reminded them of the change which was
+coming over the system of Maori warfare, and the weakness
+in which they would be left by his departure, they
+laughed at his misgivings, boasted of their ancient <i>mana</i>,
+and told him that his fears were altogether unworthy
+of a chief of his standing. How dearly they paid for
+their lack of foresight is told in the fall of Puke-rangiora
+<i>pa</i> a few years later, when the Waikatos swept down
+upon them and drove them flying into the arms of the
+man whose counsel they had so carelessly despised.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus diplomatically arranged an open road for the passage of
+his people to the south, he found it equally essential to secure an
+unmolested departure from the north. He therefore appreciated the
+necessity of making terms with his old enemy, Te Wherowhero, of
+Waikato, and in this important negotiation he availed himself of the
+services of two Ngati-Mania-poto chiefs, who occupied the country
+close to Kawhia and were on friendly terms with Te Wherowhero. These
+chiefs paved the way for a conference, at which Te Rauparaha appears
+to have been unusually candid with his old antagonist. He frankly
+unfolded to him the details of his proposed migration, and, in
+consideration of Te Wherowhero's guaranteeing him immunity from
+attack, he, on his part, agreed to cede the whole of the Ngati-Toa
+lands to the Waikato tribes after his people had vacated them. Such
+easy acquisition of a valuable piece of country was not without its
+influence upon Te Wherowhero. But he was even more impressed by its
+strategic than by its inherent value. The migration of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">{67}</a></span>
+Ngati-Toa would rid him of a troublesome enemy on
+the west, and enable him to concentrate all his forces
+on his eastern frontier, where he would be the better
+able to resist the aggressions of that other remarkable
+figure in Maori history, Te Waharoa, should it ever
+occur to that warrior to attack him. On the understanding,
+then, that Kawhia was to be formally ceded
+to him, Te Wherowhero undertook not to molest the
+migrating tribe, either during their preparations or on
+the actual march.</p>
+
+<p>The question of immunity from attack having been thus satisfactorily
+disposed of, the next matter which Te Rauparaha had to consider was
+the securing of an adequate supply of provisions for his people during
+their pilgrimage. As it was impossible to complete the journey in a
+single season, it was necessary not only that large quantities of food
+should be carried with them, but that planting-places should be
+established at various points along the route of march, where these
+supplies could be renewed from time to time. None of these details
+were overlooked, but all were worked out with mathematical exactitude
+by the consummate organiser in whose brain the migration had been
+planned; and the smoothness and precision with which these precautions
+dovetailed together furnish a remarkable example of high organising
+capacity. As a final preparation, it was necessary that the
+disposition of his fighting men should receive some attention, because
+he could not hope to conceal his real purpose from the people whose
+country he was about to invade. It is true he did not anticipate any
+serious opposition, because the defeats inflicted upon them by the
+recent expedition under Tuwhare, Waka Nene, Patuone, and himself had
+so reduced their strength as to render serious opposition impossible;
+but, in view of the limited force at his command, and the unlikelihood
+of increasing it, unnecessary waste had to be guarded against. He
+therefore divided his warriors into suitable sections, and, appointing
+a sub-chief to lead each company, he retained the supreme command of
+affairs in his own hands.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">{68}</a></span>
+The carrying out of these varied preparations had now
+occupied several months, and when all was ripe for
+departure he paid a last visit to the surrounding tribes
+and chiefs&mdash;to Kukutai, of Lower Waikato, to Pehi-Tukorehu,
+of Ngati-Mania-poto, to Te Kanawa, of
+Waikato, bidding them good-bye, and, as an example
+in good faith, he kept his word to Te Wherowhero, saying
+to that chief: "Farewell! remain on our land at
+Kawhia; I am going to take Kapiti for myself: do not
+follow me." At Mungatautari a final effort was made to
+induce the Ngati-Raukawa to join him; but, although
+there were evidences of weakening resistance, he had
+still to wait several months before their objections were
+so far overcome as to permit him any measure of hope
+that they would yet yield and follow him. The tour of
+leave-taking at an end, Te Rauparaha returned to his
+<i>pa</i> at Te Arawi, and there summoned his people to
+prepare for the fateful march. When all was ready, the
+blazing flaxstick was put to the walls of the great carved
+house which had adorned the <i>pa</i>, and as the smoke of
+its destruction arose, the whole tribe of fifteen hundred
+souls passed through the gate which they were never
+again to enter.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of unlettered peoples there is necessarily some difficulty
+in determining the precise periods at which important incidents in
+their history have occurred; and in this instance we have nothing to
+guide us except the arrangement and comparison of subsequent events.
+By this mode of reasoning we are led to the conclusion that the
+migration from Kawhia must have occurred during the latter months of
+the year 1821. But, whatever obscurity rests upon this point,
+tradition is clear<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_49" id="Ref_49" href="#Foot_49">[49]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">{69}</a></span>
+that the circumstances under which the exodus commenced
+were singularly auspicious. The day broke with
+a cloudless sky, and, as the sun rose into the blue dome,
+the landscape for miles was lit by the rosy tints of morn,
+rendering every peak and valley more beautiful. On the
+route of march lay the hill of Moeatoa, and to its summit
+the pilgrims climbed, in order to take a last fond look at
+their ancient home. As they turned and gazed upon old
+Kawhia the memories of the past came crowding back
+upon them, and it is easy to understand their deep
+manifestations of sorrow at leaving their ancestral
+domain. The softer sentiments associated with home
+and country are not the exclusive prerogative of civilised
+beings. These people, savage and ruthless though they
+were, thrilled with the same patriotic feeling which
+prompted the Prophet of Israel to exclaim: "If I forget
+thee, O Jerusalem! may my right hand forget her
+cunning." And although their form of expressing it was
+neither so beautiful nor so poetical, they were, nevertheless,
+quite as sincere when they cried upon the
+mountain-side: "Kawhia, remain here! The people of
+Kawhia are going to Kapiti, to Waipounamu." "The
+love of a New Zealander for his land is not the love of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">{70}</a></span>
+a child for his toys," says a well-known writer.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_50" id="Ref_50" href="#Foot_50">[50]</a></span>
+"His
+title is connected with many and powerful associations
+in his mind, his affection for the homes of his fathers
+being connected with their deeds of bravery, with the
+feats of their boyhood, and the long rest of his ancestors
+for generations." And there is no reason to suppose
+that these feelings were less active in the Ngati-Toa at
+such a moment than they were in other Maori tribes.</p>
+
+<p>The closing scene in the life of the Ngati-Toa at
+Kawhia has been beautifully described by Thomas
+Bracken, whose word-picture of the scene on Moeatoa
+Hill is amongst the finest that came from his poetic
+pen:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Beneath the purple canopy of morn,</span>
+<span class="i2">That hung above Kawhia's placid sheet</span>
+<span class="i2">Of waters crystalline, arose on high</span>
+<span class="i2">The golden shield of God, on azure field,</span>
+<span class="i2">With crimson tassels dipping in the sea!</span>
+<span class="i2">And from its burnished face a shower of rays</span>
+<span class="i2">Shot up the hills and gilt their spires and peaks</span>
+<span class="i2">In lambent sheen, until the turrets seemed</span>
+<span class="i2">Like precious ornaments of purest gold</span>
+<span class="i2">On mighty altars raised by giant priests</span>
+<span class="i2">In olden times, to offer sacred fire</span>
+<span class="i2">As sacrifice unto the Fount of Light,</span>
+<span class="i2">From whence the planets and the myriad stars</span>
+<span class="i2">Drink their effulgence!</span>
+<span class="i12">In the wild ravines</span>
+<span class="i2">And gorges deep, the limpid babbling creeks</span>
+<span class="i2">Sang matins as they left their mother hills</span>
+<span class="i2">To mingle in united waters, where</span>
+<span class="i2">They lost their little selves, and merged in one</span>
+<span class="i2">Pellucid flood that gathered stronger life</span>
+<span class="i2">From day to day! as God's great human church,</span>
+<span class="i2">Now building on the earth shall gather all</span>
+<span class="i2">The little sects and creeds and small beliefs</span>
+<span class="i2">That split mankind into a thousand parts,</span>
+<span class="i2">And merge them in one universal flood</span>
+<span class="i2">Of boundless charity.</span>
+<span class="i12">The dazzling points</span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">{71}</a></span>
+<span class="i2">Of morning's lances pierced the bursting hearts</span>
+<span class="i2">Of all the flow'rets on the fertile slopes,</span>
+<span class="i2">And waked red Kawhai's drops from sleep</span>
+<span class="i2">And shook the dew buds from the Rata's lids,</span>
+<span class="i2">Until its blossoms opened up their breasts</span>
+<span class="i2">And gave their fragrance to the early breeze</span>
+<span class="i2">That played amongst the Koromiko's leaves,</span>
+<span class="i2">And stole the rich Tawhiri's sweet perfume,</span>
+<span class="i2">And strung the flax-leaves into merry tune</span>
+<span class="i2">To woo the Bell-bird from his nest, to ring</span>
+<span class="i2">The Tui up to sing his morning hymns.</span>
+<span class="i2">The scene was made for man, not savage man,</span>
+<span class="i2">The cunningest of brutes, the crafty king</span>
+<span class="i2">Of beasts! but Man the Spiritualised,</span>
+<span class="i2">With all the light of knowledge in his brain,</span>
+<span class="i2">With all the light of love within his heart!</span>
+<span class="i2">And yet they were but savages who stood</span>
+<span class="i2">On Moeatoa's hill, above the scene,</span>
+<span class="i2">Mere savages, a step beyond the brute!</span>
+<span class="i2">But still there were bright sparks of God-lit fire</span>
+<span class="i2">Within their breasts! they loved their native vales</span>
+<span class="i2">With heart and soul! for they had hearts and souls</span>
+<span class="i2">Far nobler than some milk-faced races who</span>
+<span class="i2">Have basked 'neath Calv'ry's sun for ages long,</span>
+<span class="i2">And yet lie grov'lling in the nations' rear,</span>
+<span class="i2">With hearts encased in earth too coarse and hard</span>
+<span class="i2">For Calv'ry's glorious light to penetrate.</span>
+<span class="i2">Poor savages! that Orient had not yet</span>
+<span class="i2">Shed its benignant rays upon their souls,</span>
+<span class="i2">To melt the dross that dragged them down to earth</span>
+<span class="i2">In carnal bonds! they knew not yet the road</span>
+<span class="i2">To reach the standard of their better selves.</span>
+<span class="i2">Yet they were men in all save this! brave men</span>
+<span class="i2">With patriots' hearts, for as they stood and gazed</span>
+<span class="i2">O'er fair Kawhia's hills and vales</span>
+<span class="i2">That stretched into the sea, o'er which their sires</span>
+<span class="i2">In ages past sailed from Hawaiki's shores,</span>
+<span class="i2">The tears ran down their tattooed cheeks, and sobs</span>
+<span class="i2">Welled from their bosoms, for they loved the land</span>
+<span class="i2">With all the love intense a Maori feels</span>
+<span class="i2">For childhood's home! The hist'ry of their tribe</span>
+<span class="i2">Was written there on every rock and hill</span>
+<span class="i2">That sentinelled the scene, for these had known</span>
+<span class="i2">Their deeds of prowess, and their fathers' deeds</span>
+<span class="i2">Of valour! And the caverns held the bones</span>
+<span class="i2">Of those from whom they'd sprung! Their legends wild,</span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">{72}</a></span>
+<span class="i2">And weird traditions, chained them to the place,</span>
+<span class="i2">And ere they burst those links of love they gave</span>
+<span class="i2">A long sad look on each familiar spot</span>
+<span class="i2">And wailed above Kawhia's lovely vale:</span><br />
+
+<span class="i4">Oh! Kawhia, remain,</span>
+<span class="i6">Cavern, gorge, and bay,</span>
+<span class="i4">Valley, and hill, and plain&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">We are going away.</span><br />
+
+<span class="i4">Oh! Kawhia, remain,</span>
+<span class="i6">Take our tears and our sighs;</span>
+<span class="i4">Spirits of heroes slain,</span>
+<span class="i6">Rise up from Reinga, rise.</span><br />
+
+<span class="i4">Oh! Kawhia, remain,</span>
+<span class="i6">With thee, Tawhaki, stay;</span>
+<span class="i4">Long may he o'er thee reign&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">We are going away."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first stage of the journey ended with the close of the fourth day,
+when the <i>pa</i> of Puohoki was reached; and here Te Rauparaha
+decided to leave his wife Akau<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_51" id="Ref_51" href="#Foot_51">[51]</a></span>
+and a number of the women and
+children under a suitable guard, while he and the bulk of the people
+pushed on as far as Waitara. Here they were received by the Ngati-Tama
+and Ngati-Awa tribes, in whose <i>pas</i> they were quartered for the
+season; and, except that a spirit of parsimony seemed to pervade their
+welcome, they had every reason to feel rejoiced at the success which
+up to this moment had attended their venture.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_52" id="Ref_52" href="#Foot_52">[52]</a></span>
+After the lapse of a
+brief period spent in perfecting his arrangements, Te Rauparaha
+decided to return for his wife and her companions, and on reaching the
+<i>pa</i> where they were staying he learned to his great joy that
+Akau had borne him a son. This infant lived to be the well-known
+missionary chief, Tamihana te Rauparaha.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">{73}</a></span>
+Against the advice of his tribe, Rauparaha had only
+taken a band of twenty warriors with him, and on the
+journey back to Waitara his strategic abilities were tested
+to the full to escape annihilation. Three days after his
+arrival he left on his return journey, carrying his infant
+son in a basket on his back. Knowing that he had left
+Kawhia, a party of the restless Ngati-Mania-poto had
+crept down the coast in the hope of finding some
+stragglers of his party whom they might conveniently
+kill. But instead of meeting, as they had expected, a few
+irregulars, they came suddenly upon Te Rauparaha himself
+near the mouth of the Awakino River. To some
+extent the surprise was mutual, but the stress of the
+position was all against Te Rauparaha. Supported only
+by a limited force and hampered by the women and
+children, he was in serious difficulties, as the enemy
+might cut off his retreat and then attack him in force.
+Suddenly a brilliant idea struck him. Before the enemy
+approached within striking distance he ordered twenty of
+the most active women to disrobe and don the mats and
+headgear of fighting men. Then arming each of them
+with a stone club, he placed them under the charge of
+Akau, who was a woman of magnificent physique, with
+instructions to march in the van brandishing their
+weapons after the manner of veteran warriors. The
+more helpless women and children were placed in the
+centre, while he and his fighting men covered the retreat.
+Misled by the stratagem, the Ngati-Mania-poto were
+tricked into the belief that the Ngati-Toa force was much
+stronger than it really was, and instead of attacking they
+began to retire. Observing this, Te Rauparaha immediately
+accelerated their panic by charging down upon
+them, and in the skirmish which followed Tutakara, their
+chief, was killed by Te Rangi-hounga-riri, Te Rauparaha's
+eldest son by his child-wife Marore, who was rapidly
+making a name for himself as an intrepid warrior. But,
+although the position was somewhat relieved, Te Rauparaha
+felt that the danger was not yet at an end. He
+was experienced enough in native tactics to know that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">{74}</a></span>
+the Ngati-Mania-poto would be tempted to return at
+nightfall and renew the attack in the hope of avenging
+the death of their chief. He therefore could not consider
+himself safe until the Mokau River was crossed,
+and, unfortunately, when he reached its banks the tide
+was full and the river was in flood. Nothing remained
+to be done except to wait, but in order still to maintain
+the deception twelve large fires were kindled, at each of
+which three women and one warrior were stationed,
+while the chief and the rest of his followers lay prepared
+for emergencies. It was also an injunction to the
+sentinels at the fires to address each other occasionally
+in the heroic language of the time. "Be strong, O
+people, to fight on the morrow if the enemy return.
+Take no thought of life. Consider the valour of your
+tribe." These stimulating exhortations, which were
+intended for the enemy's ears as much as for their own,
+were supplemented by fervid speeches from the women,
+whose shrill voices were carried out into the night air as
+a warning to the enemy that they would not lag behind
+their lords in the coming battle.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Te Rauparaha lay waiting for the enemy, who never came.
+Either having no stomach for another encounter with so redoubtable a
+warrior, or still not understanding the true position, they wisely
+declined to provoke a battle, about the result of which they could be
+by no means sanguine. At midnight the tide turned, and the river fell
+sufficiently to be fordable.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_53" id="Ref_53" href="#Foot_53">[53]</a></span>
+Leaving their fires burning, the
+Ngati-Toa crept silently down to the bank, and, wading across, made
+their way to the <i>pas</i> of their friends, which they reached
+amidst general rejoicing. Early next morning the scene of the previous
+day's battle was revisited and the bodies of the slain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">{75}</a></span>
+enemy recovered to make a feast, at which the sweet
+revenge harboured against Ngati-Mania-poto was surfeited.</p>
+
+<p>While the Ngati-Toa plans were developing in Taranaki, another
+misfortune was falling upon the people of the southern districts from
+the opposite direction. Towards the middle of 1820 a band of six
+hundred warriors, under Apihai Te Kawau, of Ngati-Whatua, Te Kanawa,
+and Tu-korehu, of Waikato and Ngati-Mania-poto, and other prominent
+chiefs, longing for some new excitement, had journeyed down the east
+coast through Hawke's Bay and the Wairarapa, for no particular purpose
+except to kill, eat, or make slaves of whoever might fall into their
+hands. In the course of this pilgrimage of blood they crossed over to
+the west, and there attacked in succession the Muaupoko, Rangitane,
+and Ngati-Apa tribes, upon whom they inflicted sore and mortal wounds;
+and when they retired back to the north they left the conquest of
+Kapiti a matter of comparative simplicity to Te Rauparaha. But they
+were soon themselves to feel the sting of defeat. Passing into the
+Taranaki country on their homeward march, they were set upon by the
+Ngati-Awa people, who strenuously opposed their further progress at
+Waitara. This was a strange reversal of all previous policy on the
+part of Ngati-Awa, who had always been friendly to, and had frequently
+co-operated with, the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato peoples on similar
+raids. By some authorities this new antagonism has been attributed to
+the sinister influence of Te Rauparaha, who was still at Ure-nui
+waiting to harvest his crops. He had not forgotten the anxious moments
+to which he had been subjected on the banks of the Waitara River, and
+it would have been more than human on his part had he not sought to
+balance accounts now that the opportunity offered. "By means of
+plotting and deceit," says one writer, "he succeeded in rousing
+Ngati-Awa&mdash;or the greater part of them&mdash;to take up his quarrel."
+Whatever the cause of Ngati-Awa's hostility, the effect was a series
+of determined and well-organised attacks upon the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">{76}</a></span>
+northern <i>taua</i>, which ultimately drove them to seek
+refuge with a friendly section of the Ngati-Awa in the
+famous Puke-rangiora <i>pa</i>. Here they were besieged for
+seven months, fighting repeatedly, and, towards the end
+of that period, suffering intense privations. Frequent
+attempts were made to send intelligence of their straits
+through the enemy's ranks to their friends; but so close
+and vigilant was the investment that their messengers
+were invariably captured, and their heads fixed upon
+poles and exhibited to the besieged in a spirit of exultant
+derision. One, Rahiora, a young man of the Ngati-Mahanga
+tribe, did at length succeed in evading detection,
+and travelling into the Waikato by Kete-marae and
+Whanganui, thence by Taupo and Waipa, was able to
+communicate to the great Te Wherowhero the critical
+plight of his tribesmen. Te Wherowhero immediately
+made his call to arms, and soon a numerous relief party
+was on its way to join the force already in the field,
+which had vainly endeavoured to cut off Te Rauparaha
+at the Mokau. The junction of these forces was successfully
+accomplished, and the pride of Waikato's military
+strength, under two of the greatest chiefs of that time, Te
+Wherowhero and Te Waharoa, marched southward for
+the dual purpose of raising the siege of Puke-rangiora
+and of attacking Te Rauparaha. Though they failed to
+reach within striking distance of the beleaguered <i>pa</i>, their
+movement indirectly achieved its object, for the advent of
+so large a force lightened the pressure of the siege by
+drawing off a considerable number of the besiegers. Of
+these Te Rauparaha took command, and to his strategical
+genius was due the victory which he ultimately achieved
+on the plain of Motu-nui. This plain stretches along the
+sea-coast between the Ure-nui and Mimi Rivers. At this
+point the shore is bounded by perpendicular cliffs, fully
+one hundred and fifty feet high, along which are dotted
+several small <i>pas</i>, used as fishing-places in olden times.
+Away to the eastward of the plain run the wooded hills,
+on the steep sides of which rise the numerous streams
+which rush across the plain to the sea. On the southern
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">{77}</a></span>
+end of one of the spurs descending from the range was
+built the strongly fortified Okoki <i>pa</i>, which was made
+the point of assembly by the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Toa
+warriors.</p>
+
+<p>The Waikato <i>taua</i> came on as far as a place called Waitoetoe on
+the southern bank of the Mimi River, and there commenced to make a
+camp preparatory to throwing down the gage of battle. To the watchers
+in the Okoki <i>pa</i> their fires had been visible for several miles;
+and when it was seen that they had determined to pitch camp, there was
+a general request that their position should be at once attacked.
+Personally, Te Rauparaha preferred to take no risks until the portion
+of his force which was still holding Tu-korehu in check at
+Puke-rangiora should have come up. He, however, yielded to the
+importunities of some of his chiefs, and consented to send out a
+<i>hunuhunu</i>, or reconnoitring party, to test the mettle of the
+enemy. To meet the possibility of the skirmish developing into a more
+serious encounter, he took the precaution of concealing a strong
+reserve force, composed of the older men, in the bed of one of the
+wooded streams which ran close beneath the <i>pa</i>. Having
+instructed Rangiwahia, of Ngati-Mutunga, in whose charge he left these
+supports, he took eighty of the younger men with him, and advanced
+across the plain by stealthy marches. So secretly was the movement
+effected, that they were within a stone's-throw of the Waikato camp,
+and had actually commenced the attack upon some of the Waikato
+warriors, before their presence was discerned. In the first onset Te
+Rauparaha's followers were roughly handled, and, in accordance with
+their preconcerted plan, they began rapidly to fall back, sustaining
+severe losses the while from the guns of the enemy. Their retirement
+soon developed into a general retreat, which might have been much more
+disastrous but for a fatal division of opinion which sprang up amongst
+the Waikato leaders, as to whether or not the fugitives should be
+pursued. Te Wherowhero was content to have repulsed them, and advised
+resuming the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">{78}</a></span>
+interrupted work of building their shelters; but others,
+not so cautious, urged immediate pursuit, and, these
+counsels prevailing, the whole Waikato force was soon in
+full cry after the retreating scouts. The chase was fierce
+and stern, and many a good Taranaki warrior dropped
+upon the plain as he sped towards the <i>pa</i>, for the
+pursuers kept up as hot a fire as their rapid movements
+rendered possible. Seeing the men falling round him, a
+chief who was running close to Te Rauparaha repeatedly
+urged him to turn and attack the pursuers; but the
+crafty general, knowing that the time was not yet, declined
+to forestall his prearranged strategy. He held on
+his way, only urging his men to faster flight, while Te
+Wherowhero incited his marksmen to single out the
+Ngati-Awa chiefs for death. Some two miles of the plain
+had been covered, and the southern warriors were nearing
+their supports. As the foremost reached the wooded
+gully, they waited there to recover their breath, and
+allowed the pursuers to close in upon them. Weary
+and blown with their long and exciting run, the Waikatos
+came straggling up, innocent of the trap into which
+they had fallen. At the psychological moment Te Rauparaha
+gave the signal, and out dashed his veterans, fresh
+and eager for the fray, charging down upon the exhausted
+and astonished Waikatos. Their chiefs who were in the
+forefront of the chase were the first to go down, and their
+numbers were perceptibly diminished as they were beaten
+back by repeated charges across the blood-stained field.
+Te Wherowhero fought through the reverse with
+supreme courage, engaging and vanquishing in single
+combat no less than five of Taranaki's greatest warriors;
+and to his fine defence and heroic example is attributed
+the fact that his tribe was not completely annihilated on
+the field of Motu-nui. On the other hand, it has been
+whispered that his companion in arms, Te Waharoa, did
+not bear himself in this fight with his wonted gallantry.
+Waikato paid a heavy toll that day. They left one
+hundred and fifty men dead on the field, and the slaughter
+of chiefs was a conspicuous tribute to their bravery&mdash;Te
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">{79}</a></span>
+Wherowhero and Te Waharoa being the only leaders of eminence to escape.</p>
+
+<p>For some inexplicable reason, Te Rauparaha did not pursue his victory
+to the bitter end, as was his wont.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_54" id="Ref_54" href="#Foot_54">[54]</a></span>
+This forbearance on his part
+is especially surprising in view of the fact that Te Wherowhero had
+specifically promised to remain neutral during the progress of the
+migration. Possibly the consciousness that he would have done the same
+thing himself induced him to take a lenient view of his old
+antagonist's want of good faith; for there can be no doubt that the
+bloody wars which were at this time ravaging the country had
+completely sapped the old Maori sense of honour. "At the period in
+question, more perhaps than at any other in the history of the race,
+moral considerations had but little weight in determining the conduct
+of either the individual or the tribe. Even the nearest relatives did
+not hesitate to destroy and devour each other." There was thus nothing
+unusual about Te Wherowhero's conduct; but his experience of Te
+Rauparaha on this occasion was such that from that day onward he left
+him severely alone.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of these successive victories was to enhance enormously the
+prestige and power of Te Rauparaha. He began to be regarded with
+reverence by Ngati-Awa and with something akin to worship by
+Ngati-Toa. As a tangible proof of the gratitude which his hosts felt
+for the services which he had rendered them, food, which had been
+grudgingly supplied up to this time, was now given in abundance to his
+people, and, what was of even greater moment to Te Rauparaha,
+adherents began freely to flock to his cause. But, although he had
+beaten off both the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato tribes, the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">{80}</a></span>
+position was still unsatisfactory to him from the point of
+view of numbers, and so he resolved to make one more
+effort to persuade Ngati-Raukawa to join him. Accordingly
+he journeyed back to Opepe, a village on the shores
+of Lake Taupo, where he met young Te Whatanui, a
+chief destined to become famous in after years as the
+protector of the Muaupoko people whom Te Rauparaha
+wished to destroy. Upon the assembled tribe, and upon
+Te Whatanui in particular, he again impressed the merits
+of his scheme, pointing out the altered position occupied
+by the tribes who had managed to become possessed of
+fire-arms, as compared with those who had only wooden
+spears and stone <i>meres</i>. He dwelt upon the fact that
+ships were beginning to frequent Kapiti, and that there
+they could obtain guns, as Nga-Puhi had done at the Bay
+of Islands. He also reiterated all that he had formerly
+told them about the fertility of the soil and the ease with
+which the country might be conquered: but in vain. Te
+Whatanui volunteered no sign of approval. He gave
+many presents to Te Rauparaha, as marks of respect from
+one warrior to another. He also made him a long
+oration, skilfully avoiding the all-important topic upon
+which Te Rauparaha had travelled so far to consult him;
+nor did the majority of his people conceal their objection
+to coming under Te Rauparaha's immediate command,
+to the exclusion of their own chiefs. Angered at this
+perversity, Te Rauparaha shook the dust of Opepe from
+off his feet and proceeded to Rotorua, and as far as
+Tauranga, where he sought the aid of the great Te Waru.
+But he met with no success, for Te Waru had schemes of
+his own which claimed his personal attention. While
+resting with the Tu-hou-rangi branch of the Arawa tribe
+on his return to Rotorua from Tauranga, Te Rauparaha
+(according to accounts) perpetrated an outrage upon
+Nga-Puhi which was destined to inspire one of the most
+disastrous wars and one of the most daring assaults
+known in Maori history. His motive for "sowing the
+seeds of evil counsel" is not clear. By some it is alleged
+a jealous envy of Nga-Puhi's success in procuring arms,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">{81}</a></span>
+while others find it in the consuming desire for revenge
+for the death of a young relative killed a few weeks
+before at the fall of the Te Totara <i>pa</i> at the Thames.
+Whatever the motive, before leaving he took occasion to
+recite a <i>karakia</i>, or song, informing the Tu-hou-rangi
+that there was a small band of Nga-Puhi travelling about
+in their vicinity, and broadly insinuating that "death and
+darkness were very good things." This hint, however
+enigmatical, was taken and acted upon. When Te Pae-o-te-rangi,
+Hongi's nephew, and a company of his Nga-Puhi
+followers arrived at the Motu-tawa <i>pa</i>, from which
+Te Rauparaha had just departed, they were treacherously
+set upon and killed by the Tu-hou-rangi people. It was
+to avenge the death of Te Pae-o-te-rangi that Hongi
+performed the Herculean task of dragging his canoes
+from Waihi, near Maketu, to Lake Rotorua, and on the
+island of Mokoia slaughtered the unfortunate Ngati-Whakaue
+(Arawas), who had been entirely innocent of
+the original crime.</p>
+
+<p>Before quitting Rotorua, however, Te Rauparaha had the good fortune to
+fall in with the Nga-Puhi chief Pomare,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_55" id="Ref_55" href="#Foot_55">[55]</a></span>
+who handed over to him a
+few of the men who had accompanied him to the Lake district on a mission
+of bloodshed. With this small reinforcement Te Rauparaha returned to
+Taranaki and prepared to resume his journey southward, having in the
+meantime enlisted the services of some four hundred Ngati-Awas under
+one of the most famous men of his time, Rere-ta-whangawhanga, father of
+Wi Kingi Rangitake.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_56" id="Ref_56" href="#Foot_56">[56]</a></span>
+The force at Te Rauparaha's command now
+numbered about eight hundred fighting men and their families. With
+these he resumed his march in the autumn of 1822, when the kumara had
+been gathered in, and advanced without interruption or mishap until he
+reached Patea.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">{82}</a></span>
+Here a slight skirmish took place, and six of the invaders
+were killed, their deaths being immediately avenged by
+the slaughter of some Waitotara people. From them
+a large canoe was captured, and was employed in the
+transportation of some of the women and children by
+sea, thus saving them the labour and fatigue involved
+in the land journey. Te Rauparaha himself also
+travelled by water with the women, but, with the
+exception of those required to propel the canoes, the
+men continued on foot along the coast, capturing and
+killing an occasional straggler who had lingered too
+long in the vicinity of the warpath.</p>
+
+<p>At the mouth of the Rangitikei River the canoe was drawn up on the
+beach, and the whole party halted for several days. Hearing of their
+arrival, the friends of Pikinga came down to the camp to welcome her,
+but the remainder of the Ngati-Apa tribe fled to the hills and
+concealed themselves amongst the mountain fastnesses. It would
+therefore appear that the friendship which they afterwards alleged to
+have existed between Te Rauparaha and themselves was not of a very
+substantial character.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_57" id="Ref_57" href="#Foot_57">[57]</a></span>
+Nor did the marriage of their chieftainess
+with Te Rangihaeata avail them much; for while the bulk of his people
+rested by the river, odd bands of their fighting men were continually
+scouring the country in search of some plump Ngati-Apa who was needed
+to keep the ovens fully employed. While the weather continued fine, Te
+Rauparaha was anxious to lose no more time than was absolutely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">{83}</a></span>
+necessary. So soon, therefore, as his people had been
+refreshed by the rest, he pushed on again, making his
+next stage the mouth of the Manawatu River, where he
+harassed the Rangitane people by the inroads of armed
+parties on their settlements. But comparatively few
+captures were made, as the <i>pas</i> were deserted immediately
+the inhabitants scented the danger.</p>
+
+<p>The migration which Te Rauparaha was thus conducting had for its
+objective a sweet and fertile spot on the banks of the Ohau stream;
+and when the remaining portion of the coast had been traversed without
+opposition, and the tribe had reached its journey's end in safety,
+preparations were at once made to establish them permanently on the
+land. A <i>pa</i> was built large enough to accommodate the whole
+party, and ground was cleared for cultivations, in which the potato
+was planted for the first time on this coast. Their nearest neighbours
+were the Ngati-Apa, who held possession of the island of Kapiti, and
+the Muaupoko tribe, who were settled round the shores of Lakes
+Horowhenua and Papaitonga. In what light the former regarded the
+aggression upon their borders it is difficult to say; but the latter
+were evidently very ill at ease, for they had a heavy presentiment of
+what the ultimate result would be. But how to avert the danger was no
+simple problem, as they had learned enough in the stern school of
+experience to recognise that victory in open battle was not to be
+hoped for. Strategy was therefore determined upon. Learning from two
+Whanganui chiefs, who were then on a visit to Horowhenua, that Te
+Rauparaha's vulnerable point at this period was his desire to obtain
+canoes, they resolved to tempt him with the bait to which he was most
+likely to fall a victim. The ease with which the chief fell into the
+trap was due to his excessive ambition and the further large schemes
+towards which his aspirations soared.</p>
+
+<p>He had heard strange stories of a treasure-trove of greenstone which
+the Ngai-Tahu people had stored in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">{84}</a></span>
+their <i>pas</i> over on the Middle Island; and as he stood
+on the beach at Ohau and looked across the Strait
+towards the hills of Waipounamu, he dreamed of this
+wealth and how he could possess himself of it. Without
+a fleet of canoes to convey his warriors over the intervening
+sea, the project of invasion was visionary; but
+even with the frailest vessels he might make it a reality,
+and at one bold stroke add to his dominions, gratify his
+avarice, and satiate his hate by waging war upon the
+southern tribes.</p>
+
+<p>Of canoes the Muaupoko had many. Residing as they did upon the shores
+of two lakes, these vessels were almost as essential to them as
+gondolas to the Venetians; and when they learned of Te Rauparaha's
+eagerness to obtain what they possessed, a device was cautiously
+planned by which they might rid themselves of a neighbour whose coming
+they felt boded them no good. Into this conspiracy of murder the
+Rangitane people of Manawatu were admitted; and for thus allowing
+themselves to be made the cat's-paw of others they paid a bitter
+penalty, for they succeeded in nothing except in arousing the eternal
+hatred of the great chief, who seemed invulnerable alike to their
+cunning and their force. The authors of the scheme were Turoa and
+Paetahi, both of the Ngati-Apa tribe; and the willing instrument in
+their hands was Toheriri, a leader of the Muaupoko, whose part was,
+shortly after the arrival of the Ngati-Toa at Ohau, to send an
+invitation to Te Rauparaha and a number of his followers to pay a
+friendly visit to his <i>pa</i> at Papaitonga. As already indicated,
+the inducement held out to Ngati-Toa was the promise of a gift of
+canoes, and, under the circumstances, a more artful pretence could not
+have been conceived. "Canoes were at this time his great desire, for
+by them only could he cross over to the island of Waipounamu," is the
+explanation of the position given by Tamihana Te Rauparaha; and, if
+the Muaupoko could gratify that desire, Te Rauparaha was not the man
+to refrain from making a convenience of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">{85}</a></span>
+enemies, as well as of his friends. Accordingly he
+accepted the invitation, notwithstanding the earnest
+remonstrances of his nephew and lieutenant, Te
+Rangihaeata, who declared his irresistible conviction
+that murder, rather than hospitality, was the secret
+of the Muaupoko invitation.</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha was in no mood to speculate about omens, good or evil.
+Canoes he wanted, and canoes he would have, even if the gods or the
+devils were against him. His unusual recklessness even carried him so
+far that he selected only a few warriors to accompany him, and with
+these he arrived, just at the fall of evening, at Papaitonga. The
+party was, of course, received with the most profuse expressions of
+friendship. Toheriri and his fellow-chief Waraki conducted their
+visitors in state to view the canoes which were to be handed over in
+the morning; but, on returning to the <i>pa</i>, they were careful to
+conduct Te Rauparaha to a house at one end of the settlement, while
+his followers were provided for at the opposite end. This fact appears
+to have aroused no suspicion in the Ngati-Toa mind; for at night all
+slept soundly, until the shouts of the combined Rangitane and Muaupoko
+war parties were heard in the early morning as they rushed upon the
+slumbering <i>pa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The assailants appear to have been too precipitate in their onset.
+Instead of first surrounding the <i>whare</i> in which Te Rauparaha
+lay, they commenced the massacre of his followers at the other end;
+and Toheriri, who was lightly sleeping in the same compartment as Te
+Rauparaha, was compelled to go out and direct them to the particular
+hut in which their common foe was lying. This delay was fatal to their
+design, but fortunate for Te Rauparaha. In the absence of his host, he
+stayed not to take his leave, but bursting through the <i>raupo</i>
+wall which formed the end of the <i>whare</i>, he slipped away between
+the houses; and when the tardy Rangitane rushed up to the hut, their
+prey had flown, and nothing remained but to wreak their vengeance upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">{86}</a></span>
+the less distinguished victims, whom they slaughtered
+without mercy. Included amongst these victims of
+treacherous onslaught were several of Te Rauparaha's
+wives and children. Of the latter, however, two were
+spared, Te Uira and Hononga, the former of whom was
+a daughter of his child-wife Marore. The reason for
+this partial clemency is not clear; apparently vengeance
+was satisfied by sending them prisoners to the Wairarapa,
+where they afterwards became wives of men of renown
+in the district.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_58" id="Ref_58" href="#Foot_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Amidst the chaos of treachery which surrounds this incident, it is
+pleasant to record an act of chivalry of an heroic type. Amongst those
+who accompanied Te Rauparaha on this eventful visit was his son,
+Rangi-hounga-riri, who, it will be remembered, had distinguished
+himself by slaying Tutakara, the chief of the Ngati-Mania-poto, when
+that tribe attacked Ngati-Toa at the Awakino River. He, being strong
+of body and lithe of limb, had managed to break through the attacking
+cordon, and, had he chosen, might have made his escape. But, as he
+hurried away, his ear caught the sound of a girl's piteous crying for
+help. He recognised the voice as that of his sister, Uira. Heedless of
+consequences he rushed back to the <i>pa</i>, and, forcing his way to
+the side of the girl, placed his protecting arm around her, and fought
+her assailants until overpowered by superior numbers. By his death, Te
+Rauparaha lost one of his most intrepid lieutenants, and the Ngati-Toa
+tribe one of its most promising leaders. As chivalrous as he was
+brave, he was the type of chief whose nobility lifted the ancient
+Maori above the level of the mere savage, and illustrated the manly
+qualities which so impressed those early colonists who took the
+trouble to understand the people amongst whom they had come. The
+qualities are still there, and justify the hope that, by sound laws,
+and sanitary and educational reforms, such as are now being
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">{87}</a></span>
+effected, it may yet be possible to stay the process of
+degeneration which set in as the result of the first
+contact of the Maori with the European.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha, having slipped from the snare of his enemies, plunged
+into the long grass which surrounded the <i>pa</i>, and, in the
+semi-darkness, succeeded in eluding his pursuers, eventually reaching
+his settlement at Ohau, weary, angry, and almost naked. Bitterly
+disappointed at the result of his mission, and deeply enraged at the
+treatment he had received, he in his wrath cursed the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples, and, calling his tribe around him, he charged his
+followers to make it the one special mission of their lives "to kill
+them from the dawn of day till the evening." This doctrine of
+extermination was not preached to unwilling ears; and from that day
+the fixed policy of the Ngati-Toa tribe was to sweep the Muaupoko and
+Rangitane from their ancestral lands. In the reprisals which followed
+as the result of Rauparaha's vow of eternal vengeance, the former tribe
+seems to have suffered most; and there is little room for doubt that
+they would have been ultimately uprooted and effaced from amongst the
+tribes of New Zealand, but for the kindly offices of that dark-skinned
+humanitarian, Te Whatanui, who, years afterwards, took them under his
+protecting mantle, and declared, in the now historic phrase, that
+"nothing would reach them but the rain from heaven."</p>
+
+<p>The Rangitane people were more fortunately situated, having the
+impassable forests of the Manawatu and its inaccessible mountain
+fastnesses to protect them. But they by no means escaped the
+bitterness of persecution, as bands of Ngati-Toa were constantly
+roaming their country in search of some one to kill and devour. The
+constant absence of these parties convinced Rauparaha that the small
+band of men whom he had with him was by no means sufficient for the
+magnitude of the task which his ambitious mind had conceived, and so
+he determined upon doing two things. The first was to strengthen his
+position by conquering the island of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">{88}</a></span>
+Kapiti, which was still in the possession of a section
+of the Ngati-Apa people; the second, once again to
+despatch ambassadors to the north, to persuade some
+of his former allies to join him in mastering a district
+which promised a rich supply of guns and ammunition.
+As a preliminary to the former scheme, he extended his
+frontier as far as Otaki, from which point he could the
+better watch the movements of the islanders and sweep
+down upon them at a favourable moment. But the
+intervals in which there was lack of vigilance were few
+and far between, and consequently the first series of
+attacks failed signally. The defenders were strongly
+posted and incessantly watchful; so Rauparaha, seeing
+that the frontal attack, however well delivered, would
+not avail, decided upon a stratagem which, judged by its
+success, must have been admirably planned.</p>
+
+<p>His device was to lull the defenders of the island into a false sense
+of security by apparently withdrawing all his forces from Otaki for
+the purpose of some larger movement in the north, at the same time
+leaving a small band of well-tried men, whose duty it was to make a
+dash for the island and seize it before its inhabitants had recovered
+from their surprise. He accordingly marshalled his forces one morning,
+and, with an amount of ostentatious display which was calculated to
+attract the attention of the Ngati-Apa spies, he marched away to the
+Manawatu at the head of his warriors. The Ngati-Apa saw this movement,
+but did not understand it. Believing that the absence of Te Rauparaha
+meant a period of respite, they withdrew their sentries and gave
+themselves up to rejoicing. This was precisely what the Ngati-Toa
+chief had hoped for and calculated upon. He also had the satisfaction
+of knowing that the most critical part of his scheme was in safe
+hands. His uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, who was left in charge of the attacking
+party, was a tried and grim veteran, and, true to the trust imposed
+upon him, he came out of his concealment just before dawn on the
+morning after Te Rauparaha had left. Silently the intrepid little band
+launched their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">{89}</a></span>
+canoes, and as silently they paddled across the intervening
+water, reaching the island at the break of day.
+They found the inhabitants still sleeping, and unconscious
+of any danger until the shouts of their assailants
+and the cries of the wounded warned them that some
+desperate work was on hand. Not many of them stayed
+to fight, and those who were not killed in the first
+onslaught scrambled into their canoes and made for the
+mainland, thus ingloriously leaving the last independent
+stronghold of the Ngati-Apa in the hands of the
+invaders.</p>
+
+<p>It has been charged to the discredit of Te Rauparaha, that, in
+planning this attack upon Kapiti, he cherished a guilty hope that Te
+Pehi might fall in the assault, and by his death rid him of a powerful
+rival in the councils of the tribe. But, while his critics have never
+been slow to attribute to him the grossest treachery towards his
+enemies and infidelity to his friends, there is absolutely no evidence
+that on this occasion he meditated a crime, such as sacred history
+imputes to the King of Israel when he placed Uriah the Hittite in the
+forefront of the battle. Te Pehi was a great chief. He was Te
+Rauparaha's senior in years and his superior in birth. His prowess in
+battle was known far and wide, and the circumstances under which he
+afterwards emulated the example of Hongi by visiting England, and like
+him, subsequently procuring for his tribe, guns and ammunition at
+Sydney, stamp him as a man of strong initiative and individuality. But
+he did not possess the political genius with which his nephew was
+endowed; he lacked the organising power, the tact, and the gift of
+inspiring others with his own enthusiasm. While Te Pehi might lead a
+charge with brilliancy, Te Rauparaha could often gain more by
+diplomacy than he by force of arms; and these statesmanlike qualities
+gave the younger chief an influence with the tribe which Te Pehi did
+not and never could possess. Indeed, the tragedy associated with his
+death at Kaiapoi, in 1828, is sufficient to convince us that he was
+strangely lacking in conciliation and tact.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">{90}</a></span>
+So far as can be learned, there is nothing to lead us
+to suppose that Te Pehi ever questioned his nephew's
+superiority in the diplomatic department of his tribal
+office; on the contrary, he seems to have cheerfully
+accepted a secondary position, and loyally aided Te
+Rauparaha in all his projects. Under these circumstances,
+it is somewhat difficult to imagine what Te
+Rauparaha was to gain by sacrificing so brave an ally.
+Moreover, the intense grief which he manifested when
+Te Pehi was killed at Kaiapoi, and the signal vengeance
+which he took upon the Ngai-Tahu tribe for their act
+of treachery, render the suspicion of foul play on his
+part utterly improbable. In view of these considerations
+he may fairly be exonerated from any criminal intent
+towards Te Pehi. It is clear that the seizure of Kapiti
+was but an essential move in his policy of conquest,
+and that the manner of its seizure was but a cleverly
+designed piece of strategy, certainly not unattended by
+risk, but affording very reasonable chances of success.</p>
+
+<p>The capture of this natural fortress did not result in its immediate
+occupation, for Te Rauparaha still had abundance of work to do on the
+mainland before he could regard the power of the enemy as broken and
+the conquest of his new home complete. In pursuance of his policy of
+extermination, he had been interspersing his larger movements with
+repeated raids upon Rangitane and Muaupoko, in which he invariably
+made them feel the sting of his revenge. Finding that these attacks
+were becoming more frequent and more vigorous, the chiefs of the
+latter tribe conceived a plan by which they hoped to elude the
+persistency of their implacable pursuers. Hitherto their <i>pas</i>
+had been built on the shores of the picturesque lakes, around which
+they had lived since their advent into the district, centuries before.
+But they now decided to abandon these strongholds, which were exposed
+to every raid of the enemy, and build their dwellings in the centre of
+Lakes Horowhenua and Papaitonga. At the cost of an amazing amount of
+industry and toil, they constructed artificial islands
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">{91}</a></span>
+upon the beds of these lakes at their deepest parts, and
+upon these mounds they built a miniature Maori Venice.
+The construction of these islands was most ingenious,
+and desperate indeed must have been the straits to
+which Muaupoko were driven before they imposed upon
+themselves so laborious a task.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding to the bush, their first operation was to cut down a number
+of saplings, which were pointed and then driven into the soft mud,
+closely enclosing in rectangular form sufficient space on which to
+place the foundations of the houses. Smaller stakes were then driven
+into the centre of the enclosure, upon which were spitted those
+compact masses of vegetation known as "Maori-heads." A layer of these
+gave the builders a solid basis upon which to work, and huge stones,
+earth, and gravel were brought in the canoes from the shore, and
+poured into the enclosures until the pile of <i>débris</i> rose some
+height above the level of the water. Six such islands were formed on
+Lake Horowhenua and two on Papaitonga, and on these <i>whares</i> were
+erected, which were gradually extended by the addition of platforms
+reaching a considerable distance beyond the islands. Round each of
+these platforms ran a stout palisade, which served the dual purpose of
+preventing the very young children from falling into the water and
+offering a formidable barrier to the assaults of the enemy. As the
+only means of communication with these islands was by canoe, and as it
+was well known to the Muaupoko people that Te Rauparaha had few such
+vessels, they felt comparatively secure from attack so soon as they
+had transferred themselves to their new retreat.</p>
+
+<p>But they little reckoned on the kind of man with whom they had to
+deal, when they imagined that a placid sheet of water could interpose
+between Te Rauparaha and his enemies. Canoes he had not, but strong
+swimmers he had; and it is a fine tribute to their daring that, on a
+dark and gloomy night, a small band of these undertook to swim off to
+one of the Horowhenua <i>pas</i> and attack its sleeping inhabitants.
+With their weapons
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">{92}</a></span>
+lashed to their wrists, they silently entered the water,
+and by swift side strokes reached the walls of Waipata,
+the <i>pa</i> which they had chosen for their attempt, and
+were swarming over the palisades before a note of warning
+could be sounded. Taken at such a disadvantage,
+it was not to be expected that the Muaupoko resistance
+would be effective, for they were both stunned by
+surprise and paralysed by fear at the awful suddenness
+of the attack. Flight was their first thought, and such
+as were not slain in their sleep or caught in their attempt
+to escape, plunged into the lake and made for the nearest
+shelter. In this endeavour to escape death all were not
+successful, and it is estimated that, between the killed
+and drowned, the attack upon Waipata cost the Muaupoko
+several hundred lives, besides adding to their
+misfortune by shattering utterly their belief in the inaccessibility
+of their island <i>pas</i>. The adjoining <i>pas</i> upon
+the lake, warned of the impending danger by the tumult
+at Waipata, at once prepared for a stubborn defence;
+but the attacking party, feeling themselves unequal to
+the task of a second assault, discreetly withdrew to the
+mainland before it was yet daylight, and at once made
+preparations for another attack upon a more extensive
+scale. But both prudence and necessity dictated the
+wisdom of delay; it was wiser to wait until Muaupoko
+had relapsed into their former state of confidence, and,
+moreover, the plan upon which it was proposed to
+make the attack required time for its development.</p>
+
+<p>Recognising the strength of the Waikiekie <i>pa</i>, against which the
+energies of his tribe were next to be directed, Te Rauparaha saw that
+success was not to be expected unless he could attack it in force.
+This involved the transportation of a large body of men over the
+waters of the lake, which could only be effected by means of canoes.
+These he did not possess in numbers, and, even if he had, he must
+still devise means of conveying them to the lake, which was several
+miles from the coast. His ingenious mind, however, soon discovered an
+escape from these perplexities, and he at once decided upon a plan,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">{93}</a></span>
+which was not without precedent in European warfare
+or imitation in subsequent Maori history. His scheme
+involved the haulage of his canoes over the belt of land
+which separated the lake from the sea, and the enterprise
+seems to have been as cleverly executed as it was daringly
+designed. Out of the lake runs an insignificant stream,
+which slowly meanders over shallows and between narrow
+banks down to the ocean; and to the mouth of this
+creek were brought such canoes as had fallen into Te
+Rauparaha's hands at the taking of Kapiti, and a larger
+one which had been procured from his friends at
+Whanganui-a-Tara.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_59" id="Ref_59" href="#Foot_59">[59]</a></span>
+Where the water was deep
+enough, or the reaches straight enough, the canoes
+were floated up the bed of the stream; but as this
+was possible only at rare intervals, the greater part of
+the distance was covered by dragging the vessels over
+the grassy flats and ferny undulations. Such a task
+would be laborious enough under any circumstances;
+but on this occasion it was rendered even more wearisome
+by the necessity for conducting it in absolute silence.
+As the success of the expedition depended mainly upon
+the completeness of the surprise, it was essential that
+no note of warning should be given, and therefore it
+was impossible to encourage the workers to greater
+exertions by song or speech; but so heartily did they
+bend themselves to their monotonous task, that the three
+miles of toilsome road were traversed before the break
+of day.</p>
+
+<p>The outflow of the lake was hidden by a clump of trees which grew
+close to the water's edge, and behind this natural screen the canoes
+were concealed, and the men lay down to rest until the moment came to
+strike. At the first appearance of dawn, the canoes were shot into the
+lake, and before the inhabitants of Waikiekie had shaken slumber from
+their eyes, the shaft was on its way that would send many of them to
+their last long sleep. The <i>pa</i> was attacked on every side, and
+with a vigour which left little chance of escape. Such resistance
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">{94}</a></span>
+as was possible in such a situation was offered by the
+drowsy defenders. But the mortal fear with which they
+had come to regard the Ngati-Toa, together with the
+fury of the onslaught and the completeness of the
+surprise, spread panic amongst them, and the resistance
+was soon left to a desperate few. Their valiant efforts
+brought them nothing but the glory which attends the
+death of the brave. They were quickly borne down
+before the onrush of the assailants, whose shouts of
+triumph, joined with the terrified cries of the fugitives,
+filled the morning air. Large numbers, who looked
+to discretion rather than valour, plunged into the lake,
+and by swimming, diving, and dodging, a few managed
+to elude both capture and death. But many were slain
+as they swam, and, while their bodies sank to the bottom,
+their blood mingled with the waters of the lake, until
+it lay crimson beneath the rising sun. Warriors and
+women, old men and children, to the number of two
+hundred, we are told, perished on that fateful morning,
+which saw the Muaupoko tribe driven from Horowhenua,
+and the epoch of their greatness brought to a close.
+A mere remnant of the tribe escaped, and made their
+way through the forests and mountain fastnesses towards
+the south, where, within the space of another year, they
+were again pursued, hunted, and slaughtered, with all the
+old relentless hatred of their destroyer.</p>
+
+<p>Having inflicted this crushing blow upon Muaupoko, and feeling
+convinced that they could never again be a serious menace to
+Ngati-Toa, the section of the Ngati-Awa tribe who, under
+Rere-ta-whangawhanga and other chiefs, had accompanied Te Rauparaha
+from Taranaki, now determined to return to their own country at
+Waitara;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_60" id="Ref_60" href="#Foot_60">[60]</a></span>
+and it was this decision which made it imperative that
+the Ngati-Toa leader should seek efficient aid from some other
+quarter. He accordingly, without delay, despatched
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">{95}</a></span>
+messengers to the north, once again to invite his kinsmen
+of the Ngati-Raukawa tribe to come and join him. These
+emissaries, having arrived at Taupo, learned that an
+attempt to reach Kapiti by way of the east coast had
+already been made by Te Whatanui, but without success,
+as he had been defeated by a Hawke's Bay tribe and
+driven back. This experience had somewhat cooled
+his ardour; but when Te Rauparaha's messengers
+came with the news that Kapiti had been taken, and
+told of his marvellous success at Waipata and Waikiekie,
+interest in the project at once revived. Especially was
+a young chief, named Te Ahu-karamu, fired with its
+romantic prospects, and he immediately organised a
+force of one hundred and twenty men and set off for
+the land of promise.</p>
+
+<p>Almost simultaneously with the arrival of these reinforcements,
+additional strength was gained by the accession of another band of
+Ngati-Awa from Taranaki; and, with these additions to his ranks, Te
+Rauparaha felt himself strong enough to resume once more active
+operations in the field. He accordingly moved upon a skilfully built
+<i>pa</i> situated at Paekakariki, some miles to the southward of
+Kapiti, whither the escaping Muaupoko had fled and taken refuge. In
+this adventure a larger force than usual was employed; for not only
+were the new arrivals keen for a brush with the enemy, but the natural
+strength of the <i>pa</i> was such that Rauparaha knew it would be
+useless to approach it without a force of adequate proportions. In
+these anticipations his judgment was correct, as usual, for the
+struggle proved to be an exceedingly obstinate one and the death-roll
+on both sides considerable. After some days of incessant attack, in
+which the few muskets possessed by Ngati-Toa played their fatal part,
+the Muaupoko defence was pierced, and the victory was sealed with all
+the atrocities associated with the savage warfare of the ancient Maori.</p>
+
+<p>The capture of this <i>pa</i> proved to be a rich prize for Rauparaha.
+Not only did it uproot the last stronghold of the Muaupoko people, but
+it brought a substantial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">{96}</a></span>
+addition to his supplies. Large quantities of provisions
+were discovered within the stockade, evidently collected
+in anticipation of a lengthy siege. So provident, in fact,
+had the inhabitants of the Paekakariki fort been in this
+respect, that the large attacking force spent the succeeding
+two months feasting upon the captured stores, interspersed
+with an occasional cannibal repast. This period
+of rest the visitors were prepared to enjoy to the full; for
+after a battle nothing was more congenial to Maori
+warriors than to lie idly about the sunny places in the
+<i>pa</i>, and discuss in every detail the stirring incidents
+of the fight.</p>
+
+<p>It was while thus basking in fancied security that the tables were
+suddenly turned upon them, and from a most unexpected quarter. Hearing
+from some of the fugitives of the capture of the Paekakariki
+<i>pa</i>, and burning to avenge the raid which Ngati-Toa had
+previously made into the Wairarapa, the members of the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe residing at Wairarapa and near Wellington believed that this was
+their golden opportunity. Secretly collecting a fighting force of
+considerable strength, they made their way through the bush to
+Paekakariki, and there fell upon the unwary and self-indulgent
+invaders. To them it was something of a novel experience to be thus
+repaid in their own tactics; but the swiftness and audacity with which
+the blow was delivered completely demoralised them, and the erstwhile
+assailants suffered the humiliation of being beaten back upon Waikanae
+with inglorious precipitancy. The whole procedure necessarily involved
+considerable loss on the part of Ngati-Toa and their allies, and the
+bitterness of the reverse was especially galling because it was the
+first occasion on which they had been worsted in arms since their
+occupation of the country had commenced. The closeness of the pursuit
+did not slacken until the fugitives had reached Waikanae; but beyond
+this point Ngati-Kahungunu did not press their advantage. They were
+now rushing into touch with Rauparaha's permanent settlements, from
+which the echoes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">{97}</a></span>
+of the strife might draw reinforcements at any moment.
+Unwilling to overrun their victory, the men from Whanganui-a-Tara
+withdrew to the south, well pleased with
+their achievement, which was not without its lesson for
+Te Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p>The chief saw that the time had not yet arrived when he could relax
+his life-long vigilance. Heavy as had been the defeats which he had
+inflicted upon the resident people, he saw that their spirit had not
+yet been completely crushed. Brave as his own followers were, he saw
+that they were not proof against the panic which often springs from a
+surprise attack. The thing, however, which caused him most concern was
+the hostile attitude which was now being adopted towards him by the
+Ngati-Kahungunu people. Hitherto this powerful tribe, whose domain was
+a wide and populous one on the eastern coast, had remained
+comparatively neutral in the contest for supremacy in the west. But
+now this attitude was abandoned, and under the encouragement afforded
+by this prospect of protection, the displaced tribes were gradually
+venturing back to their deserted settlements. Should an effective
+alliance be formed between his enemies on the two coasts, the position
+would at once become so charged with danger that his comparatively
+small force would find itself in a most critical situation. It was,
+then, the threatening attitude of his neighbours which caused the
+Ngati-Toa chief to decide finally upon the abandonment of the mainland
+and the transference of the whole of his people to Kapiti, there to
+await the result of his mission to his friends at Maungatautari. In
+the meantime three strongly fortified <i>pas</i> were built upon the
+island, and every preparation made against possible attack. These
+<i>pas</i>, situated one at either end, and the third in the centre of
+the island, were designed with as keen an eye for trade as for the
+purposes of defence. Te Rauparaha had not lost sight of the main
+purpose of his conquest, which was to bring himself into close
+association with the whalers, from whom he hoped to obtain, by
+purchase,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">{98}</a></span>
+barter, or bullying, additions to his store of guns
+and ammunition. For this purpose Kapiti was easily
+the key to the position. Favoured by deep water and
+safe anchorage, it afforded the securest of shelter to
+vessels seeking to escape from the dirty weather which
+comes whistling through the Strait. Boats lying snugly
+at anchor under the lee of the land would have opportunities
+for trade from which all others would be cut
+off; and there is little doubt that this commercial advantage
+was coolly calculated upon when the <i>pas</i> on the
+mainland were evacuated and those on the island were
+occupied. This much at least is certain, that, whether
+part of a premeditated scheme or otherwise, the move
+proved to be a masterstroke, for it gave to Te Rauparaha
+a virtual monopoly of the white man's patronage,
+a privilege which for years he guarded with jealous
+exclusiveness.</p>
+
+<p>When it became known that Te Rauparaha had retired to Kapiti, and
+there seemed less danger of immediate molestation, the Rangitane
+people again began to collect in force near their old home at Hotuiti.
+They built a strong <i>pa</i> near the present town of Foxton, and
+here they were joined by a number of Ngati-Apa chiefs and people from
+Rangitikei. This proceeding Te Rauparaha regarded as a danger and a
+menace to his safety; for he had no reason to believe that he enjoyed
+their friendship, and no means of ascertaining when they might think
+fit to wreak their vengeance upon him. He therefore decided to take
+the initiative and attack them. Accordingly, with Rangihaeata and his
+Ngati-Apa wife Pikinga, he marched his war party up the coast and at
+once invested the place. The method by which he sought to reduce the
+<i>pa</i> to submission was a clever stratagem&mdash;perfectly honourable,
+perhaps, according to the Maori code of warfare&mdash;but utterly repulsive
+to civilised ideas; and, to those who judge him by the latter
+standard, it lowers Te Rauparaha from the high plane of a classic
+warrior to the level of a cunning and unscrupulous savage. His first
+act of generalship
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">{99}</a></span>
+aimed at separating the two tribes, a step which has been
+attributed by some to a desire to spare the Ngati-Apa,
+because of their relationship with Pikinga. Others,
+however, can see in it nothing but a clever ruse to divide
+the defending force, so that he might the more easily
+attack and defeat them singly. He therefore sent Pikinga
+to the Ngati-Apa chiefs with a request that they would
+withdraw to their own territory beyond the Rangitikei
+River. Probably he promised them safe-conduct on
+their journey; but, if he did, it was of no avail, for they
+firmly refused to evacuate the Hotuiti <i>pa</i>, and doggedly
+remained where they were. Feigning, then, to abandon
+his campaign, Te Rauparaha sent to the Rangitane chiefs,
+inviting them to come to him and negotiate terms of
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>In view of their past experiences it might have been expected that
+such a request would be scornfully declined; but after long and
+anxious debate it was decided&mdash;mainly, it is said, on the advice of
+the Ngati-Apa chiefs&mdash;that the leading Rangitane warriors should meet
+the Ngati-Toa leader and make the best terms possible with him. The
+result was, of course, the old story: the ruthless slaughter of the
+confiding ambassadors, who found that Te Rauparaha had come, not with
+peace, but unrelenting war. Treachery was no more suspected inside the
+<i>pa</i> than out of it; and while the people were deluded into the
+belief that the war-clouds had passed away, they were being secretly
+and silently surrounded. At a given signal the walls were stormed and
+a bloody massacre followed, from which the Ngati-Toa warriors emerged
+sated with gruesome triumph. The slain were eaten on the spot, and the
+prisoners were taken to Waikanae, there to await the returning
+appetite of their captors.</p>
+
+<p>So dastardly an attack upon their friends and so gross an insult to
+their tribal pride could not be ignored; and although time might
+elapse before the Ngati-Apa peoples would be able to strike an
+avenging blow, it was quite certain that so soon as the favourable
+moment arrived
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">{100}</a></span>
+the Ngati-Toa would have to pay the penalty of their
+treachery. But Te Rauparaha never dreamed that they
+would have the temerity to attack him upon his own
+land, and while he was lying in fancied security at
+Waikanae, the storm suddenly burst upon him. The
+Ngati-Apa, under Te Hakeke, had hurriedly collected
+their war party, and obtaining reinforcements from the
+fugitives who had escaped from the massacre at Hotuiti,
+came by stealthy marches down the coast and fell upon
+the unsuspecting Ngati-Toa in the dead of night. Next
+morning the camp was in ruins, Te Rauparaha's force
+was in flight, and sixty of his followers, including four
+of Te Pehi's daughters, were lying dead amongst the
+<i>débris</i>. The balance of battle honours having been thus
+somewhat adjusted, the aggressors retired, well satisfied
+with the result. They were allowed to depart without
+a resumption of hostilities, for the supports who had
+come over from Kapiti were either not strong enough,
+or not keen enough, to pursue them.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_61" id="Ref_61" href="#Foot_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whatever may have been Te Rauparaha's previous disposition towards
+Ngati-Apa, whether he was genuinely disposed to befriend them or
+whether he was merely playing on their credulity, is of no further
+importance, for from that day he took on an attitude of undisguised
+hostility towards them, revoking all promises of peace, stated or
+implied, and becoming, in the characteristic language of
+Matene-te-Whiwhi, "dark in his heart in regard to Ngati-Apa." The
+shield of friendship having been removed, this unfortunate tribe was
+now exposed to all the fury of the most ruthless man in New Zealand;
+and in the raids which his warriors made against them, neither man nor
+woman was spared who was unfortunate enough to fall into his hands.
+These misfortunes created a bond of sympathy between Ngati-Apa and
+their neighbours, the Rangitane and Muaupoko, and paved the way for an
+alliance against the common enemy. Although banished from Horowhenua
+and wandering about the solitary places
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">{101}</a></span>
+of the coast, a broken and shattered people, there was
+still sufficient energy and hatred remaining in one of the
+Muaupoko chiefs to make a final effort to recover their
+departed <i>mana</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Te Raki, who had suffered captivity at the hands of Te Pehi, aspiring,
+after his escape, to be the regenerator of his tribe, became the
+active apostle of a federation which was to embrace the tribes who had
+felt the weight of the Ngati-Toa hand. From Waitotara in the north to
+Arapawa and Massacre Bay in the south, and Wairarapa in the east, he
+organised an alliance which could hurl two thousand fighting men
+against their redoubtable adversary. Canoes from far and near brought
+this host to the appointed rendezvous, the northerners assembling at
+Otaki and the southerners at Waikanae. From these two points this army
+converged upon Kapiti, their canoes "darkening the sea" as they went.
+The magnitude of the armada, however, was greater than its discipline,
+and before it had proceeded far its movements were discovered. The
+noise of the paddles, as the canoes approached the island in the early
+morning, caught the keen ear of Nopera, and when the right wing landed
+at Rangatira Point, they were opposed by the people whom they had
+expected to surprise. The attack was fierce and desperate, and when
+Pokaitara, the Ngati-Toa commander, found himself being driven back
+towards Waiorua, he astutely proposed a truce. It would give him a
+welcome respite while it lasted, and perhaps some advantage in the
+first moment of its violation. Ignorant of the fact that a message had
+been sent to Te Rauparaha, who happened to be at the centre of the
+island, and hoping for the speedy arrival of his own laggard
+reinforcements, who were still at sea, Rangi-maire-hau, the Ngati-Apa
+chief from Turakina, in a weak moment, agreed to a suspension of
+hostilities. Scarcely had this been arranged, when Te Rauparaha, with
+the major part of his people, arrived upon the scene, and repudiating
+the agreement to which his lieutenant had committed himself, he
+recommenced the sanguinary work, and fought
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">{102}</a></span>
+to such purpose that the issue was soon placed beyond
+doubt. With one hundred and seventy of their tribesmen
+slain, the Ngati-Apa attack began to slacken. Presently
+their ranks were seen to waver, and an impetuous
+charge at this decisive moment drove into rout what had
+hitherto been an impenetrable front. The slaughter of
+pursuit was scarcely less than that of resistance. Dead
+and dying lay on every side, and many found a watery
+grave in their vain effort to swim to the canoes, which
+had not yet reached the shore.</p>
+
+<p>News that disaster had overtaken the advance guard quickly spread to
+the other sections of the allied forces; and, without attempting to
+retrieve the fortunes of the day, they turned and precipitately fled
+in whichever direction safety seemed to lie. When he realised that his
+host had been worsted in the battle, Rangi-maire-hau disdained to fly,
+but threw himself upon the mercy of Te Rangihaeata, who had borne
+himself with conspicuous bravery throughout the attack. That haughty
+chief, however, saw no reason why he should spread his protecting
+mantle over his would-be exterminator, even though the appeal was
+founded on the bond of relationship with his Ngati-Apa wife; and,
+steeling his heart against every entreaty, he ordered
+Rangi-maire-hau's immediate death. With this exception, it is recorded
+to the credit of Ngati-Toa that they used their victory with unusual
+moderation. Thus, the largest force which had ever been marshalled
+during the Maori wars along this coast was defeated by one of the
+smallest; the organisation of two years was dissipated in as many
+hours; and the invaders were only the more firmly established in the
+land by this futile attempt to uproot them. This great victory, which
+settled for ever the question of supremacy, was duly celebrated by
+feasting and dancing, during which Te Rauparaha chanted a song of
+triumph, which was especially offensive to his enemies, taunting them,
+as it did, with a lack of courage, and foretelling even greater
+misfortunes that were yet to befall them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">{103}</a></span>
+<span class="i2q">"When will your anger dare?</span>
+<span class="i2">When will your power arise?</span>
+<span class="i2">Salute your child with your nose.</span>
+<span class="i2">But how salute him now?</span>
+<span class="i2">You will see the rejoicing tide</span>
+<span class="i2">Of the warrior's coming glee,</span>
+<span class="i2">And the departure of Rongo-ma-whiti."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>While Te Rauparaha was enjoying the fruits of his victory, his forces
+received welcome reinforcements from two quarters. The news of battles
+fought and laurels won had reached Taranaki, where the Ngati-Tama
+chief, Te Puoho, and some of his followers, whose curiosity had been
+aroused by the tales told by their returned tribesmen, came down to
+learn the truth of the matter for themselves. Close upon their heels
+came the long-hoped-for band of Ngati-Raukawa, who signalised their
+advent by at once attacking the settlements in the Rangitikei and
+Manawatu districts. While one party skirted the coast,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_62" id="Ref_62" href="#Foot_62">[62]</a></span>
+the other
+struck inland, and under their chiefs, Te Whatu and Te Whetu,
+surrounded and captured a Ngati-Apa <i>pa</i> at Rangiure, and then
+proceeded to Pikitane, where they killed a number of the resident
+people and made the rest prisoners. These two settlements had been
+taken completely by surprise, their people little dreaming that a war
+party was marching through the land. No better prepared were the
+Ngati-Apa then living at Awahuri, who were next attacked, and their
+chief, named Te Aonui, was added to the train of captives. The
+invaders then pushed their victorious march down the course of the
+Oroua River, as far as its junction with the Manawatu. Here they
+crossed the larger stream, and immediately attacked the <i>pa</i> at
+Te Whakatipua. This assault was stoutly resisted by the chiefs,
+Kaihinu and Piropiro, who paid the penalty with their lives, but the
+remainder of the people who were not shot by the invaders were spared
+on proffering a humble
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">{104}</a></span>
+submission. This was practically the only discreet
+course open to them. Not only were they placed at a
+serious disadvantage, away from their fighting <i>pas</i>, but
+many of the Ngati-Raukawa were armed with guns, while
+the Rangitane people had not as yet been able to discard
+the wooden spears and stone clubs of their forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>The rapid movements of the Ngati-Raukawa, and the completeness of
+their captures, had prevented the news of their presence being
+despatched to the adjoining settlements; and, as a consequence, when
+they ascended the Manawatu and came upon the little <i>pa</i> at
+Rotoatane, situated not far from Tiakitahuna,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_63" id="Ref_63" href="#Foot_63">[63]</a></span>
+they were able to attack and capture it almost before the people could be summoned from
+the fields. Not that it was a bloodless victory. A Rangitane chief,
+named Tina, fought with desperation, and, before he was overpowered by
+superior numbers, three of the assailants were stretched dead at his
+feet. Once more the advance was sounded, the objective this time being
+the <i>pa</i> at Tiakitahuna itself. This settlement was under the
+chieftainship of Toringa and Tamati Panau, the latter being the father
+of the chief Kerei te Panau,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_64" id="Ref_64" href="#Foot_64">[64]</a></span>
+who until recently lived at Awapuni.
+These men were evidently more alert than their neighbours, for no
+sooner did the <i>taua</i> come in sight than they took to their
+canoes and paddled across to the opposite bank of the river. While the
+two tribes were thus ranged on opposite sides of the stream, the
+Rangitane had time to consider the position. Tamati Panau was the
+first to seek an explanation, by calling out to Te Whatu, "Where is
+the war party from?" Clear and quick came the answer back, "From the
+north." That was sufficient for Toringa, who had already tested the
+mettle of the northerners, and he at once sent a curse across the
+water, hurled at the heads of the invaders with all the venom that
+tribal hatred and a sense of injured
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">{105}</a></span>
+vanity could instil. Whether it was the dread of
+Toringa's denunciation, or whether the Ngati-Raukawa
+were satisfied with their unbroken course of victory, is
+not clear to the present-day historian; but the Rangitane
+traditions relate that, after firing a single shot from one
+of their muskets, the invaders retired from the district,
+taking their prisoners with them, and made their way
+south to join Te Rauparaha, who was anxiously awaiting
+their coming.</p>
+
+<p>The prospect opened up to these new-comers was far beyond anything
+that they had dreamed. In fact, so fascinated was Te Ahu-karamu with
+the new and beautiful country which his great kinsman had conquered
+that, after a reasonable rest, he returned to Taupo for the purpose of
+bringing the whole of his people away from a position which was daily
+becoming more exposed to the aggression of the Waikato tribes. But his
+designs in this direction were nearly thwarted by the persistency with
+which the tribe clung to their northern home, even in defiance of his
+threat to invoke the wrath of his <i>atua</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_65" id="Ref_65" href="#Foot_65">[65]</a></span>
+if they dared to
+question the command of their chief. Finding that the terrors of his
+god had no influence upon them, Karamu adopted an instrument of the
+devil, and, taking a torch in his hand, brought his obdurate tribesmen
+to their senses by burning every house in the <i>pa</i> to the ground.
+Rendered thus houseless and homeless, there was nothing for the
+dejected people to do but to follow their imperious leader. In his
+journey back to Kapiti he was joined by two of the most famous chiefs
+of that day&mdash;Te Whatanui and Te Heuheu, the former of whom was
+destined to become the patriarch of Horowhenua and the protector of
+its persecuted people. Collecting a strong retinue of followers, the
+three chiefs set off in 1825 by the same route which Karamu had
+previously travelled down the valley of the Rangitikei, varying the
+monotony of the journey<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_66" id="Ref_66" href="#Foot_66">[66]</a></span>
+through the Ngati-Apa
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">{106}</a></span>
+country by occasionally chasing frightened fugitives,
+in order to gratify their pride and glut their appetite.</p>
+
+<p>Upon their arrival at Kapiti long and anxious consultations followed
+between the chiefs, the result of which was that Te Whatanui at last
+consented to migrate<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_67" id="Ref_67" href="#Foot_67">[67]</a></span>
+and throw in his fortunes with Te Rauparaha.
+This was eventually accomplished in 1828-29, the consolidation of the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa tribes making their future absolutely
+secure and bringing Te Rauparaha's wildest dreams of conquest within
+measurable distance of accomplishment. His broadened aspirations had
+long before this extended across the Strait; and, next to the conquest
+of the coast on which he was now operating, it had become his greatest
+ambition to measure his strength against the natives of the Middle
+Island. Their reputed wealth in greenstone had aroused his avarice,
+while
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">{107}</a></span>
+the prospect of acquiring additional territory appealed
+strongly to his love of power.</p>
+
+<p>But before he was able to perfect his plans for carrying into effect
+this new stroke of aggression, an event occurred which was destined to
+have important results. It will be remembered that the crowning
+circumstance which had induced Te Rauparaha to leave Kawhia was the
+sight of a vessel beating through Cook Strait. He had there and then
+settled in his mind that this part of the coast was soon to become an
+important rendezvous for whalers, &amp;c., and already his anticipations
+were being realised with an amazing rapidity. The whalers were now
+frequent visitors to Kapiti, and many were the marvels which they
+brought in their train. But most of all were the natives absorbed in
+the prospect of securing from these rough seafarers guns and
+ammunition, steel tomahawks, and other weapons, which would give them
+an advantage over their enemies in the only business then worth
+consideration&mdash;the business of war. Many of these ships, however, had
+not come prepared for this traffic,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_68" id="Ref_68" href="#Foot_68">[68]</a></span>
+and the lack of guns, rather
+than any hesitation to part with them, made the process of arming a
+tribe a slow one. It had at least proved much too slow for some of the
+more restless spirits of the race; and impatience, added to a natural
+love of adventure, had led some of them to ship to Sydney, and even to
+England, in the hope of bringing back with them the means of
+accelerating their enemies' destruction. Of these latter Hongi had
+been a conspicuous example, and the success which had attended his
+mission to England roused a spirit of emulation in the breasts of
+other chiefs, who were only waiting the opportunity of following his
+example. Of these, Te Pehi Kupe, the conqueror of Kapiti, was one of
+the few who were signally successful. Knowing no language but his own,
+having only the vaguest notions of what a voyage to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">{108}</a></span>
+England meant, and a very precarious prospect of ever
+being brought back, this man had thrown himself on
+board an English whaler, and, resolute against all dissuasions,
+and even against physical force, had insisted
+upon being carried to a country of which he had but
+two ideas&mdash;King George, of whom he had heard, and
+guns, which he had seen and hoped to possess.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it came about that, while the ship <i>Urania</i> was lying
+becalmed in Cook Strait, about five or six miles from the land, on
+February 26, 1824, Captain Reynolds perceived three large canoes,
+fully manned, approaching the vessel. Doubtful what such a
+demonstration might portend, Captain Reynolds put his ship in a
+condition to resist an attack if necessary; and when the canoes were
+within hail, he, by word and sign, endeavoured to warn them off. Had
+he chosen, he might easily have sent the frail-looking barques to the
+bottom by a single shot from the ship's guns; but, unlike many another
+skipper of those days, Captain Reynolds was a man actuated by
+considerations which went beyond himself, and the thought of the
+retaliation which might fall upon other mariners coming to the shores
+of New Zealand restrained him from committing any such act of
+brutality. Fortunately there was no need for drastic action, and the
+behaviour of the natives was such as to leave no doubt in the mind of
+the captain that their intentions were of a peaceable character. Te
+Pehi boldly directed his crew to paddle alongside the ship, and,
+divesting himself of all his clothing except a mat which was slung
+across his shoulders, he, with the swiftness of an athlete, climbed on
+board. When he reached the deck, he endeavoured by signs and gestures
+to convey to Captain Reynolds that what he wanted was arms and
+ammunition, and, on being informed that the ship had none to spare, he
+coolly indicated that, such being the case, he had decided to remain
+on board and proceed to Europe<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_69" id="Ref_69" href="#Foot_69">[69]</a></span>
+to see King George. These words
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">{109}</a></span>
+he had evidently learned from some of Captain Reynolds'
+predecessors, for he was able to pronounce them with
+sufficient distinctness to be clearly understood. The
+audacity of this proposal completely staggered the master
+of the <i>Urania</i>, and he at once tried to nip such ambitious
+hopes in the bud by peremptorily ordering the chief
+back to his canoe. Te Pehi, however, met this direction
+by calling to his men to move the canoe away from the
+ship, and the captain next sought to give his command
+practical force by throwing the chief overboard, in the
+hope and belief that the canoes would pick him up out
+of the sea. But in this he was again checkmated. The
+chief threw himself down on the deck and seized hold
+of two ring-bolts, with so powerful a grip that it was
+impossible to tear him away without such violence as the
+humanity of Captain Reynolds would not permit. At
+this critical juncture a light breeze sprang up, and Te
+Pehi improved the favourable circumstance by ordering
+his men to paddle to the shore, as he was going to see
+King George, and that he would soon return. This
+command was at once obeyed, and the breeze carrying
+the <i>Urania</i> off the land, Captain Reynolds was reluctantly
+compelled to keep the chief on board that night. But,
+far from satisfied with his self-constituted passenger, he
+next day made another effort to force Te Pehi on shore,
+and nearly lost his ship in the attempt. This narrow
+escape, and the favourable conditions for getting away
+from New Zealand, to some extent reconciled the captain
+to an acceptance of the situation; but his chagrin was as
+great as was the delight of the chief, when it was found
+that there was no option but to keep him on board for
+the remainder of the voyage.</p>
+
+<p>With more intimate acquaintance, the relations
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">{110}</a></span>
+between the captain and chief grew to be of the most
+friendly nature, and they lived together, both on shipboard
+and on shore, the captain taking a kindly interest in
+explaining to his protégé the mysteries of the great world
+upon which he was entering, while the native clung to
+his new-found friend with a confiding affection.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_70" id="Ref_70" href="#Foot_70">[70]</a></span>
+The <i>Urania</i> ultimately reached Liverpool, where Te Pehi was
+the subject of much public attention. He was shown
+over the principal manufactories in Manchester and
+London, his great anxiety to see King George was
+gratified, and, although he was subject to a good deal
+of sickness, yet, thanks to the care of Captain Reynolds,
+he made an excellent recovery. After about a year's
+residence in England, he was placed on board H.M.
+ship <i>The Thames</i>, and in October, 1825, he sailed for
+his native land, loaded with presents of clothing and
+agricultural implements, which were given him by
+benevolently minded people in the hope that, combined
+with the knowledge of their use and blessing, which
+he had acquired in England, they would exercise an
+elevating influence upon his countrymen when he
+should return amongst them. Vain hope; for on his
+arrival at Sydney, Te Pehi reversed the beautiful biblical
+allegory, and turned his pruning hooks into spears and
+his ploughshares into guns and ammunition, to aid in the
+work of waging eternal warfare against the enemies of
+his tribe.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_71" id="Ref_71" href="#Foot_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Early in the year 1824, and immediately after Te Pehi's departure for
+England, Te Rauparaha found that, in consequence of the many recent
+additions to his forces, the number of natives who had placed
+themselves under
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">{111}</a></span>
+his command was then sufficient to enable him to begin
+the main purpose of his conquest, namely, the systematic
+occupation of the land.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_72" id="Ref_72" href="#Foot_72">[72]</a></span>
+He and his own immediate
+tribe having decided to occupy the island of Kapiti,
+where they could be in closer touch with the whalers, he
+now proceeded to partition the country along the coast
+amongst the new arrivals. The first division led to civil
+war and domestic feuds between a section of Ngati-Raukawa
+and the Ngati-Tama from Taranaki, under Te
+Puoho, which at one time threatened to destroy all that
+he had already accomplished; and it was not until a new
+allotment was agreed upon, by which Ngati-Awa, to
+whom Ngati-Tama were closely related, were given
+exclusive possession of the country south of the
+Kukutauaki stream, and the Ngati-Raukawa sole dominion
+over the district northward of that boundary as far as
+the Wangaehu River, that his power to resist his enemies
+was restored by the restoration of harmony amongst his
+friends. Not that there was any immediate danger of
+attack; for his incessant raids upon the Ngati-Apa and
+Muaupoko tribes had reduced them to the condition
+of a shattered and fugitive remnant, incapable alike of
+organised attack or organised defence.</p>
+
+<p>It was probably one of the proudest days of Te Rauparaha's life when,
+standing on Kapiti, he formally transferred the whole of the coast to
+his followers by right of conquest, than which no Maori could hope for
+a better title, and proclaimed to the assembled people the precise
+districts which were to be their future homes, where they were to
+cultivate, to catch
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">{112}</a></span>
+eels, to snare and spear birds. These dispositions, however,
+did not imply that he was prepared to surrender
+his supreme authority over the lands, and the fact that
+he desired to, and intended to, retain his right of
+suzerainty was made abundantly clear. "The lands I
+now give you are in our joint rule, but I shall be greater
+in power than you individually"; such were the terms
+in which the transfer was made, and the people acquiesced
+in a unanimous "It is right, O Raha! it is as
+you say." But Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa
+were commissioned to do something more than merely
+occupy the land. In imperious tones the great chief
+commanded them: "Clear the weeds from off my field."
+In other and less figurative words, they were to kill and
+persecute the conquered peoples without pity and without
+mercy; and perhaps it would have been well for
+Ngati-Raukawa had they more faithfully obeyed his instructions,
+instead of extending a sheltering arm to Ngati-Apa
+and Muaupoko, both of whom subsequently proved
+themselves so unworthy of this clemency.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_73" id="Ref_73" href="#Foot_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Under the arrangement thus determined upon at Kapiti the country round
+the beautiful lake at Horowhenua was taken possession of by that grand
+old member of a magnificent race, Te Whatanui, and those people who
+had come from the north with him. The district now known as Lower
+Manawatu was occupied by another section of the Ngati-Raukawa people,
+under Te Whetu, and, still higher up, Rangitikei came under the
+dominion of Nepia Taratoa, a chief who seems to have been as generous
+to Ngati-Apa as Whatanui was to Muaupoko. Southward of Horowhenua, as
+far as the present harbour of Wellington, the country was subsequently
+given over to Ngati-Awa, who were in settled possession when the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">{113}</a></span>
+first European colonists arrived. Here in 1825-26
+Pomare, their chief, led the Ngati-Mutunga <i>hapu</i> of the
+Ngati-Awa people, who forcibly occupied the shores of
+the great bay, where they hoped to cultivate the friendship
+of the whalers,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_74" id="Ref_74" href="#Foot_74">[74]</a></span>
+whose commerce was so profitable to
+them. Their tenure, however, was not an undisputed
+one. They were subjected to frequent raids and incessant
+harassment from the Wairarapa tribe, whom they
+had displaced, and who deeply resented being thus deprived
+of their one avenue of communication with the
+<i>pakeha</i>. This tribe, though powerless to retrieve the
+aggression of Ngati-Awa, missed no opportunity of
+irritating them, and Pomare was not reluctant to hand
+over his trust to some other chief, so soon as he could be
+honourably relieved of it. This opportunity came when,
+after the fall of the Puke-rangiora <i>pa</i> in 1831, the survivors
+of that (for Ngati-Awa) disastrous day, together with
+the flower of their tribe from their other settlements,
+abandoned Taranaki, and came down, a fugitive host, to
+shelter under the protecting wing of Te Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p>With Te Puni, Wi Tako, and Wharepouri, an arrangement was entered into
+in 1834, whereby the land round the harbour and the right to contest
+the ownership of the territory with the unexterminated portion of the
+Ngati-Kahungunu were to be ceded to them for the consideration of a
+greenstone <i>mere</i>. Pomare was perhaps the more ready to relinquish
+possession of what is now amongst the most valuable land in the
+Dominion, because he had become possessed of information which seemed
+to open up a much more agreeable prospect than resisting the
+inconvenient incursions of his Wairarapa enemies. One of the young men
+of his tribe, Paka-whara, who had shipped on board a whaler, had just
+returned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">{114}</a></span>
+from a southern cruise, with the intelligence that the
+Chatham Islands were populated by a sleek and inoffensive
+people, who might be expected to fall an easy
+prey to such hardened veterans in war as Ngati-Awa
+could now furnish. Pomare at once acted upon the
+inspiration; and chartering, partly by payment and
+partly by intimidation, the British brig <i>Rodney</i>, he sailed
+with his followers in November, 1835, for the Chathams,
+where, by a fearful destruction of human life, the well-conditioned,
+unwarlike Morioris were reduced within
+the short space of two years to a remnant of two hundred
+souls.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the allocation of these districts to these particular chiefs
+was due to their own choice or to the will of Te Rauparaha is not
+known; but in the case of Te Whetu the former appears to have been the
+fact. During the raid which he made upon Manawatu while migrating to
+Kapiti, he had secured amongst his captives a handsome young Rangitane
+woman named Hinetiti, whose charms so pleased him that when he reached
+Kapiti he made her his wife. Hine's gentleness moved her lord and
+master in a way that sterner methods would not, and she soon obtained
+such an influence over him that her will became his desire. Doubtless
+the memory of her old home was ever present with her, even amongst the
+beauties of Kapiti; and, when the partition of the country was being
+spoken of in the <i>kaingas</i>, she urged Te Whetu to take her back
+to the banks of the Manawatu, where she might be once more with her
+friends and relatives. In deference to this wish, Te Whetu brought her
+to a little settlement named Te Iwi te Kari, near Foxton. With them
+came the Ngati-Wehiwehi <i>hapu</i>, bringing the prisoners whom they
+had taken eighteen months before, and together they occupied the
+district around Matai-Kona.</p>
+
+<p>The Manawatu was still well stocked with Rangitane, for many of their
+larger settlements in the upper portion of the district had not been
+so completely depopulated as some of the more southern <i>pas</i> by
+the captures and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">{115}</a></span>
+slaughters of the marauding northerners. The presence
+of the Ngati-Raukawa in the midst of their country put
+no check upon their freedom, and, according to their
+ancient custom, they moved about from one <i>kainga</i> to
+another at their pleasure. Indeed, the relations between
+the Rangitane and Ngati-Raukawa appear to have been
+of the most friendly nature after the return of the captives
+from Kapiti, a fact which the former attribute to the
+marriage of Te Whetu with their chieftainess, but which
+in reality was due to the generosity of the Ngati-Raukawa,
+who, had they chosen, might have left nothing but
+smoking ruins and bleaching bones to tell of the Rangitane's
+former existence.</p>
+
+<p>The feeling, however, was not so cordial between the Rangitane and the
+natives immediately under the leadership of Te Rauparaha, who allowed
+no circumstance to mitigate his extreme desire for revenge; and,
+although no pitched battles took place, there were occasional
+skirmishes and massacres which served to keep alive the fires of hate.
+In like manner he constantly harried the Muaupoko and such members of
+the Ngati-Apa tribe as he now and then fell in with, until these
+people, feeling life to be unbearable if they were to be hunted like
+beasts of prey, decided to place themselves beyond the reach of so
+relentless a tormentor. They accordingly, to the number of three
+hundred souls, including women and children, determined upon flight
+into the Wairarapa; and there they threw themselves upon the mercy of
+the Ngati-Kahungunu, who might be expected to display some sympathy
+for other victims of the suffering from which they themselves had not
+escaped. But here again the hapless people were doomed to a bitter
+experience. Instead of being received with the open arms of welcome,
+they were cruelly set upon and driven back over the Tararua Ranges,
+because of some old and unavenged act of violence which their friends
+had committed, but of which they had probably never heard.</p>
+
+<p>Spurned from the only asylum which appeared to be open to them,
+Ngati-Apa returned to Rangitikei and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">{116}</a></span>
+sought the protection of Rangihaeata and Nepia Taratoa,
+to both of whom they paid tribute for the right to live.
+Muaupoko placed themselves under the protecting arm
+of a Ngati-Raukawa chief named Tuahine, whose heart
+was touched by their destitute and defenceless condition.
+But his intervention was of little avail. However willing
+he might have been&mdash;and there is no reason to doubt
+his sincerity&mdash;he proved quite unable to shield them
+against the never-dying wrath of Te Rauparaha. Hearing
+from some of the Ngati-Raukawa people that the
+remnant of the Muaupoko tribe was once more beginning
+to gather round the Horowhenua and Papaitonga lakes, he
+organised a force of Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Huia and Ngati-Tama
+warriors, and marched upon Papaitonga in defiance
+of the vehement protests of Tuahine and many other
+Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who wished to have done with this
+incessant slaughter. This lake, which covers an area of
+about one hundred and twenty-five acres, lies a few miles
+to the southward of Horowhenua. From time immemorial
+it had been the home of the Muaupoko tribe, by whom it
+was originally called Waiwiri, but in more recent days
+the name of the larger of the two gem-like islands encircled
+by its waters has been applied to the whole lake.
+Papaitonga, which signifies, "the islet of the South," is
+a name which reveals in bright relief the poetic fancy of
+the Maori; for, even now, when its scenic charms have
+to some extent succumbed to the demands of settlement,
+the lake and its surroundings still present one of the
+most charming beauty spots in the whole Dominion. A
+deep fringe of tree-ferns and underwood, backed by a
+dense forest of native bush, skirts its north and northeast
+shores. Southward, through occasional breaches in
+the woods, can be seen the open undulating ground,
+gradually rising until it reaches the foot of the Tararuas,
+whose snow-capped peaks seem to touch the azure sky.
+Westward, stretching away to the sea, are the low flats
+over which meanders the slow-winding Waiwiri stream,
+which forms the outlet of the lake. Here the visitor is
+indeed on classic ground, for there is scarcely a feature
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">{117}</a></span>
+of the landscape which has not, for the Maori, some
+historic association, some tragic story, some deepening
+memory of the hoary past. To this day the island of
+Papaitonga, so restful with its luxuriant crown of soft
+foliage, but which in the days of old was a sanguinary
+battle-ground, remains "a perfect necropolis of human
+bones," lying concealed beneath a living shroud of
+vegetation, which has silently risen to obscure from
+human sight the gruesome evidence of human savagery.</p>
+
+<p>It was to this spot that Te Rauparaha now, in 1827-28, led his
+warriors, arriving there late in the afternoon. His first care was
+effectually to surround the lake. This he did by posting strong
+detachments of men at various points, the reason for this disposition
+being a doubt as to which direction the fugitives would take in their
+flight, which rendered it expedient to intercept them at every
+possible avenue of escape. Ten men were then left in concealment near
+the canoe-landing, the smallness of the number being designed to
+deceive the inhabitants of the island, who at this time numbered
+several hundred. It was arranged that these men should, in the early
+morning, call to the people on the island to bring them a canoe, the
+intention being to create the impression in the minds of the islanders
+that they were a party of friends. Accordingly, when those in the
+<i>pa</i> began to be astir, Te Riu called out to Kahurangi:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"<i>E Kahu, e! Hoea mai te waka ki au. Ko tou tangata tenei.</i>" (O
+Kahu, bring over a canoe for me, I am your man.)</p>
+
+<p>Either the call was not heard, or a lurking suspicion forbade a ready
+compliance with the request, for no movement was made by the islanders
+in the direction desired until Te Riu had called again:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"<i>Hoea mai te waka, kia maua ko to tangata. Ko Te Ruru tenei.</i>"
+(Send a canoe for me and your friend. Te Ruru is here.)</p>
+
+<p>This last appeal was not without avail. A chief named Takare ordered
+two men to paddle a canoe across and bring Te Ruru to the island, at
+the same time impressing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">{118}</a></span>
+upon them the need of keeping a sharp lookout
+on shore to prevent unpleasant surprises. No sooner
+had the canoe put off than two of the Ngati-Toa divested
+themselves of their clothing, and waded out amongst the
+<i>raupo</i> flags which grew near the landing, keeping only
+their heads above the water. One was armed with a
+tomahawk, and the other with a stone club known as an
+onewa, and their mission was to prevent the return of the
+canoe, should the men who brought it refuse to take
+the party on board. On came the canoe; but when
+passing the bulrushes, the rowers, who were peering
+cautiously about, detected the heads of the two men
+amongst the <i>raupo</i>, and in an instant the conviction
+of treachery flashed upon them. The man in the
+stern of the canoe excitedly called to his companion to
+shove off; but Whakatupu, the Ngati-Toa, was too quick
+for him. Springing from his concealment, he laid hold
+of the bow of the canoe and began to haul it towards
+the landing. The Muaupoko nearest to him made a
+lunge at his head with the paddle, but Whakatupu skilfully
+parried the thrust with his short-handled axe, and then,
+turning upon his assailant, with an unerring blow cleft
+his skull, and sent the lifeless body reeling back into the
+water. When the man in the stern of the canoe saw the
+fate of his companion, he immediately leaped overboard,
+and dived, coming to the surface again well out of the
+reach of the enemy. By diving and swimming, he at
+length succeeded in reaching the shore, where he concealed
+himself amongst some low brushwood, only to
+find that he had been tracked, and that it was his fate
+to be shot by Aperahama.</p>
+
+<p>The report of the gun, echoing through the silent bush and across the
+face of the placid lake, was the signal to the concealed warriors that
+the day's work had commenced, and to the unhappy islanders the
+announcement that the dogs of war had again been let loose upon them.
+They instantly prepared for flight, for to men without guns resistance
+was hopeless, even had it been possible. While they were swarming into
+their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">{119}</a></span>
+canoes, their panic was considerably accelerated by the
+sight of a Ngati-Huia warrior swimming towards the
+island discharging his musket as he swam. He had tied
+his cartouche box round his neck, and with his hands
+he loaded and re-loaded his gun, while he propelled
+himself through the water by his legs. When he
+reached the island, the inhabitants had already left, and
+were making for the shore. Here they were met by a
+deadly fusilade from one of Te Rauparaha's detachments,
+who were quietly waiting for them. They then
+turned their canoes, and made an effort to land at
+another point, only to be driven back by a second attack
+as disastrous as the first. Attempt after attempt was
+made to land, and here and there a strong swimmer
+or a swift runner succeeded in escaping; but the
+harvest of death was heavy, the bulk of the people,
+including all the chiefs, being shot. "As for the few
+who escaped," says a native account, "some took refuge
+at Horowhenua, and others fled to the mountains.
+After the fall of Papaitonga, the war party went on to
+Horowhenua, where there was more killing. Driven
+from there, the Muaupoko fugitives crossed over to
+Weraroa and fled to the hills. Then the war party
+returned to Papaitonga. What followed was according
+to Maori custom, but who would care to tell of it? I
+have a horror of that part of the story. If you want to
+know, ask the old men of the Ngati-Toa&mdash;Ngahuku,
+Tungia, and the others. That is all." Amongst those
+who were slain in this fight was Toheriri,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_75" id="Ref_75" href="#Foot_75">[75]</a></span>
+a Muaupoko
+chief, whose wife was inspired by the occasion to
+compose a lament in which she mourned the death of
+her husband, and implied that Tuahine had broken his
+pledge by exposing her people to the raid. But, in
+justice to that chief, it has to be admitted that he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">{120}</a></span>
+entirely powerless to interpose on their behalf; while, on
+the other hand, the whole incident serves to show how
+ruthlessly Te Rauparaha cherished his desire for revenge,
+and how inadequate he considered the lapse of time and
+the slaughter of hundreds to satisfy the <i>manes</i> of his
+children murdered by Muaupoko at Papaitonga.</p>
+
+<p>So Muaupoko died&mdash;or what was left of them lived, and were suffered to
+retain some of their lands around Horowhenua Lake. Pathetic laments
+for their lost lands and their departed <i>mana</i> have been
+composed, and are still sung amongst them. One chanted by Taitoko in a
+lamentation over the dead of his tribe is universally known and sung
+by the Maoris of the coast:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"The sun is setting,</span>
+<span class="i2">Drawn to his ocean cave&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Sinking o'er the peak of Pukehinau.</span>
+<span class="i2">Here wild with grief am I,</span>
+<span class="i2">Lonely as the bird in the</span>
+<span class="i2">Great waste of waters.</span>
+<span class="i2">Wait, wait awhile, O Sun,</span>
+<span class="i2">And we'll go down together."</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_48" id="Foot_48" href="#Ref_48">[48]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"It is not unusual for the natural <i>ariki</i>, or chief of a
+<i>hapu</i>, 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" (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_49" id="Foot_49" href="#Ref_49">[49]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+I have here followed the narrative of Travers; but, in his
+<i>History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast</i> Mr. Percy Smith
+makes it appear that at the moment of migration Te Ariwi was being
+besieged; that the exodus was not premeditated, but was suggested to
+Te Rauparaha by a Waikato chief as the only means of escape, and that
+the evacuation of the <i>pa</i> was carried out at night. As affording
+an interesting sidelight upon the diversity of opinion which prevails
+as to the cause of Te Rauparaha's migration, I here append the
+following note which I have received from Mr. H. M. Stowell, a
+descendant of the great Hongi. "There is one striking Rauparaha fact
+which has not yet been properly given: Rauparaha had become a pest
+among his own people, and they warned him to beware&mdash;this at his
+Kawhia home. Consequently, when the <i>taua</i>, or war party, of my
+people, under Waka Nene and his brother Patuone, arrived at Kawhia on
+their way south, and invited Te Rauparaha to join them, he was only
+too willing. He was in personal danger at home, and he could only lose
+his life, at the worst, by coming south. He therefore came. When the
+war parties returned to Kawhia, Rauparaha at once gave out to his
+people that he intended to move south permanently. This being so, his
+people did not take any steps to molest him, and in due course he came
+south. These facts are important, as showing that his coming south was
+not a mere whim or accident; on the contrary, it was imperative,
+because he had made himself obnoxious to his own people."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_50" id="Foot_50" href="#Ref_50">[50]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+John White, <i>Ancient History of the Maori</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_51" id="Foot_51" href="#Ref_51">[51]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This woman was one of the wives whom Te Rauparaha had taken over
+after the death of Hape Taurangi at Maungatautari.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_52" id="Foot_52" href="#Ref_52">[52]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the way down one disaster overtook the party. In the passage
+of the Mokau a canoe capsized and the only child of Te Rangihaeata was
+drowned. It was due to this circumstance that Rangihaeata in after
+years sometimes adopted the name of Mokau.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_53" id="Foot_53" href="#Ref_53">[53]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+During the night a peculiar incident, illustrative of Maori life
+at this period, occurred. One of the women, the wife of a chief, had a
+child with her, which, in its restlessness, began to cry. Te Rauparaha,
+fearing that his stratagem would be betrayed by the wailing of the
+child, told its mother to choke it, saying, "I am that child." The
+parents at once obeyed the command, and strangled the child.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_54" id="Foot_54" href="#Ref_54">[54]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As illustrating the peculiar methods of Maori warfare, it is said
+that during the night following this battle Te Wherowhero came close
+to the Ngati-Toa camp and called out: "Oh Raha, how am I and my people
+to be saved?" To which Te Rauparaha replied: "You must go away this
+very night. Do not remain. Go; make haste." Following this advice, the
+Waikatos left the field, leaving their fires burning, and when the
+Ngati-Awa reinforcements arrived in the morning, no enemy was to be
+seen.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_55" id="Foot_55" href="#Ref_55">[55]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This is according to Travers's account. Some authorities say that
+Pomare could not have been there at that time.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_56" id="Foot_56" href="#Ref_56">[56]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Afterwards a thorn in Te Rauparaha's side: the saviour of
+Wellington in 1843, and the honourable opponent of the British forces
+in the Waitara war in 1860.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_57" id="Foot_57" href="#Ref_57">[57]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Between the years 1863-69 a violent dispute raged between the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as to their respective rights to
+sell a valuable block of land known as Rangitikei-Manawatu to the
+Provincial Government. Ngati-Raukawa claimed the land on the ground of
+conquest, while Ngati-Apa urged that the marriage of Pikinga, their
+chieftainess, with Rangihaeata was a bond between them and Te
+Rauparaha, which induced him to protect rather than to destroy them.
+Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were furious when they heard of these
+pretensions, and severely upbraided Ngati-Raukawa for not having
+permitted them to exterminate Ngati-Apa, whom they described as "the
+remnant of their meal."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_58" id="Foot_58" href="#Ref_58">[58]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Uira was at this time the wife of Te Poa, who was killed at
+this massacre. Hononga was Te Rauparaha's daughter by his second wife,
+Kahui-rangi.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_59" id="Foot_59" href="#Ref_59">[59]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now Wellington.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_60" id="Foot_60" href="#Ref_60">[60]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This decision, it is said, was taken partly because they took
+umbrage at Te Rauparaha's overbearing manner, and partly because they
+had heard that another Waikato raid upon Taranaki was imminent. This
+was in the year 1823.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_61" id="Foot_61" href="#Ref_61">[61]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This would be about the year 1824.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_62" id="Foot_62" href="#Ref_62">[62]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This force, to the number of 120, was led by Te Ahu-karamu, a
+chief who afterwards became a prominent and progressive leader of the
+Maori people on the west coast.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_63" id="Foot_63" href="#Ref_63">[63]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Called by the early European settlers "Jackeytown."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_64" id="Foot_64" href="#Ref_64">[64]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kerei te Panau was at this time a lad of about ten years of age,
+and probably owes the fact that he lived to be about ninety-four years
+of age to this flight across the river in the canoes.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_65" id="Foot_65" href="#Ref_65">[65]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<i>Atua</i>&mdash;a god.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_66" id="Foot_66" href="#Ref_66">[66]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This migration is known to the Ngati-Raukawa tribe as the <i>Heke
+Whirinui</i>, owing to the fact that the <i>whiri</i>, or plaited
+collars of their mats, were made very large for the journey.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_67" id="Foot_67" href="#Ref_67">[67]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+For this purpose, he and Te Heuheu returned to Taupo, some of the
+party passing across the Manawatu block, so as to strike the
+Rangitikei River 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 Rangataua, where a female
+relative of Te Heuheu, famed for her extreme beauty, died of wounds
+inflicted upon her during the journey by a stray band of Ngati-Apa. A
+great <i>tangi</i> 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 ground, which he declared to be for ever <i>tapu</i>.
+His people were joined by the party from the beach road at the
+junction of the Waituna with the Rangitikei, where the chief was
+presented with three Ngati-Apa prisoners. These were immediately
+sacrificed, and then the whole party resumed the journey to Taupo.
+Amongst the special events which occurred on the march was the capture
+of a Ngati-Apa woman and two children on the south side of the
+Rangitikei River. The unfortunate children were sacrificed during the
+performance of some 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 Ngati-Raukawa
+leaders. Shortly after this, Te Whiro, one of the greatest of the
+Ngati-Apa chiefs, with two women, were taken prisoners, and the former
+was put to death with great ceremony and cruelty, as <i>utu</i> for
+the loss of some of Te Heuheu's people who had been killed by
+Ngati-Apa long before, but the women were saved (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_68" id="Foot_68" href="#Ref_68">[68]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The native trade consisted of dressed flax and various kinds of
+fresh provisions, including potatoes, which, prior to the advent of
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, had not been planted on the west coast of the
+North Island.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_69" id="Foot_69" href="#Ref_69">[69]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The words which Te Pehi is reported to have used were "Go Europe,
+see King Georgi." Dr. John Savage in his <i>Account of New Zealand</i>,
+refers to the apparent preference which the natives had for the word
+Europe over that of England. He says of a native whom he took to
+London with him, from the Bay of Islands: "I never could make
+Mayhanger pronounce the word England, therefore I was content to allow
+him to make use of Europe instead, which he pronounced without
+difficulty." Possibly Te Pehi experienced the same difficulty of
+pronunciation.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_70" id="Foot_70" href="#Ref_70">[70]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Maori became popular in the <i>Urania</i>, and at Monte Video
+plunged into the sea and rescued the drowning captain, who had fallen
+overboard (<i>Rusden</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_71" id="Foot_71" href="#Ref_71">[71]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Captain Reynolds was allowed a sum of £200 by the British
+Government as compensation for the trouble and expense to which he had
+been put by his enforced alliance with Te Pehi (see <i>N.Z. Historical
+Records</i>). The account of the chief's visit to England will be
+found in the volume of The <i>Library of Entertaining Knowledge</i> for
+1830.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_72" id="Foot_72" href="#Ref_72">[72]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+One of the migrations which took place about this time consisted
+of 140 Ngati-Raukawa men under the leadership of Nepia Taratoa. It is
+known in history as the <i>Heke Kariritahi</i>, from the fact that
+those warriors who were armed with muskets had hit upon the shrewd
+plan of enlarging the touch-holes of their guns, in order to save the
+time which otherwise would be occupied in priming. They were thus able
+to keep up a much more rapid fire upon the enemy. Te Whatanui came
+down with this <i>heke</i>, to consult further with Te Rauparaha, but
+finding him absent from Kapiti, he returned to Taupo to prepare for
+the migration of his own people.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_73" id="Foot_73" href="#Ref_73">[73]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+During the hearing by the Native Land Court in 1869 of the
+dispute which arose between the Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as
+to the right to sell the Rangitikei-Manawatu block of land to the
+Provincial Government of Wellington, Chief Judge Fenton remarked to
+Mr. Travers, who was appearing for Ngati-Raukawa, "The fact is, Mr.
+Travers, it appears to me that the flaw in your clients' title is that
+they did not kill and eat all these people."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_74" id="Foot_74" href="#Ref_74">[74]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+At times there were many whalers there&mdash;as many as a hundred&mdash;of
+various nations. Here they stayed while whales came near the coast:
+but when these ceased to come near the coast, the whalers went out on
+the ocean, and the ships which were full of oil went each to its own
+land, and Rauparaha went back to his people and home at Kapiti
+(<i>Ngati-Toa account</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_75" id="Foot_75" href="#Ref_75">[75]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Toheriri was prominent in the conspiracy of 1822 in connection
+with the gift of canoes. After that event, he, with his particular
+<i>hapu</i>, went to the Wairarapa for two years, and then returned to
+Papaitonga, where he was killed on this occasion, it is said, with
+great barbarity.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">{121}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER V</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE SOUTHERN RAIDS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+events just narrated have brought us in point of time to early in
+the year 1828, by which period Te Rauparaha was unquestionably master
+of the whole coast from Whanganui to Wellington. Not only was his
+supremacy indisputable in that he had completely silenced his enemies,
+but success had brought its natural result in the shape of numerous
+reinforcements, which had come from the shores of Taupo to share in
+his adventurous cause. Thus he was both free and able to give his
+undivided attention to the realisation of a dream which he had long
+cherished, and which he one day hoped to realise. This was no less
+ambitious a scheme than the invasion and conquest of the Middle
+Island, the forest-clad hills and snow-capped mountains of which were
+plainly discernible as he gazed wistfully across the broken waters of
+Raukawa (Cook's Strait). But it was not the scenic beauties of the
+island which attracted the keen eye of Te Rauparaha, for these alone
+would have no charm for him. His mind was cast in the material rather
+than in the æsthetic mould; his thoughts ran to practical rather than
+to artistic ends, and the real magnet which attracted him southward
+was the hope of possessing himself of the large store of greenstone
+which, according to report, the Ngai-Tahu people had collected at
+Kaikoura as the result of their periodical excursions to the west
+coast, where alone this valuable jade could be obtained.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_76" id="Ref_76" href="#Foot_76">[76]</a></span>
+Avarice and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">{122}</a></span>
+love of conquest were driving forces in his plans, but
+there was yet another motive operating to impel him
+onward. If the reader will recall the circumstances
+attending the battle of Waiorua, it will be remembered
+that the host which on that occasion invaded Kapiti had
+been collected from far and near. Some among them
+had even come from the tribe of Ngai-Tahu, which was
+then the most powerful branch of the Maori race occupying
+the Middle Island, of which they had dispossessed the
+Ngati-Mamoe some two hundred years before. One of
+the principal <i>pas</i> of these people in the northern end of
+the island was situated on a high cliff overlooking the bay
+of Kaikoura, which at this time was estimated to contain
+between three and four thousand souls, living under the
+direction of a chief named Rerewaka. When the fugitives
+from Kapiti reached their settlements on the Middle
+Island, and carried with them marvellous tales of Te
+Rauparaha's prowess in battle, these stories only tended
+to intensify the feelings of hatred and envy already
+cherished by the southern chiefs. Their impotent rage
+found expression in a vain and unfortunate boast made
+by Rerewaka, which supplied Te Rauparaha with the
+strongest of all incentives to a Maori raid&mdash;the desire for
+revenge. Rerewaka had not himself been present at the
+battle of Waiorua, otherwise he might have been more
+modest in his language towards the invincible Te Rauparaha.
+But he had had friends with the allies, and the
+chagrin felt at their annihilation, and the taunting song
+of triumph chanted by the victorious Ngati-Toa, in which
+the subjection of the Ngai-Tahu was hinted at, provoked
+him to declare in an unguarded moment that "if ever Te
+Rauparaha dared to set foot on his land, he would rip his
+belly open with a <i>niho mango</i>."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_77" id="Ref_77" href="#Foot_77">[77]</a></span>
+This oral indiscretion
+was overheard by a slave standing by, who shortly afterwards,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">{123}</a></span>
+making his escape, reported Rerewaka's boast to
+Rauparaha. The chief of the Ngati-Toa heard with placid
+countenance of his threatened fate, and in answer merely
+remarked, "So he has said," the apparent unconcern of
+his reply justifying the native proverb concerning him:
+"<i>Ko te uri o kapu manawa whiti</i>" (No one knew his
+thoughts, whether they were good or evil). He was really
+glad at heart of this further pretext for attacking and
+conquering the tribes of the Middle Island.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_78" id="Ref_78" href="#Foot_78">[78]</a></span>
+But while
+he had his mind bent upon revenge and his eyes fixed
+upon the treasure of greenstone, he was in no haste to
+put his design into execution. Leisurely action would
+enable him to mobilise his own forces, and serve to wrap
+his enemies in imagined security; and so for two
+years he waited patiently, keeping his warriors in fighting
+trim by repeated skirmishes with the shattered remnants
+of the Muaupoko and other northern tribes. But now
+his plans had fully matured, and by this time he had
+succeeded in gathering a large quantity of arms and
+ammunition from the Europeans, who, having learnt its
+advantages, were making Kapiti a frequent port of call
+and a place of some importance in the whaling industry.
+With these weapons he equipped his chosen men, who,
+when fighting with their native <i>meres</i>, were superior even
+to the best of the Ngai-Tahu or Rangitane, but, when
+armed with the more modern implements of the <i>pakeha</i>,
+became simply invincible. His fleet of canoes<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_79" id="Ref_79" href="#Foot_79">[79]</a></span> also had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">{124}</a></span>
+been strengthened by the captures he had made after the
+battle of Waiorua, so that he had ample accommodation
+for the three hundred and forty men who comprised his
+expeditionary force. With this force, the most perfectly
+equipped that he had yet commanded, Rauparaha crossed
+the Strait, making Rangitoto (D'Urville Island) his first
+place of call. Here he found a section of the Rangitane
+tribe, the descendants of the people whom Captain Cook
+had first met at Ship Cove, who had now become powerful
+in the sense of being numerous. But where the odds
+of skill and arms were against them, numbers only
+supplied more victims for the cannibal feast which
+followed the battle. Everywhere the islanders were
+defeated and put to rout, many of them being eaten on
+the spot, and as many more carried back to Kapiti, there
+to await the dictates of their captors' appetites. Or, if
+they were fortunate enough to have their lives spared, the
+reprieve only enhanced their misfortune by carrying
+slavery and degradation with it.</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha on this occasion swept like a withering blast over the whole
+of the northern portion of the Marlborough Province, neither the
+seclusion of the Pelorus Sound nor the inaccessibility of the Wairau
+and Awatere Valleys protecting the inhabitants from the rapacity of
+his warriors. Deflecting their course from D'Urville Island, they next
+proceeded to the point known in Maori legend as "Kupe's spear," but
+more recently styled Jackson's Head. Here a temporary division of
+their forces took place, the Ngati-Awa allies proceeding up Queen
+Charlotte Sound as far as Waitohi, the Pelorus Sound being the
+objective of Te Rauparaha. The tribe who occupied the shores of this
+great waterway was the Ngati-Kuia, an offshoot of Ngati-Apa, who were
+famed for their skill as fishermen, but who did little cultivation.
+Their principal <i>pa</i>, a semi-fortified village called Hikapu,
+stood at the junction of the Pelorus and Kenepuru reaches; and, when
+the fleet of northern canoes was seen sweeping up the Sound, the cry
+was raised "<i>Te Iwi hou&nbsp;e!</i>" (The newcomers! the new
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">{125}</a></span>
+people!) That their coming boded them no good,
+Ngati-Kuia knew, and those who could, disappeared into
+the forest, while those who could not stayed to fight
+for the <i>mana</i> of their tribe and the honour of their
+ancestral home. For them the battle was one against
+fearful odds; for, this being their first acquaintance with
+firearms, they were seized with panic, and the fight soon
+degenerated into a massacre. "What are those lights
+and the smoke we see at the village?" inquired a boy as
+he was being hurried through the bush by his fugitive
+father. "That," replied the sobbing parent&mdash;"that is
+Ngati-Toa burning your ancestors' and our houses."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_80" id="Ref_80" href="#Foot_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whatever hesitation Te Rauparaha may have had about raiding the Wairau
+during this campaign, was dispelled on its being reported to him that
+the Rangitane chief of the valley, Te Rua-Oneone, whose <i>pa</i>,
+called Kowhai, was situated near the mouth of the Wairau River, had
+heaped a curse upon his head, an insult which called for prompt and
+vigorous action. As yet the Wairau natives had had no experience of
+Rauparaha's qualities as a fighting chief. But they had heard rumours,
+and had listened to tales of his doings on the other island, which,
+although painted in glowing colours, had nevertheless been regarded
+with contempt by many of the leading chiefs. Amongst these incredulous
+persons was Te Rua-Oneone, who treated the matter so lightly as to
+remark that "Te Rauparaha's head would one day be beaten with a
+fern-root pounder." According to the Maori code, there was but one way
+of dealing with a scoffer who could speak so contemptuously of a
+chief; and therefore, when the natives of Pelorus, D'Urville Island,
+and Totaranui had been hopelessly beaten, the canoes were ordered to
+the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">{126}</a></span>
+Wairau, where the boastful Te Rua-Oneone had direct
+experience of what manner of man Te Rauparaha was.
+The fight, which took place on the land now enclosed
+within Bank Farm, was soon over, and could only have
+one result. The Rangitane were brave men, but their
+stone and wooden weapons were useless against the
+muskets of the Ngati-Toa. Te Rua-Oneone was captured
+and carried as a slave to Kapiti, where he had time and
+opportunity to reflect upon his defeat, which Rauparaha,
+with appropriate sarcasm, called <i>tuki tuki patu aruhe</i>,
+which signifies "beaten with a fern-root pounder."</p>
+
+<p>Nor was this merely a raid of bloodshed. Rauparaha sought territorial
+aggrandisement, and adopted the Roman principle of securing the fruits
+of his conquest by planting a colony of his tribe at every centre
+along the route of his victorious march. In each case the newcomers
+made slaves of the strong amongst the men and the beautiful amongst
+the women of the people whom they vanquished.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_81" id="Ref_81" href="#Foot_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No sooner had this shattering blow been delivered against the fortunes
+of Ngai-Tahu than Te Rauparaha gave his attention to a matter which
+from force of circumstances had been neglected for many months. At the
+earnest solicitation of Ngati-Raukawa, he now agreed to march against
+the Whanganui people, who, it will be remembered, were responsible for
+the destruction of one of the several Ngati-Raukawa migrations prior
+to the first visit to the South Island. A force which, it is said,
+numbered nearly a thousand fighting men, led by the most distinguished
+chiefs of the allied tribes, with Te Rauparaha in supreme command,
+proceeded up the coast and attacked the Putikiwharanui <i>pa</i>,
+which was defended by a garrison almost twice as numerous as the
+assailants. Though not protracted, the struggle was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">{127}</a></span>
+fierce. The defenders made many desperate sorties,
+fighting with great determination and affording a fine
+example of courage, during the two months over which
+the investment extended. The damage, however, which
+they were able to inflict had no effect in causing the
+forces of Te Rauparaha to relinquish their grip. After a
+spirited defence of eight weeks, the assailants succeeded
+in carrying the place by storm, and the inhabitants
+suffered so severely that they were never afterwards able
+to seek the satisfaction of retaliation.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_82" id="Ref_82" href="#Foot_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>While the Ngati-Toa were engaged in these minor operations, an event
+occurred which increased the <i>mana</i> of their chief amongst his
+own people and added considerably to his reputation abroad. This was
+the opportune arrival of his uncle and former comrade, Te Pehi Kupe,
+who, laden with the store of weapons which he had procured in Sydney,
+was brought back to New Zealand at this critical juncture in the
+history of the tribe.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_83" id="Ref_83" href="#Foot_83">[83]</a></span>
+The jubilation at such an event was
+necessarily great; not so much, perhaps, because of the wanderer's
+return, as because of what he had brought with him. There is at least
+no denying the fact that Te Pehi soon forgot what little of
+civilisation he had learned, except in so far as it enabled him to
+become a more destructive savage. He at once coalesced with his former
+leader; and with this valuable addition to his staff of councillors,
+and the enhancement of his munitions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">{128}</a></span>
+of war, Te Rauparaha felt more than equal to
+the task of carrying the battle to the gates of Kaikoura.</p>
+
+<p>Out of this extreme confidence grew a further development of the
+Ngati-Toa scheme of conquest. Their forces were now divided into two
+sections, the one proceeding to the great bays on the Nelson Coast,
+where they intended forcibly establishing themselves, while the
+remainder, under their old leader, aided by Te Pehi and a staff of
+other warriors, prepared to test the merits of Rerewaka's boast. It
+was a fateful day in the summer of 1829 when the canoes with three
+hundred men left D'Urville Island and turned their prows to the south.
+Although few in numbers compared with the enemy they were going to
+meet, they knew that the advantage of arms was with them, almost every
+man being provided with a musket. Moreover, they were full of the
+animation which is born of complete confidence in one's leader, and
+which, in this case, almost amounted to a superstition. No war party
+with Rauparaha at its head ever took failure into account, some of the
+warriors even going so far as to declare that "it was only necessary
+to strike the enemy with the handles of their paddles in order to
+secure a victory."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 400px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="kaiapoi" id="kaiapoi">
+  <img width="400" height="575" alt="kaiapoi" src="images/155-kaiapoi.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">THE TIKI, KAIAPOI.<br />
+                      Erected on the site of the old Kaiapoi Pa.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus, well-armed and confident, the Ngati-Toa proceeded down the
+coast, resting the first day at Cloudy Bay, and subsequently at
+various other points, and arriving off Kaikoura before dawn on the
+fourth day. Not knowing what the exact disposition of the enemy's
+forces might be, and not being disposed for risks, Rauparaha anchored
+his canoes under the shadow of the peninsula, and then waited for the
+light. In this decision his characteristic good fortune did not desert
+him. It so happened that the Kaikoura natives were at that very time
+expecting a visit from some of their tribesmen in the south; and, when
+the first glimmering of dawn revealed a fleet of canoes on the bay
+below, there being nothing to indicate the direction from which they
+had come, the unsuspecting Ngai-Tahu assumed that their anticipated
+visitors had arrived. The early risers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">{129}</a></span>
+in the <i>pa</i> set up the song of welcome&mdash;<i>Haere-mai,
+Haere-mai</i>&mdash;and soon the whole settlement throbbed
+with life and activity, indicative of the jubilant expectation
+of a reunion of friends. Whilst the elders busied
+themselves with preparations for the hospitable entertainment
+of the strangers, the younger people rushed,
+shouting gaily, down to the beach, to escort the guests
+back to the <i>pa</i>. The quick eye of Te Rauparaha at once
+saw the trap into which his enemy had fallen; and,
+elated at his amazing good fortune, he ordered the
+advance of the canoes, which, with a few sweeping
+strokes of the paddles, were driven swiftly across the
+intervening water. Before the unwary victims had
+recognised their mistake or recovered from their
+surprise, the Ngati-Toa warriors were amongst them,
+dealing death-blows on every hand. As might have
+been expected, the Ngai-Tahu, being totally unarmed
+and unprepared for the attack, were slaughtered without
+remorse or resistance, and, as their only safety lay in
+flight, they beat a breathless retreat towards the <i>pa</i>,
+where for a time the semblance of a stand was made.
+But the muskets of their assailants were now doing their
+work of death, while their ruthless charges increased the
+havoc. Before long Rerewaka was a prisoner, over a
+thousand of his people were slain, and his stronghold
+was in the hands of his most detested enemies.</p>
+
+<p>This decisive achievement was fully celebrated during the next ten
+days, with all the atrocities peculiar to cannibal feasts; and after
+the savage appetites of the victors had been surfeited with the flesh
+of their victims, and the nephritic treasures of the <i>pa</i> had
+been collected, the war party returned to Kapiti, carrying Rerewaka
+and four hundred additional prisoners with them, to be killed and
+eaten at the leisure of their conquerors. The majority of them in due
+course met this fate, Rerewaka himself being killed with especial
+marks of cruelty and indignity, because of the insulting nature of his
+language towards the Ngati-Toa chief.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_84" id="Ref_84" href="#Foot_84">[84]</a></span>
+In consideration of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">{130}</a></span>
+circumstances which led to this attack upon Kaikoura,
+the victory has ever since been known as <i>Niho Mango</i>,
+or "the battle of the shark's tooth."</p>
+
+<p>After the humiliation of Rerewaka and his people at Kaikoura,
+Rauparaha's greatest ambition was to pit himself in battle against
+that section of the Ngai-Tahu tribe who, under Tamaiharanui,
+Rongotara, and other powerful chiefs, held the strongly fortified
+<i>pa</i> at Kaiapohia. But before he had a reasonable excuse for
+picking a quarrel with the people of Kaiapoi, and so attacking them in
+a manner that would be strictly <i>tika</i>, or proper, he had another
+opportunity of returning to Kaikoura, to retrieve the dignity of
+himself and his friends. The cause of this second invasion, like the
+previous one, was somewhat remote; but, unlike it, it arose out of a
+superabundance of love rather than of hate. The offence complained of
+was not committed against Te Rauparaha, but against his nephew,
+Rangihaeata. Rangihaeata was at this time rapidly rising into fame as
+a daring and successful warrior, and his place in the tribe naturally
+demanded that much of his time should be given up to the business of
+war, with the result that his functions as the head of his household
+were much neglected. During one of these prolonged periods of absence,
+his <i>pa</i> at Porirua was visited by a chief of the Ngati-Ira (a
+branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu) tribe, named Kekerengu. According to
+tradition, this Kekerengu was a man of remarkable beauty of figure and
+grace of deportment. Tall and stalwart of frame, easy of carriage, and
+engaging in manner, his personal charm was still further enhanced in
+Maori estimation by a particularly artistic <i>moko</i>, or tattoo
+decoration. The introduction of this social lion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">{131}</a></span>
+into Rangihaeata's family circle was the cause of all the
+trouble. Kekerengu had so insinuated himself into the
+affections of the warrior's wives, that when Rangihaeata
+returned from the wars, the breath of scandal was busy
+with the proceedings of his family circle during his
+absence. The anger of the chief, on learning what had
+occurred, knew no bounds. Forthwith he sent the fiery
+cross from <i>pa</i> to <i>pa</i>, and in a short space of time a force
+sufficient for his purpose was enrolled. Te Rauparaha,
+to whom the scent of battle was sweet, at once espoused
+the cause of his injured relative, and together they set
+out in search of the destroyer of Te Rangihaeata's
+domestic happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Kekerengu knew that, as the result of his indiscreet conduct,
+retribution would in some form follow him; but, in order to delay the
+evil day, he judiciously took to his canoe, and with a few of his
+followers crossed the Strait and sought refuge amongst the Ngai-Tahu
+of Kaikoura.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_85" id="Ref_85" href="#Foot_85">[85]</a></span>
+Thither Te Rauparaha tracked him; but the inhabitants
+of the <i>pa</i> were not to be taken by surprise a second time.
+Knowing that they were no match for the force they saw approaching,
+they at once abandoned their settlement and flew down the coast,
+through the Amuri, towards Kaiapoi. But this escapade was not to stand
+between the Ngati-Toa and their revenge. When they arrived and found
+the <i>pa</i> empty, they at once decided to go in pursuit. The march
+was swift and forced, and the invaders soon fell in with the
+fugitives, as they were camped at the Omihi stream. Here the unhappy
+wretches were attacked and routed with great slaughter, the few who
+escaped death or capture flying in precipitate haste into the bush,
+through which they made their way to the minor settlements further
+south.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">{132}</a></span>
+Kekerengu's guilt<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_86" id="Ref_86" href="#Foot_86">[86]</a></span>
+was now expiated in his own blood
+and that of his hosts, and therefore Ngati-Toa might
+have returned to their homes fully satisfied with the
+results of their expedition. But the opportunity was so
+favourable for carrying out the long-cherished design of
+attacking Kaiapoi, that Te Pehi strenuously counselled
+going on. Te Rauparaha, it is said, was seized by some
+dark foreboding that Fate was trifling with him, and
+endeavoured to argue his lieutenant out of his warlike
+enthusiasm, but without avail. Te Pehi was bent upon
+storming Kaiapoi, and for once Te Rauparaha allowed
+himself to be overruled by his less cautious comrade.
+To facilitate the movements of the war party, which
+numbered about one hundred men, all encumbrances in
+the shape of prisoners were left in charge of a detachment
+at Omihi, and the canoes, which had been brought
+round from Kaikoura, were manned and taken as far
+down the coast as the Waipara River. There the force
+disembarked, and hauling the canoes beyond the reach
+of the tide, pushed on across the plains towards the
+southern stronghold.</p>
+
+<p>Kaiapoi was one of the oldest of the Ngai-Tahu <i>pas</i>, as it was
+admittedly one of their strongest fortresses. It had been built by Tu
+Rakautahi in 1700 A.D., at the close of the thirty years' war, which
+had resulted in the expulsion and the almost total annihilation of the
+Ngati-Mamoe people. Its position had been selected with some strategic
+skill, for it stood on a narrow tongue of land about five acres in
+extent, which ran out into the Tairutu lagoon, and was surrounded on
+three sides by the dark waters of that extensive swamp, which
+stretched for several miles to the north and the south. On the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">{133}</a></span>
+landward side it was protected by a wide and deep
+ditch, which in peaceful times was bridged over, while
+its double row of palisades, erected upon massive earthworks
+and surmounted by curiously carved figures
+representing gods and ancestors, rendered it so impregnable
+in the popular estimation that it was sometimes
+compared to "the inaccessible cliff of God," which
+none had dared to scale. The internal arrangements
+were in keeping with the importance of the <i>pa</i> as the
+social and military centre of the tribe. Its population
+was numerous, wealthy, and distinctly aristocratic, and
+therefore the domains of the <i>rangatiras</i> and the commonalty
+were well defined. The dwellings of the chiefs
+were large and commodious structures, "ornamented
+inside and out with carving and scroll work." There
+were storehouses for the man physical, shrines for the
+man spiritual, playing grounds for old and young, and
+a burial-place for both when their earthly sojourn was
+over. The commerce of the <i>pa</i> was conducted through
+three gates, two of which, Kaitangata and Hiaka-rere,
+faced the deep moat, and the third, Huirapa, the lagoon
+on the western side, being connected with the opposite
+shore by a light wooden footway. But with all its
+vaunted strength, the <i>pa</i> had, according to critics, a
+fatal weakness, in that, if subjected to a close investment,
+it was liable to have its food supply cut off owing
+to its semi-insularity. Its builder had been twitted with
+this supposed defect when he determined upon the site
+of his stronghold, and he silenced his critics more by
+his ready wit than by the soundness of his military
+judgment. For he said "<i>Kai</i>" must be "<i>poi</i>," or food
+must be swung to the spot. "Potted birds from the
+forests of Kaikoura, fish and mutton birds from the south,
+<i>kiore</i> and <i>weka</i> from the plains and the mountain ranges";
+and so down through the century or more which had
+passed since then it had been an essential part of the
+policy of those in authority at the <i>pa</i> to see that its
+commissariat was not neglected, and that its <i>whatas</i> were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">{134}</a></span>
+always full against the day when its gates might have
+to be barred to a troublesome enemy.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_87" id="Ref_87" href="#Foot_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such was the place which, in the opening months of 1829, the northern
+force marched to assault; but they had sadly misjudged the position if
+they imagined that they could take it by surprise. Ngai-Tahu had
+warning enough to enable them to gather their people within the
+palisades, to cut away their bridges, and to stand upon the alert at
+all the most vulnerable points. When, therefore, Te Rauparaha arrived
+under the walls of the <i>pa</i>, he adopted the most diplomatic
+course open to him, and made a virtue of necessity by feigning that he
+had come only with the most peaceful intent. His first care was to
+select a suitable site for his camp; he fixed it upon the
+south-western side of the lagoon, and there calmly sat down to await
+developments. Nor had he long to wait. Tamaiharanui, the high priest
+and leading chief of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, accompanied by a native
+named Hakitara, proceeded under commission from the people in the
+<i>pa</i> to inquire the purpose of so unexpected a visit. Hakitara
+was a Nga-Puhi native, having come originally from the northern
+portion of the Auckland Province. When Te Rauparaha had exchanged
+salutations with him and the venerable Tamaiharanui, he proceeded to
+furnish the explanation which they had come to seek. In the course of
+his oration he recited a <i>tau</i>, or war song, the idiom of which
+was more apparent to the Nga-Puhi than to his companion, who was less
+learned in northern lore. This battle chant conveyed a message to
+Hakitara
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">{135}</a></span>
+which was sinister and disturbing. The protestations
+of Te Rauparaha were most ardent in the direction of
+peace, and his declarations full of the promise of
+friendship; but the words of his song had been so
+suspiciously indicative of evil intent, that Hakitara felt
+it incumbent upon him to advise the immediate return
+of Tamaiharanui to the <i>pa</i>, while he himself remained
+in the Ngati-Toa camp to pick up what scraps of useful
+information might drop from the lips of incautious
+retainers. By dint of sedulous inquiry, particularly
+amongst the slaves, he gleaned enough to stimulate his
+suspicions, which were more than confirmed when he
+heard that the northerners had desecrated a newly made
+grave which they had passed on the march to the <i>pa</i>.
+Such an outrage to the dead of Ngai-Tahu was not the
+act of friends; and now the living witnesses of Te
+Rauparaha's hostility began to pour into Kaiapoi, viz.,
+the fugitives who had escaped from the slaughter at
+Omihi. For days they had wandered in the bush and
+in the by-paths of the open lands, hoping to evade the
+clutch of their pursuers; and when they arrived with
+their tale of terror, something more than fair words
+were needed to convince the inhabitants of the semi-beleaguered
+<i>pa</i> that Ngati-Toa had come so far south on
+a mission of peaceful commerce, and not of resentful
+war. Te Rauparaha, with his usual clarity of vision,
+saw the predicament in which the inopportune arrival
+of the fugitives had placed him, and promptly determined
+upon a desperate expedient, which, he hoped, would
+allay the dark suspicion which he hourly saw growing
+up around him, and which, if unchecked, would
+assuredly frustrate his enterprise. Not only did he
+feel it necessary to reiterate his assurances that nothing
+but a desire to trade for greenstone had brought him
+to Kaiapoi, but he did more. With a recklessness
+which only a critical situation could justify, he permitted
+his principal lieutenants&mdash;a liberty hitherto denied them&mdash;to
+freely enter the enemy's <i>pa</i>, and carry on, with
+well-simulated earnestness, negotiations for the exchange
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">{136}</a></span>
+of greenstone for their own ancient fire-arms and doubtful powder.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the first of the Ngati-Toa chiefs to avail himself of this
+permission was Te Pehi,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_88" id="Ref_88" href="#Foot_88">[88]</a></span>
+who, it will be remembered, had, with
+fatal enthusiasm, inspired the raid, and urged it upon an unwilling
+leader. Together with Pokaitara, Te Aratangata, Te Kohua, Te Hua Piko,
+and several other chiefs equally renowned in Ngati-Toa warfare, Te
+Pehi continued to visit and revisit the <i>pa</i> for several days,
+carrying on a brisk trade, and incidentally noting the interior
+arrangements of the fortress, its people, and the chances of its
+speedy capture. Meanwhile, the Ngai-Tahu agent in Te Rauparaha's camp
+was not idle, and not the least of Hakitara's successes was the fact
+that he had been able to ingratiate himself into the good opinion of
+Te Rauparaha. That astute personage, usually so keen a judge of
+character, was completely deceived by the clever Nga-Puhi, whom he had
+hopes of weaning from the Ngai-Tahu cause. To this end he presented
+him with one of the most attractive of his slaves, a lady named Te
+Aka, whose charms it was hoped would prove sufficiently strong to draw
+the Nga-Puhi warrior back to the north. But Te Rauparaha's cold
+calculations were soon set at naught by the warmth of a human heart.
+Te Aka was not a free woman. She was a slave, whose <i>pa</i> and
+whose people had been overrun and destroyed by the ruthless invader,
+and within her breast there burned the undying desire and hope for
+revenge. Therefore, when she and Hakitara came to understand each
+other, there was soon a joint wit at work to worst the man who fondly
+believed that the human passions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">{137}</a></span>
+were being harnessed to his political schemes. So confident
+was he that he would win Hakitara over, that he
+neglected even ordinary prudence in discussing his plans
+within his hearing. To such excess was this overconfidence
+carried, that one night he called his chiefs
+together to a council of war, which was held under
+the eaves of the <i>whare</i> which Hakitara occupied, where
+every word could be heard by the occupants. Here
+the whole scheme of the capture of Kaiapoi was discussed
+and decided upon; and so hopeful was Te
+Rauparaha of success, that he boastingly remarked to
+Te Rangihaeata, "Soon we shall have our <i>pa</i>." "Beware
+of the Nga-Puhi man," was Rangihaeata's whispered
+advice; but Rauparaha dismissed the warning by an
+impatient gesture and a petulant remark that nothing
+was to be feared from that quarter. Hakitara had,
+however, been greedily listening to all that had passed,
+and when the council broke up he was in possession
+of every detail of the tactics by which the <i>pa</i> was to
+be assaulted on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>As might be surmised, sleep came but fitfully to the faithful Hakitara
+that night, and just as the first silver ray of dawn was breaking in
+the east, he rose, and, wrapping himself in a large dog-skin mat,
+crept out of the hut into the grey morning, determined to warn his
+friends in the <i>pa</i>, if fortune did not desert him. The Maori
+system of warfare, though quaint in many respects, was practical
+enough to include the posting of sentries round the camps; and, even
+if they were not invariably vigilant, there was always the risk that
+one might happen to be watchful at an awkward moment. This fear
+haunted Hakitara as, with beating heart, he wormed his way between the
+huts and through the tufts of waving tussock grass. Tradition records
+that he was successful in eluding a direct challenge; and when he was
+well beyond the circuit of the sentries, he rose to his feet and ran
+with all his speed to the nearest gate of the <i>pa</i>. The gate was
+instantly opened to him, and in a hurried whisper he bade the keeper
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">{138}</a></span>
+summon the chiefs to a conference in a neighbouring
+house. When the warriors were assembled, he disclosed
+to them in hot, hurried words all that he knew of
+Ngati-Toa's intentions, which, in remembrance of a
+treaty negotiated only the previous day, could be regarded
+in no other light than as a shameless breach of faith.
+The council decided that they would not wait for the
+blow to fall upon them from outside, but would forestall
+the northerners in their own methods. They knew that
+some of the Ngati-Toa chiefs would, in keeping with
+the custom of the past few days, visit them again for
+the purpose of trade; and they were hopeful that, by
+a special effort, they might be able to induce the great
+Te Rauparaha himself to come within the gates. It
+was agreed that the chiefs, once within the walls, should
+be attacked and killed, and that then a sortie should be
+made upon the unsuspecting camp outside. Scarcely had
+this decision been arrived at, when Te Pehi and several
+of his fellow-chiefs entered the <i>pa</i> and began to mix
+with the populace, who were now busy preparing for the
+business of the day, and were in total ignorance of the
+decision of their leaders or the circumstances which had
+dictated it. There was thus no change in the demeanour
+of the people to excite uneasiness in the minds of Te
+Pehi and his friends. They, on the other hand, knowing
+that their plans were nearing fruition, and believing that
+the <i>pa</i> was virtually in the hollow of their hands, adopted
+a more insolent air, and were at no pains to conceal the
+contempt with which they regarded the rights of Ngai-Tahu
+property. Thus, Te Pehi boldly entered one of the
+houses, and seizing a large block of greenstone, attached
+to it a rope of flax, and proceeded to drag it towards the
+Hiaka-rere gate, evidently intending to carry it into the
+northern camp.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>pa</i> was now alive with men and women, for the day was well
+on, and the audacious cupidity of Te Pehi aroused both astonishment
+and anger. As he strode towards the gate, he had to pass a group of
+excited onlookers sitting in the <i>marae</i>, or open space which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">{139}</a></span>
+served the purpose of a sports ground. One of these,
+Moimoi, rose and challenged Te Pehi's right to purloin
+his greenstone in that unceremonious fashion. With
+scorn unspeakable, Te Pehi turned upon his interrogator,
+and in tones of bitter contempt inquired by what right
+he, a menial, dared to call in question the actions of
+a chief. "You of the crooked tattoo, what use would
+your ugly head be to me if I were to carry it back with
+me to Kapiti? It would be worth nothing towards
+the purchase of a musket. But," said he, turning to a
+stalwart native standing near by, "here is a man whose
+head would be worth the taking, but you with the worthless
+head, how dare you cavil at the actions of the great
+Te Pehi?" The slighting reference to the inartistic
+facial decoration of Moimoi was intended to be particularly
+insulting, for every native was wont to pride
+himself upon the completeness of his <i>moko</i>, and Te Pehi
+had good reason to regard himself as something of an
+authority upon this branch of Maori art, for his own
+tattoo was more than usually elaborate. But the most
+alarming portion of his taunt was his thinly-veiled
+reference to the sale of Moimoi's head. Every one knew
+that at this period a considerable traffic had sprung up
+in native heads,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_89" id="Ref_89" href="#Foot_89">[89]</a></span>
+which were preserved by a crude
+process and traded away to Europeans in exchange for
+muskets. Te Pehi's reference to the matter could, then,
+only be taken as an indication that during his visits
+to the <i>pa</i> he had lent his eye to business, and, in this
+connection, business meant the assault and sacking of
+the fortress. The full force of this indiscreet admission
+had flashed upon the astonished listeners; but, before
+they could reply, their attention was diverted from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">{140}</a></span>
+arrogance of Te Pehi by another incident which had
+occurred at the Hiaka-rere gate. Pokaitara, one of Te
+Rauparaha's most intrepid lieutenants, had approached
+this entrance, and was seeking admission to the <i>pa</i>,
+which was being denied him. Observing who the visitor
+was, Rongotara, the superior resident chief of Kaiapoi,
+ordered the keeper of the gate to admit him, exclaiming
+as he did so, "Welcome my younger brother's lord,"
+a reference to the fact that Rongotara's brother had
+been made a prisoner at Omihi by Pokaitara, and was
+at that moment in his keeping. The gate was immediately
+thrown open; but the Ngati-Toa had no sooner bent
+his head beneath the portal than Rongotara dealt him
+a crushing blow with his <i>miti</i>, or stone club, which he
+was carrying in his hand, and the lifeless body fell with
+a heavy thud to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>It was this opening episode in the Ngai-Tahu policy of checkmate which
+had suddenly diverted attention from Te Pehi. But the incident had
+been as visible to him as to those around him, and the moment he saw
+it, the critical nature of his own position dawned upon him, and,
+taking no further thought of the greenstone, he sprang with the
+agility of a tiger towards the south-western angle of the palisading,
+and commenced to scramble up the wall by clutching the vines which
+bound the upright posts together. His plunge for safety would probably
+have proved successful&mdash;for several shots which were fired at him flew
+wide of the mark&mdash;had not Tangatahara, a Ngai-Tahu warrior of great
+strength and personal courage, closed with him, and, pulling him to
+the ground, despatched him with a blow from his tomahawk.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_90" id="Ref_90" href="#Foot_90">[90]</a></span>
+The other northern chiefs who were in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">{141}</a></span>
+<i>pa</i> were apprised of the mêlée which was proceeding by
+the sound of the fire-arms discharged against Te Pehi,
+and were not slow to grasp the situation. Realising that
+they had been trapped, they knew that it would be of
+little use attempting to escape by the regular gateways,
+which were all securely guarded; and, with one exception,
+those who were free to do so flew to the walls,
+hoping to scale them, and so get safely to their camp.
+But they were for the most part either overpowered by
+numbers and tomahawked on the spot, or were shot
+while scrambling up the <i>aka</i> vines. The exception
+referred to was Te Aratangata, who happened to be at
+the northern end of the <i>pa</i>, and was at this juncture
+bargaining to secure a famous greenstone <i>mere</i> called by
+the Ngai-Tahu people "Te Rau-hikihiki." The moment
+he saw what was happening, he dashed toward the gate
+Huirapa, hoping to force his way past the guard, who,
+he supposed, could offer but feeble resistance to his own
+exceptional strength, courage, and skill.</p>
+
+<p>There is every reason to believe that Rongotara rather precipitated
+matters by killing Pokaitara at the gate, as it had been decided that
+an attempt should first be made to induce the great Te Rauparaha
+himself to enter the <i>pa</i>, in the hope of including him in the
+holocaust. Still, the plans of the Kaiapoi chiefs were sufficiently
+mature to meet the emergency when it suddenly arose; and so Te
+Aratangata discovered to his alarm that, although he was at the
+further end of the <i>pa</i> from that at which Te Pehi had been
+attacked, he was just as closely surrounded by enemies. When he
+started for the gate, he had virtually to fight every inch of the way.
+He had little difficulty in disposing of the first few who intercepted
+his path; but, as he drew nearer to the gate, his assailants
+increased, and before he had struggled on many yards he was attacked
+by over twenty persons armed with all manner of weapons. Against those
+who ventured at close quarters he valiantly defended himself with his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">{142}</a></span>
+<i>mere</i>, all the time pressing on towards the gate. A gun-shot
+wound temporarily checked his onward course, and he
+was soon further handicapped by several spear-thrusts,
+which left the spears dangling in the fleshy parts of his
+body, and from which he found it impossible to disengage
+himself, pressed as he was on every side. These
+difficulties perceptibly weakened his defence, but he was
+still able to fight on, keeping his opponents at bay by
+swift and desperate blows with his <i>mere</i>, which, up to
+this moment, had accounted for all who had ventured
+within his reach. The brave Ngati-Toa had now reached
+within a few paces of the gate, and may have even yet
+had dreams of escape, when the crowning disaster came
+in the breaking of his <i>mere</i>. A shot, which had been
+intended for his body, struck the greenstone blade, and
+shattered the faithful weapon into a hundred fragments,
+leaving only the butt in Aratangata's hand. Now utterly
+defenceless, weakened by his wounds, and hampered by
+the dragging spears, the undaunted chief turned upon
+his assailants, and, with his last strength, grappled with
+those who came within his reach. The unequal struggle
+could not, however, be long maintained. Emboldened
+by his helpless condition, his pursuers pressed in upon
+him with angry tumult, and he was borne to the ground
+by Te Koreke, who finished the deadly work with a
+succession of blows with his tomahawk upon the prostrate
+warrior's head and neck.</p>
+
+<p>So fell Te Aratangata, and so fell the flower of the Ngati-Toa tribe
+that day. In all, eight great chiefs<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_91" id="Ref_91" href="#Foot_91">[91]</a></span>
+were killed, who, by their
+heroism on the field and their sagacity in council, had materially
+aided Te Rauparaha in all his great achievements. They had added
+brilliancy to his battles, lustre to his victories, and had lent a wisdom
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">{143}</a></span>
+to his administration, whereby the fruits of his enterprise
+had not been wasted by internecine strife. So dire
+a tragedy as the death of the princes of his tribe was
+a great blow to Te Rauparaha. But it is doubtful
+whether the sacrifice of so much mental and physical
+fibre was more keenly felt by the Ngati-Toa chief than
+the loss of prestige and damage to his reputation, which
+he might reasonably apprehend from his being outwitted
+at his own game, and that, too, by a people whom he had
+hitherto despised as opponents. That they would turn
+upon him in what he chose to regard as an unprovoked
+attack was something which was not reckoned upon in
+his philosophy, for he had trusted to his blandishments to
+soothe away their suspicions, or to his great name and
+reputation to awe them into submission. And when the
+blow fell, and he saw his patiently laid plans tumbling
+about his ears, he received the result with mingled
+feelings of surprise, indignation, and something akin to
+dismay. In this frame of mind he deemed it expedient
+to anticipate any further unexpected eventualities by
+withdrawing his force and making good his retreat with
+as little delay as possible. Consequently his camp was
+at once broken up, and the little army made its dejected
+way across the plain to Double Corner, where the canoes
+had been left, and next day Te Rauparaha set sail for
+Omihi and Kapiti, having, as the result of his first raid
+upon Kaiapoi,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_92" id="Ref_92" href="#Foot_92">[92]</a></span>
+added neither greenstone to his treasure
+nor glory to his reputation as a warrior.</p>
+
+<p>For the better part of two years Te Rauparaha nursed his wrath against
+Ngai-Tahu, and spent the intervening time in devising schemes whereby
+he might secure a vengeance commensurate with the disgrace of his
+repulse and the death of his well-loved friends. One thing on which he
+had fully determined was that Ngai-Tahu should pay for their temerity
+with the purest of their blood, for he would take no plebeian in
+payment for so royal a soul as Te Pehi. His schemes were therefore
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">{144}</a></span>
+directed against the life of Tamaiharanui,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_93" id="Ref_93" href="#Foot_93">[93]</a></span>
+who has
+already been described as the embodiment of spiritual
+and temporal power in the southern tribe. He was the
+hereditary representative of all that stood for nobility
+amongst the sons of Tahu. His person was regarded as
+so sacred that the common people scarcely dared to look
+upon his face. He could only be addressed by his
+fellow-chiefs with the greatest deference and in the most
+reverential language; and if, while passing through the
+congested streets of a village, his shadow should fall upon
+a <i>whata</i> or a <i>rua</i>, the storehouse and its contents would
+be immediately destroyed, to prevent the sacrilege of a
+tribesman consuming food upon which even the shade of
+so sacred a personage had lighted. Indeed, so sanctified
+and ceremonious an individual was he, that his presence
+was sometimes oppressive to those who were not accustomed
+to live in an atmosphere of ritual; for the
+slightest disregard of what was due to one so endowed
+with the spirit of the gods might involve them at any
+moment in the loss of possessions, and even of life.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 535px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="gillett" id="gillett">
+  <img width="535" height="400" alt="gillett" src="images/173-gillett.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">GILLETT's WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842.<br />
+                      From a sketch by Gilfillan, by kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>To secure so eminent a scion of Ngai-Tahu aristocracy would be a
+trophy indeed; but Te Rauparaha knew that it was no ordinary task that
+he was contemplating. An attack upon regular lines might easily defeat
+its own purpose, for a chief so sacred to the tribe as Tamaiharanui
+would scarcely be permitted to sacrifice himself upon the field of
+battle, even if his own inclinations impelled him to lead his people,
+a point of personal courage by no means too well established.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_94" id="Ref_94" href="#Foot_94">[94]</a></span>
+Strategy must therefore be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">{145}</a></span>
+employed, and it must be strategy of the most delicate
+kind, for, in the naïve language of the younger Te
+Rauparaha, "the chief must be enticed, even as the
+<i>kaka</i> is enticed." For the scheme which was finally
+adopted it has been claimed that Te Rauparaha was not
+originally responsible, but that the idea was first conceived
+by a relative of his, named Hohepa Tama-i-hengia,
+who had been working on board a whaler in the southern
+latitudes, and heard the story of Te Pehi's death on the
+ship calling in at a bay on the coast of Otago. Hohepa,
+who, in his contact with the European, had lost none of
+that eternal thirst for revenge which marked the ancient
+Maori, at once besought the captain to employ his vessel
+in the capture of Tamaiharanui, promising a large reward
+from Te Rauparaha on his handing over the prisoner
+at Kapiti. The captain, however, was discouraged in the
+idea by the rest of the ship's company, who were eager
+to reach Queen Charlotte Sound, there to resume their
+whaling operations; and thus the execution of the
+brilliant suggestion had perforce to be suspended until
+the ingenious author of it himself reached Kapiti. There
+the daring plan was laid before the fighting chiefs of the
+tribe, who were readily convinced of its practicability.</p>
+
+<p>Their first overtures were made to Captain Briggs, whose ship, the
+<i>Dragon</i>, was then lying at Kapiti. This seaman has, with a
+frankness amounting to brutality, explained that he ultimately
+declined their proposals, not because the enterprise was repugnant to
+him, but because Te Rauparaha insisted upon taking more men with him
+than he deemed it prudent to carry in his ship. The manner in which
+the captain of the <i>Dragon</i> was approached was diplomatic in the
+extreme. The chiefs explained to him that Te Pehi had been to England,
+and that, as a mark of gratitude for his generous treatment there, he
+had always been the friend of the English. Tamaiharanui, on the other
+hand, had killed more white men than any other chief in New Zealand,
+from which fact they adroitly argued that they and Captain Briggs had
+a mutual interest in compassing his death. Briggs
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">{146}</a></span>
+seems to have been convinced that Tamaiharanui was a
+"monster," whose death would be a distinct benefit to
+society, and he unhesitatingly offered to take Te Rauparaha
+and two of his best men to Akaroa to effect the capture.
+Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko, however, stipulated for
+twenty men; but, as the cautious Briggs considered
+that "this would have given the chiefs more power in
+the vessel than he cared to part with," he declined further
+discussion. This rebuff delayed, but did not extinguish,
+the purpose of the chiefs. They still hoped that other
+captains would be more amenable to persuasion or more
+susceptible to reward. There was thus considerable
+excitement at Kapiti on a certain day towards the close
+of the year 1830, when a vessel was seen rounding the
+Taheke Point, and the cry of "A ship, a ship!" was raised
+from every corner of the settlement. Rauparaha immediately
+ordered out his canoe, and, putting off with
+Te Hiko and a full crew, boarded the stranger, which
+proved to be the British brig <i>Elizabeth</i> of 236 tons,
+commanded by Captain Stewart.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_95" id="Ref_95" href="#Foot_95">[95]</a></span>
+The chiefs were
+fortunate in the type of man with whom they had come
+to negotiate. Stewart was one of the semi-buccaneer
+breed, who, at this period, were all too common in these
+waters, and whose depredations have contributed so
+many of the ugly pages of our country's history. Nor
+was this case to be an exception. Before committing
+himself, however, Stewart took the precaution of consulting
+Captain Briggs, who advised him not to undertake
+to carry more natives on board than he could safely
+control. But this counsel<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_96" id="Ref_96" href="#Foot_96">[96]</a></span>
+was not followed, and a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">{147}</a></span>
+bargain was eventually struck, whereby it was agreed
+that the captain was to carry the chiefs and their party to
+Whanga-roa (now Akaroa) Harbour in Banks's Peninsula,
+in consideration for which he was to receive fifty tons
+of dressed flax&mdash;valued roughly at £1,200&mdash;immediately
+upon his return to Kapiti. The conclusion of this contract
+gave intense satisfaction to the chiefs, and according
+to his son, "the heart of Te Rauparaha lived in joy."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the apologists for Captain Stewart have endeavoured to show
+that he was not made fully aware of the real intentions of the chiefs,
+and that, when the savage purpose of the voyage was borne in upon him,
+he was then powerless to avert the tragic scenes which were afterwards
+enacted. It has been further urged in extenuation of his crime that,
+when he arrived on the coast of New Zealand, he discovered to his
+dismay that his cargo was totally unsuitable to excite trade with the
+natives, and that he was, therefore, constrained, in the interests of
+his employers, to accept a charter against which there was no law, and
+which promised a rich and speedy remuneration. What measure of truth
+there may be in the former defence it is now difficult to determine.
+It is possible that events developed in a manner and to an extent that
+had not been contemplated by Stewart; but it must be remembered that
+he had discussed with due deliberation the whole project with his
+friend Captain Briggs, and that, if he afterwards found himself
+powerless to control the passions of his charterers, the blame was
+entirely his own for disdaining the advice of his fellow captain
+regarding a limitation of numbers. As to the unmarketable nature of
+his cargo, that specious plea is flatly disproved by the ship's
+manifest. So far from the goods carried being unsuitable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">{148}</a></span>
+for trade, there was scarcely anything brought in the
+<i>Elizabeth</i> for which the natives were not eagerly
+craving. Indeed, there is no room to doubt that, had
+Captain Stewart chosen to confine himself to legitimate
+commerce, he could have easily bartered his guns and
+his powder, his flints and his tobacco, for a cargo which
+would have given his employers an adequate return,
+without requiring his zeal in their behalf to outrage the
+feelings of humanity. Similarly, it is scarcely to be
+supposed that Stewart's knowledge of the law was so
+wide that he was aware there was no statutory decree
+prohibiting his entering into this unholy compact. He
+was clearly just as indifferent to its moral aspect as he
+was unaware of its legal bearing. Otherwise he would
+have known that, viewed from this standpoint, there
+was no distinction between a crime committed against
+a savage and that perpetrated upon a civilised being.
+The absence of any law regulating the conduct of individuals
+placed in such circumstances is no palliation
+for the outrage which he committed; and, so far from
+his being unwittingly led into an error of judgment,
+his treatment of Tamaiharanui after his capture dispels
+any supposition that he had repented of his bargain,
+or that he was in the least degree revolted by the excesses
+of the natives. Having regard to these facts, the impression
+conveyed by a study of the general character of
+the man, as revealed by his actions, is, that the purpose
+of the voyage would not have caused him much scruple,
+so long as the reward was ample and easily obtained.
+Howbeit, a few days after the bargain was struck, he
+received on board his vessel Te Rauparaha and one
+hundred and seventy of his followers, accompanied by
+five of his remaining lieutenants&mdash;Te Rangihaeata, Te
+Hiko, Tungia, and Tama-i-hengia, and on October 29th
+set sail for Banks's Peninsula.</p>
+
+<p>The voyage appears to have been propitious enough, for, in due course,
+the vessel arrived at Whanga-roa Harbour, on the shores of which then
+stood the Takapuneke <i>pa</i>, and now nestles the sequestered town of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">{149}</a></span>
+Akaroa.<span class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_97" id="Ref_97" href="#Foot_97">[97]</a></span>
+The coming of a ship was an event much
+more rare at Akaroa than it was at Kapiti, and, consequently,
+the natives of the <i>pa</i> were stirred to the
+highest pitch of excitement, and desired to enter into
+immediate trade with the vessel, which they misjudged
+to be an honest whaler.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_98" id="Ref_98" href="#Foot_98">[98]</a></span>
+Meanwhile Te Rauparaha had
+carefully concealed all his men beneath the hatches,
+and enjoined upon them the strictest seclusion; for
+the success of his scheme altogether depended upon
+the concealment of the fact that a force of natives was
+on board. Acting under instructions from the chief,
+Captain Stewart, through his interpreter, forbade any
+of the resident natives to board the <i>Elizabeth</i> until
+Tamaiharanui had returned; for it so happened that,
+at the time of the brig's arrival at Akaroa, that chief
+was absent from his <i>pa</i>, superintending the preparation
+of a cargo of flax which he had sold to an English
+captain. A message was accordingly despatched to
+Wairewa, urging him to come and see a <i>pakeha</i> who
+was eager to trade. It was not, however, till the eighth
+day that Tama arrived, and, during all that time, the
+Ngati-Toa warriors had been cooped up under the
+hatches, being permitted only a few minutes on deck
+under the cover of darkness. These precautions prevented
+any suspicion reaching the shore; and yet some
+doubt seems to have lurked in the minds of the resident
+people, for they eagerly inquired of Cowell, the interpreter,
+whether there were any natives on board, and
+were put off with the laughing assurance that such was
+impossible, as the vessel had just come down from
+Sydney. This statement was seemingly fair enough;
+but, if Sydney was the last port of call, how came those
+<i>hutiwai</i> burrs clinging to the clothes of some of the crew,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">{150}</a></span>
+which a keen-eyed native had just espied? <i>Hutiwai</i> burrs
+do not grow in Sydney, nor upon the broad ocean.
+Then the lie that came handiest was that on the way
+down they had called at the Bay of Islands, and the
+sailors had probably picked up the burrs while carousing
+on shore. The evasion, however palpable, was at least
+successful in silencing the doubts which were just growing
+to dangerous proportions in the minds of Tamaiharanui's
+people, and the incident had no influence in
+cooling their ardour for trade, for further messengers
+were shortly afterwards despatched to hasten their chief's
+coming. When Tamaiharanui came, he brought with
+him his wife, Te Whe, his sister, and his little daughter
+Ngaroimata,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_99" id="Ref_99" href="#Foot_99">[99]</a></span>
+a name full of pathetic suggestion. He
+was cordially welcomed by the captain, who invited
+him to his cabin below with every show of courtesy
+and hospitality. But no sooner was the chief seated
+than the door opened, and, to his intense amazement,
+his mortal enemies, Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,
+stood before him. To overpower and bind him was
+the work of but a few moments, and then the Ngati-Toa
+let loose upon him the full flood of their invective,
+taunting him in bitter scorn with his infantile simplicity
+in falling so easily into their trap. Te Hiko added insult
+to injury by advancing and drawing back the captive's
+upper lip, sneeringly remarking, "So these are the teeth
+which ate my father."</p>
+
+<p>In all innocence of what was passing within the cabin, the followers
+of Tamaiharanui swarmed round the ship's side in their canoes,
+clamouring for admission, so that they might trade for the needful
+guns and casks of powder. This permission was granted to a few at a
+time, who, immediately they reached the deck, were conducted by the
+crew to the open hatchway and promptly shoved headlong into the hold,
+where they were secured by Te Rauparaha's men and made prisoners as
+easily and as simply as their chief had been. The failure of these
+people to return to the shore evidently did not excite
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">{151}</a></span>
+any uneasiness. It was no uncommon thing for natives
+visiting a ship in the offing to remain for several days,
+or even longer, if their presence could be tolerated.
+Events were thus playing into the hands of Te Rauparaha
+more effectually even than he might have reasonably
+expected; and so, on the evening of the second
+day after the capture of Tamaiharanui, having secured
+all the visitors to the ship, he was now in a position
+to deal with those who had remained on land. Boats
+were accordingly got out some hours after nightfall,
+and a strong and well-armed party was sent ashore to
+attack the Takapuneke <i>pa</i>. Ngai-Tahu accounts of this
+fight would have us believe that an heroic resistance
+was offered to a cyclonic assault; but the circumstances
+render such an account most improbable. The place
+was not a fighting <i>pa</i>, and for the purposes of war
+was practically defenceless. The people, too, were
+awakened from their sleep by the tumult of the attack,
+and, shorn as they were of their leaders and their
+warriors, there was little hope of any organised defence
+being made. The attack therefore became a rout, and
+the rout a massacre; and before morning broke the
+people of Akaroa were either helpless captives, bound
+in the evil-smelling hold of a ship, fugitives flying for
+dear life, or lying dead amongst the smoking ruins of
+their ancestral home.</p>
+
+<p>Having achieved a complete success, Te Rauparaha collected a quantity
+of human flesh for consumption on the voyage, and set sail for Kapiti,
+where the final scene in the tragedy was to be enacted. Tamaiharanui
+and his family were housed in one of the fore cabins, and apparently
+some degree of liberty was permitted him, for on the first night out
+from Akaroa,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_100" id="Ref_100" href="#Foot_100">[100]</a></span>
+he, after consultation with his wife, seized a
+favourable opportunity to strangle his little daughter as she lay
+asleep, and afterwards cast the lifeless body into the sea. This
+extreme course he justified to his conscience as averting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">{152}</a></span>
+the eternal disgrace of her ever becoming the wife of
+one of his enemies. His unnatural action, however, had
+the effect of rousing the fury of his captors.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_101" id="Ref_101" href="#Foot_101">[101]</a></span>
+Fearing
+that his next step would be to take his own life, and
+so deprive them of the legitimate fruits of their mission,
+they took immediate and adequate precautions by pinioning
+him fast in a position which caused him exquisite
+torture, and his sufferings they watched with intense
+delight. On the voyage northward high revels were
+kept by the natives, who, if the interpreter's testimony
+is to be credited, were even permitted to cook the flesh
+of their victims in the ship's coppers, without protest
+from the captain or any of his equally degenerate crew.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the arrival of the <i>Elizabeth</i> at Kapiti, on the 11th of
+November, the <i>pas</i> were almost deserted, the majority of the
+people being absent in the swamps and on the hill-sides, preparing the
+flax which was to be Captain Stewart's payment. The news, however,
+soon spread that the great Ngai-Tahu chief was a captive on board, and
+crowds came flocking from the mainland to verify the reported triumph
+of their leader. The major part of the prisoners were landed on the
+12th of November, and the natives now expected that Tamaiharanui would
+also be handed over to them at once, to be disposed of in their own
+fashion. But on this point Captain Stewart was obdurate, for he
+probably saw but little prospect of securing his flax if once the
+prisoner passed beyond his keeping. He therefore resisted the tribe's
+demands for this species of <i>habeas corpus</i>, and detained the
+chief, heaping upon him the additional pain and ignominy of keeping
+him in irons until he could be redeemed by the fulfilment of Te
+Rauparaha's promise. Either this was no simple matter,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">{153}</a></span>
+or, more likely still, his followers, having to some extent
+satisfied their craving for excitement and revenge, relaxed
+their efforts in the fields, preferring to discuss in the
+<i>kaingas</i> the strange adventures of their comrades at
+Akaroa. From whatever cause, there was a distinct
+failure on their part to complete the contract. Day after
+day went past, and still a residue of the flax was wanting.
+At the end of six weeks, Captain Stewart was persuaded
+that it was hopeless to wait longer, and, probably wishing
+himself well out of the whole business, he handed
+Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha, and made his
+course with all speed to Sydney, arriving on January 14,
+1831.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_102" id="Ref_102" href="#Foot_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The prisoner was taken on shore in Rauparaha's canoe, and, at a great
+feast held in honour of the occasion, was surrendered to the wives of
+Te Pehi to do with him as they pleased. A final appeal for life was
+made to his captor by Tama; but Te Rauparaha took high ground, and
+replied that if it was a matter that rested with himself, he would
+most certainly spare him, but the death of Te Pehi was a calamity
+which affected the whole tribe of Ngati-Toa, and hence the final
+decision must rest with them. About the precise time and mode<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_103" id="Ref_103" href="#Foot_103">[103]</a></span>
+of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">{154}</a></span>
+unfortunate chief's death there is much doubt, for
+scarcely any two accounts agree, except in the central
+fact that Tamaiharanui subsequently met his fate at the
+hands of Tiaia, Te Pehi's principal widow. The most
+favourable view of this lady's conduct in revenging the
+death of her lamented husband is given us by her own
+tribe, who have averred that "on landing, the chief was
+given up to the widow of Te Pehi, who took him and
+his wife to her own house, giving up half to their use.
+They talked like friends to each other, and the widow
+behaved so kindly to him, that a stranger would have
+taken them for man and wife, rather than a doomed
+captive and his implacable enemy. She used even to
+clothe him in her finest garments and deck his head
+with choice feathers. This continued for about two
+weeks, until she had assembled her friends, or thought
+her victim sufficiently fat to kill.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_104" id="Ref_104" href="#Foot_104">[104]</a></span>
+She then suddenly
+caused him to be seized and bound, with his arms
+stretched to a tree, and whilst he was in this position
+she took a long iron spear, with which she stabbed him
+in the jugular artery, and drank his warm blood as it
+gushed forth."</p>
+
+<p>Harrowing as this spectacle must have been, and awful as it is to
+contemplate, it must be remembered that the manner of Tamaiharanui's
+death was not more savage
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">{155}</a></span>
+than that of many another leader of men, perpetrated in
+Christian countries and in the name of a higher cause.
+By the Maori code the death of the Akaroa chief was not
+only justified, but necessary to appease the spirit of the
+departed Te Pehi, and the more humiliating his death,
+the more adequate the compensation to the dead.
+A student<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_105" id="Ref_105" href="#Foot_105">[105]</a></span>
+of Maori life and character, than whom
+perhaps none have had better opportunities of mastering
+Ngai-Tahu history, and who, from his calling, could
+scarcely be accused of callousness towards Tamaiharanui's
+sufferings, has given it as his mature opinion
+that, "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 Ngati-Toa was little more than a repetition
+of the cruelties which he had himself inflicted upon
+members of his own tribe." Possibly the knowledge
+that he would not have acted differently himself assisted
+the unhappy captive to resign himself to his fate. For,
+although he has been described as both cruel and
+cowardly, by one whose verdict it is not easy to
+challenge, this much must be laid to his credit: that
+neither the mental nor the physical torture invented
+for him by his barbarous enemies was sufficient to
+break down his rugged fortitude or to tame his defiant
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>When the <i>Elizabeth</i> reached Sydney, the circumstances attending
+the death of the Akaroa chief were reported to Governor Darling by Mr.
+Gordon Browne, and the Governor, with commendable promptitude, ordered
+the arrest of Stewart and proceeded to put him on his trial. The
+depositions were referred to the Crown Solicitor on February 17, but
+that official expressed doubts as to the statutory power of the colony
+to bring the offender to justice, it not being clear whether offences
+committed in New Zealand against New Zealanders were punishable under
+the laws of New
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">{156}</a></span>
+South Wales.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_106" id="Ref_106" href="#Foot_106">[106]</a></span>
+Darling was in no way disconcerted by
+this legal difficulty, but urged with some vehemence
+that the point should be tested, holding that it was
+"a case in which the character of the nation was
+implicated, and that every possible exertion should be
+used to bring the offenders to justice." Stewart retained
+Dr. Wardell, a lawyer eminent in his day, for his defence,
+and while the officers of the Crown were seeking to
+make good their ground, the delay was utilised to spirit
+away the witnesses whose testimony might be fatal to
+Stewart. Meanwhile, the <i>Elizabeth</i> was allowed to put
+to sea under another captain, and Stewart was held
+on bail, notwithstanding the strenuous protests of his
+counsel. With the witnesses out of the way, Dr. Wardell
+became more confident, and boldly demanded the release
+of his client. But the Governor could not but be
+influenced by the prayer of the more honourably
+disposed white residents of New Zealand, who expressed
+the fear that their "lives would be made answerable for
+the proceedings of their countrymen," or by the touching
+appeal of the natives, who came personally to plead
+that speedy steps might be taken by England to put a
+curb upon the unbridled behaviour of her degenerate
+sons. The curb which Darling proposed to apply was to
+appoint a resident representative of the colony in New
+Zealand, and he suggested to the Secretary of State for
+the Colonies that Captain Sturt<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_107" id="Ref_107" href="#Foot_107">[107]</a></span>
+should be employed in
+this capacity. The carrying out of this scheme was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">{157}</a></span>
+delayed by the recall of the Governor, and the appointment
+of Sir Richard Bourke as his successor, to whom
+Darling deemed it prudent to leave the initiation of a
+system which it would be his lot to administer.</p>
+
+<p>All this time justice was tardily picking her way amongst the
+complicated meshes of the law, and it was not until the 21st of May
+that Stewart was called upon to face his trial. Even then the Crown
+Solicitor was not prepared to proceed upon the main indictment, but
+sought to get a conviction upon a minor offence, to which course Dr.
+Wardell took the strongest exception, and warmly demanded the
+discharge of Stewart's recognisances. The Crown justified its action
+on the ground that its witnesses were not forthcoming, for great
+remissness had been shown in letting them depart; and, notwithstanding
+Dr. Wardell's protest that it was unfair "to hold Stewart to bail in a
+sum of £2,000 for an indefinite period," the Chief Justice decided to
+adjourn the matter, and allow it to come up for consideration on a
+future day. When that day arrived, the Crown Solicitor was still
+unready, and applied for leave to abandon the charge of misdemeanour,
+and proceed upon the main information so soon as his witnesses were
+available. But his witnesses were the same intangible quantity that
+they had been ever since they had first vanished, and there was not
+the remotest prospect of their appearing. Dr. Wardell knew this, and
+bantered his learned friend upon his unfortunate predicament, in which
+he was compelled to "skip from a charge of murder to a misdemeanour,
+and then to murder back again." He earnestly pleaded the hardship
+imposed upon Stewart by these delays, for which he was in no way
+responsible, and claimed either instant dismissal or immediate trial
+for his client, who, he believed, or affected to believe, was the
+unhappy victim of circumstances.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_108" id="Ref_108" href="#Foot_108">[108]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">{158}</a></span>
+To all this the Crown might have justly retorted that
+the disability placed upon Stewart was gentleness itself
+compared with his own conduct towards his fettered
+captive. Possibly this view was influencing the Court,
+for it still refused to take the responsibility at that stage
+of discharging the prisoner, but appointed the 20th June
+as the day on which Dr. Wardell might make application
+for the discharge of Stewart's recognisances. But when,
+after further adjournments, that application was argued
+on June 30th, the Crown was unable to convince the
+Court that the accused man should be indefinitely
+detained, and the Bench, reluctantly, no doubt,
+announced that he must be "discharged on his own
+recognisances in the sum of £1,000." So ended
+Governor Darling's sincere endeavour to make national
+reparation for one of the blackest crimes which have ever
+dishonoured the relations of the white man with the
+Maori, a deed which must be counted dark even at a
+time when the spirit of humanity seemed to slumber.
+Whatever palliation the apologist may find for the rough
+sea captain, whose occupation and environment were
+not conducive to the gentler qualities, it is not to the
+credit of a civilised community that its public opinion
+was apathetic in the presence of such an atrocity as
+that in which Captain Stewart had steeped his hands.
+It is to be feared that the Governor failed to receive
+the support from his officers, or from the community,
+which a jealousy for the national honour might have
+demanded;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_109" id="Ref_109" href="#Foot_109">[109]</a></span>
+while it is equally true that active sympathy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">{159}</a></span>
+with Stewart was largely responsible for the ease with
+which the witnesses were got out of the way. It was,
+perhaps, due to the fact that he was never brought to
+trial, rather than to any other cause, that no jury of
+Sydneyites acquitted Stewart.</p>
+
+<p>The tidings of Te Rauparaha's successes in the south were rapidly
+filtering to the ears of his friends in the north, by the agency of
+the devoted messengers who were repeatedly travelling backwards to
+their old home. With each fresh tale of victory told by ardent tongues
+to wondering ears, some new hope or ambition was awakened in the
+breast of the Ngati-Raukawa who still lingered in their settlements
+round Lake Taupo. Apart from the larger migrations which from time to
+time came down to join Te Rauparaha, less important bands were
+continually being attracted by the glory of Ngati-Toa's splendid
+achievements. Many of these soldiers of fortune reached Otaki and
+Kapiti with little adventure; for there was no inclination on the part
+of the subdued remnant of the Ngati-Apa to risk a conflict with these
+fiery spirits as they pushed across the ferny hills of Rangitikei. But
+one small company, travelling further to the northward than was
+customary, came into conflict with, and met disaster at the hands of,
+the Whanganui people, who secured the momentary advantage of a
+victory. From out of this defeat, two young men, Te Puke and his
+brother, Te Ao, succeeded in making their way to Kapiti, where the
+story of their misfortune made a deep impression upon chiefs and
+people alike. But matters more urgent and nearer home were pressing in
+upon the chief, and because of lack of opportunity, rather than of
+desire, the day of reckoning with Whanganui must be indefinitely
+postponed.</p>
+
+<p>The business which thus preoccupied the mind of Te Rauparaha was the
+need of adjusting the differences and unravelling the complications,
+which were daily accumulating, as the result of accretions to his
+forces. With the arrival of every new contingent of warriors,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">{160}</a></span>
+provision had to be made for their immediate entertainment,
+and for their ultimate settlement on the land, in
+order to leave them comfortable and contented. This
+their mutual jealousies made somewhat difficult, and no
+small measure of diplomacy was needed to avert civil
+ruptures, such as afterwards threatened to destroy all
+that unity and unquestioning devotion to his authority
+had accomplished. Though there was this simmering
+of discontent between the men of Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa, fortunately for Te Rauparaha no crisis
+occurred, and any ill-feeling that might lead to such
+an event was soon forgotten in the thrilling announcement
+that another attempt was about to be made to
+capture the great <i>pa</i> at Kaiapoi. This decision was, we
+are led to understand, arrived at somewhat hurriedly,
+and was largely accelerated because of a vision seen by
+a hoary seer of the tribe, who had interpreted the
+manifestation as a mandate to go forward to the attack.
+His <i>mata</i>, or prophecy, has been preserved amongst
+the oral treasures of Ngati-Toa, and has been freely
+translated as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"What is the wind?</span>
+<span class="i2">It is north-east, it is south.</span>
+<span class="i2">It is east in the offing, oh!</span>
+<span class="i2">Come then, O Raha!</span>
+<span class="i2">That you may see the fire</span>
+<span class="i2">On the crimson flat of Kaiapohia.</span>
+<span class="i2">By the prow of the canoe,</span>
+<span class="i2">By the handle of the paddle,</span>
+<span class="i2">The hold of the canoe of Maui</span>
+<span class="i2">May be overturned to cover it.</span>
+<span class="i2">Then pound, pound the sea!</span>
+<span class="i2">And stir it with your paddles.</span>
+<span class="i2">Behold my flock of curlews</span>
+<span class="i2">Hovering over the backwater</span>
+<span class="i2">Of that Waipara there.</span>
+<span class="i2">The fight will be on the other side;</span>
+<span class="i2">Embrace it, get closer and closer.</span>
+<span class="i2">Fierce will rage the fight."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent">It might be supposed that, with the capture and death
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">{161}</a></span>
+of Tamaiharanui, and all the carnage that had followed
+upon the Akaroa raid, Te Rauparaha would have felt
+that he had taken sufficient vengeance upon Ngai-Tahu
+for the slaying of Te Pehi and his comrades in arms.
+We are, however, assured by an authority deeply versed
+in the intricacies of Maori etiquette that no such limit
+was placed upon his actions, and that, so far from his
+proposal to again attack Kaiapoi being anything but
+strictly "correct," no alternative course would have
+adequately met the exigencies of the case. No sooner,
+therefore, was the chief's decision to obey the <i>tohunga's</i> call
+to arms publicly proclaimed, than preparatory measures
+on an exceptional scale were commenced with alacrity
+and enthusiasm. There was to be no trifling with the
+occasion, which, it was generally understood, would be
+pregnant with the fate of tribes; for Te Rauparaha
+had determined that as the result of this priest-ordained
+raid either Ngati-Toa or Ngai-Tahu would be for ever
+humbled in the dust. The force to be raised was to
+consist of seven hundred and fifty warriors, and only the
+pick of the men were to be taken&mdash;the Ngati-Toa, the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa tribes contributing their
+quota in nearly equal proportions. The traffic in arms
+and ammunition had now become so lucrative at Kapiti
+that there was no difficulty in arming every man with
+a musket more or less serviceable. Food was also
+abundant, for so rich had been the harvest of captives
+that at this time, it is said, Te Rauparaha had upwards
+of two thousand slaves constantly employed in planting
+or reaping the crops, which grew abundantly on the
+alluvial flats along the mainland coast. The question
+of transport presented greater difficulty. The conveyance
+of so large a force across the rough waters of Cook
+Strait was a serious problem, as there was no adequate
+supply of canoes for the purpose. This perplexity was,
+however, solved by the decision to transport the force
+in sections. The first division was to be landed at the
+Wairau, with instructions to march over the inland track,
+which led through the wild and picturesque Wairau
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">{162}</a></span>
+Gorge, and over the Hanmer Plains, to a rendezvous
+appointed for them at the mouth of the Waipara River.
+While this detour was being made purely in the interests
+of adventure, the remainder of the warriors were to
+embark at Kapiti, and make their way by slow stages
+down the coast, until they should unite with the inland
+party at the Waipara. Here the canoes were to be
+beached, and the whole force was then to march rapidly
+upon the doomed <i>pa</i>, in the hope of surprising the
+inhabitants and carrying the fortress by one swift and
+resolute stroke.</p>
+
+<p>So soon as the summer of 1831 was sufficiently advanced,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_110" id="Ref_110" href="#Foot_110">[110]</a></span>
+these
+plans were put into execution, and, as far as is known, were carried
+out with admirable precision. The two sections of the allied forces
+met at the appointed place, and, with as little delay as was
+permissible, set off in good order across the plain. But their
+movements had not been so secretly conducted as could have been
+wished; for the fleet of canoes had been espied coming down the coast,
+and a breathless messenger had carried the startling intelligence to
+the people in the <i>pa</i>. The first impulse of the latter was to
+gather all the people in from the fields and out-stations, and then to
+consult the patron deity of the tribe, and endeavour to ascertain by a
+process of revelation what the issue of the invasion was to be. The
+Rev. Canon Stack has left on record a description of the elaborate but
+idolatrous ceremonial by which the movements of a wooden image,
+dangled in the hands of a shrieking priest, were to reveal the future.
+The consultation of the <i>atua</i> was most piously performed at a
+spot outside the <i>pa</i>, consecrated for the purpose of this and
+similar religious rites. There the prescribed questions were put to
+the nodding image, in the presence of a trembling people, and the
+answer, as read by the priests, was that there was to be one defeat.
+This prophecy they immediately interpreted as foretelling the ultimate
+repulse and humiliation of the approaching
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">{163}</a></span>
+enemy. So satisfactory a termination to the toro was received
+with much congratulation, and served instantly to
+revive the drooping spirits of the people, who returned in
+jubilant procession to the <i>pa</i>. But the gates were scarcely
+closed before the muskets of Te Rauparaha's men were
+heard snapping in the distance, as they kept up a running
+fire upon some belated stragglers.</p>
+
+<p>That the <i>pa</i> was surprised is now a matter of history, but
+fortunately for its slender garrison, Te Rauparaha did not realise how
+hopelessly unprepared they were. During the year or more which had
+elapsed since his raid upon Akaroa, the people of Kaiapoi had been
+deeply immersed in the endeavour to cultivate a trade with the
+itinerant whalers who paid their fitful visits to Whangaraupo<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_111" id="Ref_111" href="#Foot_111">[111]</a></span>
+and
+other parts of Banks's Peninsula. In their anxiety to make the utmost
+of these infrequent opportunities, they had lost sight of the
+probability of another attack upon their settlement, and this unwary
+attitude had been encouraged by the fond belief that the difficulties
+of transporting from Kapiti a force large enough to assault the
+<i>pa</i> with any prospect of success were so formidable that even Te
+Rauparaha would never seriously contemplate such an undertaking. How
+illusory these dreams of safety were, and how little they understood
+the dogged spirit of the man against whom they were called upon to
+contend, they now realised to their cost. At the moment of Te
+Rauparaha's arrival the <i>pa</i> was deserted, except for a guard of
+old people and a number of women and children. The greater part of the
+population had only a few days before gone off to Whangaraupo, in
+company with the influential Otago chief Taiaroa, who had been paying
+a friendly visit to Kaiapoi. Some had gone merely to bid their great
+kinsman farewell; and so remote was the need of strong arms and stout
+hearts at home considered that many of the younger men were purposing
+to travel southward with him to Otakou.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_112" id="Ref_112" href="#Foot_112">[112]</a></span>
+Kaiapoi was thus
+practically denuded of its fighting men, and it says much for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">{164}</a></span>
+courage and ingenuity of those who were left that, in this
+sudden emergency, they were able to make so brave a
+show along its ramparts as to utterly deceive the northern
+leader. Had the <i>pa</i> been attacked promptly and vigorously,
+there is no room to doubt that it would have fallen,
+for its thin veneer of resistance must soon have been
+pierced; but this was one of the few occasions on which
+the Ngati-Toa chief's clearness of perception and promptness
+of decision failed him, and the price of his vacillation
+was a long weary siege, and the loss, to him, of many
+valuable lives.</p>
+
+<p>As a preliminary step in the defence of the <i>pa</i>, the Kaiapoi
+people had hurriedly removed the few temporary houses and fences which
+had been erected immediately in front of the landward approach, and
+which would have afforded some degree of shelter to the approaching
+enemy. Their destruction left not only an unbroken view of the
+movements of the enemy, but deprived them of every vestige of cover,
+so that, in rushing to the assault, they had to pass over ground
+exposed to the pitiless fire of the defenders. For this reason, the
+first attack was repulsed with considerable loss, as was also a
+second, which was delivered with some additional energy. The defenders
+had entrenched themselves behind the first line of palisades, and,
+with their bodies protected by the deep ditch which ran the whole
+width of the narrow isthmus between the converging swamps, they were
+able to concentrate their fire upon the advancing warriors with so
+deadly an effect that Te Rauparaha was led to believe the defence to
+be much more formidable than it really was. Surprised that his coming
+had been so evidently anticipated and so amply provided against, and
+irritated to find himself baffled in his hope of snatching a victory
+from a napping victim, he retired beyond the range of the Ngai-Tahu
+guns to deliberate on his next move. As the result of a consultation
+with Rangihaeata, Te Hiko, and his other lieutenants, it was agreed
+that all hope of carrying the fortress by a <i>coup de main</i> must
+now be abandoned, and it was decided to adopt the more prosaic
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">{165}</a></span>
+course of investing the <i>pa</i> and subjecting it to the annoyance
+and humiliation of a regular siege.</p>
+
+<p>A camp was formed immediately in front of the <i>pa</i>, and so placed
+as to intercept the path which led to its main entrance. A wing of
+this camp stretched round amongst the sand-hills to the westward, so
+as to command the approach to the Huirapa gate. In these quarters
+Ngati-Toa and their allies sat down in patience, to tempt the enemy to
+a sortie, but ever ready to profit by any momentary looseness or
+indiscretion on the part of the defenders. Meantime a few of the
+residents of Kaiapoi who had been shut out when its gates were closed,
+but had succeeded in evading capture by their superior knowledge of
+the surrounding maze of swamps, had fled southward to carry the news
+of the invasion to their friends who had gone to Whangaraupo with
+Taiaroa. These messengers were fortunate in intercepting their
+tribesmen before they had departed for the south, and, at the earnest
+solicitation of his Kaiapoi relations, Taiaroa agreed to return and
+lead the defence of their fortress. All possible reinforcements were
+speedily gathered from the Peninsula <i>pas</i>, and the combined
+forces set off along the coast to endeavour to raise the siege. Their
+march to the Waimakariri River was rapidly executed; but here some
+delay was occasioned, owing to the difficulty in getting the people
+across the broad and rapid stream. At the cost of much labour, a
+<i>mokihi</i> flotilla was constructed, on which they crossed to the
+northern bank; and then, fearing that their movements might be
+discovered if they approached nearer to the <i>pa</i> before darkness
+set in, they lay down to await the fall of evening. Under the cover of
+darkness they resumed their march, which was still conducted with the
+utmost caution, more especially as they approached the vicinity of the
+besieged <i>pa</i>. By the glowing watch-fires which they saw in the
+distance they knew that the enemy was sleeplessly alert, and that any
+impetuosity on their part might easily prove fatal to themselves, and
+equally disastrous to their friends watching and waiting their coming.
+It had been decided that the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">{166}</a></span>
+attempt to enter the <i>pa</i> should be made on the western
+side, where the swamp which fringed the fortress was
+narrowest, and where they could be admitted by the
+Huirapa gate. It is probable that when Taiaroa came to
+this determination he was not aware that he must pass
+near to a section of the enemy's camp. But here fortune
+favoured him, for the high wind which was blowing at
+the time drove those of the besiegers who were keeping
+watch to crouch closely over their fires, and, by agitating
+the surrounding foliage, aided materially in concealing
+the movements of the warriors as they crept cautiously
+through the long and waving grass. By adroitly advancing
+when the breeze blew with greatest violence, and
+throwing themselves flat upon the ground when it lulled,
+they drew so near to the Ngati-Toa lines that they could
+plainly hear the sentries conversing amongst themselves.
+Their position at this juncture was most critical, and in
+the intensity of their excitement they scarcely dared to
+breathe. Nothing, however, occurred to betray their
+presence,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_113" id="Ref_113" href="#Foot_113">[113]</a></span>
+and, at a preconcerted signal, every man rose
+from his concealment, and shouting, "Taiaroa to the
+rescue! Taiaroa to the rescue!" plunged into the dark
+waters of the swamp and swam towards the <i>pa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is doubtful whether the surprise of the Ngati-Toa sentries or of
+the defenders was the greater, as they were suddenly aroused by the
+tumult of the struggling horde which had swept in upon the scene. The
+first thought of the defenders was that a clever ruse to gain
+admission to the <i>pa</i> was being practised by Te Rauparaha,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">{167}</a></span>
+and they at once lined the walls, and began a
+brisk fusilade upon the splashing forms in the water
+below. Darkness, uncertainty, and excitement, however,
+made their aim extremely erratic, and no damage of any
+consequence was done before the voices of the leaders
+were recognised, and what had seemed a daring and
+ingenious assault was discovered to be the eagerly-looked-for
+succour. The firing instantly ceased, and
+the Huirapa gate was thrown open to the dripping
+warriors, who, as they emerged from the water, were
+received in the warm embraces of their grateful friends.</p>
+
+<p>With the arrival of Taiaroa and of the Kaiapoi chiefs whom he had
+brought with him, a new spirit animated the population of the <i>pa</i>,
+and its defence was organised upon a more systematic plan than before.
+To Whakauira was entrusted the defence of the Kaitangata gate, and
+Weka was given a similar responsibility over Hiaka-rere. Other
+vulnerable points were similarly entrusted to the personal care of the
+best and bravest of the chiefs, who were not only to defend their
+particular positions against attack, but were to lead all sorties made
+by their own companies. In guarding against surprises, the garrison
+were greatly aided by a watch-tower, which stood close to the
+Kaitangata gate. This tower was no pillar of masonry, such as a Norman
+of old would have attached to his castle, but was merely the tall
+trunk of a totara tree, firmly set in the ground, on the top of which
+was perched a little wooden hutch, after the form of a native
+<i>whata</i>.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_114" id="Ref_114" href="#Foot_114">[114]</a></span>
+The sides of this cabin were constructed of thick
+wooden slabs which had been carefully tested, and demonstrated to be
+proof against any bullet fired from the nearest point to which an
+enemy could safely come. Before daylight every morning a faithful
+watcher crept into this elevated cabin, and, peering through slits cut
+in the sides, was able to command a view of all that was passing
+within the enemy's camp, and communicate the results of his
+observation to those
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">{168}</a></span>
+within. In this way the defenders were able to anticipate
+and successfully counteract the tactics of Te
+Rauparaha, who, much to his chagrin, found all his
+movements checked. But the rôle of attack was not
+confined to the Ngati-Toa; for, in the early stages of
+the siege, frequent sorties were made by the defenders,
+though, it must be admitted, with but doubtful success.
+Their fighting was of a more emotional order than that
+of the northern men, who were desperate fellows, and
+just as willing to submit to punishment as they were
+to administer it. Their tenacity of purpose, combined
+with the fact that they were led by the most skilful
+native tactician of his day, gave them an undoubted
+superiority in these hand-to-hand contests; and the
+Ngai-Tahu defenders derived but little comfort from
+their spasmodic efforts to disperse the enemy's camp.
+One excursion of this kind, however, was more than
+usually heroic. Intelligence having been brought that
+Te Rauparaha had moved his canoes down the coast
+from Double Corner, where they had been left when
+he first landed, to the mouth of the Ashley River,
+Taiaroa, on a dark and stormy night, took a few men
+with him, and, swimming and wading through the
+swamps, succeeded in reaching the spot where the
+fleet was lying securely beached. The purpose of the
+sortie was to destroy the canoes. But here was furnished
+an example of that want of forethought which is to
+be so frequently noted in Ngai-Tahu warfare, and which
+stood in such marked contrast to the methods of Te
+Rauparaha. The expedition had armed itself with only
+light hatchets, which proved to be quite incapable of
+making any material impression upon the heavy hulls
+of the canoes. Consequently, Taiaroa and his men had
+to content themselves with merely slashing at the lighter
+timbers and severing the cordage which lashed the
+thwarts and side boards, which would, at least, render
+the vessels unseaworthy until repaired. Finding it impossible
+to achieve their object with the axe, an attempt
+was made to burn the canoes; but the blinding rain-storm
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">{169}</a></span>
+which was raging at the time rendered futile
+every effort in this direction, and the bold little band
+was compelled to return to the <i>pa</i>, having succeeded
+in nothing beyond risking their own lives and imposing
+a passing inconvenience upon the besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>Three anxious months had now passed since the siege began, without
+anything decisive having been accomplished on either side. Te
+Rauparaha had hoped that hunger and the losses they had suffered would
+have sapped the strength of the defence; but in this he was mistaken,
+for events were proving that the old idea, that the <i>pa</i> could be
+starved into submission, was a delusion. As a matter of fact, the
+defenders were well supplied with food, their storehouses having been
+filled with the fruits of the early crops, while the surrounding
+swamps provided them with an abundant supply of eels. On the other
+hand, Te Rauparaha was frequently hard pressed for supplies; while, on
+the score of losses, he had fared rather worse than the defenders.
+Finding that he was making no progress along the orthodox lines of
+attack, he now decided to revolutionise his methods. He recalled to
+mind the words in the song of the seer Kukurarangi, "Embrace it, get
+closer and closer"; and, acting upon this prophetic injunction, he
+conceived the idea of sapping<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_115" id="Ref_115" href="#Foot_115">[115]</a></span>
+up to the walls of the <i>pa</i>
+and demolishing the palisades by fire. He accordingly ordered three
+trenches to be dug, one by the Ngati-Toa, one by the Ngati-Raukawa,
+and the third by Ngati-Awa, no doubt relying upon a spirit of friendly
+rivalry between the tribes to accelerate the work. At first they
+suffered considerably, for the men working in the open trenches
+offered a conspicuous mark to the riflemen concealed behind the
+outworks of the <i>pa</i>. The casualties were, however, sensibly
+reduced when Te Rauparaha ingeniously deflected the line of the sap
+and carried the trenches forward in a zigzag direction. The spademen
+were thus protected by the angle at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">{170}</a></span>
+which they worked, and additional security was given
+them by the placing of slabs of wood across the top
+of the open sap. These precautions almost entirely
+neutralised the efforts of the sharpshooters, and the
+sap proceeded rapidly, and with a regularity and precision
+which excited the admiration of those early
+colonists who saw the trenches before their symmetry
+had been destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>These proceedings were naturally viewed with considerable alarm by the
+garrison, and frequent sorties were resorted to for the purpose of
+putting a check upon the progress of the work. These excursions,
+whether unskilfully conducted or badly executed, may have hindered the
+operations of the sappers, but they certainly failed to compel the
+abandonment of the sap. As an answer, the besiegers occasionally
+delivered a surprise attack, and it was in repulsing one of these that
+Te Ata-o-tu fought with such heroic courage that by his signal bravery
+he has helped to redeem the general ineptitude of the defence. The
+story of how "Old Jacob" (for as such he was known to the early
+Canterbury colonists) slew Pehi Tahau has been worthily told in the
+warrior's own words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">{171}</a></span>
+I and another reconnoitred. 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&mdash;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. Happening 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 <i>pa</i>. I determined therefore to try and force
+an encounter at close quarters, my only fear being that
+he might shoot me before I could grapple with him.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I had only a tomahawk on a long handle, having left my 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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">{172}</a></span>
+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 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
+nigger-heads 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 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 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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">{173}</a></span>
+movements of a party of the enemy, who were evidently
+trying to intercept our return to the <i>pa</i>. Hampered by
+the weight of my prize, I could not get over the ground
+as quickly as our pursuers, but I was loath 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 <i>pa</i> with it, when I threw it on
+the ground, contenting 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
+complimentary acknowledgments 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 <i>pa</i>, Rauparaha strolled
+amongst us inquiring whether the man who killed the
+chief Pehi Tahau was 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 battlefields
+of the North Island."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the fourth month the trenches had, by dint of incessant
+labour, and in the face of repeated attacks, been brought to within a
+few feet of the wall, and then Te Rauparaha was in a position to
+develop the second phase of his scheme&mdash;the burning of the hitherto
+impregnable palisades. For many weeks his people were employed in
+cutting down and binding into bundles the <i>manuka</i> scrub which
+grew in abundance on the flats in the immediate vicinity of his camp,
+and when these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">{174}</a></span>
+bundles had been dried in the sun, they were carried
+into the trenches and passed along to the further end,
+where a stalwart warrior seized and threw them with
+all his power in the direction of the doomed <i>pa</i>. This
+was a work which cost Ngati-Toa dearly, for there
+was an interval of time, in the act of hurling the sheaf of
+<i>manuka</i> forward, during which the body of the thrower
+was exposed to the galling fire of the defenders; and they
+placed their best marksmen in a position from which they
+were able to take unerring aim at the unprotected figure
+in the trench. Many a brave fellow who had passed
+safely through the stress of siege and sortie met his fate in
+that twinkling of an eye. But, notwithstanding the peril
+of the post, there was no lack of volunteers to accept its
+awful responsibility, and as soon as one martyr to duty
+went down with a bullet in his brain, another sprang
+forward to fill his place. So the work of piling up
+the combustible material went on with scarcely an
+interruption. At first, the defenders made bold to
+emerge from the gates of the <i>pa</i> at night, and hurriedly
+scattered the piles of brushwood which had been
+accumulated during the day. But this was only a
+temporary respite, and no permanent obstruction to
+the policy of Te Rauparaha. Day by day the process
+went on of hurling the bundles of <i>manuka</i> from the
+trenches, until at last the quantity to be moved became
+so great that the defenders, in their brief rushes, were
+unable to disperse it. Then it began to mount higher
+against the palisades, and every night saw the position
+becoming more and more critical, with scarcely any
+resistance on the part of the besieged.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_116" id="Ref_116" href="#Foot_116">[116]</a></span>
+Indeed, the
+semblance of a panic was now beginning to make its
+appearance within the <i>pa</i>, and the opinion was rapidly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">{175}</a></span>
+taking root that their relentless enemy was slowly
+gathering them within his toils. A feeling of deepest
+depression fell upon the populace, and proposals were
+even secretly discussed by some of the younger men
+to abandon the <i>pa</i> before the inevitable catastrophe
+plunged them in disaster. Taiaroa actually adopted
+this course. Taking his Otago contingent with him,
+he left the <i>pa</i> under cover of night, and made good
+his escape through the gloomy swamps. To some this
+might appear an act of base desertion; but it is the duty
+of the historian to rescue the name of so brave a chief
+from so dark an imputation. The secret motive which
+impelled him to leave Kaiapoi at this juncture was his
+settled conviction that some diversion must be created,
+during which the inhabitants would have a reasonable
+prospect of clearing the walls of the dangerous pile of
+<i>manuka</i>. His intention was, therefore, to proceed southward
+to his own dominion, where he hoped to raise
+a large force, and return to meet Te Rauparaha in a
+decisive battle on the open field. Events, however,
+moved too rapidly for him. Before he was able to
+give effect to his plan, Kaiapoi had fallen, and nothing
+remained to him but to shelter its unhappy fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>With the departure of Taiaroa for the south, the people seemed to feel
+themselves deprived of the moving spirit of the defence, and, instead
+of redoubling their energies, they sullenly yielded to the pessimistic
+impulses of their mercurial nature, and abandoned themselves to
+brooding and despair.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_117" id="Ref_117" href="#Foot_117">[117]</a></span>
+Te Rauparaha, now finding his tactics less
+seriously opposed, made strenuous efforts to ensure the perfection of
+his plans; and, having done all that remained to be done, he resigned
+himself to wait with such patience as he could command for a
+favourable wind to carry the fire from his flaming bundles against the
+walls of the <i>pa</i>. And now a curious contest arose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">{176}</a></span>
+between the <i>tohungas</i> of the opposing tribes; for, while
+the priests of Ngati-Toa were daily repeating incantations
+for the purpose of inducing a southerly wind, the priests
+of Ngai-Tahu were as piously imploring the gods for a
+wind from the north. The impartiality of the deities in
+these circumstances was remarkable, and distinctly embarrassing;
+but it is nevertheless a fact well remembered
+in connection with the fall of Kaiapoi, that while the
+conflicting prayers filled the air, an atmospheric calm set
+in, and for several weeks no breeze of any violence blew
+from either direction. But it was not to be supposed
+that this condition of aerial negation would continue for
+ever. At length, on a day some six months after the
+siege had been commenced, the dawn came in with a
+nor'-west wind blowing strongly across the plains. To
+the besiegers, this appeared to be all in favour of the
+besieged. But those within the <i>pa</i> knew from long
+observation that the nor'-wester was an exceedingly
+treacherous wind; that sudden changes were apt to be
+experienced when the wind was in that quarter; and
+that, regarded in the light of experience, their situation
+was by no means as rosy as it looked. That their fate was
+hanging by the most slender thread was a fact perfectly
+apparent to the chiefs in command, who, after consultation,
+came to the conclusion that their only hope of
+safety lay in the bare chance that, if the menacing brushwood,
+which lay piled against the wall, was fired from the
+inside, the wind might hold out long enough to carry the
+flames away from the <i>pa</i> until the source of danger was
+removed. This view was strongly held by Pureko, who
+was now entrusted with the defence of the threatened
+portion of the <i>pa</i>; and he decided to take upon himself
+the responsibility of proving the accuracy of his theory.
+Accordingly, he seized a firebrand, and thrust it into a
+pile of <i>manuka</i>, which instantly became a seething mass
+of flame.</p>
+
+<p>When Te Rauparaha saw that his enemy was likely to circumvent him, he
+at once ordered his men to belt up, take their weapons with them, and
+carry the burning
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">{177}</a></span>
+brushwood against the palisades, so that the fuel which
+had been collected at such infinite pains might not be
+consumed in vain. Without staying to question the
+wisdom of this order, a rush was immediately made by
+the younger warriors to obey the command; but they
+were met by a fusilade from the defenders who lined the
+walls, which worked havoc amongst their ranks. Had
+the contending parties been left to fight the issue out
+untrammelled by the intervention of external agencies, it
+is more than probable that Te Rauparaha would have
+been worsted in this attempt to fire the <i>pa</i>, and would
+have been compelled either to abandon the siege till the
+ensuing summer or to repeat during the impending
+winter the toilsome process of laying his fire train to the
+gates of the fortress. But at this juncture, as in so many
+others of his eventful life, his characteristic good fortune
+did not desert him. While his men were being mown
+down under the galling musketry of the enemy, the wind
+suddenly swung round to the south, and the whole aspect
+of the combat was instantly changed. The flames were
+carried high against the walls, licking the palisades with
+fiery tongues, while dense clouds of smoke rolled backwards,
+driving the garrison from the trenches and from
+every station of defence.</p>
+
+<p>By this marvellous reversal of fortune Te Rauparaha was not slow to
+profit; and no sooner had the firing of the defenders slackened than
+his men crept up to the walls, and, as an essential precaution, filled
+up the loopholes through which the Ngai-Tahu marksmen had taken aim.
+This must have seriously hampered the defenders, had they been
+disposed to stand to their posts. But they were no longer animated so
+much by the desire to save the <i>pa</i> as to save themselves. Panic
+had now taken the place of heroism, and despair had completely
+extinguished all idea of defence. The <i>sauve qui peut</i> of
+Napoleon became equally the policy of Ngai-Tahu, and from this point
+there was nothing heroic in the defence of Kaiapoi. In a marvellously
+short space of time, the flames had completely enveloped the outer
+works; and, while they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">{178}</a></span>
+were eating their way through the wooden walls, many of
+the besiegers were indulging in the wild joy of the war
+dance, which, according to one native chronicler, was so
+vigorously conducted that "the noise they made was like
+thunder, and the earth trembled." As soon as a breach
+had been made, the attacking force rushed between
+the burning palisades, and the massacre&mdash;for it can
+be described by no other word&mdash;commenced.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Through the fire, and through the smoke,</span>
+<span class="i2">Swiftly Ngati-Toa broke</span>
+<span class="i2">With a scream and a yell;</span>
+<span class="i2">And the glare and the flare</span>
+<span class="i2">Of the fire-tongues in the air</span>
+<span class="i2">Flung a demoniac light</span>
+<span class="i2">On the horrors of the fight:</span>
+<span class="i2">And the children in affright,</span>
+<span class="i2">And the women in despair,</span>
+<span class="i2">Shrieked for mercy, but in vain.</span>
+<span class="i2">And the blazing timbers threw</span>
+<span class="i2">A ghastly lurid hue</span>
+<span class="i2">On the wounded and the slain.</span>
+<span class="i2">And, as the fierce light gleamed</span>
+<span class="i2">On the warriors, they seemed</span>
+<span class="i2">Like fiends unloosed from hell.</span>
+<span class="i2">A struggle, fierce and short,</span>
+<span class="i2">And the keepers of the fort</span>
+<span class="i2">Were slaughtered for the feast:</span>
+<span class="i2">And the red sun in the west</span>
+<span class="i2">Went down as Kaiapoi fell."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent">No semblance of resistance was offered except by a desperate few, and
+those who still lingered were either struck down by their infuriated
+pursuers, or were captured and bound, to be spared or killed, as
+future circumstances might dictate. When the stampede commenced, the
+Huirapa gate was made the first avenue of escape, as it led directly
+into the surrounding swamp. But Te Rauparaha had provided against this
+by posting a strong body of men on the opposite bank; and, as fast as
+the fugitives landed, they fell into a snare as fatal as that from
+which they had just escaped. Numbers of the more active, impatient at
+the delay caused by the total inadequacy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">{179}</a></span>
+of this single outlet, scaled the walls, and dropped
+down into the swamp below, swimming or wading in
+the direction of the plains to the westward. Those who
+selected this mode of retreat were almost all successful in
+making good their escape, for they were able to secure the
+friendly shelter of those dense clusters of vegetation<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_118" id="Ref_118" href="#Foot_118">[118]</a></span>
+which freely studded the face of the swamp; while the
+black smoke-clouds, which were carried on the wind,
+hung low upon the water, and effectually screened them
+from the searching eyes of their pursuers.</p>
+
+<p>It is estimated that some two hundred of the fleeing garrison reached
+safety by concealing themselves in the slimy waters and rank
+vegetation of the Tairutu lagoon, until the vigilance of the
+northerners had relaxed sufficiently to enable them to creep out and
+slip away to the southward, or to Banks's Peninsula, where they could
+rely upon finding shelter in some of the tribal <i>pas</i>.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_119" id="Ref_119" href="#Foot_119">[119]</a></span>
+But
+by far the greater part of the inhabitants, who could not have
+numbered less than a thousand souls, met death in various ways. Many,
+especially the women and children, who essayed to cross the swamps,
+were either drowned in the attempt or shot down as they swam. Others,
+who, owing to age and infirmity, were slow in eluding the attack, were
+never able to leave the <i>pa</i> at all. The aged and the very young
+were killed without ceremony; but the more comely were for the most
+part overcome and bound, destined either for the feast or for a life
+of slavery, adorning the household of a chief or working
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">{180}</a></span>
+as menials in the fields. Pureko, who had put the brand
+to the burning, was one of the first to fall, being disembowelled
+by a gun-shot; and within a few moments there
+was also witnessed the pathetic death of the patriarchal
+Te Auta,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_120" id="Ref_120" href="#Foot_120">[120]</a></span>
+the venerated priest of the tribe, who was slain
+as he knelt at the shrine of his patron deity, vainly
+imploring the assistance of Kahukura<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_121" id="Ref_121" href="#Foot_121">[121]</a></span>
+in this their hour
+of greatest need. The air was rent by the shrieks of the
+dying, the shouts of the victors, and the crash of falling
+timbers, mingled in one hideous din, which typified all
+that is blackest and most brutal in human passion.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_122" id="Ref_122" href="#Foot_122">[122]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">{181}</a></span>
+When an end was made of this gruesome work, and the
+smoking walls were ruined beyond repair, the captives
+were removed to Te Rauparaha's camp, situated on the
+spot now known as Massacre Hill; and there the full
+rites of the cannibal feast were celebrated at an awful
+cost of human life,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_123" id="Ref_123" href="#Foot_123">[123]</a></span>
+every detail being observed which,
+in the light of national custom, would ensure the eternal
+humiliation of the defeated tribe.</p>
+
+<p>Kaiapoi having now fallen, and the dispersal of its people being
+complete, Te Rauparaha might have reasonably retired from the scene,
+satisfied with the laurels which his conquest had brought him. But it
+would seem that lust of victory and greed of revenge were in him
+insatiable. He knew that there were still some well-populated
+<i>pas</i> on Banks's Peninsula, and he was determined not to return
+to Kapiti until he had reduced them also. The canoes which had been
+damaged by Taiaroa were, therefore, repaired with all possible speed,
+and, after provision had been made for the prisoners who were to be
+taken to Kapiti, the remaining canoes were directed to proceed to
+Banks's Peninsula. A small <i>pa</i> on Ri-papa Island, in Lyttelton
+Harbour, was first attacked and reduced, and then the canoes were
+steered for Akaroa, from which point the war party was to move to the
+assault of Onawe. This <i>pa</i> had been but recently constructed,
+and owed its existence to the widespread dread which the name of Te
+Rauparaha had now inspired.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">{182}</a></span>
+When it was known on the peninsula that he had laid
+siege to Kaiapoi, a feeling of insecurity crept over the
+natives there, who were seized with a grave presentiment
+that their turn might come soon. And how inadequate
+were their small and isolated <i>pas</i> to withstand the shock
+of assault or the stress of siege! They accordingly
+hastened to concentrate their forces in one central <i>pa</i>,
+and the spirit-haunted hill of Onawe<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_124" id="Ref_124" href="#Foot_124">[124]</a></span>
+was the point
+selected for a united stand. The <i>pa</i>, which was built
+upon the pear-shaped promontory which juts out into
+the Akaroa Harbour, dividing its upper portion into two
+bays, was both extensive and strong, and into its construction
+several new features were imported, to meet the
+altered conditions of warfare caused by the introduction
+of fire-arms.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall of Kaiapoi, the alarms and panics to which the people of
+the peninsula had been subjected through Te Rauparaha's foraging
+parties were brought to an end, and they then knew that their worst
+fears were about to be realised. On the day after the sack of the
+<i>pa</i>, a few of the fugitives had arrived at Onawe with the
+doleful intelligence that the fortress had fallen, and that, so far as
+they could gather, the northern canoes were at that very moment being
+made sea-worthy, for the purpose of conveying the victors to Akaroa.
+Hurried messengers were then sent to all the outlying <i>pas</i>,
+calling the people in to Onawe, and preparations were at once made to
+resist the impending attack. Tangatahara, who, it will be remembered,
+had been the immediate cause of Te Pehi's death, was placed in chief
+command, with Puka and Potahi as his subordinate chiefs. The garrison,
+which consisted of about four hundred warriors, was reasonably well
+equipped for the struggle, for they had been moderately successful in
+securing fire-arms from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">{183}</a></span>
+whalers, and those who did not carry muskets were at least
+able to flourish steel hatchets. In these circumstances, Te
+Rauparaha found them a much more formidable foe than
+had been the Muaupoko of Horowhenua, or the Ngati-Apa
+of Rangitikei. There he had all the advantage of arms;
+here he was being opposed on almost even terms; but
+there still remained in his favour a balance of spirit,
+courage, and tenacity of purpose. In the matter of
+provisions the <i>pa</i> was well provided against a protracted
+siege, while one of the features of the new fortification
+was a covered way, which led to a never-failing spring on
+the southern side of the promontory. Scarcely were the
+people gathered within the <i>pa</i>, and all the preparations
+for its defence completed, than the sentinels posted on
+the lookout descried, in the early morning, the northern
+fleet sweeping up the harbour. The alarm was at once
+given, and every man sprang to his post to await the
+oncoming. The canoes paddled to the shore below the
+<i>pa</i>, and there Te Rauparaha committed an error in tactics,
+the like of which can seldom be laid to his charge. He
+had hoped that, by his early arrival, he would have been
+able to take the garrison by surprise and effect an easy
+victory; but in this the vigilance of the defenders had
+frustrated him, and he therefore decided to delay the
+attack. In the meantime, he permitted his men to land,
+but unwisely allowed them to become separated. The
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa went to what is now
+known as Barry's Bay, and Ngati-Awa occupied the
+beach at the head of the harbour. In these positions
+respectively the sections of the invaders immediately
+began to establish their camps, and numerous fires,
+eloquent of the morning meal, were soon smoking on
+the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Tangatahara saw with some satisfaction the disposition of the enemy,
+and shrewdly determined to profit by the advantage which their want of
+cohesion gave him. He resolved upon the man&#339;uvre of first attacking
+Ngati-Awa, in the hope that he might defeat them before Te Rauparaha
+could come to their assistance, and then he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">{184}</a></span>
+would be able to turn upon the unsupported Ngati-Toa
+and drive them back to the sea. But either Tangatahara
+was much mistaken in his calculations or his directions
+were only indifferently executed, for his man&#339;uvre failed
+ignominiously. As his men sallied out of the <i>pa</i>, their
+movements were noticed by the sentries of Te Rauparaha,
+who lost no time in communicating the fact to their
+leader. Instantly, the Ngati-Toa camp was in a state of
+intense excitement; every warrior dropped his immediate
+employment and rushed to secure his belt and arms.
+When equipped, they went off in hot haste, floundering
+through slime and soft mud, to reinforce the threatened
+Ngati-Awa. Tangatahara, seeing that his movement
+was observed and understood, hesitated and was lost. A
+halt was called, and, while his men stood in indecision
+upon the hill-side, the advancing Ngati-Toa opened fire
+upon them with fatal effect. Tahatiti was the first to
+fall, and several were wounded as the result of the
+opening volley. The Ngai-Tahu then began to fall
+back, firing the while; but their musketry failed to
+check the onrush of Te Rauparaha's veterans, who were
+now thoroughly seasoned to the rattle of bullets and the
+smell of powder. The retreat to the <i>pa</i> was safely conducted;
+but, for some reason, the defenders did not
+immediately pass through the gates and shut them
+against the invaders. They continued to linger outside,
+possibly to watch with greater ease the approach of the
+enemy. As they were thus engaged, a number of the
+captives taken by Te Rauparaha at Kaiapoi suddenly
+came over the brow of the hill and entered into conversation
+with those of their own kin who were still outside
+the gates. During this friendly parley, Te Rauparaha
+came boldly up to the walls with his own followers and
+demanded the surrender of the <i>pa</i>. Those within the
+walls were now placed in the dilemma that they could
+not fire upon the enemy without imperilling the lives
+of their own friends; and it was equally unsafe to open
+the gates to admit them, as the besiegers might rush in
+with an impetuosity that could not be resisted. In these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">{185}</a></span>
+circumstances the parley was continued, Te Rauparaha
+pointing to the presence of so many Kaiapoi notables as
+a living evidence of his clemency, while the captive
+Ngai-Tahu joined with him in advising the policy of
+surrender, chiefly, no doubt, through a jealous apprehension
+that the inhabitants of Onawe might escape the
+misfortune and disgrace which had befallen themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the battle, which had opened with visions of courage, degenerated
+into a war of words, of which the best that can be said is that the
+insincerity of the invaders was only equalled by the indecision of the
+defenders. Only one man in the <i>pa</i> appeared to have a clear idea
+of what his duty was. This was Puaka, who, recognising Te Rauparaha
+amongst the crowd, pushed his gun through a loophole, took aim, and
+fired almost point-blank at the chief, whose miraculous escape was due
+to the fact that one of the Kaiapoi captives, who was standing close
+to Puaka, pushed the muzzle of the musket aside just in time to
+deflect the shot. As might be supposed, the incident served only to
+intensify the confusion and disorder. Some of the invaders seized a
+moment's want of vigilance on the part of the sentries at the gate to
+force an entrance into the <i>pa</i>, where they commenced killing
+every one around them. All the brave vows which had brought the Onawe
+<i>pa</i> into existence were then forgotten, and the high hopes which
+its fancied strength had inspired were shattered in this moment of
+supreme trial, which revealed in all its nakedness the inherent
+weakness of the Ngai-Tahu character. Panic seized the people, and for
+some time the <i>pa</i> was the scene of the wildest confusion. Here
+and there a brave show of resistance was offered; but for the most
+part the defenders were too dazed at the swiftness of the Ngati-Toa
+rush even to stand to their arms, which, in their distraction, numbers
+of them even threw away. Of those outside the <i>pa</i>, not a few
+dashed for the bush as soon as the fighting commenced, and made good
+their escape. But those within the walls were caught like rats in a
+trap; and, during the conflict, the shrieks and imprecations
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">{186}</a></span>
+of the miserable fugitives were mingled with the
+hoarse shouts of the victors, as they rushed bleeding and
+half naked from one place of fancied security to another.
+The conquest of Onawe, though swift, was none the less
+sanguinary. After the last vestige of resistance had been
+stamped out, the prisoners were collected and taken
+down to a flax-covered flat. There the old and the
+young, the weak and the strong, were picked out from
+their trembling ranks; and, at the command of the chief,
+those who from excessive youth or extreme age were
+regarded as valueless were at once sacrificed to the
+<i>manes</i> of the dead, while the more robust were preserved
+as trophies of the victory.</p>
+
+<p>For a few days following the fall of Onawe, the surrounding hills and
+forests were scoured by the restless victors, in search of such
+unhappy fugitives as might be found lurking in the secret places of
+the bush. Few, however, were captured, and in some instances
+successful retaliation reversed the fortune of the chase, and the
+pursuers became the pursued. When the prospect of further captures was
+exhausted, the northern warriors asked for and obtained leave to
+return to their homes, and the canoes, with the exception of that of
+Te Hiko, immediately put to sea, a rendezvous being appointed for them
+at Cloudy Bay. Te Hiko was detained by the fact that his canoe stood
+in need of repair, and, during the operation, an incident occurred
+which justified the high estimate of his character which was
+subsequently formed by many of the earliest colonists.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_125" id="Ref_125" href="#Foot_125">[125]</a></span>
+He was the
+son of Te Pehi, whose death two years before
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">{187}</a></span>
+was the immediate and avowed cause of this southern
+raid. If, then, the fires of hate and fury against Ngai-Tahu
+had burned more fiercely within him than in others of his
+tribe, there might have been some justification for it. But
+Te Hiko proved to be more chivalrous than many who
+had received less provocation. Amongst the prisoners
+who had fallen into his hands at the taking of Onawe
+was Tangatahara, the commander of the fortress, who, it
+will be remembered, had been the most active agent in
+causing the death of Te Hiko's father. What ultimate
+fate was intended for Tangatahara is uncertain, but he
+was fortunate enough to be spared an immediate death.
+He was, however, closely guarded; and, as he was sitting
+on the beach surrounded by Ngati-Raukawa warriors, two
+of the women who had accompanied Te Rauparaha's
+forces espied him, and immediately put in a claim to
+Te Hiko for his death, in compensation for the injury
+which the captive chief had caused them. The claim,
+though clamorously made, was firmly resisted by Te
+Hiko who endeavoured first to persuade and then to
+bribe them, by a gift of rich food, into a more reasonable
+frame of mind. Neither his blandishments nor his
+bribes were successful in appeasing their desire for the
+captive's life; and it was not until Te Hiko gave them
+plainly to understand that he was determined not to
+give his prisoner over as a sacrifice to them, and that he
+regarded his authority as outraged by their persistency,
+that they sullenly consented to compromise their claim.
+What they now asked was the right to debase the chief
+by using his head as a relish for their <i>kauru</i>, a vegetable
+substance which a Maori chewed, much as an American
+chews gum or tobacco. To this modified proposal Te
+Hiko reluctantly consented, and the women, approaching
+the captive, struck his head twice with their <i>kauru</i>, which
+they proceeded to masticate with enhanced enjoyment
+because of the flavour which it was thought to derive
+from his degradation.</p>
+
+<p>Though he had thus far humoured the women, the want of consideration
+shown by them for his position
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">{188}</a></span>
+as a chief so incensed Te Hiko that he there and then
+determined to release his prisoner, and so prevent his
+authority in regard to him being flouted by irresponsible
+personages. That night he roused Tangatahara from his
+sleep, and, taking him to the edge of the bush, bade him
+escape, a command which he was not slow to obey, nor
+found it difficult to fulfil.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_126" id="Ref_126" href="#Foot_126">[126]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_76" id="Foot_76" href="#Ref_76">[76]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+To the ancient Maori greenstone was invaluable as a material out
+of which to manufacture weapons and ornaments; but after the
+introduction of fire-arms the <i>mere</i> was superseded by the
+musket, and it is doubtful if, when the trinkets of the European were
+available, the native would take the trouble to laboriously work out
+an ornament from so hard a substance.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_77" id="Foot_77" href="#Ref_77">[77]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A shark's tooth fixed upon a stick and used as a knife.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_78" id="Foot_78" href="#Ref_78">[78]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This could scarcely have been otherwise, for Rerewaka's insolent
+speech amounted to a <i>kanga</i>, or curse, which, according to the
+Maori code, could only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_79" id="Foot_79" href="#Ref_79">[79]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The canoe used by Te Rauparaha on many of these southern raids
+was called Ahu-a-Turanga, and for this reason it is supposed that it
+came from the Manawatu, that being the name of an ancient track over
+the Ruahine Ranges near the Manawatu gorge. It is said that this canoe
+is now lying rotting at Porirua Harbour. Another famous canoe of this
+period was called Te-Ra-makiri, a vessel captured from the
+Ngati-Kahu-ngunu at Castle Point by Ngati-Tama, and presented by them
+to Te Rauparaha. This canoe was held to be exceedingly sacred, and now
+lies at Mana Island.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_80" id="Foot_80" href="#Ref_80">[80]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Having reached at sunset to within a mile of the spot where the
+<i>Pelorus</i> anchored, we again encamped on a shingly beach in a bay
+on the east side of the Sound. At this spot there were some ten or
+fifteen acres of level ground, on which we were shown the remains of a
+large <i>pa</i>, once the headquarters of the tribe conquered and
+almost exterminated by Te Rauparaha" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_81" id="Foot_81" href="#Ref_81">[81]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It was to this policy of settlement, following upon conquest,
+that Marlborough owes the presence of the little cluster of northern
+natives who are settled on the banks of the Wairau River&mdash;the most
+southern outpost that now remains to mark the aggression of Te
+Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_82" id="Foot_82" href="#Ref_82">[82]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Hori Kingi Te Anaua, a chief well-known in after years as the
+firm friend of the Whanganui settlers, escaped from this defeat, as
+one quaint native account puts it, "by dint of his power to run."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_83" id="Foot_83" href="#Ref_83">[83]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some difficulty has been experienced in closely tracing the
+movements of Te Pehi. He left England on board H.M.S. <i>Thames</i> in
+October, 1825, and the <i>Thames</i> reached Sydney on April 11, 1826.
+Whether she came on to New Zealand bringing the chief with her, I have
+not ascertained. The probabilities are that she did, for the late
+Judge Mackay, who is an excellent authority, says Te Pehi returned
+direct to New Zealand, but afterwards made the voyage back to Sydney
+to procure arms, from which place he returned in 1829, at the juncture
+referred to in the text.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_84" id="Foot_84" href="#Ref_84">[84]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Here we meet with one of the many discrepancies in the published
+histories of the time. The Rev. Canon Stack makes it appear in his
+<i>Kaiapohia</i> that Rerewaka was killed during the battle, but Mr.
+Travers (<i>Life and Times of Te Rauparaha</i>) states that he was
+taken prisoner; and this version is sustained by Tamihana te Rauparaha
+in his published account of his father's life, wherein he says
+Rerewaka was taken to Kapiti to be "tamed."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_85" id="Foot_85" href="#Ref_85">[85]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Canon Stack would seem to imply that Kaikoura and Omihi were one
+and the same place; but from a petition presented to the House of
+Representatives in 1869 by the Ngai-Tahu tribe, it seems clear that
+they were separate places, and that their destruction took place at
+different times. Omihi is about 15 miles south of Kaikoura, near the
+Conway River, but the battle took place on the hills near the valley
+which leads down to the Waipara.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_86" id="Foot_86" href="#Ref_86">[86]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some accounts make it appear that Kekerengu was killed by a
+wandering band of Ngai-Tahu after he landed on the Middle Island, and
+that, although he had greatly offended Te Rangihaeata by his
+impropriety, it was really to avenge his death and not to punish him
+that this raid was made upon Kaikoura and Omihi. But these are
+variations in tradition that we can scarcely hope to reconcile at this
+date.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_87" id="Foot_87" href="#Ref_87">[87]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kaiapoi is a popular abbreviation of the old name&mdash;Kaiapohia,
+which signifies "food gathered up in handfuls" or "a food depôt," but
+Kaiapohia was seldom used except in formal speeches or in poetical
+compositions. The name originated in the incident related in the text,
+and the place became in reality a food depôt, because, owing to its
+peculiar situation, large quantities of food, particularly kumaras,
+were raised every year, not only for local consumption, but for the
+purposes of exchange with other branches of the tribe which possessed
+abundance of particular kinds of provisions which could not be
+procured at Kaiapoi.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_88" id="Foot_88" href="#Ref_88">[88]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Tamihana te Rauparaha would lead us to suppose that his father
+was averse to this course, and was again overpersuaded by Te Pehi's
+impetuosity. He makes him say to Te Pehi, "Be cautious in going into
+the <i>pa</i>, lest you be killed. I have had an evil omen: mine was
+an evil dream last night," But what, says Tamihana, was the good of
+such advice to a man whose spirit had gone to death?</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_89" id="Foot_89" href="#Ref_89">[89]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+At first only the heads of chiefs were sold, as they were the
+most perfectly tattooed, but when chiefs' heads became scarce, the
+native mind conceived the idea of tattooing the heads of the slaves
+and selling them&mdash;the slave being killed as soon as his head was ready
+for the market. Sometimes the slave was audacious enough to run away
+just as he was attaining a commercial value, and the indignation of
+one merchant who had just sustained such a loss is humorously
+described in Manning's <i>Old New Zealand</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_90" id="Foot_90" href="#Ref_90">[90]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In an account of this incident given by a Captain Briggs to the
+newspaper <i>Tasmanian</i>, in 1831, he states that a European named
+Smith, who had been left at Kaiapoi by a Captain Wiseman, for the
+purpose of trade, attempted to save Te Pehi's life, and was himself
+killed for his interference. If this was so, the Ngai-Tahu accounts
+are discreetly silent on the point; but Briggs infers that Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko made it one of the arguments by which they
+sought to convince him that he ought to assist them to capture
+Tamaiharanui, and so revenge the death of his countryman.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_91" id="Foot_91" href="#Ref_91">[91]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The names of the chiefs who were killed on this fatal day were Te
+Pehi, Te Pokaitara, Te Rangikatuta, Te Ruatahi, Te Hua-piko, Te Kohi,
+Te Aratangata, and Te Rohua. Tamihana te Rauparaha states that in all
+some twenty of his father's people were killed, but that a number were
+successful in escaping by clambering over the palisades.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_92" id="Foot_92" href="#Ref_92">[92]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Rev. Canon Stack considers that this event occurred either
+late in 1828 or early in 1829.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_93" id="Foot_93" href="#Ref_93">[93]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is doubtful whether Tamaiharanui took any part in the killing
+of Te Pehi and his comrades, but that would not relieve him of his
+liability to be killed in return, as the whole tribe was responsible
+for the acts of every member of it.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_94" id="Foot_94" href="#Ref_94">[94]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+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 cowardly, cruel, and capricious&mdash;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 (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_95" id="Foot_95" href="#Ref_95">[95]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The <i>Elizabeth</i> arrived in Sydney in July, 1830, and in the
+following month left for New Zealand. A contemporary Australian
+newspaper described her cargo as consisting of four cases and eighteen
+muskets, two kegs of flints and bullets, two bales of slops, two kegs
+of gunpowder, one bundle of hardware, and five baskets of tobacco and
+stores.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_96" id="Foot_96" href="#Ref_96">[96]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A more or less exaggerated account of this raid appeared in the
+newspaper <i>Tasmanian</i> on January 28, 1831, and in a subsequent
+issue, Captain Briggs, in passing some comments upon it, said the
+penalty which Captain Stewart had to pay for disregarding his advice
+was that "the natives wanted to do as they pleased with him and his
+ship." He further said that he endeavoured to persuade Stewart not to
+deliver Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha after their return to
+Kapiti, but that worthy declined to carry the chief to Sydney, on the
+ground that "The Marinewie," as he called him, "had been too long on
+board already."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_97" id="Foot_97" href="#Ref_97">[97]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Properly spelt Akau-roa&mdash;"the long coast line"; doubtless
+referring to the deep inlet which forms the harbour of Akaroa.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_98" id="Foot_98" href="#Ref_98">[98]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+According to a Parliamentary Paper published in 1831, the
+<i>Elizabeth</i> carried eight guns, two swivels, and a full supply of
+small arms. This fact, it is said, deluded some of the natives into
+the belief that the ship was a British man-o'-war.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_99" id="Foot_99" href="#Ref_99">[99]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Signifying "tear-drops."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_100" id="Foot_100" href="#Ref_100">[100]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some accounts say that this occurred before the vessel left the
+harbour.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_101" id="Foot_101" href="#Ref_101">[101]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is said that the action of Tamaiharanui also so roused the
+righteous anger of Captain Stewart that he deemed it his duty to have
+the chief triced up to the mast and flogged. This met with the most
+marked disapproval from Te Rauparaha, who maintained that as his
+prisoner was a chief he should not be punished like a slave.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_102" id="Foot_102" href="#Ref_102">[102]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The <i>Australian</i> newspaper records the arrival of the
+<i>Elizabeth</i>, Captain Stewart, in Sydney, on the above date, with
+a cargo of thirty tons of flax, and carrying Mr. J. B. Montefiore and
+Mr. A. Kemiss as passengers.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_103" id="Foot_103" href="#Ref_103">[103]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When the <i>Elizabeth</i> returned to Kapiti, her company was
+increased by a Mr. Montefiore, who was then cruising round New Zealand
+in his own vessel, in search of commercial speculations. Hearing of
+what had occurred at Akaroa, he became apprehensive of his own safety,
+and fearing that all the white people in the country would be killed,
+he joined the <i>Elizabeth</i> in the hope of being carried away from
+New Zealand at the earliest possible moment. In giving evidence before
+a Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1838, he related what he
+knew of the capture and death of Tamaiharanui. He claimed credit for
+having protested to Captain Stewart against the chief being held in
+irons, and succeeded in getting the fetters struck off, as the
+prisoner's legs had commenced to mortify. He also stated that his
+appeal to Captain Stewart to take the chief to Sydney, and not to hand
+him over to his enemies, was futile. According to Mr. Montefiore, who
+said he went ashore and "saw the whole process of his intended
+sacrifice," Tamaiharanui was killed almost immediately after being
+given up, but other accounts supplied by the natives place it some
+weeks later. The wife of Tamaiharanui, unable to bear the sight of her
+husband's agony, ran away from the scene of the tragedy, but was
+recaptured and subsequently killed. Tamaiharanui's sister became the
+wife of one of her captors, and lived at Wellington. It is generally
+admitted that Te Rauparaha did not witness, or take any part in,
+Tamaiharanui's death. Heaven knows, he had done enough.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_104" id="Foot_104" href="#Ref_104">[104]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+If this is an accurate statement of what occurred&mdash;and there is
+every reason to believe that it is&mdash;the treatment of Tamaiharanui
+presents an interesting parallel to the manner in which the Aztec
+Indians of Mexico regaled their prisoners, destined to be sacrificed
+at the annual feast to their god Tezcatlipoca.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_105" id="Foot_105" href="#Ref_105">[105]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Rev. Canon Stack.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_106" id="Foot_106" href="#Ref_106">[106]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Sydney <i>Gazette</i>, in referring to the case, remarked
+that its peculiarity lay in the fact that it involved "the question of
+the liability of British subjects for offences committed against the
+natives of New Zealand." The point was never tested, but it is
+doubtful whether the Imperial Statute constituting the Supreme Court
+of the Colony of New South Wales (9 Geo. IV., cap. 83) gave express
+power to deal with such offences as that of Stewart. An amendment of
+the law in the following year (June 7, 1832) made the position more
+explicit.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_107" id="Foot_107" href="#Ref_107">[107]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Captain Sturt afterwards did valuable work as an explorer in
+Australia, but received no suitable recognition from the Imperial
+Government. Sir George Grey vainly endeavoured to procure for him the
+honour of knighthood.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_108" id="Foot_108" href="#Ref_108">[108]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+There is not much doubt that, had the case gone to trial,
+counsel for the defence would have endeavoured to prove that Stewart
+was compelled by the natives to do what he did; for the
+<i>Australian</i>, a paper controlled by Dr. Wardell, argued that it
+"could not divine the justice of denouncing Stewart as amenable to
+laws which, however strict and necessary under certain circumstances,
+were not applicable to savage broils and unintentional acts of
+homicide, to which he must have been an unwilling party, and over
+which he could not possibly exercise the slightest control."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_109" id="Foot_109" href="#Ref_109">[109]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It will be charitable, and perhaps just, to suppose that this
+feeling arose more from personal antipathy to the Governor than from
+any inherent sympathy with crime. Governor Darling had succeeded in
+making himself exceedingly unpopular with a large section of the
+Sydney community, which resulted in his recall in 1831.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_110" id="Foot_110" href="#Ref_110">[110]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The expedition probably started about the end of January or
+beginning of February.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_111" id="Foot_111" href="#Ref_111">[111]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now Lyttelton Harbour.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_112" id="Foot_112" href="#Ref_112">[112]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+His <i>pa</i> was in the vicinity of what is now the city of
+Dunedin.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_113" id="Foot_113" href="#Ref_113">[113]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Rev. Canon Stack relates how one of the Ngai-Tahu men, Te
+Ata-o-tu, was carrying his infant son on his back during this march.
+When they approached the <i>pa</i>, some of his companions, seeing how
+closely it was invested, whispered to him to strangle the child, lest
+it might cry at a critical moment and betray them. The father,
+however, could not find it in his heart to take this extreme step, but
+he wrapped the boy tightly in a thick mat, and, strapping him across
+his broad shoulders, carried him safely through the dangers of that
+terrible night. The child, however, was only spared to be drowned in
+the waters of the swamp as his mother vainly endeavoured to escape a
+few months later, when the <i>pa</i> fell.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_114" id="Foot_114" href="#Ref_114">[114]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A storehouse erected upon a high central pole, to
+protect the food from the depredations of rats.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_115" id="Foot_115" href="#Ref_115">[115]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+So far as is known, this was the first occasion on which the
+principle of the sap was applied in Maori warfare.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_116" id="Foot_116" href="#Ref_116">[116]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+An interesting parallel to these proceedings is to be found in
+Gibbon's description of the siege of Constantinople: "To fill the
+ditch was the toil of the besiegers; to clear away the rubbish was the
+safety of the besieged; and, after a long and bloody conflict, the web
+which had been woven in the day was still unravelled in the night."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_117" id="Foot_117" href="#Ref_117">[117]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is a popular belief in some quarters that the reason why the
+defenders so lost heart was that they were oppressed by the guilty
+knowledge that they had acted treacherously in killing Te Pehi and his
+companions.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_118" id="Foot_118" href="#Ref_118">[118]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Popularly known as "Maori-heads" or "Nigger-heads." Flax and
+<i>raupo</i> also grew freely in the swamps.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_119" id="Foot_119" href="#Ref_119">[119]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This was rendered more difficult owing to the fact that for many
+days Te Rauparaha's followers were scouring the country, far and wide,
+in search of fugitives. The Rev. Canon Stack mentions the pathetic
+instance of two young children who were in hiding with their father.
+He left them to go in search of food, promising to return; but he
+never did so, having in all probability been captured and killed. The
+children, who afterwards lived to be well-known Canterbury residents,
+sustained themselves by eating <i>raupo</i> roots for several months,
+until they were found by an eeling party in the bed of the Selwyn
+River.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_120" id="Foot_120" href="#Ref_120">[120]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Auta is described as a man of grave and venerable appearance,
+who was a strict disciplinarian in all matters pertaining to the
+religious ceremonies of the <i>pa</i>, his authority in these respects
+being considerably enhanced by his long white hair and flowing beard.
+He was one of the last of the Ngai-Tahu <i>tohungas</i>, who were
+deeply versed in all the peculiar rites of Maori heathendom.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_121" id="Foot_121" href="#Ref_121">[121]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kahukura was the patron divinity of the Ngai-Tahu tribe. His
+cultus was introduced by the crew of the Takitimu canoe, who were the
+ancestors of the Kaiapohians (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_122" id="Foot_122" href="#Ref_122">[122]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Amongst the prisoners taken was a boy named Pura, who excited
+the interest of Te Rauparaha. The chief took him under his personal
+protection, and on the night that Kaiapoi fell, he led him into his
+own <i>whare</i>. In order to prevent any possibility of escape,
+Rauparaha tied a rope round the boy's body and attached the other end
+to his own wrist. During the early hours of the night the chief was
+exceedingly restless, but after he fell asleep Pura quietly disengaged
+himself from the rope, and tied the end of it to a peg which he found
+driven into the floor of the <i>whare</i>. He then crept stealthily to
+the door, but in passing out he had the misfortune to overturn a pile
+of <i>manuka</i> which was piled up outside. Luckily, the brushwood
+fell on top of him, completely covering him, but the noise aroused Te
+Rauparaha, who, as soon as he perceived that his captive had flown,
+raised the alarm, and in an incredibly short time the whole camp was
+in a state of uproar and panic. The warriors, suddenly aroused from
+their sleep, were in a condition of extreme nervous tension after the
+excitement and exertion of the day. Some imagined that the prisoners
+had risen in revolt, while others believed that the fugitives had
+returned in force to attack the camp, and it was some time before
+order could be restored and the true position explained. Meanwhile,
+Pura lay panting with fear and trembling lest he should be found, for
+recapture meant certain death. His hiding, however, was not
+discovered, and when the camp had once more settled down to sleep, he
+quietly pushed the brushwood aside, and, threading his way out into
+the swamp, made good his escape to the south, where he afterwards
+joined the main body of the fugitives. Pura subsequently became a
+well-known resident of Lyttelton, under the name of Pitama.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_123" id="Foot_123" href="#Ref_123">[123]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Some conception may be formed of the numbers slain and eaten
+when I mention that some time after the settlement of Canterbury the
+Rev. Mr. Raven, incumbent of Woodend, near the site of the <i>pa</i>
+in question, collected many cartloads of their bones, and buried them
+in a mound on the side of the main road from the present town of
+Kaiapoi to the north. Ghastly relics of these feasts still strew the
+ground, from which I myself have gathered many" (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_124" id="Foot_124" href="#Ref_124">[124]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"The summit of Onawe was called Te-pa-nui-o-Hau. There, amongst
+the huge boulders and rocks that crown the hill and cover its steep
+sloping sides, dwelt the Spirit of the Wind, and tradition tells how
+jealously it guarded its sacred haunts from careless intrusion"
+(<i>Tales of Banks's Peninsula</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_125" id="Foot_125" href="#Ref_125">[125]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Te Hiko struck us forcibly by his commanding stature, by his
+noble, intelligent physiognomy, and by his truly chieftain-like
+demeanour. His descent by both parents pointed him out as a great
+leader in Cook Strait, should he inherit his father's great qualities.
+He was sparing of his words and mild in speech. He had carefully
+treasured up his father's instructions and the relics of his voyage to
+England.... He was said to pay his slaves for their work, and to treat
+them with unusual kindness, and the white men spoke of him as mild and
+inoffensive in his intercourse with them" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_126" id="Foot_126" href="#Ref_126">[126]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Before the northern fleet got clear of Banks's Peninsula, a
+number of the prisoners escaped, the chief person amongst 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 Ngai-Tahu after Te Rauparaha's last raid" (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">{189}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER VI</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE SMOKING FLAX</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+conquest of the southern districts being now completed, and the
+winter months approaching, the whole of the northern fleet took its
+departure for Cloudy Bay, where, according to the records of the
+whalers who were there at the time, scenes of the wildest excitement
+prevailed for many days, and the unhappy condition of the captives was
+observed with much compassion by persons who were powerless to
+intervene. From Cloudy Bay the main body of the conquerors passed over
+to Kapiti, and there the scenes of unbridled ferocity were resumed,
+until sufficient slaves had been killed and eaten to fittingly honour
+the returning warriors. These rejoicings at an end, Te Rauparaha set
+himself to seriously administer the affairs of his own people, which
+were always in danger of violent disturbance, due to the mutual
+jealousies of the tribes when not preoccupied by the excitement of
+war. This work of domestic management almost wholly absorbed his
+attention during the next few years; and it was fortunate for the
+Kaiapoi captives that he had so much on hand, as the pressure of
+circumstances and the stress of inter-tribal complications more than
+once compelled him to treat them with greater consideration than might
+otherwise have been their lot. While these events were proceeding in
+the North Island, the Maoris in the south were slowly reorganising
+their forces. The majority of the fugitives from Kaiapoi and Onawe had
+travelled southward until they reached
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">{190}</a></span>
+Taiaroa's settlement at Otago, where, under his guidance,
+they began to formulate their plans for avenging their
+many humiliations. Amongst these fugitives was Tu-te-hounuku,
+the son of the treacherously captured
+Tamaiharanui, who, recognising that his own people
+were not equal to the task of accomplishing vengeance,
+sought the aid of the great Otago warrior, and chief
+of Ruapuke, Tu-Hawaiki. This chief had received from
+the whalers the startling appellation of "Bloody Jack,"<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_127" id="Ref_127" href="#Foot_127">[127]</a></span>
+not so much because of his sanguinary disposition as
+from the lurid nature of his language. He was a warrior
+of the progressive type, who at once saw the advantage
+of intimate intercourse with the white man; and to
+this end he made common cause with all the whalers
+stationed along the coast. He assisted them in their
+quarrels, and they in return supplied him with the
+implements of war necessary to overcome his tribal
+enemies. In this way he managed to acquire the mastery
+over a large area of country, and to amass a considerable
+amount of wealth. He owned a small vessel, which was
+commanded by one of his whaler friends, in which he
+frequently made trips to Sydney. There he formed an
+acquaintance with Governor Gipps, who presented him
+with a number of old military uniforms; and on his
+return to New Zealand he enrolled a squad of his own
+tribe, clothed them in the soldiers' garb, drilled them,
+and on state occasions paraded them as his personal
+bodyguard, "all the same the <i>Kawana</i>."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_128" id="Ref_128" href="#Foot_128">[128]</a></span>
+To this enterprising
+barbarian the prospect of a brush with Rauparaha&mdash;or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">{191}</a></span>
+with any one else for that matter&mdash;was a most
+agreeable one, and so the alliance with Tu-te-hounuku
+was entered upon after the most trifling negotiation.</p>
+
+<p>Although Taiaroa appears to have taken some part in organising the
+expedition, he did not accompany it. The leadership was therefore
+entrusted to Tu-Hawaiki, who came and secreted himself in the vicinity
+of Cape Campbell, being thus favourably situated for an attack upon
+the Ngati-Toa, who now had entire control of the northern portion of
+the Middle Island, where a section of their people were continuously
+settled. Moreover, it had become one of their practices to visit Lake
+Grasmere for the purpose of snaring the paradise duck, which then, as
+now, made this sheet of water one of their favourite breeding grounds;
+and it was while upon one of these bird-catching expeditions that Te
+Rauparaha nearly lost his life. Being intent upon the manipulation of
+his snares, he was unconscious of the approach from behind the Cape of
+Tu-Hawaiki and his horde, until, with a savage yell, they pounced upon
+the unwary Ngati-Toa. For the latter the situation was indeed
+critical, and all its difficulties were taken in by Rauparaha at a
+glance. He saw that in point of numbers the odds were terribly against
+him, and that to stand his ground and fight it out with such a
+formidable foe could only result in certain death. On the other hand,
+the chances of escape had been almost completely cut off; for when the
+party landed at the lake, the canoes, with one exception, were drawn
+up on the beach, and were now high and dry. The delay in launching
+these meant the difference between life and death, so closely were
+they pressed. But fortunately for him, one still remained in the water
+some distance from the shore; and on observing this solitary gleam of
+hope, Te Rauparaha swiftly made up his mind that discretion was the
+better part of valour. He raced for the sea, and, plunging into the
+surf, swam to the canoe with rapid and powerful strokes, followed by
+at least forty of his own people. At the canoe a general scramble
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">{192}</a></span>
+ensued, in which only the fittest survived, the remainder
+being left struggling in the water to escape as best they
+could, or be despatched by their enemies as opportunity
+offered.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, those of the Ngati-Toa who had not been able to
+plunge into the sea were unceremoniously killed on the spot, and those
+of the attacking party who were not actively engaged in this
+sanguinary work at once launched the canoes lying on the Boulder Bank,
+which divides the lake from the sea, and set off in hot pursuit of the
+retreating Rauparaha. As might be expected, the chase was a desperate
+one, each party straining every nerve to defeat the object of the
+other. Rauparaha, standing in the stern of his canoe, by word and
+gesture urged the men at the paddles to renewed exertions; not that
+they required much exhortation, for they knew that their lives
+depended entirely upon themselves. But, notwithstanding their utmost
+endeavours, it soon became painfully evident that their pursuers were
+gaining upon them, owing to the overloaded condition of the canoe.
+Rauparaha then determined upon a course which can scarcely recommend
+him to our admiration, although Nature's first law, self-preservation,
+might be urged in extenuation of his crime. Without further ceremony
+he ordered half the people in the canoe, many of whom were women and
+children, to jump overboard, and those who demurred were forcibly
+compelled to obey.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_129" id="Ref_129" href="#Foot_129">[129]</a></span>
+Thus relieved of some of its burden, the canoe
+gradually forged ahead, and the diversion of the pursuers' attention
+to the jettisoned passengers, who were struggling in the water,
+enabled Rauparaha to make good his escape to Cloudy Bay. The Ngai-Tahu
+people are especially proud of this encounter,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">{193}</a></span>
+which they regard as a brilliant victory, and have called
+it <i>Rua Moa iti</i>, or "The battle of the little Moa's feather."</p>
+
+<p>It could not, of course, be supposed that a man of action, such as Te
+Rauparaha was, would long remain idle while so black a stain upon his
+reputation as a warrior remained unavenged. He therefore lost no time
+in sending his messengers to a branch of the Ngati-Awa tribe, who then
+resided at the Wairau, soliciting their aid in a mission of
+retaliation. The request was readily granted, and, with this
+reinforcement, a war party of considerable strength set sail in their
+canoes for the <i>karaka</i> groves which grew luxuriantly at
+O-Rua-Moa Bay, immediately to the south of Cape Campbell, where it was
+fully expected that the enemy would be resting. In these anticipations
+they were disappointed. The prey had flown; and if the purpose of the
+expedition was not to fail utterly, there was nothing for it but to
+push on until the object of their search was found. They were soon
+rewarded, for close to the shore, at the mouth of the Flaxbourne
+River, Tu-Hawaiki and his braves were encamped, and here the gage of
+battle was thrown down. That the encounter was a desperate one may be
+judged by the fact that both sides claimed the victory, and they seem
+to have withdrawn from the combat mutually agreeing that they had each
+had enough. According to the Ngai-Tahu account, Te Rauparaha's
+stratagem of sending one hundred and forty men of Ngati-Awa down the
+steep face of a cliff to cut off Tu-Hawaiki's retreat was successfully
+circumvented, the flanking party being caught in their own trap and
+every one of them destroyed. The Ngati-Toa are equally positive that
+the palm of victory rested with them; but in that event the advantage
+gained was not sufficiently great to justify them in following it up,
+for Tu-Hawaiki was allowed to depart next morning unmolested to
+Kaikoura. On the journey down an incident occurred which betrayed the
+savage side of this man's nature, and showed how much he deserved, in
+another sense, the title of the old whalers, when they styled him
+"Bloody Jack." During the voyage the canoe commanded by Tu-te-hounuku was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">{194}</a></span>
+capsized in a southerly gale, and the young chief was
+drowned, although every other man was saved. The
+selfishness of the men in seeking their own safety and
+letting their leader perish so enraged the fiery Tu-Hawaiki,
+that as soon as he heard of the accident he ordered the
+canoes ashore, and with his own hand slew every one of
+the surviving crew.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_130" id="Ref_130" href="#Foot_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Immediately after this skirmish Te Rauparaha returned to the North
+Island, where there was urgent need of his presence. With the coming
+of the Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Ruanui, and other Taranaki tribes, the
+domestic disagreements, of which he stood in daily dread, began to
+ferment, and were already breaking out into open rupture. The
+Ngati-Awa had cast envious eyes upon a piece of country under tillage
+by Ngati-Raukawa, in the vicinity of Otaki, and were openly boasting
+of their intention to make it their own. Their cause was espoused by
+their Taranaki relatives, and even a section of Te Rauparaha's own
+people threw in their lot with them against their old allies, the
+Ngati-Raukawa. This defection, which was especially distressing to Te
+Rauparaha, arose from some act of favouritism&mdash;real or
+fancied&mdash;displayed towards Te Whatanui, the great Ngati-Raukawa chief,
+for whom Te Rauparaha ever felt and showed the highest regard. These
+strained relations, however, did not break out into actual civil
+strife until the Ngati-Raukawa people discovered the Ngati-Ruanui
+malcontents looting their potato-pits at Waikawa. Up to this point the
+Ngati-Raukawa had borne the pin-pricks of the Taranaki braggarts with
+some degree of patience; but this act of plunder satisfied them that,
+unless they were prepared to defend their property, they would soon
+have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">{195}</a></span>
+no property to defend. They therefore stood no longer
+upon ceremony, but straightway attacked the Ngati-Ruanui
+settlement, and thus let slip the dogs of civil war.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_131" id="Ref_131" href="#Foot_131">[131]</a></span>
+In the conflict which ensued Tauake, a Ngati-Ruanui
+chief, was killed, an incident which only served to fan
+the flame of internecine strife, and hostilities of a more
+or less virulent nature involved all the settlements along
+the coast from Waikanae to Manawatu. Both sides were
+equally well armed, for guns and ammunition were now
+plentiful, the traders having learned the Maori's weakness,
+and being prepared to pander to it for the sake of cheap
+cargoes of flax and potatoes. The consequence was that
+in each skirmish numbers of the belligerents were killed,
+and Te Rauparaha saw with increasing dismay the havoc
+wrought amongst his fighting men, and the useless waste
+of tribal strength which must ensue from these insane
+proceedings. Only too clearly he realised that, watched
+as he was by enemies both on the north and to the east,
+this state of division might at any moment be seized on
+as an opportunity for attack. His own efforts to reconcile
+the disputants were unavailing; and when he saw the
+spirit of insurrection growing and spreading beyond his
+power of control, he determined upon making an appeal
+for outside aid. He accordingly dispatched a mission to
+Taupo, requesting Te Heuheu to bring down a large force
+wherewith to crush out the seeds of rebellion, by inflicting
+a telling defeat upon the most turbulent insurgents. Te
+Heuheu's reply to this appeal was of a practical kind.
+Within a few months he marched out from Taupo with an
+effective fighting force of eight hundred men, officered by
+some of the most famous of his own and the Maungatautari
+chiefs of that time. Almost immediately upon
+their arrival on the coast, they, in conjunction with
+Ngati-Raukawa, proceeded to attack the Ngati-Awa at a
+pa close to the Otaki River, and for several months the
+conflict was maintained with fluctuating success. Notwithstanding
+the numbers brought against them, the
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Ruanui proved themselves stubborn
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">{196}</a></span>
+fighters, maintaining their ground with heroic desperation.</p>
+
+<p>In several of the battles the slaughter was exceedingly heavy, amongst
+the slain being counted many important chiefs attached to both sides;
+but still the issue hung in doubt, and so it remained until the great
+battle of Pakakutu had been fought. On this occasion a supreme effort
+was made by Te Heuheu, and the struggle culminated in the decisive
+defeat of Ngati-Awa. Their <i>pa</i> was taken, and their chief
+Takerangi was slain. With his death was removed one of the principal
+factors in the quarrel, and the way was paved for a settlement
+honourable in its terms to all the parties. A conference of
+considerable importance was immediately held at Kapiti, at which the
+disquieting issues were discussed, and in the debates upon these
+contentious points both Te Heuheu and Te Whatanui raised their voices
+with force and eloquence in the cause of peace. As a result of these
+negotiations, the differences which had so nearly wrecked Te Rauparaha's
+consolidating work of fourteen years were amicably settled.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_132" id="Ref_132" href="#Foot_132">[132]</a></span>
+The general result was that Ngati-Raukawa were reinstated in their
+possessions at Ohau and Horowhenua and as far north as Rangitikei,
+while Ngati-Awa retired southward of Waikanae, and extended their
+settlements as far in that direction as Wellington, where they
+replaced Pomare, and where, under Te Puni and Wharepouri, they were
+found by Colonel Wakefield and his fellow-pioneers of the New Zealand
+Company when they came to the spot in 1839.</p>
+
+<p>But, though the civil war had thus ended in a manner satisfactory to
+himself and to his friends, Te Rauparaha was stung to the quick by the
+knowledge that his authority had been so completely set at defiance by
+Ngati-Awa. And this feeling of irritation was further intensified by
+the fact that some of his own tribe had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">{197}</a></span>
+shown him so little regard as to aid and abet them in
+their rebellion. Their disloyal conduct so preyed upon
+his mind that, as the result of much serious reflection, he
+determined to absolve himself from all further responsibility
+on their behalf, by abandoning the business of conquest
+and returning with Te Heuheu to Maungatautari,
+where he proposed to live for the remainder of his days
+the quiet and restful life, to which waning years look
+forward as their heritage. To this end he collected a
+number of his most trusty followers, and, shaking the
+dust of Kapiti from his feet, had travelled as far as Ohau
+in the execution of his petulant decision, when he was
+overtaken by representatives of all the tribes, who begged
+him to return and once more become a father to them.
+In these entreaties the suppliants were joined by Te
+Heuheu, whose advocacy broke down the chief's resolution.
+He at length agreed, amidst general rejoicing,
+to retrace his steps, and none rejoiced more sincerely than
+the repentant Ngati-Awa.</p>
+
+<p>Between the date of the battle of Pakakutu and the arrival of the ship
+<i>Tory</i>, Te Rauparaha does not appear to have been engaged in any
+conflict of great importance in the North Island, the years being
+spent in visiting the various settlements which had been established
+under his guiding genius. These journeys frequently led him across
+Cook Strait to the Middle Island, where, at Cloudy Bay, there was now
+a considerable colony of his own and the Ngati-Awa people, who were
+actively cultivating the friendship of the whalers.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_133" id="Ref_133" href="#Foot_133">[133]</a></span>
+These visits also more than
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">{198}</a></span>
+once led him into sharp conflict with his old enemies,
+the Ngai-Tahu, who were ever vigilantly watching for the
+favourable moment to repay their defeat at Kaiapoi.
+Once they met him on the fringe of Port Underwood, at
+a spot still called Fighting Bay, where they claim to have
+defeated him with considerable slaughter. From this
+engagement, in which his small force was neatly ambushed,
+the great chief only escaped by diving into the
+sea and hiding amongst the floating kelp, until he was
+picked up by one of his canoes, and, availing himself of a
+heavy mist which suddenly enveloped the scene of strife,
+fled, leaving his allies, the Ngati-Awa, to continue the unequal
+struggle. After the fight, the bones of the slain
+were left to bleach on the beach, where they were
+repeatedly seen by the first settlers at the port.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_134" id="Ref_134" href="#Foot_134">[134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This success did not induce the Ngai-Tahu to pursue
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">{199}</a></span>
+the retreating enemy across the Strait; but, elated in spirit,
+they returned to the south for the purpose of fitting out
+an expedition on a much more extensive scale, with which
+they hoped to inflict a crushing blow on their hated
+enemy. These operations were superintended by Taiaroa,
+who in a few months had gathered together a flotilla
+of canoes and boats sufficient to transport some four
+hundred men. These he commanded in person, and
+with them proceeded by slow stages to the neighbourhood
+of Cloudy Bay. Hearing that Te Rauparaha was at
+Queen Charlotte Sound, the southern warriors steered
+their fleet for Tory Channel,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_135" id="Ref_135" href="#Foot_135">[135]</a></span>
+but failed to encounter the
+enemy until they had reached Waitohi, near the head of
+the Sound. Here they met, and immediately attacked a
+large party of Te Rauparaha's followers, who were under
+the personal direction of their chief. The ground upon
+which the battle took place was broken and wooded, and
+it was difficult to bring the whole of the respective forces
+advantageously into action at once; and therefore the
+combat resolved itself into a series of skirmishes, rather
+than a pitched and decisive battle. At the end of the first
+day Te Rauparaha shifted his position, a fact which has
+encouraged the Ngai-Tahu people to claim the credit
+of a victory. But Ngati-Toa did not retire from the field
+altogether; and for several days hostilities continued
+to be carried on in a succession of duels between the
+champions of the opposing tribes, in which the battle
+honours were fairly evenly divided between them. In
+these contests Te Rauparaha is said to have warned his
+men against risking defeat by coming too confidently into
+close quarters with the enemy. Numerous incidents
+during the siege of Kaiapoi had served to impress him
+with Ngai-Tahu's prowess in this class of warfare, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">{200}</a></span>
+any recklessness on the part of his warriors might therefore
+easily lose him a valuable life. Thus, when a Ngati-Toa
+and a Ngai-Tahu were struggling upon the hill-side
+in full view of both forces, and victory ultimately rested
+with the southern warrior, Te Rauparaha exclaimed to
+those about him, "<i>I kiia atu ano</i>" (I told you it would
+be so). But though an occasional success of this kind
+attended the southern arms, nothing of a decisive nature
+was accomplished by Taiaroa on this raid. Scarcity of
+provisions shortly afterwards compelled him to withdraw
+to the south; and before he had time or inclination to
+devise fresh reprisals, events of an external nature had
+so operated upon the Maori mind as to make any
+further conflict between the Ngati-Toa and Ngai-Tahu
+tribes undesirable if not impossible.</p>
+
+<p>It is now fitting to remember that, while these events
+had been proceeding along the eastern coast of the
+Middle Island, the process of subduing the southern
+tribes had not been neglected on its western shore.
+Out of the extreme confidence which pervaded the Ngati-Toa
+mind upon the return of Te Pehi from England,
+a wider field of conquest was sought than appeared to
+be provided by the plains of Canterbury. In obedience
+to these aspirations, an important division of their forces
+was sent across the Strait for the purpose of forcibly
+establishing themselves in the bays of the Nelson coast.
+<i>Hapus</i> of the Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa united in this
+expedition, which was attended with unqualified success.
+They immediately moved to attack the Ngati-Apa settlements
+in Blind and Massacre Bays, from out of which
+they drove the inhabitants with ruthless severity, and
+immediately assumed possession of the soil. Those who
+had fought under Te Koihua and Te Puoho, the Ngati-Awa
+leaders, built <i>pas</i> and remained in permanent occupation
+of the conquered country;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_136" id="Ref_136" href="#Foot_136">[136]</a></span>
+but Niho, a son of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">{201}</a></span>
+Te Pehi, and Takerei took their Ngati-Tama, and perhaps
+a few of their Ngati-Rarua, warriors across the wild and
+almost trackless mountains which intervene between
+Blind Bay and the west coast. From the Buller district
+they worked their way southward, killing and taking
+prisoners almost the entire population as they went,
+until they reached the Hokitika River, where resistance
+ceased and the need for further aggression disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Niho and Takerei settled at Mawhera, on the banks of the Grey River,
+the centre of that romantic region, the greenstone country, which for
+centuries had been the Eldorado of Maori dreams.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_137" id="Ref_137" href="#Foot_137">[137]</a></span>
+At various other
+points, both to the northward and southward of Mawhera, the
+northerners established themselves in permanent <i>pas</i>, to the
+total exclusion of the weaker tribes, who had formerly controlled the
+barter of the precious nephrite. From these points of colonisation the
+restless spirit of the invaders was ever carrying them further
+southward and eastward in search of excitement and adventure. No
+systematic occupation of the land appears to have been attempted
+southward of Hokitika; but stray bands of marauders were frequently
+setting off on predatory expeditions into the pathless mountain-waste
+of western Otago, which then sheltered the shadowy remnant of the
+Ngati-Mamoe race. Further and further these adventurers penetrated
+into the deep glens, rugged passes, and dark forests, until they knew
+the geographical secrets of the interior almost as intimately as did
+its former conquerors.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_138" id="Ref_138" href="#Foot_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the absence of written records, many of these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">{202}</a></span>
+militant journeys have necessarily been effaced from
+memory, and no tradition has been left to commemorate
+those whose valiant spirit led them into the wilds
+of a hostile country, from which only a lion-hearted
+courage could bring them safely back. Of one such
+venture, however, undertaken about the year 1836, for
+the purpose of attacking Tu-Hawaiki on his island fortress
+at Ruapuke, the story has been preserved; and, because
+of its ambitious conception and dramatic ending, it is
+worthy of being narrated here as it has been told in the
+tribal traditions. The chief concerned in leading the
+adventure was Te Puoho, who came originally from the
+country south of the Mokau River, in Taranaki, to assist
+Te Rauparaha in his policy of conquest. He was at this
+time the head chief of the Ngati-Tama tribe, who were
+closely allied to Ngati-Awa, and whom the fortune of war
+had now settled round the great bays on the Nelson
+coast. Hearing that the inhabitants away to the south
+were "a soft people," Te Puoho conceived the idea of
+raiding their country, and, in addition to matching himself
+against Tu-Hawaiki, securing a large number of slaves,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_139" id="Ref_139" href="#Foot_139">[139]</a></span>
+whom he intended to use as beasts of burden. To this
+end he first completed a strong stockade, in which he
+intended to herd his captives, and then he set off with a
+fighting force of some seventy men, and a small number
+of women, to pierce his way through the dense forest and
+dangerous passes of the overland route. Arrived at the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">{203}</a></span>
+Grey River, where Niho and his people were settled, he
+expected to be largely reinforced from amongst his
+former friends; but, to his consternation, he found that
+his old comrade, Niho, was distinctly hostile, and most of
+his people coldly indifferent. A number of his own
+followers, finding that the purpose of the expedition
+was not approved by Niho, declined to proceed further
+in the enterprise and returned to Cook Strait. But
+at length Te Puoho, nothing daunted, succeeded in
+persuading a section of the Ngati-Wairangi to reverse
+their decision not to accompany him, and then with
+about a hundred followers he commenced his march
+southward.</p>
+
+<p>His first route took him over the sinuous tracks which hugged the
+coast line until they reached Jackson's Head, a distance of many
+hundred miles from the point of departure. Few particulars of this
+stage of the journey have been preserved: but it is known that they
+returned northward as far as the Haast River,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_140" id="Ref_140" href="#Foot_140">[140]</a></span>
+where they
+deflected their course to the eastward, and proceeded inland by way of
+the Haast Pass. At Lake Hawea they met a Ngai-Tahu eeling party, from
+whom they ascertained that the chief with his two wives had gone to
+Lake Wanaka. On the pretence of guiding two of Te Puoho's men thither,
+the chief's son, Te Raki, succeeded in getting them deeply entangled
+in the bush; and then, abandoning them to their own resources, he
+slipped away to his father's camp and advised him of what had
+occurred. Arming themselves, they went in search of the two men, who
+were now wandering aimlessly about, and, finding them floundering in
+the forest, they soon succeeded in killing them. When
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">{204}</a></span>
+it dawned upon him that he had been duped, Te Puoho
+exacted <i>utu</i> from amongst the other members of the eeling
+party, and pushed on further into the interior. They
+navigated the upper waters of the Molyneaux on <i>mokihis</i>,
+and made their way down the valley of the Mataura
+through the country of Wakatipu. In view of his
+previous achievements in that direction, no one would
+have been surprised had Te Rauparaha or his people attempted
+an invasion of these far southern districts by sea;
+but no one ever dreamed of a blow being struck at them
+by an inland route. Consequently, when this war party
+marched down the valley of the Mataura, the inhabitants
+were wholly off their guard, and fell an easy prey to the
+invaders. An eeling party was captured at Whakaea, and
+their store of food proved exceedingly welcome to the
+hungry wanderers, whose only provender up to this time
+had been wild cabbage, the root of the <i>ti</i> palm, and a few
+<i>wekas</i>. These wanderings had now occupied the northern
+men nearly two years, during which many of them had
+died of cold and hunger. But, though a "dwindled and
+enfeebled band," they were still strong enough to secure
+another party of Ngai-Tahu, whom they found camped in
+the midst of a clump of <i>korokiu</i> trees, which then grew
+upon the Waimea Plain. Te Puoho believed that he had
+secured the whole of the party, but in this he was mistaken.
+Some few escaped, and, hastening off to the Tuturau
+<i>pa</i>, warned the people there of the approaching danger,
+the fugitives making their way to the Awarua whaling
+station. Te Puoho and his party immediately proceeded
+to occupy the abandoned <i>pa</i>, in the hope that a prolonged
+rest would recruit their exhausted powers; and,
+innocent of the fact that retributive justice was at hand,
+they settled down to leisurely enjoy the recuperative
+process.</p>
+
+<p>From Awarua news of the raid was dispatched to the island of Ruapuke,
+where Tu-Hawaiki and his men were. Memory of the event is still well
+preserved on the island, as the last occasion on which oblation was
+offered to the god of battle. In accordance with ancient Maori custom,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">{205}</a></span>
+this ceremony took place in an immense cavern, which
+opens to the sea beach beneath the island fortress. It
+may still be seen, a dark abyss; and, although geological
+periods must have elapsed since it was instinct with the
+life of mighty waters, the echo-swish still sounds and
+resounds, as if acting and reacting the story of its birth.
+Shut up amidst these ghostly sights and sounds, the
+tribal <i>tohunga</i> spent the night in severe exorcisms. Outside
+in the open was heard the clash of arms, plaintive
+wails and lamentations of the <i>tangi</i> for the dead. At
+dawn of day the prescribed spells to weaken the enemy
+were cast and the invocation to the spear was spoken.
+The followers of Tu-Hawaiki then sailed for the mainland
+and effected a landing at what is now known as Fortrose.
+Concealing themselves during the day, they marched
+under cover of night, reaching Tuturau early on the morning
+of the third day. Being unapprehensive of danger, the
+inmates of the <i>pa</i> were in their turn caught napping, and
+the recapture was effected as smartly as had been the
+original capture. As the attacking force crept cautiously
+within gunshot, Te Puoho was observed sleeping on the
+verandah of one of the houses. A slight noise fell upon
+his quick ear and startled him. He sprang to his feet;
+instantly the report of a gun rang out, and he fell a lifeless
+heap upon his bed. Some thirty in all were killed.
+The rest, with one exception,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_141" id="Ref_141" href="#Foot_141">[141]</a></span>
+were taken prisoners, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">{206}</a></span>
+confined on Ruapuke Island, whence they were afterwards
+smuggled away by a pakeha-maori boatman named
+McDonald, who, under an arrangement with the Ngati-Toa
+tribe, landed them safely back at Kapiti.</p>
+
+<p>The Haast River raid, as the exploit of Te Puoho is known in Maori
+history, becomes interesting not only because it was on this occasion
+that the followers of Te Rauparaha reached the most southerly limit of
+their aggressions upon Ngai-Tahu, but because it affords another
+evidence, if such were needed, of the extremes to which the Maori was
+ever ready to go in order to get even with an enemy. Primarily, the
+raid was designed as a stroke of retaliation upon Tu-Hawaiki, whom
+they hoped to surprise by pouncing upon him from a new and unexpected
+quarter. To effect this, a long and dangerous journey had to be
+braved; they had to penetrate into a region in which Nature seemed to
+have determined to impose in the path of human progress her most
+forbidding barriers. Not only had this band of half-clad savages to
+cross what the late Sir Julius Von Haast has described as "one of the
+most rugged pieces of New Zealand ground which, during my long
+wanderings, I have ever passed," but they had to contend with
+snowfields lying deep in the Southern Alps, the swollen torrent, the
+pathless forest, and the foodless plains. Not even the roar of the
+avalanche as it swept down the mountain-side, the impassible precipice
+as it loomed dark across their path, nor the severity of the climate,
+with its oscillations from arctic cold to tropical heat, was
+sufficient to chill their ardour for revenge. So for two
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">{207}</a></span>
+years they wandered amidst some of the grandest and
+gloomiest surroundings, at times suffering bitterly from
+cold and hunger. In the stress of these privations the
+weaker ones died; but the survivors were sustained by the
+enthusiasm of their leader, who directed their course ever
+to the southward, where they hoped some day to meet
+and vanquish their hated rival. Of the fate which overtook
+them, history has told; and, though future generations
+may be reluctant to endorse the purpose of their
+mission, they will not refuse to credit them with a certain
+spirit of heroism in daring and enduring what they did
+to accomplish their end.</p>
+
+<p>The peace which had been dramatically concluded at Kapiti by Te Heuheu
+breaking the <i>taiaha</i> across his knee, and which closed what is
+known as the Hao-whenua war, was sacredly observed by all the tribes
+for some years; and this respite from anxiety afforded Te Rauparaha
+freedom of opportunity to pursue his grudge against the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples. The humiliated remnant of the Muaupoko tribe had by
+this time sought and obtained the protection of Te Whatanui, who had
+promised them, in his now historic words, quoted many years afterwards
+by Major Kemp, that so long as they remained his dutiful subjects he
+would shield them from the wrath of Te Rauparaha: "I will be the
+rata-tree that will shelter all of you. All that you will see will be
+the stars that are shining in the sky above us; all that will descend
+upon you will be the raindrops that fall from heaven." Although
+slavery was the price they had to pay for the privilege of breathing
+their native air, it at least secured them the right to live, though
+it did not secure them absolute immunity from attack. More than once
+Te Whatanui had to protest against the inhumanity of Ngati-Toa towards
+those whom he had elected to save from utter destruction; and these
+distressing persecutions did not cease until the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+told Te Rauparaha, in unmistakable language, emphasised by
+unmistakable gestures, that, before another hair of a Muaupoko head
+was touched, he and his followers would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">{208}</a></span>
+first have to pass over his (Te Whatanui's) dead body.
+Unwilling to create a breach of friendship with so powerful
+an ally as Te Whatanui, Te Rauparaha ceased openly
+to assail the helpless Muaupoko, though still continuing
+to harass them in secret. He plotted with Te Puoho to
+trap the Rangitane, and with Wi Tako to ensnare the
+Muaupoko: the scheme being to invite them to a great
+feast at Waikanae, to partake of some new food<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_142" id="Ref_142" href="#Foot_142">[142]</a></span>
+which the <i>pakeha</i> had brought to Kapiti. So far as the Rangitane
+were concerned, the invitation was prefaced by an
+exchange of civilities in the shape of presents between
+Mahuri and Te Puoho; and when it was thought that
+their confidence had been secured, the vanity of the
+Rangitane was still further flattered by an invitation to
+the feast. A considerable number of them at once set out
+for Waikanae; but, when they arrived at Horowhenua,
+Te Whatanui used his utmost endeavours to dissuade
+Mahuri, their chief, from proceeding further. Knowing
+Te Rauparaha as he did, he felt convinced that he could
+not so soon forget his hatred for those who had sought
+to take his life at Papaitonga: and, while he would
+have had no compunction about killing in open war every
+man and woman of the tribes he was protecting, his
+generous soul revolted against the treachery and slaughter
+which he feared lay concealed beneath the present
+invitation. His counsel was therefore against going to
+Waikanae; but the impetuous young Mahuri saw no
+reason for alarm, and, heedless of the advice of Te
+Whatanui, he led his people to their destruction.</p>
+
+<p>On their arrival, the hospitality of Te Puoho was of the most
+bountiful nature. The visitors were shown to their houses, and no
+effort was spared to allay any suspicion of treachery. But one night,
+as they sat around their fires, the appointed signal was given, and
+the guests were set upon by a force superior in numbers by two to one,
+and, to use the words of a native<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_143" id="Ref_143" href="#Foot_143">[143]</a></span>
+who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">{209}</a></span>
+knew the story well, "they were killed like pigs," only
+one man escaping from the massacre. This was Te
+Aweawe, whose life was spared at the instigation of
+Tungia, in return for a similar act of humanity which
+the Rangitane chief had been able to perform for him
+some time before. In justice to Te Rauparaha, it should
+be stated that this massacre was not entirely prompted
+by his old grudge against the Rangitane people, but
+partly arose out of a new cause of grievance against
+them, which serves to illustrate the complexity of Maori
+morality and the smallness of the pretence upon which
+they deemed a sacrifice of life both justifiable and necessary.
+The offence of which the Rangitane people had
+been adjudged guilty enough to deserve so terrible a
+punishment was the fact that they were somewhat
+distantly related to the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, resident
+in the Wairarapa. These people had some time previously
+killed a number of Ngati-Toa natives, whom they
+believed to be plotting their destruction; for, while they
+were discussing their plans in one of the <i>whares</i>, a Ngati-Kahungunu,
+who was sleeping with at least one ear open,
+overheard their conversation, and at once gave the alarm,
+with the result that the tables were turned on the
+scheming Ngati-Toa. Their deaths, however, had to
+be avenged; and it is easy to understand how gladly
+Te Rauparaha would avail himself of this new excuse
+for wiping out old scores.</p>
+
+<p>The morning after the massacre, Tungia took Te Aweawe outside the
+Waikanae <i>pa</i>, and, placing a weapon in his hand, said, "Go! come
+back again and kill these people." The released chief at once made his
+way back as best he could to the Manawatu, where he found most of the
+settlements deserted by the terror-stricken inhabitants, in
+consequence of the appalling news which had just reached them of the
+death of their friends. He, however, succeeded in collecting about
+thirty warriors, and with these he travelled down the coast, receiving
+additions by the way from a few stragglers belonging to his own and
+the Muaupoko tribes. When they reached
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">{210}</a></span>
+Waikanae, they found the Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa
+peoples busily engaged in gathering flax to trade away
+for guns and powder and little suspecting an attack.
+They had beguiled themselves into the false belief that
+the shattered Rangitane would not be able to collect
+in so short a time a force sufficiently strong to harm
+them. When, therefore, Te Aweawe, at the head of his
+brave little band, burst in upon them, dealing death at
+every blow, they, in their turn, were at all the disadvantage
+of being taken completely by surprise. Upwards
+of sixty of the followers of Te Rauparaha were killed,
+amongst them a chieftainess named Muri-whakaroto,
+who fell into the hands of the enraged Te Aweawe,
+and was despatched without the slightest compunction.
+Matea, the Rangitane chief second in command, was
+more chivalrous to Tainai Rangi, for he spared her and
+brought her back, a prisoner certainly, but still alive.
+Such of the flax-gathering party as were not slain made
+good their escape down the coast; and the avengers of
+Mahuri, fearing that they might soon return with a large
+and active war party, beat a hasty retreat, well satisfied
+with the result of their mission of revenge&mdash;the last
+great act of slaughter perpetrated by the resident people
+as a protest against the conquest of their country.</p>
+
+<p>Any policy of retaliation which Te Rauparaha and the chiefs who were
+co-operating with him may have contemplated, as a step towards
+restoring the equilibrium of tribal honour, had to be indefinitely
+delayed, owing to the rapidity with which events developed in another
+direction; and that delay robbed them of future opportunity. The death
+of Waitohi, Te Rauparaha's sister, and mother of Rangihaeata, had just
+occurred at Mana, where she had been living with her son. The demise
+of so high-born a woman necessarily demanded a <i>tangi</i> on an
+unusually elaborate and extensive scale, and the whole of the tribes
+who had been associated with Te Rauparaha in his scheme of conquest
+assembled on the island to attend the obsequies of the honoured dead.
+Levies of provisions were made upon all the tributary tribes on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">{211}</a></span>
+both sides of the Straits, and for several weeks the
+peculiar rites of a Maori funeral were continued without
+intermission.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that, for no other purpose than to appear opulent in the
+eyes of his guests, Te Rauparaha ordered the killing and cooking of
+one of the poor slaves who had come from the Pelorus with his people's
+tribute to the feast. Be this as it may&mdash;and it is by no means
+improbable under the circumstances&mdash;the strange admixture of funeral
+and festival, which marks the Maori <i>tangi</i>, was observed at Mana
+in all its completeness and elaboration. But the death of Waitohi
+brought in its train something more than a great <i>tangi</i>; for
+indirectly it was the cause of the renewal of hostilities between
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Raukawa, culminating in the engagement known in
+Maori history as Kuititanga, which was fought on October 16, 1839. It
+is not clear why or in what way the old sore between these comrades in
+arms was re-opened, but the weight of testimony inclines towards the
+assumption that Te Rauparaha's irrepressible passion for intrigue was
+the moving impulse in urging Ngati-Raukawa to take the step they did.
+Whether he had grown jealous of Ngati-Awa's increasing numbers and
+power, or whether, having achieved all he could hope to accomplish, he
+wished to shake himself free from any further obligation to them,
+cannot of course be asserted with any confidence. Ngati-Raukawa were
+nothing loath to join in any conspiracy against Ngati-Awa. Living, as
+they did, north of Kapiti, they began to find themselves somewhat out
+of touch with the whalers; and probably it was the rapid extension of
+trade, enabling Ngati-Awa to procure guns as readily as Rauparaha
+himself, that induced him to instigate Ngati-Raukawa to break the
+truce which had existed since the battle of Pakakutu. No breach of the
+peace actually occurred at Mana, but bickerings and threats foretold
+the coming storm; and when Ngati-Awa returned to their <i>pas</i> on
+the mainland, it was with the full consciousness that the attack would
+not be long delayed.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">{212}</a></span>
+The Ngati-Raukawa mourners remained at Mana for
+some time after Ngati-Awa had left, and it would have
+caused the latter no surprise had Ngati-Raukawa made
+an attack upon them&mdash;as indeed they invited it&mdash;as they
+passed Waikanae on their way to Otaki. This Ngati-Raukawa
+did not do, but went on with every semblance
+of peace, even ignoring the shots of defiance which were
+fired by Ngati-Awa as they passed. Towards evening,
+however, they altered their tactics, and, doubling back,
+surrounded the Kuititanga <i>pa</i> during the night, in preparation
+for the attack at daybreak. A reconnoitring
+party was sent out to investigate the state of the defences,
+one of whom was indiscreet enough to enter a house,
+and, rousing a boy by his intrusion, attempted to cover
+his blunder by asking him for a light for his pipe. The
+boy sharply recognised his visitor as a Ngati-Raukawa;
+and knowing that no friendly native would be prowling
+about at that unseemly hour, sprang for his gun, and
+fired point-blank at the intruder. The echo of the shot
+rang through the clear morning air, and was the signal
+for a general movement on both sides. The women and
+children made a hurried flight to the neighbouring settlements,
+from which Ngati-Awa reinforcements swarmed up
+to the assistance of their beleaguered tribesmen; and by
+daylight the full strength of both forces&mdash;variously estimated
+at between eight hundred and a thousand men&mdash;was
+actively engaged. The <i>pa</i>, which bore the brunt of
+the first assault, stood close to the seashore on a narrow
+tongue of sand, between the Waikanae and Waimea
+Rivers.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_144" id="Ref_144" href="#Foot_144">[144]</a></span>
+At the inception of the attack it was defended by
+a slender company of thirty men, who offered so stubborn
+a defence that the assailants were held in check
+until assistance arrived. A strong company of Ngati-Awa
+crossed the Waikanae, and, catching Ngati-Raukawa
+between two fires at this point, caused them to deploy
+and so open an avenue, by which the supports reached
+the <i>pa</i>. Trenches were now hurriedly dug in the loose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">{213}</a></span>
+soil, which, together with the protection offered by the
+stockade, afforded them a friendly shelter from the fire
+of the enemy. In this respect they were more fortunate
+than the aggressors, who, fighting in the open, suffered a
+greater number of casualties, including several of their
+principal chiefs.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha took no part in the battle; but that he anticipated its
+occurrence is proved by the fact that he landed from his canoe shortly
+after it commenced. And when, at the close of an hour's desperate
+fighting, Ngati-Raukawa, who had his silent sympathy, if not his
+active help, began to waver under their heavy losses, he thought it
+prudent to get beyond the danger zone, and, plunging into the surf,
+swam towards his canoe. Ngati-Awa, who knew that he was inside the
+enemy's lines, saw the movement, and made a spirited effort to
+frustrate it, in the hope of capturing the man to whose subtle
+intrigues they attributed all their misfortunes. An equally vigorous
+rally on the part of Ngati-Raukawa intercepted their rush, and saved
+the chief, though at heavy cost to themselves. With Te Rauparaha safe
+amongst the whalers, who were watching the conflict from their boats,
+Ngati-Raukawa began rapidly to fall back; and, after maintaining a
+slackened fire, retired from the field altogether, taking their
+wounded with them, but leaving to Ngati-Awa the victor's privilege of
+burying the dead. Sixty of the Ngati-Raukawa had fallen, but only
+sixteen of the defenders. There were, however, many wounded in both
+camps. These were attended to by the medical men on board the
+<i>Tory</i>, which arrived at Kapiti on the day that the battle was
+fought; and, as Dr. Dieffenbach has left a graphic account of what he
+saw, no better authority can be here quoted:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"All the people of the village were assembled; and, though grief was
+ expressed in every face, they received us with the greatest kindness
+ and attention, and we were obliged to shake hands with everybody.
+ They regarded us as friends and allies, for we had brought with us
+ from Te-Awaiti some of their relations; and when they saw the medical
+ men of our party giving assistance to the wounded,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">{214}</a></span>
+ their confidence and gratitude were unbounded. Some of the women gave themselves up to
+ violent expressions of grief, cutting their faces, arms, and legs
+ with broken mussel-shells, and inflicting deep gashes, from which the
+ blood flowed profusely. We had brought with us E Patu, the son of a
+ chief in East Bay, whose uncle had been killed in the battle. We
+ found the widow standing on the roof of a hut, deploring in a low
+ strain the loss of her husband. When E Patu approached she threw
+ herself upon the ground, and, lying at his feet, related to him, in a
+ funeral song, how great had been their happiness, how flourishing
+ were their plantations, until the Ngati-Raukawa had destroyed their
+ peace and bereft her of her husband. During this time E Patu stood
+ before her, convulsively throwing his arms backwards and forwards,
+ and joining in her lamentations. An old woman, bent down under the
+ burden of many years, had her arms and face frightfully cut; she was
+ painted with red <i>kokowai</i>, with a wreath of leaves round her
+ head, and gesticulated and sang in a similar manner. In this place
+ there were no wounded; they had been carried to the principal and
+ most fortified <i>pa</i>, which lies a little to the northward. This
+ latter village was very large; it stood on a sand-hill, and was well
+ fenced in, and the houses were neatly constructed. Everything was
+ kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many
+ villages in Europe. The population seemed to be numerous, and I
+ estimated it, together with that of the first-mentioned village, and
+ a third, about a mile higher up, to amount, on the whole, to seven
+ hundred souls. Several native missionaries, some of them liberated
+ Ngati-Awa slaves, live here; and the natives had built a large house,
+ neatly lined with a firm and tall reed, for their church and
+ meeting-house. At the time of our visit they were expecting the
+ arrival of a missionary of the Church of England from the Bay of
+ Islands, who purposed living amongst them. The medical aid which they
+ had given to their wounded was confined to binding the broken limbs
+ with splints made of the bark of a pine, or of the strongest part of
+ the flax-leaves, and carefully protecting the wounds from external
+ injury by means of hoops. Some of these bandages had been very well
+ applied. I went to the beach on the following day to attend my
+ wounded patients and to visit the scene of battle. This was at the
+ third village, and many traces of the strife were visible: trenches
+ were dug in the sand of the beach, the fences of the village had been
+ thrown down, and the houses were devastated. The Ngati-Awa buried
+ their own dead; and the improved state of this tribe was shown by the
+ fact that, instead of feasting on the dead bodies of their enemies,
+ they buried them, depositing them in one common grave, together with
+ their muskets, powder, mats, &amp;c., a generosity and good feeling as
+ unusual as it was honourable to their character. The grave of their
+ enemies they enclosed, and made it <i>tapu</i> (sacred)."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">{215}</a></span>
+While this internecine strife raged up and down the coast, its
+disturbing influence had almost completely suspended the systematic
+settlement of the land by Europeans. There were many in Australia who,
+but for the peril of life and uncertainty of title, would long before
+this have swarmed over to New Zealand and occupied its shores. Only
+the most wanton and the more adventurous had come, and of these latter
+a few had been invited by the chiefs to remain, land being given to
+them on which to reside and establish themselves as traders. In
+isolated instances attempts had been made, chiefly by some subterfuge,
+to acquire from the natives large tracts of country for a nominal
+consideration; but these examples of dishonesty almost invariably
+brought their own punishment. One of the most unscrupulous of such
+perfidious transactions was that of Captain Blenkinsopp. He had sailed
+these seas in command of the whaler <i>Caroline</i>, and had made more
+than one trip to Cloudy Bay. There he became infatuated with a Maori
+woman of the Ngati-Toa tribe. His alliance with her gave him influence
+with Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who, about the year 1834, entered
+into a bargain with him, the spirit of which was that for the right to
+procure wood and water for his ship while at Cloudy Bay, the captain
+was to present the tribe with a ship's cannon,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_145" id="Ref_145" href="#Foot_145">[145]</a></span>
+which he had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">{216}</a></span>
+then with him at Kapiti. The conditions of this bargain were reduced to
+writing by Blenkinsopp, but not the bargain Te Rauparaha had counted
+upon. For wood and water, Ocean Bay and the magnificent Wairau Plain
+were substituted in the deed; and Rauparaha, with that reckless
+disregard for the value of his signature which he exhibited at all
+times when fire-arms were concerned, had signed it with the lines of
+his <i>moko</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Wairau Plain is the floor of the valley through which the Wairau
+River runs. Terminating on the shores of Cloudy Bay, it recedes in
+ever-increasing elevation and diminishing breadth back for many miles,
+until it vanishes in the gorge at the foot of the Spencer Range.
+Covering an area of 65,000 acres, it comprises some of the richest
+agricultural and pastoral land in the Middle Island, and was at this
+time treasured by Rauparaha as one of his principal food-producing
+centres. Eager as he was to procure weapons with which to slaughter
+his enemies, he was equally sensible of the value of this valley; and
+it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he would have parted with so
+rich an estate for a single piece of rusty artillery, subject to the
+additional disadvantage of the difficulty involved in its transport.
+Knowing that he was, for such purposes, ignorant of the English
+language, Blenkinsopp, with a touch of irony, presented Te Rauparaha
+with a copy of the deed, and told him to show it to any captain of a
+man-o'-war who might visit Kapiti. Te Rauparaha did not wait for a
+naval officer, but gave the document to a whaler protege of his, named
+Hawes, then living at his island fortress. Hawes explained to
+Rauparaha that by the deed he had parted with all his land at the
+Wairau: whereupon the chief, in a fit of anger, tore up the paper,
+threw the fragments into the fire, and declared that, so far as he was
+concerned, the contract was at an end. Not so with Blenkinsopp. He
+sailed to Sydney, and there proceeded to raise a substantial sum of
+money upon the security of his deed from a solicitor named Unwin, then
+practising in that city. For reasons which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">{217}</a></span>
+need not be discussed here,
+Mr. Unwin eventually claimed the valley as his own; and his attempt to
+occupy the district, its disastrous failure, culminating in the
+massacre at the Wairau Bar, in 1840, of his manager and all his men,
+are now matters of history, affording another instance of how the just
+sometimes suffer for the unjust. Nor were the deception of Mr. Unwin
+and the death of Mr. Wilton and his fellow employees the full measure
+of the toll exacted as the result of Blenkinsopp's perfidy. When
+Colonel Wakefield met at Hokianga the native woman who had formerly
+been Captain Blenkinsopp's wife, and was now his widow, she showed him
+a document which purported to be the original deed to which her late
+husband had secured Te Rauparaha's signature. As a matter of fact, the
+document was no more than a copy which had been left amongst the
+captain's papers, but, believing it to be genuine, Wakefield purchased
+it for £300;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_146" id="Ref_146" href="#Foot_146">[146]</a></span>
+and it was largely on this spurious foundation that
+his brother, Captain Wakefield, subsequently, and with such fatal
+results, sought to build up the New Zealand Company's claim to the
+Wairau. This transaction, in which Captain Blenkinsopp was so
+scandalously concerned, was but typical of many another, by which the
+credulity of the natives was cunningly exploited. Their influence had,
+however, been so far comparatively harmless, and the measure of injury
+they had inflicted had told more heavily upon the unscrupulous
+speculators than upon the natives.</p>
+
+<p>But now Te Rauparaha, and those tribes with whom he was associated,
+were about to be brought into contact, and to some extent into
+conflict, with a more persistent earth-hunger, and more powerful
+land-buyers, than any which had yet operated upon the coasts of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">{218}</a></span>
+New Zealand. The spirit of colonisation was abroad in England, and the
+restless genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_147" id="Ref_147" href="#Foot_147">[147]</a></span>
+was busy coining
+schemes whereby the spirit of the hour might be embodied in action.
+Canada and South Australia had each attracted his attention; and now
+his eyes were turned to New Zealand as a field suitable for the
+planting of his quasi-philanthropic projects. His writings upon the
+subject of colonisation had drawn within the circle of his influence a
+galaxy of men, whose liberal education, lofty ideals, and generous
+impulses had earned for them the title of "philosophic radicals," and
+with these men, who stood for the most advanced development of English
+political aspiration, as its sponsors, the New Zealand Company was
+founded in 1839. With the story of this Company's early political
+troubles we are not concerned, for they bear only slightly on
+subsequent events in New Zealand. But the central fact with which we
+are concerned is that the Company was established for the purpose of
+acquiring land from the natives and transporting emigrants from
+England to settle thereon. To this end, the expeditionary ship
+<i>Tory</i> was hurriedly despatched from the Thames, and arrived
+safely in New Zealand waters, bringing with her Colonel Wakefield,
+brother of the founder of the Company, with a staff of officers
+charged with the duty of conducting the negotiations for the purchase
+of land and arranging other preliminaries&mdash;which appeared to be
+regarded in the light of mere formalities&mdash;incidental to the
+introduction of a great colonising scheme. In furtherance of her
+mission, the <i>Tory</i> paid a brief visit to Queen Charlotte Sound
+and Port Nicholson, and reached Kapiti on October 16, 1839, the day on
+which Ngati-Raukawa had been routed by Ngati-Awa at the fight of
+Kuititanga.</p>
+
+<p>The first tidings of this engagement was brought to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">{219}</a></span>
+the officers of the <i>Tory</i> by a canoe-crew of natives who had just left the scene
+of strife; and although the sea was high, a boat's company had been
+organised, and was on the point of starting for the battlefield, when
+a message came from Te Rauparaha, who had returned to Evans' Island,
+that he wished them to pay him the honour of a visit. Accordingly, the
+course of the boat was deflected to the island, and there the chiefs
+of the two races met for the first time. Te Rauparaha was sitting upon
+the ground beside his wife, a woman who has been described as being of
+the "Meg Merrilies" type. He was deeply smeared with red ochre, and
+evidently in an uneasy frame of mind. His manner was restless, his
+glance furtive, and he was obviously depressed at the result of the
+battle. As Colonel Wakefield and his party approached, Te Rauparaha
+rose and hastened to exchange with them the missionary greeting,
+shaking them by the hand. With equal alacrity he sought to convince
+them that he had been in no way concerned in promoting the fight. In
+these protestations it cannot be said that he was in the least
+successful, for the Englishmen had already been prejudiced against him
+by the tales of his duplicity told them by both whalers and Ngati-Awas
+at Cloudy Bay; whilst his wandering, distrustful glances, as he spoke,
+were not calculated to inspire confidence. Though, on the whole, his
+conduct was unsatisfactory, the interview was occasionally illumined
+by flashes of his imperious nature, the inborn power to lead and
+command momentarily asserting itself, only to be again clouded by a
+mean cringing, which seemed to bespeak a craven spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Being assured that there were no hostile natives harbouring on board
+the <i>Tory</i>, Te Rauparaha left Evans' Island for Kapiti, promising
+to visit the ship on the following morning. Next day he was received
+by Colonel Wakefield with a salute of guns, which filled him with
+alarm, until it had been made clear that the demonstration was
+intended as a great compliment to him and those chiefs who were with
+him. The preliminaries of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">{220}</a></span>
+the reception being over, the question of
+the land purchase was introduced to the chiefs; but Colonel Wakefield
+discovered them to be distinctly hostile to his proposals, an
+opposition which he attributed to the influence of Mr. Wynen, the
+agent for a Sydney land syndicate, whose headquarters were then at
+Cloudy Bay. The energies of this gentleman had been insidiously
+applied to prejudice the native mind against the Company's scheme of
+colonisation; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the
+Colonel was ultimately able to dissipate these prejudices, and to
+obtain their consent "to look over their land, and if he found it
+good, to take it." A gale which raged through the Strait prevented all
+communication with the shore and suspended the negotiations until the
+21st, when Colonel Wakefield made a definite proposal to purchase all
+the Ngati-Toa possessions, together with their rights and claims on
+both sides of the Strait. After he had exhibited to their wondering
+eyes a great portion of the goods&mdash;the finery and the trumpery&mdash;which
+he intended to dignify by the term "payment," his proposals were
+doubtingly accepted, Te Hiko pressing for more soap and clothing, and
+Te Rauparaha clamouring for more arms. Te Rauparaha dictated to Mr.
+Jerningham Wakefield the names of the localities involved in the sale;
+and the binding nature of the bargain was impressed upon the natives
+as clearly as the linguistic limitations of Dicky Barrett, the
+interpreter, would permit.</p>
+
+<p>These preliminaries settled, the following day was appointed for the
+distribution of the goods; but the ceremony was intercepted by the
+indisposition of Te Hiko, whom Colonel Wakefield regarded as an
+indispensable party to the transaction, and he refused to proceed
+without him. This refusal greatly aggravated Te Rauparaha, whose hands
+were itching to grasp the guns, which had been thrown like leaven
+amongst the heap of worthless stuff; and he railed bitterly against
+the deference paid to one whom he designated "a boy,"
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">{221}</a></span>
+destitute alike of any interest in, or knowledge of, land. "Give us the goods," said
+he, "with more powder and arms. Of what use are blankets, soap, tools,
+and iron pots, when we are going to war? What does it matter whether
+we die cold or warm, clean or dirty, hungry or full? Give us
+two-barrelled guns, plenty of muskets, lead, powder, cartridges and
+cartouche boxes." This militant appeal was coldly ignored by Colonel
+Wakefield, who steadfastly declined to consider the question of
+distribution until Hiko's return, which did not occur until two days
+later. On the 23rd, however, the chiefs again assembled, and the
+merchandise, which the Company offered as payment for the land, was
+ostentatiously displayed on the deck of the <i>Tory</i>. The
+consummation of the transaction was, however, still to be delayed.
+While Te Hiko was busy trying on one of the coats which he had
+selected from the pile of clothing, Te Rauparaha, Tungia, and several
+of the warlike chiefs made an unseemly rush to secure some of the
+fowling-pieces, which were lying on the companion hatch ready for
+distribution. This exhibition of selfishness so exasperated Te Hiko
+that he at once threw down the garment, and, calling to Rangihiroa to
+accompany him, went down over the ship's side and made for the shore
+in a fit of ill-humour, out of which he could not be cajoled until
+next day.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Wakefield immediately suspended the proceedings, whereupon Te
+Rauparaha again became deeply offended at the consideration shown for
+one whom he regarded as so much his inferior; but, in spite of
+importunities and threats which sorely tried his patience, the Colonel
+refused to recede from his former attitude, and declined to take one
+step towards the sale in Hiko's absence. As Wakefield was adamant
+against all their menaces and blandishments, nothing remained but to
+return on shore for the purpose of placating Te Hiko, which they
+shortly succeeded in doing. Next day, unsolicited by Colonel
+Wakefield, both Te Hiko and Te Rauparaha came off to the ship, and,
+after entertaining
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">{222}</a></span>
+themselves for some time with the novelties of the
+<i>pakeha</i>, they asked that the deed of sale might be read over to
+them, the map being at the same time consulted. After questions had
+been asked and answered, and all doubts on either side apparently
+cleared away, the fateful document was signed, Te Rauparaha making a
+mark peculiarly his own, and Te Hiko subscribing the sign of the
+cross. Each then left the vessel, possessed of a gun, promising that
+the rest of the chiefs would come on board and sign on the next day.
+This ceremony was duly performed, but only eleven signatures were
+obtained, Te Rauparaha and two minor chiefs signing as proxy for the
+natives on the opposite side of the Strait. A share of the gifts was
+reserved for Te Rangihaeata, who was at Mana, and had taken no part in
+the negotiations. On Thursday, 24th October, Colonel Wakefield was
+able to report to his Directors in London that he had acquired by his
+purchases at Port Nicholson and Kapiti, at a cost of a few guns, some
+powder, lead, and miscellaneous goods, "possessions for the Company
+extending from the 38th to the 43rd degree of latitude on the western
+coast, and from the 41st to the 43rd on the eastern." But Colonel
+Wakefield still had some reservations as to the completeness and
+validity of his purchases; for he added to his report this qualifying
+sentence: "To complete the rights of the Company to all the land
+unsold to foreigners in the above extensive district, it remains for
+me to secure the cession of their rights in it from the Ngati-Awa,
+and, in a proportionately small degree, from the Ngati-Raukawa and
+Whanganui peoples."</p>
+
+<p>Three days later he had an interview with the Ngati-Awa people at
+Waikanae, and they, being excited by the spirit of war and fearful of
+another attack by Ngati-Raukawa, were easily tempted by the sight of
+guns and the prospect of powder. Several of the elder chiefs addressed
+the assemblage, and urged their followers to acquiesce in the
+Colonel's proposals, conditionally upon their receiving arms and
+ammunition. To this stipulation Wakefield felt no reluctance in
+agreeing, and, for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">{223}</a></span>
+purpose of giving it effect, a conference was
+arranged to take place on board the <i>Tory</i>. On the appointed day
+(8th November) the natives were astir bright and early; soon after
+daylight they "began to come on board, and by 12 o'clock more than two
+hundred had assembled on the deck, including all the principal chiefs
+of the Sounds." To these unsophisticated dealers in real estate was
+produced the deed, phrased in stilted terms, which purported to convey
+to the Colonel, as agent for the Company, and in trust for the
+Company, a vast area of country, over much of which the signatories
+had absolutely no authority whatever.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Know all men that we the undersigned chiefs of the Ngati-Awa tribes,
+residing in Queen Charlotte's Sound, on both sides of Cook Strait, in
+New Zealand, have this day sold and parted with, in consideration of
+having received, as full and just payment for the same, ten
+single-barrelled guns, three double-barrelled guns, sixty muskets,
+forty kegs of powder, two kegs of lead slabs, two dozen pairs of
+scissors, two dozen combs, two pounds of beads, one thousand flints,
+the land bounded on the south by the parallel of the 43rd degree of
+South latitude, and on the west, north and east by the sea (with all
+islands), and also comprising all those lands, islands, tenements,
+&amp;c., situate on the northern shore of Cook Straits, which are bounded
+on the north-east by a direct line drawn from the southern head of the
+river or harbour of Mokau, situate on the west coast in latitude of
+about 38 degrees South, to Tikukahore, situate on the east coast in
+the latitude of about 41 degrees South, and on the east, south and
+west by the sea, excepting always the island of Kapiti, and the small
+islands adjacent thereto, and the island of Mana, but including
+Tehukahore, Wairarapa, Port Nicholson, Otaki, Manawatu, Rangitikei,
+Whanganui, Waitotara, Patea, Ngati-Ruanui, Taranaki, Moturoa, and the
+several sugar-loaf islands and the river or harbour of Mokau."</p>
+
+<p>The goods which were specified in the deed as the price of the land
+were carefully arranged on deck; but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">{224}</a></span>
+during the process of distribution
+a violent altercation took place, which was only quelled by a threat
+from the Colonel to send the wares below and proceed to sea, if peace
+was not immediately restored. Advantage was taken of the "momentary
+calm" thus secured to obtain the coveted signatures, and consenting
+chiefs to the number of about thirty appended their marks to the
+document. Scarcely had the distribution of the beads and bullets
+recommenced than another mêlée, even more violent, took place. "In a
+moment," says the Colonel in his report to the Company, "the most
+tumultuous scene we had ever witnessed took place, in which many blows
+were exchanged: never did a ship witness such a scene of violence
+without bloodshed." A similar, "if not more unfriendly," riot occurred
+on shore amongst those natives who had first conveyed their goods to
+land before they commenced their peculiar method of division; but it
+mattered nothing to the Company's representative how the natives
+abused their goods or each other so long as they had put their marks
+to his deed. Equally was it a matter of indifference to the Maoris how
+many deeds they signed, so long as they became possessed of arms and
+ammunition. It was sufficient for the one that he had outwitted his
+rivals, and appeared to be doing well for his employers, and for the
+other that they had satisfied the most pressing need of the moment.
+Neither looked beyond the immediate present, or took a single thought
+for the long years of mistrust and misunderstanding that were to
+follow upon their hasty and ill-considered transactions. Confident
+that he had made "a full and just payment" for the land described in
+the deed, Colonel Wakefield on 9th November went on shore and took
+possession of the estate, in the name of the Company; and, in order to
+distinguish their possessions, "which so greatly predominate in this
+extensive territory," from those of other buyers, he designated them
+North and South Durham, according to the respective islands in which
+they were situated. Having completed his purchases at Kapiti to his
+own satisfaction,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">{225}</a></span>
+Colonel Wakefield, on 18th November, sailed northward,
+intending to call in at Whanganui for the purpose of perfecting his
+purchases there, as he regarded that district as one of some
+importance. But before he left he had received a glimmering that his
+proceedings had not been perfectly understood, and the first shadow of
+doubt must have crossed his mind when Te Rauparaha calmly informed him
+that he (Te Rauparaha) wanted more guns, and, in order to get them,
+intended to make further sales, embracing territory which the Colonel
+believed he had already bought. Language of the most reproachful
+character was used towards the chief, and his speedy repudiation of a
+solemn bargain was characterised in unmeasured terms; but Te Rauparaha
+steadfastly maintained that, so far as he was concerned, the sale in
+the Middle Island had not included more than D'Urville Island and
+Blind Bay at Nelson. Subsequent investigations proved that Te
+Rauparaha was right and the Colonel was wrong; but it is doubtful
+whether, when he left for Whanganui, the latter had realised the full
+extent of his error, and therefore he parted from the chief with
+bitterness in his heart and an angry word upon his lips.</p>
+
+<p>While these events were in progress in New Zealand, the operations of
+the Company and its contemporary land-speculators had not passed
+unnoticed in England. The British authorities were beginning to regard
+those islands with an anxious eye, but they displayed a painful
+indecision in adopting measures to meet the political emergency which
+they were commencing to realise was inevitable. As a tentative step,
+Mr. Busby was sent from New South Wales in the capacity of British
+Resident; but his usefulness was shorn down to the point of nullity by
+the purely nominal nature of the powers with which he was endowed.
+Negative as the results of this experiment had been, it nevertheless
+encouraged the British authorities to take a still bolder step in the
+appointment of Captain Hobson, R.N., as the accredited British Consul,
+who was authorised to negotiate with the chiefs,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">{226}</a></span>
+and, if possible, to acquire the country by cession, preparatory to annexing it as a
+dependency of New South Wales. Even Hobson's position was extremely
+anomalous until the now famous Treaty of Waitangi had been formulated
+and successfully promulgated amongst the tribes. The ratification of
+this document by the chiefs was a severe blow to the New Zealand
+Company, while it is doubtful whether the Maoris had more than a
+nebulous idea of its real meaning. It, however, gave the British
+Government the colour of right to institute the principles of
+established authority in those islands, where it had become their
+imperative duty to control the colonisation which their indifference
+had not been able to thwart. With the policy of the Treaty of Waitangi
+we are not now concerned, beyond recording the fact that, in order to
+give effect to that policy, it became necessary to procure the
+signatures of all the principal chiefs, as acknowledging their assent
+to the solemn obligations involved in the covenant. To this end
+Archdeacon Williams came southward, and in due course reached Kapiti,
+where, on May 14, 1840, he succeeded, but by what means we are not
+told, in inducing Te Rauparaha to sign the treaty. Similarly, Major
+Bunbury, an officer of the 80th Regiment, had been despatched by
+Captain Hobson in H.M.S. <i>Herald</i>, charged with the mission of
+securing the assent of the chiefs in the Middle Island to the
+proposals of the Government. After having visited all the southern
+<i>pas</i> of importance, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Queen
+both at Stewart Island and Cloudy Bay, he arrived at Kapiti on June
+19th, and to him we are indebted for the following account of what
+there occurred:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"When we arrived off the island of Kapiti several canoes were leaving
+ the island, and on my preparing to go ashore, fortunately the first
+ canoe we met had on board the chief Rauparaha, whom I was anxious to
+ see. He returned on board with me in the ship's boat, his own canoe,
+ one of the most splendid I have yet seen, following. He told me the
+ Rev. Mr. Williams had been there,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">{227}</a></span>
+ and had obtained his signature to
+ the treaty, and on inquiring for the chiefs Rangihaeata and Te Hiko,
+ I was informed that we should meet them both, probably at the island
+ of Mana, and, as this lay on our route to Port Nicholson, thither we
+ proceeded, the chief Rauparaha remaining on board the <i>Herald</i>,
+ his canoes following. On our arrival, the <i>Herald</i> having
+ anchored, I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Williams and Rauparaha.
+ We learnt that Hiko, son of the late chief Te Pehi, had gone out on a
+ distant expedition. The other chief, Rangihaeata, after some time
+ returned with us on board, accompanied by Rauparaha, when both signed
+ the treaty."</p>
+
+<p>What arguments or other inducements were held out to the chiefs to
+lead them to append their marks to the document is not clear.
+Rauparaha subsequently boasted that he had received a blanket for his
+signature, but whether this gift, or bribe, was tendered by the
+missionary or the Major is equally a matter of doubt. It would,
+however, be safe to assume that the blanket was a more potent factor
+in securing the allegiance of the chief to the policy of the treaty
+than any arguments that could have been pressed upon him. It is
+certainly asking much of the intelligence of Te Rauparaha to assert
+that he was seized with the full significance of the step he had
+taken, seeing that the terms and intentions of the treaty were
+afterwards so diversely interpreted by cultured Englishmen.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_148" id="Ref_148" href="#Foot_148">[148]</a></span>
+Major Bunbury, when being
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">{228}</a></span>
+sent out on his southern mission, was instructed
+by Captain Hobson to assemble the chiefs, to explain the provisions of
+the treaty to them, and further, to give them "a solemn pledge that
+the most perfect good faith would be kept by Her Majesty's Government,
+that their property, their rights and privileges should be most fully
+preserved." In direct conflict with this official view, which was an
+accurate reflex of the instructions given to Captain Hobson himself by
+the Marquis of Normanby, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies,
+Lord Howick persuaded a Committee of the House of Commons to condemn
+the treaty as "a part of a series of injudicious proceedings," and
+with a light-hearted ignorance of Maori reverence for landed rights,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_149" id="Ref_149" href="#Foot_149">[149]</a></span>
+to assert that the acknowledgment of Maori property in
+wild lands subsequent to the Queen's assumption of sovereignty was
+"not essential to the construction of the treaty, and was an error
+which had been productive of serious consequences."</p>
+
+<p>Whether or not Te Rauparaha and his fellow-signatories were able to
+analyse the language of the treaty with the precision of an English
+statesman, they had certainly never placed upon it such a loose
+interpretation as this. And when tidings of the Committee's deliberations
+reached the colony, the alleged "serious consequences" which had
+followed upon the observance and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">{229}</a></span>
+administration of the treaty as laid
+down by Captain Hobson were safety itself compared with the
+catastrophe which might have followed from this rash attempt to
+repudiate, in the interests of the New Zealand Company, the essential
+principle of the treaty&mdash;that the "full, exclusive, and undisturbed
+possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other
+possessions" was guaranteed to the natives by the Queen. Fortunately,
+at this time there was at the head of Britain's Colonial Department a
+Minister who held national honour to be dearer than personal gain.
+Lord Stanley, to his credit, refused to comply with the recommendations
+of the Committee to confiscate the native land "without reference to
+the validity or otherwise of its supposed purchase from the natives,"
+and at the end of the famous three days' debate induced the House of
+Commons to adopt his view of the nation's obligations to the Maoris.</p>
+
+<p>The Crown having now assumed sovereignty over New Zealand, it became
+necessary to administer its affairs impartially in the interests of
+both Maori and <i>pakeha</i> population; and, in this connection, one
+of its first and most pressing duties was to make an honest effort to
+unravel the complex web of land claims, in which both races had become
+unhappily entangled. The Government of Lord John Russell accordingly
+appointed as a commissioner to adjudicate upon claims of all classes
+of buyers Mr. Spain, an English lawyer, who, it is said, had been a
+prominent electioneering agent on the side of the Liberals. Mr. Spain
+arrived in New Zealand on December 8, 1841, and immediately took steps
+to establish his court. He has been described as a man of solid
+intelligence, but burdened with a good deal of legal pedantry; slow in
+thinking and in his apprehension of ways of dealing with new
+emergencies; steady and plodding in his methods, thoroughly honest in
+his intentions, and utterly inflexible to threats, though, perhaps,
+not unsusceptible to flattery. Considering the magnitude of their
+alleged purchases, the claims of the New Zealand Company naturally
+took precedence over
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">{230}</a></span>
+all others in the business of the court; and,
+having regard to the temperament of the Commissioner, an inauspicious
+start was made by the representatives of the Company metaphorically
+shaking their fists in his face. In some degree their annoyance may
+have been pardonable, for they, believing themselves to be the
+pioneers of a great colonising scheme, had flattered themselves that
+not only the merit of their cause, but the fact that they had made
+their purchases prior to the proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty,
+would have placed them outside the exacting conditions of the Treaty
+of Waitangi.</p>
+
+<p>The coming of Mr. Spain, and his insistence upon an exhaustive
+examination of their titles, was a heavy blow to them, which they at
+first thought to ward off by affecting an attitude of amused
+indifference. They laughed at the treaty, with its engagement to
+respect Maori rights in land, and its elevation of the Maori to a
+civil status equal to themselves. But amidst this simulated merriment
+they exhibited an ill-concealed chagrin that the little self-governing
+community, which they had hoped to set up on the shores of Cook
+Strait, had been so unceremoniously superseded by the sovereignty of
+the Queen, and they resented with fear and anxiety the appointment of
+a commissioner, who might deem it his duty to ask awkward questions
+regarding their titles. Their policy was, therefore, one of delay and
+evasion, which was inaugurated by their raising technical objections
+to the constitution of the court, its jurisdiction, and its forms of
+procedure, but, most of all, to Mr. Spain's determination to call
+native evidence. That was surely an unnecessary elevation of the
+savage, and a corresponding degradation of the white man. In fact,
+they openly asserted that to put the testimony of the one against the
+other was a gratuitous insult to the dignity of the British subject.
+But this was not the full measure of Spain's offending in the eyes of
+the Company's champions. He was audacious enough to ask Colonel
+Wakefield to submit proof that those natives who had signed the
+Company's deed had the right to sell the land
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">{231}</a></span>
+which they thus
+purported to convey to the Company; and some of them made themselves
+conspicuously offensive in the manner in which they ridiculed this
+demand as preposterous and ridiculous.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings of the court at Wellington<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_150" id="Ref_150" href="#Foot_150">[150]</a></span>
+do not materially
+concern our purpose, for Te Rauparaha took no part in the sale of Port
+Nicholson, nor need we burden the narrative with the interminable
+finesse which took place before the court was able seriously to attack
+the work which lay before it in other districts. When this condition
+was at length reached, Spain soon saw that he was faced with a most
+serious problem. That the Company's purchases were in most instances
+bad he had little hesitation in declaring. But there was no blinking
+the fact that hundreds of settlers had risked their all on the
+assurances of the Company that they could give them a title, and it
+would have been cruel indeed to visit the sins of the Company upon the
+unfortunate colonists. Spain, therefore, halted between justice to the
+Maoris and equity to the settlers, satisfying the requirements of his
+office by issuing interim reports, hoping that in the meantime some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">{232}</a></span>
+workable compromise might be evolved. This was ultimately found in an
+arrangement whereby Mr. Clarke and Colonel Wakefield were to agree
+upon what additional compensation was to be paid for the land
+purchased, and, failing their arriving at an understanding, Mr. Spain
+was to be the final arbitrator. At the outset of these negotiations,
+Mr. Clarke stipulated that the natives were not to be evicted from
+their <i>pas</i> or their cultivations, nor were their burial-places
+to be disturbed; but to these reasonable reservations Colonel
+Wakefield could not at first be induced to frankly agree, while his
+unwillingness, or his inability, to comply with the ultimate awards
+tended to accentuate rather than to soothe public irritation.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Rangihaeata had been busy entering his practical protest
+against what he believed to be a violation of his rights at Porirua.
+He, in conjunction with Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_151" id="Ref_151" href="#Foot_151">[151]</a></span>
+stoutly contended that Porirua, like the Wairau, had never been sold; and
+when, in the early part of 1841, the Company's surveyors went there to
+survey, Rangihaeata blocked up the forest track, levelled the
+surveyors' tents to the ground, and, at the end of each day, undid all
+the work which they had performed. This interference with the survey
+was obviated by an assurance being given to the chief, that, even if
+the land were surveyed, the Company's title must still be investigated
+by Mr. Spain before the settlers would be permitted to enter upon it.
+But, in defiance of this assurance, Colonel Wakefield, in April, 1842,
+issued leases to four settlers&mdash;Joseph Hurley, Thomas Parry, Benjamin
+Lowndes and Josiah Torr&mdash;who at once proceeded to erect houses and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">{233}</a></span>
+occupy their holdings. Two of the houses were nearly finished when the
+intelligence was brought to the chief. Rangihaeata immediately gave
+the settlers notice of his intention to pull their houses down; and
+this threat, so chivalrously declared, was duly executed next day,
+without any unnecessary violence, by the chief and a band of fifty
+men. The indignation which followed this assertion of native authority
+found expression in a public meeting at Wellington, at which the
+arrest of Rangihaeata was violently demanded, and those present
+declared their readiness to assist the Sheriff in effecting his
+capture. With the mandate of this meeting Mr. Murphy, the magistrate,
+refused to comply,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_152" id="Ref_152" href="#Foot_152">[152]</a></span>
+and when, in the following June, the huts were
+again demolished, he wrote to the Governor declaring his determination
+not to interfere "to prevent any natives keeping land which they state
+they have not sold, until Mr. Spain decides upon the claims." This
+determination to regard the Porirua land claims as <i>sub judice</i>
+met with the entire concurrence of Captain Hobson, but was as bitterly
+assailed by Colonel Wakefield, who committed the indiscretion, almost
+criminal under the circumstances, of declaring, when speaking at
+Wellington, that he had not treated with the natives for a settlement
+of their claims, but preferred to employ the inconvenience created by
+these claims as grounds of complaint against the Government, and as
+arguments in aid of his efforts to secure the removal of the Governor.
+With such a feeling of declared insincerity pervading Colonel
+Wakefield's conduct, it is small wonder that the differences between
+the natives and the Company were slow of settlement, or that the
+efforts of Spain and Clarke to that end were unduly protracted.
+Equally true is it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">{234}</a></span>
+that thereby the cares and worries of the Governor
+were unnecessarily aggravated, while both brown and white populations
+were exasperated almost to the point of desperation by the vexatious
+delays. The irritated state of the public temper thus engendered not
+only made acts of violence possible, but even encouraged them, and
+these only added fuel to the threatened conflagration. A native woman
+was found by her friends murdered at Wellington, and suspicion fell
+upon a European. Only a few months later a settler was discovered
+lying upon the Petone road with his skull fractured, and questioning
+eyes were at once turned in the direction of the Maoris. The
+burial-grounds of the natives were being repeatedly desecrated by
+<i>pakeha</i> looters in search of greenstone ornaments, and in the
+prosecution of this shameful traffic, deep offence was given by the
+secret exhumation of the body of Te Rauparaha's brother, Nohorua, at
+Cloudy Bay. For this act of violence to the honoured dead the natives
+would at one time have taken swift vengeance; but, acting under the
+restraining counsel of Mr. Clarke, they consented to refer their
+complaint to the Government for settlement, a forbearance which the
+Protector, in his letter to Captain Hobson, assured the Governor
+greatly surprised him.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_153" id="Ref_153" href="#Foot_153">[153]</a></span>
+The weight of these and other accumulating
+troubles began to tell heavily upon the frail physique of Captain
+Hobson, and borne down by the stress of his increasing responsibilities,
+he died at Auckland in September, 1842. Before his successor, Captain
+Fitzroy, arrived in the Colony, the tragedy for which the country was
+being rapidly prepared had been enacted, and the faithlessness of the
+New Zealand Company had been written in letters of blood on the floor
+of the Wairau Valley.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_127" id="Foot_127" href="#Ref_127">[127]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Amongst these, there was a great chief named Tu-Hawaiki in
+Maori, 'Bloody Jack' by the Englishmen, because in his English, which
+he learned mostly from the rough whalers and traders, he often used
+the low word 'bloody'" (<i>Memoirs of the Rev. J.F.H. Wohlers</i>). Tu
+Hawaiki was both the patron and the pupil of the whalers, and was
+referred to by them as an evidence of what they had done in civilising
+the aborigines. "He was undoubtedly the most intelligent native in the
+country in 1840, and his reputation for honesty was such that
+Europeans trusted him with large quantities of goods"
+(<i>Thomson</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_128" id="Foot_128" href="#Ref_128">[128]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Just like the Governor."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_129" id="Foot_129" href="#Ref_129">[129]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Travers doubts the occurrence of this incident, holding that had
+Te Rauparaha been guilty of such conduct towards his own people, he
+could never have retained the respect of his fellow-chiefs. Wakefield,
+on the other hand, insists upon it, and it is also referred to in a
+Ngati-Toa account of Te Rauparaha's life found in White's <i>Ancient
+History of the Maori</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_130" id="Foot_130" href="#Ref_130">[130]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A modified version of this incident states that all the crew
+were drowned except an old woman, who escaped by clinging to the
+overturned canoe. Tu-Hawaiki and his friends waited about the shore
+for some days until the bodies were cast up, and then the old woman
+was killed, her death being part of the religious rites performed at
+the funeral ceremonies. But there are discrepancies in the tradition,
+upon which it is now impossible to arbitrate.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_131" id="Foot_131" href="#Ref_131">[131]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This war is known in Maori history as the Hao-whenua war.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_132" id="Foot_132" href="#Ref_132">[132]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Heuheu's peace was made at Kapiti. He took a <i>taiaha</i>
+and broke it across his knee. Some people then gave him a long-handled
+tomahawk, and Hoani Tuhata gave a sword, and peace was made (<i>Native
+Land Court Record</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_133" id="Foot_133" href="#Ref_133">[133]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Robert McNab, for the following
+note, culled from an American whaling captain's log, which probably
+refers to this period, the incident described having occurred at
+Cloudy Bay on Saturday, April 30, 1836:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="nodent">"At 4 had visit from Roabolla (Rauparaha), the head chief of this Bay
+(just returned from a marauding expedition), accompanied with the
+customary demand of lay of tobacco, muskets, and cask of powder, which
+I peremptorily denied. This they returned with a threat that I should
+not whale here, to which I replied I was perfectly willing to go to
+sea, for I would not submit to any imposition, although I would
+present them with the same the English ships and parties did, but no
+more, and if they would not take that they should have nothing. They
+finally consented to receive a dozen pipes, 10 lbs. tobacco, and a
+piece of low-priced calico of about 30 yards, priced 17s. 4d., and a
+tin pot, then dismissed them with a blessing. He afterwards came and
+demanded supper, which I, of course, declined furnishing him, and bade
+him goodbye. There is no other way to deal with these people only to
+be positive with them, and let them know you do not fear them, as if
+any timidity is shown, they demand everything they see, nor would the
+ship hold enough for them, and the bad conduct of masters has
+encouraged them to be very importunate. I am willing to allow a lone
+ship here, not well armed, might be obliged to comply with their
+requisition, but no excuse can be offered for any one to do so now, as
+there are seven ships here all partially armed, and yet he showed me
+three muskets given him by the captains of ships the other side, to
+their shame be it spoken, for if they only reflected they would know
+'tis for the interest of these natives to keep on good terms with us,
+as they know if ships are hindered coming here, adieu to their darling
+tobacco, muskets, and pipes. I have adopted this line of conduct from
+my own conviction, and the advice of the English masters now here who
+know them well."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_134" id="Foot_134" href="#Ref_134">[134]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This fight is known in Ngai-Tahu tradition as <i>Oroua-moa-nui</i>.
+The Rev. Canon Stack says that Paora Taki, afterwards a well-known
+Maori Assessor at Rapaki, who was fighting under Tu-Hawaiki,
+recognised 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 with which to assault him.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_135" id="Foot_135" href="#Ref_135">[135]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Dieffenbach says: "Ten or twelve years ago (1827-29) the
+southern headland of Tory Channel was the scene of a sanguinary
+contest between the original natives of the channel and the tribes of
+the Ngati-Awa. Rauparaha, at the head of the latter people, earned
+inglorious laurels by shutting up his opponents on a narrow tongue of
+land and then exterminating them."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_136" id="Foot_136" href="#Ref_136">[136]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"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
+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 <i>mere</i>" (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_137" id="Foot_137" href="#Ref_137">[137]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"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" (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_138" id="Foot_138" href="#Ref_138">[138]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When Mr. Edward Shortland was travelling in the Middle Island in
+1843-44, an account of which he has left us in his <i>Southern Districts
+of New Zealand</i>, he had for guide and assistant a native named
+Huruhuru, who employed the leisure of his evenings in giving Mr.
+Shortland information about the interior of the country, with which he
+was well acquainted. He drew a map of the four great lakes in central
+Otago, described the country through which the path across the island
+passed, and was able to name the principal streams, and even to point
+out the various stopping-places at the end of each day's journey.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_139" id="Foot_139" href="#Ref_139">[139]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In confirmation of at least one purpose of the expedition&mdash;that
+of securing slaves&mdash;it is interesting to note that, with the exception
+of two children who were killed and eaten at Lake Wanaka, none of the
+prisoners were sacrificed, although the temptation to do so must have
+been difficult to resist, as the party often suffered severely from
+hunger.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_140" id="Foot_140" href="#Ref_140">[140]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"For three miles we followed this stream, flowing in a
+north-north-east direction, through a comparatively open valley, with
+occasional patches of grass on its sides, and arrived then at its
+junction with a large stream of glacial origin, and of the size of the
+Makarora, which came from the eastern central chain, and to which,
+according to the direction of His Honour the Superintendent, I gave my
+name. This river forms, before it reaches the valley, a magnificent
+waterfall, several hundred feet in height" (<i>Haast's "Geology of
+Canterbury and Westland"</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_141" id="Foot_141" href="#Ref_141">[141]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The exception above referred to was Nga-whakawa, Te Puoho's
+brother-in-law, who escaped in the dim light of the early morning. Mr.
+Percy Smith, writing in the <i>Polynesian Journal</i>, says: "His was
+a most unenviable position. A distance of nearly five hundred miles in
+a straight line separated him from his own people, the intermediate
+country being occupied by tribes bitterly hostile to his, who would
+welcome with joy the opportunity of sacrificing him. But notwithstanding
+the exceeding difficulties which lay in his path, this brave fellow
+decided to try to rejoin his relatives at Massacre Bay, at the extreme
+north end of the South Island. How long his arduous journey took I
+know not, but it must have been months. He dare not keep near the east
+coast, which was inhabited by his enemies, but had to follow the base
+of the mountains inland, seeking his sustenance in roots of the fern,
+which is very scarce, and of the <i>taramea</i>, occasionally snaring
+a <i>weka</i> or other bird. So he made his toilsome way by mountain
+and valley, swimming the snow-cold rivers, ever on the alert for signs
+of wandering parties of his enemies, only lighting fires after dark by
+the arduous process of <i>hika-ahi</i>, or rubbing two sticks together,
+enduring cold, fatigue, and hunger, until, after making one of the
+most extraordinary journeys on record, he at last reached the home of
+his people at Parapara, Massacre Bay. Here he was the first to bring
+the news of the disaster which had befallen Te Puoho and his
+companions. The daughter of this man, born after his return, named Ema
+Nga-whakawa, was still living at Manawatu a few years since."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_142" id="Foot_142" href="#Ref_142">[142]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This food was composed of pumpkins, probably the first grown on
+the coast.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_143" id="Foot_143" href="#Ref_143">[143]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The late Rangitane chief at Awapuni, Kerei te Panau.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_144" id="Foot_144" href="#Ref_144">[144]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kuititanga means the wedge-shaped piece of land which is
+formed by the junction of two rivers.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_145" id="Foot_145" href="#Ref_145">[145]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This celebrated cannon is now at the town of Blenheim. Its
+history has been stated as follows, by the late John Guard, of Port
+Underwood. In 1833, his father, the original "Jack Guard" of the
+<i>Harriet</i>, brought this gun from Sydney and traded it away to
+Nohorua, a brother of Rauparaha, for the right to establish a whaling
+station at Kakapo Bay. This bargain was greatly facilitated by a
+demonstration which Guard gave by loading the gun and firing it off,
+for its power vastly pleased the natives, who christened it
+<i>Pu-huri-whenua</i>, "the gun that causes the earth to tremble." In
+1834, Captain Blenkinsopp came upon the scene, and is said to have
+carried the gun away from Kakapo Bay "without leave or licence," and
+bartered it to Rauparaha for the Wairau Plain and Ocean Bay.
+Subsequently, it was brought back to Port Underwood by Rauparaha, and
+again given to Guard's father. After his death, it was taken
+possession of by the province of Marlborough as an historic relic,
+during the superintendency of Mr. Eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_146" id="Foot_146" href="#Ref_146">[146]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Previous to sailing, Colonel Wakefield purchased from a lady,
+representing herself to be the widow of Captain Blenkinsopp, some
+deeds professing to be the original conveyances of the plains of the
+Wairau by Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and others to that gentleman, in
+consideration of a ship's gun. They were signed with elaborate
+drawings of the <i>moko</i> or tattoo on the chiefs' faces"
+(<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_147" id="Foot_147" href="#Ref_147">[147]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+According to Lord Lytton, Edward Gibbon Wakefield was "the man
+in these latter days beyond comparison of the most genius and widest
+influence in the great science of colonisation, both as a thinker, a
+writer, and a worker, whose name is like a spell to all interested in
+that subject."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_148" id="Foot_148" href="#Ref_148">[148]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Somes, one of the champions of the New Zealand Company in
+London, thus expressed the views of the Directorate upon the treaty:
+"We did not believe that even the Royal power of making treaties could
+establish in the eye of our courts such a fiction as a native law of
+real property in New Zealand. We have always had very serious doubts
+whether the Treaty of Waitangi, made with naked savages by a Consul
+invested with no plenipotentiary powers, could be treated by lawyers
+as anything but a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment." To this Lord Stanley replied through his
+secretary that he was "not prepared, as Her Majesty's Secretary of
+State, to join with the Company in setting aside the Treaty of
+Waitangi after having obtained the advantage guaranteed by it, even
+though it might be made with 'naked savages,' or though it might be
+treated by lawyers as a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment. Lord Stanley entertains a different view of
+the respect due to obligations contracted by the Crown of England, and
+his final answer to the demands of the Company must be that, as long
+as he has the honour of serving the Crown, he will not admit that any
+person, or any Government, acting in the name of Her Majesty, can
+contract a legal, moral, or honorary obligation to despoil others of
+their lawful and equitable rights."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_149" id="Foot_149" href="#Ref_149">[149]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Long before the arrival of the white man in New Zealand there
+was a proverb amongst the Maoris&mdash;'<i>He wahine he whenua, e ngaro ai
+te tangata</i>,' which may be rendered in English 'For land or wife man
+stakes his life'" (<i>Clarke</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_150" id="Foot_150" href="#Ref_150">[150]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When the court opened at Wellington on 16th May, one of the
+first witnesses called was Dicky Barrett, who had acted as interpreter
+to Colonel Wakefield when making his purchases, and Mr. George Clarke,
+who appeared as the representative of the natives, has left us the
+following sketch of Dicky's appearance in the box: "Barrett was a
+shore whaler who had married a native woman; he was a decent fellow
+enough among men of his class, but he was very ignorant, and I soon
+made him show, in the course of his evidence, that he did not even
+understand the English meaning of the deeds he professed to interpret.
+He admitted, too, that instead of telling the natives, as the deed set
+forth, that one-tenth of the surveyed lots should be reserved for
+their use, he had simply put it that one lot of the alienated land
+should be kept for the Maoris and one for the <i>pakehas</i>, and so on
+through the whole&mdash;that is, one half the land should be kept for their
+use. He admitted, further, that he had taken no account of many
+natives who were unwilling to sell. It soon became clear that Barrett's
+qualification to interpret was that he spoke whaler Maori, a jargon
+that bears much the same relation to the real language as the pigeon
+English of the Chinese does to our mother tongue."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_151" id="Foot_151" href="#Ref_151">[151]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Te Hiko, whose signature Colonel Wakefield had boasted of
+obtaining in 1839, being examined before the Governor, the Chief
+Justice, Colonel Wakefield, the Rev. O. Hadfield, and others, denied
+that he had signed any deed of sale of Porirua. E. J. Wakefield
+asserted the contrary. The ignorant Barrett ... admitted that Hiko's
+signature was 'not obtained willingly,' and Clarke, the Protector,
+skilled in the language, declared that the document signed was
+calculated to mislead the natives. Hiko was constant in his denial of
+Wakefield's statements, and Hobson's mind was 'left with the
+impression that he had not sold' the land" (<i>Rusden</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_152" id="Foot_152" href="#Ref_152">[152]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Subsequently, a similar application was made to Chief Justice
+Martin, when he arrived in Wellington in October, 1842, but he also
+declined to issue a warrant for the arrest of Rangihaeata, partly
+because the application was <i>ex parte</i>, and argument was
+requisite before judgment could be given on so grave a matter, and
+partly on technical grounds connected with the Police Magistrates
+Ordinance.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_153" id="Foot_153" href="#Ref_153">[153]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Spain, writing to Captain Hobson in 1842, remarked that the
+natives at Wellington had, upon many occasions, shown the greatest
+forbearance when deprived of their cultivations, and he very much
+doubted whether their white brethren would have followed their example
+if placed in similar circumstances.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">{235}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER VII</span><br /><span
+class="size070">WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">Amongst</span>
+the many unsatisfactory negotiations for the purchase of land
+entered into between Colonel Wakefield and Te Rauparaha, few seem to
+have been so ill-defined as that relating to the Wairau Plain. Whether
+Wakefield really believed that he had bought it, or whether Rauparaha
+was equally confident that he had not sold it, will never be known.
+Certainly it is difficult to understand how such a wide difference of
+impression could have arisen between them, had they both been sincere
+in the transaction. It is true the Colonel might have considered that
+the plain was included in the purchases made in 1839, when he
+bargained for four hundred miles of country, extending from the 38th
+to the 43rd degree of latitude on the west coast, and from the 41st to
+the 43rd degree on the east coast. But he knew that the plain had
+never been specifically named, and in his heart he must have felt that
+no valid title could rest upon a purchase made as this one was, its
+full purport not being clearly explained by Dicky Barrett, who acted
+as interpreter, and the signatures of three chiefs only being obtained
+to the deed, when thirty thousand natives had, by native law, a voice
+in its disposal. That Colonel Wakefield did have some reservation,
+later on, about his right to the land is almost certain, for, after
+the settlement of Nelson had been in progress about a year, he
+strongly opposed the suggestion of his brother, Captain Wakefield, to
+include the Wairau in the district to be surveyed, partly because he
+considered that its occupation might
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">{236}</a></span>
+militate against the success of
+the Wellington colony, but chiefly because he anticipated that the
+Company's title would be disputed by other claimants and by the
+natives. It would therefore seem that Captain Wakefield, the resident
+agent of the Company, was the more to blame for the improper
+occupation of the valley and for all the subsequent trouble, which he
+expiated with his life. He was as conversant as the Colonel with the
+whole circumstances of the case, perhaps more so; and, had it not been
+that he had no alternative between opening up the Wairau and
+acknowledging the ignominious failure of the Nelson settlement, he
+would hardly, in the face of so many warnings, have persisted in his
+high-handed and injudicious course.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the Nelson settlement repeats the tale of undue haste,
+imperfect preparations, a disposition to make florid promises and hold
+out inflated inducements, that characterised all the New Zealand
+Company's attempts at colonisation. One of the essential features of
+this settlement was that each settler should receive 150 acres of
+rural land, 50 acres of suburban land, and one town acre. But after
+the most thorough exploration of the region round Blind and Massacre
+Bays, it was found that, although a great deal of inferior country had
+been included in the sections laid off by the surveyors, there was
+still an enormous deficiency in the area required to provide for all
+the settlers who had either paid for their land in advance or were
+waiting to settle on it. Misled by the reports of some of his
+officers, Captain Wakefield had caused it to be broadly published that
+there was more than sufficient land at Port Whakatu to meet the
+requirements of the settlement, and it was while looking round for
+some tangible fact to justify his assertion that he bethought him of
+the Wairau.</p>
+
+<p>During his many excursions in search of rural land, Mr. Tuckett, the
+Company's chief surveyor, had discovered a route via Top House, by
+which the Wairau might be reached after a journey of 110 miles. This
+fact was reported to Captain Wakefield, who ordered that a complete
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">{237}</a></span>
+examination of the district should be made by Mr. Tuckett. He,
+accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Davidson, and Captain England, a
+landowner in the settlement, made an extensive exploration, and
+subsequently conveyed the discomfiting intelligence to the resident
+agent that the Wairau Plain was the only available surface between
+Cape Farewell and Cape Campbell sufficient to afford the number of
+sections required to complete the settlement. The survey of the plain
+was then decided upon, but intelligence had reached Kapiti that the
+<i>pakehas</i> had been down to the Wairau and that they intended to
+take possession of it. Immediately upon the receipt of this news,
+Rauparaha, accompanied by Hiko and Rangihaeata, crossed over to Nelson
+and sought an interview with Captain Wakefield. In plain and
+straightforward terms the natives told the Europeans, who had gathered
+in Dr. Wilson's residence to hear the <i>korero</i>, that they had not
+sold the Wairau to the principal agent of the Company, and that they
+had no intention of doing so, unless (to use Rauparaha's own
+expressive phrase) "the cask of gold was very great." They therefore
+warned them not to go there, as they had no right to the land.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Wakefield's answer was that he intended to proceed with the
+survey, as he claimed the land in the name of the Company. Rangihaeata
+vehemently denied the sale, and backed up his protestations by a
+threat that if Captain Wakefield attempted to carry out his intentions
+he would meet him and take his head. The agent was in no way disturbed
+or shaken by the hostile attitude of the chiefs; and to Rangihaeata's
+boisterous manner he calmly replied that, if any interference was
+offered, he would come with three hundred constables and arrest the
+belligerent natives. This unconciliatory attitude did not in the least
+assist to clear the atmosphere, for Rangihaeata went about the
+settlement during the next few days openly threatening with death
+every one who, he conceived, had any authority amongst the colonists,
+if they ventured to annex the Wairau, unless they could first succeed in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">{238}</a></span>
+killing him, in which event, he said, the land would remain as the
+lawful possession of the conqueror. Rauparaha, on the other hand,
+assumed the air of the diplomat, and professed not to sympathise with
+the policy of his lieutenant, whom he described as a "bad man." At the
+same time, in his fawning fashion, he entreated the Europeans not to
+go to the Wairau, and begged that the dispute might be referred to Mr.
+Spain, the Government Land Commissioner, who had been appointed to
+investigate the claims of the Company. But Captain Wakefield
+repudiated the jurisdiction of Mr. Spain in the matter, and refused to
+comply with the request. The chiefs, finding that neither threats nor
+persuasion could shake Captain Wakefield in his determination to take
+possession of the Wairau, indignantly left the settlement, Rauparaha
+expressing his intention to lay the whole circumstances of the case
+before the Queen's Commissioner and demand an immediate settlement of
+the claim.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the angry Ngati-Toas left Nelson than the three chiefs
+who were resident at the Wairau arrived. These natives were sons of
+Rauparaha's elder brother, Nohorua, the oldest of whom, Rawiri Puaha,
+had previously informed Mr. Tuckett, when that gentleman visited his
+<i>pa</i>, that the plain was theirs and that Rauparaha had no power
+to sell it. They were gratified at the idea that the Europeans looked
+upon it with a favourable eye, but, at the same time, they were in no
+haste to enter into any negotiations for its sale until they had
+considerably extended their cultivations, in order that they might
+fairly claim a larger compensation. Doubtless one of their reasons for
+desiring closer intercourse with the <i>pakehas</i> was that, in
+addition to their clearings, they had a large number of pigs running
+on the plain, which they used as a marketable commodity with the
+settlers at Port Underwood. But as fast as they cleared and cultivated
+the land and reared their pigs, Rauparaha was in the habit of coming
+over and coolly helping himself, with the result that his relations
+with the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">{239}</a></span>
+resident people were by this time considerably strained, and
+they probably thought that the presence of the settlers would check
+these depredations on the part of their high-handed relative. When
+they heard that Rauparaha had been to Nelson, they, being utterly
+mistrustful of his methods, at once concluded that he had gone there
+for the purpose of selling the plain; and it was to counteract this
+policy, as far as possible, that they went to see Captain Wakefield.
+The latter had always been much more considerate to resident natives
+than to those whom, like Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, he described as
+"travelling bullies."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_154" id="Ref_154" href="#Foot_154">[154]</a></span>
+He was therefore most anxious to make a
+valid and binding bargain with Puaha, to whom he offered a small
+schooner, and any reasonable quantity of goods, if he would
+acknowledge that the Wairau had been purchased by his brother, the
+Colonel. This Puaha refused to do, and therefore, at a subsequent
+interview, the resident agent adopted another line of argument,
+contending that the Company had already a legal title to the district
+by virtue of its being included in the latitude and longitude
+purchases made in 1839, and by right of a deed bought from Captain
+Blenkinsopp's widow for £300. Puaha denied the validity of both
+titles, pointing out that "the Wairau" had evidently been written into
+the first deed after signature; and that, in the second case, if
+Rauparaha had sold any portion of the land to Blenkinsopp, he had no
+right to do so without his (Puaha's) consent, which had never been
+asked and never given. For three days the conference was continued by
+the agent and the chief, without either being able to convince the
+other; but, at last, Puaha withdrew, still protesting in manly and
+dignified language against the views of the agent as to his title to
+the land.</p>
+
+<p>After these animated interviews, it might have been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">{240}</a></span>
+supposed that Captain Wakefield would, in his calmer moments, have seriously
+reviewed the position, and that against the vague and shadowy rights
+of the Company, as expressed in the two deeds in his possession, he
+would have set the fact that the authenticity of these sales was being
+stoutly contested by the resident and non-resident natives interested.
+He might have been expected also to recognise that the whole question,
+having been placed in the hands of Mr. Spain, was <i>sub judice</i>,
+and as such should remain in abeyance until the court had pronounced
+its judgment. These considerations were, however, altogether
+outweighed by the desire to placate the settlers, who were clamouring
+for their land, and to prevent the exposure of the Company's inability
+to fulfil its engagements. The fear that, if this could not be done,
+he would be open to crushing censure from all with whom they had
+entered into engagements, and the desire to rescue his own and his
+brother's reputation from public anger and ridicule, biased his
+otherwise judicial mind against the merits of the opposing case.
+Accordingly, he decided to act upon the impulse that moved him most,
+and on April 15, 1843, he entered into three contracts for the survey
+of the plain with Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson, Mr. Cotterell, and
+Mr. Parkinson. In view of the probability of native interference, a
+special provision was inserted in the tenders that the contractors
+were to be indemnified in case of loss; and, on this understanding,
+the surveyors, with forty assistants, arrived a few days later, and
+commenced operations&mdash;Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson at the Marshlands
+side of the valley, Mr. Cotterell in the neighbourhood of Riverlands,
+and Mr. Parkinson still higher up the plain, towards Grovetown.</p>
+
+<p>At first, the resident natives allowed the work to proceed with but
+slight resistance. Once or twice they refused to permit timber to be
+sawn for pegs and ranging rods; but with the exercise of a little tact
+and patience these difficulties were overcome, and the work had
+proceeded with so little friction that before Rauparaha
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">{241}</a></span>
+arrived Messrs.
+Barnicoat and Thompson had practically completed their contract, the
+others not being quite so far advanced.</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were at Mana when the news of these
+proceedings reached them, and they at once engaged with their English
+friend, Joseph Toms, to convey them and a portion of their party in
+his schooner, <i>Three Brothers</i>, to Port Underwood, whence they
+intended to reach the Wairau in their canoes. On the 1st of June the
+schooner and the canoes arrived at the port, and Rauparaha, with one
+hundred armed followers, at once proceeded to the house of Mr. Cave,
+who for seven or eight years had been employed there as cooper for the
+whaling stations, and with whom they were on the best of terms. To him
+they declared their intention of burning the surveyors' camps, and for
+that purpose they left for the Wairau the same evening, in eight
+canoes and a whaleboat. Next morning Rauparaha, with thirty of his
+people, appeared at Mr. Cotterell's camp on the Opawa River, and,
+after stripping his huts, burned the <i>toetoe</i> grass with which
+they were covered, as well as the survey pegs and ranging rods
+prepared from manuka sticks. They then assisted the surveyors to carry
+their belongings to the boats, and shipped them off to the <i>pa</i>
+at the mouth of the river. Their next proceeding was to paddle up the
+Wairau to Mr. Barnicoat's camp, which was situated on the river-bank
+close to the Ferry Bridge, and there they re-enacted their settled
+programme. In these proceedings Rauparaha was very firm, yet
+conciliatory. There was no exhibition of temper or violence towards
+persons or property. He simply gave the surveyors to understand that
+he would have none of them or their surveying there, and that the
+sooner they returned to Nelson the better he would like it;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_155" id="Ref_155" href="#Foot_155">[155]</a></span>
+and, to this end, he assisted them to remove their instruments and personal
+effects to a place of safety before demolishing their <i>whares</i>.
+In logical fashion, he argued that the <i>toetoe</i>, having grown
+upon the land, was his, that he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">{242}</a></span>
+entitled to do what he pleased
+with his own, and that so long as he did not interfere with any of the
+articles brought from England, he was committing no breach of justice.</p>
+
+<p>The instruments and baggage were placed in the boats and taken down to
+the <i>pa</i>, where they were safely landed and their owners treated
+with every consideration. But, before matters had reached this crisis,
+the contractors had despatched a joint letter to Mr. Tuckett, at
+Nelson, explaining the gravity of the situation, and asking him to
+come down at once and certify to the work already done. On receipt of
+this communication Mr. Tuckett, accompanied by Mr. Patchett, at once
+set out for the Wairau; and, on his arrival at the bar, on 3rd June,
+he was met by Mr. Cotterell, who briefly related all that had
+transpired since the arrival of Rauparaha, and the present position of
+natives and contractors respectively.</p>
+
+<p>So soon as he had grasped the situation, Mr. Tuckett hastily wrote a
+letter in pencil to Captain Wakefield, giving details, and intimating
+his intention of remaining on the scene until the Captain should make
+his pleasure known to him. This letter he entrusted to Mr. Cotterell,
+who at once left with his men in the boats for Nelson. The chief
+surveyor then set off up the Opawa River to the site of Mr.
+Cotterell's camp, where he pitched a tent and remained all night. In
+the morning he proceeded, in company with Mr. Patchett and Mr. Moline
+(Mr. Cotterell's assistant), to search for Mr. Parkinson, and, when
+they arrived at his hut, they found it in possession of a few natives,
+who had in no way interfered with it. The surveyor and his party not
+being there, Mr. Tuckett inquired for Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who
+he was informed were in the bush. He thereupon explained that he
+intended to go over to the Awatere, that he would be absent about
+three days, and that at the end of that time he desired to meet the
+chiefs at Mr. Cotterell's camp, where he would converse with them over
+the recent events. The natives gladly undertook to convey this message
+to Rauparaha, who, with Rangihaeata, a number
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">{243}</a></span>
+of their followers, and
+Mr. Parkinson's men, were awaiting them at the appointed place of
+meeting when the party returned from their explorations beyond the
+Vernon Hills. Here the expected conference took place, Rauparaha
+calmly but firmly explaining his reasons for interference. He claimed
+the Wairau as his own, but since there was a dispute about it, he had,
+on his return from Nelson, placed the matter in the hands of Mr.
+Spain, who had appointed a day on which to hear the case, Rauparaha on
+his part undertaking that in the meantime none of his people should
+enter upon the land. The day appointed by Mr. Spain had passed, and
+fearing that, if the survey was finished before he adjudicated upon
+their claim, they would lose their land, they had determined to stop
+the proceedings. Rauparaha expressed himself as being still willing to
+abide by Mr. Spain's decision, but the survey must cease and the
+Europeans must leave, until such time as that judgment should be
+given. Mr. Tuckett vainly endeavoured to point out the hardship this
+course would impose upon the contractors and their men, who were
+dependent upon their work for their living.  He also explained that he
+was expecting instructions from Captain Wakefield, and asked
+permission to remain until he heard from his superior.</p>
+
+<p>His request for delay was met by a command to remove his tent to the
+boat, and, upon his refusing to obey, Rangihaeata burst into a violent
+passion, and, in a torrent of invective, reminded Mr. Tuckett of the
+warning he had given him in Nelson, ironically remarking that, if he
+was so fond of the Wairau, he (Rangihaeata) would bury him there. This
+insulting outburst was treated with studied contempt by the chief
+surveyor, who quietly rebuked Rangihaeata for his ungentlemanly
+behaviour, telling him that he would not converse with him until he
+mended his manners. While this brief altercation was proceeding,
+Rauparaha had remained silent, although he was evidently exercising a
+restraining influence upon his comrade. But he now advanced, and once
+more politely requested Mr. Tuckett to have his tent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">{244}</a></span>
+removed; but that gentleman still persisted in his right
+to remain, whereupon Rauparaha, becoming impatient,
+ordered some of his own people to carry out his behest,
+and in a few minutes the tent was struck and stowed
+away in the boat. Mr. Tuckett then deemed it unwise
+to offer further objection, and, together with the two
+chiefs, he agreed to go back to the <i>pa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It had been Mr. Tuckett's intention to embark for Nelson next morning,
+but in the night a south-easterly gale came up and blew for three
+days, causing such a surf on the bar that Rauparaha advised him not to
+attempt to cross it. During this compulsory stay, the chief was most
+profuse in his expressions of goodwill towards the Europeans, and by
+his fawning and obsequious manner created a feeling of revulsion in
+the minds of the Englishmen. Rangihaeata, on the other hand, left them
+severely alone, seeking neither favours nor intercourse of any kind,
+and, save on one occasion, his isolation was complete. That exception
+arose from the fact that one of the men reported that he had lost a
+handkerchief and a billhook, which he had seen in the possession of
+Rangihaeata's people. Mr. Tuckett at once approached the chief, and
+asked to have the property returned. His reply was that he had some
+bad men as well as good ones amongst his followers, with the sarcastic
+addition that perhaps Mr. Tuckett was in the same position; but that,
+as he had come to the Wairau to defend his own and not to thieve, if
+the surveyor could identify the man, he would have his property back;
+failing that, he could have <i>utu</i> instead. The billhook was soon
+found, and here the incident ended; but the impression it made upon
+Mr. Tuckett was that, if Rangihaeata was more violent than Rauparaha,
+he was up to this point certainly the more noble of the two.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the weather cleared, the chief surveyor prepared to take
+his departure, but, as the boat would not carry both passengers and
+baggage, it was finally decided that Messrs. Barnicoat and Parkinson
+should remain, while Messrs. Tuckett, Patchett, and Moline proceeded to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">{245}</a></span>
+Nelson, although the chiefs raised no objection to the
+whole party remaining until additional boats could be
+brought, or until they could be conveyed to one of the
+whaling stations at Port Underwood. By noon on
+the following day Mr. Tuckett and his companions
+had got well into Blind Bay, when they observed
+the Government brig <i>Victoria</i> under full sail. A gun
+was fired from the ship as a signal to board her.
+On doing so, they learned that the vessel had just left
+Nelson, and was proceeding to the Wairau with the
+police magistrate (Mr. Thompson), Captain Wakefield
+(the Company's agent), Captain England, J.P., Mr.
+Cotterell, and some of the would-be proprietors of the
+proposed settlement, as well as the chief constable, Mr.
+Maling, and twenty-four labouring men who had been
+sworn-in as special constables. The agent informed the
+chief surveyor that, after Mr. Cotterell had arrived at
+Nelson and made his report, it had been decided to
+proceed as soon as possible to the scene of operations,
+and arrest the chiefs on a charge of arson, a warrant
+having been granted by Messrs. Thompson, P.M.,
+Captain Wakefield, Captain England, and A. McDonald,
+Esq., Justices of the Peace. Mr. Tuckett was naturally
+surprised and deeply grieved at this intelligence, and, in
+deprecation of the rash and impolitic step he informed
+Captain Wakefield of Rauparaha's interview with Mr.
+Spain, and of the chief's willingness to abide by the
+decision of the court. He further pointed out the great
+care observed by the natives not to interfere with any of
+the surveyors' property, or to injure the persons of any
+of their employees. He proceeded to argue that the men
+on board would not number one-half the strength of the
+natives then at the Wairau; and contrasted this numerical
+weakness with the threat made by the Captain at Nelson,
+that, if Rangihaeata interfered with the survey, he would
+come with three hundred constables to arrest him. His
+impression, therefore, was that the smallness of the party
+would inspire confidence in the minds of the natives
+rather than dread, and he strongly urged that, however
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">{246}</a></span>
+satisfied the agent might feel about the result, prudence
+demanded that they should appear on the plain with
+such a force as would completely overawe the Maoris,
+and to which there would be no humiliation in surrendering.
+In support of his views, he handed to Captain Wakefield
+a letter which he had received from the Rev. Mr.
+Ironside on the day that he had met Mr. Cotterell at the
+bar, in which the missionary, ripe in experience of Maori
+feeling, and knowing how tenaciously they clung to their
+rights in landed property, ventured the opinion that,
+unless this dispute was most diplomatically handled, the
+result might be extremely serious.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ironside, taking the missionary view of the Company's scheme of
+colonisation, expressed great anxiety lest a collision might arise out
+of the subject of the claims to land, which would eventually terminate
+in the extinction of the native tribes, as had been the case in other
+countries settled by Europeans. He urged upon Mr. Tuckett not to be
+precipitate in endeavouring to include the Wairau in the Nelson
+survey, informing him that the resident natives and Rauparaha were at
+issue about the land, to such an extent that the former, if left to
+themselves, would probably withdraw from the Wairau, and treat with
+the Nelson agent for the sale of it.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Wakefield expressed himself deeply thankful for the counsel
+contained in Mr. Ironside's letter, and also for the advice tendered
+by Mr. Tuckett, with whose whole conduct he entirely acquiesced. So
+impressed was he with the force of the chief surveyor's arguments that
+he at once went into the cabin where Mr. Thompson was, and requested
+him to read Mr. Ironside's letter, stating that from it and other
+considerations urged by Mr. Tuckett he had come to the conclusion that
+it would be wiser to return to Nelson. Mr. Thompson was totally averse
+to turning back. He begrudged missing the opportunity of giving the
+natives what he called "a prestige for the law," and of showing the
+Government the correct way to deal with such troublesome fellows. At
+the same time he expressed the opinion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">{247}</a></span>
+that, if the authorities at Wellington had dealt with
+these chiefs as he had dealt with Ekawa at Massacre Bay,
+they would long ago have ceased to give annoyance. He
+also stated that, if they returned at that stage, they would
+simply be laughed at by the settlers, and he was not
+going to put himself in that undignified position. In
+his determination to go on Mr. Thompson was seconded
+by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. Richardson), who begged
+that the expedition might not be given up, as he considered
+it was "only a lark"; and, in deference to the aggressive
+mood of the magistrate and the jocular anticipations of
+the lawyer, Captain Wakefield surrendered his better
+judgment. Mr. Tuckett, still apprehensive that disastrous
+consequences would follow if these unwise counsels
+prevailed, earnestly remonstrated with Mr. Thompson,
+taking up the attitude that he was exceeding his rights in
+proceeding to execute his warrant with an armed force.
+The magistrate admitted the correctness of Mr. Tuckett's
+premises, but hotly resented the assumption that he intended
+to use the force at all. He explained that he was
+not sure that he would land the men. Certainly he
+would not give out the arms or take the force into the
+presence of the natives until he had first exhausted every
+plausible means of getting the chiefs to submit themselves
+to trial on board the brig. Should they refuse to
+do so, which he did not expect, then he would investigate
+the charge on the spot, and afterwards decide whether
+he should call in the aid of the armed party or not.
+Had this plan of operations been strictly observed, much
+that afterwards happened might have been averted; but
+in no single particular did the magistrate follow his
+promised line of action, for as soon as the vessel arrived
+at Cloudy Bay, the men were supplied with fire-arms and
+landed at the mouth of the Wairau River.</p>
+
+<p>On seeing the Government brig enter the bay, the Maoris had abandoned
+the old <i>pa</i> at the bar and retired further up the plain. Next
+morning the magistrate's band of special constables was ordered to get
+ready and go in pursuit. Perceiving that his worst fears were likely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">{248}</a></span>
+to be realised, and that the magistrate would not go
+without the armed force, Mr. Tuckett made a final appeal
+to Captain Wakefield, and offered to go himself and
+see Rauparaha, in company with the chief constable
+and the interpreter, if only the men bearing arms were
+allowed to remain where they were. To this suggestion
+the Captain readily agreed, and at once put the proposal
+before Mr. Thompson, who also consented, and ordered
+the chief constable to prepare himself for the journey;
+but when Mr. Maling announced himself ready to go,
+he presented such an armour-plated appearance that the
+chief surveyor absolutely refused to be seen in his
+company. He wore a cutlass at his side, a brace of
+pistols and a pair of handcuffs in his belt, while in his
+hand he carried a pair of heavy leg-irons. How he
+proposed to get Rauparaha down to the bar when he
+was both handcuffed and hobbled is not very clear,
+nor did he have time to explain. Mr. Tuckett at once
+drew attention to his accoutrements, and pointed out
+that the leg-irons would have an especially exasperating
+effect upon the natives; while, if he insisted upon
+carrying pistols, it would at least be judicious to conceal
+them, and so avoid the appearance of intimidation. The
+magistrate at once ordered that the irons should be
+discarded, but also intimated that he had changed his
+mind as to the mode of procedure, and that he had
+now determined that the whole force should participate
+in the arrest, a decision from which no amount of
+persuasion could induce him to deviate.</p>
+
+<p>At the outset an attempt was made to ascend the river in boats, but as
+the tide was on the ebb and the wind unfavourable, the travelling was
+both slow and laborious, and before they had proceeded very far, the
+boats were abandoned, and the party, except Mr. Cotterell and his men,
+who remained in a whaleboat, commenced the march along a survey track
+which ran parallel with the river. By this time the ardour of the men
+had considerably cooled; the bitter cold night experienced at the bar
+had helped to extinguish their enthusiasm, and now
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">{249}</a></span>
+the keen morning wind and bad walking through the
+long wet grass completely dissipated all idea that the
+affair was to be regarded in the light of a pleasure trip.
+During the course of the journey, which was both a
+slow and irritating one, Captain Wakefield expressed the
+opinion that the natives were more inclined for trade
+than for war, and that the prospect of their attempting to
+fight in the event of a forcible arrest being made was
+very small. In reply to this, Mr. Tuckett still adhered to
+his former opinion that the Maoris would most certainly
+offer resistance if the armed force was taken into their
+presence. While this discussion was going on, the party
+reached the bend in the river at the back of Grovetown,
+where they met a number of resident natives, who, in
+consequence of their differences with Rauparaha, were
+quitting the Wairau and returning to Port Underwood.
+Amongst them were Puaha, a lad named Rore (who
+afterwards became the honoured and respected chief
+of the Wairau natives), his father, and a few other Maoris
+cutting timber in the bush. Of these they inquired the
+whereabouts of Rauparaha, and were informed that he
+was a few miles further up the valley, at the Tua Marina
+stream. Night coming on, they decided to camp in the
+Tua Mautine wood, but took the precaution to send
+Puaha forward to acquaint Rauparaha with the nature of
+their visit; and he was followed by the remainder of the
+natives at a later hour. Mr. Thompson was careful to
+explain to Puaha that he had not come to interfere with
+him; but it was noticed that his countenance bore a
+most anxious and concerned expression, and in the brief
+interview which he had with the magistrate, he not only
+advised, but earnestly entreated him not to precipitate
+a quarrel by taking the armed men into the presence
+of Rauparaha and his followers. If he did so, it would
+be impossible to convince them that he had not come
+for the purpose of shedding blood. The pained look
+that fell upon the face of Puaha when he realised the
+magistrate's intentions made a deep impression upon
+Captain Wakefield, and he several times made reference
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">{250}</a></span>
+to it. Even when waking from his sleep in the night,
+he spoke of the fact as though he had a gloomy
+presentiment that all would not be well on the morrow.
+Mr. Thompson did not appear to be troubled with any
+such forebodings; his concern was that he would not
+have the opportunity of arresting the chiefs, who would
+probably make good their escape as soon as Puaha
+conveyed his message to them. He endeavoured to
+make light of the agent's fears by explaining that Puaha's
+troubled looks were due to the conflict between the
+dictates of his barbarous nature and the influence of
+his Christian teaching, which, under the circumstances,
+would naturally burn within him&mdash;a course of reasoning
+that Captain Wakefield seemed to cheerfully accept.</p>
+
+<p>At dawn next morning,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_156" id="Ref_156" href="#Foot_156">[156]</a></span>
+the camp of Te Rauparaha was easily located
+by the smoke rising through the forest trees at the mouth of the
+Waitohi Valley, about four miles away. The magistrate then mustered
+his constables, and served out to each man eighteen rounds of ball
+cartridge. All told, they numbered forty men, bearing muskets,
+bayonets, and cutlasses, besides ten or twelve gentlemen who were
+without arms, the chief surveyor and Mr. Cotterell being members of
+the Society of Friends, and refusing, in accordance with their
+religious principles, to carry them. After a short march across the
+plain through the fern and <i>toetoe</i>, they arrived at the foot of
+the Tua Marina hills, and there they halted, having, during the course
+of the journey, been cautioned not to fire unless ordered to do so.</p>
+
+<p>The constitution of the arresting party was not calculated to ensure
+success in the event of resistance on the part of the Maoris. They
+were untrained and without discipline. Some of them were even
+unwilling participants in the expedition, for they had been coerced
+into coming by the threat that they would lose their employment in the
+service of the Company if they refused to assist in the arrest of the
+chiefs. Their arms were old-fashioned and not in the best of repair;
+there was a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">{251}</a></span>
+total lack of organisation, and apparently no common
+understanding as to who was in authority. Under these
+circumstances, the result could scarcely have been
+different, regard being had to the character of the men
+with whom they had to deal.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone sitting on the hill-side even now can, without the aid of a
+vivid imagination, picture the animated scene which unfolded itself on
+that bright June morning. What are now grass paddocks were flats, more
+or less covered with native scrub. Of what was then dense bush only a
+few detached fragments now remain, but otherwise the physical features
+of the landscape are but little changed. The Maoris, when they first
+observed the Europeans, were squatting around their camp-fires on the
+western side of the Tua Marina stream. They immediately hailed them
+and inquired if they intended to fight. Mr. Thompson answered in the
+negative, and, after explaining the purpose for which he had come,
+asked the natives to place a canoe across the stream that he might
+come over and talk the more freely to them. Rauparaha consented to
+this course, but stipulated that the armed men should not be allowed
+to cross over; and, the magistrate agreeing to this condition, the
+special constables were left in charge of Captain England and Mr.
+Howard, who had instructions to act if called upon. He himself,
+accompanied by Captain Wakefield, Mr. Patchett, Mr. Tuckett, Mr.
+Cotterell and Mr. Brooks,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_157" id="Ref_157" href="#Foot_157">[157]</a></span>
+the interpreter, crossed over in the
+canoe, which was immediately drawn back again alongside the bank by a
+native nicknamed Piccawarro (big-fellow), to prevent any surprise from
+the force on the other side of the stream. When the magistrate walked
+into the presence of the natives, he observed that they numbered about
+ninety men and thirty-five women and children; but, as an indication
+of their peaceful intentions, they had placed in the midst of their
+group three women, the wives of Rauparaha, Rangihaeata,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">{252}</a></span>
+and Puaha, while the party of resident natives sat on
+one side, and the immediate followers of Rauparaha
+on the other. The noble and dignified Puaha stood
+in the centre with a Bible in his hand, reading
+from it select passages, and exhorting both parties to
+peace, while the natives sitting around chanted the
+usual welcome, <i>Haere-mai, Haere-mai</i>. Rangihaeata lay
+concealed behind some bushes, but Rauparaha came forward
+frankly when Mr. Thompson inquired for him,
+saying "Here am I," and offered to shake hands with the
+strangers. But this courtesy was declined by the magistrate,
+who pushed the chief's hand away, and it was left
+to Mr. Tuckett and Mr. Cotterell to perform the politeness
+of a friendly greeting.</p>
+
+<p>In reply to Rauparaha's inquiry as to what had brought them there, Mr.
+Thompson proceeded to explain to him, through Brooks, the interpreter,
+that he was their prisoner. Rauparaha disdainfully replied that it
+would be time enough to indulge in such talk when Mr. Spain had made
+his inquiry about the land. They then strove to make him understand
+that, as this case had nothing to do with the land, but was a charge
+of arson, it did not come within the province of Mr. Spain to inquire
+into it, but that the charge must be heard on the brig. Rauparaha
+declared that he had not destroyed any European property, in proof of
+which he appealed to Mr. Cotterell, who admitted the truth of his
+assertion, and therefore he would not go on board the brig, but he was
+quite willing that the matter should be adjudicated upon there and
+then, and, provided the compensation demanded was not excessive, he
+would be prepared to pay rather than there should be any ill-feeling
+between the two races. Thereupon he was told that, if he would not go
+voluntarily he must be taken by force, and a pair of handcuffs were
+produced to impress him with the sincerity of this threat. His
+chieftain blood was aroused by this insult; he indignantly dared them
+to try to imprison his hands in such implements and bind him like a
+slave, but begged for longer time to talk
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">{253}</a></span>
+the matter over. The magistrate, who was now rapidly
+losing his temper, began to stamp and rave, and scorning
+the need for further argument, desired the interpreter to
+finally ask Rauparaha to say whether he would go on
+board the brig or not; and, upon his still firmly refusing
+to do so, Mr. Thompson turned to Brooks and exclaimed,
+with a violent gesture in the direction of the opposite bank,
+"Then tell him there are the armed party; they will fire
+on them all." A native from the Bay of Islands who was
+present amongst Rauparaha's people, and who understood
+a smattering of English, told those of Rauparaha's party
+that an order to fire had been given, and sixteen of them
+at once sprang to their feet, and, presenting their muskets
+at the magistrate, awaited the order from their chief to
+fire. The mistaken impression under which this hostile
+display had been made was at once removed by the
+chief surveyor and Mr. Patchett, who walked over to them
+and explained that only a threat, and not an order, to fire
+had been given, and on this assurance they immediately
+subsided to their seats on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The altercation between Mr. Thompson and Rauparaha still proceeded.
+The former produced his warrant, which he told the chief was the
+"book-a-book" of the Queen "to make a tie," and that he was the Queen,
+again adding, in high and excited tones, stamping his foot the while,
+that if Rauparaha did not consent to surrender himself, he would order
+the Europeans to fire on them. This was quickly interpreted to the
+armed natives by the stranger from the Bay of Islands, and they
+instantly sprang to their feet and pointed their muskets at Mr.
+Thompson and his companions, as before. At this point, the peace-making Puaha<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_158" id="Ref_158" href="#Foot_158">[158]</a></span>
+stepped forward
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">{254}</a></span>
+with his Testament in his hand and said, "Don't fight,
+don't fight! This book says it is sinful to fight. The
+land has been made good by the preaching of the missionaries.
+Don't make it bad again." In this way he
+strove to reason with Mr. Thompson, but the latter in his
+frenzy and rage pushed the native aside, and angrily
+called out for Rangihaeata to come forward. That chief,
+on hearing his name, came from behind the bushes which
+concealed him, and, leaping into the midst of the throng,
+began to brandish his hatchet in dangerous proximity to
+the magistrate's head, meanwhile upbraiding him in a
+most violent manner. "What do you want with Rangihaeata
+that you come here to bind him? Do I go to
+Port Jackson or to Europe to steal your lands? Have I
+burned your house? Have I destroyed tents or anything
+belonging to you?" Such were the pertinent inquiries
+made by the angry chief; and, as it was quite evident
+from his flashing eyes and bitter tones that he was in no
+mood to be trifled with, Mr. Patchett appealed to the
+chief surveyor to interfere, "otherwise," he said, "we shall
+all be murdered." Rauparaha, seeing that his companion's
+manner was not likely to improve matters, ordered him to
+retire and leave the settlement of the matter to Puaha and
+himself, at the same time leading Rangihaeata's lame
+wife, Te Rongo, to him, so that she might be under his
+protection. Mr. Tuckett then seized the opportunity of
+pointing out to Captain Wakefield that, in the event of
+Rangihaeata's temper getting the better of him, they
+would be completely at the mercy of the natives, seeing
+that their retreat had been cut off by the removal
+of the canoe. After a brief consultation with Puaha, they
+agreed that it would be wiser to restore the means of
+communication between themselves and their party on
+the other side of the stream. Captain Wakefield, taking
+the initiative, jumped into the canoe, and with the aid of
+a pole shoved the bow down the stream until he found a
+convenient landing-place on the other side. While this
+movement was in progress, Mr. Thompson<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_159" id="Ref_159" href="#Foot_159">[159]</a></span>
+had made
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">{255}</a></span>
+another attempt to place the handcuffs upon Rauparaha's
+wrists. Just at that moment, when the chief had indignantly
+wrested his hand from the magistrate's grasp, and
+was bitterly protesting against the conduct of the Queen's
+officers, Captain Wakefield stepped on to the opposite
+bank of the creek, and, noticing a threatening movement
+towards Mr. Thompson on the part of the natives, in a
+loud voice gave the command, "Men, forward; Englishmen,
+forward!" The company at once obeyed, and four
+of the men who were in the front, Morgan, Clanzey, Ratcliffe
+and Tyrrell, jumped into the canoe for the purpose
+of crossing over to assist Mr. Thompson. Almost
+simultaneously the latter turned and entered the canoe
+at the other end, with the result that she was nearly
+capsized. A momentary confusion ensued, during which
+one of the Englishmen, in striving to get in front of his
+companions on the bank, tripped and fell, and in the fall
+his gun was accidentally discharged. That was the fatal
+crisis, for it turned what had hitherto been only stirring
+drama into fearful tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>The natives had now no doubt that the Europeans had come to fight, and
+Te Rauparaha, believing death to be imminent, turned, and, stretching
+his arms heavenward, exclaimed, "<i>Hei kona e te ra, hei kona e te ao
+marama&mdash;haere mai e te po, haere mai e te mate</i>" (Farewell, O sun,
+farewell, thou world of light; come on, O night, come on, O death).
+This was a cry which a chief would only utter in a situation of
+deepest stress, and no Maori loyal to his leader would refuse to obey
+the call, even though it should cost him his life. The natives
+therefore briskly returned the fire, the first volley being fatal to
+Tyrrell, who was shot in the throat. Clanzey and Ratcliffe were also
+shot by the first discharge of musketry,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">{256}</a></span>
+and their bodies fell into the water and sank to the bottom.
+The Englishmen returned volley for volley, and, in the
+midst of the general fusilade, Mr. Thompson and his
+party passed safely over in the canoe. Mr. Tuckett was
+the last to leave the bank on which the natives were,
+which he did by entering the stream, and, with one hand
+on the canoe, pulling himself through the water. At this
+stage of the fight the natives might easily have killed
+every one of the leading Europeans; for, when the latter
+started to cross the stream, the muzzles of the native guns
+were no more than a few yards away from them. The
+fact that they were not shot must have been due to some
+chivalrous sentiment on the part of the natives, who, seeing
+them unarmed, honourably abstained from attacking
+them. For some ten minutes after crossing the creek,
+Mr. Tuckett stood no more than twenty yards away, fully
+exposed to the fire that was being kept up by the natives
+and fourteen or fifteen of the European rank and file.
+Beside him stood Messrs. Barnicoat, Cotterell, Richardson,
+Patchett, and Maling. The two latter were shot
+almost at the same moment. Mr. Richardson bent over
+Mr. Patchett and inquired if he was hurt, to which he
+replied, "I am mortally wounded&mdash;I am mortally
+wounded; you can do no good for me; make your
+escape."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 400px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="wairau" id="wairau">
+  <img width="400" height="544" alt="wairau" src="images/287-wairau.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU.<br />
+                      <i>Photo by W. Macey.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The bullets now began to rain down upon them thick and fast. As
+several of the labourers had fallen in the vicinity, including
+Northam, Smith, and Burton, Mr. Tuckett and his friends retired to the
+foot of the ridge, whither the other officers had gone with a portion
+of the men to consult as to the best course to pursue. They decided to
+retreat up the hill, and called to Mr. Tuckett and the rest of the
+party to follow them. This act of mistaken generalship cost them dear,
+for up to that time their fire had kept the natives penned up on the
+other side of the stream. But the moment they observed the Europeans
+falling back, they dashed into the water, and, carrying their guns
+above their heads to keep them dry, crossed over and took possession
+of the trees which grew on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">{257}</a></span>
+opposite edge. Secure within this cover, they opened a
+galling fire upon the Europeans, who were now hopelessly
+exposed upon the face of the fern-clad hill.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Thompson did his utmost to steady the party by exclaiming, "For
+God's sake, men, keep together!" But his appeals were for the most
+part disregarded, not more than a third of the men remaining with
+their leaders, the rest retreating up the ridge and firing haphazard
+as they went. Captain Wakefield's attempts to instil something like
+discipline into the men were likewise frustrated by some panic-stricken
+individual rushing up and shouting out, "Run for your lives, lads,
+run!"&mdash;an injunction which they were not slow to obey. In an instant
+all semblance of organisation had disappeared. Time after time a few
+men were got together, but the majority were always utterly beyond
+control. On the last partial rally Captain Wakefield and Warrant
+Officer Howard ordered the men to fix bayonets and charge the natives;
+but on one of the men (Richard Painter), who had been in the
+artillery, pointing out that there was no one visible to charge at,
+the idea was abandoned. The natives were still maintaining a steady
+fire, and a protest on the part of the artilleryman, who declined to
+remain where he was "and be shot down like a crow," led to a further
+retreat up the hill-side. On the second brow of the hill they met Mr.
+Cotterell, who was sitting down with a double-barrelled gun at his
+side. At the commencement of the quarrel he had been unarmed, but he
+had now seized this weapon in self-defence. He appeared deeply
+distressed at what had occurred, and expressed his intention of
+quitting the scene; but he was dissuaded from this course by Captain
+Wakefield, who, addressing him in most earnest tones, said, "For God's
+sake, Mr. Cotterell, don't attempt to run away; you are sure to be
+shot if you do." Mr. Cotterell therefore remained with the party, only
+remarking to Painter, one of his own men, "This is bad work, Dick."</p>
+
+<p>Being now out of range of the native fire, a council of war was held
+of such of the party as could be got
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">{258}</a></span>
+together, and finally it was decided that Captain England
+and Mr. Howard should bear a flag of truce to the
+natives, and endeavour to settle the dispute by negotiation.
+A white handkerchief was accordingly fixed on a
+stick, and, with this fluttering in the breeze, the two
+officers started towards the wood. As an indication of
+their sincerity in desiring to relinquish fighting, Captain
+Wakefield ordered all those who were with him to lay
+their arms on the ground, and the natives, seeming fully
+to appreciate the nature of the advances that were being
+made to them, ceased firing, and a number of them left
+their muskets behind the trees and came out to meet the
+bearers of the flag. Captain England and his comrade
+had almost reached the wood, when some of the Englishmen
+who had halted much higher up the hill than
+Captain Wakefield, seeing the Maoris emerging from the
+bush, commenced to fire upon them, notwithstanding
+that they had seen the flag of truce, as well as their companions
+laying down their arms. Regarding this as a
+dastardly act of treachery, the Maoris beat a hasty retreat
+into the bush, and reopened a rapid fire upon the
+Englishmen, whereupon Captain England and Mr.
+Howard ran back to the hill, and reached the spot from
+which they had started, uninjured by the native bullets.</p>
+
+<p>This attempt at conciliation having failed through the folly of their
+own people, the magistrate and Captain Wakefield decided to go further
+up the hill and meet those who were in advance of them, to induce
+them, if possible, to act in concert with the rest. In this they were
+no more successful than before, for no sooner did the one section
+begin to advance than the other began to retreat. Seeing that this
+must go on indefinitely, Mr. Tuckett endeavoured to persuade Captain
+Wakefield that their best hope of reaching the beach and getting back
+to the brig was to abandon the ridge which they were climbing, and
+strike down into the plain. Although this advice was twice pressed on
+Wakefield, he took no notice of it, and Mr. Tuckett thereupon, calling
+to Mr. Barnicoat and a labourer named Gay to follow him, descended in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">{259}</a></span>
+an oblique direction on to the plain below. For a
+moment Mr. Cotterell hesitated which course to take, but
+finally decided to go up the spur with the rest, and this
+decision cost him his life. When Captain Wakefield and
+his party began their last retreat, most of them left their
+muskets lying on the brow of the hill, and were therefore
+quite defenceless; but the Maoris kept up a running fire
+as they gradually crept up the side of the range. As they
+approached the summit of the first knoll, Mr. Cotterell
+stopped and surrendered himself when the natives
+reached him, calling out, "Enough, enough! that will
+do the fight," in the hope of assuring them that the
+Europeans wanted peace. But he was immediately
+struck down and his body thrown into a manuka bush.
+Captain Wakefield followed his example by surrendering
+a few minutes later, as did also Captain England, Messrs.
+Richardson, Howard, Brooks, Cropper, McGregor, and
+the magistrate. A few of the younger natives were in the
+van of the pursuit, and these held the prisoners in hand
+until the arrival of Rauparaha, whom they had outstripped.
+At first gold was offered as ransom, and it
+seemed as if the feud would end without more bloodshed,
+for the chief had accepted the assurances of Captain
+Wakefield that the shooting had been a mistake, and had
+shaken hands with them all. But Rangihaeata, who had
+killed the wounded as he found them lying on the hillside,
+panting with haste and anger, rushed up and called
+out to Rauparaha, "What are you doing? Your
+daughter Te Rongo<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_160" id="Ref_160" href="#Foot_160">[160]</a></span>
+is dead. What are you doing, I say?"</p>
+
+<p>Scorning the acceptance of gold, he then fiercely demanded
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">{260}</a></span>
+the lives of the principal Europeans as the only
+<i>utu</i> that would compensate him for the loss of his wife,
+exclaiming in impassioned tones, "We are sure to be
+killed for this some day. The white people will take
+<i>utu</i>; let us then have some better blood than that of
+these <i>tutua</i> (common men). We are chiefs; let us kill
+the chiefs, and take <i>utu</i> for ourselves beforehand." To
+this Rauparaha was at first reluctant to agree, and his
+objections were well supported by Puaha and the other
+Christian natives; but he felt that, in view of Te Ronga's
+death, the demand was a reasonable one, and he at
+length yielded to the powerful appeal of his lieutenant,
+and delivered the unfortunate colonists over to their fate.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Mr. Thompson seemed, for the first time, to be
+apprehensive of serious consequences attending his conduct, and he
+implored Rauparaha to save their lives. But that chief haughtily
+answered, "Did I not warn you how it would be? A little while ago I
+wished to talk with you in a friendly manner, and you would not; now
+you say 'Save me.' I will not save you." The whole party then retired
+a little lower down the hill, and there the massacre commenced.
+Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were killed by Te Oru,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_161" id="Ref_161" href="#Foot_161">[161]</a></span>
+a son of Te Ahuta, the first native who fell in the fight, as a retribution
+for the death of his father. Brooks, the interpreter, was struck down
+by Rangihaeata and despatched by the slaves, which would account for
+the mangled condition in which his body was found by the burial party
+from Port Underwood. The rest of the slaughter, according to native
+accounts, was conducted mainly by Rangihaeata. His method of procedure
+was to glide silently behind the victims while they were standing
+amongst the crowd of natives and brain them with a single blow of his
+tomahawk. The peculiar part of the tragedy was that none of the
+Englishmen, except Captain Wakefield, made the slightest resistance,
+and even he was checked by Mr.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">{261}</a></span>
+Howard exclaiming, "For God's sake, sir, do nothing
+rash!" Perhaps their ignorance of the native language
+prevented them from understanding all that was passing
+around them until they received the fatal blow. But there
+was no struggle, no cries, except from the native women,
+led by Puaha's wife, who pleaded with the men to "save
+some of the <i>rangatiras</i>, if only to say they had saved
+some." No Englishman who survived actually saw the
+massacre, and therefore it is impossible to describe the
+exact method of its execution; but the colonists to all
+appearances met their fate with the greatest equanimity.
+George Bampton, who had concealed himself amongst
+the fern only a few yards from the spot where the
+tragedy was enacted, in giving evidence at Nelson a
+few days after the event, deposed that "he heard neither
+cries nor screaming, but merely the sound of beating
+or chopping, which he supposed at the time to be natives
+tomahawking the white people."</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with Rauparaha's express orders, none of the dead bodies
+were mutilated or stripped, although Captain Wakefield's watch was
+taken by Rangihaeata and buried with Te Rongo, while one native
+furnished himself with a pair of white gloves and another with a pair
+of silver-mounted pistols. After burying their own dead in the Waitohi
+Valley, the two chiefs, with their followers, came down to the mouth
+of the Wairau River, bringing with them their own canoes and the
+whaleboat which had been taken up by Mr. Cotterell and his men. In
+these they went first to Robin Hood Bay, and then to Te Awaiti, in
+Tory Channel, where they remained a few days, finally crossing the
+Strait to Mana and Otaki, there to await developments.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the skirmishing began, a Sydney merchant named Ferguson,
+who had been a passenger in the brig to Nelson, and had accompanied
+her to the Wairau under the impression that he would have a pleasant
+outing, had taken one of the wounded men, Gapper, down to the river
+where the boats had been left that morning, and, with him and the
+boatman who had been stationed in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">{262}</a></span>
+charge, had paddled down the river to the bar, and
+reached the brig that afternoon. A number of the men
+had also gone down the Waitohi Valley, which was then
+densely bushed, and by this means had evaded pursuit
+until they could return to Nelson by the overland route.
+Others, again, who had broken away from the main body
+had made for the sea, so that before Mr. Tuckett and his
+two companions had proceeded very far they were joined
+by eight of the original party, one of whom, John
+Bumforth, was badly wounded in the shoulder. Mr.
+Tuckett first proposed that they should divide into two
+parties, the one to proceed to the bar and the other to
+the vicinity of Port Underwood, thinking that by this
+means the chances of some of them reaching the brig
+would be increased. But the men stoutly refused to
+separate, and the chief surveyor then decided to proceed
+to the corner of Cloudy Bay nearest the port, where
+luckily they found one of Mr. Dougherty's fully equipped
+whaleboats riding in the bay a few chains off. They
+hailed the boatmen, and explained that they wished to be
+taken to the brig, which was anchored some seven or
+eight miles away; but owing to the heavy swell that was
+rolling into the bay at the time, and the large number of
+the party, there was the greatest difficulty in persuading
+the whalers to comply with the request. Even after the
+danger of embarking had been overcome, the headsman
+had almost made up his mind not to risk the voyage to
+the brig, but to land the party at Port Underwood. But
+fortune still favoured the fugitives, for at this moment
+another boat's crew, who had been watching their
+movements, imagining that they had sighted a whale,
+came out in pursuit, and the two boats raced for the
+brig, which was almost reached before the pursuing crew
+discovered the true position of affairs. Up to this point
+the whalers had not been informed why Mr. Tuckett and
+his friends desired to get on board the brig, but they
+were now told that a <i>fracas</i> had occurred between the
+Europeans and the natives, that the leaders of the party
+were Rauparaha's prisoners; and a promise (that was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">{263}</a></span>
+never fulfilled) was extracted from the boatmen that they
+would convey the intelligence to the other settlers at the
+port, and prepare them to act as they might think best
+under the circumstances. The captain of the brig then
+sent his boats to search the shore, in the hope that other
+fugitives might have reached the beach; but no one was
+seen, and no unusual circumstance was noted except the
+burning of a large fire at the mouth of the river, which
+had been lit for some purpose by the natives. The
+brig then weighed anchor and sailed for Wellington,
+the captain, whose inclination was to enter Port Underwood,
+adopting this course at the earnest solicitation of
+Mr. Tuckett, who believed that, if assistance was necessary,
+it could be more easily obtained from the larger
+centre of population.</p>
+
+<p>When the news of what had happened spread through the infant
+settlement early next morning, the excitement ran wild and high, and
+the settlers, believing that at the worst Captain Wakefield and his
+friends were only prisoners in the hands of the natives, immediately
+organised a band of volunteers to effect their forcible rescue. Their
+departure was, however, delayed by a gale, which had the effect of
+making most of the volunteers seasick; and, by the time the storm had
+abated, wiser counsels prevailed, and it was decided that only a
+quorum of magistrates and Dr. Dorset, the surgeon of the settlement,
+should proceed to the scene, the impression having gained ground that
+intercession was more likely to prevail with the Maoris than the
+presence of an armed force. The brig left Wellington for Cloudy Bay
+that night, and it was when she arrived at Port Underwood that Colonel
+Wakefield and Mr. Tuckett learned for the first time the appalling
+nature of the tragedy which had been enacted. They also learned that
+the natives, both resident and visiting, had hurriedly left the
+Wairau, believing that retaliatory measures would speedily be taken
+against them.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether about twenty-seven of the arresting party had managed to
+elude the pursuit of Rangihaeata's warriors. After undergoing intense
+privations, some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">{264}</a></span>
+wandered back to Nelson, but most of them went to
+Port Underwood, a few suffering from wounds, and all
+from protracted hunger and exposure. The first to
+arrive were Morgan and Morrison, who reached Ocean
+Bay with their trousers worn to their knees, and they
+were shortly followed by others who were in no better
+plight. Their wants and wounds were attended to by
+Mrs. Dougherty, who ministered to them with the kindest
+of care, and it was by these few survivors that the
+whalers were first apprised of the catastrophe. The
+Rev. Mr. Ironside had heard vague rumours about impending
+trouble between the chiefs and the Government;
+but, as he had not seen the arrival of the brig, he paid
+no heed to them until the following Sunday, when, in
+the midst of a heavy rain-storm, he noticed a Maori
+swiftly paddling his canoe up the bay. Knowing that
+a native would only be out on such a day under exceptional
+circumstances, Mr. Ironside sent one of his
+mission-boys to inquire. The boy did not return, which
+only increased the anxiety, and later on, when a few
+particulars did reach the station, they were only sufficient
+to indicate that a collision had taken place, without any
+details. That night the missionary and his wife retired
+to rest a prey to harrowing suspense.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the storm had increased to a perfect hurricane, and as it
+was impossible to launch a boat, they could do nothing but wait. By
+Tuesday the weather had moderated, and a boat's crew of whalers took
+Mr. Ironside down to Ocean Bay, where the two chiefs and their
+exultant followers had arrived. From them the whole story was gleaned,
+and by them the tragedy was justified; "for," said Te Rangihaeata,
+"they killed my wife, Te Rongo, and they did not punish the murderer
+of Kuika."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_162" id="Ref_162" href="#Foot_162">[162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ironside at once asked permission to go and bury
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">{265}</a></span>
+the dead, whereupon the fiery Rangihaeata ejaculated,
+"What do you want to go for? Better leave them to the
+wild pigs. But you can go if you like." Still the gale
+was too severe to admit of venturing across the twelve
+miles of open sea; but so anxious had they all become,
+that next morning a start was once more made from
+Ngakuta, and at the imminent risk of their lives the
+brave crew pulled their boat across the stormy bar into
+the river. On arriving at Tua Marina, Mr. Ironside and
+his party found that all the bodies had been left as
+Rauparaha had directed&mdash;unmutilated. The watch of
+Captain Wakefield was gone, one of the pistols, which he
+had evidently attempted to fire, had been laid across his
+throat in compliance with Maori custom, and a piece of
+"damper," in savage derision, had been placed under his
+head. The body of Brooks, the interpreter, was found to
+be in the most mangled condition, the others apparently
+only having received the one final and decisive blow,
+when they were struck down by the enraged Rangihaeata.
+Five bodies were discovered in the bush close to the
+creek, and were there interred with the benefits of
+Christian burial, while those who were slain on the brow
+of the hill, thirteen in number, were buried close by with
+similar rites. This fatiguing work had been almost completed
+by the devoted missionary and his band of native
+helpers when Colonel Wakefield, with the party from the
+brig, arrived to assist. On an extended search being
+made by the combined parties, one more body was
+found at the point where the road turns into the Waitohi
+Valley, and it was buried where it lay. Probably it was
+that of Isaac Smith, who had either sought to escape after
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">{266}</a></span>
+being mortally wounded, and had died in the attempt, or
+had been overtaken in his flight and killed where he was
+found. Mr. Patchett was buried in a single grave on the
+spot where he fell, and Tyrrell and Northam were
+interred together close beside him.</p>
+
+<p>In recognition of the kindly and humane service rendered by Mr.
+Ironside during this critical and anxious period, the Nelson settlers
+presented him with a testimonial in the shape of a handsome edition of
+the Bible, bound in three volumes. The gift was gracefully
+acknowledged by the reverend gentleman in a letter to Mr. Domett,
+dated from Wellington on February 20, 1845.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the return of the party to Port Underwood,
+Messrs. Spain and McDonough (the magistrate at Wellington)
+set about collecting, with all possible speed, all
+available information concerning the disaster from those
+of both races who had been present, and who had now
+arrived at the settlement. Amongst those whose depositions
+were taken were two Maori boys, who had both
+been wounded, and were being taken care of by female
+relatives. Their story was a general corroboration of the
+Maori version, and they were both unanimous in declaring
+that, when the Europeans were overtaken on the
+brow of the hill, Puaha, who was one of the first to reach
+them, offered them his hand and did all in his power to
+obviate further bloodshed by pointing out that he had
+counted the slain, and, as both sides had exactly the
+same number shot, there was no need for further <i>utu</i>.
+In this view Rauparaha at first concurred, but he finally
+gave way before the vehement protestations of Rangihaeata,
+who reminded him in violent tones of his duty to
+his dead relative, Te Rongo. He had then allowed his
+enraged lieutenant to work his wicked will, which Puaha
+and his people, being unarmed, were powerless to prevent.
+At the conclusion of his inquiry, Mr. Spain left for
+Wellington, taking the wounded with him; and those of
+the survivors who had escaped uninjured proceeded back
+to Nelson, some in the boats and some overland.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">{267}</a></span>
+Before leaving the port Mr. Tuckett was authorised by
+Colonel Wakefield to act as agent for the settlement until
+the pleasure of the New Zealand Company should be
+known. His journey home was rather an adventurous one,
+as he had a very narrow escape of being intercepted by
+the natives when sailing through the French Pass. Some
+of his companions who were venturesome enough to call
+in at Tory Channel, were detained there for a week by
+the natives, but were ultimately permitted to take their
+departure unharmed.</p>
+
+<p>The body of Mr. Maling, the chief constable, had not been found when
+Mr. Ironside made his first search upon the scene of the massacre, a
+fact which created no surprise at the time, for it was thought
+probable that he had succeeded in making good his escape into the
+bush. But, as he had not arrived at any of the settlements, the
+missionary again returned to Tua Marina for the dual purpose of making
+an extended search and of protecting the graves already made from
+desecration by the wild pigs, with which the valley was at that time
+thickly stocked. He was successful in finding two bodies floating in
+the stream, being the remains of Clanzey and Ratcliffe, who had been
+shot while crossing in the canoe. These were reverently interred on
+the banks of the creek near where Mr. Patchett had been laid. The last
+resting-place of these men bears no mark to distinguish it from the
+surrounding landscape, but a plain though substantial monument has
+been raised over the spot where Captain Wakefield and his companions
+fell; while a memorial church, built by the Wakefield family, stands
+prominently upon the point of the hill, and solemnly presides over the
+whole scene.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult to describe the intense excitement which
+agitated the whole colony as the tidings of the massacre flew from
+settlement to settlement; and in the white heat of their anger the
+settlers were guilty of saying and doing many rash and intemperate
+things. Few of them had made themselves conversant with the whole
+facts of the case, and fewer still stayed to reason out the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">{268}</a></span>
+natural actions of men under the circumstances. All that
+they knew, and all that they cared to know, was that
+their countrymen had been, as a Nelson settler forcibly
+expressed it, "brutally butchered by a parcel of miscreant
+savages, ten thousand of whose useless lives would have
+all too cheaply purchased their survival, let the cant of
+ultra-philanthropists say what it will." But this fierce
+indignation was not participated in by the Europeans
+alone. Flying from the scene of the tragedy, Te
+Rauparaha arrived with his retainers at Waikanae, cold
+and wet with the sea spray which had swept over him on
+the passage across the Strait. He immediately assembled
+the Ngati-Awa people and told them the tale of the
+massacre, holding their attention by the graphic nature of
+his narrative. At first his listeners were unsympathetic,
+but he appealed to their sympathies by feigning physical
+distress. Bent in body and trembling in voice, he appeared
+to speak with difficulty, and used a hacking cough with
+some effect to melt their sternness. But his most telling
+point was made when, advancing a few steps, he held up his
+shaking hands and dramatically exclaimed, "Why should
+they seek to fetter me? I am old and weak; I must soon
+pass away. What could they gain by enslaving me? by
+fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not
+what they seek. It is because through my person they
+hope to dishonour you. If they can enslave me they
+think they can degrade the whole Maori race."</p>
+
+<p>This was the dart that struck deep into Maori pride, and wounded their
+sense of honour. Instantly the tribe rose responsive to the
+suggestion, and weapons were gripped, eyes flashed, and the spirit of
+war surged in every breast. Missionary Hadfield was present, and saw
+the sway wielded by the old chief's oratory. He saw, too, how critical
+was the position, and gladly availed himself of the timely suggestion
+made by one of the missionary natives to ring the bell for evening
+prayers, and thus bring back the warriors' thoughts to a more peaceful
+frame. Next morning Te Rauparaha journeyed to Otaki, and there
+harangued the fighting men of Ngati-Toa. Here
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">{269}</a></span>
+there was no need to adopt the arts of the stage. His
+auditors were his own followers, many of whom had been
+with him since childhood. They knew him and trusted
+him, and with them his word was law. He therefore
+threw off the guise of broken manhood, of fettered limbs,
+of tottering steps, and stood before them the bold and
+imperious chief that he was. His words ringing with
+the timbre of commanding confidence, were direct and to
+the purpose. "Now is the time to strike. You see what
+the smooth speech of the <i>pakeha</i> is worth; you know
+now what they mean in their hearts. You know now that
+tyranny and injustice is all that you can expect at their
+hands. Come then and sweep them from the land which
+they have sought to bedew with our blood."</p>
+
+<p>In these warlike counsels he was ably seconded by Te Rangihaeata, who,
+reasoning as a Maori would reason, had always strongly held the view
+that, as the white men would be certain to seek satisfaction for the
+massacre, their duty was to get what <i>utu</i> they could while the
+opportunity to do so was theirs. He therefore joined with his chief in
+urging an immediate march upon Wellington, in order by one swift
+stroke to obliterate the <i>pakeha</i> and his settlements. These
+sanguinary proposals were not preached to unwilling ears, for it was
+but natural that the Maori should judge the settlers by their leaders,
+the representatives of the New Zealand Company, whose bad faith now
+appeared so audaciously transparent. But there was one chief who was
+proof against the hysteria of blood which had seized the tribes. Side
+by side with Hadfield he stood like a rock above the billows of hate
+which surged around him, and by his calm and stedfast loyalty broke
+the fury of the storm. This was Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake, the
+Ngati-Awa chief of Waitara. His resolute opposition to Te Rauparaha's
+plans was an obstacle which that chief could not overcome. He carried
+his own people with him, while Hadfield soothed the Ngati-Raukawa into
+neutrality. Without Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Toa was not
+equal to a task which with their united forces would have been a
+simple matter.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">{270}</a></span>
+That the Maoris had the power at this time to drive the
+colonists into the sea, had they chosen to exercise it, has
+been freely admitted by the settlers themselves,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_163" id="Ref_163" href="#Foot_163">[163]</a></span>
+so that
+the service which Wiremu and the good missionary
+Hadfield rendered to the Colony at this juncture can only
+be estimated at the value of the infant settlement itself.
+And, with regret be it said, Wellington is even now
+destitute of any monument to which the passing generations
+might point as a public recognition of the fact that
+these two men once stood between it and extermination.</p>
+
+<p>Before Te Rauparaha was able to extend his projects for avenging his
+wrongs beyond his own immediate sphere of influence, he was visited by
+Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the aborigines, who gave him
+his most solemn pledge that the Government would not attack him
+without first hearing his side of the question, and begged him to try
+and keep the natives quiet until the case could be investigated.
+Following close upon Mr. Clarke came Mr. Spain, deputed by the
+magistrates at Wellington, and empowered to speak as one in authority.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_164" id="Ref_164" href="#Foot_164">[164]</a></span>
+He strove to assure the natives that they were
+mistaken if they imagined that the Europeans would wage war against
+them indiscriminately by way of retaliation for the death of Captain
+Wakefield and his comrades. The question of punishment rested solely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">{271}</a></span>
+with the Governor, and, until he could decide who
+should be punished and what the punishment should be,
+there would be no act of aggression against the natives.</p>
+
+<p>"Your words are very good, but who can tell what will be the words of
+the Governor?" was the comment of one of the chiefs upon these
+assurances. To this Spain could only reply by pointing to their past
+intercourse, and asking if during their long acquaintance they had
+ever known him to deceive them. Fortunately, his record stood him in
+good stead, and the chief agreed that he for one would help to protect
+the Europeans. While this discussion was proceeding, Rauparaha had
+joined the assembly, and at this point he rose and delivered what Mr.
+Spain considered "a most powerful speech." He traversed anew the
+events which had led up to the <i>fracas</i>, and vehemently asked,
+"Is this the justice which the Queen of England promised to the Maori?
+You are not satisfied with having taken all our land from us, but you
+send a Queen's ship headed by a Queen's officer to fire upon us and
+kill us." Spain endeavoured to expound to the angry chief the niceties
+of British law, under which a warrant to arrest did not necessarily
+imply established guilt; had he surrendered he would probably have
+been admitted to bail until the day of the trial, and, so far from the
+Queen and the Governor being to blame for the conduct of the
+magistrate, they had never heard of the warrant. On Spain expressing
+his abhorrence of the killing of the captives, Te Rauparaha admitted
+the error of the step, which he palliated as due to their own custom
+and Rangihaeata's grief at the death of his wife. He then proceeded to
+question Spain with an acumen which astonished the lawyer, and forced
+him to form a very high estimate of the chief's intellectual capacity;
+for his examination was as keen "as if I had undergone that ordeal in
+Westminster Hall at the hands of a member of the English Bar." What Te
+Rauparaha wished to guard against was treachery. He wanted everything
+open to the light of day, and the conference ended by his saying to
+Spain, "If the Governor should decide upon sending
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">{272}</a></span>
+soldiers to take me and Rangihaeata, let us know when
+they arrive, because you need not take the trouble to
+send up here for us. If you only send word I will come
+down to Port Nicholson with a thousand Maoris and
+fight with the <i>pakehas</i>. If they beat us, they shall have
+New Zealand, and we will be their slaves, but if we beat
+them, they must stand clear."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Spain next proceeded to Otaki. There he was told that the natives
+intended to stand loyally by their chiefs, and that any attempt to
+seize them would lead to immediate reprisals. Following closely upon
+Mr. Spain's departure, Mr. Jerningham Wakefield reached Otaki. He came
+from the north, and, as he drifted down the Whanganui River, he
+received the first tidings of the death of his uncle. It was difficult
+at first to give credence to the nebulous rumours which reached him;
+but the constant reiteration of the same story about a fight with the
+<i>pakehas</i> and the death of "Wideawake" gradually compelled
+attention, and ultimately received confirmation at the white
+settlement then known as Petre.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_165" id="Ref_165" href="#Foot_165">[165]</a></span>
+Here Wakefield was the recipient
+of a message from Te Rauparaha, demanding to know whether he was for
+peace or for war, and preferring a request that "Tiraweke" would come
+to Otaki to <i>korero</i> with him. In the meantime he had sent his
+canoes to Manawatu, and was preparing for his retreat into the
+interior should he be attacked. Wakefield left Petre, and at the end
+of the first day he was met at Rangitikei by the old Ngati-Raukawa
+chief Te Ahu karamu,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_166" id="Ref_166" href="#Foot_166">[166]</a></span>
+who had gone thither with an armed party to
+conduct his friend safely through the disturbed district. On reaching
+Otaki, Wakefield went to Rangi-ura <i>pa</i>, the principal
+settlement, where the Maoris placed only one interpretation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">{273}</a></span>
+upon his coming&mdash;vengeance upon Te Rauparaha for
+the death of his uncle.</p>
+
+<p>For two days Wakefield rested at Otaki, but saw nothing of the chiefs.
+Rangihaeata was reported to be some distance in the interior, building
+a strong <i>pa</i>, where it was understood that the chiefs had
+determined to make a stand should the authorities seek to pursue them.
+Te Rauparaha was at the Pakakutu <i>pa</i> at the mouth of the river,
+endeavouring to break down the influence of Mr. Hadfield and Wiremu
+Kingi. His efforts to consolidate his forces were various, as suited
+the circumstances. He sought to ingratiate himself into the good
+opinion of the missionary natives by appearing to become zealous in
+religious observances; on the feeling of others he played by a recital
+of his wrongs; and towards the European residents of Otaki he assumed
+an attitude of unconcealed hostility, and ordered their removal from
+the district. This step he deemed to be necessary, in order that he
+might be free to act unhampered by spies in the supposed impending
+campaign against the Queen's troops, and it was this mandate which
+brought the chief and Wakefield face to face.</p>
+
+<p>As a result of Rauparaha's prohibition, a <i>pakeha</i> settler named
+White, who had been living under the patronage of Te Ahu karamu, found
+himself suddenly stopped at the Otaki River while in the act of
+driving some thirty head of cattle on to the land upon which his
+patron chief had invited him to settle. This high-handed action
+naturally aroused the anger of the Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who had
+hitherto assumed that they were masters of the territory which they
+had chosen to "sit upon" when the division of the conquered lands was
+made. Te Ahu was especially angered at what he regarded as an
+uncalled-for encroachment upon his prerogative as a chief. He
+therefore announced his determination to proceed to the Pakakutu
+<i>pa</i> and demand from Te Rauparaha a complete renunciation of his
+views. Wakefield was invited to be present, and to his facile pen we
+are indebted for a graphic account of what followed.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">{274}</a></span>
+The <i>korero</i> did not commence immediately upon the
+arrival of Te Ahu's party at the <i>pa</i>, and Wakefield employed
+the interval in the kindly office of helping to
+dress the wounded leg of a Maori, whom he has described
+as one "particularly gentle and dignified in his
+manners." While thus engaged, Te Rauparaha approached
+him, and, with evident signs of apprehension
+as to the propriety of his doing so, offered a friendly
+salutation. Wakefield coldly declined to grasp the hand
+which he naturally believed was imbrued in his uncle's
+blood; and Rauparaha, immediately acknowledging the
+delicacy of his position, muttered "It is good," and
+returned to his seat. The speech-making commenced
+by his entering upon a lengthy narrative of himself and
+his conquests, for the evident purpose of riveting in the
+minds of his hearers the fact that he was the brain and
+the heart of the tribe. His story was eloquently told,
+for not the least of his great natural endowments was the
+precious gift of the silver tongue. The tale of conquest
+ended, he was proceeding to refer to the incidents of
+the Wairau, when Wakefield rose and checked him.
+Naturally the latter was sensitive upon the point of
+prejudging so dreadful a tragedy, by listening to an
+<i>ex-parte</i> statement of its facts, when he was fully persuaded
+that at no distant date he would hear the truth
+disclosed before an impartial tribunal. He therefore
+told Te Rauparaha that he would not remain if he
+proposed to discuss the affair of the Wairau, but begged
+him to confine his speech to a justification of his
+extreme and arbitrary desire to drive the Europeans
+away from Otaki.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha acknowledged the reasonableness of this request, but so
+anxious was he to excuse himself in the eyes of Wakefield, that his
+oration had not proceeded far before he reverted to the subject of the
+massacre. Thereupon Wakefield rose, and, walking to the stile at the
+outer fence, was in the act of stepping over it to proceed home, when
+a chorus of shouts called him back, and a promise was given that there
+would be no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">{275}</a></span>
+further reference to the Wairau. Te Rauparaha then
+earnestly addressed himself to the status of the <i>pakehas</i>
+at Otaki, claiming the land as his alone. He admitted
+the validity of the sales of the Manawatu, Whanganui,
+and Taranaki, but not those of Otaki or Ohau, and
+insisted that the white people, whalers included,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_167" id="Ref_167" href="#Foot_167">[167]</a></span>
+must remove to those districts which the Company had fairly
+bought. He upbraided the Queen for sending her constables
+to tie his hands. "Who is she," he asked, "that
+she should send her books and her constables after me?
+What have I to do with her? She may be Queen over
+the white people; I am the King of the Maori! If she
+chooses to have war, let her send me word, and I will
+stand up against her soldiers. But I must have room;
+I must have no white people so near."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_168" id="Ref_168" href="#Foot_168">[168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Challenged as to the inconsistency of these views with his action in
+signing the Treaty of Waitangi, he wheeled sharply round and
+exclaimed, "Yes; what of that? They gave me a blanket for it. I am
+still a chief, just the same. I am Rauparaha. Give me another blanket
+tomorrow and I will sign it again. What is there in writing?" The
+attitude of absolute authority assumed by the chief distinctly alarmed
+Wakefield, who saw in it the elements of unlimited trouble for the New
+Zealand Company. For if Te Rauparaha's claim to exclusive jurisdiction
+over the land was well founded, then verily many of their purchases
+had been brought to the brink of repudiation. Turning hastily to Te
+Ahu and several of the chiefs around him, he sought enlightenment on
+the point, reminding them that they had frequently laid
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">{276}</a></span>
+claim to large possessions in the neighbourhood, but
+had never acknowledged Te Rauparaha as having the
+least right or interest in them. Then Te Ahu proceeded
+in a tone of apology and regret to elucidate one of the
+many intricate phases of Maori land tenure which were
+now beginning to prove so embarrassing to the Company.
+He explained that when the tribe burned their houses at
+Maungatautari and came down to assist Te Rauparaha
+in his conquest, they had selected Otaki out of the
+conquered lands to be their future home. In times of
+peace Rauparaha would have made no claim to the
+land, nor would his claim have been acknowledged if he
+had. In proof of this, he quoted the scorn with which
+Rangihaeata's assumptions over the Manawatu had been
+rejected by Ngati-Raukawa; but now that the war clouds
+were in the air, the <i>riri</i>, or anger, had completely altered
+the whole aspect of affairs; the land had reverted to him
+who had conquered it, and Ngati-Raukawa had no land
+which they could call their own. "And then he rose,"
+says Wakefield, "and endeavoured to persuade Rauparaha
+to change his determination. He reminded him of the
+'war parties which he had brought to him on his back to
+assist him against his enemies, through dangers and
+troubles more than he could count.' He related how 'he
+had burned the villages of the tribe at Taupo to make them
+come with him to be by the side of Rauparaha on the
+sea-coast.' He counted how many times he had adhered
+to him 'in his feuds with Ngati-Awa,' and described
+'how much of the blood of Ngati-Raukawa had been
+spilt for his name.' Te Ahu had now warmed with his
+subject, and was running up and down, bounding and
+yelling at each turn, and beginning to foam at the
+mouth, as the natives do when they seek to speak impressively.
+'Let the cows go!' he cried. 'Let them go
+to my place!'</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Rauparaha seemed to consider that Te Ahu's eloquence was becoming too
+powerful, and he jumped up too. They both continued to run up and down
+in short parallel lines, yelling at each other, with staring eyes and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">{277}</a></span>
+excited features, grimacing and foaming, shaking their
+hands and smacking their thighs. As they both spoke
+together, it became difficult to hear what they said, but I
+caught a sentence here and there, which gave me the
+sense of the argument. 'No!' cried Rauparaha; 'no
+cows; I will not have them.' 'Let them go!' yelled Te
+Ahu. 'Yield me my cows and my white man&mdash;the cows
+will not kill you.' 'No cows, no white men! I am King!
+Never mind your war parties! No cows!' answered Te
+Rauparaha. 'The cows cannot take you,' persisted Te
+Ahu; 'when the soldiers come we will fight for you, but
+let my cows go.' 'No, no, no, indeed,' firmly replied the
+chief, and sat down.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Te Ahu remained standing. He took breath for a minute, then drew
+himself up to his full height, and addressed his own people in a
+solemn kind of recitative. 'Ngati-Raukawa,' he sang, 'arise! Arise, my
+sons and daughters, my elder brothers and my younger brothers, my
+sisters, my grand-children, arise! Stand up, the families of
+Ngati-Raukawa! To Taupo! to Taupo! to Maungatautari! To our old homes
+which we burned and deserted; arise and let us go! Carry the little
+children on your backs, as I carried you when I came to fight for this
+old man who has called us to fight for him and given us land to sit
+upon, but grudges us white people to be our friends and to give us
+trade. We have no white men or ships at Maungatautari, but the land is
+our own there. We need not beg to have a white man or cows yielded to
+us there if they should want to come. To Maungatautari. Arise, my
+sons, make up your packs, take your guns and your blankets, and let us
+go! It is enough, I have spoken.' As he sat down, a mournful silence
+prevailed. An important migration had been proposed by the chief,
+which no doubt would be agreed to by the greater part of the Otaki,
+Ohau, and Manawatu natives, on whom was Rauparaha's chief dependence
+for his defence.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I noticed that he winced when he first heard the purport of Te Ahu's
+song; but, while Te Ahu continued, his countenance gradually resumed
+its confidence. Much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">{278}</a></span>
+as I abhorred his character, I could not but yield my
+unbounded admiration to the imperious manner in which
+he overthrew the whole effect of Te Ahu's beautiful
+summons to his tribe. Instead of his usual doubting and
+suspicious manner, his every gesture became that of a
+noble chief. He rose with all the majesty of a monarch,
+and he spoke in the clearest and firmest tones, so that
+the change from his customary shuffling, cautious and
+snarling diction was of itself sufficient to command the
+earnest attention of his audience. 'Go,' said he, 'go, all
+of you!&mdash;go, Ngati-Raukawa, to Maungatautari! Take
+your children on your backs and go, and leave my land
+without men. When you are gone, I will stay and fight
+the soldiers with my own hands. I do not beg you to
+stop. Rauparaha is not afraid! I began to fight when I
+was as high as my hip. All my days have been spent in
+fighting, and by fighting I have got my name. Since I
+seized by war all this land, from Taranaki to Port
+Nicholson, and from Blind Bay to Cloudy Bay beyond
+the water, I have been spoken of as a King. I am the
+King of all this land. I have lived a King, and I will die
+a King, with my <i>mere</i> in my hand. Go; I am no
+beggar; Rauparaha will fight the soldiers of the Queen
+when they come, with his own hands and his own name.
+Go to Maungatautari.' Then, suddenly changing his
+strain, he looked on the assemblage of chiefs, bending
+down towards them with a paternal smile, and softening
+his voice to kindness and emotion. 'But what do I say?'
+said he; 'what is my talk about? You are children!
+It is not for you to talk. You talk of going here and
+doing that. Can one of you talk when I am here? No!
+I shall rise and speak for you all, and you shall sit dumb,
+for you are all my children, and Rauparaha is your head
+chief and patriarch.'"</p>
+
+<p>This fearless rejection of Ngati-Raukawa assistance, culminating in an
+arrogant assumption of absolute authority over their movements,
+completely won him his point, and one of the highest chiefs said to
+Wakefield, "It is true, Tiraweke! He is our father and our
+<i>Ariki</i>.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">{279}</a></span>
+Rauparaha is the King of the Maori, like your Queen over
+the white people." The others, full of conscious dignity
+in being followers of such a leader, acknowledged his
+authority by bowing a silent assent. Rauparaha remained
+inflexible in refusing to permit the cattle to enter the
+district, but, in deference to the urgent persuasions
+of the chiefs, he subsequently relaxed his prohibition
+against the white men already settled in the district,
+but stoutly refused to sanction the coming of any
+more.</p>
+
+<p>But this effort of Te Rauparaha to consolidate his forces was in no
+sense the full range of his preparations. To augment his fighting
+strength was as much his policy as to unite those who already
+acknowledged allegiance to him. And this he sought to do in a quarter
+which, in view of past events, he would have been least expected to
+approach, and where his advances, once made, would have been least
+likely to touch a responsive chord. His scheme involved no less a
+delicate task than salving the wounds of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, and
+negotiating a friendly alliance with the men whose <i>mana</i> he had
+so rudely trampled in the dust at Kaikoura and Kaiapoi. To this end he
+collected a number of the most influential prisoners whom he had taken
+at the latter place, and, bidding them go back to their tribe, charged
+them to use their utmost endeavour to promote a good feeling towards
+him amongst their people. This unexpected act of clemency&mdash;or apparent
+clemency&mdash;which restored to them their much esteemed chief Momo, their
+great warrior Iwikau, and others equally noted in their history, went
+far to soothe the injured pride of Ngai-Tahu, who, after much serious
+debate, decided to forget the past, make peace, and accede to the new
+proposals. As an earnest of their acceptance of Rauparaha's terms,
+Taiaroa at once paid a visit to Kapiti, and, as he professed to be
+aggrieved at the manner in which some land transactions had been
+conducted in the south, there is little doubt that, had an attack upon
+Wellington been contemplated, he and his people would have combined
+with their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">{280}</a></span>
+former enemies to effect the annihilation of the colonists.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_169" id="Ref_169" href="#Foot_169">[169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A fearful uncertainty thus continued to agitate the breasts of the
+settlers; and when H.M. ship of war, <i>North Star</i> arrived in
+Wellington on 31st August, as the result of a memorial sent by the
+settlers to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, she was
+received with a salute of guns and a display of bunting, which
+indicated a belief that the day of retribution was at hand. It was
+not, however, for four days that her commander, Sir Everard Home, was
+able to enter into communication with Major Richmond, the principal
+officer of the Government in Cook Strait. By him he was assured that
+"he had received various reports of meditated attacks upon Wellington
+by the natives under Te Rauparaha; that the chief was at a <i>pa</i>
+not more than fourteen miles away, with between five hundred and a
+thousand of his fighting men; that Taiaroa, the chief from the Middle
+Island, had joined Te Rauparaha, and, having been an ancient enemy to
+him, had made peace; that the <i>pa</i> at Porirua was fortified, and
+every preparation made for an attack on the town of Wellington." To
+this Sir Everard, having regard to his explicit instructions not to
+intervene unless the natives and the whites were at actual war,
+replied that, in his judgment, the circumstances did not warrant his
+interference, but that he would keep his ship in the harbour as a
+salutary check upon Maori aggression. In the meantime he penned the
+following letter to Te Rauparaha:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"<span class="smcap">Friend Rauparaha</span>,&mdash;It
+ has come to my knowledge that you are
+ collecting the tribes round you, because you expect that I am going
+ to attack you. Those who told you so said that which is not true.
+ It was to keep the peace and not to make war that I came here.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">{281}</a></span>
+ You know that where many men are met together, and continue
+ without employment, they will find something evil to do. They had
+ best go home."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Everard Home, having satisfied himself that no immediate crisis
+was likely to arise at Wellington, unless it was precipitated by the
+settlers themselves, was constrained by reports of seething discontent
+at Nelson to visit the settlements in Blind Bay. But, before
+proceeding thither, he decided to call in at the island of Mana, and
+there personally discuss the situation with Te Rauparaha himself.
+Accompanied by Major Richmond and Captain Best, he left Wellington
+Harbour on the morning of October 5th, and anchored the <i>North
+Star</i> under the lee of Mana that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"As soon as the ship anchored," says Sir Everard in his official
+ report, "I landed, attended by Major Richmond and Captain Best,
+ who commanded the detachment on board the <i>North Star</i>. We
+ first went to the whaling station, or great <i>pa</i>, where we found Mr.
+ Chetham (clerk of the Court), who had been sent to join us. We
+ also soon after met Mr. Clarke. He informed us that Te Rauparaha
+ had left that morning at daylight for Waikanae, which must have
+ been a voluntary movement, as no person knew our intention till
+ the Strait was entered. We immediately went round to the <i>pa</i>
+ where the tribe was established. Here we found no one on the
+ beach to receive us, and, having landed, walked to the huts, where
+ we found a few persons sitting together. Rangihaeata, they said,
+ had fled to the bush, Te Rauparaha was at Waikanae, and, finding
+ that nothing could be done, we returned on board."</p>
+
+<p>During this visit to Porirua, the attention of the official party had
+been directed to the presence of the New Zealand Company's boat, which
+had been brought by the natives from the Wairau, after the massacre,
+and hauled up on the shore of Taupo Bay amongst some twelve or fifteen
+canoes; and this fact was made a subject of discussion next day when
+the frigate reached Kapiti.</p>
+
+<p>Landing at Waikanae, where the interview was to take place, Sir
+Everard Home says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"We were received by the Rev. Mr. Hadfield, a missionary, a
+ gentleman of high character and great intelligence, who, living in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">{282}</a></span>
+ the <i>pa</i> amongst the natives, knows every movement, for none could
+ take place without his knowledge. He at once declared all the reports
+ (of an intended attack upon Wellington) to be without foundation.
+ Having walked to his house, which is within the <i>pa</i>, we
+ proceeded to his school-yard, and the chiefs, Te Rauparaha, and Rere,
+ chief of the tribe inhabiting the <i>pa</i> of Waikanae, came,
+ accompanied by about fifty men. I then stated to the chief all that
+ was reported of him, and asked him what he had to say to contradict
+ it. He replied that, far from wishing to continue the quarrel with
+ the Europeans, which had been commenced by them, and not by him, his
+ whole time was occupied in travelling up and down the coast,
+ endeavouring to allay the irritation of the natives and to prevent
+ any ill consequences arising from the provoking language and threats
+ with which they were continually annoyed by the Europeans travelling
+ backwards and forwards. That, for himself, he believed them to be
+ lies invented by the white men, having been assured by the Police
+ Magistrate that no steps would be taken until the arrival of the new
+ Governor, or the pleasure of the Queen was known. He also declared
+ that they all stood in fear of the white men, and asked why I had
+ come if it was not to fight with and destroy them, for they had been
+ told that was my intention.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I told them that the Queen's ships went to all parts of the world,
+ and that my object was to preserve peace rather than to make war, and
+ he was advised to believe no reports which he might hear, but to
+ inquire into the truth of them of Major Richmond, through Mr. Clarke
+ or Mr. Hadfield."</p>
+
+<p>The conference then dispersed, but at a later hour Te Rauparaha was
+sent for to Mr. Hadfield's house, and asked if he would send a letter
+to the principal chief at Porirua, requesting him to deliver up the
+Company's boat to Sir Everard Home. His reply was that he had but
+little influence amongst the Porirua people, but that, as he had
+always been against the retention of the boat, he would assert what
+authority he had to secure its return. He then became curious to know
+if the surrender of the boat would end the quarrel; but Major Richmond
+discreetly declined to commit himself on the point, and appealed to Te
+Rauparaha's position as a chief to see that justice was done. Te
+Rauparaha then penned the following letter, which he addressed to the
+Porirua chiefs:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Go thou, my book, to Puaha, Hohepa, and Watarauehe. Give that boat
+ to the chief of the ship; give it to the chief for nothing.
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">{283}</a></span>
+ These are
+ the words of Te Rauparaha. Your avarice in keeping back the boat from
+ us, from me, Mr. Hadfield, and Mr. Ironside, was great. This is not
+ an angry visit, it is to ask peaceably for the boat. There are only
+ Mr. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, and the chief of the ship: they three who
+ are going peaceably back to you that you may give up the boat.</p>
+
+<div class="sigbloc">
+<span class="hfright">"This is my book,</span>
+<span class="right">"<span class="smcap">Te Rauparaha</span>."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Armed with this authority Sir Everard Home returned to Porirua, where,
+after lying at anchor all day on Sunday, he landed on the following
+day, and made a formal demand for the return of the boat. At first, Te
+Rangihaeata was inclined to resist the request, but, on receipt of a
+private message from Te Rauparaha that a refusal might mean trouble,
+he yielded the point, and the boat was ultimately handed over with
+"the greatest good-humour."</p>
+
+<p>During the interview at Waikanae, Te Rauparaha had given the most
+profuse assurances that he, relying upon the promise that there would
+be no reprisals until the facts surrounding the massacre had been
+investigated, was employing his best endeavours to pacify his people.
+But his efforts, he said, were often nullified by the disturbing
+rumours which reached them of armings and drillings<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_170" id="Ref_170" href="#Foot_170">[170]</a></span>
+by the settlers at Wellington, which seemed to portend war rather than peace.
+But the seeds of irritation and mistrust had already been sown much
+further afield than Waikanae and Otaki; for the natives, on leaving
+the Wairau, had taken with them, as well as the boat, the handcuffs
+and leg-irons which had been foolishly brought down by Mr. Maling to
+ensure Rauparaha's capture. These were sent from one <i>pa</i> to
+another, and wherever they were exhibited, the enemies of the
+<i>pakeha</i> were not slow to insinuate that, when the English became
+numerous in the land, they would provide leg-irons for the whole of
+the natives. The sight of these manacles, and the dark hints with
+which they were everywhere accompanied,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">{284}</a></span>
+created bitterness and resentment against settlers, with
+whom the Maoris had always lived in perfect harmony;
+so that before many weeks had passed away it only
+required a single spark of indiscretion to set the whole
+colony in a blaze of war. At no period of her history
+has New Zealand stood so much in need of firm, discreet
+and conciliatory guidance as in this critical juncture;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_171" id="Ref_171" href="#Foot_171">[171]</a></span>
+and fortunately the hand of authority was strong enough
+to prevent the spark being kindled. Acting-Governor
+Shortland, taking a bold but unpopular initiative, on
+July 12, 1843, issued the following proclamation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Whereas it is essential to the well-being of this Colony that
+ confidence and good feeling should continue to exist between the two
+ races of its inhabitants, and that the native owners of the soil
+ should have no reason to doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's solemn
+ assurance that their territorial rights should be recognised and
+ respected. Now, therefore, I, the officer administering the
+ Government, do hereby publicly warn all persons claiming land in this
+ Colony, in all cases where the claim is denied or disputed by the
+ original native owners, from exercising rights of ownership thereon,
+ or otherwise prejudicing the question of title to the same, until the
+ question of ownership shall have been heard and determined by one of
+ Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to investigate claims to land
+ in New Zealand."</p>
+
+<p>The wisdom of thus holding the hands of the settlers until the title
+to their lands had been settled by a constitutional course was not at
+first apparent to the pioneers, who treated the proclamation with
+scant respect, and roundly abused it and its author in the public
+press.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"If," said one writer, "it had been the desire of its framer to hound
+ a troop of excited savages upon a peaceable and scattered population,
+ to destroy the remains of friendly feeling existing between the two
+ races, to imbrue in blood the hands of both, and lead to the
+ extermination of one or the other, such a proclamation might have
+ served its purpose."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">{285}</a></span>
+This style of exaggerated invective will serve to show the unreasoning
+pitch to which even the better class of colonists had allowed
+themselves to be worked by the news of the catastrophe. Nor were they
+content with merely upbraiding the authorities in the press and at
+public meetings; deputations waited upon the Acting-Governor at
+Auckland, urging him to take immediate steps to avenge the death of
+Captain Wakefield. The Nelson deputation consisted of Dr. Monro and
+Mr. A. Domett, and the essence of their petition was contained in the
+following paragraph:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"We have no hesitation in stating that it is the general opinion of
+ the settlers at Nelson that our countrymen who were killed at Wairau
+ Plain lost their lives in endeavouring to discharge their duties as
+ magistrates and British subjects, obedient to British law, and that
+ the persons by whom they were killed are murderers in the eyes of
+ common sense and justice."</p>
+
+<p>They therefore hoped that impartial justice would be done, and that
+the penalties of the law would certainly overtake those whom its
+verdicts pronounced to be guilty. But to this and all other petitions
+of a similar tone Mr. Shortland staunchly refused to accede. In his
+reply to Dr. Monro and Mr. Domett he clearly set forth the error under
+which the settlers were labouring, when they ascribed the disaster to
+the performance of duty on the part of the magistrates, and pointed
+out that it might be more fairly attributed to an excess of duty on
+the part of those officials, in attempting to annex land which had
+never been legally purchased. After dwelling upon the criminality of
+those who were responsible for the final conflict, he proceeded:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"But whatever may be the crime, and whoever may be the criminals, it
+ is but too clear that the event we must all deplore has arisen from
+ several parties of surveyors, without the concurrence of the local
+ Government, proceeding to take possession of and to survey a tract of
+ land in opposition to the original native owners, who had uniformly
+ denied its sale. His Excellency therefore deems it proper to inform
+ you that the New Zealand Company has not selected
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">{286}</a></span>
+ any block of land in the valley of the Wairau, nor has the local Government yet
+ received any intimation that it is the intention of the Company to
+ select a block in that district."</p>
+
+<p>To say that the Englishmen were trespassers is the mildest way in
+which the case against them can be stated, especially in view of the
+forceful opinion expressed by Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General, who
+described their conduct as "illegal in its inception and in every step
+of its execution, unjustifiable in the magistrate and four constables,
+and criminal in the last degree on the part of the attacking party."
+Writing from Port Nicholson ten days after the massacre, Mr. Spain
+confirmed Mr. Swainson's condemnation of their conduct, which he
+declared to be "an attempt to set British law at defiance and to
+obtain, by force, possession of a tract of land, the title of which
+was disputed, and then under the consideration of a commissioner
+specially appointed to investigate and report upon it." From the
+information he had been able to collect, Mr. Spain arrived at the
+conclusion that at the commencement of the affair the natives
+exhibited the greatest forbearance, and the utmost repugnance to fight
+with the Europeans. His views were cordially endorsed by Mr. Clarke,
+the Protector of the aborigines, who reported to the Acting-Governor
+that he was "satisfied that such an unhappy affair as that of the
+Wairau could never have occurred had not the natives been urged to it
+by extreme provocation." These emphatic opinions from men who were not
+only capable of arriving at a judicial conclusion, but were impartial
+in the sense that they were not concerned in the catastrophe, together
+with the decision of the Attorney-General that no act of felony had
+been committed by the natives in burning the huts, fortified His
+Excellency in ignoring the violent clamour of the settlers for
+revenge. They induced him even to go further, and prohibit the
+military displays which they were beginning to organise amongst
+themselves under the plea that they were in imminent danger of being
+attacked by the natives. This prohibition was to their excited
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">{287}</a></span>
+minds the crowning injustice of all; and in October,
+when H.M.S. <i>North Star</i> arrived at Port Nicholson, the
+Wellington and Nelson settlements were practically in a
+state of open rebellion. When Sir Everard Home was
+applied to by the colonists to execute a warrant against
+Rauparaha and Rangihaeata for murder, he was compelled
+to "decline the honour," and admit candidly that he did
+not consider a force so necessary to put a check upon the
+natives as to keep in subjection the irate settlers themselves.
+The settlers further memorialised Sir Eardley Wilmot,
+Governor of Tasmania, for assistance, and he immediately
+sent a battleship to their aid. But he took the precaution
+to warn Captain Nicholson not to land his troops unless
+the natives and Europeans were in actual conflict; and
+this not being the case when the ship arrived, she soon
+after took her departure. In their extremity the settlers
+then turned to a French frigate which was lying in
+New Zealand waters; but Major Richmond, on hearing
+of the proposal to call upon her captain for aid,
+indignantly vetoed it as being "a stain upon British
+arms."</p>
+
+<p>The social and political atmosphere was still in this condition of
+ferment when, towards the close of the year, Captain Fitzroy, the
+newly appointed Governor, arrived. It was not, however, until February
+that he was able to give his undivided attention to the adjudication
+of matters connected with the massacre; but he then spared no pains to
+make himself master of all the facts upon which a decision was to be
+based. He first studied the merits of the European case, and then
+journeyed to Waikanae, where he landed on February 12, 1844, with his
+suite, consisting of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Spain, the officers of the
+<i>North Star</i>, Major Richmond and Mr. Symonds, the Wellington
+magistrates, and Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the
+aborigines. There he met Rauparaha and Rangihaeata with upwards of
+four hundred of their tribe, congregated for the <i>korero</i> in an
+enclosure in the centre of the <i>pa</i>, the Governor being provided
+with a chair, Rauparaha sitting by his side.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">{288}</a></span>
+His Excellency, addressing the assembled natives
+through Mr. Clarke, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I have heard from the English all that happened at the Wairau, and
+ it has grieved my heart exceedingly. I now ask you to tell me your
+ story so that I may compare the two and judge fairly. When I have
+ heard your account of that dark day, I will reflect and then tell you
+ what I shall do. The bad news I have just heard about killing the
+ English after they had ceased fighting, and had trusted to your
+ honour, has made my heart very dark, has filled my mind with gloom.
+ Tell me your story that I may compare it with the English, and know
+ the whole truth. When I first heard of the death of my friends at the
+ Wairau, I was very angry and thought of hastening here with many
+ ships of war, with many soldiers, and several fire-moved ships
+ (steamers). Had I done so your warriors would have been killed, your
+ canoes would have been all taken and burnt, your houses and your
+ <i>pas</i> would have all been destroyed, for I would have brought
+ with me from Sydney an irresistible force. But these were hasty,
+ unchristian thoughts: they soon passed away. I considered the whole
+ case. I considered the English were very much to blame even by their
+ own account, and I saw how much you had been provoked. Then I
+ determined to put away my anger and come to you peaceably. Let me
+ hear your story."</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha then arose, and after being exhorted by several of his tribe
+to speak out that all might hear, he began in slow and measured tones
+to narrate their land troubles with the Company in the Wellington
+settlement, and then he passed on to the Wairau. This land, he
+declared, was taken away by Thompson and Captain Wakefield, and he
+described the visit of Rangihaeata and himself to Nelson to protest
+against its occupancy; nor did he omit to mention the threats then
+used towards them by Captain Wakefield. Then he told how they had gone
+over and stopped the survey, and brought Messrs. Cotterell and
+Barnicoat down to the bar, and how they had afterwards met Mr.
+Tuckett, and likewise refused him permission to remain.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 512px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="porirua" id="porirua">
+  <img width="512" height="400" alt="porirua" src="images/321-porirua.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TAUPO PA, PORIRUA.<br />
+                      Where Te Rauparaha was captured.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="block">"After Mr. Tuckett had gone to Nelson," said Rauparaha, "we continued
+ our planting, till one morning we saw the <i>Victoria</i> (the
+ Government brig). Then were our hearts relieved, for we thought Mr.
+ Spain and Mr. Clarke had come to settle the question of our lands.
+ Being scattered about on the different places on the river, we
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">{289}</a></span>
+ took no further notice, expecting a messenger to arrive from Mr. Spain;
+ but a messenger came up to say that it was an army of English, and
+ that they were busily engaged in cleaning their arms and fixing the
+ flints of their guns. They met Puaha, and detained him prisoner. They
+ said, 'Where are Rauparaha and Rangihaeata?' Puaha said, 'Up the
+ river.' After Puaha and Rangihaeata arrived, we consulted as to what
+ we should do. I proposed going into the bush, but they said 'No, let
+ us remain where we are: what have we done that we should be thus
+ beset?' The Europeans slept some distance from us, and, after they
+ had breakfasted, came on towards us in two boats. We remained on the
+ same spot without food. We were much alarmed. Early in the morning we
+ were on the look-out, and one of the scouts, who caught sight of them
+ coming round a point, called out, 'Here they come! here they come!'
+ Our women had kindled a fire and cooked a few potatoes that we had
+ remaining, and we were hastily eating them when they came in sight.
+ Cotterell called out, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha answered, 'Here I am,
+ come here to me.' They said again, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha again
+ saluted them. Cotterell then said, 'Where is a canoe for us to
+ cross?' Thompson, Wakefield, and some other gentlemen crossed over
+ with a constable to take me, but the greater number stopped on the
+ other side of the creek. Thompson said, 'Where is Rauparaha?' I
+ answered, 'Here.' He said, 'Come, you must come with me.' I replied,
+ 'What for?' He answered, 'To talk about the houses you have burnt
+ down.' I said, 'What house have I burned down? Was it a tent
+ belonging to you that you make so much ado about? You know it was
+ not; it was nothing but a hut of rushes. The materials were cut from
+ my own ground; therefore I will not go on board, neither will I be
+ bound. If you are angry about the land, let us talk it quietly over.
+ I care not if we talk till night and all day to-morrow; and when we
+ have finished, I will settle the question about the land!' Mr.
+ Thompson said, 'Will you not go?' I said 'No,' and Rangihaeata, who
+ had been called for, and who had been speaking, said so too. Mr.
+ Thompson then called for the handcuffs and held up the warrant,
+ saying, 'See, this is the Queen's book, this is the Queen to make a
+ tie, Rauparaha.' I said, 'I will not listen either to you or your
+ book.' He was in a great passion; his eyes rolled about and he
+ stamped his feet. I said I would rather be killed than submit to be
+ bound. He then called for the constable, who began opening the
+ handcuffs and advancing towards me. Mr. Thompson laid hold of my
+ hand. I pushed him away, saying, 'What are you doing that for?' Mr.
+ Thompson then called out 'Fire!' The Europeans began to cross over
+ the creek, and as they were crossing they fired one gun. The women
+ and children were sitting round the fire. We called out, 'We shall be
+ shot,' After this one gun, they fired a volley, and one of us was
+ killed, then another, and three were wounded. We were then closing
+ fast; the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">{290}</a></span>
+ <i>pakehas</i>' guns were levelled at us. I and Puaha cried out,
+ 'Friends, stand up and shoot some of them in payment.' We were
+ frightened because some of them were very close to us. We then fired;
+ three of the Europeans fell. They fired again and killed Rongo, the
+ wife of Rangihaeata. We then bent all our energy to the fight, and
+ the Europeans began to fly. They all ran away, firing as they
+ retreated; the gentlemen ran too. We pursued them and killed them as
+ we overtook them. Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were brought to
+ me by the slaves, who caught them. Rangihaeata came running to me,
+ crying out, 'What are you doing, I say?' Upon which some heathen
+ slaves killed them at the instigation of Rangihaeata; neither Puaha
+ nor the Christian natives being then present. There was no time
+ elapsed between the fight and the slaughter of the prisoners. When
+ the prisoners were killed, the rest of the people were still engaged
+ in the pursuit, and before they returned they were all dead. I forgot
+ to say that during the pursuit, when we arrived at the top of the
+ hill, Mr. Cotterell held up a flag and said, 'That is enough, stop
+ fighting!' Mr. Thompson said to me, 'Rauparaha, spare my life.' I
+ answered, 'A little while ago, I wished to talk to you in a friendly
+ manner, and you would not; now you say, 'Save me,' I will not save
+ you. It is not our custom to save the chiefs of our enemies. We do
+ not consider our victory complete unless we kill the chiefs of our
+ opponents. Our passions were much roused, and we could not help
+ killing the chiefs."</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of Rauparaha's address, Captain Fitzroy desired time
+to reflect upon what he had just heard, and, at the expiration of
+half-an-hour, he announced his decision as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Now I have heard both sides, I have reflected on both accounts, and
+ I am prepared to give my judgment. In the first place, the English
+ were wrong; they had no right to build houses upon lands to which
+ they had not established their claim&mdash;upon land the sale of which you
+ disputed; on which Mr. Spain had not decided. They were wrong in
+ trying to apprehend you, who had committed no crime. They were wrong
+ in marking and measuring your land in opposition to your repeated
+ refusal to allow them to do so until the Commissioner had decided on
+ their claim. Had you been Englishmen, you would have known that it
+ was wrong to resist a magistrate under any circumstances, but not
+ understanding English law, the case is different. Had this been all,
+ had a struggle caused loss of life in the fight&mdash;wrong and bad as it
+ would have been to fight in the sight of God&mdash;I could not have blamed
+ you so much as the English. The very bad part of the Wairau
+ affair&mdash;that part where you were
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">{291}</a></span>
+ very wrong&mdash;was the killing of the
+ men who had surrendered, who trusted to your honour as chiefs.
+ Englishmen never kill prisoners; Englishmen never kill men who have
+ surrendered. It is the shocking death of these unfortunate men that
+ has filled my mind with gloom, that has made my heart so dark, that
+ has filled me with sorrow; but I know how difficult it is to restrain
+ angry men when their passions are aroused. I know you repent of your
+ conduct, and are now sorry that those men were killed. As the English
+ were very greatly to blame, as they brought on and began the fight,
+ and as you were hurried into crime by their misconduct, I will not
+ avenge their death."<span
+ class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_172" id="Ref_172" href="#Foot_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In arriving at this determination, Captain Fitzroy may have been
+actuated to some extent by considerations of expediency; for, had he
+decided in any other way, the reprisals of the English would
+undoubtedly have created a war with the natives, which the Government
+was not in a position at that juncture to carry to a successful issue.
+Therefore, to have provoked hostilities with Rauparaha would have
+meant the obliteration of all the settlements before the necessary
+reinforcements could have arrived. At the same time, there was a large
+measure of justice in the course he chose to adopt, which, in the
+calmer judgment of to-day, must receive the endorsement of all
+impartial men, as it did that of Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, immediately the Governor's decision was known to the
+Home authorities. In his despatches on the subject, Lord Stanley made
+it clear that, in his opinion, Mr. Thompson and Captain Wakefield had
+needlessly violated the rules of English law, the maxims
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">{292}</a></span>
+of prudence, and the principles of justice; and having thus provoked an indefensible
+quarrel with a barbarous tribe, they could not reasonably complain at
+the barbarities practised in the subsequent conflict. He was therefore
+satisfied that, in declining to make the Wairau massacre a subject for
+criminal proceedings, the Governor had taken a wise, though
+undoubtedly bold, decision. As might have been expected, the action of
+Captain Fitzroy in refusing to arrest the two chiefs created a tempest
+of ill-will against him amongst the settlers, but, on the other hand,
+the Maoris were overjoyed at the prospect of once more possessing the
+friendship of the <i>pakeha</i>, and instantly resumed a sociable
+demeanour towards the colonists. This feeling, upon the advent of
+Captain Grey as Governor, was gradually reciprocated by the Europeans,
+who in time came to recognise the folly of their fears, and the
+absurdity of their hostile attitude. In this way, the startling nature
+of the catastrophe, which had paralysed the efforts of the New Zealand
+Company and thrown a pall over the settlement of the whole Colony,
+began to lose its deadly effect, and the splendid scheme of setting a
+new gem in the British Crown was rescued from the disaster which
+threatened it.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_154" id="Foot_154" href="#Ref_154">[154]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the 13th June, Captain Wakefield wrote to his brother from
+Nelson: "The magistrates have granted a warrant, and Thompson,
+accompanied by myself, England, and a lot of the constables, are off
+immediately in the Government brig to execute it. We shall muster
+about sixty, so I think we will overcome these travelling bullies."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_155" id="Foot_155" href="#Ref_155">[155]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As told to the author by the late Mr. Barnicoat.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_156" id="Foot_156" href="#Ref_156">[156]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Saturday, June 17, 1843.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_157" id="Foot_157" href="#Ref_157">[157]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+John Brooks had been engaged as a sawyer at Cloudy Bay. He was
+thoroughly acquainted with the native language and habits, having been
+eight years resident amongst the Waikato tribes.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_158" id="Foot_158" href="#Ref_158">[158]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Rawiri Kingi Puaha was born at Kawhia, and belonged to one of
+the best of the Ngati-Toa families. He migrated southward with Te
+Rauparaha, and was married to one of Te Pehi's daughters. He died at
+his own village, Takapuahia, Porirua Harbour, on September 6, 1858. He
+was a man widely respected by the colonists, and to the day of his
+death he "maintained a high character as a consistent and
+conscientious Christian."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_159" id="Foot_159" href="#Ref_159">[159]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"The conduct of Mr. Thompson has been unquestionably the means
+of bringing about the fatal conflict in which he himself lost his
+life. There is only one way of accounting for the part he has acted in
+that affair; as far as he is concerned, no more blame can be attached
+to him than to any other lunatic, for such he was to all intents and
+purposes, and such he was well known to be, even to Mr. Shortland"
+(<i>Martin's Letters</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_160" id="Foot_160" href="#Ref_160">[160]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Rongo was not the <i>daughter</i> of Te Rauparaha, as that
+word is generally understood by Europeans, but a much more distant
+relative. She was the widow of Te Whaiti, a nephew of Rauparaha and a
+first cousin of Rangihaeata, who married her because she was the widow
+of his near relative. The story that she was shot while standing in
+front of Rangihaeata to protect him is pure romance. She was killed by
+a stray bullet while hiding in the swamp at the rear of the Maori
+camp.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_161" id="Foot_161" href="#Ref_161">[161]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Yesterday we passed (near Maraekowhai) the grave of Te Oru, the
+chief who killed Captain Wakefield at the Wairau" (<i>Crawford's
+"Travels in New Zealand"</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_162" id="Foot_162" href="#Ref_162">[162]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A
+degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman,
+Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The
+natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev.
+Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried
+according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the
+crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being
+mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him
+do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was
+a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever
+after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in
+not punishing him.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_163" id="Foot_163" href="#Ref_163">[163]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in
+1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the
+shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven
+hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was
+stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to
+massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and
+Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_164" id="Foot_164" href="#Ref_164">[164]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr.
+McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the
+Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of
+Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to
+communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their
+determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take
+vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the
+whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will
+inquire into it and decide according to law."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_165" id="Foot_165" href="#Ref_165">[165]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now known as Whanganui.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_166" id="Foot_166" href="#Ref_166">[166]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this
+journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in
+revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki
+natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon
+Wellington."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_167" id="Foot_167" href="#Ref_167">[167]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many
+friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor,
+among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe
+for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha
+turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_168" id="Foot_168" href="#Ref_168">[168]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen,
+but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he
+was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently
+vindictive towards those from whom he differed.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_169" id="Foot_169" href="#Ref_169">[169]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting
+jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so
+that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better
+understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake'
+(Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land,
+and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he
+did not get plenty of <i>utu</i>" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_170" id="Foot_170" href="#Ref_170">[170]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the
+native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that
+the settlers meditated an attack upon them.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_171" id="Foot_171" href="#Ref_171">[171]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the
+massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and
+there was no vessel of war on the station (<i>Mundy</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_172" id="Foot_172" href="#Ref_172">[172]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke
+to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim
+the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood&mdash;a course which
+the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own
+customs&mdash;British prestige and power are said to have suffered
+considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have
+remarked, "<i>He paukena te pakeha</i>" (The Governor is soft, he is a
+pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa
+and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the
+payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends
+killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">{293}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER VIII</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE CAPTIVE CHIEF</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+decision of which Governor Fitzroy had delivered himself, as the
+result of his hurried investigation into the circumstances attending
+the tragedy at the Wairau, brought him into bitter conflict with the
+more influential colonists, and added to his native troubles a
+European difficulty, which ultimately played no small part in his
+official undoing. Fitzroy had, with a patriotism worthy of the best
+traditions of our race, sacrificed place and high prospects in the
+homeland to assume the Governorship of New Zealand, a post which was
+afterwards described by Lord Stanley as "a laborious, responsible, and
+ill-remunerated office in a distant colony." Without money, or the
+means of obtaining it, to carry on his civil administration, and
+destitute of military support wherewith to assert his authority, he
+found himself defied by the natives and thwarted by the Europeans. His
+appeals for soldiers were unheeded, and his schemes for supplementing
+his revenue were disallowed by the Home authorities, who, instead of
+repairing their policy of parsimony, recalled the Governor. Thus was
+cut short a career upon which Robert Fitzroy had entered with only the
+highest motives, throughout which he had acted with the utmost
+devotion, and in which he had failed only because with his limited
+opportunities it was humanly impossible to succeed. His successor in
+the arduous task of soothing the dual discontent was Captain Grey,
+late of the 83rd Regiment, who was then serving the Crown with
+conspicuous distinction as Governor of South Australia. His success
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">{294}</a></span>
+in dealing with native difficulties there, his achievements as an
+explorer, added to his valuable personal qualities, were his chief
+recommendations for the new responsibilities which it was proposed to
+ask him to assume. That the judgment of those responsible for the
+selection was sound, history has proved; but the administrations of
+Fitzroy and Grey cannot fairly be compared, for the reason that, while
+the former was expected to rule a turbulent population without either
+men or money, the latter was freely supplied with both. The new
+Governor was further invested with the additional prestige derivable
+from the title of Governor-in-Chief, and from the fact that he was
+supported by a Lieutenant-Governor, who, in his subordinate authority,
+was stationed in the Southern province. Captain Grey assumed the
+duties of his new office on November 18, 1845. His first recorded
+contact with Te Rauparaha was on the occasion of his receiving from
+him and other chiefs a memorial, in which they expressed their anxiety
+to know his political intentions, and begged him to give them someone
+skilled in both native and European laws, who would advise them how
+best to avoid conflict with the <i>pakeha</i>. They were, they said,
+deeply anxious to obey the laws of the Queen, and just as they had
+teachers amongst them to lead them to a proper understanding regarding
+the will of God, so, in order to avoid misunderstanding, they desired
+some one to act as their guide and friend in the matter of the
+temporal law. Grey was more than gratified with this evidence of
+loyalty and desire for harmony, and, in his reply, endeavoured to make
+it clear that it was his duty so to direct his authority as to secure
+the peace and happiness of all under his jurisdiction. "Maoris and
+Europeans," wrote the Governor, "shall be equally protected and live
+under equal laws, both of them alike subjects of the Queen and
+entitled to her favour and care. The Maoris shall be protected in all
+their property and possessions, and no one shall be allowed to take
+anything from them or to injure them; nor will I allow Maoris to
+injure one
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">{295}</a></span>
+another. An end must be put to deeds of blood and
+violence." This clear and explicit declaration of his determination
+to permit of only one law for the <i>pakeha</i> and
+Maori, and to hold the racial balance justly before the eyes
+of the world, touched a responsive chord in the heart of
+the Maori nation; and Te Rauparaha was but expressing
+the general sentiments of the people when he wrote in
+reply to the Governor's message: "We have heard your
+words, which are like the light of day to us; our hearts
+are glad. Friend, now will I hold fast your words for
+good, and for living in quiet, both of natives and
+Europeans. Your protecting word has come forth for
+one and for the other; your kind words are a light to us.
+Now, for the first time, I can say the light has dawned
+for the Maoris, and now no wrong-doing shall spring
+from me. I mean the errors of the natives. If you
+cannot come hither, will you write to me?" Not less
+reassuring was the word of Wi Kingi Rangitake, of
+Ngati-Awa.</p>
+
+<p>With these pronouncements of loyalty from the two most powerful chiefs
+on the west coast, Grey felt more than equal to the task of subduing
+the malcontent natives under Taringa-kuri, chief of the Kaiwara
+<i>pa</i>, whose depredations in the Hutt Valley had been causing the
+greatest anxiety to the Wellington settlers. Both Te Rauparaha and
+Rangihaeata had laid claim to part payment for the land which the New
+Zealand Company had purchased in this valley, their claim being based
+upon the alleged conquest of the country. This conquest Mr. Spain held
+to be incomplete, inasmuch as they had not resided on the land, which
+was really occupied by Ngati-Awa. He therefore disallowed their claim,
+although Mr. Clarke, junr., was anxious to pay out of the £1,500
+awarded to the natives a sum of £400 in liquidation of their rights,
+he having come to some such arrangement with Rauparaha at an interview
+which took place at Waikanae in the presence of the Governor. Hearing
+of Mr. Spain's objection, Rauparaha, on February 3, 1844, penned a
+letter to him, Mr. Clarke,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">{296}</a></span>
+and the Governor, in which he warned them against
+paying the purchase-money for Port Nicholson over to
+"wrong parties," and listening to "strange men," at
+the same time urging them to make haste and come to
+Otaki for the purpose of explaining their intentions to
+Rangihaeata and himself.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"<span class="smcap">Friend Mr. Clarke, Mr. Spain, and the
+ Governor</span>,&mdash;This
+ letter is from me and Rangihaeata, respecting your foolish work in
+ paying for the land. This was the cause of you and us going wrong
+ at the Wairau, the foolish paying to wrong parties. Do not listen to
+ strange men, but make haste and make known to us your intentions,
+ that the truth of what you have said may be seen. Friend Clarke,
+ make haste. Desist from listening to any man. Son Clarke and
+ Mr. Spain, desist also from carrying your payment to men who have
+ nothing to do with it, but bring it straight to us&mdash;myself and
+ Rangihaeata. This is all my speech to you by us.</p>
+
+<div class="sigbloc">
+<span class="right">"<span class="smcap">Rauparaha.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span>
+<span class="right">"<span class="smcap">Rangihaeata.</span>"</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>To this Mr. Clarke replied on the 29th, assuring Rauparaha that
+anything that he had promised him in the matter of payment would be
+carried out. Simultaneously, Mr. Spain arranged to hold a court at
+Porirua, in order to comply as speedily as possible with Te
+Rauparaha's request. This court, which was opened on 8th March, was
+attended by most of the leading chiefs and upwards of two hundred
+natives. After the preliminary addresses had been disposed of, Mr.
+Spain formally opened the court by saying, "Rauparaha, I received your
+letter asking me to settle the Port Nicholson purchase, and after
+inquiry I have decided that the natives who owned the land are
+entitled to more money, and I therefore offer you new terms." To this
+Te Rauparaha answered, "My wish was to settle my claims at Port
+Nicholson, but you want me to give up the Hutt." "Did you not consent
+to receive £300 for Port Nicholson and the Hutt?" inquired Mr. Spain
+in an injured tone; to which Te Rauparaha replied that he had not
+regarded the bargain in that light. Efforts were made to convince him
+that he had signed a deed in which the Hutt was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">{297}</a></span>
+included, but he insisted that the boundary was not to go
+beyond a creek known as Rotokakahi. "I am aware of
+the cause of this objection," said Mr. Spain. "That
+man sitting by your side, Taringa-kuri, is cultivating
+land at the Hutt to which he has no right." Te
+Rauparaha's answer was that the land belonged to
+Taringa-kuri, as he was the oldest man of the resident
+natives; whereupon Mr. Spain rose to depart, and as he
+did so he turned, and, more in sorrow than in anger,
+upbraided Te Rauparaha for thus breaking faith with him
+in so flagrant a manner.</p>
+
+<p>The court then adjourned without either party having been able to
+convince the other. But Te Rauparaha did not permit the grass to grow
+under his feet, for he at once despatched Taringa-kuri to cut a line
+through the scrub and bush dividing the Upper from the Lower Hutt
+Valley, in order to define clearly what territory he considered
+belonged to the <i>pakeha</i> and what to the Maori. On hearing that
+this work was in progress, Mr. Spain felt it incumbent upon him to go
+out and warn Taringa-kuri that he was committing an illegal act, and
+that the boundary he was attempting to create would not be recognised
+by the Government. Mr. Spain's reception was not an encouraging one.
+"If you have come to make remarks about our cutting this line, you may
+as well return, as we will listen to nothing you have got to say, nor
+will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen,"
+was the truculent declaration of the first native whom he met.
+Taringa-kuri was not less uncompromising. "I am cutting a line to
+divide the lands of the settlers from our own, and I am doing it under
+Te Rauparaha's orders," was his emphatic reply to Mr. Spain's demand
+for information as to why this work was proceeding. And in answer to
+the Commissioner's protest that the line being cut was not the line
+agreed upon, the chief, with a fine show of indignation, accused him
+of hostile intentions. "It is plain," he said, "you are not peaceably
+disposed; you heard at Porirua that Rauparaha would not agree to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">{298}</a></span>
+your boundaries, and you appear determined to insist
+upon them. You had better return to the land of your
+birth."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately upon his return to Wellington, Mr. Spain despatched a
+letter to Rauparaha again severely censuring him for committing a
+breach of faith in sending Taringa-kuri to cut the line contrary to
+his (Mr. Spain's) decision, and concluding by saying, "Let me tell you
+that after all that has occurred, Kuri is acting contrary to the laws
+of the Governor, and, if he persists in his illegal acts, he will be
+punished by the law accordingly." This letter Mr. Spain first showed
+to Mr. Hadfield, who approved its contents, and translated it into the
+native tongue for him, Mr. Spain thinking that this course would
+enhance its value in the native estimation. On the 27th Rauparaha
+replied that it was not he who was withholding the land, but
+Rangihaeata, who had negatived his voice in the councils of the tribe.
+But he still reiterated his former contention that he had never agreed
+to sell the Hutt.</p>
+
+<p>The remonstrances on the part of Mr. Spain having proved fruitless,
+the Governor first pacified Heke<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_173" id="Ref_173" href="#Foot_173">[173]</a></span>
+and Kawiti in the north, and
+then came south in February, 1846, with all the prestige of a
+successful "fighting Governor," to direct his operations against the
+truculent Taringa-kuri. In an interview, the Governor peremptorily
+demanded the evacuation of the valley. The chief pleaded for time to
+reap and remove the standing crops; but the Governor, strong in the
+knowledge that he had right on his side, and an ample force to sustain
+his demand, refused to consider any compromise, and gave the chief no
+alternative between immediate compliance and a declaration of war. The
+natives hesitated to test the question by an appeal to arms, and
+sullenly withdrew from the disputed territory, but not from the valley
+itself. They fell back upon a <i>pa</i> up in the ranges, which the
+Governor afterwards described as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">{299}</a></span>
+"the strongest position he had seen in any part of the
+world." From this mountain fastness they made sudden
+and destructive raids upon the peaceful settlements in the
+vale below. Two hundred soldiers were left to render
+the settlers what measure of protection they could, by
+defensive tactics. Their instructions were not to attack
+the rebels in their stronghold, but, by vigilantly preventing
+them from securing supplies, to endeavour by
+starvation to render its continued occupation impossible.
+This policy had early the anticipated effect, and, acting
+on Te Rauparaha's assurance that the rebels had abandoned
+the <i>pa</i>, the Governor visited the spot, and has
+thus described what he saw:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"The forest which had been held by the enemy was traversed by a
+ single narrow path, almost impassable for armed Europeans. This path
+ ascended a narrow ridge of rocks, having a precipice on each side
+ covered with jungle. The ridge of rocks was so narrow that only one
+ person could pass along it at a time, and it led to a hill with a
+ broad summit, upon which a fortress had been constructed in such a
+ manner as completely to command the path, which was rendered more
+ difficult by an abattis placed across it. The rear of this position
+ was quite as inaccessible as the front, and on each flank was a
+ precipice; from the number of huts placed upon it, it must have been
+ occupied by from three hundred to four hundred men."</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was this position abandoned than another, almost equally
+impregnable, was taken up, and from this lair in the depth of the
+hills a band of marauders crept down through the forest early in April
+of 1846, stole past the troops, and late in the afternoon murdered a
+settler named Gillespie and his son, while they were engaged threshing
+wheat. There were soldiers in the vicinity at the time, but they were
+more intent upon getting grog from Burcham's public-house than upon
+protecting the settlers; and so stealthily was the attack carried out,
+that no one knew of the tragedy until Charles Gillespie, returning
+home in the dusk, found his father and brother in the throes of death.
+Te Rauparaha disclaimed, and probably with truth, all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">{300}</a></span>
+knowledge of or participation in this treacherous act,
+and even offered his assistance in bringing the murderers
+to justice. Rangihaeata was not so frank&mdash;or it may be
+that he was even more frank&mdash;for he instantly betook
+himself to the hills, and openly declared himself in
+sympathy with those who were thus contesting the
+question of the supremacy of the races. He refused to
+give the murderers up to the authorities, and busied
+himself with preparations for continuing the contest.
+Nor had the military long to wait for his onset. The
+most advanced British post in the valley was known as
+Boulcott's Farm, commanded by Lieutenant Page, who
+had a force of fifty men with him. Here, just before
+dawn, on May 16, 1846, the sentry, as he kept his
+lonely vigil, was startled by seeing some dark body
+creeping through the grass towards him. Without
+waiting to challenge, he fired, and in an instant the air
+was rent with the savage yells of a horde of warriors,
+who, under Mamaku, had left Rangihaeata's <i>pa</i> at
+Pahautanui on the previous day, and, scaling the
+mountain range, had fallen upon the sleeping camp.
+The sentry and the picket were soon overpowered and
+killed, but not before the alarm had been given by
+Allen, the bugle-boy attached to the company. Roused
+from sleep by the commotion, he seized his bugle, and
+was in the act of sounding the call to arms, when a blow
+from a tomahawk struck the instrument from his hand.
+He still had time to recover it, and blow a blast which
+awakened his sleeping comrades, before he was laid
+low by a second stroke of the murderous axe. A galling
+fire was at once opened upon the outpost from the
+surrounding bush by the secreted natives, and Lieutenant
+Page and two men, who were with him in one of the
+out-buildings, hurried off to join their comrades who
+had been sleeping in the stockade. Intercepted by a
+swift rush on the part of a band of natives, they were
+only rescued from their perilous position by a determined
+effort on the part of the sergeant, who rallied
+some of the men and went to his commander's relief.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">{301}</a></span>
+Three men went down with wounds, and the remaining
+six fought the savages hand to hand, checking their
+onslaught until the wounded were got safely away and
+the remainder were able to retreat to the barn. Here
+the available force was assembled, and, leaving a
+sufficient garrison to defend the position, Lieutenant Page<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_174" id="Ref_174" href="#Foot_174">[174]</a></span>
+and his men sallied out in extended order, firing
+as they went. Under this pressure the attack soon
+slackened, and, on the arrival of reinforcements, was
+turned into retreat, but not before six men had been
+killed and four wounded. During the following month
+there was another skirmish in the valley, which did not
+redound greatly to the credit of the British arms.</p>
+
+<p>These repeated raids convinced the Governor that he must lance the
+lairs which were harbouring these human wolves, who represented all
+that was worst in the native race. He had been desirous of deferring
+field operations against these malcontents until the winter was over;
+but, realising that every successful attack only encouraged the enemy
+to further excesses, and diminished the enthusiasm of the loyal
+natives, he now determined upon an immediate and active campaign. The
+policy of road-making, which had been initiated some months before,
+was vigorously prosecuted, the friendly natives, as well as the
+soldiers, being employed in the work. The deep paths which were thus
+cut through the luxuriant beauty of the wilderness to Porirua and into
+the heart of the Hutt Valley robbed the forest of much of its terror,
+and were masterly counter-strokes to the secret tactics of
+Rangihaeata's followers. That chief's reply to the Governor's policy
+was to build a <i>pa</i> at Pahautanui, so skilfully situated and so
+strongly fortified that he openly boasted that nothing but British
+artillery could drive him from it. But he did more than this. A
+<i>tapu</i> placed on the Porirua track for a time disturbed and
+paralysed our native allies; but the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">{302}</a></span>
+inconvenience was only temporary, and the Governor succeeded
+in gradually breaking down the chief's authority.</p>
+
+<p>An important military post was established at Porirua, garrisoned by
+three hundred men, and the services of the friendly natives were
+enlisted in the contemplated movement against the forces of
+Rangihaeata. His <i>pa</i> was reconnoitred on the night of July 8th
+by Lieutenant the Hon. Charles Yelverton, of the Royal Artillery, and
+Mr. McKillop, then a midshipman on board H.M.S. <i>Calliope</i>, and
+the conclusion at which they arrived was that the artillery might
+easily be brought forward against the <i>pa</i>, and that in all other
+respects its investment was feasible, so soon as the Governor had a
+sufficient force at his disposal for the purpose. But there was one
+other factor to be taken into account. What would Te Rauparaha's
+attitude be if Rangihaeata were attacked? In his <i>pa</i> at Taupo,
+on the shores of Porirua Harbour, he occupied a strong strategical
+position; and, though he had consistently professed his friendship for
+the Governor and his loyalty to the Queen, he was supremely
+distrusted, both by the authorities and by our native allies. As early
+as June of 1846, Major Last had reported to the Governor, from
+Wellington, that he was "a little suspicious of Te Rauparaha";<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_175" id="Ref_175" href="#Foot_175">[175]</a></span>
+but the insinuation of disloyalty coming to the chief's ears, he
+challenged the Major's suspicions by offering to come to Wellington to
+prove the contrary. In view of the intensely hostile feeling
+prevailing amongst the European population against the chief, Major
+Last deemed the proposed visit to be ill-timed and impolitic, and
+declined to encourage Rauparaha in his intention. But the bold and
+fearless proposal must have shaken the officer's confidence in the
+grounds for his aspersion.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">{303}</a></span>
+The position of the chief at this time was a most
+unenviable one, for there is evidence that the Governor
+had begun to share the doubts of Major Last. It must
+not be forgotten, however, that the seeds of suspicion
+may have been assiduously sown in his mind by
+Rauparaha's tribal enemies, who would have exulted in
+embroiling him in a dispute with the local authorities.
+Even his friends who were with Rangihaeata in the field,
+either to further their own schemes or out of resentment
+at his passive attitude, sought to draw him into the
+vortex of the struggle. The <i>mana</i> of the chief was still
+great, and Rangihaeata and Mamaku endeavoured to conjure
+with his name and claim his sanction for a letter to
+some tribal comrades containing an appeal for assistance.</p>
+
+<p>The native carrying this letter was captured, and the intercepted
+document placed in the hands of the Governor, who immediately sailed
+for Porirua in H.M.S. <i>Driver</i>. On board the vessel he was
+visited by Te Rauparaha, and, during the interview, the incriminating
+message was produced and handed to the chief, who instantly denounced
+its contents as falsehoods and its writer as his enemy. "I watched him
+narrowly at the time," says Grey, "and his manner was such as to lead
+me to think that he really had no knowledge that such a letter had
+been written." Though thus frankly confessing that the letter was an
+injustice to the chief, the Governor, either from some innate mistrust
+of his visitor or a too ready disposition to listen to the sinister
+suggestions made against him, resolved that he would take no risks as
+to the future conduct of the man whom he believed he had to checkmate.
+He therefore determined that, before moving against Rangihaeata, he
+would forestall any possibility of an attack upon his lines of
+communication by capturing Te Rauparaha and holding him hostage for
+the good behaviour of his tribe. Without indicating by sign or word to
+the chief that the friendship between them was at an end, and without
+permitting him even to suspect the existence of any doubts as to his
+loyalty, the Governor took his farewell
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">{304}</a></span>
+of Te Rauparaha, and on the afternoon of July 22 left
+Porirua. For the purpose of allaying suspicion, the
+<i>Driver</i>, in which he sailed, ostentatiously steamed to
+the north; but during the night she returned and
+stealthily anchored at the entrance of the harbour. Boats
+were lowered, and a company of a hundred and thirty
+men, under Major Last, Captain Stanley, of H.M.S.
+<i>Calliope</i>, and Lieutenant McKillop,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_176" id="Ref_176" href="#Foot_176">[176]</a></span>
+landed, and silently surrounded the stockade of the Taupo <i>pa</i>, in which
+the chief and his people were sleeping. The arrangements
+of the capturing party were so admirably made
+that no suspicion of what was moving around them
+was allowed to reach the natives until the stormers
+rushed into Rauparaha's <i>whare</i>, and, seizing the chief
+in his bed, carried him, in spite of his struggles and
+protestations, down to the boat side. Lieutenant
+McKillop, who personally accomplished the seizure of
+the chief, has left on record the following account of
+the exciting incident:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 380px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="rangihaeata" id="rangihaeata">
+  <img width="380" height="600" alt="rangihaeata" src="images/339-rangihaeata.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TE RANGIHAEATA.<br />
+             After a drawing by C. D. Barraud. Esq</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+ <p class="block">"I was sent for soon after we arrived, and had an interview with the
+ Governor, who informed me of Rauparaha's treachery, and his wish to
+ have him and three others taken prisoners, if possible by surprise;
+ and knowing that I was acquainted with their persons and locality, he
+ asked me if I would undertake the capture of the 'Old Serpent'
+ myself, allowing me to choose my own time and method of doing it,
+ Major Durie, the Inspector of Police, being selected to take the
+ others. Accordingly it was arranged that we were to leave the ship
+ before daylight the next morning and land quietly on the rocks some
+ little distance from the <i>pa</i> in which our treacherous allies
+ lived, taking a mixed force of bluejackets and soldiers, amounting to
+ two hundred men, to support us in the case of the natives rising
+ before we had effected our object. It was the Governor's particular
+ desire that we should not lay our hands on these men until we had
+ told them they were prisoners for treason, but on no account to let
+ old Rauparaha escape. I took Mr. Dighton with me to act as
+ interpreter, and four of our men unarmed, giving them instructions to
+ seize upon the old chief as soon as he was made aware of the charge
+ preferred against him, and to hurry him down to the boat before he
+ could rouse his people, the principal object being to secure him. We
+ landed at break of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">{305}</a></span>
+ day, and while they were forming the troops on the
+ beach, I with my small party ran on, as it was then light, fearing
+ that conscious guilt might sharpen their ears and frustrate our
+ plans. When we reached the <i>pa</i> not a soul was stirring, but our
+ heavy footsteps soon brought some of the sleepers to the doors of
+ their huts, knowing we were not of the barefooted tribe. We could not
+ wait to give any explanation, but pushed on to the hut which
+ contained the object of our search, whose quick ears had detected
+ strange footsteps. Never having liked me, he did not look at all easy
+ on perceiving who the intruder was, although his wife showed no alarm
+ and received me with her usual salutation. Upon informing him that he
+ was my prisoner, he immediately threw himself (being in a sitting
+ posture) back into the hut, and seized a tomahawk, with which he made
+ a blow at his wife's head, thinking she had betrayed him. I warded
+ the blow with my pistol and seized him by the throat, my four men
+ immediately rushing in on him, and, securing him by his arms and
+ legs, started off as fast as his violent struggles would allow of,
+ which for a man of his age (upwards of seventy) were almost
+ superhuman. He roared out lustily 'Ngati-Toa! Ngati-Toa!'
+ endeavouring to bring his tribesmen to his rescue, and in a few
+ seconds every man was on his legs and came rushing over to see what
+ was the matter with their chief; but the troops and bluejackets
+ coming up at the same time and surrounding the <i>pa</i> prevented
+ any attempt at a rescue, as he was already in the boat. His last
+ effort to free himself was fastening with his teeth on to my
+ coxswain's shoulder, who bore this piece of cannibalism unflinchingly.
+ I sent Mr. Dighton off to the ship with him, there being not much
+ chance of his escaping from the boat, particularly as he was informed
+ that he would be shot if he attempted to escape. I then returned to
+ the <i>pa</i> to search for arms and ammunition, and also to see if
+ the other prisoners had been secured. The interior of the <i>pa</i>
+ presented a woeful spectacle, the women all howling in chorus with
+ the pigs and the children, the two latter being much knocked about in
+ the search for arms."</p>
+
+<p>In the mêlée which ensued upon the capture of Te Rauparaha, four other
+natives were also seized by Major Durie, and in the same arbitrary
+manner were carried off to the ship.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_177" id="Ref_177" href="#Foot_177">[177]</a></span>
+Two of these were the influential chiefs,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">{306}</a></span>
+Te Kanae (the <i>ariki</i> of the Ngati-Toa tribe) and Hohepa,
+and two were men of inferior rank. By some writers
+who have been at no pains to conceal their hostility to
+Te Rauparaha, it is alleged that upon his arrival on
+board the <i>Driver</i> he manifested the most craven spirit,
+until he was assured that it was not the Governor's
+intention to hang him from the yard-arm. But, whatever
+be the truth of this assertion, he at least retained
+sufficient dignity and self-respect as a chief to strenuously
+object to the additional humiliation of being imprisoned
+in company with men of no standing in the tribe; and,
+in deference to his injured pride and his vehement
+expostulations, Pohe and his companion were sent ashore
+and released from their brief captivity.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, the little settlement at Taupo was thrown into a state of
+intense excitement. The seizure of their chief was so sudden, so
+unexpected, that its reality could not for the moment be grasped; but
+when its full significance broke in upon the astonished tribe, the
+startling tidings was immediately despatched to Te Rangihaeata, who
+was still sitting in defiance in his stronghold at Pahautanui. He at
+once made for the coast, but was too late. The Governor had several
+hours' start of him, and he was compelled to make a wide detour to
+avoid the British post at Porirua. He arrived on the wooded hill-side
+above Te Rauparaha's <i>pa</i> only in time to see the war-ship with
+her captives steaming down the coast.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_178" id="Ref_178" href="#Foot_178">[178]</a></span>
+Enraged and disappointed at
+what he must have regarded as the perfidy of the <i>pakeha</i>, and
+disheartened at his own impotency, he gloomily retired to his lair,
+there to sing<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_179" id="Ref_179" href="#Foot_179">[179]</a></span>
+that beautiful lament, in which he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">{307}</a></span>
+mournfully acknowledges the increasing ascendancy of the
+stranger, and chides the waning loyalty of his own people.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+
+<span class="i8q">"My brave canoe!</span>
+<span class="i4">In lordly decoration lordliest far,</span>
+<span class="i8">My proud canoe!</span>
+<span class="i6">Amid the fleet that fleetest flew&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i4">How wert thou shattered by the surge of war!</span>
+<span class="i6">'Tis but the fragments of thy wreck,</span>
+<span class="i6">O my renowned canoe,</span>
+<span class="i4">That lie all crushed on yonder war-ship's deck!</span>
+<span class="i6">Raha! my chief, my friend!</span>
+<span class="i6">Thy lonely journey wend:</span>
+<span class="i2">Stand with thy wrongs before our god of battle's face:</span>
+<span class="i6">Bid him thy foes requite!&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Ah me! Te Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Ah me! the English ruler's might!<br /><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i6">Raha! my chief of chiefs!</span>
+<span class="i6">Ascend with all thy griefs</span>
+<span class="i2">Up to their Lord of Peace&mdash;there stand before His face&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Let Him thy faith requite!&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Ah me! Te Toa's sad defection and disgrace&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Ah me! the English ruler's might!<br /><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i6">One counsel from the first I gave,</span>
+<span class="i6">'Break up thy forces, comrade brave,</span>
+<span class="i6">Scatter them all about the land</span>
+<span class="i4">In many a predatory band!'&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">But Porirua's forest dense,</span>
+<span class="i6">Ah, thou wouldst never stir from thence,</span>
+<span class="i6">'There,' saidst thou, 'lies my best defence,'&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Now, now, of such design ill-starred,</span>
+<span class="i4">How grievously thou reap'st the full reward!<br /><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i6">Hence, vain lamenting&mdash;hence, away!</span>
+<span class="i6">Hence, all the brood of sorrow born!</span>
+<span class="i6">There will be time enough to mourn</span>
+<span class="i4">In the long days of summer, ere the food</span>
+<span class="i4">Is cropped, abundant for the work of blood.</span>
+<span class="i4">Now I must marshal in compact array,</span>
+<span class="i2">Great thoughts that crowding come of an avenging day!"<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_180" id="Ref_180" href="#Foot_180">[180]</a></span>
+</span>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">{308}</a></span>
+The seizure of Te Rauparaha, at such a time and in such a manner, is
+one of the many debatable points in the history of this period, and,
+notwithstanding that many pages have been written upon the incident,
+the ethics of the act are apparently as far from final determination
+as ever. To the present writer its justification lies in its success.
+There is no doubt that, however high-handed and arbitrary, it was a
+tactical stroke which compelled waverers to pause, and paralysed those
+who were already in active hostility. On the other hand, it might just
+as easily have roused the whole Maori race into a frenzy of injured
+pride, and plunged the country into the vortex of a retaliatory war.
+Only one thing saved New Zealand from this calamity, and that was the
+tribal dissensions. Had the Maori been a united people, this
+unprovoked indignity put upon one of their greatest men must have
+excited their bitterest passions against the perpetrators of the deed;
+and one almost shudders to realise in what a hair-balance the fate of
+the little Colony trembled at this moment of her history. In
+criticising the Governor's policy, however, it must be borne in mind
+that he, with his knowledge of Maori conditions, may have counted upon
+these very intertribal hatreds to prevent anything in the nature of a
+general rising. This being assumed, his action is shorn of some of its
+rashness and impolicy, and he becomes entitled to credit for the
+success of his methods of overawing the turbulent spirit of the
+malcontent Maoris. On no other ground than that the end justifies the
+means can the seizure of Te Rauparaha be defended, nor, so far as the
+writer is aware, has any other defence ever been seriously attempted.
+The most that can be urged against the chief is that, unlike Te Kingi
+Rangitake, he did not join the allies and enter upon active
+hostilities against the so-called rebels. Of the fact that he secretly
+aided them there is little evidence and no proof. What evidence there
+may be is confined to the intercepted letters, admitted by the
+Governor himself to be forgeries, and to the unsupported statements of
+natives, some jealous of his power, and others
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">{309}</a></span>
+aggrieved at his previous treatment of them. In this
+respect Te Rauparaha must have felt that, having sown
+the wind, he was now reaping the whirlwind; for those
+natives who had gone down under his hand in war, or
+had been outwitted by his diplomacy, were only too
+anxious to represent him in an unfavourable light to the
+Governor, and were never tired of insinuating, and even
+broadly asserting, that his spirit was behind the rebellion,
+even though his hand might be invisible.</p>
+
+<p>In communicating with Mr. Gladstone on July 23, 1846, Grey described
+his military operations, which were designed to check a company of
+some two hundred rebels who, he had reason to believe, were marching
+from Whanganui to join Te Rangihaeata. He landed at Waikanae, Otaki,
+and Ohau, where he had a conference with the friendly chiefs. He
+proceeded to say: "The whole of the chiefs with whom I had interviews
+declared that these disturbances were to be entirely attributed to the
+intrigues of Te Rauparaha." How much his mind was influenced by the
+opinions of the chiefs may be judged by the fact that on the following
+day he launched his successful stroke, but how little he had weighed
+the value of their testimony may also be inferred from the
+circumstance that a year later he wrote a despatch to Mr. Gladstone's
+successor at the Colonial Office, in which he was forced to admit that
+after retaining Te Rauparaha in captivity for ten months his
+difficulties in deciding how to dispose of him were enhanced by the
+fact that all his "efforts made to secure the evidence of Pohi<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_181" id="Ref_181" href="#Foot_181">[181]</a></span>
+failed, consequently it was not possible to prove Te Rauparaha's guilt
+in a court of law."</p>
+
+<p>It is strange, if so many chiefs knew that the brain of Te Rauparaha
+was forging the balls which Rangihaeata was firing, that none were
+able to testify to the fact in an established court of law, and,
+travesty upon British justice though it may seem, it is nevertheless a
+fact that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">{310}</a></span>
+the man who had relied upon the Treaty of Waitangi to
+secure him his rights and liberties was detained a prisoner
+without formal charge and without the chance of a trial
+until it was thought possible to prove his guilt. How
+far Te Rauparaha's seizure and continued detention were
+a palliation to the wounded feelings of the European
+settlers it is difficult to pronounce, but it is not in the
+least unlikely that the Governor paid some regard to the
+popular effect of the step, even if he totally ignored its
+judicial aspect. In all probability Te Rauparaha was at
+this time the best-hated man in New Zealand. The
+memory of the massacre at the Wairau had not yet died
+out, and there were many who, misunderstanding that
+fatal event, could not look upon the chief whose name
+had been so tragically associated with it in any other
+light than as a social and moral outcast. To this not
+inconsiderable section of the community imprisonment
+was much too good for Te Rauparaha, but it was preferable
+to the negative attitude of Governor Fitzroy, and
+Grey, no doubt, counted upon standing well with these
+extremists by the initiation of a policy in which there
+was a touch of retribution, however barren it might be
+of justice.</p>
+
+<p>With the European population, then, the kidnapping of the Ngati-Toa
+leader was, on the whole, a popular move, and with a number of the
+natives it was hailed as an act of retribution, long delayed, but
+nevertheless a judgment at last. Upon his own people the effect was
+different. They were stunned by the swiftness of the blow and
+confounded by its audacity. Here in a twinkling the very eye had been
+plucked out of their head, the heart torn from their body, and that,
+too, at a time when they had no quarrel with the Government, and by a
+man whom they had been wont to regard as their friend. Their first
+impulse was to fly to arms. To attack Wellington, to sweep the
+<i>pakeha</i> into the sea, to avenge the wrongs of Te Rauparaha, was
+the cry. Te Rangihaeata called his own followers about him and sent
+out his appeals to the northern tribes: "Friends and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">{311}</a></span>
+children, come and revenge the injuries of Te Rauparaha,
+because Te Rauparaha is the eye of the faith of all men.
+Make haste hither in the days of December." But his
+design for the extermination of the Europeans was
+doomed to be frustrated. His own particular faithfuls
+were few in number, and the one great chief, Te Heuheu,
+to whom he might have looked for encouragement in
+such an emergency, was dead, buried beneath a huge
+landslide which had overwhelmed his village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo. Of others with whom he had
+been accustomed to co-operate in the days gone by, some
+were espousing the cause of the enemy, and some,
+having embraced the Christian faith, had grown weary
+of incessant war. Their reply, which was something in
+the nature of a rebuke, betokened that they had realised
+the futility of opposing the further progress of the
+<i>pakeha</i>. "How can you dry up the sea? That is why
+we say, finish fighting with the European." Such was
+their answer to his summons to arms, and Rangihaeata
+was left to fall back upon his small band of war-worn
+desperadoes to carry on a struggle which was hopeless
+from the first.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_182" id="Ref_182" href="#Foot_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Abandoned to his own resources, he applied himself to his duties of
+leader with the energy of despair. Realising that his position at
+Pahautanui was no longer tenable, as its swamps and shallows were no
+protection against the artillery which he knew was collected at
+Porirua, he withdrew his forces into the deeply wooded Horokiwi
+Valley. Through this forest defile, tangled and matted by an almost
+impenetrable undergrowth, he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">{312}</a></span>
+was pursued by a force of 1,000 men, composed of
+militia and native allies, under Major Last. Te Rangihaeata's
+generalship proved equal to the peculiar circumstances
+in which he found himself, and his genius for
+war won for him the warmest encomiums from British
+officers, who have generously expressed their admiration
+for the skill with which the chief conducted his retreat.
+Into the density of the wooded valley he led his pursuers,
+enticing them by a simulated resistance, but abandoning
+his camps as soon as they pressed too closely upon him.
+In one of these semi-fortified resting-places the British
+soldiers discovered the bugle which had been taken from
+the boy Allen when he was struck down at the fatal fight
+at Boulcott's Farm.</p>
+
+<p>At length, retreat being no longer possible, the rebel chief turned at
+bay and fought his pursuers at a point near the head of the valley.
+His decision to throw down the gage of battle here was not the result
+of accident or impulse, but was due to deliberate calculation. The
+position was admirably chosen, and he held the enemy in check long
+enough to enable him to fortify it effectively. He threw a rough
+breastwork of tree-trunks across the narrow neck of a spur springing
+from a densely wooded hill, the approach to which was flanked by steep
+ravines, leaving so narrow a ridge that it could only be passed
+abreast by a very limited force of men. This wooden rampart, which
+presented so imposing a front to an enemy, was liberally perforated
+with loopholes, through which the defenders were able to concentrate
+their fire with deadly effect upon any approaching force. This
+arrangement, combined with the inaccessible nature of the ground, made
+its seizure by storm practically impossible. Nevertheless, an attack
+was determined upon, and on the morning of August 6, 1846, fire was
+opened upon the position, but with no other visible result than that
+Ensign Blackburn<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_183" id="Ref_183" href="#Foot_183">[183]</a></span>
+and two
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">{313}</a></span>
+privates were killed and nine others wounded. On the
+following day the assault, which had been so inauspiciously
+commenced, was suspended, for Major Last had
+now seen enough to convince him that some projectile
+more searching than bullets was necessary to dislodge
+the defenders from their stronghold. He accordingly
+sent to Porirua and procured two small mortars, which,
+after infinite labour spent in dragging them into position,
+were discovered to be absolutely worthless for purposes
+of attack, for the high forest trees made accurate gunnery
+impossible. Seeing his troops in a deplorable condition,
+even after this short bush campaign, and hopeless of
+driving Rangihaeata out, except at an enormous sacrifice
+of human life, Major Last decided to withdraw the
+regular troops and leave the friendly natives, under
+Puaha, to watch and wait for hunger to work its effects
+upon the stubborn garrison. A few days sufficed for
+this. On the 13th the allies were surprised by a hail of
+lead suddenly raining down upon their lines. No sooner
+had they sprung to arms than they saw that the enemy
+was afoot, the volley which they had fired being the
+signal for retreat. Immediately the real nature of the
+movement was ascertained, Puaha and his loyalists
+rushed forward over the fallen trees and broken ground,
+and reached the breastwork only in time to see the last
+of the defenders escape by the thickly veiled forest track,
+where they were swallowed up by the bush and lost to
+human view.</p>
+
+<p>Hunger and cold had done their work, for there were no signs of food
+supplies inside the camp except some edible fern. Nor did the escape
+of the defenders to the open avail them much, for they were so harried
+by the followers of Puaha as they fled along the snow-covered mountain
+ridge that the opportunities for procuring food were few and
+uncertain. Some made their perilous way to the coast, in the secret
+hope of finding food and shelter amongst their friends in the
+<i>pas</i>, but these were for the most part found by the vigilant
+Wiremu Kingi, and either driven back into the mountain fastnesses or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">{314}</a></span>
+promptly secured as prisoners of war.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_184" id="Ref_184" href="#Foot_184">[184]</a></span>
+Deeming himself
+fortunate to have so far evaded death or capture,
+Te Rangihaeata retreated northwards with his famished
+adherents until he reached the lowlands of the Manawatu.
+There, beaten though still defiant, he retired to a
+<i>pa</i> built in the midst of the swamps and marshes of
+Poroutawhao, where he laid down his arms and, sullenly
+drawing his mat about him, prepared to watch the
+irresistible march of the <i>pakeha</i>, though refusing to
+acknowledge defeat at his hands. "I am finished," he
+wrote to the Governor, "but do not suppose that you
+conquered me. No; it was these my own relatives and
+friends, Rangitake and others. It was by them I was
+overcome, and not by you, O Governor."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_185" id="Ref_185" href="#Foot_185">[185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A new cause for anxiety, in the outbreak of hostilities at Whanganui,
+now diverted Grey's attention momentarily
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">{315}</a></span>
+from the fugitive chief, who improved the respite
+thus given by refraining from any act of violence.
+Although no formal peace was declared, Grey wisely
+decided not to precipitate further trouble by following
+him into the marshes of Poroutawhao. True, on the very
+day (April 18, 1847) that the news of the outbreak at
+Whanganui reached Wellington, the chief made a sensational
+descent upon Kapiti. In the grey of the early
+morning a whaler named Brown was awakened by a
+sound at the door of his hut, and, as he raised himself on
+his elbow, he saw the tall form of Rangihaeata enter the
+room with a tomahawk in his hand. The whaler not
+unnaturally thought he had come to take his life, and, in
+his subsequent narration of the incident, he indulged in
+some heroics, telling how he had challenged the chief to
+slay him on the spot. But Rangihaeata was not in search
+of a defenceless whaler's blood. He had come to demand
+some powder which was rightly his, and which he had
+left there for safe keeping. When he had secured his
+property, he went harmlessly away, after shaking hands
+in the most friendly manner with the frightened seaman.
+Some of his followers, however, were not quite so
+scrupulous; and, in searching the hut for the powder,
+they had appropriated a bundle of bank notes and some
+sovereigns, and secreted them about their persons until
+they returned to the <i>pa</i>. Here Rangihaeata discovered
+the theft, and immediately sent back the plunder to the
+Governor, accompanied by a characteristic note, in
+which he made it clear that, however much he might be
+in opposition to the Government, he had no desire to be
+esteemed a common thief.</p>
+
+<p>With Rangihaeata beaten out of the field, we may now return to Te
+Rauparaha, whom we left in the hands of his captors. To ensure his
+greater security, he was, immediately upon the arrival of the
+<i>Driver</i> at Wellington, transferred to H.M.S.
+<i>Calliope</i>,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_186" id="Ref_186" href="#Foot_186">[186]</a></span>
+where he was placed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">{316}</a></span>
+under the watchful eye of Captain Stanley, for whom, we
+are told, he afterwards acquired a high regard. On
+board this ship he was detained with some show of
+liberty for upwards of ten months, visiting the principal
+ports of northern and central New Zealand, as the duties
+of the station demanded the presence of the vessel.
+During all this period no attempt was made to bring him
+to trial, though no pains were spared by the Governor to
+secure the evidence which would ensure his conviction.
+In a despatch written to the Colonial Office on December
+1, 1846, Grey endeavoured to explain his position
+and justify his halting attitude, but, in the trenchant
+words of one of his critics, his was a justification which
+itself required to be justified:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"A number of designing Europeans, who are annoyed at my
+ interfering with their illegal purchases of land, have thought it
+ proper to agitate the question of the justice and propriety of my
+ arresting Te Rauparaha. Some most improper publications have
+ already appeared, and I regret to state that I find a great effect is
+ being produced upon the minds of the native chiefs. The difficulty
+ of my position is that I am not yet quite satisfied whether or not it
+ will be expedient or necessary to bring the old man to trial. In fact,
+ I am rather anxious to avoid doing so, and I fear that, were I to
+ make public the various crimes for which he has been seized by the
+ Government, and the proofs of his guilt upon which the Government
+ justify his detention, a large portion of the European population
+ would be so exasperated against him that it would be difficult
+ for the Government to avoid bringing him to trial; and, if I were
+ compelled to adopt this step from having made known the charges
+ against him, I should probably be accused of having ungenerously
+ prejudiced the public against him previously to his being brought to
+ trial."</p>
+
+<p>The only impression which the unbiassed student can
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">{317}</a></span>
+derive from a perusal of this specious reasoning is that
+the Governor, in seeking to excuse himself for an unjustifiable
+action, has in reality delivered his own condemnation
+for a grave breach of trust. If the "various
+crimes" of which the chief was suspected were as
+defined as the Governor implies they were, and if "the
+proofs of his guilt upon which the Government justified
+his detention" were clear and unimpeachable, obviously
+then it was his bounden duty to the Colony and to Te
+Rauparaha that the chief should be brought to trial at
+the earliest possible moment. But the real fact was that
+the offences of Te Rauparaha were as imaginary as the
+proofs of his guilt were mythical, and he was kept captive
+on a ship of war while the Governor was diligently
+endeavouring to find Pohi, who was supposed to be
+possessed of important secrets, or was sedulously filling
+in the missing links in the chain of evidence which he
+hoped would establish the fact that certain messengers,
+who were known to have carried information to Rangihaeata,
+were indeed sent by Te Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p>A fruitless ten months was spent in these endeavours to bring home
+guilt to Te Rauparaha, and at the end of that time Grey was forced to
+admit that he was still unable to prove the chief guilty in a court of
+law. He therefore began to consider how far he was justified in longer
+detaining him, while still refusing to do him the justice of giving
+him a clear acquittal. He temporised with other reasons, from which it
+is clear that he regarded the step as one of expediency rather than of
+right. "The detention of the prisoners," he wrote to Earl Grey, "has
+caused expense and inconvenience to the Government"; and therefore, to
+relieve his administration of something which it had forced upon
+itself, he was magnanimous enough to loose the chains from off the
+chief. But the Governor was also influenced by other considerations.
+He believed that the capture and long captivity of Te Rauparaha had
+completely destroyed his <i>mana</i>, so that he was now incapable of
+originating any new mischief, even if he were so inclined. But we
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">{318}</a></span>
+may also do him the justice of believing that he was
+genuinely anxious to placate the Ngati-Toa people, who
+had repeatedly petitioned him for their leader's release,
+and to allay an ugly suspicion, which had gained
+credence amongst them, that Te Rauparaha had been
+murdered, and that his so-called detention was merely a
+subterfuge to cover a desperate crime.</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"Repeated applications," wrote the Governor, "have been made
+ by Te Rauparaha's tribe for his release, and this step seems to be
+ quite justified by his ten months of good conduct. Waka Nene and
+ Te Wherowhero also petitioned for his release, and went guarantee
+ for his good behaviour. Upon the whole, with the larger force that
+ will be placed at my disposal, and after the convincing proofs which
+ the natives have so frequently afforded of their regarding their
+ interests as identical with those of the Government, I entertain no
+ apprehension of Te Rauparaha being able to effect further mischief,
+ even if he were disposed to do so. I therefore determined to order
+ his release, merely requiring Te Wherowhero and Waka Nene to
+ pledge their words for his future good conduct, and although I
+ exacted no conditions either from themselves or from the prisoners,
+ I recommended them to require both Te Rauparaha and Hohepa to
+ reside on the northern portions of the island until I felt justified in
+ stating that I had no objection to them permitting Te Rauparaha to
+ return to his own country."</p>
+
+<p>Under the guarantee of good conduct given by Te Wherowhero and Waka
+Nene, Te Rauparaha was released at Auckland, and was received as a
+guest into Te Wherowhero's house, which had been built for him by the
+Government in what is now the Auckland Domain. Here, though nominally
+free, he must have felt the bitterness of his exile, for he frequently
+displayed the humiliation which was surging within his soul by
+relapsing into periods of deep melancholy, during which he doubtless
+meditated upon the departed glory of the past and the hopelessness of
+the future. With him times had indeed changed. From the imperious
+leader of a victorious tribe, supreme and absolute, his word the word
+of authority, his very look, his merest gesture, an unquestionable
+command, he found himself shorn of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">{319}</a></span>
+power, degraded by captivity,
+destitute of influence, and little more than a memory&mdash;the hoary
+vestige of a stately ruin. But his path was not all strewn with
+thorns, and there were not wanting those, both Maori and European, who
+strove to lighten his burden and salve his wounded soul. Visitors
+frequently sought to cheer his drooping spirits, and, as a compliment
+to the conqueror of Kapiti, Te Wherowhero brought the flower of the
+Hauraki chiefs to do him honour. In September, 1847, two hundred of
+these warriors, casting aside their tribal prejudices, came and
+visited him. As the kilted band of strangers advanced, Te Rauparaha,
+dressed in a dogskin mat and forage cap, went out to meet them. He
+saluted several of the leading men according to native custom, and
+then followed the speechmaking inseparable from Maori gatherings.
+Squatting in a semicircle upon the ground, the assemblage listened
+with rapt attention to the oration delivered by Te Rauparaha, of whom
+all had heard, but whom few had previously seen. His speech was a
+dignified recitation of his past deeds, and while he spoke of his
+struggles with Waikato, his pilgrimage, and his conquests, he
+delivered himself brilliantly and dramatically, for the fire of the
+old warrior seemed to burn again within him and the blood of the
+victor to pulsate once more through his veins. But when he came to
+describe his seizure and captivity, the injustice and humiliation of
+it all bore down his valiant spirit, and he concluded his oration with
+difficulty and almost in tears. To this great effort of Maori
+eloquence replies of a lengthy and ceremonial nature were delivered by
+Taraia, Te Wherowhero, and several members of Hauraki's aristocracy,
+and then food was served on a sumptuous scale to the strangers. It
+was, however, noticed that Te Rauparaha ate but sparingly and was ill
+at ease. He rose and walked to his house, into which he was followed
+by two of the women, who there sang to him of the deeds of his
+fathers, and of the heroes of the ancient line from which he had
+sprung, the lament bringing a flood of tears to the old man's dim eyes.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">{320}</a></span>
+Still under the surveillance of Te Wherowhero, Te Rauparaha spent six
+months in the country of the Waikatos, the scene of some of his
+youthful exploits; but, feeling his freedom to be liberty only in
+name, and himself a stranger in a strange land, he preferred a request
+to the Governor to be allowed to return to his own people by the
+shores of Cook Strait, where was centred everything in life that he
+valued. The Governor granted his request, believing that he had now
+nothing to fear from the chief, and recognising that his return would
+have a quieting influence upon Rangihaeata, who, during his uncle's
+absence, had steadfastly refused to believe that the man by whose
+orders Wareaitu<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_187" id="Ref_187" href="#Foot_187">[187]</a></span>
+had been executed would be more merciful to Te
+Rauparaha. Accordingly, in January of 1848, the Governor, Lady Grey,
+Lieut.-Colonel Mundy, Te Wherowhero, Taraia, Te Rauparaha, and several
+other chiefs, embarked on board H.M.S. <i>Inflexible</i> and steamed
+for Otaki. Arrived there, the vessel was immediately boarded by
+Tamihana Te Rauparaha, who, clothed in the garb of a clergyman, came
+off to welcome his father.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of January 16, 1848, was the time appointed for the
+restoration of Te Rauparaha to his people. When the boats had been
+lowered to row the party ashore, the old chief came upon the
+quarter-deck dressed in full naval uniform, even to the cocked hat and
+the epaulets. His surprise and indignation were, however, considerable
+when he observed that the Governor and his suite had no idea of
+regarding the event as a State occasion, and were clothed in simple
+undress coats. Nor was his ill-temper improved when the Governor
+further robbed the incident of ceremonial importance by refusing to
+accord to him the honour of a salute from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">{321}</a></span>
+the ship's guns as he left the vessel's side. With eyes
+flashing and nostrils dilated, he sprang back into his cabin,
+and, throwing off his brilliant uniform, immediately
+reappeared wrapped in the sombre folds of an ancient
+blanket. Wounded in spirit at the absence of those
+impressive features which would have made his homecoming
+something of a triumph, he landed on the
+Otaki beach in no enviable mood; and, as the party
+proceeded towards the inland <i>pa</i>, he turned away from
+them, and sitting down in the sand with his face towards
+the ocean, covered his old grey head with his mat, and
+for two hours sat and sobbed like a child. During this
+meditation of tears no one approached him. Maori
+etiquette forbade his kinsmen breaking in upon his
+grief, and European courtesy dictated a discreet respect
+for the feelings of one who had come back to find
+the times so vastly changed, and for him so sadly out
+of joint.</p>
+
+<p>In that brief time, as the old warrior sat sighing in sympathy with
+the sobbing sea, there must have passed before him in vivid picture
+the whole panorama of his eventful life&mdash;his struggles, his schemes,
+his dreams, the anguish of defeat, the glut of victory, and then the
+final triumph in which tribe after tribe went down before him, and his
+name became wonderful and mighty throughout the land. But now, because
+of the advent of the <i>pakeha</i>, power had melted in his hand like
+snow. His life, like the wind-swept ruin of his old heathen <i>pa</i>,
+which stood broken and dilapidated a few chains off, had become but a
+shadow and a memory of the past; an exemplification of the fallible
+and transitory nature of mundane things. At length, rousing himself
+from his reverie, he proceeded to the new Christian settlement of
+Hadfield, at Otaki, which had been built mainly by the efforts of his
+son, Tamahana te Rauparaha, and his nephew, Matene te Whiwhi. A motley
+crowd of five or six hundred people poured out of the little
+settlement to welcome their chief, the Governor, and Lady Grey; and,
+as an evidence of the elevating influences which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">{322}</a></span>
+were operating amongst them,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_188" id="Ref_188" href="#Foot_188">[188]</a></span>
+prayers in the native
+tongue were read in the open air, before the feast which
+had been prepared for the visitors was placed before
+them. A glass-windowed, carpeted <i>whare</i> was the
+banquet-room, and a clean damask cloth covered the
+table at which the guests were seated, while a daughter
+of Rangihaeata courteously discharged the duties of
+hostess.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day Te Rauparaha presented himself before the people,
+and was received with the usual evidences of Maori
+jubilation&mdash;interminable speeches, wild and barbarous dances, and
+endless feasting. Almost immediately he exercised the prerogative of
+his freedom by visiting Rangihaeata, who was hovering in the
+neighbourhood of Otaki, but with what intent no one knew. Te Rauparaha
+was accompanied by Te Wherowhero
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">{323}</a></span>
+and some of the visiting chiefs, and the <i>korero</i>
+lasted several days. What the precise nature of their
+discussions was will never be known; but that they
+were not of a treasonable nature may be inferred from
+the fact that the Governor, hearing that Rangihaeata was
+at that time harbouring a notorious murderer, whom he
+refused to deliver up to justice, sent a letter to Te
+Rauparaha calling upon him and his compatriots to show
+their displeasure at Rangihaeata's conduct by instantly
+withdrawing from his presence. At the time the letter
+arrived, the chiefs were on the point of sitting down to
+partake of Rangihaeata's hospitality; but without hesitation
+they rose and left, though not before telling the
+obdurate chief their reason for doing so.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_189" id="Ref_189" href="#Foot_189">[189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This evidence of unfailing loyalty to the Crown was as gratifying to
+the Governor as it must have been aggravating to Rangihaeata, who,
+when he met His Excellency at Otaki, roundly abused him and all the
+<i>pakehas</i> for their presumptuous interference with his affairs.
+He declared that he was not tired of war, but evidently men and women
+had changed with the times, and now preferred to fight with the tongue
+rather than the <i>mere</i> or the musket. His contempt for the
+Europeans and all their doings was still as vehement as ever,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_190" id="Ref_190" href="#Foot_190">[190]</a></span>
+and in his violent denunciation of their encroachment upon his privileges
+as a chief, he declared that he wanted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">{324}</a></span>
+nothing of them, and he wore nothing of their work.
+He was then standing before the Governor, a tall and
+picturesque figure arrayed in a lustrous dogskin mat,
+with adornments in his hair; and when Grey quietly
+exposed his inconsistency by pointing to a peacock's
+feather dangling about his head, he angrily muttered,
+"True, that is <i>pakeha</i>," and cast it scornfully from him.</p>
+
+<p>Though Rangihaeata never accepted the Christian faith, in course of
+time his feelings mellowed and his attitude somewhat modified towards
+the occupation of the land by the white people. He not only acquiesced
+in the policy of road-making, which he had at first so strenuously
+opposed, but in 1852 he constructed two lines at Poroutawhao at his
+own expense. A school was even established at his <i>pa</i>, and
+subsequently his declared principles not to use British goods were so
+far modified that he purchased and drove in an English-made buggy
+along roads made by British soldiers. His feelings, too, towards the
+Governor considerably softened, and when, in 1852, Sir George Grey was
+about to proceed to England for a holiday, the chief wrote to him in
+terms of genuine friendship, which gave proof of the surprising change
+which had come over the hitherto untamable spirit of "the tiger of the
+Wairau":&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"O Governor! my friend, I send you greeting. I need scarcely
+ call to your remembrance the circumstances attending my flight
+ and pursuit: how it was that I took refuge in the fastnesses and
+ hollows of the country, as a crab lies concealed in the depths and
+ hollows of the rocks. You it was who sought and found me out,
+ and through your kindness it is that I am at this present time
+ enjoying your confidence and surrounded with peace and quietness.
+ This, then, is the expression of my esteem for you, which I take
+ occasion to make now that you are on the point of leaving for your
+ native land."</p>
+
+<p>The release of Te Rauparaha was the signal for a furious outburst of
+hostile criticism against the Governor, and Colonel Wakefield led the
+agitation in one of the biased and bitter effusions usual with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">{325}</a></span>
+him where Te Rauparaha was concerned.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_191" id="Ref_191" href="#Foot_191">[191]</a></span>
+But the anticipation of the Governor that the chief could, or
+would, cause the authorities no further trouble, appears
+to have been amply justified. So far as is known of him
+from this time until his death, he lived quietly and
+unostentatiously at the Otaki settlement. It would seem
+that he accepted with as good grace as he might the new
+order of things, and even sought to assist his people in
+reaching a higher plane of civilisation than at his advanced
+years he himself could ever hope to attain. It is at
+least accounted unto him for righteousness by his son,
+Tamahana, that it was at his suggestion the Ngati-Raukawa
+people built the now famous church<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_192" id="Ref_192" href="#Foot_192">[192]</a></span>
+at Otaki, wherein the tribe has so often heard the glad tidings of
+"peace on earth and goodwill towards men," so strongly
+contrasted with their old heathen doctrine of blood for
+blood. A striking feature in the architecture of this
+church is its central line of large totara pillars, which
+rise to a height of 40 feet, carrying the solid ridge-pole
+above. These wooden columns were hewn out of the
+forest on the banks of the Ohau, which in those days
+ran into the Waikawa, forming one large stream. The
+trees were felled in the bush, floated down the river
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">{326}</a></span>
+to the sea, and thence dragged along the coast, one
+native standing on the tree with pole in hand to guide
+it through the surf, while a string of stalwart men tugged
+at the heavy tow-ropes, as they marched along the sandy
+beach. Column after column was, in this way, eventually
+landed at Waitohu, near Otaki, and then hauled across
+the sandhills by hundreds of brawny arms to the site
+where the church now stands. There the trees were,
+with infinite labour, dressed and prepared with native
+adzes, which are still kept in the church as interesting
+mementoes. No machinery of any kind was available
+to assist in the construction of the sacred edifice. Hand
+labour was everywhere brought into requisition, and only
+the most cunning workmen were employed, men of
+reputed skill being brought from the Manawatu to design
+and execute the carvings of the interior, while the reed
+lacework round the walls was also dexterously woven by
+these same masters of Maori art.</p>
+
+<p>Some attempt has been made, but with dubious success, to prove that Te
+Rauparaha ordered the building of this church because he had become
+deeply and genuinely religious, and his son has given us the pious
+assurance that he spent these last of his days "continually
+worshipping."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_193" id="Ref_193" href="#Foot_193">[193]</a></span>
+"I saw," says an intelligent but newly arrived
+clergyman, who visited him at this time, "amongst the other men of
+note, the old and once powerful chief, Te Rauparaha, who,
+notwithstanding his great age of more than eighty years, is seldom
+missed from his class, and who, after a long life of perpetual
+turmoil, spent in all the savage excitement of cruel and bloody wars,
+is now to be seen every morning in his accustomed place, repeating
+those blessed truths which teach him to love the Lord with all his
+heart and mind
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">{327}</a></span>
+and soul and strength, and his neighbour as himself."
+This amiable picture, drawn in a spirit of enlarged
+charity, is unfortunately dimmed, and the sincerity of the
+chief's religious convictions discounted, by the story
+related of him by a conscientious, if unfriendly, critic.
+"A few days before his death," says this writer,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_194" id="Ref_194" href="#Foot_194">[194]</a></span>
+"when suffering under the malady which carried him off, two
+settlers called to see him. While there, a neighbouring
+missionary came in and offered him the consolations of
+religion. Rauparaha demeaned himself in a manner
+highly becoming such an occasion, but the moment
+the missionary was gone, he turned to his other visitors
+and said: 'What is the use of all that nonsense?&mdash;that
+will do my belly no good.' He then turned the conversation
+on the Whanganui races, where one of his
+guests had been running a horse." Such an incident,
+if true, leaves behind it the impression that the chief
+was shrewd enough to observe that the Christian faith
+had taken root amongst his people, and conventional
+enough to adopt it for fashion's sake, without realising
+any real spiritual change. But we will not attempt
+to pass judgment upon one who was at so manifest a
+disadvantage in grasping the mysteries of a faith which
+centuries of science and learning have left still obscure to
+many more fortunately circumstanced. But, whatever
+the chief's spiritual condition may have been, it was not
+vouchsafed to him to witness the completion of his
+building scheme. He had long passed man's allotted
+span, and life's last stage was closing in upon him. He
+was in his eighty-first year, and was stricken with an
+internal complaint, the precise nature of which has not
+been ascertained, but which necessitated his taking much
+rest. His last days were therefore spent in enforced
+inactivity, and, while practically an invalid, his greatest
+delight was to recount to those capable of appreciating
+his narrative the stories of his early campaigns. The
+late Bishop Hadfield was especially favoured in this
+respect; and when he grew weary of the company
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">{328}</a></span>
+of his own people (of whose intellectuality he had so
+small an opinion that he once remarked that they could
+talk of nothing better than dogs and pigs), he would
+send for the missionary, and regale him with stories of
+the past, told with a native force which aroused astonishment
+and admiration in the mind of his hearer. His
+descriptions of former fights were generally dramatic,
+frequently graphic, and always eloquent, for his vocabulary
+was rich in words and phrases which were far
+beyond the linguistic capacity of the natives by whom
+he was surrounded. It is to be regretted that these
+recitals have perished with the good Bishop. Until quite
+late in his life a vivid impression of them remained in his
+memory, and his constant readiness to refer to them
+confirms the claim that Te Rauparaha was a man of
+superior intellect, in so far as that term may be applied
+to a Maori of his day.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of November, 1849, the complaint from which he was
+suffering begun to assume a more malignant form. On the 24th of that
+month he received a last visit from Rangihaeata, and bade farewell to
+his erstwhile comrade in arms. Three days later he was dead; the event
+was consummated for which Colonel Wakefield so devoutly wished when,
+ten years before, he wrote: "It will be a most fortunate thing for any
+settlement formed hereabouts when he dies, for with his life only will
+end his mischievous scheming and insatiable cupidity." Had Te
+Rauparaha been asked to pen his opinion of the promoters of the New
+Zealand Company, he might have couched his judgment in much the same
+terms. But now that he was dead there was no need, and little desire,
+to keep open the floodgates of vituperation, and there were many who
+in his lifetime could find no kindly thought for him, but were willing
+to bury the bitterness of racial misunderstanding in the grave wherein
+the chief was so soon to be laid.</p>
+
+<p>The news that Te Rauparaha was dead spread like a prairie fire, and
+natives from all parts of both islands flocked to Otaki to swell the
+weeping multitude who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">{329}</a></span>
+wailed around the bier of the dead chief. So altered,
+however, had the times become, that, though there was
+a feast, there was little <i>tangi</i> of the barbarous sort, for his
+son Tamahana, who was sincere and consistent in his
+emulation of European methods,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_195" id="Ref_195" href="#Foot_195">[195]</a></span>
+discouraged in the
+native people, as far as possible, the indulgence in their
+time-honoured mourning customs, and, according to a
+contemporary authority, the whole proceedings were
+conducted "in a most decorous manner." The interment
+took place on 3rd December, the last resting-place being
+a spot chosen by his friend Rangihaeata, within the
+church enclosure, and immediately in front of the unfinished
+building. A procession of fifteen hundred people
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">{330}</a></span>
+followed the body to the grave, where the beautiful burial
+service of the Anglican Church was read by Mr. Ronaldson,
+the native teacher from Whanganui. The coffin,
+made in the usual manner, was covered with black cloth,
+and the final chapter in the life of this remarkable man
+was written on the brass plate which adorned the casket:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">KO TE RAUPARAHA I MATE I TE<br /><br />
+
+27 O NOWEMA 1849<br /><br />
+
+[Te Rauparaha died on November 27, 1849.]</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_173" id="Foot_173" href="#Ref_173">[173]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Heke had asked the pertinent question, "Is Rauparaha to have all
+the credit of killing the <i>pakeha</i>?"</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_174" id="Foot_174" href="#Ref_174">[174]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"From what I know of the young lieutenant, I have no doubt he
+laid about him vigorously. Even had burly Rangihaeata confronted him,
+I should not have feared the result" (<i>Mundy</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_175" id="Foot_175" href="#Ref_175">[175]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It was quite the orthodox thing for natives on opposite sides to
+hold intercourse with each other during war, and Rauparaha, having
+many relations engaged with Rangihaeata, would, in accordance with
+this custom, keep up a certain connection with them, and they with
+him. This, not being understood by the British authorities, was
+probably mistaken for treachery.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_176" id="Foot_176" href="#Ref_176">[176]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Afterwards McKillop Pasha, an Admiral of the Khedive of Egypt.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_177" id="Foot_177" href="#Ref_177">[177]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Grey, in his despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies,
+describing the seizure of Te Rauparaha, states that a "considerable
+quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the disaffected portion
+of the Ngati-Toa tribe" was also seized, though he makes no attempt to
+explain what steps were taken under the exciting circumstances to
+ascertain who the precise owners were.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_178" id="Foot_178" href="#Ref_178">[178]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the voyage to Wellington the prisoners were quartered in the
+workshop above the boilers. During the night a great disturbance was
+heard in this direction, and, on an examination being made, it was
+found that the room was full of steam. One of the boilers had sprung a
+leak, but the natives imagined that their vapour bath was an ingenious
+contrivance to compass their death.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_179" id="Foot_179" href="#Ref_179">[179]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Percy Smith is my authority for saying that Rangihaeata did
+not actually compose this lament, as is generally supposed, but merely
+adapted it from a very old original.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_180" id="Foot_180" href="#Ref_180">[180]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In October, 1850, Dr. Dorsett, as Chairman of the Settlers'
+Constitutional Society, in a letter addressed to Earl Grey, complained
+of the inadequacy of Te Rauparaha's punishment. Sir George Grey
+replied by quoting two laments, of which this was one, "to show the
+light in which the natives regarded the punishment inflicted on him."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_181" id="Foot_181" href="#Ref_181">[181]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Pohi was one of the inferior chiefs arrested with Te Rauparaha
+and afterwards released. Subsequently, Grey discovered that this man
+was supposed to possess "important information."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_182" id="Foot_182" href="#Ref_182">[182]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+For the passive attitude adopted by many of the Ngati-Toa people
+some credit must be given to Te Rauparaha, who had already advised his
+son to go to the tribes and tell them to remain in peace. "I returned
+on shore," says Tamahana, "and saw Ngati-Toa and Rawhiri Puaha. We
+told them the words of Rauparaha respecting that which is good and
+living in peace. Two hundred Ngati-Raukawa came to Otaki. Rangihaeata
+wished to destroy Wellington and kill the <i>pakehas</i> as
+satisfaction. I told them the words of Te Rauparaha, that they must
+put away foolish thoughts, live in peace, and cast away bad desires.
+They consented."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_183" id="Foot_183" href="#Ref_183">[183]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Ensign Blackburn, who was a fine officer and a great favourite
+with the troops, was shot by a native secreted in a tree, and he in
+turn was almost immediately brought down by an artilleryman.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_184" id="Foot_184" href="#Ref_184">[184]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Under the chilling atmosphere of bleak winter the enthusiasm of
+our native allies soon began to cool and the vigour of their pursuit
+to slacken. Power, in his <i>Sketches in New Zealand</i>, gives an
+amusing account of a big <i>korero</i> held at Otaki to decide whether
+or not they would continue the chase, in which he says: "Rangihaeata's
+sister was present and addressed the meeting in favour of her absent
+brother, making at the same time some very unparliamentary remarks on
+the aggressions of the <i>pakehas</i> and the want of pluck of the
+Maoris in not resisting them, as her illustrious brother was doing. An
+old chief requested her to resume her seat, informing her at the same
+time that she was the silly sister of a sillier brother. He then put
+it to the meeting whether pigs and potatoes, warm fires and plenty of
+tobacco, were not better things than leaden bullets, edges of
+tomahawks, snow, rain, and empty bellies? All the former, he distinctly
+stated, were to be enjoyed on the plain; the latter they had had
+plentiful experience of in the mountains, and was it to be expected
+that they&mdash;and he confidently relied upon the good sense of the
+meeting&mdash;could be such fools as to hesitate for a moment? The applause
+of the old man's rhetoric was unanimous, and it received no slight
+help from the timely appearance of a procession bearing the materials
+for a week's feasting."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_185" id="Foot_185" href="#Ref_185">[185]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Lieutenant McKillop, writing on this point, says: "We never had
+any such decided advantage over him in our various skirmishes with his
+tribe as to dishearten him, and had we been unassisted by friendly
+Maoris I have no doubt he would have held out and carried his point."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_186" id="Foot_186" href="#Ref_186">[186]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+While the <i>Calliope</i> was lying at Wellington, Te Rauparaha
+was visited by his son Tamahana, who has left it on record that, in
+that trying moment of his life, his father displayed a spirit of calm
+forgiveness towards those who had so treacherously deprived him of his
+liberty. His advice was: "Son, go to your tribes and tell them to
+remain in peace. Do not pay for my seizure 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."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_187" id="Foot_187" href="#Ref_187">[187]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In his <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, Crawford remarks: "During
+the march to Pahautanui, a Maori named Martin Luther (Wareaitu) was
+taken prisoner and was some months afterwards tried by court martial
+and hanged. I cannot help thinking that this was a blunder." Dr.
+Thomson is even more emphatic, and declares that "Luther's death is a
+disgrace to Governor Grey's administration."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_188" id="Foot_188" href="#Ref_188">[188]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Visitors to modern Otaki cannot fail to notice a tall pole
+erected near the roadside opposite the church. The totara tree out of
+which the pole was hewn was brought there at the outbreak of the Maori
+war. It was intended as a flagstaff, but Mr. Hadfield persuaded the
+Maoris to remain perfectly neutral and make no demonstration one way
+or the other. The tree lay for many years on the common until the Rev.
+Mr. McWilliam induced the Maoris to shape the tree into a tapering
+obelisk 40 feet high, with the dates 1840 (the year when Christianity
+was established at Otaki) to 1880 (the year the obelisk was erected)
+going spirally round it from bottom to top, and so it became a
+memorial of the English Church Mission at Otaki. It was first erected
+in the middle of the common, but in 1890, that is, the fiftieth year
+of the mission, it was moved into the corner opposite the church gate.
+It is called by the Maoris the "Jubilee." There was a great gathering
+of Maoris on that occasion, and fifty of them were clad in white and
+took part in the ceremony. The chief speaker was Kereopa Tukumaru, an
+old chief from Kereru, who had been one of the first converts to
+Christianity, and was now able to tell what great things the religion
+of Christianity had done for the Maoris. "This man," says Mr.
+McWilliam, "was the most consistent Christian I have ever had the
+privilege of knowing." He was most industrious, but when not working
+he was reading his Bible. He knew nearly the whole of it by heart. His
+grave may be seen near the Kereru railway station on a small natural
+mound. It is an oblong raised vault, built of concrete, with a
+beautiful white marble angel standing over one end.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_189" id="Foot_189" href="#Ref_189">[189]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Colonel Mundy mentions that a remarkably plausible report was
+circulating in Wellington at this time, to the effect that
+Rangihaeata&mdash;in order to prove himself a convert to civilisation&mdash;had
+signified his intention to kill and eat the aforesaid murderer, and
+then "go into the best society."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_190" id="Foot_190" href="#Ref_190">[190]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As illustrating Rangihaeata's intolerance of Europeans,
+Crawford, in his <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, mentions that when he
+visited Fraser's whaling station on Mana in 1839, he saw sitting in
+the corner of the room a large Maori wrapped in his mat. "He listened
+to the conversation, but said nothing. At last, as if displeased, he
+uttered a hideous and prolonged grunt, and rose to his feet: I was
+struck with his height and imposing, although savage, appearance&mdash;he
+grunted again and walked out of the room without speaking. This was
+Rangihaeata, the great follower or coadjutor of Te Rauparaha&mdash;the Ajax
+of his tribe, as the other was the Ulysses."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_191" id="Foot_191" href="#Ref_191">[191]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As illustrating the feeling of the time, we may mention that
+very great indignation was expressed in Wellington because Bishop
+Selwyn had taken Te Rauparaha to the house of the Rev. Mr. Cole, a
+clergyman of Wellington, to stay there during a visit to the city.
+Major Richmond, the Superintendent, and the Sub-Protector, Mr.
+Forsaith, had gone to Porirua and provided for his safe escort to
+Wellington. The Bishop had publicly refused to shake hands with
+Rangihaeata, showing to the natives his horror of the massacre at the
+Wairau on every occasion. But he refused to recognise Te Rauparaha as
+responsible for it, and did no more than his clear duty in providing
+for his safety on this occasion. The outcry raised against him was
+bitter, but was quietly ignored by him (<i>Brett's "Early History of
+New Zealand"</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_192" id="Foot_192" href="#Ref_192">[192]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The church, which is a noble specimen of native architecture,
+was built under the supervision of Archdeacon Hadfield and Rev. H.
+Williams. It was commenced in 1849 and opened in 1851. Its length is
+80 feet, its breadth 36 feet, and its height 40 feet. The ridge-pole
+is hewn out of a solid totara tree, 86 feet long.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_193" id="Foot_193" href="#Ref_193">[193]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Te Rauparaha was not baptized, and, although his son wished the
+burial service of the Church to be used at his funeral, the minister
+did not feel himself justified in doing so; however, a lay member of
+the Church Missionary Society from Whanganui, opportunely passing
+through the place, read the service over him, and thus terminated the
+eventful life of the New Zealand warrior" (<i>Rev. Richard
+Taylor</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_194" id="Foot_194" href="#Ref_194">[194]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The late Sir William Fox in his <i>Six Colonies of New
+Zealand</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_195" id="Foot_195" href="#Ref_195">[195]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In 1868, Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife Ruta (Ruth) lived by
+themselves about half-way between Otaki and Waikanae on his sheep run,
+but he now and again came to his town house in Otaki and stayed a few
+weeks. He was a fine, handsome man, tall and stout, but active and
+mentally energetic. He always dressed well, and in cleanliness and
+neatness was a thorough English gentleman. He had been home to England
+and presented to the Queen. He never forgot what he saw there, and he
+wished to be considered an English gentleman. For that reason he lost
+influence with his tribe. He held aloof from <i>tangis</i> and other
+Maori feasts, but was most hospitable and generous to Europeans. His
+wife was a most ladylike and charming woman. She was not so well
+educated as Tamihana, but for all that she had the manners and taste
+of an English lady. She died several years before him, and he erected
+a small marble stone over her grave; but when he died, and was laid by
+her side, no monument of any kind was erected to his memory; the
+cast-iron fence, which had been broken accidentally, was not even
+repaired. The Maoris did not care much for him, because he was too
+civilised and <i>pakeha</i>-like for them, so they made no general
+mourning at his death. In his youth, Tamihana te Rauparaha and Matene
+te Whiwhi had journeyed all the way to the Bay of Islands to beg for a
+missionary, and in response to their request Mr. Hadfield (who was
+afterwards Bishop of Wellington and Primate) came back with them to
+Otaki, and lived amongst them and taught them Christianity for thirty
+years.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent">The graves of Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife are enclosed with an
+iron railing. On the tombstone of the wife is the inscription: "<i>Te
+ohatanga tenei mo Ruta te Rauparaha wahine O Tamihana te Rauparaha, i
+mate ki Otaki i te 10 o nga ra so Hurae, 1870.</i>"</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">{331}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER IX</span><br /><span
+class="size070">WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">Te Rangihaeata</span>
+survived his uncle by seven years, living during this
+time quietly at Poroutawhao. Though ceasing his violent opposition to
+the occupation of the land by the settlers, he still clung to his
+refusal to traffic in the native estate, either with individuals or
+with the Government. Almost immediately after the close of the war,
+Lieutenant-Governor Eyre and the Rev. Richard Taylor penetrated
+through the bush and swamps which surrounded Poroutawhao, and met the
+chief in the very heart of his stronghold. He was then, says Mr.
+Taylor, an old man with a head as white as the top of Tongariro, and a
+spirit somewhat resembling that active volcano, always fuming. His
+white hair strongly contrasted with his bronzed features and highly
+tattooed countenance. The missionary thus describes the retreat in
+which they found him, and the reception they met with:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"A long, low, narrow strip of land, running through deep swamp, led
+ to his retreat; the name of the place aptly describes it, being a
+ cork, or stoppage, to war, and few would have liked to draw it out.
+ The <i>pa</i> was on a mound, the only one in the vicinity, and
+ strongly fortified in the native style, with thick, lofty posts
+ deeply sunk in the ground, and bound together with a <i>huahua</i>,
+ or connecting pole, running round at a height of about ten feet.
+ Inside the outer fence there was another, behind which the defenders
+ could post themselves, and take aim through the outer one. The
+ <i>pa</i> was divided into a number of small courts, each equally
+ well defended, and connected by very narrow passages. We found the
+ chief with his wives and his head men assembled in the chief court,
+ or <i>marae</i>, sitting on mats in front of his house.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">{332}</a></span>
+ Fresh fern was strewed on the ground, and new mats laid on it for us; we were
+ received with great respect, and welcomed with a loud
+ <i>haeremai</i>: we sat down on the chief's right hand, and conversed
+ on various subjects, until we were invited to enter a neighbouring
+ house, where no one followed us, except a neatly dressed and
+ good-looking lady, who was appointed to wait upon us according to
+ Maori etiquette: there was a kind of table formed of two boxes, one
+ placed on the other, with a new red blanket placed over it, and a
+ form similarly covered in regal style. On the table was placed a dish
+ of good fresh-baked cakes, another containing sugar, a knife, spoon,
+ and two basins, one nearly allied to a wash-hand basin in size. The
+ lady then brought a tea-kettle, and filled our cups with an infusion
+ of mint, which she called tea. The wash-hand basin was, of course,
+ placed before the representative of Majesty, who viewed with dismay
+ its enormous capacity, which, being given him from respect, he could
+ not well avoid draining to the bottom. After enjoying the Governor's
+ perplexity, when the lady left the room, I emptied the contents of
+ our bowls into a calabash, from which our natives were drinking; our
+ repast being ended, we returned to the chief and sat by his side. The
+ Governor requested me to ask the chief to sell some land, which I
+ respectfully declined doing. He then attempted to do so himself: at
+ first he was not understood, but when the chief comprehended what he
+ meant, he gave a savage look of defiance, thrusting out his tongue
+ and rolling about his eyes in such a way, that his Excellency, who
+ had never seen such a display before, stared in amazement, and
+ evidently felt anything but at ease. It need not be said that the
+ land negotiations were speedily terminated, and we were soon
+ threading our way back along Rangihaeata's swamp-girt road."</p>
+
+<p>Not less interesting was the experience of Lord Charles Butler and Mr.
+Carnegie, two officers of the <i>Calliope</i>, who, upon the cessation
+of hostilities, conceived the adventurous idea of visiting the chief
+in his lair at Poroutawhao. Starting from Wellington, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Servantes of the 96th, who during the war had acted as
+interpreter with the Government troops, and Tamahana Te Rauparaha,
+they experienced considerable difficulty in pushing their way across
+the country to the place of Rangihaeata's retreat. By dint of
+perseverance they at length reached the borders of the swamp
+surrounding the small hillock on which the <i>pa</i> was built, and,
+meeting some of the natives there, they sent them on to the chief to
+ascertain if he would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">{333}</a></span>
+be prepared to receive them. A messenger soon returned
+to say that Lord Charles and Tamahana might
+come on, but that if Ewie (Lieutenant Servantes) attempted
+to do so, he would be shot. Rangihaeata had
+persuaded himself that Servantes had been acting the
+spy in the late proceedings against him. This impression,
+which was quite erroneous, doubtless arose
+from the fact that this officer had been a great deal in
+the company of the natives before the outbreak of hostilities,
+that he was thoroughly conversant with their
+language, customs, and haunts, and consequently was
+frequently acting in conjunction with the native allies
+when no other Europeans were near. There being no
+opportunity to offer explanations which might remove
+the chief's prejudice, Servantes deemed it prudent to
+respect Rangihaeata's mandate, and remained where
+he was, the others proceeding to the <i>pa</i>. As they approached,
+sounds and evidences of excitement, which
+they were at a loss to understand, greeted them, and
+as they drew nearer, several armed natives came out of
+the <i>pa</i>, pointing their muskets at Mr. Carnegie, at the
+same time abusing him with a tornado of picturesque
+native epithets. This hostile demonstration arose from
+the fact that they had mistaken the naval officer for
+Servantes; but, when the guides had silenced the
+clamour sufficiently to obtain a hearing, the necessary
+explanations were made, and the party was led into
+the <i>pa</i>. They found Rangihaeata leaning against his
+<i>whare</i>, and taking aim at the gateway with his gun,
+having fully determined to end the days of the supposed
+spy if he dared to enter the <i>pa</i>. The introductions were,
+however, satisfactory, and, putting away his musket, he
+gave his hand to his guests, whereupon his tribe likewise
+disarmed themselves, and prepared to extend hospitality
+to the visitors. Lord Charles opened the proceedings
+diplomatically, by presenting Rangihaeata with a
+few pounds of tobacco and a red blanket; and, as soon
+as the chief had filled his pipe with the fragrant weed,
+and adjusted the blanket to his brawny shoulders, he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">{334}</a></span>
+sat down and entered into a most amiable conversation
+with the <i>pakehas</i>, for whose refreshment he took care
+that food should be brought. He plied his visitors with
+many questions concerning Te Rauparaha and those
+natives who were prisoners with him, and closely inquired
+of those Europeans with whose names he was
+acquainted, making special reference to Lieutenant
+McKillop, of whose conduct in the war he had formed
+an excellent opinion. He was also exceedingly complimentary
+to Lord Charles, of whom he said he had
+received very flattering reports, but he was equally
+regretful of the conduct of his own people in deserting
+his standard, and spoke bitterly of his experiences since
+he had abandoned his <i>pa</i> at Porirua. These misfortunes
+did not, however, detract in the least from his hospitality
+to his visitors. He begged them to remain with him
+until next day, in order that he might have the opportunity
+of killing a pig and regaling them with due
+splendour on the morrow. This kind invitation they
+modestly declined, and, after explaining that their visit
+was of purely a private nature, and not one which
+would warrant them in carrying back any message to
+the authorities, they took their leave of the chief, whom
+they have described as being particularly dirty, but a
+fine handsome man.</p>
+
+<p>By his winning ways and the generous use of presents, Governor Grey
+several times induced Rangihaeata to leave his retreat at Poroutawhao
+for the purpose of holding conferences with him; and when he believed
+that he had sufficiently ingratiated himself into the good opinion of
+the chief, he ventured to propose the sale to the Government of the
+Waikanae district. "It would have been the subject for an artist,"
+says one writer, "to picture the indignant look of the chief as he
+flatly and rudely refused, telling the Governor to be content with
+what he had already got. 'You have had Porirua, Ahuriri, Wairarapa,
+Whanganui, Rangitikei, and the whole of the Middle Island given up to
+you, and still you are not content. We are driven up into a corner,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">{335}</a></span>
+and yet you covet that also.'" But, though his overtures
+were thus indignantly spurned and rejected, the <i>mana</i>
+of the Governor did not suffer any diminution in the
+estimation of the chief, who to the end of his days
+continued to regard Grey with that chivalrous respect
+which is extended by one warrior to another whom
+he deems to be worthy of his steel.</p>
+
+<p>In 1856, while still residing at Poroutawhao, Rangihaeata was stricken
+with measles in a particularly malignant form, but, with his
+characteristic recklessness of consequences, he refused to take the
+ordinary precautions to facilitate his recovery. Though still in a
+high state of fever, he decided to visit Otaki, and ordered his groom
+to drive him thither. When passing the Waikawa River, he thought to
+abate the fever by taking a cold bath; and, stopping the buggy, he
+plunged into the river, from which he emerged with the hand of death
+upon him. He was taken on to Otaki, where his malady rapidly increased,
+and two days afterwards he passed away. His body was taken back, at
+the head of an enormous procession, to Poroutawhao, where he was
+buried beside his wife, the <i>tangi</i> in his case being marked by
+all the barbarous features of native mourning, interspersed with not a
+few of the prevailing European vices.</p>
+
+<p>When in the prime of life, Rangihaeata stood over six feet in height,
+a handsome man, magnificently built. Like his more notorious uncle, he
+too had features of aquiline mould, lit up by a pair of piercing black
+eyes, which instantly flashed out their resentment on any real or
+fancied insult. He was exceedingly jealous of his <i>mana</i>, and quick
+to blaze into a fit of indignation at any word or act which he might
+construe to be a reflection upon his authority as a chief. That
+authority he frequently asserted by levying toll upon the settlers and
+whalers, but never in any case from pure cupidity, or where he did
+not, by Maori law, have some good and valid claim to <i>utu</i>. Against
+these extortions, as they were pleased to regard them, the whalers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">{336}</a></span>
+appealed to such authority<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_196" id="Ref_196" href="#Foot_196">[196]</a></span>
+as they could find in the islands; and
+when they were unable to obtain what they deemed to be justice in that
+quarter, they took the law into their own hands, and tried to rid
+themselves of their tormentor by means of the poison-cup. Frequent
+attempts were made to poison him at the whaling stations; and we are
+credibly informed that, on one occasion, he was induced to swallow a
+pint of raw rum heavily drugged with arsenic. But, in their excess of
+zeal to compass the chief's death, they had been led to apply too
+great a quantity of poison, and instead of its acting as they
+anticipated, it merely acted as an emetic. If this statement be
+well-grounded, or if the whalers were as Major Bunbury described them
+to be, when he visited Mana in order to procure Rangihaeata's
+signature to the Treaty of Waitangi, it is not to be expected that
+such dissolute associates would afford the chief much light and
+leading in the path of rectitude.</p>
+
+<p>The reckless disregard by the settlers and whalers of the sanctity of
+native custom was responsible for many of the misunderstandings, which
+they have debited against
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">{337}</a></span>
+Rangihaeata for malice and mischief; while no attempt
+has been made to exonerate him on the ground that he
+probably saw the act only from the point of view of his
+native origin and upbringing. He was in spirit and in
+the flesh a Maori, and gloried in it, openly professing a
+detestation for the <i>pakeha</i> and all that he had brought to
+the country. He affected a supreme contempt for the
+luxuries of the white man; but the weakness of human
+nature had blinded him to the inconsistency of which he
+was daily guilty in acquiring and gratifying an uncontrollable
+love of tobacco and rum. When under the
+influence of liquor he was querulous and violent; but
+his drinking indiscretions were generally redeemed as far
+as possible by the payment of ample compensation, for,
+savage though he was, Rangihaeata was not destitute of a
+liberal sense of justice.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_197" id="Ref_197" href="#Foot_197">[197]</a></span>
+This he applied to himself as
+rigorously as to others. When he was flying before the
+troops in the Horokiwi Valley, he frequently inquired if
+those who were hottest in pursuit were relatives of the
+victims of his anger at the Wairau; for to him "a life for
+a life" was an inexorable law, to which even he must
+bow, if the friends of the massacred men should overtake
+him. In the cause of what he believed to be the liberty
+of his people he did and dared much, enduring intense
+hardships for the maintenance of a principle, and when
+we charge him with harbouring criminals and refusing to
+deliver them over to justice, our resentment against his
+conduct may be mitigated by the reflection that his
+loyalty to these misguided friends was not so much
+due to a sympathy with crime, as it was a practical
+protest against what he believed to be their unfair
+treatment by the New Zealand Company. Rangihaeata
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">{338}</a></span>
+stoutly resisted all attempts to convert him to the
+Christian faith, clinging to his heathen gods as closely
+as he clung to his antipathy to European settlement.
+His convictions on these points were deep-rooted and
+irrevocable; and he died as he lived, a savage, guilty
+of much bloodshed, yet not altogether devoid of nobility.
+Though he never rose to the level of Te Rauparaha as a
+warrior or a statesman, he was, nevertheless, a strong man
+amongst his people, opposed alike to the missionary and
+the settler, but only because he saw with a prophetic
+eye that the growing ascendancy of the <i>pakeha</i> meant the
+ultimate subjugation of the Maori race. Viewed from
+this standpoint&mdash;the only one equitable to Rangihaeata&mdash;his
+policy of hostility cannot be characterised as that of a
+stubborn rebel, but may with greater justice be regarded
+as the policy of a patriot.</p>
+
+<p>The character and personal attributes of Te Rauparaha have been the
+subject of much conflicting comment, and the pen-portraits of him
+which have come down to us have consequently varied, in sympathy with
+the mood or interest of his critics. In physical appearance, all,
+however, agree that he was short of stature and aquiline of feature;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_198" id="Ref_198" href="#Foot_198">[198]</a></span>
+and, though at times obsequious in manner, he was
+equally capable of displaying an imperious dignity of deportment which
+marked him as a man accustomed to wield unquestioned authority. While
+in repose, the general expression of his countenance was placid and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">{339}</a></span>
+thoughtful; but when under the influence of excitement
+or agitation, a receding forehead, a furtive glance, and
+tusk-like teeth, revealed by a curling lip, detracted considerably
+from his impressive appearance. Though
+upwards of sixty years of age when he came into contact
+with the Europeans (for he claimed to have been a boy
+when Cook visited the country), he was still possessed of
+a wiry frame, and was capable of exerting great physical
+strength and activity, his limbs being straight, his step
+elastic, and his athletic vigour little diminished by age.
+Perhaps the most graphic description given of the chief
+is that penned by Mr. Jerningham Wakefield, whose
+cameo-like portrait may be accepted as faithful, and typical
+of others given by contemporary writers of equal integrity,
+if of inferior literary skill. Wakefield saw Te Rauparaha
+for the first time on the morning after the battle of
+Kuititanga, from which the chief had just returned; and
+to the excitement of that event may be attributed the
+agitation observable in his manner, the "wandering
+watchful glances" he threw around him, and the air of
+"evident fear and distrust," all of which contributed so
+forcefully to the creation of an unfavourable impression
+on the minds of his visitors.</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"As we leaped from our boat, he advanced to meet us, and, with looks
+ of evident fear and distrust, eagerly sought our hand to exchange the
+ missionary greeting. During the whole of the ensuing conversation he
+ seemed uneasy and insecure in his own opinion, and the whalers
+ present described this behaviour as totally at variance 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 every one. 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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">{340}</a></span>
+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, were plainly discernible on
+a nearer view."</p>
+
+<p>Such was the man who, in or about the year of Bonaparte's death, began
+to play the Napoleonic <i>rôle</i> in New Zealand.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_199" id="Ref_199" href="#Foot_199">[199]</a></span>
+Like the Corsican conqueror, to whom his life affords an interesting historical
+parallel, he derived no especial advantage from hereditary lineage,
+for his place in the Maori peerage was only sufficient to lift him
+above the native plutocracy. In his rise to eminence birth played but
+a minor part, his path to fortune being carved out by innate
+enterprise, inherent courage, wonderful executive capacity, and that
+dash of political unscrupulousness which is seldom absent from leaders
+of men. From his youth up he displayed masterful qualities of mind,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_200" id="Ref_200" href="#Foot_200">[200]</a></span>
+which infallibly lift their possessor above the level of
+mediocrity, and when such qualities are found, whether in savage or
+civilised society, the measure of success attained is only limited by
+the degree of opportunity offered. Te Rauparaha's escapades as a boy
+reveal his natural bravery; his care as a young man for the generous
+entertainment of his visitors indicates an appreciation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">{341}</a></span>
+of the value of a good social impression; his
+exertions to master the art of war were sustained by a
+clear recognition of the fact that authority in an age of
+strife was impossible without military success; and his
+ambition to furnish his people with guns was just as
+clearly the result of the knowledge that military success
+was impossible without a weapon as efficient as that
+wielded by the enemy. It was not any doubt of the
+bravery or fidelity of his people that induced his anxiety
+regarding their safety at Kawhia, but a conviction that,
+unless they could procure muskets and fight Waikato on
+equal terms, their doom was sealed.</p>
+
+<p>But there was also that in him which made him hunger for conquest just
+as keenly as he desired to evade being conquered; and if the discovery
+of an escape from his dilemma at Kawhia was accidental, he was, as a
+rule, careful to leave nothing to accident in the execution of his
+fully matured plans. The migration from Kawhia to Kapiti was a bold
+and daring conception, fraught as it was with difficulties of
+transport, peril to old and young, and, more than all, with the
+certainty that every inch of the way would have to be either bargained
+for or fought for. Yet it is the manner in which the idea was executed
+rather than the idea itself that calls for our admiration. It was
+characterised by wise planning, discreet forethought, accurate
+calculation, clever diplomacy, skilful strategy; and, when all else
+failed, there were the strong right arm and the courageous heart to
+compel compliance, if compulsion were needed. That Te Rauparaha was
+blessed with abundant confidence in his own prowess is demonstrated by
+the lightheartedness with which he assumed the rank and
+responsibilities of the dying Hape Tuarangi; and it was just this
+spirit of cheerful self-sufficiency which inspired others with that
+unbounded trust and confidence in him, which enabled him to lead his
+people away from the ties of their ancestral home, and induce them to
+share with him the dangers and uncertainty of a great enterprise. It
+is at least a tribute to Te Rauparaha's talents as a leader that, so
+long as the Maori
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">{342}</a></span>
+remained unchanged by European influences, he continued
+to receive the loyal support and unfailing
+allegiance of his people. He was always popular with
+the masses, otherwise he could not have accomplished a
+tithe of what he did. No criticism of Te Rauparaha is
+sound which represents him as wholly bad. There is in
+human nature a rough method of arriving at what is
+right; and no public, whether savage or civilised, will for
+long tolerate, much less venerate, a leader whose only
+policy is his own aggrandisement.</p>
+
+<p>The undisputed position which Te Rauparaha enjoyed in the affections
+of his own people, the fidelity with which they followed him, till the
+<i>mana</i> of the chief was superseded by the ascendancy of the
+<i>pakeha</i>, afford proof that they, at all events, were able to
+discern some meritorious qualities in him, even though not endowed
+with the higher ethical vision of a modern critic. It has been
+suggested that, in after years, when dissensions arose amongst the
+tribes which acknowledged his chieftainship, the revolt was due to
+shattered confidence, this shaken faith being traceable to a belief
+that he was treacherously plotting with Ngati-Raukawa to compass the
+expulsion of Ngati-Awa from Waikanae. But it must not be forgotten
+that, by this period, the advent of the <i>pakeha</i> had created a
+new atmosphere around the Maori, and the policy of the missionary in
+extolling the convert to the disparagement of the chief had, in a
+measure, destroyed the power of the people's leaders. And, in the
+general decline of hereditary authority, Te Rauparaha's <i>mana</i>
+had suffered with the rest. It had therefore become more
+difficult&mdash;and it may have been impossible&mdash;for him to quell
+internecine strife by the peremptory means which he would have
+employed in the days of his absolute supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>No candid review of the chief's career can, however, fail to take
+cognisance of the fact that his methods frequently gave rise to
+suspicions of deepest treachery, the doubtful honour of these
+proceedings having long since passed into song and proverb. In common
+with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">{343}</a></span>
+all successful leaders, he possessed the virtue of keeping
+his own counsel. He made his plans, nursed them in
+his own mind, and, in the fullness of time, gave his
+orders accordingly&mdash;a secretive habit which gave origin
+to the saying: "No one knew his thoughts, whether
+they were good or evil." This reticence has, by some
+writers, been given an interpretation which does not
+rightly belong to it: because he was reserved, therefore
+he was treacherous. Such a deduction does not necessarily
+sum up the whole position. But, even when this has been
+admitted, there still remains the imputation of treachery,
+left by the derisive songs and proverbs, to be either
+admitted or combated. The unblushing apologist for
+Te Rauparaha might conceivably argue that these chants
+were but the creation of prejudiced or malignant minds;
+but the charges of deception, amounting to treachery,
+are too frequently reiterated to be rejected as altogether
+groundless. Barbarous though the Maori was, he had a
+code of honour which could not be lightly violated; and
+when a member of a tribe was killed, it was not the fact
+that he was dead which agitated his friends, but the
+circumstances of his dying. "Was his death <i>tika</i>?<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_201" id="Ref_201" href="#Foot_201">[201]</a></span>
+Had it been compassed in fair fight? Or was it <i>kohuru</i>?"<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_202" id="Ref_202" href="#Foot_202">[202]</a></span>
+These were questions always demanding a satisfactory
+answer, for the laws governing life and death were well
+defined. And, judged by these laws, it is impossible to
+hold Te Rauparaha blameless of the crime of treachery.
+The killing of the Rangitane chief, Toki-poto, the capture
+of the Hotu-iti <i>pa</i>, the seizure of Tamaiharanui, and
+possibly many another similar deed not so specifically
+recorded, were all acts of treachery, and serve to dim the
+lustre of his larger achievements conducted strictly in
+accordance with Maori military law. Nevertheless, it is
+possible that there has been much exaggeration in relation
+to this phase of the chief's character. When his troubles
+with the New Zealand Company began to develop, and
+more particularly after the Wairau massacre, it became
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">{344}</a></span>
+the mission of a section of the European community to
+represent him as the incarnation of all that was cruel,
+treacherous, and unspeakably wicked. In this connection
+it becomes especially dangerous to accept unreservedly
+the judgment of the Wakefields, who were early prejudiced
+against him by his opposition to their colonising
+methods, and were afterwards deeply embittered towards
+him by the death of their relative at the Wairau. Impartiality
+under such circumstances is almost too much
+to expect; and it is only just to Te Rauparaha to say
+that they availed themselves fully of their special opportunities
+for disseminating a prejudice against him, so
+that a view so long uncontradicted can hardly now be
+eradicated.</p>
+
+<p>In no respect has the reputation of Te Rauparaha suffered more from
+bitter hostility than in connection with the Wairau massacre. And we
+cannot wonder; for at the time of its occurrence he had arrayed
+against him a galaxy of literary talent, such as the Colony has never
+seen since, and day by day these wielders of facile pens fed with
+scholarly vituperation the flames of racial animosity, which were
+already burning at white heat. They spoke of murder; they clamoured
+for revenge; and all who failed to see as they saw were exposed to the
+darts of their merciless sarcasm. But, with the softening influence of
+time, men's hearts have mellowed, stormy passions have subsided, and
+we of this day are able to review the facts with more sober judgment
+than was possible to those who lived and wrote in the heated
+atmosphere of the time. In this unhappy quarrel it must now be
+accepted as an established fact that the New Zealand Company were the
+aggressors. The Wairau Valley may, or may not, have been included in
+their original purchases; but Captain Wakefield knew that this point
+was being contested by the natives. He knew further that the dispute
+had been by them referred to Mr. Spain, and therefore no reasonable
+excuse can be advanced for his attempt to seize the valley while its
+title was still subject to judicial investigation. Te
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">{345}</a></span>
+Rauparaha's attitude in the early stages of the trouble
+amounted to no more than a temperate protest. He
+personally interviewed Captain Wakefield at Nelson; he
+was as conciliatory in requesting the surveyors to leave
+the field as he was decided that they must go; he calmed
+Rangihaeata's violence at the conference with Mr. Tuckett;
+and, as Mr. Spain's final decision was fatal to the Company's
+claim, the charge of arson preferred against him dwindles
+into a legal fiction. The conciliatory tone thus manifested
+by the chief was equally marked in the more acute stage,
+which arose at Tua Marina. While the magistrate fumed
+and raged, the chief stood perfectly calm. He more
+than once begged that time should be taken to talk over
+the case; but the mad impetuosity of Thompson would
+brook no delay in determining a cause the merits of
+which he, the judge, had already prejudged in his own
+mind. For the precipitation of the conflict which
+followed, who shall say that the fault was Te Rauparaha's?
+It was neither his hand nor his command which put the
+brand to the bush, nor does it appear that it was ever
+within his power to control the outburst of human
+passion which flamed up upon the firing of the first
+shot. What part he took in the fight is uncertain. It
+has never been suggested that he bore arms, and therefore
+we may assume that he was an excited spectator, rather
+than an active participant in the mêlée. That he was
+early on the brow of the hill, after the retreat had ceased,
+would appear to be beyond doubt; but his first act on
+reaching the Europeans was to shake hands with them,
+a proceeding which seemed to imply that, even after all
+that had passed, his friendship had not been irretrievably
+lost. Indeed, there is nothing to lead us to suppose
+that he harboured any thoughts of retaliation, until
+Rangihaeata violently demanded <i>utu</i> for the death of
+Te Rongo.</p>
+
+<p>This demand placed Te Rauparaha in a serious dilemma. Against any
+feeling of friendship for the Europeans which may still have lingered
+in his heart, he had now to set a claim which was wholly in accord
+with native
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">{346}</a></span>
+custom; a right, in fact, which had been recognised by
+his forefathers for more centuries than we can with
+certainty name; a feature of Maori justice supported
+by ages of precedent, and which, imbibed from infancy,
+had become a part of his nature. This was undoubtedly
+the crisis of the tragedy. Had Te Rauparaha decided
+against Rangihaeata, there would have been no massacre;
+but where his detractors are unfair to him is in appearing
+to expect that he should have suddenly risen superior to
+his Maori nature, and, in place of allowing his actions
+to be governed by Maori law, that he&mdash;a heathen&mdash;should
+have viewed the attempt to seize his land and his person,
+together with the death of Te Rongo, in the forgiving
+spirit of a Christian. No Ethiop was ever asked to
+change his skin more rapidly; and if Te Rauparaha
+failed in the performance of the miracle, he only failed
+when success was morally impossible to him. In the
+massacre itself he had no share; and, beyond the fact
+that, under intense natural excitement, he gave a tacit
+consent to Rangihaeata's deed, he appears to have stood
+outside it.</p>
+
+<p>Of his relations with the whalers, accounts vary. If we accept the
+Wakefield view, we must believe that by them he was heartily detested
+and distrusted. That he was acquisitive to the point of aggression is
+possible; that he was often overbearing towards them may be equally
+true, for these are characteristics frequently seen in the powerful
+savage; but there are also instances recorded in which he showed a
+ready generosity and a strict sense of justice towards the whaling
+community.</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"The whalers and traders, who had the best opportunity of being
+ intimately acquainted with him, and that, too, at a time when his
+ power to injure was greatest, invariably spoke of him as ever having
+ been the white man's friend. He always placed the best he had before
+ them, and in no instance have I heard of his doing any one of them an
+ injury. Speaking of him to an old whaler, he said emphatically that
+ Te Rauparaha never let the white man who needed want anything he
+ could give, whether food or clothing; in fact, his natural sagacity
+ told him that it was his interest to make
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">{347}</a></span>
+common cause with the Europeans, for it was through them that
+he acquired the sinews of war, guns, powder, and shot, and everything
+else that he required."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_203" id="Ref_203" href="#Foot_203">[203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The impartiality with which he held the balance between the two races
+may be gathered from the following incident: A whaleboat had left
+Waikanae to proceed to Kapiti, the crew taking with them a native, who
+sat in the bow. On the journey over the Maori managed to secrete
+beneath his mat the small hatchet which the whalers used to cut the
+line, and was quietly walking off with it when the boat reached the
+island. Before he had gone many steps one of the crew whispered to the
+headsman what had happened, whereupon that worthy picked up the
+harpoon and drove it straight through the Maori's back, killing him on
+the spot. The native population was at once thrown into a state of
+uproar and fury, threatening dire vengeance upon the whalers, but Te
+Rauparaha quelled the disturbance in an instant, and, after inquiring
+into its cause, walked away, declaring that the native had only met
+with his deserts.</p>
+
+<p>Towards his native enemies Te Rauparaha was unquestionably merciless
+and cruel, though not more so, perhaps, than was sanctioned by the
+spirit of the times in which he lived. Yet that he was not wholly
+incapable of admiration for a worthy opponent is shown by his seeking
+out and sparing Te Ata o Tu, the Ngai-Tahu warrior, who fought so
+bravely against him at Kaiapoi. Even in this case there are persons
+who affect to believe that self-interest rather than chivalry may have
+been the moving impulse in his conduct, for he possibly counted upon
+so skilful a fighter being invaluable to him in his northern troubles.
+But surely we can afford to be magnanimous enough to concede to so
+fine an example of generosity a less mercenary motive?<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_204" id="Ref_204" href="#Foot_204">[204]</a></span>
+Though relentless to a degree
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">{348}</a></span>
+towards those tribes who came between him and his
+ambitions, it must always be remembered that his ruthlessness
+is not to be judged from the Christian standpoint.
+His enormities, which were neither few nor small,
+were those of a savage, born and bred in an atmosphere
+into which no spirit of Divine charity had ever entered.
+Compared with the excesses practised in civilised warfare
+by such champions of the Cross as Cortés and the Duke
+of Alva, his deeds of darkness become less repugnant, if
+not altogether pardonable.</p>
+
+<p>The attitude which he adopted towards the European was in exact
+opposition to that assumed by Te Rangihaeata. He welcomed rather than
+resented the coming of the white man, although he found reason to
+protest against the methods employed by the New Zealand Company in
+acquiring land on which to settle them. Nor in this respect can it be
+said that his objections were captious or ill-founded; in fact, with
+the exception of the Hutt dispute, the Commissioner's decisions were
+invariably a vindication of his contentions. Some doubt has
+necessarily been cast upon his loyalty to the Government (which he
+accepted when he signed the Treaty of Waitangi), by virtue of the fact
+that he was seized and held captive because of his supposed
+infidelity. There are those with whom it is only necessary to accuse
+in order to condemn. In this case accusation carried condemnation with
+it, but condemnation without proof of guilt is injustice. Whatever the
+measure of Te Rauparaha's duplicity may have been, the Governor
+conspicuously failed to do more than suspect him, and as conspicuously
+failed to bring the chief face to face with his accusers. It was never
+proved, nor was any attempt ever made to prove before a court of
+competent jurisdiction, that Te Rauparaha had held communication with
+the enemy.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">{349}</a></span>
+Even if he had so communicated, an easy explanation
+might have been found in the native practice, under
+which individuals in opposing forces frequently visited
+each other during the progress of hostilities. Te Rauparaha
+had many friends with the rebels, and it would
+appear perfectly natural to him to hold friendly correspondence
+with them, whilst himself maintaining an
+attitude of strict neutrality. Considering the contemptuous
+disregard which many British officials displayed
+towards rites and customs held sacred by the
+Maori, it is not to be expected that they would trouble to
+understand, or try to appreciate, this subtlety in the native
+character. And so, what was to the Maori a well-established
+and common custom, was by them translated
+into treachery, for which Te Rauparaha was made captive
+in a manner which leaves us but little right to talk of open
+and honourable tactics.</p>
+
+<p>His conduct while a captive on board the <i>Calliope</i> appears to
+have been exemplary enough, and he succeeded in impressing those with
+whom he came into contact by his quick perception, particularly of
+anything meant to turn him into ridicule, of which he was most
+sensitive. He frequently became much excited and very violent, and at
+other times, when talking of his misfortunes, he would become deeply
+moved, and the tears would run down his wrinkled cheeks. It is
+recorded that he was very grateful for any kindness shown him; and
+when Lieutenant Thorpe left the ship to return to England he expressed
+the most intense sorrow, crying the whole day, and repeating the
+officer's name in piteous accents. This, it was noted, was not merely
+a temporary affection. When, a year later, the <i>Calliope</i> was
+leaving the New Zealand station, he sent his favourite a very handsome
+mat, begging the officer by whom it was sent to tell Lieutenant Thorpe
+how glad he would be to see his face once more, and how well he would
+treat him now that he was free. Similarly, when Lieutenant McKillop
+was proceeding home, Te Rauparaha took him aside and entreated him to
+go, on reaching England, and convey to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">{350}</a></span>
+Queen Victoria his regard for her and express his keen
+desire to see her, only his great age and the length of the
+voyage standing between him and the consummation of
+that desire. "He hoped, however, she would believe
+that he would always be a great and true friend of hers,
+and use all his influence with his countrymen to make
+them treat her subjects well, and that, when he became
+free again, there would be no doubt as to his loyalty, as he
+would himself, old as he was, be the first to engage in a
+war against any who should offend her or the Governor,
+of whom he always spoke with the greatest respect."
+During his captivity the news of the outbreak of the war
+in the Sutlej reached the Colony, and, noticing the excitement
+on board the <i>Calliope</i>, he asked to be informed of
+the contents of the papers giving details of the battles.
+In this subject he maintained the liveliest interest; and,
+when he had sufficiently grasped the details, he was perceptibly
+impressed by the magnitude of the armies
+engaged and the tremendous resources of the Empire,
+about which he, in common with all natives, had been
+distinctly incredulous. That his release was marked by
+no exhibition of resentment is at least something to his
+credit, and the ease with which he afterwards adapted
+himself to the strangely altered order of things is proof
+that his nature was capable of absorbing higher ideals
+than are taught in savage philosophy, although it is doubtful
+if he ever reached the purer heights attained by a clear
+conception of the beatitudes of the Christian religion.</p>
+
+<p>In the life of Te Rauparaha there is much that is revolting and
+incapable of palliation. But, always remembering his savage
+environment, we must concede to him the possession of qualities which,
+under more enlightened circumstances, would have contributed as
+fruitfully to the uplifting of mankind as they did to its destruction.
+His superiority over his fellows was mental rather than physical; his
+success lay in his intellectual alertness, his originality, strategic
+foresight, and executive capacity. He was probably a better diplomat
+than he was a general, but he had sufficient of the military instinct
+to make him
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">{351}</a></span>
+a conqueror. And if, in the execution of his conquests,
+the primary object of which was to find a safe home for
+his people, the weaker tribes went down, history was but
+repeating amongst the Maoris in New Zealand the story
+which animate nature is always and everywhere proclaiming,
+and which, in the cold language of the
+philosophers, is called "the survival of the fittest."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_196" id="Foot_196" href="#Ref_196">[196]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"On shore, I was much tormented by the zeal of some European
+sailors, who appeared to be a drunken set of lawless vagabonds,
+belonging to the different whaling establishments in the neighbourhood.
+The only respectable person amongst them was a stock-keeper in charge
+of some sheep and horned cattle, and the captain of a whaling vessel
+ahead of us. I asked the sailors, who were complaining that some of
+the property taken was theirs, if they had any specific charge to make
+against Rangihaeata, who was the most powerful chief in the
+neighbourhood. However, I could get nothing from them but vague
+declarations against native chiefs in general, to which I replied that
+the fault was probably as much on their side as on that of the
+natives. The old chief, who was present, appeared to understand the
+drift of the conversation, for he went into his hut and brought out
+several written testimonials of good conduct; on which I desired Mr.
+Williams to explain to him how much I was gratified in perusing them,
+and that I trusted that under the Queen's Government he would continue
+equally to deserve them: that he would find the Government just and
+even-handed, and that punishment would follow evil-doers, whether they
+were natives or Europeans. To which he replied, 'Kapai,' apparently
+much satisfied" (<i>Major Bunbury</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_197" id="Foot_197" href="#Ref_197">[197]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"On Saturday (November 24, 1849), Rangihaeata and a party of his
+followers paid a last visit to Te Rauparaha. At the Ohau ferry
+Rangihaeata demanded some spirits from the temporary ferryman (the
+regular one being absent). On being refused, he knocked him down, and
+then helped himself, but afterwards tendered <i>utu</i> for the
+violence offered and the spirits taken" (New Zealand <i>Spectator</i>,
+December 1, 1849).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_198" id="Foot_198" href="#Ref_198">[198]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In an enclosure opposite the Maori church at Otaki there stands
+upon a pedestal a marble bust of Te Rauparaha. The bust was procured
+in Sydney by Tamihana te Rauparaha at a cost of £200, and the
+likeness, which is said to be a very faithful one, was copied from a
+portrait painted by Mr. Beetham. Because Te Rauparaha had not become
+even "nominally Christian," Mr. Hadfield refused to permit the
+erection of the bust within the church enclosure, and for two years it
+lay upon the common, packed in the case in which it had come from
+Sydney. Subsequently, Mr. McWilliam, the native missionary, collected
+a few pounds with which to purchase the pedestal, and had the bust
+erected where it now stands. On the authority of Dieffenbach and
+Angas, it is said that Te Rauparaha possessed the physical curiosity
+of six toes on each foot.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_199" id="Foot_199" href="#Ref_199">[199]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is estimated that during the course of Te Rauparaha's
+campaigns no less than 60,000 lives were sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_200" id="Foot_200" href="#Ref_200">[200]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Spain, in one of his reports, has said: "Rauparaha is the
+most talented native I have seen in New Zealand. He is mild and
+gentlemanly in his manner and address; a most powerful speaker; and
+his argumentative faculties are of a first rate order."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent">"He must have been a most powerful man, and, if his mind had been
+cultivated, would, no doubt, have been a most clever one. As it is, he
+seldom gets the worst of an argument about his own proceedings, puts
+such searching questions and gives such evasive answers, that he
+puzzled the best of our logicians on many occasions when endeavouring
+to get him to give a decided answer about his not giving us the
+assistance he promised when we were trying to capture the murderers
+from Rangihaeata" (<i>McKillop</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_201" id="Foot_201" href="#Ref_201">[201]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Correct, according to prescribed rules.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_202" id="Foot_202" href="#Ref_202">[202]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Treachery, amounting to murder.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_203" id="Foot_203" href="#Ref_203">[203]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Rev. Richard Taylor.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_204" id="Foot_204" href="#Ref_204">[204]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"I must not omit to mention that, cruel and bloodthirsty as this
+man appears to have been, he must occasionally have made exceptions,
+as one of his slaves voluntarily accompanied him into captivity on
+board the <i>Calliope</i>, waiting on him and paying him every
+attention for a period of eighteen months, knowing from the beginning
+that he was quite free to leave him at any time. He was offered a
+rating on the ship's books, but this he refused, saying there would be
+no one to wait on the old man if he was otherwise employed"
+(<i>McKillop</i>).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 350px">
+  <br />
+  <img width="350" height="596" alt="list" src="images/388-list.jpg" />
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">LIST OF TE RAUPARAHA'S WIVES AND CHILDREN</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 400px">
+  <br />
+  <a href="images/389-map-large.jpg">
+  <img width="400" height="601" alt="map" id="map" src="images/389-map.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">MAP OF NEW ZEALAND<br />
+             Shewing routes taken by Te Rauparaha and Te Puoho in their various raids</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44726 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #44726 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44726)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An Old New Zealander
+       or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.
+
+Author: T. Lindsay Buick
+
+Release Date: January 22, 2014 [EBook #44726]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Pinfield, Shaun Pinder, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Italics are indicated by _underscores_, "oe" ligatures have been
+removed, and small capitals have been converted to full capitals.
+
+Discrepancies between the detail of the list of illustrations, and the
+text accompanying the illustrations themselves, have been retained.
+
+The list also omits the table of Te Rauparaha's wives and children,
+that has been inserted at the end of the book before the map of his
+and Te Puoho's raids. It has been transcribed in this version.
+
+Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in
+hyphenation have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER
+
+ [Illustration: TE RAUPARAHA.
+ After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin.
+ Frontispiece.]
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER
+
+OR, TE RAUPARAHA, THE NAPOLEON OF THE SOUTH
+
+BY
+
+T. LINDSAY BUICK
+
+AUTHOR OF "OLD MARLBOROUGH," "OLD MANAWATU"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+WHITCOMBE & TOMBS, LIMITED
+
+LONDON MELBOURNE
+
+CHRISTCHURCH, WELLINGTON AND DUNEDIN, N.Z.
+
+1911
+
+
+To
+
+S. PERCY SMITH, ESQ., F.R.G.S.
+
+"A WELL-DESERVING PILLAR" IN THE TEMPLE OF POLYNESIAN LEARNING,
+
+I GRATEFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+I have been constrained to write the story of "An Old New Zealander"
+largely to gratify the frequently expressed desire for a more
+comprehensive sketch of Te Rauparaha's career on the part of many
+readers of my former books, in which fitful glimpses of the old chief
+were given. These references have apparently awakened some
+considerable interest in the life and times of the great Ngatitoan,
+and although this period of New Zealand's history is by no means
+barren of literature, I am hopeful that there is still room for a
+volume in which much heterogeneous matter has been grouped and
+consolidated. There may be some amongst the reading public who will
+question the need, or the wisdom, of recording the savage and
+sanguinary past of the Maori; but history is always history, and if
+this contribution serves no other useful purpose, it may at least help
+to emphasise the marvellous transformation which has been worked in
+the natives of New Zealand since Te Rauparaha's time--a transformation
+which can be accounted one of the world's greatest triumphs for
+missionary enterprise. It may be, too, that some critics will not
+subscribe to my estimate of the chief's character, because it has been
+the conventional view that he who refused to part with his own and his
+people's heritage was destitute of a redeeming feature. Owing to the
+misrepresentation of the early settlers and traders he has been
+greatly misunderstood by their successors; and they have further added
+to the injustice by sometimes seeking to measure one who was steeped
+in heathen darkness by the holy standard which was raised by the
+Founder of Christianity. As in the careers of most conquerors, there
+is much in the life of Te Rauparaha that will not bear condonation;
+but in every British community there is a wholesome admiration for
+resourcefulness, indomitable will, and splendid courage; and, if the
+succeeding pages serve to balance these high qualities of the chief
+against his failings, they may assist in setting up a more equitable
+standard whereby future generations will be able to judge him.
+
+In compiling this work I have necessarily had to draw upon many of the
+existing publications on New Zealand, and I now desire gratefully to
+acknowledge my obligations to their authors. I have also to thank Mr.
+S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., for the kindly interest he has displayed in
+the progress of my work, and in no less degree must I pay my
+respectful acknowledgments to Mr. H. M. Stowell and to Mr. J. R.
+Russell for their judicious criticisms and suggestions, whereby I have
+been assisted in arriving at a correct historical perspective. To Mr.
+T. W. Downes, of Whanganui, who has enthusiastically co-operated with
+me in procuring some of the illustrations, and to Mr. J. W. Joynt,
+M.A., for his careful revision of the proofs, I am equally indebted,
+and now beg to tender to these gentlemen my sincere thanks for their
+assistance.
+
+Humbly acknowledging the force of Carlyle's dictum that "Histories are
+as perfect as the historian is wise and is gifted with an eye and a
+soul," I now present the result of my last year's labour to the reader.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+VICTORIA AVENUE, DANNEVIRKE, N.Z.,
+
+_May 23,_ 1911.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+ CHAPTER I
+ WHENCE AND WHITHER?                                                 1
+
+ CHAPTER II
+ ARAWA AND TAINUI                                                   16
+
+ CHAPTER III
+ A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING                                            29
+
+ CHAPTER IV
+ THE LAND OF PROMISE                                                62
+
+ CHAPTER V
+ THE SOUTHERN RAIDS                                                121
+
+ CHAPTER VI
+ THE SMOKING FLAX                                                  189
+
+ CHAPTER VII
+ WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU                                          235
+
+ CHAPTER VIII
+ THE CAPTIVE CHIEF                                                 293
+
+ CHAPTER IX
+ WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE                                            331
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PORTRAIT OF TE RAUPARAHA                               _Frontispiece_
+ _After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin_
+
+                                                           FACING PAGE
+
+ DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND                           16
+ _From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland.
+ By kind permission of the Artist_
+
+ POMOHAKA PASSAGE, KAWHIA                                           32
+ _From a photo by Jonston_
+
+ BURNING OF THE "BOYD"                                              48
+ _From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland.
+ By kind permission of the Artist_
+
+ TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA                                                64
+ _The Point from which the Ngati-Toa migration commenced_
+
+ THE MEMORIAL TIKI, KAIAPOI                                        128
+ _Erected on the site of the pa destroyed by Te Rauparaha_
+
+ GILLETT'S WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842                           144
+ _By kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.
+ From a sketch by her Father_
+
+ MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU                                 256
+ _Erected by public subscription, 1869.
+ Photo by Macey_
+
+ TAUPO PA, PORIRUA                                                 288
+ _After a drawing by G. F. Angas_
+
+ TE RANGIHAEATA                                                    304
+ _After a drawing by C. D. Barraud, Esq._
+
+ MAP DELINEATING JOURNEYS OF TE RAUPARAHA AND
+ TE PUOHO                                                     _At end_
+
+
+
+
+LAMENT ON THE CAPTURE OF TE RAUPARAHA
+
+_Composed by Hinewhe, and supposed to be sung by Te Rangihaeata._
+
+
+I
+
+              Alas! my heart is wild with grief:
+                  There rises still
+                  The frowning hill
+      Of Kapiti, in vain amid the waters lone!
+                  But he, the chief,
+              The key of all the land, is gone!
+
+
+II
+
+      Calm in the lofty ship, O ancient comrade, sleep,
+          And gaze upon the stillness of the deep!
+                  Till now, till now,
+          A calm was but a signal unto thee
+              To rise in pride, and to the fray
+          Despatch some martial band in stern array!
+                  But go thy way,
+              And with a favouring tide
+              Upon the billows ride,
+      Till Albion's cliffs thou climb, so far beyond the sea.
+
+
+III
+
+      Thou stood'st alone, a kingliest forest tree,
+                  Our pride, our boast,
+              Our shelter and defence to be.
+          But helplessly--ah, helplessly wast thou
+          Plucked sword-like from the heart of all thy host,
+              Thy thronging "Children of the Brave,"
+                  With none to save!
+          Not amid glaring eyes;
+          Not amid battle cries,
+          When the desperate foes
+          Their dense ranks close:
+      Not from the lips of the terrible guns
+      Thy well-known cry resounding o'er the heath:
+              "Now, now, my sons!
+      Now fearless with me to the realms of Death!"
+      Not thus--not thus, amid the whirl of war,
+      Wert thou caught up and borne away afar!
+
+
+IV
+
+              Who will arise to save?
+              Who to the rescue comes?
+          Waikato's lord--Tauranga's chief,
+      Thy grandsons, rushing from their distant homes,
+  They shall avenge their sire--they shall assuage our grief.
+          While you, the "Children of the Brave,"
+          Still sleep a sleep as of the grave,
+  Dull as the slumbering fish that basks upon the summer wave.
+
+
+V
+
+          Depart then, hoary chief! Thy fall--
+          The pledge forsooth of peace to all--
+  Of Heaven's peace, so grateful to their God above,
+          And to thy kinsmen twain, by whom
+  Was brought us from the portals of the "land of gloom,"
+          This novel law of love--
+              This law of good:
+      Say, rather, murderous law of blood,
+      That charges its own crimes upon its foes--
+  While I alone am held the source whence these disasters rose!
+
+
+
+
+An Old New Zealander
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHENCE AND WHITHER?
+
+
+Probably no portion of the globe is so pregnant with the romance of
+unsolved problem as the Pacific Ocean. For thousands of years before
+Vasco de Balboa, the friend of Columbus, stood upon the heights of
+Panama and enriched mankind by his glorious geographical discovery,
+this great ocean and the islands which its blue waters encircle had
+remained a world in themselves, undisturbed by the rise and fall of
+continental kingdoms, unknown even to the semi-civilised peoples who
+dwelt on the neighbouring continental shores. But although thus shut
+out from human ken and wrapt in impenetrable mystery, we are entitled
+to presume that during all this period of time Nature, both animate
+and inanimate, had been there fulfilling its allotted part in the
+Creator's plan, though no pen has fully told, or ever can tell, of the
+many stupendous changes which were wrought in those far-away centuries
+either by the will of God or by the hand of man. That vast and
+far-reaching displacements had been effected before the Spanish
+adventurer's discovery of 1513 broke this prehistoric silence, there
+is little room to doubt, for the position and configuration of the
+island groups are as surely the results of geological revolutions as
+their occupation by a strangely simple and unlettered people is
+evidence of some great social upheaval in the older societies of the
+world. Precisely what those geological changes have been, or what the
+cause of that social upheaval, it would be imprudent to affirm, but
+there is always room for speculation, even in the realm of science and
+history, and there is no unreasonable scepticism in refusing to
+subscribe to the belief that the Pacific Ocean always has been,
+geographically speaking, what it is to-day, nor rash credulity in
+accepting the ruined buildings and monolithic remains which lie
+scattered from Easter Island to Ponape, as evidences of a people whose
+empire--if such it can be called--had vanished long before the
+appearance of the Spaniards in these waters.
+
+But even if the opinion still awaits scientific verification that the
+islands and atolls which sustain the present population of the Pacific
+are but the surviving heights of a submerged continent, there is less
+room to doubt that the dark-skinned inhabitants of those islands can
+look back upon a long course of racial vicissitude antecedent to the
+arrival of the Spaniards. What the first and subsequent voyagers found
+was a people of stalwart frame, strong and lithe of limb, with head
+and features, and especially the fairness of the skin, suggestive of
+Caucasian origin.[1] Although of bright and buoyant spirits, they were
+without letters, and their arts were of the most rudimentary kind. Of
+pottery they knew nothing, and of all metals they were equally
+ignorant. For their domestic utensils they were dependent upon the
+gourd and other vegetable products, and for weapons of war and tools
+of husbandry upon the flints and jades of the mountains. Their
+textiles, too, were woven without the aid of the spindle, and in much
+the same primitive fashion as had been employed by the cave-dwellers
+of England thousands of years before. In the production of fire they
+were not a whit less primitive than the semi-savage of ancient
+Britain. They thus presented the pathetic spectacle of a people
+lingering away back in the Palæolithic period of the world's history,
+while the world around them had marched on through the long centuries
+involved in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
+
+But though devoid of these mechanical arts, the higher development of
+which counts for much in national progress, these people were no
+sluggards. They were expert canoe-builders, and their skill in naval
+architecture was only equalled by the daring with which they traversed
+the ocean waste around them. They were bold and adventurous
+navigators, who studied the flow of the tides and the sweep of the
+ocean currents. They knew enough of astronomy to steer by the stars,
+and were able to navigate their rude craft with a wonderful degree of
+mathematical certainty. Whether their wanderings were in all cases due
+to design or sometimes to accident, cannot now be definitely affirmed;
+but there is abundant proof that their voyages had extended from
+Hawaii in the north to Antarctica in the south, and there was scarcely
+an island that was not known and named in all their complex
+archipelagos.
+
+Of literature they, of course, had none, but they revelled in oral
+traditions and in a mythology rich in imagination and poetry, which
+accounted for all things, even for the beginning of the world and for
+the ultimate destiny of the soul. Being deeply religious and as deeply
+superstitious, they interpreted natural phenomena in a mystic sense,
+and Pope's lines on the poor Indian would have been equally applicable
+to the ancient Maori in Polynesia--
+
+  "Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind
+  Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind:
+  His soul proud science never taught to stray
+  Far as the Solar Walk or Milky Way.
+  Yet simple Nature to his hope has given
+  Behind the cloud-capt hill an humbler heaven;
+  Some safer world in depths of woods embraced,
+  Some happier island in the watery waste,
+  Where slaves once more their native land behold,
+  No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold."[2]
+
+The cradle of the Polynesian race was undoubtedly Asia; and to arrive at
+a clear understanding as to how it became transported from a continental
+home into this island world it will be necessary to carry the mind back
+probably more than 200,000 years. At that time the dominating section
+of the human family was the Caucasian--fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and
+revelling in the glory of long, wavy hair. Their civilisation,
+however, like their weapons of chipped stone, was of the most
+primitive character; but they had advanced sufficiently in the
+ascending scale of human progress to show that they valued life by
+paying pious respect to their dead. They preserved the memory of the
+departed by erecting over their burial-places huge blocks of stone,
+many of which monuments stand to-day to mark the course of their
+migrations. And, except possibly a flint axe-head or a rude ornament
+found deep in some ancient gravel-bed, these megalithic monuments are
+amongst the most convincing evidence we have of the wide diffusion of
+the human race in prehistoric times. From the most westerly point in
+Ireland, across the European and Asiatic continents, they stretch by
+the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the former, and
+the plains of Siberia in the latter, until they reach the waters of
+the Pacific. Even this wide expanse of ocean proved no insuperable
+barrier to the onward march of wandering man; for it is by the
+presence of his stone-building habit in so many of the Pacific Islands
+that we are able to construct a probable hypothesis of the process by
+which Polynesia first became inhabited.
+
+In the light of modern knowledge, the theory which finds most ready
+acceptance is that in Palæolithic times the Caucasian race, being more
+or less a maritime people, had obtained possession of the coastal
+districts of Europe. As they multiplied and spread, they followed the
+ocean's edge to the northward, and, as the Arctic regions were then
+enjoying a temperate climate, there was a plenteous and pleasant home
+for them even in the most northerly part of Siberia. But later a
+drastic climatic change began to take place. The great ice-sheet,
+which is known to have twice covered northern Europe and Asia, began
+to creep down upon the land, driving man and beast before it. Impelled
+by this relentless force, there began a momentous migration of
+Palæolithic man, who swept in hordes southward and eastward in search
+of a more hospitable home. In course of time a section of these
+fugitives, travelling across the Siberian plains, reached the Pacific
+coast, and here their old maritime spirit reasserted itself. With the
+pressure of climate behind them, and in their breasts the love of
+adventure, the sea soon became as much their domain as the land.
+
+At first their canoes were of the frailest character; but experience
+and unlimited opportunity soon taught them the art of constructing
+safe sea-going craft, which could carry considerable numbers on a
+course of discovery. The tales of new lands found, and their warm and
+genial climate, no doubt stimulated the spirit of exploration, so that
+gradually, and almost imperceptibly, the tide of migration which was
+flowing from the centre of the continent was drawn across the sea to
+the region of eternal summer.
+
+From somewhere in the vicinity of the Japanese archipelago, fleets of
+canoes set off at various times carrying with them a freight of
+humanity destined to found a new people in a new land. But, in order
+to account for the transportation of large numbers of women and
+children on vessels which, at the best, must have been mainly
+constructed of reeds, we must assume smaller intervals of ocean than
+exist now. There are evidences of other kinds that startling
+geological changes have occurred in this portion of the globe; and
+this assumption would help to explain feats of travel otherwise
+apparently impracticable to a rude and poorly equipped people.
+
+For how many centuries this stream of venturesome humanity flowed
+southward no one can tell; but it is safe to assume that great numbers
+must have taken the plunge into the unknown, some resting by the way,
+others pushing on to a point beyond the furthest preceding colony,
+until the main groups of islands were occupied, and outpost after
+outpost was firmly established. With them these people carried their
+simple mode of life, their primitive arts and customs, not the least
+of which was their stone-building habit, which, as already shown, had
+originated in their desire to perpetuate the memory and preserve the
+bones of their dead. Hence arose in their new home those strange
+structures of uncemented stone which astonished the early discoverers,
+and which stand to-day, broken and decrepit relics, like ghostly
+wraiths from a long-forgotten past.
+
+But, whatever its duration may have been, two causes operated to bring
+this period of migration to a close. The first of these influences was
+the dispersion of the Mongolian race from Central Asia; the second,
+the subsidence of the land along the Asiatic coast. Either of these
+events would have been in itself sufficient to cut off the supply of
+emigrants to the islands. The descent of the more warlike Mongols from
+their high plateau would effectually close the inland route across the
+north of Asia to the gentle Caucasians; while the sinking of the
+land-bridge, along which they had been wont to pick their way, would
+so increase the hazard of the journey that none would care to risk a
+voyage across the greater stretch of sea. Thus the first stratum of
+the Polynesian race was laid by an invasion of European people
+embarking from Asia; and these light-skinned, fair-haired Vikings,
+who were driven out of their ancient home by the descent of the giant
+glaciers, plunged into the abyss of uncertainty, little dreaming that
+from their stock would arise a people whose life-story would be, as it
+still is to some extent, one of the world's unsolved problems.
+
+Amongst the many features which have seemed to intensify the shroud of
+mystery enveloping these people is the combination of a dark skin with
+tall and stalwart frames and a head-form usually belonging to fair
+races. Also the strange stratification of their customs discloses a
+social condition so contradictory as to amount almost to a paradox.
+Why a dark-skinned race should possess features which find their
+counterpart in the whites of to-day, or why the most primitive method
+of obtaining fire--by friction--should be found side by side with
+highly scientific methods of warfare, especially displayed in the art
+of fortification, seemed difficult of explanation, until the idea of a
+second invasion, comprised of dark-blooded people, had been conceived
+and had taken root.[3]
+
+The theory of a grafting of a dark race on to the Caucasian stem which
+had already been planted in Polynesia explains much. It would account
+for the olive-coloured skin of the present-day natives, and it would
+provide the reasonable supposition that, being later comers, they
+would import with them newer ideas and more modern customs, some of
+which would be adopted in their entirety, others in a modified form.
+With the advantage of many centuries of contact with neighbouring
+peoples, they had necessarily learned much of the art of war, which
+had been quite unknown to the islanders in their isolation. These dark
+invaders were therefore able to come in the spirit of conquerors; and
+consequently the masculine arts, such as the making of weapons and the
+building of forts and canoes, received an impulse which placed them
+considerably in advance of anything of which the original people had
+ever dreamed. But the domestic arts would be but little changed, for
+the reason that the invasion, being one of warlike intent, would be
+comprised largely of males, the women who were taken to wife after
+their lords had been vanquished being allowed to retain their old
+modes of life. Hence the methods of twisting threads of fibre, of
+weaving mats, and of making fire, would remain the same as had been
+practised by them from time immemorial, while there would be a
+distinct advance in those arts which came more exclusively within the
+domain of the males. In two respects, however, these newcomers did not
+better the condition or raise the standard of art amongst the people
+with whom they were about to mingle their blood. They introduced
+neither pottery nor the use of metals. It is therefore clear that the
+section of the human family to which they belonged had not advanced
+beyond the Stone Age when their invasion took place; and this fact
+helps us to some extent in our inferences as to the period when this
+second migration commenced and when it terminated.
+
+For the direction whence these dark-skinned invaders came we have to
+rely on a careful comparison of the traditions and genealogies of the
+present-day people, who have preserved in a remarkable way certain
+leading facts, which serve as landmarks by which their journeys can
+still be traced. By the aid of these, the thread of their history has
+been followed back to a time at least several centuries before the
+birth of Christ, when a dark-skinned people dwelt upon the banks of
+the river Ganges. Here, by contact with other races, probably the
+Egyptian and Semitic, they acquired that smattering of mythology
+which, as preserved by the ancient Maori, resembled so closely the
+beliefs still prevalent in many parts of the Old World. But although
+versed in the mysterious philosophy, if such it can be styled, of
+their time, they were entirely ignorant of the principles of the
+Buddhist religion; and from this circumstance it is fair to deduce
+that they had left India before Gautama, who died in 477 B.C., had
+commenced his teaching of "Nirvana and the Law."
+
+But when we come to inquire into the causes which operated to inspire
+this migration, we get little information beyond the explanation
+commonly given as the root of all Polynesian movements, that "great
+wars prevailed." If this be the true reason why a whole nation should
+move _en masse_, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that the
+future Polynesians were the defeated people, and were forced by
+irresistible waves of invasion to abandon their home in India. Slowly
+they were pushed southward and eastward by the more warlike tribes who
+came down from the north; and as they made their way along the coasts
+of the Malayan Peninsula, circumstances, climate, and assimilation
+with other peoples continued the process of racial modification which
+had commenced before they abandoned the valley of the Ganges. For
+three hundred years or more they drifted from point to point. We know
+little more, for there occurs a comparative blank in the story of
+their journeyings as they moved along the coast of Sumatra and down
+the Straits of Malacca.
+
+In the year 65 B.C., however, we again get a glimpse of them
+on the island of Java. From this point, although their movements are
+often vague and shadowy, they are never entirely lost to sight.
+Tradition, at this period, speaks of a renowned personage named Te
+Kura-a-moo, who "went to the east, to the rising sun, and remained
+there." To precisely what spot in the east he journeyed is uncertain,
+but his objective is generally supposed to have been the island of
+Java, which was then known as Avaiki-te-Varinga. This is the first
+suggestion of migration which we have in Polynesian tradition; and as
+it corresponds in date with other large ethnic movements which are
+known to have occurred in the Malayan archipelago, it is more than
+probable that pressure from other invaders compelled the occupation
+of Java, which thus became the parent Hawaiki, towards which the Maori
+stands in much the same relationship as does his brother _pakeha_ to
+the Garden of Eden.
+
+But the same cause which drove these wandering Asiatics into Java, at
+a latter period led to its evacuation. And still the movement was in
+an eastward direction, towards the islands of Indonesia, the people as
+they moved becoming more and more expert in the art of navigation and
+sea-craft. In view of the scattered nature of the archipelago in which
+they now found themselves, their voyages became gradually longer,
+requiring larger canoes and more daring seamanship. They were
+beginning to leave the beaten path which hitherto had been the common
+course of the human race--the mountain, the river, and the plain. With
+them the sea was gradually becoming the broad highway which had to be
+traversed in order to find fresh resting-places, or to maintain
+communication with established outposts in more advanced situations.
+The spirit of the sea-gipsy, which led them to do and dare, was
+rapidly developing within them, and the knowledge thus born of courage
+and experience was shortly to prove invaluable to them in carrying to
+a successful issue their own great policy of conquest.
+
+Wars and rumours of wars are again heard of, and are given as the
+underlying cause of the next movement southward from Indonesia, the
+date of which is so uncertain that it cannot safely be defined more
+strictly than as between the first and fourth centuries. It is
+unfortunate that we are driven to this loose estimate of time for so
+important a national event, because it was this final migration which
+led to the actual entry into Polynesia of these dark-blooded
+wanderers, and if our first hypothesis be correct, to their ultimate
+fusion with the fair-skinned, stone-building people who had preceded
+them by many centuries.
+
+They had obviously come into contact with strange people and strange
+animals, for the existence of the former has been preserved in their
+traditions and the memory of the latter in their fantastic carvings.
+Not the least interesting of their stories is the finding of a
+fair-complexioned people, whom their fancy has elevated into the realm
+of fairies, and from whom they claim to have learned the art of
+net-making. Whether these mysterious people, who are said to have
+laboured only at night and to have vanished when the sun rose, were
+the original Caucasians who, we have supposed, set out from the
+eastern coast of Asia, and who were about to be absorbed by the more
+virile emigrants from India, or whether they were, as some suggest, a
+few wandering Greeks or Phoenicians on the coast of Sumatra, we cannot
+pretend to decide. But, in all its vagueness and fanciful setting, the
+tradition is interesting, as indicating the existence on their route
+of a people fairer than themselves, and the fact that they must have
+come into close personal contact with them. A careful reflection upon
+the probable circumstances attending the story of how Kahu-kura
+captured one of the fairy's nets inclines us to the opinion that it is
+the first evidence we have of the contact of the Indian branch of the
+Polynesian race with their whiter predecessors. These they would meet
+in island after island as they moved down the Pacific towards Fiji,
+which group they are believed to have occupied about A.D. 450.
+
+Like all other dates connected with Polynesian migrations, this one
+can only be approximate, for the people were without any mode of
+reckoning time, except by reference to ancestral lines. But there is
+traditional authority for supposing that their descent upon Fiji was
+made in considerable numbers, and that for a time these islands
+constituted one of their principal colonising centres. Whether Tonga
+and Samoa were settled from this point seems doubtful; but it is
+certain from the marvellous stories which find credence in the
+traditions of this period that an era of extensive voyaging had set
+in, and that the newcomers began to spread themselves with
+considerable rapidity from atoll to island and from island to
+archipelago. These excursions into new realms naturally gave promise
+of an attractive home amongst the palm-covered islands; and,
+simultaneously with their policy of conquest and colonisation, they
+began the absorption and assimilation of the resident people. As the
+defending warriors were driven out or annihilated, the women of the
+vanquished were taken possession of by the victors, and their domestic
+arts were taken with them. This blending necessarily, in the course of
+many centuries, worked appreciable modifications in the physique and
+customs of both races, and gave to the world the Polynesian people as
+we know them to-day.
+
+A race of stalwarts, long-headed, straight-haired, and brown-skinned,
+warriors from birth, full of courage, and ardent for adventure, they
+were not altogether devoid of those higher ideals which make for the
+elevation of man. They were deeply imbued with a love of poetry, which
+enabled them to appreciate in a rude way the beautiful in life and to
+preserve in quaint song and fantastic tradition the story of their
+wanderings and the prowess of their heroes. They were even
+enterprising enough to attempt the solution of the marvellous natural
+phenomena everywhere presented to them, which, to their simple minds,
+could have no origin except in the intervention of the gods.
+
+With a continuous stream of fresh immigrants flowing in from the north
+to reinforce the southern outposts, the conquest and colonisation of
+the islands was now only a matter of time. Before we come to the
+period directly connected with our story, some seven hundred years had
+elapsed, during which every trace and even the memory of the original
+people had been effaced, and but for their stone monuments, which have
+withstood alike the shock of invasion and the ravages of time, their
+very existence would have remained as one of the problems of a
+forgotten past. But long before this period had been reached, some
+great ethnic or geographical event had occurred to terminate the
+further inflow of these invaders from the north. Either the movements
+of the nations upon the Asiatic continent supervened to make
+continued migration unnecessary, or geographical changes in the
+distribution of land and sea operated to make it more difficult, if
+not impossible. Certain it is that the supply of warriors was
+effectually cut off, and that at a time before the parent people had
+learned the use of metals. From this period, down through the ages
+until the day of their discovery by the Spaniards, the gulf which
+separated them from the rest of the human family remained unbridged,
+and the Polynesians were suffered to evolve their own racial
+peculiarities and develop their own national spirit, untrammelled by
+exterior influences. Isolated from the rest of the world, they lived
+in total ignorance of the progress with which other peoples were
+advancing towards a higher type of human development and loftier
+ideals of national life. They knew nothing of the growth of science or
+of art, and they derived no benefit from the stimulating effect of
+competition, or from the bracing conditions of a strenuous life.
+Nature was bountiful to them in the ease and abundance with which
+their simple wants were supplied, for it required neither labour nor
+ingenuity to provide for their daily needs. Hence there was little
+incentive to depart from traditional customs, or to seek more advanced
+methods than their fathers had learned and applied in that far-off
+time when they lived on the banks of the Ganges. Had it been
+otherwise, the Polynesians would not have been found still clinging to
+their stone clubs and flint axes, while the continental peoples
+surrounding them had acquired a written language, the use of metals,
+and the arts of husbandry, pottery, and weaving. The complete absence
+of these primary evidences of civilisation amongst the islanders gives
+us the right to assume that they came into the South Seas before man
+had acquired any knowledge of the metallic arts, and that their
+migration ceased before pottery and the weaving spindle were known.
+
+Polynesia must, therefore, have been occupied during the Palæolithic
+and Neolithic periods of the world's history. From that time down to
+the Spanish era all communication with the surrounding nations was
+completely cut off, and the Polynesians were allowed to sleep the
+sleep of centuries and to work out their own destiny in the midst of
+their tragic isolation. As the evolution of the race progressed, there
+was gradually developed a rude system of tribal government,
+administered by acknowledged chieftains, who claimed and obtained
+unquestioned obedience. So, too, victory or defeat became gradually
+the chief factor in determining the home of each tribe. These tribal
+boundaries were, however, by no means arbitrary lines of exclusion,
+and, in fact, there were frequent visits of friendship between the
+different sections of the race. These voyages necessarily led to a
+wide knowledge of the Southern seas and their archipelagos, and often
+contributed surprising results. While the sea-captains navigated their
+canoes with wonderful accuracy, unaided as they were by chart or
+compass, their vessels were not always under absolute control, and in
+stress of sudden storm, or influenced by some unexpected current, they
+were frequently carried far out of their intended course.
+
+It is probable that in some such way the first canoes reached New
+Zealand, for it is known that individual vessels had visited these
+shores long before the historic migration known as "the fleet" left
+Rarotonga in or about the year 1350 A.D. The stories brought
+back by these pioneering mariners excited the cupidity and fired the
+imagination of the islanders, and when a fleet of several great canoes
+arrived at Rarotonga, and found that group already fully occupied,
+they decided to set out in search of the strange land which had been
+dragged from the depths of the sea by the miracle-working Maui, and
+discovered by the great sea-captain Kupe.[4] Here they hoped to
+capture the giant bird, the flesh of which Ngahue had preserved and
+brought back with him, but more than all they were eager to enrich
+themselves by the possession of the _toka-matie_, or much prized
+greenstone, the beauty of which they had heard so much extolled.
+
+The story of this migration is recorded amongst the classic traditions
+of the New Zealanders: how the Arawa canoe came perilously near being
+lost in a tempest, and descended into the mysterious depths of the
+whirlpool, Te Parata; how the crew of the Taki-tumu suffered the pangs
+of starvation; how the Kura-haupo suffered wreck; and how, on landing,
+the crew of the Arawa practised the deceit upon the sleeping Tainui of
+placing the cable of their canoe under that of the latter, in order
+that they might, with some hope of success, set up a claim to first
+arrival. One by one the canoes reached these shores, the major part of
+them making land in the vicinity of East Cape, thence sailing to the
+north or to the south, as the whim of the captain or the divination of
+the _tohunga_ decided their course. In this way they spread to
+almost every part of the North Island, which they found already
+peopled with the remnants of prior migrations, who were living in
+peaceable possession. With these the warlike Vikings from the Pacific
+fought and contended until they gained undoubted supremacy, thus
+giving a starting-point to New Zealand history by establishing
+ancestral lines from which all Maoris love to trace their descent.
+These tribes soon became the dominant power in the land. The weaker
+_tangata whenua_[5] were subdued and absorbed. Their traditions,
+arts, and customs disappeared, except in so far as they may have
+unconsciously influenced those of their conquerors. The latter grew in
+strength and numbers, extending their influence far and wide, as they
+marched towards the development of their national existence and their
+final consolidation into the Maori race.
+
+Unto these people was born, about the year 1768, a little brown babe
+who was destined to become the great Te Rauparaha, chief of the
+Ngati-Toa tribe.
+
+[1] "The distinguishing characteristic of the Marquesan Islanders, and
+that which at once strikes you, is the European cast of their
+features--a peculiarity seldom observable among other uncivilised
+peoples. Many of their faces present a profile classically beautiful,
+and I saw several who were in every respect models of beauty"
+(_Melville_).
+
+[2] "I found that the Natives had not formed the slightest idea of
+there being a state of future punishment. They refuse to believe that
+the Good Spirit intends to make them miserable after their decease.
+They imagine all the actions of this life are punished here, and that
+every one when dead, good or bad, bondsman or free, is assembled on an
+island situated near the North Cape, where both the necessaries and
+comforts of life will be found in the greatest abundance, and all will
+enjoy a state of uninterrupted happiness" (_Earle_).
+
+[3] "It is most certain that the whites are the aborigines. Their
+colour is, generally speaking, like that of the people of Southern
+Europe, and I saw several who had red hair. There were some who were
+as white as our sailors, and we often saw on our ships a tall young
+man, 5 feet 11 inches in height, who, by his colour and features,
+might easily have passed for a European" (_Crozet's Description of
+the Maoris at the Bay of Islands_).
+
+[4] The knowledge which the Polynesians possessed of the Southern sea,
+and their skill as navigators, was such that when "the fleet" set out
+from Rarotonga, they did not go to discover New Zealand, but they went
+with the absolute certainty of finding it.
+
+[5] "Man of the land, native, aboriginal." Probably these people were
+a mixture of the Melanesian and Polynesian types.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ARAWA AND TAINUI
+
+
+If the genealogies of the Maori race can be relied upon, it may be
+accepted as a fact that the immediate ancestors of Te Rauparaha came
+to New Zealand in the canoe Tainui, which is said to have been the
+first vessel of the fleet after the Arawa, prepared for sea. By an
+unfortunate circumstance there sprang up between the crews of these
+two canoes a fatal rivalry, which repeated acts of aggression and
+retaliation were continually fanning into open ruptures, even after
+they had landed and were widely separated on the shores of New
+Zealand. This ill-humour, according to the tradition, was first
+engendered by Tama-te-kapua, the chief of the Arawa, depriving the
+Tainui of her high priest, Ngatoro-i-rangi, by inviting that renowned
+_tohunga_ on board his vessel for the purpose of performing some
+of the all-important ceremonies which the complex ritual of the Maori
+demanded on such occasions, and then slipping his cable and putting to
+sea before the priest had time to realise that he had been
+deliberately led into a trap. But this act of treachery on the part of
+the bold and unscrupulous captain cost him dear, and bitterly must he
+have repented before the voyage was over his trifling with the dignity
+of so consummate a master of magic as Ngatoro-i-rangi. But that story
+belongs to the voyage of the Arawa. Of the voyage of the Tainui, under
+Hoturoa, we know little; but presumably she had a comparatively
+uneventful passage until she touched land at a point near the
+north-east end of the Bay of Plenty, which her people named
+Whanga-poraoa, for the reason that there they found a newly stranded
+sperm-whale. But scarcely had they disembarked than a dispute arose
+between them and the Arawas, who had beached their canoe at a spot
+close by, as to the ownership of the carcase. The result of the debate
+was an agreement, arrived at on the suggestion of a Tainui chief,[6]
+that the crew which had first touched land should be the acknowledged
+owners of the fish, and to establish the date of arrival it was
+further agreed that they should examine the sacred places which each
+had erected on the shore, and on which they returned thanks to the
+gods for guiding them safely across the ocean. Here the ingenuity of
+the Arawa people enabled them to outwit the Tainuis. While the latter
+had built their shrine of green wood, the followers of Tama-te-kapua
+had taken the precaution to dry the poles of their altar over the fire
+before sinking them into the sand. Precisely the same process had been
+applied to their hawsers, so that when the examination was made for
+the purpose of determining priority of arrival the Arawa temple
+carried with it the appearance of greater age, and the Tainuis,
+without detecting the trick, conceded the point and yielded the prize
+to their rivals.
+
+ [Illustration: DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND.
+ From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland,
+ by kind permission of the artist.]
+
+Hoturoa then decided to make further explorations to the north, and
+moved off in that direction with his canoe, to be followed a few days
+later by the Arawa. The Tainui skirted the coast, noted and named many
+of its prominent features as far as the North Cape, and then, as the
+land terminated at this point, the canoe was put about and retraced
+her course as far south as Takapuna.[7] Here a halt was called, and
+exploring parties were sent out to ascertain if all the district
+promised was likely to be realised. Upon ascending one of the many
+hills[8] which mark the landscape in this particular locality, the
+voyagers were surprised to observe flocks of sea-birds, some flying
+over from the westward, others wheeling with noisy flight in mid-air.
+To the experienced eye of the native, who had been bred on the borders
+of the sea, this circumstance bespoke a new expanse of water to the
+west. The canoe was once more launched, and on their crossing the
+Wai-te-mata[9] harbour a critical examination of the eastern shore
+revealed to the astonished visitors the fact that a narrow portage
+existed at the head of the Tamaki River, over the ridge of which lay
+another arm of the sea, apparently as wide and as deep as that which
+they had just entered.
+
+In the meantime they had been joined by the Tokomaru canoe, and the
+joint crews decided upon the bold scheme of hauling their vessels over
+the narrow portage at Otahuhu.[10] The Tokomaru was the first to be
+taken across, and under the guidance of the chiefs she glided with
+perfect ease and grace over the carefully laid skids into the deep,
+smooth water. But when the drag-ropes were applied to the Tainui, pull
+as they would, she remained fast and immovable. Tradition says that
+Marama-kiko-hura, one of Hoturoa's wives, being unwilling that the
+weary crews should proceed at once upon this new expedition, which the
+chiefs were evidently projecting, had by her power as an enchantress
+so rooted the canoe to the ground that no human strength could move
+it. Against this supernatural agency the stalwart boatmen struggled
+unavailingly, for, although there was a straining of brawny arms, a
+bending of broad backs, and much vocal emulation, inspired by the
+lusty commands of those in authority, the charm of the enchantress
+could not be broken. In this distressful emergency the womanly
+sympathy of a second wife of the chief was stirred within her, and
+she, being even more gifted in the art of magic than her sister,
+chanted an incantation so great in virtue that instantly the spell was
+loosed and the wicked work of a disappointed woman undone.[11]
+
+The song which was chanted on this memorable occasion has long since
+been embalmed amongst the classics of the Maori, and has become the
+basis of many another chant which is used while canoes are being drawn
+down to the sea.
+
+  "Drag Tainui till she reaches the sea:
+  But who shall drag her hence?
+  What sound comes from the horizon?
+  The Earth is lighting up,
+  The Heavens arise,
+  In company with the feeble ones
+  Welcome hither! Come, O joyous Tane!
+  Thou leader and provider.
+  Here are the skids laid to the sea,
+  And drops the moisture now from Marama,
+  Caused by the gentle breeze
+  Which blows down from Wai-hi;
+  But still Tainui stays,
+  And will not move.
+  Red, red is the sun,
+  Hot, hot are its rays,
+  And still impatient stands the host:
+  Take ye and hold the rope,
+  And drag with flashing eyes
+  And drag in concert all.
+  Rise now the power
+  To urge. She moves and starts,
+  Moves now the prow,
+  Urge, urge her still."
+
+Under the exhilarating influence of the singer's musical voice,
+together with a profound faith in her skill as a mistress of magic,
+the weary crews once more bent themselves to their task. Their renewed
+efforts were rewarded with success; for with one vigorous pull the
+canoe was seen to move, and was soon slipping and sliding on her way
+to the bosom of the bay below.[12] Once fairly launched, the Tainui
+was soon speeding her way to the open sea; and, having successfully
+crossed the Manukau bar, she passed out into the Western Ocean to
+battle with adverse winds and tides. Evidently, the physical features
+of this coast were not greatly to the liking of the explorers. Unlike
+the eastern side of the island, there were fewer shelving beaches and
+favourable landing-places; the predominating aspect was high and
+abrupt cliffs, fringed with jagged and evil-looking rocks, against
+which the surf beat with deafening roar. The sea, too, was much more
+turbulent; so that, after travelling only some eighty miles, the canoe
+was headed for the sheltered harbour of Kawhia,[13] and there Hoturoa
+and the tribes who accompanied him determined to bring their
+wanderings to an end.
+
+The canoe which had brought them safely over so many miles of open
+ocean was hauled to a secure spot on the beach, there to await the
+ravages of decay, the spot where she rested and finally rotted away
+under the _manuka_ and _akeake_ trees being still marked by
+two stone pillars,[14] which the natives have named Puna and Hani. The
+next thing was to erect an altar to the gods for having thus far
+prospered their journey. The spot chosen was that afterwards called
+Ahurei, in memory of their old home in Tahiti;[15] and, doubtless for
+the same sentimental and patriotic reason, the spot on which the wives
+of Hoturoa first planted the _kumara_[16] was called Hawaiki. With
+these preliminaries settled, the pilgrims from the east were now faced
+with the most serious duty of all, to arrive at an equitable division
+of the new land which was about to become their permanent home. What
+method of adjudication was employed in the apportionment we cannot now
+say; but two main divisions mark the final arbitrament. The Waikatos
+occupied the country from Manukau in the north to the Marokopa River
+in the south, while the tribe afterwards known as Mania-poto occupied
+a domain which extended from that point to one about two miles south
+of the Mokau River. Within these comprehensive boundaries was embraced
+the acknowledged territory of the numerous sub-tribes; but to only two
+of these need we refer at this stage, namely, to the Ngati-toa, who
+lived on the shores of Kawhia Bay, and to the Ngati-Raukawa, who had
+settled further inland, in the country of which Maungatautari is now
+the centre.
+
+When the Tainui people landed on the shores of Kawhia and began to
+spread their settlements throughout the valleys of the district, they
+did not find, as they might have expected, an empty land. At some
+time, and by some means, man had already established himself in New
+Zealand, and before the organised migration, of which the Tainui was a
+part, had set sail from Rarotonga, the country was already extensively
+peopled. Whether these _tangata whenua_, as the Maoris called
+them, were Polynesians like themselves, and the fruits of some of the
+prior migrations which are known to have taken place, or whether they
+were a lower order of mankind struggling through the process of
+evolution to a higher plane of civilisation, is a point which cannot
+well be debated here. But whatever manner of men they were who lived
+in the balmy climate of Kawhia, they were already well established
+there in their villages and gardens, and for many generations--perhaps
+for many centuries--they had been burying their dead in the secret
+caves which honeycombed the limestone cliffs that rise in beetling
+precipices sheer from the harbour's edge. Although they are generally
+credited with being a less combative and virile race than the fierce
+and hardy tribes who came with the fleet, they were not disposed to
+surrender or divide their estate without a struggle, and Hoturoa found
+that, if he was to become master of Kawhia, it could only be as the
+outcome of a successful war. But Kawhia was a country worth fighting
+for. Early travellers through New Zealand, who saw it before the
+devastating hand of man had marred its beauties, speak with eloquent
+enthusiasm of its extremely picturesque and romantic landscape.[17] At
+full tide the harbour shines in the sunlight like an unbroken sheet of
+silver, in which the green and gold reflections of the surrounding
+bush are mirrored and magnified. For many miles in length and breadth
+the sea runs inland from the bay's bar-bound mouth, stretching its
+liquid arms right to the base of the mountains which encircle the
+harbour like a massive frame. Rugged and picturesque are these
+mountains, with their cloak of deep verdure, through which huge masses
+of limestone rock protrude their white faces, suggesting the bastions
+of some old Norman tower covered with gigantic ivy. So marked, in
+fact, is this resemblance, that the character of the peaks has been
+preserved in their name--the Castle Hills.[18] Down the sides of these
+slopes run innumerable streams, the largest being the Awaroa River,
+which enters the harbour at the north-east end, where the scenery
+attains its most impressive grandeur. A little to the north-east of
+Kawhia, and over the ranges, lies the broadly-terraced valley of the
+Waipa, and between this district and the harbour stands "an ancient
+and dilapidated volcano," called Pirongia, upon which the evening sun
+directs its blood-red darts, lighting up its many peaks and towers
+until they resemble a giant altar raised by some mighty priest. The
+climate, too, is mild and soft, like that of Southern Spain, and there
+the orange and the lemon might bud and blossom with all the
+luxuriance found in the valleys of Granada.
+
+Such was the home in which the people of the Tainui canoe sought to
+gain a footing, when they abandoned their vessel; but these exiles
+from far Hawaiki were yet to pass through the bitter waters of
+tribulation before their arms were blessed with success and their
+claims ceased to be contested. In the quaint language of an old
+_tohunga_ we are told: "In the days of the ancient times the
+descendants of those who came in the Tainui made war on the people who
+had occupied the interior of Waikato. These people were called Te
+Upoko-tioa, and were the people who had occupied the land long before
+the Tainui arrived at Kawhia. These people were attacked by those who
+came over in the Tainui. The men they killed, but the women were saved
+and taken as wives by the Tainui. Those who attacked these people were
+of one family, and were descended from one ancestor, who, after they
+had killed the inhabitants of Waikato, turned and made war each on the
+other--uncle killed nephew, and nephew killed uncle: elder killed the
+younger, and the younger killed the elder."
+
+Of the various battles which the Tainui people fought during the
+conquest of their new home we have scarcely any account, beyond vague
+and general statements of the most fugitive character. These,
+unfortunately, do not afford us any wealth of detail, the possession
+of which would enable us to picture in vivid colours the doughty deeds
+by which the invaders overcame the strenuous resistance of the
+_tangata whenua_, who maintained the struggle with the desperation of
+men who were fighting for their very existence. The story of the
+conquest of Kawhia may be regarded as lost in the misty distances of
+the past, but it is not surprising to discover by shadowy suggestion,
+such as quoted above, that, after the original inhabitants had been
+effectually subdued, the turbulent nature of the Maori should lead to
+devastating and sanguinary internecine wars. One of the traditions of
+the Tainui tribes is that they left the South Pacific because of a
+great battle called "Ra-to-rua," which originated in a quarrel between
+Heta and Ue-nuku; and it would be quite unreasonable to expect that
+they should suddenly forsake their warlike passions on reaching New
+Zealand, a country in which there was so much to fight for. With the
+Maori war had now become more than a passion: it had become part of
+his nature; for, through all the long centuries of migration, the
+story of the race had been one of incessant struggle with other races
+and with circumstances. They fought their way into the Pacific, and
+were in turn submerged under the tide of a second invasion, which gave
+to the world a people inured to the hardships inseparable from strife,
+who had tasted the bitterness of defeat as well as the joys of
+victory--a proud and haughty race, sensitive to the slightest insult,
+and so jealous of their honour that they were ever ready to vindicate
+their fair name before the only tribunal to which they could
+appeal--that of war. Steeped as they had been from birth in this
+atmosphere of strife, they had grown to expect the clash of arms at
+every turn, and, as they grew to expect it, they grew to love it. It
+is small wonder, then, that, when they found their enemies at Kawhia
+and its neighbourhood vanquished, they occasionally turned their hands
+upon each other, in the attempt to efface some real or imagined wrong.
+
+But, fatal to national progress as these inter-tribal wars must have
+been, they, nevertheless, played an important and valuable part in
+spreading the Maori over New Zealand. A tribe defeated in battle was
+forced to fly before the pursuing enemy, with no alternative but
+either to appropriate some district still unoccupied or to displace
+some weaker people, upon whom the burden was cast of again
+establishing themselves where and as best they could. Thus the tide of
+fortune and misfortune rolled and recoiled from Te Reinga to Te
+Ra-whiti, until an asylum was sought by the last of the refugees even
+across the waters of Cook Strait. Although we have no accurate
+information on the point, it is probable that these blood-feuds
+contributed in no small measure to the ultimate distribution of the
+Tainui people; for their subsequent history is eloquent of the fact
+that, while they claimed common descent from the ancestral line of
+Hoturoa, this family bond did not prevent hatred and hostility
+springing up, and at times bathing their country in blood.
+
+The first migration, however, of which we have any record did not
+apparently ensue upon the result of a battle, although a quarrel was
+its underlying cause. Hotu-nui, who was one of the principal chiefs of
+the canoe, is said to have taken as his wife a daughter of one of the
+_tangata whenua_, and was apparently living in the same village and on
+terms of perfect friendship with her people. Having been wrongfully
+accused of an act of petty thieving, he determined to rid the _pa_ of
+his presence; and so, with one hundred of his immediate followers, he,
+it is said, moved off towards the Hauraki Gulf. As the years rolled
+on, and the systematic exploration of the country began to be
+undertaken, many similar expeditions, no doubt, went out from the
+parent home at Kawhia, one at least of which was fraught with fateful
+consequences. A chief named Raumati,[19] whose story has been embalmed
+in tradition, had taken a band of followers with him and travelled
+across the island, past Rotorua, until he finally came to the shores
+of the Bay of Plenty, where his mother's people lived. Here he was in
+the Arawa country, and it was not long before he heard that their
+canoe was lying at Maketu, some distance further to the southward. It
+will be remembered that there had never been good feeling between the
+Tainui and Arawa peoples, and Raumati determined upon an act which
+would demonstrate beyond all doubt that he, at least, was not disposed
+to hold out the olive-branch to Arawa. His scheme was to effect the
+destruction of the great canoe which had brought the hated rivals of
+his tribe to New Zealand. Once decided upon, his plan was put into
+execution with a promptness worthy of a better cause. Travelling along
+the coast from Tauranga to Maketu, he and his followers arrived at the
+latter place when all its inhabitants were absent in quest of food.
+But his trouble was that the Arawa had been berthed on the opposite
+side of the Kaituna River, where she had been housed under a covering
+of reeds and grass to protect her from the ravages of the weather.
+Nothing daunted, however, Raumati soon proved that his ingenuity was
+equal to the desperate circumstances in which he found himself placed.
+Taking a dart, and attaching to the point of it a live ember, he
+hurled the smoking stick across the water with unerring aim, and, to
+his intense satisfaction, he saw the firebrand fall in the midst of
+the combustible material which formed the covering of the canoe. The
+fire was soon in full blast: the glare of the flames lit up the
+surrounding country and was reflected in the red glow of the evening
+sky. The first impression of the people out in the forest was that the
+Maketu _pa_ had been destroyed; but in the morning they were
+undeceived, for then they saw that it was their beloved canoe which
+had been burned, and all that remained of her was a heap of glowing
+ashes.[20]
+
+The unanimous conclusion was that this had been the work of an enemy,
+and messengers were sent far and wide to acquaint the tribesmen of the
+fate of the canoe and call them to council upon the subject. At the
+meetings the debates were long and serious, for the tribe was torn
+between its desire to live in peace with all men and its natural
+impulse to revenge the burning of the Arawa, which "they loved and
+venerated almost as a parent." They remembered the injunction which
+had been given to them by Hou when on the point of leaving Hawaiki: "O
+my children, O Mako, O Tia, O Hei, hearken to these my words: There
+was but one great chief in Hawaiki, and that was Whakatauihu. Now do
+you, my children, depart in peace, and, when you reach the place you
+are going to, do not follow after the deeds of Tu, the God of War: if
+you do, you will perish, as if swept off by the winds; but rather
+follow quiet and useful occupations, then you will die tranquilly a
+natural death. Depart, and dwell in peace with all; leave war and
+strife behind you here. Depart and dwell in peace. It is war and its
+evils which are driving you hence: dwell in peace where you are going;
+conduct yourselves like men; let there be no quarrelling amongst you,
+but build up a great people."
+
+These were, no doubt, excellent words of advice, and they expressed a
+very noble sentiment; but the practical question which they had to
+determine was whether they could afford to adopt an attitude of
+passivity while these acts of aggression went on around them: whether
+they should declare war on account of the destruction of their canoe,
+or permit the act to pass without notice. This was the problem over
+which they pondered; and, as they discussed and debated it, "impatient
+feelings kept ever rising up in their hearts." But at last an end was
+made of deliberation, the decision of the tribe being in favour of
+battle as the one and only sufficient means by which they could be
+compensated for the burning of their canoe. In the words of the old
+tradition, "then commenced the great war which was waged between those
+who arrived in the Arawa and those who came in the Tainui."[21]
+
+[6] On this occasion Hotu-nui is credited with having addressed his
+people in the following terms: "Friends, hearken! Ours was the
+first canoe to land in New Zealand before any of you had arrived
+here. But let this be the proof as to which of our canoes landed
+first. Let us look at the ropes which the various canoes tied to the
+whale now before us, and also let us look at the branches of the
+trees which each have put up in building an altar, then the owners
+of the rope which is the driest and most withered, and of the altar
+the leaves of which are the most faded, were the first to land on the
+coast of the country where we now reside."
+
+[7] After the canoe left Whanga-poraoa the first stopping-place was
+at Whare-nga, where the crew amused themselves with various
+games on the beach. To mark the spot, one legend has it, they
+placed one large stone on top of another, while a second story has
+it that this monument, which is still existent and is called _Pohatu
+Whakairi_, represents one of the crew who was turned into stone.
+The next point of interest was Moe-hau, now known as Cape
+Colville. They then landed at Te Ana-Puta, where, it is said, the
+canoe was moored to a natural arch of rock jutting into the sea.
+For some reason the anchor was left at a spot between Wai-hou
+and Piako, and under the name of _Te pungapunga_ (the pumice
+stone) is still to be seen on the coast by those who are curious
+enough to look for it. The course was then deflected slightly to
+the west, and the canoe crossed to Whaka-ti-wai and coasted along
+the mainland past Whare-Kawa, where, it is said, Marama, one
+of the wives of Hoturoa, desired to be put ashore with one of her
+male slaves. Here they were left, and, according to one version of
+the tradition, it was her misconduct with this slave which prevented
+the crew dragging the Tainui over the portage at Otahuhu. The
+canoe then went on, some accounts say, as far as the North Cape,
+and others seem to imply that she was shortly afterwards put about
+and, returning into the Hauraki Gulf, sailed past the islands of
+Waiheke and Motu-Korea, until land was once more made at Takapuna.
+
+[8] Now called Mount Victoria or "Flagstaff Hill."
+
+[9] Waitemata may be interpreted as "the waters of volcanic obsidian,"
+no doubt a reference to the eruptive disposition of Mount Rangitoto.
+
+[10] Otahuhu signifies "ridge-pole." This portage is only 3,900 feet
+long and 66 feet high.
+
+[11] There are different versions of this tradition, some attributing
+the transfixing of the canoe to Marama, others crediting her with
+releasing it. The version given in the late Sir George Grey's
+_Polynesian Mythology_ has been here adopted.
+
+[12] Some authorities are of opinion that the Tainui was not taken
+across the portage at Otahuhu (ridge-pole), and they base this
+contention upon the fact that no traditional marks have been left
+inside the Manukau harbour. All the points of interest which have been
+handed down, and are remembered, are on the sea coast; and from this
+circumstance it is argued that the canoe was never in Manukau harbour
+at all. Others say that some of the skids of Tainui were left at South
+Manukau Heads.
+
+[13] As they were passing the mouth of the Waikato, the priest of the
+canoe, noticing that the river was in flood, named it by calling out
+"_Waikato, Waikato, kau_." Further on, noticing that there were
+no landing-places, he threw his paddle at the face of the cliff and
+exclaimed, "_Ko te akau kau_" (all sea coast). The paddle is said
+to be still embedded in the face of the rock, and is one of the
+traditional marks by which the course of the Tainui can be traced. At
+the entrance of Kawhia Harbour they ran into a shoal of fish, and the
+priest gave this haven its present name by exclaiming "_Kawhia
+kau_." Another account is that the name comes from Ka-awhi, to
+recite the usual _karakia_ on landing on a new shore, to placate
+the local gods.
+
+[14] The distance between these stones is 86 feet, indicating the
+probable length of the Tainui canoe.
+
+[15] Now called Te Fana-i-Ahurei (or, in Maori, Te Whanga-i-Ahurei,
+the district of Ahurei).
+
+[16] The Tainui brought the species of kumaras known as
+_Anu-rangi_ (cold of heaven) and the _hue_ or calabash.
+Those planted by Marama did not come up true to type, but those
+planted by Whakaoti-rangi, another of the chief's wives, did.
+
+[17] "I reckon this country among the most charming and fertile
+districts I have seen in New Zealand" (_Hochstetter_).
+
+[18] The natives call them Whenuapo.
+
+[19] His full name was Raumati-nui-o-taua. His father was Tama-ahua,
+who is reputed to have returned to Hawaiki from New Zealand, and his
+mother was Tauranga, a Bay of Plenty woman.
+
+[20] The date of this incident has been approximately fixed at
+A.D. 1390, or forty years after the arrival of "the fleet."
+
+[21] "It is to be presumed that Raumati's relatives and friends at
+Tauranga made his cause their own, for they met the Arawa people
+somewhere near Maketu, where a great battle was fought. Raumati's
+party, though successful at first, were defeated, and their leader
+killed by the power of _makutu_, or witch-craft, for Hatu-patu,
+the Arawa chief, caused a cliff to fall on him as he retreated from
+the battle, and thus killed him" (_Polynesian Journal_).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING
+
+
+In one of the many sanguinary battles of those intertribal wars which
+raged in Old New Zealand from this period down to the introduction of
+Christianity, Werawera, the father of Te Rauparaha, was captured,
+killed, and eaten. The subject of our sketch was at that time a mere
+child, and the grim old warrior who had made a meal of Werawera was
+heard to remark that, if ever the youngster fell into his hands, he
+would certainly meet a similar fate, as he would make a delicious
+relish for so great a warrior's _rau-paraha_. The _rau-paraha_ here
+referred to was a juicy plant of the convolvulus family, which grew
+luxuriantly upon the sand-dunes of the seashore, and was largely used
+by the Maori of those days as an article of food. Such a tragic
+association of the child with the plant was never forgotten by his
+tribe, and it was from this circumstance that he derived that name
+which has stood paramount amongst Maori _toas_[22] of all time--Te
+Rauparaha--the convolvulus leaf. The branch of the Tainui people to
+which Te Rauparaha belonged was the Ngati-Toa tribe, who have already
+been described as occupying the country immediately surrounding the
+shores of Kawhia harbour. Like all the other Tainui tribes, these
+people claimed direct descent from Hoturoa, the admiral of the canoe;
+but the ancestor from whom they derived their name was Toa-rangatira,
+and from him Te Rauparaha was descended in a direct line on his
+father's side. Werawera, however, had married a Ngati-Raukawa lady,
+named Pare-kowhatu, and this fact, placing a bar sinister across Te
+Rauparaha's escutcheon, destroyed in a measure the purity of his
+pedigree from the Ngati-Toa point of view, although, as compensation,
+it gave him an influence with the Ngati-Raukawa tribe, which in after
+years carried with it fateful results.
+
+The Ngati-Raukawa people were closely allied to Ngati-Toa by ties of
+blood and friendship; for Raukawa, the ancestor who gave them name and
+individuality as a tribe, was related to Toa-rangatira, both chiefs
+being descendants of Raka, and through him of Hoturoa. This common
+ancestry gave these two tribes a common interest and sympathy, which
+were steadily increased by frequent inter-marriages; and to these
+bonds they appear to have been faithful through all the varying
+fortunes of their history. Conflicts between the Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa tribes were less frequent than was the case with the
+majority of the tribal families; and when the time came to mould their
+affinities into a closer union, Te Rauparaha used this long-standing
+friendship as the central argument, by which he eloquently sought to
+convince Ngati-Raukawa that there was but one destiny for them and for
+Ngati-Toa.
+
+Te Rauparaha had two brothers and two sisters, all older than himself;
+but none of them ever achieved a great position or reputation in the
+tribe, except perhaps Waitohi[23], who might claim the reflected glory
+of being the mother of that fiery and volcanic soul, Te Rangihaeata.
+This chief, whose life enters largely into early New Zealand history,
+rose to be the fighting lieutenant and trusted adviser of his more
+famous uncle, and, in these questionable capacities, he was probably
+the most turbulent spirit who crossed the path of Wellington's pioneer
+colonists. Towards them he ever manifested an uncompromising hatred,
+the one redeeming feature of his hostility being the absolute
+frankness with which he proclaimed it.
+
+Unfortunately but little is known of Te Rauparaha's boyhood.
+Presumably he was brought up by his mother, after his father's death,
+between the settlements at Maungatautari[24], where he was born about
+the year 1768, and Kawhia, where his father's relatives lived. As he
+grew in years, the greater part of his time was spent at Kawhia with
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, by whom he was regarded as a hereditary chief and
+as one of their future leaders. His influence with Ngati-Raukawa did
+not commence until he had attained to early manhood; and the visits
+which he paid to his kindred at Maungatautari during this period had
+no military importance, and could only be regarded as interchanges of
+friendship. His sojourns at Maungatautari were always welcome, for as
+a boy he is said to have had a particularly sunny disposition, and to
+have entered eagerly into all the amusements dear to the heart of
+Maori children of that day. These enterprises frequently led him into
+mischief, and into those moral pitfalls which beset the path of
+high-spirited lads. But, for all his boisterous spirits, the boy never
+failed to pay respect to his elders, and one of the marked
+characteristics of his nature at this time was his willing obedience
+to those who were entitled to give him commands. He was even known to
+have performed services at the request of a slave, whom he might very
+well have ordered to do his own work, since his birth and breeding
+placed him far above the behests of a menial.
+
+As Te Rauparaha grew to youth and early manhood he began to display
+qualities of mind which soon attracted the attention of the leading
+Ngati-Toa chiefs; but, strange to say, his mother was the last to
+discern these exceptional talents in her son, and always maintained
+that Nohorua, his elder brother, was the clever boy of the family.
+These maternal expectations, however, were not destined to be
+realised.
+
+Before the introduction of Christianity amongst the Maori, it was the
+custom to assign to a young chief some girl from his own or a
+neighbouring friendly tribe as his wife. Neither of the parties most
+directly interested in the alliance was consulted, and their feelings
+or wishes were not considered to have any important bearing upon the
+question. Such a system frequently led to unhappiness and
+heart-burning, but in the case of Te Rauparaha, the choice made for
+him proved to be a happy one, and Marore[25], a girl of tender grace,
+made him an admirable wife. Of her he became extremely fond, and out
+of this affection arose the first military enterprise which gave him
+fame and reputation as a leader of men.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by Jackson._
+ POMOHAKI PASSAGE, KAWHIA.]
+
+As not infrequently happened in Maori life, his own people had
+prepared a great feast for some visiting tribesmen; but when the food
+which had been collected for their entertainment was distributed to
+the various families, Te Rauparaha observed with considerable
+displeasure that the portion given to Marore was of the very plainest,
+and contained no dainty morsel which she was likely to enjoy. The want
+of consideration thus shown towards his child-wife preyed upon the
+young chief's mind, and he speedily determined that, come what might,
+he would find with his own hand the relish which his friends had
+failed to provide. Accordingly he petitioned those in authority at
+Kawhia to permit him to organise a war party for the purpose of
+invading the Waikato country, where he hoped to take captive in
+battle some warrior who would make a banquet for his bride. At first
+his proposals were received with opposition, for the reason that he
+was himself at this time in delicate health, and it was deemed prudent
+that he should await recovery before embarking upon so desperate a
+venture. Moreover, the tribe being then at peace with Waikato, the
+chiefs were naturally reluctant to sanction any act which would
+inevitably embroil them in a quarrel with their neighbours. But the
+fiery enthusiasm which Te Rauparaha displayed for his own scheme, and
+the persistency with which he urged its claims, overcame the
+resistance of the tribal fathers, who thus acknowledged, for the first
+time, the strength of the personality with whom they had to deal.
+
+Armed with this authority, he at once set about marshalling his
+forces, and his call to arms was eagerly responded to by a band of
+young bloods equally keen for adventure with himself. The
+_taua_[26] made its way safely to the nearest Waikato _pa_,
+where the profound peace prevailing at the time had thrown the
+defenders off their guard. In the belief that the visitors were on a
+friendly journey, they invited their advance guard within the walls of
+the village. Soon, however, the error was discovered; and the
+inhabitants, realising the position, flew to arms with an alacrity
+which sent the invaders flying through the gate of the _pa_. The
+impetuous energy of the Waikatos, led by Te Haunga, induced them to
+push the pursuit a considerable distance beyond the walls of their
+stronghold; and it was the strategic use which Te Rauparaha made of
+this fact that gave him the victory and established his claim to
+leadership in future wars. Owing to the difficulty which he
+experienced in walking, he had not been able to march with the
+leaders, but was following with a second division of his men, when he
+saw, to his dismay, his warriors being chased out of the _pa_.
+His own force was as yet concealed behind an intervening hill, and,
+quickly taking in the situation, he ordered his men to lie down
+amongst the _manuka_ scrub, which grew to the height of several feet
+beside the narrow track which they had been traversing. He saw that
+the fugitives would follow this line, in order to rejoin him as
+speedily as possible, and in this anticipation his judgment proved
+correct. At full run they swept past, closely followed by the angry
+Waikatos, who, having escaped from one trap, little dreamed how simply
+they were falling into another. Close in his concealment, Te Rauparaha
+lay until the last of the pursuing body had rushed by; then, bursting
+from his hiding-place, he attacked them in flank and rear with such
+vehemence that they were at once thrown into disorder. The tumult of
+his assault checked the flight of the Ngati-Toas, and the Waikatos,
+now wedged in between two superior forces, sustained heavy losses. Te
+Rauparaha is credited with having slain four of his opponents with his
+own hand, and the total killed is said to have numbered one hundred
+and forty. Amongst these was Te Haunga, the principal chief of the
+_pa_, who formed a specially valuable trophy in view of the purpose
+for which the raid had been organised. His body was carried home to
+Kawhia to provide the relish which Te Rauparaha so much desired for
+Marore.
+
+Although this attack upon Waikato was only one of the many sporadic
+raids so common amongst the Maori tribes, and could not be regarded as
+a military movement of national importance, Te Rauparaha had conducted
+it with so much skill and enterprise that his achievement became the
+chief topic of discussion throughout the neighbouring _pas_, and,
+in the words of an old narrator, "he was heard of as a warrior by all
+the tribes." The fame which he had thus suddenly achieved, and the
+desire to live up to his reputation, inspired him with a new sense of
+responsibility, and he became a keen student of all that pertained to
+the art of war as practised in his day. He was shrewd enough to see
+the advantages attending military skill amongst a people with whom
+might was right, and, even at that age, he was ambitious enough to
+dream dreams which power alone would enable him to realise. He aimed
+at making the acquaintance of all the great chiefs of the surrounding
+tribes; and, when it was safe to visit them, he travelled long
+distances to sit at the feet of these old Maori warriors, and learn
+from them the subtle methods by which fields were won. These journeys
+gave him a familiarity with the country and the people which was very
+useful in the disturbed and precarious relations between Ngati-Toa and
+the neighbouring tribes. In these warlike excursions, which were as
+often of an aggressive as of a defensive nature, Ngati-Toa was not
+invariably successful. But, even in their defeats, the reputation of
+Rauparaha increased with his years, for he was ever turning to account
+some new device of tactics or giving some fresh proof of his personal
+courage.
+
+Nor did he neglect to cultivate the good opinion of his tribe by
+generosity in the discharge of his social duties. His bounty was never
+closed against the stranger; and when he invited his friends to a
+feast, his entertainment was always of the most lavish kind. Even to
+his workmen he was strikingly considerate. He abolished the practice
+indulged in by the field labourers of giving a portion of the food
+provided for them to strangers who happened to arrive at the
+settlement, by insisting that the kumara-planters should retain their
+full ration and the strangers be fed with food specially prepared for
+them. This unconventional liberality speedily created the desired
+impression,[27] and became the subject of general remark amongst those
+who were on visiting terms with the Kawhia chief. It even became
+proverbial, for it was sometimes said of a benevolent Maori, "You are
+like Te Rauparaha, who first feeds his workmen and then provides for
+his visitors."
+
+Reference has already been made to the fact that Te Rauparaha had been
+in the habit of making frequent visits to parts of the country distant
+from Kawhia, for the dual purpose of completing his education in the
+art of warfare and of strengthening his personal relations with
+influential chiefs, who might be useful to him in future diplomacy.
+During one of these excursions he had proceeded as far as what is now
+known as the Valley of the Thames, in the Hauraki Gulf, to pay his
+respects to the chiefs of the Ngati-Maru[28] tribe, who were then both
+numerous and influential in that part of the island. How much he was
+esteemed by the leaders of this people may be judged by the fact that,
+when he was about to return, they, amongst other gifts, presented him
+with a firearm and a few cartridges, his first acquisition of the
+kind. To us the gift of an old flintlock might seem a trivial
+circumstance; but to a Maori, who was lingering on the fringe of the
+Stone Age, such a weapon was a priceless treasure. So dearly were they
+prized by the natives at this time that only the consideration of
+warmest friendship could have induced the Ngati-Maru to part with even
+one. There was in these rusty and erratic "fire-spears" that which
+would before long revolutionise the whole system of native warfare;
+and the shrewdest of the natives saw that the tribe which acquired the
+largest number of guns in the least time would have an enormous
+advantage in the field of battle.
+
+For some years a few vagrant and adventurous voyagers, together with
+the more honest whalers, had been making the Bay of Islands one of
+their principal rendezvous; and in the desultory trade which had been
+carried on between the crews and the natives, guns had first fallen
+into the possession of the Nga-Puhi tribe. The deadly use which these
+warriors had made of this new instrument of destruction, in their
+skirmishes with their neighbours, had so impressed the native mind
+that forces hitherto well-disciplined were seized with panic when
+marched against guns, until it was felt by the inland tribes that such
+weapons were absolutely indispensable to safety or victory.[29] Many
+of the natives, whose curiosity had been aroused by the novel sights
+which they had seen on the visiting whalers, had shipped as seamen
+before the mast in the hope of seeing more of the great world from
+which the _pakeha_ came. In this way they had been carried to Port
+Jackson, where they had witnessed on a more extensive scale the
+destructive power of the European weapons. Owing to the misjudged
+generosity of the Sydney public, some had been able to bring a few
+muskets back with them, while others had secured hatchets and
+bayonets, which, fastened on the end of long handles, were soon
+recognised as weapons vastly superior to the spears and _taiahas_ of
+their fathers. These discoveries accentuated the desire to replace
+their obsolete arms with others of a more modern type; and as a result
+of the excessive demand thus created, the commercial value of a musket
+rose in the market, until the traders asked, and the Maoris willingly
+gave, as much as a cargo of flax for a single weapon. The effect of
+this musket-hunger was to change completely the existing relations
+between the _pakeha_ and Maori, going far to remove the estrangement
+and distrust which had been generated between the two races. Up to
+this time but little respect had been shown to the dark-skinned
+natives of these far-away islands by the rude sailors who had visited
+them; and in their contempt for the "niggers" they had been guilty of
+many outrages which would have staggered humanity, had humanity been
+able to grasp the full measure of their ferocity.[30] Retaliation,
+culminating in the murder of Marion du Fresne and the burning of the
+_Boyd_, followed upon outrage, and hatred, fed by misunderstanding,
+was daily driving the two peoples further and further asunder.[31] But
+the need and the hope of acquiring muskets suddenly changed all this,
+for the natives now saw that it was necessary to their very existence
+that they should cultivate the European, in order that they might
+trade their flax and pigs for guns; while the white man, seeing that
+he could procure these valuable products at so insignificant a cost,
+was nothing loath to forget the many injuries which had been inflicted
+upon his own race.
+
+Thus the spirit of crime and revenge, which for years had darkened the
+page of New Zealand's history, suddenly disappeared in the eagerness
+for trade, and in its stead came the spirit of industry, which sent
+countless natives toiling in the swamps and on the hill-sides,
+preparing in feverish haste the fibre wherewith they might purchase
+this new weapon of destruction. This mad rush for muskets did not
+escape the keen observation of Te Rauparaha, who saw with unerring
+precision what its ultimate effect must be. Had he been a resident of
+the east coast there is little doubt that he too would have plunged
+with enthusiasm into the fatal scramble, trusting to his natural
+shrewdness and business acumen to secure for him a fair share of the
+market's prizes. But he was at the outset placed at this disadvantage.
+His country was on the west coast of the island, where the whalers and
+traders seldom came; and the Ngati-Toa, unlike the Nga-Puhi, had few
+or no opportunities of holding intercourse with the _pakeha_, from
+whom alone the coveted muskets could be procured. It was therefore
+with a heavy heart and sorely perplexed mind that Te Rauparaha
+returned to Kawhia, for he knew with absolute certainty that so soon
+as the Waikatos succeeded in arming themselves with firelocks it was
+only a question of time when they would decide to attack him and his
+people, in satisfaction for many an old grudge. Then the day would go
+hard with Ngati-Toa, who could only encounter this new invasion with
+stone clubs and wooden spears.
+
+As the result of many years of intertribal wars the country
+surrounding Aotea harbour, to the north of Kawhia, had become almost
+denuded of population. A few inconsiderable _pas_ still remained,
+but their defenders were so inefficient as to constitute a living
+invitation to some stronger people to come down and exterminate them.
+Thus it was not surprising that a section of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe,
+whose home was at Raglan, should, after a successful raid in this
+quarter, decide to permanently occupy so inviting a district. They
+immediately attacked and drove out the feeble occupants, and then sat
+down to enjoy the fruits of their conquest. This act of aggression was
+hotly resented by Te Rauparaha, who could not suffer his allies to be
+buffeted in so unceremonious a manner, and within an incredibly short
+period of time he had his fleet of canoes on the water carrying a
+_taua_ to Whanga-roa, where he met and decisively defeated
+Ngati-Mahanga. The report of this Ngati-Toa victory soon spread
+throughout the enemies' domain, and in due course reached the ears of
+those branches of the tribe living at the mouth of the Waikato River,
+who at once resolved to espouse the cause of their defeated friends.
+Manning seven large canoes, they came down the coast with a
+well-disciplined force under the renowned leader Kare-waho, and
+landing at Otiki, they first demolished the _pa_ there and then
+passed on to Ohaua, whither the fugitives had fled, and delivered
+their attack upon that stronghold. No decisive result was achieved, as
+the rupture appears to have been healed before victory crowned the
+arms of either side, and the invaders were as eager to return as the
+besieged were glad to see them go. But the peace thus hastily made was
+as speedily broken, and a series of events was soon to ensue which was
+fated to have far-reaching results. Shortly after the return of the
+northern raiders a noted Waikato warrior, named Te Uira, came into the
+disputed Aotea territory, and while there varied his sport as a
+fisherman by killing a stray Ngati-Toa tribesman. On hearing of this
+tragedy Te Rauparaha and a war party promptly went over and retaliated
+by slaying Te Uira. Though to all appearances strictly within the code
+of morality which sanctions the taking of a life for a life, the
+Waikato people chose to regard this act as one of treachery, and the
+magnitude of the crime was measured by the value of the life taken. Te
+Uira was a man who had ranked high in their esteem. As a warrior and a
+leader of men he was a _toa_, indeed, and his death was to them a
+disaster. They therefore determined that the annihilation of Ngati-Toa
+was the only adequate solace for their injured feelings, and on this
+end they now concentrated their energies. War party after war party
+was sent over to Kawhia, and many desperate battles were fought, out
+of which Ngati-Toa seemed to emerge generally with success. But the
+gloom of impending disaster was gathering round Te Rauparaha, for the
+powerful Ngati-Mania-poto tribe became leagued with Waikato against
+him; and, although he had no difficulty in defeating them singly when
+they met, their coalition with his old enemy was a more serious
+matter. Stung by a recent repulse at Ta-whitiwhiti, they hurried
+messengers to all their distant friends, and in answer to their call a
+combined force of 1,600 men under Te Rau-Angaanga, father of the more
+famous Te Wherowhero, was soon marching against Kawhia's diminishing
+band of defenders. Crossing the ranges, they soon fell upon the
+Hiku-parea _pa_, which they invested at the close of the day. During
+the night half their force lay concealed in ambush, and when the
+garrison emerged in the morning to give battle to an apparently small
+body of besiegers they were mortified to find themselves so hopelessly
+outnumbered and outgeneralled that there was nothing left for them to
+do but die as bravely as they might. The invaders then marched to
+attack the great Te Totara _pa_, where Te Rauparaha was personally in
+command, and here again the defenders were driven in before the swift
+onslaught of the allies. But where his arms had failed him Te
+Rauparaha's diplomacy stood him in good stead. He managed to soothe Te
+Rau-Angaanga into agreeing to a truce, and a temporary peace was
+patched up, only to be broken by the turbulent temper of the
+Ngati-Toa, who saw no impropriety in committing fresh aggressions so
+soon as their militant neighbours had returned home.
+
+The position was thus becoming grave for Te Rauparaha, and in an
+effort to stem the threatening disaster he sought to turn to some
+practical purpose the influence and prestige which he had now gained
+with the neighbouring chiefs. He suggested to his more trusted friends
+amongst the Maori leaders the need and wisdom of a confederation of
+all their tribes against the oppression of the Waikato people. But,
+though conducted with consummate tact and skill, these negotiations
+were destined to be futile. While all were friendly enough with Te
+Rauparaha, mutual jealousies existed amongst the other tribes, which
+destroyed any prospect of that unanimity and cohesion so essential to
+the success of such a scheme. Nga-Puhi remembered how Ngati-Maru had
+invaded their territory in days of old, and now that they were
+possessed of muskets they saw a prospect of repaying the debt--a
+chance much too promising to be lightly thrown away. Te Heuheu, the
+great chief at Taupo, would not coalesce with Ngati-Maru, and the
+Arawa still nursed their grudge against Tainui. These ancient
+grievances, which never seemed to die, kept the tribes outside Waikato
+apart, while the fact that Te Wherowhero had been able to form an
+offensive and defensive alliance with the Blücher of Maoridom, Te
+Waharoa, so strengthened his position that, after months wasted in
+fruitless appeal, Te Rauparaha returned to Kawhia more than ever
+convinced that if his tribe was to be spared the humiliation of
+defeat, and perhaps annihilation, self-reliance must be the keynote of
+his future policy.
+
+During the next two years (1816-1818) Te Rauparaha devoted himself to
+occasional excursions against Waikato, in which he was moderately
+successful; but his more important operations at this period were
+directed against the tribes of Taranaki. The peculiar ethics of Maori
+warfare were largely responsible for the first of these southern
+descents upon a people with whom he was now beginning to enjoy
+considerable intercourse. A marriage had been celebrated between
+Nohorua, his elder brother, and a Taranaki lady,[32] and by way of
+commemorating the solemnity, a feast on a sumptuous scale had been
+given to the bridegroom's friends. Te Rauparaha, with the generosity
+for which he was at this time remarkable, was not slow to return the
+compliment, and in the course of a few months he journeyed southward
+to Te Taniwha _pa_, where Huri-whenua, the brother of Nohorua's
+young wife, lived, bringing gifts of dried fish and other seasonable
+foods. These social amenities led to still more intimate relations,
+and at the end of the following kumara and taro harvest the chief of
+Te Taniwha proceeded northward in his fleet of canoes on a promised
+visit to Kawhia. A fair wind beating into their triangular sails
+carried the canoes to within ten miles of their destination, and at
+the close of day the fleet headed for the shore at Harihari. Next
+morning they were met at their camp by Te Rauparaha and Rauhihi, who
+assured them of a cordial welcome at Kawhia and then proceeded
+overland to prepare their reception. In the meantime a rolling surf
+had set into the bay where the canoes were beached, and in the
+operation of launching them several were overturned and their crews
+nearly drowned. This misfortune, which involved the loss of all the
+food intended for the feast, angered Huri-whenua exceedingly, and he
+adopted a strange but characteristically Maori-like method of seeking
+balm for his injured feelings. Gathering a party of his people
+together, he set off in pursuit of Te Rauparaha and his friend, and,
+attacking them, succeeded in killing Rauhihi, but not Te Rauparaha,
+who reached Kawhia after an exciting chase. His assailants, knowing
+full well that this unprovoked attack upon their chief would excite
+the indignation of Ngati-Toa, retired in haste to their home, which
+they immediately began to place in a condition of defence against the
+day when Te Rauparaha would return to seek satisfaction for the
+contemptuous disregard of his hospitality and the menace offered to
+his life. Nor were their precautions taken a moment too soon. Scarcely
+had the walls been strengthened and the Waihi stream dammed up so as
+to form a wide lake on one side of the _pa_ than Te Rauparaha
+appeared, accompanied by Tuwhare,[33] one of the most celebrated
+Nga-Puhi chiefs of his day. This was Tuwhare's first visit to the
+south. He had gladly accepted the invitation to join the expedition,
+for his purpose in coming to Kawhia had been to lead an invasion into
+Taranaki territory, in order to secure some of the valuable mats, for
+making which the people of that part were widely famed.
+
+Tuwhare's contingent consisted of not more than two hundred men, but
+they brought with them something which, at this period, was more to be
+dreaded than men--the deadly musket. A few of these arms were carried
+by the invaders, while the defenders had not as yet even heard of or
+seen them.[34] The precautions of the garrison had robbed the
+northerners of all hope of successfully capturing the _pa_ by assault,
+and so they sat down to besiege it in the most leisurely fashion. For
+several weeks besiegers and besieged watched each other across the
+wide lagoon which had been formed by the waters of the Waihi. At last
+Te Rauparaha and his people, growing weary of the enforced inactivity,
+sent proposals of peace to Huri-whenua. These were accepted, and
+subsequently ratified, but not before the pride of Ngati-Toa had been
+salved by their insistence upon a quaint condition. Te Rauparaha,
+recognising that the damming of the Waihi stream had been the means of
+frustrating his plans, demanded that, before the siege was raised, the
+dam should be removed. The point was conceded and the barrier broken
+down; and, as the waters rushed back into their bed, the northerners
+ostentatiously discharged their muskets in token of victory, and
+"then," says a Maori chronicler, "this ignorant people of these parts
+heard for the first time the noise of that weapon, the gun." The war
+party remained for some time on amicable terms at Te Taniwha, and
+before they had resolved to return home they were importuned to engage
+in further aggressions by Te Puoho, of whom we shall hear more anon.
+This warrior was a man of influence amongst the Ngati-Tama tribe, who
+held what has been called "the gate of Taranaki"; and it was due to
+the numerous connections by marriage between the northerners and
+Ngati-Tama that the former had been permitted to pass unmolested to
+the attack upon Te Taniwha. Te Puoho now sought recompense for his
+friendship by enlisting the sympathies of the northern leaders in the
+redress of his own grievances. He solicited their aid in an attack
+upon Tatara-i-maka _pa_, the home of those who had been responsible
+for the death of his sister not long before.
+
+Obedient to Te Puoho's summons, and eager to secure mats and heads and
+slaves, the war party marched upon the _pa_, which stood with its
+terraced ramparts upon the sea-coast eleven miles south-west of New
+Plymouth. Seeing the invaders approach, the defenders went out to meet
+them, and gave them battle on the open space in front of the _pa_; but
+the sound of the guns, and the sight of men falling as by the hand of
+some invisible enemy, so terrorised the defenders that their lines
+were soon broken, and they fled, a demoralised host, back to their
+stronghold, which was immediately stormed and taken with great
+slaughter. This incident inspired the following lament, which was
+composed by one of the Taranaki people, in memory of those who fell at
+Tatara-i-maka:--
+
+  "Sweet is the Spring, the September month,
+  When brilliant Canopus stands aloft,
+  As I lay within my solitary house,
+  Dazed with sad thoughts for my people
+  Departed in death like a flash.
+  To the cave of Rangi-totohu--
+  Emblem of sad disaster--
+  They are gone by the leadership
+  Of Uru, of the fearsome name.
+  'Twas there at the hill of Tatara-i-maka
+  The foe advanced in wedge-like form,
+  Whilst our gathered people bid defiance
+  At the entrance of the _pa_,
+  Where Muru-paenga[35] forced his way--
+  The army-raiser, the leader--
+  His was the fatal blow delivered,
+  At the ascent of Tuhi-mata:
+  Hence I am dried up here in sorrow."
+
+From Tatara-i-maka the _taua_ moved southwards, attacking
+Mounu-kahawai as they went. This _pa_ was taken under cover of
+the smoke caused by firing the dry _raupo_ which grew in the
+neighbouring swamps, and then Tapui-nikau was invested. Here the
+defenders, though fighting only with their _rakau maori_, or
+native weapons, made so gallant a resistance that not even the guns of
+the invaders could penetrate it. They had filled the fighting towers
+of the _pa_ with huge boulders and smaller stones, and the
+branches of the trees which overhung the trenches were lined with men,
+who handed the missiles to those best able to drop them upon the enemy
+as they swarmed round the walls.[36] Changing their tactics, the
+invaders drew off to a position which closed all communication with
+the _pa_, and at the same time gave them complete control of the
+surrounding country, so as to prevent the possibility of succour
+reaching the beleaguered _pa_. It was during the respite from
+active hostilities thus secured that there occurred one of those
+strange incidents which, though common enough in Maori warfare, appear
+so anomalous in the light of European custom. Te Ratutonu, one of the
+defending chiefs, had been so conspicuous in repelling attacks that
+his gallantry and skill in arms became the subject of universal
+admiration throughout the northern camp. But not alone upon the men
+had his bravery made its impression. Rangi Topeora, Te Rangihaeata's
+sister, had witnessed his prowess, and, charmed by his handsome figure
+and manly strength, had been seized with a desire to have the hero for
+her husband. When the clash of arms had ceased, she persuaded her
+uncle, Te Rauparaha, to have Ratutonu "called," a ceremony which was
+performed by some one approaching the beleaguered _pa_, and under a
+guarantee of safety, inviting the warrior into the camp. Ratutonu
+obeyed the summons, and came down from the _pa_ to meet Topeora; and
+to her he was married after the orators had delivered themselves of
+speeches rich in eulogy of their new-found kinsman, and full of
+admiration for the virtues of his bride.[37]
+
+This unexpected union had raised a hope in the breast of the defenders
+that the rigour of the siege would now be relaxed, and that peace
+would be made as a fitting sequel to the romantic nuptials. In this
+they were, however, doomed to disappointment, for the Nga-Puhi,
+knowing that the food of the _pa_ must be failing, would listen
+to no suggestion of compromise. But, moved by a more generous impulse,
+Ngati-Awa, the Taranaki section of the allies, entered into secret
+communication with the garrison, and finally arranged that the
+defenders should be allowed to pass through their lines by night and
+escape to the neighbouring hills. Next morning, great was the
+excitement in the camp when it was discovered that there was neither
+smoke ascending from the fires nor sound from the ramparts of the
+_pa_. The enemy had slipped from under their very hand; had flown
+from under their very eyes; and, as Ngati-Awa kept their own counsel,
+there was not a trace to show or suggest how the trick had been
+accomplished. Nothing, therefore, remained for the outwitted besiegers
+to do but avail themselves of what plunder had fallen into their
+hands, and make the best of their way back to their homes.
+
+Upon the return of the _taua_ to Kawhia, its composite forces
+separated and departed to their respective districts, but not before
+the plans of a still more extensive campaign had been discussed. These
+operations, however, did not commence for a year, and, in the
+meantime, the seriousness of his position in relation to the Waikato
+people was more than ever apparent to Te Rauparaha, whose inability to
+come into contact with the whalers, and the consequent difficulty he
+experienced in becoming possessed of muskets, brought him much
+"darkness of heart." But, as he meditated, his anxiety of mind was to
+some extent relieved by the arrival at Kawhia of the northern portion
+of the war party, the raising of which had previously been agreed
+upon. In accordance with this arrangement, Tuwhare, accompanied by
+Patuone, and his brother, that picturesque figure in Maori history,
+Tamati Waka Nene[38]--whose influence and eloquence were subsequently
+to be so powerfully used to secure the acceptance by the natives of
+the Treaty of Waitangi--left Hokianga in November, 1819, and
+proceeding by a circuitous route which embraced the country of the
+Waitemata, reached the home of Te Rauparaha, and found there a force
+of four hundred men waiting to welcome them.
+
+ [Illustration: BURNING OF THE "BOYD."
+ From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland,
+ by kind permission of the artist.]
+
+Accredited estimates give the strength of the combined contingents
+at fully one thousand men, and they were armed with a greater number
+of muskets than had ever previously been carried into the field by any
+Maori organisation. A further distinction was the presence of many
+leaders whose deeds were to be deeply imprinted upon the records of
+Maori history. Each tribal section was under chiefs who are
+acknowledged to have been amongst the classic warriors of their time;
+so that, in the matter of skilful direction and heroic example, the
+_taua_ might consider itself more than usually fortunate. The primary
+purpose of the expedition appears to have been no more than a love of
+adventure and a desire to kill and eat a few of their enemies; but
+embraced within this scheme was a secondary motive, which involved the
+redress of a grievance which Te Puoho had acquired against the
+Whanganui people, whom he considered accountable for a slight put upon
+his daughter. The friendly relations which prevailed between Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Tama ensured the war party an uncontested passage through
+"the gate of Taranaki"; and, although Ngati-Awa assembled to oppose
+them, they were satisfied to desist, upon Te Rauparaha consenting to
+pay the tribute of ownership by requesting permission to pass through
+their territory.
+
+The first important halt was made at Manu-korihi, on the north bank of
+the Waitara River, where a stay of some length was made for the
+purpose of finally determining the order of their plans. The
+Manu-korihi people became deeply interested in the muskets which the
+visitors had brought with them; and curious to observe their
+effect--at the expense of some one else--they persuaded Te Rauparaha
+and his friends to commence hostilities against the famous
+Puke-rangiora _pa_, whose inhabitants had been guilty of some
+cause of offence. The invitation to attack the great stronghold was
+accepted with alacrity; but when the war party presented themselves
+before the walls, they found it so strongly fortified and so keenly
+defended that discretion dictated a less valiant course, and so they
+passed Puke-rangiora, and went over the mountain track to Te
+Kerikeringa in search of a meaner enemy. This _pa_ was a central point
+in the system of defence set up by Ngati-Maru, who had established
+populous settlements and made great clearings in the forest east of
+the present town of Stratford. Their great fighting chief was
+Tutahanga, who in former days had subdued the pride of both the
+Waikato and the Nga-Puhi. Now he was old, but his martial bearing was
+still such that, when the invaders inquired of their guides how they
+might distinguish him from those of inferior rank, they were told, "He
+is a star."
+
+Graced by the red plumes of the tropic bird, the northerners moved up
+to the attack, but were met with so stout a resistance by the
+defenders, who had donned the white feathers of the sacred crane,
+that, in spite of their muskets, their combination broke, and they
+retired in disorder to the western slopes, where they were compelled
+to resort to the tactics of a regular siege. From these heights, which
+dominated the _pa_, they were occasionally able to shoot down an
+unwary defender who exposed himself to their fire; but they did not
+rely entirely upon this method of fighting to effect their conquest.
+Frequent assaults were made upon the gateway, in one of which they
+succeeded in shooting Tutahanga, and in another Patu-wairua, his
+successor in command. Before his death, Patu-wairua, persuaded that
+the _pa_ could not hold out much longer, desired to make peace if
+possible; but his conciliatory views were overruled by the less
+diplomatic leaders of the tribe. Patu-wairua then sat down and sang a
+lament for his people, whose impending fate he deplored with all the
+affection of a father. In the next sally he was killed in the
+fore-front of the fighting line, bravely sustaining the unequal
+contest, in which the _mere_ was matched against the musket.
+
+With their two great leaders gone and many of their tribesmen dead, a
+feeling of depression settled down upon the garrison, whose position
+was daily growing less secure. But while they were sinking under the
+weariness begotten of incessant vigilance, a Maori-like episode
+occurred, in which the arts of the women were employed to do that in
+which the stalwart arms of the men had failed. As a last device, the
+Ngati-Maru generals hit upon the idea of sending all the young women
+of the _pa_ into the camp of the invaders, to beguile the warriors
+with their charms, and so induce them temporarily to relax the
+severity of the siege. History does not record the fate of these
+maidens of Te Kerikeringa; but they deserve at least a certain
+immortality. For during the diversion thus caused the _pa_ was
+silently evacuated, the survivors of the siege making their escape
+across the Waitara River along the Tara-mouku Valley, and through the
+dense forest which stretched for many miles into the heart of the
+island.
+
+The tidings that Kerikeringa had fallen spread with such rapidity
+that, before the rejoicings of the victors had concluded, the tribes
+to the southward had succeeded in concealing themselves within their
+mountain fastnesses. Consequently we hear of no conflicts with
+Ngati-Ruanui or Nga-Rauru, as the victorious _taua_ passed over
+the old forest track which leads out into the open country near the
+town of Normanby. This peaceful passage was not interrupted until they
+reached the Whanganui River, where they found the resident tribes
+drawn up in battle array to oppose them at the Turua _pa_. This
+_pa_ was situated on the eastern bank of the river, a little
+above the present town of Whanganui; but, in reaching it, the
+northerners were faced with a serious initial difficulty, inasmuch as
+they had no canoes of their own, and Te Anaua, of Whanganui, had taken
+the precaution to remove his flotilla to the opposite shore. But the
+ingenuity of Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha was equal to an emergency of
+that kind. Ordering their men into the neighbouring swamps, they
+employed a month in cutting dry _raupo_ leaves, out of which they
+constructed a _mokihi_ fleet, and on these vegetable rafts the
+whole force was eventually transported across the wide and deep
+river. The capture of the _pa_ was a work of no great difficulty; for
+here, as elsewhere, the muskets exercised their terrifying influence
+upon natives coming into contact with them for the first time.
+
+Southward the march was once more directed, and skirmishes followed
+with Ngati-Apa in the Whangaehu and Rangitikei districts. No
+protracted fighting was possible where the panic-stricken inhabitants
+fled before the all-destroying guns. Across the Rangitikei the
+_taua_ passed into the fertile district of the Manawatu, which
+since the traditional days of Whatonga had been the home of the
+Rangitane people. Of this hostile descent upon the coast the Rangitane
+people declare that they, secure in their mountain fortresses, heard
+nothing until the arrival of the war party at Otaki. Thither some of
+the children of Toki-poto, the chief at Hotuiti, near Awahou (Foxton),
+had gone on a visit to their friends; and there they met Te Rauparaha,
+who inquired of them the whereabouts of their people and the number
+and strength of their _pas_.
+
+The patronising and fatherly demeanour which this warrior could
+assume[39] when his ends were better served by the concealment of his
+true purpose completely won the confidence of the lads, and, in their
+innocence of the man, to whom they were confiding the secrets of the
+tribe, they readily told him all that he wished to know. When the
+desired information had been obtained some of Te Rauparaha's followers
+proposed, as a precautionary measure, that the children should be
+killed; but Te Rauparaha, more far-seeing than they, interposed, for
+he had not yet exhausted their usefulness. In the depths of his
+cunning he had conceived the idea of making the children of Toki-poto
+the instruments by which that chief should be delivered into
+Ngati-Toa's hands. Accordingly, he resisted the demand for their
+blood, saying, "No, let them alone, they are only children. Rather
+let us go and take Toki-poto out of the stern of the canoe." This was
+his expressive and figurative method of conveying to his warriors that
+he sought a more valuable trophy than the life of a child, and that he
+had resolved upon no less a scheme than the assault of the Hotuiti
+_pa_. To Mahuri, the eldest son of Toki-poto, he then turned, and in
+dulcet tones he said, "Go to your father, I will see him."
+
+Accompanied by the Ngati-Toa warriors and their leader, the lad led
+the way to a small lake _pa_ at Hotuiti, whither Toki-poto had
+gone with the major portion of his people from their main settlement
+on the banks of the Manawatu River. The _pa_ itself was built on
+one of the many miniature islets which dot the face of the lake; and,
+while Te Rauparaha and his followers lurked in the bush which fringed
+the margin, he sent the unsuspecting Mahuri to tell his father that Te
+Rauparaha wished to talk with him. The first thought to arise in the
+mind of the Rangitane chief was one of suspicion, and he at once
+exclaimed, "No, I will not go. I shall be slain." But the boy, into
+whose good graces Te Rauparaha had completely ingratiated himself,
+ridiculed these fears, and urged his father to go. To these entreaties,
+and possibly to fears of retaliation if he did not comply, Toki-poto
+at last yielded, and, taking a few of his people with him, went in his
+canoe, unarmed, to welcome his visitor.
+
+Scarcely had they reached the edge of the wood when they were set upon
+by the secreted warriors, and in the massacre which followed the chief
+and a number of his followers were killed, the remainder, with the
+exception of two, being taken prisoners. The two who escaped were
+Mahuri, the innocent cause of the disaster, and Te Aweawe, the father
+of the well-known family who still reside upon the Rangitane lands in
+the Manawatu. Side by side with Toki-poto, there fell that day another
+chief named Te Waraki, whose greenstone _mere_, a weapon famous
+in the annals of the tribe, was buried on the site of the massacre by
+the mourning people, and there it remained hidden for full sixty
+years, until it was discovered in 1882.
+
+Strange to say, Te Rauparaha did not press the advantage gained by the
+removal of Hotuiti's chief by attacking the _pa_, but contented
+himself with carrying off his prisoners to Otaki, where he rejoined
+Waka Nene. Here the two chiefs rested for a time, pursuing vigilant
+inquiries into the number and disposition of the resident tribes. They
+visited for the first time the island stronghold of Kapiti, and found
+it in the possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people, under the
+chieftainship of two men named Potau and Kotuku. The visit was made
+with a simulation of friendship, for the time was not ripe for an
+attack; and the northerners were satisfied for the moment with
+examining the strategical features of the island, and extorting from
+Potau and Kotuku a considerable quantity of the greenstone which they
+had accumulated during the course of their traffic with the Ngai-Tahu
+of the South Island.
+
+Refreshed by their sojourn at Otaki, and considerably enlightened as
+to its military possibilities, the northern war party then pushed on
+southwards, fighting as they went, first at Wai-mapihi, a fortified
+_pa_, the remains of which are still to be seen not far from the
+Puke-rua railway station. The _pa_ was captured, it is said, by
+treachery suggested by Te Rauparaha, and the Muaupoko, whose valour
+had defied the most desperate efforts of their assailants, were hunted
+in and through the bush by their fierce pursuers. Here, and at
+Porirua, a number of canoes fell into the hands of the invaders, some
+of whom now decided to vary the monotony of the land journey by the
+exhilaration of the sea route. This determination ended disastrously.
+Ignorant of the silent currents and treacherous tides of Cook Strait,
+the Nga-Puhi men of two canoes were swamped while taking the outer
+passage in rounding Sinclair Head, and fully one hundred of them were
+drowned. The remainder of the canoes, steering a course inside the reefs,
+escaped the danger of shipwreck, and reached Whanganui-a-Tara[40]
+almost simultaneously with the party who had journeyed by land.
+
+The country surrounding this great basin was then held by the
+Ngati-Ira, a sub-branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, whose
+possessions practically extended from Gisborne to Cape Palliser, on
+the eastern side of the North Island. They were a brave and numerous
+people, and when their _pa_ at Pa-ranga-hau was attacked, they
+fought with a desperation which extorted admiration even from their
+enemies. Though considerable numbers of Ngati-Ira were killed in this
+conflict, Nga-Puhi did not escape scatheless; for one native account
+says: "Ngati-Ira charged them in the face of the flames of their
+muskets, and with their native weapons killed many Nga-Puhi." Hunger
+was now beginning to assert its inconvenience; and the war party were
+at this time compelled to live exclusively on the flesh of their
+slaves, of whom large numbers were killed, each chief undertaking
+successively to provide the necessary supply. Disease also attacked
+their camps, of which there were two; and some mysterious pestilence
+was responsible for the death of many warriors and several chiefs,
+whose heads were preserved and their bodies burned, to prevent them
+falling into the hands of the enemy. Scarcely had the stricken host
+recovered from the prevailing sickness than the Ngati-Ira swept down
+upon the bivouac at Te Aro in the dead of night, and, in the first
+shock of the surprise, inflicted sore loss upon the sleeping warriors.
+Thanks to their guns, the northerners were ultimately successful in
+beating off the attack, and immediately afterwards the pas which
+skirted the harbour were deserted by their inhabitants, who, reluctant
+to accept the responsibility of battle under such unequal conditions,
+beat a stealthy retreat into the Hutt Valley, whither the northern
+chiefs followed them, though their force was now only a remnant of
+what it had formerly been. They travelled by canoe up the river which
+waters the valley, and, as they went, the resident people, confident
+in their numbers, collected along the banks to jeer at them, and
+contemptuously invited them on shore to be eaten.
+
+The details of this campaign are but a repetition of successive
+slaughters; for the panic created by the strange sound and deadly
+power of the gun left the unhappy defenders no spirit to resist the
+onslaughts of their assailants. For several weeks they remained in the
+valley, guided from _pa_ to _pa_ by their slaves, who, to
+save their own lives, were forced to sacrifice those of their
+tribesmen. Every nook of the dark forest was penetrated, and even the
+steeps of the Rimutaka Range were climbed in vengeful pursuit of the
+fugitives. In connection with these manoeuvres the reputation of Te
+Rauparaha has again been besmirched by suggestions of treachery--and
+treachery of the blackest type; for nothing could be more hurtful to
+the honour of a high chief than that he should prove faithless while
+feigning hospitality. It has been recorded by the Nga-Puhi chroniclers
+that, as they pushed on through the forest, they came upon a strongly
+built and populous _pa_, which left some room for doubt as to
+what the issue of an attack would be. To tempt the warriors into the
+open was the policy advocated by Te Rauparaha, and to achieve this end
+he sent messengers to the Ngati-Ira chiefs with offers of peace. To
+render the bait more seductive, a feast was prepared, to which the
+warriors of the Hutt were invited; and, on assembling, a northern man
+sat down beside each one, prepared at a sign from their chief to
+spring upon the unsuspecting guests. Into the _marae_ the women
+brought the food, and, as the unsuspecting Ngati-Ira were revelling in
+the delights of the banquet, the fatal signal was given by Te
+Rauparaha, and a massacre commenced, which ended only with the capture
+of the _pa_ and the rout of its inhabitants.[41] Whether the name
+of Te Rauparaha will ever be cleared of this odious imputation which
+the Nga-Puhi record has branded upon it is uncertain. But, as a
+counterpoise, it must be remembered that those who have made the
+accusations were at least willing participators in the schemes which
+they ascribe to him, and that, if the plans were his, the execution of
+them was undoubtedly theirs.
+
+Having exhausted the field of conquest open to them in the valley of
+the Hutt, the war party returned to the harbour where their canoes
+were beached, and, undeterred by the fact that their numbers had now
+dwindled to less than three hundred, they set off by sea for Palliser
+Bay, by which route they had determined to enter the Wairarapa. A
+successful reprisal by the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, who had cut off and
+annihilated a small party of the northerners, was the immediate
+justification for this new development in the plans of Tuwhare and Te
+Rauparaha. The opposing forces met at the Tauhere Nikau _pa_,
+near Featherston, which was strongly fortified and bravely defended;
+but the muskets which these rude imitators of Cortés carried with them
+were here, as elsewhere, sufficient to spread consternation through
+the opposing ranks, and the _pa_ soon fell before the Ngati-Toa
+assault. Numbers of the besieged escaped to the hills, where they
+suffered the biting pangs of hunger, and the bitterness of soul
+inseparable from the aftermath of war.[42] Others, keeping to the open
+country, were pursued as far as Porangahau, in Hawke's Bay; and then
+the war party, weary of their bloody work, made their way back to
+Tauhere Nikau, where they spent some days demonstrating their contempt
+for the enemy by eating the bodies of the slain.
+
+When hunger and tribal hatred had been sated, the victorious warriors,
+observing ominous signs of a gathering storm, returned to the west
+coast, and remained for a few days' rest at Omere.[43] While here,
+the eagle eye of Waka Nene descried a vessel[44] in full sail beating
+through Cook Strait. To the quick intellect of the chief, the sight of
+the ship opened up in an instant fresh possibilities; for he knew what
+intercourse with the _pakeha_ had done for the Nga-Puhi, and he saw no
+reason why the same advantages should not be shared by his friend and
+ally, Te Rauparaha. Doubtless that chief had confided his fears to
+Waka Nene, and they had probably consulted long and anxiously as to
+the growing weakness of the position at Kawhia. When, therefore,
+Tamati beheld the passing ship, he saw at a glance that, if this part
+of the coast was frequented by vessels of the white man, it offered
+the same facilities for obtaining arms and ammunition which Hongi
+enjoyed at the Bay of Islands. With unrestrained excitement he called
+out to his comrade: "Oh, Raha,[45] do you see that people sailing on
+the sea? They are a very good people; and if you conquer this land and
+hold intercourse with them, you will obtain guns and powder and become
+very great." This optimistic little speech was apparently all that was
+required to confirm Te Rauparaha in his growing desire to take the
+decisive step of migrating with the whole of his people from the
+storm-threatened Kawhia; and when the chief turned his face towards
+home, it was with the full resolve to come back at the first
+convenient season and make the country his own.
+
+The homeward journey was characterised by the same ruthless behaviour
+towards the resident people which had been practised on the way down,
+those who were captured being killed and eaten without any
+unnecessary ceremony.[46] What occurred within the confines of the
+Manawatu district we do not know, because the present-day
+representatives of the Rangitane people declare that they saw and
+heard nothing of the invaders. As they proceeded further north,
+however, we hear more of them; for while they were in the Rangitikei
+district an incident occurred which it suited the Ngati-Apa people not
+to forget. In one of the many excursions made into the interior in
+search of prisoners, a young chieftainess, named Pikinga, was captured
+by a party of Te Rangihaeata's men. Pikinga was the sister of Arapata
+Hiria, the Ngati-Apa chief against whom Waka Nene and Te Rauparaha
+were operating at the moment; and, if the gossip of the day is to be
+believed, she was possessed of no mean personal charms. She, at least,
+was attractive enough to captivate the most ruthless of the party, for
+it was not long before Te Rangihaeata fell a victim to her charms and
+made her his wife.
+
+Whether this was merely a passing whim on the part of an amorous young
+warrior or a move in a much deeper game of diplomacy, it would be
+difficult to say at this distance of time, particularly as each tribe
+now imputes to the action of the chief a different motive. The
+Ngati-Apa claim, with some insistence, that the marriage was the
+expression of a bond of perpetual peace between them and Te Rauparaha:
+while the Ngati-Raukawa, to whose lot it fell some fifty years later
+to contest the point, contend that no such wide construction could be
+put upon Rangihaeata's action, and that, even if it involved the
+tribes in a treaty of friendship at the time, the compact was
+subsequently denounced by Te Rauparaha on account of the treachery of
+Ngati-Apa. It is quite within the region of possibility that Te
+Rauparaha, having regard to the political aspect of the situation,
+would, so soon as he had measured their strength, lead the Ngati-Apa
+to believe that he desired to cultivate their goodwill; because
+immediately he had determined to seize the country opposite Kapiti, he
+would perceive the wisdom of having some friendly tribe stationed
+between him and his northern enemies, upon whom he could rely to
+withstand the first shock of battle in the event of a Waikato
+invasion. Such tactics would not be foreign to the Ngati-Toa leader,
+for that part of his life which was not spent in battle was occupied
+in the development of schemes whereby the efforts of one tribe were
+neutralised by the efforts of another; and if he could make pawns of
+the Ngati-Apa, he would chuckle to himself and say, "Why not?"
+
+But Te Rauparaha was not the man to seriously contemplate anything in
+the way of a permanent peace with Ngati-Apa, or with any one else whom
+he felt strong enough to destroy. And even assuming that he encouraged
+them in the belief that Rangihaeata's devotion to Pikinga was a common
+bond between them, he would not dream of maintaining such an
+understanding a moment longer than it suited his purpose. It seems,
+therefore, more likely that, when he satisfied himself that the people
+of the Rangitikei were no match for his own warriors, and that he
+could subdue them at his leisure, he was at some pains to impress them
+with a sense of his magnanimity, but only because he desired to use
+them as a buffer between himself and the Waikatos. Years afterwards,
+when he felt secure against invasion, he repudiated all friendship
+with Ngati-Apa, and ordered his people to wage eternal war against
+them. The claim which the Ngati-Apa subsequently made to the land in
+the Rangitikei-Manawatu districts, on the ground that they were never
+conquered by the Ngati-Toa, because this marriage protected them from
+conquest, was therefore not well founded, the ordinary occurrence of a
+chief taking a captive woman to be his slave-wife being invested with
+a significance which it did not possess. Upon the consummation of
+this happy event, the war party, laden with spoil and prisoners, made
+their way back to the north. When they reached Kawhia, after an
+absence of eleven months, Tuwhare being dead,[47] Waka Nene, who had
+now assumed command of the northern contingent, took his leave of Te
+Rauparaha, and Te Rauparaha prepared to take leave of the land of his
+fathers.
+
+[22] Braves.
+
+[23] Waitohi had other children, one of whom, Topeora, afterwards
+became the mother of Matene Te Whiwhi, one of the most influential and
+friendly chiefs on the west coast of the North Island. Topeora is
+perhaps more famed than any other Maori lady, for the number of her
+poetical effusions, which generally take the form of _kaioraora_,
+or cursing songs, in which she expresses the utmost hatred of her
+enemies. Her songs are full of historical allusions, and are therefore
+greatly valued. She also bore the reputation of being something of a
+beauty in her day.
+
+[24] There appears to be some doubt as to the exact locality of Te
+Rauparaha's birth, some authorities giving it as Maungatautari and
+others as Kawhia.
+
+[25] Marore was killed by a member of the Waikato tribe--it is said,
+at the instigation of Te Wherowhero--while she was attending a
+_tangi_ in their district, about the year 1820.
+
+[26] War party.
+
+[27] The traditional accounts of the Maoris have it that at this
+period Te Rauparaha was "famous in matters relative to warfare,
+cultivating generosity, welcoming of strangers and war parties."
+
+[28] This tribe was afterwards partially exterminated during the raids
+of Hongi and Te Waharoa.
+
+[29] "When Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of Whanga-roa,
+in 1819, the terrified people described him as having twelve muskets,
+while the name of Te Korokoro, then a great chief of the Bay of
+Islands, who was known to possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with
+terror for upwards of two hundred miles beyond his own district"
+(_Travers_).
+
+[30] "If we take the whole catalogue of dreadful massacres they (the
+New Zealanders) have been charged with, and (setting aside partiality
+for our own countrymen) allow them to be carefully examined, it will
+be found that we have invariably been the aggressors: and when we have
+given serious cause of offence, can we be so irrational as to express
+astonishment that a savage should seek revenge?" (_Earle_).
+
+[31] Marsden, writing of this time, says that such was the dread of
+the Maoris that he was compelled to wait for more than three years
+before he could induce a captain to bring the missionaries to New
+Zealand, as "no master of a vessel would venture for fear of his ship
+and crew falling a sacrifice to the natives." As an extra precaution,
+all vessels which did visit the country were supplied with boarding
+nets.
+
+[32] Whare-mawhai, sister of Huri-whenua, chief of the Ngati-Rahiri,
+who lived at Waihi, four or five miles north of Waitara.
+
+[33] Tuwhare belonged to the Roroa branch of the Nga-Puhi tribe.
+
+[34] When the musket was first introduced into Taranaki, a slave was
+very anxious to know how it was used. A Nga-Puhi warrior explained to
+him the method of loading and priming, then told him to look down the
+muzzle. The slave did so, whereupon the Nga-Puhi pulled the trigger,
+and the top of the unfortunate slave's head was blown off, much to the
+amusement of the surrounding crowd.
+
+[35] Associated with Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha in this raid was another
+and equally famous chief, named Muru-paenga. That he was a great
+warrior is proved by the fact that his enemies speak of him in the
+lament already quoted as "the army-raiser, the leader," while his
+friend Te Taoho, in a _tangi_ composed after his fall, refers to
+his "warlike eloquence," and compares him to "a richly-laden vessel,
+with all knowledge and great courage." But Muru-paenga is not merely
+famed in song, for his achievements have in a measure passed into
+proverb. In the taking of _pas_, one of his favourite stratagems
+was to stealthily approach the enemy's fort at nightfall, and pounce
+upon it with the first light of dawn. This involved the sleeping of
+his men amongst the tender ferns growing on the outer edge of the
+bush, which in the morning necessarily bore a trodden-down appearance,
+a fact which did not escape the keen observation of those who had oft
+been the victims of his tactics. Consequently, when Muru-paenga was
+killed by Nga-Puhi in 1826, the joyful news went through the country
+which he had previously devastated, and the saying was composed, in
+significant suggestion that the ferns and the people would no longer
+be crushed, "Rejoice, O ye little ferns of the woods, Muru-paenga is
+dead."
+
+[36] "During the siege, Tawhai (afterwards Mohi Tawhai), father of the
+late Hone Mohi Tawhai, M.H.R., who was with the northern contingent of
+the taua in the attack, was close under one of the towers of the
+_pa_ when one of the defenders hurled a big stone at him which
+split open his head. But by careful doctoring he recovered--careful
+doctoring according to Maori ideas meant that they poured hot oil into
+the wound and then sewed it up" (_Polynesian Journal_).
+
+[37] Topeora did not secure her husband without a struggle, for
+another lady, Neke-papa, had also taken a fancy to the handsome
+warrior, and as Te Ratutonu was leaving the _pa_, a dispute arose
+as to which should have him. But Topeora, being fleet of foot, ran to
+meet the advancing warrior, and cast her _topuni_, or dog-skin
+mat, over him, "and this being in accordance with Maori custom, Te
+Ratutonu became the husband of Topeora."
+
+[38] His home was on the banks of the Hokianga River, on the western
+side of the country, opposite to the Bay of Islands. He afterwards
+became a convert to the Wesleyan Mission, and received at his baptism
+the prefix "Thomas Walker" to his old Maori name of Nene, hence the
+name by which he is known in history--Tamati Waka Nene.
+
+[39] The late Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, who knew Te Rauparaha well, has
+assured the writer that when it suited him the wily old chief could
+"lend a most angelic expression to his countenance."
+
+[40] Now known as Wellington.
+
+[41] "All these works of treachery, ambushes, murders, and all these
+wrongs done by the _taua_ of Nga-Puhi, were taught them by Te
+Rauparaha" (_Nga-Puhi account_).
+
+[42] The female prisoners were secured by plaiting flax ropes into
+their long hair, and the men were imprisoned in enclosures made for
+the purpose.
+
+[43] Omere is a high bluff just to the south of Ohariu Bay. This bluff
+was the place which Maoris always visited to see if the Straits were
+calm enough to cross: hence the reference in the old song--
+
+  Where Omere projects outside,
+  The look-out Mount for calms.
+
+[44] It has been suggested that this vessel was either the _Wostok_
+or the _Mirny_ of the Russian scientific expedition sent out by
+Czar Alexander I. in 1819, and which visited Queen Charlotte Sound. If
+this is so, the date of this event was either late in May or early in
+June, 1820.
+
+[45] A contraction for Rauparaha.
+
+[46] On one occasion, when Te Rauparaha was conversing with Mr. George
+Clarke, then Protector of the Aborigines, the latter asked him how he
+made his way from north to south. With a wicked twinkle in his eye, Te
+Rauparaha replied, "Why, of course, I ate my way through."
+
+[47] On reaching Whanganui, a division in the councils of the leaders
+took place, Ngati-Toa and Nga-Puhi remaining on the coast, while
+Tuwhare made an intrepid dash up the Whanganui River with his own
+immediate followers. They fought their way up into the "cliff
+country," in the upper reaches of the river, and here, in an
+engagement at the Kai-whakauka _pa_, Tuwhare received a wound on
+the head from which he shortly afterwards died. On receiving the fatal
+blow, he contemptuously remarked to his assailant: "If thine had been
+the arm of a warrior I should have been killed, but it is the arm of a
+cultivator."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LAND OF PROMISE
+
+
+When the period of feasting and enjoyment, which invariably followed
+upon the return of a successful Maori war party, had terminated at
+Kawhia, Te Rauparaha immediately became involved in a fresh struggle
+with Waikato. The cause of the hostility was remote; but, as Waikato
+had vowed to drive him out, no pretext was too slight upon which to
+base a quarrel. Thus the killing of one of their chiefs by a Taranaki
+warrior, to whom Te Rauparaha was related, was sufficient to justify
+the marching of a large war party against him. Their force advanced in
+two sections: the one came down the inland track, and the other, which
+was to actively engage Te Rauparaha, entered Kawhia from the sea. Two
+_pas_, Tau-mata-Kauae and Te Kawau, speedily fell before the
+invaders, and again Ngati-Toa were defeated at the battle of Te
+Karaka, on the borders of Lake Taharoa, after an heroic struggle, in
+which it is said that three hundred Ngati-Toa fought more than a
+thousand Waikatos. These disasters were indeed darkening the outlook
+for Ngati-Toa, and the position has been graphically described by one
+native historian, who states that "the losses of the tribe of Te
+Rauparaha were very great; by day and by night they were killed by
+Ngati-Pou." Success had also attended the arms of the section of
+Waikato who, under Te Wherowhero, had swept through the Waipa Valley
+and across the forest plateau until they reached the Wai-Kawau
+_pa_ on the sea-coast, just north of the Mokau River. This they
+stormed and sacked by force of overpowering numbers, and, surfeited
+with victory, they united with their comrades at Te Karaka, and then
+triumphantly marched home.
+
+With so many of his _pas_ obliterated and his warriors slain, Te
+Rauparaha retired upon Te Arawi, a coastal stronghold built upon the
+summit of a forbidding-looking rock, which at full tide is completely
+surrounded by a breaking sea. Here he had leisure to reflect upon the
+lessening radius of his freedom and to formulate his plans for
+extricating his people from a position of increasing peril; and we may
+fairly assume that it was now that his final decision to migrate from
+Kawhia to Kapiti was taken. Once resolved on this course, he applied
+himself systematically to the task of persuading his people to enter
+into the spirit of the scheme, over which he himself had become so
+enthusiastic, and which he now deemed necessary to their safety. The
+task was by no means a simple one, for the impending danger was not so
+apparent to all the tribe as it was to their chief; and, moreover,
+there centred in the spot which he was asking them to leave the
+traditions and associations of all the centuries which had passed
+since their forefathers had first landed there from the pilgrim canoe.
+They knew each nook and corner, from the caves to the hill-tops, every
+point of which spoke to them of the beloved past. Here a rock which
+had been a trysting-place in some tragic love affair, there a haunt of
+spirits, yonder a burying-ground made sacred by the bones of their
+ancestors, and there again a battlefield hallowed by the memory of the
+fallen. Each of these was a tie dear to the Maori; and they were loath
+to leave all that linked them to the past and face a future full of
+doubt and uncertainty.
+
+But the confidence which Te Rauparaha had inspired, and the prospect
+of guns and ammunition in abundance, gradually overcame these
+sentimental objections; and before long the Ngati-Toa people agreed to
+follow their chief whithersoever he might lead. Te Rauparaha was,
+however, prudent enough to recognise that his own section of the
+tribe, though brave at heart, were few in numbers for so serious an
+undertaking as the conquest of a new territory. As soon, therefore, as
+he had secured the consent of his own tribe, he paid a visit to
+Maungatautari, for the purpose of obtaining the co-operation of
+Ngati-Raukawa. With them he was no more successful at first than he
+had been with his own people. He pointed out their liability to
+attack, the difficulty in obtaining guns, shut out as they were from
+communication with the whalers, and the prospect of an easy victory
+over the weakened tribes of the coast. But they were reluctant to give
+up all that they possessed for a visionary and problematical success,
+and it was not till quite a year later that he was able even partially
+to break down their resistance. In pressing his claims upon the
+Ngati-Raukawa, he was materially aided by a somewhat romantic incident
+which occurred during his stay at Maungatautari. Although his mother
+was a Ngati-Raukawa woman, and by virtue of that fact he could claim
+chieftainship amongst them, Te Rauparaha was not regarded as a
+particularly brilliant star in their peerage; but what he lacked in
+pedigree was more than compensated for by his mental initiative and
+personal courage. Conscious of his own power, he never lost an
+opportunity of impressing it upon others; and it is therefore not a
+matter for surprise that he made the death of the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+the occasion of advancing his own claims to leadership.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by Jackson._
+ TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA.
+ From which the Ngati-Toa migration commenced.]
+
+Thus it was a fortunate circumstance for him that, while he was
+advocating the conquest of Kapiti, Hape Taurangi, the great chief of
+Maungatautari, was seized with a fatal illness, and, while the whole
+tribe sat silently waiting for the end, the question of succession
+seemed to trouble him, as he probably realised the absence of a
+master-mind amongst his own sons. To them he put the question: "Can
+you tread in my steps and lead my people to victory? Can you uphold
+the honour of the tribe?" To these interrogations not one of his sons
+replied, and the silent suspense remained unbroken, until Te
+Rauparaha, springing from the ring of warriors, exclaimed, "I am able
+to tread in your steps, and even do that which you could not do." The
+apparent presumption of this speech was lost in the general
+satisfaction, and, when Hape passed into the Great Beyond, Te
+Rauparaha took over his wives and his leadership, the latter of which
+he retained to his dying day.[48] But the measure of authority which
+had passed to him on the death of Hape did not include the sole
+direction of Ngati-Raukawa's affairs. The tribe still looked to their
+natural leaders for guidance in domestic matters, and the new
+influence gained by Te Rauparaha in their councils, though
+considerable, was not sufficient to overcome the obduracy of the tribe
+towards what they chose to regard as his chimerical proposal.
+
+Nothing daunted, however, by the refusal of his kinsmen to participate
+in his bold enterprise, Te Rauparaha proceeded with patient
+deliberation to make his own arrangements. These involved the most
+careful planning and delicate negotiation, for failure in any one
+direction might wreck the whole scheme. The first consideration was to
+secure safe conduct for his people through the territory of the
+Taranaki tribes, and the establishment of resting-places where the
+very old and very young could recover their strength, and where
+sufficient food could be grown to carry them on to the next point of
+vantage. To this end negotiations were entered into with the Ngati-Awa
+and Ngati-Tama chiefs, who were more or less connected with Ngati-Toa
+by inter-marriage. It would, however, be a mistake to elevate this
+racial relationship into a bond of sincere friendship between these
+tribes, for neither would have hesitated long about a proposal to
+destroy the other, had a favourable opportunity presented itself.
+Their attitude towards each other was distinctly one of armed
+neutrality, which at any moment might have broken out into open
+rupture. But even this negative attitude of the tribes proved useful
+to Te Rauparaha, as it enabled him to approach Ngati-Awa and
+Ngati-Tama with at least the semblance of friendship, while it
+deprived them of open hostility as a reason for refusing his requests.
+The concessions which the Ngati-Toa leader asked for were therefore
+granted, though grudgingly; but he could no more persuade Ngati-Awa to
+go with him than he could impress the Ngati-Raukawa; and when he
+reminded them of the change which was coming over the system of Maori
+warfare, and the weakness in which they would be left by his
+departure, they laughed at his misgivings, boasted of their ancient
+_mana_, and told him that his fears were altogether unworthy of a
+chief of his standing. How dearly they paid for their lack of
+foresight is told in the fall of Puke-rangiora _pa_ a few years later,
+when the Waikatos swept down upon them and drove them flying into the
+arms of the man whose counsel they had so carelessly despised.
+
+Having thus diplomatically arranged an open road for the passage of
+his people to the south, he found it equally essential to secure an
+unmolested departure from the north. He therefore appreciated the
+necessity of making terms with his old enemy, Te Wherowhero, of
+Waikato, and in this important negotiation he availed himself of the
+services of two Ngati-Mania-poto chiefs, who occupied the country
+close to Kawhia and were on friendly terms with Te Wherowhero. These
+chiefs paved the way for a conference, at which Te Rauparaha appears
+to have been unusually candid with his old antagonist. He frankly
+unfolded to him the details of his proposed migration, and, in
+consideration of Te Wherowhero's guaranteeing him immunity from
+attack, he, on his part, agreed to cede the whole of the Ngati-Toa
+lands to the Waikato tribes after his people had vacated them. Such
+easy acquisition of a valuable piece of country was not without its
+influence upon Te Wherowhero. But he was even more impressed by its
+strategic than by its inherent value. The migration of Ngati-Toa
+would rid him of a troublesome enemy on the west, and enable him to
+concentrate all his forces on his eastern frontier, where he would be
+the better able to resist the aggressions of that other remarkable
+figure in Maori history, Te Waharoa, should it ever occur to that
+warrior to attack him. On the understanding, then, that Kawhia was to
+be formally ceded to him, Te Wherowhero undertook not to molest the
+migrating tribe, either during their preparations or on the actual
+march.
+
+The question of immunity from attack having been thus satisfactorily
+disposed of, the next matter which Te Rauparaha had to consider was
+the securing of an adequate supply of provisions for his people during
+their pilgrimage. As it was impossible to complete the journey in a
+single season, it was necessary not only that large quantities of food
+should be carried with them, but that planting-places should be
+established at various points along the route of march, where these
+supplies could be renewed from time to time. None of these details
+were overlooked, but all were worked out with mathematical exactitude
+by the consummate organiser in whose brain the migration had been
+planned; and the smoothness and precision with which these precautions
+dovetailed together furnish a remarkable example of high organising
+capacity. As a final preparation, it was necessary that the
+disposition of his fighting men should receive some attention, because
+he could not hope to conceal his real purpose from the people whose
+country he was about to invade. It is true he did not anticipate any
+serious opposition, because the defeats inflicted upon them by the
+recent expedition under Tuwhare, Waka Nene, Patuone, and himself had
+so reduced their strength as to render serious opposition impossible;
+but, in view of the limited force at his command, and the unlikelihood
+of increasing it, unnecessary waste had to be guarded against. He
+therefore divided his warriors into suitable sections, and, appointing
+a sub-chief to lead each company, he retained the supreme command of
+affairs in his own hands. The carrying out of these varied
+preparations had now occupied several months, and when all was ripe
+for departure he paid a last visit to the surrounding tribes and
+chiefs--to Kukutai, of Lower Waikato, to Pehi-Tukorehu, of
+Ngati-Mania-poto, to Te Kanawa, of Waikato, bidding them good-bye,
+and, as an example in good faith, he kept his word to Te Wherowhero,
+saying to that chief: "Farewell! remain on our land at Kawhia; I am
+going to take Kapiti for myself: do not follow me." At Mungatautari a
+final effort was made to induce the Ngati-Raukawa to join him; but,
+although there were evidences of weakening resistance, he had still to
+wait several months before their objections were so far overcome as to
+permit him any measure of hope that they would yet yield and follow
+him. The tour of leave-taking at an end, Te Rauparaha returned to his
+_pa_ at Te Arawi, and there summoned his people to prepare for the
+fateful march. When all was ready, the blazing flaxstick was put to
+the walls of the great carved house which had adorned the _pa_, and as
+the smoke of its destruction arose, the whole tribe of fifteen hundred
+souls passed through the gate which they were never again to enter.
+
+In the case of unlettered peoples there is necessarily some difficulty
+in determining the precise periods at which important incidents in
+their history have occurred; and in this instance we have nothing to
+guide us except the arrangement and comparison of subsequent events.
+By this mode of reasoning we are led to the conclusion that the
+migration from Kawhia must have occurred during the latter months of
+the year 1821. But, whatever obscurity rests upon this point,
+tradition is clear[49] that the circumstances under which the exodus
+commenced were singularly auspicious. The day broke with a cloudless
+sky, and, as the sun rose into the blue dome, the landscape for miles
+was lit by the rosy tints of morn, rendering every peak and valley
+more beautiful. On the route of march lay the hill of Moeatoa, and to
+its summit the pilgrims climbed, in order to take a last fond look at
+their ancient home. As they turned and gazed upon old Kawhia the
+memories of the past came crowding back upon them, and it is easy to
+understand their deep manifestations of sorrow at leaving their
+ancestral domain. The softer sentiments associated with home and
+country are not the exclusive prerogative of civilised beings. These
+people, savage and ruthless though they were, thrilled with the same
+patriotic feeling which prompted the Prophet of Israel to exclaim: "If
+I forget thee, O Jerusalem! may my right hand forget her cunning." And
+although their form of expressing it was neither so beautiful nor so
+poetical, they were, nevertheless, quite as sincere when they cried
+upon the mountain-side: "Kawhia, remain here! The people of Kawhia are
+going to Kapiti, to Waipounamu." "The love of a New Zealander for his
+land is not the love of a child for his toys," says a well-known
+writer.[50] "His title is connected with many and powerful
+associations in his mind, his affection for the homes of his fathers
+being connected with their deeds of bravery, with the feats of their
+boyhood, and the long rest of his ancestors for generations." And
+there is no reason to suppose that these feelings were less active in
+the Ngati-Toa at such a moment than they were in other Maori tribes.
+
+The closing scene in the life of the Ngati-Toa at
+Kawhia has been beautifully described by Thomas
+Bracken, whose word-picture of the scene on Moeatoa
+Hill is amongst the finest that came from his poetic
+pen:--
+
+  "Beneath the purple canopy of morn,
+  That hung above Kawhia's placid sheet
+  Of waters crystalline, arose on high
+  The golden shield of God, on azure field,
+  With crimson tassels dipping in the sea!
+  And from its burnished face a shower of rays
+  Shot up the hills and gilt their spires and peaks
+  In lambent sheen, until the turrets seemed
+  Like precious ornaments of purest gold
+  On mighty altars raised by giant priests
+  In olden times, to offer sacred fire
+  As sacrifice unto the Fount of Light,
+  From whence the planets and the myriad stars
+  Drink their effulgence!
+                          In the wild ravines
+  And gorges deep, the limpid babbling creeks
+  Sang matins as they left their mother hills
+  To mingle in united waters, where
+  They lost their little selves, and merged in one
+  Pellucid flood that gathered stronger life
+  From day to day! as God's great human church,
+  Now building on the earth shall gather all
+  The little sects and creeds and small beliefs
+  That split mankind into a thousand parts,
+  And merge them in one universal flood
+  Of boundless charity.
+                          The dazzling points
+  Of morning's lances pierced the bursting hearts
+  Of all the flow'rets on the fertile slopes,
+  And waked red Kawhai's drops from sleep
+  And shook the dew buds from the Rata's lids,
+  Until its blossoms opened up their breasts
+  And gave their fragrance to the early breeze
+  That played amongst the Koromiko's leaves,
+  And stole the rich Tawhiri's sweet perfume,
+  And strung the flax-leaves into merry tune
+  To woo the Bell-bird from his nest, to ring
+  The Tui up to sing his morning hymns.
+  The scene was made for man, not savage man,
+  The cunningest of brutes, the crafty king
+  Of beasts! but Man the Spiritualised,
+  With all the light of knowledge in his brain,
+  With all the light of love within his heart!
+  And yet they were but savages who stood
+  On Moeatoa's hill, above the scene,
+  Mere savages, a step beyond the brute!
+  But still there were bright sparks of God-lit fire
+  Within their breasts! they loved their native vales
+  With heart and soul! for they had hearts and souls
+  Far nobler than some milk-faced races who
+  Have basked 'neath Calv'ry's sun for ages long,
+  And yet lie grov'lling in the nations' rear,
+  With hearts encased in earth too coarse and hard
+  For Calv'ry's glorious light to penetrate.
+  Poor savages! that Orient had not yet
+  Shed its benignant rays upon their souls,
+  To melt the dross that dragged them down to earth
+  In carnal bonds! they knew not yet the road
+  To reach the standard of their better selves.
+  Yet they were men in all save this! brave men
+  With patriots' hearts, for as they stood and gazed
+  O'er fair Kawhia's hills and vales
+  That stretched into the sea, o'er which their sires
+  In ages past sailed from Hawaiki's shores,
+  The tears ran down their tattooed cheeks, and sobs
+  Welled from their bosoms, for they loved the land
+  With all the love intense a Maori feels
+  For childhood's home! The hist'ry of their tribe
+  Was written there on every rock and hill
+  That sentinelled the scene, for these had known
+  Their deeds of prowess, and their fathers' deeds
+  Of valour! And the caverns held the bones
+  Of those from whom they'd sprung! Their legends wild,
+  And weird traditions, chained them to the place,
+  And ere they burst those links of love they gave
+  A long sad look on each familiar spot
+  And wailed above Kawhia's lovely vale:
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      Cavern, gorge, and bay,
+    Valley, and hill, and plain--
+      We are going away.
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      Take our tears and our sighs;
+    Spirits of heroes slain,
+      Rise up from Reinga, rise.
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      With thee, Tawhaki, stay;
+    Long may he o'er thee reign--
+      We are going away."
+
+The first stage of the journey ended with the close of the fourth day,
+when the _pa_ of Puohoki was reached; and here Te Rauparaha
+decided to leave his wife Akau[51] and a number of the women and
+children under a suitable guard, while he and the bulk of the people
+pushed on as far as Waitara. Here they were received by the Ngati-Tama
+and Ngati-Awa tribes, in whose _pas_ they were quartered for the
+season; and, except that a spirit of parsimony seemed to pervade their
+welcome, they had every reason to feel rejoiced at the success which
+up to this moment had attended their venture.[52] After the lapse of a
+brief period spent in perfecting his arrangements, Te Rauparaha
+decided to return for his wife and her companions, and on reaching the
+_pa_ where they were staying he learned to his great joy that
+Akau had borne him a son. This infant lived to be the well-known
+missionary chief, Tamihana te Rauparaha. Against the advice of his
+tribe, Rauparaha had only taken a band of twenty warriors with him,
+and on the journey back to Waitara his strategic abilities were tested
+to the full to escape annihilation. Three days after his arrival he
+left on his return journey, carrying his infant son in a basket on his
+back. Knowing that he had left Kawhia, a party of the restless
+Ngati-Mania-poto had crept down the coast in the hope of finding some
+stragglers of his party whom they might conveniently kill. But instead
+of meeting, as they had expected, a few irregulars, they came suddenly
+upon Te Rauparaha himself near the mouth of the Awakino River. To some
+extent the surprise was mutual, but the stress of the position was all
+against Te Rauparaha. Supported only by a limited force and hampered
+by the women and children, he was in serious difficulties, as the
+enemy might cut off his retreat and then attack him in force. Suddenly
+a brilliant idea struck him. Before the enemy approached within
+striking distance he ordered twenty of the most active women to
+disrobe and don the mats and headgear of fighting men. Then arming
+each of them with a stone club, he placed them under the charge of
+Akau, who was a woman of magnificent physique, with instructions to
+march in the van brandishing their weapons after the manner of veteran
+warriors. The more helpless women and children were placed in the
+centre, while he and his fighting men covered the retreat. Misled by
+the stratagem, the Ngati-Mania-poto were tricked into the belief that
+the Ngati-Toa force was much stronger than it really was, and instead
+of attacking they began to retire. Observing this, Te Rauparaha
+immediately accelerated their panic by charging down upon them, and in
+the skirmish which followed Tutakara, their chief, was killed by Te
+Rangi-hounga-riri, Te Rauparaha's eldest son by his child-wife Marore,
+who was rapidly making a name for himself as an intrepid warrior. But,
+although the position was somewhat relieved, Te Rauparaha felt that
+the danger was not yet at an end. He was experienced enough in native
+tactics to know that the Ngati-Mania-poto would be tempted to return
+at nightfall and renew the attack in the hope of avenging the death of
+their chief. He therefore could not consider himself safe until the
+Mokau River was crossed, and, unfortunately, when he reached its banks
+the tide was full and the river was in flood. Nothing remained to be
+done except to wait, but in order still to maintain the deception
+twelve large fires were kindled, at each of which three women and one
+warrior were stationed, while the chief and the rest of his followers
+lay prepared for emergencies. It was also an injunction to the
+sentinels at the fires to address each other occasionally in the
+heroic language of the time. "Be strong, O people, to fight on the
+morrow if the enemy return. Take no thought of life. Consider the
+valour of your tribe." These stimulating exhortations, which were
+intended for the enemy's ears as much as for their own, were
+supplemented by fervid speeches from the women, whose shrill voices
+were carried out into the night air as a warning to the enemy that
+they would not lag behind their lords in the coming battle.
+
+Meantime, Te Rauparaha lay waiting for the enemy, who never came.
+Either having no stomach for another encounter with so redoubtable a
+warrior, or still not understanding the true position, they wisely
+declined to provoke a battle, about the result of which they could be
+by no means sanguine. At midnight the tide turned, and the river fell
+sufficiently to be fordable.[53] Leaving their fires burning, the
+Ngati-Toa crept silently down to the bank, and, wading across, made
+their way to the _pas_ of their friends, which they reached
+amidst general rejoicing. Early next morning the scene of the previous
+day's battle was revisited and the bodies of the slain enemy
+recovered to make a feast, at which the sweet revenge harboured
+against Ngati-Mania-poto was surfeited.
+
+While the Ngati-Toa plans were developing in Taranaki, another
+misfortune was falling upon the people of the southern districts from
+the opposite direction. Towards the middle of 1820 a band of six
+hundred warriors, under Apihai Te Kawau, of Ngati-Whatua, Te Kanawa,
+and Tu-korehu, of Waikato and Ngati-Mania-poto, and other prominent
+chiefs, longing for some new excitement, had journeyed down the east
+coast through Hawke's Bay and the Wairarapa, for no particular purpose
+except to kill, eat, or make slaves of whoever might fall into their
+hands. In the course of this pilgrimage of blood they crossed over to
+the west, and there attacked in succession the Muaupoko, Rangitane,
+and Ngati-Apa tribes, upon whom they inflicted sore and mortal wounds;
+and when they retired back to the north they left the conquest of
+Kapiti a matter of comparative simplicity to Te Rauparaha. But they
+were soon themselves to feel the sting of defeat. Passing into the
+Taranaki country on their homeward march, they were set upon by the
+Ngati-Awa people, who strenuously opposed their further progress at
+Waitara. This was a strange reversal of all previous policy on the
+part of Ngati-Awa, who had always been friendly to, and had frequently
+co-operated with, the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato peoples on similar
+raids. By some authorities this new antagonism has been attributed to
+the sinister influence of Te Rauparaha, who was still at Ure-nui
+waiting to harvest his crops. He had not forgotten the anxious moments
+to which he had been subjected on the banks of the Waitara River, and
+it would have been more than human on his part had he not sought to
+balance accounts now that the opportunity offered. "By means of
+plotting and deceit," says one writer, "he succeeded in rousing
+Ngati-Awa--or the greater part of them--to take up his quarrel."
+Whatever the cause of Ngati-Awa's hostility, the effect was a series
+of determined and well-organised attacks upon the northern _taua_,
+which ultimately drove them to seek refuge with a friendly section of
+the Ngati-Awa in the famous Puke-rangiora _pa_. Here they were
+besieged for seven months, fighting repeatedly, and, towards the end
+of that period, suffering intense privations. Frequent attempts were
+made to send intelligence of their straits through the enemy's ranks
+to their friends; but so close and vigilant was the investment that
+their messengers were invariably captured, and their heads fixed upon
+poles and exhibited to the besieged in a spirit of exultant derision.
+One, Rahiora, a young man of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe, did at length
+succeed in evading detection, and travelling into the Waikato by
+Kete-marae and Whanganui, thence by Taupo and Waipa, was able to
+communicate to the great Te Wherowhero the critical plight of his
+tribesmen. Te Wherowhero immediately made his call to arms, and soon a
+numerous relief party was on its way to join the force already in the
+field, which had vainly endeavoured to cut off Te Rauparaha at the
+Mokau. The junction of these forces was successfully accomplished, and
+the pride of Waikato's military strength, under two of the greatest
+chiefs of that time, Te Wherowhero and Te Waharoa, marched southward
+for the dual purpose of raising the siege of Puke-rangiora and of
+attacking Te Rauparaha. Though they failed to reach within striking
+distance of the beleaguered _pa_, their movement indirectly achieved
+its object, for the advent of so large a force lightened the pressure
+of the siege by drawing off a considerable number of the besiegers. Of
+these Te Rauparaha took command, and to his strategical genius was due
+the victory which he ultimately achieved on the plain of Motu-nui.
+This plain stretches along the sea-coast between the Ure-nui and Mimi
+Rivers. At this point the shore is bounded by perpendicular cliffs,
+fully one hundred and fifty feet high, along which are dotted several
+small _pas_, used as fishing-places in olden times. Away to the
+eastward of the plain run the wooded hills, on the steep sides of
+which rise the numerous streams which rush across the plain to the
+sea. On the southern end of one of the spurs descending from the
+range was built the strongly fortified Okoki _pa_, which was made the
+point of assembly by the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Toa warriors.
+
+The Waikato _taua_ came on as far as a place called Waitoetoe on
+the southern bank of the Mimi River, and there commenced to make a
+camp preparatory to throwing down the gage of battle. To the watchers
+in the Okoki _pa_ their fires had been visible for several miles;
+and when it was seen that they had determined to pitch camp, there was
+a general request that their position should be at once attacked.
+Personally, Te Rauparaha preferred to take no risks until the portion
+of his force which was still holding Tu-korehu in check at
+Puke-rangiora should have come up. He, however, yielded to the
+importunities of some of his chiefs, and consented to send out a
+_hunuhunu_, or reconnoitring party, to test the mettle of the
+enemy. To meet the possibility of the skirmish developing into a more
+serious encounter, he took the precaution of concealing a strong
+reserve force, composed of the older men, in the bed of one of the
+wooded streams which ran close beneath the _pa_. Having
+instructed Rangiwahia, of Ngati-Mutunga, in whose charge he left these
+supports, he took eighty of the younger men with him, and advanced
+across the plain by stealthy marches. So secretly was the movement
+effected, that they were within a stone's-throw of the Waikato camp,
+and had actually commenced the attack upon some of the Waikato
+warriors, before their presence was discerned. In the first onset Te
+Rauparaha's followers were roughly handled, and, in accordance with
+their preconcerted plan, they began rapidly to fall back, sustaining
+severe losses the while from the guns of the enemy. Their retirement
+soon developed into a general retreat, which might have been much more
+disastrous but for a fatal division of opinion which sprang up amongst
+the Waikato leaders, as to whether or not the fugitives should be
+pursued. Te Wherowhero was content to have repulsed them, and advised
+resuming the interrupted work of building their shelters; but others,
+not so cautious, urged immediate pursuit, and, these counsels
+prevailing, the whole Waikato force was soon in full cry after the
+retreating scouts. The chase was fierce and stern, and many a good
+Taranaki warrior dropped upon the plain as he sped towards the _pa_,
+for the pursuers kept up as hot a fire as their rapid movements
+rendered possible. Seeing the men falling round him, a chief who was
+running close to Te Rauparaha repeatedly urged him to turn and attack
+the pursuers; but the crafty general, knowing that the time was not
+yet, declined to forestall his prearranged strategy. He held on his
+way, only urging his men to faster flight, while Te Wherowhero incited
+his marksmen to single out the Ngati-Awa chiefs for death. Some two
+miles of the plain had been covered, and the southern warriors were
+nearing their supports. As the foremost reached the wooded gully, they
+waited there to recover their breath, and allowed the pursuers to
+close in upon them. Weary and blown with their long and exciting run,
+the Waikatos came straggling up, innocent of the trap into which they
+had fallen. At the psychological moment Te Rauparaha gave the signal,
+and out dashed his veterans, fresh and eager for the fray, charging
+down upon the exhausted and astonished Waikatos. Their chiefs who were
+in the forefront of the chase were the first to go down, and their
+numbers were perceptibly diminished as they were beaten back by
+repeated charges across the blood-stained field. Te Wherowhero fought
+through the reverse with supreme courage, engaging and vanquishing in
+single combat no less than five of Taranaki's greatest warriors; and
+to his fine defence and heroic example is attributed the fact that his
+tribe was not completely annihilated on the field of Motu-nui. On the
+other hand, it has been whispered that his companion in arms, Te
+Waharoa, did not bear himself in this fight with his wonted gallantry.
+Waikato paid a heavy toll that day. They left one hundred and fifty
+men dead on the field, and the slaughter of chiefs was a conspicuous
+tribute to their bravery--Te Wherowhero and Te Waharoa being the only
+leaders of eminence to escape.
+
+For some inexplicable reason, Te Rauparaha did not pursue his victory
+to the bitter end, as was his wont.[54] This forbearance on his part
+is especially surprising in view of the fact that Te Wherowhero had
+specifically promised to remain neutral during the progress of the
+migration. Possibly the consciousness that he would have done the same
+thing himself induced him to take a lenient view of his old
+antagonist's want of good faith; for there can be no doubt that the
+bloody wars which were at this time ravaging the country had
+completely sapped the old Maori sense of honour. "At the period in
+question, more perhaps than at any other in the history of the race,
+moral considerations had but little weight in determining the conduct
+of either the individual or the tribe. Even the nearest relatives did
+not hesitate to destroy and devour each other." There was thus nothing
+unusual about Te Wherowhero's conduct; but his experience of Te
+Rauparaha on this occasion was such that from that day onward he left
+him severely alone.
+
+The effect of these successive victories was to enhance enormously the
+prestige and power of Te Rauparaha. He began to be regarded with
+reverence by Ngati-Awa and with something akin to worship by
+Ngati-Toa. As a tangible proof of the gratitude which his hosts felt
+for the services which he had rendered them, food, which had been
+grudgingly supplied up to this time, was now given in abundance to his
+people, and, what was of even greater moment to Te Rauparaha,
+adherents began freely to flock to his cause. But, although he had
+beaten off both the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato tribes, the position
+was still unsatisfactory to him from the point of view of numbers, and
+so he resolved to make one more effort to persuade Ngati-Raukawa to
+join him. Accordingly he journeyed back to Opepe, a village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo, where he met young Te Whatanui, a chief destined
+to become famous in after years as the protector of the Muaupoko
+people whom Te Rauparaha wished to destroy. Upon the assembled tribe,
+and upon Te Whatanui in particular, he again impressed the merits of
+his scheme, pointing out the altered position occupied by the tribes
+who had managed to become possessed of fire-arms, as compared with
+those who had only wooden spears and stone _meres_. He dwelt upon the
+fact that ships were beginning to frequent Kapiti, and that there they
+could obtain guns, as Nga-Puhi had done at the Bay of Islands. He also
+reiterated all that he had formerly told them about the fertility of
+the soil and the ease with which the country might be conquered: but
+in vain. Te Whatanui volunteered no sign of approval. He gave many
+presents to Te Rauparaha, as marks of respect from one warrior to
+another. He also made him a long oration, skilfully avoiding the
+all-important topic upon which Te Rauparaha had travelled so far to
+consult him; nor did the majority of his people conceal their
+objection to coming under Te Rauparaha's immediate command, to the
+exclusion of their own chiefs. Angered at this perversity, Te
+Rauparaha shook the dust of Opepe from off his feet and proceeded to
+Rotorua, and as far as Tauranga, where he sought the aid of the great
+Te Waru. But he met with no success, for Te Waru had schemes of his
+own which claimed his personal attention. While resting with the
+Tu-hou-rangi branch of the Arawa tribe on his return to Rotorua from
+Tauranga, Te Rauparaha (according to accounts) perpetrated an outrage
+upon Nga-Puhi which was destined to inspire one of the most disastrous
+wars and one of the most daring assaults known in Maori history. His
+motive for "sowing the seeds of evil counsel" is not clear. By some it
+is alleged a jealous envy of Nga-Puhi's success in procuring arms,
+while others find it in the consuming desire for revenge for the death
+of a young relative killed a few weeks before at the fall of the Te
+Totara _pa_ at the Thames. Whatever the motive, before leaving he took
+occasion to recite a _karakia_, or song, informing the Tu-hou-rangi
+that there was a small band of Nga-Puhi travelling about in their
+vicinity, and broadly insinuating that "death and darkness were very
+good things." This hint, however enigmatical, was taken and acted
+upon. When Te Pae-o-te-rangi, Hongi's nephew, and a company of his
+Nga-Puhi followers arrived at the Motu-tawa _pa_, from which Te
+Rauparaha had just departed, they were treacherously set upon and
+killed by the Tu-hou-rangi people. It was to avenge the death of Te
+Pae-o-te-rangi that Hongi performed the Herculean task of dragging his
+canoes from Waihi, near Maketu, to Lake Rotorua, and on the island of
+Mokoia slaughtered the unfortunate Ngati-Whakaue (Arawas), who had
+been entirely innocent of the original crime.
+
+Before quitting Rotorua, however, Te Rauparaha had the good fortune to
+fall in with the Nga-Puhi chief Pomare,[55] who handed over to him a
+few of the men who had accompanied him to the Lake district on a mission
+of bloodshed. With this small reinforcement Te Rauparaha returned to
+Taranaki and prepared to resume his journey southward, having in the
+meantime enlisted the services of some four hundred Ngati-Awas under
+one of the most famous men of his time, Rere-ta-whangawhanga, father of
+Wi Kingi Rangitake.[56] The force at Te Rauparaha's command now
+numbered about eight hundred fighting men and their families. With
+these he resumed his march in the autumn of 1822, when the kumara had
+been gathered in, and advanced without interruption or mishap until he
+reached Patea. Here a slight skirmish took place, and six of the
+invaders were killed, their deaths being immediately avenged by the
+slaughter of some Waitotara people. From them a large canoe was
+captured, and was employed in the transportation of some of the women
+and children by sea, thus saving them the labour and fatigue involved
+in the land journey. Te Rauparaha himself also travelled by water with
+the women, but, with the exception of those required to propel the
+canoes, the men continued on foot along the coast, capturing and
+killing an occasional straggler who had lingered too long in the
+vicinity of the warpath.
+
+At the mouth of the Rangitikei River the canoe was drawn up on the
+beach, and the whole party halted for several days. Hearing of their
+arrival, the friends of Pikinga came down to the camp to welcome her,
+but the remainder of the Ngati-Apa tribe fled to the hills and
+concealed themselves amongst the mountain fastnesses. It would
+therefore appear that the friendship which they afterwards alleged to
+have existed between Te Rauparaha and themselves was not of a very
+substantial character.[57] Nor did the marriage of their chieftainess
+with Te Rangihaeata avail them much; for while the bulk of his people
+rested by the river, odd bands of their fighting men were continually
+scouring the country in search of some plump Ngati-Apa who was needed
+to keep the ovens fully employed. While the weather continued fine, Te
+Rauparaha was anxious to lose no more time than was absolutely
+necessary. So soon, therefore, as his people had been refreshed by the
+rest, he pushed on again, making his next stage the mouth of the
+Manawatu River, where he harassed the Rangitane people by the inroads
+of armed parties on their settlements. But comparatively few captures
+were made, as the _pas_ were deserted immediately the inhabitants
+scented the danger.
+
+The migration which Te Rauparaha was thus conducting had for its
+objective a sweet and fertile spot on the banks of the Ohau stream;
+and when the remaining portion of the coast had been traversed without
+opposition, and the tribe had reached its journey's end in safety,
+preparations were at once made to establish them permanently on the
+land. A _pa_ was built large enough to accommodate the whole
+party, and ground was cleared for cultivations, in which the potato
+was planted for the first time on this coast. Their nearest neighbours
+were the Ngati-Apa, who held possession of the island of Kapiti, and
+the Muaupoko tribe, who were settled round the shores of Lakes
+Horowhenua and Papaitonga. In what light the former regarded the
+aggression upon their borders it is difficult to say; but the latter
+were evidently very ill at ease, for they had a heavy presentiment of
+what the ultimate result would be. But how to avert the danger was no
+simple problem, as they had learned enough in the stern school of
+experience to recognise that victory in open battle was not to be
+hoped for. Strategy was therefore determined upon. Learning from two
+Whanganui chiefs, who were then on a visit to Horowhenua, that Te
+Rauparaha's vulnerable point at this period was his desire to obtain
+canoes, they resolved to tempt him with the bait to which he was most
+likely to fall a victim. The ease with which the chief fell into the
+trap was due to his excessive ambition and the further large schemes
+towards which his aspirations soared.
+
+He had heard strange stories of a treasure-trove of greenstone which
+the Ngai-Tahu people had stored in their _pas_ over on the Middle
+Island; and as he stood on the beach at Ohau and looked across the
+Strait towards the hills of Waipounamu, he dreamed of this wealth and
+how he could possess himself of it. Without a fleet of canoes to
+convey his warriors over the intervening sea, the project of invasion
+was visionary; but even with the frailest vessels he might make it a
+reality, and at one bold stroke add to his dominions, gratify his
+avarice, and satiate his hate by waging war upon the southern tribes.
+
+Of canoes the Muaupoko had many. Residing as they did upon the shores
+of two lakes, these vessels were almost as essential to them as
+gondolas to the Venetians; and when they learned of Te Rauparaha's
+eagerness to obtain what they possessed, a device was cautiously
+planned by which they might rid themselves of a neighbour whose coming
+they felt boded them no good. Into this conspiracy of murder the
+Rangitane people of Manawatu were admitted; and for thus allowing
+themselves to be made the cat's-paw of others they paid a bitter
+penalty, for they succeeded in nothing except in arousing the eternal
+hatred of the great chief, who seemed invulnerable alike to their
+cunning and their force. The authors of the scheme were Turoa and
+Paetahi, both of the Ngati-Apa tribe; and the willing instrument in
+their hands was Toheriri, a leader of the Muaupoko, whose part was,
+shortly after the arrival of the Ngati-Toa at Ohau, to send an
+invitation to Te Rauparaha and a number of his followers to pay a
+friendly visit to his _pa_ at Papaitonga. As already indicated,
+the inducement held out to Ngati-Toa was the promise of a gift of
+canoes, and, under the circumstances, a more artful pretence could not
+have been conceived. "Canoes were at this time his great desire, for
+by them only could he cross over to the island of Waipounamu," is the
+explanation of the position given by Tamihana Te Rauparaha; and, if
+the Muaupoko could gratify that desire, Te Rauparaha was not the man
+to refrain from making a convenience of his enemies, as well as of
+his friends. Accordingly he accepted the invitation, notwithstanding
+the earnest remonstrances of his nephew and lieutenant, Te
+Rangihaeata, who declared his irresistible conviction that murder,
+rather than hospitality, was the secret of the Muaupoko invitation.
+
+Rauparaha was in no mood to speculate about omens, good or evil.
+Canoes he wanted, and canoes he would have, even if the gods or the
+devils were against him. His unusual recklessness even carried him so
+far that he selected only a few warriors to accompany him, and with
+these he arrived, just at the fall of evening, at Papaitonga. The
+party was, of course, received with the most profuse expressions of
+friendship. Toheriri and his fellow-chief Waraki conducted their
+visitors in state to view the canoes which were to be handed over in
+the morning; but, on returning to the _pa_, they were careful to
+conduct Te Rauparaha to a house at one end of the settlement, while
+his followers were provided for at the opposite end. This fact appears
+to have aroused no suspicion in the Ngati-Toa mind; for at night all
+slept soundly, until the shouts of the combined Rangitane and Muaupoko
+war parties were heard in the early morning as they rushed upon the
+slumbering _pa_.
+
+The assailants appear to have been too precipitate in their onset.
+Instead of first surrounding the _whare_ in which Te Rauparaha
+lay, they commenced the massacre of his followers at the other end;
+and Toheriri, who was lightly sleeping in the same compartment as Te
+Rauparaha, was compelled to go out and direct them to the particular
+hut in which their common foe was lying. This delay was fatal to their
+design, but fortunate for Te Rauparaha. In the absence of his host, he
+stayed not to take his leave, but bursting through the _raupo_
+wall which formed the end of the _whare_, he slipped away between
+the houses; and when the tardy Rangitane rushed up to the hut, their
+prey had flown, and nothing remained but to wreak their vengeance upon
+the less distinguished victims, whom they slaughtered without mercy.
+Included amongst these victims of treacherous onslaught were several
+of Te Rauparaha's wives and children. Of the latter, however, two were
+spared, Te Uira and Hononga, the former of whom was a daughter of his
+child-wife Marore. The reason for this partial clemency is not clear;
+apparently vengeance was satisfied by sending them prisoners to the
+Wairarapa, where they afterwards became wives of men of renown in the
+district.[58]
+
+Amidst the chaos of treachery which surrounds this incident, it is
+pleasant to record an act of chivalry of an heroic type. Amongst those
+who accompanied Te Rauparaha on this eventful visit was his son,
+Rangi-hounga-riri, who, it will be remembered, had distinguished
+himself by slaying Tutakara, the chief of the Ngati-Mania-poto, when
+that tribe attacked Ngati-Toa at the Awakino River. He, being strong
+of body and lithe of limb, had managed to break through the attacking
+cordon, and, had he chosen, might have made his escape. But, as he
+hurried away, his ear caught the sound of a girl's piteous crying for
+help. He recognised the voice as that of his sister, Uira. Heedless of
+consequences he rushed back to the _pa_, and, forcing his way to
+the side of the girl, placed his protecting arm around her, and fought
+her assailants until overpowered by superior numbers. By his death, Te
+Rauparaha lost one of his most intrepid lieutenants, and the Ngati-Toa
+tribe one of its most promising leaders. As chivalrous as he was
+brave, he was the type of chief whose nobility lifted the ancient
+Maori above the level of the mere savage, and illustrated the manly
+qualities which so impressed those early colonists who took the
+trouble to understand the people amongst whom they had come. The
+qualities are still there, and justify the hope that, by sound laws,
+and sanitary and educational reforms, such as are now being effected,
+it may yet be possible to stay the process of degeneration which set
+in as the result of the first contact of the Maori with the European.
+
+Te Rauparaha, having slipped from the snare of his enemies, plunged
+into the long grass which surrounded the _pa_, and, in the
+semi-darkness, succeeded in eluding his pursuers, eventually reaching
+his settlement at Ohau, weary, angry, and almost naked. Bitterly
+disappointed at the result of his mission, and deeply enraged at the
+treatment he had received, he in his wrath cursed the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples, and, calling his tribe around him, he charged his
+followers to make it the one special mission of their lives "to kill
+them from the dawn of day till the evening." This doctrine of
+extermination was not preached to unwilling ears; and from that day
+the fixed policy of the Ngati-Toa tribe was to sweep the Muaupoko and
+Rangitane from their ancestral lands. In the reprisals which followed
+as the result of Rauparaha's vow of eternal vengeance, the former tribe
+seems to have suffered most; and there is little room for doubt that
+they would have been ultimately uprooted and effaced from amongst the
+tribes of New Zealand, but for the kindly offices of that dark-skinned
+humanitarian, Te Whatanui, who, years afterwards, took them under his
+protecting mantle, and declared, in the now historic phrase, that
+"nothing would reach them but the rain from heaven."
+
+The Rangitane people were more fortunately situated, having the
+impassable forests of the Manawatu and its inaccessible mountain
+fastnesses to protect them. But they by no means escaped the
+bitterness of persecution, as bands of Ngati-Toa were constantly
+roaming their country in search of some one to kill and devour. The
+constant absence of these parties convinced Rauparaha that the small
+band of men whom he had with him was by no means sufficient for the
+magnitude of the task which his ambitious mind had conceived, and so
+he determined upon doing two things. The first was to strengthen his
+position by conquering the island of Kapiti, which was still in the
+possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people; the second, once
+again to despatch ambassadors to the north, to persuade some of his
+former allies to join him in mastering a district which promised a
+rich supply of guns and ammunition. As a preliminary to the former
+scheme, he extended his frontier as far as Otaki, from which point he
+could the better watch the movements of the islanders and sweep down
+upon them at a favourable moment. But the intervals in which there was
+lack of vigilance were few and far between, and consequently the first
+series of attacks failed signally. The defenders were strongly posted
+and incessantly watchful; so Rauparaha, seeing that the frontal
+attack, however well delivered, would not avail, decided upon a
+stratagem which, judged by its success, must have been admirably
+planned.
+
+His device was to lull the defenders of the island into a false sense
+of security by apparently withdrawing all his forces from Otaki for
+the purpose of some larger movement in the north, at the same time
+leaving a small band of well-tried men, whose duty it was to make a
+dash for the island and seize it before its inhabitants had recovered
+from their surprise. He accordingly marshalled his forces one morning,
+and, with an amount of ostentatious display which was calculated to
+attract the attention of the Ngati-Apa spies, he marched away to the
+Manawatu at the head of his warriors. The Ngati-Apa saw this movement,
+but did not understand it. Believing that the absence of Te Rauparaha
+meant a period of respite, they withdrew their sentries and gave
+themselves up to rejoicing. This was precisely what the Ngati-Toa
+chief had hoped for and calculated upon. He also had the satisfaction
+of knowing that the most critical part of his scheme was in safe
+hands. His uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, who was left in charge of the attacking
+party, was a tried and grim veteran, and, true to the trust imposed
+upon him, he came out of his concealment just before dawn on the
+morning after Te Rauparaha had left. Silently the intrepid little band
+launched their canoes, and as silently they paddled across the
+intervening water, reaching the island at the break of day. They found
+the inhabitants still sleeping, and unconscious of any danger until
+the shouts of their assailants and the cries of the wounded warned
+them that some desperate work was on hand. Not many of them stayed to
+fight, and those who were not killed in the first onslaught scrambled
+into their canoes and made for the mainland, thus ingloriously leaving
+the last independent stronghold of the Ngati-Apa in the hands of the
+invaders.
+
+It has been charged to the discredit of Te Rauparaha, that, in
+planning this attack upon Kapiti, he cherished a guilty hope that Te
+Pehi might fall in the assault, and by his death rid him of a powerful
+rival in the councils of the tribe. But, while his critics have never
+been slow to attribute to him the grossest treachery towards his
+enemies and infidelity to his friends, there is absolutely no evidence
+that on this occasion he meditated a crime, such as sacred history
+imputes to the King of Israel when he placed Uriah the Hittite in the
+forefront of the battle. Te Pehi was a great chief. He was Te
+Rauparaha's senior in years and his superior in birth. His prowess in
+battle was known far and wide, and the circumstances under which he
+afterwards emulated the example of Hongi by visiting England, and like
+him, subsequently procuring for his tribe, guns and ammunition at
+Sydney, stamp him as a man of strong initiative and individuality. But
+he did not possess the political genius with which his nephew was
+endowed; he lacked the organising power, the tact, and the gift of
+inspiring others with his own enthusiasm. While Te Pehi might lead a
+charge with brilliancy, Te Rauparaha could often gain more by
+diplomacy than he by force of arms; and these statesmanlike qualities
+gave the younger chief an influence with the tribe which Te Pehi did
+not and never could possess. Indeed, the tragedy associated with his
+death at Kaiapoi, in 1828, is sufficient to convince us that he was
+strangely lacking in conciliation and tact. So far as can be learned,
+there is nothing to lead us to suppose that Te Pehi ever questioned
+his nephew's superiority in the diplomatic department of his tribal
+office; on the contrary, he seems to have cheerfully accepted a
+secondary position, and loyally aided Te Rauparaha in all his
+projects. Under these circumstances, it is somewhat difficult to
+imagine what Te Rauparaha was to gain by sacrificing so brave an ally.
+Moreover, the intense grief which he manifested when Te Pehi was
+killed at Kaiapoi, and the signal vengeance which he took upon the
+Ngai-Tahu tribe for their act of treachery, render the suspicion of
+foul play on his part utterly improbable. In view of these
+considerations he may fairly be exonerated from any criminal intent
+towards Te Pehi. It is clear that the seizure of Kapiti was but an
+essential move in his policy of conquest, and that the manner of its
+seizure was but a cleverly designed piece of strategy, certainly not
+unattended by risk, but affording very reasonable chances of success.
+
+The capture of this natural fortress did not result in its immediate
+occupation, for Te Rauparaha still had abundance of work to do on the
+mainland before he could regard the power of the enemy as broken and
+the conquest of his new home complete. In pursuance of his policy of
+extermination, he had been interspersing his larger movements with
+repeated raids upon Rangitane and Muaupoko, in which he invariably
+made them feel the sting of his revenge. Finding that these attacks
+were becoming more frequent and more vigorous, the chiefs of the
+latter tribe conceived a plan by which they hoped to elude the
+persistency of their implacable pursuers. Hitherto their _pas_
+had been built on the shores of the picturesque lakes, around which
+they had lived since their advent into the district, centuries before.
+But they now decided to abandon these strongholds, which were exposed
+to every raid of the enemy, and build their dwellings in the centre of
+Lakes Horowhenua and Papaitonga. At the cost of an amazing amount of
+industry and toil, they constructed artificial islands upon the beds
+of these lakes at their deepest parts, and upon these mounds they
+built a miniature Maori Venice. The construction of these islands was
+most ingenious, and desperate indeed must have been the straits to
+which Muaupoko were driven before they imposed upon themselves so
+laborious a task.
+
+Proceeding to the bush, their first operation was to cut down a number
+of saplings, which were pointed and then driven into the soft mud,
+closely enclosing in rectangular form sufficient space on which to
+place the foundations of the houses. Smaller stakes were then driven
+into the centre of the enclosure, upon which were spitted those
+compact masses of vegetation known as "Maori-heads." A layer of these
+gave the builders a solid basis upon which to work, and huge stones,
+earth, and gravel were brought in the canoes from the shore, and
+poured into the enclosures until the pile of _débris_ rose some
+height above the level of the water. Six such islands were formed on
+Lake Horowhenua and two on Papaitonga, and on these _whares_ were
+erected, which were gradually extended by the addition of platforms
+reaching a considerable distance beyond the islands. Round each of
+these platforms ran a stout palisade, which served the dual purpose of
+preventing the very young children from falling into the water and
+offering a formidable barrier to the assaults of the enemy. As the
+only means of communication with these islands was by canoe, and as it
+was well known to the Muaupoko people that Te Rauparaha had few such
+vessels, they felt comparatively secure from attack so soon as they
+had transferred themselves to their new retreat.
+
+But they little reckoned on the kind of man with whom they had to
+deal, when they imagined that a placid sheet of water could interpose
+between Te Rauparaha and his enemies. Canoes he had not, but strong
+swimmers he had; and it is a fine tribute to their daring that, on a
+dark and gloomy night, a small band of these undertook to swim off to
+one of the Horowhenua _pas_ and attack its sleeping inhabitants.
+With their weapons lashed to their wrists, they silently entered the
+water, and by swift side strokes reached the walls of Waipata, the
+_pa_ which they had chosen for their attempt, and were swarming over
+the palisades before a note of warning could be sounded. Taken at such
+a disadvantage, it was not to be expected that the Muaupoko resistance
+would be effective, for they were both stunned by surprise and
+paralysed by fear at the awful suddenness of the attack. Flight was
+their first thought, and such as were not slain in their sleep or
+caught in their attempt to escape, plunged into the lake and made for
+the nearest shelter. In this endeavour to escape death all were not
+successful, and it is estimated that, between the killed and drowned,
+the attack upon Waipata cost the Muaupoko several hundred lives,
+besides adding to their misfortune by shattering utterly their belief
+in the inaccessibility of their island _pas_. The adjoining _pas_ upon
+the lake, warned of the impending danger by the tumult at Waipata, at
+once prepared for a stubborn defence; but the attacking party, feeling
+themselves unequal to the task of a second assault, discreetly
+withdrew to the mainland before it was yet daylight, and at once made
+preparations for another attack upon a more extensive scale. But both
+prudence and necessity dictated the wisdom of delay; it was wiser to
+wait until Muaupoko had relapsed into their former state of
+confidence, and, moreover, the plan upon which it was proposed to make
+the attack required time for its development.
+
+Recognising the strength of the Waikiekie _pa_, against which the
+energies of his tribe were next to be directed, Te Rauparaha saw that
+success was not to be expected unless he could attack it in force.
+This involved the transportation of a large body of men over the
+waters of the lake, which could only be effected by means of canoes.
+These he did not possess in numbers, and, even if he had, he must
+still devise means of conveying them to the lake, which was several
+miles from the coast. His ingenious mind, however, soon discovered an
+escape from these perplexities, and he at once decided upon a plan,
+which was not without precedent in European warfare or imitation in
+subsequent Maori history. His scheme involved the haulage of his
+canoes over the belt of land which separated the lake from the sea,
+and the enterprise seems to have been as cleverly executed as it was
+daringly designed. Out of the lake runs an insignificant stream, which
+slowly meanders over shallows and between narrow banks down to the
+ocean; and to the mouth of this creek were brought such canoes as had
+fallen into Te Rauparaha's hands at the taking of Kapiti, and a larger
+one which had been procured from his friends at Whanganui-a-Tara.[59]
+Where the water was deep enough, or the reaches straight enough, the
+canoes were floated up the bed of the stream; but as this was possible
+only at rare intervals, the greater part of the distance was covered
+by dragging the vessels over the grassy flats and ferny undulations.
+Such a task would be laborious enough under any circumstances; but on
+this occasion it was rendered even more wearisome by the necessity for
+conducting it in absolute silence. As the success of the expedition
+depended mainly upon the completeness of the surprise, it was
+essential that no note of warning should be given, and therefore it
+was impossible to encourage the workers to greater exertions by song
+or speech; but so heartily did they bend themselves to their
+monotonous task, that the three miles of toilsome road were traversed
+before the break of day.
+
+The outflow of the lake was hidden by a clump of trees which grew
+close to the water's edge, and behind this natural screen the canoes
+were concealed, and the men lay down to rest until the moment came to
+strike. At the first appearance of dawn, the canoes were shot into the
+lake, and before the inhabitants of Waikiekie had shaken slumber from
+their eyes, the shaft was on its way that would send many of them to
+their last long sleep. The _pa_ was attacked on every side, and
+with a vigour which left little chance of escape. Such resistance as
+was possible in such a situation was offered by the drowsy defenders.
+But the mortal fear with which they had come to regard the Ngati-Toa,
+together with the fury of the onslaught and the completeness of the
+surprise, spread panic amongst them, and the resistance was soon left
+to a desperate few. Their valiant efforts brought them nothing but the
+glory which attends the death of the brave. They were quickly borne
+down before the onrush of the assailants, whose shouts of triumph,
+joined with the terrified cries of the fugitives, filled the morning
+air. Large numbers, who looked to discretion rather than valour,
+plunged into the lake, and by swimming, diving, and dodging, a few
+managed to elude both capture and death. But many were slain as they
+swam, and, while their bodies sank to the bottom, their blood mingled
+with the waters of the lake, until it lay crimson beneath the rising
+sun. Warriors and women, old men and children, to the number of two
+hundred, we are told, perished on that fateful morning, which saw the
+Muaupoko tribe driven from Horowhenua, and the epoch of their
+greatness brought to a close. A mere remnant of the tribe escaped, and
+made their way through the forests and mountain fastnesses towards the
+south, where, within the space of another year, they were again
+pursued, hunted, and slaughtered, with all the old relentless hatred
+of their destroyer.
+
+Having inflicted this crushing blow upon Muaupoko, and feeling
+convinced that they could never again be a serious menace to
+Ngati-Toa, the section of the Ngati-Awa tribe who, under
+Rere-ta-whangawhanga and other chiefs, had accompanied Te Rauparaha
+from Taranaki, now determined to return to their own country at
+Waitara;[60] and it was this decision which made it imperative that
+the Ngati-Toa leader should seek efficient aid from some other
+quarter. He accordingly, without delay, despatched messengers to the
+north, once again to invite his kinsmen of the Ngati-Raukawa tribe to
+come and join him. These emissaries, having arrived at Taupo, learned
+that an attempt to reach Kapiti by way of the east coast had already
+been made by Te Whatanui, but without success, as he had been defeated
+by a Hawke's Bay tribe and driven back. This experience had somewhat
+cooled his ardour; but when Te Rauparaha's messengers came with the
+news that Kapiti had been taken, and told of his marvellous success at
+Waipata and Waikiekie, interest in the project at once revived.
+Especially was a young chief, named Te Ahu-karamu, fired with its
+romantic prospects, and he immediately organised a force of one
+hundred and twenty men and set off for the land of promise.
+
+Almost simultaneously with the arrival of these reinforcements,
+additional strength was gained by the accession of another band of
+Ngati-Awa from Taranaki; and, with these additions to his ranks, Te
+Rauparaha felt himself strong enough to resume once more active
+operations in the field. He accordingly moved upon a skilfully built
+_pa_ situated at Paekakariki, some miles to the southward of
+Kapiti, whither the escaping Muaupoko had fled and taken refuge. In
+this adventure a larger force than usual was employed; for not only
+were the new arrivals keen for a brush with the enemy, but the natural
+strength of the _pa_ was such that Rauparaha knew it would be
+useless to approach it without a force of adequate proportions. In
+these anticipations his judgment was correct, as usual, for the
+struggle proved to be an exceedingly obstinate one and the death-roll
+on both sides considerable. After some days of incessant attack, in
+which the few muskets possessed by Ngati-Toa played their fatal part,
+the Muaupoko defence was pierced, and the victory was sealed with all
+the atrocities associated with the savage warfare of the ancient Maori.
+
+The capture of this _pa_ proved to be a rich prize for Rauparaha.
+Not only did it uproot the last stronghold of the Muaupoko people, but
+it brought a substantial addition to his supplies. Large quantities
+of provisions were discovered within the stockade, evidently collected
+in anticipation of a lengthy siege. So provident, in fact, had the
+inhabitants of the Paekakariki fort been in this respect, that the
+large attacking force spent the succeeding two months feasting upon
+the captured stores, interspersed with an occasional cannibal repast.
+This period of rest the visitors were prepared to enjoy to the full;
+for after a battle nothing was more congenial to Maori warriors than
+to lie idly about the sunny places in the _pa_, and discuss in every
+detail the stirring incidents of the fight.
+
+It was while thus basking in fancied security that the tables were
+suddenly turned upon them, and from a most unexpected quarter. Hearing
+from some of the fugitives of the capture of the Paekakariki
+_pa_, and burning to avenge the raid which Ngati-Toa had
+previously made into the Wairarapa, the members of the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe residing at Wairarapa and near Wellington believed that this was
+their golden opportunity. Secretly collecting a fighting force of
+considerable strength, they made their way through the bush to
+Paekakariki, and there fell upon the unwary and self-indulgent
+invaders. To them it was something of a novel experience to be thus
+repaid in their own tactics; but the swiftness and audacity with which
+the blow was delivered completely demoralised them, and the erstwhile
+assailants suffered the humiliation of being beaten back upon Waikanae
+with inglorious precipitancy. The whole procedure necessarily involved
+considerable loss on the part of Ngati-Toa and their allies, and the
+bitterness of the reverse was especially galling because it was the
+first occasion on which they had been worsted in arms since their
+occupation of the country had commenced. The closeness of the pursuit
+did not slacken until the fugitives had reached Waikanae; but beyond
+this point Ngati-Kahungunu did not press their advantage. They were
+now rushing into touch with Rauparaha's permanent settlements, from
+which the echoes of the strife might draw reinforcements at any
+moment. Unwilling to overrun their victory, the men from
+Whanganui-a-Tara withdrew to the south, well pleased with their
+achievement, which was not without its lesson for Te Rauparaha.
+
+The chief saw that the time had not yet arrived when he could relax
+his life-long vigilance. Heavy as had been the defeats which he had
+inflicted upon the resident people, he saw that their spirit had not
+yet been completely crushed. Brave as his own followers were, he saw
+that they were not proof against the panic which often springs from a
+surprise attack. The thing, however, which caused him most concern was
+the hostile attitude which was now being adopted towards him by the
+Ngati-Kahungunu people. Hitherto this powerful tribe, whose domain was
+a wide and populous one on the eastern coast, had remained
+comparatively neutral in the contest for supremacy in the west. But
+now this attitude was abandoned, and under the encouragement afforded
+by this prospect of protection, the displaced tribes were gradually
+venturing back to their deserted settlements. Should an effective
+alliance be formed between his enemies on the two coasts, the position
+would at once become so charged with danger that his comparatively
+small force would find itself in a most critical situation. It was,
+then, the threatening attitude of his neighbours which caused the
+Ngati-Toa chief to decide finally upon the abandonment of the mainland
+and the transference of the whole of his people to Kapiti, there to
+await the result of his mission to his friends at Maungatautari. In
+the meantime three strongly fortified _pas_ were built upon the
+island, and every preparation made against possible attack. These
+_pas_, situated one at either end, and the third in the centre of
+the island, were designed with as keen an eye for trade as for the
+purposes of defence. Te Rauparaha had not lost sight of the main
+purpose of his conquest, which was to bring himself into close
+association with the whalers, from whom he hoped to obtain, by
+purchase, barter, or bullying, additions to his store of guns and
+ammunition. For this purpose Kapiti was easily the key to the
+position. Favoured by deep water and safe anchorage, it afforded the
+securest of shelter to vessels seeking to escape from the dirty
+weather which comes whistling through the Strait. Boats lying snugly
+at anchor under the lee of the land would have opportunities for trade
+from which all others would be cut off; and there is little doubt that
+this commercial advantage was coolly calculated upon when the _pas_ on
+the mainland were evacuated and those on the island were occupied.
+This much at least is certain, that, whether part of a premeditated
+scheme or otherwise, the move proved to be a masterstroke, for it gave
+to Te Rauparaha a virtual monopoly of the white man's patronage, a
+privilege which for years he guarded with jealous exclusiveness.
+
+When it became known that Te Rauparaha had retired to Kapiti, and
+there seemed less danger of immediate molestation, the Rangitane
+people again began to collect in force near their old home at Hotuiti.
+They built a strong _pa_ near the present town of Foxton, and
+here they were joined by a number of Ngati-Apa chiefs and people from
+Rangitikei. This proceeding Te Rauparaha regarded as a danger and a
+menace to his safety; for he had no reason to believe that he enjoyed
+their friendship, and no means of ascertaining when they might think
+fit to wreak their vengeance upon him. He therefore decided to take
+the initiative and attack them. Accordingly, with Rangihaeata and his
+Ngati-Apa wife Pikinga, he marched his war party up the coast and at
+once invested the place. The method by which he sought to reduce the
+_pa_ to submission was a clever stratagem--perfectly honourable,
+perhaps, according to the Maori code of warfare--but utterly repulsive
+to civilised ideas; and, to those who judge him by the latter
+standard, it lowers Te Rauparaha from the high plane of a classic
+warrior to the level of a cunning and unscrupulous savage. His first
+act of generalship aimed at separating the two tribes, a step which
+has been attributed by some to a desire to spare the Ngati-Apa,
+because of their relationship with Pikinga. Others, however, can see
+in it nothing but a clever ruse to divide the defending force, so that
+he might the more easily attack and defeat them singly. He therefore
+sent Pikinga to the Ngati-Apa chiefs with a request that they would
+withdraw to their own territory beyond the Rangitikei River. Probably
+he promised them safe-conduct on their journey; but, if he did, it was
+of no avail, for they firmly refused to evacuate the Hotuiti _pa_, and
+doggedly remained where they were. Feigning, then, to abandon his
+campaign, Te Rauparaha sent to the Rangitane chiefs, inviting them to
+come to him and negotiate terms of peace.
+
+In view of their past experiences it might have been expected that
+such a request would be scornfully declined; but after long and
+anxious debate it was decided--mainly, it is said, on the advice of
+the Ngati-Apa chiefs--that the leading Rangitane warriors should meet
+the Ngati-Toa leader and make the best terms possible with him. The
+result was, of course, the old story: the ruthless slaughter of the
+confiding ambassadors, who found that Te Rauparaha had come, not with
+peace, but unrelenting war. Treachery was no more suspected inside the
+_pa_ than out of it; and while the people were deluded into the
+belief that the war-clouds had passed away, they were being secretly
+and silently surrounded. At a given signal the walls were stormed and
+a bloody massacre followed, from which the Ngati-Toa warriors emerged
+sated with gruesome triumph. The slain were eaten on the spot, and the
+prisoners were taken to Waikanae, there to await the returning
+appetite of their captors.
+
+So dastardly an attack upon their friends and so gross an insult to
+their tribal pride could not be ignored; and although time might
+elapse before the Ngati-Apa peoples would be able to strike an
+avenging blow, it was quite certain that so soon as the favourable
+moment arrived the Ngati-Toa would have to pay the penalty of their
+treachery. But Te Rauparaha never dreamed that they would have the
+temerity to attack him upon his own land, and while he was lying in
+fancied security at Waikanae, the storm suddenly burst upon him. The
+Ngati-Apa, under Te Hakeke, had hurriedly collected their war party,
+and obtaining reinforcements from the fugitives who had escaped from
+the massacre at Hotuiti, came by stealthy marches down the coast and
+fell upon the unsuspecting Ngati-Toa in the dead of night. Next
+morning the camp was in ruins, Te Rauparaha's force was in flight, and
+sixty of his followers, including four of Te Pehi's daughters, were
+lying dead amongst the _débris_. The balance of battle honours having
+been thus somewhat adjusted, the aggressors retired, well satisfied
+with the result. They were allowed to depart without a resumption of
+hostilities, for the supports who had come over from Kapiti were
+either not strong enough, or not keen enough, to pursue them.[61]
+
+Whatever may have been Te Rauparaha's previous disposition towards
+Ngati-Apa, whether he was genuinely disposed to befriend them or
+whether he was merely playing on their credulity, is of no further
+importance, for from that day he took on an attitude of undisguised
+hostility towards them, revoking all promises of peace, stated or
+implied, and becoming, in the characteristic language of
+Matene-te-Whiwhi, "dark in his heart in regard to Ngati-Apa." The
+shield of friendship having been removed, this unfortunate tribe was
+now exposed to all the fury of the most ruthless man in New Zealand;
+and in the raids which his warriors made against them, neither man nor
+woman was spared who was unfortunate enough to fall into his hands.
+These misfortunes created a bond of sympathy between Ngati-Apa and
+their neighbours, the Rangitane and Muaupoko, and paved the way for an
+alliance against the common enemy. Although banished from Horowhenua
+and wandering about the solitary places of the coast, a broken and
+shattered people, there was still sufficient energy and hatred
+remaining in one of the Muaupoko chiefs to make a final effort to
+recover their departed _mana_.
+
+Te Raki, who had suffered captivity at the hands of Te Pehi, aspiring,
+after his escape, to be the regenerator of his tribe, became the
+active apostle of a federation which was to embrace the tribes who had
+felt the weight of the Ngati-Toa hand. From Waitotara in the north to
+Arapawa and Massacre Bay in the south, and Wairarapa in the east, he
+organised an alliance which could hurl two thousand fighting men
+against their redoubtable adversary. Canoes from far and near brought
+this host to the appointed rendezvous, the northerners assembling at
+Otaki and the southerners at Waikanae. From these two points this army
+converged upon Kapiti, their canoes "darkening the sea" as they went.
+The magnitude of the armada, however, was greater than its discipline,
+and before it had proceeded far its movements were discovered. The
+noise of the paddles, as the canoes approached the island in the early
+morning, caught the keen ear of Nopera, and when the right wing landed
+at Rangatira Point, they were opposed by the people whom they had
+expected to surprise. The attack was fierce and desperate, and when
+Pokaitara, the Ngati-Toa commander, found himself being driven back
+towards Waiorua, he astutely proposed a truce. It would give him a
+welcome respite while it lasted, and perhaps some advantage in the
+first moment of its violation. Ignorant of the fact that a message had
+been sent to Te Rauparaha, who happened to be at the centre of the
+island, and hoping for the speedy arrival of his own laggard
+reinforcements, who were still at sea, Rangi-maire-hau, the Ngati-Apa
+chief from Turakina, in a weak moment, agreed to a suspension of
+hostilities. Scarcely had this been arranged, when Te Rauparaha, with
+the major part of his people, arrived upon the scene, and repudiating
+the agreement to which his lieutenant had committed himself, he
+recommenced the sanguinary work, and fought to such purpose that the
+issue was soon placed beyond doubt. With one hundred and seventy of
+their tribesmen slain, the Ngati-Apa attack began to slacken.
+Presently their ranks were seen to waver, and an impetuous charge at
+this decisive moment drove into rout what had hitherto been an
+impenetrable front. The slaughter of pursuit was scarcely less than
+that of resistance. Dead and dying lay on every side, and many found a
+watery grave in their vain effort to swim to the canoes, which had not
+yet reached the shore.
+
+News that disaster had overtaken the advance guard quickly spread to
+the other sections of the allied forces; and, without attempting to
+retrieve the fortunes of the day, they turned and precipitately fled
+in whichever direction safety seemed to lie. When he realised that his
+host had been worsted in the battle, Rangi-maire-hau disdained to fly,
+but threw himself upon the mercy of Te Rangihaeata, who had borne
+himself with conspicuous bravery throughout the attack. That haughty
+chief, however, saw no reason why he should spread his protecting
+mantle over his would-be exterminator, even though the appeal was
+founded on the bond of relationship with his Ngati-Apa wife; and,
+steeling his heart against every entreaty, he ordered Rangi-maire-hau's
+immediate death. With this exception, it is recorded to the credit of
+Ngati-Toa that they used their victory with unusual moderation. Thus,
+the largest force which had ever been marshalled during the Maori wars
+along this coast was defeated by one of the smallest; the organisation
+of two years was dissipated in as many hours; and the invaders were
+only the more firmly established in the land by this futile attempt to
+uproot them. This great victory, which settled for ever the question
+of supremacy, was duly celebrated by feasting and dancing, during
+which Te Rauparaha chanted a song of triumph, which was especially
+offensive to his enemies, taunting them, as it did, with a lack of
+courage, and foretelling even greater misfortunes that were yet to
+befall them:--
+
+  "When will your anger dare?
+  When will your power arise?
+  Salute your child with your nose.
+  But how salute him now?
+  You will see the rejoicing tide
+  Of the warrior's coming glee,
+  And the departure of Rongo-ma-whiti."
+
+While Te Rauparaha was enjoying the fruits of his victory, his forces
+received welcome reinforcements from two quarters. The news of battles
+fought and laurels won had reached Taranaki, where the Ngati-Tama
+chief, Te Puoho, and some of his followers, whose curiosity had been
+aroused by the tales told by their returned tribesmen, came down to
+learn the truth of the matter for themselves. Close upon their heels
+came the long-hoped-for band of Ngati-Raukawa, who signalised their
+advent by at once attacking the settlements in the Rangitikei and
+Manawatu districts. While one party skirted the coast,[62] the other
+struck inland, and under their chiefs, Te Whatu and Te Whetu,
+surrounded and captured a Ngati-Apa _pa_ at Rangiure, and then
+proceeded to Pikitane, where they killed a number of the resident
+people and made the rest prisoners. These two settlements had been
+taken completely by surprise, their people little dreaming that a war
+party was marching through the land. No better prepared were the
+Ngati-Apa then living at Awahuri, who were next attacked, and their
+chief, named Te Aonui, was added to the train of captives. The
+invaders then pushed their victorious march down the course of the
+Oroua River, as far as its junction with the Manawatu. Here they
+crossed the larger stream, and immediately attacked the _pa_ at
+Te Whakatipua. This assault was stoutly resisted by the chiefs,
+Kaihinu and Piropiro, who paid the penalty with their lives, but the
+remainder of the people who were not shot by the invaders were spared
+on proffering a humble submission. This was practically the only
+discreet course open to them. Not only were they placed at a serious
+disadvantage, away from their fighting _pas_, but many of the
+Ngati-Raukawa were armed with guns, while the Rangitane people had not
+as yet been able to discard the wooden spears and stone clubs of their
+forefathers.
+
+The rapid movements of the Ngati-Raukawa, and the completeness of
+their captures, had prevented the news of their presence being
+despatched to the adjoining settlements; and, as a consequence, when
+they ascended the Manawatu and came upon the little _pa_ at
+Rotoatane, situated not far from Tiakitahuna,[63] they were able to
+attack and capture it almost before the people could be summoned from
+the fields. Not that it was a bloodless victory. A Rangitane chief,
+named Tina, fought with desperation, and, before he was overpowered by
+superior numbers, three of the assailants were stretched dead at his
+feet. Once more the advance was sounded, the objective this time being
+the _pa_ at Tiakitahuna itself. This settlement was under the
+chieftainship of Toringa and Tamati Panau, the latter being the father
+of the chief Kerei te Panau,[64] who until recently lived at Awapuni.
+These men were evidently more alert than their neighbours, for no
+sooner did the _taua_ come in sight than they took to their
+canoes and paddled across to the opposite bank of the river. While the
+two tribes were thus ranged on opposite sides of the stream, the
+Rangitane had time to consider the position. Tamati Panau was the
+first to seek an explanation, by calling out to Te Whatu, "Where is
+the war party from?" Clear and quick came the answer back, "From the
+north." That was sufficient for Toringa, who had already tested the
+mettle of the northerners, and he at once sent a curse across the
+water, hurled at the heads of the invaders with all the venom that
+tribal hatred and a sense of injured vanity could instil. Whether it
+was the dread of Toringa's denunciation, or whether the Ngati-Raukawa
+were satisfied with their unbroken course of victory, is not clear to
+the present-day historian; but the Rangitane traditions relate that,
+after firing a single shot from one of their muskets, the invaders
+retired from the district, taking their prisoners with them, and made
+their way south to join Te Rauparaha, who was anxiously awaiting their
+coming.
+
+The prospect opened up to these new-comers was far beyond anything
+that they had dreamed. In fact, so fascinated was Te Ahu-karamu with
+the new and beautiful country which his great kinsman had conquered
+that, after a reasonable rest, he returned to Taupo for the purpose of
+bringing the whole of his people away from a position which was daily
+becoming more exposed to the aggression of the Waikato tribes. But his
+designs in this direction were nearly thwarted by the persistency with
+which the tribe clung to their northern home, even in defiance of his
+threat to invoke the wrath of his _atua_[65] if they dared to
+question the command of their chief. Finding that the terrors of his
+god had no influence upon them, Karamu adopted an instrument of the
+devil, and, taking a torch in his hand, brought his obdurate tribesmen
+to their senses by burning every house in the _pa_ to the ground.
+Rendered thus houseless and homeless, there was nothing for the
+dejected people to do but to follow their imperious leader. In his
+journey back to Kapiti he was joined by two of the most famous chiefs
+of that day--Te Whatanui and Te Heuheu, the former of whom was
+destined to become the patriarch of Horowhenua and the protector of
+its persecuted people. Collecting a strong retinue of followers, the
+three chiefs set off in 1825 by the same route which Karamu had
+previously travelled down the valley of the Rangitikei, varying the
+monotony of the journey[66] through the Ngati-Apa country by
+occasionally chasing frightened fugitives, in order to gratify their
+pride and glut their appetite.
+
+Upon their arrival at Kapiti long and anxious consultations followed
+between the chiefs, the result of which was that Te Whatanui at last
+consented to migrate[67] and throw in his fortunes with Te Rauparaha.
+This was eventually accomplished in 1828-29, the consolidation of the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa tribes making their future absolutely
+secure and bringing Te Rauparaha's wildest dreams of conquest within
+measurable distance of accomplishment. His broadened aspirations had
+long before this extended across the Strait; and, next to the conquest
+of the coast on which he was now operating, it had become his greatest
+ambition to measure his strength against the natives of the Middle
+Island. Their reputed wealth in greenstone had aroused his avarice,
+while the prospect of acquiring additional territory appealed
+strongly to his love of power.
+
+But before he was able to perfect his plans for carrying into effect
+this new stroke of aggression, an event occurred which was destined to
+have important results. It will be remembered that the crowning
+circumstance which had induced Te Rauparaha to leave Kawhia was the
+sight of a vessel beating through Cook Strait. He had there and then
+settled in his mind that this part of the coast was soon to become an
+important rendezvous for whalers, &c., and already his anticipations
+were being realised with an amazing rapidity. The whalers were now
+frequent visitors to Kapiti, and many were the marvels which they
+brought in their train. But most of all were the natives absorbed in
+the prospect of securing from these rough seafarers guns and
+ammunition, steel tomahawks, and other weapons, which would give them
+an advantage over their enemies in the only business then worth
+consideration--the business of war. Many of these ships, however, had
+not come prepared for this traffic,[68] and the lack of guns, rather
+than any hesitation to part with them, made the process of arming a
+tribe a slow one. It had at least proved much too slow for some of the
+more restless spirits of the race; and impatience, added to a natural
+love of adventure, had led some of them to ship to Sydney, and even to
+England, in the hope of bringing back with them the means of
+accelerating their enemies' destruction. Of these latter Hongi had
+been a conspicuous example, and the success which had attended his
+mission to England roused a spirit of emulation in the breasts of
+other chiefs, who were only waiting the opportunity of following his
+example. Of these, Te Pehi Kupe, the conqueror of Kapiti, was one of
+the few who were signally successful. Knowing no language but his own,
+having only the vaguest notions of what a voyage to England meant,
+and a very precarious prospect of ever being brought back, this man
+had thrown himself on board an English whaler, and, resolute against
+all dissuasions, and even against physical force, had insisted upon
+being carried to a country of which he had but two ideas--King George,
+of whom he had heard, and guns, which he had seen and hoped to
+possess.
+
+Thus it came about that, while the ship _Urania_ was lying
+becalmed in Cook Strait, about five or six miles from the land, on
+February 26, 1824, Captain Reynolds perceived three large canoes,
+fully manned, approaching the vessel. Doubtful what such a
+demonstration might portend, Captain Reynolds put his ship in a
+condition to resist an attack if necessary; and when the canoes were
+within hail, he, by word and sign, endeavoured to warn them off. Had
+he chosen, he might easily have sent the frail-looking barques to the
+bottom by a single shot from the ship's guns; but, unlike many another
+skipper of those days, Captain Reynolds was a man actuated by
+considerations which went beyond himself, and the thought of the
+retaliation which might fall upon other mariners coming to the shores
+of New Zealand restrained him from committing any such act of
+brutality. Fortunately there was no need for drastic action, and the
+behaviour of the natives was such as to leave no doubt in the mind of
+the captain that their intentions were of a peaceable character. Te
+Pehi boldly directed his crew to paddle alongside the ship, and,
+divesting himself of all his clothing except a mat which was slung
+across his shoulders, he, with the swiftness of an athlete, climbed on
+board. When he reached the deck, he endeavoured by signs and gestures
+to convey to Captain Reynolds that what he wanted was arms and
+ammunition, and, on being informed that the ship had none to spare, he
+coolly indicated that, such being the case, he had decided to remain
+on board and proceed to Europe[69] to see King George. These words he
+had evidently learned from some of Captain Reynolds' predecessors, for
+he was able to pronounce them with sufficient distinctness to be
+clearly understood. The audacity of this proposal completely staggered
+the master of the _Urania_, and he at once tried to nip such ambitious
+hopes in the bud by peremptorily ordering the chief back to his canoe.
+Te Pehi, however, met this direction by calling to his men to move the
+canoe away from the ship, and the captain next sought to give his
+command practical force by throwing the chief overboard, in the hope
+and belief that the canoes would pick him up out of the sea. But in
+this he was again checkmated. The chief threw himself down on the deck
+and seized hold of two ring-bolts, with so powerful a grip that it was
+impossible to tear him away without such violence as the humanity of
+Captain Reynolds would not permit. At this critical juncture a light
+breeze sprang up, and Te Pehi improved the favourable circumstance by
+ordering his men to paddle to the shore, as he was going to see King
+George, and that he would soon return. This command was at once
+obeyed, and the breeze carrying the _Urania_ off the land, Captain
+Reynolds was reluctantly compelled to keep the chief on board that
+night. But, far from satisfied with his self-constituted passenger, he
+next day made another effort to force Te Pehi on shore, and nearly
+lost his ship in the attempt. This narrow escape, and the favourable
+conditions for getting away from New Zealand, to some extent
+reconciled the captain to an acceptance of the situation; but his
+chagrin was as great as was the delight of the chief, when it was
+found that there was no option but to keep him on board for the
+remainder of the voyage.
+
+With more intimate acquaintance, the relations between the captain
+and chief grew to be of the most friendly nature, and they lived
+together, both on shipboard and on shore, the captain taking a kindly
+interest in explaining to his protégé the mysteries of the great world
+upon which he was entering, while the native clung to his new-found
+friend with a confiding affection.[70] The _Urania_ ultimately reached
+Liverpool, where Te Pehi was the subject of much public attention. He
+was shown over the principal manufactories in Manchester and London,
+his great anxiety to see King George was gratified, and, although he
+was subject to a good deal of sickness, yet, thanks to the care of
+Captain Reynolds, he made an excellent recovery. After about a year's
+residence in England, he was placed on board H.M. ship _The Thames_,
+and in October, 1825, he sailed for his native land, loaded with
+presents of clothing and agricultural implements, which were given him
+by benevolently minded people in the hope that, combined with the
+knowledge of their use and blessing, which he had acquired in England,
+they would exercise an elevating influence upon his countrymen when he
+should return amongst them. Vain hope; for on his arrival at Sydney,
+Te Pehi reversed the beautiful biblical allegory, and turned his
+pruning hooks into spears and his ploughshares into guns and
+ammunition, to aid in the work of waging eternal warfare against the
+enemies of his tribe.[71]
+
+Early in the year 1824, and immediately after Te Pehi's departure for
+England, Te Rauparaha found that, in consequence of the many recent
+additions to his forces, the number of natives who had placed
+themselves under his command was then sufficient to enable him to
+begin the main purpose of his conquest, namely, the systematic
+occupation of the land.[72] He and his own immediate tribe having
+decided to occupy the island of Kapiti, where they could be in closer
+touch with the whalers, he now proceeded to partition the country
+along the coast amongst the new arrivals. The first division led to
+civil war and domestic feuds between a section of Ngati-Raukawa and
+the Ngati-Tama from Taranaki, under Te Puoho, which at one time
+threatened to destroy all that he had already accomplished; and it was
+not until a new allotment was agreed upon, by which Ngati-Awa, to whom
+Ngati-Tama were closely related, were given exclusive possession of
+the country south of the Kukutauaki stream, and the Ngati-Raukawa sole
+dominion over the district northward of that boundary as far as the
+Wangaehu River, that his power to resist his enemies was restored by
+the restoration of harmony amongst his friends. Not that there was any
+immediate danger of attack; for his incessant raids upon the Ngati-Apa
+and Muaupoko tribes had reduced them to the condition of a shattered
+and fugitive remnant, incapable alike of organised attack or organised
+defence.
+
+It was probably one of the proudest days of Te Rauparaha's life when,
+standing on Kapiti, he formally transferred the whole of the coast to
+his followers by right of conquest, than which no Maori could hope for
+a better title, and proclaimed to the assembled people the precise
+districts which were to be their future homes, where they were to
+cultivate, to catch eels, to snare and spear birds. These
+dispositions, however, did not imply that he was prepared to surrender
+his supreme authority over the lands, and the fact that he desired to,
+and intended to, retain his right of suzerainty was made abundantly
+clear. "The lands I now give you are in our joint rule, but I shall be
+greater in power than you individually"; such were the terms in which
+the transfer was made, and the people acquiesced in a unanimous "It is
+right, O Raha! it is as you say." But Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa were commissioned to do something more than merely occupy
+the land. In imperious tones the great chief commanded them: "Clear
+the weeds from off my field." In other and less figurative words, they
+were to kill and persecute the conquered peoples without pity and
+without mercy; and perhaps it would have been well for Ngati-Raukawa
+had they more faithfully obeyed his instructions, instead of extending
+a sheltering arm to Ngati-Apa and Muaupoko, both of whom subsequently
+proved themselves so unworthy of this clemency.[73]
+
+Under the arrangement thus determined upon at Kapiti the country round
+the beautiful lake at Horowhenua was taken possession of by that grand
+old member of a magnificent race, Te Whatanui, and those people who
+had come from the north with him. The district now known as Lower
+Manawatu was occupied by another section of the Ngati-Raukawa people,
+under Te Whetu, and, still higher up, Rangitikei came under the
+dominion of Nepia Taratoa, a chief who seems to have been as generous
+to Ngati-Apa as Whatanui was to Muaupoko. Southward of Horowhenua, as
+far as the present harbour of Wellington, the country was subsequently
+given over to Ngati-Awa, who were in settled possession when the
+first European colonists arrived. Here in 1825-26 Pomare, their chief,
+led the Ngati-Mutunga _hapu_ of the Ngati-Awa people, who forcibly
+occupied the shores of the great bay, where they hoped to cultivate
+the friendship of the whalers,[74] whose commerce was so profitable to
+them. Their tenure, however, was not an undisputed one. They were
+subjected to frequent raids and incessant harassment from the
+Wairarapa tribe, whom they had displaced, and who deeply resented
+being thus deprived of their one avenue of communication with the
+_pakeha_. This tribe, though powerless to retrieve the aggression of
+Ngati-Awa, missed no opportunity of irritating them, and Pomare was
+not reluctant to hand over his trust to some other chief, so soon as
+he could be honourably relieved of it. This opportunity came when,
+after the fall of the Puke-rangiora _pa_ in 1831, the survivors of
+that (for Ngati-Awa) disastrous day, together with the flower of their
+tribe from their other settlements, abandoned Taranaki, and came down,
+a fugitive host, to shelter under the protecting wing of Te Rauparaha.
+
+With Te Puni, Wi Tako, and Wharepouri, an arrangement was entered into
+in 1834, whereby the land round the harbour and the right to contest
+the ownership of the territory with the unexterminated portion of the
+Ngati-Kahungunu were to be ceded to them for the consideration of a
+greenstone _mere_. Pomare was perhaps the more ready to relinquish
+possession of what is now amongst the most valuable land in the
+Dominion, because he had become possessed of information which seemed
+to open up a much more agreeable prospect than resisting the
+inconvenient incursions of his Wairarapa enemies. One of the young men
+of his tribe, Paka-whara, who had shipped on board a whaler, had just
+returned from a southern cruise, with the intelligence that the
+Chatham Islands were populated by a sleek and inoffensive people, who
+might be expected to fall an easy prey to such hardened veterans in
+war as Ngati-Awa could now furnish. Pomare at once acted upon the
+inspiration; and chartering, partly by payment and partly by
+intimidation, the British brig _Rodney_, he sailed with his followers
+in November, 1835, for the Chathams, where, by a fearful destruction
+of human life, the well-conditioned, unwarlike Morioris were reduced
+within the short space of two years to a remnant of two hundred souls.
+
+Whether the allocation of these districts to these particular chiefs
+was due to their own choice or to the will of Te Rauparaha is not
+known; but in the case of Te Whetu the former appears to have been the
+fact. During the raid which he made upon Manawatu while migrating to
+Kapiti, he had secured amongst his captives a handsome young Rangitane
+woman named Hinetiti, whose charms so pleased him that when he reached
+Kapiti he made her his wife. Hine's gentleness moved her lord and
+master in a way that sterner methods would not, and she soon obtained
+such an influence over him that her will became his desire. Doubtless
+the memory of her old home was ever present with her, even amongst the
+beauties of Kapiti; and, when the partition of the country was being
+spoken of in the _kaingas_, she urged Te Whetu to take her back
+to the banks of the Manawatu, where she might be once more with her
+friends and relatives. In deference to this wish, Te Whetu brought her
+to a little settlement named Te Iwi te Kari, near Foxton. With them
+came the Ngati-Wehiwehi _hapu_, bringing the prisoners whom they
+had taken eighteen months before, and together they occupied the
+district around Matai-Kona.
+
+The Manawatu was still well stocked with Rangitane, for many of their
+larger settlements in the upper portion of the district had not been
+so completely depopulated as some of the more southern _pas_ by
+the captures and slaughters of the marauding northerners. The
+presence of the Ngati-Raukawa in the midst of their country put no
+check upon their freedom, and, according to their ancient custom, they
+moved about from one _kainga_ to another at their pleasure. Indeed,
+the relations between the Rangitane and Ngati-Raukawa appear to have
+been of the most friendly nature after the return of the captives from
+Kapiti, a fact which the former attribute to the marriage of Te Whetu
+with their chieftainess, but which in reality was due to the
+generosity of the Ngati-Raukawa, who, had they chosen, might have left
+nothing but smoking ruins and bleaching bones to tell of the
+Rangitane's former existence.
+
+The feeling, however, was not so cordial between the Rangitane and the
+natives immediately under the leadership of Te Rauparaha, who allowed
+no circumstance to mitigate his extreme desire for revenge; and,
+although no pitched battles took place, there were occasional
+skirmishes and massacres which served to keep alive the fires of hate.
+In like manner he constantly harried the Muaupoko and such members of
+the Ngati-Apa tribe as he now and then fell in with, until these
+people, feeling life to be unbearable if they were to be hunted like
+beasts of prey, decided to place themselves beyond the reach of so
+relentless a tormentor. They accordingly, to the number of three
+hundred souls, including women and children, determined upon flight
+into the Wairarapa; and there they threw themselves upon the mercy of
+the Ngati-Kahungunu, who might be expected to display some sympathy
+for other victims of the suffering from which they themselves had not
+escaped. But here again the hapless people were doomed to a bitter
+experience. Instead of being received with the open arms of welcome,
+they were cruelly set upon and driven back over the Tararua Ranges,
+because of some old and unavenged act of violence which their friends
+had committed, but of which they had probably never heard.
+
+Spurned from the only asylum which appeared to be open to them,
+Ngati-Apa returned to Rangitikei and sought the protection of
+Rangihaeata and Nepia Taratoa, to both of whom they paid tribute for
+the right to live. Muaupoko placed themselves under the protecting arm
+of a Ngati-Raukawa chief named Tuahine, whose heart was touched by
+their destitute and defenceless condition. But his intervention was of
+little avail. However willing he might have been--and there is no
+reason to doubt his sincerity--he proved quite unable to shield them
+against the never-dying wrath of Te Rauparaha. Hearing from some of
+the Ngati-Raukawa people that the remnant of the Muaupoko tribe was
+once more beginning to gather round the Horowhenua and Papaitonga
+lakes, he organised a force of Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Huia and Ngati-Tama
+warriors, and marched upon Papaitonga in defiance of the vehement
+protests of Tuahine and many other Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who wished to
+have done with this incessant slaughter. This lake, which covers an
+area of about one hundred and twenty-five acres, lies a few miles to
+the southward of Horowhenua. From time immemorial it had been the home
+of the Muaupoko tribe, by whom it was originally called Waiwiri, but
+in more recent days the name of the larger of the two gem-like islands
+encircled by its waters has been applied to the whole lake.
+Papaitonga, which signifies, "the islet of the South," is a name which
+reveals in bright relief the poetic fancy of the Maori; for, even now,
+when its scenic charms have to some extent succumbed to the demands of
+settlement, the lake and its surroundings still present one of the
+most charming beauty spots in the whole Dominion. A deep fringe of
+tree-ferns and underwood, backed by a dense forest of native bush,
+skirts its north and northeast shores. Southward, through occasional
+breaches in the woods, can be seen the open undulating ground,
+gradually rising until it reaches the foot of the Tararuas, whose
+snow-capped peaks seem to touch the azure sky. Westward, stretching
+away to the sea, are the low flats over which meanders the
+slow-winding Waiwiri stream, which forms the outlet of the lake. Here
+the visitor is indeed on classic ground, for there is scarcely a
+feature of the landscape which has not, for the Maori, some historic
+association, some tragic story, some deepening memory of the hoary
+past. To this day the island of Papaitonga, so restful with its
+luxuriant crown of soft foliage, but which in the days of old was a
+sanguinary battle-ground, remains "a perfect necropolis of human
+bones," lying concealed beneath a living shroud of vegetation, which
+has silently risen to obscure from human sight the gruesome evidence
+of human savagery.
+
+It was to this spot that Te Rauparaha now, in 1827-28, led his
+warriors, arriving there late in the afternoon. His first care was
+effectually to surround the lake. This he did by posting strong
+detachments of men at various points, the reason for this disposition
+being a doubt as to which direction the fugitives would take in their
+flight, which rendered it expedient to intercept them at every
+possible avenue of escape. Ten men were then left in concealment near
+the canoe-landing, the smallness of the number being designed to
+deceive the inhabitants of the island, who at this time numbered
+several hundred. It was arranged that these men should, in the early
+morning, call to the people on the island to bring them a canoe, the
+intention being to create the impression in the minds of the islanders
+that they were a party of friends. Accordingly, when those in the _pa_
+began to be astir, Te Riu called out to Kahurangi:--
+
+"_E Kahu, e! Hoea mai te waka ki au. Ko tou tangata tenei._" (O Kahu,
+bring over a canoe for me, I am your man.)
+
+Either the call was not heard, or a lurking suspicion forbade a ready
+compliance with the request, for no movement was made by the islanders
+in the direction desired until Te Riu had called again:--
+
+"_Hoea mai te waka, kia maua ko to tangata. Ko Te Ruru tenei._" (Send
+a canoe for me and your friend. Te Ruru is here.)
+
+This last appeal was not without avail. A chief named Takare ordered
+two men to paddle a canoe across and bring Te Ruru to the island, at
+the same time impressing upon them the need of keeping a sharp
+lookout on shore to prevent unpleasant surprises. No sooner had the
+canoe put off than two of the Ngati-Toa divested themselves of their
+clothing, and waded out amongst the _raupo_ flags which grew near the
+landing, keeping only their heads above the water. One was armed with
+a tomahawk, and the other with a stone club known as an onewa, and
+their mission was to prevent the return of the canoe, should the men
+who brought it refuse to take the party on board. On came the canoe;
+but when passing the bulrushes, the rowers, who were peering
+cautiously about, detected the heads of the two men amongst the
+_raupo_, and in an instant the conviction of treachery flashed upon
+them. The man in the stern of the canoe excitedly called to his
+companion to shove off; but Whakatupu, the Ngati-Toa, was too quick
+for him. Springing from his concealment, he laid hold of the bow of
+the canoe and began to haul it towards the landing. The Muaupoko
+nearest to him made a lunge at his head with the paddle, but Whakatupu
+skilfully parried the thrust with his short-handled axe, and then,
+turning upon his assailant, with an unerring blow cleft his skull, and
+sent the lifeless body reeling back into the water. When the man in
+the stern of the canoe saw the fate of his companion, he immediately
+leaped overboard, and dived, coming to the surface again well out of
+the reach of the enemy. By diving and swimming, he at length succeeded
+in reaching the shore, where he concealed himself amongst some low
+brushwood, only to find that he had been tracked, and that it was his
+fate to be shot by Aperahama.
+
+The report of the gun, echoing through the silent bush and across the
+face of the placid lake, was the signal to the concealed warriors that
+the day's work had commenced, and to the unhappy islanders the
+announcement that the dogs of war had again been let loose upon them.
+They instantly prepared for flight, for to men without guns resistance
+was hopeless, even had it been possible. While they were swarming into
+their canoes, their panic was considerably accelerated by the sight
+of a Ngati-Huia warrior swimming towards the island discharging his
+musket as he swam. He had tied his cartouche box round his neck, and
+with his hands he loaded and re-loaded his gun, while he propelled
+himself through the water by his legs. When he reached the island, the
+inhabitants had already left, and were making for the shore. Here they
+were met by a deadly fusilade from one of Te Rauparaha's detachments,
+who were quietly waiting for them. They then turned their canoes, and
+made an effort to land at another point, only to be driven back by a
+second attack as disastrous as the first. Attempt after attempt was
+made to land, and here and there a strong swimmer or a swift runner
+succeeded in escaping; but the harvest of death was heavy, the bulk of
+the people, including all the chiefs, being shot. "As for the few who
+escaped," says a native account, "some took refuge at Horowhenua, and
+others fled to the mountains. After the fall of Papaitonga, the war
+party went on to Horowhenua, where there was more killing. Driven from
+there, the Muaupoko fugitives crossed over to Weraroa and fled to the
+hills. Then the war party returned to Papaitonga. What followed was
+according to Maori custom, but who would care to tell of it? I have a
+horror of that part of the story. If you want to know, ask the old men
+of the Ngati-Toa--Ngahuku, Tungia, and the others. That is all."
+Amongst those who were slain in this fight was Toheriri,[75] a
+Muaupoko chief, whose wife was inspired by the occasion to compose a
+lament in which she mourned the death of her husband, and implied that
+Tuahine had broken his pledge by exposing her people to the raid. But,
+in justice to that chief, it has to be admitted that he was entirely
+powerless to interpose on their behalf; while, on the other hand, the
+whole incident serves to show how ruthlessly Te Rauparaha cherished
+his desire for revenge, and how inadequate he considered the lapse of
+time and the slaughter of hundreds to satisfy the _manes_ of his
+children murdered by Muaupoko at Papaitonga.
+
+So Muaupoko died--or what was left of them lived, and were suffered to
+retain some of their lands around Horowhenua Lake. Pathetic laments
+for their lost lands and their departed _mana_ have been
+composed, and are still sung amongst them. One chanted by Taitoko in a
+lamentation over the dead of his tribe is universally known and sung
+by the Maoris of the coast:--
+
+  "The sun is setting,
+  Drawn to his ocean cave--
+  Sinking o'er the peak of Pukehinau.
+  Here wild with grief am I,
+  Lonely as the bird in the
+  Great waste of waters.
+  Wait, wait awhile, O Sun,
+  And we'll go down together."
+
+[48] "It is not unusual for the natural _ariki_, 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" (_Travers_).
+
+[49] I have here followed the narrative of Travers; but, in his
+_History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast_ Mr. Percy Smith
+makes it appear that at the moment of migration Te Ariwi was being
+besieged; that the exodus was not premeditated, but was suggested to
+Te Rauparaha by a Waikato chief as the only means of escape, and that
+the evacuation of the _pa_ was carried out at night. As affording
+an interesting sidelight upon the diversity of opinion which prevails
+as to the cause of Te Rauparaha's migration, I here append the
+following note which I have received from Mr. H. M. Stowell, a
+descendant of the great Hongi. "There is one striking Rauparaha fact
+which has not yet been properly given: Rauparaha had become a pest
+among his own people, and they warned him to beware--this at his
+Kawhia home. Consequently, when the _taua_, or war party, of my
+people, under Waka Nene and his brother Patuone, arrived at Kawhia on
+their way south, and invited Te Rauparaha to join them, he was only
+too willing. He was in personal danger at home, and he could only lose
+his life, at the worst, by coming south. He therefore came. When the
+war parties returned to Kawhia, Rauparaha at once gave out to his
+people that he intended to move south permanently. This being so, his
+people did not take any steps to molest him, and in due course he came
+south. These facts are important, as showing that his coming south was
+not a mere whim or accident; on the contrary, it was imperative,
+because he had made himself obnoxious to his own people."
+
+[50] John White, _Ancient History of the Maori_.
+
+[51] This woman was one of the wives whom Te Rauparaha had taken over
+after the death of Hape Taurangi at Maungatautari.
+
+[52] On the way down one disaster overtook the party. In the passage
+of the Mokau a canoe capsized and the only child of Te Rangihaeata was
+drowned. It was due to this circumstance that Rangihaeata in after
+years sometimes adopted the name of Mokau.
+
+[53] During the night a peculiar incident, illustrative of Maori life
+at this period, occurred. One of the women, the wife of a chief, had a
+child with her, which, in its restlessness, began to cry. Te Rauparaha,
+fearing that his stratagem would be betrayed by the wailing of the
+child, told its mother to choke it, saying, "I am that child." The
+parents at once obeyed the command, and strangled the child.
+
+[54] As illustrating the peculiar methods of Maori warfare, it is said
+that during the night following this battle Te Wherowhero came close
+to the Ngati-Toa camp and called out: "Oh Raha, how am I and my people
+to be saved?" To which Te Rauparaha replied: "You must go away this
+very night. Do not remain. Go; make haste." Following this advice, the
+Waikatos left the field, leaving their fires burning, and when the
+Ngati-Awa reinforcements arrived in the morning, no enemy was to be
+seen.
+
+[55] This is according to Travers's account. Some authorities say that
+Pomare could not have been there at that time.
+
+[56] Afterwards a thorn in Te Rauparaha's side: the saviour of
+Wellington in 1843, and the honourable opponent of the British forces
+in the Waitara war in 1860.
+
+[57] Between the years 1863-69 a violent dispute raged between the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as to their respective rights to
+sell a valuable block of land known as Rangitikei-Manawatu to the
+Provincial Government. Ngati-Raukawa claimed the land on the ground of
+conquest, while Ngati-Apa urged that the marriage of Pikinga, their
+chieftainess, with Rangihaeata was a bond between them and Te
+Rauparaha, which induced him to protect rather than to destroy them.
+Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were furious when they heard of these
+pretensions, and severely upbraided Ngati-Raukawa for not having
+permitted them to exterminate Ngati-Apa, whom they described as "the
+remnant of their meal."
+
+[58] Te Uira was at this time the wife of Te Poa, who was killed at
+this massacre. Hononga was Te Rauparaha's daughter by his second wife,
+Kahui-rangi.
+
+[59] Now Wellington.
+
+[60] This decision, it is said, was taken partly because they took
+umbrage at Te Rauparaha's overbearing manner, and partly because they
+had heard that another Waikato raid upon Taranaki was imminent. This
+was in the year 1823.
+
+[61] This would be about the year 1824.
+
+[62] This force, to the number of 120, was led by Te Ahu-karamu, a
+chief who afterwards became a prominent and progressive leader of the
+Maori people on the west coast.
+
+[63] Called by the early European settlers "Jackeytown."
+
+[64] Kerei te Panau was at this time a lad of about ten years of age,
+and probably owes the fact that he lived to be about ninety-four years
+of age to this flight across the river in the canoes.
+
+[65] _Atua_--a god.
+
+[66] This migration is known to the Ngati-Raukawa tribe as the _Heke
+Whirinui_, owing to the fact that the _whiri_, or plaited
+collars of their mats, were made very large for the journey.
+
+[67] For this purpose, he and Te Heuheu returned to Taupo, some of the
+party passing across the Manawatu block, so as to strike the
+Rangitikei River 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 Rangataua, where a female
+relative of Te Heuheu, famed for her extreme beauty, died of wounds
+inflicted upon her during the journey by a stray band of Ngati-Apa. 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 ground, 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 Rangitikei, where the chief was
+presented with three Ngati-Apa prisoners. These were immediately
+sacrificed, and then the whole party resumed the journey to Taupo.
+Amongst the special events which occurred on the march was the capture
+of a Ngati-Apa woman and two children on the south side of the
+Rangitikei River. The unfortunate children were sacrificed during the
+performance of some 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 Ngati-Raukawa
+leaders. Shortly after this, Te Whiro, one of the greatest of the
+Ngati-Apa 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
+Ngati-Apa long before, but the women were saved (_Travers_).
+
+[68] The native trade consisted of dressed flax and various kinds of
+fresh provisions, including potatoes, which, prior to the advent of
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, had not been planted on the west coast of the
+North Island.
+
+[69] The words which Te Pehi is reported to have used were "Go Europe,
+see King Georgi." Dr. John Savage in his _Account of New Zealand_,
+refers to the apparent preference which the natives had for the word
+Europe over that of England. He says of a native whom he took to
+London with him, from the Bay of Islands: "I never could make
+Mayhanger pronounce the word England, therefore I was content to allow
+him to make use of Europe instead, which he pronounced without
+difficulty." Possibly Te Pehi experienced the same difficulty of
+pronunciation.
+
+[70] The Maori became popular in the _Urania_, and at Monte Video
+plunged into the sea and rescued the drowning captain, who had fallen
+overboard (_Rusden_).
+
+[71] Captain Reynolds was allowed a sum of £200 by the British
+Government as compensation for the trouble and expense to which he had
+been put by his enforced alliance with Te Pehi (see _N.Z. Historical
+Records_). The account of the chief's visit to England will be
+found in the volume of The _Library of Entertaining Knowledge_ for
+1830.
+
+[72] One of the migrations which took place about this time consisted
+of 140 Ngati-Raukawa men under the leadership of Nepia Taratoa. It is
+known in history as the _Heke Kariritahi_, from the fact that
+those warriors who were armed with muskets had hit upon the shrewd
+plan of enlarging the touch-holes of their guns, in order to save the
+time which otherwise would be occupied in priming. They were thus able
+to keep up a much more rapid fire upon the enemy. Te Whatanui came
+down with this _heke_, to consult further with Te Rauparaha, but
+finding him absent from Kapiti, he returned to Taupo to prepare for
+the migration of his own people.
+
+[73] During the hearing by the Native Land Court in 1869 of the
+dispute which arose between the Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as
+to the right to sell the Rangitikei-Manawatu block of land to the
+Provincial Government of Wellington, Chief Judge Fenton remarked to
+Mr. Travers, who was appearing for Ngati-Raukawa, "The fact is, Mr.
+Travers, it appears to me that the flaw in your clients' title is that
+they did not kill and eat all these people."
+
+[74] At times there were many whalers there--as many as a hundred--of
+various nations. Here they stayed while whales came near the coast:
+but when these ceased to come near the coast, the whalers went out on
+the ocean, and the ships which were full of oil went each to its own
+land, and Rauparaha went back to his people and home at Kapiti
+(_Ngati-Toa account_).
+
+[75] Toheriri was prominent in the conspiracy of 1822 in connection
+with the gift of canoes. After that event, he, with his particular
+_hapu_, went to the Wairarapa for two years, and then returned to
+Papaitonga, where he was killed on this occasion, it is said, with
+great barbarity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SOUTHERN RAIDS
+
+
+The events just narrated have brought us in point of time to early in
+the year 1828, by which period Te Rauparaha was unquestionably master
+of the whole coast from Whanganui to Wellington. Not only was his
+supremacy indisputable in that he had completely silenced his enemies,
+but success had brought its natural result in the shape of numerous
+reinforcements, which had come from the shores of Taupo to share in
+his adventurous cause. Thus he was both free and able to give his
+undivided attention to the realisation of a dream which he had long
+cherished, and which he one day hoped to realise. This was no less
+ambitious a scheme than the invasion and conquest of the Middle
+Island, the forest-clad hills and snow-capped mountains of which were
+plainly discernible as he gazed wistfully across the broken waters of
+Raukawa (Cook's Strait). But it was not the scenic beauties of the
+island which attracted the keen eye of Te Rauparaha, for these alone
+would have no charm for him. His mind was cast in the material rather
+than in the æsthetic mould; his thoughts ran to practical rather than
+to artistic ends, and the real magnet which attracted him southward
+was the hope of possessing himself of the large store of greenstone
+which, according to report, the Ngai-Tahu people had collected at
+Kaikoura as the result of their periodical excursions to the west
+coast, where alone this valuable jade could be obtained.[76] Avarice
+and love of conquest were driving forces in his plans, but there was
+yet another motive operating to impel him onward. If the reader will
+recall the circumstances attending the battle of Waiorua, it will be
+remembered that the host which on that occasion invaded Kapiti had
+been collected from far and near. Some among them had even come from
+the tribe of Ngai-Tahu, which was then the most powerful branch of the
+Maori race occupying the Middle Island, of which they had dispossessed
+the Ngati-Mamoe some two hundred years before. One of the principal
+_pas_ of these people in the northern end of the island was situated
+on a high cliff overlooking the bay of Kaikoura, which at this time
+was estimated to contain between three and four thousand souls, living
+under the direction of a chief named Rerewaka. When the fugitives from
+Kapiti reached their settlements on the Middle Island, and carried
+with them marvellous tales of Te Rauparaha's prowess in battle, these
+stories only tended to intensify the feelings of hatred and envy
+already cherished by the southern chiefs. Their impotent rage found
+expression in a vain and unfortunate boast made by Rerewaka, which
+supplied Te Rauparaha with the strongest of all incentives to a Maori
+raid--the desire for revenge. Rerewaka had not himself been present at
+the battle of Waiorua, otherwise he might have been more modest in his
+language towards the invincible Te Rauparaha. But he had had friends
+with the allies, and the chagrin felt at their annihilation, and the
+taunting song of triumph chanted by the victorious Ngati-Toa, in which
+the subjection of the Ngai-Tahu was hinted at, provoked him to declare
+in an unguarded moment that "if ever Te Rauparaha dared to set foot on
+his land, he would rip his belly open with a _niho mango_."[77] This
+oral indiscretion was overheard by a slave standing by, who shortly
+afterwards, making his escape, reported Rerewaka's boast to
+Rauparaha. The chief of the Ngati-Toa heard with placid countenance of
+his threatened fate, and in answer merely remarked, "So he has said,"
+the apparent unconcern of his reply justifying the native proverb
+concerning him: "_Ko te uri o kapu manawa whiti_" (No one knew his
+thoughts, whether they were good or evil). He was really glad at heart
+of this further pretext for attacking and conquering the tribes of the
+Middle Island.[78] But while he had his mind bent upon revenge and his
+eyes fixed upon the treasure of greenstone, he was in no haste to put
+his design into execution. Leisurely action would enable him to
+mobilise his own forces, and serve to wrap his enemies in imagined
+security; and so for two years he waited patiently, keeping his
+warriors in fighting trim by repeated skirmishes with the shattered
+remnants of the Muaupoko and other northern tribes. But now his plans
+had fully matured, and by this time he had succeeded in gathering a
+large quantity of arms and ammunition from the Europeans, who, having
+learnt its advantages, were making Kapiti a frequent port of call and
+a place of some importance in the whaling industry. With these weapons
+he equipped his chosen men, who, when fighting with their native
+_meres_, were superior even to the best of the Ngai-Tahu or Rangitane,
+but, when armed with the more modern implements of the _pakeha_,
+became simply invincible. His fleet of canoes[79] also had been
+strengthened by the captures he had made after the battle of Waiorua,
+so that he had ample accommodation for the three hundred and forty men
+who comprised his expeditionary force. With this force, the most
+perfectly equipped that he had yet commanded, Rauparaha crossed the
+Strait, making Rangitoto (D'Urville Island) his first place of call.
+Here he found a section of the Rangitane tribe, the descendants of the
+people whom Captain Cook had first met at Ship Cove, who had now
+become powerful in the sense of being numerous. But where the odds of
+skill and arms were against them, numbers only supplied more victims
+for the cannibal feast which followed the battle. Everywhere the
+islanders were defeated and put to rout, many of them being eaten on
+the spot, and as many more carried back to Kapiti, there to await the
+dictates of their captors' appetites. Or, if they were fortunate
+enough to have their lives spared, the reprieve only enhanced their
+misfortune by carrying slavery and degradation with it.
+
+Rauparaha on this occasion swept like a withering blast over the whole
+of the northern portion of the Marlborough Province, neither the
+seclusion of the Pelorus Sound nor the inaccessibility of the Wairau
+and Awatere Valleys protecting the inhabitants from the rapacity of
+his warriors. Deflecting their course from D'Urville Island, they next
+proceeded to the point known in Maori legend as "Kupe's spear," but
+more recently styled Jackson's Head. Here a temporary division of
+their forces took place, the Ngati-Awa allies proceeding up Queen
+Charlotte Sound as far as Waitohi, the Pelorus Sound being the
+objective of Te Rauparaha. The tribe who occupied the shores of this
+great waterway was the Ngati-Kuia, an offshoot of Ngati-Apa, who were
+famed for their skill as fishermen, but who did little cultivation.
+Their principal _pa_, a semi-fortified village called Hikapu,
+stood at the junction of the Pelorus and Kenepuru reaches; and, when
+the fleet of northern canoes was seen sweeping up the Sound, the cry
+was raised "_Te Iwi hou e!_" (The newcomers! the new people!) That
+their coming boded them no good, Ngati-Kuia knew, and those who could,
+disappeared into the forest, while those who could not stayed to fight
+for the _mana_ of their tribe and the honour of their ancestral home.
+For them the battle was one against fearful odds; for, this being
+their first acquaintance with firearms, they were seized with panic,
+and the fight soon degenerated into a massacre. "What are those lights
+and the smoke we see at the village?" inquired a boy as he was being
+hurried through the bush by his fugitive father. "That," replied the
+sobbing parent--"that is Ngati-Toa burning your ancestors' and our
+houses."[80]
+
+Whatever hesitation Te Rauparaha may have had about raiding the Wairau
+during this campaign, was dispelled on its being reported to him that
+the Rangitane chief of the valley, Te Rua-Oneone, whose _pa_,
+called Kowhai, was situated near the mouth of the Wairau River, had
+heaped a curse upon his head, an insult which called for prompt and
+vigorous action. As yet the Wairau natives had had no experience of
+Rauparaha's qualities as a fighting chief. But they had heard rumours,
+and had listened to tales of his doings on the other island, which,
+although painted in glowing colours, had nevertheless been regarded
+with contempt by many of the leading chiefs. Amongst these incredulous
+persons was Te Rua-Oneone, who treated the matter so lightly as to
+remark that "Te Rauparaha's head would one day be beaten with a
+fern-root pounder." According to the Maori code, there was but one way
+of dealing with a scoffer who could speak so contemptuously of a
+chief; and therefore, when the natives of Pelorus, D'Urville Island,
+and Totaranui had been hopelessly beaten, the canoes were ordered to
+the Wairau, where the boastful Te Rua-Oneone had direct experience of
+what manner of man Te Rauparaha was. The fight, which took place on
+the land now enclosed within Bank Farm, was soon over, and could only
+have one result. The Rangitane were brave men, but their stone and
+wooden weapons were useless against the muskets of the Ngati-Toa. Te
+Rua-Oneone was captured and carried as a slave to Kapiti, where he had
+time and opportunity to reflect upon his defeat, which Rauparaha, with
+appropriate sarcasm, called _tuki tuki patu aruhe_, which signifies
+"beaten with a fern-root pounder."
+
+Nor was this merely a raid of bloodshed. Rauparaha sought territorial
+aggrandisement, and adopted the Roman principle of securing the fruits
+of his conquest by planting a colony of his tribe at every centre
+along the route of his victorious march. In each case the newcomers
+made slaves of the strong amongst the men and the beautiful amongst
+the women of the people whom they vanquished.[81]
+
+No sooner had this shattering blow been delivered against the fortunes
+of Ngai-Tahu than Te Rauparaha gave his attention to a matter which
+from force of circumstances had been neglected for many months. At the
+earnest solicitation of Ngati-Raukawa, he now agreed to march against
+the Whanganui people, who, it will be remembered, were responsible for
+the destruction of one of the several Ngati-Raukawa migrations prior
+to the first visit to the South Island. A force which, it is said,
+numbered nearly a thousand fighting men, led by the most distinguished
+chiefs of the allied tribes, with Te Rauparaha in supreme command,
+proceeded up the coast and attacked the Putikiwharanui _pa_, which was
+defended by a garrison almost twice as numerous as the assailants.
+Though not protracted, the struggle was fierce. The defenders made
+many desperate sorties, fighting with great determination and
+affording a fine example of courage, during the two months over which
+the investment extended. The damage, however, which they were able to
+inflict had no effect in causing the forces of Te Rauparaha to
+relinquish their grip. After a spirited defence of eight weeks, the
+assailants succeeded in carrying the place by storm, and the
+inhabitants suffered so severely that they were never afterwards able
+to seek the satisfaction of retaliation.[82]
+
+While the Ngati-Toa were engaged in these minor operations, an event
+occurred which increased the _mana_ of their chief amongst his
+own people and added considerably to his reputation abroad. This was
+the opportune arrival of his uncle and former comrade, Te Pehi Kupe,
+who, laden with the store of weapons which he had procured in Sydney,
+was brought back to New Zealand at this critical juncture in the
+history of the tribe.[83] The jubilation at such an event was
+necessarily great; not so much, perhaps, because of the wanderer's
+return, as because of what he had brought with him. There is at least
+no denying the fact that Te Pehi soon forgot what little of
+civilisation he had learned, except in so far as it enabled him to
+become a more destructive savage. He at once coalesced with his former
+leader; and with this valuable addition to his staff of councillors,
+and the enhancement of his munitions of war, Te Rauparaha felt more
+than equal to the task of carrying the battle to the gates of
+Kaikoura.
+
+Out of this extreme confidence grew a further development of the
+Ngati-Toa scheme of conquest. Their forces were now divided into two
+sections, the one proceeding to the great bays on the Nelson Coast,
+where they intended forcibly establishing themselves, while the
+remainder, under their old leader, aided by Te Pehi and a staff of
+other warriors, prepared to test the merits of Rerewaka's boast. It
+was a fateful day in the summer of 1829 when the canoes with three
+hundred men left D'Urville Island and turned their prows to the south.
+Although few in numbers compared with the enemy they were going to
+meet, they knew that the advantage of arms was with them, almost every
+man being provided with a musket. Moreover, they were full of the
+animation which is born of complete confidence in one's leader, and
+which, in this case, almost amounted to a superstition. No war party
+with Rauparaha at its head ever took failure into account, some of the
+warriors even going so far as to declare that "it was only necessary
+to strike the enemy with the handles of their paddles in order to
+secure a victory."
+
+ [Illustration: THE TIKI, KAIAPOI.
+ Erected on the site of the old Kaiapoi Pa.]
+
+Thus, well-armed and confident, the Ngati-Toa proceeded down the
+coast, resting the first day at Cloudy Bay, and subsequently at
+various other points, and arriving off Kaikoura before dawn on the
+fourth day. Not knowing what the exact disposition of the enemy's
+forces might be, and not being disposed for risks, Rauparaha anchored
+his canoes under the shadow of the peninsula, and then waited for the
+light. In this decision his characteristic good fortune did not desert
+him. It so happened that the Kaikoura natives were at that very time
+expecting a visit from some of their tribesmen in the south; and, when
+the first glimmering of dawn revealed a fleet of canoes on the bay
+below, there being nothing to indicate the direction from which they
+had come, the unsuspecting Ngai-Tahu assumed that their anticipated
+visitors had arrived. The early risers in the _pa_ set up the song
+of welcome--_Haere-mai, Haere-mai_--and soon the whole settlement
+throbbed with life and activity, indicative of the jubilant
+expectation of a reunion of friends. Whilst the elders busied
+themselves with preparations for the hospitable entertainment of the
+strangers, the younger people rushed, shouting gaily, down to the
+beach, to escort the guests back to the _pa_. The quick eye of Te
+Rauparaha at once saw the trap into which his enemy had fallen; and,
+elated at his amazing good fortune, he ordered the advance of the
+canoes, which, with a few sweeping strokes of the paddles, were driven
+swiftly across the intervening water. Before the unwary victims had
+recognised their mistake or recovered from their surprise, the
+Ngati-Toa warriors were amongst them, dealing death-blows on every
+hand. As might have been expected, the Ngai-Tahu, being totally
+unarmed and unprepared for the attack, were slaughtered without
+remorse or resistance, and, as their only safety lay in flight, they
+beat a breathless retreat towards the _pa_, where for a time the
+semblance of a stand was made. But the muskets of their assailants
+were now doing their work of death, while their ruthless charges
+increased the havoc. Before long Rerewaka was a prisoner, over a
+thousand of his people were slain, and his stronghold was in the hands
+of his most detested enemies.
+
+This decisive achievement was fully celebrated during the next ten
+days, with all the atrocities peculiar to cannibal feasts; and after
+the savage appetites of the victors had been surfeited with the flesh
+of their victims, and the nephritic treasures of the _pa_ had
+been collected, the war party returned to Kapiti, carrying Rerewaka
+and four hundred additional prisoners with them, to be killed and
+eaten at the leisure of their conquerors. The majority of them in due
+course met this fate, Rerewaka himself being killed with especial
+marks of cruelty and indignity, because of the insulting nature of his
+language towards the Ngati-Toa chief.[84] In consideration of the
+circumstances which led to this attack upon Kaikoura, the victory has
+ever since been known as _Niho Mango_, or "the battle of the shark's
+tooth."
+
+After the humiliation of Rerewaka and his people at Kaikoura,
+Rauparaha's greatest ambition was to pit himself in battle against
+that section of the Ngai-Tahu tribe who, under Tamaiharanui,
+Rongotara, and other powerful chiefs, held the strongly fortified
+_pa_ at Kaiapohia. But before he had a reasonable excuse for
+picking a quarrel with the people of Kaiapoi, and so attacking them in
+a manner that would be strictly _tika_, or proper, he had another
+opportunity of returning to Kaikoura, to retrieve the dignity of
+himself and his friends. The cause of this second invasion, like the
+previous one, was somewhat remote; but, unlike it, it arose out of a
+superabundance of love rather than of hate. The offence complained of
+was not committed against Te Rauparaha, but against his nephew,
+Rangihaeata. Rangihaeata was at this time rapidly rising into fame as
+a daring and successful warrior, and his place in the tribe naturally
+demanded that much of his time should be given up to the business of
+war, with the result that his functions as the head of his household
+were much neglected. During one of these prolonged periods of absence,
+his _pa_ at Porirua was visited by a chief of the Ngati-Ira (a
+branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu) tribe, named Kekerengu. According to
+tradition, this Kekerengu was a man of remarkable beauty of figure and
+grace of deportment. Tall and stalwart of frame, easy of carriage, and
+engaging in manner, his personal charm was still further enhanced in
+Maori estimation by a particularly artistic _moko_, or tattoo
+decoration. The introduction of this social lion into Rangihaeata's
+family circle was the cause of all the trouble. Kekerengu had so
+insinuated himself into the affections of the warrior's wives, that
+when Rangihaeata returned from the wars, the breath of scandal was
+busy with the proceedings of his family circle during his absence. The
+anger of the chief, on learning what had occurred, knew no bounds.
+Forthwith he sent the fiery cross from _pa_ to _pa_, and in a short
+space of time a force sufficient for his purpose was enrolled. Te
+Rauparaha, to whom the scent of battle was sweet, at once espoused the
+cause of his injured relative, and together they set out in search of
+the destroyer of Te Rangihaeata's domestic happiness.
+
+Kekerengu knew that, as the result of his indiscreet conduct,
+retribution would in some form follow him; but, in order to delay the
+evil day, he judiciously took to his canoe, and with a few of his
+followers crossed the Strait and sought refuge amongst the Ngai-Tahu
+of Kaikoura.[85] Thither Te Rauparaha tracked him; but the inhabitants
+of the _pa_ were not to be taken by surprise a second time.
+Knowing that they were no match for the force they saw approaching,
+they at once abandoned their settlement and flew down the coast,
+through the Amuri, towards Kaiapoi. But this escapade was not to stand
+between the Ngati-Toa and their revenge. When they arrived and found
+the _pa_ empty, they at once decided to go in pursuit. The march
+was swift and forced, and the invaders soon fell in with the
+fugitives, as they were camped at the Omihi stream. Here the unhappy
+wretches were attacked and routed with great slaughter, the few who
+escaped death or capture flying in precipitate haste into the bush,
+through which they made their way to the minor settlements further
+south. Kekerengu's guilt[86] was now expiated in his own blood and
+that of his hosts, and therefore Ngati-Toa might have returned to
+their homes fully satisfied with the results of their expedition. But
+the opportunity was so favourable for carrying out the long-cherished
+design of attacking Kaiapoi, that Te Pehi strenuously counselled going
+on. Te Rauparaha, it is said, was seized by some dark foreboding that
+Fate was trifling with him, and endeavoured to argue his lieutenant
+out of his warlike enthusiasm, but without avail. Te Pehi was bent
+upon storming Kaiapoi, and for once Te Rauparaha allowed himself to be
+overruled by his less cautious comrade. To facilitate the movements of
+the war party, which numbered about one hundred men, all encumbrances
+in the shape of prisoners were left in charge of a detachment at
+Omihi, and the canoes, which had been brought round from Kaikoura,
+were manned and taken as far down the coast as the Waipara River.
+There the force disembarked, and hauling the canoes beyond the reach
+of the tide, pushed on across the plains towards the southern
+stronghold.
+
+Kaiapoi was one of the oldest of the Ngai-Tahu _pas_, as it was
+admittedly one of their strongest fortresses. It had been built by Tu
+Rakautahi in 1700 A.D., at the close of the thirty years' war, which
+had resulted in the expulsion and the almost total annihilation of the
+Ngati-Mamoe people. Its position had been selected with some strategic
+skill, for it stood on a narrow tongue of land about five acres in
+extent, which ran out into the Tairutu lagoon, and was surrounded on
+three sides by the dark waters of that extensive swamp, which
+stretched for several miles to the north and the south. On the
+landward side it was protected by a wide and deep ditch, which in
+peaceful times was bridged over, while its double row of palisades,
+erected upon massive earthworks and surmounted by curiously carved
+figures representing gods and ancestors, rendered it so impregnable in
+the popular estimation that it was sometimes compared to "the
+inaccessible cliff of God," which none had dared to scale. The
+internal arrangements were in keeping with the importance of the _pa_
+as the social and military centre of the tribe. Its population was
+numerous, wealthy, and distinctly aristocratic, and therefore the
+domains of the _rangatiras_ and the commonalty were well defined. The
+dwellings of the chiefs were large and commodious structures,
+"ornamented inside and out with carving and scroll work." There were
+storehouses for the man physical, shrines for the man spiritual,
+playing grounds for old and young, and a burial-place for both when
+their earthly sojourn was over. The commerce of the _pa_ was conducted
+through three gates, two of which, Kaitangata and Hiaka-rere, faced
+the deep moat, and the third, Huirapa, the lagoon on the western side,
+being connected with the opposite shore by a light wooden footway. But
+with all its vaunted strength, the _pa_ had, according to critics, a
+fatal weakness, in that, if subjected to a close investment, it was
+liable to have its food supply cut off owing to its semi-insularity.
+Its builder had been twitted with this supposed defect when he
+determined upon the site of his stronghold, and he silenced his
+critics more by his ready wit than by the soundness of his military
+judgment. For he said "_Kai_" must be "_poi_," or food must be swung
+to the spot. "Potted birds from the forests of Kaikoura, fish and
+mutton birds from the south, _kiore_ and _weka_ from the plains and
+the mountain ranges"; and so down through the century or more which
+had passed since then it had been an essential part of the policy of
+those in authority at the _pa_ to see that its commissariat was not
+neglected, and that its _whatas_ were always full against the day
+when its gates might have to be barred to a troublesome enemy.[87]
+
+Such was the place which, in the opening months of 1829, the northern
+force marched to assault; but they had sadly misjudged the position if
+they imagined that they could take it by surprise. Ngai-Tahu had
+warning enough to enable them to gather their people within the
+palisades, to cut away their bridges, and to stand upon the alert at
+all the most vulnerable points. When, therefore, Te Rauparaha arrived
+under the walls of the _pa_, he adopted the most diplomatic
+course open to him, and made a virtue of necessity by feigning that he
+had come only with the most peaceful intent. His first care was to
+select a suitable site for his camp; he fixed it upon the
+south-western side of the lagoon, and there calmly sat down to await
+developments. Nor had he long to wait. Tamaiharanui, the high priest
+and leading chief of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, accompanied by a native
+named Hakitara, proceeded under commission from the people in the
+_pa_ to inquire the purpose of so unexpected a visit. Hakitara
+was a Nga-Puhi native, having come originally from the northern
+portion of the Auckland Province. When Te Rauparaha had exchanged
+salutations with him and the venerable Tamaiharanui, he proceeded to
+furnish the explanation which they had come to seek. In the course of
+his oration he recited a _tau_, or war song, the idiom of which
+was more apparent to the Nga-Puhi than to his companion, who was less
+learned in northern lore. This battle chant conveyed a message to
+Hakitara which was sinister and disturbing. The protestations of Te
+Rauparaha were most ardent in the direction of peace, and his
+declarations full of the promise of friendship; but the words of his
+song had been so suspiciously indicative of evil intent, that Hakitara
+felt it incumbent upon him to advise the immediate return of
+Tamaiharanui to the _pa_, while he himself remained in the Ngati-Toa
+camp to pick up what scraps of useful information might drop from the
+lips of incautious retainers. By dint of sedulous inquiry,
+particularly amongst the slaves, he gleaned enough to stimulate his
+suspicions, which were more than confirmed when he heard that the
+northerners had desecrated a newly made grave which they had passed on
+the march to the _pa_. Such an outrage to the dead of Ngai-Tahu was
+not the act of friends; and now the living witnesses of Te Rauparaha's
+hostility began to pour into Kaiapoi, viz., the fugitives who had
+escaped from the slaughter at Omihi. For days they had wandered in the
+bush and in the by-paths of the open lands, hoping to evade the clutch
+of their pursuers; and when they arrived with their tale of terror,
+something more than fair words were needed to convince the inhabitants
+of the semi-beleaguered _pa_ that Ngati-Toa had come so far south on a
+mission of peaceful commerce, and not of resentful war. Te Rauparaha,
+with his usual clarity of vision, saw the predicament in which the
+inopportune arrival of the fugitives had placed him, and promptly
+determined upon a desperate expedient, which, he hoped, would allay
+the dark suspicion which he hourly saw growing up around him, and
+which, if unchecked, would assuredly frustrate his enterprise. Not
+only did he feel it necessary to reiterate his assurances that nothing
+but a desire to trade for greenstone had brought him to Kaiapoi, but
+he did more. With a recklessness which only a critical situation could
+justify, he permitted his principal lieutenants--a liberty hitherto
+denied them--to freely enter the enemy's _pa_, and carry on, with
+well-simulated earnestness, negotiations for the exchange of
+greenstone for their own ancient fire-arms and doubtful powder.
+
+Amongst the first of the Ngati-Toa chiefs to avail himself of this
+permission was Te Pehi,[88] who, it will be remembered, had, with
+fatal enthusiasm, inspired the raid, and urged it upon an unwilling
+leader. Together with Pokaitara, Te Aratangata, Te Kohua, Te Hua Piko,
+and several other chiefs equally renowned in Ngati-Toa warfare, Te
+Pehi continued to visit and revisit the _pa_ for several days,
+carrying on a brisk trade, and incidentally noting the interior
+arrangements of the fortress, its people, and the chances of its
+speedy capture. Meanwhile, the Ngai-Tahu agent in Te Rauparaha's camp
+was not idle, and not the least of Hakitara's successes was the fact
+that he had been able to ingratiate himself into the good opinion of
+Te Rauparaha. That astute personage, usually so keen a judge of
+character, was completely deceived by the clever Nga-Puhi, whom he had
+hopes of weaning from the Ngai-Tahu cause. To this end he presented
+him with one of the most attractive of his slaves, a lady named Te
+Aka, whose charms it was hoped would prove sufficiently strong to draw
+the Nga-Puhi warrior back to the north. But Te Rauparaha's cold
+calculations were soon set at naught by the warmth of a human heart.
+Te Aka was not a free woman. She was a slave, whose _pa_ and
+whose people had been overrun and destroyed by the ruthless invader,
+and within her breast there burned the undying desire and hope for
+revenge. Therefore, when she and Hakitara came to understand each
+other, there was soon a joint wit at work to worst the man who fondly
+believed that the human passions were being harnessed to his
+political schemes. So confident was he that he would win Hakitara
+over, that he neglected even ordinary prudence in discussing his plans
+within his hearing. To such excess was this overconfidence carried,
+that one night he called his chiefs together to a council of war,
+which was held under the eaves of the _whare_ which Hakitara occupied,
+where every word could be heard by the occupants. Here the whole
+scheme of the capture of Kaiapoi was discussed and decided upon; and
+so hopeful was Te Rauparaha of success, that he boastingly remarked to
+Te Rangihaeata, "Soon we shall have our _pa_." "Beware of the Nga-Puhi
+man," was Rangihaeata's whispered advice; but Rauparaha dismissed the
+warning by an impatient gesture and a petulant remark that nothing was
+to be feared from that quarter. Hakitara had, however, been greedily
+listening to all that had passed, and when the council broke up he was
+in possession of every detail of the tactics by which the _pa_ was to
+be assaulted on the morrow.
+
+As might be surmised, sleep came but fitfully to the faithful Hakitara
+that night, and just as the first silver ray of dawn was breaking in
+the east, he rose, and, wrapping himself in a large dog-skin mat,
+crept out of the hut into the grey morning, determined to warn his
+friends in the _pa_, if fortune did not desert him. The Maori
+system of warfare, though quaint in many respects, was practical
+enough to include the posting of sentries round the camps; and, even
+if they were not invariably vigilant, there was always the risk that
+one might happen to be watchful at an awkward moment. This fear
+haunted Hakitara as, with beating heart, he wormed his way between the
+huts and through the tufts of waving tussock grass. Tradition records
+that he was successful in eluding a direct challenge; and when he was
+well beyond the circuit of the sentries, he rose to his feet and ran
+with all his speed to the nearest gate of the _pa_. The gate was
+instantly opened to him, and in a hurried whisper he bade the keeper
+summon the chiefs to a conference in a neighbouring house. When the
+warriors were assembled, he disclosed to them in hot, hurried words
+all that he knew of Ngati-Toa's intentions, which, in remembrance of a
+treaty negotiated only the previous day, could be regarded in no other
+light than as a shameless breach of faith. The council decided that
+they would not wait for the blow to fall upon them from outside, but
+would forestall the northerners in their own methods. They knew that
+some of the Ngati-Toa chiefs would, in keeping with the custom of the
+past few days, visit them again for the purpose of trade; and they
+were hopeful that, by a special effort, they might be able to induce
+the great Te Rauparaha himself to come within the gates. It was agreed
+that the chiefs, once within the walls, should be attacked and killed,
+and that then a sortie should be made upon the unsuspecting camp
+outside. Scarcely had this decision been arrived at, when Te Pehi and
+several of his fellow-chiefs entered the _pa_ and began to mix with
+the populace, who were now busy preparing for the business of the day,
+and were in total ignorance of the decision of their leaders or the
+circumstances which had dictated it. There was thus no change in the
+demeanour of the people to excite uneasiness in the minds of Te Pehi
+and his friends. They, on the other hand, knowing that their plans
+were nearing fruition, and believing that the _pa_ was virtually in
+the hollow of their hands, adopted a more insolent air, and were at no
+pains to conceal the contempt with which they regarded the rights of
+Ngai-Tahu property. Thus, Te Pehi boldly entered one of the houses,
+and seizing a large block of greenstone, attached to it a rope of
+flax, and proceeded to drag it towards the Hiaka-rere gate, evidently
+intending to carry it into the northern camp.
+
+The _pa_ was now alive with men and women, for the day was well
+on, and the audacious cupidity of Te Pehi aroused both astonishment
+and anger. As he strode towards the gate, he had to pass a group of
+excited onlookers sitting in the _marae_, or open space which served
+the purpose of a sports ground. One of these, Moimoi, rose and
+challenged Te Pehi's right to purloin his greenstone in that
+unceremonious fashion. With scorn unspeakable, Te Pehi turned upon his
+interrogator, and in tones of bitter contempt inquired by what right
+he, a menial, dared to call in question the actions of a chief. "You
+of the crooked tattoo, what use would your ugly head be to me if I
+were to carry it back with me to Kapiti? It would be worth nothing
+towards the purchase of a musket. But," said he, turning to a stalwart
+native standing near by, "here is a man whose head would be worth the
+taking, but you with the worthless head, how dare you cavil at the
+actions of the great Te Pehi?" The slighting reference to the
+inartistic facial decoration of Moimoi was intended to be particularly
+insulting, for every native was wont to pride himself upon the
+completeness of his _moko_, and Te Pehi had good reason to regard
+himself as something of an authority upon this branch of Maori art,
+for his own tattoo was more than usually elaborate. But the most
+alarming portion of his taunt was his thinly-veiled reference to the
+sale of Moimoi's head. Every one knew that at this period a
+considerable traffic had sprung up in native heads,[89] which were
+preserved by a crude process and traded away to Europeans in exchange
+for muskets. Te Pehi's reference to the matter could, then, only be
+taken as an indication that during his visits to the _pa_ he had lent
+his eye to business, and, in this connection, business meant the
+assault and sacking of the fortress. The full force of this indiscreet
+admission had flashed upon the astonished listeners; but, before they
+could reply, their attention was diverted from the arrogance of Te
+Pehi by another incident which had occurred at the Hiaka-rere gate.
+Pokaitara, one of Te Rauparaha's most intrepid lieutenants, had
+approached this entrance, and was seeking admission to the _pa_, which
+was being denied him. Observing who the visitor was, Rongotara, the
+superior resident chief of Kaiapoi, ordered the keeper of the gate to
+admit him, exclaiming as he did so, "Welcome my younger brother's
+lord," a reference to the fact that Rongotara's brother had been made
+a prisoner at Omihi by Pokaitara, and was at that moment in his
+keeping. The gate was immediately thrown open; but the Ngati-Toa had
+no sooner bent his head beneath the portal than Rongotara dealt him a
+crushing blow with his _miti_, or stone club, which he was carrying in
+his hand, and the lifeless body fell with a heavy thud to the ground.
+
+It was this opening episode in the Ngai-Tahu policy of checkmate which
+had suddenly diverted attention from Te Pehi. But the incident had
+been as visible to him as to those around him, and the moment he saw
+it, the critical nature of his own position dawned upon him, and,
+taking no further thought of the greenstone, he sprang with the
+agility of a tiger towards the south-western angle of the palisading,
+and commenced to scramble up the wall by clutching the vines which
+bound the upright posts together. His plunge for safety would probably
+have proved successful--for several shots which were fired at him flew
+wide of the mark--had not Tangatahara, a Ngai-Tahu warrior of great
+strength and personal courage, closed with him, and, pulling him to
+the ground, despatched him with a blow from his tomahawk.[90] The
+other northern chiefs who were in the _pa_ were apprised of the mêlée
+which was proceeding by the sound of the fire-arms discharged against
+Te Pehi, and were not slow to grasp the situation. Realising that they
+had been trapped, they knew that it would be of little use attempting
+to escape by the regular gateways, which were all securely guarded;
+and, with one exception, those who were free to do so flew to the
+walls, hoping to scale them, and so get safely to their camp. But they
+were for the most part either overpowered by numbers and tomahawked on
+the spot, or were shot while scrambling up the _aka_ vines. The
+exception referred to was Te Aratangata, who happened to be at the
+northern end of the _pa_, and was at this juncture bargaining to
+secure a famous greenstone _mere_ called by the Ngai-Tahu people "Te
+Rau-hikihiki." The moment he saw what was happening, he dashed toward
+the gate Huirapa, hoping to force his way past the guard, who, he
+supposed, could offer but feeble resistance to his own exceptional
+strength, courage, and skill.
+
+There is every reason to believe that Rongotara rather precipitated
+matters by killing Pokaitara at the gate, as it had been decided that
+an attempt should first be made to induce the great Te Rauparaha
+himself to enter the _pa_, in the hope of including him in the
+holocaust. Still, the plans of the Kaiapoi chiefs were sufficiently
+mature to meet the emergency when it suddenly arose; and so Te
+Aratangata discovered to his alarm that, although he was at the
+further end of the _pa_ from that at which Te Pehi had been
+attacked, he was just as closely surrounded by enemies. When he
+started for the gate, he had virtually to fight every inch of the way.
+He had little difficulty in disposing of the first few who intercepted
+his path; but, as he drew nearer to the gate, his assailants
+increased, and before he had struggled on many yards he was attacked
+by over twenty persons armed with all manner of weapons. Against those
+who ventured at close quarters he valiantly defended himself with his
+_mere_, all the time pressing on towards the gate. A gun-shot wound
+temporarily checked his onward course, and he was soon further
+handicapped by several spear-thrusts, which left the spears dangling
+in the fleshy parts of his body, and from which he found it impossible
+to disengage himself, pressed as he was on every side. These
+difficulties perceptibly weakened his defence, but he was still able
+to fight on, keeping his opponents at bay by swift and desperate blows
+with his _mere_, which, up to this moment, had accounted for all who
+had ventured within his reach. The brave Ngati-Toa had now reached
+within a few paces of the gate, and may have even yet had dreams of
+escape, when the crowning disaster came in the breaking of his _mere_.
+A shot, which had been intended for his body, struck the greenstone
+blade, and shattered the faithful weapon into a hundred fragments,
+leaving only the butt in Aratangata's hand. Now utterly defenceless,
+weakened by his wounds, and hampered by the dragging spears, the
+undaunted chief turned upon his assailants, and, with his last
+strength, grappled with those who came within his reach. The unequal
+struggle could not, however, be long maintained. Emboldened by his
+helpless condition, his pursuers pressed in upon him with angry
+tumult, and he was borne to the ground by Te Koreke, who finished the
+deadly work with a succession of blows with his tomahawk upon the
+prostrate warrior's head and neck.
+
+So fell Te Aratangata, and so fell the flower of the Ngati-Toa tribe
+that day. In all, eight great chiefs[91] were killed, who, by their
+heroism on the field and their sagacity in council, had materially
+aided Te Rauparaha in all his great achievements. They had added
+brilliancy to his battles, lustre to his victories, and had lent a
+wisdom to his administration, whereby the fruits of his enterprise
+had not been wasted by internecine strife. So dire a tragedy as the
+death of the princes of his tribe was a great blow to Te Rauparaha.
+But it is doubtful whether the sacrifice of so much mental and
+physical fibre was more keenly felt by the Ngati-Toa chief than the
+loss of prestige and damage to his reputation, which he might
+reasonably apprehend from his being outwitted at his own game, and
+that, too, by a people whom he had hitherto despised as opponents.
+That they would turn upon him in what he chose to regard as an
+unprovoked attack was something which was not reckoned upon in his
+philosophy, for he had trusted to his blandishments to soothe away
+their suspicions, or to his great name and reputation to awe them into
+submission. And when the blow fell, and he saw his patiently laid
+plans tumbling about his ears, he received the result with mingled
+feelings of surprise, indignation, and something akin to dismay. In
+this frame of mind he deemed it expedient to anticipate any further
+unexpected eventualities by withdrawing his force and making good his
+retreat with as little delay as possible. Consequently his camp was at
+once broken up, and the little army made its dejected way across the
+plain to Double Corner, where the canoes had been left, and next day
+Te Rauparaha set sail for Omihi and Kapiti, having, as the result of
+his first raid upon Kaiapoi,[92] added neither greenstone to his
+treasure nor glory to his reputation as a warrior.
+
+For the better part of two years Te Rauparaha nursed his wrath against
+Ngai-Tahu, and spent the intervening time in devising schemes whereby
+he might secure a vengeance commensurate with the disgrace of his
+repulse and the death of his well-loved friends. One thing on which he
+had fully determined was that Ngai-Tahu should pay for their temerity
+with the purest of their blood, for he would take no plebeian in
+payment for so royal a soul as Te Pehi. His schemes were therefore
+directed against the life of Tamaiharanui,[93] who has already been
+described as the embodiment of spiritual and temporal power in the
+southern tribe. He was the hereditary representative of all that stood
+for nobility amongst the sons of Tahu. His person was regarded as so
+sacred that the common people scarcely dared to look upon his face. He
+could only be addressed by his fellow-chiefs with the greatest
+deference and in the most reverential language; and if, while passing
+through the congested streets of a village, his shadow should fall
+upon a _whata_ or a _rua_, the storehouse and its contents would be
+immediately destroyed, to prevent the sacrilege of a tribesman
+consuming food upon which even the shade of so sacred a personage had
+lighted. Indeed, so sanctified and ceremonious an individual was he,
+that his presence was sometimes oppressive to those who were not
+accustomed to live in an atmosphere of ritual; for the slightest
+disregard of what was due to one so endowed with the spirit of the
+gods might involve them at any moment in the loss of possessions, and
+even of life.
+
+ [Illustration: GILLET's WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842.
+ From a sketch by Gilfillan,
+ by kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.]
+
+To secure so eminent a scion of Ngai-Tahu aristocracy would be a
+trophy indeed; but Te Rauparaha knew that it was no ordinary task that
+he was contemplating. An attack upon regular lines might easily defeat
+its own purpose, for a chief so sacred to the tribe as Tamaiharanui
+would scarcely be permitted to sacrifice himself upon the field of
+battle, even if his own inclinations impelled him to lead his people,
+a point of personal courage by no means too well established.[94]
+Strategy must therefore be employed, and it must be strategy of the
+most delicate kind, for, in the naïve language of the younger Te
+Rauparaha, "the chief must be enticed, even as the _kaka_ is enticed."
+For the scheme which was finally adopted it has been claimed that Te
+Rauparaha was not originally responsible, but that the idea was first
+conceived by a relative of his, named Hohepa Tama-i-hengia, who had
+been working on board a whaler in the southern latitudes, and heard
+the story of Te Pehi's death on the ship calling in at a bay on the
+coast of Otago. Hohepa, who, in his contact with the European, had
+lost none of that eternal thirst for revenge which marked the ancient
+Maori, at once besought the captain to employ his vessel in the
+capture of Tamaiharanui, promising a large reward from Te Rauparaha on
+his handing over the prisoner at Kapiti. The captain, however, was
+discouraged in the idea by the rest of the ship's company, who were
+eager to reach Queen Charlotte Sound, there to resume their whaling
+operations; and thus the execution of the brilliant suggestion had
+perforce to be suspended until the ingenious author of it himself
+reached Kapiti. There the daring plan was laid before the fighting
+chiefs of the tribe, who were readily convinced of its practicability.
+
+Their first overtures were made to Captain Briggs, whose ship, the
+_Dragon_, was then lying at Kapiti. This seaman has, with a frankness
+amounting to brutality, explained that he ultimately declined their
+proposals, not because the enterprise was repugnant to him, but
+because Te Rauparaha insisted upon taking more men with him than he
+deemed it prudent to carry in his ship. The manner in which the
+captain of the _Dragon_ was approached was diplomatic in the extreme.
+The chiefs explained to him that Te Pehi had been to England, and
+that, as a mark of gratitude for his generous treatment there, he had
+always been the friend of the English. Tamaiharanui, on the other
+hand, had killed more white men than any other chief in New Zealand,
+from which fact they adroitly argued that they and Captain Briggs had
+a mutual interest in compassing his death. Briggs seems to have been
+convinced that Tamaiharanui was a "monster," whose death would be a
+distinct benefit to society, and he unhesitatingly offered to take Te
+Rauparaha and two of his best men to Akaroa to effect the capture. Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko, however, stipulated for twenty men; but, as the
+cautious Briggs considered that "this would have given the chiefs more
+power in the vessel than he cared to part with," he declined further
+discussion. This rebuff delayed, but did not extinguish, the purpose
+of the chiefs. They still hoped that other captains would be more
+amenable to persuasion or more susceptible to reward. There was thus
+considerable excitement at Kapiti on a certain day towards the close
+of the year 1830, when a vessel was seen rounding the Taheke Point,
+and the cry of "A ship, a ship!" was raised from every corner of the
+settlement. Rauparaha immediately ordered out his canoe, and, putting
+off with Te Hiko and a full crew, boarded the stranger, which proved
+to be the British brig _Elizabeth_ of 236 tons, commanded by Captain
+Stewart.[95] The chiefs were fortunate in the type of man with whom
+they had come to negotiate. Stewart was one of the semi-buccaneer
+breed, who, at this period, were all too common in these waters, and
+whose depredations have contributed so many of the ugly pages of our
+country's history. Nor was this case to be an exception. Before
+committing himself, however, Stewart took the precaution of consulting
+Captain Briggs, who advised him not to undertake to carry more natives
+on board than he could safely control. But this counsel[96] was not
+followed, and a bargain was eventually struck, whereby it was agreed
+that the captain was to carry the chiefs and their party to Whanga-roa
+(now Akaroa) Harbour in Banks's Peninsula, in consideration for which
+he was to receive fifty tons of dressed flax--valued roughly at
+£1,200--immediately upon his return to Kapiti. The conclusion of this
+contract gave intense satisfaction to the chiefs, and according to his
+son, "the heart of Te Rauparaha lived in joy."
+
+Some of the apologists for Captain Stewart have endeavoured to show
+that he was not made fully aware of the real intentions of the chiefs,
+and that, when the savage purpose of the voyage was borne in upon him,
+he was then powerless to avert the tragic scenes which were afterwards
+enacted. It has been further urged in extenuation of his crime that,
+when he arrived on the coast of New Zealand, he discovered to his
+dismay that his cargo was totally unsuitable to excite trade with the
+natives, and that he was, therefore, constrained, in the interests of
+his employers, to accept a charter against which there was no law, and
+which promised a rich and speedy remuneration. What measure of truth
+there may be in the former defence it is now difficult to determine.
+It is possible that events developed in a manner and to an extent that
+had not been contemplated by Stewart; but it must be remembered that
+he had discussed with due deliberation the whole project with his
+friend Captain Briggs, and that, if he afterwards found himself
+powerless to control the passions of his charterers, the blame was
+entirely his own for disdaining the advice of his fellow captain
+regarding a limitation of numbers. As to the unmarketable nature of
+his cargo, that specious plea is flatly disproved by the ship's
+manifest. So far from the goods carried being unsuitable for trade,
+there was scarcely anything brought in the _Elizabeth_ for which the
+natives were not eagerly craving. Indeed, there is no room to doubt
+that, had Captain Stewart chosen to confine himself to legitimate
+commerce, he could have easily bartered his guns and his powder, his
+flints and his tobacco, for a cargo which would have given his
+employers an adequate return, without requiring his zeal in their
+behalf to outrage the feelings of humanity. Similarly, it is scarcely
+to be supposed that Stewart's knowledge of the law was so wide that he
+was aware there was no statutory decree prohibiting his entering into
+this unholy compact. He was clearly just as indifferent to its moral
+aspect as he was unaware of its legal bearing. Otherwise he would have
+known that, viewed from this standpoint, there was no distinction
+between a crime committed against a savage and that perpetrated upon a
+civilised being. The absence of any law regulating the conduct of
+individuals placed in such circumstances is no palliation for the
+outrage which he committed; and, so far from his being unwittingly led
+into an error of judgment, his treatment of Tamaiharanui after his
+capture dispels any supposition that he had repented of his bargain,
+or that he was in the least degree revolted by the excesses of the
+natives. Having regard to these facts, the impression conveyed by a
+study of the general character of the man, as revealed by his actions,
+is, that the purpose of the voyage would not have caused him much
+scruple, so long as the reward was ample and easily obtained. Howbeit,
+a few days after the bargain was struck, he received on board his
+vessel Te Rauparaha and one hundred and seventy of his followers,
+accompanied by five of his remaining lieutenants--Te Rangihaeata, Te
+Hiko, Tungia, and Tama-i-hengia, and on October 29th set sail for
+Banks's Peninsula.
+
+The voyage appears to have been propitious enough, for, in due course,
+the vessel arrived at Whanga-roa Harbour, on the shores of which then
+stood the Takapuneke _pa_, and now nestles the sequestered town of
+Akaroa.[97] The coming of a ship was an event much more rare at Akaroa
+than it was at Kapiti, and, consequently, the natives of the _pa_ were
+stirred to the highest pitch of excitement, and desired to enter into
+immediate trade with the vessel, which they misjudged to be an honest
+whaler.[98] Meanwhile Te Rauparaha had carefully concealed all his men
+beneath the hatches, and enjoined upon them the strictest seclusion;
+for the success of his scheme altogether depended upon the concealment
+of the fact that a force of natives was on board. Acting under
+instructions from the chief, Captain Stewart, through his interpreter,
+forbade any of the resident natives to board the _Elizabeth_ until
+Tamaiharanui had returned; for it so happened that, at the time of the
+brig's arrival at Akaroa, that chief was absent from his _pa_,
+superintending the preparation of a cargo of flax which he had sold to
+an English captain. A message was accordingly despatched to Wairewa,
+urging him to come and see a _pakeha_ who was eager to trade. It was
+not, however, till the eighth day that Tama arrived, and, during all
+that time, the Ngati-Toa warriors had been cooped up under the
+hatches, being permitted only a few minutes on deck under the cover of
+darkness. These precautions prevented any suspicion reaching the
+shore; and yet some doubt seems to have lurked in the minds of the
+resident people, for they eagerly inquired of Cowell, the interpreter,
+whether there were any natives on board, and were put off with the
+laughing assurance that such was impossible, as the vessel had just
+come down from Sydney. This statement was seemingly fair enough; but,
+if Sydney was the last port of call, how came those _hutiwai_ burrs
+clinging to the clothes of some of the crew, which a keen-eyed native
+had just espied? _Hutiwai_ burrs do not grow in Sydney, nor upon the
+broad ocean. Then the lie that came handiest was that on the way down
+they had called at the Bay of Islands, and the sailors had probably
+picked up the burrs while carousing on shore. The evasion, however
+palpable, was at least successful in silencing the doubts which were
+just growing to dangerous proportions in the minds of Tamaiharanui's
+people, and the incident had no influence in cooling their ardour for
+trade, for further messengers were shortly afterwards despatched to
+hasten their chief's coming. When Tamaiharanui came, he brought with
+him his wife, Te Whe, his sister, and his little daughter
+Ngaroimata,[99] a name full of pathetic suggestion. He was cordially
+welcomed by the captain, who invited him to his cabin below with every
+show of courtesy and hospitality. But no sooner was the chief seated
+than the door opened, and, to his intense amazement, his mortal
+enemies, Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko, stood before him. To overpower and
+bind him was the work of but a few moments, and then the Ngati-Toa let
+loose upon him the full flood of their invective, taunting him in
+bitter scorn with his infantile simplicity in falling so easily into
+their trap. Te Hiko added insult to injury by advancing and drawing
+back the captive's upper lip, sneeringly remarking, "So these are the
+teeth which ate my father."
+
+In all innocence of what was passing within the cabin, the followers
+of Tamaiharanui swarmed round the ship's side in their canoes,
+clamouring for admission, so that they might trade for the needful
+guns and casks of powder. This permission was granted to a few at a
+time, who, immediately they reached the deck, were conducted by the
+crew to the open hatchway and promptly shoved headlong into the hold,
+where they were secured by Te Rauparaha's men and made prisoners as
+easily and as simply as their chief had been. The failure of these
+people to return to the shore evidently did not excite any
+uneasiness. It was no uncommon thing for natives visiting a ship in
+the offing to remain for several days, or even longer, if their
+presence could be tolerated. Events were thus playing into the hands
+of Te Rauparaha more effectually even than he might have reasonably
+expected; and so, on the evening of the second day after the capture
+of Tamaiharanui, having secured all the visitors to the ship, he was
+now in a position to deal with those who had remained on land. Boats
+were accordingly got out some hours after nightfall, and a strong and
+well-armed party was sent ashore to attack the Takapuneke _pa_.
+Ngai-Tahu accounts of this fight would have us believe that an heroic
+resistance was offered to a cyclonic assault; but the circumstances
+render such an account most improbable. The place was not a fighting
+_pa_, and for the purposes of war was practically defenceless. The
+people, too, were awakened from their sleep by the tumult of the
+attack, and, shorn as they were of their leaders and their warriors,
+there was little hope of any organised defence being made. The attack
+therefore became a rout, and the rout a massacre; and before morning
+broke the people of Akaroa were either helpless captives, bound in the
+evil-smelling hold of a ship, fugitives flying for dear life, or lying
+dead amongst the smoking ruins of their ancestral home.
+
+Having achieved a complete success, Te Rauparaha collected a quantity
+of human flesh for consumption on the voyage, and set sail for Kapiti,
+where the final scene in the tragedy was to be enacted. Tamaiharanui
+and his family were housed in one of the fore cabins, and apparently
+some degree of liberty was permitted him, for on the first night out
+from Akaroa,[100] he, after consultation with his wife, seized a
+favourable opportunity to strangle his little daughter as she lay
+asleep, and afterwards cast the lifeless body into the sea. This
+extreme course he justified to his conscience as averting the eternal
+disgrace of her ever becoming the wife of one of his enemies. His
+unnatural action, however, had the effect of rousing the fury of his
+captors.[101] Fearing that his next step would be to take his own
+life, and so deprive them of the legitimate fruits of their mission,
+they took immediate and adequate precautions by pinioning him fast in
+a position which caused him exquisite torture, and his sufferings they
+watched with intense delight. On the voyage northward high revels were
+kept by the natives, who, if the interpreter's testimony is to be
+credited, were even permitted to cook the flesh of their victims in
+the ship's coppers, without protest from the captain or any of his
+equally degenerate crew.
+
+Upon the arrival of the _Elizabeth_ at Kapiti, on the 11th of
+November, the _pas_ were almost deserted, the majority of the
+people being absent in the swamps and on the hill-sides, preparing the
+flax which was to be Captain Stewart's payment. The news, however,
+soon spread that the great Ngai-Tahu chief was a captive on board, and
+crowds came flocking from the mainland to verify the reported triumph
+of their leader. The major part of the prisoners were landed on the
+12th of November, and the natives now expected that Tamaiharanui would
+also be handed over to them at once, to be disposed of in their own
+fashion. But on this point Captain Stewart was obdurate, for he
+probably saw but little prospect of securing his flax if once the
+prisoner passed beyond his keeping. He therefore resisted the tribe's
+demands for this species of _habeas corpus_, and detained the
+chief, heaping upon him the additional pain and ignominy of keeping
+him in irons until he could be redeemed by the fulfilment of Te
+Rauparaha's promise. Either this was no simple matter, or, more
+likely still, his followers, having to some extent satisfied their
+craving for excitement and revenge, relaxed their efforts in the
+fields, preferring to discuss in the _kaingas_ the strange adventures
+of their comrades at Akaroa. From whatever cause, there was a distinct
+failure on their part to complete the contract. Day after day went
+past, and still a residue of the flax was wanting. At the end of six
+weeks, Captain Stewart was persuaded that it was hopeless to wait
+longer, and, probably wishing himself well out of the whole business,
+he handed Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha, and made his course with
+all speed to Sydney, arriving on January 14, 1831.[102]
+
+The prisoner was taken on shore in Rauparaha's canoe, and, at a great
+feast held in honour of the occasion, was surrendered to the wives of
+Te Pehi to do with him as they pleased. A final appeal for life was
+made to his captor by Tama; but Te Rauparaha took high ground, and
+replied that if it was a matter that rested with himself, he would
+most certainly spare him, but the death of Te Pehi was a calamity
+which affected the whole tribe of Ngati-Toa, and hence the final
+decision must rest with them. About the precise time and mode[103] of
+the unfortunate chief's death there is much doubt, for scarcely any
+two accounts agree, except in the central fact that Tamaiharanui
+subsequently met his fate at the hands of Tiaia, Te Pehi's principal
+widow. The most favourable view of this lady's conduct in revenging
+the death of her lamented husband is given us by her own tribe, who
+have averred that "on landing, the chief was given up to the widow of
+Te Pehi, who took him and his wife to her own house, giving up half to
+their use. They talked like friends to each other, and the widow
+behaved so kindly to him, that a stranger would have taken them for
+man and wife, rather than a doomed captive and his implacable enemy.
+She used even to clothe him in her finest garments and deck his head
+with choice feathers. This continued for about two weeks, until she
+had assembled her friends, or thought her victim sufficiently fat to
+kill.[104] She then suddenly caused him to be seized and bound, with
+his arms stretched to a tree, and whilst he was in this position she
+took a long iron spear, with which she stabbed him in the jugular
+artery, and drank his warm blood as it gushed forth."
+
+Harrowing as this spectacle must have been, and awful as it is to
+contemplate, it must be remembered that the manner of Tamaiharanui's
+death was not more savage than that of many another leader of men,
+perpetrated in Christian countries and in the name of a higher cause.
+By the Maori code the death of the Akaroa chief was not only
+justified, but necessary to appease the spirit of the departed Te
+Pehi, and the more humiliating his death, the more adequate the
+compensation to the dead. A student[105] of Maori life and character,
+than whom perhaps none have had better opportunities of mastering
+Ngai-Tahu history, and who, from his calling, could scarcely be
+accused of callousness towards Tamaiharanui's sufferings, has given it
+as his mature opinion that, "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 Ngati-Toa was little more than a
+repetition of the cruelties which he had himself inflicted upon
+members of his own tribe." Possibly the knowledge that he would not
+have acted differently himself assisted the unhappy captive to resign
+himself to his fate. For, although he has been described as both cruel
+and cowardly, by one whose verdict it is not easy to challenge, this
+much must be laid to his credit: that neither the mental nor the
+physical torture invented for him by his barbarous enemies was
+sufficient to break down his rugged fortitude or to tame his defiant
+spirit.
+
+When the _Elizabeth_ reached Sydney, the circumstances attending
+the death of the Akaroa chief were reported to Governor Darling by Mr.
+Gordon Browne, and the Governor, with commendable promptitude, ordered
+the arrest of Stewart and proceeded to put him on his trial. The
+depositions were referred to the Crown Solicitor on February 17, but
+that official expressed doubts as to the statutory power of the colony
+to bring the offender to justice, it not being clear whether offences
+committed in New Zealand against New Zealanders were punishable under
+the laws of New South Wales.[106] Darling was in no way disconcerted
+by this legal difficulty, but urged with some vehemence that the point
+should be tested, holding that it was "a case in which the character
+of the nation was implicated, and that every possible exertion should
+be used to bring the offenders to justice." Stewart retained Dr.
+Wardell, a lawyer eminent in his day, for his defence, and while the
+officers of the Crown were seeking to make good their ground, the
+delay was utilised to spirit away the witnesses whose testimony might
+be fatal to Stewart. Meanwhile, the _Elizabeth_ was allowed to put to
+sea under another captain, and Stewart was held on bail,
+notwithstanding the strenuous protests of his counsel. With the
+witnesses out of the way, Dr. Wardell became more confident, and
+boldly demanded the release of his client. But the Governor could not
+but be influenced by the prayer of the more honourably disposed white
+residents of New Zealand, who expressed the fear that their "lives
+would be made answerable for the proceedings of their countrymen," or
+by the touching appeal of the natives, who came personally to plead
+that speedy steps might be taken by England to put a curb upon the
+unbridled behaviour of her degenerate sons. The curb which Darling
+proposed to apply was to appoint a resident representative of the
+colony in New Zealand, and he suggested to the Secretary of State for
+the Colonies that Captain Sturt[107] should be employed in this
+capacity. The carrying out of this scheme was delayed by the recall
+of the Governor, and the appointment of Sir Richard Bourke as his
+successor, to whom Darling deemed it prudent to leave the initiation
+of a system which it would be his lot to administer.
+
+All this time justice was tardily picking her way amongst the
+complicated meshes of the law, and it was not until the 21st of May
+that Stewart was called upon to face his trial. Even then the Crown
+Solicitor was not prepared to proceed upon the main indictment, but
+sought to get a conviction upon a minor offence, to which course Dr.
+Wardell took the strongest exception, and warmly demanded the
+discharge of Stewart's recognisances. The Crown justified its action
+on the ground that its witnesses were not forthcoming, for great
+remissness had been shown in letting them depart; and, notwithstanding
+Dr. Wardell's protest that it was unfair "to hold Stewart to bail in a
+sum of £2,000 for an indefinite period," the Chief Justice decided to
+adjourn the matter, and allow it to come up for consideration on a
+future day. When that day arrived, the Crown Solicitor was still
+unready, and applied for leave to abandon the charge of misdemeanour,
+and proceed upon the main information so soon as his witnesses were
+available. But his witnesses were the same intangible quantity that
+they had been ever since they had first vanished, and there was not
+the remotest prospect of their appearing. Dr. Wardell knew this, and
+bantered his learned friend upon his unfortunate predicament, in which
+he was compelled to "skip from a charge of murder to a misdemeanour,
+and then to murder back again." He earnestly pleaded the hardship
+imposed upon Stewart by these delays, for which he was in no way
+responsible, and claimed either instant dismissal or immediate trial
+for his client, who, he believed, or affected to believe, was the
+unhappy victim of circumstances.[108] To all this the Crown might
+have justly retorted that the disability placed upon Stewart was
+gentleness itself compared with his own conduct towards his fettered
+captive. Possibly this view was influencing the Court, for it still
+refused to take the responsibility at that stage of discharging the
+prisoner, but appointed the 20th June as the day on which Dr. Wardell
+might make application for the discharge of Stewart's recognisances.
+But when, after further adjournments, that application was argued on
+June 30th, the Crown was unable to convince the Court that the accused
+man should be indefinitely detained, and the Bench, reluctantly, no
+doubt, announced that he must be "discharged on his own recognisances
+in the sum of £1,000." So ended Governor Darling's sincere endeavour
+to make national reparation for one of the blackest crimes which have
+ever dishonoured the relations of the white man with the Maori, a deed
+which must be counted dark even at a time when the spirit of humanity
+seemed to slumber. Whatever palliation the apologist may find for the
+rough sea captain, whose occupation and environment were not conducive
+to the gentler qualities, it is not to the credit of a civilised
+community that its public opinion was apathetic in the presence of
+such an atrocity as that in which Captain Stewart had steeped his
+hands. It is to be feared that the Governor failed to receive the
+support from his officers, or from the community, which a jealousy for
+the national honour might have demanded;[109] while it is equally true
+that active sympathy with Stewart was largely responsible for the
+ease with which the witnesses were got out of the way. It was,
+perhaps, due to the fact that he was never brought to trial, rather
+than to any other cause, that no jury of Sydneyites acquitted Stewart.
+
+The tidings of Te Rauparaha's successes in the south were rapidly
+filtering to the ears of his friends in the north, by the agency of
+the devoted messengers who were repeatedly travelling backwards to
+their old home. With each fresh tale of victory told by ardent tongues
+to wondering ears, some new hope or ambition was awakened in the
+breast of the Ngati-Raukawa who still lingered in their settlements
+round Lake Taupo. Apart from the larger migrations which from time to
+time came down to join Te Rauparaha, less important bands were
+continually being attracted by the glory of Ngati-Toa's splendid
+achievements. Many of these soldiers of fortune reached Otaki and
+Kapiti with little adventure; for there was no inclination on the part
+of the subdued remnant of the Ngati-Apa to risk a conflict with these
+fiery spirits as they pushed across the ferny hills of Rangitikei. But
+one small company, travelling further to the northward than was
+customary, came into conflict with, and met disaster at the hands of,
+the Whanganui people, who secured the momentary advantage of a
+victory. From out of this defeat, two young men, Te Puke and his
+brother, Te Ao, succeeded in making their way to Kapiti, where the
+story of their misfortune made a deep impression upon chiefs and
+people alike. But matters more urgent and nearer home were pressing in
+upon the chief, and because of lack of opportunity, rather than of
+desire, the day of reckoning with Whanganui must be indefinitely
+postponed.
+
+The business which thus preoccupied the mind of Te Rauparaha was the
+need of adjusting the differences and unravelling the complications,
+which were daily accumulating, as the result of accretions to his
+forces. With the arrival of every new contingent of warriors,
+provision had to be made for their immediate entertainment, and for
+their ultimate settlement on the land, in order to leave them
+comfortable and contented. This their mutual jealousies made somewhat
+difficult, and no small measure of diplomacy was needed to avert civil
+ruptures, such as afterwards threatened to destroy all that unity and
+unquestioning devotion to his authority had accomplished. Though there
+was this simmering of discontent between the men of Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa, fortunately for Te Rauparaha no crisis occurred, and any
+ill-feeling that might lead to such an event was soon forgotten in the
+thrilling announcement that another attempt was about to be made to
+capture the great _pa_ at Kaiapoi. This decision was, we are led to
+understand, arrived at somewhat hurriedly, and was largely accelerated
+because of a vision seen by a hoary seer of the tribe, who had
+interpreted the manifestation as a mandate to go forward to the
+attack. His _mata_, or prophecy, has been preserved amongst the oral
+treasures of Ngati-Toa, and has been freely translated as follows:--
+
+  "What is the wind?
+  It is north-east, it is south.
+  It is east in the offing, oh!
+  Come then, O Raha!
+  That you may see the fire
+  On the crimson flat of Kaiapohia.
+  By the prow of the 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."
+
+It might be supposed that, with the capture and death of
+Tamaiharanui, and all the carnage that had followed upon the Akaroa
+raid, Te Rauparaha would have felt that he had taken sufficient
+vengeance upon Ngai-Tahu for the slaying of Te Pehi and his comrades
+in arms. We are, however, assured by an authority deeply versed in the
+intricacies of Maori etiquette that no such limit was placed upon his
+actions, and that, so far from his proposal to again attack Kaiapoi
+being anything but strictly "correct," no alternative course would
+have adequately met the exigencies of the case. No sooner, therefore,
+was the chief's decision to obey the _tohunga's_ call to arms publicly
+proclaimed, than preparatory measures on an exceptional scale were
+commenced with alacrity and enthusiasm. There was to be no trifling
+with the occasion, which, it was generally understood, would be
+pregnant with the fate of tribes; for Te Rauparaha had determined that
+as the result of this priest-ordained raid either Ngati-Toa or
+Ngai-Tahu would be for ever humbled in the dust. The force to be
+raised was to consist of seven hundred and fifty warriors, and only
+the pick of the men were to be taken--the Ngati-Toa, the Ngati-Raukawa
+and Ngati-Awa tribes contributing their quota in nearly equal
+proportions. The traffic in arms and ammunition had now become so
+lucrative at Kapiti that there was no difficulty in arming every man
+with a musket more or less serviceable. Food was also abundant, for so
+rich had been the harvest of captives that at this time, it is said,
+Te Rauparaha had upwards of two thousand slaves constantly employed in
+planting or reaping the crops, which grew abundantly on the alluvial
+flats along the mainland coast. The question of transport presented
+greater difficulty. The conveyance of so large a force across the
+rough waters of Cook Strait was a serious problem, as there was no
+adequate supply of canoes for the purpose. This perplexity was,
+however, solved by the decision to transport the force in sections.
+The first division was to be landed at the Wairau, with instructions
+to march over the inland track, which led through the wild and
+picturesque Wairau Gorge, and over the Hanmer Plains, to a rendezvous
+appointed for them at the mouth of the Waipara River. While this
+detour was being made purely in the interests of adventure, the
+remainder of the warriors were to embark at Kapiti, and make their way
+by slow stages down the coast, until they should unite with the inland
+party at the Waipara. Here the canoes were to be beached, and the
+whole force was then to march rapidly upon the doomed _pa_, in the
+hope of surprising the inhabitants and carrying the fortress by one
+swift and resolute stroke.
+
+So soon as the summer of 1831 was sufficiently advanced,[110] these
+plans were put into execution, and, as far as is known, were carried
+out with admirable precision. The two sections of the allied forces
+met at the appointed place, and, with as little delay as was
+permissible, set off in good order across the plain. But their
+movements had not been so secretly conducted as could have been
+wished; for the fleet of canoes had been espied coming down the coast,
+and a breathless messenger had carried the startling intelligence to
+the people in the _pa_. The first impulse of the latter was to
+gather all the people in from the fields and out-stations, and then to
+consult the patron deity of the tribe, and endeavour to ascertain by a
+process of revelation what the issue of the invasion was to be. The
+Rev. Canon Stack has left on record a description of the elaborate but
+idolatrous ceremonial by which the movements of a wooden image,
+dangled in the hands of a shrieking priest, were to reveal the future.
+The consultation of the _atua_ was most piously performed at a
+spot outside the _pa_, consecrated for the purpose of this and
+similar religious rites. There the prescribed questions were put to
+the nodding image, in the presence of a trembling people, and the
+answer, as read by the priests, was that there was to be one defeat.
+This prophecy they immediately interpreted as foretelling the ultimate
+repulse and humiliation of the approaching enemy. So satisfactory a
+termination to the toro was received with much congratulation, and
+served instantly to revive the drooping spirits of the people, who
+returned in jubilant procession to the _pa_. But the gates were
+scarcely closed before the muskets of Te Rauparaha's men were heard
+snapping in the distance, as they kept up a running fire upon some
+belated stragglers.
+
+That the _pa_ was surprised is now a matter of history, but
+fortunately for its slender garrison, Te Rauparaha did not realise how
+hopelessly unprepared they were. During the year or more which had
+elapsed since his raid upon Akaroa, the people of Kaiapoi had been
+deeply immersed in the endeavour to cultivate a trade with the
+itinerant whalers who paid their fitful visits to Whangaraupo[111] and
+other parts of Banks's Peninsula. In their anxiety to make the utmost
+of these infrequent opportunities, they had lost sight of the
+probability of another attack upon their settlement, and this unwary
+attitude had been encouraged by the fond belief that the difficulties
+of transporting from Kapiti a force large enough to assault the
+_pa_ with any prospect of success were so formidable that even Te
+Rauparaha would never seriously contemplate such an undertaking. How
+illusory these dreams of safety were, and how little they understood
+the dogged spirit of the man against whom they were called upon to
+contend, they now realised to their cost. At the moment of Te
+Rauparaha's arrival the _pa_ was deserted, except for a guard of
+old people and a number of women and children. The greater part of the
+population had only a few days before gone off to Whangaraupo, in
+company with the influential Otago chief Taiaroa, who had been paying
+a friendly visit to Kaiapoi. Some had gone merely to bid their great
+kinsman farewell; and so remote was the need of strong arms and stout
+hearts at home considered that many of the younger men were purposing
+to travel southward with him to Otakou.[112] Kaiapoi was thus
+practically denuded of its fighting men, and it says much for the
+courage and ingenuity of those who were left that, in this sudden
+emergency, they were able to make so brave a show along its ramparts
+as to utterly deceive the northern leader. Had the _pa_ been attacked
+promptly and vigorously, there is no room to doubt that it would have
+fallen, for its thin veneer of resistance must soon have been pierced;
+but this was one of the few occasions on which the Ngati-Toa chief's
+clearness of perception and promptness of decision failed him, and the
+price of his vacillation was a long weary siege, and the loss, to him,
+of many valuable lives.
+
+As a preliminary step in the defence of the _pa_, the Kaiapoi
+people had hurriedly removed the few temporary houses and fences which
+had been erected immediately in front of the landward approach, and
+which would have afforded some degree of shelter to the approaching
+enemy. Their destruction left not only an unbroken view of the
+movements of the enemy, but deprived them of every vestige of cover,
+so that, in rushing to the assault, they had to pass over ground
+exposed to the pitiless fire of the defenders. For this reason, the
+first attack was repulsed with considerable loss, as was also a
+second, which was delivered with some additional energy. The defenders
+had entrenched themselves behind the first line of palisades, and,
+with their bodies protected by the deep ditch which ran the whole
+width of the narrow isthmus between the converging swamps, they were
+able to concentrate their fire upon the advancing warriors with so
+deadly an effect that Te Rauparaha was led to believe the defence to
+be much more formidable than it really was. Surprised that his coming
+had been so evidently anticipated and so amply provided against, and
+irritated to find himself baffled in his hope of snatching a victory
+from a napping victim, he retired beyond the range of the Ngai-Tahu
+guns to deliberate on his next move. As the result of a consultation
+with Rangihaeata, Te Hiko, and his other lieutenants, it was agreed
+that all hope of carrying the fortress by a _coup de main_ must
+now be abandoned, and it was decided to adopt the more prosaic
+course of investing the _pa_ and subjecting it to the annoyance
+and humiliation of a regular siege.
+
+A camp was formed immediately in front of the _pa_, and so placed
+as to intercept the path which led to its main entrance. A wing of
+this camp stretched round amongst the sand-hills to the westward, so
+as to command the approach to the Huirapa gate. In these quarters
+Ngati-Toa and their allies sat down in patience, to tempt the enemy to
+a sortie, but ever ready to profit by any momentary looseness or
+indiscretion on the part of the defenders. Meantime a few of the
+residents of Kaiapoi who had been shut out when its gates were closed,
+but had succeeded in evading capture by their superior knowledge of
+the surrounding maze of swamps, had fled southward to carry the news
+of the invasion to their friends who had gone to Whangaraupo with
+Taiaroa. These messengers were fortunate in intercepting their
+tribesmen before they had departed for the south, and, at the earnest
+solicitation of his Kaiapoi relations, Taiaroa agreed to return and
+lead the defence of their fortress. All possible reinforcements were
+speedily gathered from the Peninsula _pas_, and the combined
+forces set off along the coast to endeavour to raise the siege. Their
+march to the Waimakariri River was rapidly executed; but here some
+delay was occasioned, owing to the difficulty in getting the people
+across the broad and rapid stream. At the cost of much labour, a
+_mokihi_ flotilla was constructed, on which they crossed to the
+northern bank; and then, fearing that their movements might be
+discovered if they approached nearer to the _pa_ before darkness
+set in, they lay down to await the fall of evening. Under the cover of
+darkness they resumed their march, which was still conducted with the
+utmost caution, more especially as they approached the vicinity of the
+besieged _pa_. By the glowing watch-fires which they saw in the
+distance they knew that the enemy was sleeplessly alert, and that any
+impetuosity on their part might easily prove fatal to themselves, and
+equally disastrous to their friends watching and waiting their coming.
+It had been decided that the attempt to enter the _pa_ should be made
+on the western side, where the swamp which fringed the fortress was
+narrowest, and where they could be admitted by the Huirapa gate. It is
+probable that when Taiaroa came to this determination he was not aware
+that he must pass near to a section of the enemy's camp. But here
+fortune favoured him, for the high wind which was blowing at the time
+drove those of the besiegers who were keeping watch to crouch closely
+over their fires, and, by agitating the surrounding foliage, aided
+materially in concealing the movements of the warriors as they crept
+cautiously through the long and waving grass. By adroitly advancing
+when the breeze blew with greatest violence, and throwing themselves
+flat upon the ground when it lulled, they drew so near to the
+Ngati-Toa lines that they could plainly hear the sentries conversing
+amongst themselves. Their position at this juncture was most critical,
+and in the intensity of their excitement they scarcely dared to
+breathe. Nothing, however, occurred to betray their presence,[113]
+and, at a preconcerted signal, every man rose from his concealment,
+and shouting, "Taiaroa to the rescue! Taiaroa to the rescue!" plunged
+into the dark waters of the swamp and swam towards the _pa_.
+
+It is doubtful whether the surprise of the Ngati-Toa sentries or of
+the defenders was the greater, as they were suddenly aroused by the
+tumult of the struggling horde which had swept in upon the scene. The
+first thought of the defenders was that a clever ruse to gain
+admission to the _pa_ was being practised by Te Rauparaha, and they
+at once lined the walls, and began a brisk fusilade upon the splashing
+forms in the water below. Darkness, uncertainty, and excitement,
+however, made their aim extremely erratic, and no damage of any
+consequence was done before the voices of the leaders were recognised,
+and what had seemed a daring and ingenious assault was discovered to
+be the eagerly-looked-for succour. The firing instantly ceased, and
+the Huirapa gate was thrown open to the dripping warriors, who, as
+they emerged from the water, were received in the warm embraces of
+their grateful friends.
+
+With the arrival of Taiaroa and of the Kaiapoi chiefs whom he had
+brought with him, a new spirit animated the population of the _pa_,
+and its defence was organised upon a more systematic plan than before.
+To Whakauira was entrusted the defence of the Kaitangata gate, and
+Weka was given a similar responsibility over Hiaka-rere. Other
+vulnerable points were similarly entrusted to the personal care of the
+best and bravest of the chiefs, who were not only to defend their
+particular positions against attack, but were to lead all sorties made
+by their own companies. In guarding against surprises, the garrison
+were greatly aided by a watch-tower, which stood close to the
+Kaitangata gate. This tower was no pillar of masonry, such as a Norman
+of old would have attached to his castle, but was merely the tall
+trunk of a totara tree, firmly set in the ground, on the top of which
+was perched a little wooden hutch, after the form of a native
+_whata_.[114] The sides of this cabin were constructed of thick
+wooden slabs which had been carefully tested, and demonstrated to be
+proof against any bullet fired from the nearest point to which an
+enemy could safely come. Before daylight every morning a faithful
+watcher crept into this elevated cabin, and, peering through slits cut
+in the sides, was able to command a view of all that was passing
+within the enemy's camp, and communicate the results of his
+observation to those within. In this way the defenders were able to
+anticipate and successfully counteract the tactics of Te Rauparaha,
+who, much to his chagrin, found all his movements checked. But the
+rôle of attack was not confined to the Ngati-Toa; for, in the early
+stages of the siege, frequent sorties were made by the defenders,
+though, it must be admitted, with but doubtful success. Their fighting
+was of a more emotional order than that of the northern men, who were
+desperate fellows, and just as willing to submit to punishment as they
+were to administer it. Their tenacity of purpose, combined with the
+fact that they were led by the most skilful native tactician of his
+day, gave them an undoubted superiority in these hand-to-hand
+contests; and the Ngai-Tahu defenders derived but little comfort from
+their spasmodic efforts to disperse the enemy's camp. One excursion of
+this kind, however, was more than usually heroic. Intelligence having
+been brought that Te Rauparaha had moved his canoes down the coast
+from Double Corner, where they had been left when he first landed, to
+the mouth of the Ashley River, Taiaroa, on a dark and stormy night,
+took a few men with him, and, swimming and wading through the swamps,
+succeeded in reaching the spot where the fleet was lying securely
+beached. The purpose of the sortie was to destroy the canoes. But here
+was furnished an example of that want of forethought which is to be so
+frequently noted in Ngai-Tahu warfare, and which stood in such marked
+contrast to the methods of Te Rauparaha. The expedition had armed
+itself with only light hatchets, which proved to be quite incapable of
+making any material impression upon the heavy hulls of the canoes.
+Consequently, Taiaroa and his men had to content themselves with
+merely slashing at the lighter timbers and severing the cordage which
+lashed the thwarts and side boards, which would, at least, render the
+vessels unseaworthy until repaired. Finding it impossible to achieve
+their object with the axe, an attempt was made to burn the canoes; but
+the blinding rain-storm which was raging at the time rendered futile
+every effort in this direction, and the bold little band was compelled
+to return to the _pa_, having succeeded in nothing beyond risking
+their own lives and imposing a passing inconvenience upon the
+besiegers.
+
+Three anxious months had now passed since the siege began, without
+anything decisive having been accomplished on either side. Te
+Rauparaha had hoped that hunger and the losses they had suffered would
+have sapped the strength of the defence; but in this he was mistaken,
+for events were proving that the old idea, that the _pa_ could be
+starved into submission, was a delusion. As a matter of fact, the
+defenders were well supplied with food, their storehouses having been
+filled with the fruits of the early crops, while the surrounding
+swamps provided them with an abundant supply of eels. On the other
+hand, Te Rauparaha was frequently hard pressed for supplies; while, on
+the score of losses, he had fared rather worse than the defenders.
+Finding that he was making no progress along the orthodox lines of
+attack, he now decided to revolutionise his methods. He recalled to
+mind the words in the song of the seer Kukurarangi, "Embrace it, get
+closer and closer"; and, acting upon this prophetic injunction, he
+conceived the idea of sapping[115] up to the walls of the _pa_
+and demolishing the palisades by fire. He accordingly ordered three
+trenches to be dug, one by the Ngati-Toa, one by the Ngati-Raukawa,
+and the third by Ngati-Awa, no doubt relying upon a spirit of friendly
+rivalry between the tribes to accelerate the work. At first they
+suffered considerably, for the men working in the open trenches
+offered a conspicuous mark to the riflemen concealed behind the
+outworks of the _pa_. The casualties were, however, sensibly
+reduced when Te Rauparaha ingeniously deflected the line of the sap
+and carried the trenches forward in a zigzag direction. The spademen
+were thus protected by the angle at which they worked, and additional
+security was given them by the placing of slabs of wood across the top
+of the open sap. These precautions almost entirely neutralised the
+efforts of the sharpshooters, and the sap proceeded rapidly, and with
+a regularity and precision which excited the admiration of those early
+colonists who saw the trenches before their symmetry had been
+destroyed.
+
+These proceedings were naturally viewed with considerable alarm by the
+garrison, and frequent sorties were resorted to for the purpose of
+putting a check upon the progress of the work. These excursions,
+whether unskilfully conducted or badly executed, may have hindered the
+operations of the sappers, but they certainly failed to compel the
+abandonment of the sap. As an answer, the besiegers occasionally
+delivered a surprise attack, and it was in repulsing one of these that
+Te Ata-o-tu fought with such heroic courage that by his signal bravery
+he has helped to redeem the general ineptitude of the defence. The
+story of how "Old Jacob" (for as such he was known to the early
+Canterbury colonists) slew Pehi Tahau has been worthily told in the
+warrior'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. 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.
+Happening 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 being that he might shoot me before I could grapple with him.
+
+"I had only a tomahawk on a long handle, having left my 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 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 nigger-heads 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 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 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 loath 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, contenting 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 complimentary acknowledgments 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_, Rauparaha
+strolled amongst us inquiring whether the man who killed the chief
+Pehi Tahau was 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 battlefields of the North Island."
+
+At the end of the fourth month the trenches had, by dint of incessant
+labour, and in the face of repeated attacks, been brought to within a
+few feet of the wall, and then Te Rauparaha was in a position to
+develop the second phase of his scheme--the burning of the hitherto
+impregnable palisades. For many weeks his people were employed in
+cutting down and binding into bundles the _manuka_ scrub which
+grew in abundance on the flats in the immediate vicinity of his camp,
+and when these bundles had been dried in the sun, they were carried
+into the trenches and passed along to the further end, where a
+stalwart warrior seized and threw them with all his power in the
+direction of the doomed _pa_. This was a work which cost Ngati-Toa
+dearly, for there was an interval of time, in the act of hurling the
+sheaf of _manuka_ forward, during which the body of the thrower was
+exposed to the galling fire of the defenders; and they placed their
+best marksmen in a position from which they were able to take unerring
+aim at the unprotected figure in the trench. Many a brave fellow who
+had passed safely through the stress of siege and sortie met his fate
+in that twinkling of an eye. But, notwithstanding the peril of the
+post, there was no lack of volunteers to accept its awful
+responsibility, and as soon as one martyr to duty went down with a
+bullet in his brain, another sprang forward to fill his place. So the
+work of piling up the combustible material went on with scarcely an
+interruption. At first, the defenders made bold to emerge from the
+gates of the _pa_ at night, and hurriedly scattered the piles of
+brushwood which had been accumulated during the day. But this was only
+a temporary respite, and no permanent obstruction to the policy of Te
+Rauparaha. Day by day the process went on of hurling the bundles of
+_manuka_ from the trenches, until at last the quantity to be moved
+became so great that the defenders, in their brief rushes, were unable
+to disperse it. Then it began to mount higher against the palisades,
+and every night saw the position becoming more and more critical, with
+scarcely any resistance on the part of the besieged.[116] Indeed, the
+semblance of a panic was now beginning to make its appearance within
+the _pa_, and the opinion was rapidly taking root that their
+relentless enemy was slowly gathering them within his toils. A feeling
+of deepest depression fell upon the populace, and proposals were even
+secretly discussed by some of the younger men to abandon the _pa_
+before the inevitable catastrophe plunged them in disaster. Taiaroa
+actually adopted this course. Taking his Otago contingent with him, he
+left the _pa_ under cover of night, and made good his escape through
+the gloomy swamps. To some this might appear an act of base desertion;
+but it is the duty of the historian to rescue the name of so brave a
+chief from so dark an imputation. The secret motive which impelled him
+to leave Kaiapoi at this juncture was his settled conviction that some
+diversion must be created, during which the inhabitants would have a
+reasonable prospect of clearing the walls of the dangerous pile of
+_manuka_. His intention was, therefore, to proceed southward to his
+own dominion, where he hoped to raise a large force, and return to
+meet Te Rauparaha in a decisive battle on the open field. Events,
+however, moved too rapidly for him. Before he was able to give effect
+to his plan, Kaiapoi had fallen, and nothing remained to him but to
+shelter its unhappy fugitives.
+
+With the departure of Taiaroa for the south, the people seemed to feel
+themselves deprived of the moving spirit of the defence, and, instead
+of redoubling their energies, they sullenly yielded to the pessimistic
+impulses of their mercurial nature, and abandoned themselves to
+brooding and despair.[117] Te Rauparaha, now finding his tactics less
+seriously opposed, made strenuous efforts to ensure the perfection of
+his plans; and, having done all that remained to be done, he resigned
+himself to wait with such patience as he could command for a
+favourable wind to carry the fire from his flaming bundles against the
+walls of the _pa_. And now a curious contest arose between the
+_tohungas_ of the opposing tribes; for, while the priests of Ngati-Toa
+were daily repeating incantations for the purpose of inducing a
+southerly wind, the priests of Ngai-Tahu were as piously imploring the
+gods for a wind from the north. The impartiality of the deities in
+these circumstances was remarkable, and distinctly embarrassing; but
+it is nevertheless a fact well remembered in connection with the fall
+of Kaiapoi, that while the conflicting prayers filled the air, an
+atmospheric calm set in, and for several weeks no breeze of any
+violence blew from either direction. But it was not to be supposed
+that this condition of aerial negation would continue for ever. At
+length, on a day some six months after the siege had been commenced,
+the dawn came in with a nor'-west wind blowing strongly across the
+plains. To the besiegers, this appeared to be all in favour of the
+besieged. But those within the _pa_ knew from long observation that
+the nor'-wester was an exceedingly treacherous wind; that sudden
+changes were apt to be experienced when the wind was in that quarter;
+and that, regarded in the light of experience, their situation was by
+no means as rosy as it looked. That their fate was hanging by the most
+slender thread was a fact perfectly apparent to the chiefs in command,
+who, after consultation, came to the conclusion that their only hope
+of safety lay in the bare chance that, if the menacing brushwood,
+which lay piled against the wall, was fired from the inside, the wind
+might hold out long enough to carry the flames away from the _pa_
+until the source of danger was removed. This view was strongly held by
+Pureko, who was now entrusted with the defence of the threatened
+portion of the _pa_; and he decided to take upon himself the
+responsibility of proving the accuracy of his theory. Accordingly, he
+seized a firebrand, and thrust it into a pile of _manuka_, which
+instantly became a seething mass of flame.
+
+When Te Rauparaha saw that his enemy was likely to circumvent him, he
+at once ordered his men to belt up, take their weapons with them, and
+carry the burning brushwood against the palisades, so that the fuel
+which had been collected at such infinite pains might not be consumed
+in vain. Without staying to question the wisdom of this order, a rush
+was immediately made by the younger warriors to obey the command; but
+they were met by a fusilade from the defenders who lined the walls,
+which worked havoc amongst their ranks. Had the contending parties
+been left to fight the issue out untrammelled by the intervention of
+external agencies, it is more than probable that Te Rauparaha would
+have been worsted in this attempt to fire the _pa_, and would have
+been compelled either to abandon the siege till the ensuing summer or
+to repeat during the impending winter the toilsome process of laying
+his fire train to the gates of the fortress. But at this juncture, as
+in so many others of his eventful life, his characteristic good
+fortune did not desert him. While his men were being mown down under
+the galling musketry of the enemy, the wind suddenly swung round to
+the south, and the whole aspect of the combat was instantly changed.
+The flames were carried high against the walls, licking the palisades
+with fiery tongues, while dense clouds of smoke rolled backwards,
+driving the garrison from the trenches and from every station of
+defence.
+
+By this marvellous reversal of fortune Te Rauparaha was not slow to
+profit; and no sooner had the firing of the defenders slackened than
+his men crept up to the walls, and, as an essential precaution, filled
+up the loopholes through which the Ngai-Tahu marksmen had taken aim.
+This must have seriously hampered the defenders, had they been
+disposed to stand to their posts. But they were no longer animated so
+much by the desire to save the _pa_ as to save themselves. Panic
+had now taken the place of heroism, and despair had completely
+extinguished all idea of defence. The _sauve qui peut_ of
+Napoleon became equally the policy of Ngai-Tahu, and from this point
+there was nothing heroic in the defence of Kaiapoi. In a marvellously
+short space of time, the flames had completely enveloped the outer
+works; and, while they were eating their way through the wooden
+walls, many of the besiegers were indulging in the wild joy of the war
+dance, which, according to one native chronicler, was so vigorously
+conducted that "the noise they made was like thunder, and the earth
+trembled." As soon as a breach had been made, the attacking force
+rushed between the burning palisades, and the massacre--for it can be
+described by no other word--commenced.
+
+  "Through the fire, and through the smoke,
+  Swiftly Ngati-Toa broke
+  With a scream and a yell;
+  And the glare and the flare
+  Of the fire-tongues in the air
+  Flung a demoniac light
+  On the horrors of the fight:
+  And the children in affright,
+  And the women in despair,
+  Shrieked for mercy, but in vain.
+  And the blazing timbers threw
+  A ghastly lurid hue
+  On the wounded and the slain.
+  And, as the fierce light gleamed
+  On the warriors, they seemed
+  Like fiends unloosed from hell.
+  A struggle, fierce and short,
+  And the keepers of the fort
+  Were slaughtered for the feast:
+  And the red sun in the west
+  Went down as Kaiapoi fell."
+
+No semblance of resistance was offered except by a desperate few, and
+those who still lingered were either struck down by their infuriated
+pursuers, or were captured and bound, to be spared or killed, as
+future circumstances might dictate. When the stampede commenced, the
+Huirapa gate was made the first avenue of escape, as it led directly
+into the surrounding swamp. But Te Rauparaha had provided against this
+by posting a strong body of men on the opposite bank; and, as fast as
+the fugitives landed, they fell into a snare as fatal as that from
+which they had just escaped. Numbers of the more active, impatient at
+the delay caused by the total inadequacy of this single outlet,
+scaled the walls, and dropped down into the swamp below, swimming or
+wading in the direction of the plains to the westward. Those who
+selected this mode of retreat were almost all successful in making
+good their escape, for they were able to secure the friendly shelter
+of those dense clusters of vegetation[118] which freely studded the
+face of the swamp; while the black smoke-clouds, which were carried on
+the wind, hung low upon the water, and effectually screened them from
+the searching eyes of their pursuers.
+
+It is estimated that some two hundred of the fleeing garrison reached
+safety by concealing themselves in the slimy waters and rank
+vegetation of the Tairutu lagoon, until the vigilance of the
+northerners had relaxed sufficiently to enable them to creep out and
+slip away to the southward, or to Banks's Peninsula, where they could
+rely upon finding shelter in some of the tribal _pas_.[119] But
+by far the greater part of the inhabitants, who could not have
+numbered less than a thousand souls, met death in various ways. Many,
+especially the women and children, who essayed to cross the swamps,
+were either drowned in the attempt or shot down as they swam. Others,
+who, owing to age and infirmity, were slow in eluding the attack, were
+never able to leave the _pa_ at all. The aged and the very young
+were killed without ceremony; but the more comely were for the most
+part overcome and bound, destined either for the feast or for a life
+of slavery, adorning the household of a chief or working as menials
+in the fields. Pureko, who had put the brand to the burning, was one
+of the first to fall, being disembowelled by a gun-shot; and within a
+few moments there was also witnessed the pathetic death of the
+patriarchal Te Auta,[120] the venerated priest of the tribe, who was
+slain as he knelt at the shrine of his patron deity, vainly imploring
+the assistance of Kahukura[121] in this their hour of greatest need.
+The air was rent by the shrieks of the dying, the shouts of the
+victors, and the crash of falling timbers, mingled in one hideous din,
+which typified all that is blackest and most brutal in human
+passion.[122] When an end was made of this gruesome work, and the
+smoking walls were ruined beyond repair, the captives were removed to
+Te Rauparaha's camp, situated on the spot now known as Massacre Hill;
+and there the full rites of the cannibal feast were celebrated at an
+awful cost of human life,[123] every detail being observed which, in
+the light of national custom, would ensure the eternal humiliation of
+the defeated tribe.
+
+Kaiapoi having now fallen, and the dispersal of its people being
+complete, Te Rauparaha might have reasonably retired from the scene,
+satisfied with the laurels which his conquest had brought him. But it
+would seem that lust of victory and greed of revenge were in him
+insatiable. He knew that there were still some well-populated
+_pas_ on Banks's Peninsula, and he was determined not to return
+to Kapiti until he had reduced them also. The canoes which had been
+damaged by Taiaroa were, therefore, repaired with all possible speed,
+and, after provision had been made for the prisoners who were to be
+taken to Kapiti, the remaining canoes were directed to proceed to
+Banks's Peninsula. A small _pa_ on Ri-papa Island, in Lyttelton
+Harbour, was first attacked and reduced, and then the canoes were
+steered for Akaroa, from which point the war party was to move to the
+assault of Onawe. This _pa_ had been but recently constructed,
+and owed its existence to the widespread dread which the name of Te
+Rauparaha had now inspired. When it was known on the peninsula that
+he had laid siege to Kaiapoi, a feeling of insecurity crept over the
+natives there, who were seized with a grave presentiment that their
+turn might come soon. And how inadequate were their small and isolated
+_pas_ to withstand the shock of assault or the stress of siege! They
+accordingly hastened to concentrate their forces in one central _pa_,
+and the spirit-haunted hill of Onawe[124] was the point selected for a
+united stand. The _pa_, which was built upon the pear-shaped
+promontory which juts out into the Akaroa Harbour, dividing its upper
+portion into two bays, was both extensive and strong, and into its
+construction several new features were imported, to meet the altered
+conditions of warfare caused by the introduction of fire-arms.
+
+With the fall of Kaiapoi, the alarms and panics to which the people of
+the peninsula had been subjected through Te Rauparaha's foraging
+parties were brought to an end, and they then knew that their worst
+fears were about to be realised. On the day after the sack of the
+_pa_, a few of the fugitives had arrived at Onawe with the
+doleful intelligence that the fortress had fallen, and that, so far as
+they could gather, the northern canoes were at that very moment being
+made sea-worthy, for the purpose of conveying the victors to Akaroa.
+Hurried messengers were then sent to all the outlying _pas_,
+calling the people in to Onawe, and preparations were at once made to
+resist the impending attack. Tangatahara, who, it will be remembered,
+had been the immediate cause of Te Pehi's death, was placed in chief
+command, with Puka and Potahi as his subordinate chiefs. The garrison,
+which consisted of about four hundred warriors, was reasonably well
+equipped for the struggle, for they had been moderately successful in
+securing fire-arms from the whalers, and those who did not carry
+muskets were at least able to flourish steel hatchets. In these
+circumstances, Te Rauparaha found them a much more formidable foe than
+had been the Muaupoko of Horowhenua, or the Ngati-Apa of Rangitikei.
+There he had all the advantage of arms; here he was being opposed on
+almost even terms; but there still remained in his favour a balance of
+spirit, courage, and tenacity of purpose. In the matter of provisions
+the _pa_ was well provided against a protracted siege, while one of
+the features of the new fortification was a covered way, which led to
+a never-failing spring on the southern side of the promontory.
+Scarcely were the people gathered within the _pa_, and all the
+preparations for its defence completed, than the sentinels posted on
+the lookout descried, in the early morning, the northern fleet
+sweeping up the harbour. The alarm was at once given, and every man
+sprang to his post to await the oncoming. The canoes paddled to the
+shore below the _pa_, and there Te Rauparaha committed an error in
+tactics, the like of which can seldom be laid to his charge. He had
+hoped that, by his early arrival, he would have been able to take the
+garrison by surprise and effect an easy victory; but in this the
+vigilance of the defenders had frustrated him, and he therefore
+decided to delay the attack. In the meantime, he permitted his men to
+land, but unwisely allowed them to become separated. The Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa went to what is now known as Barry's Bay, and Ngati-Awa
+occupied the beach at the head of the harbour. In these positions
+respectively the sections of the invaders immediately began to
+establish their camps, and numerous fires, eloquent of the morning
+meal, were soon smoking on the shore.
+
+Tangatahara saw with some satisfaction the disposition of the enemy,
+and shrewdly determined to profit by the advantage which their want of
+cohesion gave him. He resolved upon the manoeuvre of first attacking
+Ngati-Awa, in the hope that he might defeat them before Te Rauparaha
+could come to their assistance, and then he would be able to turn
+upon the unsupported Ngati-Toa and drive them back to the sea. But
+either Tangatahara was much mistaken in his calculations or his
+directions were only indifferently executed, for his manoeuvre failed
+ignominiously. As his men sallied out of the _pa_, their movements
+were noticed by the sentries of Te Rauparaha, who lost no time in
+communicating the fact to their leader. Instantly, the Ngati-Toa camp
+was in a state of intense excitement; every warrior dropped his
+immediate employment and rushed to secure his belt and arms. When
+equipped, they went off in hot haste, floundering through slime and
+soft mud, to reinforce the threatened Ngati-Awa. Tangatahara, seeing
+that his movement was observed and understood, hesitated and was lost.
+A halt was called, and, while his men stood in indecision upon the
+hill-side, the advancing Ngati-Toa opened fire upon them with fatal
+effect. Tahatiti was the first to fall, and several were wounded as
+the result of the opening volley. The Ngai-Tahu then began to fall
+back, firing the while; but their musketry failed to check the onrush
+of Te Rauparaha's veterans, who were now thoroughly seasoned to the
+rattle of bullets and the smell of powder. The retreat to the _pa_ was
+safely conducted; but, for some reason, the defenders did not
+immediately pass through the gates and shut them against the invaders.
+They continued to linger outside, possibly to watch with greater ease
+the approach of the enemy. As they were thus engaged, a number of the
+captives taken by Te Rauparaha at Kaiapoi suddenly came over the brow
+of the hill and entered into conversation with those of their own kin
+who were still outside the gates. During this friendly parley, Te
+Rauparaha came boldly up to the walls with his own followers and
+demanded the surrender of the _pa_. Those within the walls were now
+placed in the dilemma that they could not fire upon the enemy without
+imperilling the lives of their own friends; and it was equally unsafe
+to open the gates to admit them, as the besiegers might rush in with
+an impetuosity that could not be resisted. In these circumstances the
+parley was continued, Te Rauparaha pointing to the presence of so many
+Kaiapoi notables as a living evidence of his clemency, while the
+captive Ngai-Tahu joined with him in advising the policy of surrender,
+chiefly, no doubt, through a jealous apprehension that the inhabitants
+of Onawe might escape the misfortune and disgrace which had befallen
+themselves.
+
+Thus the battle, which had opened with visions of courage, degenerated
+into a war of words, of which the best that can be said is that the
+insincerity of the invaders was only equalled by the indecision of the
+defenders. Only one man in the _pa_ appeared to have a clear idea
+of what his duty was. This was Puaka, who, recognising Te Rauparaha
+amongst the crowd, pushed his gun through a loophole, took aim, and
+fired almost point-blank at the chief, whose miraculous escape was due
+to the fact that one of the Kaiapoi captives, who was standing close
+to Puaka, pushed the muzzle of the musket aside just in time to
+deflect the shot. As might be supposed, the incident served only to
+intensify the confusion and disorder. Some of the invaders seized a
+moment's want of vigilance on the part of the sentries at the gate to
+force an entrance into the _pa_, where they commenced killing
+every one around them. All the brave vows which had brought the Onawe
+_pa_ into existence were then forgotten, and the high hopes which
+its fancied strength had inspired were shattered in this moment of
+supreme trial, which revealed in all its nakedness the inherent
+weakness of the Ngai-Tahu character. Panic seized the people, and for
+some time the _pa_ was the scene of the wildest confusion. Here
+and there a brave show of resistance was offered; but for the most
+part the defenders were too dazed at the swiftness of the Ngati-Toa
+rush even to stand to their arms, which, in their distraction, numbers
+of them even threw away. Of those outside the _pa_, not a few
+dashed for the bush as soon as the fighting commenced, and made good
+their escape. But those within the walls were caught like rats in a
+trap; and, during the conflict, the shrieks and imprecations of the
+miserable fugitives were mingled with the hoarse shouts of the
+victors, as they rushed bleeding and half naked from one place of
+fancied security to another. The conquest of Onawe, though swift, was
+none the less sanguinary. After the last vestige of resistance had
+been stamped out, the prisoners were collected and taken down to a
+flax-covered flat. There the old and the young, the weak and the
+strong, were picked out from their trembling ranks; and, at the
+command of the chief, those who from excessive youth or extreme age
+were regarded as valueless were at once sacrificed to the _manes_ of
+the dead, while the more robust were preserved as trophies of the
+victory.
+
+For a few days following the fall of Onawe, the surrounding hills and
+forests were scoured by the restless victors, in search of such
+unhappy fugitives as might be found lurking in the secret places of
+the bush. Few, however, were captured, and in some instances
+successful retaliation reversed the fortune of the chase, and the
+pursuers became the pursued. When the prospect of further captures was
+exhausted, the northern warriors asked for and obtained leave to
+return to their homes, and the canoes, with the exception of that of
+Te Hiko, immediately put to sea, a rendezvous being appointed for them
+at Cloudy Bay. Te Hiko was detained by the fact that his canoe stood
+in need of repair, and, during the operation, an incident occurred
+which justified the high estimate of his character which was
+subsequently formed by many of the earliest colonists.[125] He was the
+son of Te Pehi, whose death two years before was the immediate and
+avowed cause of this southern raid. If, then, the fires of hate and
+fury against Ngai-Tahu had burned more fiercely within him than in
+others of his tribe, there might have been some justification for it.
+But Te Hiko proved to be more chivalrous than many who had received
+less provocation. Amongst the prisoners who had fallen into his hands
+at the taking of Onawe was Tangatahara, the commander of the fortress,
+who, it will be remembered, had been the most active agent in causing
+the death of Te Hiko's father. What ultimate fate was intended for
+Tangatahara is uncertain, but he was fortunate enough to be spared an
+immediate death. He was, however, closely guarded; and, as he was
+sitting on the beach surrounded by Ngati-Raukawa warriors, two of the
+women who had accompanied Te Rauparaha's forces espied him, and
+immediately put in a claim to Te Hiko for his death, in compensation
+for the injury which the captive chief had caused them. The claim,
+though clamorously made, was firmly resisted by Te Hiko who
+endeavoured first to persuade and then to bribe them, by a gift of
+rich food, into a more reasonable frame of mind. Neither his
+blandishments nor his bribes were successful in appeasing their desire
+for the captive's life; and it was not until Te Hiko gave them plainly
+to understand that he was determined not to give his prisoner over as
+a sacrifice to them, and that he regarded his authority as outraged by
+their persistency, that they sullenly consented to compromise their
+claim. What they now asked was the right to debase the chief by using
+his head as a relish for their _kauru_, a vegetable substance which a
+Maori chewed, much as an American chews gum or tobacco. To this
+modified proposal Te Hiko reluctantly consented, and the women,
+approaching the captive, struck his head twice with their _kauru_,
+which they proceeded to masticate with enhanced enjoyment because of
+the flavour which it was thought to derive from his degradation.
+
+Though he had thus far humoured the women, the want of consideration
+shown by them for his position as a chief so incensed Te Hiko that he
+there and then determined to release his prisoner, and so prevent his
+authority in regard to him being flouted by irresponsible personages.
+That night he roused Tangatahara from his sleep, and, taking him to
+the edge of the bush, bade him escape, a command which he was not slow
+to obey, nor found it difficult to fulfil.[126]
+
+[76] To the ancient Maori greenstone was invaluable as a material out
+of which to manufacture weapons and ornaments; but after the
+introduction of fire-arms the _mere_ was superseded by the
+musket, and it is doubtful if, when the trinkets of the European were
+available, the native would take the trouble to laboriously work out
+an ornament from so hard a substance.
+
+[77] A shark's tooth fixed upon a stick and used as a knife.
+
+[78] This could scarcely have been otherwise, for Rerewaka's insolent
+speech amounted to a _kanga_, or curse, which, according to the
+Maori code, could only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.
+
+[79] The canoe used by Te Rauparaha on many of these southern raids
+was called Ahu-a-Turanga, and for this reason it is supposed that it
+came from the Manawatu, that being the name of an ancient track over
+the Ruahine Ranges near the Manawatu gorge. It is said that this canoe
+is now lying rotting at Porirua Harbour. Another famous canoe of this
+period was called Te-Ra-makiri, a vessel captured from the
+Ngati-Kahu-ngunu at Castle Point by Ngati-Tama, and presented by them
+to Te Rauparaha. This canoe was held to be exceedingly sacred, and now
+lies at Mana Island.
+
+[80] "Having reached at sunset to within a mile of the spot where the
+_Pelorus_ anchored, we again encamped on a shingly beach in a bay
+on the east side of the Sound. At this spot there were some ten or
+fifteen acres of level ground, on which we were shown the remains of a
+large _pa_, once the headquarters of the tribe conquered and
+almost exterminated by Te Rauparaha" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[81] It was to this policy of settlement, following upon conquest,
+that Marlborough owes the presence of the little cluster of northern
+natives who are settled on the banks of the Wairau River--the most
+southern outpost that now remains to mark the aggression of Te
+Rauparaha.
+
+[82] Hori Kingi Te Anaua, a chief well-known in after years as the
+firm friend of the Whanganui settlers, escaped from this defeat, as
+one quaint native account puts it, "by dint of his power to run."
+
+[83] Some difficulty has been experienced in closely tracing the
+movements of Te Pehi. He left England on board H.M.S. _Thames_ in
+October, 1825, and the _Thames_ reached Sydney on April 11, 1826.
+Whether she came on to New Zealand bringing the chief with her, I have
+not ascertained. The probabilities are that she did, for the late
+Judge Mackay, who is an excellent authority, says Te Pehi returned
+direct to New Zealand, but afterwards made the voyage back to Sydney
+to procure arms, from which place he returned in 1829, at the juncture
+referred to in the text.
+
+[84] Here we meet with one of the many discrepancies in the published
+histories of the time. The Rev. Canon Stack makes it appear in his
+_Kaiapohia_ that Rerewaka was killed during the battle, but Mr.
+Travers (_Life and Times of Te Rauparaha_) states that he was
+taken prisoner; and this version is sustained by Tamihana te Rauparaha
+in his published account of his father's life, wherein he says
+Rerewaka was taken to Kapiti to be "tamed."
+
+[85] Canon Stack would seem to imply that Kaikoura and Omihi were one
+and the same place; but from a petition presented to the House of
+Representatives in 1869 by the Ngai-Tahu tribe, it seems clear that
+they were separate places, and that their destruction took place at
+different times. Omihi is about 15 miles south of Kaikoura, near the
+Conway River, but the battle took place on the hills near the valley
+which leads down to the Waipara.
+
+[86] Some accounts make it appear that Kekerengu was killed by a
+wandering band of Ngai-Tahu after he landed on the Middle Island, and
+that, although he had greatly offended Te Rangihaeata by his
+impropriety, it was really to avenge his death and not to punish him
+that this raid was made upon Kaikoura and Omihi. But these are
+variations in tradition that we can scarcely hope to reconcile at this
+date.
+
+[87] Kaiapoi is a popular abbreviation of the old name--Kaiapohia,
+which signifies "food gathered up in handfuls" or "a food depôt," but
+Kaiapohia was seldom used except in formal speeches or in poetical
+compositions. The name originated in the incident related in the text,
+and the place became in reality a food depôt, because, owing to its
+peculiar situation, large quantities of food, particularly kumaras,
+were raised every year, not only for local consumption, but for the
+purposes of exchange with other branches of the tribe which possessed
+abundance of particular kinds of provisions which could not be
+procured at Kaiapoi.
+
+[88] Tamihana te Rauparaha would lead us to suppose that his father
+was averse to this course, and was again overpersuaded by Te Pehi's
+impetuosity. He makes him say to Te Pehi, "Be cautious in going into
+the _pa_, lest you be killed. I have had an evil omen: mine was
+an evil dream last night," But what, says Tamihana, was the good of
+such advice to a man whose spirit had gone to death?
+
+[89] At first only the heads of chiefs were sold, as they were the
+most perfectly tattooed, but when chiefs' heads became scarce, the
+native mind conceived the idea of tattooing the heads of the slaves
+and selling them--the slave being killed as soon as his head was ready
+for the market. Sometimes the slave was audacious enough to run away
+just as he was attaining a commercial value, and the indignation of
+one merchant who had just sustained such a loss is humorously
+described in Manning's _Old New Zealand_.
+
+[90] In an account of this incident given by a Captain Briggs to the
+newspaper _Tasmanian_, in 1831, he states that a European named
+Smith, who had been left at Kaiapoi by a Captain Wiseman, for the
+purpose of trade, attempted to save Te Pehi's life, and was himself
+killed for his interference. If this was so, the Ngai-Tahu accounts
+are discreetly silent on the point; but Briggs infers that Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko made it one of the arguments by which they
+sought to convince him that he ought to assist them to capture
+Tamaiharanui, and so revenge the death of his countryman.
+
+[91] The names of the chiefs who were killed on this fatal day were Te
+Pehi, Te Pokaitara, Te Rangikatuta, Te Ruatahi, Te Hua-piko, Te Kohi,
+Te Aratangata, and Te Rohua. Tamihana te Rauparaha states that in all
+some twenty of his father's people were killed, but that a number were
+successful in escaping by clambering over the palisades.
+
+[92] The Rev. Canon Stack considers that this event occurred either
+late in 1828 or early in 1829.
+
+[93] It is doubtful whether Tamaiharanui took any part in the killing
+of Te Pehi and his comrades, but that would not relieve him of his
+liability to be killed in return, as the whole tribe was responsible
+for the acts of every member of it.
+
+[94] 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 cowardly, cruel, and capricious--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 (_Stack_).
+
+[95] The _Elizabeth_ arrived in Sydney in July, 1830, and in the
+following month left for New Zealand. A contemporary Australian
+newspaper described her cargo as consisting of four cases and eighteen
+muskets, two kegs of flints and bullets, two bales of slops, two kegs
+of gunpowder, one bundle of hardware, and five baskets of tobacco and
+stores.
+
+[96] A more or less exaggerated account of this raid appeared in the
+newspaper _Tasmanian_ on January 28, 1831, and in a subsequent
+issue, Captain Briggs, in passing some comments upon it, said the
+penalty which Captain Stewart had to pay for disregarding his advice
+was that "the natives wanted to do as they pleased with him and his
+ship." He further said that he endeavoured to persuade Stewart not to
+deliver Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha after their return to
+Kapiti, but that worthy declined to carry the chief to Sydney, on the
+ground that "The Marinewie," as he called him, "had been too long on
+board already."
+
+[97] Properly spelt Akau-roa--"the long coast line"; doubtless
+referring to the deep inlet which forms the harbour of Akaroa.
+
+[98] According to a Parliamentary Paper published in 1831, the
+_Elizabeth_ carried eight guns, two swivels, and a full supply of
+small arms. This fact, it is said, deluded some of the natives into
+the belief that the ship was a British man-o'-war.
+
+[99] Signifying "tear-drops."
+
+[100] Some accounts say that this occurred before the vessel left the
+harbour.
+
+[101] It is said that the action of Tamaiharanui also so roused the
+righteous anger of Captain Stewart that he deemed it his duty to have
+the chief triced up to the mast and flogged. This met with the most
+marked disapproval from Te Rauparaha, who maintained that as his
+prisoner was a chief he should not be punished like a slave.
+
+[102] The _Australian_ newspaper records the arrival of the
+_Elizabeth_, Captain Stewart, in Sydney, on the above date, with
+a cargo of thirty tons of flax, and carrying Mr. J. B. Montefiore and
+Mr. A. Kemiss as passengers.
+
+[103] When the _Elizabeth_ returned to Kapiti, her company was
+increased by a Mr. Montefiore, who was then cruising round New Zealand
+in his own vessel, in search of commercial speculations. Hearing of
+what had occurred at Akaroa, he became apprehensive of his own safety,
+and fearing that all the white people in the country would be killed,
+he joined the _Elizabeth_ in the hope of being carried away from
+New Zealand at the earliest possible moment. In giving evidence before
+a Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1838, he related what he
+knew of the capture and death of Tamaiharanui. He claimed credit for
+having protested to Captain Stewart against the chief being held in
+irons, and succeeded in getting the fetters struck off, as the
+prisoner's legs had commenced to mortify. He also stated that his
+appeal to Captain Stewart to take the chief to Sydney, and not to hand
+him over to his enemies, was futile. According to Mr. Montefiore, who
+said he went ashore and "saw the whole process of his intended
+sacrifice," Tamaiharanui was killed almost immediately after being
+given up, but other accounts supplied by the natives place it some
+weeks later. The wife of Tamaiharanui, unable to bear the sight of her
+husband's agony, ran away from the scene of the tragedy, but was
+recaptured and subsequently killed. Tamaiharanui's sister became the
+wife of one of her captors, and lived at Wellington. It is generally
+admitted that Te Rauparaha did not witness, or take any part in,
+Tamaiharanui's death. Heaven knows, he had done enough.
+
+[104] If this is an accurate statement of what occurred--and there is
+every reason to believe that it is--the treatment of Tamaiharanui
+presents an interesting parallel to the manner in which the Aztec
+Indians of Mexico regaled their prisoners, destined to be sacrificed
+at the annual feast to their god Tezcatlipoca.
+
+[105] Rev. Canon Stack.
+
+[106] The Sydney _Gazette_, in referring to the case, remarked
+that its peculiarity lay in the fact that it involved "the question of
+the liability of British subjects for offences committed against the
+natives of New Zealand." The point was never tested, but it is
+doubtful whether the Imperial Statute constituting the Supreme Court
+of the Colony of New South Wales (9 Geo. IV., cap. 83) gave express
+power to deal with such offences as that of Stewart. An amendment of
+the law in the following year (June 7, 1832) made the position more
+explicit.
+
+[107] Captain Sturt afterwards did valuable work as an explorer in
+Australia, but received no suitable recognition from the Imperial
+Government. Sir George Grey vainly endeavoured to procure for him the
+honour of knighthood.
+
+[108] There is not much doubt that, had the case gone to trial,
+counsel for the defence would have endeavoured to prove that Stewart
+was compelled by the natives to do what he did; for the
+_Australian_, a paper controlled by Dr. Wardell, argued that it
+"could not divine the justice of denouncing Stewart as amenable to
+laws which, however strict and necessary under certain circumstances,
+were not applicable to savage broils and unintentional acts of
+homicide, to which he must have been an unwilling party, and over
+which he could not possibly exercise the slightest control."
+
+[109] It will be charitable, and perhaps just, to suppose that this
+feeling arose more from personal antipathy to the Governor than from
+any inherent sympathy with crime. Governor Darling had succeeded in
+making himself exceedingly unpopular with a large section of the
+Sydney community, which resulted in his recall in 1831.
+
+[110] The expedition probably started about the end of January or
+beginning of February.
+
+[111] Now Lyttelton Harbour.
+
+[112] His _pa_ was in the vicinity of what is now the city of
+Dunedin.
+
+[113] The Rev. Canon Stack relates how one of the Ngai-Tahu men, Te
+Ata-o-tu, was carrying his infant son on his back during this march.
+When they approached the _pa_, some of his companions, seeing how
+closely it was invested, whispered to him to strangle the child, lest
+it might cry at a critical moment and betray them. The father,
+however, could not find it in his heart to take this extreme step, but
+he wrapped the boy tightly in a thick mat, and, strapping him across
+his broad shoulders, carried him safely through the dangers of that
+terrible night. The child, however, was only spared to be drowned in
+the waters of the swamp as his mother vainly endeavoured to escape a
+few months later, when the _pa_ fell.
+
+[114] A storehouse erected upon a high central pole, to
+protect the food from the depredations of rats.
+
+[115] So far as is known, this was the first occasion on which the
+principle of the sap was applied in Maori warfare.
+
+[116] An interesting parallel to these proceedings is to be found in
+Gibbon's description of the siege of Constantinople: "To fill the
+ditch was the toil of the besiegers; to clear away the rubbish was the
+safety of the besieged; and, after a long and bloody conflict, the web
+which had been woven in the day was still unravelled in the night."
+
+[117] It is a popular belief in some quarters that the reason why the
+defenders so lost heart was that they were oppressed by the guilty
+knowledge that they had acted treacherously in killing Te Pehi and his
+companions.
+
+[118] Popularly known as "Maori-heads" or "Nigger-heads." Flax and
+_raupo_ also grew freely in the swamps.
+
+[119] This was rendered more difficult owing to the fact that for many
+days Te Rauparaha's followers were scouring the country, far and wide,
+in search of fugitives. The Rev. Canon Stack mentions the pathetic
+instance of two young children who were in hiding with their father.
+He left them to go in search of food, promising to return; but he
+never did so, having in all probability been captured and killed. The
+children, who afterwards lived to be well-known Canterbury residents,
+sustained themselves by eating _raupo_ roots for several months,
+until they were found by an eeling party in the bed of the Selwyn
+River.
+
+[120] Te Auta is described as a man of grave and venerable appearance,
+who was a strict disciplinarian in all matters pertaining to the
+religious ceremonies of the _pa_, his authority in these respects
+being considerably enhanced by his long white hair and flowing beard.
+He was one of the last of the Ngai-Tahu _tohungas_, who were
+deeply versed in all the peculiar rites of Maori heathendom.
+
+[121] Kahukura was the patron divinity of the Ngai-Tahu tribe. His
+cultus was introduced by the crew of the Takitimu canoe, who were the
+ancestors of the Kaiapohians (_Stack_).
+
+[122] Amongst the prisoners taken was a boy named Pura, who excited
+the interest of Te Rauparaha. The chief took him under his personal
+protection, and on the night that Kaiapoi fell, he led him into his
+own _whare_. In order to prevent any possibility of escape,
+Rauparaha tied a rope round the boy's body and attached the other end
+to his own wrist. During the early hours of the night the chief was
+exceedingly restless, but after he fell asleep Pura quietly disengaged
+himself from the rope, and tied the end of it to a peg which he found
+driven into the floor of the _whare_. He then crept stealthily to
+the door, but in passing out he had the misfortune to overturn a pile
+of _manuka_ which was piled up outside. Luckily, the brushwood
+fell on top of him, completely covering him, but the noise aroused Te
+Rauparaha, who, as soon as he perceived that his captive had flown,
+raised the alarm, and in an incredibly short time the whole camp was
+in a state of uproar and panic. The warriors, suddenly aroused from
+their sleep, were in a condition of extreme nervous tension after the
+excitement and exertion of the day. Some imagined that the prisoners
+had risen in revolt, while others believed that the fugitives had
+returned in force to attack the camp, and it was some time before
+order could be restored and the true position explained. Meanwhile,
+Pura lay panting with fear and trembling lest he should be found, for
+recapture meant certain death. His hiding, however, was not
+discovered, and when the camp had once more settled down to sleep, he
+quietly pushed the brushwood aside, and, threading his way out into
+the swamp, made good his escape to the south, where he afterwards
+joined the main body of the fugitives. Pura subsequently became a
+well-known resident of Lyttelton, under the name of Pitama.
+
+[123] "Some conception may be formed of the numbers slain and eaten
+when I mention that some time after the settlement of Canterbury the
+Rev. Mr. Raven, 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 from the present town of
+Kaiapoi to the north. Ghastly relics of these feasts still strew the
+ground, from which I myself have gathered many" (_Travers_).
+
+[124] "The summit of Onawe was called Te-pa-nui-o-Hau. There, amongst
+the huge boulders and rocks that crown the hill and cover its steep
+sloping sides, dwelt the Spirit of the Wind, and tradition tells how
+jealously it guarded its sacred haunts from careless intrusion"
+(_Tales of Banks's Peninsula_).
+
+[125] "Te Hiko struck us forcibly by his commanding stature, by his
+noble, intelligent physiognomy, and by his truly chieftain-like
+demeanour. His descent by both parents pointed him out as a great
+leader in Cook Strait, should he inherit his father's great qualities.
+He was sparing of his words and mild in speech. He had carefully
+treasured up his father's instructions and the relics of his voyage to
+England.... He was said to pay his slaves for their work, and to treat
+them with unusual kindness, and the white men spoke of him as mild and
+inoffensive in his intercourse with them" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[126] "Before the northern fleet got clear of Banks's Peninsula, a
+number of the prisoners escaped, the chief person amongst 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 Ngai-Tahu after Te Rauparaha's last raid" (_Stack_).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SMOKING FLAX
+
+
+The conquest of the southern districts being now completed, and the
+winter months approaching, the whole of the northern fleet took its
+departure for Cloudy Bay, where, according to the records of the
+whalers who were there at the time, scenes of the wildest excitement
+prevailed for many days, and the unhappy condition of the captives was
+observed with much compassion by persons who were powerless to
+intervene. From Cloudy Bay the main body of the conquerors passed over
+to Kapiti, and there the scenes of unbridled ferocity were resumed,
+until sufficient slaves had been killed and eaten to fittingly honour
+the returning warriors. These rejoicings at an end, Te Rauparaha set
+himself to seriously administer the affairs of his own people, which
+were always in danger of violent disturbance, due to the mutual
+jealousies of the tribes when not preoccupied by the excitement of
+war. This work of domestic management almost wholly absorbed his
+attention during the next few years; and it was fortunate for the
+Kaiapoi captives that he had so much on hand, as the pressure of
+circumstances and the stress of inter-tribal complications more than
+once compelled him to treat them with greater consideration than might
+otherwise have been their lot. While these events were proceeding in
+the North Island, the Maoris in the south were slowly reorganising
+their forces. The majority of the fugitives from Kaiapoi and Onawe had
+travelled southward until they reached Taiaroa's settlement at Otago,
+where, under his guidance, they began to formulate their plans for
+avenging their many humiliations. Amongst these fugitives was
+Tu-te-hounuku, the son of the treacherously captured Tamaiharanui, who,
+recognising that his own people were not equal to the task of
+accomplishing vengeance, sought the aid of the great Otago warrior,
+and chief of Ruapuke, Tu-Hawaiki. This chief had received from the
+whalers the startling appellation of "Bloody Jack,"[127] not so much
+because of his sanguinary disposition as from the lurid nature of his
+language. He was a warrior of the progressive type, who at once saw
+the advantage of intimate intercourse with the white man; and to this
+end he made common cause with all the whalers stationed along the
+coast. He assisted them in their quarrels, and they in return supplied
+him with the implements of war necessary to overcome his tribal
+enemies. In this way he managed to acquire the mastery over a large
+area of country, and to amass a considerable amount of wealth. He
+owned a small vessel, which was commanded by one of his whaler
+friends, in which he frequently made trips to Sydney. There he formed
+an acquaintance with Governor Gipps, who presented him with a number
+of old military uniforms; and on his return to New Zealand he enrolled
+a squad of his own tribe, clothed them in the soldiers' garb, drilled
+them, and on state occasions paraded them as his personal bodyguard,
+"all the same the _Kawana_."[128] To this enterprising barbarian the
+prospect of a brush with Rauparaha--or with any one else for that
+matter--was a most agreeable one, and so the alliance with
+Tu-te-hounuku was entered upon after the most trifling negotiation.
+
+Although Taiaroa appears to have taken some part in organising the
+expedition, he did not accompany it. The leadership was therefore
+entrusted to Tu-Hawaiki, who came and secreted himself in the vicinity
+of Cape Campbell, being thus favourably situated for an attack upon
+the Ngati-Toa, who now had entire control of the northern portion of
+the Middle Island, where a section of their people were continuously
+settled. Moreover, it had become one of their practices to visit Lake
+Grasmere for the purpose of snaring the paradise duck, which then, as
+now, made this sheet of water one of their favourite breeding grounds;
+and it was while upon one of these bird-catching expeditions that Te
+Rauparaha nearly lost his life. Being intent upon the manipulation of
+his snares, he was unconscious of the approach from behind the Cape of
+Tu-Hawaiki and his horde, until, with a savage yell, they pounced upon
+the unwary Ngati-Toa. For the latter the situation was indeed
+critical, and all its difficulties were taken in by Rauparaha at a
+glance. He saw that in point of numbers the odds were terribly against
+him, and that to stand his ground and fight it out with such a
+formidable foe could only result in certain death. On the other hand,
+the chances of escape had been almost completely cut off; for when the
+party landed at the lake, the canoes, with one exception, were drawn
+up on the beach, and were now high and dry. The delay in launching
+these meant the difference between life and death, so closely were
+they pressed. But fortunately for him, one still remained in the water
+some distance from the shore; and on observing this solitary gleam of
+hope, Te Rauparaha swiftly made up his mind that discretion was the
+better part of valour. He raced for the sea, and, plunging into the
+surf, swam to the canoe with rapid and powerful strokes, followed by
+at least forty of his own people. At the canoe a general scramble
+ensued, in which only the fittest survived, the remainder being left
+struggling in the water to escape as best they could, or be despatched
+by their enemies as opportunity offered.
+
+In the meantime, those of the Ngati-Toa who had not been able to
+plunge into the sea were unceremoniously killed on the spot, and those
+of the attacking party who were not actively engaged in this
+sanguinary work at once launched the canoes lying on the Boulder Bank,
+which divides the lake from the sea, and set off in hot pursuit of the
+retreating Rauparaha. As might be expected, the chase was a desperate
+one, each party straining every nerve to defeat the object of the
+other. Rauparaha, standing in the stern of his canoe, by word and
+gesture urged the men at the paddles to renewed exertions; not that
+they required much exhortation, for they knew that their lives
+depended entirely upon themselves. But, notwithstanding their utmost
+endeavours, it soon became painfully evident that their pursuers were
+gaining upon them, owing to the overloaded condition of the canoe.
+Rauparaha then determined upon a course which can scarcely recommend
+him to our admiration, although Nature's first law, self-preservation,
+might be urged in extenuation of his crime. Without further ceremony
+he ordered half the people in the canoe, many of whom were women and
+children, to jump overboard, and those who demurred were forcibly
+compelled to obey.[129] Thus relieved of some of its burden, the canoe
+gradually forged ahead, and the diversion of the pursuers' attention
+to the jettisoned passengers, who were struggling in the water,
+enabled Rauparaha to make good his escape to Cloudy Bay. The Ngai-Tahu
+people are especially proud of this encounter, which they regard as a
+brilliant victory, and have called it _Rua Moa iti_, or "The battle of
+the little Moa's feather."
+
+It could not, of course, be supposed that a man of action, such as Te
+Rauparaha was, would long remain idle while so black a stain upon his
+reputation as a warrior remained unavenged. He therefore lost no time
+in sending his messengers to a branch of the Ngati-Awa tribe, who then
+resided at the Wairau, soliciting their aid in a mission of
+retaliation. The request was readily granted, and, with this
+reinforcement, a war party of considerable strength set sail in their
+canoes for the _karaka_ groves which grew luxuriantly at
+O-Rua-Moa Bay, immediately to the south of Cape Campbell, where it was
+fully expected that the enemy would be resting. In these anticipations
+they were disappointed. The prey had flown; and if the purpose of the
+expedition was not to fail utterly, there was nothing for it but to
+push on until the object of their search was found. They were soon
+rewarded, for close to the shore, at the mouth of the Flaxbourne
+River, Tu-Hawaiki and his braves were encamped, and here the gage of
+battle was thrown down. That the encounter was a desperate one may be
+judged by the fact that both sides claimed the victory, and they seem
+to have withdrawn from the combat mutually agreeing that they had each
+had enough. According to the Ngai-Tahu account, Te Rauparaha's
+stratagem of sending one hundred and forty men of Ngati-Awa down the
+steep face of a cliff to cut off Tu-Hawaiki's retreat was successfully
+circumvented, the flanking party being caught in their own trap and
+every one of them destroyed. The Ngati-Toa are equally positive that
+the palm of victory rested with them; but in that event the advantage
+gained was not sufficiently great to justify them in following it up,
+for Tu-Hawaiki was allowed to depart next morning unmolested to
+Kaikoura. On the journey down an incident occurred which betrayed the
+savage side of this man's nature, and showed how much he deserved, in
+another sense, the title of the old whalers, when they styled him
+"Bloody Jack." During the voyage the canoe commanded by Tu-te-hounuku
+was capsized in a southerly gale, and the young chief was drowned,
+although every other man was saved. The selfishness of the men in
+seeking their own safety and letting their leader perish so enraged
+the fiery Tu-Hawaiki, that as soon as he heard of the accident he
+ordered the canoes ashore, and with his own hand slew every one of the
+surviving crew.[130]
+
+Immediately after this skirmish Te Rauparaha returned to the North
+Island, where there was urgent need of his presence. With the coming
+of the Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Ruanui, and other Taranaki tribes, the domestic
+disagreements, of which he stood in daily dread, began to ferment, and
+were already breaking out into open rupture. The Ngati-Awa had cast
+envious eyes upon a piece of country under tillage by Ngati-Raukawa,
+in the vicinity of Otaki, and were openly boasting of their intention
+to make it their own. Their cause was espoused by their Taranaki
+relatives, and even a section of Te Rauparaha's own people threw in
+their lot with them against their old allies, the Ngati-Raukawa. This
+defection, which was especially distressing to Te Rauparaha, arose from
+some act of favouritism--real or fancied--displayed towards Te
+Whatanui, the great Ngati-Raukawa chief, for whom Te Rauparaha ever
+felt and showed the highest regard. These strained relations, however,
+did not break out into actual civil strife until the Ngati-Raukawa
+people discovered the Ngati-Ruanui malcontents looting their
+potato-pits at Waikawa. Up to this point the Ngati-Raukawa had borne
+the pin-pricks of the Taranaki braggarts with some degree of patience;
+but this act of plunder satisfied them that, unless they were prepared
+to defend their property, they would soon have no property to defend.
+They therefore stood no longer upon ceremony, but straightway attacked
+the Ngati-Ruanui settlement, and thus let slip the dogs of civil
+war.[131] In the conflict which ensued Tauake, a Ngati-Ruanui chief,
+was killed, an incident which only served to fan the flame of
+internecine strife, and hostilities of a more or less virulent nature
+involved all the settlements along the coast from Waikanae to
+Manawatu. Both sides were equally well armed, for guns and ammunition
+were now plentiful, the traders having learned the Maori's weakness,
+and being prepared to pander to it for the sake of cheap cargoes of
+flax and potatoes. The consequence was that in each skirmish numbers
+of the belligerents were killed, and Te Rauparaha saw with increasing
+dismay the havoc wrought amongst his fighting men, and the useless
+waste of tribal strength which must ensue from these insane
+proceedings. Only too clearly he realised that, watched as he was by
+enemies both on the north and to the east, this state of division
+might at any moment be seized on as an opportunity for attack. His own
+efforts to reconcile the disputants were unavailing; and when he saw
+the spirit of insurrection growing and spreading beyond his power of
+control, he determined upon making an appeal for outside aid. He
+accordingly dispatched a mission to Taupo, requesting Te Heuheu to
+bring down a large force wherewith to crush out the seeds of
+rebellion, by inflicting a telling defeat upon the most turbulent
+insurgents. Te Heuheu's reply to this appeal was of a practical kind.
+Within a few months he marched out from Taupo with an effective
+fighting force of eight hundred men, officered by some of the most
+famous of his own and the Maungatautari chiefs of that time. Almost
+immediately upon their arrival on the coast, they, in conjunction with
+Ngati-Raukawa, proceeded to attack the Ngati-Awa at a pa close to the
+Otaki River, and for several months the conflict was maintained with
+fluctuating success. Notwithstanding the numbers brought against them,
+the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Ruanui proved themselves stubborn fighters,
+maintaining their ground with heroic desperation.
+
+In several of the battles the slaughter was exceedingly heavy, amongst
+the slain being counted many important chiefs attached to both sides;
+but still the issue hung in doubt, and so it remained until the great
+battle of Pakakutu had been fought. On this occasion a supreme effort
+was made by Te Heuheu, and the struggle culminated in the decisive
+defeat of Ngati-Awa. Their _pa_ was taken, and their chief
+Takerangi was slain. With his death was removed one of the principal
+factors in the quarrel, and the way was paved for a settlement
+honourable in its terms to all the parties. A conference of
+considerable importance was immediately held at Kapiti, at which the
+disquieting issues were discussed, and in the debates upon these
+contentious points both Te Heuheu and Te Whatanui raised their voices
+with force and eloquence in the cause of peace. As a result of these
+negotiations, the differences which had so nearly wrecked Te Rauparaha's
+consolidating work of fourteen years were amicably settled.[132] The
+general result was that Ngati-Raukawa were reinstated in their
+possessions at Ohau and Horowhenua and as far north as Rangitikei,
+while Ngati-Awa retired southward of Waikanae, and extended their
+settlements as far in that direction as Wellington, where they
+replaced Pomare, and where, under Te Puni and Wharepouri, they were
+found by Colonel Wakefield and his fellow-pioneers of the New Zealand
+Company when they came to the spot in 1839.
+
+But, though the civil war had thus ended in a manner satisfactory to
+himself and to his friends, Te Rauparaha was stung to the quick by the
+knowledge that his authority had been so completely set at defiance by
+Ngati-Awa. And this feeling of irritation was further intensified by
+the fact that some of his own tribe had shown him so little regard as
+to aid and abet them in their rebellion. Their disloyal conduct so
+preyed upon his mind that, as the result of much serious reflection,
+he determined to absolve himself from all further responsibility on
+their behalf, by abandoning the business of conquest and returning
+with Te Heuheu to Maungatautari, where he proposed to live for the
+remainder of his days the quiet and restful life, to which waning
+years look forward as their heritage. To this end he collected a
+number of his most trusty followers, and, shaking the dust of Kapiti
+from his feet, had travelled as far as Ohau in the execution of his
+petulant decision, when he was overtaken by representatives of all the
+tribes, who begged him to return and once more become a father to
+them. In these entreaties the suppliants were joined by Te Heuheu,
+whose advocacy broke down the chief's resolution. He at length agreed,
+amidst general rejoicing, to retrace his steps, and none rejoiced more
+sincerely than the repentant Ngati-Awa.
+
+Between the date of the battle of Pakakutu and the arrival of the ship
+_Tory_, Te Rauparaha does not appear to have been engaged in any
+conflict of great importance in the North Island, the years being
+spent in visiting the various settlements which had been established
+under his guiding genius. These journeys frequently led him across
+Cook Strait to the Middle Island, where, at Cloudy Bay, there was now
+a considerable colony of his own and the Ngati-Awa people, who were
+actively cultivating the friendship of the whalers.[133] These visits
+also more than once led him into sharp conflict with his old enemies,
+the Ngai-Tahu, who were ever vigilantly watching for the favourable
+moment to repay their defeat at Kaiapoi. Once they met him on the
+fringe of Port Underwood, at a spot still called Fighting Bay, where
+they claim to have defeated him with considerable slaughter. From this
+engagement, in which his small force was neatly ambushed, the great
+chief only escaped by diving into the sea and hiding amongst the
+floating kelp, until he was picked up by one of his canoes, and,
+availing himself of a heavy mist which suddenly enveloped the scene of
+strife, fled, leaving his allies, the Ngati-Awa, to continue the
+unequal struggle. After the fight, the bones of the slain were left to
+bleach on the beach, where they were repeatedly seen by the first
+settlers at the port.[134]
+
+This success did not induce the Ngai-Tahu to pursue the retreating
+enemy across the Strait; but, elated in spirit, they returned to the
+south for the purpose of fitting out an expedition on a much more
+extensive scale, with which they hoped to inflict a crushing blow on
+their hated enemy. These operations were superintended by Taiaroa, who
+in a few months had gathered together a flotilla of canoes and boats
+sufficient to transport some four hundred men. These he commanded in
+person, and with them proceeded by slow stages to the neighbourhood of
+Cloudy Bay. Hearing that Te Rauparaha was at Queen Charlotte Sound,
+the southern warriors steered their fleet for Tory Channel,[135] but
+failed to encounter the enemy until they had reached Waitohi, near the
+head of the Sound. Here they met, and immediately attacked a large
+party of Te Rauparaha's followers, who were under the personal
+direction of their chief. The ground upon which the battle took place
+was broken and wooded, and it was difficult to bring the whole of the
+respective forces advantageously into action at once; and therefore
+the combat resolved itself into a series of skirmishes, rather than a
+pitched and decisive battle. At the end of the first day Te Rauparaha
+shifted his position, a fact which has encouraged the Ngai-Tahu people
+to claim the credit of a victory. But Ngati-Toa did not retire from
+the field altogether; and for several days hostilities continued to be
+carried on in a succession of duels between the champions of the
+opposing tribes, in which the battle honours were fairly evenly
+divided between them. In these contests Te Rauparaha is said to have
+warned his men against risking defeat by coming too confidently into
+close quarters with the enemy. Numerous incidents during the siege of
+Kaiapoi had served to impress him with Ngai-Tahu's prowess in this
+class of warfare, and any recklessness on the part of his warriors
+might therefore easily lose him a valuable life. Thus, when a
+Ngati-Toa and a Ngai-Tahu were struggling upon the hill-side in full
+view of both forces, and victory ultimately rested with the southern
+warrior, Te Rauparaha exclaimed to those about him, "_I kiia atu ano_"
+(I told you it would be so). But though an occasional success of this
+kind attended the southern arms, nothing of a decisive nature was
+accomplished by Taiaroa on this raid. Scarcity of provisions shortly
+afterwards compelled him to withdraw to the south; and before he had
+time or inclination to devise fresh reprisals, events of an external
+nature had so operated upon the Maori mind as to make any further
+conflict between the Ngati-Toa and Ngai-Tahu tribes undesirable if not
+impossible.
+
+It is now fitting to remember that, while these events had been
+proceeding along the eastern coast of the Middle Island, the process
+of subduing the southern tribes had not been neglected on its western
+shore. Out of the extreme confidence which pervaded the Ngati-Toa mind
+upon the return of Te Pehi from England, a wider field of conquest was
+sought than appeared to be provided by the plains of Canterbury. In
+obedience to these aspirations, an important division of their forces
+was sent across the Strait for the purpose of forcibly establishing
+themselves in the bays of the Nelson coast. _Hapus_ of the Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Awa united in this expedition, which was attended with
+unqualified success. They immediately moved to attack the Ngati-Apa
+settlements in Blind and Massacre Bays, from out of which they drove
+the inhabitants with ruthless severity, and immediately assumed
+possession of the soil. Those who had fought under Te Koihua and Te
+Puoho, the Ngati-Awa leaders, built _pas_ and remained in permanent
+occupation of the conquered country;[136] but Niho, a son of Te Pehi,
+and Takerei took their Ngati-Tama, and perhaps a few of their
+Ngati-Rarua, warriors across the wild and almost trackless mountains
+which intervene between Blind Bay and the west coast. From the Buller
+district they worked their way southward, killing and taking prisoners
+almost the entire population as they went, until they reached the
+Hokitika River, where resistance ceased and the need for further
+aggression disappeared.
+
+Niho and Takerei settled at Mawhera, on the banks of the Grey River,
+the centre of that romantic region, the greenstone country, which for
+centuries had been the Eldorado of Maori dreams.[137] At various other
+points, both to the northward and southward of Mawhera, the
+northerners established themselves in permanent _pas_, to the
+total exclusion of the weaker tribes, who had formerly controlled the
+barter of the precious nephrite. From these points of colonisation the
+restless spirit of the invaders was ever carrying them further
+southward and eastward in search of excitement and adventure. No
+systematic occupation of the land appears to have been attempted
+southward of Hokitika; but stray bands of marauders were frequently
+setting off on predatory expeditions into the pathless mountain-waste
+of western Otago, which then sheltered the shadowy remnant of the
+Ngati-Mamoe race. Further and further these adventurers penetrated
+into the deep glens, rugged passes, and dark forests, until they knew
+the geographical secrets of the interior almost as intimately as did
+its former conquerors.[138]
+
+In the absence of written records, many of these militant journeys
+have necessarily been effaced from memory, and no tradition has been
+left to commemorate those whose valiant spirit led them into the wilds
+of a hostile country, from which only a lion-hearted courage could
+bring them safely back. Of one such venture, however, undertaken about
+the year 1836, for the purpose of attacking Tu-Hawaiki on his island
+fortress at Ruapuke, the story has been preserved; and, because of its
+ambitious conception and dramatic ending, it is worthy of being
+narrated here as it has been told in the tribal traditions. The chief
+concerned in leading the adventure was Te Puoho, who came originally
+from the country south of the Mokau River, in Taranaki, to assist Te
+Rauparaha in his policy of conquest. He was at this time the head
+chief of the Ngati-Tama tribe, who were closely allied to Ngati-Awa,
+and whom the fortune of war had now settled round the great bays on
+the Nelson coast. Hearing that the inhabitants away to the south were
+"a soft people," Te Puoho conceived the idea of raiding their country,
+and, in addition to matching himself against Tu-Hawaiki, securing a
+large number of slaves,[139] whom he intended to use as beasts of
+burden. To this end he first completed a strong stockade, in which he
+intended to herd his captives, and then he set off with a fighting
+force of some seventy men, and a small number of women, to pierce his
+way through the dense forest and dangerous passes of the overland
+route. Arrived at the Grey River, where Niho and his people were
+settled, he expected to be largely reinforced from amongst his former
+friends; but, to his consternation, he found that his old comrade,
+Niho, was distinctly hostile, and most of his people coldly
+indifferent. A number of his own followers, finding that the purpose
+of the expedition was not approved by Niho, declined to proceed
+further in the enterprise and returned to Cook Strait. But at length
+Te Puoho, nothing daunted, succeeded in persuading a section of the
+Ngati-Wairangi to reverse their decision not to accompany him, and
+then with about a hundred followers he commenced his march southward.
+
+His first route took him over the sinuous tracks which hugged the
+coast line until they reached Jackson's Head, a distance of many
+hundred miles from the point of departure. Few particulars of this
+stage of the journey have been preserved: but it is known that they
+returned northward as far as the Haast River,[140] where they
+deflected their course to the eastward, and proceeded inland by way of
+the Haast Pass. At Lake Hawea they met a Ngai-Tahu eeling party, from
+whom they ascertained that the chief with his two wives had gone to
+Lake Wanaka. On the pretence of guiding two of Te Puoho's men thither,
+the chief's son, Te Raki, succeeded in getting them deeply entangled
+in the bush; and then, abandoning them to their own resources, he
+slipped away to his father's camp and advised him of what had
+occurred. Arming themselves, they went in search of the two men, who
+were now wandering aimlessly about, and, finding them floundering in
+the forest, they soon succeeded in killing them. When it dawned upon
+him that he had been duped, Te Puoho exacted _utu_ from amongst the
+other members of the eeling party, and pushed on further into the
+interior. They navigated the upper waters of the Molyneaux on
+_mokihis_, and made their way down the valley of the Mataura through
+the country of Wakatipu. In view of his previous achievements in that
+direction, no one would have been surprised had Te Rauparaha or his
+people attempted an invasion of these far southern districts by sea;
+but no one ever dreamed of a blow being struck at them by an inland
+route. Consequently, when this war party marched down the valley of
+the Mataura, the inhabitants were wholly off their guard, and fell an
+easy prey to the invaders. An eeling party was captured at Whakaea,
+and their store of food proved exceedingly welcome to the hungry
+wanderers, whose only provender up to this time had been wild cabbage,
+the root of the _ti_ palm, and a few _wekas_. These wanderings had now
+occupied the northern men nearly two years, during which many of them
+had died of cold and hunger. But, though a "dwindled and enfeebled
+band," they were still strong enough to secure another party of
+Ngai-Tahu, whom they found camped in the midst of a clump of _korokiu_
+trees, which then grew upon the Waimea Plain. Te Puoho believed that
+he had secured the whole of the party, but in this he was mistaken.
+Some few escaped, and, hastening off to the Tuturau _pa_, warned the
+people there of the approaching danger, the fugitives making their way
+to the Awarua whaling station. Te Puoho and his party immediately
+proceeded to occupy the abandoned _pa_, in the hope that a prolonged
+rest would recruit their exhausted powers; and, innocent of the fact
+that retributive justice was at hand, they settled down to leisurely
+enjoy the recuperative process.
+
+From Awarua news of the raid was dispatched to the island of Ruapuke,
+where Tu-Hawaiki and his men were. Memory of the event is still well
+preserved on the island, as the last occasion on which oblation was
+offered to the god of battle. In accordance with ancient Maori custom,
+this ceremony took place in an immense cavern, which opens to the sea
+beach beneath the island fortress. It may still be seen, a dark abyss;
+and, although geological periods must have elapsed since it was
+instinct with the life of mighty waters, the echo-swish still sounds
+and resounds, as if acting and reacting the story of its birth. Shut
+up amidst these ghostly sights and sounds, the tribal _tohunga_ spent
+the night in severe exorcisms. Outside in the open was heard the clash
+of arms, plaintive wails and lamentations of the _tangi_ for the dead.
+At dawn of day the prescribed spells to weaken the enemy were cast and
+the invocation to the spear was spoken. The followers of Tu-Hawaiki
+then sailed for the mainland and effected a landing at what is now
+known as Fortrose. Concealing themselves during the day, they marched
+under cover of night, reaching Tuturau early on the morning of the
+third day. Being unapprehensive of danger, the inmates of the _pa_
+were in their turn caught napping, and the recapture was effected as
+smartly as had been the original capture. As the attacking force crept
+cautiously within gunshot, Te Puoho was observed sleeping on the
+verandah of one of the houses. A slight noise fell upon his quick ear
+and startled him. He sprang to his feet; instantly the report of a gun
+rang out, and he fell a lifeless heap upon his bed. Some thirty in all
+were killed. The rest, with one exception,[141] were taken prisoners,
+and confined on Ruapuke Island, whence they were afterwards smuggled
+away by a pakeha-maori boatman named McDonald, who, under an
+arrangement with the Ngati-Toa tribe, landed them safely back at
+Kapiti.
+
+The Haast River raid, as the exploit of Te Puoho is known in Maori
+history, becomes interesting not only because it was on this occasion
+that the followers of Te Rauparaha reached the most southerly limit of
+their aggressions upon Ngai-Tahu, but because it affords another
+evidence, if such were needed, of the extremes to which the Maori was
+ever ready to go in order to get even with an enemy. Primarily, the
+raid was designed as a stroke of retaliation upon Tu-Hawaiki, whom
+they hoped to surprise by pouncing upon him from a new and unexpected
+quarter. To effect this, a long and dangerous journey had to be
+braved; they had to penetrate into a region in which Nature seemed to
+have determined to impose in the path of human progress her most
+forbidding barriers. Not only had this band of half-clad savages to
+cross what the late Sir Julius Von Haast has described as "one of the
+most rugged pieces of New Zealand ground which, during my long
+wanderings, I have ever passed," but they had to contend with
+snowfields lying deep in the Southern Alps, the swollen torrent, the
+pathless forest, and the foodless plains. Not even the roar of the
+avalanche as it swept down the mountain-side, the impassible precipice
+as it loomed dark across their path, nor the severity of the climate,
+with its oscillations from arctic cold to tropical heat, was
+sufficient to chill their ardour for revenge. So for two years they
+wandered amidst some of the grandest and gloomiest surroundings, at
+times suffering bitterly from cold and hunger. In the stress of these
+privations the weaker ones died; but the survivors were sustained by
+the enthusiasm of their leader, who directed their course ever to the
+southward, where they hoped some day to meet and vanquish their hated
+rival. Of the fate which overtook them, history has told; and, though
+future generations may be reluctant to endorse the purpose of their
+mission, they will not refuse to credit them with a certain spirit of
+heroism in daring and enduring what they did to accomplish their end.
+
+The peace which had been dramatically concluded at Kapiti by Te Heuheu
+breaking the _taiaha_ across his knee, and which closed what is
+known as the Hao-whenua war, was sacredly observed by all the tribes
+for some years; and this respite from anxiety afforded Te Rauparaha
+freedom of opportunity to pursue his grudge against the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples. The humiliated remnant of the Muaupoko tribe had by
+this time sought and obtained the protection of Te Whatanui, who had
+promised them, in his now historic words, quoted many years afterwards
+by Major Kemp, that so long as they remained his dutiful subjects he
+would shield them from the wrath of Te Rauparaha: "I will be the
+rata-tree that will shelter all of you. All that you will see will be
+the stars that are shining in the sky above us; all that will descend
+upon you will be the raindrops that fall from heaven." Although
+slavery was the price they had to pay for the privilege of breathing
+their native air, it at least secured them the right to live, though
+it did not secure them absolute immunity from attack. More than once
+Te Whatanui had to protest against the inhumanity of Ngati-Toa towards
+those whom he had elected to save from utter destruction; and these
+distressing persecutions did not cease until the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+told Te Rauparaha, in unmistakable language, emphasised by
+unmistakable gestures, that, before another hair of a Muaupoko head
+was touched, he and his followers would first have to pass over his
+(Te Whatanui's) dead body. Unwilling to create a breach of friendship
+with so powerful an ally as Te Whatanui, Te Rauparaha ceased openly to
+assail the helpless Muaupoko, though still continuing to harass them
+in secret. He plotted with Te Puoho to trap the Rangitane, and with Wi
+Tako to ensnare the Muaupoko: the scheme being to invite them to a
+great feast at Waikanae, to partake of some new food[142] which the
+_pakeha_ had brought to Kapiti. So far as the Rangitane were
+concerned, the invitation was prefaced by an exchange of civilities in
+the shape of presents between Mahuri and Te Puoho; and when it was
+thought that their confidence had been secured, the vanity of the
+Rangitane was still further flattered by an invitation to the feast. A
+considerable number of them at once set out for Waikanae; but, when
+they arrived at Horowhenua, Te Whatanui used his utmost endeavours to
+dissuade Mahuri, their chief, from proceeding further. Knowing Te
+Rauparaha as he did, he felt convinced that he could not so soon
+forget his hatred for those who had sought to take his life at
+Papaitonga: and, while he would have had no compunction about killing
+in open war every man and woman of the tribes he was protecting, his
+generous soul revolted against the treachery and slaughter which he
+feared lay concealed beneath the present invitation. His counsel was
+therefore against going to Waikanae; but the impetuous young Mahuri
+saw no reason for alarm, and, heedless of the advice of Te Whatanui,
+he led his people to their destruction.
+
+On their arrival, the hospitality of Te Puoho was of the most
+bountiful nature. The visitors were shown to their houses, and no
+effort was spared to allay any suspicion of treachery. But one night,
+as they sat around their fires, the appointed signal was given, and
+the guests were set upon by a force superior in numbers by two to one,
+and, to use the words of a native[143] who knew the story well, "they
+were killed like pigs," only one man escaping from the massacre. This
+was Te Aweawe, whose life was spared at the instigation of Tungia, in
+return for a similar act of humanity which the Rangitane chief had
+been able to perform for him some time before. In justice to Te
+Rauparaha, it should be stated that this massacre was not entirely
+prompted by his old grudge against the Rangitane people, but partly
+arose out of a new cause of grievance against them, which serves to
+illustrate the complexity of Maori morality and the smallness of the
+pretence upon which they deemed a sacrifice of life both justifiable
+and necessary. The offence of which the Rangitane people had been
+adjudged guilty enough to deserve so terrible a punishment was the
+fact that they were somewhat distantly related to the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe, resident in the Wairarapa. These people had some time
+previously killed a number of Ngati-Toa natives, whom they believed to
+be plotting their destruction; for, while they were discussing their
+plans in one of the _whares_, a Ngati-Kahungunu, who was sleeping with
+at least one ear open, overheard their conversation, and at once gave
+the alarm, with the result that the tables were turned on the scheming
+Ngati-Toa. Their deaths, however, had to be avenged; and it is easy to
+understand how gladly Te Rauparaha would avail himself of this new
+excuse for wiping out old scores.
+
+The morning after the massacre, Tungia took Te Aweawe outside the
+Waikanae _pa_, and, placing a weapon in his hand, said, "Go! come
+back again and kill these people." The released chief at once made his
+way back as best he could to the Manawatu, where he found most of the
+settlements deserted by the terror-stricken inhabitants, in
+consequence of the appalling news which had just reached them of the
+death of their friends. He, however, succeeded in collecting about
+thirty warriors, and with these he travelled down the coast, receiving
+additions by the way from a few stragglers belonging to his own and
+the Muaupoko tribes. When they reached Waikanae, they found the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa peoples busily engaged in gathering flax to
+trade away for guns and powder and little suspecting an attack. They
+had beguiled themselves into the false belief that the shattered
+Rangitane would not be able to collect in so short a time a force
+sufficiently strong to harm them. When, therefore, Te Aweawe, at the
+head of his brave little band, burst in upon them, dealing death at
+every blow, they, in their turn, were at all the disadvantage of being
+taken completely by surprise. Upwards of sixty of the followers of Te
+Rauparaha were killed, amongst them a chieftainess named
+Muri-whakaroto, who fell into the hands of the enraged Te Aweawe, and
+was despatched without the slightest compunction. Matea, the Rangitane
+chief second in command, was more chivalrous to Tainai Rangi, for he
+spared her and brought her back, a prisoner certainly, but still
+alive. Such of the flax-gathering party as were not slain made good
+their escape down the coast; and the avengers of Mahuri, fearing that
+they might soon return with a large and active war party, beat a hasty
+retreat, well satisfied with the result of their mission of
+revenge--the last great act of slaughter perpetrated by the resident
+people as a protest against the conquest of their country.
+
+Any policy of retaliation which Te Rauparaha and the chiefs who were
+co-operating with him may have contemplated, as a step towards
+restoring the equilibrium of tribal honour, had to be indefinitely
+delayed, owing to the rapidity with which events developed in another
+direction; and that delay robbed them of future opportunity. The death
+of Waitohi, Te Rauparaha's sister, and mother of Rangihaeata, had just
+occurred at Mana, where she had been living with her son. The demise
+of so high-born a woman necessarily demanded a _tangi_ on an
+unusually elaborate and extensive scale, and the whole of the tribes
+who had been associated with Te Rauparaha in his scheme of conquest
+assembled on the island to attend the obsequies of the honoured dead.
+Levies of provisions were made upon all the tributary tribes on both
+sides of the Straits, and for several weeks the peculiar rites of a
+Maori funeral were continued without intermission.
+
+It is said that, for no other purpose than to appear opulent in the
+eyes of his guests, Te Rauparaha ordered the killing and cooking of
+one of the poor slaves who had come from the Pelorus with his people's
+tribute to the feast. Be this as it may--and it is by no means
+improbable under the circumstances--the strange admixture of funeral
+and festival, which marks the Maori _tangi_, was observed at Mana
+in all its completeness and elaboration. But the death of Waitohi
+brought in its train something more than a great _tangi_; for
+indirectly it was the cause of the renewal of hostilities between
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Raukawa, culminating in the engagement known in
+Maori history as Kuititanga, which was fought on October 16, 1839. It
+is not clear why or in what way the old sore between these comrades in
+arms was re-opened, but the weight of testimony inclines towards the
+assumption that Te Rauparaha's irrepressible passion for intrigue was
+the moving impulse in urging Ngati-Raukawa to take the step they did.
+Whether he had grown jealous of Ngati-Awa's increasing numbers and
+power, or whether, having achieved all he could hope to accomplish, he
+wished to shake himself free from any further obligation to them,
+cannot of course be asserted with any confidence. Ngati-Raukawa were
+nothing loath to join in any conspiracy against Ngati-Awa. Living, as
+they did, north of Kapiti, they began to find themselves somewhat out
+of touch with the whalers; and probably it was the rapid extension of
+trade, enabling Ngati-Awa to procure guns as readily as Rauparaha
+himself, that induced him to instigate Ngati-Raukawa to break the
+truce which had existed since the battle of Pakakutu. No breach of the
+peace actually occurred at Mana, but bickerings and threats foretold
+the coming storm; and when Ngati-Awa returned to their _pas_ on
+the mainland, it was with the full consciousness that the attack would
+not be long delayed. The Ngati-Raukawa mourners remained at Mana for
+some time after Ngati-Awa had left, and it would have caused the
+latter no surprise had Ngati-Raukawa made an attack upon them--as
+indeed they invited it--as they passed Waikanae on their way to Otaki.
+This Ngati-Raukawa did not do, but went on with every semblance of
+peace, even ignoring the shots of defiance which were fired by
+Ngati-Awa as they passed. Towards evening, however, they altered their
+tactics, and, doubling back, surrounded the Kuititanga _pa_ during the
+night, in preparation for the attack at daybreak. A reconnoitring
+party was sent out to investigate the state of the defences, one of
+whom was indiscreet enough to enter a house, and, rousing a boy by his
+intrusion, attempted to cover his blunder by asking him for a light
+for his pipe. The boy sharply recognised his visitor as a
+Ngati-Raukawa; and knowing that no friendly native would be prowling
+about at that unseemly hour, sprang for his gun, and fired point-blank
+at the intruder. The echo of the shot rang through the clear morning
+air, and was the signal for a general movement on both sides. The
+women and children made a hurried flight to the neighbouring
+settlements, from which Ngati-Awa reinforcements swarmed up to the
+assistance of their beleaguered tribesmen; and by daylight the full
+strength of both forces--variously estimated at between eight hundred
+and a thousand men--was actively engaged. The _pa_, which bore the
+brunt of the first assault, stood close to the seashore on a narrow
+tongue of sand, between the Waikanae and Waimea Rivers.[144] At the
+inception of the attack it was defended by a slender company of thirty
+men, who offered so stubborn a defence that the assailants were held
+in check until assistance arrived. A strong company of Ngati-Awa
+crossed the Waikanae, and, catching Ngati-Raukawa between two fires at
+this point, caused them to deploy and so open an avenue, by which the
+supports reached the _pa_. Trenches were now hurriedly dug in the
+loose soil, which, together with the protection offered by the
+stockade, afforded them a friendly shelter from the fire of the enemy.
+In this respect they were more fortunate than the aggressors, who,
+fighting in the open, suffered a greater number of casualties,
+including several of their principal chiefs.
+
+Te Rauparaha took no part in the battle; but that he anticipated its
+occurrence is proved by the fact that he landed from his canoe shortly
+after it commenced. And when, at the close of an hour's desperate
+fighting, Ngati-Raukawa, who had his silent sympathy, if not his
+active help, began to waver under their heavy losses, he thought it
+prudent to get beyond the danger zone, and, plunging into the surf,
+swam towards his canoe. Ngati-Awa, who knew that he was inside the
+enemy's lines, saw the movement, and made a spirited effort to
+frustrate it, in the hope of capturing the man to whose subtle
+intrigues they attributed all their misfortunes. An equally vigorous
+rally on the part of Ngati-Raukawa intercepted their rush, and saved
+the chief, though at heavy cost to themselves. With Te Rauparaha safe
+amongst the whalers, who were watching the conflict from their boats,
+Ngati-Raukawa began rapidly to fall back; and, after maintaining a
+slackened fire, retired from the field altogether, taking their
+wounded with them, but leaving to Ngati-Awa the victor's privilege of
+burying the dead. Sixty of the Ngati-Raukawa had fallen, but only
+sixteen of the defenders. There were, however, many wounded in both
+camps. These were attended to by the medical men on board the
+_Tory_, which arrived at Kapiti on the day that the battle was
+fought; and, as Dr. Dieffenbach has left a graphic account of what he
+saw, no better authority can be here quoted:--
+
+ "All the people of the village were assembled; and, though grief was
+ expressed in every face, they received us with the greatest kindness
+ and attention, and we were obliged to shake hands with everybody.
+ They regarded us as friends and allies, for we had brought with us
+ from Te-Awaiti some of their relations; and when they saw the medical
+ men of our party giving assistance to the wounded, their confidence
+ and gratitude were unbounded. Some of the women gave themselves up to
+ violent expressions of grief, cutting their faces, arms, and legs
+ with broken mussel-shells, and inflicting deep gashes, from which the
+ blood flowed profusely. We had brought with us E Patu, the son of a
+ chief in East Bay, whose uncle had been killed in the battle. We
+ found the widow standing on the roof of a hut, deploring in a low
+ strain the loss of her husband. When E Patu approached she threw
+ herself upon the ground, and, lying at his feet, related to him, in a
+ funeral song, how great had been their happiness, how flourishing
+ were their plantations, until the Ngati-Raukawa had destroyed their
+ peace and bereft her of her husband. During this time E Patu stood
+ before her, convulsively throwing his arms backwards and forwards,
+ and joining in her lamentations. An old woman, bent down under the
+ burden of many years, had her arms and face frightfully cut; she was
+ painted with red _kokowai_, with a wreath of leaves round her
+ head, and gesticulated and sang in a similar manner. In this place
+ there were no wounded; they had been carried to the principal and
+ most fortified _pa_, which lies a little to the northward. This
+ latter village was very large; it stood on a sand-hill, and was well
+ fenced in, and the houses were neatly constructed. Everything was
+ kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many
+ villages in Europe. The population seemed to be numerous, and I
+ estimated it, together with that of the first-mentioned village, and
+ a third, about a mile higher up, to amount, on the whole, to seven
+ hundred souls. Several native missionaries, some of them liberated
+ Ngati-Awa slaves, live here; and the natives had built a large house,
+ neatly lined with a firm and tall reed, for their church and
+ meeting-house. At the time of our visit they were expecting the
+ arrival of a missionary of the Church of England from the Bay of
+ Islands, who purposed living amongst them. The medical aid which they
+ had given to their wounded was confined to binding the broken limbs
+ with splints made of the bark of a pine, or of the strongest part of
+ the flax-leaves, and carefully protecting the wounds from external
+ injury by means of hoops. Some of these bandages had been very well
+ applied. I went to the beach on the following day to attend my
+ wounded patients and to visit the scene of battle. This was at the
+ third village, and many traces of the strife were visible: trenches
+ were dug in the sand of the beach, the fences of the village had been
+ thrown down, and the houses were devastated. The Ngati-Awa buried
+ their own dead; and the improved state of this tribe was shown by the
+ fact that, instead of feasting on the dead bodies of their enemies,
+ they buried them, depositing them in one common grave, together with
+ their muskets, powder, mats, &c., a generosity and good feeling as
+ unusual as it was honourable to their character. The grave of their
+ enemies they enclosed, and made it _tapu_ (sacred)."
+
+While this internecine strife raged up and down the coast, its
+disturbing influence had almost completely suspended the systematic
+settlement of the land by Europeans. There were many in Australia who,
+but for the peril of life and uncertainty of title, would long before
+this have swarmed over to New Zealand and occupied its shores. Only
+the most wanton and the more adventurous had come, and of these latter
+a few had been invited by the chiefs to remain, land being given to
+them on which to reside and establish themselves as traders. In
+isolated instances attempts had been made, chiefly by some subterfuge,
+to acquire from the natives large tracts of country for a nominal
+consideration; but these examples of dishonesty almost invariably
+brought their own punishment. One of the most unscrupulous of such
+perfidious transactions was that of Captain Blenkinsopp. He had sailed
+these seas in command of the whaler _Caroline_, and had made more
+than one trip to Cloudy Bay. There he became infatuated with a Maori
+woman of the Ngati-Toa tribe. His alliance with her gave him influence
+with Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who, about the year 1834, entered
+into a bargain with him, the spirit of which was that for the right to
+procure wood and water for his ship while at Cloudy Bay, the captain
+was to present the tribe with a ship's cannon,[145] which he had then
+with him at Kapiti. The conditions of this bargain were reduced to
+writing by Blenkinsopp, but not the bargain Te Rauparaha had counted
+upon. For wood and water, Ocean Bay and the magnificent Wairau Plain
+were substituted in the deed; and Rauparaha, with that reckless
+disregard for the value of his signature which he exhibited at all
+times when fire-arms were concerned, had signed it with the lines of
+his _moko_.
+
+The Wairau Plain is the floor of the valley through which the Wairau
+River runs. Terminating on the shores of Cloudy Bay, it recedes in
+ever-increasing elevation and diminishing breadth back for many miles,
+until it vanishes in the gorge at the foot of the Spencer Range.
+Covering an area of 65,000 acres, it comprises some of the richest
+agricultural and pastoral land in the Middle Island, and was at this
+time treasured by Rauparaha as one of his principal food-producing
+centres. Eager as he was to procure weapons with which to slaughter
+his enemies, he was equally sensible of the value of this valley; and
+it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he would have parted with so
+rich an estate for a single piece of rusty artillery, subject to the
+additional disadvantage of the difficulty involved in its transport.
+Knowing that he was, for such purposes, ignorant of the English
+language, Blenkinsopp, with a touch of irony, presented Te Rauparaha
+with a copy of the deed, and told him to show it to any captain of a
+man-o'-war who might visit Kapiti. Te Rauparaha did not wait for a
+naval officer, but gave the document to a whaler protege of his, named
+Hawes, then living at his island fortress. Hawes explained to
+Rauparaha that by the deed he had parted with all his land at the
+Wairau: whereupon the chief, in a fit of anger, tore up the paper,
+threw the fragments into the fire, and declared that, so far as he was
+concerned, the contract was at an end. Not so with Blenkinsopp. He
+sailed to Sydney, and there proceeded to raise a substantial sum of
+money upon the security of his deed from a solicitor named Unwin, then
+practising in that city. For reasons which need not be discussed here,
+Mr. Unwin eventually claimed the valley as his own; and his attempt to
+occupy the district, its disastrous failure, culminating in the
+massacre at the Wairau Bar, in 1840, of his manager and all his men,
+are now matters of history, affording another instance of how the just
+sometimes suffer for the unjust. Nor were the deception of Mr. Unwin
+and the death of Mr. Wilton and his fellow employees the full measure
+of the toll exacted as the result of Blenkinsopp's perfidy. When
+Colonel Wakefield met at Hokianga the native woman who had formerly
+been Captain Blenkinsopp's wife, and was now his widow, she showed him
+a document which purported to be the original deed to which her late
+husband had secured Te Rauparaha's signature. As a matter of fact, the
+document was no more than a copy which had been left amongst the
+captain's papers, but, believing it to be genuine, Wakefield purchased
+it for £300;[146] and it was largely on this spurious foundation that
+his brother, Captain Wakefield, subsequently, and with such fatal
+results, sought to build up the New Zealand Company's claim to the
+Wairau. This transaction, in which Captain Blenkinsopp was so
+scandalously concerned, was but typical of many another, by which the
+credulity of the natives was cunningly exploited. Their influence had,
+however, been so far comparatively harmless, and the measure of injury
+they had inflicted had told more heavily upon the unscrupulous
+speculators than upon the natives.
+
+But now Te Rauparaha, and those tribes with whom he was associated,
+were about to be brought into contact, and to some extent into
+conflict, with a more persistent earth-hunger, and more powerful
+land-buyers, than any which had yet operated upon the coasts of New
+Zealand. The spirit of colonisation was abroad in England, and the
+restless genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield[147] was busy coining
+schemes whereby the spirit of the hour might be embodied in action.
+Canada and South Australia had each attracted his attention; and now
+his eyes were turned to New Zealand as a field suitable for the
+planting of his quasi-philanthropic projects. His writings upon the
+subject of colonisation had drawn within the circle of his influence a
+galaxy of men, whose liberal education, lofty ideals, and generous
+impulses had earned for them the title of "philosophic radicals," and
+with these men, who stood for the most advanced development of English
+political aspiration, as its sponsors, the New Zealand Company was
+founded in 1839. With the story of this Company's early political
+troubles we are not concerned, for they bear only slightly on
+subsequent events in New Zealand. But the central fact with which we
+are concerned is that the Company was established for the purpose of
+acquiring land from the natives and transporting emigrants from
+England to settle thereon. To this end, the expeditionary ship
+_Tory_ was hurriedly despatched from the Thames, and arrived
+safely in New Zealand waters, bringing with her Colonel Wakefield,
+brother of the founder of the Company, with a staff of officers
+charged with the duty of conducting the negotiations for the purchase
+of land and arranging other preliminaries--which appeared to be
+regarded in the light of mere formalities--incidental to the
+introduction of a great colonising scheme. In furtherance of her
+mission, the _Tory_ paid a brief visit to Queen Charlotte Sound
+and Port Nicholson, and reached Kapiti on October 16, 1839, the day on
+which Ngati-Raukawa had been routed by Ngati-Awa at the fight of
+Kuititanga.
+
+The first tidings of this engagement was brought to the officers of
+the _Tory_ by a canoe-crew of natives who had just left the scene
+of strife; and although the sea was high, a boat's company had been
+organised, and was on the point of starting for the battlefield, when
+a message came from Te Rauparaha, who had returned to Evans' Island,
+that he wished them to pay him the honour of a visit. Accordingly, the
+course of the boat was deflected to the island, and there the chiefs
+of the two races met for the first time. Te Rauparaha was sitting upon
+the ground beside his wife, a woman who has been described as being of
+the "Meg Merrilies" type. He was deeply smeared with red ochre, and
+evidently in an uneasy frame of mind. His manner was restless, his
+glance furtive, and he was obviously depressed at the result of the
+battle. As Colonel Wakefield and his party approached, Te Rauparaha
+rose and hastened to exchange with them the missionary greeting,
+shaking them by the hand. With equal alacrity he sought to convince
+them that he had been in no way concerned in promoting the fight. In
+these protestations it cannot be said that he was in the least
+successful, for the Englishmen had already been prejudiced against him
+by the tales of his duplicity told them by both whalers and Ngati-Awas
+at Cloudy Bay; whilst his wandering, distrustful glances, as he spoke,
+were not calculated to inspire confidence. Though, on the whole, his
+conduct was unsatisfactory, the interview was occasionally illumined
+by flashes of his imperious nature, the inborn power to lead and
+command momentarily asserting itself, only to be again clouded by a
+mean cringing, which seemed to bespeak a craven spirit.
+
+Being assured that there were no hostile natives harbouring on board
+the _Tory_, Te Rauparaha left Evans' Island for Kapiti, promising
+to visit the ship on the following morning. Next day he was received
+by Colonel Wakefield with a salute of guns, which filled him with
+alarm, until it had been made clear that the demonstration was
+intended as a great compliment to him and those chiefs who were with
+him. The preliminaries of the reception being over, the question of
+the land purchase was introduced to the chiefs; but Colonel Wakefield
+discovered them to be distinctly hostile to his proposals, an
+opposition which he attributed to the influence of Mr. Wynen, the
+agent for a Sydney land syndicate, whose headquarters were then at
+Cloudy Bay. The energies of this gentleman had been insidiously
+applied to prejudice the native mind against the Company's scheme of
+colonisation; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the
+Colonel was ultimately able to dissipate these prejudices, and to
+obtain their consent "to look over their land, and if he found it
+good, to take it." A gale which raged through the Strait prevented all
+communication with the shore and suspended the negotiations until the
+21st, when Colonel Wakefield made a definite proposal to purchase all
+the Ngati-Toa possessions, together with their rights and claims on
+both sides of the Strait. After he had exhibited to their wondering
+eyes a great portion of the goods--the finery and the trumpery--which
+he intended to dignify by the term "payment," his proposals were
+doubtingly accepted, Te Hiko pressing for more soap and clothing, and
+Te Rauparaha clamouring for more arms. Te Rauparaha dictated to Mr.
+Jerningham Wakefield the names of the localities involved in the sale;
+and the binding nature of the bargain was impressed upon the natives
+as clearly as the linguistic limitations of Dicky Barrett, the
+interpreter, would permit.
+
+These preliminaries settled, the following day was appointed for the
+distribution of the goods; but the ceremony was intercepted by the
+indisposition of Te Hiko, whom Colonel Wakefield regarded as an
+indispensable party to the transaction, and he refused to proceed
+without him. This refusal greatly aggravated Te Rauparaha, whose hands
+were itching to grasp the guns, which had been thrown like leaven
+amongst the heap of worthless stuff; and he railed bitterly against
+the deference paid to one whom he designated "a boy," destitute alike
+of any interest in, or knowledge of, land. "Give us the goods," said
+he, "with more powder and arms. Of what use are blankets, soap, tools,
+and iron pots, when we are going to war? What does it matter whether
+we die cold or warm, clean or dirty, hungry or full? Give us
+two-barrelled guns, plenty of muskets, lead, powder, cartridges and
+cartouche boxes." This militant appeal was coldly ignored by Colonel
+Wakefield, who steadfastly declined to consider the question of
+distribution until Hiko's return, which did not occur until two days
+later. On the 23rd, however, the chiefs again assembled, and the
+merchandise, which the Company offered as payment for the land, was
+ostentatiously displayed on the deck of the _Tory_. The
+consummation of the transaction was, however, still to be delayed.
+While Te Hiko was busy trying on one of the coats which he had
+selected from the pile of clothing, Te Rauparaha, Tungia, and several
+of the warlike chiefs made an unseemly rush to secure some of the
+fowling-pieces, which were lying on the companion hatch ready for
+distribution. This exhibition of selfishness so exasperated Te Hiko
+that he at once threw down the garment, and, calling to Rangihiroa to
+accompany him, went down over the ship's side and made for the shore
+in a fit of ill-humour, out of which he could not be cajoled until
+next day.
+
+Colonel Wakefield immediately suspended the proceedings, whereupon Te
+Rauparaha again became deeply offended at the consideration shown for
+one whom he regarded as so much his inferior; but, in spite of
+importunities and threats which sorely tried his patience, the Colonel
+refused to recede from his former attitude, and declined to take one
+step towards the sale in Hiko's absence. As Wakefield was adamant
+against all their menaces and blandishments, nothing remained but to
+return on shore for the purpose of placating Te Hiko, which they
+shortly succeeded in doing. Next day, unsolicited by Colonel
+Wakefield, both Te Hiko and Te Rauparaha came off to the ship, and,
+after entertaining themselves for some time with the novelties of the
+_pakeha_, they asked that the deed of sale might be read over to
+them, the map being at the same time consulted. After questions had
+been asked and answered, and all doubts on either side apparently
+cleared away, the fateful document was signed, Te Rauparaha making a
+mark peculiarly his own, and Te Hiko subscribing the sign of the
+cross. Each then left the vessel, possessed of a gun, promising that
+the rest of the chiefs would come on board and sign on the next day.
+This ceremony was duly performed, but only eleven signatures were
+obtained, Te Rauparaha and two minor chiefs signing as proxy for the
+natives on the opposite side of the Strait. A share of the gifts was
+reserved for Te Rangihaeata, who was at Mana, and had taken no part in
+the negotiations. On Thursday, 24th October, Colonel Wakefield was
+able to report to his Directors in London that he had acquired by his
+purchases at Port Nicholson and Kapiti, at a cost of a few guns, some
+powder, lead, and miscellaneous goods, "possessions for the Company
+extending from the 38th to the 43rd degree of latitude on the western
+coast, and from the 41st to the 43rd on the eastern." But Colonel
+Wakefield still had some reservations as to the completeness and
+validity of his purchases; for he added to his report this qualifying
+sentence: "To complete the rights of the Company to all the land
+unsold to foreigners in the above extensive district, it remains for
+me to secure the cession of their rights in it from the Ngati-Awa,
+and, in a proportionately small degree, from the Ngati-Raukawa and
+Whanganui peoples."
+
+Three days later he had an interview with the Ngati-Awa people at
+Waikanae, and they, being excited by the spirit of war and fearful of
+another attack by Ngati-Raukawa, were easily tempted by the sight of
+guns and the prospect of powder. Several of the elder chiefs addressed
+the assemblage, and urged their followers to acquiesce in the
+Colonel's proposals, conditionally upon their receiving arms and
+ammunition. To this stipulation Wakefield felt no reluctance in
+agreeing, and, for the purpose of giving it effect, a conference was
+arranged to take place on board the _Tory_. On the appointed day
+(8th November) the natives were astir bright and early; soon after
+daylight they "began to come on board, and by 12 o'clock more than two
+hundred had assembled on the deck, including all the principal chiefs
+of the Sounds." To these unsophisticated dealers in real estate was
+produced the deed, phrased in stilted terms, which purported to convey
+to the Colonel, as agent for the Company, and in trust for the
+Company, a vast area of country, over much of which the signatories
+had absolutely no authority whatever.
+
+"Know all men that we the undersigned chiefs of the Ngati-Awa tribes,
+residing in Queen Charlotte's Sound, on both sides of Cook Strait, in
+New Zealand, have this day sold and parted with, in consideration of
+having received, as full and just payment for the same, ten
+single-barrelled guns, three double-barrelled guns, sixty muskets,
+forty kegs of powder, two kegs of lead slabs, two dozen pairs of
+scissors, two dozen combs, two pounds of beads, one thousand flints,
+the land bounded on the south by the parallel of the 43rd degree of
+South latitude, and on the west, north and east by the sea (with all
+islands), and also comprising all those lands, islands, tenements,
+&c., situate on the northern shore of Cook Straits, which are bounded
+on the north-east by a direct line drawn from the southern head of the
+river or harbour of Mokau, situate on the west coast in latitude of
+about 38 degrees South, to Tikukahore, situate on the east coast in
+the latitude of about 41 degrees South, and on the east, south and
+west by the sea, excepting always the island of Kapiti, and the small
+islands adjacent thereto, and the island of Mana, but including
+Tehukahore, Wairarapa, Port Nicholson, Otaki, Manawatu, Rangitikei,
+Whanganui, Waitotara, Patea, Ngati-Ruanui, Taranaki, Moturoa, and the
+several sugar-loaf islands and the river or harbour of Mokau."
+
+The goods which were specified in the deed as the price of the land
+were carefully arranged on deck; but during the process of distribution
+a violent altercation took place, which was only quelled by a threat
+from the Colonel to send the wares below and proceed to sea, if peace
+was not immediately restored. Advantage was taken of the "momentary
+calm" thus secured to obtain the coveted signatures, and consenting
+chiefs to the number of about thirty appended their marks to the
+document. Scarcely had the distribution of the beads and bullets
+recommenced than another mêlée, even more violent, took place. "In a
+moment," says the Colonel in his report to the Company, "the most
+tumultuous scene we had ever witnessed took place, in which many blows
+were exchanged: never did a ship witness such a scene of violence
+without bloodshed." A similar, "if not more unfriendly," riot occurred
+on shore amongst those natives who had first conveyed their goods to
+land before they commenced their peculiar method of division; but it
+mattered nothing to the Company's representative how the natives
+abused their goods or each other so long as they had put their marks
+to his deed. Equally was it a matter of indifference to the Maoris how
+many deeds they signed, so long as they became possessed of arms and
+ammunition. It was sufficient for the one that he had outwitted his
+rivals, and appeared to be doing well for his employers, and for the
+other that they had satisfied the most pressing need of the moment.
+Neither looked beyond the immediate present, or took a single thought
+for the long years of mistrust and misunderstanding that were to
+follow upon their hasty and ill-considered transactions. Confident
+that he had made "a full and just payment" for the land described in
+the deed, Colonel Wakefield on 9th November went on shore and took
+possession of the estate, in the name of the Company; and, in order to
+distinguish their possessions, "which so greatly predominate in this
+extensive territory," from those of other buyers, he designated them
+North and South Durham, according to the respective islands in which
+they were situated. Having completed his purchases at Kapiti to his
+own satisfaction, Colonel Wakefield, on 18th November, sailed northward,
+intending to call in at Whanganui for the purpose of perfecting his
+purchases there, as he regarded that district as one of some
+importance. But before he left he had received a glimmering that his
+proceedings had not been perfectly understood, and the first shadow of
+doubt must have crossed his mind when Te Rauparaha calmly informed him
+that he (Te Rauparaha) wanted more guns, and, in order to get them,
+intended to make further sales, embracing territory which the Colonel
+believed he had already bought. Language of the most reproachful
+character was used towards the chief, and his speedy repudiation of a
+solemn bargain was characterised in unmeasured terms; but Te Rauparaha
+steadfastly maintained that, so far as he was concerned, the sale in
+the Middle Island had not included more than D'Urville Island and
+Blind Bay at Nelson. Subsequent investigations proved that Te
+Rauparaha was right and the Colonel was wrong; but it is doubtful
+whether, when he left for Whanganui, the latter had realised the full
+extent of his error, and therefore he parted from the chief with
+bitterness in his heart and an angry word upon his lips.
+
+While these events were in progress in New Zealand, the operations of
+the Company and its contemporary land-speculators had not passed
+unnoticed in England. The British authorities were beginning to regard
+those islands with an anxious eye, but they displayed a painful
+indecision in adopting measures to meet the political emergency which
+they were commencing to realise was inevitable. As a tentative step,
+Mr. Busby was sent from New South Wales in the capacity of British
+Resident; but his usefulness was shorn down to the point of nullity by
+the purely nominal nature of the powers with which he was endowed.
+Negative as the results of this experiment had been, it nevertheless
+encouraged the British authorities to take a still bolder step in the
+appointment of Captain Hobson, R.N., as the accredited British Consul,
+who was authorised to negotiate with the chiefs, and, if possible, to
+acquire the country by cession, preparatory to annexing it as a
+dependency of New South Wales. Even Hobson's position was extremely
+anomalous until the now famous Treaty of Waitangi had been formulated
+and successfully promulgated amongst the tribes. The ratification of
+this document by the chiefs was a severe blow to the New Zealand
+Company, while it is doubtful whether the Maoris had more than a
+nebulous idea of its real meaning. It, however, gave the British
+Government the colour of right to institute the principles of
+established authority in those islands, where it had become their
+imperative duty to control the colonisation which their indifference
+had not been able to thwart. With the policy of the Treaty of Waitangi
+we are not now concerned, beyond recording the fact that, in order to
+give effect to that policy, it became necessary to procure the
+signatures of all the principal chiefs, as acknowledging their assent
+to the solemn obligations involved in the covenant. To this end
+Archdeacon Williams came southward, and in due course reached Kapiti,
+where, on May 14, 1840, he succeeded, but by what means we are not
+told, in inducing Te Rauparaha to sign the treaty. Similarly, Major
+Bunbury, an officer of the 80th Regiment, had been despatched by
+Captain Hobson in H.M.S. _Herald_, charged with the mission of
+securing the assent of the chiefs in the Middle Island to the
+proposals of the Government. After having visited all the southern
+_pas_ of importance, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Queen
+both at Stewart Island and Cloudy Bay, he arrived at Kapiti on June
+19th, and to him we are indebted for the following account of what
+there occurred:--
+
+ "When we arrived off the island of Kapiti several canoes were leaving
+ the island, and on my preparing to go ashore, fortunately the first
+ canoe we met had on board the chief Rauparaha, whom I was anxious to
+ see. He returned on board with me in the ship's boat, his own canoe,
+ one of the most splendid I have yet seen, following. He told me the
+ Rev. Mr. Williams had been there, and had obtained his signature to
+ the treaty, and on inquiring for the chiefs Rangihaeata and Te Hiko,
+ I was informed that we should meet them both, probably at the island
+ of Mana, and, as this lay on our route to Port Nicholson, thither we
+ proceeded, the chief Rauparaha remaining on board the _Herald_,
+ his canoes following. On our arrival, the _Herald_ having
+ anchored, I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Williams and Rauparaha.
+ We learnt that Hiko, son of the late chief Te Pehi, had gone out on a
+ distant expedition. The other chief, Rangihaeata, after some time
+ returned with us on board, accompanied by Rauparaha, when both signed
+ the treaty."
+
+What arguments or other inducements were held out to the chiefs to
+lead them to append their marks to the document is not clear.
+Rauparaha subsequently boasted that he had received a blanket for his
+signature, but whether this gift, or bribe, was tendered by the
+missionary or the Major is equally a matter of doubt. It would,
+however, be safe to assume that the blanket was a more potent factor
+in securing the allegiance of the chief to the policy of the treaty
+than any arguments that could have been pressed upon him. It is
+certainly asking much of the intelligence of Te Rauparaha to assert
+that he was seized with the full significance of the step he had
+taken, seeing that the terms and intentions of the treaty were
+afterwards so diversely interpreted by cultured Englishmen.[148] Major
+Bunbury, when being sent out on his southern mission, was instructed
+by Captain Hobson to assemble the chiefs, to explain the provisions of
+the treaty to them, and further, to give them "a solemn pledge that
+the most perfect good faith would be kept by Her Majesty's Government,
+that their property, their rights and privileges should be most fully
+preserved." In direct conflict with this official view, which was an
+accurate reflex of the instructions given to Captain Hobson himself by
+the Marquis of Normanby, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies,
+Lord Howick persuaded a Committee of the House of Commons to condemn
+the treaty as "a part of a series of injudicious proceedings," and
+with a light-hearted ignorance of Maori reverence for landed
+rights,[149] to assert that the acknowledgment of Maori property in
+wild lands subsequent to the Queen's assumption of sovereignty was
+"not essential to the construction of the treaty, and was an error
+which had been productive of serious consequences."
+
+Whether or not Te Rauparaha and his fellow-signatories were able to
+analyse the language of the treaty with the precision of an English
+statesman, they had certainly never placed upon it such a loose
+interpretation as this. And when tidings of the Committee's deliberations
+reached the colony, the alleged "serious consequences" which had
+followed upon the observance and administration of the treaty as laid
+down by Captain Hobson were safety itself compared with the
+catastrophe which might have followed from this rash attempt to
+repudiate, in the interests of the New Zealand Company, the essential
+principle of the treaty--that the "full, exclusive, and undisturbed
+possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other
+possessions" was guaranteed to the natives by the Queen. Fortunately,
+at this time there was at the head of Britain's Colonial Department a
+Minister who held national honour to be dearer than personal gain.
+Lord Stanley, to his credit, refused to comply with the recommendations
+of the Committee to confiscate the native land "without reference to
+the validity or otherwise of its supposed purchase from the natives,"
+and at the end of the famous three days' debate induced the House of
+Commons to adopt his view of the nation's obligations to the Maoris.
+
+The Crown having now assumed sovereignty over New Zealand, it became
+necessary to administer its affairs impartially in the interests of
+both Maori and _pakeha_ population; and, in this connection, one
+of its first and most pressing duties was to make an honest effort to
+unravel the complex web of land claims, in which both races had become
+unhappily entangled. The Government of Lord John Russell accordingly
+appointed as a commissioner to adjudicate upon claims of all classes
+of buyers Mr. Spain, an English lawyer, who, it is said, had been a
+prominent electioneering agent on the side of the Liberals. Mr. Spain
+arrived in New Zealand on December 8, 1841, and immediately took steps
+to establish his court. He has been described as a man of solid
+intelligence, but burdened with a good deal of legal pedantry; slow in
+thinking and in his apprehension of ways of dealing with new
+emergencies; steady and plodding in his methods, thoroughly honest in
+his intentions, and utterly inflexible to threats, though, perhaps,
+not unsusceptible to flattery. Considering the magnitude of their
+alleged purchases, the claims of the New Zealand Company naturally
+took precedence over all others in the business of the court; and,
+having regard to the temperament of the Commissioner, an inauspicious
+start was made by the representatives of the Company metaphorically
+shaking their fists in his face. In some degree their annoyance may
+have been pardonable, for they, believing themselves to be the
+pioneers of a great colonising scheme, had flattered themselves that
+not only the merit of their cause, but the fact that they had made
+their purchases prior to the proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty,
+would have placed them outside the exacting conditions of the Treaty
+of Waitangi.
+
+The coming of Mr. Spain, and his insistence upon an exhaustive
+examination of their titles, was a heavy blow to them, which they at
+first thought to ward off by affecting an attitude of amused
+indifference. They laughed at the treaty, with its engagement to
+respect Maori rights in land, and its elevation of the Maori to a
+civil status equal to themselves. But amidst this simulated merriment
+they exhibited an ill-concealed chagrin that the little self-governing
+community, which they had hoped to set up on the shores of Cook
+Strait, had been so unceremoniously superseded by the sovereignty of
+the Queen, and they resented with fear and anxiety the appointment of
+a commissioner, who might deem it his duty to ask awkward questions
+regarding their titles. Their policy was, therefore, one of delay and
+evasion, which was inaugurated by their raising technical objections
+to the constitution of the court, its jurisdiction, and its forms of
+procedure, but, most of all, to Mr. Spain's determination to call
+native evidence. That was surely an unnecessary elevation of the
+savage, and a corresponding degradation of the white man. In fact,
+they openly asserted that to put the testimony of the one against the
+other was a gratuitous insult to the dignity of the British subject.
+But this was not the full measure of Spain's offending in the eyes of
+the Company's champions. He was audacious enough to ask Colonel
+Wakefield to submit proof that those natives who had signed the
+Company's deed had the right to sell the land which they thus
+purported to convey to the Company; and some of them made themselves
+conspicuously offensive in the manner in which they ridiculed this
+demand as preposterous and ridiculous.
+
+The proceedings of the court at Wellington[150] do not materially
+concern our purpose, for Te Rauparaha took no part in the sale of Port
+Nicholson, nor need we burden the narrative with the interminable
+finesse which took place before the court was able seriously to attack
+the work which lay before it in other districts. When this condition
+was at length reached, Spain soon saw that he was faced with a most
+serious problem. That the Company's purchases were in most instances
+bad he had little hesitation in declaring. But there was no blinking
+the fact that hundreds of settlers had risked their all on the
+assurances of the Company that they could give them a title, and it
+would have been cruel indeed to visit the sins of the Company upon the
+unfortunate colonists. Spain, therefore, halted between justice to the
+Maoris and equity to the settlers, satisfying the requirements of his
+office by issuing interim reports, hoping that in the meantime some
+workable compromise might be evolved. This was ultimately found in an
+arrangement whereby Mr. Clarke and Colonel Wakefield were to agree
+upon what additional compensation was to be paid for the land
+purchased, and, failing their arriving at an understanding, Mr. Spain
+was to be the final arbitrator. At the outset of these negotiations,
+Mr. Clarke stipulated that the natives were not to be evicted from
+their _pas_ or their cultivations, nor were their burial-places
+to be disturbed; but to these reasonable reservations Colonel
+Wakefield could not at first be induced to frankly agree, while his
+unwillingness, or his inability, to comply with the ultimate awards
+tended to accentuate rather than to soothe public irritation.
+
+Meanwhile, Rangihaeata had been busy entering his practical protest
+against what he believed to be a violation of his rights at Porirua.
+He, in conjunction with Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,[151] stoutly
+contended that Porirua, like the Wairau, had never been sold; and
+when, in the early part of 1841, the Company's surveyors went there to
+survey, Rangihaeata blocked up the forest track, levelled the
+surveyors' tents to the ground, and, at the end of each day, undid all
+the work which they had performed. This interference with the survey
+was obviated by an assurance being given to the chief, that, even if
+the land were surveyed, the Company's title must still be investigated
+by Mr. Spain before the settlers would be permitted to enter upon it.
+But, in defiance of this assurance, Colonel Wakefield, in April, 1842,
+issued leases to four settlers--Joseph Hurley, Thomas Parry, Benjamin
+Lowndes and Josiah Torr--who at once proceeded to erect houses and
+occupy their holdings. Two of the houses were nearly finished when the
+intelligence was brought to the chief. Rangihaeata immediately gave
+the settlers notice of his intention to pull their houses down; and
+this threat, so chivalrously declared, was duly executed next day,
+without any unnecessary violence, by the chief and a band of fifty
+men. The indignation which followed this assertion of native authority
+found expression in a public meeting at Wellington, at which the
+arrest of Rangihaeata was violently demanded, and those present
+declared their readiness to assist the Sheriff in effecting his
+capture. With the mandate of this meeting Mr. Murphy, the magistrate,
+refused to comply,[152] and when, in the following June, the huts were
+again demolished, he wrote to the Governor declaring his determination
+not to interfere "to prevent any natives keeping land which they state
+they have not sold, until Mr. Spain decides upon the claims." This
+determination to regard the Porirua land claims as _sub judice_
+met with the entire concurrence of Captain Hobson, but was as bitterly
+assailed by Colonel Wakefield, who committed the indiscretion, almost
+criminal under the circumstances, of declaring, when speaking at
+Wellington, that he had not treated with the natives for a settlement
+of their claims, but preferred to employ the inconvenience created by
+these claims as grounds of complaint against the Government, and as
+arguments in aid of his efforts to secure the removal of the Governor.
+With such a feeling of declared insincerity pervading Colonel
+Wakefield's conduct, it is small wonder that the differences between
+the natives and the Company were slow of settlement, or that the
+efforts of Spain and Clarke to that end were unduly protracted.
+Equally true is it that thereby the cares and worries of the Governor
+were unnecessarily aggravated, while both brown and white populations
+were exasperated almost to the point of desperation by the vexatious
+delays. The irritated state of the public temper thus engendered not
+only made acts of violence possible, but even encouraged them, and
+these only added fuel to the threatened conflagration. A native woman
+was found by her friends murdered at Wellington, and suspicion fell
+upon a European. Only a few months later a settler was discovered
+lying upon the Petone road with his skull fractured, and questioning
+eyes were at once turned in the direction of the Maoris. The
+burial-grounds of the natives were being repeatedly desecrated by
+_pakeha_ looters in search of greenstone ornaments, and in the
+prosecution of this shameful traffic, deep offence was given by the
+secret exhumation of the body of Te Rauparaha's brother, Nohorua, at
+Cloudy Bay. For this act of violence to the honoured dead the natives
+would at one time have taken swift vengeance; but, acting under the
+restraining counsel of Mr. Clarke, they consented to refer their
+complaint to the Government for settlement, a forbearance which the
+Protector, in his letter to Captain Hobson, assured the Governor
+greatly surprised him.[153] The weight of these and other accumulating
+troubles began to tell heavily upon the frail physique of Captain
+Hobson, and borne down by the stress of his increasing responsibilities,
+he died at Auckland in September, 1842. Before his successor, Captain
+Fitzroy, arrived in the Colony, the tragedy for which the country was
+being rapidly prepared had been enacted, and the faithlessness of the
+New Zealand Company had been written in letters of blood on the floor
+of the Wairau Valley.
+
+[127] "Amongst these, there was a great chief named Tu-Hawaiki in
+Maori, 'Bloody Jack' by the Englishmen, because in his English, which
+he learned mostly from the rough whalers and traders, he often used
+the low word 'bloody'" (_Memoirs of the Rev. J.F.H. Wohlers_). Tu
+Hawaiki was both the patron and the pupil of the whalers, and was
+referred to by them as an evidence of what they had done in civilising
+the aborigines. "He was undoubtedly the most intelligent native in the
+country in 1840, and his reputation for honesty was such that
+Europeans trusted him with large quantities of goods" (_Thomson_).
+
+[128] "Just like the Governor."
+
+[129] Travers doubts the occurrence of this incident, holding that had
+Te Rauparaha been guilty of such conduct towards his own people, he
+could never have retained the respect of his fellow-chiefs. Wakefield,
+on the other hand, insists upon it, and it is also referred to in a
+Ngati-Toa account of Te Rauparaha's life found in White's _Ancient
+History of the Maori_.
+
+[130] A modified version of this incident states that all the crew
+were drowned except an old woman, who escaped by clinging to the
+overturned canoe. Tu-Hawaiki and his friends waited about the shore
+for some days until the bodies were cast up, and then the old woman
+was killed, her death being part of the religious rites performed at
+the funeral ceremonies. But there are discrepancies in the tradition,
+upon which it is now impossible to arbitrate.
+
+[131] This war is known in Maori history as the Hao-whenua war.
+
+[132] Te Heuheu's peace was made at Kapiti. He took a _taiaha_
+and broke it across his knee. Some people then gave him a long-handled
+tomahawk, and Hoani Tuhata gave a sword, and peace was made (_Native
+Land Court Record_).
+
+[133] I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Robert McNab, for the following
+note, culled from an American whaling captain's log, which probably
+refers to this period, the incident described having occurred at
+Cloudy Bay on Saturday, April 30, 1836:--
+
+"At 4 had visit from Roabolla (Rauparaha), the head chief of this Bay
+(just returned from a marauding expedition), accompanied with the
+customary demand of lay of tobacco, muskets, and cask of powder, which
+I peremptorily denied. This they returned with a threat that I should
+not whale here, to which I replied I was perfectly willing to go to
+sea, for I would not submit to any imposition, although I would
+present them with the same the English ships and parties did, but no
+more, and if they would not take that they should have nothing. They
+finally consented to receive a dozen pipes, 10 lbs. tobacco, and a
+piece of low-priced calico of about 30 yards, priced 17s. 4d., and a
+tin pot, then dismissed them with a blessing. He afterwards came and
+demanded supper, which I, of course, declined furnishing him, and bade
+him goodbye. There is no other way to deal with these people only to
+be positive with them, and let them know you do not fear them, as if
+any timidity is shown, they demand everything they see, nor would the
+ship hold enough for them, and the bad conduct of masters has
+encouraged them to be very importunate. I am willing to allow a lone
+ship here, not well armed, might be obliged to comply with their
+requisition, but no excuse can be offered for any one to do so now, as
+there are seven ships here all partially armed, and yet he showed me
+three muskets given him by the captains of ships the other side, to
+their shame be it spoken, for if they only reflected they would know
+'tis for the interest of these natives to keep on good terms with us,
+as they know if ships are hindered coming here, adieu to their darling
+tobacco, muskets, and pipes. I have adopted this line of conduct from
+my own conviction, and the advice of the English masters now here who
+know them well."
+
+[134] This fight is known in Ngai-Tahu tradition as _Oroua-moa-nui_.
+The Rev. Canon Stack says that Paora Taki, afterwards a well-known
+Maori Assessor at Rapaki, who was fighting under Tu-Hawaiki,
+recognised 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 with which to assault him.
+
+[135] Dieffenbach says: "Ten or twelve years ago (1827-29) the
+southern headland of Tory Channel was the scene of a sanguinary
+contest between the original natives of the channel and the tribes of
+the Ngati-Awa. Rauparaha, at the head of the latter people, earned
+inglorious laurels by shutting up his opponents on a narrow tongue of
+land and then exterminating them."
+
+[136] "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
+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_" (_Travers_).
+
+[137] "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" (_Stack_).
+
+[138] When Mr. Edward Shortland was travelling in the Middle Island in
+1843-44, an account of which he has left us in his _Southern Districts
+of New Zealand_, he had for guide and assistant a native named
+Huruhuru, who employed the leisure of his evenings in giving Mr.
+Shortland information about the interior of the country, with which he
+was well acquainted. He drew a map of the four great lakes in central
+Otago, described the country through which the path across the island
+passed, and was able to name the principal streams, and even to point
+out the various stopping-places at the end of each day's journey.
+
+[139] In confirmation of at least one purpose of the expedition--that
+of securing slaves--it is interesting to note that, with the exception
+of two children who were killed and eaten at Lake Wanaka, none of the
+prisoners were sacrificed, although the temptation to do so must have
+been difficult to resist, as the party often suffered severely from
+hunger.
+
+[140] "For three miles we followed this stream, flowing in a
+north-north-east direction, through a comparatively open valley, with
+occasional patches of grass on its sides, and arrived then at its
+junction with a large stream of glacial origin, and of the size of the
+Makarora, which came from the eastern central chain, and to which,
+according to the direction of His Honour the Superintendent, I gave my
+name. This river forms, before it reaches the valley, a magnificent
+waterfall, several hundred feet in height" (_Haast's "Geology of
+Canterbury and Westland"_).
+
+[141] The exception above referred to was Nga-whakawa, Te Puoho's
+brother-in-law, who escaped in the dim light of the early morning. Mr.
+Percy Smith, writing in the _Polynesian Journal_, says: "His was
+a most unenviable position. A distance of nearly five hundred miles in
+a straight line separated him from his own people, the intermediate
+country being occupied by tribes bitterly hostile to his, who would
+welcome with joy the opportunity of sacrificing him. But notwithstanding
+the exceeding difficulties which lay in his path, this brave fellow
+decided to try to rejoin his relatives at Massacre Bay, at the extreme
+north end of the South Island. How long his arduous journey took I
+know not, but it must have been months. He dare not keep near the east
+coast, which was inhabited by his enemies, but had to follow the base
+of the mountains inland, seeking his sustenance in roots of the fern,
+which is very scarce, and of the _taramea_, occasionally snaring
+a _weka_ or other bird. So he made his toilsome way by mountain
+and valley, swimming the snow-cold rivers, ever on the alert for signs
+of wandering parties of his enemies, only lighting fires after dark by
+the arduous process of _hika-ahi_, or rubbing two sticks together,
+enduring cold, fatigue, and hunger, until, after making one of the
+most extraordinary journeys on record, he at last reached the home of
+his people at Parapara, Massacre Bay. Here he was the first to bring
+the news of the disaster which had befallen Te Puoho and his
+companions. The daughter of this man, born after his return, named Ema
+Nga-whakawa, was still living at Manawatu a few years since."
+
+[142] This food was composed of pumpkins, probably the first grown on
+the coast.
+
+[143] The late Rangitane chief at Awapuni, Kerei te Panau.
+
+[144] Kuititanga means the wedge-shaped piece of land which is
+formed by the junction of two rivers.
+
+[145] This celebrated cannon is now at the town of Blenheim. Its
+history has been stated as follows, by the late John Guard, of Port
+Underwood. In 1833, his father, the original "Jack Guard" of the
+_Harriet_, brought this gun from Sydney and traded it away to
+Nohorua, a brother of Rauparaha, for the right to establish a whaling
+station at Kakapo Bay. This bargain was greatly facilitated by a
+demonstration which Guard gave by loading the gun and firing it off,
+for its power vastly pleased the natives, who christened it
+_Pu-huri-whenua_, "the gun that causes the earth to tremble." In
+1834, Captain Blenkinsopp came upon the scene, and is said to have
+carried the gun away from Kakapo Bay "without leave or licence," and
+bartered it to Rauparaha for the Wairau Plain and Ocean Bay.
+Subsequently, it was brought back to Port Underwood by Rauparaha, and
+again given to Guard's father. After his death, it was taken
+possession of by the province of Marlborough as an historic relic,
+during the superintendency of Mr. Eyes.
+
+[146] "Previous to sailing, Colonel Wakefield purchased from a lady,
+representing herself to be the widow of Captain Blenkinsopp, some
+deeds professing to be the original conveyances of the plains of the
+Wairau by Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and others to that gentleman, in
+consideration of a ship's gun. They were signed with elaborate
+drawings of the _moko_ or tattoo on the chiefs' faces" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[147] According to Lord Lytton, Edward Gibbon Wakefield was "the man
+in these latter days beyond comparison of the most genius and widest
+influence in the great science of colonisation, both as a thinker, a
+writer, and a worker, whose name is like a spell to all interested in
+that subject."
+
+[148] Mr. Somes, one of the champions of the New Zealand Company in
+London, thus expressed the views of the Directorate upon the treaty:
+"We did not believe that even the Royal power of making treaties could
+establish in the eye of our courts such a fiction as a native law of
+real property in New Zealand. We have always had very serious doubts
+whether the Treaty of Waitangi, made with naked savages by a Consul
+invested with no plenipotentiary powers, could be treated by lawyers
+as anything but a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment." To this Lord Stanley replied through his
+secretary that he was "not prepared, as Her Majesty's Secretary of
+State, to join with the Company in setting aside the Treaty of
+Waitangi after having obtained the advantage guaranteed by it, even
+though it might be made with 'naked savages,' or though it might be
+treated by lawyers as a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment. Lord Stanley entertains a different view of
+the respect due to obligations contracted by the Crown of England, and
+his final answer to the demands of the Company must be that, as long
+as he has the honour of serving the Crown, he will not admit that any
+person, or any Government, acting in the name of Her Majesty, can
+contract a legal, moral, or honorary obligation to despoil others of
+their lawful and equitable rights."
+
+[149] "Long before the arrival of the white man in New Zealand there
+was a proverb amongst the Maoris--'_He wahine he whenua, e ngaro ai
+te tangata_,' which may be rendered in English 'For land or wife man
+stakes his life'" (_Clarke_).
+
+[150] When the court opened at Wellington on 16th May, one of the
+first witnesses called was Dicky Barrett, who had acted as interpreter
+to Colonel Wakefield when making his purchases, and Mr. George Clarke,
+who appeared as the representative of the natives, has left us the
+following sketch of Dicky's appearance in the box: "Barrett was a
+shore whaler who had married a native woman; he was a decent fellow
+enough among men of his class, but he was very ignorant, and I soon
+made him show, in the course of his evidence, that he did not even
+understand the English meaning of the deeds he professed to interpret.
+He admitted, too, that instead of telling the natives, as the deed set
+forth, that one-tenth of the surveyed lots should be reserved for
+their use, he had simply put it that one lot of the alienated land
+should be kept for the Maoris and one for the _pakehas_, and so on
+through the whole--that is, one half the land should be kept for their
+use. He admitted, further, that he had taken no account of many
+natives who were unwilling to sell. It soon became clear that Barrett's
+qualification to interpret was that he spoke whaler Maori, a jargon
+that bears much the same relation to the real language as the pigeon
+English of the Chinese does to our mother tongue."
+
+[151] "Te Hiko, whose signature Colonel Wakefield had boasted of
+obtaining in 1839, being examined before the Governor, the Chief
+Justice, Colonel Wakefield, the Rev. O. Hadfield, and others, denied
+that he had signed any deed of sale of Porirua. E. J. Wakefield
+asserted the contrary. The ignorant Barrett ... admitted that Hiko's
+signature was 'not obtained willingly,' and Clarke, the Protector,
+skilled in the language, declared that the document signed was
+calculated to mislead the natives. Hiko was constant in his denial of
+Wakefield's statements, and Hobson's mind was 'left with the
+impression that he had not sold' the land" (_Rusden_).
+
+[152] Subsequently, a similar application was made to Chief Justice
+Martin, when he arrived in Wellington in October, 1842, but he also
+declined to issue a warrant for the arrest of Rangihaeata, partly
+because the application was _ex parte_, and argument was
+requisite before judgment could be given on so grave a matter, and
+partly on technical grounds connected with the Police Magistrates
+Ordinance.
+
+[153] Mr. Spain, writing to Captain Hobson in 1842, remarked that the
+natives at Wellington had, upon many occasions, shown the greatest
+forbearance when deprived of their cultivations, and he very much
+doubted whether their white brethren would have followed their example
+if placed in similar circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU
+
+
+Amongst the many unsatisfactory negotiations for the purchase of land
+entered into between Colonel Wakefield and Te Rauparaha, few seem to
+have been so ill-defined as that relating to the Wairau Plain. Whether
+Wakefield really believed that he had bought it, or whether Rauparaha
+was equally confident that he had not sold it, will never be known.
+Certainly it is difficult to understand how such a wide difference of
+impression could have arisen between them, had they both been sincere
+in the transaction. It is true the Colonel might have considered that
+the plain was included in the purchases made in 1839, when he
+bargained for four hundred miles of country, extending from the 38th
+to the 43rd degree of latitude on the west coast, and from the 41st to
+the 43rd degree on the east coast. But he knew that the plain had
+never been specifically named, and in his heart he must have felt that
+no valid title could rest upon a purchase made as this one was, its
+full purport not being clearly explained by Dicky Barrett, who acted
+as interpreter, and the signatures of three chiefs only being obtained
+to the deed, when thirty thousand natives had, by native law, a voice
+in its disposal. That Colonel Wakefield did have some reservation,
+later on, about his right to the land is almost certain, for, after
+the settlement of Nelson had been in progress about a year, he
+strongly opposed the suggestion of his brother, Captain Wakefield, to
+include the Wairau in the district to be surveyed, partly because he
+considered that its occupation might militate against the success of
+the Wellington colony, but chiefly because he anticipated that the
+Company's title would be disputed by other claimants and by the
+natives. It would therefore seem that Captain Wakefield, the resident
+agent of the Company, was the more to blame for the improper
+occupation of the valley and for all the subsequent trouble, which he
+expiated with his life. He was as conversant as the Colonel with the
+whole circumstances of the case, perhaps more so; and, had it not been
+that he had no alternative between opening up the Wairau and
+acknowledging the ignominious failure of the Nelson settlement, he
+would hardly, in the face of so many warnings, have persisted in his
+high-handed and injudicious course.
+
+The story of the Nelson settlement repeats the tale of undue haste,
+imperfect preparations, a disposition to make florid promises and hold
+out inflated inducements, that characterised all the New Zealand
+Company's attempts at colonisation. One of the essential features of
+this settlement was that each settler should receive 150 acres of
+rural land, 50 acres of suburban land, and one town acre. But after
+the most thorough exploration of the region round Blind and Massacre
+Bays, it was found that, although a great deal of inferior country had
+been included in the sections laid off by the surveyors, there was
+still an enormous deficiency in the area required to provide for all
+the settlers who had either paid for their land in advance or were
+waiting to settle on it. Misled by the reports of some of his
+officers, Captain Wakefield had caused it to be broadly published that
+there was more than sufficient land at Port Whakatu to meet the
+requirements of the settlement, and it was while looking round for
+some tangible fact to justify his assertion that he bethought him of
+the Wairau.
+
+During his many excursions in search of rural land, Mr. Tuckett, the
+Company's chief surveyor, had discovered a route via Top House, by
+which the Wairau might be reached after a journey of 110 miles. This
+fact was reported to Captain Wakefield, who ordered that a complete
+examination of the district should be made by Mr. Tuckett. He,
+accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Davidson, and Captain England, a
+landowner in the settlement, made an extensive exploration, and
+subsequently conveyed the discomfiting intelligence to the resident
+agent that the Wairau Plain was the only available surface between
+Cape Farewell and Cape Campbell sufficient to afford the number of
+sections required to complete the settlement. The survey of the plain
+was then decided upon, but intelligence had reached Kapiti that the
+_pakehas_ had been down to the Wairau and that they intended to
+take possession of it. Immediately upon the receipt of this news,
+Rauparaha, accompanied by Hiko and Rangihaeata, crossed over to Nelson
+and sought an interview with Captain Wakefield. In plain and
+straightforward terms the natives told the Europeans, who had gathered
+in Dr. Wilson's residence to hear the _korero_, that they had not
+sold the Wairau to the principal agent of the Company, and that they
+had no intention of doing so, unless (to use Rauparaha's own
+expressive phrase) "the cask of gold was very great." They therefore
+warned them not to go there, as they had no right to the land.
+
+Captain Wakefield's answer was that he intended to proceed with the
+survey, as he claimed the land in the name of the Company. Rangihaeata
+vehemently denied the sale, and backed up his protestations by a
+threat that if Captain Wakefield attempted to carry out his intentions
+he would meet him and take his head. The agent was in no way disturbed
+or shaken by the hostile attitude of the chiefs; and to Rangihaeata's
+boisterous manner he calmly replied that, if any interference was
+offered, he would come with three hundred constables and arrest the
+belligerent natives. This unconciliatory attitude did not in the least
+assist to clear the atmosphere, for Rangihaeata went about the
+settlement during the next few days openly threatening with death
+every one who, he conceived, had any authority amongst the colonists,
+if they ventured to annex the Wairau, unless they could first succeed
+in killing him, in which event, he said, the land would remain as the
+lawful possession of the conqueror. Rauparaha, on the other hand,
+assumed the air of the diplomat, and professed not to sympathise with
+the policy of his lieutenant, whom he described as a "bad man." At the
+same time, in his fawning fashion, he entreated the Europeans not to
+go to the Wairau, and begged that the dispute might be referred to Mr.
+Spain, the Government Land Commissioner, who had been appointed to
+investigate the claims of the Company. But Captain Wakefield
+repudiated the jurisdiction of Mr. Spain in the matter, and refused to
+comply with the request. The chiefs, finding that neither threats nor
+persuasion could shake Captain Wakefield in his determination to take
+possession of the Wairau, indignantly left the settlement, Rauparaha
+expressing his intention to lay the whole circumstances of the case
+before the Queen's Commissioner and demand an immediate settlement of
+the claim.
+
+Scarcely had the angry Ngati-Toas left Nelson than the three chiefs
+who were resident at the Wairau arrived. These natives were sons of
+Rauparaha's elder brother, Nohorua, the oldest of whom, Rawiri Puaha,
+had previously informed Mr. Tuckett, when that gentleman visited his
+_pa_, that the plain was theirs and that Rauparaha had no power
+to sell it. They were gratified at the idea that the Europeans looked
+upon it with a favourable eye, but, at the same time, they were in no
+haste to enter into any negotiations for its sale until they had
+considerably extended their cultivations, in order that they might
+fairly claim a larger compensation. Doubtless one of their reasons for
+desiring closer intercourse with the _pakehas_ was that, in
+addition to their clearings, they had a large number of pigs running
+on the plain, which they used as a marketable commodity with the
+settlers at Port Underwood. But as fast as they cleared and cultivated
+the land and reared their pigs, Rauparaha was in the habit of coming
+over and coolly helping himself, with the result that his relations
+with the resident people were by this time considerably strained, and
+they probably thought that the presence of the settlers would check
+these depredations on the part of their high-handed relative. When
+they heard that Rauparaha had been to Nelson, they, being utterly
+mistrustful of his methods, at once concluded that he had gone there
+for the purpose of selling the plain; and it was to counteract this
+policy, as far as possible, that they went to see Captain Wakefield.
+The latter had always been much more considerate to resident natives
+than to those whom, like Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, he described as
+"travelling bullies."[154] He was therefore most anxious to make a
+valid and binding bargain with Puaha, to whom he offered a small
+schooner, and any reasonable quantity of goods, if he would
+acknowledge that the Wairau had been purchased by his brother, the
+Colonel. This Puaha refused to do, and therefore, at a subsequent
+interview, the resident agent adopted another line of argument,
+contending that the Company had already a legal title to the district
+by virtue of its being included in the latitude and longitude
+purchases made in 1839, and by right of a deed bought from Captain
+Blenkinsopp's widow for £300. Puaha denied the validity of both
+titles, pointing out that "the Wairau" had evidently been written into
+the first deed after signature; and that, in the second case, if
+Rauparaha had sold any portion of the land to Blenkinsopp, he had no
+right to do so without his (Puaha's) consent, which had never been
+asked and never given. For three days the conference was continued by
+the agent and the chief, without either being able to convince the
+other; but, at last, Puaha withdrew, still protesting in manly and
+dignified language against the views of the agent as to his title to
+the land.
+
+After these animated interviews, it might have been supposed that
+Captain Wakefield would, in his calmer moments, have seriously
+reviewed the position, and that against the vague and shadowy rights
+of the Company, as expressed in the two deeds in his possession, he
+would have set the fact that the authenticity of these sales was being
+stoutly contested by the resident and non-resident natives interested.
+He might have been expected also to recognise that the whole question,
+having been placed in the hands of Mr. Spain, was _sub judice_, and as
+such should remain in abeyance until the court had pronounced its
+judgment. These considerations were, however, altogether outweighed by
+the desire to placate the settlers, who were clamouring for their
+land, and to prevent the exposure of the Company's inability to fulfil
+its engagements. The fear that, if this could not be done, he would be
+open to crushing censure from all with whom they had entered into
+engagements, and the desire to rescue his own and his brother's
+reputation from public anger and ridicule, biased his otherwise
+judicial mind against the merits of the opposing case. Accordingly, he
+decided to act upon the impulse that moved him most, and on April 15,
+1843, he entered into three contracts for the survey of the plain with
+Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson, Mr. Cotterell, and Mr. Parkinson. In
+view of the probability of native interference, a special provision
+was inserted in the tenders that the contractors were to be
+indemnified in case of loss; and, on this understanding, the
+surveyors, with forty assistants, arrived a few days later, and
+commenced operations--Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson at the Marshlands
+side of the valley, Mr. Cotterell in the neighbourhood of Riverlands,
+and Mr. Parkinson still higher up the plain, towards Grovetown.
+
+At first, the resident natives allowed the work to proceed with but
+slight resistance. Once or twice they refused to permit timber to be
+sawn for pegs and ranging rods; but with the exercise of a little tact
+and patience these difficulties were overcome, and the work had
+proceeded with so little friction that before Rauparaha arrived Messrs.
+Barnicoat and Thompson had practically completed their contract, the
+others not being quite so far advanced.
+
+Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were at Mana when the news of these
+proceedings reached them, and they at once engaged with their English
+friend, Joseph Toms, to convey them and a portion of their party in
+his schooner, _Three Brothers_, to Port Underwood, whence they
+intended to reach the Wairau in their canoes. On the 1st of June the
+schooner and the canoes arrived at the port, and Rauparaha, with one
+hundred armed followers, at once proceeded to the house of Mr. Cave,
+who for seven or eight years had been employed there as cooper for the
+whaling stations, and with whom they were on the best of terms. To him
+they declared their intention of burning the surveyors' camps, and for
+that purpose they left for the Wairau the same evening, in eight
+canoes and a whaleboat. Next morning Rauparaha, with thirty of his
+people, appeared at Mr. Cotterell's camp on the Opawa River, and,
+after stripping his huts, burned the _toetoe_ grass with which
+they were covered, as well as the survey pegs and ranging rods
+prepared from manuka sticks. They then assisted the surveyors to carry
+their belongings to the boats, and shipped them off to the _pa_
+at the mouth of the river. Their next proceeding was to paddle up the
+Wairau to Mr. Barnicoat's camp, which was situated on the river-bank
+close to the Ferry Bridge, and there they re-enacted their settled
+programme. In these proceedings Rauparaha was very firm, yet
+conciliatory. There was no exhibition of temper or violence towards
+persons or property. He simply gave the surveyors to understand that
+he would have none of them or their surveying there, and that the
+sooner they returned to Nelson the better he would like it;[155] and,
+to this end, he assisted them to remove their instruments and personal
+effects to a place of safety before demolishing their _whares_.
+In logical fashion, he argued that the _toetoe_, having grown
+upon the land, was his, that he was entitled to do what he pleased
+with his own, and that so long as he did not interfere with any of the
+articles brought from England, he was committing no breach of justice.
+
+The instruments and baggage were placed in the boats and taken down to
+the _pa_, where they were safely landed and their owners treated
+with every consideration. But, before matters had reached this crisis,
+the contractors had despatched a joint letter to Mr. Tuckett, at
+Nelson, explaining the gravity of the situation, and asking him to
+come down at once and certify to the work already done. On receipt of
+this communication Mr. Tuckett, accompanied by Mr. Patchett, at once
+set out for the Wairau; and, on his arrival at the bar, on 3rd June,
+he was met by Mr. Cotterell, who briefly related all that had
+transpired since the arrival of Rauparaha, and the present position of
+natives and contractors respectively.
+
+So soon as he had grasped the situation, Mr. Tuckett hastily wrote a
+letter in pencil to Captain Wakefield, giving details, and intimating
+his intention of remaining on the scene until the Captain should make
+his pleasure known to him. This letter he entrusted to Mr. Cotterell,
+who at once left with his men in the boats for Nelson. The chief
+surveyor then set off up the Opawa River to the site of Mr.
+Cotterell's camp, where he pitched a tent and remained all night. In
+the morning he proceeded, in company with Mr. Patchett and Mr. Moline
+(Mr. Cotterell's assistant), to search for Mr. Parkinson, and, when
+they arrived at his hut, they found it in possession of a few natives,
+who had in no way interfered with it. The surveyor and his party not
+being there, Mr. Tuckett inquired for Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who
+he was informed were in the bush. He thereupon explained that he
+intended to go over to the Awatere, that he would be absent about
+three days, and that at the end of that time he desired to meet the
+chiefs at Mr. Cotterell's camp, where he would converse with them over
+the recent events. The natives gladly undertook to convey this message
+to Rauparaha, who, with Rangihaeata, a number of their followers, and
+Mr. Parkinson's men, were awaiting them at the appointed place of
+meeting when the party returned from their explorations beyond the
+Vernon Hills. Here the expected conference took place, Rauparaha
+calmly but firmly explaining his reasons for interference. He claimed
+the Wairau as his own, but since there was a dispute about it, he had,
+on his return from Nelson, placed the matter in the hands of Mr.
+Spain, who had appointed a day on which to hear the case, Rauparaha on
+his part undertaking that in the meantime none of his people should
+enter upon the land. The day appointed by Mr. Spain had passed, and
+fearing that, if the survey was finished before he adjudicated upon
+their claim, they would lose their land, they had determined to stop
+the proceedings. Rauparaha expressed himself as being still willing to
+abide by Mr. Spain's decision, but the survey must cease and the
+Europeans must leave, until such time as that judgment should be
+given. Mr. Tuckett vainly endeavoured to point out the hardship this
+course would impose upon the contractors and their men, who were
+dependent upon their work for their living.  He also explained that he
+was expecting instructions from Captain Wakefield, and asked
+permission to remain until he heard from his superior.
+
+His request for delay was met by a command to remove his tent to the
+boat, and, upon his refusing to obey, Rangihaeata burst into a violent
+passion, and, in a torrent of invective, reminded Mr. Tuckett of the
+warning he had given him in Nelson, ironically remarking that, if he
+was so fond of the Wairau, he (Rangihaeata) would bury him there. This
+insulting outburst was treated with studied contempt by the chief
+surveyor, who quietly rebuked Rangihaeata for his ungentlemanly
+behaviour, telling him that he would not converse with him until he
+mended his manners. While this brief altercation was proceeding,
+Rauparaha had remained silent, although he was evidently exercising a
+restraining influence upon his comrade. But he now advanced, and once
+more politely requested Mr. Tuckett to have his tent removed; but
+that gentleman still persisted in his right to remain, whereupon
+Rauparaha, becoming impatient, ordered some of his own people to carry
+out his behest, and in a few minutes the tent was struck and stowed
+away in the boat. Mr. Tuckett then deemed it unwise to offer further
+objection, and, together with the two chiefs, he agreed to go back to
+the _pa_.
+
+It had been Mr. Tuckett's intention to embark for Nelson next morning,
+but in the night a south-easterly gale came up and blew for three
+days, causing such a surf on the bar that Rauparaha advised him not to
+attempt to cross it. During this compulsory stay, the chief was most
+profuse in his expressions of goodwill towards the Europeans, and by
+his fawning and obsequious manner created a feeling of revulsion in
+the minds of the Englishmen. Rangihaeata, on the other hand, left them
+severely alone, seeking neither favours nor intercourse of any kind,
+and, save on one occasion, his isolation was complete. That exception
+arose from the fact that one of the men reported that he had lost a
+handkerchief and a billhook, which he had seen in the possession of
+Rangihaeata's people. Mr. Tuckett at once approached the chief, and
+asked to have the property returned. His reply was that he had some
+bad men as well as good ones amongst his followers, with the sarcastic
+addition that perhaps Mr. Tuckett was in the same position; but that,
+as he had come to the Wairau to defend his own and not to thieve, if
+the surveyor could identify the man, he would have his property back;
+failing that, he could have _utu_ instead. The billhook was soon
+found, and here the incident ended; but the impression it made upon
+Mr. Tuckett was that, if Rangihaeata was more violent than Rauparaha,
+he was up to this point certainly the more noble of the two.
+
+As soon as the weather cleared, the chief surveyor prepared to take
+his departure, but, as the boat would not carry both passengers and
+baggage, it was finally decided that Messrs. Barnicoat and Parkinson
+should remain, while Messrs. Tuckett, Patchett, and Moline proceeded to
+Nelson, although the chiefs raised no objection to the whole party
+remaining until additional boats could be brought, or until they could
+be conveyed to one of the whaling stations at Port Underwood. By noon
+on the following day Mr. Tuckett and his companions had got well into
+Blind Bay, when they observed the Government brig _Victoria_ under
+full sail. A gun was fired from the ship as a signal to board her. On
+doing so, they learned that the vessel had just left Nelson, and was
+proceeding to the Wairau with the police magistrate (Mr. Thompson),
+Captain Wakefield (the Company's agent), Captain England, J.P., Mr.
+Cotterell, and some of the would-be proprietors of the proposed
+settlement, as well as the chief constable, Mr. Maling, and
+twenty-four labouring men who had been sworn-in as special constables.
+The agent informed the chief surveyor that, after Mr. Cotterell had
+arrived at Nelson and made his report, it had been decided to proceed
+as soon as possible to the scene of operations, and arrest the chiefs
+on a charge of arson, a warrant having been granted by Messrs.
+Thompson, P.M., Captain Wakefield, Captain England, and A. McDonald,
+Esq., Justices of the Peace. Mr. Tuckett was naturally surprised and
+deeply grieved at this intelligence, and, in deprecation of the rash
+and impolitic step he informed Captain Wakefield of Rauparaha's
+interview with Mr. Spain, and of the chief's willingness to abide by
+the decision of the court. He further pointed out the great care
+observed by the natives not to interfere with any of the surveyors'
+property, or to injure the persons of any of their employees. He
+proceeded to argue that the men on board would not number one-half the
+strength of the natives then at the Wairau; and contrasted this
+numerical weakness with the threat made by the Captain at Nelson,
+that, if Rangihaeata interfered with the survey, he would come with
+three hundred constables to arrest him. His impression, therefore, was
+that the smallness of the party would inspire confidence in the minds
+of the natives rather than dread, and he strongly urged that, however
+satisfied the agent might feel about the result, prudence demanded
+that they should appear on the plain with such a force as would
+completely overawe the Maoris, and to which there would be no
+humiliation in surrendering. In support of his views, he handed to
+Captain Wakefield a letter which he had received from the Rev. Mr.
+Ironside on the day that he had met Mr. Cotterell at the bar, in which
+the missionary, ripe in experience of Maori feeling, and knowing how
+tenaciously they clung to their rights in landed property, ventured
+the opinion that, unless this dispute was most diplomatically handled,
+the result might be extremely serious.
+
+Mr. Ironside, taking the missionary view of the Company's scheme of
+colonisation, expressed great anxiety lest a collision might arise out
+of the subject of the claims to land, which would eventually terminate
+in the extinction of the native tribes, as had been the case in other
+countries settled by Europeans. He urged upon Mr. Tuckett not to be
+precipitate in endeavouring to include the Wairau in the Nelson
+survey, informing him that the resident natives and Rauparaha were at
+issue about the land, to such an extent that the former, if left to
+themselves, would probably withdraw from the Wairau, and treat with
+the Nelson agent for the sale of it.
+
+Captain Wakefield expressed himself deeply thankful for the counsel
+contained in Mr. Ironside's letter, and also for the advice tendered
+by Mr. Tuckett, with whose whole conduct he entirely acquiesced. So
+impressed was he with the force of the chief surveyor's arguments that
+he at once went into the cabin where Mr. Thompson was, and requested
+him to read Mr. Ironside's letter, stating that from it and other
+considerations urged by Mr. Tuckett he had come to the conclusion that
+it would be wiser to return to Nelson. Mr. Thompson was totally averse
+to turning back. He begrudged missing the opportunity of giving the
+natives what he called "a prestige for the law," and of showing the
+Government the correct way to deal with such troublesome fellows. At
+the same time he expressed the opinion that, if the authorities at
+Wellington had dealt with these chiefs as he had dealt with Ekawa at
+Massacre Bay, they would long ago have ceased to give annoyance. He
+also stated that, if they returned at that stage, they would simply be
+laughed at by the settlers, and he was not going to put himself in
+that undignified position. In his determination to go on Mr. Thompson
+was seconded by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. Richardson), who begged that
+the expedition might not be given up, as he considered it was "only a
+lark"; and, in deference to the aggressive mood of the magistrate and
+the jocular anticipations of the lawyer, Captain Wakefield surrendered
+his better judgment. Mr. Tuckett, still apprehensive that disastrous
+consequences would follow if these unwise counsels prevailed,
+earnestly remonstrated with Mr. Thompson, taking up the attitude that
+he was exceeding his rights in proceeding to execute his warrant with
+an armed force. The magistrate admitted the correctness of Mr.
+Tuckett's premises, but hotly resented the assumption that he intended
+to use the force at all. He explained that he was not sure that he
+would land the men. Certainly he would not give out the arms or take
+the force into the presence of the natives until he had first
+exhausted every plausible means of getting the chiefs to submit
+themselves to trial on board the brig. Should they refuse to do so,
+which he did not expect, then he would investigate the charge on the
+spot, and afterwards decide whether he should call in the aid of the
+armed party or not. Had this plan of operations been strictly
+observed, much that afterwards happened might have been averted; but
+in no single particular did the magistrate follow his promised line of
+action, for as soon as the vessel arrived at Cloudy Bay, the men were
+supplied with fire-arms and landed at the mouth of the Wairau River.
+
+On seeing the Government brig enter the bay, the Maoris had abandoned
+the old _pa_ at the bar and retired further up the plain. Next
+morning the magistrate's band of special constables was ordered to get
+ready and go in pursuit. Perceiving that his worst fears were likely
+to be realised, and that the magistrate would not go without the armed
+force, Mr. Tuckett made a final appeal to Captain Wakefield, and
+offered to go himself and see Rauparaha, in company with the chief
+constable and the interpreter, if only the men bearing arms were
+allowed to remain where they were. To this suggestion the Captain
+readily agreed, and at once put the proposal before Mr. Thompson, who
+also consented, and ordered the chief constable to prepare himself for
+the journey; but when Mr. Maling announced himself ready to go, he
+presented such an armour-plated appearance that the chief surveyor
+absolutely refused to be seen in his company. He wore a cutlass at his
+side, a brace of pistols and a pair of handcuffs in his belt, while in
+his hand he carried a pair of heavy leg-irons. How he proposed to get
+Rauparaha down to the bar when he was both handcuffed and hobbled is
+not very clear, nor did he have time to explain. Mr. Tuckett at once
+drew attention to his accoutrements, and pointed out that the
+leg-irons would have an especially exasperating effect upon the
+natives; while, if he insisted upon carrying pistols, it would at
+least be judicious to conceal them, and so avoid the appearance of
+intimidation. The magistrate at once ordered that the irons should be
+discarded, but also intimated that he had changed his mind as to the
+mode of procedure, and that he had now determined that the whole force
+should participate in the arrest, a decision from which no amount of
+persuasion could induce him to deviate.
+
+At the outset an attempt was made to ascend the river in boats, but as
+the tide was on the ebb and the wind unfavourable, the travelling was
+both slow and laborious, and before they had proceeded very far, the
+boats were abandoned, and the party, except Mr. Cotterell and his men,
+who remained in a whaleboat, commenced the march along a survey track
+which ran parallel with the river. By this time the ardour of the men
+had considerably cooled; the bitter cold night experienced at the bar
+had helped to extinguish their enthusiasm, and now the keen morning
+wind and bad walking through the long wet grass completely dissipated
+all idea that the affair was to be regarded in the light of a pleasure
+trip. During the course of the journey, which was both a slow and
+irritating one, Captain Wakefield expressed the opinion that the
+natives were more inclined for trade than for war, and that the
+prospect of their attempting to fight in the event of a forcible
+arrest being made was very small. In reply to this, Mr. Tuckett still
+adhered to his former opinion that the Maoris would most certainly
+offer resistance if the armed force was taken into their presence.
+While this discussion was going on, the party reached the bend in the
+river at the back of Grovetown, where they met a number of resident
+natives, who, in consequence of their differences with Rauparaha, were
+quitting the Wairau and returning to Port Underwood. Amongst them were
+Puaha, a lad named Rore (who afterwards became the honoured and
+respected chief of the Wairau natives), his father, and a few other
+Maoris cutting timber in the bush. Of these they inquired the
+whereabouts of Rauparaha, and were informed that he was a few miles
+further up the valley, at the Tua Marina stream. Night coming on, they
+decided to camp in the Tua Mautine wood, but took the precaution to
+send Puaha forward to acquaint Rauparaha with the nature of their
+visit; and he was followed by the remainder of the natives at a later
+hour. Mr. Thompson was careful to explain to Puaha that he had not
+come to interfere with him; but it was noticed that his countenance
+bore a most anxious and concerned expression, and in the brief
+interview which he had with the magistrate, he not only advised, but
+earnestly entreated him not to precipitate a quarrel by taking the
+armed men into the presence of Rauparaha and his followers. If he did
+so, it would be impossible to convince them that he had not come for
+the purpose of shedding blood. The pained look that fell upon the face
+of Puaha when he realised the magistrate's intentions made a deep
+impression upon Captain Wakefield, and he several times made reference
+to it. Even when waking from his sleep in the night, he spoke of the
+fact as though he had a gloomy presentiment that all would not be well
+on the morrow. Mr. Thompson did not appear to be troubled with any
+such forebodings; his concern was that he would not have the
+opportunity of arresting the chiefs, who would probably make good
+their escape as soon as Puaha conveyed his message to them. He
+endeavoured to make light of the agent's fears by explaining that
+Puaha's troubled looks were due to the conflict between the dictates
+of his barbarous nature and the influence of his Christian teaching,
+which, under the circumstances, would naturally burn within him--a
+course of reasoning that Captain Wakefield seemed to cheerfully
+accept.
+
+At dawn next morning,[156] the camp of Te Rauparaha was easily located
+by the smoke rising through the forest trees at the mouth of the
+Waitohi Valley, about four miles away. The magistrate then mustered
+his constables, and served out to each man eighteen rounds of ball
+cartridge. All told, they numbered forty men, bearing muskets,
+bayonets, and cutlasses, besides ten or twelve gentlemen who were
+without arms, the chief surveyor and Mr. Cotterell being members of
+the Society of Friends, and refusing, in accordance with their
+religious principles, to carry them. After a short march across the
+plain through the fern and _toetoe_, they arrived at the foot of
+the Tua Marina hills, and there they halted, having, during the course
+of the journey, been cautioned not to fire unless ordered to do so.
+
+The constitution of the arresting party was not calculated to ensure
+success in the event of resistance on the part of the Maoris. They
+were untrained and without discipline. Some of them were even
+unwilling participants in the expedition, for they had been coerced
+into coming by the threat that they would lose their employment in the
+service of the Company if they refused to assist in the arrest of the
+chiefs. Their arms were old-fashioned and not in the best of repair;
+there was a total lack of organisation, and apparently no common
+understanding as to who was in authority. Under these circumstances,
+the result could scarcely have been different, regard being had to the
+character of the men with whom they had to deal.
+
+Anyone sitting on the hill-side even now can, without the aid of a
+vivid imagination, picture the animated scene which unfolded itself on
+that bright June morning. What are now grass paddocks were flats, more
+or less covered with native scrub. Of what was then dense bush only a
+few detached fragments now remain, but otherwise the physical features
+of the landscape are but little changed. The Maoris, when they first
+observed the Europeans, were squatting around their camp-fires on the
+western side of the Tua Marina stream. They immediately hailed them
+and inquired if they intended to fight. Mr. Thompson answered in the
+negative, and, after explaining the purpose for which he had come,
+asked the natives to place a canoe across the stream that he might
+come over and talk the more freely to them. Rauparaha consented to
+this course, but stipulated that the armed men should not be allowed
+to cross over; and, the magistrate agreeing to this condition, the
+special constables were left in charge of Captain England and Mr.
+Howard, who had instructions to act if called upon. He himself,
+accompanied by Captain Wakefield, Mr. Patchett, Mr. Tuckett, Mr.
+Cotterell and Mr. Brooks,[157] the interpreter, crossed over in the
+canoe, which was immediately drawn back again alongside the bank by a
+native nicknamed Piccawarro (big-fellow), to prevent any surprise from
+the force on the other side of the stream. When the magistrate walked
+into the presence of the natives, he observed that they numbered about
+ninety men and thirty-five women and children; but, as an indication
+of their peaceful intentions, they had placed in the midst of their
+group three women, the wives of Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and Puaha,
+while the party of resident natives sat on one side, and the immediate
+followers of Rauparaha on the other. The noble and dignified Puaha
+stood in the centre with a Bible in his hand, reading from it select
+passages, and exhorting both parties to peace, while the natives
+sitting around chanted the usual welcome, _Haere-mai, Haere-mai_.
+Rangihaeata lay concealed behind some bushes, but Rauparaha came
+forward frankly when Mr. Thompson inquired for him, saying "Here am
+I," and offered to shake hands with the strangers. But this courtesy
+was declined by the magistrate, who pushed the chief's hand away, and
+it was left to Mr. Tuckett and Mr. Cotterell to perform the politeness
+of a friendly greeting.
+
+In reply to Rauparaha's inquiry as to what had brought them there, Mr.
+Thompson proceeded to explain to him, through Brooks, the interpreter,
+that he was their prisoner. Rauparaha disdainfully replied that it
+would be time enough to indulge in such talk when Mr. Spain had made
+his inquiry about the land. They then strove to make him understand
+that, as this case had nothing to do with the land, but was a charge
+of arson, it did not come within the province of Mr. Spain to inquire
+into it, but that the charge must be heard on the brig. Rauparaha
+declared that he had not destroyed any European property, in proof of
+which he appealed to Mr. Cotterell, who admitted the truth of his
+assertion, and therefore he would not go on board the brig, but he was
+quite willing that the matter should be adjudicated upon there and
+then, and, provided the compensation demanded was not excessive, he
+would be prepared to pay rather than there should be any ill-feeling
+between the two races. Thereupon he was told that, if he would not go
+voluntarily he must be taken by force, and a pair of handcuffs were
+produced to impress him with the sincerity of this threat. His
+chieftain blood was aroused by this insult; he indignantly dared them
+to try to imprison his hands in such implements and bind him like a
+slave, but begged for longer time to talk the matter over. The
+magistrate, who was now rapidly losing his temper, began to stamp and
+rave, and scorning the need for further argument, desired the
+interpreter to finally ask Rauparaha to say whether he would go on
+board the brig or not; and, upon his still firmly refusing to do so,
+Mr. Thompson turned to Brooks and exclaimed, with a violent gesture in
+the direction of the opposite bank, "Then tell him there are the armed
+party; they will fire on them all." A native from the Bay of Islands
+who was present amongst Rauparaha's people, and who understood a
+smattering of English, told those of Rauparaha's party that an order
+to fire had been given, and sixteen of them at once sprang to their
+feet, and, presenting their muskets at the magistrate, awaited the
+order from their chief to fire. The mistaken impression under which
+this hostile display had been made was at once removed by the chief
+surveyor and Mr. Patchett, who walked over to them and explained that
+only a threat, and not an order, to fire had been given, and on this
+assurance they immediately subsided to their seats on the ground.
+
+The altercation between Mr. Thompson and Rauparaha still proceeded.
+The former produced his warrant, which he told the chief was the
+"book-a-book" of the Queen "to make a tie," and that he was the Queen,
+again adding, in high and excited tones, stamping his foot the while,
+that if Rauparaha did not consent to surrender himself, he would order
+the Europeans to fire on them. This was quickly interpreted to the
+armed natives by the stranger from the Bay of Islands, and they
+instantly sprang to their feet and pointed their muskets at Mr.
+Thompson and his companions, as before. At this point, the peace-making
+Puaha[158] stepped forward with his Testament in his hand and said,
+"Don't fight, don't fight! This book says it is sinful to fight. The
+land has been made good by the preaching of the missionaries. Don't
+make it bad again." In this way he strove to reason with Mr. Thompson,
+but the latter in his frenzy and rage pushed the native aside, and
+angrily called out for Rangihaeata to come forward. That chief, on
+hearing his name, came from behind the bushes which concealed him,
+and, leaping into the midst of the throng, began to brandish his
+hatchet in dangerous proximity to the magistrate's head, meanwhile
+upbraiding him in a most violent manner. "What do you want with
+Rangihaeata that you come here to bind him? Do I go to Port Jackson or
+to Europe to steal your lands? Have I burned your house? Have I
+destroyed tents or anything belonging to you?" Such were the pertinent
+inquiries made by the angry chief; and, as it was quite evident from
+his flashing eyes and bitter tones that he was in no mood to be
+trifled with, Mr. Patchett appealed to the chief surveyor to
+interfere, "otherwise," he said, "we shall all be murdered."
+Rauparaha, seeing that his companion's manner was not likely to
+improve matters, ordered him to retire and leave the settlement of the
+matter to Puaha and himself, at the same time leading Rangihaeata's
+lame wife, Te Rongo, to him, so that she might be under his
+protection. Mr. Tuckett then seized the opportunity of pointing out to
+Captain Wakefield that, in the event of Rangihaeata's temper getting
+the better of him, they would be completely at the mercy of the
+natives, seeing that their retreat had been cut off by the removal of
+the canoe. After a brief consultation with Puaha, they agreed that it
+would be wiser to restore the means of communication between
+themselves and their party on the other side of the stream. Captain
+Wakefield, taking the initiative, jumped into the canoe, and with the
+aid of a pole shoved the bow down the stream until he found a
+convenient landing-place on the other side. While this movement was in
+progress, Mr. Thompson[159] had made another attempt to place the
+handcuffs upon Rauparaha's wrists. Just at that moment, when the chief
+had indignantly wrested his hand from the magistrate's grasp, and was
+bitterly protesting against the conduct of the Queen's officers,
+Captain Wakefield stepped on to the opposite bank of the creek, and,
+noticing a threatening movement towards Mr. Thompson on the part of
+the natives, in a loud voice gave the command, "Men, forward;
+Englishmen, forward!" The company at once obeyed, and four of the men
+who were in the front, Morgan, Clanzey, Ratcliffe and Tyrrell, jumped
+into the canoe for the purpose of crossing over to assist Mr.
+Thompson. Almost simultaneously the latter turned and entered the
+canoe at the other end, with the result that she was nearly capsized.
+A momentary confusion ensued, during which one of the Englishmen, in
+striving to get in front of his companions on the bank, tripped and
+fell, and in the fall his gun was accidentally discharged. That was
+the fatal crisis, for it turned what had hitherto been only stirring
+drama into fearful tragedy.
+
+The natives had now no doubt that the Europeans had come to fight, and
+Te Rauparaha, believing death to be imminent, turned, and, stretching
+his arms heavenward, exclaimed, "_Hei kona e te ra, hei kona e te ao
+marama--haere mai e te po, haere mai e te mate_" (Farewell, O sun,
+farewell, thou world of light; come on, O night, come on, O death).
+This was a cry which a chief would only utter in a situation of
+deepest stress, and no Maori loyal to his leader would refuse to obey
+the call, even though it should cost him his life. The natives
+therefore briskly returned the fire, the first volley being fatal to
+Tyrrell, who was shot in the throat. Clanzey and Ratcliffe were also
+shot by the first discharge of musketry, and their bodies fell into
+the water and sank to the bottom. The Englishmen returned volley for
+volley, and, in the midst of the general fusilade, Mr. Thompson and
+his party passed safely over in the canoe. Mr. Tuckett was the last to
+leave the bank on which the natives were, which he did by entering the
+stream, and, with one hand on the canoe, pulling himself through the
+water. At this stage of the fight the natives might easily have killed
+every one of the leading Europeans; for, when the latter started to
+cross the stream, the muzzles of the native guns were no more than a
+few yards away from them. The fact that they were not shot must have
+been due to some chivalrous sentiment on the part of the natives, who,
+seeing them unarmed, honourably abstained from attacking them. For
+some ten minutes after crossing the creek, Mr. Tuckett stood no more
+than twenty yards away, fully exposed to the fire that was being kept
+up by the natives and fourteen or fifteen of the European rank and
+file. Beside him stood Messrs. Barnicoat, Cotterell, Richardson,
+Patchett, and Maling. The two latter were shot almost at the same
+moment. Mr. Richardson bent over Mr. Patchett and inquired if he was
+hurt, to which he replied, "I am mortally wounded--I am mortally
+wounded; you can do no good for me; make your escape."
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by W. Macey._
+ MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU.]
+
+The bullets now began to rain down upon them thick and fast. As
+several of the labourers had fallen in the vicinity, including
+Northam, Smith, and Burton, Mr. Tuckett and his friends retired to the
+foot of the ridge, whither the other officers had gone with a portion
+of the men to consult as to the best course to pursue. They decided to
+retreat up the hill, and called to Mr. Tuckett and the rest of the
+party to follow them. This act of mistaken generalship cost them dear,
+for up to that time their fire had kept the natives penned up on the
+other side of the stream. But the moment they observed the Europeans
+falling back, they dashed into the water, and, carrying their guns
+above their heads to keep them dry, crossed over and took possession
+of the trees which grew on the opposite edge. Secure within this
+cover, they opened a galling fire upon the Europeans, who were now
+hopelessly exposed upon the face of the fern-clad hill.
+
+Mr. Thompson did his utmost to steady the party by exclaiming, "For
+God's sake, men, keep together!" But his appeals were for the most
+part disregarded, not more than a third of the men remaining with
+their leaders, the rest retreating up the ridge and firing haphazard
+as they went. Captain Wakefield's attempts to instil something like
+discipline into the men were likewise frustrated by some panic-stricken
+individual rushing up and shouting out, "Run for your lives, lads,
+run!"--an injunction which they were not slow to obey. In an instant
+all semblance of organisation had disappeared. Time after time a few
+men were got together, but the majority were always utterly beyond
+control. On the last partial rally Captain Wakefield and Warrant
+Officer Howard ordered the men to fix bayonets and charge the natives;
+but on one of the men (Richard Painter), who had been in the
+artillery, pointing out that there was no one visible to charge at,
+the idea was abandoned. The natives were still maintaining a steady
+fire, and a protest on the part of the artilleryman, who declined to
+remain where he was "and be shot down like a crow," led to a further
+retreat up the hill-side. On the second brow of the hill they met Mr.
+Cotterell, who was sitting down with a double-barrelled gun at his
+side. At the commencement of the quarrel he had been unarmed, but he
+had now seized this weapon in self-defence. He appeared deeply
+distressed at what had occurred, and expressed his intention of
+quitting the scene; but he was dissuaded from this course by Captain
+Wakefield, who, addressing him in most earnest tones, said, "For God's
+sake, Mr. Cotterell, don't attempt to run away; you are sure to be
+shot if you do." Mr. Cotterell therefore remained with the party, only
+remarking to Painter, one of his own men, "This is bad work, Dick."
+
+Being now out of range of the native fire, a council of war was held
+of such of the party as could be got together, and finally it was
+decided that Captain England and Mr. Howard should bear a flag of
+truce to the natives, and endeavour to settle the dispute by
+negotiation. A white handkerchief was accordingly fixed on a stick,
+and, with this fluttering in the breeze, the two officers started
+towards the wood. As an indication of their sincerity in desiring to
+relinquish fighting, Captain Wakefield ordered all those who were with
+him to lay their arms on the ground, and the natives, seeming fully to
+appreciate the nature of the advances that were being made to them,
+ceased firing, and a number of them left their muskets behind the
+trees and came out to meet the bearers of the flag. Captain England
+and his comrade had almost reached the wood, when some of the
+Englishmen who had halted much higher up the hill than Captain
+Wakefield, seeing the Maoris emerging from the bush, commenced to fire
+upon them, notwithstanding that they had seen the flag of truce, as
+well as their companions laying down their arms. Regarding this as a
+dastardly act of treachery, the Maoris beat a hasty retreat into the
+bush, and reopened a rapid fire upon the Englishmen, whereupon Captain
+England and Mr. Howard ran back to the hill, and reached the spot from
+which they had started, uninjured by the native bullets.
+
+This attempt at conciliation having failed through the folly of their
+own people, the magistrate and Captain Wakefield decided to go further
+up the hill and meet those who were in advance of them, to induce
+them, if possible, to act in concert with the rest. In this they were
+no more successful than before, for no sooner did the one section
+begin to advance than the other began to retreat. Seeing that this
+must go on indefinitely, Mr. Tuckett endeavoured to persuade Captain
+Wakefield that their best hope of reaching the beach and getting back
+to the brig was to abandon the ridge which they were climbing, and
+strike down into the plain. Although this advice was twice pressed on
+Wakefield, he took no notice of it, and Mr. Tuckett thereupon, calling
+to Mr. Barnicoat and a labourer named Gay to follow him, descended in
+an oblique direction on to the plain below. For a moment Mr. Cotterell
+hesitated which course to take, but finally decided to go up the spur
+with the rest, and this decision cost him his life. When Captain
+Wakefield and his party began their last retreat, most of them left
+their muskets lying on the brow of the hill, and were therefore quite
+defenceless; but the Maoris kept up a running fire as they gradually
+crept up the side of the range. As they approached the summit of the
+first knoll, Mr. Cotterell stopped and surrendered himself when the
+natives reached him, calling out, "Enough, enough! that will do the
+fight," in the hope of assuring them that the Europeans wanted peace.
+But he was immediately struck down and his body thrown into a manuka
+bush. Captain Wakefield followed his example by surrendering a few
+minutes later, as did also Captain England, Messrs. Richardson,
+Howard, Brooks, Cropper, McGregor, and the magistrate. A few of the
+younger natives were in the van of the pursuit, and these held the
+prisoners in hand until the arrival of Rauparaha, whom they had
+outstripped. At first gold was offered as ransom, and it seemed as if
+the feud would end without more bloodshed, for the chief had accepted
+the assurances of Captain Wakefield that the shooting had been a
+mistake, and had shaken hands with them all. But Rangihaeata, who had
+killed the wounded as he found them lying on the hillside, panting
+with haste and anger, rushed up and called out to Rauparaha, "What are
+you doing? Your daughter Te Rongo[160] is dead. What are you doing, I
+say?"
+
+Scorning the acceptance of gold, he then fiercely demanded the lives
+of the principal Europeans as the only _utu_ that would compensate him
+for the loss of his wife, exclaiming in impassioned tones, "We are
+sure to be killed for this some day. The white people will take _utu_;
+let us then have some better blood than that of these _tutua_ (common
+men). We are chiefs; let us kill the chiefs, and take _utu_ for
+ourselves beforehand." To this Rauparaha was at first reluctant to
+agree, and his objections were well supported by Puaha and the other
+Christian natives; but he felt that, in view of Te Ronga's death, the
+demand was a reasonable one, and he at length yielded to the powerful
+appeal of his lieutenant, and delivered the unfortunate colonists over
+to their fate.
+
+At this juncture Mr. Thompson seemed, for the first time, to be
+apprehensive of serious consequences attending his conduct, and he
+implored Rauparaha to save their lives. But that chief haughtily
+answered, "Did I not warn you how it would be? A little while ago I
+wished to talk with you in a friendly manner, and you would not; now
+you say 'Save me.' I will not save you." The whole party then retired
+a little lower down the hill, and there the massacre commenced.
+Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were killed by Te Oru,[161] a son
+of Te Ahuta, the first native who fell in the fight, as a retribution
+for the death of his father. Brooks, the interpreter, was struck down
+by Rangihaeata and despatched by the slaves, which would account for
+the mangled condition in which his body was found by the burial party
+from Port Underwood. The rest of the slaughter, according to native
+accounts, was conducted mainly by Rangihaeata. His method of procedure
+was to glide silently behind the victims while they were standing
+amongst the crowd of natives and brain them with a single blow of his
+tomahawk. The peculiar part of the tragedy was that none of the
+Englishmen, except Captain Wakefield, made the slightest resistance,
+and even he was checked by Mr. Howard exclaiming, "For God's sake,
+sir, do nothing rash!" Perhaps their ignorance of the native language
+prevented them from understanding all that was passing around them
+until they received the fatal blow. But there was no struggle, no
+cries, except from the native women, led by Puaha's wife, who pleaded
+with the men to "save some of the _rangatiras_, if only to say they
+had saved some." No Englishman who survived actually saw the massacre,
+and therefore it is impossible to describe the exact method of its
+execution; but the colonists to all appearances met their fate with
+the greatest equanimity. George Bampton, who had concealed himself
+amongst the fern only a few yards from the spot where the tragedy was
+enacted, in giving evidence at Nelson a few days after the event,
+deposed that "he heard neither cries nor screaming, but merely the
+sound of beating or chopping, which he supposed at the time to be
+natives tomahawking the white people."
+
+In accordance with Rauparaha's express orders, none of the dead bodies
+were mutilated or stripped, although Captain Wakefield's watch was
+taken by Rangihaeata and buried with Te Rongo, while one native
+furnished himself with a pair of white gloves and another with a pair
+of silver-mounted pistols. After burying their own dead in the Waitohi
+Valley, the two chiefs, with their followers, came down to the mouth
+of the Wairau River, bringing with them their own canoes and the
+whaleboat which had been taken up by Mr. Cotterell and his men. In
+these they went first to Robin Hood Bay, and then to Te Awaiti, in
+Tory Channel, where they remained a few days, finally crossing the
+Strait to Mana and Otaki, there to await developments.
+
+Shortly after the skirmishing began, a Sydney merchant named Ferguson,
+who had been a passenger in the brig to Nelson, and had accompanied
+her to the Wairau under the impression that he would have a pleasant
+outing, had taken one of the wounded men, Gapper, down to the river
+where the boats had been left that morning, and, with him and the
+boatman who had been stationed in charge, had paddled down the river
+to the bar, and reached the brig that afternoon. A number of the men
+had also gone down the Waitohi Valley, which was then densely bushed,
+and by this means had evaded pursuit until they could return to Nelson
+by the overland route. Others, again, who had broken away from the
+main body had made for the sea, so that before Mr. Tuckett and his two
+companions had proceeded very far they were joined by eight of the
+original party, one of whom, John Bumforth, was badly wounded in the
+shoulder. Mr. Tuckett first proposed that they should divide into two
+parties, the one to proceed to the bar and the other to the vicinity
+of Port Underwood, thinking that by this means the chances of some of
+them reaching the brig would be increased. But the men stoutly refused
+to separate, and the chief surveyor then decided to proceed to the
+corner of Cloudy Bay nearest the port, where luckily they found one of
+Mr. Dougherty's fully equipped whaleboats riding in the bay a few
+chains off. They hailed the boatmen, and explained that they wished to
+be taken to the brig, which was anchored some seven or eight miles
+away; but owing to the heavy swell that was rolling into the bay at
+the time, and the large number of the party, there was the greatest
+difficulty in persuading the whalers to comply with the request. Even
+after the danger of embarking had been overcome, the headsman had
+almost made up his mind not to risk the voyage to the brig, but to
+land the party at Port Underwood. But fortune still favoured the
+fugitives, for at this moment another boat's crew, who had been
+watching their movements, imagining that they had sighted a whale,
+came out in pursuit, and the two boats raced for the brig, which was
+almost reached before the pursuing crew discovered the true position
+of affairs. Up to this point the whalers had not been informed why Mr.
+Tuckett and his friends desired to get on board the brig, but they
+were now told that a _fracas_ had occurred between the Europeans and
+the natives, that the leaders of the party were Rauparaha's prisoners;
+and a promise (that was never fulfilled) was extracted from the
+boatmen that they would convey the intelligence to the other settlers
+at the port, and prepare them to act as they might think best under
+the circumstances. The captain of the brig then sent his boats to
+search the shore, in the hope that other fugitives might have reached
+the beach; but no one was seen, and no unusual circumstance was noted
+except the burning of a large fire at the mouth of the river, which
+had been lit for some purpose by the natives. The brig then weighed
+anchor and sailed for Wellington, the captain, whose inclination was
+to enter Port Underwood, adopting this course at the earnest
+solicitation of Mr. Tuckett, who believed that, if assistance was
+necessary, it could be more easily obtained from the larger centre of
+population.
+
+When the news of what had happened spread through the infant
+settlement early next morning, the excitement ran wild and high, and
+the settlers, believing that at the worst Captain Wakefield and his
+friends were only prisoners in the hands of the natives, immediately
+organised a band of volunteers to effect their forcible rescue. Their
+departure was, however, delayed by a gale, which had the effect of
+making most of the volunteers seasick; and, by the time the storm had
+abated, wiser counsels prevailed, and it was decided that only a
+quorum of magistrates and Dr. Dorset, the surgeon of the settlement,
+should proceed to the scene, the impression having gained ground that
+intercession was more likely to prevail with the Maoris than the
+presence of an armed force. The brig left Wellington for Cloudy Bay
+that night, and it was when she arrived at Port Underwood that Colonel
+Wakefield and Mr. Tuckett learned for the first time the appalling
+nature of the tragedy which had been enacted. They also learned that
+the natives, both resident and visiting, had hurriedly left the
+Wairau, believing that retaliatory measures would speedily be taken
+against them.
+
+Altogether about twenty-seven of the arresting party had managed to
+elude the pursuit of Rangihaeata's warriors. After undergoing intense
+privations, some wandered back to Nelson, but most of them went to
+Port Underwood, a few suffering from wounds, and all from protracted
+hunger and exposure. The first to arrive were Morgan and Morrison, who
+reached Ocean Bay with their trousers worn to their knees, and they
+were shortly followed by others who were in no better plight. Their
+wants and wounds were attended to by Mrs. Dougherty, who ministered to
+them with the kindest of care, and it was by these few survivors that
+the whalers were first apprised of the catastrophe. The Rev. Mr.
+Ironside had heard vague rumours about impending trouble between the
+chiefs and the Government; but, as he had not seen the arrival of the
+brig, he paid no heed to them until the following Sunday, when, in the
+midst of a heavy rain-storm, he noticed a Maori swiftly paddling his
+canoe up the bay. Knowing that a native would only be out on such a
+day under exceptional circumstances, Mr. Ironside sent one of his
+mission-boys to inquire. The boy did not return, which only increased
+the anxiety, and later on, when a few particulars did reach the
+station, they were only sufficient to indicate that a collision had
+taken place, without any details. That night the missionary and his
+wife retired to rest a prey to harrowing suspense.
+
+Next morning the storm had increased to a perfect hurricane, and as it
+was impossible to launch a boat, they could do nothing but wait. By
+Tuesday the weather had moderated, and a boat's crew of whalers took
+Mr. Ironside down to Ocean Bay, where the two chiefs and their
+exultant followers had arrived. From them the whole story was gleaned,
+and by them the tragedy was justified; "for," said Te Rangihaeata,
+"they killed my wife, Te Rongo, and they did not punish the murderer
+of Kuika."[162]
+
+Mr. Ironside at once asked permission to go and bury the dead,
+whereupon the fiery Rangihaeata ejaculated, "What do you want to go
+for? Better leave them to the wild pigs. But you can go if you like."
+Still the gale was too severe to admit of venturing across the twelve
+miles of open sea; but so anxious had they all become, that next
+morning a start was once more made from Ngakuta, and at the imminent
+risk of their lives the brave crew pulled their boat across the stormy
+bar into the river. On arriving at Tua Marina, Mr. Ironside and his
+party found that all the bodies had been left as Rauparaha had
+directed--unmutilated. The watch of Captain Wakefield was gone, one of
+the pistols, which he had evidently attempted to fire, had been laid
+across his throat in compliance with Maori custom, and a piece of
+"damper," in savage derision, had been placed under his head. The body
+of Brooks, the interpreter, was found to be in the most mangled
+condition, the others apparently only having received the one final
+and decisive blow, when they were struck down by the enraged
+Rangihaeata. Five bodies were discovered in the bush close to the
+creek, and were there interred with the benefits of Christian burial,
+while those who were slain on the brow of the hill, thirteen in
+number, were buried close by with similar rites. This fatiguing work
+had been almost completed by the devoted missionary and his band of
+native helpers when Colonel Wakefield, with the party from the brig,
+arrived to assist. On an extended search being made by the combined
+parties, one more body was found at the point where the road turns
+into the Waitohi Valley, and it was buried where it lay. Probably it
+was that of Isaac Smith, who had either sought to escape after being
+mortally wounded, and had died in the attempt, or had been overtaken
+in his flight and killed where he was found. Mr. Patchett was buried
+in a single grave on the spot where he fell, and Tyrrell and Northam
+were interred together close beside him.
+
+In recognition of the kindly and humane service rendered by Mr.
+Ironside during this critical and anxious period, the Nelson settlers
+presented him with a testimonial in the shape of a handsome edition of
+the Bible, bound in three volumes. The gift was gracefully
+acknowledged by the reverend gentleman in a letter to Mr. Domett,
+dated from Wellington on February 20, 1845.
+
+Upon the return of the party to Port Underwood, Messrs. Spain and
+McDonough (the magistrate at Wellington) set about collecting, with
+all possible speed, all available information concerning the disaster
+from those of both races who had been present, and who had now arrived
+at the settlement. Amongst those whose depositions were taken were two
+Maori boys, who had both been wounded, and were being taken care of by
+female relatives. Their story was a general corroboration of the Maori
+version, and they were both unanimous in declaring that, when the
+Europeans were overtaken on the brow of the hill, Puaha, who was one
+of the first to reach them, offered them his hand and did all in his
+power to obviate further bloodshed by pointing out that he had counted
+the slain, and, as both sides had exactly the same number shot, there
+was no need for further _utu_. In this view Rauparaha at first
+concurred, but he finally gave way before the vehement protestations
+of Rangihaeata, who reminded him in violent tones of his duty to his
+dead relative, Te Rongo. He had then allowed his enraged lieutenant to
+work his wicked will, which Puaha and his people, being unarmed, were
+powerless to prevent. At the conclusion of his inquiry, Mr. Spain left
+for Wellington, taking the wounded with him; and those of the
+survivors who had escaped uninjured proceeded back to Nelson, some in
+the boats and some overland. Before leaving the port Mr. Tuckett was
+authorised by Colonel Wakefield to act as agent for the settlement
+until the pleasure of the New Zealand Company should be known. His
+journey home was rather an adventurous one, as he had a very narrow
+escape of being intercepted by the natives when sailing through the
+French Pass. Some of his companions who were venturesome enough to
+call in at Tory Channel, were detained there for a week by the
+natives, but were ultimately permitted to take their departure
+unharmed.
+
+The body of Mr. Maling, the chief constable, had not been found when
+Mr. Ironside made his first search upon the scene of the massacre, a
+fact which created no surprise at the time, for it was thought
+probable that he had succeeded in making good his escape into the
+bush. But, as he had not arrived at any of the settlements, the
+missionary again returned to Tua Marina for the dual purpose of making
+an extended search and of protecting the graves already made from
+desecration by the wild pigs, with which the valley was at that time
+thickly stocked. He was successful in finding two bodies floating in
+the stream, being the remains of Clanzey and Ratcliffe, who had been
+shot while crossing in the canoe. These were reverently interred on
+the banks of the creek near where Mr. Patchett had been laid. The last
+resting-place of these men bears no mark to distinguish it from the
+surrounding landscape, but a plain though substantial monument has
+been raised over the spot where Captain Wakefield and his companions
+fell; while a memorial church, built by the Wakefield family, stands
+prominently upon the point of the hill, and solemnly presides over the
+whole scene.
+
+It would be difficult to describe the intense excitement which
+agitated the whole colony as the tidings of the massacre flew from
+settlement to settlement; and in the white heat of their anger the
+settlers were guilty of saying and doing many rash and intemperate
+things. Few of them had made themselves conversant with the whole
+facts of the case, and fewer still stayed to reason out the natural
+actions of men under the circumstances. All that they knew, and all
+that they cared to know, was that their countrymen had been, as a
+Nelson settler forcibly expressed it, "brutally butchered by a parcel
+of miscreant savages, ten thousand of whose useless lives would have
+all too cheaply purchased their survival, let the cant of
+ultra-philanthropists say what it will." But this fierce indignation
+was not participated in by the Europeans alone. Flying from the scene
+of the tragedy, Te Rauparaha arrived with his retainers at Waikanae,
+cold and wet with the sea spray which had swept over him on the
+passage across the Strait. He immediately assembled the Ngati-Awa
+people and told them the tale of the massacre, holding their attention
+by the graphic nature of his narrative. At first his listeners were
+unsympathetic, but he appealed to their sympathies by feigning
+physical distress. Bent in body and trembling in voice, he appeared to
+speak with difficulty, and used a hacking cough with some effect to
+melt their sternness. But his most telling point was made when,
+advancing a few steps, he held up his shaking hands and dramatically
+exclaimed, "Why should they seek to fetter me? I am old and weak; I
+must soon pass away. What could they gain by enslaving me? by
+fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not what they
+seek. It is because through my person they hope to dishonour you. If
+they can enslave me they think they can degrade the whole Maori race."
+
+This was the dart that struck deep into Maori pride, and wounded their
+sense of honour. Instantly the tribe rose responsive to the
+suggestion, and weapons were gripped, eyes flashed, and the spirit of
+war surged in every breast. Missionary Hadfield was present, and saw
+the sway wielded by the old chief's oratory. He saw, too, how critical
+was the position, and gladly availed himself of the timely suggestion
+made by one of the missionary natives to ring the bell for evening
+prayers, and thus bring back the warriors' thoughts to a more peaceful
+frame. Next morning Te Rauparaha journeyed to Otaki, and there
+harangued the fighting men of Ngati-Toa. Here there was no need to
+adopt the arts of the stage. His auditors were his own followers, many
+of whom had been with him since childhood. They knew him and trusted
+him, and with them his word was law. He therefore threw off the guise
+of broken manhood, of fettered limbs, of tottering steps, and stood
+before them the bold and imperious chief that he was. His words
+ringing with the timbre of commanding confidence, were direct and to
+the purpose. "Now is the time to strike. You see what the smooth
+speech of the _pakeha_ is worth; you know now what they mean in their
+hearts. You know now that tyranny and injustice is all that you can
+expect at their hands. Come then and sweep them from the land which
+they have sought to bedew with our blood."
+
+In these warlike counsels he was ably seconded by Te Rangihaeata, who,
+reasoning as a Maori would reason, had always strongly held the view
+that, as the white men would be certain to seek satisfaction for the
+massacre, their duty was to get what _utu_ they could while the
+opportunity to do so was theirs. He therefore joined with his chief in
+urging an immediate march upon Wellington, in order by one swift
+stroke to obliterate the _pakeha_ and his settlements. These
+sanguinary proposals were not preached to unwilling ears, for it was
+but natural that the Maori should judge the settlers by their leaders,
+the representatives of the New Zealand Company, whose bad faith now
+appeared so audaciously transparent. But there was one chief who was
+proof against the hysteria of blood which had seized the tribes. Side
+by side with Hadfield he stood like a rock above the billows of hate
+which surged around him, and by his calm and stedfast loyalty broke
+the fury of the storm. This was Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake, the
+Ngati-Awa chief of Waitara. His resolute opposition to Te Rauparaha's
+plans was an obstacle which that chief could not overcome. He carried
+his own people with him, while Hadfield soothed the Ngati-Raukawa into
+neutrality. Without Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Toa was not
+equal to a task which with their united forces would have been a
+simple matter. That the Maoris had the power at this time to drive
+the colonists into the sea, had they chosen to exercise it, has been
+freely admitted by the settlers themselves,[163] so that the service
+which Wiremu and the good missionary Hadfield rendered to the Colony
+at this juncture can only be estimated at the value of the infant
+settlement itself. And, with regret be it said, Wellington is even now
+destitute of any monument to which the passing generations might point
+as a public recognition of the fact that these two men once stood
+between it and extermination.
+
+Before Te Rauparaha was able to extend his projects for avenging his
+wrongs beyond his own immediate sphere of influence, he was visited by
+Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the aborigines, who gave him
+his most solemn pledge that the Government would not attack him
+without first hearing his side of the question, and begged him to try
+and keep the natives quiet until the case could be investigated.
+Following close upon Mr. Clarke came Mr. Spain, deputed by the
+magistrates at Wellington, and empowered to speak as one in
+authority.[164] He strove to assure the natives that they were
+mistaken if they imagined that the Europeans would wage war against
+them indiscriminately by way of retaliation for the death of Captain
+Wakefield and his comrades. The question of punishment rested solely
+with the Governor, and, until he could decide who should be punished
+and what the punishment should be, there would be no act of aggression
+against the natives.
+
+"Your words are very good, but who can tell what will be the words of
+the Governor?" was the comment of one of the chiefs upon these
+assurances. To this Spain could only reply by pointing to their past
+intercourse, and asking if during their long acquaintance they had
+ever known him to deceive them. Fortunately, his record stood him in
+good stead, and the chief agreed that he for one would help to protect
+the Europeans. While this discussion was proceeding, Rauparaha had
+joined the assembly, and at this point he rose and delivered what Mr.
+Spain considered "a most powerful speech." He traversed anew the
+events which had led up to the _fracas_, and vehemently asked,
+"Is this the justice which the Queen of England promised to the Maori?
+You are not satisfied with having taken all our land from us, but you
+send a Queen's ship headed by a Queen's officer to fire upon us and
+kill us." Spain endeavoured to expound to the angry chief the niceties
+of British law, under which a warrant to arrest did not necessarily
+imply established guilt; had he surrendered he would probably have
+been admitted to bail until the day of the trial, and, so far from the
+Queen and the Governor being to blame for the conduct of the
+magistrate, they had never heard of the warrant. On Spain expressing
+his abhorrence of the killing of the captives, Te Rauparaha admitted
+the error of the step, which he palliated as due to their own custom
+and Rangihaeata's grief at the death of his wife. He then proceeded to
+question Spain with an acumen which astonished the lawyer, and forced
+him to form a very high estimate of the chief's intellectual capacity;
+for his examination was as keen "as if I had undergone that ordeal in
+Westminster Hall at the hands of a member of the English Bar." What Te
+Rauparaha wished to guard against was treachery. He wanted everything
+open to the light of day, and the conference ended by his saying to
+Spain, "If the Governor should decide upon sending soldiers to take
+me and Rangihaeata, let us know when they arrive, because you need not
+take the trouble to send up here for us. If you only send word I will
+come down to Port Nicholson with a thousand Maoris and fight with the
+_pakehas_. If they beat us, they shall have New Zealand, and we will
+be their slaves, but if we beat them, they must stand clear."
+
+Mr. Spain next proceeded to Otaki. There he was told that the natives
+intended to stand loyally by their chiefs, and that any attempt to
+seize them would lead to immediate reprisals. Following closely upon
+Mr. Spain's departure, Mr. Jerningham Wakefield reached Otaki. He came
+from the north, and, as he drifted down the Whanganui River, he
+received the first tidings of the death of his uncle. It was difficult
+at first to give credence to the nebulous rumours which reached him;
+but the constant reiteration of the same story about a fight with the
+_pakehas_ and the death of "Wideawake" gradually compelled
+attention, and ultimately received confirmation at the white
+settlement then known as Petre.[165] Here Wakefield was the recipient
+of a message from Te Rauparaha, demanding to know whether he was for
+peace or for war, and preferring a request that "Tiraweke" would come
+to Otaki to _korero_ with him. In the meantime he had sent his
+canoes to Manawatu, and was preparing for his retreat into the
+interior should he be attacked. Wakefield left Petre, and at the end
+of the first day he was met at Rangitikei by the old Ngati-Raukawa
+chief Te Ahu karamu,[166] who had gone thither with an armed party to
+conduct his friend safely through the disturbed district. On reaching
+Otaki, Wakefield went to Rangi-ura _pa_, the principal settlement,
+where the Maoris placed only one interpretation upon his
+coming--vengeance upon Te Rauparaha for the death of his uncle.
+
+For two days Wakefield rested at Otaki, but saw nothing of the chiefs.
+Rangihaeata was reported to be some distance in the interior, building
+a strong _pa_, where it was understood that the chiefs had
+determined to make a stand should the authorities seek to pursue them.
+Te Rauparaha was at the Pakakutu _pa_ at the mouth of the river,
+endeavouring to break down the influence of Mr. Hadfield and Wiremu
+Kingi. His efforts to consolidate his forces were various, as suited
+the circumstances. He sought to ingratiate himself into the good
+opinion of the missionary natives by appearing to become zealous in
+religious observances; on the feeling of others he played by a recital
+of his wrongs; and towards the European residents of Otaki he assumed
+an attitude of unconcealed hostility, and ordered their removal from
+the district. This step he deemed to be necessary, in order that he
+might be free to act unhampered by spies in the supposed impending
+campaign against the Queen's troops, and it was this mandate which
+brought the chief and Wakefield face to face.
+
+As a result of Rauparaha's prohibition, a _pakeha_ settler named
+White, who had been living under the patronage of Te Ahu karamu, found
+himself suddenly stopped at the Otaki River while in the act of
+driving some thirty head of cattle on to the land upon which his
+patron chief had invited him to settle. This high-handed action
+naturally aroused the anger of the Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who had
+hitherto assumed that they were masters of the territory which they
+had chosen to "sit upon" when the division of the conquered lands was
+made. Te Ahu was especially angered at what he regarded as an
+uncalled-for encroachment upon his prerogative as a chief. He
+therefore announced his determination to proceed to the Pakakutu
+_pa_ and demand from Te Rauparaha a complete renunciation of his
+views. Wakefield was invited to be present, and to his facile pen we
+are indebted for a graphic account of what followed. The _korero_ did
+not commence immediately upon the arrival of Te Ahu's party at the
+_pa_, and Wakefield employed the interval in the kindly office of
+helping to dress the wounded leg of a Maori, whom he has described as
+one "particularly gentle and dignified in his manners." While thus
+engaged, Te Rauparaha approached him, and, with evident signs of
+apprehension as to the propriety of his doing so, offered a friendly
+salutation. Wakefield coldly declined to grasp the hand which he
+naturally believed was imbrued in his uncle's blood; and Rauparaha,
+immediately acknowledging the delicacy of his position, muttered "It
+is good," and returned to his seat. The speech-making commenced by his
+entering upon a lengthy narrative of himself and his conquests, for
+the evident purpose of riveting in the minds of his hearers the fact
+that he was the brain and the heart of the tribe. His story was
+eloquently told, for not the least of his great natural endowments was
+the precious gift of the silver tongue. The tale of conquest ended, he
+was proceeding to refer to the incidents of the Wairau, when Wakefield
+rose and checked him. Naturally the latter was sensitive upon the
+point of prejudging so dreadful a tragedy, by listening to an
+_ex-parte_ statement of its facts, when he was fully persuaded that at
+no distant date he would hear the truth disclosed before an impartial
+tribunal. He therefore told Te Rauparaha that he would not remain if
+he proposed to discuss the affair of the Wairau, but begged him to
+confine his speech to a justification of his extreme and arbitrary
+desire to drive the Europeans away from Otaki.
+
+Te Rauparaha acknowledged the reasonableness of this request, but so
+anxious was he to excuse himself in the eyes of Wakefield, that his
+oration had not proceeded far before he reverted to the subject of the
+massacre. Thereupon Wakefield rose, and, walking to the stile at the
+outer fence, was in the act of stepping over it to proceed home, when
+a chorus of shouts called him back, and a promise was given that there
+would be no further reference to the Wairau. Te Rauparaha then
+earnestly addressed himself to the status of the _pakehas_ at Otaki,
+claiming the land as his alone. He admitted the validity of the sales
+of the Manawatu, Whanganui, and Taranaki, but not those of Otaki or
+Ohau, and insisted that the white people, whalers included,[167] must
+remove to those districts which the Company had fairly bought. He
+upbraided the Queen for sending her constables to tie his hands. "Who
+is she," he asked, "that she should send her books and her constables
+after me? What have I to do with her? She may be Queen over the white
+people; I am the King of the Maori! If she chooses to have war, let
+her send me word, and I will stand up against her soldiers. But I must
+have room; I must have no white people so near."[168]
+
+Challenged as to the inconsistency of these views with his action in
+signing the Treaty of Waitangi, he wheeled sharply round and
+exclaimed, "Yes; what of that? They gave me a blanket for it. I am
+still a chief, just the same. I am Rauparaha. Give me another blanket
+tomorrow and I will sign it again. What is there in writing?" The
+attitude of absolute authority assumed by the chief distinctly alarmed
+Wakefield, who saw in it the elements of unlimited trouble for the New
+Zealand Company. For if Te Rauparaha's claim to exclusive jurisdiction
+over the land was well founded, then verily many of their purchases
+had been brought to the brink of repudiation. Turning hastily to Te
+Ahu and several of the chiefs around him, he sought enlightenment on
+the point, reminding them that they had frequently laid claim to
+large possessions in the neighbourhood, but had never acknowledged Te
+Rauparaha as having the least right or interest in them. Then Te Ahu
+proceeded in a tone of apology and regret to elucidate one of the many
+intricate phases of Maori land tenure which were now beginning to
+prove so embarrassing to the Company. He explained that when the tribe
+burned their houses at Maungatautari and came down to assist Te
+Rauparaha in his conquest, they had selected Otaki out of the
+conquered lands to be their future home. In times of peace Rauparaha
+would have made no claim to the land, nor would his claim have been
+acknowledged if he had. In proof of this, he quoted the scorn with
+which Rangihaeata's assumptions over the Manawatu had been rejected by
+Ngati-Raukawa; but now that the war clouds were in the air, the
+_riri_, or anger, had completely altered the whole aspect of affairs;
+the land had reverted to him who had conquered it, and Ngati-Raukawa
+had no land which they could call their own. "And then he rose," says
+Wakefield, "and endeavoured to persuade Rauparaha to change his
+determination. He reminded him of the 'war parties which he had
+brought to him on his back to assist him against his enemies, through
+dangers and troubles more than he could count.' He related how 'he had
+burned the villages of the tribe at Taupo to make them come with him
+to be by the side of Rauparaha on the sea-coast.' He counted how many
+times he had adhered to him 'in his feuds with Ngati-Awa,' and
+described 'how much of the blood of Ngati-Raukawa had been spilt for
+his name.' Te Ahu had now warmed with his subject, and was running up
+and down, bounding and yelling at each turn, and beginning to foam at
+the mouth, as the natives do when they seek to speak impressively.
+'Let the cows go!' he cried. 'Let them go to my place!'
+
+"Rauparaha seemed to consider that Te Ahu's eloquence was becoming too
+powerful, and he jumped up too. They both continued to run up and down
+in short parallel lines, yelling at each other, with staring eyes and
+excited features, grimacing and foaming, shaking their hands and
+smacking their thighs. As they both spoke together, it became
+difficult to hear what they said, but I caught a sentence here and
+there, which gave me the sense of the argument. 'No!' cried Rauparaha;
+'no cows; I will not have them.' 'Let them go!' yelled Te Ahu. 'Yield
+me my cows and my white man--the cows will not kill you.' 'No cows, no
+white men! I am King! Never mind your war parties! No cows!' answered
+Te Rauparaha. 'The cows cannot take you,' persisted Te Ahu; 'when the
+soldiers come we will fight for you, but let my cows go.' 'No, no, no,
+indeed,' firmly replied the chief, and sat down.
+
+"Te Ahu remained standing. He took breath for a minute, then drew
+himself up to his full height, and addressed his own people in a
+solemn kind of recitative. 'Ngati-Raukawa,' he sang, 'arise! Arise, my
+sons and daughters, my elder brothers and my younger brothers, my
+sisters, my grand-children, arise! Stand up, the families of
+Ngati-Raukawa! To Taupo! to Taupo! to Maungatautari! To our old homes
+which we burned and deserted; arise and let us go! Carry the little
+children on your backs, as I carried you when I came to fight for this
+old man who has called us to fight for him and given us land to sit
+upon, but grudges us white people to be our friends and to give us
+trade. We have no white men or ships at Maungatautari, but the land is
+our own there. We need not beg to have a white man or cows yielded to
+us there if they should want to come. To Maungatautari. Arise, my
+sons, make up your packs, take your guns and your blankets, and let us
+go! It is enough, I have spoken.' As he sat down, a mournful silence
+prevailed. An important migration had been proposed by the chief,
+which no doubt would be agreed to by the greater part of the Otaki,
+Ohau, and Manawatu natives, on whom was Rauparaha's chief dependence
+for his defence.
+
+"I noticed that he winced when he first heard the purport of Te Ahu's
+song; but, while Te Ahu continued, his countenance gradually resumed
+its confidence. Much as I abhorred his character, I could not but
+yield my unbounded admiration to the imperious manner in which he
+overthrew the whole effect of Te Ahu's beautiful summons to his tribe.
+Instead of his usual doubting and suspicious manner, his every gesture
+became that of a noble chief. He rose with all the majesty of a
+monarch, and he spoke in the clearest and firmest tones, so that the
+change from his customary shuffling, cautious and snarling diction was
+of itself sufficient to command the earnest attention of his audience.
+'Go,' said he, 'go, all of you!--go, Ngati-Raukawa, to Maungatautari!
+Take your children on your backs and go, and leave my land without
+men. When you are gone, I will stay and fight the soldiers with my own
+hands. I do not beg you to stop. Rauparaha is not afraid! I began to
+fight when I was as high as my hip. All my days have been spent in
+fighting, and by fighting I have got my name. Since I seized by war
+all this land, from Taranaki to Port Nicholson, and from Blind Bay to
+Cloudy Bay beyond the water, I have been spoken of as a King. I am the
+King of all this land. I have lived a King, and I will die a King,
+with my _mere_ in my hand. Go; I am no beggar; Rauparaha will fight
+the soldiers of the Queen when they come, with his own hands and his
+own name. Go to Maungatautari.' Then, suddenly changing his strain, he
+looked on the assemblage of chiefs, bending down towards them with a
+paternal smile, and softening his voice to kindness and emotion. 'But
+what do I say?' said he; 'what is my talk about? You are children! It
+is not for you to talk. You talk of going here and doing that. Can one
+of you talk when I am here? No! I shall rise and speak for you all,
+and you shall sit dumb, for you are all my children, and Rauparaha is
+your head chief and patriarch.'"
+
+This fearless rejection of Ngati-Raukawa assistance, culminating in an
+arrogant assumption of absolute authority over their movements,
+completely won him his point, and one of the highest chiefs said to
+Wakefield, "It is true, Tiraweke! He is our father and our
+_Ariki_. Rauparaha is the King of the Maori, like your Queen over the
+white people." The others, full of conscious dignity in being
+followers of such a leader, acknowledged his authority by bowing a
+silent assent. Rauparaha remained inflexible in refusing to permit the
+cattle to enter the district, but, in deference to the urgent
+persuasions of the chiefs, he subsequently relaxed his prohibition
+against the white men already settled in the district, but stoutly
+refused to sanction the coming of any more.
+
+But this effort of Te Rauparaha to consolidate his forces was in no
+sense the full range of his preparations. To augment his fighting
+strength was as much his policy as to unite those who already
+acknowledged allegiance to him. And this he sought to do in a quarter
+which, in view of past events, he would have been least expected to
+approach, and where his advances, once made, would have been least
+likely to touch a responsive chord. His scheme involved no less a
+delicate task than salving the wounds of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, and
+negotiating a friendly alliance with the men whose _mana_ he had
+so rudely trampled in the dust at Kaikoura and Kaiapoi. To this end he
+collected a number of the most influential prisoners whom he had taken
+at the latter place, and, bidding them go back to their tribe, charged
+them to use their utmost endeavour to promote a good feeling towards
+him amongst their people. This unexpected act of clemency--or apparent
+clemency--which restored to them their much esteemed chief Momo, their
+great warrior Iwikau, and others equally noted in their history, went
+far to soothe the injured pride of Ngai-Tahu, who, after much serious
+debate, decided to forget the past, make peace, and accede to the new
+proposals. As an earnest of their acceptance of Rauparaha's terms,
+Taiaroa at once paid a visit to Kapiti, and, as he professed to be
+aggrieved at the manner in which some land transactions had been
+conducted in the south, there is little doubt that, had an attack upon
+Wellington been contemplated, he and his people would have combined
+with their former enemies to effect the annihilation of the
+colonists.[169]
+
+A fearful uncertainty thus continued to agitate the breasts of the
+settlers; and when H.M. ship of war, _North Star_ arrived in
+Wellington on 31st August, as the result of a memorial sent by the
+settlers to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, she was
+received with a salute of guns and a display of bunting, which
+indicated a belief that the day of retribution was at hand. It was
+not, however, for four days that her commander, Sir Everard Home, was
+able to enter into communication with Major Richmond, the principal
+officer of the Government in Cook Strait. By him he was assured that
+"he had received various reports of meditated attacks upon Wellington
+by the natives under Te Rauparaha; that the chief was at a _pa_
+not more than fourteen miles away, with between five hundred and a
+thousand of his fighting men; that Taiaroa, the chief from the Middle
+Island, had joined Te Rauparaha, and, having been an ancient enemy to
+him, had made peace; that the _pa_ at Porirua was fortified, and
+every preparation made for an attack on the town of Wellington." To
+this Sir Everard, having regard to his explicit instructions not to
+intervene unless the natives and the whites were at actual war,
+replied that, in his judgment, the circumstances did not warrant his
+interference, but that he would keep his ship in the harbour as a
+salutary check upon Maori aggression. In the meantime he penned the
+following letter to Te Rauparaha:--
+
+ "FRIEND RAUPARAHA,--It has come to my knowledge that you are
+ collecting the tribes round you, because you expect that I am going
+ to attack you. Those who told you so said that which is not true.
+ It was to keep the peace and not to make war that I came here.
+ You know that where many men are met together, and continue without
+ employment, they will find something evil to do. They had best go
+ home."
+
+Sir Everard Home, having satisfied himself that no immediate crisis
+was likely to arise at Wellington, unless it was precipitated by the
+settlers themselves, was constrained by reports of seething discontent
+at Nelson to visit the settlements in Blind Bay. But, before
+proceeding thither, he decided to call in at the island of Mana, and
+there personally discuss the situation with Te Rauparaha himself.
+Accompanied by Major Richmond and Captain Best, he left Wellington
+Harbour on the morning of October 5th, and anchored the _North
+Star_ under the lee of Mana that afternoon.
+
+ "As soon as the ship anchored," says Sir Everard in his official
+ report, "I landed, attended by Major Richmond and Captain Best,
+ who commanded the detachment on board the _North Star_. We
+ first went to the whaling station, or great _pa_, where we found Mr.
+ Chetham (clerk of the Court), who had been sent to join us. We
+ also soon after met Mr. Clarke. He informed us that Te Rauparaha
+ had left that morning at daylight for Waikanae, which must have
+ been a voluntary movement, as no person knew our intention till
+ the Strait was entered. We immediately went round to the _pa_
+ where the tribe was established. Here we found no one on the
+ beach to receive us, and, having landed, walked to the huts, where
+ we found a few persons sitting together. Rangihaeata, they said,
+ had fled to the bush, Te Rauparaha was at Waikanae, and, finding
+ that nothing could be done, we returned on board."
+
+During this visit to Porirua, the attention of the official party had
+been directed to the presence of the New Zealand Company's boat, which
+had been brought by the natives from the Wairau, after the massacre,
+and hauled up on the shore of Taupo Bay amongst some twelve or fifteen
+canoes; and this fact was made a subject of discussion next day when
+the frigate reached Kapiti.
+
+Landing at Waikanae, where the interview was to take place, Sir
+Everard Home says:--
+
+ "We were received by the Rev. Mr. Hadfield, a missionary, a
+ gentleman of high character and great intelligence, who, living in
+ the _pa_ amongst the natives, knows every movement, for none could
+ take place without his knowledge. He at once declared all the reports
+ (of an intended attack upon Wellington) to be without foundation.
+ Having walked to his house, which is within the _pa_, we
+ proceeded to his school-yard, and the chiefs, Te Rauparaha, and Rere,
+ chief of the tribe inhabiting the _pa_ of Waikanae, came,
+ accompanied by about fifty men. I then stated to the chief all that
+ was reported of him, and asked him what he had to say to contradict
+ it. He replied that, far from wishing to continue the quarrel with
+ the Europeans, which had been commenced by them, and not by him, his
+ whole time was occupied in travelling up and down the coast,
+ endeavouring to allay the irritation of the natives and to prevent
+ any ill consequences arising from the provoking language and threats
+ with which they were continually annoyed by the Europeans travelling
+ backwards and forwards. That, for himself, he believed them to be
+ lies invented by the white men, having been assured by the Police
+ Magistrate that no steps would be taken until the arrival of the new
+ Governor, or the pleasure of the Queen was known. He also declared
+ that they all stood in fear of the white men, and asked why I had
+ come if it was not to fight with and destroy them, for they had been
+ told that was my intention.
+
+ "I told them that the Queen's ships went to all parts of the world,
+ and that my object was to preserve peace rather than to make war, and
+ he was advised to believe no reports which he might hear, but to
+ inquire into the truth of them of Major Richmond, through Mr. Clarke
+ or Mr. Hadfield."
+
+The conference then dispersed, but at a later hour Te Rauparaha was
+sent for to Mr. Hadfield's house, and asked if he would send a letter
+to the principal chief at Porirua, requesting him to deliver up the
+Company's boat to Sir Everard Home. His reply was that he had but
+little influence amongst the Porirua people, but that, as he had
+always been against the retention of the boat, he would assert what
+authority he had to secure its return. He then became curious to know
+if the surrender of the boat would end the quarrel; but Major Richmond
+discreetly declined to commit himself on the point, and appealed to Te
+Rauparaha's position as a chief to see that justice was done. Te
+Rauparaha then penned the following letter, which he addressed to the
+Porirua chiefs:--
+
+ "Go thou, my book, to Puaha, Hohepa, and Watarauehe. Give that boat
+ to the chief of the ship; give it to the chief for nothing. These are
+ the words of Te Rauparaha. Your avarice in keeping back the boat from
+ us, from me, Mr. Hadfield, and Mr. Ironside, was great. This is not
+ an angry visit, it is to ask peaceably for the boat. There are only
+ Mr. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, and the chief of the ship: they three who
+ are going peaceably back to you that you may give up the boat.
+
+ "This is my book,
+
+ "TE RAUPARAHA."
+
+Armed with this authority Sir Everard Home returned to Porirua, where,
+after lying at anchor all day on Sunday, he landed on the following
+day, and made a formal demand for the return of the boat. At first, Te
+Rangihaeata was inclined to resist the request, but, on receipt of a
+private message from Te Rauparaha that a refusal might mean trouble,
+he yielded the point, and the boat was ultimately handed over with
+"the greatest good-humour."
+
+During the interview at Waikanae, Te Rauparaha had given the most
+profuse assurances that he, relying upon the promise that there would
+be no reprisals until the facts surrounding the massacre had been
+investigated, was employing his best endeavours to pacify his people.
+But his efforts, he said, were often nullified by the disturbing
+rumours which reached them of armings and drillings[170] by the
+settlers at Wellington, which seemed to portend war rather than peace.
+But the seeds of irritation and mistrust had already been sown much
+further afield than Waikanae and Otaki; for the natives, on leaving
+the Wairau, had taken with them, as well as the boat, the handcuffs
+and leg-irons which had been foolishly brought down by Mr. Maling to
+ensure Rauparaha's capture. These were sent from one _pa_ to
+another, and wherever they were exhibited, the enemies of the
+_pakeha_ were not slow to insinuate that, when the English became
+numerous in the land, they would provide leg-irons for the whole of
+the natives. The sight of these manacles, and the dark hints with
+which they were everywhere accompanied, created bitterness and
+resentment against settlers, with whom the Maoris had always lived in
+perfect harmony; so that before many weeks had passed away it only
+required a single spark of indiscretion to set the whole colony in a
+blaze of war. At no period of her history has New Zealand stood so
+much in need of firm, discreet and conciliatory guidance as in this
+critical juncture;[171] and fortunately the hand of authority was
+strong enough to prevent the spark being kindled. Acting-Governor
+Shortland, taking a bold but unpopular initiative, on July 12, 1843,
+issued the following proclamation:--
+
+ "Whereas it is essential to the well-being of this Colony that
+ confidence and good feeling should continue to exist between the two
+ races of its inhabitants, and that the native owners of the soil
+ should have no reason to doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's solemn
+ assurance that their territorial rights should be recognised and
+ respected. Now, therefore, I, the officer administering the
+ Government, do hereby publicly warn all persons claiming land in this
+ Colony, in all cases where the claim is denied or disputed by the
+ original native owners, from exercising rights of ownership thereon,
+ or otherwise prejudicing the question of title to the same, until the
+ question of ownership shall have been heard and determined by one of
+ Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to investigate claims to land
+ in New Zealand."
+
+The wisdom of thus holding the hands of the settlers until the title
+to their lands had been settled by a constitutional course was not at
+first apparent to the pioneers, who treated the proclamation with
+scant respect, and roundly abused it and its author in the public
+press.
+
+ "If," said one writer, "it had been the desire of its framer to hound
+ a troop of excited savages upon a peaceable and scattered population,
+ to destroy the remains of friendly feeling existing between the two
+ races, to imbrue in blood the hands of both, and lead to the
+ extermination of one or the other, such a proclamation might have
+ served its purpose."
+
+This style of exaggerated invective will serve to show the unreasoning
+pitch to which even the better class of colonists had allowed
+themselves to be worked by the news of the catastrophe. Nor were they
+content with merely upbraiding the authorities in the press and at
+public meetings; deputations waited upon the Acting-Governor at
+Auckland, urging him to take immediate steps to avenge the death of
+Captain Wakefield. The Nelson deputation consisted of Dr. Monro and
+Mr. A. Domett, and the essence of their petition was contained in the
+following paragraph:--
+
+ "We have no hesitation in stating that it is the general opinion of
+ the settlers at Nelson that our countrymen who were killed at Wairau
+ Plain lost their lives in endeavouring to discharge their duties as
+ magistrates and British subjects, obedient to British law, and that
+ the persons by whom they were killed are murderers in the eyes of
+ common sense and justice."
+
+They therefore hoped that impartial justice would be done, and that
+the penalties of the law would certainly overtake those whom its
+verdicts pronounced to be guilty. But to this and all other petitions
+of a similar tone Mr. Shortland staunchly refused to accede. In his
+reply to Dr. Monro and Mr. Domett he clearly set forth the error under
+which the settlers were labouring, when they ascribed the disaster to
+the performance of duty on the part of the magistrates, and pointed
+out that it might be more fairly attributed to an excess of duty on
+the part of those officials, in attempting to annex land which had
+never been legally purchased. After dwelling upon the criminality of
+those who were responsible for the final conflict, he proceeded:--
+
+ "But whatever may be the crime, and whoever may be the criminals, it
+ is but too clear that the event we must all deplore has arisen from
+ several parties of surveyors, without the concurrence of the local
+ Government, proceeding to take possession of and to survey a tract of
+ land in opposition to the original native owners, who had uniformly
+ denied its sale. His Excellency therefore deems it proper to inform
+ you that the New Zealand Company has not selected any block of land
+ in the valley of the Wairau, nor has the local Government yet
+ received any intimation that it is the intention of the Company to
+ select a block in that district."
+
+To say that the Englishmen were trespassers is the mildest way in
+which the case against them can be stated, especially in view of the
+forceful opinion expressed by Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General, who
+described their conduct as "illegal in its inception and in every step
+of its execution, unjustifiable in the magistrate and four constables,
+and criminal in the last degree on the part of the attacking party."
+Writing from Port Nicholson ten days after the massacre, Mr. Spain
+confirmed Mr. Swainson's condemnation of their conduct, which he
+declared to be "an attempt to set British law at defiance and to
+obtain, by force, possession of a tract of land, the title of which
+was disputed, and then under the consideration of a commissioner
+specially appointed to investigate and report upon it." From the
+information he had been able to collect, Mr. Spain arrived at the
+conclusion that at the commencement of the affair the natives
+exhibited the greatest forbearance, and the utmost repugnance to fight
+with the Europeans. His views were cordially endorsed by Mr. Clarke,
+the Protector of the aborigines, who reported to the Acting-Governor
+that he was "satisfied that such an unhappy affair as that of the
+Wairau could never have occurred had not the natives been urged to it
+by extreme provocation." These emphatic opinions from men who were not
+only capable of arriving at a judicial conclusion, but were impartial
+in the sense that they were not concerned in the catastrophe, together
+with the decision of the Attorney-General that no act of felony had
+been committed by the natives in burning the huts, fortified His
+Excellency in ignoring the violent clamour of the settlers for
+revenge. They induced him even to go further, and prohibit the
+military displays which they were beginning to organise amongst
+themselves under the plea that they were in imminent danger of being
+attacked by the natives. This prohibition was to their excited minds
+the crowning injustice of all; and in October, when H.M.S. _North
+Star_ arrived at Port Nicholson, the Wellington and Nelson settlements
+were practically in a state of open rebellion. When Sir Everard Home
+was applied to by the colonists to execute a warrant against Rauparaha
+and Rangihaeata for murder, he was compelled to "decline the honour,"
+and admit candidly that he did not consider a force so necessary to
+put a check upon the natives as to keep in subjection the irate
+settlers themselves. The settlers further memorialised Sir Eardley
+Wilmot, Governor of Tasmania, for assistance, and he immediately sent
+a battleship to their aid. But he took the precaution to warn Captain
+Nicholson not to land his troops unless the natives and Europeans were
+in actual conflict; and this not being the case when the ship arrived,
+she soon after took her departure. In their extremity the settlers
+then turned to a French frigate which was lying in New Zealand waters;
+but Major Richmond, on hearing of the proposal to call upon her
+captain for aid, indignantly vetoed it as being "a stain upon British
+arms."
+
+The social and political atmosphere was still in this condition of
+ferment when, towards the close of the year, Captain Fitzroy, the
+newly appointed Governor, arrived. It was not, however, until February
+that he was able to give his undivided attention to the adjudication
+of matters connected with the massacre; but he then spared no pains to
+make himself master of all the facts upon which a decision was to be
+based. He first studied the merits of the European case, and then
+journeyed to Waikanae, where he landed on February 12, 1844, with his
+suite, consisting of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Spain, the officers of the
+_North Star_, Major Richmond and Mr. Symonds, the Wellington
+magistrates, and Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the
+aborigines. There he met Rauparaha and Rangihaeata with upwards of
+four hundred of their tribe, congregated for the _korero_ in an
+enclosure in the centre of the _pa_, the Governor being provided
+with a chair, Rauparaha sitting by his side. His Excellency,
+addressing the assembled natives through Mr. Clarke, said:--
+
+ "I have heard from the English all that happened at the Wairau, and
+ it has grieved my heart exceedingly. I now ask you to tell me your
+ story so that I may compare the two and judge fairly. When I have
+ heard your account of that dark day, I will reflect and then tell you
+ what I shall do. The bad news I have just heard about killing the
+ English after they had ceased fighting, and had trusted to your
+ honour, has made my heart very dark, has filled my mind with gloom.
+ Tell me your story that I may compare it with the English, and know
+ the whole truth. When I first heard of the death of my friends at the
+ Wairau, I was very angry and thought of hastening here with many
+ ships of war, with many soldiers, and several fire-moved ships
+ (steamers). Had I done so your warriors would have been killed, your
+ canoes would have been all taken and burnt, your houses and your
+ _pas_ would have all been destroyed, for I would have brought
+ with me from Sydney an irresistible force. But these were hasty,
+ unchristian thoughts: they soon passed away. I considered the whole
+ case. I considered the English were very much to blame even by their
+ own account, and I saw how much you had been provoked. Then I
+ determined to put away my anger and come to you peaceably. Let me
+ hear your story."
+
+Rauparaha then arose, and after being exhorted by several of his tribe
+to speak out that all might hear, he began in slow and measured tones
+to narrate their land troubles with the Company in the Wellington
+settlement, and then he passed on to the Wairau. This land, he
+declared, was taken away by Thompson and Captain Wakefield, and he
+described the visit of Rangihaeata and himself to Nelson to protest
+against its occupancy; nor did he omit to mention the threats then
+used towards them by Captain Wakefield. Then he told how they had gone
+over and stopped the survey, and brought Messrs. Cotterell and
+Barnicoat down to the bar, and how they had afterwards met Mr.
+Tuckett, and likewise refused him permission to remain.
+
+ [Illustration: TAUPO PA, PORIRUA.
+ Where Te Rauparaha was captured.]
+
+ "After Mr. Tuckett had gone to Nelson," said Rauparaha, "we continued
+ our planting, till one morning we saw the _Victoria_ (the
+ Government brig). Then were our hearts relieved, for we thought Mr.
+ Spain and Mr. Clarke had come to settle the question of our lands.
+ Being scattered about on the different places on the river, we took
+ no further notice, expecting a messenger to arrive from Mr. Spain;
+ but a messenger came up to say that it was an army of English, and
+ that they were busily engaged in cleaning their arms and fixing the
+ flints of their guns. They met Puaha, and detained him prisoner. They
+ said, 'Where are Rauparaha and Rangihaeata?' Puaha said, 'Up the
+ river.' After Puaha and Rangihaeata arrived, we consulted as to what
+ we should do. I proposed going into the bush, but they said 'No, let
+ us remain where we are: what have we done that we should be thus
+ beset?' The Europeans slept some distance from us, and, after they
+ had breakfasted, came on towards us in two boats. We remained on the
+ same spot without food. We were much alarmed. Early in the morning we
+ were on the look-out, and one of the scouts, who caught sight of them
+ coming round a point, called out, 'Here they come! here they come!'
+ Our women had kindled a fire and cooked a few potatoes that we had
+ remaining, and we were hastily eating them when they came in sight.
+ Cotterell called out, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha answered, 'Here I am,
+ come here to me.' They said again, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha again
+ saluted them. Cotterell then said, 'Where is a canoe for us to
+ cross?' Thompson, Wakefield, and some other gentlemen crossed over
+ with a constable to take me, but the greater number stopped on the
+ other side of the creek. Thompson said, 'Where is Rauparaha?' I
+ answered, 'Here.' He said, 'Come, you must come with me.' I replied,
+ 'What for?' He answered, 'To talk about the houses you have burnt
+ down.' I said, 'What house have I burned down? Was it a tent
+ belonging to you that you make so much ado about? You know it was
+ not; it was nothing but a hut of rushes. The materials were cut from
+ my own ground; therefore I will not go on board, neither will I be
+ bound. If you are angry about the land, let us talk it quietly over.
+ I care not if we talk till night and all day to-morrow; and when we
+ have finished, I will settle the question about the land!' Mr.
+ Thompson said, 'Will you not go?' I said 'No,' and Rangihaeata, who
+ had been called for, and who had been speaking, said so too. Mr.
+ Thompson then called for the handcuffs and held up the warrant,
+ saying, 'See, this is the Queen's book, this is the Queen to make a
+ tie, Rauparaha.' I said, 'I will not listen either to you or your
+ book.' He was in a great passion; his eyes rolled about and he
+ stamped his feet. I said I would rather be killed than submit to be
+ bound. He then called for the constable, who began opening the
+ handcuffs and advancing towards me. Mr. Thompson laid hold of my
+ hand. I pushed him away, saying, 'What are you doing that for?' Mr.
+ Thompson then called out 'Fire!' The Europeans began to cross over
+ the creek, and as they were crossing they fired one gun. The women
+ and children were sitting round the fire. We called out, 'We shall be
+ shot,' After this one gun, they fired a volley, and one of us was
+ killed, then another, and three were wounded. We were then closing
+ fast; the _pakehas_' guns were levelled at us. I and Puaha cried out,
+ 'Friends, stand up and shoot some of them in payment.' We were
+ frightened because some of them were very close to us. We then fired;
+ three of the Europeans fell. They fired again and killed Rongo, the
+ wife of Rangihaeata. We then bent all our energy to the fight, and
+ the Europeans began to fly. They all ran away, firing as they
+ retreated; the gentlemen ran too. We pursued them and killed them as
+ we overtook them. Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were brought to
+ me by the slaves, who caught them. Rangihaeata came running to me,
+ crying out, 'What are you doing, I say?' Upon which some heathen
+ slaves killed them at the instigation of Rangihaeata; neither Puaha
+ nor the Christian natives being then present. There was no time
+ elapsed between the fight and the slaughter of the prisoners. When
+ the prisoners were killed, the rest of the people were still engaged
+ in the pursuit, and before they returned they were all dead. I forgot
+ to say that during the pursuit, when we arrived at the top of the
+ hill, Mr. Cotterell held up a flag and said, 'That is enough, stop
+ fighting!' Mr. Thompson said to me, 'Rauparaha, spare my life.' I
+ answered, 'A little while ago, I wished to talk to you in a friendly
+ manner, and you would not; now you say, 'Save me,' I will not save
+ you. It is not our custom to save the chiefs of our enemies. We do
+ not consider our victory complete unless we kill the chiefs of our
+ opponents. Our passions were much roused, and we could not help
+ killing the chiefs."
+
+At the conclusion of Rauparaha's address, Captain Fitzroy desired time
+to reflect upon what he had just heard, and, at the expiration of
+half-an-hour, he announced his decision as follows:--
+
+ "Now I have heard both sides, I have reflected on both accounts, and
+ I am prepared to give my judgment. In the first place, the English
+ were wrong; they had no right to build houses upon lands to which
+ they had not established their claim--upon land the sale of which you
+ disputed; on which Mr. Spain had not decided. They were wrong in
+ trying to apprehend you, who had committed no crime. They were wrong
+ in marking and measuring your land in opposition to your repeated
+ refusal to allow them to do so until the Commissioner had decided on
+ their claim. Had you been Englishmen, you would have known that it
+ was wrong to resist a magistrate under any circumstances, but not
+ understanding English law, the case is different. Had this been all,
+ had a struggle caused loss of life in the fight--wrong and bad as it
+ would have been to fight in the sight of God--I could not have blamed
+ you so much as the English. The very bad part of the Wairau
+ affair--that part where you were very wrong--was the killing of the
+ men who had surrendered, who trusted to your honour as chiefs.
+ Englishmen never kill prisoners; Englishmen never kill men who have
+ surrendered. It is the shocking death of these unfortunate men that
+ has filled my mind with gloom, that has made my heart so dark, that
+ has filled me with sorrow; but I know how difficult it is to restrain
+ angry men when their passions are aroused. I know you repent of your
+ conduct, and are now sorry that those men were killed. As the English
+ were very greatly to blame, as they brought on and began the fight,
+ and as you were hurried into crime by their misconduct, I will not
+ avenge their death."[172]
+
+In arriving at this determination, Captain Fitzroy may have been
+actuated to some extent by considerations of expediency; for, had he
+decided in any other way, the reprisals of the English would
+undoubtedly have created a war with the natives, which the Government
+was not in a position at that juncture to carry to a successful issue.
+Therefore, to have provoked hostilities with Rauparaha would have
+meant the obliteration of all the settlements before the necessary
+reinforcements could have arrived. At the same time, there was a large
+measure of justice in the course he chose to adopt, which, in the
+calmer judgment of to-day, must receive the endorsement of all
+impartial men, as it did that of Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, immediately the Governor's decision was known to the
+Home authorities. In his despatches on the subject, Lord Stanley made
+it clear that, in his opinion, Mr. Thompson and Captain Wakefield had
+needlessly violated the rules of English law, the maxims of prudence,
+and the principles of justice; and having thus provoked an indefensible
+quarrel with a barbarous tribe, they could not reasonably complain at
+the barbarities practised in the subsequent conflict. He was therefore
+satisfied that, in declining to make the Wairau massacre a subject for
+criminal proceedings, the Governor had taken a wise, though
+undoubtedly bold, decision. As might have been expected, the action of
+Captain Fitzroy in refusing to arrest the two chiefs created a tempest
+of ill-will against him amongst the settlers, but, on the other hand,
+the Maoris were overjoyed at the prospect of once more possessing the
+friendship of the _pakeha_, and instantly resumed a sociable
+demeanour towards the colonists. This feeling, upon the advent of
+Captain Grey as Governor, was gradually reciprocated by the Europeans,
+who in time came to recognise the folly of their fears, and the
+absurdity of their hostile attitude. In this way, the startling nature
+of the catastrophe, which had paralysed the efforts of the New Zealand
+Company and thrown a pall over the settlement of the whole Colony,
+began to lose its deadly effect, and the splendid scheme of setting a
+new gem in the British Crown was rescued from the disaster which
+threatened it.
+
+[154] On the 13th June, Captain Wakefield wrote to his brother from
+Nelson: "The magistrates have granted a warrant, and Thompson,
+accompanied by myself, England, and a lot of the constables, are off
+immediately in the Government brig to execute it. We shall muster
+about sixty, so I think we will overcome these travelling bullies."
+
+[155] As told to the author by the late Mr. Barnicoat.
+
+[156] Saturday, June 17, 1843.
+
+[157] John Brooks had been engaged as a sawyer at Cloudy Bay. He was
+thoroughly acquainted with the native language and habits, having been
+eight years resident amongst the Waikato tribes.
+
+[158] Rawiri Kingi Puaha was born at Kawhia, and belonged to one of
+the best of the Ngati-Toa families. He migrated southward with Te
+Rauparaha, and was married to one of Te Pehi's daughters. He died at
+his own village, Takapuahia, Porirua Harbour, on September 6, 1858. He
+was a man widely respected by the colonists, and to the day of his
+death he "maintained a high character as a consistent and
+conscientious Christian."
+
+[159] "The conduct of Mr. Thompson has been unquestionably the means
+of bringing about the fatal conflict in which he himself lost his
+life. There is only one way of accounting for the part he has acted in
+that affair; as far as he is concerned, no more blame can be attached
+to him than to any other lunatic, for such he was to all intents and
+purposes, and such he was well known to be, even to Mr. Shortland"
+(_Martin's Letters_).
+
+[160] Te Rongo was not the _daughter_ of Te Rauparaha, as that
+word is generally understood by Europeans, but a much more distant
+relative. She was the widow of Te Whaiti, a nephew of Rauparaha and a
+first cousin of Rangihaeata, who married her because she was the widow
+of his near relative. The story that she was shot while standing in
+front of Rangihaeata to protect him is pure romance. She was killed by
+a stray bullet while hiding in the swamp at the rear of the Maori
+camp.
+
+[161] "Yesterday we passed (near Maraekowhai) the grave of Te Oru, the
+chief who killed Captain Wakefield at the Wairau" (_Crawford's
+"Travels in New Zealand"_).
+
+[162] This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A
+degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman,
+Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The
+natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev.
+Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried
+according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the
+crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being
+mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him
+do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was
+a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever
+after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in
+not punishing him.
+
+[163] Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in
+1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the
+shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven
+hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was
+stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to
+massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and
+Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."
+
+[164] On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr.
+McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the
+Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of
+Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to
+communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their
+determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take
+vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the
+whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will
+inquire into it and decide according to law."
+
+[165] Now known as Whanganui.
+
+[166] Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this
+journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in
+revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki
+natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon
+Wellington."
+
+[167] "Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many
+friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor,
+among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe
+for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha
+turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[168] Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen,
+but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he
+was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently
+vindictive towards those from whom he differed.
+
+[169] "Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting
+jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so
+that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better
+understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake'
+(Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land,
+and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he
+did not get plenty of _utu_" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[170] These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the
+native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that
+the settlers meditated an attack upon them.
+
+[171] The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the
+massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and
+there was no vessel of war on the station (_Mundy_).
+
+[172] This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke
+to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim
+the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood--a course which
+the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own
+customs--British prestige and power are said to have suffered
+considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have
+remarked, "_He paukena te pakeha_" (The Governor is soft, he is a
+pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa
+and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the
+payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends
+killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CAPTIVE CHIEF
+
+
+The decision of which Governor Fitzroy had delivered himself, as the
+result of his hurried investigation into the circumstances attending
+the tragedy at the Wairau, brought him into bitter conflict with the
+more influential colonists, and added to his native troubles a
+European difficulty, which ultimately played no small part in his
+official undoing. Fitzroy had, with a patriotism worthy of the best
+traditions of our race, sacrificed place and high prospects in the
+homeland to assume the Governorship of New Zealand, a post which was
+afterwards described by Lord Stanley as "a laborious, responsible, and
+ill-remunerated office in a distant colony." Without money, or the
+means of obtaining it, to carry on his civil administration, and
+destitute of military support wherewith to assert his authority, he
+found himself defied by the natives and thwarted by the Europeans. His
+appeals for soldiers were unheeded, and his schemes for supplementing
+his revenue were disallowed by the Home authorities, who, instead of
+repairing their policy of parsimony, recalled the Governor. Thus was
+cut short a career upon which Robert Fitzroy had entered with only the
+highest motives, throughout which he had acted with the utmost
+devotion, and in which he had failed only because with his limited
+opportunities it was humanly impossible to succeed. His successor in
+the arduous task of soothing the dual discontent was Captain Grey,
+late of the 83rd Regiment, who was then serving the Crown with
+conspicuous distinction as Governor of South Australia. His success
+in dealing with native difficulties there, his achievements as an
+explorer, added to his valuable personal qualities, were his chief
+recommendations for the new responsibilities which it was proposed to
+ask him to assume. That the judgment of those responsible for the
+selection was sound, history has proved; but the administrations of
+Fitzroy and Grey cannot fairly be compared, for the reason that, while
+the former was expected to rule a turbulent population without either
+men or money, the latter was freely supplied with both. The new
+Governor was further invested with the additional prestige derivable
+from the title of Governor-in-Chief, and from the fact that he was
+supported by a Lieutenant-Governor, who, in his subordinate authority,
+was stationed in the Southern province. Captain Grey assumed the
+duties of his new office on November 18, 1845. His first recorded
+contact with Te Rauparaha was on the occasion of his receiving from
+him and other chiefs a memorial, in which they expressed their anxiety
+to know his political intentions, and begged him to give them someone
+skilled in both native and European laws, who would advise them how
+best to avoid conflict with the _pakeha_. They were, they said,
+deeply anxious to obey the laws of the Queen, and just as they had
+teachers amongst them to lead them to a proper understanding regarding
+the will of God, so, in order to avoid misunderstanding, they desired
+some one to act as their guide and friend in the matter of the
+temporal law. Grey was more than gratified with this evidence of
+loyalty and desire for harmony, and, in his reply, endeavoured to make
+it clear that it was his duty so to direct his authority as to secure
+the peace and happiness of all under his jurisdiction. "Maoris and
+Europeans," wrote the Governor, "shall be equally protected and live
+under equal laws, both of them alike subjects of the Queen and
+entitled to her favour and care. The Maoris shall be protected in all
+their property and possessions, and no one shall be allowed to take
+anything from them or to injure them; nor will I allow Maoris to
+injure one another. An end must be put to deeds of blood and
+violence." This clear and explicit declaration of his determination to
+permit of only one law for the _pakeha_ and Maori, and to hold the
+racial balance justly before the eyes of the world, touched a
+responsive chord in the heart of the Maori nation; and Te Rauparaha
+was but expressing the general sentiments of the people when he wrote
+in reply to the Governor's message: "We have heard your words, which
+are like the light of day to us; our hearts are glad. Friend, now will
+I hold fast your words for good, and for living in quiet, both of
+natives and Europeans. Your protecting word has come forth for one and
+for the other; your kind words are a light to us. Now, for the first
+time, I can say the light has dawned for the Maoris, and now no
+wrong-doing shall spring from me. I mean the errors of the natives. If
+you cannot come hither, will you write to me?" Not less reassuring was
+the word of Wi Kingi Rangitake, of Ngati-Awa.
+
+With these pronouncements of loyalty from the two most powerful chiefs
+on the west coast, Grey felt more than equal to the task of subduing
+the malcontent natives under Taringa-kuri, chief of the Kaiwara
+_pa_, whose depredations in the Hutt Valley had been causing the
+greatest anxiety to the Wellington settlers. Both Te Rauparaha and
+Rangihaeata had laid claim to part payment for the land which the New
+Zealand Company had purchased in this valley, their claim being based
+upon the alleged conquest of the country. This conquest Mr. Spain held
+to be incomplete, inasmuch as they had not resided on the land, which
+was really occupied by Ngati-Awa. He therefore disallowed their claim,
+although Mr. Clarke, junr., was anxious to pay out of the £1,500
+awarded to the natives a sum of £400 in liquidation of their rights,
+he having come to some such arrangement with Rauparaha at an interview
+which took place at Waikanae in the presence of the Governor. Hearing
+of Mr. Spain's objection, Rauparaha, on February 3, 1844, penned a
+letter to him, Mr. Clarke, and the Governor, in which he warned them
+against paying the purchase-money for Port Nicholson over to "wrong
+parties," and listening to "strange men," at the same time urging them
+to make haste and come to Otaki for the purpose of explaining their
+intentions to Rangihaeata and himself.
+
+ "FRIEND MR. CLARKE, MR. SPAIN, AND THE GOVERNOR,--This
+ letter is from me and Rangihaeata, respecting your foolish work in
+ paying for the land. This was the cause of you and us going wrong
+ at the Wairau, the foolish paying to wrong parties. Do not listen to
+ strange men, but make haste and make known to us your intentions,
+ that the truth of what you have said may be seen. Friend Clarke,
+ make haste. Desist from listening to any man. Son Clarke and
+ Mr. Spain, desist also from carrying your payment to men who have
+ nothing to do with it, but bring it straight to us--myself and
+ Rangihaeata. This is all my speech to you by us.
+
+"RAUPARAHA.
+"RANGIHAEATA."
+
+To this Mr. Clarke replied on the 29th, assuring Rauparaha that
+anything that he had promised him in the matter of payment would be
+carried out. Simultaneously, Mr. Spain arranged to hold a court at
+Porirua, in order to comply as speedily as possible with Te
+Rauparaha's request. This court, which was opened on 8th March, was
+attended by most of the leading chiefs and upwards of two hundred
+natives. After the preliminary addresses had been disposed of, Mr.
+Spain formally opened the court by saying, "Rauparaha, I received your
+letter asking me to settle the Port Nicholson purchase, and after
+inquiry I have decided that the natives who owned the land are
+entitled to more money, and I therefore offer you new terms." To this
+Te Rauparaha answered, "My wish was to settle my claims at Port
+Nicholson, but you want me to give up the Hutt." "Did you not consent
+to receive £300 for Port Nicholson and the Hutt?" inquired Mr. Spain
+in an injured tone; to which Te Rauparaha replied that he had not
+regarded the bargain in that light. Efforts were made to convince him
+that he had signed a deed in which the Hutt was included, but he
+insisted that the boundary was not to go beyond a creek known as
+Rotokakahi. "I am aware of the cause of this objection," said Mr.
+Spain. "That man sitting by your side, Taringa-kuri, is cultivating
+land at the Hutt to which he has no right." Te Rauparaha's answer was
+that the land belonged to Taringa-kuri, as he was the oldest man of
+the resident natives; whereupon Mr. Spain rose to depart, and as he
+did so he turned, and, more in sorrow than in anger, upbraided Te
+Rauparaha for thus breaking faith with him in so flagrant a manner.
+
+The court then adjourned without either party having been able to
+convince the other. But Te Rauparaha did not permit the grass to grow
+under his feet, for he at once despatched Taringa-kuri to cut a line
+through the scrub and bush dividing the Upper from the Lower Hutt
+Valley, in order to define clearly what territory he considered
+belonged to the _pakeha_ and what to the Maori. On hearing that
+this work was in progress, Mr. Spain felt it incumbent upon him to go
+out and warn Taringa-kuri that he was committing an illegal act, and
+that the boundary he was attempting to create would not be recognised
+by the Government. Mr. Spain's reception was not an encouraging one.
+"If you have come to make remarks about our cutting this line, you may
+as well return, as we will listen to nothing you have got to say, nor
+will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen,"
+was the truculent declaration of the first native whom he met.
+Taringa-kuri was not less uncompromising. "I am cutting a line to
+divide the lands of the settlers from our own, and I am doing it under
+Te Rauparaha's orders," was his emphatic reply to Mr. Spain's demand
+for information as to why this work was proceeding. And in answer to
+the Commissioner's protest that the line being cut was not the line
+agreed upon, the chief, with a fine show of indignation, accused him
+of hostile intentions. "It is plain," he said, "you are not peaceably
+disposed; you heard at Porirua that Rauparaha would not agree to your
+boundaries, and you appear determined to insist upon them. You had
+better return to the land of your birth."
+
+Immediately upon his return to Wellington, Mr. Spain despatched a
+letter to Rauparaha again severely censuring him for committing a
+breach of faith in sending Taringa-kuri to cut the line contrary to
+his (Mr. Spain's) decision, and concluding by saying, "Let me tell you
+that after all that has occurred, Kuri is acting contrary to the laws
+of the Governor, and, if he persists in his illegal acts, he will be
+punished by the law accordingly." This letter Mr. Spain first showed
+to Mr. Hadfield, who approved its contents, and translated it into the
+native tongue for him, Mr. Spain thinking that this course would
+enhance its value in the native estimation. On the 27th Rauparaha
+replied that it was not he who was withholding the land, but
+Rangihaeata, who had negatived his voice in the councils of the tribe.
+But he still reiterated his former contention that he had never agreed
+to sell the Hutt.
+
+The remonstrances on the part of Mr. Spain having proved fruitless,
+the Governor first pacified Heke[173] and Kawiti in the north, and
+then came south in February, 1846, with all the prestige of a
+successful "fighting Governor," to direct his operations against the
+truculent Taringa-kuri. In an interview, the Governor peremptorily
+demanded the evacuation of the valley. The chief pleaded for time to
+reap and remove the standing crops; but the Governor, strong in the
+knowledge that he had right on his side, and an ample force to sustain
+his demand, refused to consider any compromise, and gave the chief no
+alternative between immediate compliance and a declaration of war. The
+natives hesitated to test the question by an appeal to arms, and
+sullenly withdrew from the disputed territory, but not from the valley
+itself. They fell back upon a _pa_ up in the ranges, which the
+Governor afterwards described as "the strongest position he had seen
+in any part of the world." From this mountain fastness they made
+sudden and destructive raids upon the peaceful settlements in the vale
+below. Two hundred soldiers were left to render the settlers what
+measure of protection they could, by defensive tactics. Their
+instructions were not to attack the rebels in their stronghold, but,
+by vigilantly preventing them from securing supplies, to endeavour by
+starvation to render its continued occupation impossible. This policy
+had early the anticipated effect, and, acting on Te Rauparaha's
+assurance that the rebels had abandoned the _pa_, the Governor visited
+the spot, and has thus described what he saw:--
+
+ "The forest which had been held by the enemy was traversed by a
+ single narrow path, almost impassable for armed Europeans. This path
+ ascended a narrow ridge of rocks, having a precipice on each side
+ covered with jungle. The ridge of rocks was so narrow that only one
+ person could pass along it at a time, and it led to a hill with a
+ broad summit, upon which a fortress had been constructed in such a
+ manner as completely to command the path, which was rendered more
+ difficult by an abattis placed across it. The rear of this position
+ was quite as inaccessible as the front, and on each flank was a
+ precipice; from the number of huts placed upon it, it must have been
+ occupied by from three hundred to four hundred men."
+
+No sooner was this position abandoned than another, almost equally
+impregnable, was taken up, and from this lair in the depth of the
+hills a band of marauders crept down through the forest early in April
+of 1846, stole past the troops, and late in the afternoon murdered a
+settler named Gillespie and his son, while they were engaged threshing
+wheat. There were soldiers in the vicinity at the time, but they were
+more intent upon getting grog from Burcham's public-house than upon
+protecting the settlers; and so stealthily was the attack carried out,
+that no one knew of the tragedy until Charles Gillespie, returning
+home in the dusk, found his father and brother in the throes of death.
+Te Rauparaha disclaimed, and probably with truth, all knowledge of or
+participation in this treacherous act, and even offered his assistance
+in bringing the murderers to justice. Rangihaeata was not so frank--or
+it may be that he was even more frank--for he instantly betook himself
+to the hills, and openly declared himself in sympathy with those who
+were thus contesting the question of the supremacy of the races. He
+refused to give the murderers up to the authorities, and busied
+himself with preparations for continuing the contest. Nor had the
+military long to wait for his onset. The most advanced British post in
+the valley was known as Boulcott's Farm, commanded by Lieutenant Page,
+who had a force of fifty men with him. Here, just before dawn, on May
+16, 1846, the sentry, as he kept his lonely vigil, was startled by
+seeing some dark body creeping through the grass towards him. Without
+waiting to challenge, he fired, and in an instant the air was rent
+with the savage yells of a horde of warriors, who, under Mamaku, had
+left Rangihaeata's _pa_ at Pahautanui on the previous day, and,
+scaling the mountain range, had fallen upon the sleeping camp. The
+sentry and the picket were soon overpowered and killed, but not before
+the alarm had been given by Allen, the bugle-boy attached to the
+company. Roused from sleep by the commotion, he seized his bugle, and
+was in the act of sounding the call to arms, when a blow from a
+tomahawk struck the instrument from his hand. He still had time to
+recover it, and blow a blast which awakened his sleeping comrades,
+before he was laid low by a second stroke of the murderous axe. A
+galling fire was at once opened upon the outpost from the surrounding
+bush by the secreted natives, and Lieutenant Page and two men, who
+were with him in one of the out-buildings, hurried off to join their
+comrades who had been sleeping in the stockade. Intercepted by a swift
+rush on the part of a band of natives, they were only rescued from
+their perilous position by a determined effort on the part of the
+sergeant, who rallied some of the men and went to his commander's
+relief. Three men went down with wounds, and the remaining six fought
+the savages hand to hand, checking their onslaught until the wounded
+were got safely away and the remainder were able to retreat to the
+barn. Here the available force was assembled, and, leaving a
+sufficient garrison to defend the position, Lieutenant Page[174] and
+his men sallied out in extended order, firing as they went. Under this
+pressure the attack soon slackened, and, on the arrival of
+reinforcements, was turned into retreat, but not before six men had
+been killed and four wounded. During the following month there was
+another skirmish in the valley, which did not redound greatly to the
+credit of the British arms.
+
+These repeated raids convinced the Governor that he must lance the
+lairs which were harbouring these human wolves, who represented all
+that was worst in the native race. He had been desirous of deferring
+field operations against these malcontents until the winter was over;
+but, realising that every successful attack only encouraged the enemy
+to further excesses, and diminished the enthusiasm of the loyal
+natives, he now determined upon an immediate and active campaign. The
+policy of road-making, which had been initiated some months before,
+was vigorously prosecuted, the friendly natives, as well as the
+soldiers, being employed in the work. The deep paths which were thus
+cut through the luxuriant beauty of the wilderness to Porirua and into
+the heart of the Hutt Valley robbed the forest of much of its terror,
+and were masterly counter-strokes to the secret tactics of
+Rangihaeata's followers. That chief's reply to the Governor's policy
+was to build a _pa_ at Pahautanui, so skilfully situated and so
+strongly fortified that he openly boasted that nothing but British
+artillery could drive him from it. But he did more than this. A
+_tapu_ placed on the Porirua track for a time disturbed and
+paralysed our native allies; but the inconvenience was only
+temporary, and the Governor succeeded in gradually breaking down the
+chief's authority.
+
+An important military post was established at Porirua, garrisoned by
+three hundred men, and the services of the friendly natives were
+enlisted in the contemplated movement against the forces of
+Rangihaeata. His _pa_ was reconnoitred on the night of July 8th
+by Lieutenant the Hon. Charles Yelverton, of the Royal Artillery, and
+Mr. McKillop, then a midshipman on board H.M.S. _Calliope_, and
+the conclusion at which they arrived was that the artillery might
+easily be brought forward against the _pa_, and that in all other
+respects its investment was feasible, so soon as the Governor had a
+sufficient force at his disposal for the purpose. But there was one
+other factor to be taken into account. What would Te Rauparaha's
+attitude be if Rangihaeata were attacked? In his _pa_ at Taupo,
+on the shores of Porirua Harbour, he occupied a strong strategical
+position; and, though he had consistently professed his friendship for
+the Governor and his loyalty to the Queen, he was supremely
+distrusted, both by the authorities and by our native allies. As early
+as June of 1846, Major Last had reported to the Governor, from
+Wellington, that he was "a little suspicious of Te Rauparaha";[175]
+but the insinuation of disloyalty coming to the chief's ears, he
+challenged the Major's suspicions by offering to come to Wellington to
+prove the contrary. In view of the intensely hostile feeling
+prevailing amongst the European population against the chief, Major
+Last deemed the proposed visit to be ill-timed and impolitic, and
+declined to encourage Rauparaha in his intention. But the bold and
+fearless proposal must have shaken the officer's confidence in the
+grounds for his aspersion. The position of the chief at this time was
+a most unenviable one, for there is evidence that the Governor had
+begun to share the doubts of Major Last. It must not be forgotten,
+however, that the seeds of suspicion may have been assiduously sown in
+his mind by Rauparaha's tribal enemies, who would have exulted in
+embroiling him in a dispute with the local authorities. Even his
+friends who were with Rangihaeata in the field, either to further
+their own schemes or out of resentment at his passive attitude, sought
+to draw him into the vortex of the struggle. The _mana_ of the chief
+was still great, and Rangihaeata and Mamaku endeavoured to conjure
+with his name and claim his sanction for a letter to some tribal
+comrades containing an appeal for assistance.
+
+The native carrying this letter was captured, and the intercepted
+document placed in the hands of the Governor, who immediately sailed
+for Porirua in H.M.S. _Driver_. On board the vessel he was
+visited by Te Rauparaha, and, during the interview, the incriminating
+message was produced and handed to the chief, who instantly denounced
+its contents as falsehoods and its writer as his enemy. "I watched him
+narrowly at the time," says Grey, "and his manner was such as to lead
+me to think that he really had no knowledge that such a letter had
+been written." Though thus frankly confessing that the letter was an
+injustice to the chief, the Governor, either from some innate mistrust
+of his visitor or a too ready disposition to listen to the sinister
+suggestions made against him, resolved that he would take no risks as
+to the future conduct of the man whom he believed he had to checkmate.
+He therefore determined that, before moving against Rangihaeata, he
+would forestall any possibility of an attack upon his lines of
+communication by capturing Te Rauparaha and holding him hostage for
+the good behaviour of his tribe. Without indicating by sign or word to
+the chief that the friendship between them was at an end, and without
+permitting him even to suspect the existence of any doubts as to his
+loyalty, the Governor took his farewell of Te Rauparaha, and on the
+afternoon of July 22 left Porirua. For the purpose of allaying
+suspicion, the _Driver_, in which he sailed, ostentatiously steamed to
+the north; but during the night she returned and stealthily anchored
+at the entrance of the harbour. Boats were lowered, and a company of a
+hundred and thirty men, under Major Last, Captain Stanley, of H.M.S.
+_Calliope_, and Lieutenant McKillop,[176] landed, and silently
+surrounded the stockade of the Taupo _pa_, in which the chief and his
+people were sleeping. The arrangements of the capturing party were so
+admirably made that no suspicion of what was moving around them was
+allowed to reach the natives until the stormers rushed into
+Rauparaha's _whare_, and, seizing the chief in his bed, carried him,
+in spite of his struggles and protestations, down to the boat side.
+Lieutenant McKillop, who personally accomplished the seizure of the
+chief, has left on record the following account of the exciting
+incident:--
+
+ [Illustration: TE RANGIHAEATA.
+ After a drawing by C. D. Barraud. Esq.]
+
+ "I was sent for soon after we arrived, and had an interview with the
+ Governor, who informed me of Rauparaha's treachery, and his wish to
+ have him and three others taken prisoners, if possible by surprise;
+ and knowing that I was acquainted with their persons and locality, he
+ asked me if I would undertake the capture of the 'Old Serpent'
+ myself, allowing me to choose my own time and method of doing it,
+ Major Durie, the Inspector of Police, being selected to take the
+ others. Accordingly it was arranged that we were to leave the ship
+ before daylight the next morning and land quietly on the rocks some
+ little distance from the _pa_ in which our treacherous allies
+ lived, taking a mixed force of bluejackets and soldiers, amounting to
+ two hundred men, to support us in the case of the natives rising
+ before we had effected our object. It was the Governor's particular
+ desire that we should not lay our hands on these men until we had
+ told them they were prisoners for treason, but on no account to let
+ old Rauparaha escape. I took Mr. Dighton with me to act as
+ interpreter, and four of our men unarmed, giving them instructions to
+ seize upon the old chief as soon as he was made aware of the charge
+ preferred against him, and to hurry him down to the boat before he
+ could rouse his people, the principal object being to secure him. We
+ landed at break of day, and while they were forming the troops on the
+ beach, I with my small party ran on, as it was then light, fearing
+ that conscious guilt might sharpen their ears and frustrate our
+ plans. When we reached the _pa_ not a soul was stirring, but our
+ heavy footsteps soon brought some of the sleepers to the doors of
+ their huts, knowing we were not of the barefooted tribe. We could not
+ wait to give any explanation, but pushed on to the hut which
+ contained the object of our search, whose quick ears had detected
+ strange footsteps. Never having liked me, he did not look at all easy
+ on perceiving who the intruder was, although his wife showed no alarm
+ and received me with her usual salutation. Upon informing him that he
+ was my prisoner, he immediately threw himself (being in a sitting
+ posture) back into the hut, and seized a tomahawk, with which he made
+ a blow at his wife's head, thinking she had betrayed him. I warded
+ the blow with my pistol and seized him by the throat, my four men
+ immediately rushing in on him, and, securing him by his arms and
+ legs, started off as fast as his violent struggles would allow of,
+ which for a man of his age (upwards of seventy) were almost
+ superhuman. He roared out lustily 'Ngati-Toa! Ngati-Toa!'
+ endeavouring to bring his tribesmen to his rescue, and in a few
+ seconds every man was on his legs and came rushing over to see what
+ was the matter with their chief; but the troops and bluejackets
+ coming up at the same time and surrounding the _pa_ prevented
+ any attempt at a rescue, as he was already in the boat. His last
+ effort to free himself was fastening with his teeth on to my
+ coxswain's shoulder, who bore this piece of cannibalism unflinchingly.
+ I sent Mr. Dighton off to the ship with him, there being not much
+ chance of his escaping from the boat, particularly as he was informed
+ that he would be shot if he attempted to escape. I then returned to
+ the _pa_ to search for arms and ammunition, and also to see if
+ the other prisoners had been secured. The interior of the _pa_
+ presented a woeful spectacle, the women all howling in chorus with
+ the pigs and the children, the two latter being much knocked about in
+ the search for arms."
+
+In the mêlée which ensued upon the capture of Te Rauparaha, four other
+natives were also seized by Major Durie, and in the same arbitrary
+manner were carried off to the ship.[177] Two of these were the
+influential chiefs, Te Kanae (the _ariki_ of the Ngati-Toa tribe) and
+Hohepa, and two were men of inferior rank. By some writers who have
+been at no pains to conceal their hostility to Te Rauparaha, it is
+alleged that upon his arrival on board the _Driver_ he manifested the
+most craven spirit, until he was assured that it was not the
+Governor's intention to hang him from the yard-arm. But, whatever be
+the truth of this assertion, he at least retained sufficient dignity
+and self-respect as a chief to strenuously object to the additional
+humiliation of being imprisoned in company with men of no standing in
+the tribe; and, in deference to his injured pride and his vehement
+expostulations, Pohe and his companion were sent ashore and released
+from their brief captivity.
+
+Naturally, the little settlement at Taupo was thrown into a state of
+intense excitement. The seizure of their chief was so sudden, so
+unexpected, that its reality could not for the moment be grasped; but
+when its full significance broke in upon the astonished tribe, the
+startling tidings was immediately despatched to Te Rangihaeata, who
+was still sitting in defiance in his stronghold at Pahautanui. He at
+once made for the coast, but was too late. The Governor had several
+hours' start of him, and he was compelled to make a wide detour to
+avoid the British post at Porirua. He arrived on the wooded hill-side
+above Te Rauparaha's _pa_ only in time to see the war-ship with
+her captives steaming down the coast.[178] Enraged and disappointed at
+what he must have regarded as the perfidy of the _pakeha_, and
+disheartened at his own impotency, he gloomily retired to his lair,
+there to sing[179] that beautiful lament, in which he mournfully
+acknowledges the increasing ascendancy of the stranger, and chides the
+waning loyalty of his own people.
+
+             "My brave canoe!
+    In lordly decoration lordliest far,
+              My proud canoe!
+          Amid the fleet that fleetest flew--
+    How wert thou shattered by the surge of war!
+          'Tis but the fragments of thy wreck,
+          O my renowned canoe,
+    That lie all crushed on yonder war-ship's deck!
+          Raha! my chief, my friend!
+          Thy lonely journey wend:
+  Stand with thy wrongs before our god of battle's face:
+          Bid him thy foes requite!--
+  Ah me! Te Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace--
+          Ah me! the English ruler's might!
+
+          Raha! my chief of chiefs!
+          Ascend with all thy griefs
+  Up to their Lord of Peace--there stand before His face--
+          Let Him thy faith requite!--
+  Ah me! Te Toa's sad defection and disgrace--
+          Ah me! the English ruler's might!
+
+          One counsel from the first I gave,
+          'Break up thy forces, comrade brave,
+          Scatter them all about the land
+      In many a predatory band!'--
+          But Porirua's forest dense,
+          Ah, thou wouldst never stir from thence,
+          'There,' saidst thou, 'lies my best defence,'--
+          Now, now, of such design ill-starred,
+      How grievously thou reap'st the full reward!
+
+         Hence, vain lamenting--hence, away!
+         Hence, all the brood of sorrow born!
+         There will be time enough to mourn
+      In the long days of summer, ere the food
+      Is cropped, abundant for the work of blood.
+      Now I must marshal in compact array,
+  Great thoughts that crowding come of an avenging day!"[180]
+
+The seizure of Te Rauparaha, at such a time and in such a manner, is
+one of the many debatable points in the history of this period, and,
+notwithstanding that many pages have been written upon the incident,
+the ethics of the act are apparently as far from final determination
+as ever. To the present writer its justification lies in its success.
+There is no doubt that, however high-handed and arbitrary, it was a
+tactical stroke which compelled waverers to pause, and paralysed those
+who were already in active hostility. On the other hand, it might just
+as easily have roused the whole Maori race into a frenzy of injured
+pride, and plunged the country into the vortex of a retaliatory war.
+Only one thing saved New Zealand from this calamity, and that was the
+tribal dissensions. Had the Maori been a united people, this
+unprovoked indignity put upon one of their greatest men must have
+excited their bitterest passions against the perpetrators of the deed;
+and one almost shudders to realise in what a hair-balance the fate of
+the little Colony trembled at this moment of her history. In
+criticising the Governor's policy, however, it must be borne in mind
+that he, with his knowledge of Maori conditions, may have counted upon
+these very intertribal hatreds to prevent anything in the nature of a
+general rising. This being assumed, his action is shorn of some of its
+rashness and impolicy, and he becomes entitled to credit for the
+success of his methods of overawing the turbulent spirit of the
+malcontent Maoris. On no other ground than that the end justifies the
+means can the seizure of Te Rauparaha be defended, nor, so far as the
+writer is aware, has any other defence ever been seriously attempted.
+The most that can be urged against the chief is that, unlike Te Kingi
+Rangitake, he did not join the allies and enter upon active
+hostilities against the so-called rebels. Of the fact that he secretly
+aided them there is little evidence and no proof. What evidence there
+may be is confined to the intercepted letters, admitted by the
+Governor himself to be forgeries, and to the unsupported statements of
+natives, some jealous of his power, and others aggrieved at his
+previous treatment of them. In this respect Te Rauparaha must have
+felt that, having sown the wind, he was now reaping the whirlwind; for
+those natives who had gone down under his hand in war, or had been
+outwitted by his diplomacy, were only too anxious to represent him in
+an unfavourable light to the Governor, and were never tired of
+insinuating, and even broadly asserting, that his spirit was behind
+the rebellion, even though his hand might be invisible.
+
+In communicating with Mr. Gladstone on July 23, 1846, Grey described
+his military operations, which were designed to check a company of
+some two hundred rebels who, he had reason to believe, were marching
+from Whanganui to join Te Rangihaeata. He landed at Waikanae, Otaki,
+and Ohau, where he had a conference with the friendly chiefs. He
+proceeded to say: "The whole of the chiefs with whom I had interviews
+declared that these disturbances were to be entirely attributed to the
+intrigues of Te Rauparaha." How much his mind was influenced by the
+opinions of the chiefs may be judged by the fact that on the following
+day he launched his successful stroke, but how little he had weighed
+the value of their testimony may also be inferred from the
+circumstance that a year later he wrote a despatch to Mr. Gladstone's
+successor at the Colonial Office, in which he was forced to admit that
+after retaining Te Rauparaha in captivity for ten months his
+difficulties in deciding how to dispose of him were enhanced by the
+fact that all his "efforts made to secure the evidence of Pohi[181]
+failed, consequently it was not possible to prove Te Rauparaha's guilt
+in a court of law."
+
+It is strange, if so many chiefs knew that the brain of Te Rauparaha
+was forging the balls which Rangihaeata was firing, that none were
+able to testify to the fact in an established court of law, and,
+travesty upon British justice though it may seem, it is nevertheless a
+fact that the man who had relied upon the Treaty of Waitangi to
+secure him his rights and liberties was detained a prisoner without
+formal charge and without the chance of a trial until it was thought
+possible to prove his guilt. How far Te Rauparaha's seizure and
+continued detention were a palliation to the wounded feelings of the
+European settlers it is difficult to pronounce, but it is not in the
+least unlikely that the Governor paid some regard to the popular
+effect of the step, even if he totally ignored its judicial aspect. In
+all probability Te Rauparaha was at this time the best-hated man in
+New Zealand. The memory of the massacre at the Wairau had not yet died
+out, and there were many who, misunderstanding that fatal event, could
+not look upon the chief whose name had been so tragically associated
+with it in any other light than as a social and moral outcast. To this
+not inconsiderable section of the community imprisonment was much too
+good for Te Rauparaha, but it was preferable to the negative attitude
+of Governor Fitzroy, and Grey, no doubt, counted upon standing well
+with these extremists by the initiation of a policy in which there was
+a touch of retribution, however barren it might be of justice.
+
+With the European population, then, the kidnapping of the Ngati-Toa
+leader was, on the whole, a popular move, and with a number of the
+natives it was hailed as an act of retribution, long delayed, but
+nevertheless a judgment at last. Upon his own people the effect was
+different. They were stunned by the swiftness of the blow and
+confounded by its audacity. Here in a twinkling the very eye had been
+plucked out of their head, the heart torn from their body, and that,
+too, at a time when they had no quarrel with the Government, and by a
+man whom they had been wont to regard as their friend. Their first
+impulse was to fly to arms. To attack Wellington, to sweep the
+_pakeha_ into the sea, to avenge the wrongs of Te Rauparaha, was
+the cry. Te Rangihaeata called his own followers about him and sent
+out his appeals to the northern tribes: "Friends and children, come
+and revenge the injuries of Te Rauparaha, because Te Rauparaha is the
+eye of the faith of all men. Make haste hither in the days of
+December." But his design for the extermination of the Europeans was
+doomed to be frustrated. His own particular faithfuls were few in
+number, and the one great chief, Te Heuheu, to whom he might have
+looked for encouragement in such an emergency, was dead, buried
+beneath a huge landslide which had overwhelmed his village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo. Of others with whom he had been accustomed to
+co-operate in the days gone by, some were espousing the cause of the
+enemy, and some, having embraced the Christian faith, had grown weary
+of incessant war. Their reply, which was something in the nature of a
+rebuke, betokened that they had realised the futility of opposing the
+further progress of the _pakeha_. "How can you dry up the sea? That is
+why we say, finish fighting with the European." Such was their answer
+to his summons to arms, and Rangihaeata was left to fall back upon his
+small band of war-worn desperadoes to carry on a struggle which was
+hopeless from the first.[182]
+
+Abandoned to his own resources, he applied himself to his duties of
+leader with the energy of despair. Realising that his position at
+Pahautanui was no longer tenable, as its swamps and shallows were no
+protection against the artillery which he knew was collected at
+Porirua, he withdrew his forces into the deeply wooded Horokiwi
+Valley. Through this forest defile, tangled and matted by an almost
+impenetrable undergrowth, he was pursued by a force of 1,000 men,
+composed of militia and native allies, under Major Last. Te
+Rangihaeata's generalship proved equal to the peculiar circumstances
+in which he found himself, and his genius for war won for him the
+warmest encomiums from British officers, who have generously expressed
+their admiration for the skill with which the chief conducted his
+retreat. Into the density of the wooded valley he led his pursuers,
+enticing them by a simulated resistance, but abandoning his camps as
+soon as they pressed too closely upon him. In one of these
+semi-fortified resting-places the British soldiers discovered the
+bugle which had been taken from the boy Allen when he was struck down
+at the fatal fight at Boulcott's Farm.
+
+At length, retreat being no longer possible, the rebel chief turned at
+bay and fought his pursuers at a point near the head of the valley.
+His decision to throw down the gage of battle here was not the result
+of accident or impulse, but was due to deliberate calculation. The
+position was admirably chosen, and he held the enemy in check long
+enough to enable him to fortify it effectively. He threw a rough
+breastwork of tree-trunks across the narrow neck of a spur springing
+from a densely wooded hill, the approach to which was flanked by steep
+ravines, leaving so narrow a ridge that it could only be passed
+abreast by a very limited force of men. This wooden rampart, which
+presented so imposing a front to an enemy, was liberally perforated
+with loopholes, through which the defenders were able to concentrate
+their fire with deadly effect upon any approaching force. This
+arrangement, combined with the inaccessible nature of the ground, made
+its seizure by storm practically impossible. Nevertheless, an attack
+was determined upon, and on the morning of August 6, 1846, fire was
+opened upon the position, but with no other visible result than that
+Ensign Blackburn[183] and two privates were killed and nine others
+wounded. On the following day the assault, which had been so
+inauspiciously commenced, was suspended, for Major Last had now seen
+enough to convince him that some projectile more searching than
+bullets was necessary to dislodge the defenders from their stronghold.
+He accordingly sent to Porirua and procured two small mortars, which,
+after infinite labour spent in dragging them into position, were
+discovered to be absolutely worthless for purposes of attack, for the
+high forest trees made accurate gunnery impossible. Seeing his troops
+in a deplorable condition, even after this short bush campaign, and
+hopeless of driving Rangihaeata out, except at an enormous sacrifice
+of human life, Major Last decided to withdraw the regular troops and
+leave the friendly natives, under Puaha, to watch and wait for hunger
+to work its effects upon the stubborn garrison. A few days sufficed
+for this. On the 13th the allies were surprised by a hail of lead
+suddenly raining down upon their lines. No sooner had they sprung to
+arms than they saw that the enemy was afoot, the volley which they had
+fired being the signal for retreat. Immediately the real nature of the
+movement was ascertained, Puaha and his loyalists rushed forward over
+the fallen trees and broken ground, and reached the breastwork only in
+time to see the last of the defenders escape by the thickly veiled
+forest track, where they were swallowed up by the bush and lost to
+human view.
+
+Hunger and cold had done their work, for there were no signs of food
+supplies inside the camp except some edible fern. Nor did the escape
+of the defenders to the open avail them much, for they were so harried
+by the followers of Puaha as they fled along the snow-covered mountain
+ridge that the opportunities for procuring food were few and
+uncertain. Some made their perilous way to the coast, in the secret
+hope of finding food and shelter amongst their friends in the
+_pas_, but these were for the most part found by the vigilant
+Wiremu Kingi, and either driven back into the mountain fastnesses or
+promptly secured as prisoners of war.[184] Deeming himself fortunate
+to have so far evaded death or capture, Te Rangihaeata retreated
+northwards with his famished adherents until he reached the lowlands
+of the Manawatu. There, beaten though still defiant, he retired to a
+_pa_ built in the midst of the swamps and marshes of Poroutawhao,
+where he laid down his arms and, sullenly drawing his mat about him,
+prepared to watch the irresistible march of the _pakeha_, though
+refusing to acknowledge defeat at his hands. "I am finished," he wrote
+to the Governor, "but do not suppose that you conquered me. No; it was
+these my own relatives and friends, Rangitake and others. It was by
+them I was overcome, and not by you, O Governor."[185]
+
+A new cause for anxiety, in the outbreak of hostilities at Whanganui,
+now diverted Grey's attention momentarily from the fugitive chief,
+who improved the respite thus given by refraining from any act of
+violence. Although no formal peace was declared, Grey wisely decided
+not to precipitate further trouble by following him into the marshes
+of Poroutawhao. True, on the very day (April 18, 1847) that the news
+of the outbreak at Whanganui reached Wellington, the chief made a
+sensational descent upon Kapiti. In the grey of the early morning a
+whaler named Brown was awakened by a sound at the door of his hut,
+and, as he raised himself on his elbow, he saw the tall form of
+Rangihaeata enter the room with a tomahawk in his hand. The whaler not
+unnaturally thought he had come to take his life, and, in his
+subsequent narration of the incident, he indulged in some heroics,
+telling how he had challenged the chief to slay him on the spot. But
+Rangihaeata was not in search of a defenceless whaler's blood. He had
+come to demand some powder which was rightly his, and which he had
+left there for safe keeping. When he had secured his property, he went
+harmlessly away, after shaking hands in the most friendly manner with
+the frightened seaman. Some of his followers, however, were not quite
+so scrupulous; and, in searching the hut for the powder, they had
+appropriated a bundle of bank notes and some sovereigns, and secreted
+them about their persons until they returned to the _pa_. Here
+Rangihaeata discovered the theft, and immediately sent back the
+plunder to the Governor, accompanied by a characteristic note, in
+which he made it clear that, however much he might be in opposition to
+the Government, he had no desire to be esteemed a common thief.
+
+With Rangihaeata beaten out of the field, we may now return to Te
+Rauparaha, whom we left in the hands of his captors. To ensure his
+greater security, he was, immediately upon the arrival of the
+_Driver_ at Wellington, transferred to H.M.S. _Calliope_,[186] where
+he was placed under the watchful eye of Captain Stanley, for whom, we
+are told, he afterwards acquired a high regard. On board this ship he
+was detained with some show of liberty for upwards of ten months,
+visiting the principal ports of northern and central New Zealand, as
+the duties of the station demanded the presence of the vessel. During
+all this period no attempt was made to bring him to trial, though no
+pains were spared by the Governor to secure the evidence which would
+ensure his conviction. In a despatch written to the Colonial Office on
+December 1, 1846, Grey endeavoured to explain his position and justify
+his halting attitude, but, in the trenchant words of one of his
+critics, his was a justification which itself required to be
+justified:--
+
+ "A number of designing Europeans, who are annoyed at my
+ interfering with their illegal purchases of land, have thought it
+ proper to agitate the question of the justice and propriety of my
+ arresting Te Rauparaha. Some most improper publications have
+ already appeared, and I regret to state that I find a great effect is
+ being produced upon the minds of the native chiefs. The difficulty
+ of my position is that I am not yet quite satisfied whether or not it
+ will be expedient or necessary to bring the old man to trial. In fact,
+ I am rather anxious to avoid doing so, and I fear that, were I to
+ make public the various crimes for which he has been seized by the
+ Government, and the proofs of his guilt upon which the Government
+ justify his detention, a large portion of the European population
+ would be so exasperated against him that it would be difficult
+ for the Government to avoid bringing him to trial; and, if I were
+ compelled to adopt this step from having made known the charges
+ against him, I should probably be accused of having ungenerously
+ prejudiced the public against him previously to his being brought to
+ trial."
+
+The only impression which the unbiassed student can derive from a
+perusal of this specious reasoning is that the Governor, in seeking to
+excuse himself for an unjustifiable action, has in reality delivered
+his own condemnation for a grave breach of trust. If the "various
+crimes" of which the chief was suspected were as defined as the
+Governor implies they were, and if "the proofs of his guilt upon which
+the Government justified his detention" were clear and unimpeachable,
+obviously then it was his bounden duty to the Colony and to Te
+Rauparaha that the chief should be brought to trial at the earliest
+possible moment. But the real fact was that the offences of Te
+Rauparaha were as imaginary as the proofs of his guilt were mythical,
+and he was kept captive on a ship of war while the Governor was
+diligently endeavouring to find Pohi, who was supposed to be possessed
+of important secrets, or was sedulously filling in the missing links
+in the chain of evidence which he hoped would establish the fact that
+certain messengers, who were known to have carried information to
+Rangihaeata, were indeed sent by Te Rauparaha.
+
+A fruitless ten months was spent in these endeavours to bring home
+guilt to Te Rauparaha, and at the end of that time Grey was forced to
+admit that he was still unable to prove the chief guilty in a court of
+law. He therefore began to consider how far he was justified in longer
+detaining him, while still refusing to do him the justice of giving
+him a clear acquittal. He temporised with other reasons, from which it
+is clear that he regarded the step as one of expediency rather than of
+right. "The detention of the prisoners," he wrote to Earl Grey, "has
+caused expense and inconvenience to the Government"; and therefore, to
+relieve his administration of something which it had forced upon
+itself, he was magnanimous enough to loose the chains from off the
+chief. But the Governor was also influenced by other considerations.
+He believed that the capture and long captivity of Te Rauparaha had
+completely destroyed his _mana_, so that he was now incapable of
+originating any new mischief, even if he were so inclined. But we
+may also do him the justice of believing that he was genuinely anxious
+to placate the Ngati-Toa people, who had repeatedly petitioned him for
+their leader's release, and to allay an ugly suspicion, which had
+gained credence amongst them, that Te Rauparaha had been murdered, and
+that his so-called detention was merely a subterfuge to cover a
+desperate crime.
+
+ "Repeated applications," wrote the Governor, "have been made
+ by Te Rauparaha's tribe for his release, and this step seems to be
+ quite justified by his ten months of good conduct. Waka Nene and
+ Te Wherowhero also petitioned for his release, and went guarantee
+ for his good behaviour. Upon the whole, with the larger force that
+ will be placed at my disposal, and after the convincing proofs which
+ the natives have so frequently afforded of their regarding their
+ interests as identical with those of the Government, I entertain no
+ apprehension of Te Rauparaha being able to effect further mischief,
+ even if he were disposed to do so. I therefore determined to order
+ his release, merely requiring Te Wherowhero and Waka Nene to
+ pledge their words for his future good conduct, and although I
+ exacted no conditions either from themselves or from the prisoners,
+ I recommended them to require both Te Rauparaha and Hohepa to
+ reside on the northern portions of the island until I felt justified in
+ stating that I had no objection to them permitting Te Rauparaha to
+ return to his own country."
+
+Under the guarantee of good conduct given by Te Wherowhero and Waka
+Nene, Te Rauparaha was released at Auckland, and was received as a
+guest into Te Wherowhero's house, which had been built for him by the
+Government in what is now the Auckland Domain. Here, though nominally
+free, he must have felt the bitterness of his exile, for he frequently
+displayed the humiliation which was surging within his soul by
+relapsing into periods of deep melancholy, during which he doubtless
+meditated upon the departed glory of the past and the hopelessness of
+the future. With him times had indeed changed. From the imperious
+leader of a victorious tribe, supreme and absolute, his word the word
+of authority, his very look, his merest gesture, an unquestionable
+command, he found himself shorn of his power, degraded by captivity,
+destitute of influence, and little more than a memory--the hoary
+vestige of a stately ruin. But his path was not all strewn with
+thorns, and there were not wanting those, both Maori and European, who
+strove to lighten his burden and salve his wounded soul. Visitors
+frequently sought to cheer his drooping spirits, and, as a compliment
+to the conqueror of Kapiti, Te Wherowhero brought the flower of the
+Hauraki chiefs to do him honour. In September, 1847, two hundred of
+these warriors, casting aside their tribal prejudices, came and
+visited him. As the kilted band of strangers advanced, Te Rauparaha,
+dressed in a dogskin mat and forage cap, went out to meet them. He
+saluted several of the leading men according to native custom, and
+then followed the speechmaking inseparable from Maori gatherings.
+Squatting in a semicircle upon the ground, the assemblage listened
+with rapt attention to the oration delivered by Te Rauparaha, of whom
+all had heard, but whom few had previously seen. His speech was a
+dignified recitation of his past deeds, and while he spoke of his
+struggles with Waikato, his pilgrimage, and his conquests, he
+delivered himself brilliantly and dramatically, for the fire of the
+old warrior seemed to burn again within him and the blood of the
+victor to pulsate once more through his veins. But when he came to
+describe his seizure and captivity, the injustice and humiliation of
+it all bore down his valiant spirit, and he concluded his oration with
+difficulty and almost in tears. To this great effort of Maori
+eloquence replies of a lengthy and ceremonial nature were delivered by
+Taraia, Te Wherowhero, and several members of Hauraki's aristocracy,
+and then food was served on a sumptuous scale to the strangers. It
+was, however, noticed that Te Rauparaha ate but sparingly and was ill
+at ease. He rose and walked to his house, into which he was followed
+by two of the women, who there sang to him of the deeds of his
+fathers, and of the heroes of the ancient line from which he had
+sprung, the lament bringing a flood of tears to the old man's dim eyes.
+Still under the surveillance of Te Wherowhero, Te Rauparaha spent six
+months in the country of the Waikatos, the scene of some of his
+youthful exploits; but, feeling his freedom to be liberty only in
+name, and himself a stranger in a strange land, he preferred a request
+to the Governor to be allowed to return to his own people by the
+shores of Cook Strait, where was centred everything in life that he
+valued. The Governor granted his request, believing that he had now
+nothing to fear from the chief, and recognising that his return would
+have a quieting influence upon Rangihaeata, who, during his uncle's
+absence, had steadfastly refused to believe that the man by whose
+orders Wareaitu[187] had been executed would be more merciful to Te
+Rauparaha. Accordingly, in January of 1848, the Governor, Lady Grey,
+Lieut.-Colonel Mundy, Te Wherowhero, Taraia, Te Rauparaha, and several
+other chiefs, embarked on board H.M.S. _Inflexible_ and steamed
+for Otaki. Arrived there, the vessel was immediately boarded by
+Tamihana Te Rauparaha, who, clothed in the garb of a clergyman, came
+off to welcome his father.
+
+The morning of January 16, 1848, was the time appointed for the
+restoration of Te Rauparaha to his people. When the boats had been
+lowered to row the party ashore, the old chief came upon the
+quarter-deck dressed in full naval uniform, even to the cocked hat and
+the epaulets. His surprise and indignation were, however, considerable
+when he observed that the Governor and his suite had no idea of
+regarding the event as a State occasion, and were clothed in simple
+undress coats. Nor was his ill-temper improved when the Governor
+further robbed the incident of ceremonial importance by refusing to
+accord to him the honour of a salute from the ship's guns as he left
+the vessel's side. With eyes flashing and nostrils dilated, he sprang
+back into his cabin, and, throwing off his brilliant uniform,
+immediately reappeared wrapped in the sombre folds of an ancient
+blanket. Wounded in spirit at the absence of those impressive features
+which would have made his homecoming something of a triumph, he landed
+on the Otaki beach in no enviable mood; and, as the party proceeded
+towards the inland _pa_, he turned away from them, and sitting down in
+the sand with his face towards the ocean, covered his old grey head
+with his mat, and for two hours sat and sobbed like a child. During
+this meditation of tears no one approached him. Maori etiquette
+forbade his kinsmen breaking in upon his grief, and European courtesy
+dictated a discreet respect for the feelings of one who had come back
+to find the times so vastly changed, and for him so sadly out of
+joint.
+
+In that brief time, as the old warrior sat sighing in sympathy with
+the sobbing sea, there must have passed before him in vivid picture
+the whole panorama of his eventful life--his struggles, his schemes,
+his dreams, the anguish of defeat, the glut of victory, and then the
+final triumph in which tribe after tribe went down before him, and his
+name became wonderful and mighty throughout the land. But now, because
+of the advent of the _pakeha_, power had melted in his hand like
+snow. His life, like the wind-swept ruin of his old heathen _pa_,
+which stood broken and dilapidated a few chains off, had become but a
+shadow and a memory of the past; an exemplification of the fallible
+and transitory nature of mundane things. At length, rousing himself
+from his reverie, he proceeded to the new Christian settlement of
+Hadfield, at Otaki, which had been built mainly by the efforts of his
+son, Tamahana te Rauparaha, and his nephew, Matene te Whiwhi. A motley
+crowd of five or six hundred people poured out of the little
+settlement to welcome their chief, the Governor, and Lady Grey; and,
+as an evidence of the elevating influences which were operating
+amongst them,[188] prayers in the native tongue were read in the open
+air, before the feast which had been prepared for the visitors was
+placed before them. A glass-windowed, carpeted _whare_ was the
+banquet-room, and a clean damask cloth covered the table at which the
+guests were seated, while a daughter of Rangihaeata courteously
+discharged the duties of hostess.
+
+On the following day Te Rauparaha presented himself before
+the people, and was received with the usual evidences of Maori
+jubilation--interminable speeches, wild and barbarous dances, and
+endless feasting. Almost immediately he exercised the prerogative of
+his freedom by visiting Rangihaeata, who was hovering in the
+neighbourhood of Otaki, but with what intent no one knew. Te Rauparaha
+was accompanied by Te Wherowhero and some of the visiting chiefs, and
+the _korero_ lasted several days. What the precise nature of their
+discussions was will never be known; but that they were not of a
+treasonable nature may be inferred from the fact that the Governor,
+hearing that Rangihaeata was at that time harbouring a notorious
+murderer, whom he refused to deliver up to justice, sent a letter to
+Te Rauparaha calling upon him and his compatriots to show their
+displeasure at Rangihaeata's conduct by instantly withdrawing from his
+presence. At the time the letter arrived, the chiefs were on the point
+of sitting down to partake of Rangihaeata's hospitality; but without
+hesitation they rose and left, though not before telling the obdurate
+chief their reason for doing so.[189]
+
+This evidence of unfailing loyalty to the Crown was as gratifying to
+the Governor as it must have been aggravating to Rangihaeata, who,
+when he met His Excellency at Otaki, roundly abused him and all the
+_pakehas_ for their presumptuous interference with his affairs.
+He declared that he was not tired of war, but evidently men and women
+had changed with the times, and now preferred to fight with the tongue
+rather than the _mere_ or the musket. His contempt for the
+Europeans and all their doings was still as vehement as ever,[190] and
+in his violent denunciation of their encroachment upon his privileges
+as a chief, he declared that he wanted nothing of them, and he wore
+nothing of their work. He was then standing before the Governor, a
+tall and picturesque figure arrayed in a lustrous dogskin mat, with
+adornments in his hair; and when Grey quietly exposed his
+inconsistency by pointing to a peacock's feather dangling about his
+head, he angrily muttered, "True, that is _pakeha_," and cast it
+scornfully from him.
+
+Though Rangihaeata never accepted the Christian faith, in course of
+time his feelings mellowed and his attitude somewhat modified towards
+the occupation of the land by the white people. He not only acquiesced
+in the policy of road-making, which he had at first so strenuously
+opposed, but in 1852 he constructed two lines at Poroutawhao at his
+own expense. A school was even established at his _pa_, and
+subsequently his declared principles not to use British goods were so
+far modified that he purchased and drove in an English-made buggy
+along roads made by British soldiers. His feelings, too, towards the
+Governor considerably softened, and when, in 1852, Sir George Grey was
+about to proceed to England for a holiday, the chief wrote to him in
+terms of genuine friendship, which gave proof of the surprising change
+which had come over the hitherto untamable spirit of "the tiger of the
+Wairau":--
+
+ "O Governor! my friend, I send you greeting. I need scarcely
+ call to your remembrance the circumstances attending my flight
+ and pursuit: how it was that I took refuge in the fastnesses and
+ hollows of the country, as a crab lies concealed in the depths and
+ hollows of the rocks. You it was who sought and found me out,
+ and through your kindness it is that I am at this present time
+ enjoying your confidence and surrounded with peace and quietness.
+ This, then, is the expression of my esteem for you, which I take
+ occasion to make now that you are on the point of leaving for your
+ native land."
+
+The release of Te Rauparaha was the signal for a furious outburst of
+hostile criticism against the Governor, and Colonel Wakefield led the
+agitation in one of the biased and bitter effusions usual with him
+where Te Rauparaha was concerned.[191] But the anticipation of the
+Governor that the chief could, or would, cause the authorities no
+further trouble, appears to have been amply justified. So far as is
+known of him from this time until his death, he lived quietly and
+unostentatiously at the Otaki settlement. It would seem that he
+accepted with as good grace as he might the new order of things, and
+even sought to assist his people in reaching a higher plane of
+civilisation than at his advanced years he himself could ever hope to
+attain. It is at least accounted unto him for righteousness by his
+son, Tamahana, that it was at his suggestion the Ngati-Raukawa people
+built the now famous church[192] at Otaki, wherein the tribe has so
+often heard the glad tidings of "peace on earth and goodwill towards
+men," so strongly contrasted with their old heathen doctrine of blood
+for blood. A striking feature in the architecture of this church is
+its central line of large totara pillars, which rise to a height of 40
+feet, carrying the solid ridge-pole above. These wooden columns were
+hewn out of the forest on the banks of the Ohau, which in those days
+ran into the Waikawa, forming one large stream. The trees were felled
+in the bush, floated down the river to the sea, and thence dragged
+along the coast, one native standing on the tree with pole in hand to
+guide it through the surf, while a string of stalwart men tugged at
+the heavy tow-ropes, as they marched along the sandy beach. Column
+after column was, in this way, eventually landed at Waitohu, near
+Otaki, and then hauled across the sandhills by hundreds of brawny arms
+to the site where the church now stands. There the trees were, with
+infinite labour, dressed and prepared with native adzes, which are
+still kept in the church as interesting mementoes. No machinery of any
+kind was available to assist in the construction of the sacred
+edifice. Hand labour was everywhere brought into requisition, and only
+the most cunning workmen were employed, men of reputed skill being
+brought from the Manawatu to design and execute the carvings of the
+interior, while the reed lacework round the walls was also dexterously
+woven by these same masters of Maori art.
+
+Some attempt has been made, but with dubious success, to prove that Te
+Rauparaha ordered the building of this church because he had become
+deeply and genuinely religious, and his son has given us the pious
+assurance that he spent these last of his days "continually
+worshipping."[193] "I saw," says an intelligent but newly arrived
+clergyman, who visited him at this time, "amongst the other men of
+note, the old and once powerful chief, Te Rauparaha, who,
+notwithstanding his great age of more than eighty years, is seldom
+missed from his class, and who, after a long life of perpetual
+turmoil, spent in all the savage excitement of cruel and bloody wars,
+is now to be seen every morning in his accustomed place, repeating
+those blessed truths which teach him to love the Lord with all his
+heart and mind and soul and strength, and his neighbour as himself."
+This amiable picture, drawn in a spirit of enlarged charity, is
+unfortunately dimmed, and the sincerity of the chief's religious
+convictions discounted, by the story related of him by a
+conscientious, if unfriendly, critic. "A few days before his death,"
+says this writer,[194] "when suffering under the malady which carried
+him off, two settlers called to see him. While there, a neighbouring
+missionary came in and offered him the consolations of religion.
+Rauparaha demeaned himself in a manner highly becoming such an
+occasion, but the moment the missionary was gone, he turned to his
+other visitors and said: 'What is the use of all that nonsense?--that
+will do my belly no good.' He then turned the conversation on the
+Whanganui races, where one of his guests had been running a horse."
+Such an incident, if true, leaves behind it the impression that the
+chief was shrewd enough to observe that the Christian faith had taken
+root amongst his people, and conventional enough to adopt it for
+fashion's sake, without realising any real spiritual change. But we
+will not attempt to pass judgment upon one who was at so manifest a
+disadvantage in grasping the mysteries of a faith which centuries of
+science and learning have left still obscure to many more fortunately
+circumstanced. But, whatever the chief's spiritual condition may have
+been, it was not vouchsafed to him to witness the completion of his
+building scheme. He had long passed man's allotted span, and life's
+last stage was closing in upon him. He was in his eighty-first year,
+and was stricken with an internal complaint, the precise nature of
+which has not been ascertained, but which necessitated his taking much
+rest. His last days were therefore spent in enforced inactivity, and,
+while practically an invalid, his greatest delight was to recount to
+those capable of appreciating his narrative the stories of his early
+campaigns. The late Bishop Hadfield was especially favoured in this
+respect; and when he grew weary of the company of his own people (of
+whose intellectuality he had so small an opinion that he once remarked
+that they could talk of nothing better than dogs and pigs), he would
+send for the missionary, and regale him with stories of the past, told
+with a native force which aroused astonishment and admiration in the
+mind of his hearer. His descriptions of former fights were generally
+dramatic, frequently graphic, and always eloquent, for his vocabulary
+was rich in words and phrases which were far beyond the linguistic
+capacity of the natives by whom he was surrounded. It is to be
+regretted that these recitals have perished with the good Bishop.
+Until quite late in his life a vivid impression of them remained in
+his memory, and his constant readiness to refer to them confirms the
+claim that Te Rauparaha was a man of superior intellect, in so far as
+that term may be applied to a Maori of his day.
+
+Towards the end of November, 1849, the complaint from which he was
+suffering begun to assume a more malignant form. On the 24th of that
+month he received a last visit from Rangihaeata, and bade farewell to
+his erstwhile comrade in arms. Three days later he was dead; the event
+was consummated for which Colonel Wakefield so devoutly wished when,
+ten years before, he wrote: "It will be a most fortunate thing for any
+settlement formed hereabouts when he dies, for with his life only will
+end his mischievous scheming and insatiable cupidity." Had Te
+Rauparaha been asked to pen his opinion of the promoters of the New
+Zealand Company, he might have couched his judgment in much the same
+terms. But now that he was dead there was no need, and little desire,
+to keep open the floodgates of vituperation, and there were many who
+in his lifetime could find no kindly thought for him, but were willing
+to bury the bitterness of racial misunderstanding in the grave wherein
+the chief was so soon to be laid.
+
+The news that Te Rauparaha was dead spread like a prairie fire, and
+natives from all parts of both islands flocked to Otaki to swell the
+weeping multitude who wailed around the bier of the dead chief. So
+altered, however, had the times become, that, though there was a
+feast, there was little _tangi_ of the barbarous sort, for his son
+Tamahana, who was sincere and consistent in his emulation of European
+methods,[195] discouraged in the native people, as far as possible,
+the indulgence in their time-honoured mourning customs, and, according
+to a contemporary authority, the whole proceedings were conducted "in
+a most decorous manner." The interment took place on 3rd December, the
+last resting-place being a spot chosen by his friend Rangihaeata,
+within the church enclosure, and immediately in front of the unfinished
+building. A procession of fifteen hundred people followed the body to
+the grave, where the beautiful burial service of the Anglican Church
+was read by Mr. Ronaldson, the native teacher from Whanganui. The
+coffin, made in the usual manner, was covered with black cloth, and
+the final chapter in the life of this remarkable man was written on
+the brass plate which adorned the casket:--
+
+KO TE RAUPARAHA I MATE I TE
+
+27 O NOWEMA 1849
+
+[Te Rauparaha died on November 27, 1849.]
+
+[173] Heke had asked the pertinent question, "Is Rauparaha to have all
+the credit of killing the _pakeha_?"
+
+[174] "From what I know of the young lieutenant, I have no doubt he
+laid about him vigorously. Even had burly Rangihaeata confronted him,
+I should not have feared the result" (_Mundy_).
+
+[175] It was quite the orthodox thing for natives on opposite sides to
+hold intercourse with each other during war, and Rauparaha, having
+many relations engaged with Rangihaeata, would, in accordance with
+this custom, keep up a certain connection with them, and they with
+him. This, not being understood by the British authorities, was
+probably mistaken for treachery.
+
+[176] Afterwards McKillop Pasha, an Admiral of the Khedive of Egypt.
+
+[177] Grey, in his despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies,
+describing the seizure of Te Rauparaha, states that a "considerable
+quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the disaffected portion
+of the Ngati-Toa tribe" was also seized, though he makes no attempt to
+explain what steps were taken under the exciting circumstances to
+ascertain who the precise owners were.
+
+[178] On the voyage to Wellington the prisoners were quartered in the
+workshop above the boilers. During the night a great disturbance was
+heard in this direction, and, on an examination being made, it was
+found that the room was full of steam. One of the boilers had sprung a
+leak, but the natives imagined that their vapour bath was an ingenious
+contrivance to compass their death.
+
+[179] Mr. Percy Smith is my authority for saying that Rangihaeata did
+not actually compose this lament, as is generally supposed, but merely
+adapted it from a very old original.
+
+[180] In October, 1850, Dr. Dorsett, as Chairman of the Settlers'
+Constitutional Society, in a letter addressed to Earl Grey, complained
+of the inadequacy of Te Rauparaha's punishment. Sir George Grey
+replied by quoting two laments, of which this was one, "to show the
+light in which the natives regarded the punishment inflicted on him."
+
+[181] Pohi was one of the inferior chiefs arrested with Te Rauparaha
+and afterwards released. Subsequently, Grey discovered that this man
+was supposed to possess "important information."
+
+[182] For the passive attitude adopted by many of the Ngati-Toa people
+some credit must be given to Te Rauparaha, who had already advised his
+son to go to the tribes and tell them to remain in peace. "I returned
+on shore," says Tamahana, "and saw Ngati-Toa and Rawhiri Puaha. We
+told them the words of Rauparaha respecting that which is good and
+living in peace. Two hundred Ngati-Raukawa came to Otaki. Rangihaeata
+wished to destroy Wellington and kill the _pakehas_ as satisfaction. I
+told them the words of Te Rauparaha, that they must put away foolish
+thoughts, live in peace, and cast away bad desires. They consented."
+
+[183] Ensign Blackburn, who was a fine officer and a great favourite
+with the troops, was shot by a native secreted in a tree, and he in
+turn was almost immediately brought down by an artilleryman.
+
+[184] Under the chilling atmosphere of bleak winter the enthusiasm of
+our native allies soon began to cool and the vigour of their pursuit
+to slacken. Power, in his _Sketches in New Zealand_, gives an
+amusing account of a big _korero_ held at Otaki to decide whether
+or not they would continue the chase, in which he says: "Rangihaeata's
+sister was present and addressed the meeting in favour of her absent
+brother, making at the same time some very unparliamentary remarks on
+the aggressions of the _pakehas_ and the want of pluck of the
+Maoris in not resisting them, as her illustrious brother was doing. An
+old chief requested her to resume her seat, informing her at the same
+time that she was the silly sister of a sillier brother. He then put
+it to the meeting whether pigs and potatoes, warm fires and plenty of
+tobacco, were not better things than leaden bullets, edges of
+tomahawks, snow, rain, and empty bellies? All the former, he distinctly
+stated, were to be enjoyed on the plain; the latter they had had
+plentiful experience of in the mountains, and was it to be expected
+that they--and he confidently relied upon the good sense of the
+meeting--could be such fools as to hesitate for a moment? The applause
+of the old man's rhetoric was unanimous, and it received no slight
+help from the timely appearance of a procession bearing the materials
+for a week's feasting."
+
+[185] Lieutenant McKillop, writing on this point, says: "We never had
+any such decided advantage over him in our various skirmishes with his
+tribe as to dishearten him, and had we been unassisted by friendly
+Maoris I have no doubt he would have held out and carried his point."
+
+[186] While the _Calliope_ was lying at Wellington, Te Rauparaha
+was visited by his son Tamahana, who has left it on record that, in
+that trying moment of his life, his father displayed a spirit of calm
+forgiveness towards those who had so treacherously deprived him of his
+liberty. His advice was: "Son, go to your tribes and tell them to
+remain in peace. Do not pay for my seizure 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."
+
+[187] In his _Travels in New Zealand_, Crawford remarks: "During
+the march to Pahautanui, a Maori named Martin Luther (Wareaitu) was
+taken prisoner and was some months afterwards tried by court martial
+and hanged. I cannot help thinking that this was a blunder." Dr.
+Thomson is even more emphatic, and declares that "Luther's death is a
+disgrace to Governor Grey's administration."
+
+[188] Visitors to modern Otaki cannot fail to notice a tall pole
+erected near the roadside opposite the church. The totara tree out of
+which the pole was hewn was brought there at the outbreak of the Maori
+war. It was intended as a flagstaff, but Mr. Hadfield persuaded the
+Maoris to remain perfectly neutral and make no demonstration one way
+or the other. The tree lay for many years on the common until the Rev.
+Mr. McWilliam induced the Maoris to shape the tree into a tapering
+obelisk 40 feet high, with the dates 1840 (the year when Christianity
+was established at Otaki) to 1880 (the year the obelisk was erected)
+going spirally round it from bottom to top, and so it became a
+memorial of the English Church Mission at Otaki. It was first erected
+in the middle of the common, but in 1890, that is, the fiftieth year
+of the mission, it was moved into the corner opposite the church gate.
+It is called by the Maoris the "Jubilee." There was a great gathering
+of Maoris on that occasion, and fifty of them were clad in white and
+took part in the ceremony. The chief speaker was Kereopa Tukumaru, an
+old chief from Kereru, who had been one of the first converts to
+Christianity, and was now able to tell what great things the religion
+of Christianity had done for the Maoris. "This man," says Mr.
+McWilliam, "was the most consistent Christian I have ever had the
+privilege of knowing." He was most industrious, but when not working
+he was reading his Bible. He knew nearly the whole of it by heart. His
+grave may be seen near the Kereru railway station on a small natural
+mound. It is an oblong raised vault, built of concrete, with a
+beautiful white marble angel standing over one end.
+
+[189] Colonel Mundy mentions that a remarkably plausible report was
+circulating in Wellington at this time, to the effect that
+Rangihaeata--in order to prove himself a convert to civilisation--had
+signified his intention to kill and eat the aforesaid murderer, and
+then "go into the best society."
+
+[190] As illustrating Rangihaeata's intolerance of Europeans,
+Crawford, in his _Travels in New Zealand_, mentions that when he
+visited Fraser's whaling station on Mana in 1839, he saw sitting in
+the corner of the room a large Maori wrapped in his mat. "He listened
+to the conversation, but said nothing. At last, as if displeased, he
+uttered a hideous and prolonged grunt, and rose to his feet: I was
+struck with his height and imposing, although savage, appearance--he
+grunted again and walked out of the room without speaking. This was
+Rangihaeata, the great follower or coadjutor of Te Rauparaha--the Ajax
+of his tribe, as the other was the Ulysses."
+
+[191] As illustrating the feeling of the time, we may mention that
+very great indignation was expressed in Wellington because Bishop
+Selwyn had taken Te Rauparaha to the house of the Rev. Mr. Cole, a
+clergyman of Wellington, to stay there during a visit to the city.
+Major Richmond, the Superintendent, and the Sub-Protector, Mr.
+Forsaith, had gone to Porirua and provided for his safe escort to
+Wellington. The Bishop had publicly refused to shake hands with
+Rangihaeata, showing to the natives his horror of the massacre at the
+Wairau on every occasion. But he refused to recognise Te Rauparaha as
+responsible for it, and did no more than his clear duty in providing
+for his safety on this occasion. The outcry raised against him was
+bitter, but was quietly ignored by him (_Brett's "Early History of
+New Zealand"_).
+
+[192] The church, which is a noble specimen of native architecture,
+was built under the supervision of Archdeacon Hadfield and Rev. H.
+Williams. It was commenced in 1849 and opened in 1851. Its length is
+80 feet, its breadth 36 feet, and its height 40 feet. The ridge-pole
+is hewn out of a solid totara tree, 86 feet long.
+
+[193] "Te Rauparaha was not baptized, and, although his son wished the
+burial service of the Church to be used at his funeral, the minister
+did not feel himself justified in doing so; however, a lay member of
+the Church Missionary Society from Whanganui, opportunely passing
+through the place, read the service over him, and thus terminated the
+eventful life of the New Zealand warrior" (_Rev. Richard
+Taylor_).
+
+[194] The late Sir William Fox in his _Six Colonies of New
+Zealand_.
+
+[195] In 1868, Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife Ruta (Ruth) lived by
+themselves about half-way between Otaki and Waikanae on his sheep run,
+but he now and again came to his town house in Otaki and stayed a few
+weeks. He was a fine, handsome man, tall and stout, but active and
+mentally energetic. He always dressed well, and in cleanliness and
+neatness was a thorough English gentleman. He had been home to England
+and presented to the Queen. He never forgot what he saw there, and he
+wished to be considered an English gentleman. For that reason he lost
+influence with his tribe. He held aloof from _tangis_ and other
+Maori feasts, but was most hospitable and generous to Europeans. His
+wife was a most ladylike and charming woman. She was not so well
+educated as Tamihana, but for all that she had the manners and taste
+of an English lady. She died several years before him, and he erected
+a small marble stone over her grave; but when he died, and was laid by
+her side, no monument of any kind was erected to his memory; the
+cast-iron fence, which had been broken accidentally, was not even
+repaired. The Maoris did not care much for him, because he was too
+civilised and _pakeha_-like for them, so they made no general
+mourning at his death. In his youth, Tamihana te Rauparaha and Matene
+te Whiwhi had journeyed all the way to the Bay of Islands to beg for a
+missionary, and in response to their request Mr. Hadfield (who was
+afterwards Bishop of Wellington and Primate) came back with them to
+Otaki, and lived amongst them and taught them Christianity for thirty
+years.
+
+The graves of Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife are enclosed with an
+iron railing. On the tombstone of the wife is the inscription: "_Te
+ohatanga tenei mo Ruta te Rauparaha wahine O Tamihana te Rauparaha, i
+mate ki Otaki i te 10 o nga ra o Hurae, 1870._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE
+
+
+Te Rangihaeata survived his uncle by seven years, living during this
+time quietly at Poroutawhao. Though ceasing his violent opposition to
+the occupation of the land by the settlers, he still clung to his
+refusal to traffic in the native estate, either with individuals or
+with the Government. Almost immediately after the close of the war,
+Lieutenant-Governor Eyre and the Rev. Richard Taylor penetrated
+through the bush and swamps which surrounded Poroutawhao, and met the
+chief in the very heart of his stronghold. He was then, says Mr.
+Taylor, an old man with a head as white as the top of Tongariro, and a
+spirit somewhat resembling that active volcano, always fuming. His
+white hair strongly contrasted with his bronzed features and highly
+tattooed countenance. The missionary thus describes the retreat in
+which they found him, and the reception they met with:--
+
+ "A long, low, narrow strip of land, running through deep swamp, led
+ to his retreat; the name of the place aptly describes it, being a
+ cork, or stoppage, to war, and few would have liked to draw it out.
+ The _pa_ was on a mound, the only one in the vicinity, and
+ strongly fortified in the native style, with thick, lofty posts
+ deeply sunk in the ground, and bound together with a _huahua_,
+ or connecting pole, running round at a height of about ten feet.
+ Inside the outer fence there was another, behind which the defenders
+ could post themselves, and take aim through the outer one. The
+ _pa_ was divided into a number of small courts, each equally
+ well defended, and connected by very narrow passages. We found the
+ chief with his wives and his head men assembled in the chief court,
+ or _marae_, sitting on mats in front of his house. Fresh fern
+ was strewed on the ground, and new mats laid on it for us; we were
+ received with great respect, and welcomed with a loud
+ _haeremai_: we sat down on the chief's right hand, and conversed
+ on various subjects, until we were invited to enter a neighbouring
+ house, where no one followed us, except a neatly dressed and
+ good-looking lady, who was appointed to wait upon us according to
+ Maori etiquette: there was a kind of table formed of two boxes, one
+ placed on the other, with a new red blanket placed over it, and a
+ form similarly covered in regal style. On the table was placed a dish
+ of good fresh-baked cakes, another containing sugar, a knife, spoon,
+ and two basins, one nearly allied to a wash-hand basin in size. The
+ lady then brought a tea-kettle, and filled our cups with an infusion
+ of mint, which she called tea. The wash-hand basin was, of course,
+ placed before the representative of Majesty, who viewed with dismay
+ its enormous capacity, which, being given him from respect, he could
+ not well avoid draining to the bottom. After enjoying the Governor's
+ perplexity, when the lady left the room, I emptied the contents of
+ our bowls into a calabash, from which our natives were drinking; our
+ repast being ended, we returned to the chief and sat by his side. The
+ Governor requested me to ask the chief to sell some land, which I
+ respectfully declined doing. He then attempted to do so himself: at
+ first he was not understood, but when the chief comprehended what he
+ meant, he gave a savage look of defiance, thrusting out his tongue
+ and rolling about his eyes in such a way, that his Excellency, who
+ had never seen such a display before, stared in amazement, and
+ evidently felt anything but at ease. It need not be said that the
+ land negotiations were speedily terminated, and we were soon
+ threading our way back along Rangihaeata's swamp-girt road."
+
+Not less interesting was the experience of Lord Charles Butler and Mr.
+Carnegie, two officers of the _Calliope_, who, upon the cessation
+of hostilities, conceived the adventurous idea of visiting the chief
+in his lair at Poroutawhao. Starting from Wellington, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Servantes of the 96th, who during the war had acted as
+interpreter with the Government troops, and Tamahana Te Rauparaha,
+they experienced considerable difficulty in pushing their way across
+the country to the place of Rangihaeata's retreat. By dint of
+perseverance they at length reached the borders of the swamp
+surrounding the small hillock on which the _pa_ was built, and,
+meeting some of the natives there, they sent them on to the chief to
+ascertain if he would be prepared to receive them. A messenger soon
+returned to say that Lord Charles and Tamahana might come on, but that
+if Ewie (Lieutenant Servantes) attempted to do so, he would be shot.
+Rangihaeata had persuaded himself that Servantes had been acting the
+spy in the late proceedings against him. This impression, which was
+quite erroneous, doubtless arose from the fact that this officer had
+been a great deal in the company of the natives before the outbreak of
+hostilities, that he was thoroughly conversant with their language,
+customs, and haunts, and consequently was frequently acting in
+conjunction with the native allies when no other Europeans were near.
+There being no opportunity to offer explanations which might remove
+the chief's prejudice, Servantes deemed it prudent to respect
+Rangihaeata's mandate, and remained where he was, the others
+proceeding to the _pa_. As they approached, sounds and evidences of
+excitement, which they were at a loss to understand, greeted them, and
+as they drew nearer, several armed natives came out of the _pa_,
+pointing their muskets at Mr. Carnegie, at the same time abusing him
+with a tornado of picturesque native epithets. This hostile
+demonstration arose from the fact that they had mistaken the naval
+officer for Servantes; but, when the guides had silenced the clamour
+sufficiently to obtain a hearing, the necessary explanations were
+made, and the party was led into the _pa_. They found Rangihaeata
+leaning against his _whare_, and taking aim at the gateway with his
+gun, having fully determined to end the days of the supposed spy if he
+dared to enter the _pa_. The introductions were, however,
+satisfactory, and, putting away his musket, he gave his hand to his
+guests, whereupon his tribe likewise disarmed themselves, and prepared
+to extend hospitality to the visitors. Lord Charles opened the
+proceedings diplomatically, by presenting Rangihaeata with a few
+pounds of tobacco and a red blanket; and, as soon as the chief had
+filled his pipe with the fragrant weed, and adjusted the blanket to
+his brawny shoulders, he sat down and entered into a most amiable
+conversation with the _pakehas_, for whose refreshment he took care
+that food should be brought. He plied his visitors with many questions
+concerning Te Rauparaha and those natives who were prisoners with him,
+and closely inquired of those Europeans with whose names he was
+acquainted, making special reference to Lieutenant McKillop, of whose
+conduct in the war he had formed an excellent opinion. He was also
+exceedingly complimentary to Lord Charles, of whom he said he had
+received very flattering reports, but he was equally regretful of the
+conduct of his own people in deserting his standard, and spoke
+bitterly of his experiences since he had abandoned his _pa_ at
+Porirua. These misfortunes did not, however, detract in the least from
+his hospitality to his visitors. He begged them to remain with him
+until next day, in order that he might have the opportunity of killing
+a pig and regaling them with due splendour on the morrow. This kind
+invitation they modestly declined, and, after explaining that their
+visit was of purely a private nature, and not one which would warrant
+them in carrying back any message to the authorities, they took their
+leave of the chief, whom they have described as being particularly
+dirty, but a fine handsome man.
+
+By his winning ways and the generous use of presents, Governor Grey
+several times induced Rangihaeata to leave his retreat at Poroutawhao
+for the purpose of holding conferences with him; and when he believed
+that he had sufficiently ingratiated himself into the good opinion of
+the chief, he ventured to propose the sale to the Government of the
+Waikanae district. "It would have been the subject for an artist,"
+says one writer, "to picture the indignant look of the chief as he
+flatly and rudely refused, telling the Governor to be content with
+what he had already got. 'You have had Porirua, Ahuriri, Wairarapa,
+Whanganui, Rangitikei, and the whole of the Middle Island given up to
+you, and still you are not content. We are driven up into a corner,
+and yet you covet that also.'" But, though his overtures were thus
+indignantly spurned and rejected, the _mana_ of the Governor did not
+suffer any diminution in the estimation of the chief, who to the end
+of his days continued to regard Grey with that chivalrous respect
+which is extended by one warrior to another whom he deems to be worthy
+of his steel.
+
+In 1856, while still residing at Poroutawhao, Rangihaeata was stricken
+with measles in a particularly malignant form, but, with his
+characteristic recklessness of consequences, he refused to take the
+ordinary precautions to facilitate his recovery. Though still in a
+high state of fever, he decided to visit Otaki, and ordered his groom
+to drive him thither. When passing the Waikawa River, he thought to
+abate the fever by taking a cold bath; and, stopping the buggy, he
+plunged into the river, from which he emerged with the hand of death
+upon him. He was taken on to Otaki, where his malady rapidly increased,
+and two days afterwards he passed away. His body was taken back, at
+the head of an enormous procession, to Poroutawhao, where he was
+buried beside his wife, the _tangi_ in his case being marked by
+all the barbarous features of native mourning, interspersed with not a
+few of the prevailing European vices.
+
+When in the prime of life, Rangihaeata stood over six feet in height,
+a handsome man, magnificently built. Like his more notorious uncle, he
+too had features of aquiline mould, lit up by a pair of piercing black
+eyes, which instantly flashed out their resentment on any real or
+fancied insult. He was exceedingly jealous of his _mana_, and quick
+to blaze into a fit of indignation at any word or act which he might
+construe to be a reflection upon his authority as a chief. That
+authority he frequently asserted by levying toll upon the settlers and
+whalers, but never in any case from pure cupidity, or where he did
+not, by Maori law, have some good and valid claim to _utu_. Against
+these extortions, as they were pleased to regard them, the whalers
+appealed to such authority[196] as they could find in the islands; and
+when they were unable to obtain what they deemed to be justice in that
+quarter, they took the law into their own hands, and tried to rid
+themselves of their tormentor by means of the poison-cup. Frequent
+attempts were made to poison him at the whaling stations; and we are
+credibly informed that, on one occasion, he was induced to swallow a
+pint of raw rum heavily drugged with arsenic. But, in their excess of
+zeal to compass the chief's death, they had been led to apply too
+great a quantity of poison, and instead of its acting as they
+anticipated, it merely acted as an emetic. If this statement be
+well-grounded, or if the whalers were as Major Bunbury described them
+to be, when he visited Mana in order to procure Rangihaeata's
+signature to the Treaty of Waitangi, it is not to be expected that
+such dissolute associates would afford the chief much light and
+leading in the path of rectitude.
+
+The reckless disregard by the settlers and whalers of the sanctity of
+native custom was responsible for many of the misunderstandings, which
+they have debited against Rangihaeata for malice and mischief; while
+no attempt has been made to exonerate him on the ground that he
+probably saw the act only from the point of view of his native origin
+and upbringing. He was in spirit and in the flesh a Maori, and gloried
+in it, openly professing a detestation for the _pakeha_ and all that
+he had brought to the country. He affected a supreme contempt for the
+luxuries of the white man; but the weakness of human nature had
+blinded him to the inconsistency of which he was daily guilty in
+acquiring and gratifying an uncontrollable love of tobacco and rum.
+When under the influence of liquor he was querulous and violent; but
+his drinking indiscretions were generally redeemed as far as possible
+by the payment of ample compensation, for, savage though he was,
+Rangihaeata was not destitute of a liberal sense of justice.[197] This
+he applied to himself as rigorously as to others. When he was flying
+before the troops in the Horokiwi Valley, he frequently inquired if
+those who were hottest in pursuit were relatives of the victims of his
+anger at the Wairau; for to him "a life for a life" was an inexorable
+law, to which even he must bow, if the friends of the massacred men
+should overtake him. In the cause of what he believed to be the
+liberty of his people he did and dared much, enduring intense
+hardships for the maintenance of a principle, and when we charge him
+with harbouring criminals and refusing to deliver them over to
+justice, our resentment against his conduct may be mitigated by the
+reflection that his loyalty to these misguided friends was not so much
+due to a sympathy with crime, as it was a practical protest against
+what he believed to be their unfair treatment by the New Zealand
+Company. Rangihaeata stoutly resisted all attempts to convert him to
+the Christian faith, clinging to his heathen gods as closely as he
+clung to his antipathy to European settlement. His convictions on
+these points were deep-rooted and irrevocable; and he died as he
+lived, a savage, guilty of much bloodshed, yet not altogether devoid
+of nobility. Though he never rose to the level of Te Rauparaha as a
+warrior or a statesman, he was, nevertheless, a strong man amongst his
+people, opposed alike to the missionary and the settler, but only
+because he saw with a prophetic eye that the growing ascendancy of the
+_pakeha_ meant the ultimate subjugation of the Maori race. Viewed from
+this standpoint--the only one equitable to Rangihaeata--his policy of
+hostility cannot be characterised as that of a stubborn rebel, but may
+with greater justice be regarded as the policy of a patriot.
+
+The character and personal attributes of Te Rauparaha have been the
+subject of much conflicting comment, and the pen-portraits of him
+which have come down to us have consequently varied, in sympathy with
+the mood or interest of his critics. In physical appearance, all,
+however, agree that he was short of stature and aquiline of
+feature;[198] and, though at times obsequious in manner, he was
+equally capable of displaying an imperious dignity of deportment which
+marked him as a man accustomed to wield unquestioned authority. While
+in repose, the general expression of his countenance was placid and
+thoughtful; but when under the influence of excitement or agitation, a
+receding forehead, a furtive glance, and tusk-like teeth, revealed by
+a curling lip, detracted considerably from his impressive appearance.
+Though upwards of sixty years of age when he came into contact with
+the Europeans (for he claimed to have been a boy when Cook visited the
+country), he was still possessed of a wiry frame, and was capable of
+exerting great physical strength and activity, his limbs being
+straight, his step elastic, and his athletic vigour little diminished
+by age. Perhaps the most graphic description given of the chief is
+that penned by Mr. Jerningham Wakefield, whose cameo-like portrait may
+be accepted as faithful, and typical of others given by contemporary
+writers of equal integrity, if of inferior literary skill. Wakefield
+saw Te Rauparaha for the first time on the morning after the battle of
+Kuititanga, from which the chief had just returned; and to the
+excitement of that event may be attributed the agitation observable in
+his manner, the "wandering watchful glances" he threw around him, and
+the air of "evident fear and distrust," all of which contributed so
+forcefully to the creation of an unfavourable impression on the minds
+of his visitors.
+
+ "As we leaped from our boat, he advanced to meet us, and, with looks
+ of evident fear and distrust, eagerly sought our hand to exchange the
+ missionary greeting. During the whole of the ensuing conversation he
+ seemed uneasy and insecure in his own opinion, and the whalers
+ present described this behaviour as totally at variance 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 every one. 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, were plainly discernible on
+ a nearer view."
+
+Such was the man who, in or about the year of Bonaparte's death, began
+to play the Napoleonic _rôle_ in New Zealand.[199] Like the
+Corsican conqueror, to whom his life affords an interesting historical
+parallel, he derived no especial advantage from hereditary lineage,
+for his place in the Maori peerage was only sufficient to lift him
+above the native plutocracy. In his rise to eminence birth played but
+a minor part, his path to fortune being carved out by innate
+enterprise, inherent courage, wonderful executive capacity, and that
+dash of political unscrupulousness which is seldom absent from leaders
+of men. From his youth up he displayed masterful qualities of
+mind,[200] which infallibly lift their possessor above the level of
+mediocrity, and when such qualities are found, whether in savage or
+civilised society, the measure of success attained is only limited by
+the degree of opportunity offered. Te Rauparaha's escapades as a boy
+reveal his natural bravery; his care as a young man for the generous
+entertainment of his visitors indicates an appreciation of the value
+of a good social impression; his exertions to master the art of war
+were sustained by a clear recognition of the fact that authority in an
+age of strife was impossible without military success; and his
+ambition to furnish his people with guns was just as clearly the
+result of the knowledge that military success was impossible without a
+weapon as efficient as that wielded by the enemy. It was not any doubt
+of the bravery or fidelity of his people that induced his anxiety
+regarding their safety at Kawhia, but a conviction that, unless they
+could procure muskets and fight Waikato on equal terms, their doom was
+sealed.
+
+But there was also that in him which made him hunger for conquest just
+as keenly as he desired to evade being conquered; and if the discovery
+of an escape from his dilemma at Kawhia was accidental, he was, as a
+rule, careful to leave nothing to accident in the execution of his
+fully matured plans. The migration from Kawhia to Kapiti was a bold
+and daring conception, fraught as it was with difficulties of
+transport, peril to old and young, and, more than all, with the
+certainty that every inch of the way would have to be either bargained
+for or fought for. Yet it is the manner in which the idea was executed
+rather than the idea itself that calls for our admiration. It was
+characterised by wise planning, discreet forethought, accurate
+calculation, clever diplomacy, skilful strategy; and, when all else
+failed, there were the strong right arm and the courageous heart to
+compel compliance, if compulsion were needed. That Te Rauparaha was
+blessed with abundant confidence in his own prowess is demonstrated by
+the lightheartedness with which he assumed the rank and
+responsibilities of the dying Hape Tuarangi; and it was just this
+spirit of cheerful self-sufficiency which inspired others with that
+unbounded trust and confidence in him, which enabled him to lead his
+people away from the ties of their ancestral home, and induce them to
+share with him the dangers and uncertainty of a great enterprise. It
+is at least a tribute to Te Rauparaha's talents as a leader that, so
+long as the Maori remained unchanged by European influences, he
+continued to receive the loyal support and unfailing allegiance of his
+people. He was always popular with the masses, otherwise he could not
+have accomplished a tithe of what he did. No criticism of Te Rauparaha
+is sound which represents him as wholly bad. There is in human nature
+a rough method of arriving at what is right; and no public, whether
+savage or civilised, will for long tolerate, much less venerate, a
+leader whose only policy is his own aggrandisement.
+
+The undisputed position which Te Rauparaha enjoyed in the affections
+of his own people, the fidelity with which they followed him, till the
+_mana_ of the chief was superseded by the ascendancy of the
+_pakeha_, afford proof that they, at all events, were able to
+discern some meritorious qualities in him, even though not endowed
+with the higher ethical vision of a modern critic. It has been
+suggested that, in after years, when dissensions arose amongst the
+tribes which acknowledged his chieftainship, the revolt was due to
+shattered confidence, this shaken faith being traceable to a belief
+that he was treacherously plotting with Ngati-Raukawa to compass the
+expulsion of Ngati-Awa from Waikanae. But it must not be forgotten
+that, by this period, the advent of the _pakeha_ had created a
+new atmosphere around the Maori, and the policy of the missionary in
+extolling the convert to the disparagement of the chief had, in a
+measure, destroyed the power of the people's leaders. And, in the
+general decline of hereditary authority, Te Rauparaha's _mana_
+had suffered with the rest. It had therefore become more
+difficult--and it may have been impossible--for him to quell
+internecine strife by the peremptory means which he would have
+employed in the days of his absolute supremacy.
+
+No candid review of the chief's career can, however, fail to take
+cognisance of the fact that his methods frequently gave rise to
+suspicions of deepest treachery, the doubtful honour of these
+proceedings having long since passed into song and proverb. In common
+with all successful leaders, he possessed the virtue of keeping his
+own counsel. He made his plans, nursed them in his own mind, and, in
+the fullness of time, gave his orders accordingly--a secretive habit
+which gave origin to the saying: "No one knew his thoughts, whether
+they were good or evil." This reticence has, by some writers, been
+given an interpretation which does not rightly belong to it: because
+he was reserved, therefore he was treacherous. Such a deduction does
+not necessarily sum up the whole position. But, even when this has
+been admitted, there still remains the imputation of treachery, left
+by the derisive songs and proverbs, to be either admitted or combated.
+The unblushing apologist for Te Rauparaha might conceivably argue that
+these chants were but the creation of prejudiced or malignant minds;
+but the charges of deception, amounting to treachery, are too
+frequently reiterated to be rejected as altogether groundless.
+Barbarous though the Maori was, he had a code of honour which could
+not be lightly violated; and when a member of a tribe was killed, it
+was not the fact that he was dead which agitated his friends, but the
+circumstances of his dying. "Was his death _tika_?[201] Had it been
+compassed in fair fight? Or was it _kohuru_?"[202] These were
+questions always demanding a satisfactory answer, for the laws
+governing life and death were well defined. And, judged by these laws,
+it is impossible to hold Te Rauparaha blameless of the crime of
+treachery. The killing of the Rangitane chief, Toki-poto, the capture
+of the Hotu-iti _pa_, the seizure of Tamaiharanui, and possibly many
+another similar deed not so specifically recorded, were all acts of
+treachery, and serve to dim the lustre of his larger achievements
+conducted strictly in accordance with Maori military law.
+Nevertheless, it is possible that there has been much exaggeration in
+relation to this phase of the chief's character. When his troubles
+with the New Zealand Company began to develop, and more particularly
+after the Wairau massacre, it became the mission of a section of the
+European community to represent him as the incarnation of all that was
+cruel, treacherous, and unspeakably wicked. In this connection it
+becomes especially dangerous to accept unreservedly the judgment of
+the Wakefields, who were early prejudiced against him by his
+opposition to their colonising methods, and were afterwards deeply
+embittered towards him by the death of their relative at the Wairau.
+Impartiality under such circumstances is almost too much to expect;
+and it is only just to Te Rauparaha to say that they availed
+themselves fully of their special opportunities for disseminating a
+prejudice against him, so that a view so long uncontradicted can
+hardly now be eradicated.
+
+In no respect has the reputation of Te Rauparaha suffered more from
+bitter hostility than in connection with the Wairau massacre. And we
+cannot wonder; for at the time of its occurrence he had arrayed
+against him a galaxy of literary talent, such as the Colony has never
+seen since, and day by day these wielders of facile pens fed with
+scholarly vituperation the flames of racial animosity, which were
+already burning at white heat. They spoke of murder; they clamoured
+for revenge; and all who failed to see as they saw were exposed to the
+darts of their merciless sarcasm. But, with the softening influence of
+time, men's hearts have mellowed, stormy passions have subsided, and
+we of this day are able to review the facts with more sober judgment
+than was possible to those who lived and wrote in the heated
+atmosphere of the time. In this unhappy quarrel it must now be
+accepted as an established fact that the New Zealand Company were the
+aggressors. The Wairau Valley may, or may not, have been included in
+their original purchases; but Captain Wakefield knew that this point
+was being contested by the natives. He knew further that the dispute
+had been by them referred to Mr. Spain, and therefore no reasonable
+excuse can be advanced for his attempt to seize the valley while its
+title was still subject to judicial investigation. Te Rauparaha's
+attitude in the early stages of the trouble amounted to no more than a
+temperate protest. He personally interviewed Captain Wakefield at
+Nelson; he was as conciliatory in requesting the surveyors to leave
+the field as he was decided that they must go; he calmed Rangihaeata's
+violence at the conference with Mr. Tuckett; and, as Mr. Spain's final
+decision was fatal to the Company's claim, the charge of arson
+preferred against him dwindles into a legal fiction. The conciliatory
+tone thus manifested by the chief was equally marked in the more acute
+stage, which arose at Tua Marina. While the magistrate fumed and
+raged, the chief stood perfectly calm. He more than once begged that
+time should be taken to talk over the case; but the mad impetuosity of
+Thompson would brook no delay in determining a cause the merits of
+which he, the judge, had already prejudged in his own mind. For the
+precipitation of the conflict which followed, who shall say that the
+fault was Te Rauparaha's? It was neither his hand nor his command
+which put the brand to the bush, nor does it appear that it was ever
+within his power to control the outburst of human passion which flamed
+up upon the firing of the first shot. What part he took in the fight
+is uncertain. It has never been suggested that he bore arms, and
+therefore we may assume that he was an excited spectator, rather than
+an active participant in the mêlée. That he was early on the brow of
+the hill, after the retreat had ceased, would appear to be beyond
+doubt; but his first act on reaching the Europeans was to shake hands
+with them, a proceeding which seemed to imply that, even after all
+that had passed, his friendship had not been irretrievably lost.
+Indeed, there is nothing to lead us to suppose that he harboured any
+thoughts of retaliation, until Rangihaeata violently demanded _utu_
+for the death of Te Rongo.
+
+This demand placed Te Rauparaha in a serious dilemma. Against any
+feeling of friendship for the Europeans which may still have lingered
+in his heart, he had now to set a claim which was wholly in accord
+with native custom; a right, in fact, which had been recognised by
+his forefathers for more centuries than we can with certainty name; a
+feature of Maori justice supported by ages of precedent, and which,
+imbibed from infancy, had become a part of his nature. This was
+undoubtedly the crisis of the tragedy. Had Te Rauparaha decided
+against Rangihaeata, there would have been no massacre; but where his
+detractors are unfair to him is in appearing to expect that he should
+have suddenly risen superior to his Maori nature, and, in place of
+allowing his actions to be governed by Maori law, that he--a
+heathen--should have viewed the attempt to seize his land and his
+person, together with the death of Te Rongo, in the forgiving spirit
+of a Christian. No Ethiop was ever asked to change his skin more
+rapidly; and if Te Rauparaha failed in the performance of the miracle,
+he only failed when success was morally impossible to him. In the
+massacre itself he had no share; and, beyond the fact that, under
+intense natural excitement, he gave a tacit consent to Rangihaeata's
+deed, he appears to have stood outside it.
+
+Of his relations with the whalers, accounts vary. If we accept the
+Wakefield view, we must believe that by them he was heartily detested
+and distrusted. That he was acquisitive to the point of aggression is
+possible; that he was often overbearing towards them may be equally
+true, for these are characteristics frequently seen in the powerful
+savage; but there are also instances recorded in which he showed a
+ready generosity and a strict sense of justice towards the whaling
+community.
+
+ "The whalers and traders, who had the best opportunity of being
+ intimately acquainted with him, and that, too, at a time when his
+ power to injure was greatest, invariably spoke of him as ever having
+ been the white man's friend. He always placed the best he had before
+ them, and in no instance have I heard of his doing any one of them an
+ injury. Speaking of him to an old whaler, he said emphatically that
+ Te Rauparaha never let the white man who needed want anything he
+ could give, whether food or clothing; in fact, his natural sagacity
+ told him that it was his interest to make common cause with the
+ Europeans, for it was through them that he acquired the sinews of
+ war, guns, powder, and shot, and everything else that he
+ required."[203]
+
+The impartiality with which he held the balance between the two races
+may be gathered from the following incident: A whaleboat had left
+Waikanae to proceed to Kapiti, the crew taking with them a native, who
+sat in the bow. On the journey over the Maori managed to secrete
+beneath his mat the small hatchet which the whalers used to cut the
+line, and was quietly walking off with it when the boat reached the
+island. Before he had gone many steps one of the crew whispered to the
+headsman what had happened, whereupon that worthy picked up the
+harpoon and drove it straight through the Maori's back, killing him on
+the spot. The native population was at once thrown into a state of
+uproar and fury, threatening dire vengeance upon the whalers, but Te
+Rauparaha quelled the disturbance in an instant, and, after inquiring
+into its cause, walked away, declaring that the native had only met
+with his deserts.
+
+Towards his native enemies Te Rauparaha was unquestionably merciless
+and cruel, though not more so, perhaps, than was sanctioned by the
+spirit of the times in which he lived. Yet that he was not wholly
+incapable of admiration for a worthy opponent is shown by his seeking
+out and sparing Te Ata o Tu, the Ngai-Tahu warrior, who fought so
+bravely against him at Kaiapoi. Even in this case there are persons
+who affect to believe that self-interest rather than chivalry may have
+been the moving impulse in his conduct, for he possibly counted upon
+so skilful a fighter being invaluable to him in his northern troubles.
+But surely we can afford to be magnanimous enough to concede to so
+fine an example of generosity a less mercenary motive?[204] Though
+relentless to a degree towards those tribes who came between him and
+his ambitions, it must always be remembered that his ruthlessness is
+not to be judged from the Christian standpoint. His enormities, which
+were neither few nor small, were those of a savage, born and bred in
+an atmosphere into which no spirit of Divine charity had ever entered.
+Compared with the excesses practised in civilised warfare by such
+champions of the Cross as Cortés and the Duke of Alva, his deeds of
+darkness become less repugnant, if not altogether pardonable.
+
+The attitude which he adopted towards the European was in exact
+opposition to that assumed by Te Rangihaeata. He welcomed rather than
+resented the coming of the white man, although he found reason to
+protest against the methods employed by the New Zealand Company in
+acquiring land on which to settle them. Nor in this respect can it be
+said that his objections were captious or ill-founded; in fact, with
+the exception of the Hutt dispute, the Commissioner's decisions were
+invariably a vindication of his contentions. Some doubt has
+necessarily been cast upon his loyalty to the Government (which he
+accepted when he signed the Treaty of Waitangi), by virtue of the fact
+that he was seized and held captive because of his supposed
+infidelity. There are those with whom it is only necessary to accuse
+in order to condemn. In this case accusation carried condemnation with
+it, but condemnation without proof of guilt is injustice. Whatever the
+measure of Te Rauparaha's duplicity may have been, the Governor
+conspicuously failed to do more than suspect him, and as conspicuously
+failed to bring the chief face to face with his accusers. It was never
+proved, nor was any attempt ever made to prove before a court of
+competent jurisdiction, that Te Rauparaha had held communication with
+the enemy. Even if he had so communicated, an easy explanation might
+have been found in the native practice, under which individuals in
+opposing forces frequently visited each other during the progress of
+hostilities. Te Rauparaha had many friends with the rebels, and it
+would appear perfectly natural to him to hold friendly correspondence
+with them, whilst himself maintaining an attitude of strict
+neutrality. Considering the contemptuous disregard which many British
+officials displayed towards rites and customs held sacred by the
+Maori, it is not to be expected that they would trouble to understand,
+or try to appreciate, this subtlety in the native character. And so,
+what was to the Maori a well-established and common custom, was by
+them translated into treachery, for which Te Rauparaha was made
+captive in a manner which leaves us but little right to talk of open
+and honourable tactics.
+
+His conduct while a captive on board the _Calliope_ appears to
+have been exemplary enough, and he succeeded in impressing those with
+whom he came into contact by his quick perception, particularly of
+anything meant to turn him into ridicule, of which he was most
+sensitive. He frequently became much excited and very violent, and at
+other times, when talking of his misfortunes, he would become deeply
+moved, and the tears would run down his wrinkled cheeks. It is
+recorded that he was very grateful for any kindness shown him; and
+when Lieutenant Thorpe left the ship to return to England he expressed
+the most intense sorrow, crying the whole day, and repeating the
+officer's name in piteous accents. This, it was noted, was not merely
+a temporary affection. When, a year later, the _Calliope_ was
+leaving the New Zealand station, he sent his favourite a very handsome
+mat, begging the officer by whom it was sent to tell Lieutenant Thorpe
+how glad he would be to see his face once more, and how well he would
+treat him now that he was free. Similarly, when Lieutenant McKillop
+was proceeding home, Te Rauparaha took him aside and entreated him to
+go, on reaching England, and convey to Queen Victoria his regard for
+her and express his keen desire to see her, only his great age and the
+length of the voyage standing between him and the consummation of that
+desire. "He hoped, however, she would believe that he would always be
+a great and true friend of hers, and use all his influence with his
+countrymen to make them treat her subjects well, and that, when he
+became free again, there would be no doubt as to his loyalty, as he
+would himself, old as he was, be the first to engage in a war against
+any who should offend her or the Governor, of whom he always spoke
+with the greatest respect." During his captivity the news of the
+outbreak of the war in the Sutlej reached the Colony, and, noticing
+the excitement on board the _Calliope_, he asked to be informed of the
+contents of the papers giving details of the battles. In this subject
+he maintained the liveliest interest; and, when he had sufficiently
+grasped the details, he was perceptibly impressed by the magnitude of
+the armies engaged and the tremendous resources of the Empire, about
+which he, in common with all natives, had been distinctly incredulous.
+That his release was marked by no exhibition of resentment is at least
+something to his credit, and the ease with which he afterwards adapted
+himself to the strangely altered order of things is proof that his
+nature was capable of absorbing higher ideals than are taught in
+savage philosophy, although it is doubtful if he ever reached the
+purer heights attained by a clear conception of the beatitudes of the
+Christian religion.
+
+In the life of Te Rauparaha there is much that is revolting and
+incapable of palliation. But, always remembering his savage
+environment, we must concede to him the possession of qualities which,
+under more enlightened circumstances, would have contributed as
+fruitfully to the uplifting of mankind as they did to its destruction.
+His superiority over his fellows was mental rather than physical; his
+success lay in his intellectual alertness, his originality, strategic
+foresight, and executive capacity. He was probably a better diplomat
+than he was a general, but he had sufficient of the military instinct
+to make him a conqueror. And if, in the execution of his conquests,
+the primary object of which was to find a safe home for his people,
+the weaker tribes went down, history was but repeating amongst the
+Maoris in New Zealand the story which animate nature is always and
+everywhere proclaiming, and which, in the cold language of the
+philosophers, is called "the survival of the fittest."
+
+[196] "On shore, I was much tormented by the zeal of some European
+sailors, who appeared to be a drunken set of lawless vagabonds,
+belonging to the different whaling establishments in the neighbourhood.
+The only respectable person amongst them was a stock-keeper in charge
+of some sheep and horned cattle, and the captain of a whaling vessel
+ahead of us. I asked the sailors, who were complaining that some of
+the property taken was theirs, if they had any specific charge to make
+against Rangihaeata, who was the most powerful chief in the
+neighbourhood. However, I could get nothing from them but vague
+declarations against native chiefs in general, to which I replied that
+the fault was probably as much on their side as on that of the
+natives. The old chief, who was present, appeared to understand the
+drift of the conversation, for he went into his hut and brought out
+several written testimonials of good conduct; on which I desired Mr.
+Williams to explain to him how much I was gratified in perusing them,
+and that I trusted that under the Queen's Government he would continue
+equally to deserve them: that he would find the Government just and
+even-handed, and that punishment would follow evil-doers, whether they
+were natives or Europeans. To which he replied, 'Kapai,' apparently
+much satisfied" (_Major Bunbury_).
+
+[197] "On Saturday (November 24, 1849), Rangihaeata and a party of his
+followers paid a last visit to Te Rauparaha. At the Ohau ferry
+Rangihaeata demanded some spirits from the temporary ferryman (the
+regular one being absent). On being refused, he knocked him down, and
+then helped himself, but afterwards tendered _utu_ for the
+violence offered and the spirits taken" (New Zealand _Spectator_,
+December 1, 1849).
+
+[198] In an enclosure opposite the Maori church at Otaki there stands
+upon a pedestal a marble bust of Te Rauparaha. The bust was procured
+in Sydney by Tamihana te Rauparaha at a cost of £200, and the
+likeness, which is said to be a very faithful one, was copied from a
+portrait painted by Mr. Beetham. Because Te Rauparaha had not become
+even "nominally Christian," Mr. Hadfield refused to permit the
+erection of the bust within the church enclosure, and for two years it
+lay upon the common, packed in the case in which it had come from
+Sydney. Subsequently, Mr. McWilliam, the native missionary, collected
+a few pounds with which to purchase the pedestal, and had the bust
+erected where it now stands. On the authority of Dieffenbach and
+Angas, it is said that Te Rauparaha possessed the physical curiosity
+of six toes on each foot.
+
+[199] It is estimated that during the course of Te Rauparaha's
+campaigns no less than 60,000 lives were sacrificed.
+
+[200] Mr. Spain, in one of his reports, has said: "Rauparaha is the
+most talented native I have seen in New Zealand. He is mild and
+gentlemanly in his manner and address; a most powerful speaker; and
+his argumentative faculties are of a first rate order."
+
+"He must have been a most powerful man, and, if his mind had been
+cultivated, would, no doubt, have been a most clever one. As it is, he
+seldom gets the worst of an argument about his own proceedings, puts
+such searching questions and gives such evasive answers, that he
+puzzled the best of our logicians on many occasions when endeavouring
+to get him to give a decided answer about his not giving us the
+assistance he promised when we were trying to capture the murderers
+from Rangihaeata" (_McKillop_).
+
+[201] Correct, according to prescribed rules.
+
+[202] Treachery, amounting to murder.
+
+[203] Rev. Richard Taylor.
+
+[204] "I must not omit to mention that, cruel and bloodthirsty as this
+man appears to have been, he must occasionally have made exceptions,
+as one of his slaves voluntarily accompanied him into captivity on
+board the _Calliope_, waiting on him and paying him every
+attention for a period of eighteen months, knowing from the beginning
+that he was quite free to leave him at any time. He was offered a
+rating on the ship's books, but this he refused, saying there would be
+no one to wait on the old man if he was otherwise employed"
+(_McKillop_).
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF TE RAUPARAHA'S WIVES AND
+CHILDREN
+
+
+            { = Marore (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (the trap).
+            { +---------------+-------------+-------+
+            {   |             |             |       |
+            { Uira.  Ranga-hounga-riri.  Tutari.  Poaka.
+            {
+            { = Kahui-rangi
+            { | (stranger).
+            { +---+------------+
+            {     |            |
+            {  Hononga       Atua
+            { (landslip).   (god).
+            {
+            { = Ranga-ta-moana (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (day of taking at sea).
+            { +-------+-------------------+
+            {         |                   |
+            { Whetu-kai-tangata       Puta-kino
+            { (man-eating star).   (note of evil).
+            {
+            { = Hope-nui (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (big waist).
+            { +---+-----------------+
+            {     |                 |
+  Rauparaha {  Motu-hia         Te Malata
+  (leaf of  { (cut off).   (carry on a litter).
+   paraha). {
+            { = Akau (Tu-hou-rangi)
+            { | (sea-coast).
+            { +------+------------------------+
+            {        |                        |
+            {  Tamu-whakairia         Tamihana Rauparaha
+            { (king lifted up).   (Thompson leaf of paraha).
+            {
+            { = Kutia (Tu-hou-rangi)
+            { | (nipped together).
+            { +--+
+            {    |
+            { Paranihia
+            { (Frances).
+            {
+            { = Kahu-kino (Ngatirangitihi)
+            { | (evil garment).
+            { +---------+
+            {           |
+            { Rangi houngi-riri tuarua
+            { (day of battle, second).
+            {
+            { = Kahu-taiki (Ngati-Toa)
+            {   (garment of wicker work).
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: MAP OF NEW ZEALAND]
+
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
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+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of An Old New Zealander, or
+      Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.
+      By T. Lindsay Buick.
+    </title>
+
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An Old New Zealander
+       or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.
+
+Author: T. Lindsay Buick
+
+Release Date: January 22, 2014 [EBook #44726]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Pinfield, Shaun Pinder, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="tnote">
+
+<p>Transcriber's Note:</p>
+
+<p>Discrepancies between the detail of the list of illustrations, and the
+text accompanying the illustrations themselves, have been retained.</p>
+
+<p>The list also omits the table of Te Rauparaha's wives and children,
+that has been inserted at the end of the book before the map of his
+and Te Puoho's raids. It is reproduced in this version.</p>
+
+<p>Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in
+hyphenation have been retained.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="frontm">
+<span class="size180">AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 375px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="frontis" id="frontis">
+  <img width="375" height="600" alt="frontis" src="images/004-frontis.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TE RAUPARAHA.<br />
+                      After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin.</p>
+    <p class="right">Frontispiece.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+ <h1>AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER<br />
+ <span class="size080">OR, TE RAUPARAHA, THE<br />NAPOLEON OF THE SOUTH</span></h1>
+
+<div class="frontm">
+<span class="size080">BY</span><br />
+<span class="size120">T. LINDSAY BUICK</span><br />
+<span class="size080">AUTHOR OF "OLD MARLBOROUGH," "OLD MANAWATU"</span><br /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img width="50" height="49" alt="emblem" src="images/005-emblem.jpg" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="frontm"><br /><br />
+<span class="size120">WHITCOMBE &amp; TOMBS, LIMITED</span><br />
+<span class="size100">LONDON MELBOURNE<br />
+                      CHRISTCHURCH, WELLINGTON AND DUNEDIN, N.Z.<br />
+                      1911</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2><br />
+<span class="size075">To<br />S. PERCY SMITH, <span
+      class="smcap">Esq.</span>, F.R.G.S.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="frontm">
+<span class="size100">"A WELL-DESERVING PILLAR" IN THE TEMPLE<br />
+                      OF POLYNESIAN LEARNING, I GRATEFULLY<br />
+                      DEDICATE THIS BOOK</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">I have</span>
+been constrained to write the story of "An Old New Zealander"
+largely to gratify the frequently expressed desire for a more
+comprehensive sketch of Te Rauparaha's career on the part of many
+readers of my former books, in which fitful glimpses of the old chief
+were given. These references have apparently awakened some
+considerable interest in the life and times of the great Ngatitoan,
+and although this period of New Zealand's history is by no means
+barren of literature, I am hopeful that there is still room for a
+volume in which much heterogeneous matter has been grouped and
+consolidated. There may be some amongst the reading public who will
+question the need, or the wisdom, of recording the savage and
+sanguinary past of the Maori; but history is always history, and if
+this contribution serves no other useful purpose, it may at least help
+to emphasise the marvellous transformation which has been worked in
+the natives of New Zealand since Te Rauparaha's time&mdash;a transformation
+which can be accounted one of the world's greatest triumphs for
+missionary enterprise. It may be, too, that some critics
+will not subscribe to my estimate of the chief's character, because it
+has been the conventional view that he who refused to part with his
+own and his people's heritage was destitute of a redeeming feature.
+Owing to the misrepresentation of the early settlers and traders he
+has been greatly misunderstood by their successors; and they have
+further added to the injustice by sometimes seeking to measure one who
+was steeped in heathen darkness by the holy standard which was raised
+by the Founder of Christianity. As in the careers of most conquerors,
+there is much in the life of Te Rauparaha that will not bear
+condonation; but in every British community there is a wholesome
+admiration for resourcefulness, indomitable will, and splendid
+courage; and, if the succeeding pages serve to balance these high
+qualities of the chief against his failings, they may assist in
+setting up a more equitable standard whereby future generations will
+be able to judge him.</p>
+
+<p>In compiling this work I have necessarily had to draw upon many of the
+existing publications on New Zealand, and I now desire gratefully to
+acknowledge my obligations to their authors. I have also to thank Mr.
+S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., for the kindly interest he has displayed in
+the progress of my work, and in no less degree must I pay my
+respectful acknowledgments to Mr. H. M. Stowell and to Mr. J. R.
+Russell for their judicious criticisms and suggestions, whereby I have
+been assisted in arriving at a correct historical perspective. To Mr.
+T. W. Downes, of Whanganui, who has enthusiastically co-operated with
+me in procuring some of the illustrations, and to Mr. J. W. Joynt,
+M.A., for his
+careful revision of the proofs, I am equally indebted, and now beg to
+tender to these gentlemen my sincere thanks for their assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Humbly acknowledging the force of Carlyle's dictum that "Histories are
+as perfect as the historian is wise and is gifted with an eye and a
+soul," I now present the result of my last year's labour to the reader.</p>
+
+<div class="sigbloc">
+  <span class="right">THE AUTHOR.</span>
+  <span class="smcap">Victoria Avenue, Dannevirke, N.Z.,</span>
+  <span class="left"><i>May</i> 23, 1911.</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table class="toc" summary="table of contents">
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td></tr>
+ <tr><td></td>
+     <td class="page"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">WHENCE AND WHITHER?</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">ARAWA AND TAINUI</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE LAND OF PROMISE</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE SOUTHERN RAIDS</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE SMOKING FLAX</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE CAPTIVE CHIEF</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<table class="toc" summary="table of illustrations">
+ <tr><td class="titl">PORTRAIT OF TE RAUPARAHA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td></td>
+     <td class="page"><span class="small">FACING PAGE</span></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#fleet">16</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland.<br />
+                      By kind permission of the Artist</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">POMOHAKA PASSAGE, KAWHIA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#kawhia">32</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">From a photo by Jonston</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">BURNING OF THE "BOYD"</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#boyd">48</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland.<br />
+                      By kind permission of the Artist</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#arawi">64</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">The Point from which the Ngati-Toa<br />
+                      migration commenced</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">THE MEMORIAL TIKI, KAIAPOI</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#kaiapoi">128</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">Erected on the site of the pa destroyed<br />
+                      by Te Rauparaha</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">GILLETT'S WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#gillett">144</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">By kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.<br />
+                      From a sketch by her Father</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#wairau">256</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">Erected by public subscription, 1869.<br />
+                      Photo by Macey</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">TAUPO PA, PORIRUA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#porirua">288</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">After a drawing by G. F. Angas</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">TE RANGIHAEATA</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#rangihaeata">304</a></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="detl">After a drawing by C. D. Barraud, Esq.</td>
+     <td></td></tr>
+ <tr><td class="titl">MAP DELINEATING JOURNEYS OF TE RAUPARAHA<br />
+                      AND TE PUOHO</td>
+     <td class="page"><a href="#map">At end</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">LAMENT ON THE CAPTURE OF TE RAUPARAHA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Composed by Hinewhe, and supposed to be sung by Te Rangihaeata.</i></p>
+
+<div class="lament-ctr">
+<div class="lament">
+
+<span class="i12">I</span>
+<span class="i6">Alas! my heart is wild with grief:</span>
+<span class="i8">There rises still</span>
+<span class="i8">The frowning hill</span>
+<span class="i2">Of Kapiti, in vain amid the waters lone!</span>
+<span class="i8">But he, the chief,</span>
+<span class="i6">The key of all the land, is gone!</span>
+
+<span class="i12">II</span>
+<span class="i2">Calm in the lofty ship, O ancient comrade, sleep,</span>
+<span class="i4">And gaze upon the stillness of the deep!</span>
+<span class="i8">Till now, till now,</span>
+<span class="i4">A calm was but a signal unto thee</span>
+<span class="i6">To rise in pride, and to the fray</span>
+<span class="i4">Despatch some martial band in stern array!</span>
+<span class="i8">But go thy way,</span>
+<span class="i6">And with a favouring tide</span>
+<span class="i6">Upon the billows ride,</span>
+<span class="i2">Till Albion's cliffs thou climb, so far beyond the sea.</span>
+
+<span class="i12">III</span>
+<span class="i2">Thou stood'st alone, a kingliest forest tree,</span>
+<span class="i8">Our pride, our boast,</span>
+<span class="i6">Our shelter and defence to be.</span>
+<span class="i4">But helplessly&mdash;ah, helplessly wast thou</span>
+<span class="i4">Plucked sword-like from the heart of all thy host,</span>
+<span class="i6">Thy thronging "Children of the Brave,"</span>
+<span class="i8">With none to save!</span>
+<span class="i4">Not amid glaring eyes;</span>
+<span class="i4">Not amid battle cries,</span>
+<span class="i4">When the desperate foes</span>
+<span class="i4">Their dense ranks close:</span>
+<span class="i2">Not from the lips of the terrible guns</span>
+<span class="i2">Thy well-known cry resounding o'er the heath:</span>
+<span class="i6">"Now, now, my sons!</span>
+<span class="i2">Now fearless with me to the realms of Death!"</span>
+<span class="i2">Not thus&mdash;not thus, amid the whirl of war,</span>
+<span class="i2">Wert thou caught up and borne away afar!</span>
+
+<span class="i12">IV</span>
+<span class="i6">Who will arise to save?</span>
+<span class="i6">Who to the rescue comes?</span>
+<span class="i4">Waikato's lord&mdash;Tauranga's chief,</span>
+<span class="i2">Thy grandsons, rushing from their distant homes,</span>
+<span class="i0">They shall avenge their sire&mdash;they shall assuage our grief.</span>
+<span class="i4">While you, the "Children of the Brave,"</span>
+<span class="i4">Still sleep a sleep as of the grave,</span>
+<span class="i0">Dull as the slumbering fish that basks upon the summer wave.</span>
+
+<span class="i12">V</span>
+<span class="i4">Depart then, hoary chief! Thy fall&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i4">The pledge forsooth of peace to all&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Of Heaven's peace, so grateful to their God above,</span>
+<span class="i4">And to thy kinsmen twain, by whom</span>
+<span class="i0">Was brought us from the portals of the "land of gloom,"</span>
+<span class="i4">This novel law of love&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">This law of good:</span>
+<span class="i2">Say, rather, murderous law of blood,</span>
+<span class="i2">That charges its own crimes upon its foes&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">While I alone am held the source whence these disasters rose!</span>
+
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">{1}</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="frontm"><span class="size180"><br />An Old New Zealander</span></div>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER I</span><br /><span
+class="size070">WHENCE AND WHITHER?</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">Probably</span>
+no portion of the globe is so pregnant with the romance of
+unsolved problem as the Pacific Ocean. For thousands of years before
+Vasco de Balboa, the friend of Columbus, stood upon the heights of
+Panama and enriched mankind by his glorious geographical discovery,
+this great ocean and the islands which its blue waters encircle had
+remained a world in themselves, undisturbed by the rise and fall of
+continental kingdoms, unknown even to the semi-civilised peoples who
+dwelt on the neighbouring continental shores. But although thus shut
+out from human ken and wrapt in impenetrable mystery, we are entitled
+to presume that during all this period of time Nature, both animate
+and inanimate, had been there fulfilling its allotted part in the
+Creator's plan, though no pen has fully told, or ever can tell, of the
+many stupendous changes which were wrought in those far-away centuries
+either by the will of God or by the hand of man. That vast and
+far-reaching displacements had been effected before the Spanish
+adventurer's discovery of 1513 broke this prehistoric silence, there
+is little room to doubt, for the position and configuration of the
+island groups are as surely the results of geological revolutions as
+their occupation by a strangely simple and unlettered people is
+evidence of some great social upheaval in the older societies of the
+world. Precisely what those
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">{2}</a></span>
+geological changes have been, or what the cause of that
+social upheaval, it would be imprudent to affirm, but
+there is always room for speculation, even in the realm
+of science and history, and there is no unreasonable
+scepticism in refusing to subscribe to the belief that the
+Pacific Ocean always has been, geographically speaking,
+what it is to-day, nor rash credulity in accepting the
+ruined buildings and monolithic remains which lie
+scattered from Easter Island to Ponape, as evidences of
+a people whose empire&mdash;if such it can be called&mdash;had
+vanished long before the appearance of the Spaniards in
+these waters.</p>
+
+<p>But even if the opinion still awaits scientific verification that the
+islands and atolls which sustain the present population of the Pacific
+are but the surviving heights of a submerged continent, there is less
+room to doubt that the dark-skinned inhabitants of those islands can
+look back upon a long course of racial vicissitude antecedent to the
+arrival of the Spaniards. What the first and subsequent voyagers found
+was a people of stalwart frame, strong and lithe of limb, with head
+and features, and especially the fairness of the skin, suggestive of
+Caucasian origin.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_1" id="Ref_1" href="#Foot_1">[1]</a></span>
+Although of bright and buoyant spirits, they were
+without letters, and their arts were of the most rudimentary kind. Of
+pottery they knew nothing, and of all metals they were equally
+ignorant. For their domestic utensils they were dependent upon the
+gourd and other vegetable products, and for weapons of war and tools
+of husbandry upon the flints and jades of the mountains. Their
+textiles, too, were woven without the aid of the spindle, and in much
+the same primitive fashion as had been employed by the cave-dwellers
+of England thousands of years before. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">{3}</a></span>
+the production of fire they were not a whit less primitive
+than the semi-savage of ancient Britain. They thus presented
+the pathetic spectacle of a people lingering away
+back in the Palæolithic period of the world's history,
+while the world around them had marched on through
+the long centuries involved in the Bronze and Iron Ages.</p>
+
+<p>But though devoid of these mechanical arts, the higher development of
+which counts for much in national progress, these people were no
+sluggards. They were expert canoe-builders, and their skill in naval
+architecture was only equalled by the daring with which they traversed
+the ocean waste around them. They were bold and adventurous
+navigators, who studied the flow of the tides and the sweep of the
+ocean currents. They knew enough of astronomy to steer by the stars,
+and were able to navigate their rude craft with a wonderful degree of
+mathematical certainty. Whether their wanderings were in all cases due
+to design or sometimes to accident, cannot now be definitely affirmed;
+but there is abundant proof that their voyages had extended from
+Hawaii in the north to Antarctica in the south, and there was scarcely
+an island that was not known and named in all their complex
+archipelagos.</p>
+
+<p>Of literature they, of course, had none, but they revelled in oral
+traditions and in a mythology rich in imagination and poetry, which
+accounted for all things, even for the beginning of the world and for
+the ultimate destiny of the soul. Being deeply religious and as deeply
+superstitious, they interpreted natural phenomena in a mystic sense,
+and Pope's lines on the poor Indian would have been equally applicable
+to the ancient Maori in Polynesia&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind</span>
+<span class="i2">Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind:</span>
+<span class="i2">His soul proud science never taught to stray</span>
+<span class="i2">Far as the Solar Walk or Milky Way.</span>
+<span class="i2">Yet simple Nature to his hope has given</span>
+<span class="i2">Behind the cloud-capt hill an humbler heaven;</span>
+<span class="i2">Some safer world in depths of woods embraced,</span>
+<span class="i2">Some happier island in the watery waste,</span>
+<span class="i2">Where slaves once more their native land behold,<span
+class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">{4}</a></span></span>
+<span class="i2">No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_2" id="Ref_2" href="#Foot_2">[2]</a></span>
+</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The cradle of the Polynesian race was undoubtedly Asia; and to arrive at
+a clear understanding as to how it became transported from a continental
+home into this island world it will be necessary to carry the mind back
+probably more than 200,000 years. At that time the dominating section
+of the human family was the Caucasian&mdash;fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and
+revelling in the glory of long, wavy hair. Their civilisation,
+however, like their weapons of chipped stone, was of the most
+primitive character; but they had advanced sufficiently in the
+ascending scale of human progress to show that they valued life by
+paying pious respect to their dead. They preserved the memory of the
+departed by erecting over their burial-places huge blocks of stone,
+many of which monuments stand to-day to mark the course of their
+migrations. And, except possibly a flint axe-head or a rude ornament
+found deep in some ancient gravel-bed, these megalithic monuments are
+amongst the most convincing evidence we have of the wide diffusion of
+the human race in prehistoric times. From the most westerly point in
+Ireland, across the European and Asiatic continents, they stretch by
+the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the former, and
+the plains of Siberia in the latter, until they reach the waters of
+the Pacific. Even this wide expanse of ocean proved no insuperable
+barrier to the onward march of wandering man; for it is by the
+presence of his stone-building habit in so many of the Pacific Islands
+that we are able
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">{5}</a></span>
+to construct a probable hypothesis of the process by
+which Polynesia first became inhabited.</p>
+
+<p>In the light of modern knowledge, the theory which finds most ready
+acceptance is that in Palæolithic times the Caucasian race, being more
+or less a maritime people, had obtained possession of the coastal
+districts of Europe. As they multiplied and spread, they followed the
+ocean's edge to the northward, and, as the Arctic regions were then
+enjoying a temperate climate, there was a plenteous and pleasant home
+for them even in the most northerly part of Siberia. But later a
+drastic climatic change began to take place. The great ice-sheet,
+which is known to have twice covered northern Europe and Asia, began
+to creep down upon the land, driving man and beast before it. Impelled
+by this relentless force, there began a momentous migration of
+Palæolithic man, who swept in hordes southward and eastward in search
+of a more hospitable home. In course of time a section of these
+fugitives, travelling across the Siberian plains, reached the Pacific
+coast, and here their old maritime spirit reasserted itself. With the
+pressure of climate behind them, and in their breasts the love of
+adventure, the sea soon became as much their domain as the land.</p>
+
+<p>At first their canoes were of the frailest character; but experience
+and unlimited opportunity soon taught them the art of constructing
+safe sea-going craft, which could carry considerable numbers on a
+course of discovery. The tales of new lands found, and their warm and
+genial climate, no doubt stimulated the spirit of exploration, so that
+gradually, and almost imperceptibly, the tide of migration which was
+flowing from the centre of the continent was drawn across the sea to
+the region of eternal summer.</p>
+
+<p>From somewhere in the vicinity of the Japanese archipelago, fleets of
+canoes set off at various times carrying with them a freight of
+humanity destined to found a new people in a new land. But, in order
+to account for the transportation of large numbers of women and
+children on vessels which, at the best, must have been mainly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">{6}</a></span>
+constructed of reeds, we must assume smaller intervals
+of ocean than exist now. There are evidences of other
+kinds that startling geological changes have occurred in
+this portion of the globe; and this assumption would
+help to explain feats of travel otherwise apparently
+impracticable to a rude and poorly equipped people.</p>
+
+<p>For how many centuries this stream of venturesome humanity flowed
+southward no one can tell; but it is safe to assume that great numbers
+must have taken the plunge into the unknown, some resting by the way,
+others pushing on to a point beyond the furthest preceding colony,
+until the main groups of islands were occupied, and outpost after
+outpost was firmly established. With them these people carried their
+simple mode of life, their primitive arts and customs, not the least
+of which was their stone-building habit, which, as already shown, had
+originated in their desire to perpetuate the memory and preserve the
+bones of their dead. Hence arose in their new home those strange
+structures of uncemented stone which astonished the early discoverers,
+and which stand to-day, broken and decrepit relics, like ghostly
+wraiths from a long-forgotten past.</p>
+
+<p>But, whatever its duration may have been, two causes operated to bring
+this period of migration to a close. The first of these influences was
+the dispersion of the Mongolian race from Central Asia; the second,
+the subsidence of the land along the Asiatic coast. Either of these
+events would have been in itself sufficient to cut off the supply of
+emigrants to the islands. The descent of the more warlike Mongols from
+their high plateau would effectually close the inland route across the
+north of Asia to the gentle Caucasians; while the sinking of the
+land-bridge, along which they had been wont to pick their way, would
+so increase the hazard of the journey that none would care to risk a
+voyage across the greater stretch of sea. Thus the first stratum of
+the Polynesian race was laid by an invasion of European people
+embarking from Asia; and these light-skinned, fair-haired
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">{7}</a></span>
+Vikings, who were driven out of their ancient home by
+the descent of the giant glaciers, plunged into the abyss
+of uncertainty, little dreaming that from their stock would
+arise a people whose life-story would be, as it still is
+to some extent, one of the world's unsolved problems.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the many features which have seemed to intensify the shroud of
+mystery enveloping these people is the combination of a dark skin with
+tall and stalwart frames and a head-form usually belonging to fair
+races. Also the strange stratification of their customs discloses a
+social condition so contradictory as to amount almost to a paradox.
+Why a dark-skinned race should possess features which find their
+counterpart in the whites of to-day, or why the most primitive method
+of obtaining fire&mdash;by friction&mdash;should be found side by side with
+highly scientific methods of warfare, especially displayed in the art
+of fortification, seemed difficult of explanation, until the idea of a
+second invasion, comprised of dark-blooded people, had been conceived
+and had taken root.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_3" id="Ref_3" href="#Foot_3">[3]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The theory of a grafting of a dark race on to the Caucasian stem which
+had already been planted in Polynesia explains much. It would account
+for the olive-coloured skin of the present-day natives, and it would
+provide the reasonable supposition that, being later comers, they
+would import with them newer ideas and more modern customs, some of
+which would be adopted in their entirety, others in a modified form.
+With the advantage of many centuries of contact with neighbouring
+peoples, they had necessarily learned much of the art of war, which
+had been quite unknown to the islanders in their isolation. These dark
+invaders were therefore able to come in the spirit of conquerors; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">{8}</a></span>
+consequently the masculine arts, such as the making of
+weapons and the building of forts and canoes, received
+an impulse which placed them considerably in advance
+of anything of which the original people had ever
+dreamed. But the domestic arts would be but little
+changed, for the reason that the invasion, being one of
+warlike intent, would be comprised largely of males, the
+women who were taken to wife after their lords had been
+vanquished being allowed to retain their old modes of
+life. Hence the methods of twisting threads of fibre,
+of weaving mats, and of making fire, would remain the
+same as had been practised by them from time immemorial,
+while there would be a distinct advance in those
+arts which came more exclusively within the domain of
+the males. In two respects, however, these newcomers
+did not better the condition or raise the standard of art
+amongst the people with whom they were about to
+mingle their blood. They introduced neither pottery
+nor the use of metals. It is therefore clear that the
+section of the human family to which they belonged had
+not advanced beyond the Stone Age when their invasion
+took place; and this fact helps us to some extent in
+our inferences as to the period when this second migration
+commenced and when it terminated.</p>
+
+<p>For the direction whence these dark-skinned invaders came we have to
+rely on a careful comparison of the traditions and genealogies of the
+present-day people, who have preserved in a remarkable way certain
+leading facts, which serve as landmarks by which their journeys can
+still be traced. By the aid of these, the thread of their history has
+been followed back to a time at least several centuries before the
+birth of Christ, when a dark-skinned people dwelt upon the banks of
+the river Ganges. Here, by contact with other races, probably the
+Egyptian and Semitic, they acquired that smattering of mythology
+which, as preserved by the ancient Maori, resembled so closely the
+beliefs still prevalent in many parts of the Old World. But although
+versed in the mysterious philosophy, if such it can be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">{9}</a></span>
+styled, of their time, they were entirely ignorant of the
+principles of the Buddhist religion; and from this
+circumstance it is fair to deduce that they had left India
+before Gautama, who died in 477 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, had commenced
+his teaching of "Nirvana and the Law."</p>
+
+<p>But when we come to inquire into the causes which operated to inspire
+this migration, we get little information beyond the explanation
+commonly given as the root of all Polynesian movements, that "great
+wars prevailed." If this be the true reason why a whole nation should
+move <i>en masse</i>, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that the
+future Polynesians were the defeated people, and were forced by
+irresistible waves of invasion to abandon their home in India. Slowly
+they were pushed southward and eastward by the more warlike tribes who
+came down from the north; and as they made their way along the coasts
+of the Malayan Peninsula, circumstances, climate, and assimilation
+with other peoples continued the process of racial modification which
+had commenced before they abandoned the valley of the Ganges. For
+three hundred years or more they drifted from point to point. We know
+little more, for there occurs a comparative blank in the story of
+their journeyings as they moved along the coast of Sumatra and down
+the Straits of Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 65 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, however, we again get a glimpse of them
+on the island of Java. From this point, although their movements are
+often vague and shadowy, they are never entirely lost to sight.
+Tradition, at this period, speaks of a renowned personage named Te
+Kura-a-moo, who "went to the east, to the rising sun, and remained
+there." To precisely what spot in the east he journeyed is uncertain,
+but his objective is generally supposed to have been the island of
+Java, which was then known as Avaiki-te-Varinga. This is the first
+suggestion of migration which we have in Polynesian tradition; and as
+it corresponds in date with other large ethnic movements which are
+known to have occurred in the Malayan archipelago, it is more than
+probable that pressure from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">{10}</a></span>
+other invaders compelled the occupation of Java, which
+thus became the parent Hawaiki, towards which the
+Maori stands in much the same relationship as does
+his brother <i>pakeha</i> to the Garden of Eden.</p>
+
+<p>But the same cause which drove these wandering Asiatics into Java, at
+a latter period led to its evacuation. And still the movement was in
+an eastward direction, towards the islands of Indonesia, the people as
+they moved becoming more and more expert in the art of navigation and
+sea-craft. In view of the scattered nature of the archipelago in which
+they now found themselves, their voyages became gradually longer,
+requiring larger canoes and more daring seamanship. They were
+beginning to leave the beaten path which hitherto had been the common
+course of the human race&mdash;the mountain, the river, and the plain. With
+them the sea was gradually becoming the broad highway which had to be
+traversed in order to find fresh resting-places, or to maintain
+communication with established outposts in more advanced situations.
+The spirit of the sea-gipsy, which led them to do and dare, was
+rapidly developing within them, and the knowledge thus born of courage
+and experience was shortly to prove invaluable to them in carrying to
+a successful issue their own great policy of conquest.</p>
+
+<p>Wars and rumours of wars are again heard of, and are given as the
+underlying cause of the next movement southward from Indonesia, the
+date of which is so uncertain that it cannot safely be defined more
+strictly than as between the first and fourth centuries. It is
+unfortunate that we are driven to this loose estimate of time for so
+important a national event, because it was this final migration which
+led to the actual entry into Polynesia of these dark-blooded
+wanderers, and if our first hypothesis be correct, to their ultimate
+fusion with the fair-skinned, stone-building people who had preceded
+them by many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>They had obviously come into contact with strange people and strange
+animals, for the existence of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">{11}</a></span>
+former has been preserved in their traditions and the
+memory of the latter in their fantastic carvings. Not
+the least interesting of their stories is the finding of a
+fair-complexioned people, whom their fancy has elevated
+into the realm of fairies, and from whom they claim to
+have learned the art of net-making. Whether these
+mysterious people, who are said to have laboured only
+at night and to have vanished when the sun rose,
+were the original Caucasians who, we have supposed,
+set out from the eastern coast of Asia, and who were
+about to be absorbed by the more virile emigrants
+from India, or whether they were, as some suggest, a
+few wandering Greeks or Ph&#339;nicians on the coast of
+Sumatra, we cannot pretend to decide. But, in all its
+vagueness and fanciful setting, the tradition is interesting,
+as indicating the existence on their route of a
+people fairer than themselves, and the fact that they
+must have come into close personal contact with them.
+A careful reflection upon the probable circumstances
+attending the story of how Kahu-kura captured one of
+the fairy's nets inclines us to the opinion that it is
+the first evidence we have of the contact of the Indian
+branch of the Polynesian race with their whiter predecessors.
+These they would meet in island after island as
+they moved down the Pacific towards Fiji, which group
+they are believed to have occupied about A.D. 450.</p>
+
+<p>Like all other dates connected with Polynesian migrations, this one
+can only be approximate, for the people were without any mode of
+reckoning time, except by reference to ancestral lines. But there is
+traditional authority for supposing that their descent upon Fiji was
+made in considerable numbers, and that for a time these islands
+constituted one of their principal colonising centres. Whether Tonga
+and Samoa were settled from this point seems doubtful; but it is
+certain from the marvellous stories which find credence in the
+traditions of this period that an era of extensive voyaging had set
+in, and that the newcomers began to spread themselves with
+considerable rapidity from atoll to island and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">{12}</a></span>
+from island to archipelago. These excursions into new
+realms naturally gave promise of an attractive home
+amongst the palm-covered islands; and, simultaneously
+with their policy of conquest and colonisation, they began
+the absorption and assimilation of the resident people. As
+the defending warriors were driven out or annihilated,
+the women of the vanquished were taken possession of
+by the victors, and their domestic arts were taken with
+them. This blending necessarily, in the course of many
+centuries, worked appreciable modifications in the physique
+and customs of both races, and gave to the world
+the Polynesian people as we know them to-day.</p>
+
+<p>A race of stalwarts, long-headed, straight-haired, and brown-skinned,
+warriors from birth, full of courage, and ardent for adventure, they
+were not altogether devoid of those higher ideals which make for the
+elevation of man. They were deeply imbued with a love of poetry, which
+enabled them to appreciate in a rude way the beautiful in life and to
+preserve in quaint song and fantastic tradition the story of their
+wanderings and the prowess of their heroes. They were even
+enterprising enough to attempt the solution of the marvellous natural
+phenomena everywhere presented to them, which, to their simple minds,
+could have no origin except in the intervention of the gods.</p>
+
+<p>With a continuous stream of fresh immigrants flowing in from the north
+to reinforce the southern outposts, the conquest and colonisation of
+the islands was now only a matter of time. Before we come to the
+period directly connected with our story, some seven hundred years had
+elapsed, during which every trace and even the memory of the original
+people had been effaced, and but for their stone monuments, which have
+withstood alike the shock of invasion and the ravages of time, their
+very existence would have remained as one of the problems of a
+forgotten past. But long before this period had been reached, some
+great ethnic or geographical event had occurred to terminate the
+further inflow of these invaders from the north. Either the movements
+of the nations upon the Asiatic continent supervened to make continued
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">{13}</a></span>
+migration unnecessary, or geographical changes in the
+distribution of land and sea operated to make it more
+difficult, if not impossible. Certain it is that the supply
+of warriors was effectually cut off, and that at a time before
+the parent people had learned the use of metals. From
+this period, down through the ages until the day of their
+discovery by the Spaniards, the gulf which separated
+them from the rest of the human family remained unbridged,
+and the Polynesians were suffered to evolve their
+own racial peculiarities and develop their own national
+spirit, untrammelled by exterior influences. Isolated from
+the rest of the world, they lived in total ignorance of the
+progress with which other peoples were advancing
+towards a higher type of human development and loftier
+ideals of national life. They knew nothing of the growth
+of science or of art, and they derived no benefit from the
+stimulating effect of competition, or from the bracing conditions
+of a strenuous life. Nature was bountiful to them
+in the ease and abundance with which their simple wants
+were supplied, for it required neither labour nor ingenuity
+to provide for their daily needs. Hence there was little
+incentive to depart from traditional customs, or to seek
+more advanced methods than their fathers had learned and
+applied in that far-off time when they lived on the banks
+of the Ganges. Had it been otherwise, the Polynesians
+would not have been found still clinging to their stone
+clubs and flint axes, while the continental peoples surrounding
+them had acquired a written language, the use
+of metals, and the arts of husbandry, pottery, and weaving.
+The complete absence of these primary evidences of
+civilisation amongst the islanders gives us the right to
+assume that they came into the South Seas before man
+had acquired any knowledge of the metallic arts, and that
+their migration ceased before pottery and the weaving
+spindle were known.</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia must, therefore, have been occupied during the Palæolithic
+and Neolithic periods of the world's history. From that time down to
+the Spanish era all communication with the surrounding nations was
+completely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">{14}</a></span>
+cut off, and the Polynesians were allowed to sleep
+the sleep of centuries and to work out their own
+destiny in the midst of their tragic isolation. As the
+evolution of the race progressed, there was gradually
+developed a rude system of tribal government, administered
+by acknowledged chieftains, who claimed
+and obtained unquestioned obedience. So, too, victory
+or defeat became gradually the chief factor in determining
+the home of each tribe. These tribal boundaries
+were, however, by no means arbitrary lines of exclusion,
+and, in fact, there were frequent visits of friendship
+between the different sections of the race. These voyages
+necessarily led to a wide knowledge of the Southern seas
+and their archipelagos, and often contributed surprising
+results. While the sea-captains navigated their canoes
+with wonderful accuracy, unaided as they were by chart
+or compass, their vessels were not always under absolute
+control, and in stress of sudden storm, or influenced by
+some unexpected current, they were frequently carried
+far out of their intended course.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that in some such way the first canoes reached New
+Zealand, for it is known that individual vessels had visited these
+shores long before the historic migration known as "the fleet" left
+Rarotonga in or about the year 1350 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> The stories brought
+back by these pioneering mariners excited the cupidity and fired the
+imagination of the islanders, and when a fleet of several great canoes
+arrived at Rarotonga, and found that group already fully occupied,
+they decided to set out in search of the strange land which had been
+dragged from the depths of the sea by the miracle-working Maui, and
+discovered by the great sea-captain Kupe.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_4" id="Ref_4" href="#Foot_4">[4]</a></span>
+Here they hoped to
+capture the giant bird, the flesh of which Ngahue had preserved and
+brought back with him, but more than all they were eager to enrich
+themselves by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">{15}</a></span>
+the possession of the <i>toka-matie</i>, or much prized greenstone,
+the beauty of which they had heard so much
+extolled.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this migration is recorded amongst the classic traditions
+of the New Zealanders: how the Arawa canoe came perilously near being
+lost in a tempest, and descended into the mysterious depths of the
+whirlpool, Te Parata; how the crew of the Taki-tumu suffered the pangs
+of starvation; how the Kura-haupo suffered wreck; and how, on landing,
+the crew of the Arawa practised the deceit upon the sleeping Tainui of
+placing the cable of their canoe under that of the latter, in order
+that they might, with some hope of success, set up a claim to first
+arrival. One by one the canoes reached these shores, the major part of
+them making land in the vicinity of East Cape, thence sailing to the
+north or to the south, as the whim of the captain or the divination of
+the <i>tohunga</i> decided their course. In this way they spread to
+almost every part of the North Island, which they found already
+peopled with the remnants of prior migrations, who were living in
+peaceable possession. With these the warlike Vikings from the Pacific
+fought and contended until they gained undoubted supremacy, thus
+giving a starting-point to New Zealand history by establishing
+ancestral lines from which all Maoris love to trace their descent.
+These tribes soon became the dominant power in the land. The weaker
+<i>tangata whenua</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_5" id="Ref_5" href="#Foot_5">[5]</a></span>
+were subdued and absorbed. Their traditions,
+arts, and customs disappeared, except in so far as they may have
+unconsciously influenced those of their conquerors. The latter grew in
+strength and numbers, extending their influence far and wide, as they
+marched towards the development of their national existence and their
+final consolidation into the Maori race.</p>
+
+<p>Unto these people was born, about the year 1768, a little brown babe
+who was destined to become the great Te Rauparaha, chief of the
+Ngati-Toa tribe.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_1" id="Foot_1" href="#Ref_1">[1]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"The distinguishing characteristic of the Marquesan Islanders, and
+that which at once strikes you, is the European cast of their
+features&mdash;a peculiarity seldom observable among other uncivilised
+peoples. Many of their faces present a profile classically beautiful,
+and I saw several who were in every respect models of beauty"
+(<i>Melville</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_2" id="Foot_2" href="#Ref_2">[2]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"I found that the Natives had not formed the slightest idea of
+there being a state of future punishment. They refuse to believe that
+the Good Spirit intends to make them miserable after their decease.
+They imagine all the actions of this life are punished here, and that
+every one when dead, good or bad, bondsman or free, is assembled on an
+island situated near the North Cape, where both the necessaries and
+comforts of life will be found in the greatest abundance, and all will
+enjoy a state of uninterrupted happiness" (<i>Earle</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_3" id="Foot_3" href="#Ref_3">[3]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"It is most certain that the whites are the aborigines. Their
+colour is, generally speaking, like that of the people of Southern
+Europe, and I saw several who had red hair. There were some who were
+as white as our sailors, and we often saw on our ships a tall young
+man, 5 feet 11 inches in height, who, by his colour and features,
+might easily have passed for a European" (<i>Crozet's Description of
+the Maoris at the Bay of Islands</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_4" id="Foot_4" href="#Ref_4">[4]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The knowledge which the Polynesians possessed of the Southern sea,
+and their skill as navigators, was such that when "the fleet" set out
+from Rarotonga, they did not go to discover New Zealand, but they went
+with the absolute certainty of finding it.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_5" id="Foot_5" href="#Ref_5">[5]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Man of the land, native, aboriginal." Probably these people were
+a mixture of the Melanesian and Polynesian types.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">{16}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER II</span><br /><span
+class="size070">ARAWA AND TAINUI</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">If</span>
+the genealogies of the Maori race can be relied upon, it may be
+accepted as a fact that the immediate ancestors of Te Rauparaha came
+to New Zealand in the canoe Tainui, which is said to have been the
+first vessel of the fleet after the Arawa, prepared for sea. By an
+unfortunate circumstance there sprang up between the crews of these
+two canoes a fatal rivalry, which repeated acts of aggression and
+retaliation were continually fanning into open ruptures, even after
+they had landed and were widely separated on the shores of New
+Zealand. This ill-humour, according to the tradition, was first
+engendered by Tama-te-kapua, the chief of the Arawa, depriving the
+Tainui of her high priest, Ngatoro-i-rangi, by inviting that renowned
+<i>tohunga</i> on board his vessel for the purpose of performing some
+of the all-important ceremonies which the complex ritual of the Maori
+demanded on such occasions, and then slipping his cable and putting to
+sea before the priest had time to realise that he had been
+deliberately led into a trap. But this act of treachery on the part of
+the bold and unscrupulous captain cost him dear, and bitterly must he
+have repented before the voyage was over his trifling with the dignity
+of so consummate a master of magic as Ngatoro-i-rangi. But that story
+belongs to the voyage of the Arawa. Of the voyage of the Tainui, under
+Hoturoa, we know little; but presumably she had a comparatively
+uneventful passage until she touched land at a point near the
+north-east end of the Bay
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">{17}</a></span>
+of Plenty, which her people named Whanga-poraoa, for the reason that
+there they found a newly stranded sperm-whale. But scarcely had they
+disembarked than a dispute arose between them and the Arawas, who had
+beached their canoe at a spot close by, as to the ownership of the
+carcase. The result of the debate was an agreement, arrived at on the
+suggestion of a Tainui chief,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_6" id="Ref_6" href="#Foot_6">[6]</a></span>
+that the crew which had first touched
+land should be the acknowledged owners of the fish, and to establish
+the date of arrival it was further agreed that they should examine the
+sacred places which each had erected on the shore, and on which they
+returned thanks to the gods for guiding them safely across the ocean.
+Here the ingenuity of the Arawa people enabled them to outwit the
+Tainuis. While the latter had built their shrine of green wood, the
+followers of Tama-te-kapua had taken the precaution to dry the poles
+of their altar over the fire before sinking them into the sand.
+Precisely the same process had been applied to their hawsers, so that
+when the examination was made for the purpose of determining priority
+of arrival the Arawa temple carried with it the appearance of greater
+age, and the Tainuis, without detecting the trick, conceded the point
+and yielded the prize to their rivals.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 600px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="fleet" id="fleet">
+  <img width="600" height="390" alt="fleet" src="images/035-fleet.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND.<br />
+             From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland, by kind permission of the artist.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Hoturoa then decided to make further explorations to the north, and
+moved off in that direction with his canoe, to be followed a few days
+later by the Arawa. The Tainui skirted the coast, noted and named many
+of its prominent features as far as the North Cape, and then,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">{18}</a></span>
+as the land terminated at this point, the canoe was put
+about and retraced her course as far south as Takapuna.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_7" id="Ref_7" href="#Foot_7">[7]</a></span>
+Here a halt was called, and exploring parties were sent
+out to ascertain if all the district promised was likely to
+be realised. Upon ascending one of the many hills<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_8" id="Ref_8" href="#Foot_8">[8]</a></span>
+which mark the landscape in this particular locality, the
+voyagers were surprised to observe flocks of sea-birds,
+some flying over from the westward, others wheeling
+with noisy flight in mid-air. To the experienced eye of
+the native, who had been bred on the borders of the sea,
+this circumstance bespoke a new expanse of water to the
+west. The canoe was once more launched, and on their
+crossing the Wai-te-mata<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_9" id="Ref_9" href="#Foot_9">[9]</a></span>
+harbour a critical examination
+of the eastern shore revealed to the astonished visitors
+the fact that a narrow portage existed at the head of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">{19}</a></span>
+Tamaki River, over the ridge of which lay another arm
+of the sea, apparently as wide and as deep as that which
+they had just entered.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime they had been joined by the Tokomaru canoe, and the
+joint crews decided upon the bold scheme of hauling their vessels over
+the narrow portage at Otahuhu.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_10" id="Ref_10" href="#Foot_10">[10]</a></span>
+The Tokomaru was the first to be
+taken across, and under the guidance of the chiefs she glided with
+perfect ease and grace over the carefully laid skids into the deep,
+smooth water. But when the drag-ropes were applied to the Tainui, pull
+as they would, she remained fast and immovable. Tradition says that
+Marama-kiko-hura, one of Hoturoa's wives, being unwilling that the
+weary crews should proceed at once upon this new expedition, which the
+chiefs were evidently projecting, had by her power as an enchantress
+so rooted the canoe to the ground that no human strength could move
+it. Against this supernatural agency the stalwart boatmen struggled
+unavailingly, for, although there was a straining of brawny arms, a
+bending of broad backs, and much vocal emulation, inspired by the
+lusty commands of those in authority, the charm of the enchantress
+could not be broken. In this distressful emergency the womanly
+sympathy of a second wife of the chief was stirred within her, and
+she, being even more gifted in the art of magic than her sister,
+chanted an incantation so great in virtue that instantly the spell was
+loosed and the wicked work of a disappointed woman undone.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_11" id="Ref_11" href="#Foot_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The song which was chanted on this memorable occasion has long since
+been embalmed amongst the classics of the Maori, and has become the
+basis of many another chant which is used while canoes are being drawn
+down to the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Drag Tainui till she reaches the sea:<span
+      class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">{20}</a></span></span>
+<span class="i2">But who shall drag her hence?</span>
+<span class="i2">What sound comes from the horizon?</span>
+<span class="i2">The Earth is lighting up,</span>
+<span class="i2">The Heavens arise,</span>
+<span class="i2">In company with the feeble ones</span>
+<span class="i2">Welcome hither! Come, O joyous Tane!</span>
+<span class="i2">Thou leader and provider.</span>
+<span class="i2">Here are the skids laid to the sea,</span>
+<span class="i2">And drops the moisture now from Marama,</span>
+<span class="i2">Caused by the gentle breeze</span>
+<span class="i2">Which blows down from Wai-hi;</span>
+<span class="i2">But still Tainui stays,</span>
+<span class="i2">And will not move.</span>
+<span class="i2">Red, red is the sun,</span>
+<span class="i2">Hot, hot are its rays,</span>
+<span class="i2">And still impatient stands the host:</span>
+<span class="i2">Take ye and hold the rope,</span>
+<span class="i2">And drag with flashing eyes</span>
+<span class="i2">And drag in concert all.</span>
+<span class="i2">Rise now the power</span>
+<span class="i2">To urge. She moves and starts,</span>
+<span class="i2">Moves now the prow,</span>
+<span class="i2">Urge, urge her still."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Under the exhilarating influence of the singer's musical voice,
+together with a profound faith in her skill as a mistress of magic,
+the weary crews once more bent themselves to their task. Their renewed
+efforts were rewarded with success; for with one vigorous pull the
+canoe was seen to move, and was soon slipping and sliding on her way
+to the bosom of the bay below.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_12" id="Ref_12" href="#Foot_12">[12]</a></span>
+Once fairly launched, the Tainui
+was soon speeding her way to the open sea; and, having successfully
+crossed the Manukau bar, she passed out into the Western Ocean to
+battle with adverse winds and tides. Evidently,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">{21}</a></span>
+the physical features of this coast were not greatly to the
+liking of the explorers. Unlike the eastern side of the
+island, there were fewer shelving beaches and favourable
+landing-places; the predominating aspect was high
+and abrupt cliffs, fringed with jagged and evil-looking
+rocks, against which the surf beat with deafening roar.
+The sea, too, was much more turbulent; so that, after
+travelling only some eighty miles, the canoe was headed
+for the sheltered harbour of Kawhia,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_13" id="Ref_13" href="#Foot_13">[13]</a></span>
+and there Hoturoa
+and the tribes who accompanied him determined to
+bring their wanderings to an end.</p>
+
+<p>The canoe which had brought them safely over so many miles of open
+ocean was hauled to a secure spot on the beach, there to await the
+ravages of decay, the spot where she rested and finally rotted away
+under the <i>manuka</i> and <i>akeake</i> trees being still marked by
+two stone pillars,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_14" id="Ref_14" href="#Foot_14">[14]</a></span>
+which the natives have named Puna and Hani. The
+next thing was to erect an altar to the gods for having thus far
+prospered their journey. The spot chosen was that afterwards called
+Ahurei, in memory of their old home in Tahiti;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_15" id="Ref_15" href="#Foot_15">[15]</a></span>
+and, doubtless for
+the same sentimental and patriotic reason, the spot on which the wives
+of Hoturoa first planted the <i>kumara</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_16" id="Ref_16" href="#Foot_16">[16]</a></span>
+was called Hawaiki.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">{22}</a></span>
+With these preliminaries settled, the pilgrims from the
+east were now faced with the most serious duty of all,
+to arrive at an equitable division of the new land which
+was about to become their permanent home. What
+method of adjudication was employed in the apportionment
+we cannot now say; but two main divisions mark the
+final arbitrament. The Waikatos occupied the country
+from Manukau in the north to the Marokopa River in the
+south, while the tribe afterwards known as Mania-poto
+occupied a domain which extended from that point to
+one about two miles south of the Mokau River. Within
+these comprehensive boundaries was embraced the
+acknowledged territory of the numerous sub-tribes; but
+to only two of these need we refer at this stage, namely,
+to the Ngati-toa, who lived on the shores of Kawhia
+Bay, and to the Ngati-Raukawa, who had settled further
+inland, in the country of which Maungatautari is now
+the centre.</p>
+
+<p>When the Tainui people landed on the shores of Kawhia and began to
+spread their settlements throughout the valleys of the district, they
+did not find, as they might have expected, an empty land. At some
+time, and by some means, man had already established himself in New
+Zealand, and before the organised migration, of which the Tainui was a
+part, had set sail from Rarotonga, the country was already extensively
+peopled. Whether these <i>tangata whenua</i>, as the Maoris called
+them, were Polynesians like themselves, and the fruits of some of the
+prior migrations which are known to have taken place, or whether they
+were a lower order of mankind struggling through the process of
+evolution to a higher plane of civilisation, is a point which cannot
+well be debated here. But whatever manner of men they were who lived
+in the balmy climate of Kawhia, they were already well established
+there in their villages and gardens, and for many generations&mdash;perhaps
+for many centuries&mdash;they had been burying their dead in the secret
+caves which honeycombed the limestone cliffs that rise in beetling
+precipices sheer from the harbour's
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">{23}</a></span>
+edge. Although they are generally credited with being
+a less combative and virile race than the fierce and hardy
+tribes who came with the fleet, they were not disposed
+to surrender or divide their estate without a struggle,
+and Hoturoa found that, if he was to become master of
+Kawhia, it could only be as the outcome of a successful
+war. But Kawhia was a country worth fighting for.
+Early travellers through New Zealand, who saw it before
+the devastating hand of man had marred its beauties,
+speak with eloquent enthusiasm of its extremely picturesque
+and romantic landscape.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_17" id="Ref_17" href="#Foot_17">[17]</a></span>
+At full tide the
+harbour shines in the sunlight like an unbroken sheet
+of silver, in which the green and gold reflections of the
+surrounding bush are mirrored and magnified. For
+many miles in length and breadth the sea runs inland
+from the bay's bar-bound mouth, stretching its liquid
+arms right to the base of the mountains which encircle
+the harbour like a massive frame. Rugged and picturesque
+are these mountains, with their cloak of deep
+verdure, through which huge masses of limestone rock
+protrude their white faces, suggesting the bastions of
+some old Norman tower covered with gigantic ivy. So
+marked, in fact, is this resemblance, that the character
+of the peaks has been preserved in their name&mdash;the
+Castle Hills.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_18" id="Ref_18" href="#Foot_18">[18]</a></span>
+Down the sides of these slopes run innumerable
+streams, the largest being the Awaroa River,
+which enters the harbour at the north-east end, where
+the scenery attains its most impressive grandeur. A
+little to the north-east of Kawhia, and over the ranges,
+lies the broadly-terraced valley of the Waipa, and
+between this district and the harbour stands "an ancient
+and dilapidated volcano," called Pirongia, upon which
+the evening sun directs its blood-red darts, lighting up
+its many peaks and towers until they resemble a giant
+altar raised by some mighty priest. The climate, too, is
+mild and soft, like that of Southern Spain, and there the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">{24}</a></span>
+orange and the lemon might bud and blossom with
+all the luxuriance found in the valleys of Granada.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the home in which the people of the Tainui canoe sought to
+gain a footing, when they abandoned their vessel; but these exiles
+from far Hawaiki were yet to pass through the bitter waters of
+tribulation before their arms were blessed with success and their
+claims ceased to be contested. In the quaint language of an old
+<i>tohunga</i> we are told: "In the days of the ancient times the
+descendants of those who came in the Tainui made war on the people who
+had occupied the interior of Waikato. These people were called Te
+Upoko-tioa, and were the people who had occupied the land long before
+the Tainui arrived at Kawhia. These people were attacked by those who
+came over in the Tainui. The men they killed, but the women were saved
+and taken as wives by the Tainui. Those who attacked these people were
+of one family, and were descended from one ancestor, who, after they
+had killed the inhabitants of Waikato, turned and made war each on the
+other&mdash;uncle killed nephew, and nephew killed uncle: elder killed the
+younger, and the younger killed the elder."</p>
+
+<p>Of the various battles which the Tainui people fought during the
+conquest of their new home we have scarcely any account, beyond vague
+and general statements of the most fugitive character. These,
+unfortunately, do not afford us any wealth of detail, the possession
+of which would enable us to picture in vivid colours the doughty deeds
+by which the invaders overcame the strenuous resistance of the
+<i>tangata whenua</i>, who maintained the struggle with the
+desperation of men who were fighting for their very existence. The
+story of the conquest of Kawhia may be regarded as lost in the misty
+distances of the past, but it is not surprising to discover by shadowy
+suggestion, such as quoted above, that, after the original inhabitants
+had been effectually subdued, the turbulent nature of the Maori should
+lead to devastating and sanguinary internecine wars. One of the
+traditions of the Tainui tribes is that they left
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">{25}</a></span>
+the South Pacific because of a great battle called "Ra-to-rua,"
+which originated in a quarrel between Heta and
+Ue-nuku; and it would be quite unreasonable to expect
+that they should suddenly forsake their warlike passions
+on reaching New Zealand, a country in which there
+was so much to fight for. With the Maori war had
+now become more than a passion: it had become part
+of his nature; for, through all the long centuries of
+migration, the story of the race had been one of incessant
+struggle with other races and with circumstances.
+They fought their way into the Pacific, and were in
+turn submerged under the tide of a second invasion,
+which gave to the world a people inured to the hardships
+inseparable from strife, who had tasted the bitterness
+of defeat as well as the joys of victory&mdash;a proud
+and haughty race, sensitive to the slightest insult, and
+so jealous of their honour that they were ever ready to
+vindicate their fair name before the only tribunal to
+which they could appeal&mdash;that of war. Steeped as they
+had been from birth in this atmosphere of strife, they
+had grown to expect the clash of arms at every turn,
+and, as they grew to expect it, they grew to love it.
+It is small wonder, then, that, when they found their
+enemies at Kawhia and its neighbourhood vanquished,
+they occasionally turned their hands upon each other,
+in the attempt to efface some real or imagined wrong.</p>
+
+<p>But, fatal to national progress as these inter-tribal wars must have
+been, they, nevertheless, played an important and valuable part in
+spreading the Maori over New Zealand. A tribe defeated in battle was
+forced to fly before the pursuing enemy, with no alternative but
+either to appropriate some district still unoccupied or to displace
+some weaker people, upon whom the burden was cast of again
+establishing themselves where and as best they could. Thus the tide of
+fortune and misfortune rolled and recoiled from Te Reinga to Te
+Ra-whiti, until an asylum was sought by the last of the refugees even
+across the waters of Cook Strait. Although we have no accurate
+information on the point, it is probable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">{26}</a></span>
+that these blood-feuds contributed in no small measure
+to the ultimate distribution of the Tainui people; for
+their subsequent history is eloquent of the fact that,
+while they claimed common descent from the ancestral
+line of Hoturoa, this family bond did not prevent
+hatred and hostility springing up, and at times bathing
+their country in blood.</p>
+
+<p>The first migration, however, of which we have any
+record did not apparently ensue upon the result of a
+battle, although a quarrel was its underlying cause.
+Hotu-nui, who was one of the principal chiefs of the
+canoe, is said to have taken as his wife a daughter of one
+of the <i>tangata whenua</i>, and was apparently living in the
+same village and on terms of perfect friendship with
+her people. Having been wrongfully accused of an
+act of petty thieving, he determined to rid the <i>pa</i> of
+his presence; and so, with one hundred of his immediate
+followers, he, it is said, moved off towards
+the Hauraki Gulf. As the years rolled on, and the
+systematic exploration of the country began to be
+undertaken, many similar expeditions, no doubt, went
+out from the parent home at Kawhia, one at least
+of which was fraught with fateful consequences. A
+chief named Raumati,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_19" id="Ref_19" href="#Foot_19">[19]</a></span>
+whose story has been embalmed
+in tradition, had taken a band of followers with him
+and travelled across the island, past Rotorua, until he
+finally came to the shores of the Bay of Plenty, where
+his mother's people lived. Here he was in the Arawa
+country, and it was not long before he heard that their
+canoe was lying at Maketu, some distance further to
+the southward. It will be remembered that there had
+never been good feeling between the Tainui and Arawa
+peoples, and Raumati determined upon an act which
+would demonstrate beyond all doubt that he, at least,
+was not disposed to hold out the olive-branch to Arawa.
+His scheme was to effect the destruction of the great
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">{27}</a></span>
+canoe which had brought the hated rivals of his tribe
+to New Zealand. Once decided upon, his plan was
+put into execution with a promptness worthy of a better
+cause. Travelling along the coast from Tauranga to
+Maketu, he and his followers arrived at the latter place
+when all its inhabitants were absent in quest of food.
+But his trouble was that the Arawa had been berthed
+on the opposite side of the Kaituna River, where she
+had been housed under a covering of reeds and grass
+to protect her from the ravages of the weather. Nothing
+daunted, however, Raumati soon proved that his ingenuity
+was equal to the desperate circumstances in
+which he found himself placed. Taking a dart, and
+attaching to the point of it a live ember, he hurled the
+smoking stick across the water with unerring aim, and,
+to his intense satisfaction, he saw the firebrand fall
+in the midst of the combustible material which formed
+the covering of the canoe. The fire was soon in full
+blast: the glare of the flames lit up the surrounding
+country and was reflected in the red glow of the evening
+sky. The first impression of the people out in the forest
+was that the Maketu <i>pa</i> had been destroyed; but in
+the morning they were undeceived, for then they saw
+that it was their beloved canoe which had been burned,
+and all that remained of her was a heap of glowing
+ashes.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_20" id="Ref_20" href="#Foot_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The unanimous conclusion was that this had been the work of an enemy,
+and messengers were sent far and wide to acquaint the tribesmen of the
+fate of the canoe and call them to council upon the subject. At the
+meetings the debates were long and serious, for the tribe was torn
+between its desire to live in peace with all men and its natural
+impulse to revenge the burning of the Arawa, which "they loved and
+venerated almost as a parent." They remembered the injunction which
+had been given to them by Hou when on the point of leaving Hawaiki: "O
+my children, O Mako, O Tia, O Hei,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">{28}</a></span>
+hearken to these my words: There was but one great
+chief in Hawaiki, and that was Whakatauihu. Now do
+you, my children, depart in peace, and, when you reach
+the place you are going to, do not follow after the deeds
+of Tu, the God of War: if you do, you will perish, as if
+swept off by the winds; but rather follow quiet and
+useful occupations, then you will die tranquilly a natural
+death. Depart, and dwell in peace with all; leave war
+and strife behind you here. Depart and dwell in peace.
+It is war and its evils which are driving you hence:
+dwell in peace where you are going; conduct yourselves
+like men; let there be no quarrelling amongst you, but
+build up a great people."</p>
+
+<p>These were, no doubt, excellent words of advice, and they expressed a
+very noble sentiment; but the practical question which they had to
+determine was whether they could afford to adopt an attitude of
+passivity while these acts of aggression went on around them: whether
+they should declare war on account of the destruction of their canoe,
+or permit the act to pass without notice. This was the problem over
+which they pondered; and, as they discussed and debated it, "impatient
+feelings kept ever rising up in their hearts." But at last an end was
+made of deliberation, the decision of the tribe being in favour of
+battle as the one and only sufficient means by which they could be
+compensated for the burning of their canoe. In the words of the old
+tradition, "then commenced the great war which was waged between those
+who arrived in the Arawa and those who came in the Tainui."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_21" id="Ref_21" href="#Foot_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_6" id="Foot_6" href="#Ref_6">[6]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On this occasion Hotu-nui is credited with having addressed his
+people in the following terms: "Friends, hearken! Ours was the
+first canoe to land in New Zealand before any of you had arrived
+here. But let this be the proof as to which of our canoes landed
+first. Let us look at the ropes which the various canoes tied to the
+whale now before us, and also let us look at the branches of the
+trees which each have put up in building an altar, then the owners
+of the rope which is the driest and most withered, and of the altar
+the leaves of which are the most faded, were the first to land on the
+coast of the country where we now reside."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_7" id="Foot_7" href="#Ref_7">[7]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+After the canoe left Whanga-poraoa the first stopping-place was
+at Whare-nga, where the crew amused themselves with various
+games on the beach. To mark the spot, one legend has it, they
+placed one large stone on top of another, while a second story has
+it that this monument, which is still existent and is called <i>Pohatu
+Whakairi</i>, represents one of the crew who was turned into stone.
+The next point of interest was Moe-hau, now known as Cape
+Colville. They then landed at Te Ana-Puta, where, it is said, the
+canoe was moored to a natural arch of rock jutting into the sea.
+For some reason the anchor was left at a spot between Wai-hou
+and Piako, and under the name of <i>Te pungapunga</i> (the pumice
+stone) is still to be seen on the coast by those who are curious
+enough to look for it. The course was then deflected slightly to
+the west, and the canoe crossed to Whaka-ti-wai and coasted along
+the mainland past Whare-Kawa, where, it is said, Marama, one
+of the wives of Hoturoa, desired to be put ashore with one of her
+male slaves. Here they were left, and, according to one version of
+the tradition, it was her misconduct with this slave which prevented
+the crew dragging the Tainui over the portage at Otahuhu. The
+canoe then went on, some accounts say, as far as the North Cape,
+and others seem to imply that she was shortly afterwards put about
+and, returning into the Hauraki Gulf, sailed past the islands of
+Waiheke and Motu-Korea, until land was once more made at Takapuna.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_8" id="Foot_8" href="#Ref_8">[8]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now called Mount Victoria or "Flagstaff Hill."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_9" id="Foot_9" href="#Ref_9">[9]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Waitemata may be interpreted as "the waters of volcanic obsidian,"
+no doubt a reference to the eruptive disposition of Mount Rangitoto.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_10" id="Foot_10" href="#Ref_10">[10]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Otahuhu signifies "ridge-pole." This portage is only 3,900 feet
+long and 66 feet high.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_11" id="Foot_11" href="#Ref_11">[11]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+There are different versions of this tradition, some attributing
+the transfixing of the canoe to Marama, others crediting her with
+releasing it. The version given in the late Sir George Grey's
+<i>Polynesian Mythology</i> has been here adopted.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_12" id="Foot_12" href="#Ref_12">[12]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some authorities are of opinion that the Tainui was not taken
+across the portage at Otahuhu (ridge-pole), and they base this
+contention upon the fact that no traditional marks have been left
+inside the Manukau harbour. All the points of interest which have been
+handed down, and are remembered, are on the sea coast; and from this
+circumstance it is argued that the canoe was never in Manukau harbour
+at all. Others say that some of the skids of Tainui were left at South
+Manukau Heads.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_13" id="Foot_13" href="#Ref_13">[13]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As they were passing the mouth of the Waikato, the priest of the
+canoe, noticing that the river was in flood, named it by calling out
+"<i>Waikato, Waikato, kau</i>." Further on, noticing that there were
+no landing-places, he threw his paddle at the face of the cliff and
+exclaimed, "<i>Ko te akau kau</i>" (all sea coast). The paddle is said
+to be still embedded in the face of the rock, and is one of the
+traditional marks by which the course of the Tainui can be traced. At
+the entrance of Kawhia Harbour they ran into a shoal of fish, and the
+priest gave this haven its present name by exclaiming "<i>Kawhia
+kau</i>." Another account is that the name comes from Ka-awhi, to
+recite the usual <i>karakia</i> on landing on a new shore, to placate
+the local gods.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_14" id="Foot_14" href="#Ref_14">[14]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The distance between these stones is 86 feet, indicating the
+probable length of the Tainui canoe.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_15" id="Foot_15" href="#Ref_15">[15]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now called Te Fana-i-Ahurei (or, in Maori, Te Whanga-i-Ahurei,
+the district of Ahurei).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_16" id="Foot_16" href="#Ref_16">[16]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Tainui brought the species of kumaras known as
+<i>Anu-rangi</i> (cold of heaven) and the <i>hue</i> or calabash.
+Those planted by Marama did not come up true to type, but those
+planted by Whakaoti-rangi, another of the chief's wives, did.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_17" id="Foot_17" href="#Ref_17">[17]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"I reckon this country among the most charming and fertile
+districts I have seen in New Zealand" (<i>Hochstetter</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_18" id="Foot_18" href="#Ref_18">[18]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The natives call them Whenuapo.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_19" id="Foot_19" href="#Ref_19">[19]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+His full name was Raumati-nui-o-taua. His father was Tama-ahua,
+who is reputed to have returned to Hawaiki from New Zealand, and his
+mother was Tauranga, a Bay of Plenty woman.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_20" id="Foot_20" href="#Ref_20">[20]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The date of this incident has been approximately fixed at
+<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1390, or forty years after the arrival of "the fleet."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_21" id="Foot_21" href="#Ref_21">[21]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"It is to be presumed that Raumati's relatives and friends at
+Tauranga made his cause their own, for they met the Arawa people
+somewhere near Maketu, where a great battle was fought. Raumati's
+party, though successful at first, were defeated, and their leader
+killed by the power of <i>makutu</i>, or witch-craft, for Hatu-patu,
+the Arawa chief, caused a cliff to fall on him as he retreated from
+the battle, and thus killed him" (<i>Polynesian Journal</i>).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">{29}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER III</span><br /><span
+class="size070">A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">In</span>
+one of the many sanguinary battles of those intertribal wars which
+raged in Old New Zealand from this period down to the introduction of
+Christianity, Werawera, the father of Te Rauparaha, was captured,
+killed, and eaten. The subject of our sketch was at that time a mere
+child, and the grim old warrior who had made a meal of Werawera was
+heard to remark that, if ever the youngster fell into his hands, he
+would certainly meet a similar fate, as he would make a delicious
+relish for so great a warrior's <i>rau-paraha</i>. The
+<i>rau-paraha</i> here referred to was a juicy plant of the
+convolvulus family, which grew luxuriantly upon the sand-dunes of the
+seashore, and was largely used by the Maori of those days as an
+article of food. Such a tragic association of the child with the plant
+was never forgotten by his tribe, and it was from this circumstance
+that he derived that name which has stood paramount amongst Maori
+<i>toas</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_22" id="Ref_22" href="#Foot_22">[22]</a></span>
+of all time&mdash;Te Rauparaha&mdash;the convolvulus leaf. The
+branch of the Tainui people to which Te Rauparaha belonged was the
+Ngati-Toa tribe, who have already been described as occupying the
+country immediately surrounding the shores of Kawhia harbour. Like all
+the other Tainui tribes, these people claimed direct descent from
+Hoturoa, the admiral of the canoe; but the ancestor from whom they
+derived their name was Toa-rangatira, and from him Te Rauparaha was
+descended in a direct line on his father's side. Werawera, however,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">{30}</a></span>
+had married a Ngati-Raukawa lady, named Pare-kowhatu,
+and this fact, placing a bar sinister across Te Rauparaha's
+escutcheon, destroyed in a measure the purity of his
+pedigree from the Ngati-Toa point of view, although, as
+compensation, it gave him an influence with the Ngati-Raukawa
+tribe, which in after years carried with it fateful
+results.</p>
+
+<p>The Ngati-Raukawa people were closely allied to Ngati-Toa by ties of
+blood and friendship; for Raukawa, the ancestor who gave them name and
+individuality as a tribe, was related to Toa-rangatira, both chiefs
+being descendants of Raka, and through him of Hoturoa. This common
+ancestry gave these two tribes a common interest and sympathy, which
+were steadily increased by frequent inter-marriages; and to these
+bonds they appear to have been faithful through all the varying
+fortunes of their history. Conflicts between the Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa tribes were less frequent than was the case with the
+majority of the tribal families; and when the time came to mould their
+affinities into a closer union, Te Rauparaha used this long-standing
+friendship as the central argument, by which he eloquently sought to
+convince Ngati-Raukawa that there was but one destiny for them and for
+Ngati-Toa.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha had two brothers and two sisters, all older than himself;
+but none of them ever achieved a great position or reputation in the
+tribe, except perhaps Waitohi<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_23" id="Ref_23" href="#Foot_23">[23]</a></span>,
+who might claim the reflected glory
+of being the mother of that fiery and volcanic soul, Te Rangihaeata.
+This chief, whose life enters largely into early New Zealand history,
+rose to be the fighting lieutenant
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">{31}</a></span>
+and trusted adviser of his more famous uncle, and, in
+these questionable capacities, he was probably the most
+turbulent spirit who crossed the path of Wellington's
+pioneer colonists. Towards them he ever manifested
+an uncompromising hatred, the one redeeming feature of
+his hostility being the absolute frankness with which he
+proclaimed it.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately but little is known of Te Rauparaha's boyhood.
+Presumably he was brought up by his mother, after his father's death,
+between the settlements at Maungatautari<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_24" id="Ref_24" href="#Foot_24">[24]</a></span>,
+where he was born about
+the year 1768, and Kawhia, where his father's relatives lived. As he
+grew in years, the greater part of his time was spent at Kawhia with
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, by whom he was regarded as a hereditary chief and
+as one of their future leaders. His influence with Ngati-Raukawa did
+not commence until he had attained to early manhood; and the visits
+which he paid to his kindred at Maungatautari during this period had
+no military importance, and could only be regarded as interchanges of
+friendship. His sojourns at Maungatautari were always welcome, for as
+a boy he is said to have had a particularly sunny disposition, and to
+have entered eagerly into all the amusements dear to the heart of
+Maori children of that day. These enterprises frequently led him into
+mischief, and into those moral pitfalls which beset the path of
+high-spirited lads. But, for all his boisterous spirits, the boy never
+failed to pay respect to his elders, and one of the marked
+characteristics of his nature at this time was his willing obedience
+to those who were entitled to give him commands. He was even known to
+have performed services at the request of a slave, whom he might very
+well have ordered to do his own work, since his birth and breeding
+placed him far above the behests of a menial.</p>
+
+<p>As Te Rauparaha grew to youth and early manhood
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">{32}</a></span>
+he began to display qualities of mind which soon
+attracted the attention of the leading Ngati-Toa chiefs;
+but, strange to say, his mother was the last to discern
+these exceptional talents in her son, and always maintained
+that Nohorua, his elder brother, was the clever
+boy of the family. These maternal expectations, however,
+were not destined to be realised.</p>
+
+<p>Before the introduction of Christianity amongst the Maori, it was the
+custom to assign to a young chief some girl from his own or a
+neighbouring friendly tribe as his wife. Neither of the parties most
+directly interested in the alliance was consulted, and their feelings
+or wishes were not considered to have any important bearing upon the
+question. Such a system frequently led to unhappiness and
+heart-burning, but in the case of Te Rauparaha, the choice made for
+him proved to be a happy one, and Marore<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_25" id="Ref_25" href="#Foot_25">[25]</a></span>,
+a girl of tender grace,
+made him an admirable wife. Of her he became extremely fond, and out
+of this affection arose the first military enterprise which gave him
+fame and reputation as a leader of men.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 570px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="kawhia" id="kawhia">
+  <img width="570" height="400" alt="kawhia" src="images/053-kawhia.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">POMOHAKI PASSAGE, KAWHIA.<br />
+             <i>Photo by Jackson.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>As not infrequently happened in Maori life, his own people had
+prepared a great feast for some visiting tribesmen; but when the food
+which had been collected for their entertainment was distributed to
+the various families, Te Rauparaha observed with considerable
+displeasure that the portion given to Marore was of the very plainest,
+and contained no dainty morsel which she was likely to enjoy. The want
+of consideration thus shown towards his child-wife preyed upon the
+young chief's mind, and he speedily determined that, come what might,
+he would find with his own hand the relish which his friends had
+failed to provide. Accordingly he petitioned those in authority at
+Kawhia to permit him to organise a war party for the purpose of
+invading the Waikato country, where he hoped to take
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">{33}</a></span>
+captive in battle some warrior who would make a banquet
+for his bride. At first his proposals were received with
+opposition, for the reason that he was himself at this
+time in delicate health, and it was deemed prudent that
+he should await recovery before embarking upon so
+desperate a venture. Moreover, the tribe being then at
+peace with Waikato, the chiefs were naturally reluctant to
+sanction any act which would inevitably embroil them in
+a quarrel with their neighbours. But the fiery enthusiasm
+which Te Rauparaha displayed for his own scheme, and
+the persistency with which he urged its claims, overcame
+the resistance of the tribal fathers, who thus acknowledged,
+for the first time, the strength of the personality
+with whom they had to deal.</p>
+
+<p>Armed with this authority, he at once set about marshalling his
+forces, and his call to arms was eagerly responded to by a band of
+young bloods equally keen for adventure with himself. The
+<i>taua</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_26" id="Ref_26" href="#Foot_26">[26]</a></span>
+made its way safely to the nearest Waikato <i>pa</i>,
+where the profound peace prevailing at the time had thrown the
+defenders off their guard. In the belief that the visitors were on a
+friendly journey, they invited their advance guard within the walls of
+the village. Soon, however, the error was discovered; and the
+inhabitants, realising the position, flew to arms with an alacrity
+which sent the invaders flying through the gate of the <i>pa</i>. The
+impetuous energy of the Waikatos, led by Te Haunga, induced them to
+push the pursuit a considerable distance beyond the walls of their
+stronghold; and it was the strategic use which Te Rauparaha made of
+this fact that gave him the victory and established his claim to
+leadership in future wars. Owing to the difficulty which he
+experienced in walking, he had not been able to march with the
+leaders, but was following with a second division of his men, when he
+saw, to his dismay, his warriors being chased out of the <i>pa</i>.
+His own force was as yet concealed behind an intervening hill, and,
+quickly taking in the situation, he ordered his men to lie down
+amongst the <i>manuka</i> scrub,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">{34}</a></span>
+which grew to the height of several feet beside the narrow
+track which they had been traversing. He saw that the
+fugitives would follow this line, in order to rejoin him as
+speedily as possible, and in this anticipation his judgment
+proved correct. At full run they swept past,
+closely followed by the angry Waikatos, who, having
+escaped from one trap, little dreamed how simply they
+were falling into another. Close in his concealment, Te
+Rauparaha lay until the last of the pursuing body had
+rushed by; then, bursting from his hiding-place, he
+attacked them in flank and rear with such vehemence
+that they were at once thrown into disorder. The tumult
+of his assault checked the flight of the Ngati-Toas, and
+the Waikatos, now wedged in between two superior forces,
+sustained heavy losses. Te Rauparaha is credited with
+having slain four of his opponents with his own hand,
+and the total killed is said to have numbered one hundred
+and forty. Amongst these was Te Haunga, the principal
+chief of the <i>pa</i>, who formed a specially valuable trophy
+in view of the purpose for which the raid had been
+organised. His body was carried home to Kawhia to
+provide the relish which Te Rauparaha so much desired
+for Marore.</p>
+
+<p>Although this attack upon Waikato was only one of the many sporadic
+raids so common amongst the Maori tribes, and could not be regarded as
+a military movement of national importance, Te Rauparaha had conducted
+it with so much skill and enterprise that his achievement became the
+chief topic of discussion throughout the neighbouring <i>pas</i>, and,
+in the words of an old narrator, "he was heard of as a warrior by all
+the tribes." The fame which he had thus suddenly achieved, and the
+desire to live up to his reputation, inspired him with a new sense of
+responsibility, and he became a keen student of all that pertained to
+the art of war as practised in his day. He was shrewd enough to see
+the advantages attending military skill amongst a people with whom
+might was right, and, even at that age, he was ambitious enough to
+dream dreams which power alone would enable him to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">{35}</a></span>
+realise. He aimed at making the acquaintance of all the
+great chiefs of the surrounding tribes; and, when it was
+safe to visit them, he travelled long distances to sit at the
+feet of these old Maori warriors, and learn from them
+the subtle methods by which fields were won. These
+journeys gave him a familiarity with the country and the
+people which was very useful in the disturbed and precarious
+relations between Ngati-Toa and the neighbouring
+tribes. In these warlike excursions, which were as often
+of an aggressive as of a defensive nature, Ngati-Toa was
+not invariably successful. But, even in their defeats,
+the reputation of Rauparaha increased with his years,
+for he was ever turning to account some new device
+of tactics or giving some fresh proof of his personal
+courage.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did he neglect to cultivate the good opinion of his tribe by
+generosity in the discharge of his social duties. His bounty was never
+closed against the stranger; and when he invited his friends to a
+feast, his entertainment was always of the most lavish kind. Even to
+his workmen he was strikingly considerate. He abolished the practice
+indulged in by the field labourers of giving a portion of the food
+provided for them to strangers who happened to arrive at the
+settlement, by insisting that the kumara-planters should retain their
+full ration and the strangers be fed with food specially prepared for
+them. This unconventional liberality speedily created the desired
+impression,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_27" id="Ref_27" href="#Foot_27">[27]</a></span>
+and became the subject of general remark amongst those
+who were on visiting terms with the Kawhia chief. It even became
+proverbial, for it was sometimes said of a benevolent Maori, "You are
+like Te Rauparaha, who first feeds his workmen and then provides for
+his visitors."</p>
+
+<p>Reference has already been made to the fact that Te Rauparaha had been
+in the habit of making frequent visits to parts of the country distant
+from Kawhia, for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">{36}</a></span>
+the dual purpose of completing his education in the art
+of warfare and of strengthening his personal relations
+with influential chiefs, who might be useful to him in
+future diplomacy. During one of these excursions he
+had proceeded as far as what is now known as the Valley
+of the Thames, in the Hauraki Gulf, to pay his respects
+to the chiefs of the Ngati-Maru<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_28" id="Ref_28" href="#Foot_28">[28]</a></span>
+tribe, who were then
+both numerous and influential in that part of the island.
+How much he was esteemed by the leaders of this people
+may be judged by the fact that, when he was about to
+return, they, amongst other gifts, presented him with a
+firearm and a few cartridges, his first acquisition of the
+kind. To us the gift of an old flintlock might seem a
+trivial circumstance; but to a Maori, who was lingering
+on the fringe of the Stone Age, such a weapon was a
+priceless treasure. So dearly were they prized by the
+natives at this time that only the consideration of
+warmest friendship could have induced the Ngati-Maru
+to part with even one. There was in these rusty and
+erratic "fire-spears" that which would before long revolutionise
+the whole system of native warfare; and the
+shrewdest of the natives saw that the tribe which
+acquired the largest number of guns in the least time
+would have an enormous advantage in the field of
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>For some years a few vagrant and adventurous voyagers, together with
+the more honest whalers, had been making the Bay of Islands one of
+their principal rendezvous; and in the desultory trade which had been
+carried on between the crews and the natives, guns had first fallen
+into the possession of the Nga-Puhi tribe. The deadly use which these
+warriors had made of this new instrument of destruction, in their
+skirmishes with their neighbours, had so impressed the native mind
+that forces hitherto well-disciplined were seized with panic when
+marched against guns, until it was felt by the inland tribes that such
+weapons were absolutely indispensable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">{37}</a></span>
+to safety or victory.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_29" id="Ref_29" href="#Foot_29">[29]</a></span>
+Many of the natives,
+whose curiosity had been aroused by the novel sights
+which they had seen on the visiting whalers, had shipped
+as seamen before the mast in the hope of seeing more of
+the great world from which the <i>pakeha</i> came. In this
+way they had been carried to Port Jackson, where they
+had witnessed on a more extensive scale the destructive
+power of the European weapons. Owing to the misjudged
+generosity of the Sydney public, some had been
+able to bring a few muskets back with them, while others
+had secured hatchets and bayonets, which, fastened on
+the end of long handles, were soon recognised as
+weapons vastly superior to the spears and <i>taiahas</i> of
+their fathers. These discoveries accentuated the desire
+to replace their obsolete arms with others of a more
+modern type; and as a result of the excessive demand
+thus created, the commercial value of a musket rose in
+the market, until the traders asked, and the Maoris willingly
+gave, as much as a cargo of flax for a single
+weapon. The effect of this musket-hunger was to
+change completely the existing relations between the
+<i>pakeha</i> and Maori, going far to remove the estrangement
+and distrust which had been generated between the
+two races. Up to this time but little respect had been
+shown to the dark-skinned natives of these far-away
+islands by the rude sailors who had visited them; and
+in their contempt for the "niggers" they had been guilty
+of many outrages which would have staggered humanity,
+had humanity been able to grasp the full measure of
+their ferocity.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_30" id="Ref_30" href="#Foot_30">[30]</a></span>
+Retaliation, culminating in the murder
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">{38}</a></span>
+of Marion du Fresne and the burning of the <i>Boyd</i>, followed
+upon outrage, and hatred, fed by misunderstanding,
+was daily driving the two peoples further and further
+asunder.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_31" id="Ref_31" href="#Foot_31">[31]</a></span>
+But the need and the hope of acquiring
+muskets suddenly changed all this, for the natives now
+saw that it was necessary to their very existence that they
+should cultivate the European, in order that they might
+trade their flax and pigs for guns; while the white man,
+seeing that he could procure these valuable products at
+so insignificant a cost, was nothing loath to forget the
+many injuries which had been inflicted upon his own race.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the spirit of crime and revenge, which for years had darkened the
+page of New Zealand's history, suddenly disappeared in the eagerness
+for trade, and in its stead came the spirit of industry, which sent
+countless natives toiling in the swamps and on the hill-sides,
+preparing in feverish haste the fibre wherewith they might purchase
+this new weapon of destruction. This mad rush for muskets did not
+escape the keen observation of Te Rauparaha, who saw with unerring
+precision what its ultimate effect must be. Had he been a resident of
+the east coast there is little doubt that he too would have plunged
+with enthusiasm into the fatal scramble, trusting to his natural
+shrewdness and business acumen to secure for him a fair share of the
+market's prizes. But he was at the outset placed at this disadvantage.
+His country was on the west coast of the island, where the whalers and
+traders seldom came; and the Ngati-Toa, unlike the Nga-Puhi, had few
+or no opportunities of holding intercourse with the <i>pakeha</i>,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">{39}</a></span>
+from whom alone the coveted muskets could be
+procured. It was therefore with a heavy heart and
+sorely perplexed mind that Te Rauparaha returned to
+Kawhia, for he knew with absolute certainty that so soon
+as the Waikatos succeeded in arming themselves with
+firelocks it was only a question of time when they would
+decide to attack him and his people, in satisfaction for
+many an old grudge. Then the day would go hard
+with Ngati-Toa, who could only encounter this new
+invasion with stone clubs and wooden spears.</p>
+
+<p>As the result of many years of intertribal wars the country
+surrounding Aotea harbour, to the north of Kawhia, had become almost
+denuded of population. A few inconsiderable <i>pas</i> still remained,
+but their defenders were so inefficient as to constitute a living
+invitation to some stronger people to come down and exterminate them.
+Thus it was not surprising that a section of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe,
+whose home was at Raglan, should, after a successful raid in this
+quarter, decide to permanently occupy so inviting a district. They
+immediately attacked and drove out the feeble occupants, and then sat
+down to enjoy the fruits of their conquest. This act of aggression was
+hotly resented by Te Rauparaha, who could not suffer his allies to be
+buffeted in so unceremonious a manner, and within an incredibly short
+period of time he had his fleet of canoes on the water carrying a
+<i>taua</i> to Whanga-roa, where he met and decisively defeated
+Ngati-Mahanga. The report of this Ngati-Toa victory soon spread
+throughout the enemies' domain, and in due course reached the ears of
+those branches of the tribe living at the mouth of the Waikato River,
+who at once resolved to espouse the cause of their defeated friends.
+Manning seven large canoes, they came down the coast with a
+well-disciplined force under the renowned leader Kare-waho, and
+landing at Otiki, they first demolished the <i>pa</i> there and then
+passed on to Ohaua, whither the fugitives had fled, and delivered
+their attack upon that stronghold. No decisive result was achieved, as
+the rupture appears to have been healed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">{40}</a></span>
+before victory crowned the arms of either side, and the
+invaders were as eager to return as the besieged were
+glad to see them go. But the peace thus hastily made
+was as speedily broken, and a series of events was soon
+to ensue which was fated to have far-reaching results.
+Shortly after the return of the northern raiders a noted
+Waikato warrior, named Te Uira, came into the disputed
+Aotea territory, and while there varied his sport as a
+fisherman by killing a stray Ngati-Toa tribesman. On
+hearing of this tragedy Te Rauparaha and a war party
+promptly went over and retaliated by slaying Te Uira.
+Though to all appearances strictly within the code of
+morality which sanctions the taking of a life for a life,
+the Waikato people chose to regard this act as one of
+treachery, and the magnitude of the crime was measured
+by the value of the life taken. Te Uira was a man who
+had ranked high in their esteem. As a warrior and a
+leader of men he was a <i>toa</i>, indeed, and his death was to
+them a disaster. They therefore determined that the
+annihilation of Ngati-Toa was the only adequate solace
+for their injured feelings, and on this end they now concentrated
+their energies. War party after war party was
+sent over to Kawhia, and many desperate battles were
+fought, out of which Ngati-Toa seemed to emerge generally
+with success. But the gloom of impending disaster
+was gathering round Te Rauparaha, for the powerful
+Ngati-Mania-poto tribe became leagued with Waikato
+against him; and, although he had no difficulty in
+defeating them singly when they met, their coalition
+with his old enemy was a more serious matter. Stung
+by a recent repulse at Ta-whitiwhiti, they hurried
+messengers to all their distant friends, and in answer to
+their call a combined force of 1,600 men under Te Rau-Angaanga,
+father of the more famous Te Wherowhero,
+was soon marching against Kawhia's diminishing band
+of defenders. Crossing the ranges, they soon fell upon
+the Hiku-parea <i>pa</i>, which they invested at the close of
+the day. During the night half their force lay concealed
+in ambush, and when the garrison emerged in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">{41}</a></span>
+morning to give battle to an apparently small body of
+besiegers they were mortified to find themselves so hopelessly
+outnumbered and outgeneralled that there was
+nothing left for them to do but die as bravely as they
+might. The invaders then marched to attack the great
+Te Totara <i>pa</i>, where Te Rauparaha was personally in
+command, and here again the defenders were driven in
+before the swift onslaught of the allies. But where his
+arms had failed him Te Rauparaha's diplomacy stood
+him in good stead. He managed to soothe Te Rau-Angaanga
+into agreeing to a truce, and a temporary
+peace was patched up, only to be broken by the turbulent
+temper of the Ngati-Toa, who saw no impropriety in
+committing fresh aggressions so soon as their militant
+neighbours had returned home.</p>
+
+<p>The position was thus becoming grave for Te Rauparaha, and in an
+effort to stem the threatening disaster he sought to turn to some
+practical purpose the influence and prestige which he had now gained
+with the neighbouring chiefs. He suggested to his more trusted friends
+amongst the Maori leaders the need and wisdom of a confederation of
+all their tribes against the oppression of the Waikato people. But,
+though conducted with consummate tact and skill, these negotiations
+were destined to be futile. While all were friendly enough with Te
+Rauparaha, mutual jealousies existed amongst the other tribes, which
+destroyed any prospect of that unanimity and cohesion so essential to
+the success of such a scheme. Nga-Puhi remembered how Ngati-Maru had
+invaded their territory in days of old, and now that they were
+possessed of muskets they saw a prospect of repaying the debt&mdash;a
+chance much too promising to be lightly thrown away. Te Heuheu, the
+great chief at Taupo, would not coalesce with Ngati-Maru, and the
+Arawa still nursed their grudge against Tainui. These ancient
+grievances, which never seemed to die, kept the tribes outside Waikato
+apart, while the fact that Te Wherowhero had been able to form an
+offensive and defensive alliance with the Blücher of Maoridom, Te
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">{42}</a></span>
+Waharoa, so strengthened his position that, after months
+wasted in fruitless appeal, Te Rauparaha returned to
+Kawhia more than ever convinced that if his tribe was
+to be spared the humiliation of defeat, and perhaps annihilation,
+self-reliance must be the keynote of his future
+policy.</p>
+
+<p>During the next two years (1816-1818) Te Rauparaha devoted himself to
+occasional excursions against Waikato, in which he was moderately
+successful; but his more important operations at this period were
+directed against the tribes of Taranaki. The peculiar ethics of Maori
+warfare were largely responsible for the first of these southern
+descents upon a people with whom he was now beginning to enjoy
+considerable intercourse. A marriage had been celebrated between
+Nohorua, his elder brother, and a Taranaki lady,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_32" id="Ref_32" href="#Foot_32">[32]</a></span>
+and by way of
+commemorating the solemnity, a feast on a sumptuous scale had been
+given to the bridegroom's friends. Te Rauparaha, with the generosity
+for which he was at this time remarkable, was not slow to return the
+compliment, and in the course of a few months he journeyed southward
+to Te Taniwha <i>pa</i>, where Huri-whenua, the brother of Nohorua's
+young wife, lived, bringing gifts of dried fish and other seasonable
+foods. These social amenities led to still more intimate relations,
+and at the end of the following kumara and taro harvest the chief of
+Te Taniwha proceeded northward in his fleet of canoes on a promised
+visit to Kawhia. A fair wind beating into their triangular sails
+carried the canoes to within ten miles of their destination, and at
+the close of day the fleet headed for the shore at Harihari. Next
+morning they were met at their camp by Te Rauparaha and Rauhihi, who
+assured them of a cordial welcome at Kawhia and then proceeded
+overland to prepare their reception. In the meantime a rolling surf
+had set into the bay where the canoes were beached, and in the
+operation of launching them several were overturned and their crews
+nearly drowned. This
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">{43}</a></span>
+misfortune, which involved the loss of all the food
+intended for the feast, angered Huri-whenua exceedingly,
+and he adopted a strange but characteristically Maori-like
+method of seeking balm for his injured feelings.
+Gathering a party of his people together, he set off in
+pursuit of Te Rauparaha and his friend, and, attacking
+them, succeeded in killing Rauhihi, but not Te Rauparaha,
+who reached Kawhia after an exciting chase.
+His assailants, knowing full well that this unprovoked
+attack upon their chief would excite the indignation of
+Ngati-Toa, retired in haste to their home, which they
+immediately began to place in a condition of defence
+against the day when Te Rauparaha would return to seek
+satisfaction for the contemptuous disregard of his hospitality
+and the menace offered to his life. Nor were their
+precautions taken a moment too soon. Scarcely had the
+walls been strengthened and the Waihi stream dammed
+up so as to form a wide lake on one side of the <i>pa</i> than
+Te Rauparaha appeared, accompanied by Tuwhare,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_33" id="Ref_33" href="#Foot_33">[33]</a></span>
+one
+of the most celebrated Nga-Puhi chiefs of his day. This
+was Tuwhare's first visit to the south. He had gladly
+accepted the invitation to join the expedition, for his
+purpose in coming to Kawhia had been to lead an invasion
+into Taranaki territory, in order to secure some of
+the valuable mats, for making which the people of that
+part were widely famed.</p>
+
+<p>Tuwhare's contingent consisted of not more than two hundred men, but
+they brought with them something which, at this period, was more to be
+dreaded than men&mdash;the deadly musket. A few of these arms were carried
+by the invaders, while the defenders had not as yet even heard of or
+seen them.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_34" id="Ref_34" href="#Foot_34">[34]</a></span>
+The precautions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">{44}</a></span>
+of the garrison had robbed the northerners of all hope
+of successfully capturing the <i>pa</i> by assault, and so they
+sat down to besiege it in the most leisurely fashion.
+For several weeks besiegers and besieged watched each
+other across the wide lagoon which had been formed
+by the waters of the Waihi. At last Te Rauparaha and
+his people, growing weary of the enforced inactivity,
+sent proposals of peace to Huri-whenua. These were
+accepted, and subsequently ratified, but not before the
+pride of Ngati-Toa had been salved by their insistence
+upon a quaint condition. Te Rauparaha, recognising
+that the damming of the Waihi stream had been the
+means of frustrating his plans, demanded that, before
+the siege was raised, the dam should be removed. The
+point was conceded and the barrier broken down;
+and, as the waters rushed back into their bed, the
+northerners ostentatiously discharged their muskets in
+token of victory, and "then," says a Maori chronicler,
+"this ignorant people of these parts heard for the first
+time the noise of that weapon, the gun." The war party
+remained for some time on amicable terms at Te
+Taniwha, and before they had resolved to return home
+they were importuned to engage in further aggressions
+by Te Puoho, of whom we shall hear more anon. This
+warrior was a man of influence amongst the Ngati-Tama
+tribe, who held what has been called "the gate of
+Taranaki"; and it was due to the numerous connections
+by marriage between the northerners and Ngati-Tama
+that the former had been permitted to pass unmolested
+to the attack upon Te Taniwha. Te Puoho now sought
+recompense for his friendship by enlisting the sympathies
+of the northern leaders in the redress of his
+own grievances. He solicited their aid in an attack
+upon Tatara-i-maka <i>pa</i>, the home of those who had
+been responsible for the death of his sister not long
+before.</p>
+
+<p>Obedient to Te Puoho's summons, and eager to secure mats and heads and
+slaves, the war party marched upon the <i>pa</i>, which stood with its
+terraced ramparts upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">{45}</a></span>
+the sea-coast eleven miles south-west of New Plymouth.
+Seeing the invaders approach, the defenders went out
+to meet them, and gave them battle on the open space
+in front of the <i>pa</i>; but the sound of the guns, and the
+sight of men falling as by the hand of some invisible
+enemy, so terrorised the defenders that their lines were
+soon broken, and they fled, a demoralised host, back
+to their stronghold, which was immediately stormed and
+taken with great slaughter. This incident inspired the
+following lament, which was composed by one of the
+Taranaki people, in memory of those who fell at
+Tatara-i-maka:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Sweet is the Spring, the September month,</span>
+<span class="i2">When brilliant Canopus stands aloft,</span>
+<span class="i2">As I lay within my solitary house,</span>
+<span class="i2">Dazed with sad thoughts for my people</span>
+<span class="i2">Departed in death like a flash.</span>
+<span class="i2">To the cave of Rangi-totohu&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Emblem of sad disaster&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">They are gone by the leadership</span>
+<span class="i2">Of Uru, of the fearsome name.</span>
+<span class="i2">'Twas there at the hill of Tatara-i-maka</span>
+<span class="i2">The foe advanced in wedge-like form,</span>
+<span class="i2">Whilst our gathered people bid defiance</span>
+<span class="i2">At the entrance of the <i>pa</i>,</span>
+<span class="i2">Where Muru-paenga<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_35" id="Ref_35" href="#Foot_35">[35]</a></span>
+forced his way&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">The army-raiser, the leader&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">His was the fatal blow delivered,</span>
+<span class="i2">At the ascent of Tuhi-mata:</span>
+<span class="i2">Hence I am dried up here in sorrow."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">{46}</a></span>
+From Tatara-i-maka the <i>taua</i> moved southwards, attacking
+Mounu-kahawai as they went. This <i>pa</i> was taken under cover of
+the smoke caused by firing the dry <i>raupo</i> which grew in the
+neighbouring swamps, and then Tapui-nikau was invested. Here the
+defenders, though fighting only with their <i>rakau maori</i>, or
+native weapons, made so gallant a resistance that not even the guns of
+the invaders could penetrate it. They had filled the fighting towers
+of the <i>pa</i> with huge boulders and smaller stones, and the
+branches of the trees which overhung the trenches were lined with men,
+who handed the missiles to those best able to drop them upon the enemy
+as they swarmed round the walls.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_36" id="Ref_36" href="#Foot_36">[36]</a></span>
+Changing their tactics, the
+invaders drew off to a position which closed all communication with
+the <i>pa</i>, and at the same time gave them complete control of the
+surrounding country, so as to prevent the possibility of succour
+reaching the beleaguered <i>pa</i>. It was during the respite from
+active hostilities thus secured that there occurred one of those
+strange incidents which, though common enough in Maori warfare, appear
+so anomalous in the light of European custom. Te Ratutonu, one of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">{47}</a></span>
+defending chiefs, had been so conspicuous in repelling
+attacks that his gallantry and skill in arms became the
+subject of universal admiration throughout the northern
+camp. But not alone upon the men had his bravery
+made its impression. Rangi Topeora, Te Rangihaeata's
+sister, had witnessed his prowess, and, charmed by his
+handsome figure and manly strength, had been seized
+with a desire to have the hero for her husband. When
+the clash of arms had ceased, she persuaded her uncle,
+Te Rauparaha, to have Ratutonu "called," a ceremony
+which was performed by some one approaching the
+beleaguered <i>pa</i>, and under a guarantee of safety, inviting
+the warrior into the camp. Ratutonu obeyed the
+summons, and came down from the <i>pa</i> to meet Topeora;
+and to her he was married after the orators had delivered
+themselves of speeches rich in eulogy of their new-found
+kinsman, and full of admiration for the virtues of his
+bride.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_37" id="Ref_37" href="#Foot_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This unexpected union had raised a hope in the breast of the defenders
+that the rigour of the siege would now be relaxed, and that peace
+would be made as a fitting sequel to the romantic nuptials. In this
+they were, however, doomed to disappointment, for the Nga-Puhi,
+knowing that the food of the <i>pa</i> must be failing, would listen
+to no suggestion of compromise. But, moved by a more generous impulse,
+Ngati-Awa, the Taranaki section of the allies, entered into secret
+communication with the garrison, and finally arranged that the
+defenders should be allowed to pass through their lines by night and
+escape to the neighbouring hills. Next morning, great was the
+excitement in the camp when it was discovered that there was neither
+smoke ascending from the fires nor sound from the ramparts of the
+<i>pa</i>. The enemy had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">{48}</a></span>
+slipped from under their very hand; had flown from
+under their very eyes; and, as Ngati-Awa kept their own
+counsel, there was not a trace to show or suggest how
+the trick had been accomplished. Nothing, therefore,
+remained for the outwitted besiegers to do but avail
+themselves of what plunder had fallen into their
+hands, and make the best of their way back to their
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the return of the <i>taua</i> to Kawhia, its composite forces
+separated and departed to their respective districts, but not before
+the plans of a still more extensive campaign had been discussed. These
+operations, however, did not commence for a year, and, in the
+meantime, the seriousness of his position in relation to the Waikato
+people was more than ever apparent to Te Rauparaha, whose inability to
+come into contact with the whalers, and the consequent difficulty he
+experienced in becoming possessed of muskets, brought him much
+"darkness of heart." But, as he meditated, his anxiety of mind was to
+some extent relieved by the arrival at Kawhia of the northern portion
+of the war party, the raising of which had previously been agreed
+upon. In accordance with this arrangement, Tuwhare, accompanied by
+Patuone, and his brother, that picturesque figure in Maori history,
+Tamati Waka Nene<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_38" id="Ref_38" href="#Foot_38">[38]</a></span>&mdash;whose
+influence and eloquence were subsequently
+to be so powerfully used to secure the acceptance by the natives of
+the Treaty of Waitangi&mdash;left Hokianga in November, 1819, and
+proceeding by a circuitous route which embraced the country of the
+Waitemata, reached the home of Te Rauparaha, and found there a force
+of four hundred men waiting to welcome them.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 570px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="boyd" id="boyd">
+  <img width="556" height="400" alt="boyd" src="images/071-boyd.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">BURNING OF THE "BOYD".<br />
+             From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland,
+             by kind permission of the artist.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Accredited estimates give the strength of the combined
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">{49}</a></span>
+contingents at fully one thousand men, and they were
+armed with a greater number of muskets than had ever
+previously been carried into the field by any Maori
+organisation. A further distinction was the presence of
+many leaders whose deeds were to be deeply imprinted
+upon the records of Maori history. Each tribal section
+was under chiefs who are acknowledged to have been
+amongst the classic warriors of their time; so that, in the
+matter of skilful direction and heroic example, the <i>taua</i>
+might consider itself more than usually fortunate. The
+primary purpose of the expedition appears to have been
+no more than a love of adventure and a desire to kill
+and eat a few of their enemies; but embraced within
+this scheme was a secondary motive, which involved
+the redress of a grievance which Te Puoho had acquired
+against the Whanganui people, whom he considered
+accountable for a slight put upon his daughter.
+The friendly relations which prevailed between Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Tama ensured the war party an uncontested
+passage through "the gate of Taranaki"; and,
+although Ngati-Awa assembled to oppose them, they
+were satisfied to desist, upon Te Rauparaha consenting
+to pay the tribute of ownership by requesting permission
+to pass through their territory.</p>
+
+<p>The first important halt was made at Manu-korihi, on the north bank of
+the Waitara River, where a stay of some length was made for the
+purpose of finally determining the order of their plans. The
+Manu-korihi people became deeply interested in the muskets which the
+visitors had brought with them; and curious to observe their
+effect&mdash;at the expense of some one else&mdash;they persuaded Te Rauparaha
+and his friends to commence hostilities against the famous
+Puke-rangiora <i>pa</i>, whose inhabitants had been guilty of some
+cause of offence. The invitation to attack the great stronghold was
+accepted with alacrity; but when the war party presented themselves
+before the walls, they found it so strongly fortified and so keenly
+defended that discretion dictated a less valiant course, and so they
+passed Puke-rangiora,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">{50}</a></span>
+and went over the mountain track to Te Kerikeringa
+in search of a meaner enemy. This <i>pa</i> was a
+central point in the system of defence set up by Ngati-Maru,
+who had established populous settlements and
+made great clearings in the forest east of the present town
+of Stratford. Their great fighting chief was Tutahanga,
+who in former days had subdued the pride of both the
+Waikato and the Nga-Puhi. Now he was old, but his
+martial bearing was still such that, when the invaders
+inquired of their guides how they might distinguish him
+from those of inferior rank, they were told, "He is a
+star."</p>
+
+<p>Graced by the red plumes of the tropic bird, the northerners moved up
+to the attack, but were met with so stout a resistance by the
+defenders, who had donned the white feathers of the sacred crane,
+that, in spite of their muskets, their combination broke, and they
+retired in disorder to the western slopes, where they were compelled
+to resort to the tactics of a regular siege. From these heights, which
+dominated the <i>pa</i>, they were occasionally able to shoot down an
+unwary defender who exposed himself to their fire; but they did not
+rely entirely upon this method of fighting to effect their conquest.
+Frequent assaults were made upon the gateway, in one of which they
+succeeded in shooting Tutahanga, and in another Patu-wairua, his
+successor in command. Before his death, Patu-wairua, persuaded that
+the <i>pa</i> could not hold out much longer, desired to make peace if
+possible; but his conciliatory views were overruled by the less
+diplomatic leaders of the tribe. Patu-wairua then sat down and sang a
+lament for his people, whose impending fate he deplored with all the
+affection of a father. In the next sally he was killed in the
+fore-front of the fighting line, bravely sustaining the unequal
+contest, in which the <i>mere</i> was matched against the musket.</p>
+
+<p>With their two great leaders gone and many of their tribesmen dead, a
+feeling of depression settled down upon the garrison, whose position
+was daily growing less
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">{51}</a></span>
+secure. But while they were sinking under the weariness
+begotten of incessant vigilance, a Maori-like episode
+occurred, in which the arts of the women were employed
+to do that in which the stalwart arms of the men had
+failed. As a last device, the Ngati-Maru generals hit
+upon the idea of sending all the young women of the <i>pa</i>
+into the camp of the invaders, to beguile the warriors
+with their charms, and so induce them temporarily to
+relax the severity of the siege. History does not record
+the fate of these maidens of Te Kerikeringa; but they
+deserve at least a certain immortality. For during the
+diversion thus caused the <i>pa</i> was silently evacuated,
+the survivors of the siege making their escape across the
+Waitara River along the Tara-mouku Valley, and through
+the dense forest which stretched for many miles into the
+heart of the island.</p>
+
+<p>The tidings that Kerikeringa had fallen spread with such rapidity
+that, before the rejoicings of the victors had concluded, the tribes
+to the southward had succeeded in concealing themselves within their
+mountain fastnesses. Consequently we hear of no conflicts with
+Ngati-Ruanui or Nga-Rauru, as the victorious <i>taua</i> passed over
+the old forest track which leads out into the open country near the
+town of Normanby. This peaceful passage was not interrupted until they
+reached the Whanganui River, where they found the resident tribes
+drawn up in battle array to oppose them at the Turua <i>pa</i>. This
+<i>pa</i> was situated on the eastern bank of the river, a little
+above the present town of Whanganui; but, in reaching it, the
+northerners were faced with a serious initial difficulty, inasmuch as
+they had no canoes of their own, and Te Anaua, of Whanganui, had taken
+the precaution to remove his flotilla to the opposite shore. But the
+ingenuity of Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha was equal to an emergency of
+that kind. Ordering their men into the neighbouring swamps, they
+employed a month in cutting dry <i>raupo</i> leaves, out of which they
+constructed a <i>mokihi</i> fleet, and on these vegetable rafts the
+whole force was eventually transported across the wide and deep river.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">{52}</a></span>
+The capture of the <i>pa</i> was a work of no great
+difficulty; for here, as elsewhere, the muskets exercised
+their terrifying influence upon natives coming into
+contact with them for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>Southward the march was once more directed, and skirmishes followed
+with Ngati-Apa in the Whangaehu and Rangitikei districts. No
+protracted fighting was possible where the panic-stricken inhabitants
+fled before the all-destroying guns. Across the Rangitikei the
+<i>taua</i> passed into the fertile district of the Manawatu, which
+since the traditional days of Whatonga had been the home of the
+Rangitane people. Of this hostile descent upon the coast the Rangitane
+people declare that they, secure in their mountain fortresses, heard
+nothing until the arrival of the war party at Otaki. Thither some of
+the children of Toki-poto, the chief at Hotuiti, near Awahou (Foxton),
+had gone on a visit to their friends; and there they met Te Rauparaha,
+who inquired of them the whereabouts of their people and the number
+and strength of their <i>pas</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The patronising and fatherly demeanour which this warrior could
+assume<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_39" id="Ref_39" href="#Foot_39">[39]</a></span>
+when his ends were better served by the concealment of his
+true purpose completely won the confidence of the lads, and, in their
+innocence of the man, to whom they were confiding the secrets of the
+tribe, they readily told him all that he wished to know. When the
+desired information had been obtained some of Te Rauparaha's followers
+proposed, as a precautionary measure, that the children should be
+killed; but Te Rauparaha, more far-seeing than they, interposed, for
+he had not yet exhausted their usefulness. In the depths of his
+cunning he had conceived the idea of making the children of Toki-poto
+the instruments by which that chief should be delivered into
+Ngati-Toa's hands. Accordingly, he resisted the demand for their
+blood, saying, "No, let them alone, they are only children. Rather let
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">{53}</a></span>
+us go and take Toki-poto out of the stern of the canoe."
+This was his expressive and figurative method of conveying
+to his warriors that he sought a more valuable
+trophy than the life of a child, and that he had resolved
+upon no less a scheme than the assault of the Hotuiti <i>pa</i>.
+To Mahuri, the eldest son of Toki-poto, he then turned,
+and in dulcet tones he said, "Go to your father, I will
+see him."</p>
+
+<p>Accompanied by the Ngati-Toa warriors and their leader, the lad led
+the way to a small lake <i>pa</i> at Hotuiti, whither Toki-poto had
+gone with the major portion of his people from their main settlement
+on the banks of the Manawatu River. The <i>pa</i> itself was built on
+one of the many miniature islets which dot the face of the lake; and,
+while Te Rauparaha and his followers lurked in the bush which fringed
+the margin, he sent the unsuspecting Mahuri to tell his father that Te
+Rauparaha wished to talk with him. The first thought to arise in the
+mind of the Rangitane chief was one of suspicion, and he at once
+exclaimed, "No, I will not go. I shall be slain." But the boy, into
+whose good graces Te Rauparaha had completely ingratiated himself,
+ridiculed these fears, and urged his father to go. To these entreaties,
+and possibly to fears of retaliation if he did not comply, Toki-poto
+at last yielded, and, taking a few of his people with him, went in his
+canoe, unarmed, to welcome his visitor.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had they reached the edge of the wood when they were set upon
+by the secreted warriors, and in the massacre which followed the chief
+and a number of his followers were killed, the remainder, with the
+exception of two, being taken prisoners. The two who escaped were
+Mahuri, the innocent cause of the disaster, and Te Aweawe, the father
+of the well-known family who still reside upon the Rangitane lands in
+the Manawatu. Side by side with Toki-poto, there fell that day another
+chief named Te Waraki, whose greenstone <i>mere</i>, a weapon famous
+in the annals of the tribe, was buried on the site of the massacre by
+the mourning people, and there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">{54}</a></span>
+it remained hidden for full sixty years, until it was discovered in 1882.</p>
+
+<p>Strange to say, Te Rauparaha did not press the advantage gained by the
+removal of Hotuiti's chief by attacking the <i>pa</i>, but contented
+himself with carrying off his prisoners to Otaki, where he rejoined
+Waka Nene. Here the two chiefs rested for a time, pursuing vigilant
+inquiries into the number and disposition of the resident tribes. They
+visited for the first time the island stronghold of Kapiti, and found
+it in the possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people, under the
+chieftainship of two men named Potau and Kotuku. The visit was made
+with a simulation of friendship, for the time was not ripe for an
+attack; and the northerners were satisfied for the moment with
+examining the strategical features of the island, and extorting from
+Potau and Kotuku a considerable quantity of the greenstone which they
+had accumulated during the course of their traffic with the Ngai-Tahu
+of the South Island.</p>
+
+<p>Refreshed by their sojourn at Otaki, and considerably enlightened as
+to its military possibilities, the northern war party then pushed on
+southwards, fighting as they went, first at Wai-mapihi, a fortified
+<i>pa</i>, the remains of which are still to be seen not far from the
+Puke-rua railway station. The <i>pa</i> was captured, it is said, by
+treachery suggested by Te Rauparaha, and the Muaupoko, whose valour
+had defied the most desperate efforts of their assailants, were hunted
+in and through the bush by their fierce pursuers. Here, and at
+Porirua, a number of canoes fell into the hands of the invaders, some
+of whom now decided to vary the monotony of the land journey by the
+exhilaration of the sea route. This determination ended disastrously.
+Ignorant of the silent currents and treacherous tides of Cook Strait,
+the Nga-Puhi men of two canoes were swamped while taking the outer
+passage in rounding Sinclair Head, and fully one hundred of them were
+drowned. The remainder of the canoes, steering a course inside the
+reefs, escaped the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">{55}</a></span>
+danger of shipwreck, and reached Whanganui-a-Tara<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_40" id="Ref_40" href="#Foot_40">[40]</a></span>
+almost simultaneously with the party who had journeyed
+by land.</p>
+
+<p>The country surrounding this great basin was then held by the
+Ngati-Ira, a sub-branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, whose
+possessions practically extended from Gisborne to Cape Palliser, on
+the eastern side of the North Island. They were a brave and numerous
+people, and when their <i>pa</i> at Pa-ranga-hau was attacked, they
+fought with a desperation which extorted admiration even from their
+enemies. Though considerable numbers of Ngati-Ira were killed in this
+conflict, Nga-Puhi did not escape scatheless; for one native account
+says: "Ngati-Ira charged them in the face of the flames of their
+muskets, and with their native weapons killed many Nga-Puhi." Hunger
+was now beginning to assert its inconvenience; and the war party were
+at this time compelled to live exclusively on the flesh of their
+slaves, of whom large numbers were killed, each chief undertaking
+successively to provide the necessary supply. Disease also attacked
+their camps, of which there were two; and some mysterious pestilence
+was responsible for the death of many warriors and several chiefs,
+whose heads were preserved and their bodies burned, to prevent them
+falling into the hands of the enemy. Scarcely had the stricken host
+recovered from the prevailing sickness than the Ngati-Ira swept down
+upon the bivouac at Te Aro in the dead of night, and, in the first
+shock of the surprise, inflicted sore loss upon the sleeping warriors.
+Thanks to their guns, the northerners were ultimately successful in
+beating off the attack, and immediately afterwards the pas which
+skirted the harbour were deserted by their inhabitants, who, reluctant
+to accept the responsibility of battle under such unequal conditions,
+beat a stealthy retreat into the Hutt Valley, whither the northern
+chiefs followed them, though their force was now only a remnant of
+what it had formerly been. They travelled by canoe up the river which
+waters the valley, and, as they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">{56}</a></span>
+went, the resident people, confident in their numbers,
+collected along the banks to jeer at them, and contemptuously
+invited them on shore to be eaten.</p>
+
+<p>The details of this campaign are but a repetition of successive
+slaughters; for the panic created by the strange sound and deadly
+power of the gun left the unhappy defenders no spirit to resist the
+onslaughts of their assailants. For several weeks they remained in the
+valley, guided from <i>pa</i> to <i>pa</i> by their slaves, who, to
+save their own lives, were forced to sacrifice those of their
+tribesmen. Every nook of the dark forest was penetrated, and even the
+steeps of the Rimutaka Range were climbed in vengeful pursuit of the
+fugitives. In connection with these man&#339;uvres the reputation of Te
+Rauparaha has again been besmirched by suggestions of treachery&mdash;and
+treachery of the blackest type; for nothing could be more hurtful to
+the honour of a high chief than that he should prove faithless while
+feigning hospitality. It has been recorded by the Nga-Puhi chroniclers
+that, as they pushed on through the forest, they came upon a strongly
+built and populous <i>pa</i>, which left some room for doubt as to
+what the issue of an attack would be. To tempt the warriors into the
+open was the policy advocated by Te Rauparaha, and to achieve this end
+he sent messengers to the Ngati-Ira chiefs with offers of peace. To
+render the bait more seductive, a feast was prepared, to which the
+warriors of the Hutt were invited; and, on assembling, a northern man
+sat down beside each one, prepared at a sign from their chief to
+spring upon the unsuspecting guests. Into the <i>marae</i> the women
+brought the food, and, as the unsuspecting Ngati-Ira were revelling in
+the delights of the banquet, the fatal signal was given by Te
+Rauparaha, and a massacre commenced, which ended only with the capture
+of the <i>pa</i> and the rout of its inhabitants.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_41" id="Ref_41" href="#Foot_41">[41]</a></span>
+Whether the name
+of Te Rauparaha will ever be cleared of this odious imputation which the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">{57}</a></span>
+Nga-Puhi record has branded upon it is uncertain.
+But, as a counterpoise, it must be remembered that those
+who have made the accusations were at least willing participators
+in the schemes which they ascribe to him, and
+that, if the plans were his, the execution of them was
+undoubtedly theirs.</p>
+
+<p>Having exhausted the field of conquest open to them in the valley of
+the Hutt, the war party returned to the harbour where their canoes
+were beached, and, undeterred by the fact that their numbers had now
+dwindled to less than three hundred, they set off by sea for Palliser
+Bay, by which route they had determined to enter the Wairarapa. A
+successful reprisal by the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, who had cut off and
+annihilated a small party of the northerners, was the immediate
+justification for this new development in the plans of Tuwhare and Te
+Rauparaha. The opposing forces met at the Tauhere Nikau <i>pa</i>,
+near Featherston, which was strongly fortified and bravely defended;
+but the muskets which these rude imitators of Cortés carried with them
+were here, as elsewhere, sufficient to spread consternation through
+the opposing ranks, and the <i>pa</i> soon fell before the Ngati-Toa
+assault. Numbers of the besieged escaped to the hills, where they
+suffered the biting pangs of hunger, and the bitterness of soul
+inseparable from the aftermath of war.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_42" id="Ref_42" href="#Foot_42">[42]</a></span>
+Others, keeping to the open
+country, were pursued as far as Porangahau, in Hawke's Bay; and then
+the war party, weary of their bloody work, made their way back to
+Tauhere Nikau, where they spent some days demonstrating their contempt
+for the enemy by eating the bodies of the slain.</p>
+
+<p>When hunger and tribal hatred had been sated, the victorious warriors,
+observing ominous signs of a gathering storm, returned to the west
+coast, and remained for a few days' rest at Omere.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_43" id="Ref_43" href="#Foot_43">[43]</a></span>
+While here,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">{58}</a></span>
+the eagle eye of Waka Nene descried a vessel<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_44" id="Ref_44" href="#Foot_44">[44]</a></span>
+in full sail
+beating through Cook Strait. To the quick intellect of
+the chief, the sight of the ship opened up in an instant
+fresh possibilities; for he knew what intercourse with the
+<i>pakeha</i> had done for the Nga-Puhi, and he saw no reason
+why the same advantages should not be shared by his
+friend and ally, Te Rauparaha. Doubtless that chief had
+confided his fears to Waka Nene, and they had probably
+consulted long and anxiously as to the growing weakness
+of the position at Kawhia. When, therefore, Tamati
+beheld the passing ship, he saw at a glance that, if
+this part of the coast was frequented by vessels of the
+white man, it offered the same facilities for obtaining arms
+and ammunition which Hongi enjoyed at the Bay of
+Islands. With unrestrained excitement he called out to
+his comrade: "Oh, Raha,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_45" id="Ref_45" href="#Foot_45">[45]</a></span>
+do you see that people sailing
+on the sea? They are a very good people; and if you
+conquer this land and hold intercourse with them, you
+will obtain guns and powder and become very great."
+This optimistic little speech was apparently all that was
+required to confirm Te Rauparaha in his growing desire
+to take the decisive step of migrating with the whole
+of his people from the storm-threatened Kawhia; and
+when the chief turned his face towards home, it was
+with the full resolve to come back at the first convenient
+season and make the country his own.</p>
+
+<p>The homeward journey was characterised by the same ruthless behaviour
+towards the resident people which had been practised on the way down,
+those who were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">{59}</a></span>
+captured being killed and eaten without any unnecessary ceremony.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_46" id="Ref_46" href="#Foot_46">[46]</a></span>
+What occurred within the confines of the
+Manawatu district we do not know, because the present-day
+representatives of the Rangitane people declare that
+they saw and heard nothing of the invaders. As they
+proceeded further north, however, we hear more of
+them; for while they were in the Rangitikei district an
+incident occurred which it suited the Ngati-Apa people
+not to forget. In one of the many excursions made
+into the interior in search of prisoners, a young chieftainess,
+named Pikinga, was captured by a party of Te
+Rangihaeata's men. Pikinga was the sister of Arapata
+Hiria, the Ngati-Apa chief against whom Waka Nene
+and Te Rauparaha were operating at the moment; and,
+if the gossip of the day is to be believed, she was
+possessed of no mean personal charms. She, at least, was
+attractive enough to captivate the most ruthless of the
+party, for it was not long before Te Rangihaeata fell a
+victim to her charms and made her his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Whether this was merely a passing whim on the part of an amorous young
+warrior or a move in a much deeper game of diplomacy, it would be
+difficult to say at this distance of time, particularly as each tribe
+now imputes to the action of the chief a different motive. The
+Ngati-Apa claim, with some insistence, that the marriage was the
+expression of a bond of perpetual peace between them and Te Rauparaha:
+while the Ngati-Raukawa, to whose lot it fell some fifty years later
+to contest the point, contend that no such wide construction could be
+put upon Rangihaeata's action, and that, even if it involved the
+tribes in a treaty of friendship at the time, the compact was
+subsequently denounced by Te Rauparaha on account of the treachery of
+Ngati-Apa. It is quite within the region of possibility that Te Rauparaha,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">{60}</a></span>
+having regard to the political aspect of the situation,
+would, so soon as he had measured their strength, lead
+the Ngati-Apa to believe that he desired to cultivate their
+goodwill; because immediately he had determined to
+seize the country opposite Kapiti, he would perceive the
+wisdom of having some friendly tribe stationed between
+him and his northern enemies, upon whom he could rely
+to withstand the first shock of battle in the event of a
+Waikato invasion. Such tactics would not be foreign to
+the Ngati-Toa leader, for that part of his life which was
+not spent in battle was occupied in the development of
+schemes whereby the efforts of one tribe were neutralised
+by the efforts of another; and if he could make pawns
+of the Ngati-Apa, he would chuckle to himself and say,
+"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>But Te Rauparaha was not the man to seriously contemplate anything in
+the way of a permanent peace with Ngati-Apa, or with any one else whom
+he felt strong enough to destroy. And even assuming that he encouraged
+them in the belief that Rangihaeata's devotion to Pikinga was a common
+bond between them, he would not dream of maintaining such an
+understanding a moment longer than it suited his purpose. It seems,
+therefore, more likely that, when he satisfied himself that the people
+of the Rangitikei were no match for his own warriors, and that he
+could subdue them at his leisure, he was at some pains to impress them
+with a sense of his magnanimity, but only because he desired to use
+them as a buffer between himself and the Waikatos. Years afterwards,
+when he felt secure against invasion, he repudiated all friendship
+with Ngati-Apa, and ordered his people to wage eternal war against
+them. The claim which the Ngati-Apa subsequently made to the land in
+the Rangitikei-Manawatu districts, on the ground that they were never
+conquered by the Ngati-Toa, because this marriage protected them from
+conquest, was therefore not well founded, the ordinary occurrence of a
+chief taking a captive woman to be his slave-wife being invested with
+a significance which it did not possess.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">{61}</a></span>
+Upon the consummation of this happy event, the war
+party, laden with spoil and prisoners, made their way
+back to the north. When they reached Kawhia, after an
+absence of eleven months, Tuwhare being dead,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_47" id="Ref_47" href="#Foot_47">[47]</a></span>
+Waka
+Nene, who had now assumed command of the northern
+contingent, took his leave of Te Rauparaha, and Te
+Rauparaha prepared to take leave of the land of his
+fathers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_22" id="Foot_22" href="#Ref_22">[22]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Braves.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_23" id="Foot_23" href="#Ref_23">[23]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Waitohi had other children, one of whom, Topeora, afterwards
+became the mother of Matene Te Whiwhi, one of the most influential and
+friendly chiefs on the west coast of the North Island. Topeora is
+perhaps more famed than any other Maori lady, for the number of her
+poetical effusions, which generally take the form of <i>kaioraora</i>,
+or cursing songs, in which she expresses the utmost hatred of her
+enemies. Her songs are full of historical allusions, and are therefore
+greatly valued. She also bore the reputation of being something of a
+beauty in her day.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_24" id="Foot_24" href="#Ref_24">[24]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+There appears to be some doubt as to the exact locality of Te
+Rauparaha's birth, some authorities giving it as Maungatautari and
+others as Kawhia.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_25" id="Foot_25" href="#Ref_25">[25]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Marore was killed by a member of the Waikato tribe&mdash;it is said,
+at the instigation of Te Wherowhero&mdash;while she was attending a
+<i>tangi</i> in their district, about the year 1820.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_26" id="Foot_26" href="#Ref_26">[26]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+War party.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_27" id="Foot_27" href="#Ref_27">[27]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The traditional accounts of the Maoris have it that at this
+period Te Rauparaha was "famous in matters relative to warfare,
+cultivating generosity, welcoming of strangers and war parties."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_28" id="Foot_28" href="#Ref_28">[28]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This tribe was afterwards partially exterminated during the raids
+of Hongi and Te Waharoa.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_29" id="Foot_29" href="#Ref_29">[29]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"When Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of Whanga-roa,
+in 1819, the terrified people described him as having twelve muskets,
+while the name of Te Korokoro, then a great chief of the Bay of
+Islands, who was known to possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with
+terror for upwards of two hundred miles beyond his own district"
+(<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_30" id="Foot_30" href="#Ref_30">[30]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"If we take the whole catalogue of dreadful massacres they (the
+New Zealanders) have been charged with, and (setting aside partiality
+for our own countrymen) allow them to be carefully examined, it will
+be found that we have invariably been the aggressors: and when we have
+given serious cause of offence, can we be so irrational as to express
+astonishment that a savage should seek revenge?" (<i>Earle</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_31" id="Foot_31" href="#Ref_31">[31]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Marsden, writing of this time, says that such was the dread of
+the Maoris that he was compelled to wait for more than three years
+before he could induce a captain to bring the missionaries to New
+Zealand, as "no master of a vessel would venture for fear of his ship
+and crew falling a sacrifice to the natives." As an extra precaution,
+all vessels which did visit the country were supplied with boarding
+nets.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_32" id="Foot_32" href="#Ref_32">[32]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Whare-mawhai, sister of Huri-whenua, chief of the Ngati-Rahiri,
+who lived at Waihi, four or five miles north of Waitara.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_33" id="Foot_33" href="#Ref_33">[33]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Tuwhare belonged to the Roroa branch of the Nga-Puhi tribe.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_34" id="Foot_34" href="#Ref_34">[34]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When the musket was first introduced into Taranaki, a slave was
+very anxious to know how it was used. A Nga-Puhi warrior explained to
+him the method of loading and priming, then told him to look down the
+muzzle. The slave did so, whereupon the Nga-Puhi pulled the trigger,
+and the top of the unfortunate slave's head was blown off, much to the
+amusement of the surrounding crowd.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_35" id="Foot_35" href="#Ref_35">[35]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Associated with Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha in this raid was another
+and equally famous chief, named Muru-paenga. That he was a great
+warrior is proved by the fact that his enemies speak of him in the
+lament already quoted as "the army-raiser, the leader," while his
+friend Te Taoho, in a <i>tangi</i> composed after his fall, refers to
+his "warlike eloquence," and compares him to "a richly-laden vessel,
+with all knowledge and great courage." But Muru-paenga is not merely
+famed in song, for his achievements have in a measure passed into
+proverb. In the taking of <i>pas</i>, one of his favourite stratagems
+was to stealthily approach the enemy's fort at nightfall, and pounce
+upon it with the first light of dawn. This involved the sleeping of
+his men amongst the tender ferns growing on the outer edge of the
+bush, which in the morning necessarily bore a trodden-down appearance,
+a fact which did not escape the keen observation of those who had oft
+been the victims of his tactics. Consequently, when Muru-paenga was
+killed by Nga-Puhi in 1826, the joyful news went through the country
+which he had previously devastated, and the saying was composed, in
+significant suggestion that the ferns and the people would no longer
+be crushed, "Rejoice, O ye little ferns of the woods, Muru-paenga is
+dead."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_36" id="Foot_36" href="#Ref_36">[36]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"During the siege, Tawhai (afterwards Mohi Tawhai), father of the
+late Hone Mohi Tawhai, M.H.R., who was with the northern contingent of
+the taua in the attack, was close under one of the towers of the
+<i>pa</i> when one of the defenders hurled a big stone at him which
+split open his head. But by careful doctoring he recovered&mdash;careful
+doctoring according to Maori ideas meant that they poured hot oil into
+the wound and then sewed it up" (<i>Polynesian Journal</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_37" id="Foot_37" href="#Ref_37">[37]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Topeora did not secure her husband without a struggle, for
+another lady, Neke-papa, had also taken a fancy to the handsome
+warrior, and as Te Ratutonu was leaving the <i>pa</i>, a dispute arose
+as to which should have him. But Topeora, being fleet of foot, ran to
+meet the advancing warrior, and cast her <i>topuni</i>, or dog-skin
+mat, over him, "and this being in accordance with Maori custom, Te
+Ratutonu became the husband of Topeora."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_38" id="Foot_38" href="#Ref_38">[38]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+His home was on the banks of the Hokianga River, on the western
+side of the country, opposite to the Bay of Islands. He afterwards
+became a convert to the Wesleyan Mission, and received at his baptism
+the prefix "Thomas Walker" to his old Maori name of Nene, hence the
+name by which he is known in history&mdash;Tamati Waka Nene.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_39" id="Foot_39" href="#Ref_39">[39]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The late Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, who knew Te Rauparaha well, has
+assured the writer that when it suited him the wily old chief could
+"lend a most angelic expression to his countenance."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_40" id="Foot_40" href="#Ref_40">[40]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now known as Wellington.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_41" id="Foot_41" href="#Ref_41">[41]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"All these works of treachery, ambushes, murders, and all these
+wrongs done by the <i>taua</i> of Nga-Puhi, were taught them by Te
+Rauparaha" (<i>Nga-Puhi account</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_42" id="Foot_42" href="#Ref_42">[42]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The female prisoners were secured by plaiting flax ropes into
+their long hair, and the men were imprisoned in enclosures made for
+the purpose.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_43" id="Foot_43" href="#Ref_43">[43]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Omere is a high bluff just to the south of Ohariu Bay. This bluff
+was the place which Maoris always visited to see if the Straits were
+calm enough to cross: hence the reference in the old song&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">Where Omere projects outside,</span>
+<span class="i2">The look-out Mount for calms.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_44" id="Foot_44" href="#Ref_44">[44]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It has been suggested that this vessel was either the <i>Wostok</i>
+or the <i>Mirny</i> of the Russian scientific expedition sent out by
+Czar Alexander I. in 1819, and which visited Queen Charlotte Sound. If
+this is so, the date of this event was either late in May or early in
+June, 1820.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_45" id="Foot_45" href="#Ref_45">[45]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A contraction for Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_46" id="Foot_46" href="#Ref_46">[46]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On one occasion, when Te Rauparaha was conversing with Mr. George
+Clarke, then Protector of the Aborigines, the latter asked him how he
+made his way from north to south. With a wicked twinkle in his eye, Te
+Rauparaha replied, "Why, of course, I ate my way through."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_47" id="Foot_47" href="#Ref_47">[47]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On reaching Whanganui, a division in the councils of the leaders
+took place, Ngati-Toa and Nga-Puhi remaining on the coast, while
+Tuwhare made an intrepid dash up the Whanganui River with his own
+immediate followers. They fought their way up into the "cliff
+country," in the upper reaches of the river, and here, in an
+engagement at the Kai-whakauka <i>pa</i>, Tuwhare received a wound on
+the head from which he shortly afterwards died. On receiving the fatal
+blow, he contemptuously remarked to his assailant: "If thine had been
+the arm of a warrior I should have been killed, but it is the arm of a
+cultivator."</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">{62}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER IV</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE LAND OF PROMISE</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">When</span>
+the period of feasting and enjoyment, which invariably followed
+upon the return of a successful Maori war party, had terminated at
+Kawhia, Te Rauparaha immediately became involved in a fresh struggle
+with Waikato. The cause of the hostility was remote; but, as Waikato
+had vowed to drive him out, no pretext was too slight upon which to
+base a quarrel. Thus the killing of one of their chiefs by a Taranaki
+warrior, to whom Te Rauparaha was related, was sufficient to justify
+the marching of a large war party against him. Their force advanced in
+two sections: the one came down the inland track, and the other, which
+was to actively engage Te Rauparaha, entered Kawhia from the sea. Two
+<i>pas</i>, Tau-mata-Kauae and Te Kawau, speedily fell before the
+invaders, and again Ngati-Toa were defeated at the battle of Te
+Karaka, on the borders of Lake Taharoa, after an heroic struggle, in
+which it is said that three hundred Ngati-Toa fought more than a
+thousand Waikatos. These disasters were indeed darkening the outlook
+for Ngati-Toa, and the position has been graphically described by one
+native historian, who states that "the losses of the tribe of Te
+Rauparaha were very great; by day and by night they were killed by
+Ngati-Pou." Success had also attended the arms of the section of
+Waikato who, under Te Wherowhero, had swept through the Waipa Valley
+and across the forest plateau until they reached the Wai-Kawau
+<i>pa</i> on the sea-coast, just north of the Mokau River. This they
+stormed and sacked by force of overpowering
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">{63}</a></span>
+numbers, and, surfeited with victory, they
+united with their comrades at Te Karaka, and then
+triumphantly marched home.</p>
+
+<p>With so many of his <i>pas</i> obliterated and his warriors slain, Te
+Rauparaha retired upon Te Arawi, a coastal stronghold built upon the
+summit of a forbidding-looking rock, which at full tide is completely
+surrounded by a breaking sea. Here he had leisure to reflect upon the
+lessening radius of his freedom and to formulate his plans for
+extricating his people from a position of increasing peril; and we may
+fairly assume that it was now that his final decision to migrate from
+Kawhia to Kapiti was taken. Once resolved on this course, he applied
+himself systematically to the task of persuading his people to enter
+into the spirit of the scheme, over which he himself had become so
+enthusiastic, and which he now deemed necessary to their safety. The
+task was by no means a simple one, for the impending danger was not so
+apparent to all the tribe as it was to their chief; and, moreover,
+there centred in the spot which he was asking them to leave the
+traditions and associations of all the centuries which had passed
+since their forefathers had first landed there from the pilgrim canoe.
+They knew each nook and corner, from the caves to the hill-tops, every
+point of which spoke to them of the beloved past. Here a rock which
+had been a trysting-place in some tragic love affair, there a haunt of
+spirits, yonder a burying-ground made sacred by the bones of their
+ancestors, and there again a battlefield hallowed by the memory of the
+fallen. Each of these was a tie dear to the Maori; and they were loath
+to leave all that linked them to the past and face a future full of
+doubt and uncertainty.</p>
+
+<p>But the confidence which Te Rauparaha had inspired, and the prospect
+of guns and ammunition in abundance, gradually overcame these
+sentimental objections; and before long the Ngati-Toa people agreed to
+follow their chief whithersoever he might lead. Te Rauparaha was,
+however, prudent enough to recognise that his own
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">{64}</a></span>
+section of the tribe, though brave at heart, were few in
+numbers for so serious an undertaking as the conquest of
+a new territory. As soon, therefore, as he had secured
+the consent of his own tribe, he paid a visit to Maungatautari,
+for the purpose of obtaining the co-operation
+of Ngati-Raukawa. With them he was no more successful
+at first than he had been with his own people. He
+pointed out their liability to attack, the difficulty in
+obtaining guns, shut out as they were from communication
+with the whalers, and the prospect of an easy victory
+over the weakened tribes of the coast. But they were
+reluctant to give up all that they possessed for a visionary
+and problematical success, and it was not till quite a year
+later that he was able even partially to break down their
+resistance. In pressing his claims upon the Ngati-Raukawa,
+he was materially aided by a somewhat
+romantic incident which occurred during his stay at
+Maungatautari. Although his mother was a Ngati-Raukawa
+woman, and by virtue of that fact he could
+claim chieftainship amongst them, Te Rauparaha was not
+regarded as a particularly brilliant star in their peerage;
+but what he lacked in pedigree was more than compensated
+for by his mental initiative and personal
+courage. Conscious of his own power, he never lost an
+opportunity of impressing it upon others; and it is therefore
+not a matter for surprise that he made the death
+of the Ngati-Raukawa chief the occasion of advancing his
+own claims to leadership.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 530px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="arawi" id="arawi">
+  <img width="530" height="400" alt="arawi" src="images/089-arawi.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA. From which the Ngati-Toa
+                      migration commenced.<br /><i>Photo by Jackson.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus it was a fortunate circumstance for him that, while he was
+advocating the conquest of Kapiti, Hape Taurangi, the great chief of
+Maungatautari, was seized with a fatal illness, and, while the whole
+tribe sat silently waiting for the end, the question of succession
+seemed to trouble him, as he probably realised the absence of a
+master-mind amongst his own sons. To them he put the question: "Can
+you tread in my steps and lead my people to victory? Can you uphold
+the honour of the tribe?" To these interrogations not one of his sons
+replied, and the silent suspense remained unbroken, until
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">{65}</a></span>
+Te Rauparaha, springing from the ring of warriors,
+exclaimed, "I am able to tread in your steps, and even do
+that which you could not do." The apparent presumption
+of this speech was lost in the general satisfaction,
+and, when Hape passed into the Great Beyond, Te Rauparaha
+took over his wives and his leadership, the latter
+of which he retained to his dying day.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_48" id="Ref_48" href="#Foot_48">[48]</a></span>
+But the measure
+of authority which had passed to him on the death of
+Hape did not include the sole direction of Ngati-Raukawa's
+affairs. The tribe still looked to their natural
+leaders for guidance in domestic matters, and the new
+influence gained by Te Rauparaha in their councils,
+though considerable, was not sufficient to overcome
+the obduracy of the tribe towards what they chose to
+regard as his chimerical proposal.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted, however, by the refusal of his kinsmen to participate
+in his bold enterprise, Te Rauparaha proceeded with patient
+deliberation to make his own arrangements. These involved the most
+careful planning and delicate negotiation, for failure in any one
+direction might wreck the whole scheme. The first consideration was to
+secure safe conduct for his people through the territory of the
+Taranaki tribes, and the establishment of resting-places where the
+very old and very young could recover their strength, and where
+sufficient food could be grown to carry them on to the next point of
+vantage. To this end negotiations were entered into with the Ngati-Awa
+and Ngati-Tama chiefs, who were more or less connected with Ngati-Toa
+by inter-marriage. It would, however, be a mistake to elevate this
+racial relationship into a bond of sincere friendship between these
+tribes, for neither would have hesitated long about a proposal to
+destroy the other, had a favourable opportunity presented itself.
+Their attitude towards each other was distinctly one of armed
+neutrality, which at any moment might have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">{66}</a></span>
+broken out into open rupture. But even this negative
+attitude of the tribes proved useful to Te Rauparaha, as it
+enabled him to approach Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Tama
+with at least the semblance of friendship, while it deprived
+them of open hostility as a reason for refusing his
+requests. The concessions which the Ngati-Toa leader
+asked for were therefore granted, though grudgingly;
+but he could no more persuade Ngati-Awa to go with
+him than he could impress the Ngati-Raukawa; and
+when he reminded them of the change which was
+coming over the system of Maori warfare, and the weakness
+in which they would be left by his departure, they
+laughed at his misgivings, boasted of their ancient <i>mana</i>,
+and told him that his fears were altogether unworthy
+of a chief of his standing. How dearly they paid for
+their lack of foresight is told in the fall of Puke-rangiora
+<i>pa</i> a few years later, when the Waikatos swept down
+upon them and drove them flying into the arms of the
+man whose counsel they had so carelessly despised.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus diplomatically arranged an open road for the passage of
+his people to the south, he found it equally essential to secure an
+unmolested departure from the north. He therefore appreciated the
+necessity of making terms with his old enemy, Te Wherowhero, of
+Waikato, and in this important negotiation he availed himself of the
+services of two Ngati-Mania-poto chiefs, who occupied the country
+close to Kawhia and were on friendly terms with Te Wherowhero. These
+chiefs paved the way for a conference, at which Te Rauparaha appears
+to have been unusually candid with his old antagonist. He frankly
+unfolded to him the details of his proposed migration, and, in
+consideration of Te Wherowhero's guaranteeing him immunity from
+attack, he, on his part, agreed to cede the whole of the Ngati-Toa
+lands to the Waikato tribes after his people had vacated them. Such
+easy acquisition of a valuable piece of country was not without its
+influence upon Te Wherowhero. But he was even more impressed by its
+strategic than by its inherent value. The migration of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">{67}</a></span>
+Ngati-Toa would rid him of a troublesome enemy on
+the west, and enable him to concentrate all his forces
+on his eastern frontier, where he would be the better
+able to resist the aggressions of that other remarkable
+figure in Maori history, Te Waharoa, should it ever
+occur to that warrior to attack him. On the understanding,
+then, that Kawhia was to be formally ceded
+to him, Te Wherowhero undertook not to molest the
+migrating tribe, either during their preparations or on
+the actual march.</p>
+
+<p>The question of immunity from attack having been thus satisfactorily
+disposed of, the next matter which Te Rauparaha had to consider was
+the securing of an adequate supply of provisions for his people during
+their pilgrimage. As it was impossible to complete the journey in a
+single season, it was necessary not only that large quantities of food
+should be carried with them, but that planting-places should be
+established at various points along the route of march, where these
+supplies could be renewed from time to time. None of these details
+were overlooked, but all were worked out with mathematical exactitude
+by the consummate organiser in whose brain the migration had been
+planned; and the smoothness and precision with which these precautions
+dovetailed together furnish a remarkable example of high organising
+capacity. As a final preparation, it was necessary that the
+disposition of his fighting men should receive some attention, because
+he could not hope to conceal his real purpose from the people whose
+country he was about to invade. It is true he did not anticipate any
+serious opposition, because the defeats inflicted upon them by the
+recent expedition under Tuwhare, Waka Nene, Patuone, and himself had
+so reduced their strength as to render serious opposition impossible;
+but, in view of the limited force at his command, and the unlikelihood
+of increasing it, unnecessary waste had to be guarded against. He
+therefore divided his warriors into suitable sections, and, appointing
+a sub-chief to lead each company, he retained the supreme command of
+affairs in his own hands.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">{68}</a></span>
+The carrying out of these varied preparations had now
+occupied several months, and when all was ripe for
+departure he paid a last visit to the surrounding tribes
+and chiefs&mdash;to Kukutai, of Lower Waikato, to Pehi-Tukorehu,
+of Ngati-Mania-poto, to Te Kanawa, of
+Waikato, bidding them good-bye, and, as an example
+in good faith, he kept his word to Te Wherowhero, saying
+to that chief: "Farewell! remain on our land at
+Kawhia; I am going to take Kapiti for myself: do not
+follow me." At Mungatautari a final effort was made to
+induce the Ngati-Raukawa to join him; but, although
+there were evidences of weakening resistance, he had
+still to wait several months before their objections were
+so far overcome as to permit him any measure of hope
+that they would yet yield and follow him. The tour of
+leave-taking at an end, Te Rauparaha returned to his
+<i>pa</i> at Te Arawi, and there summoned his people to
+prepare for the fateful march. When all was ready, the
+blazing flaxstick was put to the walls of the great carved
+house which had adorned the <i>pa</i>, and as the smoke of
+its destruction arose, the whole tribe of fifteen hundred
+souls passed through the gate which they were never
+again to enter.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of unlettered peoples there is necessarily some difficulty
+in determining the precise periods at which important incidents in
+their history have occurred; and in this instance we have nothing to
+guide us except the arrangement and comparison of subsequent events.
+By this mode of reasoning we are led to the conclusion that the
+migration from Kawhia must have occurred during the latter months of
+the year 1821. But, whatever obscurity rests upon this point,
+tradition is clear<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_49" id="Ref_49" href="#Foot_49">[49]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">{69}</a></span>
+that the circumstances under which the exodus commenced
+were singularly auspicious. The day broke with
+a cloudless sky, and, as the sun rose into the blue dome,
+the landscape for miles was lit by the rosy tints of morn,
+rendering every peak and valley more beautiful. On the
+route of march lay the hill of Moeatoa, and to its summit
+the pilgrims climbed, in order to take a last fond look at
+their ancient home. As they turned and gazed upon old
+Kawhia the memories of the past came crowding back
+upon them, and it is easy to understand their deep
+manifestations of sorrow at leaving their ancestral
+domain. The softer sentiments associated with home
+and country are not the exclusive prerogative of civilised
+beings. These people, savage and ruthless though they
+were, thrilled with the same patriotic feeling which
+prompted the Prophet of Israel to exclaim: "If I forget
+thee, O Jerusalem! may my right hand forget her
+cunning." And although their form of expressing it was
+neither so beautiful nor so poetical, they were, nevertheless,
+quite as sincere when they cried upon the
+mountain-side: "Kawhia, remain here! The people of
+Kawhia are going to Kapiti, to Waipounamu." "The
+love of a New Zealander for his land is not the love of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">{70}</a></span>
+a child for his toys," says a well-known writer.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_50" id="Ref_50" href="#Foot_50">[50]</a></span>
+"His
+title is connected with many and powerful associations
+in his mind, his affection for the homes of his fathers
+being connected with their deeds of bravery, with the
+feats of their boyhood, and the long rest of his ancestors
+for generations." And there is no reason to suppose
+that these feelings were less active in the Ngati-Toa at
+such a moment than they were in other Maori tribes.</p>
+
+<p>The closing scene in the life of the Ngati-Toa at
+Kawhia has been beautifully described by Thomas
+Bracken, whose word-picture of the scene on Moeatoa
+Hill is amongst the finest that came from his poetic
+pen:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Beneath the purple canopy of morn,</span>
+<span class="i2">That hung above Kawhia's placid sheet</span>
+<span class="i2">Of waters crystalline, arose on high</span>
+<span class="i2">The golden shield of God, on azure field,</span>
+<span class="i2">With crimson tassels dipping in the sea!</span>
+<span class="i2">And from its burnished face a shower of rays</span>
+<span class="i2">Shot up the hills and gilt their spires and peaks</span>
+<span class="i2">In lambent sheen, until the turrets seemed</span>
+<span class="i2">Like precious ornaments of purest gold</span>
+<span class="i2">On mighty altars raised by giant priests</span>
+<span class="i2">In olden times, to offer sacred fire</span>
+<span class="i2">As sacrifice unto the Fount of Light,</span>
+<span class="i2">From whence the planets and the myriad stars</span>
+<span class="i2">Drink their effulgence!</span>
+<span class="i12">In the wild ravines</span>
+<span class="i2">And gorges deep, the limpid babbling creeks</span>
+<span class="i2">Sang matins as they left their mother hills</span>
+<span class="i2">To mingle in united waters, where</span>
+<span class="i2">They lost their little selves, and merged in one</span>
+<span class="i2">Pellucid flood that gathered stronger life</span>
+<span class="i2">From day to day! as God's great human church,</span>
+<span class="i2">Now building on the earth shall gather all</span>
+<span class="i2">The little sects and creeds and small beliefs</span>
+<span class="i2">That split mankind into a thousand parts,</span>
+<span class="i2">And merge them in one universal flood</span>
+<span class="i2">Of boundless charity.</span>
+<span class="i12">The dazzling points</span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">{71}</a></span>
+<span class="i2">Of morning's lances pierced the bursting hearts</span>
+<span class="i2">Of all the flow'rets on the fertile slopes,</span>
+<span class="i2">And waked red Kawhai's drops from sleep</span>
+<span class="i2">And shook the dew buds from the Rata's lids,</span>
+<span class="i2">Until its blossoms opened up their breasts</span>
+<span class="i2">And gave their fragrance to the early breeze</span>
+<span class="i2">That played amongst the Koromiko's leaves,</span>
+<span class="i2">And stole the rich Tawhiri's sweet perfume,</span>
+<span class="i2">And strung the flax-leaves into merry tune</span>
+<span class="i2">To woo the Bell-bird from his nest, to ring</span>
+<span class="i2">The Tui up to sing his morning hymns.</span>
+<span class="i2">The scene was made for man, not savage man,</span>
+<span class="i2">The cunningest of brutes, the crafty king</span>
+<span class="i2">Of beasts! but Man the Spiritualised,</span>
+<span class="i2">With all the light of knowledge in his brain,</span>
+<span class="i2">With all the light of love within his heart!</span>
+<span class="i2">And yet they were but savages who stood</span>
+<span class="i2">On Moeatoa's hill, above the scene,</span>
+<span class="i2">Mere savages, a step beyond the brute!</span>
+<span class="i2">But still there were bright sparks of God-lit fire</span>
+<span class="i2">Within their breasts! they loved their native vales</span>
+<span class="i2">With heart and soul! for they had hearts and souls</span>
+<span class="i2">Far nobler than some milk-faced races who</span>
+<span class="i2">Have basked 'neath Calv'ry's sun for ages long,</span>
+<span class="i2">And yet lie grov'lling in the nations' rear,</span>
+<span class="i2">With hearts encased in earth too coarse and hard</span>
+<span class="i2">For Calv'ry's glorious light to penetrate.</span>
+<span class="i2">Poor savages! that Orient had not yet</span>
+<span class="i2">Shed its benignant rays upon their souls,</span>
+<span class="i2">To melt the dross that dragged them down to earth</span>
+<span class="i2">In carnal bonds! they knew not yet the road</span>
+<span class="i2">To reach the standard of their better selves.</span>
+<span class="i2">Yet they were men in all save this! brave men</span>
+<span class="i2">With patriots' hearts, for as they stood and gazed</span>
+<span class="i2">O'er fair Kawhia's hills and vales</span>
+<span class="i2">That stretched into the sea, o'er which their sires</span>
+<span class="i2">In ages past sailed from Hawaiki's shores,</span>
+<span class="i2">The tears ran down their tattooed cheeks, and sobs</span>
+<span class="i2">Welled from their bosoms, for they loved the land</span>
+<span class="i2">With all the love intense a Maori feels</span>
+<span class="i2">For childhood's home! The hist'ry of their tribe</span>
+<span class="i2">Was written there on every rock and hill</span>
+<span class="i2">That sentinelled the scene, for these had known</span>
+<span class="i2">Their deeds of prowess, and their fathers' deeds</span>
+<span class="i2">Of valour! And the caverns held the bones</span>
+<span class="i2">Of those from whom they'd sprung! Their legends wild,</span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">{72}</a></span>
+<span class="i2">And weird traditions, chained them to the place,</span>
+<span class="i2">And ere they burst those links of love they gave</span>
+<span class="i2">A long sad look on each familiar spot</span>
+<span class="i2">And wailed above Kawhia's lovely vale:</span><br />
+
+<span class="i4">Oh! Kawhia, remain,</span>
+<span class="i6">Cavern, gorge, and bay,</span>
+<span class="i4">Valley, and hill, and plain&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">We are going away.</span><br />
+
+<span class="i4">Oh! Kawhia, remain,</span>
+<span class="i6">Take our tears and our sighs;</span>
+<span class="i4">Spirits of heroes slain,</span>
+<span class="i6">Rise up from Reinga, rise.</span><br />
+
+<span class="i4">Oh! Kawhia, remain,</span>
+<span class="i6">With thee, Tawhaki, stay;</span>
+<span class="i4">Long may he o'er thee reign&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">We are going away."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first stage of the journey ended with the close of the fourth day,
+when the <i>pa</i> of Puohoki was reached; and here Te Rauparaha
+decided to leave his wife Akau<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_51" id="Ref_51" href="#Foot_51">[51]</a></span>
+and a number of the women and
+children under a suitable guard, while he and the bulk of the people
+pushed on as far as Waitara. Here they were received by the Ngati-Tama
+and Ngati-Awa tribes, in whose <i>pas</i> they were quartered for the
+season; and, except that a spirit of parsimony seemed to pervade their
+welcome, they had every reason to feel rejoiced at the success which
+up to this moment had attended their venture.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_52" id="Ref_52" href="#Foot_52">[52]</a></span>
+After the lapse of a
+brief period spent in perfecting his arrangements, Te Rauparaha
+decided to return for his wife and her companions, and on reaching the
+<i>pa</i> where they were staying he learned to his great joy that
+Akau had borne him a son. This infant lived to be the well-known
+missionary chief, Tamihana te Rauparaha.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">{73}</a></span>
+Against the advice of his tribe, Rauparaha had only
+taken a band of twenty warriors with him, and on the
+journey back to Waitara his strategic abilities were tested
+to the full to escape annihilation. Three days after his
+arrival he left on his return journey, carrying his infant
+son in a basket on his back. Knowing that he had left
+Kawhia, a party of the restless Ngati-Mania-poto had
+crept down the coast in the hope of finding some
+stragglers of his party whom they might conveniently
+kill. But instead of meeting, as they had expected, a few
+irregulars, they came suddenly upon Te Rauparaha himself
+near the mouth of the Awakino River. To some
+extent the surprise was mutual, but the stress of the
+position was all against Te Rauparaha. Supported only
+by a limited force and hampered by the women and
+children, he was in serious difficulties, as the enemy
+might cut off his retreat and then attack him in force.
+Suddenly a brilliant idea struck him. Before the enemy
+approached within striking distance he ordered twenty of
+the most active women to disrobe and don the mats and
+headgear of fighting men. Then arming each of them
+with a stone club, he placed them under the charge of
+Akau, who was a woman of magnificent physique, with
+instructions to march in the van brandishing their
+weapons after the manner of veteran warriors. The
+more helpless women and children were placed in the
+centre, while he and his fighting men covered the retreat.
+Misled by the stratagem, the Ngati-Mania-poto were
+tricked into the belief that the Ngati-Toa force was much
+stronger than it really was, and instead of attacking they
+began to retire. Observing this, Te Rauparaha immediately
+accelerated their panic by charging down upon
+them, and in the skirmish which followed Tutakara, their
+chief, was killed by Te Rangi-hounga-riri, Te Rauparaha's
+eldest son by his child-wife Marore, who was rapidly
+making a name for himself as an intrepid warrior. But,
+although the position was somewhat relieved, Te Rauparaha
+felt that the danger was not yet at an end. He
+was experienced enough in native tactics to know that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">{74}</a></span>
+the Ngati-Mania-poto would be tempted to return at
+nightfall and renew the attack in the hope of avenging
+the death of their chief. He therefore could not consider
+himself safe until the Mokau River was crossed,
+and, unfortunately, when he reached its banks the tide
+was full and the river was in flood. Nothing remained
+to be done except to wait, but in order still to maintain
+the deception twelve large fires were kindled, at each of
+which three women and one warrior were stationed,
+while the chief and the rest of his followers lay prepared
+for emergencies. It was also an injunction to the
+sentinels at the fires to address each other occasionally
+in the heroic language of the time. "Be strong, O
+people, to fight on the morrow if the enemy return.
+Take no thought of life. Consider the valour of your
+tribe." These stimulating exhortations, which were
+intended for the enemy's ears as much as for their own,
+were supplemented by fervid speeches from the women,
+whose shrill voices were carried out into the night air as
+a warning to the enemy that they would not lag behind
+their lords in the coming battle.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Te Rauparaha lay waiting for the enemy, who never came.
+Either having no stomach for another encounter with so redoubtable a
+warrior, or still not understanding the true position, they wisely
+declined to provoke a battle, about the result of which they could be
+by no means sanguine. At midnight the tide turned, and the river fell
+sufficiently to be fordable.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_53" id="Ref_53" href="#Foot_53">[53]</a></span>
+Leaving their fires burning, the
+Ngati-Toa crept silently down to the bank, and, wading across, made
+their way to the <i>pas</i> of their friends, which they reached
+amidst general rejoicing. Early next morning the scene of the previous
+day's battle was revisited and the bodies of the slain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">{75}</a></span>
+enemy recovered to make a feast, at which the sweet
+revenge harboured against Ngati-Mania-poto was surfeited.</p>
+
+<p>While the Ngati-Toa plans were developing in Taranaki, another
+misfortune was falling upon the people of the southern districts from
+the opposite direction. Towards the middle of 1820 a band of six
+hundred warriors, under Apihai Te Kawau, of Ngati-Whatua, Te Kanawa,
+and Tu-korehu, of Waikato and Ngati-Mania-poto, and other prominent
+chiefs, longing for some new excitement, had journeyed down the east
+coast through Hawke's Bay and the Wairarapa, for no particular purpose
+except to kill, eat, or make slaves of whoever might fall into their
+hands. In the course of this pilgrimage of blood they crossed over to
+the west, and there attacked in succession the Muaupoko, Rangitane,
+and Ngati-Apa tribes, upon whom they inflicted sore and mortal wounds;
+and when they retired back to the north they left the conquest of
+Kapiti a matter of comparative simplicity to Te Rauparaha. But they
+were soon themselves to feel the sting of defeat. Passing into the
+Taranaki country on their homeward march, they were set upon by the
+Ngati-Awa people, who strenuously opposed their further progress at
+Waitara. This was a strange reversal of all previous policy on the
+part of Ngati-Awa, who had always been friendly to, and had frequently
+co-operated with, the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato peoples on similar
+raids. By some authorities this new antagonism has been attributed to
+the sinister influence of Te Rauparaha, who was still at Ure-nui
+waiting to harvest his crops. He had not forgotten the anxious moments
+to which he had been subjected on the banks of the Waitara River, and
+it would have been more than human on his part had he not sought to
+balance accounts now that the opportunity offered. "By means of
+plotting and deceit," says one writer, "he succeeded in rousing
+Ngati-Awa&mdash;or the greater part of them&mdash;to take up his quarrel."
+Whatever the cause of Ngati-Awa's hostility, the effect was a series
+of determined and well-organised attacks upon the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">{76}</a></span>
+northern <i>taua</i>, which ultimately drove them to seek
+refuge with a friendly section of the Ngati-Awa in the
+famous Puke-rangiora <i>pa</i>. Here they were besieged for
+seven months, fighting repeatedly, and, towards the end
+of that period, suffering intense privations. Frequent
+attempts were made to send intelligence of their straits
+through the enemy's ranks to their friends; but so close
+and vigilant was the investment that their messengers
+were invariably captured, and their heads fixed upon
+poles and exhibited to the besieged in a spirit of exultant
+derision. One, Rahiora, a young man of the Ngati-Mahanga
+tribe, did at length succeed in evading detection,
+and travelling into the Waikato by Kete-marae and
+Whanganui, thence by Taupo and Waipa, was able to
+communicate to the great Te Wherowhero the critical
+plight of his tribesmen. Te Wherowhero immediately
+made his call to arms, and soon a numerous relief party
+was on its way to join the force already in the field,
+which had vainly endeavoured to cut off Te Rauparaha
+at the Mokau. The junction of these forces was successfully
+accomplished, and the pride of Waikato's military
+strength, under two of the greatest chiefs of that time, Te
+Wherowhero and Te Waharoa, marched southward for
+the dual purpose of raising the siege of Puke-rangiora
+and of attacking Te Rauparaha. Though they failed to
+reach within striking distance of the beleaguered <i>pa</i>, their
+movement indirectly achieved its object, for the advent of
+so large a force lightened the pressure of the siege by
+drawing off a considerable number of the besiegers. Of
+these Te Rauparaha took command, and to his strategical
+genius was due the victory which he ultimately achieved
+on the plain of Motu-nui. This plain stretches along the
+sea-coast between the Ure-nui and Mimi Rivers. At this
+point the shore is bounded by perpendicular cliffs, fully
+one hundred and fifty feet high, along which are dotted
+several small <i>pas</i>, used as fishing-places in olden times.
+Away to the eastward of the plain run the wooded hills,
+on the steep sides of which rise the numerous streams
+which rush across the plain to the sea. On the southern
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">{77}</a></span>
+end of one of the spurs descending from the range was
+built the strongly fortified Okoki <i>pa</i>, which was made
+the point of assembly by the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Toa
+warriors.</p>
+
+<p>The Waikato <i>taua</i> came on as far as a place called Waitoetoe on
+the southern bank of the Mimi River, and there commenced to make a
+camp preparatory to throwing down the gage of battle. To the watchers
+in the Okoki <i>pa</i> their fires had been visible for several miles;
+and when it was seen that they had determined to pitch camp, there was
+a general request that their position should be at once attacked.
+Personally, Te Rauparaha preferred to take no risks until the portion
+of his force which was still holding Tu-korehu in check at
+Puke-rangiora should have come up. He, however, yielded to the
+importunities of some of his chiefs, and consented to send out a
+<i>hunuhunu</i>, or reconnoitring party, to test the mettle of the
+enemy. To meet the possibility of the skirmish developing into a more
+serious encounter, he took the precaution of concealing a strong
+reserve force, composed of the older men, in the bed of one of the
+wooded streams which ran close beneath the <i>pa</i>. Having
+instructed Rangiwahia, of Ngati-Mutunga, in whose charge he left these
+supports, he took eighty of the younger men with him, and advanced
+across the plain by stealthy marches. So secretly was the movement
+effected, that they were within a stone's-throw of the Waikato camp,
+and had actually commenced the attack upon some of the Waikato
+warriors, before their presence was discerned. In the first onset Te
+Rauparaha's followers were roughly handled, and, in accordance with
+their preconcerted plan, they began rapidly to fall back, sustaining
+severe losses the while from the guns of the enemy. Their retirement
+soon developed into a general retreat, which might have been much more
+disastrous but for a fatal division of opinion which sprang up amongst
+the Waikato leaders, as to whether or not the fugitives should be
+pursued. Te Wherowhero was content to have repulsed them, and advised
+resuming the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">{78}</a></span>
+interrupted work of building their shelters; but others,
+not so cautious, urged immediate pursuit, and, these
+counsels prevailing, the whole Waikato force was soon in
+full cry after the retreating scouts. The chase was fierce
+and stern, and many a good Taranaki warrior dropped
+upon the plain as he sped towards the <i>pa</i>, for the
+pursuers kept up as hot a fire as their rapid movements
+rendered possible. Seeing the men falling round him, a
+chief who was running close to Te Rauparaha repeatedly
+urged him to turn and attack the pursuers; but the
+crafty general, knowing that the time was not yet, declined
+to forestall his prearranged strategy. He held on
+his way, only urging his men to faster flight, while Te
+Wherowhero incited his marksmen to single out the
+Ngati-Awa chiefs for death. Some two miles of the plain
+had been covered, and the southern warriors were nearing
+their supports. As the foremost reached the wooded
+gully, they waited there to recover their breath, and
+allowed the pursuers to close in upon them. Weary
+and blown with their long and exciting run, the Waikatos
+came straggling up, innocent of the trap into which
+they had fallen. At the psychological moment Te Rauparaha
+gave the signal, and out dashed his veterans, fresh
+and eager for the fray, charging down upon the exhausted
+and astonished Waikatos. Their chiefs who were in the
+forefront of the chase were the first to go down, and their
+numbers were perceptibly diminished as they were beaten
+back by repeated charges across the blood-stained field.
+Te Wherowhero fought through the reverse with
+supreme courage, engaging and vanquishing in single
+combat no less than five of Taranaki's greatest warriors;
+and to his fine defence and heroic example is attributed
+the fact that his tribe was not completely annihilated on
+the field of Motu-nui. On the other hand, it has been
+whispered that his companion in arms, Te Waharoa, did
+not bear himself in this fight with his wonted gallantry.
+Waikato paid a heavy toll that day. They left one
+hundred and fifty men dead on the field, and the slaughter
+of chiefs was a conspicuous tribute to their bravery&mdash;Te
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">{79}</a></span>
+Wherowhero and Te Waharoa being the only leaders of eminence to escape.</p>
+
+<p>For some inexplicable reason, Te Rauparaha did not pursue his victory
+to the bitter end, as was his wont.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_54" id="Ref_54" href="#Foot_54">[54]</a></span>
+This forbearance on his part
+is especially surprising in view of the fact that Te Wherowhero had
+specifically promised to remain neutral during the progress of the
+migration. Possibly the consciousness that he would have done the same
+thing himself induced him to take a lenient view of his old
+antagonist's want of good faith; for there can be no doubt that the
+bloody wars which were at this time ravaging the country had
+completely sapped the old Maori sense of honour. "At the period in
+question, more perhaps than at any other in the history of the race,
+moral considerations had but little weight in determining the conduct
+of either the individual or the tribe. Even the nearest relatives did
+not hesitate to destroy and devour each other." There was thus nothing
+unusual about Te Wherowhero's conduct; but his experience of Te
+Rauparaha on this occasion was such that from that day onward he left
+him severely alone.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of these successive victories was to enhance enormously the
+prestige and power of Te Rauparaha. He began to be regarded with
+reverence by Ngati-Awa and with something akin to worship by
+Ngati-Toa. As a tangible proof of the gratitude which his hosts felt
+for the services which he had rendered them, food, which had been
+grudgingly supplied up to this time, was now given in abundance to his
+people, and, what was of even greater moment to Te Rauparaha,
+adherents began freely to flock to his cause. But, although he had
+beaten off both the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato tribes, the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">{80}</a></span>
+position was still unsatisfactory to him from the point of
+view of numbers, and so he resolved to make one more
+effort to persuade Ngati-Raukawa to join him. Accordingly
+he journeyed back to Opepe, a village on the shores
+of Lake Taupo, where he met young Te Whatanui, a
+chief destined to become famous in after years as the
+protector of the Muaupoko people whom Te Rauparaha
+wished to destroy. Upon the assembled tribe, and upon
+Te Whatanui in particular, he again impressed the merits
+of his scheme, pointing out the altered position occupied
+by the tribes who had managed to become possessed of
+fire-arms, as compared with those who had only wooden
+spears and stone <i>meres</i>. He dwelt upon the fact that
+ships were beginning to frequent Kapiti, and that there
+they could obtain guns, as Nga-Puhi had done at the Bay
+of Islands. He also reiterated all that he had formerly
+told them about the fertility of the soil and the ease with
+which the country might be conquered: but in vain. Te
+Whatanui volunteered no sign of approval. He gave
+many presents to Te Rauparaha, as marks of respect from
+one warrior to another. He also made him a long
+oration, skilfully avoiding the all-important topic upon
+which Te Rauparaha had travelled so far to consult him;
+nor did the majority of his people conceal their objection
+to coming under Te Rauparaha's immediate command,
+to the exclusion of their own chiefs. Angered at this
+perversity, Te Rauparaha shook the dust of Opepe from
+off his feet and proceeded to Rotorua, and as far as
+Tauranga, where he sought the aid of the great Te Waru.
+But he met with no success, for Te Waru had schemes of
+his own which claimed his personal attention. While
+resting with the Tu-hou-rangi branch of the Arawa tribe
+on his return to Rotorua from Tauranga, Te Rauparaha
+(according to accounts) perpetrated an outrage upon
+Nga-Puhi which was destined to inspire one of the most
+disastrous wars and one of the most daring assaults
+known in Maori history. His motive for "sowing the
+seeds of evil counsel" is not clear. By some it is alleged
+a jealous envy of Nga-Puhi's success in procuring arms,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">{81}</a></span>
+while others find it in the consuming desire for revenge
+for the death of a young relative killed a few weeks
+before at the fall of the Te Totara <i>pa</i> at the Thames.
+Whatever the motive, before leaving he took occasion to
+recite a <i>karakia</i>, or song, informing the Tu-hou-rangi
+that there was a small band of Nga-Puhi travelling about
+in their vicinity, and broadly insinuating that "death and
+darkness were very good things." This hint, however
+enigmatical, was taken and acted upon. When Te Pae-o-te-rangi,
+Hongi's nephew, and a company of his Nga-Puhi
+followers arrived at the Motu-tawa <i>pa</i>, from which
+Te Rauparaha had just departed, they were treacherously
+set upon and killed by the Tu-hou-rangi people. It was
+to avenge the death of Te Pae-o-te-rangi that Hongi
+performed the Herculean task of dragging his canoes
+from Waihi, near Maketu, to Lake Rotorua, and on the
+island of Mokoia slaughtered the unfortunate Ngati-Whakaue
+(Arawas), who had been entirely innocent of
+the original crime.</p>
+
+<p>Before quitting Rotorua, however, Te Rauparaha had the good fortune to
+fall in with the Nga-Puhi chief Pomare,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_55" id="Ref_55" href="#Foot_55">[55]</a></span>
+who handed over to him a
+few of the men who had accompanied him to the Lake district on a mission
+of bloodshed. With this small reinforcement Te Rauparaha returned to
+Taranaki and prepared to resume his journey southward, having in the
+meantime enlisted the services of some four hundred Ngati-Awas under
+one of the most famous men of his time, Rere-ta-whangawhanga, father of
+Wi Kingi Rangitake.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_56" id="Ref_56" href="#Foot_56">[56]</a></span>
+The force at Te Rauparaha's command now
+numbered about eight hundred fighting men and their families. With
+these he resumed his march in the autumn of 1822, when the kumara had
+been gathered in, and advanced without interruption or mishap until he
+reached Patea.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">{82}</a></span>
+Here a slight skirmish took place, and six of the invaders
+were killed, their deaths being immediately avenged by
+the slaughter of some Waitotara people. From them
+a large canoe was captured, and was employed in the
+transportation of some of the women and children by
+sea, thus saving them the labour and fatigue involved
+in the land journey. Te Rauparaha himself also
+travelled by water with the women, but, with the
+exception of those required to propel the canoes, the
+men continued on foot along the coast, capturing and
+killing an occasional straggler who had lingered too
+long in the vicinity of the warpath.</p>
+
+<p>At the mouth of the Rangitikei River the canoe was drawn up on the
+beach, and the whole party halted for several days. Hearing of their
+arrival, the friends of Pikinga came down to the camp to welcome her,
+but the remainder of the Ngati-Apa tribe fled to the hills and
+concealed themselves amongst the mountain fastnesses. It would
+therefore appear that the friendship which they afterwards alleged to
+have existed between Te Rauparaha and themselves was not of a very
+substantial character.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_57" id="Ref_57" href="#Foot_57">[57]</a></span>
+Nor did the marriage of their chieftainess
+with Te Rangihaeata avail them much; for while the bulk of his people
+rested by the river, odd bands of their fighting men were continually
+scouring the country in search of some plump Ngati-Apa who was needed
+to keep the ovens fully employed. While the weather continued fine, Te
+Rauparaha was anxious to lose no more time than was absolutely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">{83}</a></span>
+necessary. So soon, therefore, as his people had been
+refreshed by the rest, he pushed on again, making his
+next stage the mouth of the Manawatu River, where he
+harassed the Rangitane people by the inroads of armed
+parties on their settlements. But comparatively few
+captures were made, as the <i>pas</i> were deserted immediately
+the inhabitants scented the danger.</p>
+
+<p>The migration which Te Rauparaha was thus conducting had for its
+objective a sweet and fertile spot on the banks of the Ohau stream;
+and when the remaining portion of the coast had been traversed without
+opposition, and the tribe had reached its journey's end in safety,
+preparations were at once made to establish them permanently on the
+land. A <i>pa</i> was built large enough to accommodate the whole
+party, and ground was cleared for cultivations, in which the potato
+was planted for the first time on this coast. Their nearest neighbours
+were the Ngati-Apa, who held possession of the island of Kapiti, and
+the Muaupoko tribe, who were settled round the shores of Lakes
+Horowhenua and Papaitonga. In what light the former regarded the
+aggression upon their borders it is difficult to say; but the latter
+were evidently very ill at ease, for they had a heavy presentiment of
+what the ultimate result would be. But how to avert the danger was no
+simple problem, as they had learned enough in the stern school of
+experience to recognise that victory in open battle was not to be
+hoped for. Strategy was therefore determined upon. Learning from two
+Whanganui chiefs, who were then on a visit to Horowhenua, that Te
+Rauparaha's vulnerable point at this period was his desire to obtain
+canoes, they resolved to tempt him with the bait to which he was most
+likely to fall a victim. The ease with which the chief fell into the
+trap was due to his excessive ambition and the further large schemes
+towards which his aspirations soared.</p>
+
+<p>He had heard strange stories of a treasure-trove of greenstone which
+the Ngai-Tahu people had stored in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">{84}</a></span>
+their <i>pas</i> over on the Middle Island; and as he stood
+on the beach at Ohau and looked across the Strait
+towards the hills of Waipounamu, he dreamed of this
+wealth and how he could possess himself of it. Without
+a fleet of canoes to convey his warriors over the intervening
+sea, the project of invasion was visionary; but
+even with the frailest vessels he might make it a reality,
+and at one bold stroke add to his dominions, gratify his
+avarice, and satiate his hate by waging war upon the
+southern tribes.</p>
+
+<p>Of canoes the Muaupoko had many. Residing as they did upon the shores
+of two lakes, these vessels were almost as essential to them as
+gondolas to the Venetians; and when they learned of Te Rauparaha's
+eagerness to obtain what they possessed, a device was cautiously
+planned by which they might rid themselves of a neighbour whose coming
+they felt boded them no good. Into this conspiracy of murder the
+Rangitane people of Manawatu were admitted; and for thus allowing
+themselves to be made the cat's-paw of others they paid a bitter
+penalty, for they succeeded in nothing except in arousing the eternal
+hatred of the great chief, who seemed invulnerable alike to their
+cunning and their force. The authors of the scheme were Turoa and
+Paetahi, both of the Ngati-Apa tribe; and the willing instrument in
+their hands was Toheriri, a leader of the Muaupoko, whose part was,
+shortly after the arrival of the Ngati-Toa at Ohau, to send an
+invitation to Te Rauparaha and a number of his followers to pay a
+friendly visit to his <i>pa</i> at Papaitonga. As already indicated,
+the inducement held out to Ngati-Toa was the promise of a gift of
+canoes, and, under the circumstances, a more artful pretence could not
+have been conceived. "Canoes were at this time his great desire, for
+by them only could he cross over to the island of Waipounamu," is the
+explanation of the position given by Tamihana Te Rauparaha; and, if
+the Muaupoko could gratify that desire, Te Rauparaha was not the man
+to refrain from making a convenience of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">{85}</a></span>
+enemies, as well as of his friends. Accordingly he
+accepted the invitation, notwithstanding the earnest
+remonstrances of his nephew and lieutenant, Te
+Rangihaeata, who declared his irresistible conviction
+that murder, rather than hospitality, was the secret
+of the Muaupoko invitation.</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha was in no mood to speculate about omens, good or evil.
+Canoes he wanted, and canoes he would have, even if the gods or the
+devils were against him. His unusual recklessness even carried him so
+far that he selected only a few warriors to accompany him, and with
+these he arrived, just at the fall of evening, at Papaitonga. The
+party was, of course, received with the most profuse expressions of
+friendship. Toheriri and his fellow-chief Waraki conducted their
+visitors in state to view the canoes which were to be handed over in
+the morning; but, on returning to the <i>pa</i>, they were careful to
+conduct Te Rauparaha to a house at one end of the settlement, while
+his followers were provided for at the opposite end. This fact appears
+to have aroused no suspicion in the Ngati-Toa mind; for at night all
+slept soundly, until the shouts of the combined Rangitane and Muaupoko
+war parties were heard in the early morning as they rushed upon the
+slumbering <i>pa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The assailants appear to have been too precipitate in their onset.
+Instead of first surrounding the <i>whare</i> in which Te Rauparaha
+lay, they commenced the massacre of his followers at the other end;
+and Toheriri, who was lightly sleeping in the same compartment as Te
+Rauparaha, was compelled to go out and direct them to the particular
+hut in which their common foe was lying. This delay was fatal to their
+design, but fortunate for Te Rauparaha. In the absence of his host, he
+stayed not to take his leave, but bursting through the <i>raupo</i>
+wall which formed the end of the <i>whare</i>, he slipped away between
+the houses; and when the tardy Rangitane rushed up to the hut, their
+prey had flown, and nothing remained but to wreak their vengeance upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">{86}</a></span>
+the less distinguished victims, whom they slaughtered
+without mercy. Included amongst these victims of
+treacherous onslaught were several of Te Rauparaha's
+wives and children. Of the latter, however, two were
+spared, Te Uira and Hononga, the former of whom was
+a daughter of his child-wife Marore. The reason for
+this partial clemency is not clear; apparently vengeance
+was satisfied by sending them prisoners to the Wairarapa,
+where they afterwards became wives of men of renown
+in the district.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_58" id="Ref_58" href="#Foot_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Amidst the chaos of treachery which surrounds this incident, it is
+pleasant to record an act of chivalry of an heroic type. Amongst those
+who accompanied Te Rauparaha on this eventful visit was his son,
+Rangi-hounga-riri, who, it will be remembered, had distinguished
+himself by slaying Tutakara, the chief of the Ngati-Mania-poto, when
+that tribe attacked Ngati-Toa at the Awakino River. He, being strong
+of body and lithe of limb, had managed to break through the attacking
+cordon, and, had he chosen, might have made his escape. But, as he
+hurried away, his ear caught the sound of a girl's piteous crying for
+help. He recognised the voice as that of his sister, Uira. Heedless of
+consequences he rushed back to the <i>pa</i>, and, forcing his way to
+the side of the girl, placed his protecting arm around her, and fought
+her assailants until overpowered by superior numbers. By his death, Te
+Rauparaha lost one of his most intrepid lieutenants, and the Ngati-Toa
+tribe one of its most promising leaders. As chivalrous as he was
+brave, he was the type of chief whose nobility lifted the ancient
+Maori above the level of the mere savage, and illustrated the manly
+qualities which so impressed those early colonists who took the
+trouble to understand the people amongst whom they had come. The
+qualities are still there, and justify the hope that, by sound laws,
+and sanitary and educational reforms, such as are now being
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">{87}</a></span>
+effected, it may yet be possible to stay the process of
+degeneration which set in as the result of the first
+contact of the Maori with the European.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha, having slipped from the snare of his enemies, plunged
+into the long grass which surrounded the <i>pa</i>, and, in the
+semi-darkness, succeeded in eluding his pursuers, eventually reaching
+his settlement at Ohau, weary, angry, and almost naked. Bitterly
+disappointed at the result of his mission, and deeply enraged at the
+treatment he had received, he in his wrath cursed the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples, and, calling his tribe around him, he charged his
+followers to make it the one special mission of their lives "to kill
+them from the dawn of day till the evening." This doctrine of
+extermination was not preached to unwilling ears; and from that day
+the fixed policy of the Ngati-Toa tribe was to sweep the Muaupoko and
+Rangitane from their ancestral lands. In the reprisals which followed
+as the result of Rauparaha's vow of eternal vengeance, the former tribe
+seems to have suffered most; and there is little room for doubt that
+they would have been ultimately uprooted and effaced from amongst the
+tribes of New Zealand, but for the kindly offices of that dark-skinned
+humanitarian, Te Whatanui, who, years afterwards, took them under his
+protecting mantle, and declared, in the now historic phrase, that
+"nothing would reach them but the rain from heaven."</p>
+
+<p>The Rangitane people were more fortunately situated, having the
+impassable forests of the Manawatu and its inaccessible mountain
+fastnesses to protect them. But they by no means escaped the
+bitterness of persecution, as bands of Ngati-Toa were constantly
+roaming their country in search of some one to kill and devour. The
+constant absence of these parties convinced Rauparaha that the small
+band of men whom he had with him was by no means sufficient for the
+magnitude of the task which his ambitious mind had conceived, and so
+he determined upon doing two things. The first was to strengthen his
+position by conquering the island of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">{88}</a></span>
+Kapiti, which was still in the possession of a section
+of the Ngati-Apa people; the second, once again to
+despatch ambassadors to the north, to persuade some
+of his former allies to join him in mastering a district
+which promised a rich supply of guns and ammunition.
+As a preliminary to the former scheme, he extended his
+frontier as far as Otaki, from which point he could the
+better watch the movements of the islanders and sweep
+down upon them at a favourable moment. But the
+intervals in which there was lack of vigilance were few
+and far between, and consequently the first series of
+attacks failed signally. The defenders were strongly
+posted and incessantly watchful; so Rauparaha, seeing
+that the frontal attack, however well delivered, would
+not avail, decided upon a stratagem which, judged by its
+success, must have been admirably planned.</p>
+
+<p>His device was to lull the defenders of the island into a false sense
+of security by apparently withdrawing all his forces from Otaki for
+the purpose of some larger movement in the north, at the same time
+leaving a small band of well-tried men, whose duty it was to make a
+dash for the island and seize it before its inhabitants had recovered
+from their surprise. He accordingly marshalled his forces one morning,
+and, with an amount of ostentatious display which was calculated to
+attract the attention of the Ngati-Apa spies, he marched away to the
+Manawatu at the head of his warriors. The Ngati-Apa saw this movement,
+but did not understand it. Believing that the absence of Te Rauparaha
+meant a period of respite, they withdrew their sentries and gave
+themselves up to rejoicing. This was precisely what the Ngati-Toa
+chief had hoped for and calculated upon. He also had the satisfaction
+of knowing that the most critical part of his scheme was in safe
+hands. His uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, who was left in charge of the attacking
+party, was a tried and grim veteran, and, true to the trust imposed
+upon him, he came out of his concealment just before dawn on the
+morning after Te Rauparaha had left. Silently the intrepid little band
+launched their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">{89}</a></span>
+canoes, and as silently they paddled across the intervening
+water, reaching the island at the break of day.
+They found the inhabitants still sleeping, and unconscious
+of any danger until the shouts of their assailants
+and the cries of the wounded warned them that some
+desperate work was on hand. Not many of them stayed
+to fight, and those who were not killed in the first
+onslaught scrambled into their canoes and made for the
+mainland, thus ingloriously leaving the last independent
+stronghold of the Ngati-Apa in the hands of the
+invaders.</p>
+
+<p>It has been charged to the discredit of Te Rauparaha, that, in
+planning this attack upon Kapiti, he cherished a guilty hope that Te
+Pehi might fall in the assault, and by his death rid him of a powerful
+rival in the councils of the tribe. But, while his critics have never
+been slow to attribute to him the grossest treachery towards his
+enemies and infidelity to his friends, there is absolutely no evidence
+that on this occasion he meditated a crime, such as sacred history
+imputes to the King of Israel when he placed Uriah the Hittite in the
+forefront of the battle. Te Pehi was a great chief. He was Te
+Rauparaha's senior in years and his superior in birth. His prowess in
+battle was known far and wide, and the circumstances under which he
+afterwards emulated the example of Hongi by visiting England, and like
+him, subsequently procuring for his tribe, guns and ammunition at
+Sydney, stamp him as a man of strong initiative and individuality. But
+he did not possess the political genius with which his nephew was
+endowed; he lacked the organising power, the tact, and the gift of
+inspiring others with his own enthusiasm. While Te Pehi might lead a
+charge with brilliancy, Te Rauparaha could often gain more by
+diplomacy than he by force of arms; and these statesmanlike qualities
+gave the younger chief an influence with the tribe which Te Pehi did
+not and never could possess. Indeed, the tragedy associated with his
+death at Kaiapoi, in 1828, is sufficient to convince us that he was
+strangely lacking in conciliation and tact.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">{90}</a></span>
+So far as can be learned, there is nothing to lead us
+to suppose that Te Pehi ever questioned his nephew's
+superiority in the diplomatic department of his tribal
+office; on the contrary, he seems to have cheerfully
+accepted a secondary position, and loyally aided Te
+Rauparaha in all his projects. Under these circumstances,
+it is somewhat difficult to imagine what Te
+Rauparaha was to gain by sacrificing so brave an ally.
+Moreover, the intense grief which he manifested when
+Te Pehi was killed at Kaiapoi, and the signal vengeance
+which he took upon the Ngai-Tahu tribe for their act
+of treachery, render the suspicion of foul play on his
+part utterly improbable. In view of these considerations
+he may fairly be exonerated from any criminal intent
+towards Te Pehi. It is clear that the seizure of Kapiti
+was but an essential move in his policy of conquest,
+and that the manner of its seizure was but a cleverly
+designed piece of strategy, certainly not unattended by
+risk, but affording very reasonable chances of success.</p>
+
+<p>The capture of this natural fortress did not result in its immediate
+occupation, for Te Rauparaha still had abundance of work to do on the
+mainland before he could regard the power of the enemy as broken and
+the conquest of his new home complete. In pursuance of his policy of
+extermination, he had been interspersing his larger movements with
+repeated raids upon Rangitane and Muaupoko, in which he invariably
+made them feel the sting of his revenge. Finding that these attacks
+were becoming more frequent and more vigorous, the chiefs of the
+latter tribe conceived a plan by which they hoped to elude the
+persistency of their implacable pursuers. Hitherto their <i>pas</i>
+had been built on the shores of the picturesque lakes, around which
+they had lived since their advent into the district, centuries before.
+But they now decided to abandon these strongholds, which were exposed
+to every raid of the enemy, and build their dwellings in the centre of
+Lakes Horowhenua and Papaitonga. At the cost of an amazing amount of
+industry and toil, they constructed artificial islands
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">{91}</a></span>
+upon the beds of these lakes at their deepest parts, and
+upon these mounds they built a miniature Maori Venice.
+The construction of these islands was most ingenious,
+and desperate indeed must have been the straits to
+which Muaupoko were driven before they imposed upon
+themselves so laborious a task.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding to the bush, their first operation was to cut down a number
+of saplings, which were pointed and then driven into the soft mud,
+closely enclosing in rectangular form sufficient space on which to
+place the foundations of the houses. Smaller stakes were then driven
+into the centre of the enclosure, upon which were spitted those
+compact masses of vegetation known as "Maori-heads." A layer of these
+gave the builders a solid basis upon which to work, and huge stones,
+earth, and gravel were brought in the canoes from the shore, and
+poured into the enclosures until the pile of <i>débris</i> rose some
+height above the level of the water. Six such islands were formed on
+Lake Horowhenua and two on Papaitonga, and on these <i>whares</i> were
+erected, which were gradually extended by the addition of platforms
+reaching a considerable distance beyond the islands. Round each of
+these platforms ran a stout palisade, which served the dual purpose of
+preventing the very young children from falling into the water and
+offering a formidable barrier to the assaults of the enemy. As the
+only means of communication with these islands was by canoe, and as it
+was well known to the Muaupoko people that Te Rauparaha had few such
+vessels, they felt comparatively secure from attack so soon as they
+had transferred themselves to their new retreat.</p>
+
+<p>But they little reckoned on the kind of man with whom they had to
+deal, when they imagined that a placid sheet of water could interpose
+between Te Rauparaha and his enemies. Canoes he had not, but strong
+swimmers he had; and it is a fine tribute to their daring that, on a
+dark and gloomy night, a small band of these undertook to swim off to
+one of the Horowhenua <i>pas</i> and attack its sleeping inhabitants.
+With their weapons
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">{92}</a></span>
+lashed to their wrists, they silently entered the water,
+and by swift side strokes reached the walls of Waipata,
+the <i>pa</i> which they had chosen for their attempt, and
+were swarming over the palisades before a note of warning
+could be sounded. Taken at such a disadvantage,
+it was not to be expected that the Muaupoko resistance
+would be effective, for they were both stunned by
+surprise and paralysed by fear at the awful suddenness
+of the attack. Flight was their first thought, and such
+as were not slain in their sleep or caught in their attempt
+to escape, plunged into the lake and made for the nearest
+shelter. In this endeavour to escape death all were not
+successful, and it is estimated that, between the killed
+and drowned, the attack upon Waipata cost the Muaupoko
+several hundred lives, besides adding to their
+misfortune by shattering utterly their belief in the inaccessibility
+of their island <i>pas</i>. The adjoining <i>pas</i> upon
+the lake, warned of the impending danger by the tumult
+at Waipata, at once prepared for a stubborn defence;
+but the attacking party, feeling themselves unequal to
+the task of a second assault, discreetly withdrew to the
+mainland before it was yet daylight, and at once made
+preparations for another attack upon a more extensive
+scale. But both prudence and necessity dictated the
+wisdom of delay; it was wiser to wait until Muaupoko
+had relapsed into their former state of confidence, and,
+moreover, the plan upon which it was proposed to
+make the attack required time for its development.</p>
+
+<p>Recognising the strength of the Waikiekie <i>pa</i>, against which the
+energies of his tribe were next to be directed, Te Rauparaha saw that
+success was not to be expected unless he could attack it in force.
+This involved the transportation of a large body of men over the
+waters of the lake, which could only be effected by means of canoes.
+These he did not possess in numbers, and, even if he had, he must
+still devise means of conveying them to the lake, which was several
+miles from the coast. His ingenious mind, however, soon discovered an
+escape from these perplexities, and he at once decided upon a plan,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">{93}</a></span>
+which was not without precedent in European warfare
+or imitation in subsequent Maori history. His scheme
+involved the haulage of his canoes over the belt of land
+which separated the lake from the sea, and the enterprise
+seems to have been as cleverly executed as it was daringly
+designed. Out of the lake runs an insignificant stream,
+which slowly meanders over shallows and between narrow
+banks down to the ocean; and to the mouth of this
+creek were brought such canoes as had fallen into Te
+Rauparaha's hands at the taking of Kapiti, and a larger
+one which had been procured from his friends at
+Whanganui-a-Tara.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_59" id="Ref_59" href="#Foot_59">[59]</a></span>
+Where the water was deep
+enough, or the reaches straight enough, the canoes
+were floated up the bed of the stream; but as this
+was possible only at rare intervals, the greater part of
+the distance was covered by dragging the vessels over
+the grassy flats and ferny undulations. Such a task
+would be laborious enough under any circumstances;
+but on this occasion it was rendered even more wearisome
+by the necessity for conducting it in absolute silence.
+As the success of the expedition depended mainly upon
+the completeness of the surprise, it was essential that
+no note of warning should be given, and therefore it
+was impossible to encourage the workers to greater
+exertions by song or speech; but so heartily did they
+bend themselves to their monotonous task, that the three
+miles of toilsome road were traversed before the break
+of day.</p>
+
+<p>The outflow of the lake was hidden by a clump of trees which grew
+close to the water's edge, and behind this natural screen the canoes
+were concealed, and the men lay down to rest until the moment came to
+strike. At the first appearance of dawn, the canoes were shot into the
+lake, and before the inhabitants of Waikiekie had shaken slumber from
+their eyes, the shaft was on its way that would send many of them to
+their last long sleep. The <i>pa</i> was attacked on every side, and
+with a vigour which left little chance of escape. Such resistance
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">{94}</a></span>
+as was possible in such a situation was offered by the
+drowsy defenders. But the mortal fear with which they
+had come to regard the Ngati-Toa, together with the
+fury of the onslaught and the completeness of the
+surprise, spread panic amongst them, and the resistance
+was soon left to a desperate few. Their valiant efforts
+brought them nothing but the glory which attends the
+death of the brave. They were quickly borne down
+before the onrush of the assailants, whose shouts of
+triumph, joined with the terrified cries of the fugitives,
+filled the morning air. Large numbers, who looked
+to discretion rather than valour, plunged into the lake,
+and by swimming, diving, and dodging, a few managed
+to elude both capture and death. But many were slain
+as they swam, and, while their bodies sank to the bottom,
+their blood mingled with the waters of the lake, until
+it lay crimson beneath the rising sun. Warriors and
+women, old men and children, to the number of two
+hundred, we are told, perished on that fateful morning,
+which saw the Muaupoko tribe driven from Horowhenua,
+and the epoch of their greatness brought to a close.
+A mere remnant of the tribe escaped, and made their
+way through the forests and mountain fastnesses towards
+the south, where, within the space of another year, they
+were again pursued, hunted, and slaughtered, with all the
+old relentless hatred of their destroyer.</p>
+
+<p>Having inflicted this crushing blow upon Muaupoko, and feeling
+convinced that they could never again be a serious menace to
+Ngati-Toa, the section of the Ngati-Awa tribe who, under
+Rere-ta-whangawhanga and other chiefs, had accompanied Te Rauparaha
+from Taranaki, now determined to return to their own country at
+Waitara;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_60" id="Ref_60" href="#Foot_60">[60]</a></span>
+and it was this decision which made it imperative that
+the Ngati-Toa leader should seek efficient aid from some other
+quarter. He accordingly, without delay, despatched
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">{95}</a></span>
+messengers to the north, once again to invite his kinsmen
+of the Ngati-Raukawa tribe to come and join him. These
+emissaries, having arrived at Taupo, learned that an
+attempt to reach Kapiti by way of the east coast had
+already been made by Te Whatanui, but without success,
+as he had been defeated by a Hawke's Bay tribe and
+driven back. This experience had somewhat cooled
+his ardour; but when Te Rauparaha's messengers
+came with the news that Kapiti had been taken, and
+told of his marvellous success at Waipata and Waikiekie,
+interest in the project at once revived. Especially was
+a young chief, named Te Ahu-karamu, fired with its
+romantic prospects, and he immediately organised a
+force of one hundred and twenty men and set off for
+the land of promise.</p>
+
+<p>Almost simultaneously with the arrival of these reinforcements,
+additional strength was gained by the accession of another band of
+Ngati-Awa from Taranaki; and, with these additions to his ranks, Te
+Rauparaha felt himself strong enough to resume once more active
+operations in the field. He accordingly moved upon a skilfully built
+<i>pa</i> situated at Paekakariki, some miles to the southward of
+Kapiti, whither the escaping Muaupoko had fled and taken refuge. In
+this adventure a larger force than usual was employed; for not only
+were the new arrivals keen for a brush with the enemy, but the natural
+strength of the <i>pa</i> was such that Rauparaha knew it would be
+useless to approach it without a force of adequate proportions. In
+these anticipations his judgment was correct, as usual, for the
+struggle proved to be an exceedingly obstinate one and the death-roll
+on both sides considerable. After some days of incessant attack, in
+which the few muskets possessed by Ngati-Toa played their fatal part,
+the Muaupoko defence was pierced, and the victory was sealed with all
+the atrocities associated with the savage warfare of the ancient Maori.</p>
+
+<p>The capture of this <i>pa</i> proved to be a rich prize for Rauparaha.
+Not only did it uproot the last stronghold of the Muaupoko people, but
+it brought a substantial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">{96}</a></span>
+addition to his supplies. Large quantities of provisions
+were discovered within the stockade, evidently collected
+in anticipation of a lengthy siege. So provident, in fact,
+had the inhabitants of the Paekakariki fort been in this
+respect, that the large attacking force spent the succeeding
+two months feasting upon the captured stores, interspersed
+with an occasional cannibal repast. This period
+of rest the visitors were prepared to enjoy to the full; for
+after a battle nothing was more congenial to Maori
+warriors than to lie idly about the sunny places in the
+<i>pa</i>, and discuss in every detail the stirring incidents
+of the fight.</p>
+
+<p>It was while thus basking in fancied security that the tables were
+suddenly turned upon them, and from a most unexpected quarter. Hearing
+from some of the fugitives of the capture of the Paekakariki
+<i>pa</i>, and burning to avenge the raid which Ngati-Toa had
+previously made into the Wairarapa, the members of the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe residing at Wairarapa and near Wellington believed that this was
+their golden opportunity. Secretly collecting a fighting force of
+considerable strength, they made their way through the bush to
+Paekakariki, and there fell upon the unwary and self-indulgent
+invaders. To them it was something of a novel experience to be thus
+repaid in their own tactics; but the swiftness and audacity with which
+the blow was delivered completely demoralised them, and the erstwhile
+assailants suffered the humiliation of being beaten back upon Waikanae
+with inglorious precipitancy. The whole procedure necessarily involved
+considerable loss on the part of Ngati-Toa and their allies, and the
+bitterness of the reverse was especially galling because it was the
+first occasion on which they had been worsted in arms since their
+occupation of the country had commenced. The closeness of the pursuit
+did not slacken until the fugitives had reached Waikanae; but beyond
+this point Ngati-Kahungunu did not press their advantage. They were
+now rushing into touch with Rauparaha's permanent settlements, from
+which the echoes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">{97}</a></span>
+of the strife might draw reinforcements at any moment.
+Unwilling to overrun their victory, the men from Whanganui-a-Tara
+withdrew to the south, well pleased with
+their achievement, which was not without its lesson for
+Te Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p>The chief saw that the time had not yet arrived when he could relax
+his life-long vigilance. Heavy as had been the defeats which he had
+inflicted upon the resident people, he saw that their spirit had not
+yet been completely crushed. Brave as his own followers were, he saw
+that they were not proof against the panic which often springs from a
+surprise attack. The thing, however, which caused him most concern was
+the hostile attitude which was now being adopted towards him by the
+Ngati-Kahungunu people. Hitherto this powerful tribe, whose domain was
+a wide and populous one on the eastern coast, had remained
+comparatively neutral in the contest for supremacy in the west. But
+now this attitude was abandoned, and under the encouragement afforded
+by this prospect of protection, the displaced tribes were gradually
+venturing back to their deserted settlements. Should an effective
+alliance be formed between his enemies on the two coasts, the position
+would at once become so charged with danger that his comparatively
+small force would find itself in a most critical situation. It was,
+then, the threatening attitude of his neighbours which caused the
+Ngati-Toa chief to decide finally upon the abandonment of the mainland
+and the transference of the whole of his people to Kapiti, there to
+await the result of his mission to his friends at Maungatautari. In
+the meantime three strongly fortified <i>pas</i> were built upon the
+island, and every preparation made against possible attack. These
+<i>pas</i>, situated one at either end, and the third in the centre of
+the island, were designed with as keen an eye for trade as for the
+purposes of defence. Te Rauparaha had not lost sight of the main
+purpose of his conquest, which was to bring himself into close
+association with the whalers, from whom he hoped to obtain, by
+purchase,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">{98}</a></span>
+barter, or bullying, additions to his store of guns
+and ammunition. For this purpose Kapiti was easily
+the key to the position. Favoured by deep water and
+safe anchorage, it afforded the securest of shelter to
+vessels seeking to escape from the dirty weather which
+comes whistling through the Strait. Boats lying snugly
+at anchor under the lee of the land would have opportunities
+for trade from which all others would be cut
+off; and there is little doubt that this commercial advantage
+was coolly calculated upon when the <i>pas</i> on the
+mainland were evacuated and those on the island were
+occupied. This much at least is certain, that, whether
+part of a premeditated scheme or otherwise, the move
+proved to be a masterstroke, for it gave to Te Rauparaha
+a virtual monopoly of the white man's patronage,
+a privilege which for years he guarded with jealous
+exclusiveness.</p>
+
+<p>When it became known that Te Rauparaha had retired to Kapiti, and
+there seemed less danger of immediate molestation, the Rangitane
+people again began to collect in force near their old home at Hotuiti.
+They built a strong <i>pa</i> near the present town of Foxton, and
+here they were joined by a number of Ngati-Apa chiefs and people from
+Rangitikei. This proceeding Te Rauparaha regarded as a danger and a
+menace to his safety; for he had no reason to believe that he enjoyed
+their friendship, and no means of ascertaining when they might think
+fit to wreak their vengeance upon him. He therefore decided to take
+the initiative and attack them. Accordingly, with Rangihaeata and his
+Ngati-Apa wife Pikinga, he marched his war party up the coast and at
+once invested the place. The method by which he sought to reduce the
+<i>pa</i> to submission was a clever stratagem&mdash;perfectly honourable,
+perhaps, according to the Maori code of warfare&mdash;but utterly repulsive
+to civilised ideas; and, to those who judge him by the latter
+standard, it lowers Te Rauparaha from the high plane of a classic
+warrior to the level of a cunning and unscrupulous savage. His first
+act of generalship
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">{99}</a></span>
+aimed at separating the two tribes, a step which has been
+attributed by some to a desire to spare the Ngati-Apa,
+because of their relationship with Pikinga. Others,
+however, can see in it nothing but a clever ruse to divide
+the defending force, so that he might the more easily
+attack and defeat them singly. He therefore sent Pikinga
+to the Ngati-Apa chiefs with a request that they would
+withdraw to their own territory beyond the Rangitikei
+River. Probably he promised them safe-conduct on
+their journey; but, if he did, it was of no avail, for they
+firmly refused to evacuate the Hotuiti <i>pa</i>, and doggedly
+remained where they were. Feigning, then, to abandon
+his campaign, Te Rauparaha sent to the Rangitane chiefs,
+inviting them to come to him and negotiate terms of
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>In view of their past experiences it might have been expected that
+such a request would be scornfully declined; but after long and
+anxious debate it was decided&mdash;mainly, it is said, on the advice of
+the Ngati-Apa chiefs&mdash;that the leading Rangitane warriors should meet
+the Ngati-Toa leader and make the best terms possible with him. The
+result was, of course, the old story: the ruthless slaughter of the
+confiding ambassadors, who found that Te Rauparaha had come, not with
+peace, but unrelenting war. Treachery was no more suspected inside the
+<i>pa</i> than out of it; and while the people were deluded into the
+belief that the war-clouds had passed away, they were being secretly
+and silently surrounded. At a given signal the walls were stormed and
+a bloody massacre followed, from which the Ngati-Toa warriors emerged
+sated with gruesome triumph. The slain were eaten on the spot, and the
+prisoners were taken to Waikanae, there to await the returning
+appetite of their captors.</p>
+
+<p>So dastardly an attack upon their friends and so gross an insult to
+their tribal pride could not be ignored; and although time might
+elapse before the Ngati-Apa peoples would be able to strike an
+avenging blow, it was quite certain that so soon as the favourable
+moment arrived
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">{100}</a></span>
+the Ngati-Toa would have to pay the penalty of their
+treachery. But Te Rauparaha never dreamed that they
+would have the temerity to attack him upon his own
+land, and while he was lying in fancied security at
+Waikanae, the storm suddenly burst upon him. The
+Ngati-Apa, under Te Hakeke, had hurriedly collected
+their war party, and obtaining reinforcements from the
+fugitives who had escaped from the massacre at Hotuiti,
+came by stealthy marches down the coast and fell upon
+the unsuspecting Ngati-Toa in the dead of night. Next
+morning the camp was in ruins, Te Rauparaha's force
+was in flight, and sixty of his followers, including four
+of Te Pehi's daughters, were lying dead amongst the
+<i>débris</i>. The balance of battle honours having been thus
+somewhat adjusted, the aggressors retired, well satisfied
+with the result. They were allowed to depart without
+a resumption of hostilities, for the supports who had
+come over from Kapiti were either not strong enough,
+or not keen enough, to pursue them.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_61" id="Ref_61" href="#Foot_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whatever may have been Te Rauparaha's previous disposition towards
+Ngati-Apa, whether he was genuinely disposed to befriend them or
+whether he was merely playing on their credulity, is of no further
+importance, for from that day he took on an attitude of undisguised
+hostility towards them, revoking all promises of peace, stated or
+implied, and becoming, in the characteristic language of
+Matene-te-Whiwhi, "dark in his heart in regard to Ngati-Apa." The
+shield of friendship having been removed, this unfortunate tribe was
+now exposed to all the fury of the most ruthless man in New Zealand;
+and in the raids which his warriors made against them, neither man nor
+woman was spared who was unfortunate enough to fall into his hands.
+These misfortunes created a bond of sympathy between Ngati-Apa and
+their neighbours, the Rangitane and Muaupoko, and paved the way for an
+alliance against the common enemy. Although banished from Horowhenua
+and wandering about the solitary places
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">{101}</a></span>
+of the coast, a broken and shattered people, there was
+still sufficient energy and hatred remaining in one of the
+Muaupoko chiefs to make a final effort to recover their
+departed <i>mana</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Te Raki, who had suffered captivity at the hands of Te Pehi, aspiring,
+after his escape, to be the regenerator of his tribe, became the
+active apostle of a federation which was to embrace the tribes who had
+felt the weight of the Ngati-Toa hand. From Waitotara in the north to
+Arapawa and Massacre Bay in the south, and Wairarapa in the east, he
+organised an alliance which could hurl two thousand fighting men
+against their redoubtable adversary. Canoes from far and near brought
+this host to the appointed rendezvous, the northerners assembling at
+Otaki and the southerners at Waikanae. From these two points this army
+converged upon Kapiti, their canoes "darkening the sea" as they went.
+The magnitude of the armada, however, was greater than its discipline,
+and before it had proceeded far its movements were discovered. The
+noise of the paddles, as the canoes approached the island in the early
+morning, caught the keen ear of Nopera, and when the right wing landed
+at Rangatira Point, they were opposed by the people whom they had
+expected to surprise. The attack was fierce and desperate, and when
+Pokaitara, the Ngati-Toa commander, found himself being driven back
+towards Waiorua, he astutely proposed a truce. It would give him a
+welcome respite while it lasted, and perhaps some advantage in the
+first moment of its violation. Ignorant of the fact that a message had
+been sent to Te Rauparaha, who happened to be at the centre of the
+island, and hoping for the speedy arrival of his own laggard
+reinforcements, who were still at sea, Rangi-maire-hau, the Ngati-Apa
+chief from Turakina, in a weak moment, agreed to a suspension of
+hostilities. Scarcely had this been arranged, when Te Rauparaha, with
+the major part of his people, arrived upon the scene, and repudiating
+the agreement to which his lieutenant had committed himself, he
+recommenced the sanguinary work, and fought
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">{102}</a></span>
+to such purpose that the issue was soon placed beyond
+doubt. With one hundred and seventy of their tribesmen
+slain, the Ngati-Apa attack began to slacken. Presently
+their ranks were seen to waver, and an impetuous
+charge at this decisive moment drove into rout what had
+hitherto been an impenetrable front. The slaughter of
+pursuit was scarcely less than that of resistance. Dead
+and dying lay on every side, and many found a watery
+grave in their vain effort to swim to the canoes, which
+had not yet reached the shore.</p>
+
+<p>News that disaster had overtaken the advance guard quickly spread to
+the other sections of the allied forces; and, without attempting to
+retrieve the fortunes of the day, they turned and precipitately fled
+in whichever direction safety seemed to lie. When he realised that his
+host had been worsted in the battle, Rangi-maire-hau disdained to fly,
+but threw himself upon the mercy of Te Rangihaeata, who had borne
+himself with conspicuous bravery throughout the attack. That haughty
+chief, however, saw no reason why he should spread his protecting
+mantle over his would-be exterminator, even though the appeal was
+founded on the bond of relationship with his Ngati-Apa wife; and,
+steeling his heart against every entreaty, he ordered
+Rangi-maire-hau's immediate death. With this exception, it is recorded
+to the credit of Ngati-Toa that they used their victory with unusual
+moderation. Thus, the largest force which had ever been marshalled
+during the Maori wars along this coast was defeated by one of the
+smallest; the organisation of two years was dissipated in as many
+hours; and the invaders were only the more firmly established in the
+land by this futile attempt to uproot them. This great victory, which
+settled for ever the question of supremacy, was duly celebrated by
+feasting and dancing, during which Te Rauparaha chanted a song of
+triumph, which was especially offensive to his enemies, taunting them,
+as it did, with a lack of courage, and foretelling even greater
+misfortunes that were yet to befall them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">{103}</a></span>
+<span class="i2q">"When will your anger dare?</span>
+<span class="i2">When will your power arise?</span>
+<span class="i2">Salute your child with your nose.</span>
+<span class="i2">But how salute him now?</span>
+<span class="i2">You will see the rejoicing tide</span>
+<span class="i2">Of the warrior's coming glee,</span>
+<span class="i2">And the departure of Rongo-ma-whiti."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>While Te Rauparaha was enjoying the fruits of his victory, his forces
+received welcome reinforcements from two quarters. The news of battles
+fought and laurels won had reached Taranaki, where the Ngati-Tama
+chief, Te Puoho, and some of his followers, whose curiosity had been
+aroused by the tales told by their returned tribesmen, came down to
+learn the truth of the matter for themselves. Close upon their heels
+came the long-hoped-for band of Ngati-Raukawa, who signalised their
+advent by at once attacking the settlements in the Rangitikei and
+Manawatu districts. While one party skirted the coast,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_62" id="Ref_62" href="#Foot_62">[62]</a></span>
+the other
+struck inland, and under their chiefs, Te Whatu and Te Whetu,
+surrounded and captured a Ngati-Apa <i>pa</i> at Rangiure, and then
+proceeded to Pikitane, where they killed a number of the resident
+people and made the rest prisoners. These two settlements had been
+taken completely by surprise, their people little dreaming that a war
+party was marching through the land. No better prepared were the
+Ngati-Apa then living at Awahuri, who were next attacked, and their
+chief, named Te Aonui, was added to the train of captives. The
+invaders then pushed their victorious march down the course of the
+Oroua River, as far as its junction with the Manawatu. Here they
+crossed the larger stream, and immediately attacked the <i>pa</i> at
+Te Whakatipua. This assault was stoutly resisted by the chiefs,
+Kaihinu and Piropiro, who paid the penalty with their lives, but the
+remainder of the people who were not shot by the invaders were spared
+on proffering a humble
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">{104}</a></span>
+submission. This was practically the only discreet
+course open to them. Not only were they placed at a
+serious disadvantage, away from their fighting <i>pas</i>, but
+many of the Ngati-Raukawa were armed with guns, while
+the Rangitane people had not as yet been able to discard
+the wooden spears and stone clubs of their forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>The rapid movements of the Ngati-Raukawa, and the completeness of
+their captures, had prevented the news of their presence being
+despatched to the adjoining settlements; and, as a consequence, when
+they ascended the Manawatu and came upon the little <i>pa</i> at
+Rotoatane, situated not far from Tiakitahuna,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_63" id="Ref_63" href="#Foot_63">[63]</a></span>
+they were able to attack and capture it almost before the people could be summoned from
+the fields. Not that it was a bloodless victory. A Rangitane chief,
+named Tina, fought with desperation, and, before he was overpowered by
+superior numbers, three of the assailants were stretched dead at his
+feet. Once more the advance was sounded, the objective this time being
+the <i>pa</i> at Tiakitahuna itself. This settlement was under the
+chieftainship of Toringa and Tamati Panau, the latter being the father
+of the chief Kerei te Panau,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_64" id="Ref_64" href="#Foot_64">[64]</a></span>
+who until recently lived at Awapuni.
+These men were evidently more alert than their neighbours, for no
+sooner did the <i>taua</i> come in sight than they took to their
+canoes and paddled across to the opposite bank of the river. While the
+two tribes were thus ranged on opposite sides of the stream, the
+Rangitane had time to consider the position. Tamati Panau was the
+first to seek an explanation, by calling out to Te Whatu, "Where is
+the war party from?" Clear and quick came the answer back, "From the
+north." That was sufficient for Toringa, who had already tested the
+mettle of the northerners, and he at once sent a curse across the
+water, hurled at the heads of the invaders with all the venom that
+tribal hatred and a sense of injured
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">{105}</a></span>
+vanity could instil. Whether it was the dread of
+Toringa's denunciation, or whether the Ngati-Raukawa
+were satisfied with their unbroken course of victory, is
+not clear to the present-day historian; but the Rangitane
+traditions relate that, after firing a single shot from one
+of their muskets, the invaders retired from the district,
+taking their prisoners with them, and made their way
+south to join Te Rauparaha, who was anxiously awaiting
+their coming.</p>
+
+<p>The prospect opened up to these new-comers was far beyond anything
+that they had dreamed. In fact, so fascinated was Te Ahu-karamu with
+the new and beautiful country which his great kinsman had conquered
+that, after a reasonable rest, he returned to Taupo for the purpose of
+bringing the whole of his people away from a position which was daily
+becoming more exposed to the aggression of the Waikato tribes. But his
+designs in this direction were nearly thwarted by the persistency with
+which the tribe clung to their northern home, even in defiance of his
+threat to invoke the wrath of his <i>atua</i><span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_65" id="Ref_65" href="#Foot_65">[65]</a></span>
+if they dared to
+question the command of their chief. Finding that the terrors of his
+god had no influence upon them, Karamu adopted an instrument of the
+devil, and, taking a torch in his hand, brought his obdurate tribesmen
+to their senses by burning every house in the <i>pa</i> to the ground.
+Rendered thus houseless and homeless, there was nothing for the
+dejected people to do but to follow their imperious leader. In his
+journey back to Kapiti he was joined by two of the most famous chiefs
+of that day&mdash;Te Whatanui and Te Heuheu, the former of whom was
+destined to become the patriarch of Horowhenua and the protector of
+its persecuted people. Collecting a strong retinue of followers, the
+three chiefs set off in 1825 by the same route which Karamu had
+previously travelled down the valley of the Rangitikei, varying the
+monotony of the journey<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_66" id="Ref_66" href="#Foot_66">[66]</a></span>
+through the Ngati-Apa
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">{106}</a></span>
+country by occasionally chasing frightened fugitives,
+in order to gratify their pride and glut their appetite.</p>
+
+<p>Upon their arrival at Kapiti long and anxious consultations followed
+between the chiefs, the result of which was that Te Whatanui at last
+consented to migrate<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_67" id="Ref_67" href="#Foot_67">[67]</a></span>
+and throw in his fortunes with Te Rauparaha.
+This was eventually accomplished in 1828-29, the consolidation of the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa tribes making their future absolutely
+secure and bringing Te Rauparaha's wildest dreams of conquest within
+measurable distance of accomplishment. His broadened aspirations had
+long before this extended across the Strait; and, next to the conquest
+of the coast on which he was now operating, it had become his greatest
+ambition to measure his strength against the natives of the Middle
+Island. Their reputed wealth in greenstone had aroused his avarice,
+while
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">{107}</a></span>
+the prospect of acquiring additional territory appealed
+strongly to his love of power.</p>
+
+<p>But before he was able to perfect his plans for carrying into effect
+this new stroke of aggression, an event occurred which was destined to
+have important results. It will be remembered that the crowning
+circumstance which had induced Te Rauparaha to leave Kawhia was the
+sight of a vessel beating through Cook Strait. He had there and then
+settled in his mind that this part of the coast was soon to become an
+important rendezvous for whalers, &amp;c., and already his anticipations
+were being realised with an amazing rapidity. The whalers were now
+frequent visitors to Kapiti, and many were the marvels which they
+brought in their train. But most of all were the natives absorbed in
+the prospect of securing from these rough seafarers guns and
+ammunition, steel tomahawks, and other weapons, which would give them
+an advantage over their enemies in the only business then worth
+consideration&mdash;the business of war. Many of these ships, however, had
+not come prepared for this traffic,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_68" id="Ref_68" href="#Foot_68">[68]</a></span>
+and the lack of guns, rather
+than any hesitation to part with them, made the process of arming a
+tribe a slow one. It had at least proved much too slow for some of the
+more restless spirits of the race; and impatience, added to a natural
+love of adventure, had led some of them to ship to Sydney, and even to
+England, in the hope of bringing back with them the means of
+accelerating their enemies' destruction. Of these latter Hongi had
+been a conspicuous example, and the success which had attended his
+mission to England roused a spirit of emulation in the breasts of
+other chiefs, who were only waiting the opportunity of following his
+example. Of these, Te Pehi Kupe, the conqueror of Kapiti, was one of
+the few who were signally successful. Knowing no language but his own,
+having only the vaguest notions of what a voyage to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">{108}</a></span>
+England meant, and a very precarious prospect of ever
+being brought back, this man had thrown himself on
+board an English whaler, and, resolute against all dissuasions,
+and even against physical force, had insisted
+upon being carried to a country of which he had but
+two ideas&mdash;King George, of whom he had heard, and
+guns, which he had seen and hoped to possess.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it came about that, while the ship <i>Urania</i> was lying
+becalmed in Cook Strait, about five or six miles from the land, on
+February 26, 1824, Captain Reynolds perceived three large canoes,
+fully manned, approaching the vessel. Doubtful what such a
+demonstration might portend, Captain Reynolds put his ship in a
+condition to resist an attack if necessary; and when the canoes were
+within hail, he, by word and sign, endeavoured to warn them off. Had
+he chosen, he might easily have sent the frail-looking barques to the
+bottom by a single shot from the ship's guns; but, unlike many another
+skipper of those days, Captain Reynolds was a man actuated by
+considerations which went beyond himself, and the thought of the
+retaliation which might fall upon other mariners coming to the shores
+of New Zealand restrained him from committing any such act of
+brutality. Fortunately there was no need for drastic action, and the
+behaviour of the natives was such as to leave no doubt in the mind of
+the captain that their intentions were of a peaceable character. Te
+Pehi boldly directed his crew to paddle alongside the ship, and,
+divesting himself of all his clothing except a mat which was slung
+across his shoulders, he, with the swiftness of an athlete, climbed on
+board. When he reached the deck, he endeavoured by signs and gestures
+to convey to Captain Reynolds that what he wanted was arms and
+ammunition, and, on being informed that the ship had none to spare, he
+coolly indicated that, such being the case, he had decided to remain
+on board and proceed to Europe<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_69" id="Ref_69" href="#Foot_69">[69]</a></span>
+to see King George. These words
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">{109}</a></span>
+he had evidently learned from some of Captain Reynolds'
+predecessors, for he was able to pronounce them with
+sufficient distinctness to be clearly understood. The
+audacity of this proposal completely staggered the master
+of the <i>Urania</i>, and he at once tried to nip such ambitious
+hopes in the bud by peremptorily ordering the chief
+back to his canoe. Te Pehi, however, met this direction
+by calling to his men to move the canoe away from the
+ship, and the captain next sought to give his command
+practical force by throwing the chief overboard, in the
+hope and belief that the canoes would pick him up out
+of the sea. But in this he was again checkmated. The
+chief threw himself down on the deck and seized hold
+of two ring-bolts, with so powerful a grip that it was
+impossible to tear him away without such violence as the
+humanity of Captain Reynolds would not permit. At
+this critical juncture a light breeze sprang up, and Te
+Pehi improved the favourable circumstance by ordering
+his men to paddle to the shore, as he was going to see
+King George, and that he would soon return. This
+command was at once obeyed, and the breeze carrying
+the <i>Urania</i> off the land, Captain Reynolds was reluctantly
+compelled to keep the chief on board that night. But,
+far from satisfied with his self-constituted passenger, he
+next day made another effort to force Te Pehi on shore,
+and nearly lost his ship in the attempt. This narrow
+escape, and the favourable conditions for getting away
+from New Zealand, to some extent reconciled the captain
+to an acceptance of the situation; but his chagrin was as
+great as was the delight of the chief, when it was found
+that there was no option but to keep him on board for
+the remainder of the voyage.</p>
+
+<p>With more intimate acquaintance, the relations
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">{110}</a></span>
+between the captain and chief grew to be of the most
+friendly nature, and they lived together, both on shipboard
+and on shore, the captain taking a kindly interest in
+explaining to his protégé the mysteries of the great world
+upon which he was entering, while the native clung to
+his new-found friend with a confiding affection.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_70" id="Ref_70" href="#Foot_70">[70]</a></span>
+The <i>Urania</i> ultimately reached Liverpool, where Te Pehi was
+the subject of much public attention. He was shown
+over the principal manufactories in Manchester and
+London, his great anxiety to see King George was
+gratified, and, although he was subject to a good deal
+of sickness, yet, thanks to the care of Captain Reynolds,
+he made an excellent recovery. After about a year's
+residence in England, he was placed on board H.M.
+ship <i>The Thames</i>, and in October, 1825, he sailed for
+his native land, loaded with presents of clothing and
+agricultural implements, which were given him by
+benevolently minded people in the hope that, combined
+with the knowledge of their use and blessing, which
+he had acquired in England, they would exercise an
+elevating influence upon his countrymen when he
+should return amongst them. Vain hope; for on his
+arrival at Sydney, Te Pehi reversed the beautiful biblical
+allegory, and turned his pruning hooks into spears and
+his ploughshares into guns and ammunition, to aid in the
+work of waging eternal warfare against the enemies of
+his tribe.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_71" id="Ref_71" href="#Foot_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Early in the year 1824, and immediately after Te Pehi's departure for
+England, Te Rauparaha found that, in consequence of the many recent
+additions to his forces, the number of natives who had placed
+themselves under
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">{111}</a></span>
+his command was then sufficient to enable him to begin
+the main purpose of his conquest, namely, the systematic
+occupation of the land.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_72" id="Ref_72" href="#Foot_72">[72]</a></span>
+He and his own immediate
+tribe having decided to occupy the island of Kapiti,
+where they could be in closer touch with the whalers, he
+now proceeded to partition the country along the coast
+amongst the new arrivals. The first division led to civil
+war and domestic feuds between a section of Ngati-Raukawa
+and the Ngati-Tama from Taranaki, under Te
+Puoho, which at one time threatened to destroy all that
+he had already accomplished; and it was not until a new
+allotment was agreed upon, by which Ngati-Awa, to
+whom Ngati-Tama were closely related, were given
+exclusive possession of the country south of the
+Kukutauaki stream, and the Ngati-Raukawa sole dominion
+over the district northward of that boundary as far as
+the Wangaehu River, that his power to resist his enemies
+was restored by the restoration of harmony amongst his
+friends. Not that there was any immediate danger of
+attack; for his incessant raids upon the Ngati-Apa and
+Muaupoko tribes had reduced them to the condition
+of a shattered and fugitive remnant, incapable alike of
+organised attack or organised defence.</p>
+
+<p>It was probably one of the proudest days of Te Rauparaha's life when,
+standing on Kapiti, he formally transferred the whole of the coast to
+his followers by right of conquest, than which no Maori could hope for
+a better title, and proclaimed to the assembled people the precise
+districts which were to be their future homes, where they were to
+cultivate, to catch
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">{112}</a></span>
+eels, to snare and spear birds. These dispositions, however,
+did not imply that he was prepared to surrender
+his supreme authority over the lands, and the fact that
+he desired to, and intended to, retain his right of
+suzerainty was made abundantly clear. "The lands I
+now give you are in our joint rule, but I shall be greater
+in power than you individually"; such were the terms
+in which the transfer was made, and the people acquiesced
+in a unanimous "It is right, O Raha! it is as
+you say." But Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa
+were commissioned to do something more than merely
+occupy the land. In imperious tones the great chief
+commanded them: "Clear the weeds from off my field."
+In other and less figurative words, they were to kill and
+persecute the conquered peoples without pity and without
+mercy; and perhaps it would have been well for
+Ngati-Raukawa had they more faithfully obeyed his instructions,
+instead of extending a sheltering arm to Ngati-Apa
+and Muaupoko, both of whom subsequently proved
+themselves so unworthy of this clemency.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_73" id="Ref_73" href="#Foot_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Under the arrangement thus determined upon at Kapiti the country round
+the beautiful lake at Horowhenua was taken possession of by that grand
+old member of a magnificent race, Te Whatanui, and those people who
+had come from the north with him. The district now known as Lower
+Manawatu was occupied by another section of the Ngati-Raukawa people,
+under Te Whetu, and, still higher up, Rangitikei came under the
+dominion of Nepia Taratoa, a chief who seems to have been as generous
+to Ngati-Apa as Whatanui was to Muaupoko. Southward of Horowhenua, as
+far as the present harbour of Wellington, the country was subsequently
+given over to Ngati-Awa, who were in settled possession when the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">{113}</a></span>
+first European colonists arrived. Here in 1825-26
+Pomare, their chief, led the Ngati-Mutunga <i>hapu</i> of the
+Ngati-Awa people, who forcibly occupied the shores of
+the great bay, where they hoped to cultivate the friendship
+of the whalers,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_74" id="Ref_74" href="#Foot_74">[74]</a></span>
+whose commerce was so profitable to
+them. Their tenure, however, was not an undisputed
+one. They were subjected to frequent raids and incessant
+harassment from the Wairarapa tribe, whom they
+had displaced, and who deeply resented being thus deprived
+of their one avenue of communication with the
+<i>pakeha</i>. This tribe, though powerless to retrieve the
+aggression of Ngati-Awa, missed no opportunity of
+irritating them, and Pomare was not reluctant to hand
+over his trust to some other chief, so soon as he could be
+honourably relieved of it. This opportunity came when,
+after the fall of the Puke-rangiora <i>pa</i> in 1831, the survivors
+of that (for Ngati-Awa) disastrous day, together with
+the flower of their tribe from their other settlements,
+abandoned Taranaki, and came down, a fugitive host, to
+shelter under the protecting wing of Te Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p>With Te Puni, Wi Tako, and Wharepouri, an arrangement was entered into
+in 1834, whereby the land round the harbour and the right to contest
+the ownership of the territory with the unexterminated portion of the
+Ngati-Kahungunu were to be ceded to them for the consideration of a
+greenstone <i>mere</i>. Pomare was perhaps the more ready to relinquish
+possession of what is now amongst the most valuable land in the
+Dominion, because he had become possessed of information which seemed
+to open up a much more agreeable prospect than resisting the
+inconvenient incursions of his Wairarapa enemies. One of the young men
+of his tribe, Paka-whara, who had shipped on board a whaler, had just
+returned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">{114}</a></span>
+from a southern cruise, with the intelligence that the
+Chatham Islands were populated by a sleek and inoffensive
+people, who might be expected to fall an easy
+prey to such hardened veterans in war as Ngati-Awa
+could now furnish. Pomare at once acted upon the
+inspiration; and chartering, partly by payment and
+partly by intimidation, the British brig <i>Rodney</i>, he sailed
+with his followers in November, 1835, for the Chathams,
+where, by a fearful destruction of human life, the well-conditioned,
+unwarlike Morioris were reduced within
+the short space of two years to a remnant of two hundred
+souls.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the allocation of these districts to these particular chiefs
+was due to their own choice or to the will of Te Rauparaha is not
+known; but in the case of Te Whetu the former appears to have been the
+fact. During the raid which he made upon Manawatu while migrating to
+Kapiti, he had secured amongst his captives a handsome young Rangitane
+woman named Hinetiti, whose charms so pleased him that when he reached
+Kapiti he made her his wife. Hine's gentleness moved her lord and
+master in a way that sterner methods would not, and she soon obtained
+such an influence over him that her will became his desire. Doubtless
+the memory of her old home was ever present with her, even amongst the
+beauties of Kapiti; and, when the partition of the country was being
+spoken of in the <i>kaingas</i>, she urged Te Whetu to take her back
+to the banks of the Manawatu, where she might be once more with her
+friends and relatives. In deference to this wish, Te Whetu brought her
+to a little settlement named Te Iwi te Kari, near Foxton. With them
+came the Ngati-Wehiwehi <i>hapu</i>, bringing the prisoners whom they
+had taken eighteen months before, and together they occupied the
+district around Matai-Kona.</p>
+
+<p>The Manawatu was still well stocked with Rangitane, for many of their
+larger settlements in the upper portion of the district had not been
+so completely depopulated as some of the more southern <i>pas</i> by
+the captures and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">{115}</a></span>
+slaughters of the marauding northerners. The presence
+of the Ngati-Raukawa in the midst of their country put
+no check upon their freedom, and, according to their
+ancient custom, they moved about from one <i>kainga</i> to
+another at their pleasure. Indeed, the relations between
+the Rangitane and Ngati-Raukawa appear to have been
+of the most friendly nature after the return of the captives
+from Kapiti, a fact which the former attribute to the
+marriage of Te Whetu with their chieftainess, but which
+in reality was due to the generosity of the Ngati-Raukawa,
+who, had they chosen, might have left nothing but
+smoking ruins and bleaching bones to tell of the Rangitane's
+former existence.</p>
+
+<p>The feeling, however, was not so cordial between the Rangitane and the
+natives immediately under the leadership of Te Rauparaha, who allowed
+no circumstance to mitigate his extreme desire for revenge; and,
+although no pitched battles took place, there were occasional
+skirmishes and massacres which served to keep alive the fires of hate.
+In like manner he constantly harried the Muaupoko and such members of
+the Ngati-Apa tribe as he now and then fell in with, until these
+people, feeling life to be unbearable if they were to be hunted like
+beasts of prey, decided to place themselves beyond the reach of so
+relentless a tormentor. They accordingly, to the number of three
+hundred souls, including women and children, determined upon flight
+into the Wairarapa; and there they threw themselves upon the mercy of
+the Ngati-Kahungunu, who might be expected to display some sympathy
+for other victims of the suffering from which they themselves had not
+escaped. But here again the hapless people were doomed to a bitter
+experience. Instead of being received with the open arms of welcome,
+they were cruelly set upon and driven back over the Tararua Ranges,
+because of some old and unavenged act of violence which their friends
+had committed, but of which they had probably never heard.</p>
+
+<p>Spurned from the only asylum which appeared to be open to them,
+Ngati-Apa returned to Rangitikei and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">{116}</a></span>
+sought the protection of Rangihaeata and Nepia Taratoa,
+to both of whom they paid tribute for the right to live.
+Muaupoko placed themselves under the protecting arm
+of a Ngati-Raukawa chief named Tuahine, whose heart
+was touched by their destitute and defenceless condition.
+But his intervention was of little avail. However willing
+he might have been&mdash;and there is no reason to doubt
+his sincerity&mdash;he proved quite unable to shield them
+against the never-dying wrath of Te Rauparaha. Hearing
+from some of the Ngati-Raukawa people that the
+remnant of the Muaupoko tribe was once more beginning
+to gather round the Horowhenua and Papaitonga lakes, he
+organised a force of Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Huia and Ngati-Tama
+warriors, and marched upon Papaitonga in defiance
+of the vehement protests of Tuahine and many other
+Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who wished to have done with this
+incessant slaughter. This lake, which covers an area of
+about one hundred and twenty-five acres, lies a few miles
+to the southward of Horowhenua. From time immemorial
+it had been the home of the Muaupoko tribe, by whom it
+was originally called Waiwiri, but in more recent days
+the name of the larger of the two gem-like islands encircled
+by its waters has been applied to the whole lake.
+Papaitonga, which signifies, "the islet of the South," is
+a name which reveals in bright relief the poetic fancy of
+the Maori; for, even now, when its scenic charms have
+to some extent succumbed to the demands of settlement,
+the lake and its surroundings still present one of the
+most charming beauty spots in the whole Dominion. A
+deep fringe of tree-ferns and underwood, backed by a
+dense forest of native bush, skirts its north and northeast
+shores. Southward, through occasional breaches in
+the woods, can be seen the open undulating ground,
+gradually rising until it reaches the foot of the Tararuas,
+whose snow-capped peaks seem to touch the azure sky.
+Westward, stretching away to the sea, are the low flats
+over which meanders the slow-winding Waiwiri stream,
+which forms the outlet of the lake. Here the visitor is
+indeed on classic ground, for there is scarcely a feature
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">{117}</a></span>
+of the landscape which has not, for the Maori, some
+historic association, some tragic story, some deepening
+memory of the hoary past. To this day the island of
+Papaitonga, so restful with its luxuriant crown of soft
+foliage, but which in the days of old was a sanguinary
+battle-ground, remains "a perfect necropolis of human
+bones," lying concealed beneath a living shroud of
+vegetation, which has silently risen to obscure from
+human sight the gruesome evidence of human savagery.</p>
+
+<p>It was to this spot that Te Rauparaha now, in 1827-28, led his
+warriors, arriving there late in the afternoon. His first care was
+effectually to surround the lake. This he did by posting strong
+detachments of men at various points, the reason for this disposition
+being a doubt as to which direction the fugitives would take in their
+flight, which rendered it expedient to intercept them at every
+possible avenue of escape. Ten men were then left in concealment near
+the canoe-landing, the smallness of the number being designed to
+deceive the inhabitants of the island, who at this time numbered
+several hundred. It was arranged that these men should, in the early
+morning, call to the people on the island to bring them a canoe, the
+intention being to create the impression in the minds of the islanders
+that they were a party of friends. Accordingly, when those in the
+<i>pa</i> began to be astir, Te Riu called out to Kahurangi:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"<i>E Kahu, e! Hoea mai te waka ki au. Ko tou tangata tenei.</i>" (O
+Kahu, bring over a canoe for me, I am your man.)</p>
+
+<p>Either the call was not heard, or a lurking suspicion forbade a ready
+compliance with the request, for no movement was made by the islanders
+in the direction desired until Te Riu had called again:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"<i>Hoea mai te waka, kia maua ko to tangata. Ko Te Ruru tenei.</i>"
+(Send a canoe for me and your friend. Te Ruru is here.)</p>
+
+<p>This last appeal was not without avail. A chief named Takare ordered
+two men to paddle a canoe across and bring Te Ruru to the island, at
+the same time impressing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">{118}</a></span>
+upon them the need of keeping a sharp lookout
+on shore to prevent unpleasant surprises. No sooner
+had the canoe put off than two of the Ngati-Toa divested
+themselves of their clothing, and waded out amongst the
+<i>raupo</i> flags which grew near the landing, keeping only
+their heads above the water. One was armed with a
+tomahawk, and the other with a stone club known as an
+onewa, and their mission was to prevent the return of the
+canoe, should the men who brought it refuse to take
+the party on board. On came the canoe; but when
+passing the bulrushes, the rowers, who were peering
+cautiously about, detected the heads of the two men
+amongst the <i>raupo</i>, and in an instant the conviction
+of treachery flashed upon them. The man in the
+stern of the canoe excitedly called to his companion to
+shove off; but Whakatupu, the Ngati-Toa, was too quick
+for him. Springing from his concealment, he laid hold
+of the bow of the canoe and began to haul it towards
+the landing. The Muaupoko nearest to him made a
+lunge at his head with the paddle, but Whakatupu skilfully
+parried the thrust with his short-handled axe, and then,
+turning upon his assailant, with an unerring blow cleft
+his skull, and sent the lifeless body reeling back into the
+water. When the man in the stern of the canoe saw the
+fate of his companion, he immediately leaped overboard,
+and dived, coming to the surface again well out of the
+reach of the enemy. By diving and swimming, he at
+length succeeded in reaching the shore, where he concealed
+himself amongst some low brushwood, only to
+find that he had been tracked, and that it was his fate
+to be shot by Aperahama.</p>
+
+<p>The report of the gun, echoing through the silent bush and across the
+face of the placid lake, was the signal to the concealed warriors that
+the day's work had commenced, and to the unhappy islanders the
+announcement that the dogs of war had again been let loose upon them.
+They instantly prepared for flight, for to men without guns resistance
+was hopeless, even had it been possible. While they were swarming into
+their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">{119}</a></span>
+canoes, their panic was considerably accelerated by the
+sight of a Ngati-Huia warrior swimming towards the
+island discharging his musket as he swam. He had tied
+his cartouche box round his neck, and with his hands
+he loaded and re-loaded his gun, while he propelled
+himself through the water by his legs. When he
+reached the island, the inhabitants had already left, and
+were making for the shore. Here they were met by a
+deadly fusilade from one of Te Rauparaha's detachments,
+who were quietly waiting for them. They then
+turned their canoes, and made an effort to land at
+another point, only to be driven back by a second attack
+as disastrous as the first. Attempt after attempt was
+made to land, and here and there a strong swimmer
+or a swift runner succeeded in escaping; but the
+harvest of death was heavy, the bulk of the people,
+including all the chiefs, being shot. "As for the few
+who escaped," says a native account, "some took refuge
+at Horowhenua, and others fled to the mountains.
+After the fall of Papaitonga, the war party went on to
+Horowhenua, where there was more killing. Driven
+from there, the Muaupoko fugitives crossed over to
+Weraroa and fled to the hills. Then the war party
+returned to Papaitonga. What followed was according
+to Maori custom, but who would care to tell of it? I
+have a horror of that part of the story. If you want to
+know, ask the old men of the Ngati-Toa&mdash;Ngahuku,
+Tungia, and the others. That is all." Amongst those
+who were slain in this fight was Toheriri,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_75" id="Ref_75" href="#Foot_75">[75]</a></span>
+a Muaupoko
+chief, whose wife was inspired by the occasion to
+compose a lament in which she mourned the death of
+her husband, and implied that Tuahine had broken his
+pledge by exposing her people to the raid. But, in
+justice to that chief, it has to be admitted that he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">{120}</a></span>
+entirely powerless to interpose on their behalf; while, on
+the other hand, the whole incident serves to show how
+ruthlessly Te Rauparaha cherished his desire for revenge,
+and how inadequate he considered the lapse of time and
+the slaughter of hundreds to satisfy the <i>manes</i> of his
+children murdered by Muaupoko at Papaitonga.</p>
+
+<p>So Muaupoko died&mdash;or what was left of them lived, and were suffered to
+retain some of their lands around Horowhenua Lake. Pathetic laments
+for their lost lands and their departed <i>mana</i> have been
+composed, and are still sung amongst them. One chanted by Taitoko in a
+lamentation over the dead of his tribe is universally known and sung
+by the Maoris of the coast:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"The sun is setting,</span>
+<span class="i2">Drawn to his ocean cave&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Sinking o'er the peak of Pukehinau.</span>
+<span class="i2">Here wild with grief am I,</span>
+<span class="i2">Lonely as the bird in the</span>
+<span class="i2">Great waste of waters.</span>
+<span class="i2">Wait, wait awhile, O Sun,</span>
+<span class="i2">And we'll go down together."</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_48" id="Foot_48" href="#Ref_48">[48]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"It is not unusual for the natural <i>ariki</i>, or chief of a
+<i>hapu</i>, 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" (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_49" id="Foot_49" href="#Ref_49">[49]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+I have here followed the narrative of Travers; but, in his
+<i>History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast</i> Mr. Percy Smith
+makes it appear that at the moment of migration Te Ariwi was being
+besieged; that the exodus was not premeditated, but was suggested to
+Te Rauparaha by a Waikato chief as the only means of escape, and that
+the evacuation of the <i>pa</i> was carried out at night. As affording
+an interesting sidelight upon the diversity of opinion which prevails
+as to the cause of Te Rauparaha's migration, I here append the
+following note which I have received from Mr. H. M. Stowell, a
+descendant of the great Hongi. "There is one striking Rauparaha fact
+which has not yet been properly given: Rauparaha had become a pest
+among his own people, and they warned him to beware&mdash;this at his
+Kawhia home. Consequently, when the <i>taua</i>, or war party, of my
+people, under Waka Nene and his brother Patuone, arrived at Kawhia on
+their way south, and invited Te Rauparaha to join them, he was only
+too willing. He was in personal danger at home, and he could only lose
+his life, at the worst, by coming south. He therefore came. When the
+war parties returned to Kawhia, Rauparaha at once gave out to his
+people that he intended to move south permanently. This being so, his
+people did not take any steps to molest him, and in due course he came
+south. These facts are important, as showing that his coming south was
+not a mere whim or accident; on the contrary, it was imperative,
+because he had made himself obnoxious to his own people."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_50" id="Foot_50" href="#Ref_50">[50]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+John White, <i>Ancient History of the Maori</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_51" id="Foot_51" href="#Ref_51">[51]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This woman was one of the wives whom Te Rauparaha had taken over
+after the death of Hape Taurangi at Maungatautari.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_52" id="Foot_52" href="#Ref_52">[52]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the way down one disaster overtook the party. In the passage
+of the Mokau a canoe capsized and the only child of Te Rangihaeata was
+drowned. It was due to this circumstance that Rangihaeata in after
+years sometimes adopted the name of Mokau.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_53" id="Foot_53" href="#Ref_53">[53]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+During the night a peculiar incident, illustrative of Maori life
+at this period, occurred. One of the women, the wife of a chief, had a
+child with her, which, in its restlessness, began to cry. Te Rauparaha,
+fearing that his stratagem would be betrayed by the wailing of the
+child, told its mother to choke it, saying, "I am that child." The
+parents at once obeyed the command, and strangled the child.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_54" id="Foot_54" href="#Ref_54">[54]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As illustrating the peculiar methods of Maori warfare, it is said
+that during the night following this battle Te Wherowhero came close
+to the Ngati-Toa camp and called out: "Oh Raha, how am I and my people
+to be saved?" To which Te Rauparaha replied: "You must go away this
+very night. Do not remain. Go; make haste." Following this advice, the
+Waikatos left the field, leaving their fires burning, and when the
+Ngati-Awa reinforcements arrived in the morning, no enemy was to be
+seen.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_55" id="Foot_55" href="#Ref_55">[55]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This is according to Travers's account. Some authorities say that
+Pomare could not have been there at that time.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_56" id="Foot_56" href="#Ref_56">[56]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Afterwards a thorn in Te Rauparaha's side: the saviour of
+Wellington in 1843, and the honourable opponent of the British forces
+in the Waitara war in 1860.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_57" id="Foot_57" href="#Ref_57">[57]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Between the years 1863-69 a violent dispute raged between the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as to their respective rights to
+sell a valuable block of land known as Rangitikei-Manawatu to the
+Provincial Government. Ngati-Raukawa claimed the land on the ground of
+conquest, while Ngati-Apa urged that the marriage of Pikinga, their
+chieftainess, with Rangihaeata was a bond between them and Te
+Rauparaha, which induced him to protect rather than to destroy them.
+Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were furious when they heard of these
+pretensions, and severely upbraided Ngati-Raukawa for not having
+permitted them to exterminate Ngati-Apa, whom they described as "the
+remnant of their meal."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_58" id="Foot_58" href="#Ref_58">[58]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Uira was at this time the wife of Te Poa, who was killed at
+this massacre. Hononga was Te Rauparaha's daughter by his second wife,
+Kahui-rangi.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_59" id="Foot_59" href="#Ref_59">[59]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now Wellington.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_60" id="Foot_60" href="#Ref_60">[60]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This decision, it is said, was taken partly because they took
+umbrage at Te Rauparaha's overbearing manner, and partly because they
+had heard that another Waikato raid upon Taranaki was imminent. This
+was in the year 1823.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_61" id="Foot_61" href="#Ref_61">[61]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This would be about the year 1824.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_62" id="Foot_62" href="#Ref_62">[62]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This force, to the number of 120, was led by Te Ahu-karamu, a
+chief who afterwards became a prominent and progressive leader of the
+Maori people on the west coast.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_63" id="Foot_63" href="#Ref_63">[63]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Called by the early European settlers "Jackeytown."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_64" id="Foot_64" href="#Ref_64">[64]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kerei te Panau was at this time a lad of about ten years of age,
+and probably owes the fact that he lived to be about ninety-four years
+of age to this flight across the river in the canoes.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_65" id="Foot_65" href="#Ref_65">[65]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<i>Atua</i>&mdash;a god.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_66" id="Foot_66" href="#Ref_66">[66]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This migration is known to the Ngati-Raukawa tribe as the <i>Heke
+Whirinui</i>, owing to the fact that the <i>whiri</i>, or plaited
+collars of their mats, were made very large for the journey.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_67" id="Foot_67" href="#Ref_67">[67]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+For this purpose, he and Te Heuheu returned to Taupo, some of the
+party passing across the Manawatu block, so as to strike the
+Rangitikei River 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 Rangataua, where a female
+relative of Te Heuheu, famed for her extreme beauty, died of wounds
+inflicted upon her during the journey by a stray band of Ngati-Apa. A
+great <i>tangi</i> 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 ground, which he declared to be for ever <i>tapu</i>.
+His people were joined by the party from the beach road at the
+junction of the Waituna with the Rangitikei, where the chief was
+presented with three Ngati-Apa prisoners. These were immediately
+sacrificed, and then the whole party resumed the journey to Taupo.
+Amongst the special events which occurred on the march was the capture
+of a Ngati-Apa woman and two children on the south side of the
+Rangitikei River. The unfortunate children were sacrificed during the
+performance of some 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 Ngati-Raukawa
+leaders. Shortly after this, Te Whiro, one of the greatest of the
+Ngati-Apa chiefs, with two women, were taken prisoners, and the former
+was put to death with great ceremony and cruelty, as <i>utu</i> for
+the loss of some of Te Heuheu's people who had been killed by
+Ngati-Apa long before, but the women were saved (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_68" id="Foot_68" href="#Ref_68">[68]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The native trade consisted of dressed flax and various kinds of
+fresh provisions, including potatoes, which, prior to the advent of
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, had not been planted on the west coast of the
+North Island.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_69" id="Foot_69" href="#Ref_69">[69]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The words which Te Pehi is reported to have used were "Go Europe,
+see King Georgi." Dr. John Savage in his <i>Account of New Zealand</i>,
+refers to the apparent preference which the natives had for the word
+Europe over that of England. He says of a native whom he took to
+London with him, from the Bay of Islands: "I never could make
+Mayhanger pronounce the word England, therefore I was content to allow
+him to make use of Europe instead, which he pronounced without
+difficulty." Possibly Te Pehi experienced the same difficulty of
+pronunciation.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_70" id="Foot_70" href="#Ref_70">[70]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Maori became popular in the <i>Urania</i>, and at Monte Video
+plunged into the sea and rescued the drowning captain, who had fallen
+overboard (<i>Rusden</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_71" id="Foot_71" href="#Ref_71">[71]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Captain Reynolds was allowed a sum of £200 by the British
+Government as compensation for the trouble and expense to which he had
+been put by his enforced alliance with Te Pehi (see <i>N.Z. Historical
+Records</i>). The account of the chief's visit to England will be
+found in the volume of The <i>Library of Entertaining Knowledge</i> for
+1830.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_72" id="Foot_72" href="#Ref_72">[72]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+One of the migrations which took place about this time consisted
+of 140 Ngati-Raukawa men under the leadership of Nepia Taratoa. It is
+known in history as the <i>Heke Kariritahi</i>, from the fact that
+those warriors who were armed with muskets had hit upon the shrewd
+plan of enlarging the touch-holes of their guns, in order to save the
+time which otherwise would be occupied in priming. They were thus able
+to keep up a much more rapid fire upon the enemy. Te Whatanui came
+down with this <i>heke</i>, to consult further with Te Rauparaha, but
+finding him absent from Kapiti, he returned to Taupo to prepare for
+the migration of his own people.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_73" id="Foot_73" href="#Ref_73">[73]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+During the hearing by the Native Land Court in 1869 of the
+dispute which arose between the Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as
+to the right to sell the Rangitikei-Manawatu block of land to the
+Provincial Government of Wellington, Chief Judge Fenton remarked to
+Mr. Travers, who was appearing for Ngati-Raukawa, "The fact is, Mr.
+Travers, it appears to me that the flaw in your clients' title is that
+they did not kill and eat all these people."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_74" id="Foot_74" href="#Ref_74">[74]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+At times there were many whalers there&mdash;as many as a hundred&mdash;of
+various nations. Here they stayed while whales came near the coast:
+but when these ceased to come near the coast, the whalers went out on
+the ocean, and the ships which were full of oil went each to its own
+land, and Rauparaha went back to his people and home at Kapiti
+(<i>Ngati-Toa account</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_75" id="Foot_75" href="#Ref_75">[75]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Toheriri was prominent in the conspiracy of 1822 in connection
+with the gift of canoes. After that event, he, with his particular
+<i>hapu</i>, went to the Wairarapa for two years, and then returned to
+Papaitonga, where he was killed on this occasion, it is said, with
+great barbarity.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">{121}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER V</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE SOUTHERN RAIDS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+events just narrated have brought us in point of time to early in
+the year 1828, by which period Te Rauparaha was unquestionably master
+of the whole coast from Whanganui to Wellington. Not only was his
+supremacy indisputable in that he had completely silenced his enemies,
+but success had brought its natural result in the shape of numerous
+reinforcements, which had come from the shores of Taupo to share in
+his adventurous cause. Thus he was both free and able to give his
+undivided attention to the realisation of a dream which he had long
+cherished, and which he one day hoped to realise. This was no less
+ambitious a scheme than the invasion and conquest of the Middle
+Island, the forest-clad hills and snow-capped mountains of which were
+plainly discernible as he gazed wistfully across the broken waters of
+Raukawa (Cook's Strait). But it was not the scenic beauties of the
+island which attracted the keen eye of Te Rauparaha, for these alone
+would have no charm for him. His mind was cast in the material rather
+than in the æsthetic mould; his thoughts ran to practical rather than
+to artistic ends, and the real magnet which attracted him southward
+was the hope of possessing himself of the large store of greenstone
+which, according to report, the Ngai-Tahu people had collected at
+Kaikoura as the result of their periodical excursions to the west
+coast, where alone this valuable jade could be obtained.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_76" id="Ref_76" href="#Foot_76">[76]</a></span>
+Avarice and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">{122}</a></span>
+love of conquest were driving forces in his plans, but
+there was yet another motive operating to impel him
+onward. If the reader will recall the circumstances
+attending the battle of Waiorua, it will be remembered
+that the host which on that occasion invaded Kapiti had
+been collected from far and near. Some among them
+had even come from the tribe of Ngai-Tahu, which was
+then the most powerful branch of the Maori race occupying
+the Middle Island, of which they had dispossessed the
+Ngati-Mamoe some two hundred years before. One of
+the principal <i>pas</i> of these people in the northern end of
+the island was situated on a high cliff overlooking the bay
+of Kaikoura, which at this time was estimated to contain
+between three and four thousand souls, living under the
+direction of a chief named Rerewaka. When the fugitives
+from Kapiti reached their settlements on the Middle
+Island, and carried with them marvellous tales of Te
+Rauparaha's prowess in battle, these stories only tended
+to intensify the feelings of hatred and envy already
+cherished by the southern chiefs. Their impotent rage
+found expression in a vain and unfortunate boast made
+by Rerewaka, which supplied Te Rauparaha with the
+strongest of all incentives to a Maori raid&mdash;the desire for
+revenge. Rerewaka had not himself been present at the
+battle of Waiorua, otherwise he might have been more
+modest in his language towards the invincible Te Rauparaha.
+But he had had friends with the allies, and the
+chagrin felt at their annihilation, and the taunting song
+of triumph chanted by the victorious Ngati-Toa, in which
+the subjection of the Ngai-Tahu was hinted at, provoked
+him to declare in an unguarded moment that "if ever Te
+Rauparaha dared to set foot on his land, he would rip his
+belly open with a <i>niho mango</i>."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_77" id="Ref_77" href="#Foot_77">[77]</a></span>
+This oral indiscretion
+was overheard by a slave standing by, who shortly afterwards,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">{123}</a></span>
+making his escape, reported Rerewaka's boast to
+Rauparaha. The chief of the Ngati-Toa heard with placid
+countenance of his threatened fate, and in answer merely
+remarked, "So he has said," the apparent unconcern of
+his reply justifying the native proverb concerning him:
+"<i>Ko te uri o kapu manawa whiti</i>" (No one knew his
+thoughts, whether they were good or evil). He was really
+glad at heart of this further pretext for attacking and
+conquering the tribes of the Middle Island.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_78" id="Ref_78" href="#Foot_78">[78]</a></span>
+But while
+he had his mind bent upon revenge and his eyes fixed
+upon the treasure of greenstone, he was in no haste to
+put his design into execution. Leisurely action would
+enable him to mobilise his own forces, and serve to wrap
+his enemies in imagined security; and so for two
+years he waited patiently, keeping his warriors in fighting
+trim by repeated skirmishes with the shattered remnants
+of the Muaupoko and other northern tribes. But now
+his plans had fully matured, and by this time he had
+succeeded in gathering a large quantity of arms and
+ammunition from the Europeans, who, having learnt its
+advantages, were making Kapiti a frequent port of call
+and a place of some importance in the whaling industry.
+With these weapons he equipped his chosen men, who,
+when fighting with their native <i>meres</i>, were superior even
+to the best of the Ngai-Tahu or Rangitane, but, when
+armed with the more modern implements of the <i>pakeha</i>,
+became simply invincible. His fleet of canoes<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_79" id="Ref_79" href="#Foot_79">[79]</a></span> also had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">{124}</a></span>
+been strengthened by the captures he had made after the
+battle of Waiorua, so that he had ample accommodation
+for the three hundred and forty men who comprised his
+expeditionary force. With this force, the most perfectly
+equipped that he had yet commanded, Rauparaha crossed
+the Strait, making Rangitoto (D'Urville Island) his first
+place of call. Here he found a section of the Rangitane
+tribe, the descendants of the people whom Captain Cook
+had first met at Ship Cove, who had now become powerful
+in the sense of being numerous. But where the odds
+of skill and arms were against them, numbers only
+supplied more victims for the cannibal feast which
+followed the battle. Everywhere the islanders were
+defeated and put to rout, many of them being eaten on
+the spot, and as many more carried back to Kapiti, there
+to await the dictates of their captors' appetites. Or, if
+they were fortunate enough to have their lives spared, the
+reprieve only enhanced their misfortune by carrying
+slavery and degradation with it.</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha on this occasion swept like a withering blast over the whole
+of the northern portion of the Marlborough Province, neither the
+seclusion of the Pelorus Sound nor the inaccessibility of the Wairau
+and Awatere Valleys protecting the inhabitants from the rapacity of
+his warriors. Deflecting their course from D'Urville Island, they next
+proceeded to the point known in Maori legend as "Kupe's spear," but
+more recently styled Jackson's Head. Here a temporary division of
+their forces took place, the Ngati-Awa allies proceeding up Queen
+Charlotte Sound as far as Waitohi, the Pelorus Sound being the
+objective of Te Rauparaha. The tribe who occupied the shores of this
+great waterway was the Ngati-Kuia, an offshoot of Ngati-Apa, who were
+famed for their skill as fishermen, but who did little cultivation.
+Their principal <i>pa</i>, a semi-fortified village called Hikapu,
+stood at the junction of the Pelorus and Kenepuru reaches; and, when
+the fleet of northern canoes was seen sweeping up the Sound, the cry
+was raised "<i>Te Iwi hou&nbsp;e!</i>" (The newcomers! the new
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">{125}</a></span>
+people!) That their coming boded them no good,
+Ngati-Kuia knew, and those who could, disappeared into
+the forest, while those who could not stayed to fight
+for the <i>mana</i> of their tribe and the honour of their
+ancestral home. For them the battle was one against
+fearful odds; for, this being their first acquaintance with
+firearms, they were seized with panic, and the fight soon
+degenerated into a massacre. "What are those lights
+and the smoke we see at the village?" inquired a boy as
+he was being hurried through the bush by his fugitive
+father. "That," replied the sobbing parent&mdash;"that is
+Ngati-Toa burning your ancestors' and our houses."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_80" id="Ref_80" href="#Foot_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Whatever hesitation Te Rauparaha may have had about raiding the Wairau
+during this campaign, was dispelled on its being reported to him that
+the Rangitane chief of the valley, Te Rua-Oneone, whose <i>pa</i>,
+called Kowhai, was situated near the mouth of the Wairau River, had
+heaped a curse upon his head, an insult which called for prompt and
+vigorous action. As yet the Wairau natives had had no experience of
+Rauparaha's qualities as a fighting chief. But they had heard rumours,
+and had listened to tales of his doings on the other island, which,
+although painted in glowing colours, had nevertheless been regarded
+with contempt by many of the leading chiefs. Amongst these incredulous
+persons was Te Rua-Oneone, who treated the matter so lightly as to
+remark that "Te Rauparaha's head would one day be beaten with a
+fern-root pounder." According to the Maori code, there was but one way
+of dealing with a scoffer who could speak so contemptuously of a
+chief; and therefore, when the natives of Pelorus, D'Urville Island,
+and Totaranui had been hopelessly beaten, the canoes were ordered to
+the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">{126}</a></span>
+Wairau, where the boastful Te Rua-Oneone had direct
+experience of what manner of man Te Rauparaha was.
+The fight, which took place on the land now enclosed
+within Bank Farm, was soon over, and could only have
+one result. The Rangitane were brave men, but their
+stone and wooden weapons were useless against the
+muskets of the Ngati-Toa. Te Rua-Oneone was captured
+and carried as a slave to Kapiti, where he had time and
+opportunity to reflect upon his defeat, which Rauparaha,
+with appropriate sarcasm, called <i>tuki tuki patu aruhe</i>,
+which signifies "beaten with a fern-root pounder."</p>
+
+<p>Nor was this merely a raid of bloodshed. Rauparaha sought territorial
+aggrandisement, and adopted the Roman principle of securing the fruits
+of his conquest by planting a colony of his tribe at every centre
+along the route of his victorious march. In each case the newcomers
+made slaves of the strong amongst the men and the beautiful amongst
+the women of the people whom they vanquished.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_81" id="Ref_81" href="#Foot_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No sooner had this shattering blow been delivered against the fortunes
+of Ngai-Tahu than Te Rauparaha gave his attention to a matter which
+from force of circumstances had been neglected for many months. At the
+earnest solicitation of Ngati-Raukawa, he now agreed to march against
+the Whanganui people, who, it will be remembered, were responsible for
+the destruction of one of the several Ngati-Raukawa migrations prior
+to the first visit to the South Island. A force which, it is said,
+numbered nearly a thousand fighting men, led by the most distinguished
+chiefs of the allied tribes, with Te Rauparaha in supreme command,
+proceeded up the coast and attacked the Putikiwharanui <i>pa</i>,
+which was defended by a garrison almost twice as numerous as the
+assailants. Though not protracted, the struggle was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">{127}</a></span>
+fierce. The defenders made many desperate sorties,
+fighting with great determination and affording a fine
+example of courage, during the two months over which
+the investment extended. The damage, however, which
+they were able to inflict had no effect in causing the
+forces of Te Rauparaha to relinquish their grip. After a
+spirited defence of eight weeks, the assailants succeeded
+in carrying the place by storm, and the inhabitants
+suffered so severely that they were never afterwards able
+to seek the satisfaction of retaliation.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_82" id="Ref_82" href="#Foot_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>While the Ngati-Toa were engaged in these minor operations, an event
+occurred which increased the <i>mana</i> of their chief amongst his
+own people and added considerably to his reputation abroad. This was
+the opportune arrival of his uncle and former comrade, Te Pehi Kupe,
+who, laden with the store of weapons which he had procured in Sydney,
+was brought back to New Zealand at this critical juncture in the
+history of the tribe.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_83" id="Ref_83" href="#Foot_83">[83]</a></span>
+The jubilation at such an event was
+necessarily great; not so much, perhaps, because of the wanderer's
+return, as because of what he had brought with him. There is at least
+no denying the fact that Te Pehi soon forgot what little of
+civilisation he had learned, except in so far as it enabled him to
+become a more destructive savage. He at once coalesced with his former
+leader; and with this valuable addition to his staff of councillors,
+and the enhancement of his munitions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">{128}</a></span>
+of war, Te Rauparaha felt more than equal to
+the task of carrying the battle to the gates of Kaikoura.</p>
+
+<p>Out of this extreme confidence grew a further development of the
+Ngati-Toa scheme of conquest. Their forces were now divided into two
+sections, the one proceeding to the great bays on the Nelson Coast,
+where they intended forcibly establishing themselves, while the
+remainder, under their old leader, aided by Te Pehi and a staff of
+other warriors, prepared to test the merits of Rerewaka's boast. It
+was a fateful day in the summer of 1829 when the canoes with three
+hundred men left D'Urville Island and turned their prows to the south.
+Although few in numbers compared with the enemy they were going to
+meet, they knew that the advantage of arms was with them, almost every
+man being provided with a musket. Moreover, they were full of the
+animation which is born of complete confidence in one's leader, and
+which, in this case, almost amounted to a superstition. No war party
+with Rauparaha at its head ever took failure into account, some of the
+warriors even going so far as to declare that "it was only necessary
+to strike the enemy with the handles of their paddles in order to
+secure a victory."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 400px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="kaiapoi" id="kaiapoi">
+  <img width="400" height="575" alt="kaiapoi" src="images/155-kaiapoi.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">THE TIKI, KAIAPOI.<br />
+                      Erected on the site of the old Kaiapoi Pa.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus, well-armed and confident, the Ngati-Toa proceeded down the
+coast, resting the first day at Cloudy Bay, and subsequently at
+various other points, and arriving off Kaikoura before dawn on the
+fourth day. Not knowing what the exact disposition of the enemy's
+forces might be, and not being disposed for risks, Rauparaha anchored
+his canoes under the shadow of the peninsula, and then waited for the
+light. In this decision his characteristic good fortune did not desert
+him. It so happened that the Kaikoura natives were at that very time
+expecting a visit from some of their tribesmen in the south; and, when
+the first glimmering of dawn revealed a fleet of canoes on the bay
+below, there being nothing to indicate the direction from which they
+had come, the unsuspecting Ngai-Tahu assumed that their anticipated
+visitors had arrived. The early risers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">{129}</a></span>
+in the <i>pa</i> set up the song of welcome&mdash;<i>Haere-mai,
+Haere-mai</i>&mdash;and soon the whole settlement throbbed
+with life and activity, indicative of the jubilant expectation
+of a reunion of friends. Whilst the elders busied
+themselves with preparations for the hospitable entertainment
+of the strangers, the younger people rushed,
+shouting gaily, down to the beach, to escort the guests
+back to the <i>pa</i>. The quick eye of Te Rauparaha at once
+saw the trap into which his enemy had fallen; and,
+elated at his amazing good fortune, he ordered the
+advance of the canoes, which, with a few sweeping
+strokes of the paddles, were driven swiftly across the
+intervening water. Before the unwary victims had
+recognised their mistake or recovered from their
+surprise, the Ngati-Toa warriors were amongst them,
+dealing death-blows on every hand. As might have
+been expected, the Ngai-Tahu, being totally unarmed
+and unprepared for the attack, were slaughtered without
+remorse or resistance, and, as their only safety lay in
+flight, they beat a breathless retreat towards the <i>pa</i>,
+where for a time the semblance of a stand was made.
+But the muskets of their assailants were now doing their
+work of death, while their ruthless charges increased the
+havoc. Before long Rerewaka was a prisoner, over a
+thousand of his people were slain, and his stronghold
+was in the hands of his most detested enemies.</p>
+
+<p>This decisive achievement was fully celebrated during the next ten
+days, with all the atrocities peculiar to cannibal feasts; and after
+the savage appetites of the victors had been surfeited with the flesh
+of their victims, and the nephritic treasures of the <i>pa</i> had
+been collected, the war party returned to Kapiti, carrying Rerewaka
+and four hundred additional prisoners with them, to be killed and
+eaten at the leisure of their conquerors. The majority of them in due
+course met this fate, Rerewaka himself being killed with especial
+marks of cruelty and indignity, because of the insulting nature of his
+language towards the Ngati-Toa chief.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_84" id="Ref_84" href="#Foot_84">[84]</a></span>
+In consideration of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">{130}</a></span>
+circumstances which led to this attack upon Kaikoura,
+the victory has ever since been known as <i>Niho Mango</i>,
+or "the battle of the shark's tooth."</p>
+
+<p>After the humiliation of Rerewaka and his people at Kaikoura,
+Rauparaha's greatest ambition was to pit himself in battle against
+that section of the Ngai-Tahu tribe who, under Tamaiharanui,
+Rongotara, and other powerful chiefs, held the strongly fortified
+<i>pa</i> at Kaiapohia. But before he had a reasonable excuse for
+picking a quarrel with the people of Kaiapoi, and so attacking them in
+a manner that would be strictly <i>tika</i>, or proper, he had another
+opportunity of returning to Kaikoura, to retrieve the dignity of
+himself and his friends. The cause of this second invasion, like the
+previous one, was somewhat remote; but, unlike it, it arose out of a
+superabundance of love rather than of hate. The offence complained of
+was not committed against Te Rauparaha, but against his nephew,
+Rangihaeata. Rangihaeata was at this time rapidly rising into fame as
+a daring and successful warrior, and his place in the tribe naturally
+demanded that much of his time should be given up to the business of
+war, with the result that his functions as the head of his household
+were much neglected. During one of these prolonged periods of absence,
+his <i>pa</i> at Porirua was visited by a chief of the Ngati-Ira (a
+branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu) tribe, named Kekerengu. According to
+tradition, this Kekerengu was a man of remarkable beauty of figure and
+grace of deportment. Tall and stalwart of frame, easy of carriage, and
+engaging in manner, his personal charm was still further enhanced in
+Maori estimation by a particularly artistic <i>moko</i>, or tattoo
+decoration. The introduction of this social lion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">{131}</a></span>
+into Rangihaeata's family circle was the cause of all the
+trouble. Kekerengu had so insinuated himself into the
+affections of the warrior's wives, that when Rangihaeata
+returned from the wars, the breath of scandal was busy
+with the proceedings of his family circle during his
+absence. The anger of the chief, on learning what had
+occurred, knew no bounds. Forthwith he sent the fiery
+cross from <i>pa</i> to <i>pa</i>, and in a short space of time a force
+sufficient for his purpose was enrolled. Te Rauparaha,
+to whom the scent of battle was sweet, at once espoused
+the cause of his injured relative, and together they set
+out in search of the destroyer of Te Rangihaeata's
+domestic happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Kekerengu knew that, as the result of his indiscreet conduct,
+retribution would in some form follow him; but, in order to delay the
+evil day, he judiciously took to his canoe, and with a few of his
+followers crossed the Strait and sought refuge amongst the Ngai-Tahu
+of Kaikoura.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_85" id="Ref_85" href="#Foot_85">[85]</a></span>
+Thither Te Rauparaha tracked him; but the inhabitants
+of the <i>pa</i> were not to be taken by surprise a second time.
+Knowing that they were no match for the force they saw approaching,
+they at once abandoned their settlement and flew down the coast,
+through the Amuri, towards Kaiapoi. But this escapade was not to stand
+between the Ngati-Toa and their revenge. When they arrived and found
+the <i>pa</i> empty, they at once decided to go in pursuit. The march
+was swift and forced, and the invaders soon fell in with the
+fugitives, as they were camped at the Omihi stream. Here the unhappy
+wretches were attacked and routed with great slaughter, the few who
+escaped death or capture flying in precipitate haste into the bush,
+through which they made their way to the minor settlements further
+south.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">{132}</a></span>
+Kekerengu's guilt<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_86" id="Ref_86" href="#Foot_86">[86]</a></span>
+was now expiated in his own blood
+and that of his hosts, and therefore Ngati-Toa might
+have returned to their homes fully satisfied with the
+results of their expedition. But the opportunity was so
+favourable for carrying out the long-cherished design of
+attacking Kaiapoi, that Te Pehi strenuously counselled
+going on. Te Rauparaha, it is said, was seized by some
+dark foreboding that Fate was trifling with him, and
+endeavoured to argue his lieutenant out of his warlike
+enthusiasm, but without avail. Te Pehi was bent upon
+storming Kaiapoi, and for once Te Rauparaha allowed
+himself to be overruled by his less cautious comrade.
+To facilitate the movements of the war party, which
+numbered about one hundred men, all encumbrances in
+the shape of prisoners were left in charge of a detachment
+at Omihi, and the canoes, which had been brought
+round from Kaikoura, were manned and taken as far
+down the coast as the Waipara River. There the force
+disembarked, and hauling the canoes beyond the reach
+of the tide, pushed on across the plains towards the
+southern stronghold.</p>
+
+<p>Kaiapoi was one of the oldest of the Ngai-Tahu <i>pas</i>, as it was
+admittedly one of their strongest fortresses. It had been built by Tu
+Rakautahi in 1700 A.D., at the close of the thirty years' war, which
+had resulted in the expulsion and the almost total annihilation of the
+Ngati-Mamoe people. Its position had been selected with some strategic
+skill, for it stood on a narrow tongue of land about five acres in
+extent, which ran out into the Tairutu lagoon, and was surrounded on
+three sides by the dark waters of that extensive swamp, which
+stretched for several miles to the north and the south. On the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">{133}</a></span>
+landward side it was protected by a wide and deep
+ditch, which in peaceful times was bridged over, while
+its double row of palisades, erected upon massive earthworks
+and surmounted by curiously carved figures
+representing gods and ancestors, rendered it so impregnable
+in the popular estimation that it was sometimes
+compared to "the inaccessible cliff of God," which
+none had dared to scale. The internal arrangements
+were in keeping with the importance of the <i>pa</i> as the
+social and military centre of the tribe. Its population
+was numerous, wealthy, and distinctly aristocratic, and
+therefore the domains of the <i>rangatiras</i> and the commonalty
+were well defined. The dwellings of the chiefs
+were large and commodious structures, "ornamented
+inside and out with carving and scroll work." There
+were storehouses for the man physical, shrines for the
+man spiritual, playing grounds for old and young, and
+a burial-place for both when their earthly sojourn was
+over. The commerce of the <i>pa</i> was conducted through
+three gates, two of which, Kaitangata and Hiaka-rere,
+faced the deep moat, and the third, Huirapa, the lagoon
+on the western side, being connected with the opposite
+shore by a light wooden footway. But with all its
+vaunted strength, the <i>pa</i> had, according to critics, a
+fatal weakness, in that, if subjected to a close investment,
+it was liable to have its food supply cut off owing
+to its semi-insularity. Its builder had been twitted with
+this supposed defect when he determined upon the site
+of his stronghold, and he silenced his critics more by
+his ready wit than by the soundness of his military
+judgment. For he said "<i>Kai</i>" must be "<i>poi</i>," or food
+must be swung to the spot. "Potted birds from the
+forests of Kaikoura, fish and mutton birds from the south,
+<i>kiore</i> and <i>weka</i> from the plains and the mountain ranges";
+and so down through the century or more which had
+passed since then it had been an essential part of the
+policy of those in authority at the <i>pa</i> to see that its
+commissariat was not neglected, and that its <i>whatas</i> were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">{134}</a></span>
+always full against the day when its gates might have
+to be barred to a troublesome enemy.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_87" id="Ref_87" href="#Foot_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such was the place which, in the opening months of 1829, the northern
+force marched to assault; but they had sadly misjudged the position if
+they imagined that they could take it by surprise. Ngai-Tahu had
+warning enough to enable them to gather their people within the
+palisades, to cut away their bridges, and to stand upon the alert at
+all the most vulnerable points. When, therefore, Te Rauparaha arrived
+under the walls of the <i>pa</i>, he adopted the most diplomatic
+course open to him, and made a virtue of necessity by feigning that he
+had come only with the most peaceful intent. His first care was to
+select a suitable site for his camp; he fixed it upon the
+south-western side of the lagoon, and there calmly sat down to await
+developments. Nor had he long to wait. Tamaiharanui, the high priest
+and leading chief of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, accompanied by a native
+named Hakitara, proceeded under commission from the people in the
+<i>pa</i> to inquire the purpose of so unexpected a visit. Hakitara
+was a Nga-Puhi native, having come originally from the northern
+portion of the Auckland Province. When Te Rauparaha had exchanged
+salutations with him and the venerable Tamaiharanui, he proceeded to
+furnish the explanation which they had come to seek. In the course of
+his oration he recited a <i>tau</i>, or war song, the idiom of which
+was more apparent to the Nga-Puhi than to his companion, who was less
+learned in northern lore. This battle chant conveyed a message to
+Hakitara
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">{135}</a></span>
+which was sinister and disturbing. The protestations
+of Te Rauparaha were most ardent in the direction of
+peace, and his declarations full of the promise of
+friendship; but the words of his song had been so
+suspiciously indicative of evil intent, that Hakitara felt
+it incumbent upon him to advise the immediate return
+of Tamaiharanui to the <i>pa</i>, while he himself remained
+in the Ngati-Toa camp to pick up what scraps of useful
+information might drop from the lips of incautious
+retainers. By dint of sedulous inquiry, particularly
+amongst the slaves, he gleaned enough to stimulate his
+suspicions, which were more than confirmed when he
+heard that the northerners had desecrated a newly made
+grave which they had passed on the march to the <i>pa</i>.
+Such an outrage to the dead of Ngai-Tahu was not the
+act of friends; and now the living witnesses of Te
+Rauparaha's hostility began to pour into Kaiapoi, viz.,
+the fugitives who had escaped from the slaughter at
+Omihi. For days they had wandered in the bush and
+in the by-paths of the open lands, hoping to evade the
+clutch of their pursuers; and when they arrived with
+their tale of terror, something more than fair words
+were needed to convince the inhabitants of the semi-beleaguered
+<i>pa</i> that Ngati-Toa had come so far south on
+a mission of peaceful commerce, and not of resentful
+war. Te Rauparaha, with his usual clarity of vision,
+saw the predicament in which the inopportune arrival
+of the fugitives had placed him, and promptly determined
+upon a desperate expedient, which, he hoped, would
+allay the dark suspicion which he hourly saw growing
+up around him, and which, if unchecked, would
+assuredly frustrate his enterprise. Not only did he
+feel it necessary to reiterate his assurances that nothing
+but a desire to trade for greenstone had brought him
+to Kaiapoi, but he did more. With a recklessness
+which only a critical situation could justify, he permitted
+his principal lieutenants&mdash;a liberty hitherto denied them&mdash;to
+freely enter the enemy's <i>pa</i>, and carry on, with
+well-simulated earnestness, negotiations for the exchange
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">{136}</a></span>
+of greenstone for their own ancient fire-arms and doubtful powder.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the first of the Ngati-Toa chiefs to avail himself of this
+permission was Te Pehi,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_88" id="Ref_88" href="#Foot_88">[88]</a></span>
+who, it will be remembered, had, with
+fatal enthusiasm, inspired the raid, and urged it upon an unwilling
+leader. Together with Pokaitara, Te Aratangata, Te Kohua, Te Hua Piko,
+and several other chiefs equally renowned in Ngati-Toa warfare, Te
+Pehi continued to visit and revisit the <i>pa</i> for several days,
+carrying on a brisk trade, and incidentally noting the interior
+arrangements of the fortress, its people, and the chances of its
+speedy capture. Meanwhile, the Ngai-Tahu agent in Te Rauparaha's camp
+was not idle, and not the least of Hakitara's successes was the fact
+that he had been able to ingratiate himself into the good opinion of
+Te Rauparaha. That astute personage, usually so keen a judge of
+character, was completely deceived by the clever Nga-Puhi, whom he had
+hopes of weaning from the Ngai-Tahu cause. To this end he presented
+him with one of the most attractive of his slaves, a lady named Te
+Aka, whose charms it was hoped would prove sufficiently strong to draw
+the Nga-Puhi warrior back to the north. But Te Rauparaha's cold
+calculations were soon set at naught by the warmth of a human heart.
+Te Aka was not a free woman. She was a slave, whose <i>pa</i> and
+whose people had been overrun and destroyed by the ruthless invader,
+and within her breast there burned the undying desire and hope for
+revenge. Therefore, when she and Hakitara came to understand each
+other, there was soon a joint wit at work to worst the man who fondly
+believed that the human passions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">{137}</a></span>
+were being harnessed to his political schemes. So confident
+was he that he would win Hakitara over, that he
+neglected even ordinary prudence in discussing his plans
+within his hearing. To such excess was this overconfidence
+carried, that one night he called his chiefs
+together to a council of war, which was held under
+the eaves of the <i>whare</i> which Hakitara occupied, where
+every word could be heard by the occupants. Here
+the whole scheme of the capture of Kaiapoi was discussed
+and decided upon; and so hopeful was Te
+Rauparaha of success, that he boastingly remarked to
+Te Rangihaeata, "Soon we shall have our <i>pa</i>." "Beware
+of the Nga-Puhi man," was Rangihaeata's whispered
+advice; but Rauparaha dismissed the warning by an
+impatient gesture and a petulant remark that nothing
+was to be feared from that quarter. Hakitara had,
+however, been greedily listening to all that had passed,
+and when the council broke up he was in possession
+of every detail of the tactics by which the <i>pa</i> was to
+be assaulted on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>As might be surmised, sleep came but fitfully to the faithful Hakitara
+that night, and just as the first silver ray of dawn was breaking in
+the east, he rose, and, wrapping himself in a large dog-skin mat,
+crept out of the hut into the grey morning, determined to warn his
+friends in the <i>pa</i>, if fortune did not desert him. The Maori
+system of warfare, though quaint in many respects, was practical
+enough to include the posting of sentries round the camps; and, even
+if they were not invariably vigilant, there was always the risk that
+one might happen to be watchful at an awkward moment. This fear
+haunted Hakitara as, with beating heart, he wormed his way between the
+huts and through the tufts of waving tussock grass. Tradition records
+that he was successful in eluding a direct challenge; and when he was
+well beyond the circuit of the sentries, he rose to his feet and ran
+with all his speed to the nearest gate of the <i>pa</i>. The gate was
+instantly opened to him, and in a hurried whisper he bade the keeper
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">{138}</a></span>
+summon the chiefs to a conference in a neighbouring
+house. When the warriors were assembled, he disclosed
+to them in hot, hurried words all that he knew of
+Ngati-Toa's intentions, which, in remembrance of a
+treaty negotiated only the previous day, could be regarded
+in no other light than as a shameless breach of faith.
+The council decided that they would not wait for the
+blow to fall upon them from outside, but would forestall
+the northerners in their own methods. They knew that
+some of the Ngati-Toa chiefs would, in keeping with
+the custom of the past few days, visit them again for
+the purpose of trade; and they were hopeful that, by
+a special effort, they might be able to induce the great
+Te Rauparaha himself to come within the gates. It
+was agreed that the chiefs, once within the walls, should
+be attacked and killed, and that then a sortie should be
+made upon the unsuspecting camp outside. Scarcely had
+this decision been arrived at, when Te Pehi and several
+of his fellow-chiefs entered the <i>pa</i> and began to mix
+with the populace, who were now busy preparing for the
+business of the day, and were in total ignorance of the
+decision of their leaders or the circumstances which had
+dictated it. There was thus no change in the demeanour
+of the people to excite uneasiness in the minds of Te
+Pehi and his friends. They, on the other hand, knowing
+that their plans were nearing fruition, and believing that
+the <i>pa</i> was virtually in the hollow of their hands, adopted
+a more insolent air, and were at no pains to conceal the
+contempt with which they regarded the rights of Ngai-Tahu
+property. Thus, Te Pehi boldly entered one of the
+houses, and seizing a large block of greenstone, attached
+to it a rope of flax, and proceeded to drag it towards the
+Hiaka-rere gate, evidently intending to carry it into the
+northern camp.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>pa</i> was now alive with men and women, for the day was well
+on, and the audacious cupidity of Te Pehi aroused both astonishment
+and anger. As he strode towards the gate, he had to pass a group of
+excited onlookers sitting in the <i>marae</i>, or open space which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">{139}</a></span>
+served the purpose of a sports ground. One of these,
+Moimoi, rose and challenged Te Pehi's right to purloin
+his greenstone in that unceremonious fashion. With
+scorn unspeakable, Te Pehi turned upon his interrogator,
+and in tones of bitter contempt inquired by what right
+he, a menial, dared to call in question the actions of
+a chief. "You of the crooked tattoo, what use would
+your ugly head be to me if I were to carry it back with
+me to Kapiti? It would be worth nothing towards
+the purchase of a musket. But," said he, turning to a
+stalwart native standing near by, "here is a man whose
+head would be worth the taking, but you with the worthless
+head, how dare you cavil at the actions of the great
+Te Pehi?" The slighting reference to the inartistic
+facial decoration of Moimoi was intended to be particularly
+insulting, for every native was wont to pride
+himself upon the completeness of his <i>moko</i>, and Te Pehi
+had good reason to regard himself as something of an
+authority upon this branch of Maori art, for his own
+tattoo was more than usually elaborate. But the most
+alarming portion of his taunt was his thinly-veiled
+reference to the sale of Moimoi's head. Every one knew
+that at this period a considerable traffic had sprung up
+in native heads,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_89" id="Ref_89" href="#Foot_89">[89]</a></span>
+which were preserved by a crude
+process and traded away to Europeans in exchange for
+muskets. Te Pehi's reference to the matter could, then,
+only be taken as an indication that during his visits
+to the <i>pa</i> he had lent his eye to business, and, in this
+connection, business meant the assault and sacking of
+the fortress. The full force of this indiscreet admission
+had flashed upon the astonished listeners; but, before
+they could reply, their attention was diverted from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">{140}</a></span>
+arrogance of Te Pehi by another incident which had
+occurred at the Hiaka-rere gate. Pokaitara, one of Te
+Rauparaha's most intrepid lieutenants, had approached
+this entrance, and was seeking admission to the <i>pa</i>,
+which was being denied him. Observing who the visitor
+was, Rongotara, the superior resident chief of Kaiapoi,
+ordered the keeper of the gate to admit him, exclaiming
+as he did so, "Welcome my younger brother's lord,"
+a reference to the fact that Rongotara's brother had
+been made a prisoner at Omihi by Pokaitara, and was
+at that moment in his keeping. The gate was immediately
+thrown open; but the Ngati-Toa had no sooner bent
+his head beneath the portal than Rongotara dealt him
+a crushing blow with his <i>miti</i>, or stone club, which he
+was carrying in his hand, and the lifeless body fell with
+a heavy thud to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>It was this opening episode in the Ngai-Tahu policy of checkmate which
+had suddenly diverted attention from Te Pehi. But the incident had
+been as visible to him as to those around him, and the moment he saw
+it, the critical nature of his own position dawned upon him, and,
+taking no further thought of the greenstone, he sprang with the
+agility of a tiger towards the south-western angle of the palisading,
+and commenced to scramble up the wall by clutching the vines which
+bound the upright posts together. His plunge for safety would probably
+have proved successful&mdash;for several shots which were fired at him flew
+wide of the mark&mdash;had not Tangatahara, a Ngai-Tahu warrior of great
+strength and personal courage, closed with him, and, pulling him to
+the ground, despatched him with a blow from his tomahawk.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_90" id="Ref_90" href="#Foot_90">[90]</a></span>
+The other northern chiefs who were in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">{141}</a></span>
+<i>pa</i> were apprised of the mêlée which was proceeding by
+the sound of the fire-arms discharged against Te Pehi,
+and were not slow to grasp the situation. Realising that
+they had been trapped, they knew that it would be of
+little use attempting to escape by the regular gateways,
+which were all securely guarded; and, with one exception,
+those who were free to do so flew to the walls,
+hoping to scale them, and so get safely to their camp.
+But they were for the most part either overpowered by
+numbers and tomahawked on the spot, or were shot
+while scrambling up the <i>aka</i> vines. The exception
+referred to was Te Aratangata, who happened to be at
+the northern end of the <i>pa</i>, and was at this juncture
+bargaining to secure a famous greenstone <i>mere</i> called by
+the Ngai-Tahu people "Te Rau-hikihiki." The moment
+he saw what was happening, he dashed toward the gate
+Huirapa, hoping to force his way past the guard, who,
+he supposed, could offer but feeble resistance to his own
+exceptional strength, courage, and skill.</p>
+
+<p>There is every reason to believe that Rongotara rather precipitated
+matters by killing Pokaitara at the gate, as it had been decided that
+an attempt should first be made to induce the great Te Rauparaha
+himself to enter the <i>pa</i>, in the hope of including him in the
+holocaust. Still, the plans of the Kaiapoi chiefs were sufficiently
+mature to meet the emergency when it suddenly arose; and so Te
+Aratangata discovered to his alarm that, although he was at the
+further end of the <i>pa</i> from that at which Te Pehi had been
+attacked, he was just as closely surrounded by enemies. When he
+started for the gate, he had virtually to fight every inch of the way.
+He had little difficulty in disposing of the first few who intercepted
+his path; but, as he drew nearer to the gate, his assailants
+increased, and before he had struggled on many yards he was attacked
+by over twenty persons armed with all manner of weapons. Against those
+who ventured at close quarters he valiantly defended himself with his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">{142}</a></span>
+<i>mere</i>, all the time pressing on towards the gate. A gun-shot
+wound temporarily checked his onward course, and he
+was soon further handicapped by several spear-thrusts,
+which left the spears dangling in the fleshy parts of his
+body, and from which he found it impossible to disengage
+himself, pressed as he was on every side. These
+difficulties perceptibly weakened his defence, but he was
+still able to fight on, keeping his opponents at bay by
+swift and desperate blows with his <i>mere</i>, which, up to
+this moment, had accounted for all who had ventured
+within his reach. The brave Ngati-Toa had now reached
+within a few paces of the gate, and may have even yet
+had dreams of escape, when the crowning disaster came
+in the breaking of his <i>mere</i>. A shot, which had been
+intended for his body, struck the greenstone blade, and
+shattered the faithful weapon into a hundred fragments,
+leaving only the butt in Aratangata's hand. Now utterly
+defenceless, weakened by his wounds, and hampered by
+the dragging spears, the undaunted chief turned upon
+his assailants, and, with his last strength, grappled with
+those who came within his reach. The unequal struggle
+could not, however, be long maintained. Emboldened
+by his helpless condition, his pursuers pressed in upon
+him with angry tumult, and he was borne to the ground
+by Te Koreke, who finished the deadly work with a
+succession of blows with his tomahawk upon the prostrate
+warrior's head and neck.</p>
+
+<p>So fell Te Aratangata, and so fell the flower of the Ngati-Toa tribe
+that day. In all, eight great chiefs<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_91" id="Ref_91" href="#Foot_91">[91]</a></span>
+were killed, who, by their
+heroism on the field and their sagacity in council, had materially
+aided Te Rauparaha in all his great achievements. They had added
+brilliancy to his battles, lustre to his victories, and had lent a wisdom
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">{143}</a></span>
+to his administration, whereby the fruits of his enterprise
+had not been wasted by internecine strife. So dire
+a tragedy as the death of the princes of his tribe was
+a great blow to Te Rauparaha. But it is doubtful
+whether the sacrifice of so much mental and physical
+fibre was more keenly felt by the Ngati-Toa chief than
+the loss of prestige and damage to his reputation, which
+he might reasonably apprehend from his being outwitted
+at his own game, and that, too, by a people whom he had
+hitherto despised as opponents. That they would turn
+upon him in what he chose to regard as an unprovoked
+attack was something which was not reckoned upon in
+his philosophy, for he had trusted to his blandishments to
+soothe away their suspicions, or to his great name and
+reputation to awe them into submission. And when the
+blow fell, and he saw his patiently laid plans tumbling
+about his ears, he received the result with mingled
+feelings of surprise, indignation, and something akin to
+dismay. In this frame of mind he deemed it expedient
+to anticipate any further unexpected eventualities by
+withdrawing his force and making good his retreat with
+as little delay as possible. Consequently his camp was
+at once broken up, and the little army made its dejected
+way across the plain to Double Corner, where the canoes
+had been left, and next day Te Rauparaha set sail for
+Omihi and Kapiti, having, as the result of his first raid
+upon Kaiapoi,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_92" id="Ref_92" href="#Foot_92">[92]</a></span>
+added neither greenstone to his treasure
+nor glory to his reputation as a warrior.</p>
+
+<p>For the better part of two years Te Rauparaha nursed his wrath against
+Ngai-Tahu, and spent the intervening time in devising schemes whereby
+he might secure a vengeance commensurate with the disgrace of his
+repulse and the death of his well-loved friends. One thing on which he
+had fully determined was that Ngai-Tahu should pay for their temerity
+with the purest of their blood, for he would take no plebeian in
+payment for so royal a soul as Te Pehi. His schemes were therefore
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">{144}</a></span>
+directed against the life of Tamaiharanui,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_93" id="Ref_93" href="#Foot_93">[93]</a></span>
+who has
+already been described as the embodiment of spiritual
+and temporal power in the southern tribe. He was the
+hereditary representative of all that stood for nobility
+amongst the sons of Tahu. His person was regarded as
+so sacred that the common people scarcely dared to look
+upon his face. He could only be addressed by his
+fellow-chiefs with the greatest deference and in the most
+reverential language; and if, while passing through the
+congested streets of a village, his shadow should fall upon
+a <i>whata</i> or a <i>rua</i>, the storehouse and its contents would
+be immediately destroyed, to prevent the sacrilege of a
+tribesman consuming food upon which even the shade of
+so sacred a personage had lighted. Indeed, so sanctified
+and ceremonious an individual was he, that his presence
+was sometimes oppressive to those who were not accustomed
+to live in an atmosphere of ritual; for the
+slightest disregard of what was due to one so endowed
+with the spirit of the gods might involve them at any
+moment in the loss of possessions, and even of life.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 535px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="gillett" id="gillett">
+  <img width="535" height="400" alt="gillett" src="images/173-gillett.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">GILLETT's WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842.<br />
+                      From a sketch by Gilfillan, by kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>To secure so eminent a scion of Ngai-Tahu aristocracy would be a
+trophy indeed; but Te Rauparaha knew that it was no ordinary task that
+he was contemplating. An attack upon regular lines might easily defeat
+its own purpose, for a chief so sacred to the tribe as Tamaiharanui
+would scarcely be permitted to sacrifice himself upon the field of
+battle, even if his own inclinations impelled him to lead his people,
+a point of personal courage by no means too well established.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_94" id="Ref_94" href="#Foot_94">[94]</a></span>
+Strategy must therefore be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">{145}</a></span>
+employed, and it must be strategy of the most delicate
+kind, for, in the naïve language of the younger Te
+Rauparaha, "the chief must be enticed, even as the
+<i>kaka</i> is enticed." For the scheme which was finally
+adopted it has been claimed that Te Rauparaha was not
+originally responsible, but that the idea was first conceived
+by a relative of his, named Hohepa Tama-i-hengia,
+who had been working on board a whaler in the southern
+latitudes, and heard the story of Te Pehi's death on the
+ship calling in at a bay on the coast of Otago. Hohepa,
+who, in his contact with the European, had lost none of
+that eternal thirst for revenge which marked the ancient
+Maori, at once besought the captain to employ his vessel
+in the capture of Tamaiharanui, promising a large reward
+from Te Rauparaha on his handing over the prisoner
+at Kapiti. The captain, however, was discouraged in the
+idea by the rest of the ship's company, who were eager
+to reach Queen Charlotte Sound, there to resume their
+whaling operations; and thus the execution of the
+brilliant suggestion had perforce to be suspended until
+the ingenious author of it himself reached Kapiti. There
+the daring plan was laid before the fighting chiefs of the
+tribe, who were readily convinced of its practicability.</p>
+
+<p>Their first overtures were made to Captain Briggs, whose ship, the
+<i>Dragon</i>, was then lying at Kapiti. This seaman has, with a
+frankness amounting to brutality, explained that he ultimately
+declined their proposals, not because the enterprise was repugnant to
+him, but because Te Rauparaha insisted upon taking more men with him
+than he deemed it prudent to carry in his ship. The manner in which
+the captain of the <i>Dragon</i> was approached was diplomatic in the
+extreme. The chiefs explained to him that Te Pehi had been to England,
+and that, as a mark of gratitude for his generous treatment there, he
+had always been the friend of the English. Tamaiharanui, on the other
+hand, had killed more white men than any other chief in New Zealand,
+from which fact they adroitly argued that they and Captain Briggs had
+a mutual interest in compassing his death. Briggs
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">{146}</a></span>
+seems to have been convinced that Tamaiharanui was a
+"monster," whose death would be a distinct benefit to
+society, and he unhesitatingly offered to take Te Rauparaha
+and two of his best men to Akaroa to effect the capture.
+Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko, however, stipulated for
+twenty men; but, as the cautious Briggs considered
+that "this would have given the chiefs more power in
+the vessel than he cared to part with," he declined further
+discussion. This rebuff delayed, but did not extinguish,
+the purpose of the chiefs. They still hoped that other
+captains would be more amenable to persuasion or more
+susceptible to reward. There was thus considerable
+excitement at Kapiti on a certain day towards the close
+of the year 1830, when a vessel was seen rounding the
+Taheke Point, and the cry of "A ship, a ship!" was raised
+from every corner of the settlement. Rauparaha immediately
+ordered out his canoe, and, putting off with
+Te Hiko and a full crew, boarded the stranger, which
+proved to be the British brig <i>Elizabeth</i> of 236 tons,
+commanded by Captain Stewart.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_95" id="Ref_95" href="#Foot_95">[95]</a></span>
+The chiefs were
+fortunate in the type of man with whom they had come
+to negotiate. Stewart was one of the semi-buccaneer
+breed, who, at this period, were all too common in these
+waters, and whose depredations have contributed so
+many of the ugly pages of our country's history. Nor
+was this case to be an exception. Before committing
+himself, however, Stewart took the precaution of consulting
+Captain Briggs, who advised him not to undertake
+to carry more natives on board than he could safely
+control. But this counsel<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_96" id="Ref_96" href="#Foot_96">[96]</a></span>
+was not followed, and a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">{147}</a></span>
+bargain was eventually struck, whereby it was agreed
+that the captain was to carry the chiefs and their party to
+Whanga-roa (now Akaroa) Harbour in Banks's Peninsula,
+in consideration for which he was to receive fifty tons
+of dressed flax&mdash;valued roughly at £1,200&mdash;immediately
+upon his return to Kapiti. The conclusion of this contract
+gave intense satisfaction to the chiefs, and according
+to his son, "the heart of Te Rauparaha lived in joy."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the apologists for Captain Stewart have endeavoured to show
+that he was not made fully aware of the real intentions of the chiefs,
+and that, when the savage purpose of the voyage was borne in upon him,
+he was then powerless to avert the tragic scenes which were afterwards
+enacted. It has been further urged in extenuation of his crime that,
+when he arrived on the coast of New Zealand, he discovered to his
+dismay that his cargo was totally unsuitable to excite trade with the
+natives, and that he was, therefore, constrained, in the interests of
+his employers, to accept a charter against which there was no law, and
+which promised a rich and speedy remuneration. What measure of truth
+there may be in the former defence it is now difficult to determine.
+It is possible that events developed in a manner and to an extent that
+had not been contemplated by Stewart; but it must be remembered that
+he had discussed with due deliberation the whole project with his
+friend Captain Briggs, and that, if he afterwards found himself
+powerless to control the passions of his charterers, the blame was
+entirely his own for disdaining the advice of his fellow captain
+regarding a limitation of numbers. As to the unmarketable nature of
+his cargo, that specious plea is flatly disproved by the ship's
+manifest. So far from the goods carried being unsuitable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">{148}</a></span>
+for trade, there was scarcely anything brought in the
+<i>Elizabeth</i> for which the natives were not eagerly
+craving. Indeed, there is no room to doubt that, had
+Captain Stewart chosen to confine himself to legitimate
+commerce, he could have easily bartered his guns and
+his powder, his flints and his tobacco, for a cargo which
+would have given his employers an adequate return,
+without requiring his zeal in their behalf to outrage the
+feelings of humanity. Similarly, it is scarcely to be
+supposed that Stewart's knowledge of the law was so
+wide that he was aware there was no statutory decree
+prohibiting his entering into this unholy compact. He
+was clearly just as indifferent to its moral aspect as he
+was unaware of its legal bearing. Otherwise he would
+have known that, viewed from this standpoint, there
+was no distinction between a crime committed against
+a savage and that perpetrated upon a civilised being.
+The absence of any law regulating the conduct of individuals
+placed in such circumstances is no palliation
+for the outrage which he committed; and, so far from
+his being unwittingly led into an error of judgment,
+his treatment of Tamaiharanui after his capture dispels
+any supposition that he had repented of his bargain,
+or that he was in the least degree revolted by the excesses
+of the natives. Having regard to these facts, the impression
+conveyed by a study of the general character of
+the man, as revealed by his actions, is, that the purpose
+of the voyage would not have caused him much scruple,
+so long as the reward was ample and easily obtained.
+Howbeit, a few days after the bargain was struck, he
+received on board his vessel Te Rauparaha and one
+hundred and seventy of his followers, accompanied by
+five of his remaining lieutenants&mdash;Te Rangihaeata, Te
+Hiko, Tungia, and Tama-i-hengia, and on October 29th
+set sail for Banks's Peninsula.</p>
+
+<p>The voyage appears to have been propitious enough, for, in due course,
+the vessel arrived at Whanga-roa Harbour, on the shores of which then
+stood the Takapuneke <i>pa</i>, and now nestles the sequestered town of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">{149}</a></span>
+Akaroa.<span class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_97" id="Ref_97" href="#Foot_97">[97]</a></span>
+The coming of a ship was an event much
+more rare at Akaroa than it was at Kapiti, and, consequently,
+the natives of the <i>pa</i> were stirred to the
+highest pitch of excitement, and desired to enter into
+immediate trade with the vessel, which they misjudged
+to be an honest whaler.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_98" id="Ref_98" href="#Foot_98">[98]</a></span>
+Meanwhile Te Rauparaha had
+carefully concealed all his men beneath the hatches,
+and enjoined upon them the strictest seclusion; for
+the success of his scheme altogether depended upon
+the concealment of the fact that a force of natives was
+on board. Acting under instructions from the chief,
+Captain Stewart, through his interpreter, forbade any
+of the resident natives to board the <i>Elizabeth</i> until
+Tamaiharanui had returned; for it so happened that,
+at the time of the brig's arrival at Akaroa, that chief
+was absent from his <i>pa</i>, superintending the preparation
+of a cargo of flax which he had sold to an English
+captain. A message was accordingly despatched to
+Wairewa, urging him to come and see a <i>pakeha</i> who
+was eager to trade. It was not, however, till the eighth
+day that Tama arrived, and, during all that time, the
+Ngati-Toa warriors had been cooped up under the
+hatches, being permitted only a few minutes on deck
+under the cover of darkness. These precautions prevented
+any suspicion reaching the shore; and yet some
+doubt seems to have lurked in the minds of the resident
+people, for they eagerly inquired of Cowell, the interpreter,
+whether there were any natives on board, and
+were put off with the laughing assurance that such was
+impossible, as the vessel had just come down from
+Sydney. This statement was seemingly fair enough;
+but, if Sydney was the last port of call, how came those
+<i>hutiwai</i> burrs clinging to the clothes of some of the crew,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">{150}</a></span>
+which a keen-eyed native had just espied? <i>Hutiwai</i> burrs
+do not grow in Sydney, nor upon the broad ocean.
+Then the lie that came handiest was that on the way
+down they had called at the Bay of Islands, and the
+sailors had probably picked up the burrs while carousing
+on shore. The evasion, however palpable, was at least
+successful in silencing the doubts which were just growing
+to dangerous proportions in the minds of Tamaiharanui's
+people, and the incident had no influence in
+cooling their ardour for trade, for further messengers
+were shortly afterwards despatched to hasten their chief's
+coming. When Tamaiharanui came, he brought with
+him his wife, Te Whe, his sister, and his little daughter
+Ngaroimata,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_99" id="Ref_99" href="#Foot_99">[99]</a></span>
+a name full of pathetic suggestion. He
+was cordially welcomed by the captain, who invited
+him to his cabin below with every show of courtesy
+and hospitality. But no sooner was the chief seated
+than the door opened, and, to his intense amazement,
+his mortal enemies, Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,
+stood before him. To overpower and bind him was
+the work of but a few moments, and then the Ngati-Toa
+let loose upon him the full flood of their invective,
+taunting him in bitter scorn with his infantile simplicity
+in falling so easily into their trap. Te Hiko added insult
+to injury by advancing and drawing back the captive's
+upper lip, sneeringly remarking, "So these are the teeth
+which ate my father."</p>
+
+<p>In all innocence of what was passing within the cabin, the followers
+of Tamaiharanui swarmed round the ship's side in their canoes,
+clamouring for admission, so that they might trade for the needful
+guns and casks of powder. This permission was granted to a few at a
+time, who, immediately they reached the deck, were conducted by the
+crew to the open hatchway and promptly shoved headlong into the hold,
+where they were secured by Te Rauparaha's men and made prisoners as
+easily and as simply as their chief had been. The failure of these
+people to return to the shore evidently did not excite
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">{151}</a></span>
+any uneasiness. It was no uncommon thing for natives
+visiting a ship in the offing to remain for several days,
+or even longer, if their presence could be tolerated.
+Events were thus playing into the hands of Te Rauparaha
+more effectually even than he might have reasonably
+expected; and so, on the evening of the second
+day after the capture of Tamaiharanui, having secured
+all the visitors to the ship, he was now in a position
+to deal with those who had remained on land. Boats
+were accordingly got out some hours after nightfall,
+and a strong and well-armed party was sent ashore to
+attack the Takapuneke <i>pa</i>. Ngai-Tahu accounts of this
+fight would have us believe that an heroic resistance
+was offered to a cyclonic assault; but the circumstances
+render such an account most improbable. The place
+was not a fighting <i>pa</i>, and for the purposes of war
+was practically defenceless. The people, too, were
+awakened from their sleep by the tumult of the attack,
+and, shorn as they were of their leaders and their
+warriors, there was little hope of any organised defence
+being made. The attack therefore became a rout, and
+the rout a massacre; and before morning broke the
+people of Akaroa were either helpless captives, bound
+in the evil-smelling hold of a ship, fugitives flying for
+dear life, or lying dead amongst the smoking ruins of
+their ancestral home.</p>
+
+<p>Having achieved a complete success, Te Rauparaha collected a quantity
+of human flesh for consumption on the voyage, and set sail for Kapiti,
+where the final scene in the tragedy was to be enacted. Tamaiharanui
+and his family were housed in one of the fore cabins, and apparently
+some degree of liberty was permitted him, for on the first night out
+from Akaroa,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_100" id="Ref_100" href="#Foot_100">[100]</a></span>
+he, after consultation with his wife, seized a
+favourable opportunity to strangle his little daughter as she lay
+asleep, and afterwards cast the lifeless body into the sea. This
+extreme course he justified to his conscience as averting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">{152}</a></span>
+the eternal disgrace of her ever becoming the wife of
+one of his enemies. His unnatural action, however, had
+the effect of rousing the fury of his captors.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_101" id="Ref_101" href="#Foot_101">[101]</a></span>
+Fearing
+that his next step would be to take his own life, and
+so deprive them of the legitimate fruits of their mission,
+they took immediate and adequate precautions by pinioning
+him fast in a position which caused him exquisite
+torture, and his sufferings they watched with intense
+delight. On the voyage northward high revels were
+kept by the natives, who, if the interpreter's testimony
+is to be credited, were even permitted to cook the flesh
+of their victims in the ship's coppers, without protest
+from the captain or any of his equally degenerate crew.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the arrival of the <i>Elizabeth</i> at Kapiti, on the 11th of
+November, the <i>pas</i> were almost deserted, the majority of the
+people being absent in the swamps and on the hill-sides, preparing the
+flax which was to be Captain Stewart's payment. The news, however,
+soon spread that the great Ngai-Tahu chief was a captive on board, and
+crowds came flocking from the mainland to verify the reported triumph
+of their leader. The major part of the prisoners were landed on the
+12th of November, and the natives now expected that Tamaiharanui would
+also be handed over to them at once, to be disposed of in their own
+fashion. But on this point Captain Stewart was obdurate, for he
+probably saw but little prospect of securing his flax if once the
+prisoner passed beyond his keeping. He therefore resisted the tribe's
+demands for this species of <i>habeas corpus</i>, and detained the
+chief, heaping upon him the additional pain and ignominy of keeping
+him in irons until he could be redeemed by the fulfilment of Te
+Rauparaha's promise. Either this was no simple matter,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">{153}</a></span>
+or, more likely still, his followers, having to some extent
+satisfied their craving for excitement and revenge, relaxed
+their efforts in the fields, preferring to discuss in the
+<i>kaingas</i> the strange adventures of their comrades at
+Akaroa. From whatever cause, there was a distinct
+failure on their part to complete the contract. Day after
+day went past, and still a residue of the flax was wanting.
+At the end of six weeks, Captain Stewart was persuaded
+that it was hopeless to wait longer, and, probably wishing
+himself well out of the whole business, he handed
+Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha, and made his
+course with all speed to Sydney, arriving on January 14,
+1831.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_102" id="Ref_102" href="#Foot_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The prisoner was taken on shore in Rauparaha's canoe, and, at a great
+feast held in honour of the occasion, was surrendered to the wives of
+Te Pehi to do with him as they pleased. A final appeal for life was
+made to his captor by Tama; but Te Rauparaha took high ground, and
+replied that if it was a matter that rested with himself, he would
+most certainly spare him, but the death of Te Pehi was a calamity
+which affected the whole tribe of Ngati-Toa, and hence the final
+decision must rest with them. About the precise time and mode<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_103" id="Ref_103" href="#Foot_103">[103]</a></span>
+of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">{154}</a></span>
+unfortunate chief's death there is much doubt, for
+scarcely any two accounts agree, except in the central
+fact that Tamaiharanui subsequently met his fate at the
+hands of Tiaia, Te Pehi's principal widow. The most
+favourable view of this lady's conduct in revenging the
+death of her lamented husband is given us by her own
+tribe, who have averred that "on landing, the chief was
+given up to the widow of Te Pehi, who took him and
+his wife to her own house, giving up half to their use.
+They talked like friends to each other, and the widow
+behaved so kindly to him, that a stranger would have
+taken them for man and wife, rather than a doomed
+captive and his implacable enemy. She used even to
+clothe him in her finest garments and deck his head
+with choice feathers. This continued for about two
+weeks, until she had assembled her friends, or thought
+her victim sufficiently fat to kill.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_104" id="Ref_104" href="#Foot_104">[104]</a></span>
+She then suddenly
+caused him to be seized and bound, with his arms
+stretched to a tree, and whilst he was in this position
+she took a long iron spear, with which she stabbed him
+in the jugular artery, and drank his warm blood as it
+gushed forth."</p>
+
+<p>Harrowing as this spectacle must have been, and awful as it is to
+contemplate, it must be remembered that the manner of Tamaiharanui's
+death was not more savage
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">{155}</a></span>
+than that of many another leader of men, perpetrated in
+Christian countries and in the name of a higher cause.
+By the Maori code the death of the Akaroa chief was not
+only justified, but necessary to appease the spirit of the
+departed Te Pehi, and the more humiliating his death,
+the more adequate the compensation to the dead.
+A student<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_105" id="Ref_105" href="#Foot_105">[105]</a></span>
+of Maori life and character, than whom
+perhaps none have had better opportunities of mastering
+Ngai-Tahu history, and who, from his calling, could
+scarcely be accused of callousness towards Tamaiharanui's
+sufferings, has given it as his mature opinion
+that, "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 Ngati-Toa was little more than a repetition
+of the cruelties which he had himself inflicted upon
+members of his own tribe." Possibly the knowledge
+that he would not have acted differently himself assisted
+the unhappy captive to resign himself to his fate. For,
+although he has been described as both cruel and
+cowardly, by one whose verdict it is not easy to
+challenge, this much must be laid to his credit: that
+neither the mental nor the physical torture invented
+for him by his barbarous enemies was sufficient to
+break down his rugged fortitude or to tame his defiant
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>When the <i>Elizabeth</i> reached Sydney, the circumstances attending
+the death of the Akaroa chief were reported to Governor Darling by Mr.
+Gordon Browne, and the Governor, with commendable promptitude, ordered
+the arrest of Stewart and proceeded to put him on his trial. The
+depositions were referred to the Crown Solicitor on February 17, but
+that official expressed doubts as to the statutory power of the colony
+to bring the offender to justice, it not being clear whether offences
+committed in New Zealand against New Zealanders were punishable under
+the laws of New
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">{156}</a></span>
+South Wales.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_106" id="Ref_106" href="#Foot_106">[106]</a></span>
+Darling was in no way disconcerted by
+this legal difficulty, but urged with some vehemence
+that the point should be tested, holding that it was
+"a case in which the character of the nation was
+implicated, and that every possible exertion should be
+used to bring the offenders to justice." Stewart retained
+Dr. Wardell, a lawyer eminent in his day, for his defence,
+and while the officers of the Crown were seeking to
+make good their ground, the delay was utilised to spirit
+away the witnesses whose testimony might be fatal to
+Stewart. Meanwhile, the <i>Elizabeth</i> was allowed to put
+to sea under another captain, and Stewart was held
+on bail, notwithstanding the strenuous protests of his
+counsel. With the witnesses out of the way, Dr. Wardell
+became more confident, and boldly demanded the release
+of his client. But the Governor could not but be
+influenced by the prayer of the more honourably
+disposed white residents of New Zealand, who expressed
+the fear that their "lives would be made answerable for
+the proceedings of their countrymen," or by the touching
+appeal of the natives, who came personally to plead
+that speedy steps might be taken by England to put a
+curb upon the unbridled behaviour of her degenerate
+sons. The curb which Darling proposed to apply was to
+appoint a resident representative of the colony in New
+Zealand, and he suggested to the Secretary of State for
+the Colonies that Captain Sturt<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_107" id="Ref_107" href="#Foot_107">[107]</a></span>
+should be employed in
+this capacity. The carrying out of this scheme was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">{157}</a></span>
+delayed by the recall of the Governor, and the appointment
+of Sir Richard Bourke as his successor, to whom
+Darling deemed it prudent to leave the initiation of a
+system which it would be his lot to administer.</p>
+
+<p>All this time justice was tardily picking her way amongst the
+complicated meshes of the law, and it was not until the 21st of May
+that Stewart was called upon to face his trial. Even then the Crown
+Solicitor was not prepared to proceed upon the main indictment, but
+sought to get a conviction upon a minor offence, to which course Dr.
+Wardell took the strongest exception, and warmly demanded the
+discharge of Stewart's recognisances. The Crown justified its action
+on the ground that its witnesses were not forthcoming, for great
+remissness had been shown in letting them depart; and, notwithstanding
+Dr. Wardell's protest that it was unfair "to hold Stewart to bail in a
+sum of £2,000 for an indefinite period," the Chief Justice decided to
+adjourn the matter, and allow it to come up for consideration on a
+future day. When that day arrived, the Crown Solicitor was still
+unready, and applied for leave to abandon the charge of misdemeanour,
+and proceed upon the main information so soon as his witnesses were
+available. But his witnesses were the same intangible quantity that
+they had been ever since they had first vanished, and there was not
+the remotest prospect of their appearing. Dr. Wardell knew this, and
+bantered his learned friend upon his unfortunate predicament, in which
+he was compelled to "skip from a charge of murder to a misdemeanour,
+and then to murder back again." He earnestly pleaded the hardship
+imposed upon Stewart by these delays, for which he was in no way
+responsible, and claimed either instant dismissal or immediate trial
+for his client, who, he believed, or affected to believe, was the
+unhappy victim of circumstances.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_108" id="Ref_108" href="#Foot_108">[108]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">{158}</a></span>
+To all this the Crown might have justly retorted that
+the disability placed upon Stewart was gentleness itself
+compared with his own conduct towards his fettered
+captive. Possibly this view was influencing the Court,
+for it still refused to take the responsibility at that stage
+of discharging the prisoner, but appointed the 20th June
+as the day on which Dr. Wardell might make application
+for the discharge of Stewart's recognisances. But when,
+after further adjournments, that application was argued
+on June 30th, the Crown was unable to convince the
+Court that the accused man should be indefinitely
+detained, and the Bench, reluctantly, no doubt,
+announced that he must be "discharged on his own
+recognisances in the sum of £1,000." So ended
+Governor Darling's sincere endeavour to make national
+reparation for one of the blackest crimes which have ever
+dishonoured the relations of the white man with the
+Maori, a deed which must be counted dark even at a
+time when the spirit of humanity seemed to slumber.
+Whatever palliation the apologist may find for the rough
+sea captain, whose occupation and environment were
+not conducive to the gentler qualities, it is not to the
+credit of a civilised community that its public opinion
+was apathetic in the presence of such an atrocity as
+that in which Captain Stewart had steeped his hands.
+It is to be feared that the Governor failed to receive
+the support from his officers, or from the community,
+which a jealousy for the national honour might have
+demanded;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_109" id="Ref_109" href="#Foot_109">[109]</a></span>
+while it is equally true that active sympathy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">{159}</a></span>
+with Stewart was largely responsible for the ease with
+which the witnesses were got out of the way. It was,
+perhaps, due to the fact that he was never brought to
+trial, rather than to any other cause, that no jury of
+Sydneyites acquitted Stewart.</p>
+
+<p>The tidings of Te Rauparaha's successes in the south were rapidly
+filtering to the ears of his friends in the north, by the agency of
+the devoted messengers who were repeatedly travelling backwards to
+their old home. With each fresh tale of victory told by ardent tongues
+to wondering ears, some new hope or ambition was awakened in the
+breast of the Ngati-Raukawa who still lingered in their settlements
+round Lake Taupo. Apart from the larger migrations which from time to
+time came down to join Te Rauparaha, less important bands were
+continually being attracted by the glory of Ngati-Toa's splendid
+achievements. Many of these soldiers of fortune reached Otaki and
+Kapiti with little adventure; for there was no inclination on the part
+of the subdued remnant of the Ngati-Apa to risk a conflict with these
+fiery spirits as they pushed across the ferny hills of Rangitikei. But
+one small company, travelling further to the northward than was
+customary, came into conflict with, and met disaster at the hands of,
+the Whanganui people, who secured the momentary advantage of a
+victory. From out of this defeat, two young men, Te Puke and his
+brother, Te Ao, succeeded in making their way to Kapiti, where the
+story of their misfortune made a deep impression upon chiefs and
+people alike. But matters more urgent and nearer home were pressing in
+upon the chief, and because of lack of opportunity, rather than of
+desire, the day of reckoning with Whanganui must be indefinitely
+postponed.</p>
+
+<p>The business which thus preoccupied the mind of Te Rauparaha was the
+need of adjusting the differences and unravelling the complications,
+which were daily accumulating, as the result of accretions to his
+forces. With the arrival of every new contingent of warriors,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">{160}</a></span>
+provision had to be made for their immediate entertainment,
+and for their ultimate settlement on the land, in
+order to leave them comfortable and contented. This
+their mutual jealousies made somewhat difficult, and no
+small measure of diplomacy was needed to avert civil
+ruptures, such as afterwards threatened to destroy all
+that unity and unquestioning devotion to his authority
+had accomplished. Though there was this simmering
+of discontent between the men of Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa, fortunately for Te Rauparaha no crisis
+occurred, and any ill-feeling that might lead to such
+an event was soon forgotten in the thrilling announcement
+that another attempt was about to be made to
+capture the great <i>pa</i> at Kaiapoi. This decision was, we
+are led to understand, arrived at somewhat hurriedly,
+and was largely accelerated because of a vision seen by
+a hoary seer of the tribe, who had interpreted the
+manifestation as a mandate to go forward to the attack.
+His <i>mata</i>, or prophecy, has been preserved amongst
+the oral treasures of Ngati-Toa, and has been freely
+translated as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"What is the wind?</span>
+<span class="i2">It is north-east, it is south.</span>
+<span class="i2">It is east in the offing, oh!</span>
+<span class="i2">Come then, O Raha!</span>
+<span class="i2">That you may see the fire</span>
+<span class="i2">On the crimson flat of Kaiapohia.</span>
+<span class="i2">By the prow of the canoe,</span>
+<span class="i2">By the handle of the paddle,</span>
+<span class="i2">The hold of the canoe of Maui</span>
+<span class="i2">May be overturned to cover it.</span>
+<span class="i2">Then pound, pound the sea!</span>
+<span class="i2">And stir it with your paddles.</span>
+<span class="i2">Behold my flock of curlews</span>
+<span class="i2">Hovering over the backwater</span>
+<span class="i2">Of that Waipara there.</span>
+<span class="i2">The fight will be on the other side;</span>
+<span class="i2">Embrace it, get closer and closer.</span>
+<span class="i2">Fierce will rage the fight."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent">It might be supposed that, with the capture and death
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">{161}</a></span>
+of Tamaiharanui, and all the carnage that had followed
+upon the Akaroa raid, Te Rauparaha would have felt
+that he had taken sufficient vengeance upon Ngai-Tahu
+for the slaying of Te Pehi and his comrades in arms.
+We are, however, assured by an authority deeply versed
+in the intricacies of Maori etiquette that no such limit
+was placed upon his actions, and that, so far from his
+proposal to again attack Kaiapoi being anything but
+strictly "correct," no alternative course would have
+adequately met the exigencies of the case. No sooner,
+therefore, was the chief's decision to obey the <i>tohunga's</i> call
+to arms publicly proclaimed, than preparatory measures
+on an exceptional scale were commenced with alacrity
+and enthusiasm. There was to be no trifling with the
+occasion, which, it was generally understood, would be
+pregnant with the fate of tribes; for Te Rauparaha
+had determined that as the result of this priest-ordained
+raid either Ngati-Toa or Ngai-Tahu would be for ever
+humbled in the dust. The force to be raised was to
+consist of seven hundred and fifty warriors, and only the
+pick of the men were to be taken&mdash;the Ngati-Toa, the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa tribes contributing their
+quota in nearly equal proportions. The traffic in arms
+and ammunition had now become so lucrative at Kapiti
+that there was no difficulty in arming every man with
+a musket more or less serviceable. Food was also
+abundant, for so rich had been the harvest of captives
+that at this time, it is said, Te Rauparaha had upwards
+of two thousand slaves constantly employed in planting
+or reaping the crops, which grew abundantly on the
+alluvial flats along the mainland coast. The question
+of transport presented greater difficulty. The conveyance
+of so large a force across the rough waters of Cook
+Strait was a serious problem, as there was no adequate
+supply of canoes for the purpose. This perplexity was,
+however, solved by the decision to transport the force
+in sections. The first division was to be landed at the
+Wairau, with instructions to march over the inland track,
+which led through the wild and picturesque Wairau
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">{162}</a></span>
+Gorge, and over the Hanmer Plains, to a rendezvous
+appointed for them at the mouth of the Waipara River.
+While this detour was being made purely in the interests
+of adventure, the remainder of the warriors were to
+embark at Kapiti, and make their way by slow stages
+down the coast, until they should unite with the inland
+party at the Waipara. Here the canoes were to be
+beached, and the whole force was then to march rapidly
+upon the doomed <i>pa</i>, in the hope of surprising the
+inhabitants and carrying the fortress by one swift and
+resolute stroke.</p>
+
+<p>So soon as the summer of 1831 was sufficiently advanced,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_110" id="Ref_110" href="#Foot_110">[110]</a></span>
+these
+plans were put into execution, and, as far as is known, were carried
+out with admirable precision. The two sections of the allied forces
+met at the appointed place, and, with as little delay as was
+permissible, set off in good order across the plain. But their
+movements had not been so secretly conducted as could have been
+wished; for the fleet of canoes had been espied coming down the coast,
+and a breathless messenger had carried the startling intelligence to
+the people in the <i>pa</i>. The first impulse of the latter was to
+gather all the people in from the fields and out-stations, and then to
+consult the patron deity of the tribe, and endeavour to ascertain by a
+process of revelation what the issue of the invasion was to be. The
+Rev. Canon Stack has left on record a description of the elaborate but
+idolatrous ceremonial by which the movements of a wooden image,
+dangled in the hands of a shrieking priest, were to reveal the future.
+The consultation of the <i>atua</i> was most piously performed at a
+spot outside the <i>pa</i>, consecrated for the purpose of this and
+similar religious rites. There the prescribed questions were put to
+the nodding image, in the presence of a trembling people, and the
+answer, as read by the priests, was that there was to be one defeat.
+This prophecy they immediately interpreted as foretelling the ultimate
+repulse and humiliation of the approaching
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">{163}</a></span>
+enemy. So satisfactory a termination to the toro was received
+with much congratulation, and served instantly to
+revive the drooping spirits of the people, who returned in
+jubilant procession to the <i>pa</i>. But the gates were scarcely
+closed before the muskets of Te Rauparaha's men were
+heard snapping in the distance, as they kept up a running
+fire upon some belated stragglers.</p>
+
+<p>That the <i>pa</i> was surprised is now a matter of history, but
+fortunately for its slender garrison, Te Rauparaha did not realise how
+hopelessly unprepared they were. During the year or more which had
+elapsed since his raid upon Akaroa, the people of Kaiapoi had been
+deeply immersed in the endeavour to cultivate a trade with the
+itinerant whalers who paid their fitful visits to Whangaraupo<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_111" id="Ref_111" href="#Foot_111">[111]</a></span>
+and
+other parts of Banks's Peninsula. In their anxiety to make the utmost
+of these infrequent opportunities, they had lost sight of the
+probability of another attack upon their settlement, and this unwary
+attitude had been encouraged by the fond belief that the difficulties
+of transporting from Kapiti a force large enough to assault the
+<i>pa</i> with any prospect of success were so formidable that even Te
+Rauparaha would never seriously contemplate such an undertaking. How
+illusory these dreams of safety were, and how little they understood
+the dogged spirit of the man against whom they were called upon to
+contend, they now realised to their cost. At the moment of Te
+Rauparaha's arrival the <i>pa</i> was deserted, except for a guard of
+old people and a number of women and children. The greater part of the
+population had only a few days before gone off to Whangaraupo, in
+company with the influential Otago chief Taiaroa, who had been paying
+a friendly visit to Kaiapoi. Some had gone merely to bid their great
+kinsman farewell; and so remote was the need of strong arms and stout
+hearts at home considered that many of the younger men were purposing
+to travel southward with him to Otakou.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_112" id="Ref_112" href="#Foot_112">[112]</a></span>
+Kaiapoi was thus
+practically denuded of its fighting men, and it says much for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">{164}</a></span>
+courage and ingenuity of those who were left that, in this
+sudden emergency, they were able to make so brave a
+show along its ramparts as to utterly deceive the northern
+leader. Had the <i>pa</i> been attacked promptly and vigorously,
+there is no room to doubt that it would have fallen,
+for its thin veneer of resistance must soon have been
+pierced; but this was one of the few occasions on which
+the Ngati-Toa chief's clearness of perception and promptness
+of decision failed him, and the price of his vacillation
+was a long weary siege, and the loss, to him, of many
+valuable lives.</p>
+
+<p>As a preliminary step in the defence of the <i>pa</i>, the Kaiapoi
+people had hurriedly removed the few temporary houses and fences which
+had been erected immediately in front of the landward approach, and
+which would have afforded some degree of shelter to the approaching
+enemy. Their destruction left not only an unbroken view of the
+movements of the enemy, but deprived them of every vestige of cover,
+so that, in rushing to the assault, they had to pass over ground
+exposed to the pitiless fire of the defenders. For this reason, the
+first attack was repulsed with considerable loss, as was also a
+second, which was delivered with some additional energy. The defenders
+had entrenched themselves behind the first line of palisades, and,
+with their bodies protected by the deep ditch which ran the whole
+width of the narrow isthmus between the converging swamps, they were
+able to concentrate their fire upon the advancing warriors with so
+deadly an effect that Te Rauparaha was led to believe the defence to
+be much more formidable than it really was. Surprised that his coming
+had been so evidently anticipated and so amply provided against, and
+irritated to find himself baffled in his hope of snatching a victory
+from a napping victim, he retired beyond the range of the Ngai-Tahu
+guns to deliberate on his next move. As the result of a consultation
+with Rangihaeata, Te Hiko, and his other lieutenants, it was agreed
+that all hope of carrying the fortress by a <i>coup de main</i> must
+now be abandoned, and it was decided to adopt the more prosaic
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">{165}</a></span>
+course of investing the <i>pa</i> and subjecting it to the annoyance
+and humiliation of a regular siege.</p>
+
+<p>A camp was formed immediately in front of the <i>pa</i>, and so placed
+as to intercept the path which led to its main entrance. A wing of
+this camp stretched round amongst the sand-hills to the westward, so
+as to command the approach to the Huirapa gate. In these quarters
+Ngati-Toa and their allies sat down in patience, to tempt the enemy to
+a sortie, but ever ready to profit by any momentary looseness or
+indiscretion on the part of the defenders. Meantime a few of the
+residents of Kaiapoi who had been shut out when its gates were closed,
+but had succeeded in evading capture by their superior knowledge of
+the surrounding maze of swamps, had fled southward to carry the news
+of the invasion to their friends who had gone to Whangaraupo with
+Taiaroa. These messengers were fortunate in intercepting their
+tribesmen before they had departed for the south, and, at the earnest
+solicitation of his Kaiapoi relations, Taiaroa agreed to return and
+lead the defence of their fortress. All possible reinforcements were
+speedily gathered from the Peninsula <i>pas</i>, and the combined
+forces set off along the coast to endeavour to raise the siege. Their
+march to the Waimakariri River was rapidly executed; but here some
+delay was occasioned, owing to the difficulty in getting the people
+across the broad and rapid stream. At the cost of much labour, a
+<i>mokihi</i> flotilla was constructed, on which they crossed to the
+northern bank; and then, fearing that their movements might be
+discovered if they approached nearer to the <i>pa</i> before darkness
+set in, they lay down to await the fall of evening. Under the cover of
+darkness they resumed their march, which was still conducted with the
+utmost caution, more especially as they approached the vicinity of the
+besieged <i>pa</i>. By the glowing watch-fires which they saw in the
+distance they knew that the enemy was sleeplessly alert, and that any
+impetuosity on their part might easily prove fatal to themselves, and
+equally disastrous to their friends watching and waiting their coming.
+It had been decided that the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">{166}</a></span>
+attempt to enter the <i>pa</i> should be made on the western
+side, where the swamp which fringed the fortress was
+narrowest, and where they could be admitted by the
+Huirapa gate. It is probable that when Taiaroa came to
+this determination he was not aware that he must pass
+near to a section of the enemy's camp. But here fortune
+favoured him, for the high wind which was blowing at
+the time drove those of the besiegers who were keeping
+watch to crouch closely over their fires, and, by agitating
+the surrounding foliage, aided materially in concealing
+the movements of the warriors as they crept cautiously
+through the long and waving grass. By adroitly advancing
+when the breeze blew with greatest violence, and
+throwing themselves flat upon the ground when it lulled,
+they drew so near to the Ngati-Toa lines that they could
+plainly hear the sentries conversing amongst themselves.
+Their position at this juncture was most critical, and in
+the intensity of their excitement they scarcely dared to
+breathe. Nothing, however, occurred to betray their
+presence,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_113" id="Ref_113" href="#Foot_113">[113]</a></span>
+and, at a preconcerted signal, every man rose
+from his concealment, and shouting, "Taiaroa to the
+rescue! Taiaroa to the rescue!" plunged into the dark
+waters of the swamp and swam towards the <i>pa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is doubtful whether the surprise of the Ngati-Toa sentries or of
+the defenders was the greater, as they were suddenly aroused by the
+tumult of the struggling horde which had swept in upon the scene. The
+first thought of the defenders was that a clever ruse to gain
+admission to the <i>pa</i> was being practised by Te Rauparaha,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">{167}</a></span>
+and they at once lined the walls, and began a
+brisk fusilade upon the splashing forms in the water
+below. Darkness, uncertainty, and excitement, however,
+made their aim extremely erratic, and no damage of any
+consequence was done before the voices of the leaders
+were recognised, and what had seemed a daring and
+ingenious assault was discovered to be the eagerly-looked-for
+succour. The firing instantly ceased, and
+the Huirapa gate was thrown open to the dripping
+warriors, who, as they emerged from the water, were
+received in the warm embraces of their grateful friends.</p>
+
+<p>With the arrival of Taiaroa and of the Kaiapoi chiefs whom he had
+brought with him, a new spirit animated the population of the <i>pa</i>,
+and its defence was organised upon a more systematic plan than before.
+To Whakauira was entrusted the defence of the Kaitangata gate, and
+Weka was given a similar responsibility over Hiaka-rere. Other
+vulnerable points were similarly entrusted to the personal care of the
+best and bravest of the chiefs, who were not only to defend their
+particular positions against attack, but were to lead all sorties made
+by their own companies. In guarding against surprises, the garrison
+were greatly aided by a watch-tower, which stood close to the
+Kaitangata gate. This tower was no pillar of masonry, such as a Norman
+of old would have attached to his castle, but was merely the tall
+trunk of a totara tree, firmly set in the ground, on the top of which
+was perched a little wooden hutch, after the form of a native
+<i>whata</i>.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_114" id="Ref_114" href="#Foot_114">[114]</a></span>
+The sides of this cabin were constructed of thick
+wooden slabs which had been carefully tested, and demonstrated to be
+proof against any bullet fired from the nearest point to which an
+enemy could safely come. Before daylight every morning a faithful
+watcher crept into this elevated cabin, and, peering through slits cut
+in the sides, was able to command a view of all that was passing
+within the enemy's camp, and communicate the results of his
+observation to those
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">{168}</a></span>
+within. In this way the defenders were able to anticipate
+and successfully counteract the tactics of Te
+Rauparaha, who, much to his chagrin, found all his
+movements checked. But the rôle of attack was not
+confined to the Ngati-Toa; for, in the early stages of
+the siege, frequent sorties were made by the defenders,
+though, it must be admitted, with but doubtful success.
+Their fighting was of a more emotional order than that
+of the northern men, who were desperate fellows, and
+just as willing to submit to punishment as they were
+to administer it. Their tenacity of purpose, combined
+with the fact that they were led by the most skilful
+native tactician of his day, gave them an undoubted
+superiority in these hand-to-hand contests; and the
+Ngai-Tahu defenders derived but little comfort from
+their spasmodic efforts to disperse the enemy's camp.
+One excursion of this kind, however, was more than
+usually heroic. Intelligence having been brought that
+Te Rauparaha had moved his canoes down the coast
+from Double Corner, where they had been left when
+he first landed, to the mouth of the Ashley River,
+Taiaroa, on a dark and stormy night, took a few men
+with him, and, swimming and wading through the
+swamps, succeeded in reaching the spot where the
+fleet was lying securely beached. The purpose of the
+sortie was to destroy the canoes. But here was furnished
+an example of that want of forethought which is to
+be so frequently noted in Ngai-Tahu warfare, and which
+stood in such marked contrast to the methods of Te
+Rauparaha. The expedition had armed itself with only
+light hatchets, which proved to be quite incapable of
+making any material impression upon the heavy hulls
+of the canoes. Consequently, Taiaroa and his men had
+to content themselves with merely slashing at the lighter
+timbers and severing the cordage which lashed the
+thwarts and side boards, which would, at least, render
+the vessels unseaworthy until repaired. Finding it impossible
+to achieve their object with the axe, an attempt
+was made to burn the canoes; but the blinding rain-storm
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">{169}</a></span>
+which was raging at the time rendered futile
+every effort in this direction, and the bold little band
+was compelled to return to the <i>pa</i>, having succeeded
+in nothing beyond risking their own lives and imposing
+a passing inconvenience upon the besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>Three anxious months had now passed since the siege began, without
+anything decisive having been accomplished on either side. Te
+Rauparaha had hoped that hunger and the losses they had suffered would
+have sapped the strength of the defence; but in this he was mistaken,
+for events were proving that the old idea, that the <i>pa</i> could be
+starved into submission, was a delusion. As a matter of fact, the
+defenders were well supplied with food, their storehouses having been
+filled with the fruits of the early crops, while the surrounding
+swamps provided them with an abundant supply of eels. On the other
+hand, Te Rauparaha was frequently hard pressed for supplies; while, on
+the score of losses, he had fared rather worse than the defenders.
+Finding that he was making no progress along the orthodox lines of
+attack, he now decided to revolutionise his methods. He recalled to
+mind the words in the song of the seer Kukurarangi, "Embrace it, get
+closer and closer"; and, acting upon this prophetic injunction, he
+conceived the idea of sapping<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_115" id="Ref_115" href="#Foot_115">[115]</a></span>
+up to the walls of the <i>pa</i>
+and demolishing the palisades by fire. He accordingly ordered three
+trenches to be dug, one by the Ngati-Toa, one by the Ngati-Raukawa,
+and the third by Ngati-Awa, no doubt relying upon a spirit of friendly
+rivalry between the tribes to accelerate the work. At first they
+suffered considerably, for the men working in the open trenches
+offered a conspicuous mark to the riflemen concealed behind the
+outworks of the <i>pa</i>. The casualties were, however, sensibly
+reduced when Te Rauparaha ingeniously deflected the line of the sap
+and carried the trenches forward in a zigzag direction. The spademen
+were thus protected by the angle at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">{170}</a></span>
+which they worked, and additional security was given
+them by the placing of slabs of wood across the top
+of the open sap. These precautions almost entirely
+neutralised the efforts of the sharpshooters, and the
+sap proceeded rapidly, and with a regularity and precision
+which excited the admiration of those early
+colonists who saw the trenches before their symmetry
+had been destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>These proceedings were naturally viewed with considerable alarm by the
+garrison, and frequent sorties were resorted to for the purpose of
+putting a check upon the progress of the work. These excursions,
+whether unskilfully conducted or badly executed, may have hindered the
+operations of the sappers, but they certainly failed to compel the
+abandonment of the sap. As an answer, the besiegers occasionally
+delivered a surprise attack, and it was in repulsing one of these that
+Te Ata-o-tu fought with such heroic courage that by his signal bravery
+he has helped to redeem the general ineptitude of the defence. The
+story of how "Old Jacob" (for as such he was known to the early
+Canterbury colonists) slew Pehi Tahau has been worthily told in the
+warrior's own words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">{171}</a></span>
+I and another reconnoitred. 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&mdash;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. Happening 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 <i>pa</i>. I determined therefore to try and force
+an encounter at close quarters, my only fear being that
+he might shoot me before I could grapple with him.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I had only a tomahawk on a long handle, having left my 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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">{172}</a></span>
+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 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
+nigger-heads 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 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 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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">{173}</a></span>
+movements of a party of the enemy, who were evidently
+trying to intercept our return to the <i>pa</i>. Hampered by
+the weight of my prize, I could not get over the ground
+as quickly as our pursuers, but I was loath 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 <i>pa</i> with it, when I threw it on
+the ground, contenting 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
+complimentary acknowledgments 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 <i>pa</i>, Rauparaha strolled
+amongst us inquiring whether the man who killed the
+chief Pehi Tahau was 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 battlefields
+of the North Island."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the fourth month the trenches had, by dint of incessant
+labour, and in the face of repeated attacks, been brought to within a
+few feet of the wall, and then Te Rauparaha was in a position to
+develop the second phase of his scheme&mdash;the burning of the hitherto
+impregnable palisades. For many weeks his people were employed in
+cutting down and binding into bundles the <i>manuka</i> scrub which
+grew in abundance on the flats in the immediate vicinity of his camp,
+and when these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">{174}</a></span>
+bundles had been dried in the sun, they were carried
+into the trenches and passed along to the further end,
+where a stalwart warrior seized and threw them with
+all his power in the direction of the doomed <i>pa</i>. This
+was a work which cost Ngati-Toa dearly, for there
+was an interval of time, in the act of hurling the sheaf of
+<i>manuka</i> forward, during which the body of the thrower
+was exposed to the galling fire of the defenders; and they
+placed their best marksmen in a position from which they
+were able to take unerring aim at the unprotected figure
+in the trench. Many a brave fellow who had passed
+safely through the stress of siege and sortie met his fate in
+that twinkling of an eye. But, notwithstanding the peril
+of the post, there was no lack of volunteers to accept its
+awful responsibility, and as soon as one martyr to duty
+went down with a bullet in his brain, another sprang
+forward to fill his place. So the work of piling up
+the combustible material went on with scarcely an
+interruption. At first, the defenders made bold to
+emerge from the gates of the <i>pa</i> at night, and hurriedly
+scattered the piles of brushwood which had been
+accumulated during the day. But this was only a
+temporary respite, and no permanent obstruction to
+the policy of Te Rauparaha. Day by day the process
+went on of hurling the bundles of <i>manuka</i> from the
+trenches, until at last the quantity to be moved became
+so great that the defenders, in their brief rushes, were
+unable to disperse it. Then it began to mount higher
+against the palisades, and every night saw the position
+becoming more and more critical, with scarcely any
+resistance on the part of the besieged.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_116" id="Ref_116" href="#Foot_116">[116]</a></span>
+Indeed, the
+semblance of a panic was now beginning to make its
+appearance within the <i>pa</i>, and the opinion was rapidly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">{175}</a></span>
+taking root that their relentless enemy was slowly
+gathering them within his toils. A feeling of deepest
+depression fell upon the populace, and proposals were
+even secretly discussed by some of the younger men
+to abandon the <i>pa</i> before the inevitable catastrophe
+plunged them in disaster. Taiaroa actually adopted
+this course. Taking his Otago contingent with him,
+he left the <i>pa</i> under cover of night, and made good
+his escape through the gloomy swamps. To some this
+might appear an act of base desertion; but it is the duty
+of the historian to rescue the name of so brave a chief
+from so dark an imputation. The secret motive which
+impelled him to leave Kaiapoi at this juncture was his
+settled conviction that some diversion must be created,
+during which the inhabitants would have a reasonable
+prospect of clearing the walls of the dangerous pile of
+<i>manuka</i>. His intention was, therefore, to proceed southward
+to his own dominion, where he hoped to raise
+a large force, and return to meet Te Rauparaha in a
+decisive battle on the open field. Events, however,
+moved too rapidly for him. Before he was able to
+give effect to his plan, Kaiapoi had fallen, and nothing
+remained to him but to shelter its unhappy fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>With the departure of Taiaroa for the south, the people seemed to feel
+themselves deprived of the moving spirit of the defence, and, instead
+of redoubling their energies, they sullenly yielded to the pessimistic
+impulses of their mercurial nature, and abandoned themselves to
+brooding and despair.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_117" id="Ref_117" href="#Foot_117">[117]</a></span>
+Te Rauparaha, now finding his tactics less
+seriously opposed, made strenuous efforts to ensure the perfection of
+his plans; and, having done all that remained to be done, he resigned
+himself to wait with such patience as he could command for a
+favourable wind to carry the fire from his flaming bundles against the
+walls of the <i>pa</i>. And now a curious contest arose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">{176}</a></span>
+between the <i>tohungas</i> of the opposing tribes; for, while
+the priests of Ngati-Toa were daily repeating incantations
+for the purpose of inducing a southerly wind, the priests
+of Ngai-Tahu were as piously imploring the gods for a
+wind from the north. The impartiality of the deities in
+these circumstances was remarkable, and distinctly embarrassing;
+but it is nevertheless a fact well remembered
+in connection with the fall of Kaiapoi, that while the
+conflicting prayers filled the air, an atmospheric calm set
+in, and for several weeks no breeze of any violence blew
+from either direction. But it was not to be supposed
+that this condition of aerial negation would continue for
+ever. At length, on a day some six months after the
+siege had been commenced, the dawn came in with a
+nor'-west wind blowing strongly across the plains. To
+the besiegers, this appeared to be all in favour of the
+besieged. But those within the <i>pa</i> knew from long
+observation that the nor'-wester was an exceedingly
+treacherous wind; that sudden changes were apt to be
+experienced when the wind was in that quarter; and
+that, regarded in the light of experience, their situation
+was by no means as rosy as it looked. That their fate was
+hanging by the most slender thread was a fact perfectly
+apparent to the chiefs in command, who, after consultation,
+came to the conclusion that their only hope of
+safety lay in the bare chance that, if the menacing brushwood,
+which lay piled against the wall, was fired from the
+inside, the wind might hold out long enough to carry the
+flames away from the <i>pa</i> until the source of danger was
+removed. This view was strongly held by Pureko, who
+was now entrusted with the defence of the threatened
+portion of the <i>pa</i>; and he decided to take upon himself
+the responsibility of proving the accuracy of his theory.
+Accordingly, he seized a firebrand, and thrust it into a
+pile of <i>manuka</i>, which instantly became a seething mass
+of flame.</p>
+
+<p>When Te Rauparaha saw that his enemy was likely to circumvent him, he
+at once ordered his men to belt up, take their weapons with them, and
+carry the burning
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">{177}</a></span>
+brushwood against the palisades, so that the fuel which
+had been collected at such infinite pains might not be
+consumed in vain. Without staying to question the
+wisdom of this order, a rush was immediately made by
+the younger warriors to obey the command; but they
+were met by a fusilade from the defenders who lined the
+walls, which worked havoc amongst their ranks. Had
+the contending parties been left to fight the issue out
+untrammelled by the intervention of external agencies, it
+is more than probable that Te Rauparaha would have
+been worsted in this attempt to fire the <i>pa</i>, and would
+have been compelled either to abandon the siege till the
+ensuing summer or to repeat during the impending
+winter the toilsome process of laying his fire train to the
+gates of the fortress. But at this juncture, as in so many
+others of his eventful life, his characteristic good fortune
+did not desert him. While his men were being mown
+down under the galling musketry of the enemy, the wind
+suddenly swung round to the south, and the whole aspect
+of the combat was instantly changed. The flames were
+carried high against the walls, licking the palisades with
+fiery tongues, while dense clouds of smoke rolled backwards,
+driving the garrison from the trenches and from
+every station of defence.</p>
+
+<p>By this marvellous reversal of fortune Te Rauparaha was not slow to
+profit; and no sooner had the firing of the defenders slackened than
+his men crept up to the walls, and, as an essential precaution, filled
+up the loopholes through which the Ngai-Tahu marksmen had taken aim.
+This must have seriously hampered the defenders, had they been
+disposed to stand to their posts. But they were no longer animated so
+much by the desire to save the <i>pa</i> as to save themselves. Panic
+had now taken the place of heroism, and despair had completely
+extinguished all idea of defence. The <i>sauve qui peut</i> of
+Napoleon became equally the policy of Ngai-Tahu, and from this point
+there was nothing heroic in the defence of Kaiapoi. In a marvellously
+short space of time, the flames had completely enveloped the outer
+works; and, while they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">{178}</a></span>
+were eating their way through the wooden walls, many of
+the besiegers were indulging in the wild joy of the war
+dance, which, according to one native chronicler, was so
+vigorously conducted that "the noise they made was like
+thunder, and the earth trembled." As soon as a breach
+had been made, the attacking force rushed between
+the burning palisades, and the massacre&mdash;for it can
+be described by no other word&mdash;commenced.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2q">"Through the fire, and through the smoke,</span>
+<span class="i2">Swiftly Ngati-Toa broke</span>
+<span class="i2">With a scream and a yell;</span>
+<span class="i2">And the glare and the flare</span>
+<span class="i2">Of the fire-tongues in the air</span>
+<span class="i2">Flung a demoniac light</span>
+<span class="i2">On the horrors of the fight:</span>
+<span class="i2">And the children in affright,</span>
+<span class="i2">And the women in despair,</span>
+<span class="i2">Shrieked for mercy, but in vain.</span>
+<span class="i2">And the blazing timbers threw</span>
+<span class="i2">A ghastly lurid hue</span>
+<span class="i2">On the wounded and the slain.</span>
+<span class="i2">And, as the fierce light gleamed</span>
+<span class="i2">On the warriors, they seemed</span>
+<span class="i2">Like fiends unloosed from hell.</span>
+<span class="i2">A struggle, fierce and short,</span>
+<span class="i2">And the keepers of the fort</span>
+<span class="i2">Were slaughtered for the feast:</span>
+<span class="i2">And the red sun in the west</span>
+<span class="i2">Went down as Kaiapoi fell."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="nodent">No semblance of resistance was offered except by a desperate few, and
+those who still lingered were either struck down by their infuriated
+pursuers, or were captured and bound, to be spared or killed, as
+future circumstances might dictate. When the stampede commenced, the
+Huirapa gate was made the first avenue of escape, as it led directly
+into the surrounding swamp. But Te Rauparaha had provided against this
+by posting a strong body of men on the opposite bank; and, as fast as
+the fugitives landed, they fell into a snare as fatal as that from
+which they had just escaped. Numbers of the more active, impatient at
+the delay caused by the total inadequacy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">{179}</a></span>
+of this single outlet, scaled the walls, and dropped
+down into the swamp below, swimming or wading in
+the direction of the plains to the westward. Those who
+selected this mode of retreat were almost all successful in
+making good their escape, for they were able to secure the
+friendly shelter of those dense clusters of vegetation<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_118" id="Ref_118" href="#Foot_118">[118]</a></span>
+which freely studded the face of the swamp; while the
+black smoke-clouds, which were carried on the wind,
+hung low upon the water, and effectually screened them
+from the searching eyes of their pursuers.</p>
+
+<p>It is estimated that some two hundred of the fleeing garrison reached
+safety by concealing themselves in the slimy waters and rank
+vegetation of the Tairutu lagoon, until the vigilance of the
+northerners had relaxed sufficiently to enable them to creep out and
+slip away to the southward, or to Banks's Peninsula, where they could
+rely upon finding shelter in some of the tribal <i>pas</i>.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_119" id="Ref_119" href="#Foot_119">[119]</a></span>
+But
+by far the greater part of the inhabitants, who could not have
+numbered less than a thousand souls, met death in various ways. Many,
+especially the women and children, who essayed to cross the swamps,
+were either drowned in the attempt or shot down as they swam. Others,
+who, owing to age and infirmity, were slow in eluding the attack, were
+never able to leave the <i>pa</i> at all. The aged and the very young
+were killed without ceremony; but the more comely were for the most
+part overcome and bound, destined either for the feast or for a life
+of slavery, adorning the household of a chief or working
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">{180}</a></span>
+as menials in the fields. Pureko, who had put the brand
+to the burning, was one of the first to fall, being disembowelled
+by a gun-shot; and within a few moments there
+was also witnessed the pathetic death of the patriarchal
+Te Auta,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_120" id="Ref_120" href="#Foot_120">[120]</a></span>
+the venerated priest of the tribe, who was slain
+as he knelt at the shrine of his patron deity, vainly
+imploring the assistance of Kahukura<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_121" id="Ref_121" href="#Foot_121">[121]</a></span>
+in this their hour
+of greatest need. The air was rent by the shrieks of the
+dying, the shouts of the victors, and the crash of falling
+timbers, mingled in one hideous din, which typified all
+that is blackest and most brutal in human passion.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_122" id="Ref_122" href="#Foot_122">[122]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">{181}</a></span>
+When an end was made of this gruesome work, and the
+smoking walls were ruined beyond repair, the captives
+were removed to Te Rauparaha's camp, situated on the
+spot now known as Massacre Hill; and there the full
+rites of the cannibal feast were celebrated at an awful
+cost of human life,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_123" id="Ref_123" href="#Foot_123">[123]</a></span>
+every detail being observed which,
+in the light of national custom, would ensure the eternal
+humiliation of the defeated tribe.</p>
+
+<p>Kaiapoi having now fallen, and the dispersal of its people being
+complete, Te Rauparaha might have reasonably retired from the scene,
+satisfied with the laurels which his conquest had brought him. But it
+would seem that lust of victory and greed of revenge were in him
+insatiable. He knew that there were still some well-populated
+<i>pas</i> on Banks's Peninsula, and he was determined not to return
+to Kapiti until he had reduced them also. The canoes which had been
+damaged by Taiaroa were, therefore, repaired with all possible speed,
+and, after provision had been made for the prisoners who were to be
+taken to Kapiti, the remaining canoes were directed to proceed to
+Banks's Peninsula. A small <i>pa</i> on Ri-papa Island, in Lyttelton
+Harbour, was first attacked and reduced, and then the canoes were
+steered for Akaroa, from which point the war party was to move to the
+assault of Onawe. This <i>pa</i> had been but recently constructed,
+and owed its existence to the widespread dread which the name of Te
+Rauparaha had now inspired.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">{182}</a></span>
+When it was known on the peninsula that he had laid
+siege to Kaiapoi, a feeling of insecurity crept over the
+natives there, who were seized with a grave presentiment
+that their turn might come soon. And how inadequate
+were their small and isolated <i>pas</i> to withstand the shock
+of assault or the stress of siege! They accordingly
+hastened to concentrate their forces in one central <i>pa</i>,
+and the spirit-haunted hill of Onawe<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_124" id="Ref_124" href="#Foot_124">[124]</a></span>
+was the point
+selected for a united stand. The <i>pa</i>, which was built
+upon the pear-shaped promontory which juts out into
+the Akaroa Harbour, dividing its upper portion into two
+bays, was both extensive and strong, and into its construction
+several new features were imported, to meet the
+altered conditions of warfare caused by the introduction
+of fire-arms.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall of Kaiapoi, the alarms and panics to which the people of
+the peninsula had been subjected through Te Rauparaha's foraging
+parties were brought to an end, and they then knew that their worst
+fears were about to be realised. On the day after the sack of the
+<i>pa</i>, a few of the fugitives had arrived at Onawe with the
+doleful intelligence that the fortress had fallen, and that, so far as
+they could gather, the northern canoes were at that very moment being
+made sea-worthy, for the purpose of conveying the victors to Akaroa.
+Hurried messengers were then sent to all the outlying <i>pas</i>,
+calling the people in to Onawe, and preparations were at once made to
+resist the impending attack. Tangatahara, who, it will be remembered,
+had been the immediate cause of Te Pehi's death, was placed in chief
+command, with Puka and Potahi as his subordinate chiefs. The garrison,
+which consisted of about four hundred warriors, was reasonably well
+equipped for the struggle, for they had been moderately successful in
+securing fire-arms from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">{183}</a></span>
+whalers, and those who did not carry muskets were at least
+able to flourish steel hatchets. In these circumstances, Te
+Rauparaha found them a much more formidable foe than
+had been the Muaupoko of Horowhenua, or the Ngati-Apa
+of Rangitikei. There he had all the advantage of arms;
+here he was being opposed on almost even terms; but
+there still remained in his favour a balance of spirit,
+courage, and tenacity of purpose. In the matter of
+provisions the <i>pa</i> was well provided against a protracted
+siege, while one of the features of the new fortification
+was a covered way, which led to a never-failing spring on
+the southern side of the promontory. Scarcely were the
+people gathered within the <i>pa</i>, and all the preparations
+for its defence completed, than the sentinels posted on
+the lookout descried, in the early morning, the northern
+fleet sweeping up the harbour. The alarm was at once
+given, and every man sprang to his post to await the
+oncoming. The canoes paddled to the shore below the
+<i>pa</i>, and there Te Rauparaha committed an error in tactics,
+the like of which can seldom be laid to his charge. He
+had hoped that, by his early arrival, he would have been
+able to take the garrison by surprise and effect an easy
+victory; but in this the vigilance of the defenders had
+frustrated him, and he therefore decided to delay the
+attack. In the meantime, he permitted his men to land,
+but unwisely allowed them to become separated. The
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa went to what is now
+known as Barry's Bay, and Ngati-Awa occupied the
+beach at the head of the harbour. In these positions
+respectively the sections of the invaders immediately
+began to establish their camps, and numerous fires,
+eloquent of the morning meal, were soon smoking on
+the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Tangatahara saw with some satisfaction the disposition of the enemy,
+and shrewdly determined to profit by the advantage which their want of
+cohesion gave him. He resolved upon the man&#339;uvre of first attacking
+Ngati-Awa, in the hope that he might defeat them before Te Rauparaha
+could come to their assistance, and then he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">{184}</a></span>
+would be able to turn upon the unsupported Ngati-Toa
+and drive them back to the sea. But either Tangatahara
+was much mistaken in his calculations or his directions
+were only indifferently executed, for his man&#339;uvre failed
+ignominiously. As his men sallied out of the <i>pa</i>, their
+movements were noticed by the sentries of Te Rauparaha,
+who lost no time in communicating the fact to their
+leader. Instantly, the Ngati-Toa camp was in a state of
+intense excitement; every warrior dropped his immediate
+employment and rushed to secure his belt and arms.
+When equipped, they went off in hot haste, floundering
+through slime and soft mud, to reinforce the threatened
+Ngati-Awa. Tangatahara, seeing that his movement
+was observed and understood, hesitated and was lost. A
+halt was called, and, while his men stood in indecision
+upon the hill-side, the advancing Ngati-Toa opened fire
+upon them with fatal effect. Tahatiti was the first to
+fall, and several were wounded as the result of the
+opening volley. The Ngai-Tahu then began to fall
+back, firing the while; but their musketry failed to
+check the onrush of Te Rauparaha's veterans, who were
+now thoroughly seasoned to the rattle of bullets and the
+smell of powder. The retreat to the <i>pa</i> was safely conducted;
+but, for some reason, the defenders did not
+immediately pass through the gates and shut them
+against the invaders. They continued to linger outside,
+possibly to watch with greater ease the approach of the
+enemy. As they were thus engaged, a number of the
+captives taken by Te Rauparaha at Kaiapoi suddenly
+came over the brow of the hill and entered into conversation
+with those of their own kin who were still outside
+the gates. During this friendly parley, Te Rauparaha
+came boldly up to the walls with his own followers and
+demanded the surrender of the <i>pa</i>. Those within the
+walls were now placed in the dilemma that they could
+not fire upon the enemy without imperilling the lives
+of their own friends; and it was equally unsafe to open
+the gates to admit them, as the besiegers might rush in
+with an impetuosity that could not be resisted. In these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">{185}</a></span>
+circumstances the parley was continued, Te Rauparaha
+pointing to the presence of so many Kaiapoi notables as
+a living evidence of his clemency, while the captive
+Ngai-Tahu joined with him in advising the policy of
+surrender, chiefly, no doubt, through a jealous apprehension
+that the inhabitants of Onawe might escape the
+misfortune and disgrace which had befallen themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the battle, which had opened with visions of courage, degenerated
+into a war of words, of which the best that can be said is that the
+insincerity of the invaders was only equalled by the indecision of the
+defenders. Only one man in the <i>pa</i> appeared to have a clear idea
+of what his duty was. This was Puaka, who, recognising Te Rauparaha
+amongst the crowd, pushed his gun through a loophole, took aim, and
+fired almost point-blank at the chief, whose miraculous escape was due
+to the fact that one of the Kaiapoi captives, who was standing close
+to Puaka, pushed the muzzle of the musket aside just in time to
+deflect the shot. As might be supposed, the incident served only to
+intensify the confusion and disorder. Some of the invaders seized a
+moment's want of vigilance on the part of the sentries at the gate to
+force an entrance into the <i>pa</i>, where they commenced killing
+every one around them. All the brave vows which had brought the Onawe
+<i>pa</i> into existence were then forgotten, and the high hopes which
+its fancied strength had inspired were shattered in this moment of
+supreme trial, which revealed in all its nakedness the inherent
+weakness of the Ngai-Tahu character. Panic seized the people, and for
+some time the <i>pa</i> was the scene of the wildest confusion. Here
+and there a brave show of resistance was offered; but for the most
+part the defenders were too dazed at the swiftness of the Ngati-Toa
+rush even to stand to their arms, which, in their distraction, numbers
+of them even threw away. Of those outside the <i>pa</i>, not a few
+dashed for the bush as soon as the fighting commenced, and made good
+their escape. But those within the walls were caught like rats in a
+trap; and, during the conflict, the shrieks and imprecations
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">{186}</a></span>
+of the miserable fugitives were mingled with the
+hoarse shouts of the victors, as they rushed bleeding and
+half naked from one place of fancied security to another.
+The conquest of Onawe, though swift, was none the less
+sanguinary. After the last vestige of resistance had been
+stamped out, the prisoners were collected and taken
+down to a flax-covered flat. There the old and the
+young, the weak and the strong, were picked out from
+their trembling ranks; and, at the command of the chief,
+those who from excessive youth or extreme age were
+regarded as valueless were at once sacrificed to the
+<i>manes</i> of the dead, while the more robust were preserved
+as trophies of the victory.</p>
+
+<p>For a few days following the fall of Onawe, the surrounding hills and
+forests were scoured by the restless victors, in search of such
+unhappy fugitives as might be found lurking in the secret places of
+the bush. Few, however, were captured, and in some instances
+successful retaliation reversed the fortune of the chase, and the
+pursuers became the pursued. When the prospect of further captures was
+exhausted, the northern warriors asked for and obtained leave to
+return to their homes, and the canoes, with the exception of that of
+Te Hiko, immediately put to sea, a rendezvous being appointed for them
+at Cloudy Bay. Te Hiko was detained by the fact that his canoe stood
+in need of repair, and, during the operation, an incident occurred
+which justified the high estimate of his character which was
+subsequently formed by many of the earliest colonists.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_125" id="Ref_125" href="#Foot_125">[125]</a></span>
+He was the
+son of Te Pehi, whose death two years before
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">{187}</a></span>
+was the immediate and avowed cause of this southern
+raid. If, then, the fires of hate and fury against Ngai-Tahu
+had burned more fiercely within him than in others of his
+tribe, there might have been some justification for it. But
+Te Hiko proved to be more chivalrous than many who
+had received less provocation. Amongst the prisoners
+who had fallen into his hands at the taking of Onawe
+was Tangatahara, the commander of the fortress, who, it
+will be remembered, had been the most active agent in
+causing the death of Te Hiko's father. What ultimate
+fate was intended for Tangatahara is uncertain, but he
+was fortunate enough to be spared an immediate death.
+He was, however, closely guarded; and, as he was sitting
+on the beach surrounded by Ngati-Raukawa warriors, two
+of the women who had accompanied Te Rauparaha's
+forces espied him, and immediately put in a claim to
+Te Hiko for his death, in compensation for the injury
+which the captive chief had caused them. The claim,
+though clamorously made, was firmly resisted by Te
+Hiko who endeavoured first to persuade and then to
+bribe them, by a gift of rich food, into a more reasonable
+frame of mind. Neither his blandishments nor his
+bribes were successful in appeasing their desire for the
+captive's life; and it was not until Te Hiko gave them
+plainly to understand that he was determined not to
+give his prisoner over as a sacrifice to them, and that he
+regarded his authority as outraged by their persistency,
+that they sullenly consented to compromise their claim.
+What they now asked was the right to debase the chief
+by using his head as a relish for their <i>kauru</i>, a vegetable
+substance which a Maori chewed, much as an American
+chews gum or tobacco. To this modified proposal Te
+Hiko reluctantly consented, and the women, approaching
+the captive, struck his head twice with their <i>kauru</i>, which
+they proceeded to masticate with enhanced enjoyment
+because of the flavour which it was thought to derive
+from his degradation.</p>
+
+<p>Though he had thus far humoured the women, the want of consideration
+shown by them for his position
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">{188}</a></span>
+as a chief so incensed Te Hiko that he there and then
+determined to release his prisoner, and so prevent his
+authority in regard to him being flouted by irresponsible
+personages. That night he roused Tangatahara from his
+sleep, and, taking him to the edge of the bush, bade him
+escape, a command which he was not slow to obey, nor
+found it difficult to fulfil.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_126" id="Ref_126" href="#Foot_126">[126]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_76" id="Foot_76" href="#Ref_76">[76]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+To the ancient Maori greenstone was invaluable as a material out
+of which to manufacture weapons and ornaments; but after the
+introduction of fire-arms the <i>mere</i> was superseded by the
+musket, and it is doubtful if, when the trinkets of the European were
+available, the native would take the trouble to laboriously work out
+an ornament from so hard a substance.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_77" id="Foot_77" href="#Ref_77">[77]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A shark's tooth fixed upon a stick and used as a knife.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_78" id="Foot_78" href="#Ref_78">[78]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This could scarcely have been otherwise, for Rerewaka's insolent
+speech amounted to a <i>kanga</i>, or curse, which, according to the
+Maori code, could only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_79" id="Foot_79" href="#Ref_79">[79]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The canoe used by Te Rauparaha on many of these southern raids
+was called Ahu-a-Turanga, and for this reason it is supposed that it
+came from the Manawatu, that being the name of an ancient track over
+the Ruahine Ranges near the Manawatu gorge. It is said that this canoe
+is now lying rotting at Porirua Harbour. Another famous canoe of this
+period was called Te-Ra-makiri, a vessel captured from the
+Ngati-Kahu-ngunu at Castle Point by Ngati-Tama, and presented by them
+to Te Rauparaha. This canoe was held to be exceedingly sacred, and now
+lies at Mana Island.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_80" id="Foot_80" href="#Ref_80">[80]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Having reached at sunset to within a mile of the spot where the
+<i>Pelorus</i> anchored, we again encamped on a shingly beach in a bay
+on the east side of the Sound. At this spot there were some ten or
+fifteen acres of level ground, on which we were shown the remains of a
+large <i>pa</i>, once the headquarters of the tribe conquered and
+almost exterminated by Te Rauparaha" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_81" id="Foot_81" href="#Ref_81">[81]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It was to this policy of settlement, following upon conquest,
+that Marlborough owes the presence of the little cluster of northern
+natives who are settled on the banks of the Wairau River&mdash;the most
+southern outpost that now remains to mark the aggression of Te
+Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_82" id="Foot_82" href="#Ref_82">[82]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Hori Kingi Te Anaua, a chief well-known in after years as the
+firm friend of the Whanganui settlers, escaped from this defeat, as
+one quaint native account puts it, "by dint of his power to run."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_83" id="Foot_83" href="#Ref_83">[83]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some difficulty has been experienced in closely tracing the
+movements of Te Pehi. He left England on board H.M.S. <i>Thames</i> in
+October, 1825, and the <i>Thames</i> reached Sydney on April 11, 1826.
+Whether she came on to New Zealand bringing the chief with her, I have
+not ascertained. The probabilities are that she did, for the late
+Judge Mackay, who is an excellent authority, says Te Pehi returned
+direct to New Zealand, but afterwards made the voyage back to Sydney
+to procure arms, from which place he returned in 1829, at the juncture
+referred to in the text.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_84" id="Foot_84" href="#Ref_84">[84]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Here we meet with one of the many discrepancies in the published
+histories of the time. The Rev. Canon Stack makes it appear in his
+<i>Kaiapohia</i> that Rerewaka was killed during the battle, but Mr.
+Travers (<i>Life and Times of Te Rauparaha</i>) states that he was
+taken prisoner; and this version is sustained by Tamihana te Rauparaha
+in his published account of his father's life, wherein he says
+Rerewaka was taken to Kapiti to be "tamed."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_85" id="Foot_85" href="#Ref_85">[85]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Canon Stack would seem to imply that Kaikoura and Omihi were one
+and the same place; but from a petition presented to the House of
+Representatives in 1869 by the Ngai-Tahu tribe, it seems clear that
+they were separate places, and that their destruction took place at
+different times. Omihi is about 15 miles south of Kaikoura, near the
+Conway River, but the battle took place on the hills near the valley
+which leads down to the Waipara.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_86" id="Foot_86" href="#Ref_86">[86]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some accounts make it appear that Kekerengu was killed by a
+wandering band of Ngai-Tahu after he landed on the Middle Island, and
+that, although he had greatly offended Te Rangihaeata by his
+impropriety, it was really to avenge his death and not to punish him
+that this raid was made upon Kaikoura and Omihi. But these are
+variations in tradition that we can scarcely hope to reconcile at this
+date.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_87" id="Foot_87" href="#Ref_87">[87]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kaiapoi is a popular abbreviation of the old name&mdash;Kaiapohia,
+which signifies "food gathered up in handfuls" or "a food depôt," but
+Kaiapohia was seldom used except in formal speeches or in poetical
+compositions. The name originated in the incident related in the text,
+and the place became in reality a food depôt, because, owing to its
+peculiar situation, large quantities of food, particularly kumaras,
+were raised every year, not only for local consumption, but for the
+purposes of exchange with other branches of the tribe which possessed
+abundance of particular kinds of provisions which could not be
+procured at Kaiapoi.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_88" id="Foot_88" href="#Ref_88">[88]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Tamihana te Rauparaha would lead us to suppose that his father
+was averse to this course, and was again overpersuaded by Te Pehi's
+impetuosity. He makes him say to Te Pehi, "Be cautious in going into
+the <i>pa</i>, lest you be killed. I have had an evil omen: mine was
+an evil dream last night," But what, says Tamihana, was the good of
+such advice to a man whose spirit had gone to death?</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_89" id="Foot_89" href="#Ref_89">[89]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+At first only the heads of chiefs were sold, as they were the
+most perfectly tattooed, but when chiefs' heads became scarce, the
+native mind conceived the idea of tattooing the heads of the slaves
+and selling them&mdash;the slave being killed as soon as his head was ready
+for the market. Sometimes the slave was audacious enough to run away
+just as he was attaining a commercial value, and the indignation of
+one merchant who had just sustained such a loss is humorously
+described in Manning's <i>Old New Zealand</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_90" id="Foot_90" href="#Ref_90">[90]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In an account of this incident given by a Captain Briggs to the
+newspaper <i>Tasmanian</i>, in 1831, he states that a European named
+Smith, who had been left at Kaiapoi by a Captain Wiseman, for the
+purpose of trade, attempted to save Te Pehi's life, and was himself
+killed for his interference. If this was so, the Ngai-Tahu accounts
+are discreetly silent on the point; but Briggs infers that Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko made it one of the arguments by which they
+sought to convince him that he ought to assist them to capture
+Tamaiharanui, and so revenge the death of his countryman.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_91" id="Foot_91" href="#Ref_91">[91]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The names of the chiefs who were killed on this fatal day were Te
+Pehi, Te Pokaitara, Te Rangikatuta, Te Ruatahi, Te Hua-piko, Te Kohi,
+Te Aratangata, and Te Rohua. Tamihana te Rauparaha states that in all
+some twenty of his father's people were killed, but that a number were
+successful in escaping by clambering over the palisades.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_92" id="Foot_92" href="#Ref_92">[92]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Rev. Canon Stack considers that this event occurred either
+late in 1828 or early in 1829.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_93" id="Foot_93" href="#Ref_93">[93]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is doubtful whether Tamaiharanui took any part in the killing
+of Te Pehi and his comrades, but that would not relieve him of his
+liability to be killed in return, as the whole tribe was responsible
+for the acts of every member of it.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_94" id="Foot_94" href="#Ref_94">[94]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+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 cowardly, cruel, and capricious&mdash;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 (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_95" id="Foot_95" href="#Ref_95">[95]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The <i>Elizabeth</i> arrived in Sydney in July, 1830, and in the
+following month left for New Zealand. A contemporary Australian
+newspaper described her cargo as consisting of four cases and eighteen
+muskets, two kegs of flints and bullets, two bales of slops, two kegs
+of gunpowder, one bundle of hardware, and five baskets of tobacco and
+stores.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_96" id="Foot_96" href="#Ref_96">[96]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A more or less exaggerated account of this raid appeared in the
+newspaper <i>Tasmanian</i> on January 28, 1831, and in a subsequent
+issue, Captain Briggs, in passing some comments upon it, said the
+penalty which Captain Stewart had to pay for disregarding his advice
+was that "the natives wanted to do as they pleased with him and his
+ship." He further said that he endeavoured to persuade Stewart not to
+deliver Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha after their return to
+Kapiti, but that worthy declined to carry the chief to Sydney, on the
+ground that "The Marinewie," as he called him, "had been too long on
+board already."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_97" id="Foot_97" href="#Ref_97">[97]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Properly spelt Akau-roa&mdash;"the long coast line"; doubtless
+referring to the deep inlet which forms the harbour of Akaroa.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_98" id="Foot_98" href="#Ref_98">[98]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+According to a Parliamentary Paper published in 1831, the
+<i>Elizabeth</i> carried eight guns, two swivels, and a full supply of
+small arms. This fact, it is said, deluded some of the natives into
+the belief that the ship was a British man-o'-war.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_99" id="Foot_99" href="#Ref_99">[99]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Signifying "tear-drops."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_100" id="Foot_100" href="#Ref_100">[100]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Some accounts say that this occurred before the vessel left the
+harbour.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_101" id="Foot_101" href="#Ref_101">[101]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is said that the action of Tamaiharanui also so roused the
+righteous anger of Captain Stewart that he deemed it his duty to have
+the chief triced up to the mast and flogged. This met with the most
+marked disapproval from Te Rauparaha, who maintained that as his
+prisoner was a chief he should not be punished like a slave.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_102" id="Foot_102" href="#Ref_102">[102]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The <i>Australian</i> newspaper records the arrival of the
+<i>Elizabeth</i>, Captain Stewart, in Sydney, on the above date, with
+a cargo of thirty tons of flax, and carrying Mr. J. B. Montefiore and
+Mr. A. Kemiss as passengers.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_103" id="Foot_103" href="#Ref_103">[103]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When the <i>Elizabeth</i> returned to Kapiti, her company was
+increased by a Mr. Montefiore, who was then cruising round New Zealand
+in his own vessel, in search of commercial speculations. Hearing of
+what had occurred at Akaroa, he became apprehensive of his own safety,
+and fearing that all the white people in the country would be killed,
+he joined the <i>Elizabeth</i> in the hope of being carried away from
+New Zealand at the earliest possible moment. In giving evidence before
+a Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1838, he related what he
+knew of the capture and death of Tamaiharanui. He claimed credit for
+having protested to Captain Stewart against the chief being held in
+irons, and succeeded in getting the fetters struck off, as the
+prisoner's legs had commenced to mortify. He also stated that his
+appeal to Captain Stewart to take the chief to Sydney, and not to hand
+him over to his enemies, was futile. According to Mr. Montefiore, who
+said he went ashore and "saw the whole process of his intended
+sacrifice," Tamaiharanui was killed almost immediately after being
+given up, but other accounts supplied by the natives place it some
+weeks later. The wife of Tamaiharanui, unable to bear the sight of her
+husband's agony, ran away from the scene of the tragedy, but was
+recaptured and subsequently killed. Tamaiharanui's sister became the
+wife of one of her captors, and lived at Wellington. It is generally
+admitted that Te Rauparaha did not witness, or take any part in,
+Tamaiharanui's death. Heaven knows, he had done enough.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_104" id="Foot_104" href="#Ref_104">[104]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+If this is an accurate statement of what occurred&mdash;and there is
+every reason to believe that it is&mdash;the treatment of Tamaiharanui
+presents an interesting parallel to the manner in which the Aztec
+Indians of Mexico regaled their prisoners, destined to be sacrificed
+at the annual feast to their god Tezcatlipoca.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_105" id="Foot_105" href="#Ref_105">[105]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Rev. Canon Stack.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_106" id="Foot_106" href="#Ref_106">[106]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Sydney <i>Gazette</i>, in referring to the case, remarked
+that its peculiarity lay in the fact that it involved "the question of
+the liability of British subjects for offences committed against the
+natives of New Zealand." The point was never tested, but it is
+doubtful whether the Imperial Statute constituting the Supreme Court
+of the Colony of New South Wales (9 Geo. IV., cap. 83) gave express
+power to deal with such offences as that of Stewart. An amendment of
+the law in the following year (June 7, 1832) made the position more
+explicit.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_107" id="Foot_107" href="#Ref_107">[107]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Captain Sturt afterwards did valuable work as an explorer in
+Australia, but received no suitable recognition from the Imperial
+Government. Sir George Grey vainly endeavoured to procure for him the
+honour of knighthood.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_108" id="Foot_108" href="#Ref_108">[108]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+There is not much doubt that, had the case gone to trial,
+counsel for the defence would have endeavoured to prove that Stewart
+was compelled by the natives to do what he did; for the
+<i>Australian</i>, a paper controlled by Dr. Wardell, argued that it
+"could not divine the justice of denouncing Stewart as amenable to
+laws which, however strict and necessary under certain circumstances,
+were not applicable to savage broils and unintentional acts of
+homicide, to which he must have been an unwilling party, and over
+which he could not possibly exercise the slightest control."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_109" id="Foot_109" href="#Ref_109">[109]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It will be charitable, and perhaps just, to suppose that this
+feeling arose more from personal antipathy to the Governor than from
+any inherent sympathy with crime. Governor Darling had succeeded in
+making himself exceedingly unpopular with a large section of the
+Sydney community, which resulted in his recall in 1831.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_110" id="Foot_110" href="#Ref_110">[110]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The expedition probably started about the end of January or
+beginning of February.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_111" id="Foot_111" href="#Ref_111">[111]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now Lyttelton Harbour.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_112" id="Foot_112" href="#Ref_112">[112]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+His <i>pa</i> was in the vicinity of what is now the city of
+Dunedin.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_113" id="Foot_113" href="#Ref_113">[113]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The Rev. Canon Stack relates how one of the Ngai-Tahu men, Te
+Ata-o-tu, was carrying his infant son on his back during this march.
+When they approached the <i>pa</i>, some of his companions, seeing how
+closely it was invested, whispered to him to strangle the child, lest
+it might cry at a critical moment and betray them. The father,
+however, could not find it in his heart to take this extreme step, but
+he wrapped the boy tightly in a thick mat, and, strapping him across
+his broad shoulders, carried him safely through the dangers of that
+terrible night. The child, however, was only spared to be drowned in
+the waters of the swamp as his mother vainly endeavoured to escape a
+few months later, when the <i>pa</i> fell.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_114" id="Foot_114" href="#Ref_114">[114]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A storehouse erected upon a high central pole, to
+protect the food from the depredations of rats.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_115" id="Foot_115" href="#Ref_115">[115]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+So far as is known, this was the first occasion on which the
+principle of the sap was applied in Maori warfare.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_116" id="Foot_116" href="#Ref_116">[116]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+An interesting parallel to these proceedings is to be found in
+Gibbon's description of the siege of Constantinople: "To fill the
+ditch was the toil of the besiegers; to clear away the rubbish was the
+safety of the besieged; and, after a long and bloody conflict, the web
+which had been woven in the day was still unravelled in the night."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_117" id="Foot_117" href="#Ref_117">[117]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is a popular belief in some quarters that the reason why the
+defenders so lost heart was that they were oppressed by the guilty
+knowledge that they had acted treacherously in killing Te Pehi and his
+companions.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_118" id="Foot_118" href="#Ref_118">[118]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Popularly known as "Maori-heads" or "Nigger-heads." Flax and
+<i>raupo</i> also grew freely in the swamps.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_119" id="Foot_119" href="#Ref_119">[119]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This was rendered more difficult owing to the fact that for many
+days Te Rauparaha's followers were scouring the country, far and wide,
+in search of fugitives. The Rev. Canon Stack mentions the pathetic
+instance of two young children who were in hiding with their father.
+He left them to go in search of food, promising to return; but he
+never did so, having in all probability been captured and killed. The
+children, who afterwards lived to be well-known Canterbury residents,
+sustained themselves by eating <i>raupo</i> roots for several months,
+until they were found by an eeling party in the bed of the Selwyn
+River.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_120" id="Foot_120" href="#Ref_120">[120]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Auta is described as a man of grave and venerable appearance,
+who was a strict disciplinarian in all matters pertaining to the
+religious ceremonies of the <i>pa</i>, his authority in these respects
+being considerably enhanced by his long white hair and flowing beard.
+He was one of the last of the Ngai-Tahu <i>tohungas</i>, who were
+deeply versed in all the peculiar rites of Maori heathendom.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_121" id="Foot_121" href="#Ref_121">[121]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kahukura was the patron divinity of the Ngai-Tahu tribe. His
+cultus was introduced by the crew of the Takitimu canoe, who were the
+ancestors of the Kaiapohians (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_122" id="Foot_122" href="#Ref_122">[122]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Amongst the prisoners taken was a boy named Pura, who excited
+the interest of Te Rauparaha. The chief took him under his personal
+protection, and on the night that Kaiapoi fell, he led him into his
+own <i>whare</i>. In order to prevent any possibility of escape,
+Rauparaha tied a rope round the boy's body and attached the other end
+to his own wrist. During the early hours of the night the chief was
+exceedingly restless, but after he fell asleep Pura quietly disengaged
+himself from the rope, and tied the end of it to a peg which he found
+driven into the floor of the <i>whare</i>. He then crept stealthily to
+the door, but in passing out he had the misfortune to overturn a pile
+of <i>manuka</i> which was piled up outside. Luckily, the brushwood
+fell on top of him, completely covering him, but the noise aroused Te
+Rauparaha, who, as soon as he perceived that his captive had flown,
+raised the alarm, and in an incredibly short time the whole camp was
+in a state of uproar and panic. The warriors, suddenly aroused from
+their sleep, were in a condition of extreme nervous tension after the
+excitement and exertion of the day. Some imagined that the prisoners
+had risen in revolt, while others believed that the fugitives had
+returned in force to attack the camp, and it was some time before
+order could be restored and the true position explained. Meanwhile,
+Pura lay panting with fear and trembling lest he should be found, for
+recapture meant certain death. His hiding, however, was not
+discovered, and when the camp had once more settled down to sleep, he
+quietly pushed the brushwood aside, and, threading his way out into
+the swamp, made good his escape to the south, where he afterwards
+joined the main body of the fugitives. Pura subsequently became a
+well-known resident of Lyttelton, under the name of Pitama.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_123" id="Foot_123" href="#Ref_123">[123]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Some conception may be formed of the numbers slain and eaten
+when I mention that some time after the settlement of Canterbury the
+Rev. Mr. Raven, incumbent of Woodend, near the site of the <i>pa</i>
+in question, collected many cartloads of their bones, and buried them
+in a mound on the side of the main road from the present town of
+Kaiapoi to the north. Ghastly relics of these feasts still strew the
+ground, from which I myself have gathered many" (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_124" id="Foot_124" href="#Ref_124">[124]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"The summit of Onawe was called Te-pa-nui-o-Hau. There, amongst
+the huge boulders and rocks that crown the hill and cover its steep
+sloping sides, dwelt the Spirit of the Wind, and tradition tells how
+jealously it guarded its sacred haunts from careless intrusion"
+(<i>Tales of Banks's Peninsula</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_125" id="Foot_125" href="#Ref_125">[125]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Te Hiko struck us forcibly by his commanding stature, by his
+noble, intelligent physiognomy, and by his truly chieftain-like
+demeanour. His descent by both parents pointed him out as a great
+leader in Cook Strait, should he inherit his father's great qualities.
+He was sparing of his words and mild in speech. He had carefully
+treasured up his father's instructions and the relics of his voyage to
+England.... He was said to pay his slaves for their work, and to treat
+them with unusual kindness, and the white men spoke of him as mild and
+inoffensive in his intercourse with them" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_126" id="Foot_126" href="#Ref_126">[126]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Before the northern fleet got clear of Banks's Peninsula, a
+number of the prisoners escaped, the chief person amongst 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 Ngai-Tahu after Te Rauparaha's last raid" (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">{189}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER VI</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE SMOKING FLAX</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+conquest of the southern districts being now completed, and the
+winter months approaching, the whole of the northern fleet took its
+departure for Cloudy Bay, where, according to the records of the
+whalers who were there at the time, scenes of the wildest excitement
+prevailed for many days, and the unhappy condition of the captives was
+observed with much compassion by persons who were powerless to
+intervene. From Cloudy Bay the main body of the conquerors passed over
+to Kapiti, and there the scenes of unbridled ferocity were resumed,
+until sufficient slaves had been killed and eaten to fittingly honour
+the returning warriors. These rejoicings at an end, Te Rauparaha set
+himself to seriously administer the affairs of his own people, which
+were always in danger of violent disturbance, due to the mutual
+jealousies of the tribes when not preoccupied by the excitement of
+war. This work of domestic management almost wholly absorbed his
+attention during the next few years; and it was fortunate for the
+Kaiapoi captives that he had so much on hand, as the pressure of
+circumstances and the stress of inter-tribal complications more than
+once compelled him to treat them with greater consideration than might
+otherwise have been their lot. While these events were proceeding in
+the North Island, the Maoris in the south were slowly reorganising
+their forces. The majority of the fugitives from Kaiapoi and Onawe had
+travelled southward until they reached
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">{190}</a></span>
+Taiaroa's settlement at Otago, where, under his guidance,
+they began to formulate their plans for avenging their
+many humiliations. Amongst these fugitives was Tu-te-hounuku,
+the son of the treacherously captured
+Tamaiharanui, who, recognising that his own people
+were not equal to the task of accomplishing vengeance,
+sought the aid of the great Otago warrior, and chief
+of Ruapuke, Tu-Hawaiki. This chief had received from
+the whalers the startling appellation of "Bloody Jack,"<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_127" id="Ref_127" href="#Foot_127">[127]</a></span>
+not so much because of his sanguinary disposition as
+from the lurid nature of his language. He was a warrior
+of the progressive type, who at once saw the advantage
+of intimate intercourse with the white man; and to
+this end he made common cause with all the whalers
+stationed along the coast. He assisted them in their
+quarrels, and they in return supplied him with the
+implements of war necessary to overcome his tribal
+enemies. In this way he managed to acquire the mastery
+over a large area of country, and to amass a considerable
+amount of wealth. He owned a small vessel, which was
+commanded by one of his whaler friends, in which he
+frequently made trips to Sydney. There he formed an
+acquaintance with Governor Gipps, who presented him
+with a number of old military uniforms; and on his
+return to New Zealand he enrolled a squad of his own
+tribe, clothed them in the soldiers' garb, drilled them,
+and on state occasions paraded them as his personal
+bodyguard, "all the same the <i>Kawana</i>."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_128" id="Ref_128" href="#Foot_128">[128]</a></span>
+To this enterprising
+barbarian the prospect of a brush with Rauparaha&mdash;or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">{191}</a></span>
+with any one else for that matter&mdash;was a most
+agreeable one, and so the alliance with Tu-te-hounuku
+was entered upon after the most trifling negotiation.</p>
+
+<p>Although Taiaroa appears to have taken some part in organising the
+expedition, he did not accompany it. The leadership was therefore
+entrusted to Tu-Hawaiki, who came and secreted himself in the vicinity
+of Cape Campbell, being thus favourably situated for an attack upon
+the Ngati-Toa, who now had entire control of the northern portion of
+the Middle Island, where a section of their people were continuously
+settled. Moreover, it had become one of their practices to visit Lake
+Grasmere for the purpose of snaring the paradise duck, which then, as
+now, made this sheet of water one of their favourite breeding grounds;
+and it was while upon one of these bird-catching expeditions that Te
+Rauparaha nearly lost his life. Being intent upon the manipulation of
+his snares, he was unconscious of the approach from behind the Cape of
+Tu-Hawaiki and his horde, until, with a savage yell, they pounced upon
+the unwary Ngati-Toa. For the latter the situation was indeed
+critical, and all its difficulties were taken in by Rauparaha at a
+glance. He saw that in point of numbers the odds were terribly against
+him, and that to stand his ground and fight it out with such a
+formidable foe could only result in certain death. On the other hand,
+the chances of escape had been almost completely cut off; for when the
+party landed at the lake, the canoes, with one exception, were drawn
+up on the beach, and were now high and dry. The delay in launching
+these meant the difference between life and death, so closely were
+they pressed. But fortunately for him, one still remained in the water
+some distance from the shore; and on observing this solitary gleam of
+hope, Te Rauparaha swiftly made up his mind that discretion was the
+better part of valour. He raced for the sea, and, plunging into the
+surf, swam to the canoe with rapid and powerful strokes, followed by
+at least forty of his own people. At the canoe a general scramble
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">{192}</a></span>
+ensued, in which only the fittest survived, the remainder
+being left struggling in the water to escape as best they
+could, or be despatched by their enemies as opportunity
+offered.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, those of the Ngati-Toa who had not been able to
+plunge into the sea were unceremoniously killed on the spot, and those
+of the attacking party who were not actively engaged in this
+sanguinary work at once launched the canoes lying on the Boulder Bank,
+which divides the lake from the sea, and set off in hot pursuit of the
+retreating Rauparaha. As might be expected, the chase was a desperate
+one, each party straining every nerve to defeat the object of the
+other. Rauparaha, standing in the stern of his canoe, by word and
+gesture urged the men at the paddles to renewed exertions; not that
+they required much exhortation, for they knew that their lives
+depended entirely upon themselves. But, notwithstanding their utmost
+endeavours, it soon became painfully evident that their pursuers were
+gaining upon them, owing to the overloaded condition of the canoe.
+Rauparaha then determined upon a course which can scarcely recommend
+him to our admiration, although Nature's first law, self-preservation,
+might be urged in extenuation of his crime. Without further ceremony
+he ordered half the people in the canoe, many of whom were women and
+children, to jump overboard, and those who demurred were forcibly
+compelled to obey.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_129" id="Ref_129" href="#Foot_129">[129]</a></span>
+Thus relieved of some of its burden, the canoe
+gradually forged ahead, and the diversion of the pursuers' attention
+to the jettisoned passengers, who were struggling in the water,
+enabled Rauparaha to make good his escape to Cloudy Bay. The Ngai-Tahu
+people are especially proud of this encounter,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">{193}</a></span>
+which they regard as a brilliant victory, and have called
+it <i>Rua Moa iti</i>, or "The battle of the little Moa's feather."</p>
+
+<p>It could not, of course, be supposed that a man of action, such as Te
+Rauparaha was, would long remain idle while so black a stain upon his
+reputation as a warrior remained unavenged. He therefore lost no time
+in sending his messengers to a branch of the Ngati-Awa tribe, who then
+resided at the Wairau, soliciting their aid in a mission of
+retaliation. The request was readily granted, and, with this
+reinforcement, a war party of considerable strength set sail in their
+canoes for the <i>karaka</i> groves which grew luxuriantly at
+O-Rua-Moa Bay, immediately to the south of Cape Campbell, where it was
+fully expected that the enemy would be resting. In these anticipations
+they were disappointed. The prey had flown; and if the purpose of the
+expedition was not to fail utterly, there was nothing for it but to
+push on until the object of their search was found. They were soon
+rewarded, for close to the shore, at the mouth of the Flaxbourne
+River, Tu-Hawaiki and his braves were encamped, and here the gage of
+battle was thrown down. That the encounter was a desperate one may be
+judged by the fact that both sides claimed the victory, and they seem
+to have withdrawn from the combat mutually agreeing that they had each
+had enough. According to the Ngai-Tahu account, Te Rauparaha's
+stratagem of sending one hundred and forty men of Ngati-Awa down the
+steep face of a cliff to cut off Tu-Hawaiki's retreat was successfully
+circumvented, the flanking party being caught in their own trap and
+every one of them destroyed. The Ngati-Toa are equally positive that
+the palm of victory rested with them; but in that event the advantage
+gained was not sufficiently great to justify them in following it up,
+for Tu-Hawaiki was allowed to depart next morning unmolested to
+Kaikoura. On the journey down an incident occurred which betrayed the
+savage side of this man's nature, and showed how much he deserved, in
+another sense, the title of the old whalers, when they styled him
+"Bloody Jack." During the voyage the canoe commanded by Tu-te-hounuku was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">{194}</a></span>
+capsized in a southerly gale, and the young chief was
+drowned, although every other man was saved. The
+selfishness of the men in seeking their own safety and
+letting their leader perish so enraged the fiery Tu-Hawaiki,
+that as soon as he heard of the accident he ordered the
+canoes ashore, and with his own hand slew every one of
+the surviving crew.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_130" id="Ref_130" href="#Foot_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Immediately after this skirmish Te Rauparaha returned to the North
+Island, where there was urgent need of his presence. With the coming
+of the Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Ruanui, and other Taranaki tribes, the
+domestic disagreements, of which he stood in daily dread, began to
+ferment, and were already breaking out into open rupture. The
+Ngati-Awa had cast envious eyes upon a piece of country under tillage
+by Ngati-Raukawa, in the vicinity of Otaki, and were openly boasting
+of their intention to make it their own. Their cause was espoused by
+their Taranaki relatives, and even a section of Te Rauparaha's own
+people threw in their lot with them against their old allies, the
+Ngati-Raukawa. This defection, which was especially distressing to Te
+Rauparaha, arose from some act of favouritism&mdash;real or
+fancied&mdash;displayed towards Te Whatanui, the great Ngati-Raukawa chief,
+for whom Te Rauparaha ever felt and showed the highest regard. These
+strained relations, however, did not break out into actual civil
+strife until the Ngati-Raukawa people discovered the Ngati-Ruanui
+malcontents looting their potato-pits at Waikawa. Up to this point the
+Ngati-Raukawa had borne the pin-pricks of the Taranaki braggarts with
+some degree of patience; but this act of plunder satisfied them that,
+unless they were prepared to defend their property, they would soon
+have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">{195}</a></span>
+no property to defend. They therefore stood no longer
+upon ceremony, but straightway attacked the Ngati-Ruanui
+settlement, and thus let slip the dogs of civil war.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_131" id="Ref_131" href="#Foot_131">[131]</a></span>
+In the conflict which ensued Tauake, a Ngati-Ruanui
+chief, was killed, an incident which only served to fan
+the flame of internecine strife, and hostilities of a more
+or less virulent nature involved all the settlements along
+the coast from Waikanae to Manawatu. Both sides were
+equally well armed, for guns and ammunition were now
+plentiful, the traders having learned the Maori's weakness,
+and being prepared to pander to it for the sake of cheap
+cargoes of flax and potatoes. The consequence was that
+in each skirmish numbers of the belligerents were killed,
+and Te Rauparaha saw with increasing dismay the havoc
+wrought amongst his fighting men, and the useless waste
+of tribal strength which must ensue from these insane
+proceedings. Only too clearly he realised that, watched
+as he was by enemies both on the north and to the east,
+this state of division might at any moment be seized on
+as an opportunity for attack. His own efforts to reconcile
+the disputants were unavailing; and when he saw the
+spirit of insurrection growing and spreading beyond his
+power of control, he determined upon making an appeal
+for outside aid. He accordingly dispatched a mission to
+Taupo, requesting Te Heuheu to bring down a large force
+wherewith to crush out the seeds of rebellion, by inflicting
+a telling defeat upon the most turbulent insurgents. Te
+Heuheu's reply to this appeal was of a practical kind.
+Within a few months he marched out from Taupo with an
+effective fighting force of eight hundred men, officered by
+some of the most famous of his own and the Maungatautari
+chiefs of that time. Almost immediately upon
+their arrival on the coast, they, in conjunction with
+Ngati-Raukawa, proceeded to attack the Ngati-Awa at a
+pa close to the Otaki River, and for several months the
+conflict was maintained with fluctuating success. Notwithstanding
+the numbers brought against them, the
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Ruanui proved themselves stubborn
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">{196}</a></span>
+fighters, maintaining their ground with heroic desperation.</p>
+
+<p>In several of the battles the slaughter was exceedingly heavy, amongst
+the slain being counted many important chiefs attached to both sides;
+but still the issue hung in doubt, and so it remained until the great
+battle of Pakakutu had been fought. On this occasion a supreme effort
+was made by Te Heuheu, and the struggle culminated in the decisive
+defeat of Ngati-Awa. Their <i>pa</i> was taken, and their chief
+Takerangi was slain. With his death was removed one of the principal
+factors in the quarrel, and the way was paved for a settlement
+honourable in its terms to all the parties. A conference of
+considerable importance was immediately held at Kapiti, at which the
+disquieting issues were discussed, and in the debates upon these
+contentious points both Te Heuheu and Te Whatanui raised their voices
+with force and eloquence in the cause of peace. As a result of these
+negotiations, the differences which had so nearly wrecked Te Rauparaha's
+consolidating work of fourteen years were amicably settled.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_132" id="Ref_132" href="#Foot_132">[132]</a></span>
+The general result was that Ngati-Raukawa were reinstated in their
+possessions at Ohau and Horowhenua and as far north as Rangitikei,
+while Ngati-Awa retired southward of Waikanae, and extended their
+settlements as far in that direction as Wellington, where they
+replaced Pomare, and where, under Te Puni and Wharepouri, they were
+found by Colonel Wakefield and his fellow-pioneers of the New Zealand
+Company when they came to the spot in 1839.</p>
+
+<p>But, though the civil war had thus ended in a manner satisfactory to
+himself and to his friends, Te Rauparaha was stung to the quick by the
+knowledge that his authority had been so completely set at defiance by
+Ngati-Awa. And this feeling of irritation was further intensified by
+the fact that some of his own tribe had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">{197}</a></span>
+shown him so little regard as to aid and abet them in
+their rebellion. Their disloyal conduct so preyed upon
+his mind that, as the result of much serious reflection, he
+determined to absolve himself from all further responsibility
+on their behalf, by abandoning the business of conquest
+and returning with Te Heuheu to Maungatautari,
+where he proposed to live for the remainder of his days
+the quiet and restful life, to which waning years look
+forward as their heritage. To this end he collected a
+number of his most trusty followers, and, shaking the
+dust of Kapiti from his feet, had travelled as far as Ohau
+in the execution of his petulant decision, when he was
+overtaken by representatives of all the tribes, who begged
+him to return and once more become a father to them.
+In these entreaties the suppliants were joined by Te
+Heuheu, whose advocacy broke down the chief's resolution.
+He at length agreed, amidst general rejoicing,
+to retrace his steps, and none rejoiced more sincerely than
+the repentant Ngati-Awa.</p>
+
+<p>Between the date of the battle of Pakakutu and the arrival of the ship
+<i>Tory</i>, Te Rauparaha does not appear to have been engaged in any
+conflict of great importance in the North Island, the years being
+spent in visiting the various settlements which had been established
+under his guiding genius. These journeys frequently led him across
+Cook Strait to the Middle Island, where, at Cloudy Bay, there was now
+a considerable colony of his own and the Ngati-Awa people, who were
+actively cultivating the friendship of the whalers.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_133" id="Ref_133" href="#Foot_133">[133]</a></span>
+These visits also more than
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">{198}</a></span>
+once led him into sharp conflict with his old enemies,
+the Ngai-Tahu, who were ever vigilantly watching for the
+favourable moment to repay their defeat at Kaiapoi.
+Once they met him on the fringe of Port Underwood, at
+a spot still called Fighting Bay, where they claim to have
+defeated him with considerable slaughter. From this
+engagement, in which his small force was neatly ambushed,
+the great chief only escaped by diving into the
+sea and hiding amongst the floating kelp, until he was
+picked up by one of his canoes, and, availing himself of a
+heavy mist which suddenly enveloped the scene of strife,
+fled, leaving his allies, the Ngati-Awa, to continue the unequal
+struggle. After the fight, the bones of the slain
+were left to bleach on the beach, where they were
+repeatedly seen by the first settlers at the port.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_134" id="Ref_134" href="#Foot_134">[134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This success did not induce the Ngai-Tahu to pursue
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">{199}</a></span>
+the retreating enemy across the Strait; but, elated in spirit,
+they returned to the south for the purpose of fitting out
+an expedition on a much more extensive scale, with which
+they hoped to inflict a crushing blow on their hated
+enemy. These operations were superintended by Taiaroa,
+who in a few months had gathered together a flotilla
+of canoes and boats sufficient to transport some four
+hundred men. These he commanded in person, and
+with them proceeded by slow stages to the neighbourhood
+of Cloudy Bay. Hearing that Te Rauparaha was at
+Queen Charlotte Sound, the southern warriors steered
+their fleet for Tory Channel,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_135" id="Ref_135" href="#Foot_135">[135]</a></span>
+but failed to encounter the
+enemy until they had reached Waitohi, near the head of
+the Sound. Here they met, and immediately attacked a
+large party of Te Rauparaha's followers, who were under
+the personal direction of their chief. The ground upon
+which the battle took place was broken and wooded, and
+it was difficult to bring the whole of the respective forces
+advantageously into action at once; and therefore the
+combat resolved itself into a series of skirmishes, rather
+than a pitched and decisive battle. At the end of the first
+day Te Rauparaha shifted his position, a fact which has
+encouraged the Ngai-Tahu people to claim the credit
+of a victory. But Ngati-Toa did not retire from the field
+altogether; and for several days hostilities continued
+to be carried on in a succession of duels between the
+champions of the opposing tribes, in which the battle
+honours were fairly evenly divided between them. In
+these contests Te Rauparaha is said to have warned his
+men against risking defeat by coming too confidently into
+close quarters with the enemy. Numerous incidents
+during the siege of Kaiapoi had served to impress him
+with Ngai-Tahu's prowess in this class of warfare, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">{200}</a></span>
+any recklessness on the part of his warriors might therefore
+easily lose him a valuable life. Thus, when a Ngati-Toa
+and a Ngai-Tahu were struggling upon the hill-side
+in full view of both forces, and victory ultimately rested
+with the southern warrior, Te Rauparaha exclaimed to
+those about him, "<i>I kiia atu ano</i>" (I told you it would
+be so). But though an occasional success of this kind
+attended the southern arms, nothing of a decisive nature
+was accomplished by Taiaroa on this raid. Scarcity of
+provisions shortly afterwards compelled him to withdraw
+to the south; and before he had time or inclination to
+devise fresh reprisals, events of an external nature had
+so operated upon the Maori mind as to make any
+further conflict between the Ngati-Toa and Ngai-Tahu
+tribes undesirable if not impossible.</p>
+
+<p>It is now fitting to remember that, while these events
+had been proceeding along the eastern coast of the
+Middle Island, the process of subduing the southern
+tribes had not been neglected on its western shore.
+Out of the extreme confidence which pervaded the Ngati-Toa
+mind upon the return of Te Pehi from England,
+a wider field of conquest was sought than appeared to
+be provided by the plains of Canterbury. In obedience
+to these aspirations, an important division of their forces
+was sent across the Strait for the purpose of forcibly
+establishing themselves in the bays of the Nelson coast.
+<i>Hapus</i> of the Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa united in this
+expedition, which was attended with unqualified success.
+They immediately moved to attack the Ngati-Apa settlements
+in Blind and Massacre Bays, from out of which
+they drove the inhabitants with ruthless severity, and
+immediately assumed possession of the soil. Those who
+had fought under Te Koihua and Te Puoho, the Ngati-Awa
+leaders, built <i>pas</i> and remained in permanent occupation
+of the conquered country;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_136" id="Ref_136" href="#Foot_136">[136]</a></span>
+but Niho, a son of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">{201}</a></span>
+Te Pehi, and Takerei took their Ngati-Tama, and perhaps
+a few of their Ngati-Rarua, warriors across the wild and
+almost trackless mountains which intervene between
+Blind Bay and the west coast. From the Buller district
+they worked their way southward, killing and taking
+prisoners almost the entire population as they went,
+until they reached the Hokitika River, where resistance
+ceased and the need for further aggression disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Niho and Takerei settled at Mawhera, on the banks of the Grey River,
+the centre of that romantic region, the greenstone country, which for
+centuries had been the Eldorado of Maori dreams.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_137" id="Ref_137" href="#Foot_137">[137]</a></span>
+At various other
+points, both to the northward and southward of Mawhera, the
+northerners established themselves in permanent <i>pas</i>, to the
+total exclusion of the weaker tribes, who had formerly controlled the
+barter of the precious nephrite. From these points of colonisation the
+restless spirit of the invaders was ever carrying them further
+southward and eastward in search of excitement and adventure. No
+systematic occupation of the land appears to have been attempted
+southward of Hokitika; but stray bands of marauders were frequently
+setting off on predatory expeditions into the pathless mountain-waste
+of western Otago, which then sheltered the shadowy remnant of the
+Ngati-Mamoe race. Further and further these adventurers penetrated
+into the deep glens, rugged passes, and dark forests, until they knew
+the geographical secrets of the interior almost as intimately as did
+its former conquerors.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_138" id="Ref_138" href="#Foot_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the absence of written records, many of these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">{202}</a></span>
+militant journeys have necessarily been effaced from
+memory, and no tradition has been left to commemorate
+those whose valiant spirit led them into the wilds
+of a hostile country, from which only a lion-hearted
+courage could bring them safely back. Of one such
+venture, however, undertaken about the year 1836, for
+the purpose of attacking Tu-Hawaiki on his island fortress
+at Ruapuke, the story has been preserved; and, because
+of its ambitious conception and dramatic ending, it is
+worthy of being narrated here as it has been told in the
+tribal traditions. The chief concerned in leading the
+adventure was Te Puoho, who came originally from the
+country south of the Mokau River, in Taranaki, to assist
+Te Rauparaha in his policy of conquest. He was at this
+time the head chief of the Ngati-Tama tribe, who were
+closely allied to Ngati-Awa, and whom the fortune of war
+had now settled round the great bays on the Nelson
+coast. Hearing that the inhabitants away to the south
+were "a soft people," Te Puoho conceived the idea of
+raiding their country, and, in addition to matching himself
+against Tu-Hawaiki, securing a large number of slaves,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_139" id="Ref_139" href="#Foot_139">[139]</a></span>
+whom he intended to use as beasts of burden. To this
+end he first completed a strong stockade, in which he
+intended to herd his captives, and then he set off with a
+fighting force of some seventy men, and a small number
+of women, to pierce his way through the dense forest and
+dangerous passes of the overland route. Arrived at the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">{203}</a></span>
+Grey River, where Niho and his people were settled, he
+expected to be largely reinforced from amongst his
+former friends; but, to his consternation, he found that
+his old comrade, Niho, was distinctly hostile, and most of
+his people coldly indifferent. A number of his own
+followers, finding that the purpose of the expedition
+was not approved by Niho, declined to proceed further
+in the enterprise and returned to Cook Strait. But
+at length Te Puoho, nothing daunted, succeeded in
+persuading a section of the Ngati-Wairangi to reverse
+their decision not to accompany him, and then with
+about a hundred followers he commenced his march
+southward.</p>
+
+<p>His first route took him over the sinuous tracks which hugged the
+coast line until they reached Jackson's Head, a distance of many
+hundred miles from the point of departure. Few particulars of this
+stage of the journey have been preserved: but it is known that they
+returned northward as far as the Haast River,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_140" id="Ref_140" href="#Foot_140">[140]</a></span>
+where they
+deflected their course to the eastward, and proceeded inland by way of
+the Haast Pass. At Lake Hawea they met a Ngai-Tahu eeling party, from
+whom they ascertained that the chief with his two wives had gone to
+Lake Wanaka. On the pretence of guiding two of Te Puoho's men thither,
+the chief's son, Te Raki, succeeded in getting them deeply entangled
+in the bush; and then, abandoning them to their own resources, he
+slipped away to his father's camp and advised him of what had
+occurred. Arming themselves, they went in search of the two men, who
+were now wandering aimlessly about, and, finding them floundering in
+the forest, they soon succeeded in killing them. When
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">{204}</a></span>
+it dawned upon him that he had been duped, Te Puoho
+exacted <i>utu</i> from amongst the other members of the eeling
+party, and pushed on further into the interior. They
+navigated the upper waters of the Molyneaux on <i>mokihis</i>,
+and made their way down the valley of the Mataura
+through the country of Wakatipu. In view of his
+previous achievements in that direction, no one would
+have been surprised had Te Rauparaha or his people attempted
+an invasion of these far southern districts by sea;
+but no one ever dreamed of a blow being struck at them
+by an inland route. Consequently, when this war party
+marched down the valley of the Mataura, the inhabitants
+were wholly off their guard, and fell an easy prey to the
+invaders. An eeling party was captured at Whakaea, and
+their store of food proved exceedingly welcome to the
+hungry wanderers, whose only provender up to this time
+had been wild cabbage, the root of the <i>ti</i> palm, and a few
+<i>wekas</i>. These wanderings had now occupied the northern
+men nearly two years, during which many of them had
+died of cold and hunger. But, though a "dwindled and
+enfeebled band," they were still strong enough to secure
+another party of Ngai-Tahu, whom they found camped in
+the midst of a clump of <i>korokiu</i> trees, which then grew
+upon the Waimea Plain. Te Puoho believed that he had
+secured the whole of the party, but in this he was mistaken.
+Some few escaped, and, hastening off to the Tuturau
+<i>pa</i>, warned the people there of the approaching danger,
+the fugitives making their way to the Awarua whaling
+station. Te Puoho and his party immediately proceeded
+to occupy the abandoned <i>pa</i>, in the hope that a prolonged
+rest would recruit their exhausted powers; and,
+innocent of the fact that retributive justice was at hand,
+they settled down to leisurely enjoy the recuperative
+process.</p>
+
+<p>From Awarua news of the raid was dispatched to the island of Ruapuke,
+where Tu-Hawaiki and his men were. Memory of the event is still well
+preserved on the island, as the last occasion on which oblation was
+offered to the god of battle. In accordance with ancient Maori custom,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">{205}</a></span>
+this ceremony took place in an immense cavern, which
+opens to the sea beach beneath the island fortress. It
+may still be seen, a dark abyss; and, although geological
+periods must have elapsed since it was instinct with the
+life of mighty waters, the echo-swish still sounds and
+resounds, as if acting and reacting the story of its birth.
+Shut up amidst these ghostly sights and sounds, the
+tribal <i>tohunga</i> spent the night in severe exorcisms. Outside
+in the open was heard the clash of arms, plaintive
+wails and lamentations of the <i>tangi</i> for the dead. At
+dawn of day the prescribed spells to weaken the enemy
+were cast and the invocation to the spear was spoken.
+The followers of Tu-Hawaiki then sailed for the mainland
+and effected a landing at what is now known as Fortrose.
+Concealing themselves during the day, they marched
+under cover of night, reaching Tuturau early on the morning
+of the third day. Being unapprehensive of danger, the
+inmates of the <i>pa</i> were in their turn caught napping, and
+the recapture was effected as smartly as had been the
+original capture. As the attacking force crept cautiously
+within gunshot, Te Puoho was observed sleeping on the
+verandah of one of the houses. A slight noise fell upon
+his quick ear and startled him. He sprang to his feet;
+instantly the report of a gun rang out, and he fell a lifeless
+heap upon his bed. Some thirty in all were killed.
+The rest, with one exception,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_141" id="Ref_141" href="#Foot_141">[141]</a></span>
+were taken prisoners, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">{206}</a></span>
+confined on Ruapuke Island, whence they were afterwards
+smuggled away by a pakeha-maori boatman named
+McDonald, who, under an arrangement with the Ngati-Toa
+tribe, landed them safely back at Kapiti.</p>
+
+<p>The Haast River raid, as the exploit of Te Puoho is known in Maori
+history, becomes interesting not only because it was on this occasion
+that the followers of Te Rauparaha reached the most southerly limit of
+their aggressions upon Ngai-Tahu, but because it affords another
+evidence, if such were needed, of the extremes to which the Maori was
+ever ready to go in order to get even with an enemy. Primarily, the
+raid was designed as a stroke of retaliation upon Tu-Hawaiki, whom
+they hoped to surprise by pouncing upon him from a new and unexpected
+quarter. To effect this, a long and dangerous journey had to be
+braved; they had to penetrate into a region in which Nature seemed to
+have determined to impose in the path of human progress her most
+forbidding barriers. Not only had this band of half-clad savages to
+cross what the late Sir Julius Von Haast has described as "one of the
+most rugged pieces of New Zealand ground which, during my long
+wanderings, I have ever passed," but they had to contend with
+snowfields lying deep in the Southern Alps, the swollen torrent, the
+pathless forest, and the foodless plains. Not even the roar of the
+avalanche as it swept down the mountain-side, the impassible precipice
+as it loomed dark across their path, nor the severity of the climate,
+with its oscillations from arctic cold to tropical heat, was
+sufficient to chill their ardour for revenge. So for two
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">{207}</a></span>
+years they wandered amidst some of the grandest and
+gloomiest surroundings, at times suffering bitterly from
+cold and hunger. In the stress of these privations the
+weaker ones died; but the survivors were sustained by the
+enthusiasm of their leader, who directed their course ever
+to the southward, where they hoped some day to meet
+and vanquish their hated rival. Of the fate which overtook
+them, history has told; and, though future generations
+may be reluctant to endorse the purpose of their
+mission, they will not refuse to credit them with a certain
+spirit of heroism in daring and enduring what they did
+to accomplish their end.</p>
+
+<p>The peace which had been dramatically concluded at Kapiti by Te Heuheu
+breaking the <i>taiaha</i> across his knee, and which closed what is
+known as the Hao-whenua war, was sacredly observed by all the tribes
+for some years; and this respite from anxiety afforded Te Rauparaha
+freedom of opportunity to pursue his grudge against the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples. The humiliated remnant of the Muaupoko tribe had by
+this time sought and obtained the protection of Te Whatanui, who had
+promised them, in his now historic words, quoted many years afterwards
+by Major Kemp, that so long as they remained his dutiful subjects he
+would shield them from the wrath of Te Rauparaha: "I will be the
+rata-tree that will shelter all of you. All that you will see will be
+the stars that are shining in the sky above us; all that will descend
+upon you will be the raindrops that fall from heaven." Although
+slavery was the price they had to pay for the privilege of breathing
+their native air, it at least secured them the right to live, though
+it did not secure them absolute immunity from attack. More than once
+Te Whatanui had to protest against the inhumanity of Ngati-Toa towards
+those whom he had elected to save from utter destruction; and these
+distressing persecutions did not cease until the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+told Te Rauparaha, in unmistakable language, emphasised by
+unmistakable gestures, that, before another hair of a Muaupoko head
+was touched, he and his followers would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">{208}</a></span>
+first have to pass over his (Te Whatanui's) dead body.
+Unwilling to create a breach of friendship with so powerful
+an ally as Te Whatanui, Te Rauparaha ceased openly
+to assail the helpless Muaupoko, though still continuing
+to harass them in secret. He plotted with Te Puoho to
+trap the Rangitane, and with Wi Tako to ensnare the
+Muaupoko: the scheme being to invite them to a great
+feast at Waikanae, to partake of some new food<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_142" id="Ref_142" href="#Foot_142">[142]</a></span>
+which the <i>pakeha</i> had brought to Kapiti. So far as the Rangitane
+were concerned, the invitation was prefaced by an
+exchange of civilities in the shape of presents between
+Mahuri and Te Puoho; and when it was thought that
+their confidence had been secured, the vanity of the
+Rangitane was still further flattered by an invitation to
+the feast. A considerable number of them at once set out
+for Waikanae; but, when they arrived at Horowhenua,
+Te Whatanui used his utmost endeavours to dissuade
+Mahuri, their chief, from proceeding further. Knowing
+Te Rauparaha as he did, he felt convinced that he could
+not so soon forget his hatred for those who had sought
+to take his life at Papaitonga: and, while he would
+have had no compunction about killing in open war every
+man and woman of the tribes he was protecting, his
+generous soul revolted against the treachery and slaughter
+which he feared lay concealed beneath the present
+invitation. His counsel was therefore against going to
+Waikanae; but the impetuous young Mahuri saw no
+reason for alarm, and, heedless of the advice of Te
+Whatanui, he led his people to their destruction.</p>
+
+<p>On their arrival, the hospitality of Te Puoho was of the most
+bountiful nature. The visitors were shown to their houses, and no
+effort was spared to allay any suspicion of treachery. But one night,
+as they sat around their fires, the appointed signal was given, and
+the guests were set upon by a force superior in numbers by two to one,
+and, to use the words of a native<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_143" id="Ref_143" href="#Foot_143">[143]</a></span>
+who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">{209}</a></span>
+knew the story well, "they were killed like pigs," only
+one man escaping from the massacre. This was Te
+Aweawe, whose life was spared at the instigation of
+Tungia, in return for a similar act of humanity which
+the Rangitane chief had been able to perform for him
+some time before. In justice to Te Rauparaha, it should
+be stated that this massacre was not entirely prompted
+by his old grudge against the Rangitane people, but
+partly arose out of a new cause of grievance against
+them, which serves to illustrate the complexity of Maori
+morality and the smallness of the pretence upon which
+they deemed a sacrifice of life both justifiable and necessary.
+The offence of which the Rangitane people had
+been adjudged guilty enough to deserve so terrible a
+punishment was the fact that they were somewhat
+distantly related to the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, resident
+in the Wairarapa. These people had some time previously
+killed a number of Ngati-Toa natives, whom they
+believed to be plotting their destruction; for, while they
+were discussing their plans in one of the <i>whares</i>, a Ngati-Kahungunu,
+who was sleeping with at least one ear open,
+overheard their conversation, and at once gave the alarm,
+with the result that the tables were turned on the
+scheming Ngati-Toa. Their deaths, however, had to
+be avenged; and it is easy to understand how gladly
+Te Rauparaha would avail himself of this new excuse
+for wiping out old scores.</p>
+
+<p>The morning after the massacre, Tungia took Te Aweawe outside the
+Waikanae <i>pa</i>, and, placing a weapon in his hand, said, "Go! come
+back again and kill these people." The released chief at once made his
+way back as best he could to the Manawatu, where he found most of the
+settlements deserted by the terror-stricken inhabitants, in
+consequence of the appalling news which had just reached them of the
+death of their friends. He, however, succeeded in collecting about
+thirty warriors, and with these he travelled down the coast, receiving
+additions by the way from a few stragglers belonging to his own and
+the Muaupoko tribes. When they reached
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">{210}</a></span>
+Waikanae, they found the Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa
+peoples busily engaged in gathering flax to trade away
+for guns and powder and little suspecting an attack.
+They had beguiled themselves into the false belief that
+the shattered Rangitane would not be able to collect
+in so short a time a force sufficiently strong to harm
+them. When, therefore, Te Aweawe, at the head of his
+brave little band, burst in upon them, dealing death at
+every blow, they, in their turn, were at all the disadvantage
+of being taken completely by surprise. Upwards
+of sixty of the followers of Te Rauparaha were killed,
+amongst them a chieftainess named Muri-whakaroto,
+who fell into the hands of the enraged Te Aweawe,
+and was despatched without the slightest compunction.
+Matea, the Rangitane chief second in command, was
+more chivalrous to Tainai Rangi, for he spared her and
+brought her back, a prisoner certainly, but still alive.
+Such of the flax-gathering party as were not slain made
+good their escape down the coast; and the avengers of
+Mahuri, fearing that they might soon return with a large
+and active war party, beat a hasty retreat, well satisfied
+with the result of their mission of revenge&mdash;the last
+great act of slaughter perpetrated by the resident people
+as a protest against the conquest of their country.</p>
+
+<p>Any policy of retaliation which Te Rauparaha and the chiefs who were
+co-operating with him may have contemplated, as a step towards
+restoring the equilibrium of tribal honour, had to be indefinitely
+delayed, owing to the rapidity with which events developed in another
+direction; and that delay robbed them of future opportunity. The death
+of Waitohi, Te Rauparaha's sister, and mother of Rangihaeata, had just
+occurred at Mana, where she had been living with her son. The demise
+of so high-born a woman necessarily demanded a <i>tangi</i> on an
+unusually elaborate and extensive scale, and the whole of the tribes
+who had been associated with Te Rauparaha in his scheme of conquest
+assembled on the island to attend the obsequies of the honoured dead.
+Levies of provisions were made upon all the tributary tribes on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">{211}</a></span>
+both sides of the Straits, and for several weeks the
+peculiar rites of a Maori funeral were continued without
+intermission.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that, for no other purpose than to appear opulent in the
+eyes of his guests, Te Rauparaha ordered the killing and cooking of
+one of the poor slaves who had come from the Pelorus with his people's
+tribute to the feast. Be this as it may&mdash;and it is by no means
+improbable under the circumstances&mdash;the strange admixture of funeral
+and festival, which marks the Maori <i>tangi</i>, was observed at Mana
+in all its completeness and elaboration. But the death of Waitohi
+brought in its train something more than a great <i>tangi</i>; for
+indirectly it was the cause of the renewal of hostilities between
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Raukawa, culminating in the engagement known in
+Maori history as Kuititanga, which was fought on October 16, 1839. It
+is not clear why or in what way the old sore between these comrades in
+arms was re-opened, but the weight of testimony inclines towards the
+assumption that Te Rauparaha's irrepressible passion for intrigue was
+the moving impulse in urging Ngati-Raukawa to take the step they did.
+Whether he had grown jealous of Ngati-Awa's increasing numbers and
+power, or whether, having achieved all he could hope to accomplish, he
+wished to shake himself free from any further obligation to them,
+cannot of course be asserted with any confidence. Ngati-Raukawa were
+nothing loath to join in any conspiracy against Ngati-Awa. Living, as
+they did, north of Kapiti, they began to find themselves somewhat out
+of touch with the whalers; and probably it was the rapid extension of
+trade, enabling Ngati-Awa to procure guns as readily as Rauparaha
+himself, that induced him to instigate Ngati-Raukawa to break the
+truce which had existed since the battle of Pakakutu. No breach of the
+peace actually occurred at Mana, but bickerings and threats foretold
+the coming storm; and when Ngati-Awa returned to their <i>pas</i> on
+the mainland, it was with the full consciousness that the attack would
+not be long delayed.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">{212}</a></span>
+The Ngati-Raukawa mourners remained at Mana for
+some time after Ngati-Awa had left, and it would have
+caused the latter no surprise had Ngati-Raukawa made
+an attack upon them&mdash;as indeed they invited it&mdash;as they
+passed Waikanae on their way to Otaki. This Ngati-Raukawa
+did not do, but went on with every semblance
+of peace, even ignoring the shots of defiance which were
+fired by Ngati-Awa as they passed. Towards evening,
+however, they altered their tactics, and, doubling back,
+surrounded the Kuititanga <i>pa</i> during the night, in preparation
+for the attack at daybreak. A reconnoitring
+party was sent out to investigate the state of the defences,
+one of whom was indiscreet enough to enter a house,
+and, rousing a boy by his intrusion, attempted to cover
+his blunder by asking him for a light for his pipe. The
+boy sharply recognised his visitor as a Ngati-Raukawa;
+and knowing that no friendly native would be prowling
+about at that unseemly hour, sprang for his gun, and
+fired point-blank at the intruder. The echo of the shot
+rang through the clear morning air, and was the signal
+for a general movement on both sides. The women and
+children made a hurried flight to the neighbouring settlements,
+from which Ngati-Awa reinforcements swarmed up
+to the assistance of their beleaguered tribesmen; and by
+daylight the full strength of both forces&mdash;variously estimated
+at between eight hundred and a thousand men&mdash;was
+actively engaged. The <i>pa</i>, which bore the brunt of
+the first assault, stood close to the seashore on a narrow
+tongue of sand, between the Waikanae and Waimea
+Rivers.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_144" id="Ref_144" href="#Foot_144">[144]</a></span>
+At the inception of the attack it was defended by
+a slender company of thirty men, who offered so stubborn
+a defence that the assailants were held in check
+until assistance arrived. A strong company of Ngati-Awa
+crossed the Waikanae, and, catching Ngati-Raukawa
+between two fires at this point, caused them to deploy
+and so open an avenue, by which the supports reached
+the <i>pa</i>. Trenches were now hurriedly dug in the loose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">{213}</a></span>
+soil, which, together with the protection offered by the
+stockade, afforded them a friendly shelter from the fire
+of the enemy. In this respect they were more fortunate
+than the aggressors, who, fighting in the open, suffered a
+greater number of casualties, including several of their
+principal chiefs.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha took no part in the battle; but that he anticipated its
+occurrence is proved by the fact that he landed from his canoe shortly
+after it commenced. And when, at the close of an hour's desperate
+fighting, Ngati-Raukawa, who had his silent sympathy, if not his
+active help, began to waver under their heavy losses, he thought it
+prudent to get beyond the danger zone, and, plunging into the surf,
+swam towards his canoe. Ngati-Awa, who knew that he was inside the
+enemy's lines, saw the movement, and made a spirited effort to
+frustrate it, in the hope of capturing the man to whose subtle
+intrigues they attributed all their misfortunes. An equally vigorous
+rally on the part of Ngati-Raukawa intercepted their rush, and saved
+the chief, though at heavy cost to themselves. With Te Rauparaha safe
+amongst the whalers, who were watching the conflict from their boats,
+Ngati-Raukawa began rapidly to fall back; and, after maintaining a
+slackened fire, retired from the field altogether, taking their
+wounded with them, but leaving to Ngati-Awa the victor's privilege of
+burying the dead. Sixty of the Ngati-Raukawa had fallen, but only
+sixteen of the defenders. There were, however, many wounded in both
+camps. These were attended to by the medical men on board the
+<i>Tory</i>, which arrived at Kapiti on the day that the battle was
+fought; and, as Dr. Dieffenbach has left a graphic account of what he
+saw, no better authority can be here quoted:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"All the people of the village were assembled; and, though grief was
+ expressed in every face, they received us with the greatest kindness
+ and attention, and we were obliged to shake hands with everybody.
+ They regarded us as friends and allies, for we had brought with us
+ from Te-Awaiti some of their relations; and when they saw the medical
+ men of our party giving assistance to the wounded,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">{214}</a></span>
+ their confidence and gratitude were unbounded. Some of the women gave themselves up to
+ violent expressions of grief, cutting their faces, arms, and legs
+ with broken mussel-shells, and inflicting deep gashes, from which the
+ blood flowed profusely. We had brought with us E Patu, the son of a
+ chief in East Bay, whose uncle had been killed in the battle. We
+ found the widow standing on the roof of a hut, deploring in a low
+ strain the loss of her husband. When E Patu approached she threw
+ herself upon the ground, and, lying at his feet, related to him, in a
+ funeral song, how great had been their happiness, how flourishing
+ were their plantations, until the Ngati-Raukawa had destroyed their
+ peace and bereft her of her husband. During this time E Patu stood
+ before her, convulsively throwing his arms backwards and forwards,
+ and joining in her lamentations. An old woman, bent down under the
+ burden of many years, had her arms and face frightfully cut; she was
+ painted with red <i>kokowai</i>, with a wreath of leaves round her
+ head, and gesticulated and sang in a similar manner. In this place
+ there were no wounded; they had been carried to the principal and
+ most fortified <i>pa</i>, which lies a little to the northward. This
+ latter village was very large; it stood on a sand-hill, and was well
+ fenced in, and the houses were neatly constructed. Everything was
+ kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many
+ villages in Europe. The population seemed to be numerous, and I
+ estimated it, together with that of the first-mentioned village, and
+ a third, about a mile higher up, to amount, on the whole, to seven
+ hundred souls. Several native missionaries, some of them liberated
+ Ngati-Awa slaves, live here; and the natives had built a large house,
+ neatly lined with a firm and tall reed, for their church and
+ meeting-house. At the time of our visit they were expecting the
+ arrival of a missionary of the Church of England from the Bay of
+ Islands, who purposed living amongst them. The medical aid which they
+ had given to their wounded was confined to binding the broken limbs
+ with splints made of the bark of a pine, or of the strongest part of
+ the flax-leaves, and carefully protecting the wounds from external
+ injury by means of hoops. Some of these bandages had been very well
+ applied. I went to the beach on the following day to attend my
+ wounded patients and to visit the scene of battle. This was at the
+ third village, and many traces of the strife were visible: trenches
+ were dug in the sand of the beach, the fences of the village had been
+ thrown down, and the houses were devastated. The Ngati-Awa buried
+ their own dead; and the improved state of this tribe was shown by the
+ fact that, instead of feasting on the dead bodies of their enemies,
+ they buried them, depositing them in one common grave, together with
+ their muskets, powder, mats, &amp;c., a generosity and good feeling as
+ unusual as it was honourable to their character. The grave of their
+ enemies they enclosed, and made it <i>tapu</i> (sacred)."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">{215}</a></span>
+While this internecine strife raged up and down the coast, its
+disturbing influence had almost completely suspended the systematic
+settlement of the land by Europeans. There were many in Australia who,
+but for the peril of life and uncertainty of title, would long before
+this have swarmed over to New Zealand and occupied its shores. Only
+the most wanton and the more adventurous had come, and of these latter
+a few had been invited by the chiefs to remain, land being given to
+them on which to reside and establish themselves as traders. In
+isolated instances attempts had been made, chiefly by some subterfuge,
+to acquire from the natives large tracts of country for a nominal
+consideration; but these examples of dishonesty almost invariably
+brought their own punishment. One of the most unscrupulous of such
+perfidious transactions was that of Captain Blenkinsopp. He had sailed
+these seas in command of the whaler <i>Caroline</i>, and had made more
+than one trip to Cloudy Bay. There he became infatuated with a Maori
+woman of the Ngati-Toa tribe. His alliance with her gave him influence
+with Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who, about the year 1834, entered
+into a bargain with him, the spirit of which was that for the right to
+procure wood and water for his ship while at Cloudy Bay, the captain
+was to present the tribe with a ship's cannon,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_145" id="Ref_145" href="#Foot_145">[145]</a></span>
+which he had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">{216}</a></span>
+then with him at Kapiti. The conditions of this bargain were reduced to
+writing by Blenkinsopp, but not the bargain Te Rauparaha had counted
+upon. For wood and water, Ocean Bay and the magnificent Wairau Plain
+were substituted in the deed; and Rauparaha, with that reckless
+disregard for the value of his signature which he exhibited at all
+times when fire-arms were concerned, had signed it with the lines of
+his <i>moko</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Wairau Plain is the floor of the valley through which the Wairau
+River runs. Terminating on the shores of Cloudy Bay, it recedes in
+ever-increasing elevation and diminishing breadth back for many miles,
+until it vanishes in the gorge at the foot of the Spencer Range.
+Covering an area of 65,000 acres, it comprises some of the richest
+agricultural and pastoral land in the Middle Island, and was at this
+time treasured by Rauparaha as one of his principal food-producing
+centres. Eager as he was to procure weapons with which to slaughter
+his enemies, he was equally sensible of the value of this valley; and
+it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he would have parted with so
+rich an estate for a single piece of rusty artillery, subject to the
+additional disadvantage of the difficulty involved in its transport.
+Knowing that he was, for such purposes, ignorant of the English
+language, Blenkinsopp, with a touch of irony, presented Te Rauparaha
+with a copy of the deed, and told him to show it to any captain of a
+man-o'-war who might visit Kapiti. Te Rauparaha did not wait for a
+naval officer, but gave the document to a whaler protege of his, named
+Hawes, then living at his island fortress. Hawes explained to
+Rauparaha that by the deed he had parted with all his land at the
+Wairau: whereupon the chief, in a fit of anger, tore up the paper,
+threw the fragments into the fire, and declared that, so far as he was
+concerned, the contract was at an end. Not so with Blenkinsopp. He
+sailed to Sydney, and there proceeded to raise a substantial sum of
+money upon the security of his deed from a solicitor named Unwin, then
+practising in that city. For reasons which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">{217}</a></span>
+need not be discussed here,
+Mr. Unwin eventually claimed the valley as his own; and his attempt to
+occupy the district, its disastrous failure, culminating in the
+massacre at the Wairau Bar, in 1840, of his manager and all his men,
+are now matters of history, affording another instance of how the just
+sometimes suffer for the unjust. Nor were the deception of Mr. Unwin
+and the death of Mr. Wilton and his fellow employees the full measure
+of the toll exacted as the result of Blenkinsopp's perfidy. When
+Colonel Wakefield met at Hokianga the native woman who had formerly
+been Captain Blenkinsopp's wife, and was now his widow, she showed him
+a document which purported to be the original deed to which her late
+husband had secured Te Rauparaha's signature. As a matter of fact, the
+document was no more than a copy which had been left amongst the
+captain's papers, but, believing it to be genuine, Wakefield purchased
+it for £300;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_146" id="Ref_146" href="#Foot_146">[146]</a></span>
+and it was largely on this spurious foundation that
+his brother, Captain Wakefield, subsequently, and with such fatal
+results, sought to build up the New Zealand Company's claim to the
+Wairau. This transaction, in which Captain Blenkinsopp was so
+scandalously concerned, was but typical of many another, by which the
+credulity of the natives was cunningly exploited. Their influence had,
+however, been so far comparatively harmless, and the measure of injury
+they had inflicted had told more heavily upon the unscrupulous
+speculators than upon the natives.</p>
+
+<p>But now Te Rauparaha, and those tribes with whom he was associated,
+were about to be brought into contact, and to some extent into
+conflict, with a more persistent earth-hunger, and more powerful
+land-buyers, than any which had yet operated upon the coasts of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">{218}</a></span>
+New Zealand. The spirit of colonisation was abroad in England, and the
+restless genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_147" id="Ref_147" href="#Foot_147">[147]</a></span>
+was busy coining
+schemes whereby the spirit of the hour might be embodied in action.
+Canada and South Australia had each attracted his attention; and now
+his eyes were turned to New Zealand as a field suitable for the
+planting of his quasi-philanthropic projects. His writings upon the
+subject of colonisation had drawn within the circle of his influence a
+galaxy of men, whose liberal education, lofty ideals, and generous
+impulses had earned for them the title of "philosophic radicals," and
+with these men, who stood for the most advanced development of English
+political aspiration, as its sponsors, the New Zealand Company was
+founded in 1839. With the story of this Company's early political
+troubles we are not concerned, for they bear only slightly on
+subsequent events in New Zealand. But the central fact with which we
+are concerned is that the Company was established for the purpose of
+acquiring land from the natives and transporting emigrants from
+England to settle thereon. To this end, the expeditionary ship
+<i>Tory</i> was hurriedly despatched from the Thames, and arrived
+safely in New Zealand waters, bringing with her Colonel Wakefield,
+brother of the founder of the Company, with a staff of officers
+charged with the duty of conducting the negotiations for the purchase
+of land and arranging other preliminaries&mdash;which appeared to be
+regarded in the light of mere formalities&mdash;incidental to the
+introduction of a great colonising scheme. In furtherance of her
+mission, the <i>Tory</i> paid a brief visit to Queen Charlotte Sound
+and Port Nicholson, and reached Kapiti on October 16, 1839, the day on
+which Ngati-Raukawa had been routed by Ngati-Awa at the fight of
+Kuititanga.</p>
+
+<p>The first tidings of this engagement was brought to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">{219}</a></span>
+the officers of the <i>Tory</i> by a canoe-crew of natives who had just left the scene
+of strife; and although the sea was high, a boat's company had been
+organised, and was on the point of starting for the battlefield, when
+a message came from Te Rauparaha, who had returned to Evans' Island,
+that he wished them to pay him the honour of a visit. Accordingly, the
+course of the boat was deflected to the island, and there the chiefs
+of the two races met for the first time. Te Rauparaha was sitting upon
+the ground beside his wife, a woman who has been described as being of
+the "Meg Merrilies" type. He was deeply smeared with red ochre, and
+evidently in an uneasy frame of mind. His manner was restless, his
+glance furtive, and he was obviously depressed at the result of the
+battle. As Colonel Wakefield and his party approached, Te Rauparaha
+rose and hastened to exchange with them the missionary greeting,
+shaking them by the hand. With equal alacrity he sought to convince
+them that he had been in no way concerned in promoting the fight. In
+these protestations it cannot be said that he was in the least
+successful, for the Englishmen had already been prejudiced against him
+by the tales of his duplicity told them by both whalers and Ngati-Awas
+at Cloudy Bay; whilst his wandering, distrustful glances, as he spoke,
+were not calculated to inspire confidence. Though, on the whole, his
+conduct was unsatisfactory, the interview was occasionally illumined
+by flashes of his imperious nature, the inborn power to lead and
+command momentarily asserting itself, only to be again clouded by a
+mean cringing, which seemed to bespeak a craven spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Being assured that there were no hostile natives harbouring on board
+the <i>Tory</i>, Te Rauparaha left Evans' Island for Kapiti, promising
+to visit the ship on the following morning. Next day he was received
+by Colonel Wakefield with a salute of guns, which filled him with
+alarm, until it had been made clear that the demonstration was
+intended as a great compliment to him and those chiefs who were with
+him. The preliminaries of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">{220}</a></span>
+the reception being over, the question of
+the land purchase was introduced to the chiefs; but Colonel Wakefield
+discovered them to be distinctly hostile to his proposals, an
+opposition which he attributed to the influence of Mr. Wynen, the
+agent for a Sydney land syndicate, whose headquarters were then at
+Cloudy Bay. The energies of this gentleman had been insidiously
+applied to prejudice the native mind against the Company's scheme of
+colonisation; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the
+Colonel was ultimately able to dissipate these prejudices, and to
+obtain their consent "to look over their land, and if he found it
+good, to take it." A gale which raged through the Strait prevented all
+communication with the shore and suspended the negotiations until the
+21st, when Colonel Wakefield made a definite proposal to purchase all
+the Ngati-Toa possessions, together with their rights and claims on
+both sides of the Strait. After he had exhibited to their wondering
+eyes a great portion of the goods&mdash;the finery and the trumpery&mdash;which
+he intended to dignify by the term "payment," his proposals were
+doubtingly accepted, Te Hiko pressing for more soap and clothing, and
+Te Rauparaha clamouring for more arms. Te Rauparaha dictated to Mr.
+Jerningham Wakefield the names of the localities involved in the sale;
+and the binding nature of the bargain was impressed upon the natives
+as clearly as the linguistic limitations of Dicky Barrett, the
+interpreter, would permit.</p>
+
+<p>These preliminaries settled, the following day was appointed for the
+distribution of the goods; but the ceremony was intercepted by the
+indisposition of Te Hiko, whom Colonel Wakefield regarded as an
+indispensable party to the transaction, and he refused to proceed
+without him. This refusal greatly aggravated Te Rauparaha, whose hands
+were itching to grasp the guns, which had been thrown like leaven
+amongst the heap of worthless stuff; and he railed bitterly against
+the deference paid to one whom he designated "a boy,"
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">{221}</a></span>
+destitute alike of any interest in, or knowledge of, land. "Give us the goods," said
+he, "with more powder and arms. Of what use are blankets, soap, tools,
+and iron pots, when we are going to war? What does it matter whether
+we die cold or warm, clean or dirty, hungry or full? Give us
+two-barrelled guns, plenty of muskets, lead, powder, cartridges and
+cartouche boxes." This militant appeal was coldly ignored by Colonel
+Wakefield, who steadfastly declined to consider the question of
+distribution until Hiko's return, which did not occur until two days
+later. On the 23rd, however, the chiefs again assembled, and the
+merchandise, which the Company offered as payment for the land, was
+ostentatiously displayed on the deck of the <i>Tory</i>. The
+consummation of the transaction was, however, still to be delayed.
+While Te Hiko was busy trying on one of the coats which he had
+selected from the pile of clothing, Te Rauparaha, Tungia, and several
+of the warlike chiefs made an unseemly rush to secure some of the
+fowling-pieces, which were lying on the companion hatch ready for
+distribution. This exhibition of selfishness so exasperated Te Hiko
+that he at once threw down the garment, and, calling to Rangihiroa to
+accompany him, went down over the ship's side and made for the shore
+in a fit of ill-humour, out of which he could not be cajoled until
+next day.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Wakefield immediately suspended the proceedings, whereupon Te
+Rauparaha again became deeply offended at the consideration shown for
+one whom he regarded as so much his inferior; but, in spite of
+importunities and threats which sorely tried his patience, the Colonel
+refused to recede from his former attitude, and declined to take one
+step towards the sale in Hiko's absence. As Wakefield was adamant
+against all their menaces and blandishments, nothing remained but to
+return on shore for the purpose of placating Te Hiko, which they
+shortly succeeded in doing. Next day, unsolicited by Colonel
+Wakefield, both Te Hiko and Te Rauparaha came off to the ship, and,
+after entertaining
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">{222}</a></span>
+themselves for some time with the novelties of the
+<i>pakeha</i>, they asked that the deed of sale might be read over to
+them, the map being at the same time consulted. After questions had
+been asked and answered, and all doubts on either side apparently
+cleared away, the fateful document was signed, Te Rauparaha making a
+mark peculiarly his own, and Te Hiko subscribing the sign of the
+cross. Each then left the vessel, possessed of a gun, promising that
+the rest of the chiefs would come on board and sign on the next day.
+This ceremony was duly performed, but only eleven signatures were
+obtained, Te Rauparaha and two minor chiefs signing as proxy for the
+natives on the opposite side of the Strait. A share of the gifts was
+reserved for Te Rangihaeata, who was at Mana, and had taken no part in
+the negotiations. On Thursday, 24th October, Colonel Wakefield was
+able to report to his Directors in London that he had acquired by his
+purchases at Port Nicholson and Kapiti, at a cost of a few guns, some
+powder, lead, and miscellaneous goods, "possessions for the Company
+extending from the 38th to the 43rd degree of latitude on the western
+coast, and from the 41st to the 43rd on the eastern." But Colonel
+Wakefield still had some reservations as to the completeness and
+validity of his purchases; for he added to his report this qualifying
+sentence: "To complete the rights of the Company to all the land
+unsold to foreigners in the above extensive district, it remains for
+me to secure the cession of their rights in it from the Ngati-Awa,
+and, in a proportionately small degree, from the Ngati-Raukawa and
+Whanganui peoples."</p>
+
+<p>Three days later he had an interview with the Ngati-Awa people at
+Waikanae, and they, being excited by the spirit of war and fearful of
+another attack by Ngati-Raukawa, were easily tempted by the sight of
+guns and the prospect of powder. Several of the elder chiefs addressed
+the assemblage, and urged their followers to acquiesce in the
+Colonel's proposals, conditionally upon their receiving arms and
+ammunition. To this stipulation Wakefield felt no reluctance in
+agreeing, and, for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">{223}</a></span>
+purpose of giving it effect, a conference was
+arranged to take place on board the <i>Tory</i>. On the appointed day
+(8th November) the natives were astir bright and early; soon after
+daylight they "began to come on board, and by 12 o'clock more than two
+hundred had assembled on the deck, including all the principal chiefs
+of the Sounds." To these unsophisticated dealers in real estate was
+produced the deed, phrased in stilted terms, which purported to convey
+to the Colonel, as agent for the Company, and in trust for the
+Company, a vast area of country, over much of which the signatories
+had absolutely no authority whatever.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Know all men that we the undersigned chiefs of the Ngati-Awa tribes,
+residing in Queen Charlotte's Sound, on both sides of Cook Strait, in
+New Zealand, have this day sold and parted with, in consideration of
+having received, as full and just payment for the same, ten
+single-barrelled guns, three double-barrelled guns, sixty muskets,
+forty kegs of powder, two kegs of lead slabs, two dozen pairs of
+scissors, two dozen combs, two pounds of beads, one thousand flints,
+the land bounded on the south by the parallel of the 43rd degree of
+South latitude, and on the west, north and east by the sea (with all
+islands), and also comprising all those lands, islands, tenements,
+&amp;c., situate on the northern shore of Cook Straits, which are bounded
+on the north-east by a direct line drawn from the southern head of the
+river or harbour of Mokau, situate on the west coast in latitude of
+about 38 degrees South, to Tikukahore, situate on the east coast in
+the latitude of about 41 degrees South, and on the east, south and
+west by the sea, excepting always the island of Kapiti, and the small
+islands adjacent thereto, and the island of Mana, but including
+Tehukahore, Wairarapa, Port Nicholson, Otaki, Manawatu, Rangitikei,
+Whanganui, Waitotara, Patea, Ngati-Ruanui, Taranaki, Moturoa, and the
+several sugar-loaf islands and the river or harbour of Mokau."</p>
+
+<p>The goods which were specified in the deed as the price of the land
+were carefully arranged on deck; but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">{224}</a></span>
+during the process of distribution
+a violent altercation took place, which was only quelled by a threat
+from the Colonel to send the wares below and proceed to sea, if peace
+was not immediately restored. Advantage was taken of the "momentary
+calm" thus secured to obtain the coveted signatures, and consenting
+chiefs to the number of about thirty appended their marks to the
+document. Scarcely had the distribution of the beads and bullets
+recommenced than another mêlée, even more violent, took place. "In a
+moment," says the Colonel in his report to the Company, "the most
+tumultuous scene we had ever witnessed took place, in which many blows
+were exchanged: never did a ship witness such a scene of violence
+without bloodshed." A similar, "if not more unfriendly," riot occurred
+on shore amongst those natives who had first conveyed their goods to
+land before they commenced their peculiar method of division; but it
+mattered nothing to the Company's representative how the natives
+abused their goods or each other so long as they had put their marks
+to his deed. Equally was it a matter of indifference to the Maoris how
+many deeds they signed, so long as they became possessed of arms and
+ammunition. It was sufficient for the one that he had outwitted his
+rivals, and appeared to be doing well for his employers, and for the
+other that they had satisfied the most pressing need of the moment.
+Neither looked beyond the immediate present, or took a single thought
+for the long years of mistrust and misunderstanding that were to
+follow upon their hasty and ill-considered transactions. Confident
+that he had made "a full and just payment" for the land described in
+the deed, Colonel Wakefield on 9th November went on shore and took
+possession of the estate, in the name of the Company; and, in order to
+distinguish their possessions, "which so greatly predominate in this
+extensive territory," from those of other buyers, he designated them
+North and South Durham, according to the respective islands in which
+they were situated. Having completed his purchases at Kapiti to his
+own satisfaction,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">{225}</a></span>
+Colonel Wakefield, on 18th November, sailed northward,
+intending to call in at Whanganui for the purpose of perfecting his
+purchases there, as he regarded that district as one of some
+importance. But before he left he had received a glimmering that his
+proceedings had not been perfectly understood, and the first shadow of
+doubt must have crossed his mind when Te Rauparaha calmly informed him
+that he (Te Rauparaha) wanted more guns, and, in order to get them,
+intended to make further sales, embracing territory which the Colonel
+believed he had already bought. Language of the most reproachful
+character was used towards the chief, and his speedy repudiation of a
+solemn bargain was characterised in unmeasured terms; but Te Rauparaha
+steadfastly maintained that, so far as he was concerned, the sale in
+the Middle Island had not included more than D'Urville Island and
+Blind Bay at Nelson. Subsequent investigations proved that Te
+Rauparaha was right and the Colonel was wrong; but it is doubtful
+whether, when he left for Whanganui, the latter had realised the full
+extent of his error, and therefore he parted from the chief with
+bitterness in his heart and an angry word upon his lips.</p>
+
+<p>While these events were in progress in New Zealand, the operations of
+the Company and its contemporary land-speculators had not passed
+unnoticed in England. The British authorities were beginning to regard
+those islands with an anxious eye, but they displayed a painful
+indecision in adopting measures to meet the political emergency which
+they were commencing to realise was inevitable. As a tentative step,
+Mr. Busby was sent from New South Wales in the capacity of British
+Resident; but his usefulness was shorn down to the point of nullity by
+the purely nominal nature of the powers with which he was endowed.
+Negative as the results of this experiment had been, it nevertheless
+encouraged the British authorities to take a still bolder step in the
+appointment of Captain Hobson, R.N., as the accredited British Consul,
+who was authorised to negotiate with the chiefs,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">{226}</a></span>
+and, if possible, to acquire the country by cession, preparatory to annexing it as a
+dependency of New South Wales. Even Hobson's position was extremely
+anomalous until the now famous Treaty of Waitangi had been formulated
+and successfully promulgated amongst the tribes. The ratification of
+this document by the chiefs was a severe blow to the New Zealand
+Company, while it is doubtful whether the Maoris had more than a
+nebulous idea of its real meaning. It, however, gave the British
+Government the colour of right to institute the principles of
+established authority in those islands, where it had become their
+imperative duty to control the colonisation which their indifference
+had not been able to thwart. With the policy of the Treaty of Waitangi
+we are not now concerned, beyond recording the fact that, in order to
+give effect to that policy, it became necessary to procure the
+signatures of all the principal chiefs, as acknowledging their assent
+to the solemn obligations involved in the covenant. To this end
+Archdeacon Williams came southward, and in due course reached Kapiti,
+where, on May 14, 1840, he succeeded, but by what means we are not
+told, in inducing Te Rauparaha to sign the treaty. Similarly, Major
+Bunbury, an officer of the 80th Regiment, had been despatched by
+Captain Hobson in H.M.S. <i>Herald</i>, charged with the mission of
+securing the assent of the chiefs in the Middle Island to the
+proposals of the Government. After having visited all the southern
+<i>pas</i> of importance, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Queen
+both at Stewart Island and Cloudy Bay, he arrived at Kapiti on June
+19th, and to him we are indebted for the following account of what
+there occurred:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"When we arrived off the island of Kapiti several canoes were leaving
+ the island, and on my preparing to go ashore, fortunately the first
+ canoe we met had on board the chief Rauparaha, whom I was anxious to
+ see. He returned on board with me in the ship's boat, his own canoe,
+ one of the most splendid I have yet seen, following. He told me the
+ Rev. Mr. Williams had been there,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">{227}</a></span>
+ and had obtained his signature to
+ the treaty, and on inquiring for the chiefs Rangihaeata and Te Hiko,
+ I was informed that we should meet them both, probably at the island
+ of Mana, and, as this lay on our route to Port Nicholson, thither we
+ proceeded, the chief Rauparaha remaining on board the <i>Herald</i>,
+ his canoes following. On our arrival, the <i>Herald</i> having
+ anchored, I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Williams and Rauparaha.
+ We learnt that Hiko, son of the late chief Te Pehi, had gone out on a
+ distant expedition. The other chief, Rangihaeata, after some time
+ returned with us on board, accompanied by Rauparaha, when both signed
+ the treaty."</p>
+
+<p>What arguments or other inducements were held out to the chiefs to
+lead them to append their marks to the document is not clear.
+Rauparaha subsequently boasted that he had received a blanket for his
+signature, but whether this gift, or bribe, was tendered by the
+missionary or the Major is equally a matter of doubt. It would,
+however, be safe to assume that the blanket was a more potent factor
+in securing the allegiance of the chief to the policy of the treaty
+than any arguments that could have been pressed upon him. It is
+certainly asking much of the intelligence of Te Rauparaha to assert
+that he was seized with the full significance of the step he had
+taken, seeing that the terms and intentions of the treaty were
+afterwards so diversely interpreted by cultured Englishmen.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_148" id="Ref_148" href="#Foot_148">[148]</a></span>
+Major Bunbury, when being
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">{228}</a></span>
+sent out on his southern mission, was instructed
+by Captain Hobson to assemble the chiefs, to explain the provisions of
+the treaty to them, and further, to give them "a solemn pledge that
+the most perfect good faith would be kept by Her Majesty's Government,
+that their property, their rights and privileges should be most fully
+preserved." In direct conflict with this official view, which was an
+accurate reflex of the instructions given to Captain Hobson himself by
+the Marquis of Normanby, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies,
+Lord Howick persuaded a Committee of the House of Commons to condemn
+the treaty as "a part of a series of injudicious proceedings," and
+with a light-hearted ignorance of Maori reverence for landed rights,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_149" id="Ref_149" href="#Foot_149">[149]</a></span>
+to assert that the acknowledgment of Maori property in
+wild lands subsequent to the Queen's assumption of sovereignty was
+"not essential to the construction of the treaty, and was an error
+which had been productive of serious consequences."</p>
+
+<p>Whether or not Te Rauparaha and his fellow-signatories were able to
+analyse the language of the treaty with the precision of an English
+statesman, they had certainly never placed upon it such a loose
+interpretation as this. And when tidings of the Committee's deliberations
+reached the colony, the alleged "serious consequences" which had
+followed upon the observance and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">{229}</a></span>
+administration of the treaty as laid
+down by Captain Hobson were safety itself compared with the
+catastrophe which might have followed from this rash attempt to
+repudiate, in the interests of the New Zealand Company, the essential
+principle of the treaty&mdash;that the "full, exclusive, and undisturbed
+possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other
+possessions" was guaranteed to the natives by the Queen. Fortunately,
+at this time there was at the head of Britain's Colonial Department a
+Minister who held national honour to be dearer than personal gain.
+Lord Stanley, to his credit, refused to comply with the recommendations
+of the Committee to confiscate the native land "without reference to
+the validity or otherwise of its supposed purchase from the natives,"
+and at the end of the famous three days' debate induced the House of
+Commons to adopt his view of the nation's obligations to the Maoris.</p>
+
+<p>The Crown having now assumed sovereignty over New Zealand, it became
+necessary to administer its affairs impartially in the interests of
+both Maori and <i>pakeha</i> population; and, in this connection, one
+of its first and most pressing duties was to make an honest effort to
+unravel the complex web of land claims, in which both races had become
+unhappily entangled. The Government of Lord John Russell accordingly
+appointed as a commissioner to adjudicate upon claims of all classes
+of buyers Mr. Spain, an English lawyer, who, it is said, had been a
+prominent electioneering agent on the side of the Liberals. Mr. Spain
+arrived in New Zealand on December 8, 1841, and immediately took steps
+to establish his court. He has been described as a man of solid
+intelligence, but burdened with a good deal of legal pedantry; slow in
+thinking and in his apprehension of ways of dealing with new
+emergencies; steady and plodding in his methods, thoroughly honest in
+his intentions, and utterly inflexible to threats, though, perhaps,
+not unsusceptible to flattery. Considering the magnitude of their
+alleged purchases, the claims of the New Zealand Company naturally
+took precedence over
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">{230}</a></span>
+all others in the business of the court; and,
+having regard to the temperament of the Commissioner, an inauspicious
+start was made by the representatives of the Company metaphorically
+shaking their fists in his face. In some degree their annoyance may
+have been pardonable, for they, believing themselves to be the
+pioneers of a great colonising scheme, had flattered themselves that
+not only the merit of their cause, but the fact that they had made
+their purchases prior to the proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty,
+would have placed them outside the exacting conditions of the Treaty
+of Waitangi.</p>
+
+<p>The coming of Mr. Spain, and his insistence upon an exhaustive
+examination of their titles, was a heavy blow to them, which they at
+first thought to ward off by affecting an attitude of amused
+indifference. They laughed at the treaty, with its engagement to
+respect Maori rights in land, and its elevation of the Maori to a
+civil status equal to themselves. But amidst this simulated merriment
+they exhibited an ill-concealed chagrin that the little self-governing
+community, which they had hoped to set up on the shores of Cook
+Strait, had been so unceremoniously superseded by the sovereignty of
+the Queen, and they resented with fear and anxiety the appointment of
+a commissioner, who might deem it his duty to ask awkward questions
+regarding their titles. Their policy was, therefore, one of delay and
+evasion, which was inaugurated by their raising technical objections
+to the constitution of the court, its jurisdiction, and its forms of
+procedure, but, most of all, to Mr. Spain's determination to call
+native evidence. That was surely an unnecessary elevation of the
+savage, and a corresponding degradation of the white man. In fact,
+they openly asserted that to put the testimony of the one against the
+other was a gratuitous insult to the dignity of the British subject.
+But this was not the full measure of Spain's offending in the eyes of
+the Company's champions. He was audacious enough to ask Colonel
+Wakefield to submit proof that those natives who had signed the
+Company's deed had the right to sell the land
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">{231}</a></span>
+which they thus
+purported to convey to the Company; and some of them made themselves
+conspicuously offensive in the manner in which they ridiculed this
+demand as preposterous and ridiculous.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings of the court at Wellington<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_150" id="Ref_150" href="#Foot_150">[150]</a></span>
+do not materially
+concern our purpose, for Te Rauparaha took no part in the sale of Port
+Nicholson, nor need we burden the narrative with the interminable
+finesse which took place before the court was able seriously to attack
+the work which lay before it in other districts. When this condition
+was at length reached, Spain soon saw that he was faced with a most
+serious problem. That the Company's purchases were in most instances
+bad he had little hesitation in declaring. But there was no blinking
+the fact that hundreds of settlers had risked their all on the
+assurances of the Company that they could give them a title, and it
+would have been cruel indeed to visit the sins of the Company upon the
+unfortunate colonists. Spain, therefore, halted between justice to the
+Maoris and equity to the settlers, satisfying the requirements of his
+office by issuing interim reports, hoping that in the meantime some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">{232}</a></span>
+workable compromise might be evolved. This was ultimately found in an
+arrangement whereby Mr. Clarke and Colonel Wakefield were to agree
+upon what additional compensation was to be paid for the land
+purchased, and, failing their arriving at an understanding, Mr. Spain
+was to be the final arbitrator. At the outset of these negotiations,
+Mr. Clarke stipulated that the natives were not to be evicted from
+their <i>pas</i> or their cultivations, nor were their burial-places
+to be disturbed; but to these reasonable reservations Colonel
+Wakefield could not at first be induced to frankly agree, while his
+unwillingness, or his inability, to comply with the ultimate awards
+tended to accentuate rather than to soothe public irritation.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Rangihaeata had been busy entering his practical protest
+against what he believed to be a violation of his rights at Porirua.
+He, in conjunction with Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_151" id="Ref_151" href="#Foot_151">[151]</a></span>
+stoutly contended that Porirua, like the Wairau, had never been sold; and
+when, in the early part of 1841, the Company's surveyors went there to
+survey, Rangihaeata blocked up the forest track, levelled the
+surveyors' tents to the ground, and, at the end of each day, undid all
+the work which they had performed. This interference with the survey
+was obviated by an assurance being given to the chief, that, even if
+the land were surveyed, the Company's title must still be investigated
+by Mr. Spain before the settlers would be permitted to enter upon it.
+But, in defiance of this assurance, Colonel Wakefield, in April, 1842,
+issued leases to four settlers&mdash;Joseph Hurley, Thomas Parry, Benjamin
+Lowndes and Josiah Torr&mdash;who at once proceeded to erect houses and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">{233}</a></span>
+occupy their holdings. Two of the houses were nearly finished when the
+intelligence was brought to the chief. Rangihaeata immediately gave
+the settlers notice of his intention to pull their houses down; and
+this threat, so chivalrously declared, was duly executed next day,
+without any unnecessary violence, by the chief and a band of fifty
+men. The indignation which followed this assertion of native authority
+found expression in a public meeting at Wellington, at which the
+arrest of Rangihaeata was violently demanded, and those present
+declared their readiness to assist the Sheriff in effecting his
+capture. With the mandate of this meeting Mr. Murphy, the magistrate,
+refused to comply,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_152" id="Ref_152" href="#Foot_152">[152]</a></span>
+and when, in the following June, the huts were
+again demolished, he wrote to the Governor declaring his determination
+not to interfere "to prevent any natives keeping land which they state
+they have not sold, until Mr. Spain decides upon the claims." This
+determination to regard the Porirua land claims as <i>sub judice</i>
+met with the entire concurrence of Captain Hobson, but was as bitterly
+assailed by Colonel Wakefield, who committed the indiscretion, almost
+criminal under the circumstances, of declaring, when speaking at
+Wellington, that he had not treated with the natives for a settlement
+of their claims, but preferred to employ the inconvenience created by
+these claims as grounds of complaint against the Government, and as
+arguments in aid of his efforts to secure the removal of the Governor.
+With such a feeling of declared insincerity pervading Colonel
+Wakefield's conduct, it is small wonder that the differences between
+the natives and the Company were slow of settlement, or that the
+efforts of Spain and Clarke to that end were unduly protracted.
+Equally true is it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">{234}</a></span>
+that thereby the cares and worries of the Governor
+were unnecessarily aggravated, while both brown and white populations
+were exasperated almost to the point of desperation by the vexatious
+delays. The irritated state of the public temper thus engendered not
+only made acts of violence possible, but even encouraged them, and
+these only added fuel to the threatened conflagration. A native woman
+was found by her friends murdered at Wellington, and suspicion fell
+upon a European. Only a few months later a settler was discovered
+lying upon the Petone road with his skull fractured, and questioning
+eyes were at once turned in the direction of the Maoris. The
+burial-grounds of the natives were being repeatedly desecrated by
+<i>pakeha</i> looters in search of greenstone ornaments, and in the
+prosecution of this shameful traffic, deep offence was given by the
+secret exhumation of the body of Te Rauparaha's brother, Nohorua, at
+Cloudy Bay. For this act of violence to the honoured dead the natives
+would at one time have taken swift vengeance; but, acting under the
+restraining counsel of Mr. Clarke, they consented to refer their
+complaint to the Government for settlement, a forbearance which the
+Protector, in his letter to Captain Hobson, assured the Governor
+greatly surprised him.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_153" id="Ref_153" href="#Foot_153">[153]</a></span>
+The weight of these and other accumulating
+troubles began to tell heavily upon the frail physique of Captain
+Hobson, and borne down by the stress of his increasing responsibilities,
+he died at Auckland in September, 1842. Before his successor, Captain
+Fitzroy, arrived in the Colony, the tragedy for which the country was
+being rapidly prepared had been enacted, and the faithlessness of the
+New Zealand Company had been written in letters of blood on the floor
+of the Wairau Valley.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_127" id="Foot_127" href="#Ref_127">[127]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Amongst these, there was a great chief named Tu-Hawaiki in
+Maori, 'Bloody Jack' by the Englishmen, because in his English, which
+he learned mostly from the rough whalers and traders, he often used
+the low word 'bloody'" (<i>Memoirs of the Rev. J.F.H. Wohlers</i>). Tu
+Hawaiki was both the patron and the pupil of the whalers, and was
+referred to by them as an evidence of what they had done in civilising
+the aborigines. "He was undoubtedly the most intelligent native in the
+country in 1840, and his reputation for honesty was such that
+Europeans trusted him with large quantities of goods"
+(<i>Thomson</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_128" id="Foot_128" href="#Ref_128">[128]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Just like the Governor."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_129" id="Foot_129" href="#Ref_129">[129]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Travers doubts the occurrence of this incident, holding that had
+Te Rauparaha been guilty of such conduct towards his own people, he
+could never have retained the respect of his fellow-chiefs. Wakefield,
+on the other hand, insists upon it, and it is also referred to in a
+Ngati-Toa account of Te Rauparaha's life found in White's <i>Ancient
+History of the Maori</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_130" id="Foot_130" href="#Ref_130">[130]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+A modified version of this incident states that all the crew
+were drowned except an old woman, who escaped by clinging to the
+overturned canoe. Tu-Hawaiki and his friends waited about the shore
+for some days until the bodies were cast up, and then the old woman
+was killed, her death being part of the religious rites performed at
+the funeral ceremonies. But there are discrepancies in the tradition,
+upon which it is now impossible to arbitrate.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_131" id="Foot_131" href="#Ref_131">[131]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This war is known in Maori history as the Hao-whenua war.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_132" id="Foot_132" href="#Ref_132">[132]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Heuheu's peace was made at Kapiti. He took a <i>taiaha</i>
+and broke it across his knee. Some people then gave him a long-handled
+tomahawk, and Hoani Tuhata gave a sword, and peace was made (<i>Native
+Land Court Record</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_133" id="Foot_133" href="#Ref_133">[133]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Robert McNab, for the following
+note, culled from an American whaling captain's log, which probably
+refers to this period, the incident described having occurred at
+Cloudy Bay on Saturday, April 30, 1836:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="nodent">"At 4 had visit from Roabolla (Rauparaha), the head chief of this Bay
+(just returned from a marauding expedition), accompanied with the
+customary demand of lay of tobacco, muskets, and cask of powder, which
+I peremptorily denied. This they returned with a threat that I should
+not whale here, to which I replied I was perfectly willing to go to
+sea, for I would not submit to any imposition, although I would
+present them with the same the English ships and parties did, but no
+more, and if they would not take that they should have nothing. They
+finally consented to receive a dozen pipes, 10 lbs. tobacco, and a
+piece of low-priced calico of about 30 yards, priced 17s. 4d., and a
+tin pot, then dismissed them with a blessing. He afterwards came and
+demanded supper, which I, of course, declined furnishing him, and bade
+him goodbye. There is no other way to deal with these people only to
+be positive with them, and let them know you do not fear them, as if
+any timidity is shown, they demand everything they see, nor would the
+ship hold enough for them, and the bad conduct of masters has
+encouraged them to be very importunate. I am willing to allow a lone
+ship here, not well armed, might be obliged to comply with their
+requisition, but no excuse can be offered for any one to do so now, as
+there are seven ships here all partially armed, and yet he showed me
+three muskets given him by the captains of ships the other side, to
+their shame be it spoken, for if they only reflected they would know
+'tis for the interest of these natives to keep on good terms with us,
+as they know if ships are hindered coming here, adieu to their darling
+tobacco, muskets, and pipes. I have adopted this line of conduct from
+my own conviction, and the advice of the English masters now here who
+know them well."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_134" id="Foot_134" href="#Ref_134">[134]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This fight is known in Ngai-Tahu tradition as <i>Oroua-moa-nui</i>.
+The Rev. Canon Stack says that Paora Taki, afterwards a well-known
+Maori Assessor at Rapaki, who was fighting under Tu-Hawaiki,
+recognised 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 with which to assault him.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_135" id="Foot_135" href="#Ref_135">[135]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Dieffenbach says: "Ten or twelve years ago (1827-29) the
+southern headland of Tory Channel was the scene of a sanguinary
+contest between the original natives of the channel and the tribes of
+the Ngati-Awa. Rauparaha, at the head of the latter people, earned
+inglorious laurels by shutting up his opponents on a narrow tongue of
+land and then exterminating them."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_136" id="Foot_136" href="#Ref_136">[136]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"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
+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 <i>mere</i>" (<i>Travers</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_137" id="Foot_137" href="#Ref_137">[137]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"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" (<i>Stack</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_138" id="Foot_138" href="#Ref_138">[138]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When Mr. Edward Shortland was travelling in the Middle Island in
+1843-44, an account of which he has left us in his <i>Southern Districts
+of New Zealand</i>, he had for guide and assistant a native named
+Huruhuru, who employed the leisure of his evenings in giving Mr.
+Shortland information about the interior of the country, with which he
+was well acquainted. He drew a map of the four great lakes in central
+Otago, described the country through which the path across the island
+passed, and was able to name the principal streams, and even to point
+out the various stopping-places at the end of each day's journey.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_139" id="Foot_139" href="#Ref_139">[139]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In confirmation of at least one purpose of the expedition&mdash;that
+of securing slaves&mdash;it is interesting to note that, with the exception
+of two children who were killed and eaten at Lake Wanaka, none of the
+prisoners were sacrificed, although the temptation to do so must have
+been difficult to resist, as the party often suffered severely from
+hunger.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_140" id="Foot_140" href="#Ref_140">[140]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"For three miles we followed this stream, flowing in a
+north-north-east direction, through a comparatively open valley, with
+occasional patches of grass on its sides, and arrived then at its
+junction with a large stream of glacial origin, and of the size of the
+Makarora, which came from the eastern central chain, and to which,
+according to the direction of His Honour the Superintendent, I gave my
+name. This river forms, before it reaches the valley, a magnificent
+waterfall, several hundred feet in height" (<i>Haast's "Geology of
+Canterbury and Westland"</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_141" id="Foot_141" href="#Ref_141">[141]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The exception above referred to was Nga-whakawa, Te Puoho's
+brother-in-law, who escaped in the dim light of the early morning. Mr.
+Percy Smith, writing in the <i>Polynesian Journal</i>, says: "His was
+a most unenviable position. A distance of nearly five hundred miles in
+a straight line separated him from his own people, the intermediate
+country being occupied by tribes bitterly hostile to his, who would
+welcome with joy the opportunity of sacrificing him. But notwithstanding
+the exceeding difficulties which lay in his path, this brave fellow
+decided to try to rejoin his relatives at Massacre Bay, at the extreme
+north end of the South Island. How long his arduous journey took I
+know not, but it must have been months. He dare not keep near the east
+coast, which was inhabited by his enemies, but had to follow the base
+of the mountains inland, seeking his sustenance in roots of the fern,
+which is very scarce, and of the <i>taramea</i>, occasionally snaring
+a <i>weka</i> or other bird. So he made his toilsome way by mountain
+and valley, swimming the snow-cold rivers, ever on the alert for signs
+of wandering parties of his enemies, only lighting fires after dark by
+the arduous process of <i>hika-ahi</i>, or rubbing two sticks together,
+enduring cold, fatigue, and hunger, until, after making one of the
+most extraordinary journeys on record, he at last reached the home of
+his people at Parapara, Massacre Bay. Here he was the first to bring
+the news of the disaster which had befallen Te Puoho and his
+companions. The daughter of this man, born after his return, named Ema
+Nga-whakawa, was still living at Manawatu a few years since."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_142" id="Foot_142" href="#Ref_142">[142]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This food was composed of pumpkins, probably the first grown on
+the coast.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_143" id="Foot_143" href="#Ref_143">[143]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The late Rangitane chief at Awapuni, Kerei te Panau.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_144" id="Foot_144" href="#Ref_144">[144]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Kuititanga means the wedge-shaped piece of land which is
+formed by the junction of two rivers.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_145" id="Foot_145" href="#Ref_145">[145]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This celebrated cannon is now at the town of Blenheim. Its
+history has been stated as follows, by the late John Guard, of Port
+Underwood. In 1833, his father, the original "Jack Guard" of the
+<i>Harriet</i>, brought this gun from Sydney and traded it away to
+Nohorua, a brother of Rauparaha, for the right to establish a whaling
+station at Kakapo Bay. This bargain was greatly facilitated by a
+demonstration which Guard gave by loading the gun and firing it off,
+for its power vastly pleased the natives, who christened it
+<i>Pu-huri-whenua</i>, "the gun that causes the earth to tremble." In
+1834, Captain Blenkinsopp came upon the scene, and is said to have
+carried the gun away from Kakapo Bay "without leave or licence," and
+bartered it to Rauparaha for the Wairau Plain and Ocean Bay.
+Subsequently, it was brought back to Port Underwood by Rauparaha, and
+again given to Guard's father. After his death, it was taken
+possession of by the province of Marlborough as an historic relic,
+during the superintendency of Mr. Eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_146" id="Foot_146" href="#Ref_146">[146]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Previous to sailing, Colonel Wakefield purchased from a lady,
+representing herself to be the widow of Captain Blenkinsopp, some
+deeds professing to be the original conveyances of the plains of the
+Wairau by Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and others to that gentleman, in
+consideration of a ship's gun. They were signed with elaborate
+drawings of the <i>moko</i> or tattoo on the chiefs' faces"
+(<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_147" id="Foot_147" href="#Ref_147">[147]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+According to Lord Lytton, Edward Gibbon Wakefield was "the man
+in these latter days beyond comparison of the most genius and widest
+influence in the great science of colonisation, both as a thinker, a
+writer, and a worker, whose name is like a spell to all interested in
+that subject."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_148" id="Foot_148" href="#Ref_148">[148]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Somes, one of the champions of the New Zealand Company in
+London, thus expressed the views of the Directorate upon the treaty:
+"We did not believe that even the Royal power of making treaties could
+establish in the eye of our courts such a fiction as a native law of
+real property in New Zealand. We have always had very serious doubts
+whether the Treaty of Waitangi, made with naked savages by a Consul
+invested with no plenipotentiary powers, could be treated by lawyers
+as anything but a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment." To this Lord Stanley replied through his
+secretary that he was "not prepared, as Her Majesty's Secretary of
+State, to join with the Company in setting aside the Treaty of
+Waitangi after having obtained the advantage guaranteed by it, even
+though it might be made with 'naked savages,' or though it might be
+treated by lawyers as a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment. Lord Stanley entertains a different view of
+the respect due to obligations contracted by the Crown of England, and
+his final answer to the demands of the Company must be that, as long
+as he has the honour of serving the Crown, he will not admit that any
+person, or any Government, acting in the name of Her Majesty, can
+contract a legal, moral, or honorary obligation to despoil others of
+their lawful and equitable rights."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_149" id="Foot_149" href="#Ref_149">[149]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Long before the arrival of the white man in New Zealand there
+was a proverb amongst the Maoris&mdash;'<i>He wahine he whenua, e ngaro ai
+te tangata</i>,' which may be rendered in English 'For land or wife man
+stakes his life'" (<i>Clarke</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_150" id="Foot_150" href="#Ref_150">[150]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+When the court opened at Wellington on 16th May, one of the
+first witnesses called was Dicky Barrett, who had acted as interpreter
+to Colonel Wakefield when making his purchases, and Mr. George Clarke,
+who appeared as the representative of the natives, has left us the
+following sketch of Dicky's appearance in the box: "Barrett was a
+shore whaler who had married a native woman; he was a decent fellow
+enough among men of his class, but he was very ignorant, and I soon
+made him show, in the course of his evidence, that he did not even
+understand the English meaning of the deeds he professed to interpret.
+He admitted, too, that instead of telling the natives, as the deed set
+forth, that one-tenth of the surveyed lots should be reserved for
+their use, he had simply put it that one lot of the alienated land
+should be kept for the Maoris and one for the <i>pakehas</i>, and so on
+through the whole&mdash;that is, one half the land should be kept for their
+use. He admitted, further, that he had taken no account of many
+natives who were unwilling to sell. It soon became clear that Barrett's
+qualification to interpret was that he spoke whaler Maori, a jargon
+that bears much the same relation to the real language as the pigeon
+English of the Chinese does to our mother tongue."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_151" id="Foot_151" href="#Ref_151">[151]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Te Hiko, whose signature Colonel Wakefield had boasted of
+obtaining in 1839, being examined before the Governor, the Chief
+Justice, Colonel Wakefield, the Rev. O. Hadfield, and others, denied
+that he had signed any deed of sale of Porirua. E. J. Wakefield
+asserted the contrary. The ignorant Barrett ... admitted that Hiko's
+signature was 'not obtained willingly,' and Clarke, the Protector,
+skilled in the language, declared that the document signed was
+calculated to mislead the natives. Hiko was constant in his denial of
+Wakefield's statements, and Hobson's mind was 'left with the
+impression that he had not sold' the land" (<i>Rusden</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_152" id="Foot_152" href="#Ref_152">[152]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Subsequently, a similar application was made to Chief Justice
+Martin, when he arrived in Wellington in October, 1842, but he also
+declined to issue a warrant for the arrest of Rangihaeata, partly
+because the application was <i>ex parte</i>, and argument was
+requisite before judgment could be given on so grave a matter, and
+partly on technical grounds connected with the Police Magistrates
+Ordinance.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_153" id="Foot_153" href="#Ref_153">[153]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Spain, writing to Captain Hobson in 1842, remarked that the
+natives at Wellington had, upon many occasions, shown the greatest
+forbearance when deprived of their cultivations, and he very much
+doubted whether their white brethren would have followed their example
+if placed in similar circumstances.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">{235}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER VII</span><br /><span
+class="size070">WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">Amongst</span>
+the many unsatisfactory negotiations for the purchase of land
+entered into between Colonel Wakefield and Te Rauparaha, few seem to
+have been so ill-defined as that relating to the Wairau Plain. Whether
+Wakefield really believed that he had bought it, or whether Rauparaha
+was equally confident that he had not sold it, will never be known.
+Certainly it is difficult to understand how such a wide difference of
+impression could have arisen between them, had they both been sincere
+in the transaction. It is true the Colonel might have considered that
+the plain was included in the purchases made in 1839, when he
+bargained for four hundred miles of country, extending from the 38th
+to the 43rd degree of latitude on the west coast, and from the 41st to
+the 43rd degree on the east coast. But he knew that the plain had
+never been specifically named, and in his heart he must have felt that
+no valid title could rest upon a purchase made as this one was, its
+full purport not being clearly explained by Dicky Barrett, who acted
+as interpreter, and the signatures of three chiefs only being obtained
+to the deed, when thirty thousand natives had, by native law, a voice
+in its disposal. That Colonel Wakefield did have some reservation,
+later on, about his right to the land is almost certain, for, after
+the settlement of Nelson had been in progress about a year, he
+strongly opposed the suggestion of his brother, Captain Wakefield, to
+include the Wairau in the district to be surveyed, partly because he
+considered that its occupation might
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">{236}</a></span>
+militate against the success of
+the Wellington colony, but chiefly because he anticipated that the
+Company's title would be disputed by other claimants and by the
+natives. It would therefore seem that Captain Wakefield, the resident
+agent of the Company, was the more to blame for the improper
+occupation of the valley and for all the subsequent trouble, which he
+expiated with his life. He was as conversant as the Colonel with the
+whole circumstances of the case, perhaps more so; and, had it not been
+that he had no alternative between opening up the Wairau and
+acknowledging the ignominious failure of the Nelson settlement, he
+would hardly, in the face of so many warnings, have persisted in his
+high-handed and injudicious course.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the Nelson settlement repeats the tale of undue haste,
+imperfect preparations, a disposition to make florid promises and hold
+out inflated inducements, that characterised all the New Zealand
+Company's attempts at colonisation. One of the essential features of
+this settlement was that each settler should receive 150 acres of
+rural land, 50 acres of suburban land, and one town acre. But after
+the most thorough exploration of the region round Blind and Massacre
+Bays, it was found that, although a great deal of inferior country had
+been included in the sections laid off by the surveyors, there was
+still an enormous deficiency in the area required to provide for all
+the settlers who had either paid for their land in advance or were
+waiting to settle on it. Misled by the reports of some of his
+officers, Captain Wakefield had caused it to be broadly published that
+there was more than sufficient land at Port Whakatu to meet the
+requirements of the settlement, and it was while looking round for
+some tangible fact to justify his assertion that he bethought him of
+the Wairau.</p>
+
+<p>During his many excursions in search of rural land, Mr. Tuckett, the
+Company's chief surveyor, had discovered a route via Top House, by
+which the Wairau might be reached after a journey of 110 miles. This
+fact was reported to Captain Wakefield, who ordered that a complete
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">{237}</a></span>
+examination of the district should be made by Mr. Tuckett. He,
+accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Davidson, and Captain England, a
+landowner in the settlement, made an extensive exploration, and
+subsequently conveyed the discomfiting intelligence to the resident
+agent that the Wairau Plain was the only available surface between
+Cape Farewell and Cape Campbell sufficient to afford the number of
+sections required to complete the settlement. The survey of the plain
+was then decided upon, but intelligence had reached Kapiti that the
+<i>pakehas</i> had been down to the Wairau and that they intended to
+take possession of it. Immediately upon the receipt of this news,
+Rauparaha, accompanied by Hiko and Rangihaeata, crossed over to Nelson
+and sought an interview with Captain Wakefield. In plain and
+straightforward terms the natives told the Europeans, who had gathered
+in Dr. Wilson's residence to hear the <i>korero</i>, that they had not
+sold the Wairau to the principal agent of the Company, and that they
+had no intention of doing so, unless (to use Rauparaha's own
+expressive phrase) "the cask of gold was very great." They therefore
+warned them not to go there, as they had no right to the land.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Wakefield's answer was that he intended to proceed with the
+survey, as he claimed the land in the name of the Company. Rangihaeata
+vehemently denied the sale, and backed up his protestations by a
+threat that if Captain Wakefield attempted to carry out his intentions
+he would meet him and take his head. The agent was in no way disturbed
+or shaken by the hostile attitude of the chiefs; and to Rangihaeata's
+boisterous manner he calmly replied that, if any interference was
+offered, he would come with three hundred constables and arrest the
+belligerent natives. This unconciliatory attitude did not in the least
+assist to clear the atmosphere, for Rangihaeata went about the
+settlement during the next few days openly threatening with death
+every one who, he conceived, had any authority amongst the colonists,
+if they ventured to annex the Wairau, unless they could first succeed in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">{238}</a></span>
+killing him, in which event, he said, the land would remain as the
+lawful possession of the conqueror. Rauparaha, on the other hand,
+assumed the air of the diplomat, and professed not to sympathise with
+the policy of his lieutenant, whom he described as a "bad man." At the
+same time, in his fawning fashion, he entreated the Europeans not to
+go to the Wairau, and begged that the dispute might be referred to Mr.
+Spain, the Government Land Commissioner, who had been appointed to
+investigate the claims of the Company. But Captain Wakefield
+repudiated the jurisdiction of Mr. Spain in the matter, and refused to
+comply with the request. The chiefs, finding that neither threats nor
+persuasion could shake Captain Wakefield in his determination to take
+possession of the Wairau, indignantly left the settlement, Rauparaha
+expressing his intention to lay the whole circumstances of the case
+before the Queen's Commissioner and demand an immediate settlement of
+the claim.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the angry Ngati-Toas left Nelson than the three chiefs
+who were resident at the Wairau arrived. These natives were sons of
+Rauparaha's elder brother, Nohorua, the oldest of whom, Rawiri Puaha,
+had previously informed Mr. Tuckett, when that gentleman visited his
+<i>pa</i>, that the plain was theirs and that Rauparaha had no power
+to sell it. They were gratified at the idea that the Europeans looked
+upon it with a favourable eye, but, at the same time, they were in no
+haste to enter into any negotiations for its sale until they had
+considerably extended their cultivations, in order that they might
+fairly claim a larger compensation. Doubtless one of their reasons for
+desiring closer intercourse with the <i>pakehas</i> was that, in
+addition to their clearings, they had a large number of pigs running
+on the plain, which they used as a marketable commodity with the
+settlers at Port Underwood. But as fast as they cleared and cultivated
+the land and reared their pigs, Rauparaha was in the habit of coming
+over and coolly helping himself, with the result that his relations
+with the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">{239}</a></span>
+resident people were by this time considerably strained, and
+they probably thought that the presence of the settlers would check
+these depredations on the part of their high-handed relative. When
+they heard that Rauparaha had been to Nelson, they, being utterly
+mistrustful of his methods, at once concluded that he had gone there
+for the purpose of selling the plain; and it was to counteract this
+policy, as far as possible, that they went to see Captain Wakefield.
+The latter had always been much more considerate to resident natives
+than to those whom, like Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, he described as
+"travelling bullies."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_154" id="Ref_154" href="#Foot_154">[154]</a></span>
+He was therefore most anxious to make a
+valid and binding bargain with Puaha, to whom he offered a small
+schooner, and any reasonable quantity of goods, if he would
+acknowledge that the Wairau had been purchased by his brother, the
+Colonel. This Puaha refused to do, and therefore, at a subsequent
+interview, the resident agent adopted another line of argument,
+contending that the Company had already a legal title to the district
+by virtue of its being included in the latitude and longitude
+purchases made in 1839, and by right of a deed bought from Captain
+Blenkinsopp's widow for £300. Puaha denied the validity of both
+titles, pointing out that "the Wairau" had evidently been written into
+the first deed after signature; and that, in the second case, if
+Rauparaha had sold any portion of the land to Blenkinsopp, he had no
+right to do so without his (Puaha's) consent, which had never been
+asked and never given. For three days the conference was continued by
+the agent and the chief, without either being able to convince the
+other; but, at last, Puaha withdrew, still protesting in manly and
+dignified language against the views of the agent as to his title to
+the land.</p>
+
+<p>After these animated interviews, it might have been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">{240}</a></span>
+supposed that Captain Wakefield would, in his calmer moments, have seriously
+reviewed the position, and that against the vague and shadowy rights
+of the Company, as expressed in the two deeds in his possession, he
+would have set the fact that the authenticity of these sales was being
+stoutly contested by the resident and non-resident natives interested.
+He might have been expected also to recognise that the whole question,
+having been placed in the hands of Mr. Spain, was <i>sub judice</i>,
+and as such should remain in abeyance until the court had pronounced
+its judgment. These considerations were, however, altogether
+outweighed by the desire to placate the settlers, who were clamouring
+for their land, and to prevent the exposure of the Company's inability
+to fulfil its engagements. The fear that, if this could not be done,
+he would be open to crushing censure from all with whom they had
+entered into engagements, and the desire to rescue his own and his
+brother's reputation from public anger and ridicule, biased his
+otherwise judicial mind against the merits of the opposing case.
+Accordingly, he decided to act upon the impulse that moved him most,
+and on April 15, 1843, he entered into three contracts for the survey
+of the plain with Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson, Mr. Cotterell, and
+Mr. Parkinson. In view of the probability of native interference, a
+special provision was inserted in the tenders that the contractors
+were to be indemnified in case of loss; and, on this understanding,
+the surveyors, with forty assistants, arrived a few days later, and
+commenced operations&mdash;Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson at the Marshlands
+side of the valley, Mr. Cotterell in the neighbourhood of Riverlands,
+and Mr. Parkinson still higher up the plain, towards Grovetown.</p>
+
+<p>At first, the resident natives allowed the work to proceed with but
+slight resistance. Once or twice they refused to permit timber to be
+sawn for pegs and ranging rods; but with the exercise of a little tact
+and patience these difficulties were overcome, and the work had
+proceeded with so little friction that before Rauparaha
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">{241}</a></span>
+arrived Messrs.
+Barnicoat and Thompson had practically completed their contract, the
+others not being quite so far advanced.</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were at Mana when the news of these
+proceedings reached them, and they at once engaged with their English
+friend, Joseph Toms, to convey them and a portion of their party in
+his schooner, <i>Three Brothers</i>, to Port Underwood, whence they
+intended to reach the Wairau in their canoes. On the 1st of June the
+schooner and the canoes arrived at the port, and Rauparaha, with one
+hundred armed followers, at once proceeded to the house of Mr. Cave,
+who for seven or eight years had been employed there as cooper for the
+whaling stations, and with whom they were on the best of terms. To him
+they declared their intention of burning the surveyors' camps, and for
+that purpose they left for the Wairau the same evening, in eight
+canoes and a whaleboat. Next morning Rauparaha, with thirty of his
+people, appeared at Mr. Cotterell's camp on the Opawa River, and,
+after stripping his huts, burned the <i>toetoe</i> grass with which
+they were covered, as well as the survey pegs and ranging rods
+prepared from manuka sticks. They then assisted the surveyors to carry
+their belongings to the boats, and shipped them off to the <i>pa</i>
+at the mouth of the river. Their next proceeding was to paddle up the
+Wairau to Mr. Barnicoat's camp, which was situated on the river-bank
+close to the Ferry Bridge, and there they re-enacted their settled
+programme. In these proceedings Rauparaha was very firm, yet
+conciliatory. There was no exhibition of temper or violence towards
+persons or property. He simply gave the surveyors to understand that
+he would have none of them or their surveying there, and that the
+sooner they returned to Nelson the better he would like it;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_155" id="Ref_155" href="#Foot_155">[155]</a></span>
+and, to this end, he assisted them to remove their instruments and personal
+effects to a place of safety before demolishing their <i>whares</i>.
+In logical fashion, he argued that the <i>toetoe</i>, having grown
+upon the land, was his, that he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">{242}</a></span>
+entitled to do what he pleased
+with his own, and that so long as he did not interfere with any of the
+articles brought from England, he was committing no breach of justice.</p>
+
+<p>The instruments and baggage were placed in the boats and taken down to
+the <i>pa</i>, where they were safely landed and their owners treated
+with every consideration. But, before matters had reached this crisis,
+the contractors had despatched a joint letter to Mr. Tuckett, at
+Nelson, explaining the gravity of the situation, and asking him to
+come down at once and certify to the work already done. On receipt of
+this communication Mr. Tuckett, accompanied by Mr. Patchett, at once
+set out for the Wairau; and, on his arrival at the bar, on 3rd June,
+he was met by Mr. Cotterell, who briefly related all that had
+transpired since the arrival of Rauparaha, and the present position of
+natives and contractors respectively.</p>
+
+<p>So soon as he had grasped the situation, Mr. Tuckett hastily wrote a
+letter in pencil to Captain Wakefield, giving details, and intimating
+his intention of remaining on the scene until the Captain should make
+his pleasure known to him. This letter he entrusted to Mr. Cotterell,
+who at once left with his men in the boats for Nelson. The chief
+surveyor then set off up the Opawa River to the site of Mr.
+Cotterell's camp, where he pitched a tent and remained all night. In
+the morning he proceeded, in company with Mr. Patchett and Mr. Moline
+(Mr. Cotterell's assistant), to search for Mr. Parkinson, and, when
+they arrived at his hut, they found it in possession of a few natives,
+who had in no way interfered with it. The surveyor and his party not
+being there, Mr. Tuckett inquired for Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who
+he was informed were in the bush. He thereupon explained that he
+intended to go over to the Awatere, that he would be absent about
+three days, and that at the end of that time he desired to meet the
+chiefs at Mr. Cotterell's camp, where he would converse with them over
+the recent events. The natives gladly undertook to convey this message
+to Rauparaha, who, with Rangihaeata, a number
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">{243}</a></span>
+of their followers, and
+Mr. Parkinson's men, were awaiting them at the appointed place of
+meeting when the party returned from their explorations beyond the
+Vernon Hills. Here the expected conference took place, Rauparaha
+calmly but firmly explaining his reasons for interference. He claimed
+the Wairau as his own, but since there was a dispute about it, he had,
+on his return from Nelson, placed the matter in the hands of Mr.
+Spain, who had appointed a day on which to hear the case, Rauparaha on
+his part undertaking that in the meantime none of his people should
+enter upon the land. The day appointed by Mr. Spain had passed, and
+fearing that, if the survey was finished before he adjudicated upon
+their claim, they would lose their land, they had determined to stop
+the proceedings. Rauparaha expressed himself as being still willing to
+abide by Mr. Spain's decision, but the survey must cease and the
+Europeans must leave, until such time as that judgment should be
+given. Mr. Tuckett vainly endeavoured to point out the hardship this
+course would impose upon the contractors and their men, who were
+dependent upon their work for their living.  He also explained that he
+was expecting instructions from Captain Wakefield, and asked
+permission to remain until he heard from his superior.</p>
+
+<p>His request for delay was met by a command to remove his tent to the
+boat, and, upon his refusing to obey, Rangihaeata burst into a violent
+passion, and, in a torrent of invective, reminded Mr. Tuckett of the
+warning he had given him in Nelson, ironically remarking that, if he
+was so fond of the Wairau, he (Rangihaeata) would bury him there. This
+insulting outburst was treated with studied contempt by the chief
+surveyor, who quietly rebuked Rangihaeata for his ungentlemanly
+behaviour, telling him that he would not converse with him until he
+mended his manners. While this brief altercation was proceeding,
+Rauparaha had remained silent, although he was evidently exercising a
+restraining influence upon his comrade. But he now advanced, and once
+more politely requested Mr. Tuckett to have his tent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">{244}</a></span>
+removed; but that gentleman still persisted in his right
+to remain, whereupon Rauparaha, becoming impatient,
+ordered some of his own people to carry out his behest,
+and in a few minutes the tent was struck and stowed
+away in the boat. Mr. Tuckett then deemed it unwise
+to offer further objection, and, together with the two
+chiefs, he agreed to go back to the <i>pa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It had been Mr. Tuckett's intention to embark for Nelson next morning,
+but in the night a south-easterly gale came up and blew for three
+days, causing such a surf on the bar that Rauparaha advised him not to
+attempt to cross it. During this compulsory stay, the chief was most
+profuse in his expressions of goodwill towards the Europeans, and by
+his fawning and obsequious manner created a feeling of revulsion in
+the minds of the Englishmen. Rangihaeata, on the other hand, left them
+severely alone, seeking neither favours nor intercourse of any kind,
+and, save on one occasion, his isolation was complete. That exception
+arose from the fact that one of the men reported that he had lost a
+handkerchief and a billhook, which he had seen in the possession of
+Rangihaeata's people. Mr. Tuckett at once approached the chief, and
+asked to have the property returned. His reply was that he had some
+bad men as well as good ones amongst his followers, with the sarcastic
+addition that perhaps Mr. Tuckett was in the same position; but that,
+as he had come to the Wairau to defend his own and not to thieve, if
+the surveyor could identify the man, he would have his property back;
+failing that, he could have <i>utu</i> instead. The billhook was soon
+found, and here the incident ended; but the impression it made upon
+Mr. Tuckett was that, if Rangihaeata was more violent than Rauparaha,
+he was up to this point certainly the more noble of the two.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the weather cleared, the chief surveyor prepared to take
+his departure, but, as the boat would not carry both passengers and
+baggage, it was finally decided that Messrs. Barnicoat and Parkinson
+should remain, while Messrs. Tuckett, Patchett, and Moline proceeded to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">{245}</a></span>
+Nelson, although the chiefs raised no objection to the
+whole party remaining until additional boats could be
+brought, or until they could be conveyed to one of the
+whaling stations at Port Underwood. By noon on
+the following day Mr. Tuckett and his companions
+had got well into Blind Bay, when they observed
+the Government brig <i>Victoria</i> under full sail. A gun
+was fired from the ship as a signal to board her.
+On doing so, they learned that the vessel had just left
+Nelson, and was proceeding to the Wairau with the
+police magistrate (Mr. Thompson), Captain Wakefield
+(the Company's agent), Captain England, J.P., Mr.
+Cotterell, and some of the would-be proprietors of the
+proposed settlement, as well as the chief constable, Mr.
+Maling, and twenty-four labouring men who had been
+sworn-in as special constables. The agent informed the
+chief surveyor that, after Mr. Cotterell had arrived at
+Nelson and made his report, it had been decided to
+proceed as soon as possible to the scene of operations,
+and arrest the chiefs on a charge of arson, a warrant
+having been granted by Messrs. Thompson, P.M.,
+Captain Wakefield, Captain England, and A. McDonald,
+Esq., Justices of the Peace. Mr. Tuckett was naturally
+surprised and deeply grieved at this intelligence, and, in
+deprecation of the rash and impolitic step he informed
+Captain Wakefield of Rauparaha's interview with Mr.
+Spain, and of the chief's willingness to abide by the
+decision of the court. He further pointed out the great
+care observed by the natives not to interfere with any of
+the surveyors' property, or to injure the persons of any
+of their employees. He proceeded to argue that the men
+on board would not number one-half the strength of the
+natives then at the Wairau; and contrasted this numerical
+weakness with the threat made by the Captain at Nelson,
+that, if Rangihaeata interfered with the survey, he would
+come with three hundred constables to arrest him. His
+impression, therefore, was that the smallness of the party
+would inspire confidence in the minds of the natives
+rather than dread, and he strongly urged that, however
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">{246}</a></span>
+satisfied the agent might feel about the result, prudence
+demanded that they should appear on the plain with
+such a force as would completely overawe the Maoris,
+and to which there would be no humiliation in surrendering.
+In support of his views, he handed to Captain Wakefield
+a letter which he had received from the Rev. Mr.
+Ironside on the day that he had met Mr. Cotterell at the
+bar, in which the missionary, ripe in experience of Maori
+feeling, and knowing how tenaciously they clung to their
+rights in landed property, ventured the opinion that,
+unless this dispute was most diplomatically handled, the
+result might be extremely serious.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ironside, taking the missionary view of the Company's scheme of
+colonisation, expressed great anxiety lest a collision might arise out
+of the subject of the claims to land, which would eventually terminate
+in the extinction of the native tribes, as had been the case in other
+countries settled by Europeans. He urged upon Mr. Tuckett not to be
+precipitate in endeavouring to include the Wairau in the Nelson
+survey, informing him that the resident natives and Rauparaha were at
+issue about the land, to such an extent that the former, if left to
+themselves, would probably withdraw from the Wairau, and treat with
+the Nelson agent for the sale of it.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Wakefield expressed himself deeply thankful for the counsel
+contained in Mr. Ironside's letter, and also for the advice tendered
+by Mr. Tuckett, with whose whole conduct he entirely acquiesced. So
+impressed was he with the force of the chief surveyor's arguments that
+he at once went into the cabin where Mr. Thompson was, and requested
+him to read Mr. Ironside's letter, stating that from it and other
+considerations urged by Mr. Tuckett he had come to the conclusion that
+it would be wiser to return to Nelson. Mr. Thompson was totally averse
+to turning back. He begrudged missing the opportunity of giving the
+natives what he called "a prestige for the law," and of showing the
+Government the correct way to deal with such troublesome fellows. At
+the same time he expressed the opinion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">{247}</a></span>
+that, if the authorities at Wellington had dealt with
+these chiefs as he had dealt with Ekawa at Massacre Bay,
+they would long ago have ceased to give annoyance. He
+also stated that, if they returned at that stage, they would
+simply be laughed at by the settlers, and he was not
+going to put himself in that undignified position. In
+his determination to go on Mr. Thompson was seconded
+by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. Richardson), who begged
+that the expedition might not be given up, as he considered
+it was "only a lark"; and, in deference to the aggressive
+mood of the magistrate and the jocular anticipations of
+the lawyer, Captain Wakefield surrendered his better
+judgment. Mr. Tuckett, still apprehensive that disastrous
+consequences would follow if these unwise counsels
+prevailed, earnestly remonstrated with Mr. Thompson,
+taking up the attitude that he was exceeding his rights in
+proceeding to execute his warrant with an armed force.
+The magistrate admitted the correctness of Mr. Tuckett's
+premises, but hotly resented the assumption that he intended
+to use the force at all. He explained that he was
+not sure that he would land the men. Certainly he
+would not give out the arms or take the force into the
+presence of the natives until he had first exhausted every
+plausible means of getting the chiefs to submit themselves
+to trial on board the brig. Should they refuse to
+do so, which he did not expect, then he would investigate
+the charge on the spot, and afterwards decide whether
+he should call in the aid of the armed party or not.
+Had this plan of operations been strictly observed, much
+that afterwards happened might have been averted; but
+in no single particular did the magistrate follow his
+promised line of action, for as soon as the vessel arrived
+at Cloudy Bay, the men were supplied with fire-arms and
+landed at the mouth of the Wairau River.</p>
+
+<p>On seeing the Government brig enter the bay, the Maoris had abandoned
+the old <i>pa</i> at the bar and retired further up the plain. Next
+morning the magistrate's band of special constables was ordered to get
+ready and go in pursuit. Perceiving that his worst fears were likely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">{248}</a></span>
+to be realised, and that the magistrate would not go
+without the armed force, Mr. Tuckett made a final appeal
+to Captain Wakefield, and offered to go himself and
+see Rauparaha, in company with the chief constable
+and the interpreter, if only the men bearing arms were
+allowed to remain where they were. To this suggestion
+the Captain readily agreed, and at once put the proposal
+before Mr. Thompson, who also consented, and ordered
+the chief constable to prepare himself for the journey;
+but when Mr. Maling announced himself ready to go,
+he presented such an armour-plated appearance that the
+chief surveyor absolutely refused to be seen in his
+company. He wore a cutlass at his side, a brace of
+pistols and a pair of handcuffs in his belt, while in his
+hand he carried a pair of heavy leg-irons. How he
+proposed to get Rauparaha down to the bar when he
+was both handcuffed and hobbled is not very clear,
+nor did he have time to explain. Mr. Tuckett at once
+drew attention to his accoutrements, and pointed out
+that the leg-irons would have an especially exasperating
+effect upon the natives; while, if he insisted upon
+carrying pistols, it would at least be judicious to conceal
+them, and so avoid the appearance of intimidation. The
+magistrate at once ordered that the irons should be
+discarded, but also intimated that he had changed his
+mind as to the mode of procedure, and that he had
+now determined that the whole force should participate
+in the arrest, a decision from which no amount of
+persuasion could induce him to deviate.</p>
+
+<p>At the outset an attempt was made to ascend the river in boats, but as
+the tide was on the ebb and the wind unfavourable, the travelling was
+both slow and laborious, and before they had proceeded very far, the
+boats were abandoned, and the party, except Mr. Cotterell and his men,
+who remained in a whaleboat, commenced the march along a survey track
+which ran parallel with the river. By this time the ardour of the men
+had considerably cooled; the bitter cold night experienced at the bar
+had helped to extinguish their enthusiasm, and now
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">{249}</a></span>
+the keen morning wind and bad walking through the
+long wet grass completely dissipated all idea that the
+affair was to be regarded in the light of a pleasure trip.
+During the course of the journey, which was both a
+slow and irritating one, Captain Wakefield expressed the
+opinion that the natives were more inclined for trade
+than for war, and that the prospect of their attempting to
+fight in the event of a forcible arrest being made was
+very small. In reply to this, Mr. Tuckett still adhered to
+his former opinion that the Maoris would most certainly
+offer resistance if the armed force was taken into their
+presence. While this discussion was going on, the party
+reached the bend in the river at the back of Grovetown,
+where they met a number of resident natives, who, in
+consequence of their differences with Rauparaha, were
+quitting the Wairau and returning to Port Underwood.
+Amongst them were Puaha, a lad named Rore (who
+afterwards became the honoured and respected chief
+of the Wairau natives), his father, and a few other Maoris
+cutting timber in the bush. Of these they inquired the
+whereabouts of Rauparaha, and were informed that he
+was a few miles further up the valley, at the Tua Marina
+stream. Night coming on, they decided to camp in the
+Tua Mautine wood, but took the precaution to send
+Puaha forward to acquaint Rauparaha with the nature of
+their visit; and he was followed by the remainder of the
+natives at a later hour. Mr. Thompson was careful to
+explain to Puaha that he had not come to interfere with
+him; but it was noticed that his countenance bore a
+most anxious and concerned expression, and in the brief
+interview which he had with the magistrate, he not only
+advised, but earnestly entreated him not to precipitate
+a quarrel by taking the armed men into the presence
+of Rauparaha and his followers. If he did so, it would
+be impossible to convince them that he had not come
+for the purpose of shedding blood. The pained look
+that fell upon the face of Puaha when he realised the
+magistrate's intentions made a deep impression upon
+Captain Wakefield, and he several times made reference
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">{250}</a></span>
+to it. Even when waking from his sleep in the night,
+he spoke of the fact as though he had a gloomy
+presentiment that all would not be well on the morrow.
+Mr. Thompson did not appear to be troubled with any
+such forebodings; his concern was that he would not
+have the opportunity of arresting the chiefs, who would
+probably make good their escape as soon as Puaha
+conveyed his message to them. He endeavoured to
+make light of the agent's fears by explaining that Puaha's
+troubled looks were due to the conflict between the
+dictates of his barbarous nature and the influence of
+his Christian teaching, which, under the circumstances,
+would naturally burn within him&mdash;a course of reasoning
+that Captain Wakefield seemed to cheerfully accept.</p>
+
+<p>At dawn next morning,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_156" id="Ref_156" href="#Foot_156">[156]</a></span>
+the camp of Te Rauparaha was easily located
+by the smoke rising through the forest trees at the mouth of the
+Waitohi Valley, about four miles away. The magistrate then mustered
+his constables, and served out to each man eighteen rounds of ball
+cartridge. All told, they numbered forty men, bearing muskets,
+bayonets, and cutlasses, besides ten or twelve gentlemen who were
+without arms, the chief surveyor and Mr. Cotterell being members of
+the Society of Friends, and refusing, in accordance with their
+religious principles, to carry them. After a short march across the
+plain through the fern and <i>toetoe</i>, they arrived at the foot of
+the Tua Marina hills, and there they halted, having, during the course
+of the journey, been cautioned not to fire unless ordered to do so.</p>
+
+<p>The constitution of the arresting party was not calculated to ensure
+success in the event of resistance on the part of the Maoris. They
+were untrained and without discipline. Some of them were even
+unwilling participants in the expedition, for they had been coerced
+into coming by the threat that they would lose their employment in the
+service of the Company if they refused to assist in the arrest of the
+chiefs. Their arms were old-fashioned and not in the best of repair;
+there was a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">{251}</a></span>
+total lack of organisation, and apparently no common
+understanding as to who was in authority. Under these
+circumstances, the result could scarcely have been
+different, regard being had to the character of the men
+with whom they had to deal.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone sitting on the hill-side even now can, without the aid of a
+vivid imagination, picture the animated scene which unfolded itself on
+that bright June morning. What are now grass paddocks were flats, more
+or less covered with native scrub. Of what was then dense bush only a
+few detached fragments now remain, but otherwise the physical features
+of the landscape are but little changed. The Maoris, when they first
+observed the Europeans, were squatting around their camp-fires on the
+western side of the Tua Marina stream. They immediately hailed them
+and inquired if they intended to fight. Mr. Thompson answered in the
+negative, and, after explaining the purpose for which he had come,
+asked the natives to place a canoe across the stream that he might
+come over and talk the more freely to them. Rauparaha consented to
+this course, but stipulated that the armed men should not be allowed
+to cross over; and, the magistrate agreeing to this condition, the
+special constables were left in charge of Captain England and Mr.
+Howard, who had instructions to act if called upon. He himself,
+accompanied by Captain Wakefield, Mr. Patchett, Mr. Tuckett, Mr.
+Cotterell and Mr. Brooks,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_157" id="Ref_157" href="#Foot_157">[157]</a></span>
+the interpreter, crossed over in the
+canoe, which was immediately drawn back again alongside the bank by a
+native nicknamed Piccawarro (big-fellow), to prevent any surprise from
+the force on the other side of the stream. When the magistrate walked
+into the presence of the natives, he observed that they numbered about
+ninety men and thirty-five women and children; but, as an indication
+of their peaceful intentions, they had placed in the midst of their
+group three women, the wives of Rauparaha, Rangihaeata,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">{252}</a></span>
+and Puaha, while the party of resident natives sat on
+one side, and the immediate followers of Rauparaha
+on the other. The noble and dignified Puaha stood
+in the centre with a Bible in his hand, reading
+from it select passages, and exhorting both parties to
+peace, while the natives sitting around chanted the
+usual welcome, <i>Haere-mai, Haere-mai</i>. Rangihaeata lay
+concealed behind some bushes, but Rauparaha came forward
+frankly when Mr. Thompson inquired for him,
+saying "Here am I," and offered to shake hands with the
+strangers. But this courtesy was declined by the magistrate,
+who pushed the chief's hand away, and it was left
+to Mr. Tuckett and Mr. Cotterell to perform the politeness
+of a friendly greeting.</p>
+
+<p>In reply to Rauparaha's inquiry as to what had brought them there, Mr.
+Thompson proceeded to explain to him, through Brooks, the interpreter,
+that he was their prisoner. Rauparaha disdainfully replied that it
+would be time enough to indulge in such talk when Mr. Spain had made
+his inquiry about the land. They then strove to make him understand
+that, as this case had nothing to do with the land, but was a charge
+of arson, it did not come within the province of Mr. Spain to inquire
+into it, but that the charge must be heard on the brig. Rauparaha
+declared that he had not destroyed any European property, in proof of
+which he appealed to Mr. Cotterell, who admitted the truth of his
+assertion, and therefore he would not go on board the brig, but he was
+quite willing that the matter should be adjudicated upon there and
+then, and, provided the compensation demanded was not excessive, he
+would be prepared to pay rather than there should be any ill-feeling
+between the two races. Thereupon he was told that, if he would not go
+voluntarily he must be taken by force, and a pair of handcuffs were
+produced to impress him with the sincerity of this threat. His
+chieftain blood was aroused by this insult; he indignantly dared them
+to try to imprison his hands in such implements and bind him like a
+slave, but begged for longer time to talk
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">{253}</a></span>
+the matter over. The magistrate, who was now rapidly
+losing his temper, began to stamp and rave, and scorning
+the need for further argument, desired the interpreter to
+finally ask Rauparaha to say whether he would go on
+board the brig or not; and, upon his still firmly refusing
+to do so, Mr. Thompson turned to Brooks and exclaimed,
+with a violent gesture in the direction of the opposite bank,
+"Then tell him there are the armed party; they will fire
+on them all." A native from the Bay of Islands who was
+present amongst Rauparaha's people, and who understood
+a smattering of English, told those of Rauparaha's party
+that an order to fire had been given, and sixteen of them
+at once sprang to their feet, and, presenting their muskets
+at the magistrate, awaited the order from their chief to
+fire. The mistaken impression under which this hostile
+display had been made was at once removed by the
+chief surveyor and Mr. Patchett, who walked over to them
+and explained that only a threat, and not an order, to fire
+had been given, and on this assurance they immediately
+subsided to their seats on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The altercation between Mr. Thompson and Rauparaha still proceeded.
+The former produced his warrant, which he told the chief was the
+"book-a-book" of the Queen "to make a tie," and that he was the Queen,
+again adding, in high and excited tones, stamping his foot the while,
+that if Rauparaha did not consent to surrender himself, he would order
+the Europeans to fire on them. This was quickly interpreted to the
+armed natives by the stranger from the Bay of Islands, and they
+instantly sprang to their feet and pointed their muskets at Mr.
+Thompson and his companions, as before. At this point, the peace-making Puaha<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_158" id="Ref_158" href="#Foot_158">[158]</a></span>
+stepped forward
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">{254}</a></span>
+with his Testament in his hand and said, "Don't fight,
+don't fight! This book says it is sinful to fight. The
+land has been made good by the preaching of the missionaries.
+Don't make it bad again." In this way he
+strove to reason with Mr. Thompson, but the latter in his
+frenzy and rage pushed the native aside, and angrily
+called out for Rangihaeata to come forward. That chief,
+on hearing his name, came from behind the bushes which
+concealed him, and, leaping into the midst of the throng,
+began to brandish his hatchet in dangerous proximity to
+the magistrate's head, meanwhile upbraiding him in a
+most violent manner. "What do you want with Rangihaeata
+that you come here to bind him? Do I go to
+Port Jackson or to Europe to steal your lands? Have I
+burned your house? Have I destroyed tents or anything
+belonging to you?" Such were the pertinent inquiries
+made by the angry chief; and, as it was quite evident
+from his flashing eyes and bitter tones that he was in no
+mood to be trifled with, Mr. Patchett appealed to the
+chief surveyor to interfere, "otherwise," he said, "we shall
+all be murdered." Rauparaha, seeing that his companion's
+manner was not likely to improve matters, ordered him to
+retire and leave the settlement of the matter to Puaha and
+himself, at the same time leading Rangihaeata's lame
+wife, Te Rongo, to him, so that she might be under his
+protection. Mr. Tuckett then seized the opportunity of
+pointing out to Captain Wakefield that, in the event of
+Rangihaeata's temper getting the better of him, they
+would be completely at the mercy of the natives, seeing
+that their retreat had been cut off by the removal
+of the canoe. After a brief consultation with Puaha, they
+agreed that it would be wiser to restore the means of
+communication between themselves and their party on
+the other side of the stream. Captain Wakefield, taking
+the initiative, jumped into the canoe, and with the aid of
+a pole shoved the bow down the stream until he found a
+convenient landing-place on the other side. While this
+movement was in progress, Mr. Thompson<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_159" id="Ref_159" href="#Foot_159">[159]</a></span>
+had made
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">{255}</a></span>
+another attempt to place the handcuffs upon Rauparaha's
+wrists. Just at that moment, when the chief had indignantly
+wrested his hand from the magistrate's grasp, and
+was bitterly protesting against the conduct of the Queen's
+officers, Captain Wakefield stepped on to the opposite
+bank of the creek, and, noticing a threatening movement
+towards Mr. Thompson on the part of the natives, in a
+loud voice gave the command, "Men, forward; Englishmen,
+forward!" The company at once obeyed, and four
+of the men who were in the front, Morgan, Clanzey, Ratcliffe
+and Tyrrell, jumped into the canoe for the purpose
+of crossing over to assist Mr. Thompson. Almost
+simultaneously the latter turned and entered the canoe
+at the other end, with the result that she was nearly
+capsized. A momentary confusion ensued, during which
+one of the Englishmen, in striving to get in front of his
+companions on the bank, tripped and fell, and in the fall
+his gun was accidentally discharged. That was the fatal
+crisis, for it turned what had hitherto been only stirring
+drama into fearful tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>The natives had now no doubt that the Europeans had come to fight, and
+Te Rauparaha, believing death to be imminent, turned, and, stretching
+his arms heavenward, exclaimed, "<i>Hei kona e te ra, hei kona e te ao
+marama&mdash;haere mai e te po, haere mai e te mate</i>" (Farewell, O sun,
+farewell, thou world of light; come on, O night, come on, O death).
+This was a cry which a chief would only utter in a situation of
+deepest stress, and no Maori loyal to his leader would refuse to obey
+the call, even though it should cost him his life. The natives
+therefore briskly returned the fire, the first volley being fatal to
+Tyrrell, who was shot in the throat. Clanzey and Ratcliffe were also
+shot by the first discharge of musketry,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">{256}</a></span>
+and their bodies fell into the water and sank to the bottom.
+The Englishmen returned volley for volley, and, in the
+midst of the general fusilade, Mr. Thompson and his
+party passed safely over in the canoe. Mr. Tuckett was
+the last to leave the bank on which the natives were,
+which he did by entering the stream, and, with one hand
+on the canoe, pulling himself through the water. At this
+stage of the fight the natives might easily have killed
+every one of the leading Europeans; for, when the latter
+started to cross the stream, the muzzles of the native guns
+were no more than a few yards away from them. The
+fact that they were not shot must have been due to some
+chivalrous sentiment on the part of the natives, who, seeing
+them unarmed, honourably abstained from attacking
+them. For some ten minutes after crossing the creek,
+Mr. Tuckett stood no more than twenty yards away, fully
+exposed to the fire that was being kept up by the natives
+and fourteen or fifteen of the European rank and file.
+Beside him stood Messrs. Barnicoat, Cotterell, Richardson,
+Patchett, and Maling. The two latter were shot
+almost at the same moment. Mr. Richardson bent over
+Mr. Patchett and inquired if he was hurt, to which he
+replied, "I am mortally wounded&mdash;I am mortally
+wounded; you can do no good for me; make your
+escape."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 400px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="wairau" id="wairau">
+  <img width="400" height="544" alt="wairau" src="images/287-wairau.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU.<br />
+                      <i>Photo by W. Macey.</i></p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The bullets now began to rain down upon them thick and fast. As
+several of the labourers had fallen in the vicinity, including
+Northam, Smith, and Burton, Mr. Tuckett and his friends retired to the
+foot of the ridge, whither the other officers had gone with a portion
+of the men to consult as to the best course to pursue. They decided to
+retreat up the hill, and called to Mr. Tuckett and the rest of the
+party to follow them. This act of mistaken generalship cost them dear,
+for up to that time their fire had kept the natives penned up on the
+other side of the stream. But the moment they observed the Europeans
+falling back, they dashed into the water, and, carrying their guns
+above their heads to keep them dry, crossed over and took possession
+of the trees which grew on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">{257}</a></span>
+opposite edge. Secure within this cover, they opened a
+galling fire upon the Europeans, who were now hopelessly
+exposed upon the face of the fern-clad hill.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Thompson did his utmost to steady the party by exclaiming, "For
+God's sake, men, keep together!" But his appeals were for the most
+part disregarded, not more than a third of the men remaining with
+their leaders, the rest retreating up the ridge and firing haphazard
+as they went. Captain Wakefield's attempts to instil something like
+discipline into the men were likewise frustrated by some panic-stricken
+individual rushing up and shouting out, "Run for your lives, lads,
+run!"&mdash;an injunction which they were not slow to obey. In an instant
+all semblance of organisation had disappeared. Time after time a few
+men were got together, but the majority were always utterly beyond
+control. On the last partial rally Captain Wakefield and Warrant
+Officer Howard ordered the men to fix bayonets and charge the natives;
+but on one of the men (Richard Painter), who had been in the
+artillery, pointing out that there was no one visible to charge at,
+the idea was abandoned. The natives were still maintaining a steady
+fire, and a protest on the part of the artilleryman, who declined to
+remain where he was "and be shot down like a crow," led to a further
+retreat up the hill-side. On the second brow of the hill they met Mr.
+Cotterell, who was sitting down with a double-barrelled gun at his
+side. At the commencement of the quarrel he had been unarmed, but he
+had now seized this weapon in self-defence. He appeared deeply
+distressed at what had occurred, and expressed his intention of
+quitting the scene; but he was dissuaded from this course by Captain
+Wakefield, who, addressing him in most earnest tones, said, "For God's
+sake, Mr. Cotterell, don't attempt to run away; you are sure to be
+shot if you do." Mr. Cotterell therefore remained with the party, only
+remarking to Painter, one of his own men, "This is bad work, Dick."</p>
+
+<p>Being now out of range of the native fire, a council of war was held
+of such of the party as could be got
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">{258}</a></span>
+together, and finally it was decided that Captain England
+and Mr. Howard should bear a flag of truce to the
+natives, and endeavour to settle the dispute by negotiation.
+A white handkerchief was accordingly fixed on a
+stick, and, with this fluttering in the breeze, the two
+officers started towards the wood. As an indication of
+their sincerity in desiring to relinquish fighting, Captain
+Wakefield ordered all those who were with him to lay
+their arms on the ground, and the natives, seeming fully
+to appreciate the nature of the advances that were being
+made to them, ceased firing, and a number of them left
+their muskets behind the trees and came out to meet the
+bearers of the flag. Captain England and his comrade
+had almost reached the wood, when some of the Englishmen
+who had halted much higher up the hill than
+Captain Wakefield, seeing the Maoris emerging from the
+bush, commenced to fire upon them, notwithstanding
+that they had seen the flag of truce, as well as their companions
+laying down their arms. Regarding this as a
+dastardly act of treachery, the Maoris beat a hasty retreat
+into the bush, and reopened a rapid fire upon the
+Englishmen, whereupon Captain England and Mr.
+Howard ran back to the hill, and reached the spot from
+which they had started, uninjured by the native bullets.</p>
+
+<p>This attempt at conciliation having failed through the folly of their
+own people, the magistrate and Captain Wakefield decided to go further
+up the hill and meet those who were in advance of them, to induce
+them, if possible, to act in concert with the rest. In this they were
+no more successful than before, for no sooner did the one section
+begin to advance than the other began to retreat. Seeing that this
+must go on indefinitely, Mr. Tuckett endeavoured to persuade Captain
+Wakefield that their best hope of reaching the beach and getting back
+to the brig was to abandon the ridge which they were climbing, and
+strike down into the plain. Although this advice was twice pressed on
+Wakefield, he took no notice of it, and Mr. Tuckett thereupon, calling
+to Mr. Barnicoat and a labourer named Gay to follow him, descended in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">{259}</a></span>
+an oblique direction on to the plain below. For a
+moment Mr. Cotterell hesitated which course to take, but
+finally decided to go up the spur with the rest, and this
+decision cost him his life. When Captain Wakefield and
+his party began their last retreat, most of them left their
+muskets lying on the brow of the hill, and were therefore
+quite defenceless; but the Maoris kept up a running fire
+as they gradually crept up the side of the range. As they
+approached the summit of the first knoll, Mr. Cotterell
+stopped and surrendered himself when the natives
+reached him, calling out, "Enough, enough! that will
+do the fight," in the hope of assuring them that the
+Europeans wanted peace. But he was immediately
+struck down and his body thrown into a manuka bush.
+Captain Wakefield followed his example by surrendering
+a few minutes later, as did also Captain England, Messrs.
+Richardson, Howard, Brooks, Cropper, McGregor, and
+the magistrate. A few of the younger natives were in the
+van of the pursuit, and these held the prisoners in hand
+until the arrival of Rauparaha, whom they had outstripped.
+At first gold was offered as ransom, and it
+seemed as if the feud would end without more bloodshed,
+for the chief had accepted the assurances of Captain
+Wakefield that the shooting had been a mistake, and had
+shaken hands with them all. But Rangihaeata, who had
+killed the wounded as he found them lying on the hillside,
+panting with haste and anger, rushed up and called
+out to Rauparaha, "What are you doing? Your
+daughter Te Rongo<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_160" id="Ref_160" href="#Foot_160">[160]</a></span>
+is dead. What are you doing, I say?"</p>
+
+<p>Scorning the acceptance of gold, he then fiercely demanded
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">{260}</a></span>
+the lives of the principal Europeans as the only
+<i>utu</i> that would compensate him for the loss of his wife,
+exclaiming in impassioned tones, "We are sure to be
+killed for this some day. The white people will take
+<i>utu</i>; let us then have some better blood than that of
+these <i>tutua</i> (common men). We are chiefs; let us kill
+the chiefs, and take <i>utu</i> for ourselves beforehand." To
+this Rauparaha was at first reluctant to agree, and his
+objections were well supported by Puaha and the other
+Christian natives; but he felt that, in view of Te Ronga's
+death, the demand was a reasonable one, and he at
+length yielded to the powerful appeal of his lieutenant,
+and delivered the unfortunate colonists over to their fate.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Mr. Thompson seemed, for the first time, to be
+apprehensive of serious consequences attending his conduct, and he
+implored Rauparaha to save their lives. But that chief haughtily
+answered, "Did I not warn you how it would be? A little while ago I
+wished to talk with you in a friendly manner, and you would not; now
+you say 'Save me.' I will not save you." The whole party then retired
+a little lower down the hill, and there the massacre commenced.
+Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were killed by Te Oru,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_161" id="Ref_161" href="#Foot_161">[161]</a></span>
+a son of Te Ahuta, the first native who fell in the fight, as a retribution
+for the death of his father. Brooks, the interpreter, was struck down
+by Rangihaeata and despatched by the slaves, which would account for
+the mangled condition in which his body was found by the burial party
+from Port Underwood. The rest of the slaughter, according to native
+accounts, was conducted mainly by Rangihaeata. His method of procedure
+was to glide silently behind the victims while they were standing
+amongst the crowd of natives and brain them with a single blow of his
+tomahawk. The peculiar part of the tragedy was that none of the
+Englishmen, except Captain Wakefield, made the slightest resistance,
+and even he was checked by Mr.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">{261}</a></span>
+Howard exclaiming, "For God's sake, sir, do nothing
+rash!" Perhaps their ignorance of the native language
+prevented them from understanding all that was passing
+around them until they received the fatal blow. But there
+was no struggle, no cries, except from the native women,
+led by Puaha's wife, who pleaded with the men to "save
+some of the <i>rangatiras</i>, if only to say they had saved
+some." No Englishman who survived actually saw the
+massacre, and therefore it is impossible to describe the
+exact method of its execution; but the colonists to all
+appearances met their fate with the greatest equanimity.
+George Bampton, who had concealed himself amongst
+the fern only a few yards from the spot where the
+tragedy was enacted, in giving evidence at Nelson a
+few days after the event, deposed that "he heard neither
+cries nor screaming, but merely the sound of beating
+or chopping, which he supposed at the time to be natives
+tomahawking the white people."</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with Rauparaha's express orders, none of the dead bodies
+were mutilated or stripped, although Captain Wakefield's watch was
+taken by Rangihaeata and buried with Te Rongo, while one native
+furnished himself with a pair of white gloves and another with a pair
+of silver-mounted pistols. After burying their own dead in the Waitohi
+Valley, the two chiefs, with their followers, came down to the mouth
+of the Wairau River, bringing with them their own canoes and the
+whaleboat which had been taken up by Mr. Cotterell and his men. In
+these they went first to Robin Hood Bay, and then to Te Awaiti, in
+Tory Channel, where they remained a few days, finally crossing the
+Strait to Mana and Otaki, there to await developments.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the skirmishing began, a Sydney merchant named Ferguson,
+who had been a passenger in the brig to Nelson, and had accompanied
+her to the Wairau under the impression that he would have a pleasant
+outing, had taken one of the wounded men, Gapper, down to the river
+where the boats had been left that morning, and, with him and the
+boatman who had been stationed in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">{262}</a></span>
+charge, had paddled down the river to the bar, and
+reached the brig that afternoon. A number of the men
+had also gone down the Waitohi Valley, which was then
+densely bushed, and by this means had evaded pursuit
+until they could return to Nelson by the overland route.
+Others, again, who had broken away from the main body
+had made for the sea, so that before Mr. Tuckett and his
+two companions had proceeded very far they were joined
+by eight of the original party, one of whom, John
+Bumforth, was badly wounded in the shoulder. Mr.
+Tuckett first proposed that they should divide into two
+parties, the one to proceed to the bar and the other to
+the vicinity of Port Underwood, thinking that by this
+means the chances of some of them reaching the brig
+would be increased. But the men stoutly refused to
+separate, and the chief surveyor then decided to proceed
+to the corner of Cloudy Bay nearest the port, where
+luckily they found one of Mr. Dougherty's fully equipped
+whaleboats riding in the bay a few chains off. They
+hailed the boatmen, and explained that they wished to be
+taken to the brig, which was anchored some seven or
+eight miles away; but owing to the heavy swell that was
+rolling into the bay at the time, and the large number of
+the party, there was the greatest difficulty in persuading
+the whalers to comply with the request. Even after the
+danger of embarking had been overcome, the headsman
+had almost made up his mind not to risk the voyage to
+the brig, but to land the party at Port Underwood. But
+fortune still favoured the fugitives, for at this moment
+another boat's crew, who had been watching their
+movements, imagining that they had sighted a whale,
+came out in pursuit, and the two boats raced for the
+brig, which was almost reached before the pursuing crew
+discovered the true position of affairs. Up to this point
+the whalers had not been informed why Mr. Tuckett and
+his friends desired to get on board the brig, but they
+were now told that a <i>fracas</i> had occurred between the
+Europeans and the natives, that the leaders of the party
+were Rauparaha's prisoners; and a promise (that was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">{263}</a></span>
+never fulfilled) was extracted from the boatmen that they
+would convey the intelligence to the other settlers at the
+port, and prepare them to act as they might think best
+under the circumstances. The captain of the brig then
+sent his boats to search the shore, in the hope that other
+fugitives might have reached the beach; but no one was
+seen, and no unusual circumstance was noted except the
+burning of a large fire at the mouth of the river, which
+had been lit for some purpose by the natives. The
+brig then weighed anchor and sailed for Wellington,
+the captain, whose inclination was to enter Port Underwood,
+adopting this course at the earnest solicitation of
+Mr. Tuckett, who believed that, if assistance was necessary,
+it could be more easily obtained from the larger
+centre of population.</p>
+
+<p>When the news of what had happened spread through the infant
+settlement early next morning, the excitement ran wild and high, and
+the settlers, believing that at the worst Captain Wakefield and his
+friends were only prisoners in the hands of the natives, immediately
+organised a band of volunteers to effect their forcible rescue. Their
+departure was, however, delayed by a gale, which had the effect of
+making most of the volunteers seasick; and, by the time the storm had
+abated, wiser counsels prevailed, and it was decided that only a
+quorum of magistrates and Dr. Dorset, the surgeon of the settlement,
+should proceed to the scene, the impression having gained ground that
+intercession was more likely to prevail with the Maoris than the
+presence of an armed force. The brig left Wellington for Cloudy Bay
+that night, and it was when she arrived at Port Underwood that Colonel
+Wakefield and Mr. Tuckett learned for the first time the appalling
+nature of the tragedy which had been enacted. They also learned that
+the natives, both resident and visiting, had hurriedly left the
+Wairau, believing that retaliatory measures would speedily be taken
+against them.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether about twenty-seven of the arresting party had managed to
+elude the pursuit of Rangihaeata's warriors. After undergoing intense
+privations, some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">{264}</a></span>
+wandered back to Nelson, but most of them went to
+Port Underwood, a few suffering from wounds, and all
+from protracted hunger and exposure. The first to
+arrive were Morgan and Morrison, who reached Ocean
+Bay with their trousers worn to their knees, and they
+were shortly followed by others who were in no better
+plight. Their wants and wounds were attended to by
+Mrs. Dougherty, who ministered to them with the kindest
+of care, and it was by these few survivors that the
+whalers were first apprised of the catastrophe. The
+Rev. Mr. Ironside had heard vague rumours about impending
+trouble between the chiefs and the Government;
+but, as he had not seen the arrival of the brig, he paid
+no heed to them until the following Sunday, when, in
+the midst of a heavy rain-storm, he noticed a Maori
+swiftly paddling his canoe up the bay. Knowing that
+a native would only be out on such a day under exceptional
+circumstances, Mr. Ironside sent one of his
+mission-boys to inquire. The boy did not return, which
+only increased the anxiety, and later on, when a few
+particulars did reach the station, they were only sufficient
+to indicate that a collision had taken place, without any
+details. That night the missionary and his wife retired
+to rest a prey to harrowing suspense.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the storm had increased to a perfect hurricane, and as it
+was impossible to launch a boat, they could do nothing but wait. By
+Tuesday the weather had moderated, and a boat's crew of whalers took
+Mr. Ironside down to Ocean Bay, where the two chiefs and their
+exultant followers had arrived. From them the whole story was gleaned,
+and by them the tragedy was justified; "for," said Te Rangihaeata,
+"they killed my wife, Te Rongo, and they did not punish the murderer
+of Kuika."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_162" id="Ref_162" href="#Foot_162">[162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ironside at once asked permission to go and bury
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">{265}</a></span>
+the dead, whereupon the fiery Rangihaeata ejaculated,
+"What do you want to go for? Better leave them to the
+wild pigs. But you can go if you like." Still the gale
+was too severe to admit of venturing across the twelve
+miles of open sea; but so anxious had they all become,
+that next morning a start was once more made from
+Ngakuta, and at the imminent risk of their lives the
+brave crew pulled their boat across the stormy bar into
+the river. On arriving at Tua Marina, Mr. Ironside and
+his party found that all the bodies had been left as
+Rauparaha had directed&mdash;unmutilated. The watch of
+Captain Wakefield was gone, one of the pistols, which he
+had evidently attempted to fire, had been laid across his
+throat in compliance with Maori custom, and a piece of
+"damper," in savage derision, had been placed under his
+head. The body of Brooks, the interpreter, was found to
+be in the most mangled condition, the others apparently
+only having received the one final and decisive blow,
+when they were struck down by the enraged Rangihaeata.
+Five bodies were discovered in the bush close to the
+creek, and were there interred with the benefits of
+Christian burial, while those who were slain on the brow
+of the hill, thirteen in number, were buried close by with
+similar rites. This fatiguing work had been almost completed
+by the devoted missionary and his band of native
+helpers when Colonel Wakefield, with the party from the
+brig, arrived to assist. On an extended search being
+made by the combined parties, one more body was
+found at the point where the road turns into the Waitohi
+Valley, and it was buried where it lay. Probably it was
+that of Isaac Smith, who had either sought to escape after
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">{266}</a></span>
+being mortally wounded, and had died in the attempt, or
+had been overtaken in his flight and killed where he was
+found. Mr. Patchett was buried in a single grave on the
+spot where he fell, and Tyrrell and Northam were
+interred together close beside him.</p>
+
+<p>In recognition of the kindly and humane service rendered by Mr.
+Ironside during this critical and anxious period, the Nelson settlers
+presented him with a testimonial in the shape of a handsome edition of
+the Bible, bound in three volumes. The gift was gracefully
+acknowledged by the reverend gentleman in a letter to Mr. Domett,
+dated from Wellington on February 20, 1845.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the return of the party to Port Underwood,
+Messrs. Spain and McDonough (the magistrate at Wellington)
+set about collecting, with all possible speed, all
+available information concerning the disaster from those
+of both races who had been present, and who had now
+arrived at the settlement. Amongst those whose depositions
+were taken were two Maori boys, who had both
+been wounded, and were being taken care of by female
+relatives. Their story was a general corroboration of the
+Maori version, and they were both unanimous in declaring
+that, when the Europeans were overtaken on the
+brow of the hill, Puaha, who was one of the first to reach
+them, offered them his hand and did all in his power to
+obviate further bloodshed by pointing out that he had
+counted the slain, and, as both sides had exactly the
+same number shot, there was no need for further <i>utu</i>.
+In this view Rauparaha at first concurred, but he finally
+gave way before the vehement protestations of Rangihaeata,
+who reminded him in violent tones of his duty to
+his dead relative, Te Rongo. He had then allowed his
+enraged lieutenant to work his wicked will, which Puaha
+and his people, being unarmed, were powerless to prevent.
+At the conclusion of his inquiry, Mr. Spain left for
+Wellington, taking the wounded with him; and those of
+the survivors who had escaped uninjured proceeded back
+to Nelson, some in the boats and some overland.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">{267}</a></span>
+Before leaving the port Mr. Tuckett was authorised by
+Colonel Wakefield to act as agent for the settlement until
+the pleasure of the New Zealand Company should be
+known. His journey home was rather an adventurous one,
+as he had a very narrow escape of being intercepted by
+the natives when sailing through the French Pass. Some
+of his companions who were venturesome enough to call
+in at Tory Channel, were detained there for a week by
+the natives, but were ultimately permitted to take their
+departure unharmed.</p>
+
+<p>The body of Mr. Maling, the chief constable, had not been found when
+Mr. Ironside made his first search upon the scene of the massacre, a
+fact which created no surprise at the time, for it was thought
+probable that he had succeeded in making good his escape into the
+bush. But, as he had not arrived at any of the settlements, the
+missionary again returned to Tua Marina for the dual purpose of making
+an extended search and of protecting the graves already made from
+desecration by the wild pigs, with which the valley was at that time
+thickly stocked. He was successful in finding two bodies floating in
+the stream, being the remains of Clanzey and Ratcliffe, who had been
+shot while crossing in the canoe. These were reverently interred on
+the banks of the creek near where Mr. Patchett had been laid. The last
+resting-place of these men bears no mark to distinguish it from the
+surrounding landscape, but a plain though substantial monument has
+been raised over the spot where Captain Wakefield and his companions
+fell; while a memorial church, built by the Wakefield family, stands
+prominently upon the point of the hill, and solemnly presides over the
+whole scene.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult to describe the intense excitement which
+agitated the whole colony as the tidings of the massacre flew from
+settlement to settlement; and in the white heat of their anger the
+settlers were guilty of saying and doing many rash and intemperate
+things. Few of them had made themselves conversant with the whole
+facts of the case, and fewer still stayed to reason out the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">{268}</a></span>
+natural actions of men under the circumstances. All that
+they knew, and all that they cared to know, was that
+their countrymen had been, as a Nelson settler forcibly
+expressed it, "brutally butchered by a parcel of miscreant
+savages, ten thousand of whose useless lives would have
+all too cheaply purchased their survival, let the cant of
+ultra-philanthropists say what it will." But this fierce
+indignation was not participated in by the Europeans
+alone. Flying from the scene of the tragedy, Te
+Rauparaha arrived with his retainers at Waikanae, cold
+and wet with the sea spray which had swept over him on
+the passage across the Strait. He immediately assembled
+the Ngati-Awa people and told them the tale of the
+massacre, holding their attention by the graphic nature of
+his narrative. At first his listeners were unsympathetic,
+but he appealed to their sympathies by feigning physical
+distress. Bent in body and trembling in voice, he appeared
+to speak with difficulty, and used a hacking cough with
+some effect to melt their sternness. But his most telling
+point was made when, advancing a few steps, he held up his
+shaking hands and dramatically exclaimed, "Why should
+they seek to fetter me? I am old and weak; I must soon
+pass away. What could they gain by enslaving me? by
+fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not
+what they seek. It is because through my person they
+hope to dishonour you. If they can enslave me they
+think they can degrade the whole Maori race."</p>
+
+<p>This was the dart that struck deep into Maori pride, and wounded their
+sense of honour. Instantly the tribe rose responsive to the
+suggestion, and weapons were gripped, eyes flashed, and the spirit of
+war surged in every breast. Missionary Hadfield was present, and saw
+the sway wielded by the old chief's oratory. He saw, too, how critical
+was the position, and gladly availed himself of the timely suggestion
+made by one of the missionary natives to ring the bell for evening
+prayers, and thus bring back the warriors' thoughts to a more peaceful
+frame. Next morning Te Rauparaha journeyed to Otaki, and there
+harangued the fighting men of Ngati-Toa. Here
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">{269}</a></span>
+there was no need to adopt the arts of the stage. His
+auditors were his own followers, many of whom had been
+with him since childhood. They knew him and trusted
+him, and with them his word was law. He therefore
+threw off the guise of broken manhood, of fettered limbs,
+of tottering steps, and stood before them the bold and
+imperious chief that he was. His words ringing with
+the timbre of commanding confidence, were direct and to
+the purpose. "Now is the time to strike. You see what
+the smooth speech of the <i>pakeha</i> is worth; you know
+now what they mean in their hearts. You know now that
+tyranny and injustice is all that you can expect at their
+hands. Come then and sweep them from the land which
+they have sought to bedew with our blood."</p>
+
+<p>In these warlike counsels he was ably seconded by Te Rangihaeata, who,
+reasoning as a Maori would reason, had always strongly held the view
+that, as the white men would be certain to seek satisfaction for the
+massacre, their duty was to get what <i>utu</i> they could while the
+opportunity to do so was theirs. He therefore joined with his chief in
+urging an immediate march upon Wellington, in order by one swift
+stroke to obliterate the <i>pakeha</i> and his settlements. These
+sanguinary proposals were not preached to unwilling ears, for it was
+but natural that the Maori should judge the settlers by their leaders,
+the representatives of the New Zealand Company, whose bad faith now
+appeared so audaciously transparent. But there was one chief who was
+proof against the hysteria of blood which had seized the tribes. Side
+by side with Hadfield he stood like a rock above the billows of hate
+which surged around him, and by his calm and stedfast loyalty broke
+the fury of the storm. This was Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake, the
+Ngati-Awa chief of Waitara. His resolute opposition to Te Rauparaha's
+plans was an obstacle which that chief could not overcome. He carried
+his own people with him, while Hadfield soothed the Ngati-Raukawa into
+neutrality. Without Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Toa was not
+equal to a task which with their united forces would have been a
+simple matter.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">{270}</a></span>
+That the Maoris had the power at this time to drive the
+colonists into the sea, had they chosen to exercise it, has
+been freely admitted by the settlers themselves,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_163" id="Ref_163" href="#Foot_163">[163]</a></span>
+so that
+the service which Wiremu and the good missionary
+Hadfield rendered to the Colony at this juncture can only
+be estimated at the value of the infant settlement itself.
+And, with regret be it said, Wellington is even now
+destitute of any monument to which the passing generations
+might point as a public recognition of the fact that
+these two men once stood between it and extermination.</p>
+
+<p>Before Te Rauparaha was able to extend his projects for avenging his
+wrongs beyond his own immediate sphere of influence, he was visited by
+Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the aborigines, who gave him
+his most solemn pledge that the Government would not attack him
+without first hearing his side of the question, and begged him to try
+and keep the natives quiet until the case could be investigated.
+Following close upon Mr. Clarke came Mr. Spain, deputed by the
+magistrates at Wellington, and empowered to speak as one in authority.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_164" id="Ref_164" href="#Foot_164">[164]</a></span>
+He strove to assure the natives that they were
+mistaken if they imagined that the Europeans would wage war against
+them indiscriminately by way of retaliation for the death of Captain
+Wakefield and his comrades. The question of punishment rested solely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">{271}</a></span>
+with the Governor, and, until he could decide who
+should be punished and what the punishment should be,
+there would be no act of aggression against the natives.</p>
+
+<p>"Your words are very good, but who can tell what will be the words of
+the Governor?" was the comment of one of the chiefs upon these
+assurances. To this Spain could only reply by pointing to their past
+intercourse, and asking if during their long acquaintance they had
+ever known him to deceive them. Fortunately, his record stood him in
+good stead, and the chief agreed that he for one would help to protect
+the Europeans. While this discussion was proceeding, Rauparaha had
+joined the assembly, and at this point he rose and delivered what Mr.
+Spain considered "a most powerful speech." He traversed anew the
+events which had led up to the <i>fracas</i>, and vehemently asked,
+"Is this the justice which the Queen of England promised to the Maori?
+You are not satisfied with having taken all our land from us, but you
+send a Queen's ship headed by a Queen's officer to fire upon us and
+kill us." Spain endeavoured to expound to the angry chief the niceties
+of British law, under which a warrant to arrest did not necessarily
+imply established guilt; had he surrendered he would probably have
+been admitted to bail until the day of the trial, and, so far from the
+Queen and the Governor being to blame for the conduct of the
+magistrate, they had never heard of the warrant. On Spain expressing
+his abhorrence of the killing of the captives, Te Rauparaha admitted
+the error of the step, which he palliated as due to their own custom
+and Rangihaeata's grief at the death of his wife. He then proceeded to
+question Spain with an acumen which astonished the lawyer, and forced
+him to form a very high estimate of the chief's intellectual capacity;
+for his examination was as keen "as if I had undergone that ordeal in
+Westminster Hall at the hands of a member of the English Bar." What Te
+Rauparaha wished to guard against was treachery. He wanted everything
+open to the light of day, and the conference ended by his saying to
+Spain, "If the Governor should decide upon sending
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">{272}</a></span>
+soldiers to take me and Rangihaeata, let us know when
+they arrive, because you need not take the trouble to
+send up here for us. If you only send word I will come
+down to Port Nicholson with a thousand Maoris and
+fight with the <i>pakehas</i>. If they beat us, they shall have
+New Zealand, and we will be their slaves, but if we beat
+them, they must stand clear."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Spain next proceeded to Otaki. There he was told that the natives
+intended to stand loyally by their chiefs, and that any attempt to
+seize them would lead to immediate reprisals. Following closely upon
+Mr. Spain's departure, Mr. Jerningham Wakefield reached Otaki. He came
+from the north, and, as he drifted down the Whanganui River, he
+received the first tidings of the death of his uncle. It was difficult
+at first to give credence to the nebulous rumours which reached him;
+but the constant reiteration of the same story about a fight with the
+<i>pakehas</i> and the death of "Wideawake" gradually compelled
+attention, and ultimately received confirmation at the white
+settlement then known as Petre.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_165" id="Ref_165" href="#Foot_165">[165]</a></span>
+Here Wakefield was the recipient
+of a message from Te Rauparaha, demanding to know whether he was for
+peace or for war, and preferring a request that "Tiraweke" would come
+to Otaki to <i>korero</i> with him. In the meantime he had sent his
+canoes to Manawatu, and was preparing for his retreat into the
+interior should he be attacked. Wakefield left Petre, and at the end
+of the first day he was met at Rangitikei by the old Ngati-Raukawa
+chief Te Ahu karamu,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_166" id="Ref_166" href="#Foot_166">[166]</a></span>
+who had gone thither with an armed party to
+conduct his friend safely through the disturbed district. On reaching
+Otaki, Wakefield went to Rangi-ura <i>pa</i>, the principal
+settlement, where the Maoris placed only one interpretation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">{273}</a></span>
+upon his coming&mdash;vengeance upon Te Rauparaha for
+the death of his uncle.</p>
+
+<p>For two days Wakefield rested at Otaki, but saw nothing of the chiefs.
+Rangihaeata was reported to be some distance in the interior, building
+a strong <i>pa</i>, where it was understood that the chiefs had
+determined to make a stand should the authorities seek to pursue them.
+Te Rauparaha was at the Pakakutu <i>pa</i> at the mouth of the river,
+endeavouring to break down the influence of Mr. Hadfield and Wiremu
+Kingi. His efforts to consolidate his forces were various, as suited
+the circumstances. He sought to ingratiate himself into the good
+opinion of the missionary natives by appearing to become zealous in
+religious observances; on the feeling of others he played by a recital
+of his wrongs; and towards the European residents of Otaki he assumed
+an attitude of unconcealed hostility, and ordered their removal from
+the district. This step he deemed to be necessary, in order that he
+might be free to act unhampered by spies in the supposed impending
+campaign against the Queen's troops, and it was this mandate which
+brought the chief and Wakefield face to face.</p>
+
+<p>As a result of Rauparaha's prohibition, a <i>pakeha</i> settler named
+White, who had been living under the patronage of Te Ahu karamu, found
+himself suddenly stopped at the Otaki River while in the act of
+driving some thirty head of cattle on to the land upon which his
+patron chief had invited him to settle. This high-handed action
+naturally aroused the anger of the Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who had
+hitherto assumed that they were masters of the territory which they
+had chosen to "sit upon" when the division of the conquered lands was
+made. Te Ahu was especially angered at what he regarded as an
+uncalled-for encroachment upon his prerogative as a chief. He
+therefore announced his determination to proceed to the Pakakutu
+<i>pa</i> and demand from Te Rauparaha a complete renunciation of his
+views. Wakefield was invited to be present, and to his facile pen we
+are indebted for a graphic account of what followed.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">{274}</a></span>
+The <i>korero</i> did not commence immediately upon the
+arrival of Te Ahu's party at the <i>pa</i>, and Wakefield employed
+the interval in the kindly office of helping to
+dress the wounded leg of a Maori, whom he has described
+as one "particularly gentle and dignified in his
+manners." While thus engaged, Te Rauparaha approached
+him, and, with evident signs of apprehension
+as to the propriety of his doing so, offered a friendly
+salutation. Wakefield coldly declined to grasp the hand
+which he naturally believed was imbrued in his uncle's
+blood; and Rauparaha, immediately acknowledging the
+delicacy of his position, muttered "It is good," and
+returned to his seat. The speech-making commenced
+by his entering upon a lengthy narrative of himself and
+his conquests, for the evident purpose of riveting in the
+minds of his hearers the fact that he was the brain and
+the heart of the tribe. His story was eloquently told,
+for not the least of his great natural endowments was the
+precious gift of the silver tongue. The tale of conquest
+ended, he was proceeding to refer to the incidents of
+the Wairau, when Wakefield rose and checked him.
+Naturally the latter was sensitive upon the point of
+prejudging so dreadful a tragedy, by listening to an
+<i>ex-parte</i> statement of its facts, when he was fully persuaded
+that at no distant date he would hear the truth
+disclosed before an impartial tribunal. He therefore
+told Te Rauparaha that he would not remain if he
+proposed to discuss the affair of the Wairau, but begged
+him to confine his speech to a justification of his
+extreme and arbitrary desire to drive the Europeans
+away from Otaki.</p>
+
+<p>Te Rauparaha acknowledged the reasonableness of this request, but so
+anxious was he to excuse himself in the eyes of Wakefield, that his
+oration had not proceeded far before he reverted to the subject of the
+massacre. Thereupon Wakefield rose, and, walking to the stile at the
+outer fence, was in the act of stepping over it to proceed home, when
+a chorus of shouts called him back, and a promise was given that there
+would be no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">{275}</a></span>
+further reference to the Wairau. Te Rauparaha then
+earnestly addressed himself to the status of the <i>pakehas</i>
+at Otaki, claiming the land as his alone. He admitted
+the validity of the sales of the Manawatu, Whanganui,
+and Taranaki, but not those of Otaki or Ohau, and
+insisted that the white people, whalers included,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_167" id="Ref_167" href="#Foot_167">[167]</a></span>
+must remove to those districts which the Company had fairly
+bought. He upbraided the Queen for sending her constables
+to tie his hands. "Who is she," he asked, "that
+she should send her books and her constables after me?
+What have I to do with her? She may be Queen over
+the white people; I am the King of the Maori! If she
+chooses to have war, let her send me word, and I will
+stand up against her soldiers. But I must have room;
+I must have no white people so near."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_168" id="Ref_168" href="#Foot_168">[168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Challenged as to the inconsistency of these views with his action in
+signing the Treaty of Waitangi, he wheeled sharply round and
+exclaimed, "Yes; what of that? They gave me a blanket for it. I am
+still a chief, just the same. I am Rauparaha. Give me another blanket
+tomorrow and I will sign it again. What is there in writing?" The
+attitude of absolute authority assumed by the chief distinctly alarmed
+Wakefield, who saw in it the elements of unlimited trouble for the New
+Zealand Company. For if Te Rauparaha's claim to exclusive jurisdiction
+over the land was well founded, then verily many of their purchases
+had been brought to the brink of repudiation. Turning hastily to Te
+Ahu and several of the chiefs around him, he sought enlightenment on
+the point, reminding them that they had frequently laid
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">{276}</a></span>
+claim to large possessions in the neighbourhood, but
+had never acknowledged Te Rauparaha as having the
+least right or interest in them. Then Te Ahu proceeded
+in a tone of apology and regret to elucidate one of the
+many intricate phases of Maori land tenure which were
+now beginning to prove so embarrassing to the Company.
+He explained that when the tribe burned their houses at
+Maungatautari and came down to assist Te Rauparaha
+in his conquest, they had selected Otaki out of the
+conquered lands to be their future home. In times of
+peace Rauparaha would have made no claim to the
+land, nor would his claim have been acknowledged if he
+had. In proof of this, he quoted the scorn with which
+Rangihaeata's assumptions over the Manawatu had been
+rejected by Ngati-Raukawa; but now that the war clouds
+were in the air, the <i>riri</i>, or anger, had completely altered
+the whole aspect of affairs; the land had reverted to him
+who had conquered it, and Ngati-Raukawa had no land
+which they could call their own. "And then he rose,"
+says Wakefield, "and endeavoured to persuade Rauparaha
+to change his determination. He reminded him of the
+'war parties which he had brought to him on his back to
+assist him against his enemies, through dangers and
+troubles more than he could count.' He related how 'he
+had burned the villages of the tribe at Taupo to make them
+come with him to be by the side of Rauparaha on the
+sea-coast.' He counted how many times he had adhered
+to him 'in his feuds with Ngati-Awa,' and described
+'how much of the blood of Ngati-Raukawa had been
+spilt for his name.' Te Ahu had now warmed with his
+subject, and was running up and down, bounding and
+yelling at each turn, and beginning to foam at the
+mouth, as the natives do when they seek to speak impressively.
+'Let the cows go!' he cried. 'Let them go
+to my place!'</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Rauparaha seemed to consider that Te Ahu's eloquence was becoming too
+powerful, and he jumped up too. They both continued to run up and down
+in short parallel lines, yelling at each other, with staring eyes and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">{277}</a></span>
+excited features, grimacing and foaming, shaking their
+hands and smacking their thighs. As they both spoke
+together, it became difficult to hear what they said, but I
+caught a sentence here and there, which gave me the
+sense of the argument. 'No!' cried Rauparaha; 'no
+cows; I will not have them.' 'Let them go!' yelled Te
+Ahu. 'Yield me my cows and my white man&mdash;the cows
+will not kill you.' 'No cows, no white men! I am King!
+Never mind your war parties! No cows!' answered Te
+Rauparaha. 'The cows cannot take you,' persisted Te
+Ahu; 'when the soldiers come we will fight for you, but
+let my cows go.' 'No, no, no, indeed,' firmly replied the
+chief, and sat down.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Te Ahu remained standing. He took breath for a minute, then drew
+himself up to his full height, and addressed his own people in a
+solemn kind of recitative. 'Ngati-Raukawa,' he sang, 'arise! Arise, my
+sons and daughters, my elder brothers and my younger brothers, my
+sisters, my grand-children, arise! Stand up, the families of
+Ngati-Raukawa! To Taupo! to Taupo! to Maungatautari! To our old homes
+which we burned and deserted; arise and let us go! Carry the little
+children on your backs, as I carried you when I came to fight for this
+old man who has called us to fight for him and given us land to sit
+upon, but grudges us white people to be our friends and to give us
+trade. We have no white men or ships at Maungatautari, but the land is
+our own there. We need not beg to have a white man or cows yielded to
+us there if they should want to come. To Maungatautari. Arise, my
+sons, make up your packs, take your guns and your blankets, and let us
+go! It is enough, I have spoken.' As he sat down, a mournful silence
+prevailed. An important migration had been proposed by the chief,
+which no doubt would be agreed to by the greater part of the Otaki,
+Ohau, and Manawatu natives, on whom was Rauparaha's chief dependence
+for his defence.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I noticed that he winced when he first heard the purport of Te Ahu's
+song; but, while Te Ahu continued, his countenance gradually resumed
+its confidence. Much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">{278}</a></span>
+as I abhorred his character, I could not but yield my
+unbounded admiration to the imperious manner in which
+he overthrew the whole effect of Te Ahu's beautiful
+summons to his tribe. Instead of his usual doubting and
+suspicious manner, his every gesture became that of a
+noble chief. He rose with all the majesty of a monarch,
+and he spoke in the clearest and firmest tones, so that
+the change from his customary shuffling, cautious and
+snarling diction was of itself sufficient to command the
+earnest attention of his audience. 'Go,' said he, 'go, all
+of you!&mdash;go, Ngati-Raukawa, to Maungatautari! Take
+your children on your backs and go, and leave my land
+without men. When you are gone, I will stay and fight
+the soldiers with my own hands. I do not beg you to
+stop. Rauparaha is not afraid! I began to fight when I
+was as high as my hip. All my days have been spent in
+fighting, and by fighting I have got my name. Since I
+seized by war all this land, from Taranaki to Port
+Nicholson, and from Blind Bay to Cloudy Bay beyond
+the water, I have been spoken of as a King. I am the
+King of all this land. I have lived a King, and I will die
+a King, with my <i>mere</i> in my hand. Go; I am no
+beggar; Rauparaha will fight the soldiers of the Queen
+when they come, with his own hands and his own name.
+Go to Maungatautari.' Then, suddenly changing his
+strain, he looked on the assemblage of chiefs, bending
+down towards them with a paternal smile, and softening
+his voice to kindness and emotion. 'But what do I say?'
+said he; 'what is my talk about? You are children!
+It is not for you to talk. You talk of going here and
+doing that. Can one of you talk when I am here? No!
+I shall rise and speak for you all, and you shall sit dumb,
+for you are all my children, and Rauparaha is your head
+chief and patriarch.'"</p>
+
+<p>This fearless rejection of Ngati-Raukawa assistance, culminating in an
+arrogant assumption of absolute authority over their movements,
+completely won him his point, and one of the highest chiefs said to
+Wakefield, "It is true, Tiraweke! He is our father and our
+<i>Ariki</i>.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">{279}</a></span>
+Rauparaha is the King of the Maori, like your Queen over
+the white people." The others, full of conscious dignity
+in being followers of such a leader, acknowledged his
+authority by bowing a silent assent. Rauparaha remained
+inflexible in refusing to permit the cattle to enter the
+district, but, in deference to the urgent persuasions
+of the chiefs, he subsequently relaxed his prohibition
+against the white men already settled in the district,
+but stoutly refused to sanction the coming of any
+more.</p>
+
+<p>But this effort of Te Rauparaha to consolidate his forces was in no
+sense the full range of his preparations. To augment his fighting
+strength was as much his policy as to unite those who already
+acknowledged allegiance to him. And this he sought to do in a quarter
+which, in view of past events, he would have been least expected to
+approach, and where his advances, once made, would have been least
+likely to touch a responsive chord. His scheme involved no less a
+delicate task than salving the wounds of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, and
+negotiating a friendly alliance with the men whose <i>mana</i> he had
+so rudely trampled in the dust at Kaikoura and Kaiapoi. To this end he
+collected a number of the most influential prisoners whom he had taken
+at the latter place, and, bidding them go back to their tribe, charged
+them to use their utmost endeavour to promote a good feeling towards
+him amongst their people. This unexpected act of clemency&mdash;or apparent
+clemency&mdash;which restored to them their much esteemed chief Momo, their
+great warrior Iwikau, and others equally noted in their history, went
+far to soothe the injured pride of Ngai-Tahu, who, after much serious
+debate, decided to forget the past, make peace, and accede to the new
+proposals. As an earnest of their acceptance of Rauparaha's terms,
+Taiaroa at once paid a visit to Kapiti, and, as he professed to be
+aggrieved at the manner in which some land transactions had been
+conducted in the south, there is little doubt that, had an attack upon
+Wellington been contemplated, he and his people would have combined
+with their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">{280}</a></span>
+former enemies to effect the annihilation of the colonists.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_169" id="Ref_169" href="#Foot_169">[169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A fearful uncertainty thus continued to agitate the breasts of the
+settlers; and when H.M. ship of war, <i>North Star</i> arrived in
+Wellington on 31st August, as the result of a memorial sent by the
+settlers to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, she was
+received with a salute of guns and a display of bunting, which
+indicated a belief that the day of retribution was at hand. It was
+not, however, for four days that her commander, Sir Everard Home, was
+able to enter into communication with Major Richmond, the principal
+officer of the Government in Cook Strait. By him he was assured that
+"he had received various reports of meditated attacks upon Wellington
+by the natives under Te Rauparaha; that the chief was at a <i>pa</i>
+not more than fourteen miles away, with between five hundred and a
+thousand of his fighting men; that Taiaroa, the chief from the Middle
+Island, had joined Te Rauparaha, and, having been an ancient enemy to
+him, had made peace; that the <i>pa</i> at Porirua was fortified, and
+every preparation made for an attack on the town of Wellington." To
+this Sir Everard, having regard to his explicit instructions not to
+intervene unless the natives and the whites were at actual war,
+replied that, in his judgment, the circumstances did not warrant his
+interference, but that he would keep his ship in the harbour as a
+salutary check upon Maori aggression. In the meantime he penned the
+following letter to Te Rauparaha:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"<span class="smcap">Friend Rauparaha</span>,&mdash;It
+ has come to my knowledge that you are
+ collecting the tribes round you, because you expect that I am going
+ to attack you. Those who told you so said that which is not true.
+ It was to keep the peace and not to make war that I came here.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">{281}</a></span>
+ You know that where many men are met together, and continue
+ without employment, they will find something evil to do. They had
+ best go home."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Everard Home, having satisfied himself that no immediate crisis
+was likely to arise at Wellington, unless it was precipitated by the
+settlers themselves, was constrained by reports of seething discontent
+at Nelson to visit the settlements in Blind Bay. But, before
+proceeding thither, he decided to call in at the island of Mana, and
+there personally discuss the situation with Te Rauparaha himself.
+Accompanied by Major Richmond and Captain Best, he left Wellington
+Harbour on the morning of October 5th, and anchored the <i>North
+Star</i> under the lee of Mana that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"As soon as the ship anchored," says Sir Everard in his official
+ report, "I landed, attended by Major Richmond and Captain Best,
+ who commanded the detachment on board the <i>North Star</i>. We
+ first went to the whaling station, or great <i>pa</i>, where we found Mr.
+ Chetham (clerk of the Court), who had been sent to join us. We
+ also soon after met Mr. Clarke. He informed us that Te Rauparaha
+ had left that morning at daylight for Waikanae, which must have
+ been a voluntary movement, as no person knew our intention till
+ the Strait was entered. We immediately went round to the <i>pa</i>
+ where the tribe was established. Here we found no one on the
+ beach to receive us, and, having landed, walked to the huts, where
+ we found a few persons sitting together. Rangihaeata, they said,
+ had fled to the bush, Te Rauparaha was at Waikanae, and, finding
+ that nothing could be done, we returned on board."</p>
+
+<p>During this visit to Porirua, the attention of the official party had
+been directed to the presence of the New Zealand Company's boat, which
+had been brought by the natives from the Wairau, after the massacre,
+and hauled up on the shore of Taupo Bay amongst some twelve or fifteen
+canoes; and this fact was made a subject of discussion next day when
+the frigate reached Kapiti.</p>
+
+<p>Landing at Waikanae, where the interview was to take place, Sir
+Everard Home says&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"We were received by the Rev. Mr. Hadfield, a missionary, a
+ gentleman of high character and great intelligence, who, living in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">{282}</a></span>
+ the <i>pa</i> amongst the natives, knows every movement, for none could
+ take place without his knowledge. He at once declared all the reports
+ (of an intended attack upon Wellington) to be without foundation.
+ Having walked to his house, which is within the <i>pa</i>, we
+ proceeded to his school-yard, and the chiefs, Te Rauparaha, and Rere,
+ chief of the tribe inhabiting the <i>pa</i> of Waikanae, came,
+ accompanied by about fifty men. I then stated to the chief all that
+ was reported of him, and asked him what he had to say to contradict
+ it. He replied that, far from wishing to continue the quarrel with
+ the Europeans, which had been commenced by them, and not by him, his
+ whole time was occupied in travelling up and down the coast,
+ endeavouring to allay the irritation of the natives and to prevent
+ any ill consequences arising from the provoking language and threats
+ with which they were continually annoyed by the Europeans travelling
+ backwards and forwards. That, for himself, he believed them to be
+ lies invented by the white men, having been assured by the Police
+ Magistrate that no steps would be taken until the arrival of the new
+ Governor, or the pleasure of the Queen was known. He also declared
+ that they all stood in fear of the white men, and asked why I had
+ come if it was not to fight with and destroy them, for they had been
+ told that was my intention.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I told them that the Queen's ships went to all parts of the world,
+ and that my object was to preserve peace rather than to make war, and
+ he was advised to believe no reports which he might hear, but to
+ inquire into the truth of them of Major Richmond, through Mr. Clarke
+ or Mr. Hadfield."</p>
+
+<p>The conference then dispersed, but at a later hour Te Rauparaha was
+sent for to Mr. Hadfield's house, and asked if he would send a letter
+to the principal chief at Porirua, requesting him to deliver up the
+Company's boat to Sir Everard Home. His reply was that he had but
+little influence amongst the Porirua people, but that, as he had
+always been against the retention of the boat, he would assert what
+authority he had to secure its return. He then became curious to know
+if the surrender of the boat would end the quarrel; but Major Richmond
+discreetly declined to commit himself on the point, and appealed to Te
+Rauparaha's position as a chief to see that justice was done. Te
+Rauparaha then penned the following letter, which he addressed to the
+Porirua chiefs:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Go thou, my book, to Puaha, Hohepa, and Watarauehe. Give that boat
+ to the chief of the ship; give it to the chief for nothing.
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">{283}</a></span>
+ These are
+ the words of Te Rauparaha. Your avarice in keeping back the boat from
+ us, from me, Mr. Hadfield, and Mr. Ironside, was great. This is not
+ an angry visit, it is to ask peaceably for the boat. There are only
+ Mr. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, and the chief of the ship: they three who
+ are going peaceably back to you that you may give up the boat.</p>
+
+<div class="sigbloc">
+<span class="hfright">"This is my book,</span>
+<span class="right">"<span class="smcap">Te Rauparaha</span>."</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Armed with this authority Sir Everard Home returned to Porirua, where,
+after lying at anchor all day on Sunday, he landed on the following
+day, and made a formal demand for the return of the boat. At first, Te
+Rangihaeata was inclined to resist the request, but, on receipt of a
+private message from Te Rauparaha that a refusal might mean trouble,
+he yielded the point, and the boat was ultimately handed over with
+"the greatest good-humour."</p>
+
+<p>During the interview at Waikanae, Te Rauparaha had given the most
+profuse assurances that he, relying upon the promise that there would
+be no reprisals until the facts surrounding the massacre had been
+investigated, was employing his best endeavours to pacify his people.
+But his efforts, he said, were often nullified by the disturbing
+rumours which reached them of armings and drillings<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_170" id="Ref_170" href="#Foot_170">[170]</a></span>
+by the settlers at Wellington, which seemed to portend war rather than peace.
+But the seeds of irritation and mistrust had already been sown much
+further afield than Waikanae and Otaki; for the natives, on leaving
+the Wairau, had taken with them, as well as the boat, the handcuffs
+and leg-irons which had been foolishly brought down by Mr. Maling to
+ensure Rauparaha's capture. These were sent from one <i>pa</i> to
+another, and wherever they were exhibited, the enemies of the
+<i>pakeha</i> were not slow to insinuate that, when the English became
+numerous in the land, they would provide leg-irons for the whole of
+the natives. The sight of these manacles, and the dark hints with
+which they were everywhere accompanied,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">{284}</a></span>
+created bitterness and resentment against settlers, with
+whom the Maoris had always lived in perfect harmony;
+so that before many weeks had passed away it only
+required a single spark of indiscretion to set the whole
+colony in a blaze of war. At no period of her history
+has New Zealand stood so much in need of firm, discreet
+and conciliatory guidance as in this critical juncture;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_171" id="Ref_171" href="#Foot_171">[171]</a></span>
+and fortunately the hand of authority was strong enough
+to prevent the spark being kindled. Acting-Governor
+Shortland, taking a bold but unpopular initiative, on
+July 12, 1843, issued the following proclamation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Whereas it is essential to the well-being of this Colony that
+ confidence and good feeling should continue to exist between the two
+ races of its inhabitants, and that the native owners of the soil
+ should have no reason to doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's solemn
+ assurance that their territorial rights should be recognised and
+ respected. Now, therefore, I, the officer administering the
+ Government, do hereby publicly warn all persons claiming land in this
+ Colony, in all cases where the claim is denied or disputed by the
+ original native owners, from exercising rights of ownership thereon,
+ or otherwise prejudicing the question of title to the same, until the
+ question of ownership shall have been heard and determined by one of
+ Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to investigate claims to land
+ in New Zealand."</p>
+
+<p>The wisdom of thus holding the hands of the settlers until the title
+to their lands had been settled by a constitutional course was not at
+first apparent to the pioneers, who treated the proclamation with
+scant respect, and roundly abused it and its author in the public
+press.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"If," said one writer, "it had been the desire of its framer to hound
+ a troop of excited savages upon a peaceable and scattered population,
+ to destroy the remains of friendly feeling existing between the two
+ races, to imbrue in blood the hands of both, and lead to the
+ extermination of one or the other, such a proclamation might have
+ served its purpose."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">{285}</a></span>
+This style of exaggerated invective will serve to show the unreasoning
+pitch to which even the better class of colonists had allowed
+themselves to be worked by the news of the catastrophe. Nor were they
+content with merely upbraiding the authorities in the press and at
+public meetings; deputations waited upon the Acting-Governor at
+Auckland, urging him to take immediate steps to avenge the death of
+Captain Wakefield. The Nelson deputation consisted of Dr. Monro and
+Mr. A. Domett, and the essence of their petition was contained in the
+following paragraph:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"We have no hesitation in stating that it is the general opinion of
+ the settlers at Nelson that our countrymen who were killed at Wairau
+ Plain lost their lives in endeavouring to discharge their duties as
+ magistrates and British subjects, obedient to British law, and that
+ the persons by whom they were killed are murderers in the eyes of
+ common sense and justice."</p>
+
+<p>They therefore hoped that impartial justice would be done, and that
+the penalties of the law would certainly overtake those whom its
+verdicts pronounced to be guilty. But to this and all other petitions
+of a similar tone Mr. Shortland staunchly refused to accede. In his
+reply to Dr. Monro and Mr. Domett he clearly set forth the error under
+which the settlers were labouring, when they ascribed the disaster to
+the performance of duty on the part of the magistrates, and pointed
+out that it might be more fairly attributed to an excess of duty on
+the part of those officials, in attempting to annex land which had
+never been legally purchased. After dwelling upon the criminality of
+those who were responsible for the final conflict, he proceeded:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"But whatever may be the crime, and whoever may be the criminals, it
+ is but too clear that the event we must all deplore has arisen from
+ several parties of surveyors, without the concurrence of the local
+ Government, proceeding to take possession of and to survey a tract of
+ land in opposition to the original native owners, who had uniformly
+ denied its sale. His Excellency therefore deems it proper to inform
+ you that the New Zealand Company has not selected
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">{286}</a></span>
+ any block of land in the valley of the Wairau, nor has the local Government yet
+ received any intimation that it is the intention of the Company to
+ select a block in that district."</p>
+
+<p>To say that the Englishmen were trespassers is the mildest way in
+which the case against them can be stated, especially in view of the
+forceful opinion expressed by Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General, who
+described their conduct as "illegal in its inception and in every step
+of its execution, unjustifiable in the magistrate and four constables,
+and criminal in the last degree on the part of the attacking party."
+Writing from Port Nicholson ten days after the massacre, Mr. Spain
+confirmed Mr. Swainson's condemnation of their conduct, which he
+declared to be "an attempt to set British law at defiance and to
+obtain, by force, possession of a tract of land, the title of which
+was disputed, and then under the consideration of a commissioner
+specially appointed to investigate and report upon it." From the
+information he had been able to collect, Mr. Spain arrived at the
+conclusion that at the commencement of the affair the natives
+exhibited the greatest forbearance, and the utmost repugnance to fight
+with the Europeans. His views were cordially endorsed by Mr. Clarke,
+the Protector of the aborigines, who reported to the Acting-Governor
+that he was "satisfied that such an unhappy affair as that of the
+Wairau could never have occurred had not the natives been urged to it
+by extreme provocation." These emphatic opinions from men who were not
+only capable of arriving at a judicial conclusion, but were impartial
+in the sense that they were not concerned in the catastrophe, together
+with the decision of the Attorney-General that no act of felony had
+been committed by the natives in burning the huts, fortified His
+Excellency in ignoring the violent clamour of the settlers for
+revenge. They induced him even to go further, and prohibit the
+military displays which they were beginning to organise amongst
+themselves under the plea that they were in imminent danger of being
+attacked by the natives. This prohibition was to their excited
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">{287}</a></span>
+minds the crowning injustice of all; and in October,
+when H.M.S. <i>North Star</i> arrived at Port Nicholson, the
+Wellington and Nelson settlements were practically in a
+state of open rebellion. When Sir Everard Home was
+applied to by the colonists to execute a warrant against
+Rauparaha and Rangihaeata for murder, he was compelled
+to "decline the honour," and admit candidly that he did
+not consider a force so necessary to put a check upon the
+natives as to keep in subjection the irate settlers themselves.
+The settlers further memorialised Sir Eardley Wilmot,
+Governor of Tasmania, for assistance, and he immediately
+sent a battleship to their aid. But he took the precaution
+to warn Captain Nicholson not to land his troops unless
+the natives and Europeans were in actual conflict; and
+this not being the case when the ship arrived, she soon
+after took her departure. In their extremity the settlers
+then turned to a French frigate which was lying in
+New Zealand waters; but Major Richmond, on hearing
+of the proposal to call upon her captain for aid,
+indignantly vetoed it as being "a stain upon British
+arms."</p>
+
+<p>The social and political atmosphere was still in this condition of
+ferment when, towards the close of the year, Captain Fitzroy, the
+newly appointed Governor, arrived. It was not, however, until February
+that he was able to give his undivided attention to the adjudication
+of matters connected with the massacre; but he then spared no pains to
+make himself master of all the facts upon which a decision was to be
+based. He first studied the merits of the European case, and then
+journeyed to Waikanae, where he landed on February 12, 1844, with his
+suite, consisting of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Spain, the officers of the
+<i>North Star</i>, Major Richmond and Mr. Symonds, the Wellington
+magistrates, and Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the
+aborigines. There he met Rauparaha and Rangihaeata with upwards of
+four hundred of their tribe, congregated for the <i>korero</i> in an
+enclosure in the centre of the <i>pa</i>, the Governor being provided
+with a chair, Rauparaha sitting by his side.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">{288}</a></span>
+His Excellency, addressing the assembled natives
+through Mr. Clarke, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"I have heard from the English all that happened at the Wairau, and
+ it has grieved my heart exceedingly. I now ask you to tell me your
+ story so that I may compare the two and judge fairly. When I have
+ heard your account of that dark day, I will reflect and then tell you
+ what I shall do. The bad news I have just heard about killing the
+ English after they had ceased fighting, and had trusted to your
+ honour, has made my heart very dark, has filled my mind with gloom.
+ Tell me your story that I may compare it with the English, and know
+ the whole truth. When I first heard of the death of my friends at the
+ Wairau, I was very angry and thought of hastening here with many
+ ships of war, with many soldiers, and several fire-moved ships
+ (steamers). Had I done so your warriors would have been killed, your
+ canoes would have been all taken and burnt, your houses and your
+ <i>pas</i> would have all been destroyed, for I would have brought
+ with me from Sydney an irresistible force. But these were hasty,
+ unchristian thoughts: they soon passed away. I considered the whole
+ case. I considered the English were very much to blame even by their
+ own account, and I saw how much you had been provoked. Then I
+ determined to put away my anger and come to you peaceably. Let me
+ hear your story."</p>
+
+<p>Rauparaha then arose, and after being exhorted by several of his tribe
+to speak out that all might hear, he began in slow and measured tones
+to narrate their land troubles with the Company in the Wellington
+settlement, and then he passed on to the Wairau. This land, he
+declared, was taken away by Thompson and Captain Wakefield, and he
+described the visit of Rangihaeata and himself to Nelson to protest
+against its occupancy; nor did he omit to mention the threats then
+used towards them by Captain Wakefield. Then he told how they had gone
+over and stopped the survey, and brought Messrs. Cotterell and
+Barnicoat down to the bar, and how they had afterwards met Mr.
+Tuckett, and likewise refused him permission to remain.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 512px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="porirua" id="porirua">
+  <img width="512" height="400" alt="porirua" src="images/321-porirua.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TAUPO PA, PORIRUA.<br />
+                      Where Te Rauparaha was captured.</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="block">"After Mr. Tuckett had gone to Nelson," said Rauparaha, "we continued
+ our planting, till one morning we saw the <i>Victoria</i> (the
+ Government brig). Then were our hearts relieved, for we thought Mr.
+ Spain and Mr. Clarke had come to settle the question of our lands.
+ Being scattered about on the different places on the river, we
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">{289}</a></span>
+ took no further notice, expecting a messenger to arrive from Mr. Spain;
+ but a messenger came up to say that it was an army of English, and
+ that they were busily engaged in cleaning their arms and fixing the
+ flints of their guns. They met Puaha, and detained him prisoner. They
+ said, 'Where are Rauparaha and Rangihaeata?' Puaha said, 'Up the
+ river.' After Puaha and Rangihaeata arrived, we consulted as to what
+ we should do. I proposed going into the bush, but they said 'No, let
+ us remain where we are: what have we done that we should be thus
+ beset?' The Europeans slept some distance from us, and, after they
+ had breakfasted, came on towards us in two boats. We remained on the
+ same spot without food. We were much alarmed. Early in the morning we
+ were on the look-out, and one of the scouts, who caught sight of them
+ coming round a point, called out, 'Here they come! here they come!'
+ Our women had kindled a fire and cooked a few potatoes that we had
+ remaining, and we were hastily eating them when they came in sight.
+ Cotterell called out, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha answered, 'Here I am,
+ come here to me.' They said again, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha again
+ saluted them. Cotterell then said, 'Where is a canoe for us to
+ cross?' Thompson, Wakefield, and some other gentlemen crossed over
+ with a constable to take me, but the greater number stopped on the
+ other side of the creek. Thompson said, 'Where is Rauparaha?' I
+ answered, 'Here.' He said, 'Come, you must come with me.' I replied,
+ 'What for?' He answered, 'To talk about the houses you have burnt
+ down.' I said, 'What house have I burned down? Was it a tent
+ belonging to you that you make so much ado about? You know it was
+ not; it was nothing but a hut of rushes. The materials were cut from
+ my own ground; therefore I will not go on board, neither will I be
+ bound. If you are angry about the land, let us talk it quietly over.
+ I care not if we talk till night and all day to-morrow; and when we
+ have finished, I will settle the question about the land!' Mr.
+ Thompson said, 'Will you not go?' I said 'No,' and Rangihaeata, who
+ had been called for, and who had been speaking, said so too. Mr.
+ Thompson then called for the handcuffs and held up the warrant,
+ saying, 'See, this is the Queen's book, this is the Queen to make a
+ tie, Rauparaha.' I said, 'I will not listen either to you or your
+ book.' He was in a great passion; his eyes rolled about and he
+ stamped his feet. I said I would rather be killed than submit to be
+ bound. He then called for the constable, who began opening the
+ handcuffs and advancing towards me. Mr. Thompson laid hold of my
+ hand. I pushed him away, saying, 'What are you doing that for?' Mr.
+ Thompson then called out 'Fire!' The Europeans began to cross over
+ the creek, and as they were crossing they fired one gun. The women
+ and children were sitting round the fire. We called out, 'We shall be
+ shot,' After this one gun, they fired a volley, and one of us was
+ killed, then another, and three were wounded. We were then closing
+ fast; the
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">{290}</a></span>
+ <i>pakehas</i>' guns were levelled at us. I and Puaha cried out,
+ 'Friends, stand up and shoot some of them in payment.' We were
+ frightened because some of them were very close to us. We then fired;
+ three of the Europeans fell. They fired again and killed Rongo, the
+ wife of Rangihaeata. We then bent all our energy to the fight, and
+ the Europeans began to fly. They all ran away, firing as they
+ retreated; the gentlemen ran too. We pursued them and killed them as
+ we overtook them. Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were brought to
+ me by the slaves, who caught them. Rangihaeata came running to me,
+ crying out, 'What are you doing, I say?' Upon which some heathen
+ slaves killed them at the instigation of Rangihaeata; neither Puaha
+ nor the Christian natives being then present. There was no time
+ elapsed between the fight and the slaughter of the prisoners. When
+ the prisoners were killed, the rest of the people were still engaged
+ in the pursuit, and before they returned they were all dead. I forgot
+ to say that during the pursuit, when we arrived at the top of the
+ hill, Mr. Cotterell held up a flag and said, 'That is enough, stop
+ fighting!' Mr. Thompson said to me, 'Rauparaha, spare my life.' I
+ answered, 'A little while ago, I wished to talk to you in a friendly
+ manner, and you would not; now you say, 'Save me,' I will not save
+ you. It is not our custom to save the chiefs of our enemies. We do
+ not consider our victory complete unless we kill the chiefs of our
+ opponents. Our passions were much roused, and we could not help
+ killing the chiefs."</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of Rauparaha's address, Captain Fitzroy desired time
+to reflect upon what he had just heard, and, at the expiration of
+half-an-hour, he announced his decision as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="block">"Now I have heard both sides, I have reflected on both accounts, and
+ I am prepared to give my judgment. In the first place, the English
+ were wrong; they had no right to build houses upon lands to which
+ they had not established their claim&mdash;upon land the sale of which you
+ disputed; on which Mr. Spain had not decided. They were wrong in
+ trying to apprehend you, who had committed no crime. They were wrong
+ in marking and measuring your land in opposition to your repeated
+ refusal to allow them to do so until the Commissioner had decided on
+ their claim. Had you been Englishmen, you would have known that it
+ was wrong to resist a magistrate under any circumstances, but not
+ understanding English law, the case is different. Had this been all,
+ had a struggle caused loss of life in the fight&mdash;wrong and bad as it
+ would have been to fight in the sight of God&mdash;I could not have blamed
+ you so much as the English. The very bad part of the Wairau
+ affair&mdash;that part where you were
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">{291}</a></span>
+ very wrong&mdash;was the killing of the
+ men who had surrendered, who trusted to your honour as chiefs.
+ Englishmen never kill prisoners; Englishmen never kill men who have
+ surrendered. It is the shocking death of these unfortunate men that
+ has filled my mind with gloom, that has made my heart so dark, that
+ has filled me with sorrow; but I know how difficult it is to restrain
+ angry men when their passions are aroused. I know you repent of your
+ conduct, and are now sorry that those men were killed. As the English
+ were very greatly to blame, as they brought on and began the fight,
+ and as you were hurried into crime by their misconduct, I will not
+ avenge their death."<span
+ class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_172" id="Ref_172" href="#Foot_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In arriving at this determination, Captain Fitzroy may have been
+actuated to some extent by considerations of expediency; for, had he
+decided in any other way, the reprisals of the English would
+undoubtedly have created a war with the natives, which the Government
+was not in a position at that juncture to carry to a successful issue.
+Therefore, to have provoked hostilities with Rauparaha would have
+meant the obliteration of all the settlements before the necessary
+reinforcements could have arrived. At the same time, there was a large
+measure of justice in the course he chose to adopt, which, in the
+calmer judgment of to-day, must receive the endorsement of all
+impartial men, as it did that of Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, immediately the Governor's decision was known to the
+Home authorities. In his despatches on the subject, Lord Stanley made
+it clear that, in his opinion, Mr. Thompson and Captain Wakefield had
+needlessly violated the rules of English law, the maxims
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">{292}</a></span>
+of prudence, and the principles of justice; and having thus provoked an indefensible
+quarrel with a barbarous tribe, they could not reasonably complain at
+the barbarities practised in the subsequent conflict. He was therefore
+satisfied that, in declining to make the Wairau massacre a subject for
+criminal proceedings, the Governor had taken a wise, though
+undoubtedly bold, decision. As might have been expected, the action of
+Captain Fitzroy in refusing to arrest the two chiefs created a tempest
+of ill-will against him amongst the settlers, but, on the other hand,
+the Maoris were overjoyed at the prospect of once more possessing the
+friendship of the <i>pakeha</i>, and instantly resumed a sociable
+demeanour towards the colonists. This feeling, upon the advent of
+Captain Grey as Governor, was gradually reciprocated by the Europeans,
+who in time came to recognise the folly of their fears, and the
+absurdity of their hostile attitude. In this way, the startling nature
+of the catastrophe, which had paralysed the efforts of the New Zealand
+Company and thrown a pall over the settlement of the whole Colony,
+began to lose its deadly effect, and the splendid scheme of setting a
+new gem in the British Crown was rescued from the disaster which
+threatened it.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_154" id="Foot_154" href="#Ref_154">[154]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the 13th June, Captain Wakefield wrote to his brother from
+Nelson: "The magistrates have granted a warrant, and Thompson,
+accompanied by myself, England, and a lot of the constables, are off
+immediately in the Government brig to execute it. We shall muster
+about sixty, so I think we will overcome these travelling bullies."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_155" id="Foot_155" href="#Ref_155">[155]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As told to the author by the late Mr. Barnicoat.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_156" id="Foot_156" href="#Ref_156">[156]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Saturday, June 17, 1843.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_157" id="Foot_157" href="#Ref_157">[157]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+John Brooks had been engaged as a sawyer at Cloudy Bay. He was
+thoroughly acquainted with the native language and habits, having been
+eight years resident amongst the Waikato tribes.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_158" id="Foot_158" href="#Ref_158">[158]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Rawiri Kingi Puaha was born at Kawhia, and belonged to one of
+the best of the Ngati-Toa families. He migrated southward with Te
+Rauparaha, and was married to one of Te Pehi's daughters. He died at
+his own village, Takapuahia, Porirua Harbour, on September 6, 1858. He
+was a man widely respected by the colonists, and to the day of his
+death he "maintained a high character as a consistent and
+conscientious Christian."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_159" id="Foot_159" href="#Ref_159">[159]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"The conduct of Mr. Thompson has been unquestionably the means
+of bringing about the fatal conflict in which he himself lost his
+life. There is only one way of accounting for the part he has acted in
+that affair; as far as he is concerned, no more blame can be attached
+to him than to any other lunatic, for such he was to all intents and
+purposes, and such he was well known to be, even to Mr. Shortland"
+(<i>Martin's Letters</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_160" id="Foot_160" href="#Ref_160">[160]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Rongo was not the <i>daughter</i> of Te Rauparaha, as that
+word is generally understood by Europeans, but a much more distant
+relative. She was the widow of Te Whaiti, a nephew of Rauparaha and a
+first cousin of Rangihaeata, who married her because she was the widow
+of his near relative. The story that she was shot while standing in
+front of Rangihaeata to protect him is pure romance. She was killed by
+a stray bullet while hiding in the swamp at the rear of the Maori
+camp.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_161" id="Foot_161" href="#Ref_161">[161]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Yesterday we passed (near Maraekowhai) the grave of Te Oru, the
+chief who killed Captain Wakefield at the Wairau" (<i>Crawford's
+"Travels in New Zealand"</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_162" id="Foot_162" href="#Ref_162">[162]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A
+degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman,
+Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The
+natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev.
+Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried
+according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the
+crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being
+mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him
+do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was
+a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever
+after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in
+not punishing him.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_163" id="Foot_163" href="#Ref_163">[163]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in
+1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the
+shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven
+hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was
+stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to
+massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and
+Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_164" id="Foot_164" href="#Ref_164">[164]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr.
+McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the
+Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of
+Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to
+communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their
+determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take
+vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the
+whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will
+inquire into it and decide according to law."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_165" id="Foot_165" href="#Ref_165">[165]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Now known as Whanganui.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_166" id="Foot_166" href="#Ref_166">[166]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this
+journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in
+revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki
+natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon
+Wellington."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_167" id="Foot_167" href="#Ref_167">[167]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many
+friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor,
+among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe
+for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha
+turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_168" id="Foot_168" href="#Ref_168">[168]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen,
+but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he
+was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently
+vindictive towards those from whom he differed.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_169" id="Foot_169" href="#Ref_169">[169]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting
+jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so
+that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better
+understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake'
+(Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land,
+and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he
+did not get plenty of <i>utu</i>" (<i>Wakefield</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_170" id="Foot_170" href="#Ref_170">[170]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the
+native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that
+the settlers meditated an attack upon them.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_171" id="Foot_171" href="#Ref_171">[171]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the
+massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and
+there was no vessel of war on the station (<i>Mundy</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_172" id="Foot_172" href="#Ref_172">[172]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke
+to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim
+the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood&mdash;a course which
+the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own
+customs&mdash;British prestige and power are said to have suffered
+considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have
+remarked, "<i>He paukena te pakeha</i>" (The Governor is soft, he is a
+pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa
+and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the
+payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends
+killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">{293}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER VIII</span><br /><span
+class="size070">THE CAPTIVE CHIEF</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">The</span>
+decision of which Governor Fitzroy had delivered himself, as the
+result of his hurried investigation into the circumstances attending
+the tragedy at the Wairau, brought him into bitter conflict with the
+more influential colonists, and added to his native troubles a
+European difficulty, which ultimately played no small part in his
+official undoing. Fitzroy had, with a patriotism worthy of the best
+traditions of our race, sacrificed place and high prospects in the
+homeland to assume the Governorship of New Zealand, a post which was
+afterwards described by Lord Stanley as "a laborious, responsible, and
+ill-remunerated office in a distant colony." Without money, or the
+means of obtaining it, to carry on his civil administration, and
+destitute of military support wherewith to assert his authority, he
+found himself defied by the natives and thwarted by the Europeans. His
+appeals for soldiers were unheeded, and his schemes for supplementing
+his revenue were disallowed by the Home authorities, who, instead of
+repairing their policy of parsimony, recalled the Governor. Thus was
+cut short a career upon which Robert Fitzroy had entered with only the
+highest motives, throughout which he had acted with the utmost
+devotion, and in which he had failed only because with his limited
+opportunities it was humanly impossible to succeed. His successor in
+the arduous task of soothing the dual discontent was Captain Grey,
+late of the 83rd Regiment, who was then serving the Crown with
+conspicuous distinction as Governor of South Australia. His success
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">{294}</a></span>
+in dealing with native difficulties there, his achievements as an
+explorer, added to his valuable personal qualities, were his chief
+recommendations for the new responsibilities which it was proposed to
+ask him to assume. That the judgment of those responsible for the
+selection was sound, history has proved; but the administrations of
+Fitzroy and Grey cannot fairly be compared, for the reason that, while
+the former was expected to rule a turbulent population without either
+men or money, the latter was freely supplied with both. The new
+Governor was further invested with the additional prestige derivable
+from the title of Governor-in-Chief, and from the fact that he was
+supported by a Lieutenant-Governor, who, in his subordinate authority,
+was stationed in the Southern province. Captain Grey assumed the
+duties of his new office on November 18, 1845. His first recorded
+contact with Te Rauparaha was on the occasion of his receiving from
+him and other chiefs a memorial, in which they expressed their anxiety
+to know his political intentions, and begged him to give them someone
+skilled in both native and European laws, who would advise them how
+best to avoid conflict with the <i>pakeha</i>. They were, they said,
+deeply anxious to obey the laws of the Queen, and just as they had
+teachers amongst them to lead them to a proper understanding regarding
+the will of God, so, in order to avoid misunderstanding, they desired
+some one to act as their guide and friend in the matter of the
+temporal law. Grey was more than gratified with this evidence of
+loyalty and desire for harmony, and, in his reply, endeavoured to make
+it clear that it was his duty so to direct his authority as to secure
+the peace and happiness of all under his jurisdiction. "Maoris and
+Europeans," wrote the Governor, "shall be equally protected and live
+under equal laws, both of them alike subjects of the Queen and
+entitled to her favour and care. The Maoris shall be protected in all
+their property and possessions, and no one shall be allowed to take
+anything from them or to injure them; nor will I allow Maoris to
+injure one
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">{295}</a></span>
+another. An end must be put to deeds of blood and
+violence." This clear and explicit declaration of his determination
+to permit of only one law for the <i>pakeha</i> and
+Maori, and to hold the racial balance justly before the eyes
+of the world, touched a responsive chord in the heart of
+the Maori nation; and Te Rauparaha was but expressing
+the general sentiments of the people when he wrote in
+reply to the Governor's message: "We have heard your
+words, which are like the light of day to us; our hearts
+are glad. Friend, now will I hold fast your words for
+good, and for living in quiet, both of natives and
+Europeans. Your protecting word has come forth for
+one and for the other; your kind words are a light to us.
+Now, for the first time, I can say the light has dawned
+for the Maoris, and now no wrong-doing shall spring
+from me. I mean the errors of the natives. If you
+cannot come hither, will you write to me?" Not less
+reassuring was the word of Wi Kingi Rangitake, of
+Ngati-Awa.</p>
+
+<p>With these pronouncements of loyalty from the two most powerful chiefs
+on the west coast, Grey felt more than equal to the task of subduing
+the malcontent natives under Taringa-kuri, chief of the Kaiwara
+<i>pa</i>, whose depredations in the Hutt Valley had been causing the
+greatest anxiety to the Wellington settlers. Both Te Rauparaha and
+Rangihaeata had laid claim to part payment for the land which the New
+Zealand Company had purchased in this valley, their claim being based
+upon the alleged conquest of the country. This conquest Mr. Spain held
+to be incomplete, inasmuch as they had not resided on the land, which
+was really occupied by Ngati-Awa. He therefore disallowed their claim,
+although Mr. Clarke, junr., was anxious to pay out of the £1,500
+awarded to the natives a sum of £400 in liquidation of their rights,
+he having come to some such arrangement with Rauparaha at an interview
+which took place at Waikanae in the presence of the Governor. Hearing
+of Mr. Spain's objection, Rauparaha, on February 3, 1844, penned a
+letter to him, Mr. Clarke,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">{296}</a></span>
+and the Governor, in which he warned them against
+paying the purchase-money for Port Nicholson over to
+"wrong parties," and listening to "strange men," at
+the same time urging them to make haste and come to
+Otaki for the purpose of explaining their intentions to
+Rangihaeata and himself.</p>
+
+<p class="block">"<span class="smcap">Friend Mr. Clarke, Mr. Spain, and the
+ Governor</span>,&mdash;This
+ letter is from me and Rangihaeata, respecting your foolish work in
+ paying for the land. This was the cause of you and us going wrong
+ at the Wairau, the foolish paying to wrong parties. Do not listen to
+ strange men, but make haste and make known to us your intentions,
+ that the truth of what you have said may be seen. Friend Clarke,
+ make haste. Desist from listening to any man. Son Clarke and
+ Mr. Spain, desist also from carrying your payment to men who have
+ nothing to do with it, but bring it straight to us&mdash;myself and
+ Rangihaeata. This is all my speech to you by us.</p>
+
+<div class="sigbloc">
+<span class="right">"<span class="smcap">Rauparaha.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span>
+<span class="right">"<span class="smcap">Rangihaeata.</span>"</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>To this Mr. Clarke replied on the 29th, assuring Rauparaha that
+anything that he had promised him in the matter of payment would be
+carried out. Simultaneously, Mr. Spain arranged to hold a court at
+Porirua, in order to comply as speedily as possible with Te
+Rauparaha's request. This court, which was opened on 8th March, was
+attended by most of the leading chiefs and upwards of two hundred
+natives. After the preliminary addresses had been disposed of, Mr.
+Spain formally opened the court by saying, "Rauparaha, I received your
+letter asking me to settle the Port Nicholson purchase, and after
+inquiry I have decided that the natives who owned the land are
+entitled to more money, and I therefore offer you new terms." To this
+Te Rauparaha answered, "My wish was to settle my claims at Port
+Nicholson, but you want me to give up the Hutt." "Did you not consent
+to receive £300 for Port Nicholson and the Hutt?" inquired Mr. Spain
+in an injured tone; to which Te Rauparaha replied that he had not
+regarded the bargain in that light. Efforts were made to convince him
+that he had signed a deed in which the Hutt was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">{297}</a></span>
+included, but he insisted that the boundary was not to go
+beyond a creek known as Rotokakahi. "I am aware of
+the cause of this objection," said Mr. Spain. "That
+man sitting by your side, Taringa-kuri, is cultivating
+land at the Hutt to which he has no right." Te
+Rauparaha's answer was that the land belonged to
+Taringa-kuri, as he was the oldest man of the resident
+natives; whereupon Mr. Spain rose to depart, and as he
+did so he turned, and, more in sorrow than in anger,
+upbraided Te Rauparaha for thus breaking faith with him
+in so flagrant a manner.</p>
+
+<p>The court then adjourned without either party having been able to
+convince the other. But Te Rauparaha did not permit the grass to grow
+under his feet, for he at once despatched Taringa-kuri to cut a line
+through the scrub and bush dividing the Upper from the Lower Hutt
+Valley, in order to define clearly what territory he considered
+belonged to the <i>pakeha</i> and what to the Maori. On hearing that
+this work was in progress, Mr. Spain felt it incumbent upon him to go
+out and warn Taringa-kuri that he was committing an illegal act, and
+that the boundary he was attempting to create would not be recognised
+by the Government. Mr. Spain's reception was not an encouraging one.
+"If you have come to make remarks about our cutting this line, you may
+as well return, as we will listen to nothing you have got to say, nor
+will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen,"
+was the truculent declaration of the first native whom he met.
+Taringa-kuri was not less uncompromising. "I am cutting a line to
+divide the lands of the settlers from our own, and I am doing it under
+Te Rauparaha's orders," was his emphatic reply to Mr. Spain's demand
+for information as to why this work was proceeding. And in answer to
+the Commissioner's protest that the line being cut was not the line
+agreed upon, the chief, with a fine show of indignation, accused him
+of hostile intentions. "It is plain," he said, "you are not peaceably
+disposed; you heard at Porirua that Rauparaha would not agree to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">{298}</a></span>
+your boundaries, and you appear determined to insist
+upon them. You had better return to the land of your
+birth."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately upon his return to Wellington, Mr. Spain despatched a
+letter to Rauparaha again severely censuring him for committing a
+breach of faith in sending Taringa-kuri to cut the line contrary to
+his (Mr. Spain's) decision, and concluding by saying, "Let me tell you
+that after all that has occurred, Kuri is acting contrary to the laws
+of the Governor, and, if he persists in his illegal acts, he will be
+punished by the law accordingly." This letter Mr. Spain first showed
+to Mr. Hadfield, who approved its contents, and translated it into the
+native tongue for him, Mr. Spain thinking that this course would
+enhance its value in the native estimation. On the 27th Rauparaha
+replied that it was not he who was withholding the land, but
+Rangihaeata, who had negatived his voice in the councils of the tribe.
+But he still reiterated his former contention that he had never agreed
+to sell the Hutt.</p>
+
+<p>The remonstrances on the part of Mr. Spain having proved fruitless,
+the Governor first pacified Heke<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_173" id="Ref_173" href="#Foot_173">[173]</a></span>
+and Kawiti in the north, and
+then came south in February, 1846, with all the prestige of a
+successful "fighting Governor," to direct his operations against the
+truculent Taringa-kuri. In an interview, the Governor peremptorily
+demanded the evacuation of the valley. The chief pleaded for time to
+reap and remove the standing crops; but the Governor, strong in the
+knowledge that he had right on his side, and an ample force to sustain
+his demand, refused to consider any compromise, and gave the chief no
+alternative between immediate compliance and a declaration of war. The
+natives hesitated to test the question by an appeal to arms, and
+sullenly withdrew from the disputed territory, but not from the valley
+itself. They fell back upon a <i>pa</i> up in the ranges, which the
+Governor afterwards described as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">{299}</a></span>
+"the strongest position he had seen in any part of the
+world." From this mountain fastness they made sudden
+and destructive raids upon the peaceful settlements in the
+vale below. Two hundred soldiers were left to render
+the settlers what measure of protection they could, by
+defensive tactics. Their instructions were not to attack
+the rebels in their stronghold, but, by vigilantly preventing
+them from securing supplies, to endeavour by
+starvation to render its continued occupation impossible.
+This policy had early the anticipated effect, and, acting
+on Te Rauparaha's assurance that the rebels had abandoned
+the <i>pa</i>, the Governor visited the spot, and has
+thus described what he saw:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"The forest which had been held by the enemy was traversed by a
+ single narrow path, almost impassable for armed Europeans. This path
+ ascended a narrow ridge of rocks, having a precipice on each side
+ covered with jungle. The ridge of rocks was so narrow that only one
+ person could pass along it at a time, and it led to a hill with a
+ broad summit, upon which a fortress had been constructed in such a
+ manner as completely to command the path, which was rendered more
+ difficult by an abattis placed across it. The rear of this position
+ was quite as inaccessible as the front, and on each flank was a
+ precipice; from the number of huts placed upon it, it must have been
+ occupied by from three hundred to four hundred men."</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was this position abandoned than another, almost equally
+impregnable, was taken up, and from this lair in the depth of the
+hills a band of marauders crept down through the forest early in April
+of 1846, stole past the troops, and late in the afternoon murdered a
+settler named Gillespie and his son, while they were engaged threshing
+wheat. There were soldiers in the vicinity at the time, but they were
+more intent upon getting grog from Burcham's public-house than upon
+protecting the settlers; and so stealthily was the attack carried out,
+that no one knew of the tragedy until Charles Gillespie, returning
+home in the dusk, found his father and brother in the throes of death.
+Te Rauparaha disclaimed, and probably with truth, all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">{300}</a></span>
+knowledge of or participation in this treacherous act,
+and even offered his assistance in bringing the murderers
+to justice. Rangihaeata was not so frank&mdash;or it may be
+that he was even more frank&mdash;for he instantly betook
+himself to the hills, and openly declared himself in
+sympathy with those who were thus contesting the
+question of the supremacy of the races. He refused to
+give the murderers up to the authorities, and busied
+himself with preparations for continuing the contest.
+Nor had the military long to wait for his onset. The
+most advanced British post in the valley was known as
+Boulcott's Farm, commanded by Lieutenant Page, who
+had a force of fifty men with him. Here, just before
+dawn, on May 16, 1846, the sentry, as he kept his
+lonely vigil, was startled by seeing some dark body
+creeping through the grass towards him. Without
+waiting to challenge, he fired, and in an instant the air
+was rent with the savage yells of a horde of warriors,
+who, under Mamaku, had left Rangihaeata's <i>pa</i> at
+Pahautanui on the previous day, and, scaling the
+mountain range, had fallen upon the sleeping camp.
+The sentry and the picket were soon overpowered and
+killed, but not before the alarm had been given by
+Allen, the bugle-boy attached to the company. Roused
+from sleep by the commotion, he seized his bugle, and
+was in the act of sounding the call to arms, when a blow
+from a tomahawk struck the instrument from his hand.
+He still had time to recover it, and blow a blast which
+awakened his sleeping comrades, before he was laid
+low by a second stroke of the murderous axe. A galling
+fire was at once opened upon the outpost from the
+surrounding bush by the secreted natives, and Lieutenant
+Page and two men, who were with him in one of the
+out-buildings, hurried off to join their comrades who
+had been sleeping in the stockade. Intercepted by a
+swift rush on the part of a band of natives, they were
+only rescued from their perilous position by a determined
+effort on the part of the sergeant, who rallied
+some of the men and went to his commander's relief.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">{301}</a></span>
+Three men went down with wounds, and the remaining
+six fought the savages hand to hand, checking their
+onslaught until the wounded were got safely away and
+the remainder were able to retreat to the barn. Here
+the available force was assembled, and, leaving a
+sufficient garrison to defend the position, Lieutenant Page<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_174" id="Ref_174" href="#Foot_174">[174]</a></span>
+and his men sallied out in extended order, firing
+as they went. Under this pressure the attack soon
+slackened, and, on the arrival of reinforcements, was
+turned into retreat, but not before six men had been
+killed and four wounded. During the following month
+there was another skirmish in the valley, which did not
+redound greatly to the credit of the British arms.</p>
+
+<p>These repeated raids convinced the Governor that he must lance the
+lairs which were harbouring these human wolves, who represented all
+that was worst in the native race. He had been desirous of deferring
+field operations against these malcontents until the winter was over;
+but, realising that every successful attack only encouraged the enemy
+to further excesses, and diminished the enthusiasm of the loyal
+natives, he now determined upon an immediate and active campaign. The
+policy of road-making, which had been initiated some months before,
+was vigorously prosecuted, the friendly natives, as well as the
+soldiers, being employed in the work. The deep paths which were thus
+cut through the luxuriant beauty of the wilderness to Porirua and into
+the heart of the Hutt Valley robbed the forest of much of its terror,
+and were masterly counter-strokes to the secret tactics of
+Rangihaeata's followers. That chief's reply to the Governor's policy
+was to build a <i>pa</i> at Pahautanui, so skilfully situated and so
+strongly fortified that he openly boasted that nothing but British
+artillery could drive him from it. But he did more than this. A
+<i>tapu</i> placed on the Porirua track for a time disturbed and
+paralysed our native allies; but the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">{302}</a></span>
+inconvenience was only temporary, and the Governor succeeded
+in gradually breaking down the chief's authority.</p>
+
+<p>An important military post was established at Porirua, garrisoned by
+three hundred men, and the services of the friendly natives were
+enlisted in the contemplated movement against the forces of
+Rangihaeata. His <i>pa</i> was reconnoitred on the night of July 8th
+by Lieutenant the Hon. Charles Yelverton, of the Royal Artillery, and
+Mr. McKillop, then a midshipman on board H.M.S. <i>Calliope</i>, and
+the conclusion at which they arrived was that the artillery might
+easily be brought forward against the <i>pa</i>, and that in all other
+respects its investment was feasible, so soon as the Governor had a
+sufficient force at his disposal for the purpose. But there was one
+other factor to be taken into account. What would Te Rauparaha's
+attitude be if Rangihaeata were attacked? In his <i>pa</i> at Taupo,
+on the shores of Porirua Harbour, he occupied a strong strategical
+position; and, though he had consistently professed his friendship for
+the Governor and his loyalty to the Queen, he was supremely
+distrusted, both by the authorities and by our native allies. As early
+as June of 1846, Major Last had reported to the Governor, from
+Wellington, that he was "a little suspicious of Te Rauparaha";<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_175" id="Ref_175" href="#Foot_175">[175]</a></span>
+but the insinuation of disloyalty coming to the chief's ears, he
+challenged the Major's suspicions by offering to come to Wellington to
+prove the contrary. In view of the intensely hostile feeling
+prevailing amongst the European population against the chief, Major
+Last deemed the proposed visit to be ill-timed and impolitic, and
+declined to encourage Rauparaha in his intention. But the bold and
+fearless proposal must have shaken the officer's confidence in the
+grounds for his aspersion.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">{303}</a></span>
+The position of the chief at this time was a most
+unenviable one, for there is evidence that the Governor
+had begun to share the doubts of Major Last. It must
+not be forgotten, however, that the seeds of suspicion
+may have been assiduously sown in his mind by
+Rauparaha's tribal enemies, who would have exulted in
+embroiling him in a dispute with the local authorities.
+Even his friends who were with Rangihaeata in the field,
+either to further their own schemes or out of resentment
+at his passive attitude, sought to draw him into the
+vortex of the struggle. The <i>mana</i> of the chief was still
+great, and Rangihaeata and Mamaku endeavoured to conjure
+with his name and claim his sanction for a letter to
+some tribal comrades containing an appeal for assistance.</p>
+
+<p>The native carrying this letter was captured, and the intercepted
+document placed in the hands of the Governor, who immediately sailed
+for Porirua in H.M.S. <i>Driver</i>. On board the vessel he was
+visited by Te Rauparaha, and, during the interview, the incriminating
+message was produced and handed to the chief, who instantly denounced
+its contents as falsehoods and its writer as his enemy. "I watched him
+narrowly at the time," says Grey, "and his manner was such as to lead
+me to think that he really had no knowledge that such a letter had
+been written." Though thus frankly confessing that the letter was an
+injustice to the chief, the Governor, either from some innate mistrust
+of his visitor or a too ready disposition to listen to the sinister
+suggestions made against him, resolved that he would take no risks as
+to the future conduct of the man whom he believed he had to checkmate.
+He therefore determined that, before moving against Rangihaeata, he
+would forestall any possibility of an attack upon his lines of
+communication by capturing Te Rauparaha and holding him hostage for
+the good behaviour of his tribe. Without indicating by sign or word to
+the chief that the friendship between them was at an end, and without
+permitting him even to suspect the existence of any doubts as to his
+loyalty, the Governor took his farewell
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">{304}</a></span>
+of Te Rauparaha, and on the afternoon of July 22 left
+Porirua. For the purpose of allaying suspicion, the
+<i>Driver</i>, in which he sailed, ostentatiously steamed to
+the north; but during the night she returned and
+stealthily anchored at the entrance of the harbour. Boats
+were lowered, and a company of a hundred and thirty
+men, under Major Last, Captain Stanley, of H.M.S.
+<i>Calliope</i>, and Lieutenant McKillop,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_176" id="Ref_176" href="#Foot_176">[176]</a></span>
+landed, and silently surrounded the stockade of the Taupo <i>pa</i>, in which
+the chief and his people were sleeping. The arrangements
+of the capturing party were so admirably made
+that no suspicion of what was moving around them
+was allowed to reach the natives until the stormers
+rushed into Rauparaha's <i>whare</i>, and, seizing the chief
+in his bed, carried him, in spite of his struggles and
+protestations, down to the boat side. Lieutenant
+McKillop, who personally accomplished the seizure of
+the chief, has left on record the following account of
+the exciting incident:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 380px">
+  <br />
+  <a name="rangihaeata" id="rangihaeata">
+  <img width="380" height="600" alt="rangihaeata" src="images/339-rangihaeata.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">TE RANGIHAEATA.<br />
+             After a drawing by C. D. Barraud. Esq</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+ <p class="block">"I was sent for soon after we arrived, and had an interview with the
+ Governor, who informed me of Rauparaha's treachery, and his wish to
+ have him and three others taken prisoners, if possible by surprise;
+ and knowing that I was acquainted with their persons and locality, he
+ asked me if I would undertake the capture of the 'Old Serpent'
+ myself, allowing me to choose my own time and method of doing it,
+ Major Durie, the Inspector of Police, being selected to take the
+ others. Accordingly it was arranged that we were to leave the ship
+ before daylight the next morning and land quietly on the rocks some
+ little distance from the <i>pa</i> in which our treacherous allies
+ lived, taking a mixed force of bluejackets and soldiers, amounting to
+ two hundred men, to support us in the case of the natives rising
+ before we had effected our object. It was the Governor's particular
+ desire that we should not lay our hands on these men until we had
+ told them they were prisoners for treason, but on no account to let
+ old Rauparaha escape. I took Mr. Dighton with me to act as
+ interpreter, and four of our men unarmed, giving them instructions to
+ seize upon the old chief as soon as he was made aware of the charge
+ preferred against him, and to hurry him down to the boat before he
+ could rouse his people, the principal object being to secure him. We
+ landed at break of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">{305}</a></span>
+ day, and while they were forming the troops on the
+ beach, I with my small party ran on, as it was then light, fearing
+ that conscious guilt might sharpen their ears and frustrate our
+ plans. When we reached the <i>pa</i> not a soul was stirring, but our
+ heavy footsteps soon brought some of the sleepers to the doors of
+ their huts, knowing we were not of the barefooted tribe. We could not
+ wait to give any explanation, but pushed on to the hut which
+ contained the object of our search, whose quick ears had detected
+ strange footsteps. Never having liked me, he did not look at all easy
+ on perceiving who the intruder was, although his wife showed no alarm
+ and received me with her usual salutation. Upon informing him that he
+ was my prisoner, he immediately threw himself (being in a sitting
+ posture) back into the hut, and seized a tomahawk, with which he made
+ a blow at his wife's head, thinking she had betrayed him. I warded
+ the blow with my pistol and seized him by the throat, my four men
+ immediately rushing in on him, and, securing him by his arms and
+ legs, started off as fast as his violent struggles would allow of,
+ which for a man of his age (upwards of seventy) were almost
+ superhuman. He roared out lustily 'Ngati-Toa! Ngati-Toa!'
+ endeavouring to bring his tribesmen to his rescue, and in a few
+ seconds every man was on his legs and came rushing over to see what
+ was the matter with their chief; but the troops and bluejackets
+ coming up at the same time and surrounding the <i>pa</i> prevented
+ any attempt at a rescue, as he was already in the boat. His last
+ effort to free himself was fastening with his teeth on to my
+ coxswain's shoulder, who bore this piece of cannibalism unflinchingly.
+ I sent Mr. Dighton off to the ship with him, there being not much
+ chance of his escaping from the boat, particularly as he was informed
+ that he would be shot if he attempted to escape. I then returned to
+ the <i>pa</i> to search for arms and ammunition, and also to see if
+ the other prisoners had been secured. The interior of the <i>pa</i>
+ presented a woeful spectacle, the women all howling in chorus with
+ the pigs and the children, the two latter being much knocked about in
+ the search for arms."</p>
+
+<p>In the mêlée which ensued upon the capture of Te Rauparaha, four other
+natives were also seized by Major Durie, and in the same arbitrary
+manner were carried off to the ship.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_177" id="Ref_177" href="#Foot_177">[177]</a></span>
+Two of these were the influential chiefs,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">{306}</a></span>
+Te Kanae (the <i>ariki</i> of the Ngati-Toa tribe) and Hohepa,
+and two were men of inferior rank. By some writers
+who have been at no pains to conceal their hostility to
+Te Rauparaha, it is alleged that upon his arrival on
+board the <i>Driver</i> he manifested the most craven spirit,
+until he was assured that it was not the Governor's
+intention to hang him from the yard-arm. But, whatever
+be the truth of this assertion, he at least retained
+sufficient dignity and self-respect as a chief to strenuously
+object to the additional humiliation of being imprisoned
+in company with men of no standing in the tribe; and,
+in deference to his injured pride and his vehement
+expostulations, Pohe and his companion were sent ashore
+and released from their brief captivity.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, the little settlement at Taupo was thrown into a state of
+intense excitement. The seizure of their chief was so sudden, so
+unexpected, that its reality could not for the moment be grasped; but
+when its full significance broke in upon the astonished tribe, the
+startling tidings was immediately despatched to Te Rangihaeata, who
+was still sitting in defiance in his stronghold at Pahautanui. He at
+once made for the coast, but was too late. The Governor had several
+hours' start of him, and he was compelled to make a wide detour to
+avoid the British post at Porirua. He arrived on the wooded hill-side
+above Te Rauparaha's <i>pa</i> only in time to see the war-ship with
+her captives steaming down the coast.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_178" id="Ref_178" href="#Foot_178">[178]</a></span>
+Enraged and disappointed at
+what he must have regarded as the perfidy of the <i>pakeha</i>, and
+disheartened at his own impotency, he gloomily retired to his lair,
+there to sing<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_179" id="Ref_179" href="#Foot_179">[179]</a></span>
+that beautiful lament, in which he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">{307}</a></span>
+mournfully acknowledges the increasing ascendancy of the
+stranger, and chides the waning loyalty of his own people.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+
+<span class="i8q">"My brave canoe!</span>
+<span class="i4">In lordly decoration lordliest far,</span>
+<span class="i8">My proud canoe!</span>
+<span class="i6">Amid the fleet that fleetest flew&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i4">How wert thou shattered by the surge of war!</span>
+<span class="i6">'Tis but the fragments of thy wreck,</span>
+<span class="i6">O my renowned canoe,</span>
+<span class="i4">That lie all crushed on yonder war-ship's deck!</span>
+<span class="i6">Raha! my chief, my friend!</span>
+<span class="i6">Thy lonely journey wend:</span>
+<span class="i2">Stand with thy wrongs before our god of battle's face:</span>
+<span class="i6">Bid him thy foes requite!&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Ah me! Te Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Ah me! the English ruler's might!<br /><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i6">Raha! my chief of chiefs!</span>
+<span class="i6">Ascend with all thy griefs</span>
+<span class="i2">Up to their Lord of Peace&mdash;there stand before His face&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Let Him thy faith requite!&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i2">Ah me! Te Toa's sad defection and disgrace&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Ah me! the English ruler's might!<br /><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i6">One counsel from the first I gave,</span>
+<span class="i6">'Break up thy forces, comrade brave,</span>
+<span class="i6">Scatter them all about the land</span>
+<span class="i4">In many a predatory band!'&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">But Porirua's forest dense,</span>
+<span class="i6">Ah, thou wouldst never stir from thence,</span>
+<span class="i6">'There,' saidst thou, 'lies my best defence,'&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i6">Now, now, of such design ill-starred,</span>
+<span class="i4">How grievously thou reap'st the full reward!<br /><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i6">Hence, vain lamenting&mdash;hence, away!</span>
+<span class="i6">Hence, all the brood of sorrow born!</span>
+<span class="i6">There will be time enough to mourn</span>
+<span class="i4">In the long days of summer, ere the food</span>
+<span class="i4">Is cropped, abundant for the work of blood.</span>
+<span class="i4">Now I must marshal in compact array,</span>
+<span class="i2">Great thoughts that crowding come of an avenging day!"<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_180" id="Ref_180" href="#Foot_180">[180]</a></span>
+</span>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">{308}</a></span>
+The seizure of Te Rauparaha, at such a time and in such a manner, is
+one of the many debatable points in the history of this period, and,
+notwithstanding that many pages have been written upon the incident,
+the ethics of the act are apparently as far from final determination
+as ever. To the present writer its justification lies in its success.
+There is no doubt that, however high-handed and arbitrary, it was a
+tactical stroke which compelled waverers to pause, and paralysed those
+who were already in active hostility. On the other hand, it might just
+as easily have roused the whole Maori race into a frenzy of injured
+pride, and plunged the country into the vortex of a retaliatory war.
+Only one thing saved New Zealand from this calamity, and that was the
+tribal dissensions. Had the Maori been a united people, this
+unprovoked indignity put upon one of their greatest men must have
+excited their bitterest passions against the perpetrators of the deed;
+and one almost shudders to realise in what a hair-balance the fate of
+the little Colony trembled at this moment of her history. In
+criticising the Governor's policy, however, it must be borne in mind
+that he, with his knowledge of Maori conditions, may have counted upon
+these very intertribal hatreds to prevent anything in the nature of a
+general rising. This being assumed, his action is shorn of some of its
+rashness and impolicy, and he becomes entitled to credit for the
+success of his methods of overawing the turbulent spirit of the
+malcontent Maoris. On no other ground than that the end justifies the
+means can the seizure of Te Rauparaha be defended, nor, so far as the
+writer is aware, has any other defence ever been seriously attempted.
+The most that can be urged against the chief is that, unlike Te Kingi
+Rangitake, he did not join the allies and enter upon active
+hostilities against the so-called rebels. Of the fact that he secretly
+aided them there is little evidence and no proof. What evidence there
+may be is confined to the intercepted letters, admitted by the
+Governor himself to be forgeries, and to the unsupported statements of
+natives, some jealous of his power, and others
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">{309}</a></span>
+aggrieved at his previous treatment of them. In this
+respect Te Rauparaha must have felt that, having sown
+the wind, he was now reaping the whirlwind; for those
+natives who had gone down under his hand in war, or
+had been outwitted by his diplomacy, were only too
+anxious to represent him in an unfavourable light to the
+Governor, and were never tired of insinuating, and even
+broadly asserting, that his spirit was behind the rebellion,
+even though his hand might be invisible.</p>
+
+<p>In communicating with Mr. Gladstone on July 23, 1846, Grey described
+his military operations, which were designed to check a company of
+some two hundred rebels who, he had reason to believe, were marching
+from Whanganui to join Te Rangihaeata. He landed at Waikanae, Otaki,
+and Ohau, where he had a conference with the friendly chiefs. He
+proceeded to say: "The whole of the chiefs with whom I had interviews
+declared that these disturbances were to be entirely attributed to the
+intrigues of Te Rauparaha." How much his mind was influenced by the
+opinions of the chiefs may be judged by the fact that on the following
+day he launched his successful stroke, but how little he had weighed
+the value of their testimony may also be inferred from the
+circumstance that a year later he wrote a despatch to Mr. Gladstone's
+successor at the Colonial Office, in which he was forced to admit that
+after retaining Te Rauparaha in captivity for ten months his
+difficulties in deciding how to dispose of him were enhanced by the
+fact that all his "efforts made to secure the evidence of Pohi<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_181" id="Ref_181" href="#Foot_181">[181]</a></span>
+failed, consequently it was not possible to prove Te Rauparaha's guilt
+in a court of law."</p>
+
+<p>It is strange, if so many chiefs knew that the brain of Te Rauparaha
+was forging the balls which Rangihaeata was firing, that none were
+able to testify to the fact in an established court of law, and,
+travesty upon British justice though it may seem, it is nevertheless a
+fact that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">{310}</a></span>
+the man who had relied upon the Treaty of Waitangi to
+secure him his rights and liberties was detained a prisoner
+without formal charge and without the chance of a trial
+until it was thought possible to prove his guilt. How
+far Te Rauparaha's seizure and continued detention were
+a palliation to the wounded feelings of the European
+settlers it is difficult to pronounce, but it is not in the
+least unlikely that the Governor paid some regard to the
+popular effect of the step, even if he totally ignored its
+judicial aspect. In all probability Te Rauparaha was at
+this time the best-hated man in New Zealand. The
+memory of the massacre at the Wairau had not yet died
+out, and there were many who, misunderstanding that
+fatal event, could not look upon the chief whose name
+had been so tragically associated with it in any other
+light than as a social and moral outcast. To this not
+inconsiderable section of the community imprisonment
+was much too good for Te Rauparaha, but it was preferable
+to the negative attitude of Governor Fitzroy, and
+Grey, no doubt, counted upon standing well with these
+extremists by the initiation of a policy in which there
+was a touch of retribution, however barren it might be
+of justice.</p>
+
+<p>With the European population, then, the kidnapping of the Ngati-Toa
+leader was, on the whole, a popular move, and with a number of the
+natives it was hailed as an act of retribution, long delayed, but
+nevertheless a judgment at last. Upon his own people the effect was
+different. They were stunned by the swiftness of the blow and
+confounded by its audacity. Here in a twinkling the very eye had been
+plucked out of their head, the heart torn from their body, and that,
+too, at a time when they had no quarrel with the Government, and by a
+man whom they had been wont to regard as their friend. Their first
+impulse was to fly to arms. To attack Wellington, to sweep the
+<i>pakeha</i> into the sea, to avenge the wrongs of Te Rauparaha, was
+the cry. Te Rangihaeata called his own followers about him and sent
+out his appeals to the northern tribes: "Friends and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">{311}</a></span>
+children, come and revenge the injuries of Te Rauparaha,
+because Te Rauparaha is the eye of the faith of all men.
+Make haste hither in the days of December." But his
+design for the extermination of the Europeans was
+doomed to be frustrated. His own particular faithfuls
+were few in number, and the one great chief, Te Heuheu,
+to whom he might have looked for encouragement in
+such an emergency, was dead, buried beneath a huge
+landslide which had overwhelmed his village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo. Of others with whom he had
+been accustomed to co-operate in the days gone by, some
+were espousing the cause of the enemy, and some,
+having embraced the Christian faith, had grown weary
+of incessant war. Their reply, which was something in
+the nature of a rebuke, betokened that they had realised
+the futility of opposing the further progress of the
+<i>pakeha</i>. "How can you dry up the sea? That is why
+we say, finish fighting with the European." Such was
+their answer to his summons to arms, and Rangihaeata
+was left to fall back upon his small band of war-worn
+desperadoes to carry on a struggle which was hopeless
+from the first.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_182" id="Ref_182" href="#Foot_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Abandoned to his own resources, he applied himself to his duties of
+leader with the energy of despair. Realising that his position at
+Pahautanui was no longer tenable, as its swamps and shallows were no
+protection against the artillery which he knew was collected at
+Porirua, he withdrew his forces into the deeply wooded Horokiwi
+Valley. Through this forest defile, tangled and matted by an almost
+impenetrable undergrowth, he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">{312}</a></span>
+was pursued by a force of 1,000 men, composed of
+militia and native allies, under Major Last. Te Rangihaeata's
+generalship proved equal to the peculiar circumstances
+in which he found himself, and his genius for
+war won for him the warmest encomiums from British
+officers, who have generously expressed their admiration
+for the skill with which the chief conducted his retreat.
+Into the density of the wooded valley he led his pursuers,
+enticing them by a simulated resistance, but abandoning
+his camps as soon as they pressed too closely upon him.
+In one of these semi-fortified resting-places the British
+soldiers discovered the bugle which had been taken from
+the boy Allen when he was struck down at the fatal fight
+at Boulcott's Farm.</p>
+
+<p>At length, retreat being no longer possible, the rebel chief turned at
+bay and fought his pursuers at a point near the head of the valley.
+His decision to throw down the gage of battle here was not the result
+of accident or impulse, but was due to deliberate calculation. The
+position was admirably chosen, and he held the enemy in check long
+enough to enable him to fortify it effectively. He threw a rough
+breastwork of tree-trunks across the narrow neck of a spur springing
+from a densely wooded hill, the approach to which was flanked by steep
+ravines, leaving so narrow a ridge that it could only be passed
+abreast by a very limited force of men. This wooden rampart, which
+presented so imposing a front to an enemy, was liberally perforated
+with loopholes, through which the defenders were able to concentrate
+their fire with deadly effect upon any approaching force. This
+arrangement, combined with the inaccessible nature of the ground, made
+its seizure by storm practically impossible. Nevertheless, an attack
+was determined upon, and on the morning of August 6, 1846, fire was
+opened upon the position, but with no other visible result than that
+Ensign Blackburn<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_183" id="Ref_183" href="#Foot_183">[183]</a></span>
+and two
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">{313}</a></span>
+privates were killed and nine others wounded. On the
+following day the assault, which had been so inauspiciously
+commenced, was suspended, for Major Last had
+now seen enough to convince him that some projectile
+more searching than bullets was necessary to dislodge
+the defenders from their stronghold. He accordingly
+sent to Porirua and procured two small mortars, which,
+after infinite labour spent in dragging them into position,
+were discovered to be absolutely worthless for purposes
+of attack, for the high forest trees made accurate gunnery
+impossible. Seeing his troops in a deplorable condition,
+even after this short bush campaign, and hopeless of
+driving Rangihaeata out, except at an enormous sacrifice
+of human life, Major Last decided to withdraw the
+regular troops and leave the friendly natives, under
+Puaha, to watch and wait for hunger to work its effects
+upon the stubborn garrison. A few days sufficed for
+this. On the 13th the allies were surprised by a hail of
+lead suddenly raining down upon their lines. No sooner
+had they sprung to arms than they saw that the enemy
+was afoot, the volley which they had fired being the
+signal for retreat. Immediately the real nature of the
+movement was ascertained, Puaha and his loyalists
+rushed forward over the fallen trees and broken ground,
+and reached the breastwork only in time to see the last
+of the defenders escape by the thickly veiled forest track,
+where they were swallowed up by the bush and lost to
+human view.</p>
+
+<p>Hunger and cold had done their work, for there were no signs of food
+supplies inside the camp except some edible fern. Nor did the escape
+of the defenders to the open avail them much, for they were so harried
+by the followers of Puaha as they fled along the snow-covered mountain
+ridge that the opportunities for procuring food were few and
+uncertain. Some made their perilous way to the coast, in the secret
+hope of finding food and shelter amongst their friends in the
+<i>pas</i>, but these were for the most part found by the vigilant
+Wiremu Kingi, and either driven back into the mountain fastnesses or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">{314}</a></span>
+promptly secured as prisoners of war.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_184" id="Ref_184" href="#Foot_184">[184]</a></span>
+Deeming himself
+fortunate to have so far evaded death or capture,
+Te Rangihaeata retreated northwards with his famished
+adherents until he reached the lowlands of the Manawatu.
+There, beaten though still defiant, he retired to a
+<i>pa</i> built in the midst of the swamps and marshes of
+Poroutawhao, where he laid down his arms and, sullenly
+drawing his mat about him, prepared to watch the
+irresistible march of the <i>pakeha</i>, though refusing to
+acknowledge defeat at his hands. "I am finished," he
+wrote to the Governor, "but do not suppose that you
+conquered me. No; it was these my own relatives and
+friends, Rangitake and others. It was by them I was
+overcome, and not by you, O Governor."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_185" id="Ref_185" href="#Foot_185">[185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A new cause for anxiety, in the outbreak of hostilities at Whanganui,
+now diverted Grey's attention momentarily
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">{315}</a></span>
+from the fugitive chief, who improved the respite
+thus given by refraining from any act of violence.
+Although no formal peace was declared, Grey wisely
+decided not to precipitate further trouble by following
+him into the marshes of Poroutawhao. True, on the very
+day (April 18, 1847) that the news of the outbreak at
+Whanganui reached Wellington, the chief made a sensational
+descent upon Kapiti. In the grey of the early
+morning a whaler named Brown was awakened by a
+sound at the door of his hut, and, as he raised himself on
+his elbow, he saw the tall form of Rangihaeata enter the
+room with a tomahawk in his hand. The whaler not
+unnaturally thought he had come to take his life, and, in
+his subsequent narration of the incident, he indulged in
+some heroics, telling how he had challenged the chief to
+slay him on the spot. But Rangihaeata was not in search
+of a defenceless whaler's blood. He had come to demand
+some powder which was rightly his, and which he had
+left there for safe keeping. When he had secured his
+property, he went harmlessly away, after shaking hands
+in the most friendly manner with the frightened seaman.
+Some of his followers, however, were not quite so
+scrupulous; and, in searching the hut for the powder,
+they had appropriated a bundle of bank notes and some
+sovereigns, and secreted them about their persons until
+they returned to the <i>pa</i>. Here Rangihaeata discovered
+the theft, and immediately sent back the plunder to the
+Governor, accompanied by a characteristic note, in
+which he made it clear that, however much he might be
+in opposition to the Government, he had no desire to be
+esteemed a common thief.</p>
+
+<p>With Rangihaeata beaten out of the field, we may now return to Te
+Rauparaha, whom we left in the hands of his captors. To ensure his
+greater security, he was, immediately upon the arrival of the
+<i>Driver</i> at Wellington, transferred to H.M.S.
+<i>Calliope</i>,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_186" id="Ref_186" href="#Foot_186">[186]</a></span>
+where he was placed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">{316}</a></span>
+under the watchful eye of Captain Stanley, for whom, we
+are told, he afterwards acquired a high regard. On
+board this ship he was detained with some show of
+liberty for upwards of ten months, visiting the principal
+ports of northern and central New Zealand, as the duties
+of the station demanded the presence of the vessel.
+During all this period no attempt was made to bring him
+to trial, though no pains were spared by the Governor to
+secure the evidence which would ensure his conviction.
+In a despatch written to the Colonial Office on December
+1, 1846, Grey endeavoured to explain his position
+and justify his halting attitude, but, in the trenchant
+words of one of his critics, his was a justification which
+itself required to be justified:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"A number of designing Europeans, who are annoyed at my
+ interfering with their illegal purchases of land, have thought it
+ proper to agitate the question of the justice and propriety of my
+ arresting Te Rauparaha. Some most improper publications have
+ already appeared, and I regret to state that I find a great effect is
+ being produced upon the minds of the native chiefs. The difficulty
+ of my position is that I am not yet quite satisfied whether or not it
+ will be expedient or necessary to bring the old man to trial. In fact,
+ I am rather anxious to avoid doing so, and I fear that, were I to
+ make public the various crimes for which he has been seized by the
+ Government, and the proofs of his guilt upon which the Government
+ justify his detention, a large portion of the European population
+ would be so exasperated against him that it would be difficult
+ for the Government to avoid bringing him to trial; and, if I were
+ compelled to adopt this step from having made known the charges
+ against him, I should probably be accused of having ungenerously
+ prejudiced the public against him previously to his being brought to
+ trial."</p>
+
+<p>The only impression which the unbiassed student can
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">{317}</a></span>
+derive from a perusal of this specious reasoning is that
+the Governor, in seeking to excuse himself for an unjustifiable
+action, has in reality delivered his own condemnation
+for a grave breach of trust. If the "various
+crimes" of which the chief was suspected were as
+defined as the Governor implies they were, and if "the
+proofs of his guilt upon which the Government justified
+his detention" were clear and unimpeachable, obviously
+then it was his bounden duty to the Colony and to Te
+Rauparaha that the chief should be brought to trial at
+the earliest possible moment. But the real fact was that
+the offences of Te Rauparaha were as imaginary as the
+proofs of his guilt were mythical, and he was kept captive
+on a ship of war while the Governor was diligently
+endeavouring to find Pohi, who was supposed to be
+possessed of important secrets, or was sedulously filling
+in the missing links in the chain of evidence which he
+hoped would establish the fact that certain messengers,
+who were known to have carried information to Rangihaeata,
+were indeed sent by Te Rauparaha.</p>
+
+<p>A fruitless ten months was spent in these endeavours to bring home
+guilt to Te Rauparaha, and at the end of that time Grey was forced to
+admit that he was still unable to prove the chief guilty in a court of
+law. He therefore began to consider how far he was justified in longer
+detaining him, while still refusing to do him the justice of giving
+him a clear acquittal. He temporised with other reasons, from which it
+is clear that he regarded the step as one of expediency rather than of
+right. "The detention of the prisoners," he wrote to Earl Grey, "has
+caused expense and inconvenience to the Government"; and therefore, to
+relieve his administration of something which it had forced upon
+itself, he was magnanimous enough to loose the chains from off the
+chief. But the Governor was also influenced by other considerations.
+He believed that the capture and long captivity of Te Rauparaha had
+completely destroyed his <i>mana</i>, so that he was now incapable of
+originating any new mischief, even if he were so inclined. But we
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">{318}</a></span>
+may also do him the justice of believing that he was
+genuinely anxious to placate the Ngati-Toa people, who
+had repeatedly petitioned him for their leader's release,
+and to allay an ugly suspicion, which had gained
+credence amongst them, that Te Rauparaha had been
+murdered, and that his so-called detention was merely a
+subterfuge to cover a desperate crime.</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"Repeated applications," wrote the Governor, "have been made
+ by Te Rauparaha's tribe for his release, and this step seems to be
+ quite justified by his ten months of good conduct. Waka Nene and
+ Te Wherowhero also petitioned for his release, and went guarantee
+ for his good behaviour. Upon the whole, with the larger force that
+ will be placed at my disposal, and after the convincing proofs which
+ the natives have so frequently afforded of their regarding their
+ interests as identical with those of the Government, I entertain no
+ apprehension of Te Rauparaha being able to effect further mischief,
+ even if he were disposed to do so. I therefore determined to order
+ his release, merely requiring Te Wherowhero and Waka Nene to
+ pledge their words for his future good conduct, and although I
+ exacted no conditions either from themselves or from the prisoners,
+ I recommended them to require both Te Rauparaha and Hohepa to
+ reside on the northern portions of the island until I felt justified in
+ stating that I had no objection to them permitting Te Rauparaha to
+ return to his own country."</p>
+
+<p>Under the guarantee of good conduct given by Te Wherowhero and Waka
+Nene, Te Rauparaha was released at Auckland, and was received as a
+guest into Te Wherowhero's house, which had been built for him by the
+Government in what is now the Auckland Domain. Here, though nominally
+free, he must have felt the bitterness of his exile, for he frequently
+displayed the humiliation which was surging within his soul by
+relapsing into periods of deep melancholy, during which he doubtless
+meditated upon the departed glory of the past and the hopelessness of
+the future. With him times had indeed changed. From the imperious
+leader of a victorious tribe, supreme and absolute, his word the word
+of authority, his very look, his merest gesture, an unquestionable
+command, he found himself shorn of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">{319}</a></span>
+power, degraded by captivity,
+destitute of influence, and little more than a memory&mdash;the hoary
+vestige of a stately ruin. But his path was not all strewn with
+thorns, and there were not wanting those, both Maori and European, who
+strove to lighten his burden and salve his wounded soul. Visitors
+frequently sought to cheer his drooping spirits, and, as a compliment
+to the conqueror of Kapiti, Te Wherowhero brought the flower of the
+Hauraki chiefs to do him honour. In September, 1847, two hundred of
+these warriors, casting aside their tribal prejudices, came and
+visited him. As the kilted band of strangers advanced, Te Rauparaha,
+dressed in a dogskin mat and forage cap, went out to meet them. He
+saluted several of the leading men according to native custom, and
+then followed the speechmaking inseparable from Maori gatherings.
+Squatting in a semicircle upon the ground, the assemblage listened
+with rapt attention to the oration delivered by Te Rauparaha, of whom
+all had heard, but whom few had previously seen. His speech was a
+dignified recitation of his past deeds, and while he spoke of his
+struggles with Waikato, his pilgrimage, and his conquests, he
+delivered himself brilliantly and dramatically, for the fire of the
+old warrior seemed to burn again within him and the blood of the
+victor to pulsate once more through his veins. But when he came to
+describe his seizure and captivity, the injustice and humiliation of
+it all bore down his valiant spirit, and he concluded his oration with
+difficulty and almost in tears. To this great effort of Maori
+eloquence replies of a lengthy and ceremonial nature were delivered by
+Taraia, Te Wherowhero, and several members of Hauraki's aristocracy,
+and then food was served on a sumptuous scale to the strangers. It
+was, however, noticed that Te Rauparaha ate but sparingly and was ill
+at ease. He rose and walked to his house, into which he was followed
+by two of the women, who there sang to him of the deeds of his
+fathers, and of the heroes of the ancient line from which he had
+sprung, the lament bringing a flood of tears to the old man's dim eyes.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">{320}</a></span>
+Still under the surveillance of Te Wherowhero, Te Rauparaha spent six
+months in the country of the Waikatos, the scene of some of his
+youthful exploits; but, feeling his freedom to be liberty only in
+name, and himself a stranger in a strange land, he preferred a request
+to the Governor to be allowed to return to his own people by the
+shores of Cook Strait, where was centred everything in life that he
+valued. The Governor granted his request, believing that he had now
+nothing to fear from the chief, and recognising that his return would
+have a quieting influence upon Rangihaeata, who, during his uncle's
+absence, had steadfastly refused to believe that the man by whose
+orders Wareaitu<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_187" id="Ref_187" href="#Foot_187">[187]</a></span>
+had been executed would be more merciful to Te
+Rauparaha. Accordingly, in January of 1848, the Governor, Lady Grey,
+Lieut.-Colonel Mundy, Te Wherowhero, Taraia, Te Rauparaha, and several
+other chiefs, embarked on board H.M.S. <i>Inflexible</i> and steamed
+for Otaki. Arrived there, the vessel was immediately boarded by
+Tamihana Te Rauparaha, who, clothed in the garb of a clergyman, came
+off to welcome his father.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of January 16, 1848, was the time appointed for the
+restoration of Te Rauparaha to his people. When the boats had been
+lowered to row the party ashore, the old chief came upon the
+quarter-deck dressed in full naval uniform, even to the cocked hat and
+the epaulets. His surprise and indignation were, however, considerable
+when he observed that the Governor and his suite had no idea of
+regarding the event as a State occasion, and were clothed in simple
+undress coats. Nor was his ill-temper improved when the Governor
+further robbed the incident of ceremonial importance by refusing to
+accord to him the honour of a salute from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">{321}</a></span>
+the ship's guns as he left the vessel's side. With eyes
+flashing and nostrils dilated, he sprang back into his cabin,
+and, throwing off his brilliant uniform, immediately
+reappeared wrapped in the sombre folds of an ancient
+blanket. Wounded in spirit at the absence of those
+impressive features which would have made his homecoming
+something of a triumph, he landed on the
+Otaki beach in no enviable mood; and, as the party
+proceeded towards the inland <i>pa</i>, he turned away from
+them, and sitting down in the sand with his face towards
+the ocean, covered his old grey head with his mat, and
+for two hours sat and sobbed like a child. During this
+meditation of tears no one approached him. Maori
+etiquette forbade his kinsmen breaking in upon his
+grief, and European courtesy dictated a discreet respect
+for the feelings of one who had come back to find
+the times so vastly changed, and for him so sadly out
+of joint.</p>
+
+<p>In that brief time, as the old warrior sat sighing in sympathy with
+the sobbing sea, there must have passed before him in vivid picture
+the whole panorama of his eventful life&mdash;his struggles, his schemes,
+his dreams, the anguish of defeat, the glut of victory, and then the
+final triumph in which tribe after tribe went down before him, and his
+name became wonderful and mighty throughout the land. But now, because
+of the advent of the <i>pakeha</i>, power had melted in his hand like
+snow. His life, like the wind-swept ruin of his old heathen <i>pa</i>,
+which stood broken and dilapidated a few chains off, had become but a
+shadow and a memory of the past; an exemplification of the fallible
+and transitory nature of mundane things. At length, rousing himself
+from his reverie, he proceeded to the new Christian settlement of
+Hadfield, at Otaki, which had been built mainly by the efforts of his
+son, Tamahana te Rauparaha, and his nephew, Matene te Whiwhi. A motley
+crowd of five or six hundred people poured out of the little
+settlement to welcome their chief, the Governor, and Lady Grey; and,
+as an evidence of the elevating influences which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">{322}</a></span>
+were operating amongst them,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_188" id="Ref_188" href="#Foot_188">[188]</a></span>
+prayers in the native
+tongue were read in the open air, before the feast which
+had been prepared for the visitors was placed before
+them. A glass-windowed, carpeted <i>whare</i> was the
+banquet-room, and a clean damask cloth covered the
+table at which the guests were seated, while a daughter
+of Rangihaeata courteously discharged the duties of
+hostess.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day Te Rauparaha presented himself before the people,
+and was received with the usual evidences of Maori
+jubilation&mdash;interminable speeches, wild and barbarous dances, and
+endless feasting. Almost immediately he exercised the prerogative of
+his freedom by visiting Rangihaeata, who was hovering in the
+neighbourhood of Otaki, but with what intent no one knew. Te Rauparaha
+was accompanied by Te Wherowhero
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">{323}</a></span>
+and some of the visiting chiefs, and the <i>korero</i>
+lasted several days. What the precise nature of their
+discussions was will never be known; but that they
+were not of a treasonable nature may be inferred from
+the fact that the Governor, hearing that Rangihaeata was
+at that time harbouring a notorious murderer, whom he
+refused to deliver up to justice, sent a letter to Te
+Rauparaha calling upon him and his compatriots to show
+their displeasure at Rangihaeata's conduct by instantly
+withdrawing from his presence. At the time the letter
+arrived, the chiefs were on the point of sitting down to
+partake of Rangihaeata's hospitality; but without hesitation
+they rose and left, though not before telling the
+obdurate chief their reason for doing so.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_189" id="Ref_189" href="#Foot_189">[189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This evidence of unfailing loyalty to the Crown was as gratifying to
+the Governor as it must have been aggravating to Rangihaeata, who,
+when he met His Excellency at Otaki, roundly abused him and all the
+<i>pakehas</i> for their presumptuous interference with his affairs.
+He declared that he was not tired of war, but evidently men and women
+had changed with the times, and now preferred to fight with the tongue
+rather than the <i>mere</i> or the musket. His contempt for the
+Europeans and all their doings was still as vehement as ever,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_190" id="Ref_190" href="#Foot_190">[190]</a></span>
+and in his violent denunciation of their encroachment upon his privileges
+as a chief, he declared that he wanted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">{324}</a></span>
+nothing of them, and he wore nothing of their work.
+He was then standing before the Governor, a tall and
+picturesque figure arrayed in a lustrous dogskin mat,
+with adornments in his hair; and when Grey quietly
+exposed his inconsistency by pointing to a peacock's
+feather dangling about his head, he angrily muttered,
+"True, that is <i>pakeha</i>," and cast it scornfully from him.</p>
+
+<p>Though Rangihaeata never accepted the Christian faith, in course of
+time his feelings mellowed and his attitude somewhat modified towards
+the occupation of the land by the white people. He not only acquiesced
+in the policy of road-making, which he had at first so strenuously
+opposed, but in 1852 he constructed two lines at Poroutawhao at his
+own expense. A school was even established at his <i>pa</i>, and
+subsequently his declared principles not to use British goods were so
+far modified that he purchased and drove in an English-made buggy
+along roads made by British soldiers. His feelings, too, towards the
+Governor considerably softened, and when, in 1852, Sir George Grey was
+about to proceed to England for a holiday, the chief wrote to him in
+terms of genuine friendship, which gave proof of the surprising change
+which had come over the hitherto untamable spirit of "the tiger of the
+Wairau":&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"O Governor! my friend, I send you greeting. I need scarcely
+ call to your remembrance the circumstances attending my flight
+ and pursuit: how it was that I took refuge in the fastnesses and
+ hollows of the country, as a crab lies concealed in the depths and
+ hollows of the rocks. You it was who sought and found me out,
+ and through your kindness it is that I am at this present time
+ enjoying your confidence and surrounded with peace and quietness.
+ This, then, is the expression of my esteem for you, which I take
+ occasion to make now that you are on the point of leaving for your
+ native land."</p>
+
+<p>The release of Te Rauparaha was the signal for a furious outburst of
+hostile criticism against the Governor, and Colonel Wakefield led the
+agitation in one of the biased and bitter effusions usual with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">{325}</a></span>
+him where Te Rauparaha was concerned.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_191" id="Ref_191" href="#Foot_191">[191]</a></span>
+But the anticipation of the Governor that the chief could, or
+would, cause the authorities no further trouble, appears
+to have been amply justified. So far as is known of him
+from this time until his death, he lived quietly and
+unostentatiously at the Otaki settlement. It would seem
+that he accepted with as good grace as he might the new
+order of things, and even sought to assist his people in
+reaching a higher plane of civilisation than at his advanced
+years he himself could ever hope to attain. It is at
+least accounted unto him for righteousness by his son,
+Tamahana, that it was at his suggestion the Ngati-Raukawa
+people built the now famous church<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_192" id="Ref_192" href="#Foot_192">[192]</a></span>
+at Otaki, wherein the tribe has so often heard the glad tidings of
+"peace on earth and goodwill towards men," so strongly
+contrasted with their old heathen doctrine of blood for
+blood. A striking feature in the architecture of this
+church is its central line of large totara pillars, which
+rise to a height of 40 feet, carrying the solid ridge-pole
+above. These wooden columns were hewn out of the
+forest on the banks of the Ohau, which in those days
+ran into the Waikawa, forming one large stream. The
+trees were felled in the bush, floated down the river
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">{326}</a></span>
+to the sea, and thence dragged along the coast, one
+native standing on the tree with pole in hand to guide
+it through the surf, while a string of stalwart men tugged
+at the heavy tow-ropes, as they marched along the sandy
+beach. Column after column was, in this way, eventually
+landed at Waitohu, near Otaki, and then hauled across
+the sandhills by hundreds of brawny arms to the site
+where the church now stands. There the trees were,
+with infinite labour, dressed and prepared with native
+adzes, which are still kept in the church as interesting
+mementoes. No machinery of any kind was available
+to assist in the construction of the sacred edifice. Hand
+labour was everywhere brought into requisition, and only
+the most cunning workmen were employed, men of
+reputed skill being brought from the Manawatu to design
+and execute the carvings of the interior, while the reed
+lacework round the walls was also dexterously woven by
+these same masters of Maori art.</p>
+
+<p>Some attempt has been made, but with dubious success, to prove that Te
+Rauparaha ordered the building of this church because he had become
+deeply and genuinely religious, and his son has given us the pious
+assurance that he spent these last of his days "continually
+worshipping."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_193" id="Ref_193" href="#Foot_193">[193]</a></span>
+"I saw," says an intelligent but newly arrived
+clergyman, who visited him at this time, "amongst the other men of
+note, the old and once powerful chief, Te Rauparaha, who,
+notwithstanding his great age of more than eighty years, is seldom
+missed from his class, and who, after a long life of perpetual
+turmoil, spent in all the savage excitement of cruel and bloody wars,
+is now to be seen every morning in his accustomed place, repeating
+those blessed truths which teach him to love the Lord with all his
+heart and mind
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">{327}</a></span>
+and soul and strength, and his neighbour as himself."
+This amiable picture, drawn in a spirit of enlarged
+charity, is unfortunately dimmed, and the sincerity of the
+chief's religious convictions discounted, by the story
+related of him by a conscientious, if unfriendly, critic.
+"A few days before his death," says this writer,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_194" id="Ref_194" href="#Foot_194">[194]</a></span>
+"when suffering under the malady which carried him off, two
+settlers called to see him. While there, a neighbouring
+missionary came in and offered him the consolations of
+religion. Rauparaha demeaned himself in a manner
+highly becoming such an occasion, but the moment
+the missionary was gone, he turned to his other visitors
+and said: 'What is the use of all that nonsense?&mdash;that
+will do my belly no good.' He then turned the conversation
+on the Whanganui races, where one of his
+guests had been running a horse." Such an incident,
+if true, leaves behind it the impression that the chief
+was shrewd enough to observe that the Christian faith
+had taken root amongst his people, and conventional
+enough to adopt it for fashion's sake, without realising
+any real spiritual change. But we will not attempt
+to pass judgment upon one who was at so manifest a
+disadvantage in grasping the mysteries of a faith which
+centuries of science and learning have left still obscure to
+many more fortunately circumstanced. But, whatever
+the chief's spiritual condition may have been, it was not
+vouchsafed to him to witness the completion of his
+building scheme. He had long passed man's allotted
+span, and life's last stage was closing in upon him. He
+was in his eighty-first year, and was stricken with an
+internal complaint, the precise nature of which has not
+been ascertained, but which necessitated his taking much
+rest. His last days were therefore spent in enforced
+inactivity, and, while practically an invalid, his greatest
+delight was to recount to those capable of appreciating
+his narrative the stories of his early campaigns. The
+late Bishop Hadfield was especially favoured in this
+respect; and when he grew weary of the company
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">{328}</a></span>
+of his own people (of whose intellectuality he had so
+small an opinion that he once remarked that they could
+talk of nothing better than dogs and pigs), he would
+send for the missionary, and regale him with stories of
+the past, told with a native force which aroused astonishment
+and admiration in the mind of his hearer. His
+descriptions of former fights were generally dramatic,
+frequently graphic, and always eloquent, for his vocabulary
+was rich in words and phrases which were far
+beyond the linguistic capacity of the natives by whom
+he was surrounded. It is to be regretted that these
+recitals have perished with the good Bishop. Until quite
+late in his life a vivid impression of them remained in his
+memory, and his constant readiness to refer to them
+confirms the claim that Te Rauparaha was a man of
+superior intellect, in so far as that term may be applied
+to a Maori of his day.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of November, 1849, the complaint from which he was
+suffering begun to assume a more malignant form. On the 24th of that
+month he received a last visit from Rangihaeata, and bade farewell to
+his erstwhile comrade in arms. Three days later he was dead; the event
+was consummated for which Colonel Wakefield so devoutly wished when,
+ten years before, he wrote: "It will be a most fortunate thing for any
+settlement formed hereabouts when he dies, for with his life only will
+end his mischievous scheming and insatiable cupidity." Had Te
+Rauparaha been asked to pen his opinion of the promoters of the New
+Zealand Company, he might have couched his judgment in much the same
+terms. But now that he was dead there was no need, and little desire,
+to keep open the floodgates of vituperation, and there were many who
+in his lifetime could find no kindly thought for him, but were willing
+to bury the bitterness of racial misunderstanding in the grave wherein
+the chief was so soon to be laid.</p>
+
+<p>The news that Te Rauparaha was dead spread like a prairie fire, and
+natives from all parts of both islands flocked to Otaki to swell the
+weeping multitude who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">{329}</a></span>
+wailed around the bier of the dead chief. So altered,
+however, had the times become, that, though there was
+a feast, there was little <i>tangi</i> of the barbarous sort, for his
+son Tamahana, who was sincere and consistent in his
+emulation of European methods,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_195" id="Ref_195" href="#Foot_195">[195]</a></span>
+discouraged in the
+native people, as far as possible, the indulgence in their
+time-honoured mourning customs, and, according to a
+contemporary authority, the whole proceedings were
+conducted "in a most decorous manner." The interment
+took place on 3rd December, the last resting-place being
+a spot chosen by his friend Rangihaeata, within the
+church enclosure, and immediately in front of the unfinished
+building. A procession of fifteen hundred people
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">{330}</a></span>
+followed the body to the grave, where the beautiful burial
+service of the Anglican Church was read by Mr. Ronaldson,
+the native teacher from Whanganui. The coffin,
+made in the usual manner, was covered with black cloth,
+and the final chapter in the life of this remarkable man
+was written on the brass plate which adorned the casket:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">KO TE RAUPARAHA I MATE I TE<br /><br />
+
+27 O NOWEMA 1849<br /><br />
+
+[Te Rauparaha died on November 27, 1849.]</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_173" id="Foot_173" href="#Ref_173">[173]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Heke had asked the pertinent question, "Is Rauparaha to have all
+the credit of killing the <i>pakeha</i>?"</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_174" id="Foot_174" href="#Ref_174">[174]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"From what I know of the young lieutenant, I have no doubt he
+laid about him vigorously. Even had burly Rangihaeata confronted him,
+I should not have feared the result" (<i>Mundy</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_175" id="Foot_175" href="#Ref_175">[175]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It was quite the orthodox thing for natives on opposite sides to
+hold intercourse with each other during war, and Rauparaha, having
+many relations engaged with Rangihaeata, would, in accordance with
+this custom, keep up a certain connection with them, and they with
+him. This, not being understood by the British authorities, was
+probably mistaken for treachery.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_176" id="Foot_176" href="#Ref_176">[176]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Afterwards McKillop Pasha, an Admiral of the Khedive of Egypt.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_177" id="Foot_177" href="#Ref_177">[177]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Grey, in his despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies,
+describing the seizure of Te Rauparaha, states that a "considerable
+quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the disaffected portion
+of the Ngati-Toa tribe" was also seized, though he makes no attempt to
+explain what steps were taken under the exciting circumstances to
+ascertain who the precise owners were.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_178" id="Foot_178" href="#Ref_178">[178]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+On the voyage to Wellington the prisoners were quartered in the
+workshop above the boilers. During the night a great disturbance was
+heard in this direction, and, on an examination being made, it was
+found that the room was full of steam. One of the boilers had sprung a
+leak, but the natives imagined that their vapour bath was an ingenious
+contrivance to compass their death.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_179" id="Foot_179" href="#Ref_179">[179]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Percy Smith is my authority for saying that Rangihaeata did
+not actually compose this lament, as is generally supposed, but merely
+adapted it from a very old original.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_180" id="Foot_180" href="#Ref_180">[180]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In October, 1850, Dr. Dorsett, as Chairman of the Settlers'
+Constitutional Society, in a letter addressed to Earl Grey, complained
+of the inadequacy of Te Rauparaha's punishment. Sir George Grey
+replied by quoting two laments, of which this was one, "to show the
+light in which the natives regarded the punishment inflicted on him."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_181" id="Foot_181" href="#Ref_181">[181]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Pohi was one of the inferior chiefs arrested with Te Rauparaha
+and afterwards released. Subsequently, Grey discovered that this man
+was supposed to possess "important information."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_182" id="Foot_182" href="#Ref_182">[182]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+For the passive attitude adopted by many of the Ngati-Toa people
+some credit must be given to Te Rauparaha, who had already advised his
+son to go to the tribes and tell them to remain in peace. "I returned
+on shore," says Tamahana, "and saw Ngati-Toa and Rawhiri Puaha. We
+told them the words of Rauparaha respecting that which is good and
+living in peace. Two hundred Ngati-Raukawa came to Otaki. Rangihaeata
+wished to destroy Wellington and kill the <i>pakehas</i> as
+satisfaction. I told them the words of Te Rauparaha, that they must
+put away foolish thoughts, live in peace, and cast away bad desires.
+They consented."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_183" id="Foot_183" href="#Ref_183">[183]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Ensign Blackburn, who was a fine officer and a great favourite
+with the troops, was shot by a native secreted in a tree, and he in
+turn was almost immediately brought down by an artilleryman.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_184" id="Foot_184" href="#Ref_184">[184]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Under the chilling atmosphere of bleak winter the enthusiasm of
+our native allies soon began to cool and the vigour of their pursuit
+to slacken. Power, in his <i>Sketches in New Zealand</i>, gives an
+amusing account of a big <i>korero</i> held at Otaki to decide whether
+or not they would continue the chase, in which he says: "Rangihaeata's
+sister was present and addressed the meeting in favour of her absent
+brother, making at the same time some very unparliamentary remarks on
+the aggressions of the <i>pakehas</i> and the want of pluck of the
+Maoris in not resisting them, as her illustrious brother was doing. An
+old chief requested her to resume her seat, informing her at the same
+time that she was the silly sister of a sillier brother. He then put
+it to the meeting whether pigs and potatoes, warm fires and plenty of
+tobacco, were not better things than leaden bullets, edges of
+tomahawks, snow, rain, and empty bellies? All the former, he distinctly
+stated, were to be enjoyed on the plain; the latter they had had
+plentiful experience of in the mountains, and was it to be expected
+that they&mdash;and he confidently relied upon the good sense of the
+meeting&mdash;could be such fools as to hesitate for a moment? The applause
+of the old man's rhetoric was unanimous, and it received no slight
+help from the timely appearance of a procession bearing the materials
+for a week's feasting."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_185" id="Foot_185" href="#Ref_185">[185]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Lieutenant McKillop, writing on this point, says: "We never had
+any such decided advantage over him in our various skirmishes with his
+tribe as to dishearten him, and had we been unassisted by friendly
+Maoris I have no doubt he would have held out and carried his point."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_186" id="Foot_186" href="#Ref_186">[186]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+While the <i>Calliope</i> was lying at Wellington, Te Rauparaha
+was visited by his son Tamahana, who has left it on record that, in
+that trying moment of his life, his father displayed a spirit of calm
+forgiveness towards those who had so treacherously deprived him of his
+liberty. His advice was: "Son, go to your tribes and tell them to
+remain in peace. Do not pay for my seizure 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."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_187" id="Foot_187" href="#Ref_187">[187]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In his <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, Crawford remarks: "During
+the march to Pahautanui, a Maori named Martin Luther (Wareaitu) was
+taken prisoner and was some months afterwards tried by court martial
+and hanged. I cannot help thinking that this was a blunder." Dr.
+Thomson is even more emphatic, and declares that "Luther's death is a
+disgrace to Governor Grey's administration."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_188" id="Foot_188" href="#Ref_188">[188]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Visitors to modern Otaki cannot fail to notice a tall pole
+erected near the roadside opposite the church. The totara tree out of
+which the pole was hewn was brought there at the outbreak of the Maori
+war. It was intended as a flagstaff, but Mr. Hadfield persuaded the
+Maoris to remain perfectly neutral and make no demonstration one way
+or the other. The tree lay for many years on the common until the Rev.
+Mr. McWilliam induced the Maoris to shape the tree into a tapering
+obelisk 40 feet high, with the dates 1840 (the year when Christianity
+was established at Otaki) to 1880 (the year the obelisk was erected)
+going spirally round it from bottom to top, and so it became a
+memorial of the English Church Mission at Otaki. It was first erected
+in the middle of the common, but in 1890, that is, the fiftieth year
+of the mission, it was moved into the corner opposite the church gate.
+It is called by the Maoris the "Jubilee." There was a great gathering
+of Maoris on that occasion, and fifty of them were clad in white and
+took part in the ceremony. The chief speaker was Kereopa Tukumaru, an
+old chief from Kereru, who had been one of the first converts to
+Christianity, and was now able to tell what great things the religion
+of Christianity had done for the Maoris. "This man," says Mr.
+McWilliam, "was the most consistent Christian I have ever had the
+privilege of knowing." He was most industrious, but when not working
+he was reading his Bible. He knew nearly the whole of it by heart. His
+grave may be seen near the Kereru railway station on a small natural
+mound. It is an oblong raised vault, built of concrete, with a
+beautiful white marble angel standing over one end.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_189" id="Foot_189" href="#Ref_189">[189]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Colonel Mundy mentions that a remarkably plausible report was
+circulating in Wellington at this time, to the effect that
+Rangihaeata&mdash;in order to prove himself a convert to civilisation&mdash;had
+signified his intention to kill and eat the aforesaid murderer, and
+then "go into the best society."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_190" id="Foot_190" href="#Ref_190">[190]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As illustrating Rangihaeata's intolerance of Europeans,
+Crawford, in his <i>Travels in New Zealand</i>, mentions that when he
+visited Fraser's whaling station on Mana in 1839, he saw sitting in
+the corner of the room a large Maori wrapped in his mat. "He listened
+to the conversation, but said nothing. At last, as if displeased, he
+uttered a hideous and prolonged grunt, and rose to his feet: I was
+struck with his height and imposing, although savage, appearance&mdash;he
+grunted again and walked out of the room without speaking. This was
+Rangihaeata, the great follower or coadjutor of Te Rauparaha&mdash;the Ajax
+of his tribe, as the other was the Ulysses."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_191" id="Foot_191" href="#Ref_191">[191]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+As illustrating the feeling of the time, we may mention that
+very great indignation was expressed in Wellington because Bishop
+Selwyn had taken Te Rauparaha to the house of the Rev. Mr. Cole, a
+clergyman of Wellington, to stay there during a visit to the city.
+Major Richmond, the Superintendent, and the Sub-Protector, Mr.
+Forsaith, had gone to Porirua and provided for his safe escort to
+Wellington. The Bishop had publicly refused to shake hands with
+Rangihaeata, showing to the natives his horror of the massacre at the
+Wairau on every occasion. But he refused to recognise Te Rauparaha as
+responsible for it, and did no more than his clear duty in providing
+for his safety on this occasion. The outcry raised against him was
+bitter, but was quietly ignored by him (<i>Brett's "Early History of
+New Zealand"</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_192" id="Foot_192" href="#Ref_192">[192]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The church, which is a noble specimen of native architecture,
+was built under the supervision of Archdeacon Hadfield and Rev. H.
+Williams. It was commenced in 1849 and opened in 1851. Its length is
+80 feet, its breadth 36 feet, and its height 40 feet. The ridge-pole
+is hewn out of a solid totara tree, 86 feet long.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_193" id="Foot_193" href="#Ref_193">[193]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"Te Rauparaha was not baptized, and, although his son wished the
+burial service of the Church to be used at his funeral, the minister
+did not feel himself justified in doing so; however, a lay member of
+the Church Missionary Society from Whanganui, opportunely passing
+through the place, read the service over him, and thus terminated the
+eventful life of the New Zealand warrior" (<i>Rev. Richard
+Taylor</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_194" id="Foot_194" href="#Ref_194">[194]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+The late Sir William Fox in his <i>Six Colonies of New
+Zealand</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_195" id="Foot_195" href="#Ref_195">[195]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In 1868, Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife Ruta (Ruth) lived by
+themselves about half-way between Otaki and Waikanae on his sheep run,
+but he now and again came to his town house in Otaki and stayed a few
+weeks. He was a fine, handsome man, tall and stout, but active and
+mentally energetic. He always dressed well, and in cleanliness and
+neatness was a thorough English gentleman. He had been home to England
+and presented to the Queen. He never forgot what he saw there, and he
+wished to be considered an English gentleman. For that reason he lost
+influence with his tribe. He held aloof from <i>tangis</i> and other
+Maori feasts, but was most hospitable and generous to Europeans. His
+wife was a most ladylike and charming woman. She was not so well
+educated as Tamihana, but for all that she had the manners and taste
+of an English lady. She died several years before him, and he erected
+a small marble stone over her grave; but when he died, and was laid by
+her side, no monument of any kind was erected to his memory; the
+cast-iron fence, which had been broken accidentally, was not even
+repaired. The Maoris did not care much for him, because he was too
+civilised and <i>pakeha</i>-like for them, so they made no general
+mourning at his death. In his youth, Tamihana te Rauparaha and Matene
+te Whiwhi had journeyed all the way to the Bay of Islands to beg for a
+missionary, and in response to their request Mr. Hadfield (who was
+afterwards Bishop of Wellington and Primate) came back with them to
+Otaki, and lived amongst them and taught them Christianity for thirty
+years.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent">The graves of Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife are enclosed with an
+iron railing. On the tombstone of the wife is the inscription: "<i>Te
+ohatanga tenei mo Ruta te Rauparaha wahine O Tamihana te Rauparaha, i
+mate ki Otaki i te 10 o nga ra so Hurae, 1870.</i>"</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">{331}</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span class="size090">CHAPTER IX</span><br /><span
+class="size070">WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE</span></h2>
+
+<p class="nodent"><span class="smcap">Te Rangihaeata</span>
+survived his uncle by seven years, living during this
+time quietly at Poroutawhao. Though ceasing his violent opposition to
+the occupation of the land by the settlers, he still clung to his
+refusal to traffic in the native estate, either with individuals or
+with the Government. Almost immediately after the close of the war,
+Lieutenant-Governor Eyre and the Rev. Richard Taylor penetrated
+through the bush and swamps which surrounded Poroutawhao, and met the
+chief in the very heart of his stronghold. He was then, says Mr.
+Taylor, an old man with a head as white as the top of Tongariro, and a
+spirit somewhat resembling that active volcano, always fuming. His
+white hair strongly contrasted with his bronzed features and highly
+tattooed countenance. The missionary thus describes the retreat in
+which they found him, and the reception they met with:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"A long, low, narrow strip of land, running through deep swamp, led
+ to his retreat; the name of the place aptly describes it, being a
+ cork, or stoppage, to war, and few would have liked to draw it out.
+ The <i>pa</i> was on a mound, the only one in the vicinity, and
+ strongly fortified in the native style, with thick, lofty posts
+ deeply sunk in the ground, and bound together with a <i>huahua</i>,
+ or connecting pole, running round at a height of about ten feet.
+ Inside the outer fence there was another, behind which the defenders
+ could post themselves, and take aim through the outer one. The
+ <i>pa</i> was divided into a number of small courts, each equally
+ well defended, and connected by very narrow passages. We found the
+ chief with his wives and his head men assembled in the chief court,
+ or <i>marae</i>, sitting on mats in front of his house.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">{332}</a></span>
+ Fresh fern was strewed on the ground, and new mats laid on it for us; we were
+ received with great respect, and welcomed with a loud
+ <i>haeremai</i>: we sat down on the chief's right hand, and conversed
+ on various subjects, until we were invited to enter a neighbouring
+ house, where no one followed us, except a neatly dressed and
+ good-looking lady, who was appointed to wait upon us according to
+ Maori etiquette: there was a kind of table formed of two boxes, one
+ placed on the other, with a new red blanket placed over it, and a
+ form similarly covered in regal style. On the table was placed a dish
+ of good fresh-baked cakes, another containing sugar, a knife, spoon,
+ and two basins, one nearly allied to a wash-hand basin in size. The
+ lady then brought a tea-kettle, and filled our cups with an infusion
+ of mint, which she called tea. The wash-hand basin was, of course,
+ placed before the representative of Majesty, who viewed with dismay
+ its enormous capacity, which, being given him from respect, he could
+ not well avoid draining to the bottom. After enjoying the Governor's
+ perplexity, when the lady left the room, I emptied the contents of
+ our bowls into a calabash, from which our natives were drinking; our
+ repast being ended, we returned to the chief and sat by his side. The
+ Governor requested me to ask the chief to sell some land, which I
+ respectfully declined doing. He then attempted to do so himself: at
+ first he was not understood, but when the chief comprehended what he
+ meant, he gave a savage look of defiance, thrusting out his tongue
+ and rolling about his eyes in such a way, that his Excellency, who
+ had never seen such a display before, stared in amazement, and
+ evidently felt anything but at ease. It need not be said that the
+ land negotiations were speedily terminated, and we were soon
+ threading our way back along Rangihaeata's swamp-girt road."</p>
+
+<p>Not less interesting was the experience of Lord Charles Butler and Mr.
+Carnegie, two officers of the <i>Calliope</i>, who, upon the cessation
+of hostilities, conceived the adventurous idea of visiting the chief
+in his lair at Poroutawhao. Starting from Wellington, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Servantes of the 96th, who during the war had acted as
+interpreter with the Government troops, and Tamahana Te Rauparaha,
+they experienced considerable difficulty in pushing their way across
+the country to the place of Rangihaeata's retreat. By dint of
+perseverance they at length reached the borders of the swamp
+surrounding the small hillock on which the <i>pa</i> was built, and,
+meeting some of the natives there, they sent them on to the chief to
+ascertain if he would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">{333}</a></span>
+be prepared to receive them. A messenger soon returned
+to say that Lord Charles and Tamahana might
+come on, but that if Ewie (Lieutenant Servantes) attempted
+to do so, he would be shot. Rangihaeata had
+persuaded himself that Servantes had been acting the
+spy in the late proceedings against him. This impression,
+which was quite erroneous, doubtless arose
+from the fact that this officer had been a great deal in
+the company of the natives before the outbreak of hostilities,
+that he was thoroughly conversant with their
+language, customs, and haunts, and consequently was
+frequently acting in conjunction with the native allies
+when no other Europeans were near. There being no
+opportunity to offer explanations which might remove
+the chief's prejudice, Servantes deemed it prudent to
+respect Rangihaeata's mandate, and remained where
+he was, the others proceeding to the <i>pa</i>. As they approached,
+sounds and evidences of excitement, which
+they were at a loss to understand, greeted them, and
+as they drew nearer, several armed natives came out of
+the <i>pa</i>, pointing their muskets at Mr. Carnegie, at the
+same time abusing him with a tornado of picturesque
+native epithets. This hostile demonstration arose from
+the fact that they had mistaken the naval officer for
+Servantes; but, when the guides had silenced the
+clamour sufficiently to obtain a hearing, the necessary
+explanations were made, and the party was led into
+the <i>pa</i>. They found Rangihaeata leaning against his
+<i>whare</i>, and taking aim at the gateway with his gun,
+having fully determined to end the days of the supposed
+spy if he dared to enter the <i>pa</i>. The introductions were,
+however, satisfactory, and, putting away his musket, he
+gave his hand to his guests, whereupon his tribe likewise
+disarmed themselves, and prepared to extend hospitality
+to the visitors. Lord Charles opened the proceedings
+diplomatically, by presenting Rangihaeata with a
+few pounds of tobacco and a red blanket; and, as soon
+as the chief had filled his pipe with the fragrant weed,
+and adjusted the blanket to his brawny shoulders, he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">{334}</a></span>
+sat down and entered into a most amiable conversation
+with the <i>pakehas</i>, for whose refreshment he took care
+that food should be brought. He plied his visitors with
+many questions concerning Te Rauparaha and those
+natives who were prisoners with him, and closely inquired
+of those Europeans with whose names he was
+acquainted, making special reference to Lieutenant
+McKillop, of whose conduct in the war he had formed
+an excellent opinion. He was also exceedingly complimentary
+to Lord Charles, of whom he said he had
+received very flattering reports, but he was equally
+regretful of the conduct of his own people in deserting
+his standard, and spoke bitterly of his experiences since
+he had abandoned his <i>pa</i> at Porirua. These misfortunes
+did not, however, detract in the least from his hospitality
+to his visitors. He begged them to remain with him
+until next day, in order that he might have the opportunity
+of killing a pig and regaling them with due
+splendour on the morrow. This kind invitation they
+modestly declined, and, after explaining that their visit
+was of purely a private nature, and not one which
+would warrant them in carrying back any message to
+the authorities, they took their leave of the chief, whom
+they have described as being particularly dirty, but a
+fine handsome man.</p>
+
+<p>By his winning ways and the generous use of presents, Governor Grey
+several times induced Rangihaeata to leave his retreat at Poroutawhao
+for the purpose of holding conferences with him; and when he believed
+that he had sufficiently ingratiated himself into the good opinion of
+the chief, he ventured to propose the sale to the Government of the
+Waikanae district. "It would have been the subject for an artist,"
+says one writer, "to picture the indignant look of the chief as he
+flatly and rudely refused, telling the Governor to be content with
+what he had already got. 'You have had Porirua, Ahuriri, Wairarapa,
+Whanganui, Rangitikei, and the whole of the Middle Island given up to
+you, and still you are not content. We are driven up into a corner,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">{335}</a></span>
+and yet you covet that also.'" But, though his overtures
+were thus indignantly spurned and rejected, the <i>mana</i>
+of the Governor did not suffer any diminution in the
+estimation of the chief, who to the end of his days
+continued to regard Grey with that chivalrous respect
+which is extended by one warrior to another whom
+he deems to be worthy of his steel.</p>
+
+<p>In 1856, while still residing at Poroutawhao, Rangihaeata was stricken
+with measles in a particularly malignant form, but, with his
+characteristic recklessness of consequences, he refused to take the
+ordinary precautions to facilitate his recovery. Though still in a
+high state of fever, he decided to visit Otaki, and ordered his groom
+to drive him thither. When passing the Waikawa River, he thought to
+abate the fever by taking a cold bath; and, stopping the buggy, he
+plunged into the river, from which he emerged with the hand of death
+upon him. He was taken on to Otaki, where his malady rapidly increased,
+and two days afterwards he passed away. His body was taken back, at
+the head of an enormous procession, to Poroutawhao, where he was
+buried beside his wife, the <i>tangi</i> in his case being marked by
+all the barbarous features of native mourning, interspersed with not a
+few of the prevailing European vices.</p>
+
+<p>When in the prime of life, Rangihaeata stood over six feet in height,
+a handsome man, magnificently built. Like his more notorious uncle, he
+too had features of aquiline mould, lit up by a pair of piercing black
+eyes, which instantly flashed out their resentment on any real or
+fancied insult. He was exceedingly jealous of his <i>mana</i>, and quick
+to blaze into a fit of indignation at any word or act which he might
+construe to be a reflection upon his authority as a chief. That
+authority he frequently asserted by levying toll upon the settlers and
+whalers, but never in any case from pure cupidity, or where he did
+not, by Maori law, have some good and valid claim to <i>utu</i>. Against
+these extortions, as they were pleased to regard them, the whalers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">{336}</a></span>
+appealed to such authority<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_196" id="Ref_196" href="#Foot_196">[196]</a></span>
+as they could find in the islands; and
+when they were unable to obtain what they deemed to be justice in that
+quarter, they took the law into their own hands, and tried to rid
+themselves of their tormentor by means of the poison-cup. Frequent
+attempts were made to poison him at the whaling stations; and we are
+credibly informed that, on one occasion, he was induced to swallow a
+pint of raw rum heavily drugged with arsenic. But, in their excess of
+zeal to compass the chief's death, they had been led to apply too
+great a quantity of poison, and instead of its acting as they
+anticipated, it merely acted as an emetic. If this statement be
+well-grounded, or if the whalers were as Major Bunbury described them
+to be, when he visited Mana in order to procure Rangihaeata's
+signature to the Treaty of Waitangi, it is not to be expected that
+such dissolute associates would afford the chief much light and
+leading in the path of rectitude.</p>
+
+<p>The reckless disregard by the settlers and whalers of the sanctity of
+native custom was responsible for many of the misunderstandings, which
+they have debited against
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">{337}</a></span>
+Rangihaeata for malice and mischief; while no attempt
+has been made to exonerate him on the ground that he
+probably saw the act only from the point of view of his
+native origin and upbringing. He was in spirit and in
+the flesh a Maori, and gloried in it, openly professing a
+detestation for the <i>pakeha</i> and all that he had brought to
+the country. He affected a supreme contempt for the
+luxuries of the white man; but the weakness of human
+nature had blinded him to the inconsistency of which he
+was daily guilty in acquiring and gratifying an uncontrollable
+love of tobacco and rum. When under the
+influence of liquor he was querulous and violent; but
+his drinking indiscretions were generally redeemed as far
+as possible by the payment of ample compensation, for,
+savage though he was, Rangihaeata was not destitute of a
+liberal sense of justice.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_197" id="Ref_197" href="#Foot_197">[197]</a></span>
+This he applied to himself as
+rigorously as to others. When he was flying before the
+troops in the Horokiwi Valley, he frequently inquired if
+those who were hottest in pursuit were relatives of the
+victims of his anger at the Wairau; for to him "a life for
+a life" was an inexorable law, to which even he must
+bow, if the friends of the massacred men should overtake
+him. In the cause of what he believed to be the liberty
+of his people he did and dared much, enduring intense
+hardships for the maintenance of a principle, and when
+we charge him with harbouring criminals and refusing to
+deliver them over to justice, our resentment against his
+conduct may be mitigated by the reflection that his
+loyalty to these misguided friends was not so much
+due to a sympathy with crime, as it was a practical
+protest against what he believed to be their unfair
+treatment by the New Zealand Company. Rangihaeata
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">{338}</a></span>
+stoutly resisted all attempts to convert him to the
+Christian faith, clinging to his heathen gods as closely
+as he clung to his antipathy to European settlement.
+His convictions on these points were deep-rooted and
+irrevocable; and he died as he lived, a savage, guilty
+of much bloodshed, yet not altogether devoid of nobility.
+Though he never rose to the level of Te Rauparaha as a
+warrior or a statesman, he was, nevertheless, a strong man
+amongst his people, opposed alike to the missionary and
+the settler, but only because he saw with a prophetic
+eye that the growing ascendancy of the <i>pakeha</i> meant the
+ultimate subjugation of the Maori race. Viewed from
+this standpoint&mdash;the only one equitable to Rangihaeata&mdash;his
+policy of hostility cannot be characterised as that of a
+stubborn rebel, but may with greater justice be regarded
+as the policy of a patriot.</p>
+
+<p>The character and personal attributes of Te Rauparaha have been the
+subject of much conflicting comment, and the pen-portraits of him
+which have come down to us have consequently varied, in sympathy with
+the mood or interest of his critics. In physical appearance, all,
+however, agree that he was short of stature and aquiline of feature;<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_198" id="Ref_198" href="#Foot_198">[198]</a></span>
+and, though at times obsequious in manner, he was
+equally capable of displaying an imperious dignity of deportment which
+marked him as a man accustomed to wield unquestioned authority. While
+in repose, the general expression of his countenance was placid and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">{339}</a></span>
+thoughtful; but when under the influence of excitement
+or agitation, a receding forehead, a furtive glance, and
+tusk-like teeth, revealed by a curling lip, detracted considerably
+from his impressive appearance. Though
+upwards of sixty years of age when he came into contact
+with the Europeans (for he claimed to have been a boy
+when Cook visited the country), he was still possessed of
+a wiry frame, and was capable of exerting great physical
+strength and activity, his limbs being straight, his step
+elastic, and his athletic vigour little diminished by age.
+Perhaps the most graphic description given of the chief
+is that penned by Mr. Jerningham Wakefield, whose
+cameo-like portrait may be accepted as faithful, and typical
+of others given by contemporary writers of equal integrity,
+if of inferior literary skill. Wakefield saw Te Rauparaha
+for the first time on the morning after the battle of
+Kuititanga, from which the chief had just returned; and
+to the excitement of that event may be attributed the
+agitation observable in his manner, the "wandering
+watchful glances" he threw around him, and the air of
+"evident fear and distrust," all of which contributed so
+forcefully to the creation of an unfavourable impression
+on the minds of his visitors.</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"As we leaped from our boat, he advanced to meet us, and, with looks
+ of evident fear and distrust, eagerly sought our hand to exchange the
+ missionary greeting. During the whole of the ensuing conversation he
+ seemed uneasy and insecure in his own opinion, and the whalers
+ present described this behaviour as totally at variance 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 every one. 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
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">{340}</a></span>
+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, were plainly discernible on
+a nearer view."</p>
+
+<p>Such was the man who, in or about the year of Bonaparte's death, began
+to play the Napoleonic <i>rôle</i> in New Zealand.<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_199" id="Ref_199" href="#Foot_199">[199]</a></span>
+Like the Corsican conqueror, to whom his life affords an interesting historical
+parallel, he derived no especial advantage from hereditary lineage,
+for his place in the Maori peerage was only sufficient to lift him
+above the native plutocracy. In his rise to eminence birth played but
+a minor part, his path to fortune being carved out by innate
+enterprise, inherent courage, wonderful executive capacity, and that
+dash of political unscrupulousness which is seldom absent from leaders
+of men. From his youth up he displayed masterful qualities of mind,<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_200" id="Ref_200" href="#Foot_200">[200]</a></span>
+which infallibly lift their possessor above the level of
+mediocrity, and when such qualities are found, whether in savage or
+civilised society, the measure of success attained is only limited by
+the degree of opportunity offered. Te Rauparaha's escapades as a boy
+reveal his natural bravery; his care as a young man for the generous
+entertainment of his visitors indicates an appreciation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">{341}</a></span>
+of the value of a good social impression; his
+exertions to master the art of war were sustained by a
+clear recognition of the fact that authority in an age of
+strife was impossible without military success; and his
+ambition to furnish his people with guns was just as
+clearly the result of the knowledge that military success
+was impossible without a weapon as efficient as that
+wielded by the enemy. It was not any doubt of the
+bravery or fidelity of his people that induced his anxiety
+regarding their safety at Kawhia, but a conviction that,
+unless they could procure muskets and fight Waikato on
+equal terms, their doom was sealed.</p>
+
+<p>But there was also that in him which made him hunger for conquest just
+as keenly as he desired to evade being conquered; and if the discovery
+of an escape from his dilemma at Kawhia was accidental, he was, as a
+rule, careful to leave nothing to accident in the execution of his
+fully matured plans. The migration from Kawhia to Kapiti was a bold
+and daring conception, fraught as it was with difficulties of
+transport, peril to old and young, and, more than all, with the
+certainty that every inch of the way would have to be either bargained
+for or fought for. Yet it is the manner in which the idea was executed
+rather than the idea itself that calls for our admiration. It was
+characterised by wise planning, discreet forethought, accurate
+calculation, clever diplomacy, skilful strategy; and, when all else
+failed, there were the strong right arm and the courageous heart to
+compel compliance, if compulsion were needed. That Te Rauparaha was
+blessed with abundant confidence in his own prowess is demonstrated by
+the lightheartedness with which he assumed the rank and
+responsibilities of the dying Hape Tuarangi; and it was just this
+spirit of cheerful self-sufficiency which inspired others with that
+unbounded trust and confidence in him, which enabled him to lead his
+people away from the ties of their ancestral home, and induce them to
+share with him the dangers and uncertainty of a great enterprise. It
+is at least a tribute to Te Rauparaha's talents as a leader that, so
+long as the Maori
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">{342}</a></span>
+remained unchanged by European influences, he continued
+to receive the loyal support and unfailing
+allegiance of his people. He was always popular with
+the masses, otherwise he could not have accomplished a
+tithe of what he did. No criticism of Te Rauparaha is
+sound which represents him as wholly bad. There is in
+human nature a rough method of arriving at what is
+right; and no public, whether savage or civilised, will for
+long tolerate, much less venerate, a leader whose only
+policy is his own aggrandisement.</p>
+
+<p>The undisputed position which Te Rauparaha enjoyed in the affections
+of his own people, the fidelity with which they followed him, till the
+<i>mana</i> of the chief was superseded by the ascendancy of the
+<i>pakeha</i>, afford proof that they, at all events, were able to
+discern some meritorious qualities in him, even though not endowed
+with the higher ethical vision of a modern critic. It has been
+suggested that, in after years, when dissensions arose amongst the
+tribes which acknowledged his chieftainship, the revolt was due to
+shattered confidence, this shaken faith being traceable to a belief
+that he was treacherously plotting with Ngati-Raukawa to compass the
+expulsion of Ngati-Awa from Waikanae. But it must not be forgotten
+that, by this period, the advent of the <i>pakeha</i> had created a
+new atmosphere around the Maori, and the policy of the missionary in
+extolling the convert to the disparagement of the chief had, in a
+measure, destroyed the power of the people's leaders. And, in the
+general decline of hereditary authority, Te Rauparaha's <i>mana</i>
+had suffered with the rest. It had therefore become more
+difficult&mdash;and it may have been impossible&mdash;for him to quell
+internecine strife by the peremptory means which he would have
+employed in the days of his absolute supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>No candid review of the chief's career can, however, fail to take
+cognisance of the fact that his methods frequently gave rise to
+suspicions of deepest treachery, the doubtful honour of these
+proceedings having long since passed into song and proverb. In common
+with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">{343}</a></span>
+all successful leaders, he possessed the virtue of keeping
+his own counsel. He made his plans, nursed them in
+his own mind, and, in the fullness of time, gave his
+orders accordingly&mdash;a secretive habit which gave origin
+to the saying: "No one knew his thoughts, whether
+they were good or evil." This reticence has, by some
+writers, been given an interpretation which does not
+rightly belong to it: because he was reserved, therefore
+he was treacherous. Such a deduction does not necessarily
+sum up the whole position. But, even when this has been
+admitted, there still remains the imputation of treachery,
+left by the derisive songs and proverbs, to be either
+admitted or combated. The unblushing apologist for
+Te Rauparaha might conceivably argue that these chants
+were but the creation of prejudiced or malignant minds;
+but the charges of deception, amounting to treachery,
+are too frequently reiterated to be rejected as altogether
+groundless. Barbarous though the Maori was, he had a
+code of honour which could not be lightly violated; and
+when a member of a tribe was killed, it was not the fact
+that he was dead which agitated his friends, but the
+circumstances of his dying. "Was his death <i>tika</i>?<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_201" id="Ref_201" href="#Foot_201">[201]</a></span>
+Had it been compassed in fair fight? Or was it <i>kohuru</i>?"<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_202" id="Ref_202" href="#Foot_202">[202]</a></span>
+These were questions always demanding a satisfactory
+answer, for the laws governing life and death were well
+defined. And, judged by these laws, it is impossible to
+hold Te Rauparaha blameless of the crime of treachery.
+The killing of the Rangitane chief, Toki-poto, the capture
+of the Hotu-iti <i>pa</i>, the seizure of Tamaiharanui, and
+possibly many another similar deed not so specifically
+recorded, were all acts of treachery, and serve to dim the
+lustre of his larger achievements conducted strictly in
+accordance with Maori military law. Nevertheless, it is
+possible that there has been much exaggeration in relation
+to this phase of the chief's character. When his troubles
+with the New Zealand Company began to develop, and
+more particularly after the Wairau massacre, it became
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">{344}</a></span>
+the mission of a section of the European community to
+represent him as the incarnation of all that was cruel,
+treacherous, and unspeakably wicked. In this connection
+it becomes especially dangerous to accept unreservedly
+the judgment of the Wakefields, who were early prejudiced
+against him by his opposition to their colonising
+methods, and were afterwards deeply embittered towards
+him by the death of their relative at the Wairau. Impartiality
+under such circumstances is almost too much
+to expect; and it is only just to Te Rauparaha to say
+that they availed themselves fully of their special opportunities
+for disseminating a prejudice against him, so
+that a view so long uncontradicted can hardly now be
+eradicated.</p>
+
+<p>In no respect has the reputation of Te Rauparaha suffered more from
+bitter hostility than in connection with the Wairau massacre. And we
+cannot wonder; for at the time of its occurrence he had arrayed
+against him a galaxy of literary talent, such as the Colony has never
+seen since, and day by day these wielders of facile pens fed with
+scholarly vituperation the flames of racial animosity, which were
+already burning at white heat. They spoke of murder; they clamoured
+for revenge; and all who failed to see as they saw were exposed to the
+darts of their merciless sarcasm. But, with the softening influence of
+time, men's hearts have mellowed, stormy passions have subsided, and
+we of this day are able to review the facts with more sober judgment
+than was possible to those who lived and wrote in the heated
+atmosphere of the time. In this unhappy quarrel it must now be
+accepted as an established fact that the New Zealand Company were the
+aggressors. The Wairau Valley may, or may not, have been included in
+their original purchases; but Captain Wakefield knew that this point
+was being contested by the natives. He knew further that the dispute
+had been by them referred to Mr. Spain, and therefore no reasonable
+excuse can be advanced for his attempt to seize the valley while its
+title was still subject to judicial investigation. Te
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">{345}</a></span>
+Rauparaha's attitude in the early stages of the trouble
+amounted to no more than a temperate protest. He
+personally interviewed Captain Wakefield at Nelson; he
+was as conciliatory in requesting the surveyors to leave
+the field as he was decided that they must go; he calmed
+Rangihaeata's violence at the conference with Mr. Tuckett;
+and, as Mr. Spain's final decision was fatal to the Company's
+claim, the charge of arson preferred against him dwindles
+into a legal fiction. The conciliatory tone thus manifested
+by the chief was equally marked in the more acute stage,
+which arose at Tua Marina. While the magistrate fumed
+and raged, the chief stood perfectly calm. He more
+than once begged that time should be taken to talk over
+the case; but the mad impetuosity of Thompson would
+brook no delay in determining a cause the merits of
+which he, the judge, had already prejudged in his own
+mind. For the precipitation of the conflict which
+followed, who shall say that the fault was Te Rauparaha's?
+It was neither his hand nor his command which put the
+brand to the bush, nor does it appear that it was ever
+within his power to control the outburst of human
+passion which flamed up upon the firing of the first
+shot. What part he took in the fight is uncertain. It
+has never been suggested that he bore arms, and therefore
+we may assume that he was an excited spectator, rather
+than an active participant in the mêlée. That he was
+early on the brow of the hill, after the retreat had ceased,
+would appear to be beyond doubt; but his first act on
+reaching the Europeans was to shake hands with them,
+a proceeding which seemed to imply that, even after all
+that had passed, his friendship had not been irretrievably
+lost. Indeed, there is nothing to lead us to suppose
+that he harboured any thoughts of retaliation, until
+Rangihaeata violently demanded <i>utu</i> for the death of
+Te Rongo.</p>
+
+<p>This demand placed Te Rauparaha in a serious dilemma. Against any
+feeling of friendship for the Europeans which may still have lingered
+in his heart, he had now to set a claim which was wholly in accord
+with native
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">{346}</a></span>
+custom; a right, in fact, which had been recognised by
+his forefathers for more centuries than we can with
+certainty name; a feature of Maori justice supported
+by ages of precedent, and which, imbibed from infancy,
+had become a part of his nature. This was undoubtedly
+the crisis of the tragedy. Had Te Rauparaha decided
+against Rangihaeata, there would have been no massacre;
+but where his detractors are unfair to him is in appearing
+to expect that he should have suddenly risen superior to
+his Maori nature, and, in place of allowing his actions
+to be governed by Maori law, that he&mdash;a heathen&mdash;should
+have viewed the attempt to seize his land and his person,
+together with the death of Te Rongo, in the forgiving
+spirit of a Christian. No Ethiop was ever asked to
+change his skin more rapidly; and if Te Rauparaha
+failed in the performance of the miracle, he only failed
+when success was morally impossible to him. In the
+massacre itself he had no share; and, beyond the fact
+that, under intense natural excitement, he gave a tacit
+consent to Rangihaeata's deed, he appears to have stood
+outside it.</p>
+
+<p>Of his relations with the whalers, accounts vary. If we accept the
+Wakefield view, we must believe that by them he was heartily detested
+and distrusted. That he was acquisitive to the point of aggression is
+possible; that he was often overbearing towards them may be equally
+true, for these are characteristics frequently seen in the powerful
+savage; but there are also instances recorded in which he showed a
+ready generosity and a strict sense of justice towards the whaling
+community.</p>
+
+ <p class="block">"The whalers and traders, who had the best opportunity of being
+ intimately acquainted with him, and that, too, at a time when his
+ power to injure was greatest, invariably spoke of him as ever having
+ been the white man's friend. He always placed the best he had before
+ them, and in no instance have I heard of his doing any one of them an
+ injury. Speaking of him to an old whaler, he said emphatically that
+ Te Rauparaha never let the white man who needed want anything he
+ could give, whether food or clothing; in fact, his natural sagacity
+ told him that it was his interest to make
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">{347}</a></span>
+common cause with the Europeans, for it was through them that
+he acquired the sinews of war, guns, powder, and shot, and everything
+else that he required."<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_203" id="Ref_203" href="#Foot_203">[203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The impartiality with which he held the balance between the two races
+may be gathered from the following incident: A whaleboat had left
+Waikanae to proceed to Kapiti, the crew taking with them a native, who
+sat in the bow. On the journey over the Maori managed to secrete
+beneath his mat the small hatchet which the whalers used to cut the
+line, and was quietly walking off with it when the boat reached the
+island. Before he had gone many steps one of the crew whispered to the
+headsman what had happened, whereupon that worthy picked up the
+harpoon and drove it straight through the Maori's back, killing him on
+the spot. The native population was at once thrown into a state of
+uproar and fury, threatening dire vengeance upon the whalers, but Te
+Rauparaha quelled the disturbance in an instant, and, after inquiring
+into its cause, walked away, declaring that the native had only met
+with his deserts.</p>
+
+<p>Towards his native enemies Te Rauparaha was unquestionably merciless
+and cruel, though not more so, perhaps, than was sanctioned by the
+spirit of the times in which he lived. Yet that he was not wholly
+incapable of admiration for a worthy opponent is shown by his seeking
+out and sparing Te Ata o Tu, the Ngai-Tahu warrior, who fought so
+bravely against him at Kaiapoi. Even in this case there are persons
+who affect to believe that self-interest rather than chivalry may have
+been the moving impulse in his conduct, for he possibly counted upon
+so skilful a fighter being invaluable to him in his northern troubles.
+But surely we can afford to be magnanimous enough to concede to so
+fine an example of generosity a less mercenary motive?<span
+class="fnanchor"><a name="Ref_204" id="Ref_204" href="#Foot_204">[204]</a></span>
+Though relentless to a degree
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">{348}</a></span>
+towards those tribes who came between him and his
+ambitions, it must always be remembered that his ruthlessness
+is not to be judged from the Christian standpoint.
+His enormities, which were neither few nor small,
+were those of a savage, born and bred in an atmosphere
+into which no spirit of Divine charity had ever entered.
+Compared with the excesses practised in civilised warfare
+by such champions of the Cross as Cortés and the Duke
+of Alva, his deeds of darkness become less repugnant, if
+not altogether pardonable.</p>
+
+<p>The attitude which he adopted towards the European was in exact
+opposition to that assumed by Te Rangihaeata. He welcomed rather than
+resented the coming of the white man, although he found reason to
+protest against the methods employed by the New Zealand Company in
+acquiring land on which to settle them. Nor in this respect can it be
+said that his objections were captious or ill-founded; in fact, with
+the exception of the Hutt dispute, the Commissioner's decisions were
+invariably a vindication of his contentions. Some doubt has
+necessarily been cast upon his loyalty to the Government (which he
+accepted when he signed the Treaty of Waitangi), by virtue of the fact
+that he was seized and held captive because of his supposed
+infidelity. There are those with whom it is only necessary to accuse
+in order to condemn. In this case accusation carried condemnation with
+it, but condemnation without proof of guilt is injustice. Whatever the
+measure of Te Rauparaha's duplicity may have been, the Governor
+conspicuously failed to do more than suspect him, and as conspicuously
+failed to bring the chief face to face with his accusers. It was never
+proved, nor was any attempt ever made to prove before a court of
+competent jurisdiction, that Te Rauparaha had held communication with
+the enemy.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">{349}</a></span>
+Even if he had so communicated, an easy explanation
+might have been found in the native practice, under
+which individuals in opposing forces frequently visited
+each other during the progress of hostilities. Te Rauparaha
+had many friends with the rebels, and it would
+appear perfectly natural to him to hold friendly correspondence
+with them, whilst himself maintaining an
+attitude of strict neutrality. Considering the contemptuous
+disregard which many British officials displayed
+towards rites and customs held sacred by the
+Maori, it is not to be expected that they would trouble to
+understand, or try to appreciate, this subtlety in the native
+character. And so, what was to the Maori a well-established
+and common custom, was by them translated
+into treachery, for which Te Rauparaha was made captive
+in a manner which leaves us but little right to talk of open
+and honourable tactics.</p>
+
+<p>His conduct while a captive on board the <i>Calliope</i> appears to
+have been exemplary enough, and he succeeded in impressing those with
+whom he came into contact by his quick perception, particularly of
+anything meant to turn him into ridicule, of which he was most
+sensitive. He frequently became much excited and very violent, and at
+other times, when talking of his misfortunes, he would become deeply
+moved, and the tears would run down his wrinkled cheeks. It is
+recorded that he was very grateful for any kindness shown him; and
+when Lieutenant Thorpe left the ship to return to England he expressed
+the most intense sorrow, crying the whole day, and repeating the
+officer's name in piteous accents. This, it was noted, was not merely
+a temporary affection. When, a year later, the <i>Calliope</i> was
+leaving the New Zealand station, he sent his favourite a very handsome
+mat, begging the officer by whom it was sent to tell Lieutenant Thorpe
+how glad he would be to see his face once more, and how well he would
+treat him now that he was free. Similarly, when Lieutenant McKillop
+was proceeding home, Te Rauparaha took him aside and entreated him to
+go, on reaching England, and convey to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">{350}</a></span>
+Queen Victoria his regard for her and express his keen
+desire to see her, only his great age and the length of the
+voyage standing between him and the consummation of
+that desire. "He hoped, however, she would believe
+that he would always be a great and true friend of hers,
+and use all his influence with his countrymen to make
+them treat her subjects well, and that, when he became
+free again, there would be no doubt as to his loyalty, as he
+would himself, old as he was, be the first to engage in a
+war against any who should offend her or the Governor,
+of whom he always spoke with the greatest respect."
+During his captivity the news of the outbreak of the war
+in the Sutlej reached the Colony, and, noticing the excitement
+on board the <i>Calliope</i>, he asked to be informed of
+the contents of the papers giving details of the battles.
+In this subject he maintained the liveliest interest; and,
+when he had sufficiently grasped the details, he was perceptibly
+impressed by the magnitude of the armies
+engaged and the tremendous resources of the Empire,
+about which he, in common with all natives, had been
+distinctly incredulous. That his release was marked by
+no exhibition of resentment is at least something to his
+credit, and the ease with which he afterwards adapted
+himself to the strangely altered order of things is proof
+that his nature was capable of absorbing higher ideals
+than are taught in savage philosophy, although it is doubtful
+if he ever reached the purer heights attained by a clear
+conception of the beatitudes of the Christian religion.</p>
+
+<p>In the life of Te Rauparaha there is much that is revolting and
+incapable of palliation. But, always remembering his savage
+environment, we must concede to him the possession of qualities which,
+under more enlightened circumstances, would have contributed as
+fruitfully to the uplifting of mankind as they did to its destruction.
+His superiority over his fellows was mental rather than physical; his
+success lay in his intellectual alertness, his originality, strategic
+foresight, and executive capacity. He was probably a better diplomat
+than he was a general, but he had sufficient of the military instinct
+to make him
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">{351}</a></span>
+a conqueror. And if, in the execution of his conquests,
+the primary object of which was to find a safe home for
+his people, the weaker tribes went down, history was but
+repeating amongst the Maoris in New Zealand the story
+which animate nature is always and everywhere proclaiming,
+and which, in the cold language of the
+philosophers, is called "the survival of the fittest."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_196" id="Foot_196" href="#Ref_196">[196]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"On shore, I was much tormented by the zeal of some European
+sailors, who appeared to be a drunken set of lawless vagabonds,
+belonging to the different whaling establishments in the neighbourhood.
+The only respectable person amongst them was a stock-keeper in charge
+of some sheep and horned cattle, and the captain of a whaling vessel
+ahead of us. I asked the sailors, who were complaining that some of
+the property taken was theirs, if they had any specific charge to make
+against Rangihaeata, who was the most powerful chief in the
+neighbourhood. However, I could get nothing from them but vague
+declarations against native chiefs in general, to which I replied that
+the fault was probably as much on their side as on that of the
+natives. The old chief, who was present, appeared to understand the
+drift of the conversation, for he went into his hut and brought out
+several written testimonials of good conduct; on which I desired Mr.
+Williams to explain to him how much I was gratified in perusing them,
+and that I trusted that under the Queen's Government he would continue
+equally to deserve them: that he would find the Government just and
+even-handed, and that punishment would follow evil-doers, whether they
+were natives or Europeans. To which he replied, 'Kapai,' apparently
+much satisfied" (<i>Major Bunbury</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_197" id="Foot_197" href="#Ref_197">[197]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"On Saturday (November 24, 1849), Rangihaeata and a party of his
+followers paid a last visit to Te Rauparaha. At the Ohau ferry
+Rangihaeata demanded some spirits from the temporary ferryman (the
+regular one being absent). On being refused, he knocked him down, and
+then helped himself, but afterwards tendered <i>utu</i> for the
+violence offered and the spirits taken" (New Zealand <i>Spectator</i>,
+December 1, 1849).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_198" id="Foot_198" href="#Ref_198">[198]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+In an enclosure opposite the Maori church at Otaki there stands
+upon a pedestal a marble bust of Te Rauparaha. The bust was procured
+in Sydney by Tamihana te Rauparaha at a cost of £200, and the
+likeness, which is said to be a very faithful one, was copied from a
+portrait painted by Mr. Beetham. Because Te Rauparaha had not become
+even "nominally Christian," Mr. Hadfield refused to permit the
+erection of the bust within the church enclosure, and for two years it
+lay upon the common, packed in the case in which it had come from
+Sydney. Subsequently, Mr. McWilliam, the native missionary, collected
+a few pounds with which to purchase the pedestal, and had the bust
+erected where it now stands. On the authority of Dieffenbach and
+Angas, it is said that Te Rauparaha possessed the physical curiosity
+of six toes on each foot.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_199" id="Foot_199" href="#Ref_199">[199]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+It is estimated that during the course of Te Rauparaha's
+campaigns no less than 60,000 lives were sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_200" id="Foot_200" href="#Ref_200">[200]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Mr. Spain, in one of his reports, has said: "Rauparaha is the
+most talented native I have seen in New Zealand. He is mild and
+gentlemanly in his manner and address; a most powerful speaker; and
+his argumentative faculties are of a first rate order."</p>
+
+<p class="nodent">"He must have been a most powerful man, and, if his mind had been
+cultivated, would, no doubt, have been a most clever one. As it is, he
+seldom gets the worst of an argument about his own proceedings, puts
+such searching questions and gives such evasive answers, that he
+puzzled the best of our logicians on many occasions when endeavouring
+to get him to give a decided answer about his not giving us the
+assistance he promised when we were trying to capture the murderers
+from Rangihaeata" (<i>McKillop</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_201" id="Foot_201" href="#Ref_201">[201]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Correct, according to prescribed rules.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_202" id="Foot_202" href="#Ref_202">[202]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Treachery, amounting to murder.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_203" id="Foot_203" href="#Ref_203">[203]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+Rev. Richard Taylor.</p>
+
+<p class="nodent"><a name="Foot_204" id="Foot_204" href="#Ref_204">[204]</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"I must not omit to mention that, cruel and bloodthirsty as this
+man appears to have been, he must occasionally have made exceptions,
+as one of his slaves voluntarily accompanied him into captivity on
+board the <i>Calliope</i>, waiting on him and paying him every
+attention for a period of eighteen months, knowing from the beginning
+that he was quite free to leave him at any time. He was offered a
+rating on the ship's books, but this he refused, saying there would be
+no one to wait on the old man if he was otherwise employed"
+(<i>McKillop</i>).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 350px">
+  <br />
+  <img width="350" height="596" alt="list" src="images/388-list.jpg" />
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">LIST OF TE RAUPARAHA'S WIVES AND CHILDREN</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 400px">
+  <br />
+  <a href="images/389-map-large.jpg">
+  <img width="400" height="601" alt="map" id="map" src="images/389-map.jpg" />
+  </a>
+  <div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">MAP OF NEW ZEALAND<br />
+             Shewing routes taken by Te Rauparaha and Te Puoho in their various raids</p>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An Old New Zealander
+       or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.
+
+Author: T. Lindsay Buick
+
+Release Date: January 22, 2014 [EBook #44726]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Pinfield, Shaun Pinder, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Italics are indicated by _underscores_, "oe" ligatures have been
+removed, and small capitals have been converted to full capitals.
+
+Discrepancies between the detail of the list of illustrations, and the
+text accompanying the illustrations themselves, have been retained.
+
+The list also omits the table of Te Rauparaha's wives and children,
+that has been inserted at the end of the book before the map of his
+and Te Puoho's raids. It has been transcribed in this version.
+
+Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in
+hyphenation have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER
+
+ [Illustration: TE RAUPARAHA.
+ After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin.
+ Frontispiece.]
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD NEW ZEALANDER
+
+OR, TE RAUPARAHA, THE NAPOLEON OF THE SOUTH
+
+BY
+
+T. LINDSAY BUICK
+
+AUTHOR OF "OLD MARLBOROUGH," "OLD MANAWATU"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+WHITCOMBE & TOMBS, LIMITED
+
+LONDON MELBOURNE
+
+CHRISTCHURCH, WELLINGTON AND DUNEDIN, N.Z.
+
+1911
+
+
+To
+
+S. PERCY SMITH, ESQ., F.R.G.S.
+
+"A WELL-DESERVING PILLAR" IN THE TEMPLE OF POLYNESIAN LEARNING,
+
+I GRATEFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+I have been constrained to write the story of "An Old New Zealander"
+largely to gratify the frequently expressed desire for a more
+comprehensive sketch of Te Rauparaha's career on the part of many
+readers of my former books, in which fitful glimpses of the old chief
+were given. These references have apparently awakened some
+considerable interest in the life and times of the great Ngatitoan,
+and although this period of New Zealand's history is by no means
+barren of literature, I am hopeful that there is still room for a
+volume in which much heterogeneous matter has been grouped and
+consolidated. There may be some amongst the reading public who will
+question the need, or the wisdom, of recording the savage and
+sanguinary past of the Maori; but history is always history, and if
+this contribution serves no other useful purpose, it may at least help
+to emphasise the marvellous transformation which has been worked in
+the natives of New Zealand since Te Rauparaha's time--a transformation
+which can be accounted one of the world's greatest triumphs for
+missionary enterprise. It may be, too, that some critics will not
+subscribe to my estimate of the chief's character, because it has been
+the conventional view that he who refused to part with his own and his
+people's heritage was destitute of a redeeming feature. Owing to the
+misrepresentation of the early settlers and traders he has been
+greatly misunderstood by their successors; and they have further added
+to the injustice by sometimes seeking to measure one who was steeped
+in heathen darkness by the holy standard which was raised by the
+Founder of Christianity. As in the careers of most conquerors, there
+is much in the life of Te Rauparaha that will not bear condonation;
+but in every British community there is a wholesome admiration for
+resourcefulness, indomitable will, and splendid courage; and, if the
+succeeding pages serve to balance these high qualities of the chief
+against his failings, they may assist in setting up a more equitable
+standard whereby future generations will be able to judge him.
+
+In compiling this work I have necessarily had to draw upon many of the
+existing publications on New Zealand, and I now desire gratefully to
+acknowledge my obligations to their authors. I have also to thank Mr.
+S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., for the kindly interest he has displayed in
+the progress of my work, and in no less degree must I pay my
+respectful acknowledgments to Mr. H. M. Stowell and to Mr. J. R.
+Russell for their judicious criticisms and suggestions, whereby I have
+been assisted in arriving at a correct historical perspective. To Mr.
+T. W. Downes, of Whanganui, who has enthusiastically co-operated with
+me in procuring some of the illustrations, and to Mr. J. W. Joynt,
+M.A., for his careful revision of the proofs, I am equally indebted,
+and now beg to tender to these gentlemen my sincere thanks for their
+assistance.
+
+Humbly acknowledging the force of Carlyle's dictum that "Histories are
+as perfect as the historian is wise and is gifted with an eye and a
+soul," I now present the result of my last year's labour to the reader.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+VICTORIA AVENUE, DANNEVIRKE, N.Z.,
+
+_May 23,_ 1911.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+ CHAPTER I
+ WHENCE AND WHITHER?                                                 1
+
+ CHAPTER II
+ ARAWA AND TAINUI                                                   16
+
+ CHAPTER III
+ A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING                                            29
+
+ CHAPTER IV
+ THE LAND OF PROMISE                                                62
+
+ CHAPTER V
+ THE SOUTHERN RAIDS                                                121
+
+ CHAPTER VI
+ THE SMOKING FLAX                                                  189
+
+ CHAPTER VII
+ WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU                                          235
+
+ CHAPTER VIII
+ THE CAPTIVE CHIEF                                                 293
+
+ CHAPTER IX
+ WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE                                            331
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PORTRAIT OF TE RAUPARAHA                               _Frontispiece_
+ _After a drawing in the Hocken Collection, Dunedin_
+
+                                                           FACING PAGE
+
+ DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND                           16
+ _From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland.
+ By kind permission of the Artist_
+
+ POMOHAKA PASSAGE, KAWHIA                                           32
+ _From a photo by Jonston_
+
+ BURNING OF THE "BOYD"                                              48
+ _From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland.
+ By kind permission of the Artist_
+
+ TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA                                                64
+ _The Point from which the Ngati-Toa migration commenced_
+
+ THE MEMORIAL TIKI, KAIAPOI                                        128
+ _Erected on the site of the pa destroyed by Te Rauparaha_
+
+ GILLETT'S WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842                           144
+ _By kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.
+ From a sketch by her Father_
+
+ MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU                                 256
+ _Erected by public subscription, 1869.
+ Photo by Macey_
+
+ TAUPO PA, PORIRUA                                                 288
+ _After a drawing by G. F. Angas_
+
+ TE RANGIHAEATA                                                    304
+ _After a drawing by C. D. Barraud, Esq._
+
+ MAP DELINEATING JOURNEYS OF TE RAUPARAHA AND
+ TE PUOHO                                                     _At end_
+
+
+
+
+LAMENT ON THE CAPTURE OF TE RAUPARAHA
+
+_Composed by Hinewhe, and supposed to be sung by Te Rangihaeata._
+
+
+I
+
+              Alas! my heart is wild with grief:
+                  There rises still
+                  The frowning hill
+      Of Kapiti, in vain amid the waters lone!
+                  But he, the chief,
+              The key of all the land, is gone!
+
+
+II
+
+      Calm in the lofty ship, O ancient comrade, sleep,
+          And gaze upon the stillness of the deep!
+                  Till now, till now,
+          A calm was but a signal unto thee
+              To rise in pride, and to the fray
+          Despatch some martial band in stern array!
+                  But go thy way,
+              And with a favouring tide
+              Upon the billows ride,
+      Till Albion's cliffs thou climb, so far beyond the sea.
+
+
+III
+
+      Thou stood'st alone, a kingliest forest tree,
+                  Our pride, our boast,
+              Our shelter and defence to be.
+          But helplessly--ah, helplessly wast thou
+          Plucked sword-like from the heart of all thy host,
+              Thy thronging "Children of the Brave,"
+                  With none to save!
+          Not amid glaring eyes;
+          Not amid battle cries,
+          When the desperate foes
+          Their dense ranks close:
+      Not from the lips of the terrible guns
+      Thy well-known cry resounding o'er the heath:
+              "Now, now, my sons!
+      Now fearless with me to the realms of Death!"
+      Not thus--not thus, amid the whirl of war,
+      Wert thou caught up and borne away afar!
+
+
+IV
+
+              Who will arise to save?
+              Who to the rescue comes?
+          Waikato's lord--Tauranga's chief,
+      Thy grandsons, rushing from their distant homes,
+  They shall avenge their sire--they shall assuage our grief.
+          While you, the "Children of the Brave,"
+          Still sleep a sleep as of the grave,
+  Dull as the slumbering fish that basks upon the summer wave.
+
+
+V
+
+          Depart then, hoary chief! Thy fall--
+          The pledge forsooth of peace to all--
+  Of Heaven's peace, so grateful to their God above,
+          And to thy kinsmen twain, by whom
+  Was brought us from the portals of the "land of gloom,"
+          This novel law of love--
+              This law of good:
+      Say, rather, murderous law of blood,
+      That charges its own crimes upon its foes--
+  While I alone am held the source whence these disasters rose!
+
+
+
+
+An Old New Zealander
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHENCE AND WHITHER?
+
+
+Probably no portion of the globe is so pregnant with the romance of
+unsolved problem as the Pacific Ocean. For thousands of years before
+Vasco de Balboa, the friend of Columbus, stood upon the heights of
+Panama and enriched mankind by his glorious geographical discovery,
+this great ocean and the islands which its blue waters encircle had
+remained a world in themselves, undisturbed by the rise and fall of
+continental kingdoms, unknown even to the semi-civilised peoples who
+dwelt on the neighbouring continental shores. But although thus shut
+out from human ken and wrapt in impenetrable mystery, we are entitled
+to presume that during all this period of time Nature, both animate
+and inanimate, had been there fulfilling its allotted part in the
+Creator's plan, though no pen has fully told, or ever can tell, of the
+many stupendous changes which were wrought in those far-away centuries
+either by the will of God or by the hand of man. That vast and
+far-reaching displacements had been effected before the Spanish
+adventurer's discovery of 1513 broke this prehistoric silence, there
+is little room to doubt, for the position and configuration of the
+island groups are as surely the results of geological revolutions as
+their occupation by a strangely simple and unlettered people is
+evidence of some great social upheaval in the older societies of the
+world. Precisely what those geological changes have been, or what the
+cause of that social upheaval, it would be imprudent to affirm, but
+there is always room for speculation, even in the realm of science and
+history, and there is no unreasonable scepticism in refusing to
+subscribe to the belief that the Pacific Ocean always has been,
+geographically speaking, what it is to-day, nor rash credulity in
+accepting the ruined buildings and monolithic remains which lie
+scattered from Easter Island to Ponape, as evidences of a people whose
+empire--if such it can be called--had vanished long before the
+appearance of the Spaniards in these waters.
+
+But even if the opinion still awaits scientific verification that the
+islands and atolls which sustain the present population of the Pacific
+are but the surviving heights of a submerged continent, there is less
+room to doubt that the dark-skinned inhabitants of those islands can
+look back upon a long course of racial vicissitude antecedent to the
+arrival of the Spaniards. What the first and subsequent voyagers found
+was a people of stalwart frame, strong and lithe of limb, with head
+and features, and especially the fairness of the skin, suggestive of
+Caucasian origin.[1] Although of bright and buoyant spirits, they were
+without letters, and their arts were of the most rudimentary kind. Of
+pottery they knew nothing, and of all metals they were equally
+ignorant. For their domestic utensils they were dependent upon the
+gourd and other vegetable products, and for weapons of war and tools
+of husbandry upon the flints and jades of the mountains. Their
+textiles, too, were woven without the aid of the spindle, and in much
+the same primitive fashion as had been employed by the cave-dwellers
+of England thousands of years before. In the production of fire they
+were not a whit less primitive than the semi-savage of ancient
+Britain. They thus presented the pathetic spectacle of a people
+lingering away back in the Palaeolithic period of the world's history,
+while the world around them had marched on through the long centuries
+involved in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
+
+But though devoid of these mechanical arts, the higher development of
+which counts for much in national progress, these people were no
+sluggards. They were expert canoe-builders, and their skill in naval
+architecture was only equalled by the daring with which they traversed
+the ocean waste around them. They were bold and adventurous
+navigators, who studied the flow of the tides and the sweep of the
+ocean currents. They knew enough of astronomy to steer by the stars,
+and were able to navigate their rude craft with a wonderful degree of
+mathematical certainty. Whether their wanderings were in all cases due
+to design or sometimes to accident, cannot now be definitely affirmed;
+but there is abundant proof that their voyages had extended from
+Hawaii in the north to Antarctica in the south, and there was scarcely
+an island that was not known and named in all their complex
+archipelagos.
+
+Of literature they, of course, had none, but they revelled in oral
+traditions and in a mythology rich in imagination and poetry, which
+accounted for all things, even for the beginning of the world and for
+the ultimate destiny of the soul. Being deeply religious and as deeply
+superstitious, they interpreted natural phenomena in a mystic sense,
+and Pope's lines on the poor Indian would have been equally applicable
+to the ancient Maori in Polynesia--
+
+  "Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind
+  Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind:
+  His soul proud science never taught to stray
+  Far as the Solar Walk or Milky Way.
+  Yet simple Nature to his hope has given
+  Behind the cloud-capt hill an humbler heaven;
+  Some safer world in depths of woods embraced,
+  Some happier island in the watery waste,
+  Where slaves once more their native land behold,
+  No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold."[2]
+
+The cradle of the Polynesian race was undoubtedly Asia; and to arrive at
+a clear understanding as to how it became transported from a continental
+home into this island world it will be necessary to carry the mind back
+probably more than 200,000 years. At that time the dominating section
+of the human family was the Caucasian--fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and
+revelling in the glory of long, wavy hair. Their civilisation,
+however, like their weapons of chipped stone, was of the most
+primitive character; but they had advanced sufficiently in the
+ascending scale of human progress to show that they valued life by
+paying pious respect to their dead. They preserved the memory of the
+departed by erecting over their burial-places huge blocks of stone,
+many of which monuments stand to-day to mark the course of their
+migrations. And, except possibly a flint axe-head or a rude ornament
+found deep in some ancient gravel-bed, these megalithic monuments are
+amongst the most convincing evidence we have of the wide diffusion of
+the human race in prehistoric times. From the most westerly point in
+Ireland, across the European and Asiatic continents, they stretch by
+the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the former, and
+the plains of Siberia in the latter, until they reach the waters of
+the Pacific. Even this wide expanse of ocean proved no insuperable
+barrier to the onward march of wandering man; for it is by the
+presence of his stone-building habit in so many of the Pacific Islands
+that we are able to construct a probable hypothesis of the process by
+which Polynesia first became inhabited.
+
+In the light of modern knowledge, the theory which finds most ready
+acceptance is that in Palaeolithic times the Caucasian race, being more
+or less a maritime people, had obtained possession of the coastal
+districts of Europe. As they multiplied and spread, they followed the
+ocean's edge to the northward, and, as the Arctic regions were then
+enjoying a temperate climate, there was a plenteous and pleasant home
+for them even in the most northerly part of Siberia. But later a
+drastic climatic change began to take place. The great ice-sheet,
+which is known to have twice covered northern Europe and Asia, began
+to creep down upon the land, driving man and beast before it. Impelled
+by this relentless force, there began a momentous migration of
+Palaeolithic man, who swept in hordes southward and eastward in search
+of a more hospitable home. In course of time a section of these
+fugitives, travelling across the Siberian plains, reached the Pacific
+coast, and here their old maritime spirit reasserted itself. With the
+pressure of climate behind them, and in their breasts the love of
+adventure, the sea soon became as much their domain as the land.
+
+At first their canoes were of the frailest character; but experience
+and unlimited opportunity soon taught them the art of constructing
+safe sea-going craft, which could carry considerable numbers on a
+course of discovery. The tales of new lands found, and their warm and
+genial climate, no doubt stimulated the spirit of exploration, so that
+gradually, and almost imperceptibly, the tide of migration which was
+flowing from the centre of the continent was drawn across the sea to
+the region of eternal summer.
+
+From somewhere in the vicinity of the Japanese archipelago, fleets of
+canoes set off at various times carrying with them a freight of
+humanity destined to found a new people in a new land. But, in order
+to account for the transportation of large numbers of women and
+children on vessels which, at the best, must have been mainly
+constructed of reeds, we must assume smaller intervals of ocean than
+exist now. There are evidences of other kinds that startling
+geological changes have occurred in this portion of the globe; and
+this assumption would help to explain feats of travel otherwise
+apparently impracticable to a rude and poorly equipped people.
+
+For how many centuries this stream of venturesome humanity flowed
+southward no one can tell; but it is safe to assume that great numbers
+must have taken the plunge into the unknown, some resting by the way,
+others pushing on to a point beyond the furthest preceding colony,
+until the main groups of islands were occupied, and outpost after
+outpost was firmly established. With them these people carried their
+simple mode of life, their primitive arts and customs, not the least
+of which was their stone-building habit, which, as already shown, had
+originated in their desire to perpetuate the memory and preserve the
+bones of their dead. Hence arose in their new home those strange
+structures of uncemented stone which astonished the early discoverers,
+and which stand to-day, broken and decrepit relics, like ghostly
+wraiths from a long-forgotten past.
+
+But, whatever its duration may have been, two causes operated to bring
+this period of migration to a close. The first of these influences was
+the dispersion of the Mongolian race from Central Asia; the second,
+the subsidence of the land along the Asiatic coast. Either of these
+events would have been in itself sufficient to cut off the supply of
+emigrants to the islands. The descent of the more warlike Mongols from
+their high plateau would effectually close the inland route across the
+north of Asia to the gentle Caucasians; while the sinking of the
+land-bridge, along which they had been wont to pick their way, would
+so increase the hazard of the journey that none would care to risk a
+voyage across the greater stretch of sea. Thus the first stratum of
+the Polynesian race was laid by an invasion of European people
+embarking from Asia; and these light-skinned, fair-haired Vikings,
+who were driven out of their ancient home by the descent of the giant
+glaciers, plunged into the abyss of uncertainty, little dreaming that
+from their stock would arise a people whose life-story would be, as it
+still is to some extent, one of the world's unsolved problems.
+
+Amongst the many features which have seemed to intensify the shroud of
+mystery enveloping these people is the combination of a dark skin with
+tall and stalwart frames and a head-form usually belonging to fair
+races. Also the strange stratification of their customs discloses a
+social condition so contradictory as to amount almost to a paradox.
+Why a dark-skinned race should possess features which find their
+counterpart in the whites of to-day, or why the most primitive method
+of obtaining fire--by friction--should be found side by side with
+highly scientific methods of warfare, especially displayed in the art
+of fortification, seemed difficult of explanation, until the idea of a
+second invasion, comprised of dark-blooded people, had been conceived
+and had taken root.[3]
+
+The theory of a grafting of a dark race on to the Caucasian stem which
+had already been planted in Polynesia explains much. It would account
+for the olive-coloured skin of the present-day natives, and it would
+provide the reasonable supposition that, being later comers, they
+would import with them newer ideas and more modern customs, some of
+which would be adopted in their entirety, others in a modified form.
+With the advantage of many centuries of contact with neighbouring
+peoples, they had necessarily learned much of the art of war, which
+had been quite unknown to the islanders in their isolation. These dark
+invaders were therefore able to come in the spirit of conquerors; and
+consequently the masculine arts, such as the making of weapons and the
+building of forts and canoes, received an impulse which placed them
+considerably in advance of anything of which the original people had
+ever dreamed. But the domestic arts would be but little changed, for
+the reason that the invasion, being one of warlike intent, would be
+comprised largely of males, the women who were taken to wife after
+their lords had been vanquished being allowed to retain their old
+modes of life. Hence the methods of twisting threads of fibre, of
+weaving mats, and of making fire, would remain the same as had been
+practised by them from time immemorial, while there would be a
+distinct advance in those arts which came more exclusively within the
+domain of the males. In two respects, however, these newcomers did not
+better the condition or raise the standard of art amongst the people
+with whom they were about to mingle their blood. They introduced
+neither pottery nor the use of metals. It is therefore clear that the
+section of the human family to which they belonged had not advanced
+beyond the Stone Age when their invasion took place; and this fact
+helps us to some extent in our inferences as to the period when this
+second migration commenced and when it terminated.
+
+For the direction whence these dark-skinned invaders came we have to
+rely on a careful comparison of the traditions and genealogies of the
+present-day people, who have preserved in a remarkable way certain
+leading facts, which serve as landmarks by which their journeys can
+still be traced. By the aid of these, the thread of their history has
+been followed back to a time at least several centuries before the
+birth of Christ, when a dark-skinned people dwelt upon the banks of
+the river Ganges. Here, by contact with other races, probably the
+Egyptian and Semitic, they acquired that smattering of mythology
+which, as preserved by the ancient Maori, resembled so closely the
+beliefs still prevalent in many parts of the Old World. But although
+versed in the mysterious philosophy, if such it can be styled, of
+their time, they were entirely ignorant of the principles of the
+Buddhist religion; and from this circumstance it is fair to deduce
+that they had left India before Gautama, who died in 477 B.C., had
+commenced his teaching of "Nirvana and the Law."
+
+But when we come to inquire into the causes which operated to inspire
+this migration, we get little information beyond the explanation
+commonly given as the root of all Polynesian movements, that "great
+wars prevailed." If this be the true reason why a whole nation should
+move _en masse_, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that the
+future Polynesians were the defeated people, and were forced by
+irresistible waves of invasion to abandon their home in India. Slowly
+they were pushed southward and eastward by the more warlike tribes who
+came down from the north; and as they made their way along the coasts
+of the Malayan Peninsula, circumstances, climate, and assimilation
+with other peoples continued the process of racial modification which
+had commenced before they abandoned the valley of the Ganges. For
+three hundred years or more they drifted from point to point. We know
+little more, for there occurs a comparative blank in the story of
+their journeyings as they moved along the coast of Sumatra and down
+the Straits of Malacca.
+
+In the year 65 B.C., however, we again get a glimpse of them
+on the island of Java. From this point, although their movements are
+often vague and shadowy, they are never entirely lost to sight.
+Tradition, at this period, speaks of a renowned personage named Te
+Kura-a-moo, who "went to the east, to the rising sun, and remained
+there." To precisely what spot in the east he journeyed is uncertain,
+but his objective is generally supposed to have been the island of
+Java, which was then known as Avaiki-te-Varinga. This is the first
+suggestion of migration which we have in Polynesian tradition; and as
+it corresponds in date with other large ethnic movements which are
+known to have occurred in the Malayan archipelago, it is more than
+probable that pressure from other invaders compelled the occupation
+of Java, which thus became the parent Hawaiki, towards which the Maori
+stands in much the same relationship as does his brother _pakeha_ to
+the Garden of Eden.
+
+But the same cause which drove these wandering Asiatics into Java, at
+a latter period led to its evacuation. And still the movement was in
+an eastward direction, towards the islands of Indonesia, the people as
+they moved becoming more and more expert in the art of navigation and
+sea-craft. In view of the scattered nature of the archipelago in which
+they now found themselves, their voyages became gradually longer,
+requiring larger canoes and more daring seamanship. They were
+beginning to leave the beaten path which hitherto had been the common
+course of the human race--the mountain, the river, and the plain. With
+them the sea was gradually becoming the broad highway which had to be
+traversed in order to find fresh resting-places, or to maintain
+communication with established outposts in more advanced situations.
+The spirit of the sea-gipsy, which led them to do and dare, was
+rapidly developing within them, and the knowledge thus born of courage
+and experience was shortly to prove invaluable to them in carrying to
+a successful issue their own great policy of conquest.
+
+Wars and rumours of wars are again heard of, and are given as the
+underlying cause of the next movement southward from Indonesia, the
+date of which is so uncertain that it cannot safely be defined more
+strictly than as between the first and fourth centuries. It is
+unfortunate that we are driven to this loose estimate of time for so
+important a national event, because it was this final migration which
+led to the actual entry into Polynesia of these dark-blooded
+wanderers, and if our first hypothesis be correct, to their ultimate
+fusion with the fair-skinned, stone-building people who had preceded
+them by many centuries.
+
+They had obviously come into contact with strange people and strange
+animals, for the existence of the former has been preserved in their
+traditions and the memory of the latter in their fantastic carvings.
+Not the least interesting of their stories is the finding of a
+fair-complexioned people, whom their fancy has elevated into the realm
+of fairies, and from whom they claim to have learned the art of
+net-making. Whether these mysterious people, who are said to have
+laboured only at night and to have vanished when the sun rose, were
+the original Caucasians who, we have supposed, set out from the
+eastern coast of Asia, and who were about to be absorbed by the more
+virile emigrants from India, or whether they were, as some suggest, a
+few wandering Greeks or Phoenicians on the coast of Sumatra, we cannot
+pretend to decide. But, in all its vagueness and fanciful setting, the
+tradition is interesting, as indicating the existence on their route
+of a people fairer than themselves, and the fact that they must have
+come into close personal contact with them. A careful reflection upon
+the probable circumstances attending the story of how Kahu-kura
+captured one of the fairy's nets inclines us to the opinion that it is
+the first evidence we have of the contact of the Indian branch of the
+Polynesian race with their whiter predecessors. These they would meet
+in island after island as they moved down the Pacific towards Fiji,
+which group they are believed to have occupied about A.D. 450.
+
+Like all other dates connected with Polynesian migrations, this one
+can only be approximate, for the people were without any mode of
+reckoning time, except by reference to ancestral lines. But there is
+traditional authority for supposing that their descent upon Fiji was
+made in considerable numbers, and that for a time these islands
+constituted one of their principal colonising centres. Whether Tonga
+and Samoa were settled from this point seems doubtful; but it is
+certain from the marvellous stories which find credence in the
+traditions of this period that an era of extensive voyaging had set
+in, and that the newcomers began to spread themselves with
+considerable rapidity from atoll to island and from island to
+archipelago. These excursions into new realms naturally gave promise
+of an attractive home amongst the palm-covered islands; and,
+simultaneously with their policy of conquest and colonisation, they
+began the absorption and assimilation of the resident people. As the
+defending warriors were driven out or annihilated, the women of the
+vanquished were taken possession of by the victors, and their domestic
+arts were taken with them. This blending necessarily, in the course of
+many centuries, worked appreciable modifications in the physique and
+customs of both races, and gave to the world the Polynesian people as
+we know them to-day.
+
+A race of stalwarts, long-headed, straight-haired, and brown-skinned,
+warriors from birth, full of courage, and ardent for adventure, they
+were not altogether devoid of those higher ideals which make for the
+elevation of man. They were deeply imbued with a love of poetry, which
+enabled them to appreciate in a rude way the beautiful in life and to
+preserve in quaint song and fantastic tradition the story of their
+wanderings and the prowess of their heroes. They were even
+enterprising enough to attempt the solution of the marvellous natural
+phenomena everywhere presented to them, which, to their simple minds,
+could have no origin except in the intervention of the gods.
+
+With a continuous stream of fresh immigrants flowing in from the north
+to reinforce the southern outposts, the conquest and colonisation of
+the islands was now only a matter of time. Before we come to the
+period directly connected with our story, some seven hundred years had
+elapsed, during which every trace and even the memory of the original
+people had been effaced, and but for their stone monuments, which have
+withstood alike the shock of invasion and the ravages of time, their
+very existence would have remained as one of the problems of a
+forgotten past. But long before this period had been reached, some
+great ethnic or geographical event had occurred to terminate the
+further inflow of these invaders from the north. Either the movements
+of the nations upon the Asiatic continent supervened to make
+continued migration unnecessary, or geographical changes in the
+distribution of land and sea operated to make it more difficult, if
+not impossible. Certain it is that the supply of warriors was
+effectually cut off, and that at a time before the parent people had
+learned the use of metals. From this period, down through the ages
+until the day of their discovery by the Spaniards, the gulf which
+separated them from the rest of the human family remained unbridged,
+and the Polynesians were suffered to evolve their own racial
+peculiarities and develop their own national spirit, untrammelled by
+exterior influences. Isolated from the rest of the world, they lived
+in total ignorance of the progress with which other peoples were
+advancing towards a higher type of human development and loftier
+ideals of national life. They knew nothing of the growth of science or
+of art, and they derived no benefit from the stimulating effect of
+competition, or from the bracing conditions of a strenuous life.
+Nature was bountiful to them in the ease and abundance with which
+their simple wants were supplied, for it required neither labour nor
+ingenuity to provide for their daily needs. Hence there was little
+incentive to depart from traditional customs, or to seek more advanced
+methods than their fathers had learned and applied in that far-off
+time when they lived on the banks of the Ganges. Had it been
+otherwise, the Polynesians would not have been found still clinging to
+their stone clubs and flint axes, while the continental peoples
+surrounding them had acquired a written language, the use of metals,
+and the arts of husbandry, pottery, and weaving. The complete absence
+of these primary evidences of civilisation amongst the islanders gives
+us the right to assume that they came into the South Seas before man
+had acquired any knowledge of the metallic arts, and that their
+migration ceased before pottery and the weaving spindle were known.
+
+Polynesia must, therefore, have been occupied during the Palaeolithic
+and Neolithic periods of the world's history. From that time down to
+the Spanish era all communication with the surrounding nations was
+completely cut off, and the Polynesians were allowed to sleep the
+sleep of centuries and to work out their own destiny in the midst of
+their tragic isolation. As the evolution of the race progressed, there
+was gradually developed a rude system of tribal government,
+administered by acknowledged chieftains, who claimed and obtained
+unquestioned obedience. So, too, victory or defeat became gradually
+the chief factor in determining the home of each tribe. These tribal
+boundaries were, however, by no means arbitrary lines of exclusion,
+and, in fact, there were frequent visits of friendship between the
+different sections of the race. These voyages necessarily led to a
+wide knowledge of the Southern seas and their archipelagos, and often
+contributed surprising results. While the sea-captains navigated their
+canoes with wonderful accuracy, unaided as they were by chart or
+compass, their vessels were not always under absolute control, and in
+stress of sudden storm, or influenced by some unexpected current, they
+were frequently carried far out of their intended course.
+
+It is probable that in some such way the first canoes reached New
+Zealand, for it is known that individual vessels had visited these
+shores long before the historic migration known as "the fleet" left
+Rarotonga in or about the year 1350 A.D. The stories brought
+back by these pioneering mariners excited the cupidity and fired the
+imagination of the islanders, and when a fleet of several great canoes
+arrived at Rarotonga, and found that group already fully occupied,
+they decided to set out in search of the strange land which had been
+dragged from the depths of the sea by the miracle-working Maui, and
+discovered by the great sea-captain Kupe.[4] Here they hoped to
+capture the giant bird, the flesh of which Ngahue had preserved and
+brought back with him, but more than all they were eager to enrich
+themselves by the possession of the _toka-matie_, or much prized
+greenstone, the beauty of which they had heard so much extolled.
+
+The story of this migration is recorded amongst the classic traditions
+of the New Zealanders: how the Arawa canoe came perilously near being
+lost in a tempest, and descended into the mysterious depths of the
+whirlpool, Te Parata; how the crew of the Taki-tumu suffered the pangs
+of starvation; how the Kura-haupo suffered wreck; and how, on landing,
+the crew of the Arawa practised the deceit upon the sleeping Tainui of
+placing the cable of their canoe under that of the latter, in order
+that they might, with some hope of success, set up a claim to first
+arrival. One by one the canoes reached these shores, the major part of
+them making land in the vicinity of East Cape, thence sailing to the
+north or to the south, as the whim of the captain or the divination of
+the _tohunga_ decided their course. In this way they spread to
+almost every part of the North Island, which they found already
+peopled with the remnants of prior migrations, who were living in
+peaceable possession. With these the warlike Vikings from the Pacific
+fought and contended until they gained undoubted supremacy, thus
+giving a starting-point to New Zealand history by establishing
+ancestral lines from which all Maoris love to trace their descent.
+These tribes soon became the dominant power in the land. The weaker
+_tangata whenua_[5] were subdued and absorbed. Their traditions,
+arts, and customs disappeared, except in so far as they may have
+unconsciously influenced those of their conquerors. The latter grew in
+strength and numbers, extending their influence far and wide, as they
+marched towards the development of their national existence and their
+final consolidation into the Maori race.
+
+Unto these people was born, about the year 1768, a little brown babe
+who was destined to become the great Te Rauparaha, chief of the
+Ngati-Toa tribe.
+
+[1] "The distinguishing characteristic of the Marquesan Islanders, and
+that which at once strikes you, is the European cast of their
+features--a peculiarity seldom observable among other uncivilised
+peoples. Many of their faces present a profile classically beautiful,
+and I saw several who were in every respect models of beauty"
+(_Melville_).
+
+[2] "I found that the Natives had not formed the slightest idea of
+there being a state of future punishment. They refuse to believe that
+the Good Spirit intends to make them miserable after their decease.
+They imagine all the actions of this life are punished here, and that
+every one when dead, good or bad, bondsman or free, is assembled on an
+island situated near the North Cape, where both the necessaries and
+comforts of life will be found in the greatest abundance, and all will
+enjoy a state of uninterrupted happiness" (_Earle_).
+
+[3] "It is most certain that the whites are the aborigines. Their
+colour is, generally speaking, like that of the people of Southern
+Europe, and I saw several who had red hair. There were some who were
+as white as our sailors, and we often saw on our ships a tall young
+man, 5 feet 11 inches in height, who, by his colour and features,
+might easily have passed for a European" (_Crozet's Description of
+the Maoris at the Bay of Islands_).
+
+[4] The knowledge which the Polynesians possessed of the Southern sea,
+and their skill as navigators, was such that when "the fleet" set out
+from Rarotonga, they did not go to discover New Zealand, but they went
+with the absolute certainty of finding it.
+
+[5] "Man of the land, native, aboriginal." Probably these people were
+a mixture of the Melanesian and Polynesian types.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ARAWA AND TAINUI
+
+
+If the genealogies of the Maori race can be relied upon, it may be
+accepted as a fact that the immediate ancestors of Te Rauparaha came
+to New Zealand in the canoe Tainui, which is said to have been the
+first vessel of the fleet after the Arawa, prepared for sea. By an
+unfortunate circumstance there sprang up between the crews of these
+two canoes a fatal rivalry, which repeated acts of aggression and
+retaliation were continually fanning into open ruptures, even after
+they had landed and were widely separated on the shores of New
+Zealand. This ill-humour, according to the tradition, was first
+engendered by Tama-te-kapua, the chief of the Arawa, depriving the
+Tainui of her high priest, Ngatoro-i-rangi, by inviting that renowned
+_tohunga_ on board his vessel for the purpose of performing some
+of the all-important ceremonies which the complex ritual of the Maori
+demanded on such occasions, and then slipping his cable and putting to
+sea before the priest had time to realise that he had been
+deliberately led into a trap. But this act of treachery on the part of
+the bold and unscrupulous captain cost him dear, and bitterly must he
+have repented before the voyage was over his trifling with the dignity
+of so consummate a master of magic as Ngatoro-i-rangi. But that story
+belongs to the voyage of the Arawa. Of the voyage of the Tainui, under
+Hoturoa, we know little; but presumably she had a comparatively
+uneventful passage until she touched land at a point near the
+north-east end of the Bay of Plenty, which her people named
+Whanga-poraoa, for the reason that there they found a newly stranded
+sperm-whale. But scarcely had they disembarked than a dispute arose
+between them and the Arawas, who had beached their canoe at a spot
+close by, as to the ownership of the carcase. The result of the debate
+was an agreement, arrived at on the suggestion of a Tainui chief,[6]
+that the crew which had first touched land should be the acknowledged
+owners of the fish, and to establish the date of arrival it was
+further agreed that they should examine the sacred places which each
+had erected on the shore, and on which they returned thanks to the
+gods for guiding them safely across the ocean. Here the ingenuity of
+the Arawa people enabled them to outwit the Tainuis. While the latter
+had built their shrine of green wood, the followers of Tama-te-kapua
+had taken the precaution to dry the poles of their altar over the fire
+before sinking them into the sand. Precisely the same process had been
+applied to their hawsers, so that when the examination was made for
+the purpose of determining priority of arrival the Arawa temple
+carried with it the appearance of greater age, and the Tainuis,
+without detecting the trick, conceded the point and yielded the prize
+to their rivals.
+
+ [Illustration: DEPARTURE OF "THE FLEET" FOR NEW ZEALAND.
+ From a painting by K. Watkins, Auckland,
+ by kind permission of the artist.]
+
+Hoturoa then decided to make further explorations to the north, and
+moved off in that direction with his canoe, to be followed a few days
+later by the Arawa. The Tainui skirted the coast, noted and named many
+of its prominent features as far as the North Cape, and then, as the
+land terminated at this point, the canoe was put about and retraced
+her course as far south as Takapuna.[7] Here a halt was called, and
+exploring parties were sent out to ascertain if all the district
+promised was likely to be realised. Upon ascending one of the many
+hills[8] which mark the landscape in this particular locality, the
+voyagers were surprised to observe flocks of sea-birds, some flying
+over from the westward, others wheeling with noisy flight in mid-air.
+To the experienced eye of the native, who had been bred on the borders
+of the sea, this circumstance bespoke a new expanse of water to the
+west. The canoe was once more launched, and on their crossing the
+Wai-te-mata[9] harbour a critical examination of the eastern shore
+revealed to the astonished visitors the fact that a narrow portage
+existed at the head of the Tamaki River, over the ridge of which lay
+another arm of the sea, apparently as wide and as deep as that which
+they had just entered.
+
+In the meantime they had been joined by the Tokomaru canoe, and the
+joint crews decided upon the bold scheme of hauling their vessels over
+the narrow portage at Otahuhu.[10] The Tokomaru was the first to be
+taken across, and under the guidance of the chiefs she glided with
+perfect ease and grace over the carefully laid skids into the deep,
+smooth water. But when the drag-ropes were applied to the Tainui, pull
+as they would, she remained fast and immovable. Tradition says that
+Marama-kiko-hura, one of Hoturoa's wives, being unwilling that the
+weary crews should proceed at once upon this new expedition, which the
+chiefs were evidently projecting, had by her power as an enchantress
+so rooted the canoe to the ground that no human strength could move
+it. Against this supernatural agency the stalwart boatmen struggled
+unavailingly, for, although there was a straining of brawny arms, a
+bending of broad backs, and much vocal emulation, inspired by the
+lusty commands of those in authority, the charm of the enchantress
+could not be broken. In this distressful emergency the womanly
+sympathy of a second wife of the chief was stirred within her, and
+she, being even more gifted in the art of magic than her sister,
+chanted an incantation so great in virtue that instantly the spell was
+loosed and the wicked work of a disappointed woman undone.[11]
+
+The song which was chanted on this memorable occasion has long since
+been embalmed amongst the classics of the Maori, and has become the
+basis of many another chant which is used while canoes are being drawn
+down to the sea.
+
+  "Drag Tainui till she reaches the sea:
+  But who shall drag her hence?
+  What sound comes from the horizon?
+  The Earth is lighting up,
+  The Heavens arise,
+  In company with the feeble ones
+  Welcome hither! Come, O joyous Tane!
+  Thou leader and provider.
+  Here are the skids laid to the sea,
+  And drops the moisture now from Marama,
+  Caused by the gentle breeze
+  Which blows down from Wai-hi;
+  But still Tainui stays,
+  And will not move.
+  Red, red is the sun,
+  Hot, hot are its rays,
+  And still impatient stands the host:
+  Take ye and hold the rope,
+  And drag with flashing eyes
+  And drag in concert all.
+  Rise now the power
+  To urge. She moves and starts,
+  Moves now the prow,
+  Urge, urge her still."
+
+Under the exhilarating influence of the singer's musical voice,
+together with a profound faith in her skill as a mistress of magic,
+the weary crews once more bent themselves to their task. Their renewed
+efforts were rewarded with success; for with one vigorous pull the
+canoe was seen to move, and was soon slipping and sliding on her way
+to the bosom of the bay below.[12] Once fairly launched, the Tainui
+was soon speeding her way to the open sea; and, having successfully
+crossed the Manukau bar, she passed out into the Western Ocean to
+battle with adverse winds and tides. Evidently, the physical features
+of this coast were not greatly to the liking of the explorers. Unlike
+the eastern side of the island, there were fewer shelving beaches and
+favourable landing-places; the predominating aspect was high and
+abrupt cliffs, fringed with jagged and evil-looking rocks, against
+which the surf beat with deafening roar. The sea, too, was much more
+turbulent; so that, after travelling only some eighty miles, the canoe
+was headed for the sheltered harbour of Kawhia,[13] and there Hoturoa
+and the tribes who accompanied him determined to bring their
+wanderings to an end.
+
+The canoe which had brought them safely over so many miles of open
+ocean was hauled to a secure spot on the beach, there to await the
+ravages of decay, the spot where she rested and finally rotted away
+under the _manuka_ and _akeake_ trees being still marked by
+two stone pillars,[14] which the natives have named Puna and Hani. The
+next thing was to erect an altar to the gods for having thus far
+prospered their journey. The spot chosen was that afterwards called
+Ahurei, in memory of their old home in Tahiti;[15] and, doubtless for
+the same sentimental and patriotic reason, the spot on which the wives
+of Hoturoa first planted the _kumara_[16] was called Hawaiki. With
+these preliminaries settled, the pilgrims from the east were now faced
+with the most serious duty of all, to arrive at an equitable division
+of the new land which was about to become their permanent home. What
+method of adjudication was employed in the apportionment we cannot now
+say; but two main divisions mark the final arbitrament. The Waikatos
+occupied the country from Manukau in the north to the Marokopa River
+in the south, while the tribe afterwards known as Mania-poto occupied
+a domain which extended from that point to one about two miles south
+of the Mokau River. Within these comprehensive boundaries was embraced
+the acknowledged territory of the numerous sub-tribes; but to only two
+of these need we refer at this stage, namely, to the Ngati-toa, who
+lived on the shores of Kawhia Bay, and to the Ngati-Raukawa, who had
+settled further inland, in the country of which Maungatautari is now
+the centre.
+
+When the Tainui people landed on the shores of Kawhia and began to
+spread their settlements throughout the valleys of the district, they
+did not find, as they might have expected, an empty land. At some
+time, and by some means, man had already established himself in New
+Zealand, and before the organised migration, of which the Tainui was a
+part, had set sail from Rarotonga, the country was already extensively
+peopled. Whether these _tangata whenua_, as the Maoris called
+them, were Polynesians like themselves, and the fruits of some of the
+prior migrations which are known to have taken place, or whether they
+were a lower order of mankind struggling through the process of
+evolution to a higher plane of civilisation, is a point which cannot
+well be debated here. But whatever manner of men they were who lived
+in the balmy climate of Kawhia, they were already well established
+there in their villages and gardens, and for many generations--perhaps
+for many centuries--they had been burying their dead in the secret
+caves which honeycombed the limestone cliffs that rise in beetling
+precipices sheer from the harbour's edge. Although they are generally
+credited with being a less combative and virile race than the fierce
+and hardy tribes who came with the fleet, they were not disposed to
+surrender or divide their estate without a struggle, and Hoturoa found
+that, if he was to become master of Kawhia, it could only be as the
+outcome of a successful war. But Kawhia was a country worth fighting
+for. Early travellers through New Zealand, who saw it before the
+devastating hand of man had marred its beauties, speak with eloquent
+enthusiasm of its extremely picturesque and romantic landscape.[17] At
+full tide the harbour shines in the sunlight like an unbroken sheet of
+silver, in which the green and gold reflections of the surrounding
+bush are mirrored and magnified. For many miles in length and breadth
+the sea runs inland from the bay's bar-bound mouth, stretching its
+liquid arms right to the base of the mountains which encircle the
+harbour like a massive frame. Rugged and picturesque are these
+mountains, with their cloak of deep verdure, through which huge masses
+of limestone rock protrude their white faces, suggesting the bastions
+of some old Norman tower covered with gigantic ivy. So marked, in
+fact, is this resemblance, that the character of the peaks has been
+preserved in their name--the Castle Hills.[18] Down the sides of these
+slopes run innumerable streams, the largest being the Awaroa River,
+which enters the harbour at the north-east end, where the scenery
+attains its most impressive grandeur. A little to the north-east of
+Kawhia, and over the ranges, lies the broadly-terraced valley of the
+Waipa, and between this district and the harbour stands "an ancient
+and dilapidated volcano," called Pirongia, upon which the evening sun
+directs its blood-red darts, lighting up its many peaks and towers
+until they resemble a giant altar raised by some mighty priest. The
+climate, too, is mild and soft, like that of Southern Spain, and there
+the orange and the lemon might bud and blossom with all the
+luxuriance found in the valleys of Granada.
+
+Such was the home in which the people of the Tainui canoe sought to
+gain a footing, when they abandoned their vessel; but these exiles
+from far Hawaiki were yet to pass through the bitter waters of
+tribulation before their arms were blessed with success and their
+claims ceased to be contested. In the quaint language of an old
+_tohunga_ we are told: "In the days of the ancient times the
+descendants of those who came in the Tainui made war on the people who
+had occupied the interior of Waikato. These people were called Te
+Upoko-tioa, and were the people who had occupied the land long before
+the Tainui arrived at Kawhia. These people were attacked by those who
+came over in the Tainui. The men they killed, but the women were saved
+and taken as wives by the Tainui. Those who attacked these people were
+of one family, and were descended from one ancestor, who, after they
+had killed the inhabitants of Waikato, turned and made war each on the
+other--uncle killed nephew, and nephew killed uncle: elder killed the
+younger, and the younger killed the elder."
+
+Of the various battles which the Tainui people fought during the
+conquest of their new home we have scarcely any account, beyond vague
+and general statements of the most fugitive character. These,
+unfortunately, do not afford us any wealth of detail, the possession
+of which would enable us to picture in vivid colours the doughty deeds
+by which the invaders overcame the strenuous resistance of the
+_tangata whenua_, who maintained the struggle with the desperation of
+men who were fighting for their very existence. The story of the
+conquest of Kawhia may be regarded as lost in the misty distances of
+the past, but it is not surprising to discover by shadowy suggestion,
+such as quoted above, that, after the original inhabitants had been
+effectually subdued, the turbulent nature of the Maori should lead to
+devastating and sanguinary internecine wars. One of the traditions of
+the Tainui tribes is that they left the South Pacific because of a
+great battle called "Ra-to-rua," which originated in a quarrel between
+Heta and Ue-nuku; and it would be quite unreasonable to expect that
+they should suddenly forsake their warlike passions on reaching New
+Zealand, a country in which there was so much to fight for. With the
+Maori war had now become more than a passion: it had become part of
+his nature; for, through all the long centuries of migration, the
+story of the race had been one of incessant struggle with other races
+and with circumstances. They fought their way into the Pacific, and
+were in turn submerged under the tide of a second invasion, which gave
+to the world a people inured to the hardships inseparable from strife,
+who had tasted the bitterness of defeat as well as the joys of
+victory--a proud and haughty race, sensitive to the slightest insult,
+and so jealous of their honour that they were ever ready to vindicate
+their fair name before the only tribunal to which they could
+appeal--that of war. Steeped as they had been from birth in this
+atmosphere of strife, they had grown to expect the clash of arms at
+every turn, and, as they grew to expect it, they grew to love it. It
+is small wonder, then, that, when they found their enemies at Kawhia
+and its neighbourhood vanquished, they occasionally turned their hands
+upon each other, in the attempt to efface some real or imagined wrong.
+
+But, fatal to national progress as these inter-tribal wars must have
+been, they, nevertheless, played an important and valuable part in
+spreading the Maori over New Zealand. A tribe defeated in battle was
+forced to fly before the pursuing enemy, with no alternative but
+either to appropriate some district still unoccupied or to displace
+some weaker people, upon whom the burden was cast of again
+establishing themselves where and as best they could. Thus the tide of
+fortune and misfortune rolled and recoiled from Te Reinga to Te
+Ra-whiti, until an asylum was sought by the last of the refugees even
+across the waters of Cook Strait. Although we have no accurate
+information on the point, it is probable that these blood-feuds
+contributed in no small measure to the ultimate distribution of the
+Tainui people; for their subsequent history is eloquent of the fact
+that, while they claimed common descent from the ancestral line of
+Hoturoa, this family bond did not prevent hatred and hostility
+springing up, and at times bathing their country in blood.
+
+The first migration, however, of which we have any record did not
+apparently ensue upon the result of a battle, although a quarrel was
+its underlying cause. Hotu-nui, who was one of the principal chiefs of
+the canoe, is said to have taken as his wife a daughter of one of the
+_tangata whenua_, and was apparently living in the same village and on
+terms of perfect friendship with her people. Having been wrongfully
+accused of an act of petty thieving, he determined to rid the _pa_ of
+his presence; and so, with one hundred of his immediate followers, he,
+it is said, moved off towards the Hauraki Gulf. As the years rolled
+on, and the systematic exploration of the country began to be
+undertaken, many similar expeditions, no doubt, went out from the
+parent home at Kawhia, one at least of which was fraught with fateful
+consequences. A chief named Raumati,[19] whose story has been embalmed
+in tradition, had taken a band of followers with him and travelled
+across the island, past Rotorua, until he finally came to the shores
+of the Bay of Plenty, where his mother's people lived. Here he was in
+the Arawa country, and it was not long before he heard that their
+canoe was lying at Maketu, some distance further to the southward. It
+will be remembered that there had never been good feeling between the
+Tainui and Arawa peoples, and Raumati determined upon an act which
+would demonstrate beyond all doubt that he, at least, was not disposed
+to hold out the olive-branch to Arawa. His scheme was to effect the
+destruction of the great canoe which had brought the hated rivals of
+his tribe to New Zealand. Once decided upon, his plan was put into
+execution with a promptness worthy of a better cause. Travelling along
+the coast from Tauranga to Maketu, he and his followers arrived at the
+latter place when all its inhabitants were absent in quest of food.
+But his trouble was that the Arawa had been berthed on the opposite
+side of the Kaituna River, where she had been housed under a covering
+of reeds and grass to protect her from the ravages of the weather.
+Nothing daunted, however, Raumati soon proved that his ingenuity was
+equal to the desperate circumstances in which he found himself placed.
+Taking a dart, and attaching to the point of it a live ember, he
+hurled the smoking stick across the water with unerring aim, and, to
+his intense satisfaction, he saw the firebrand fall in the midst of
+the combustible material which formed the covering of the canoe. The
+fire was soon in full blast: the glare of the flames lit up the
+surrounding country and was reflected in the red glow of the evening
+sky. The first impression of the people out in the forest was that the
+Maketu _pa_ had been destroyed; but in the morning they were
+undeceived, for then they saw that it was their beloved canoe which
+had been burned, and all that remained of her was a heap of glowing
+ashes.[20]
+
+The unanimous conclusion was that this had been the work of an enemy,
+and messengers were sent far and wide to acquaint the tribesmen of the
+fate of the canoe and call them to council upon the subject. At the
+meetings the debates were long and serious, for the tribe was torn
+between its desire to live in peace with all men and its natural
+impulse to revenge the burning of the Arawa, which "they loved and
+venerated almost as a parent." They remembered the injunction which
+had been given to them by Hou when on the point of leaving Hawaiki: "O
+my children, O Mako, O Tia, O Hei, hearken to these my words: There
+was but one great chief in Hawaiki, and that was Whakatauihu. Now do
+you, my children, depart in peace, and, when you reach the place you
+are going to, do not follow after the deeds of Tu, the God of War: if
+you do, you will perish, as if swept off by the winds; but rather
+follow quiet and useful occupations, then you will die tranquilly a
+natural death. Depart, and dwell in peace with all; leave war and
+strife behind you here. Depart and dwell in peace. It is war and its
+evils which are driving you hence: dwell in peace where you are going;
+conduct yourselves like men; let there be no quarrelling amongst you,
+but build up a great people."
+
+These were, no doubt, excellent words of advice, and they expressed a
+very noble sentiment; but the practical question which they had to
+determine was whether they could afford to adopt an attitude of
+passivity while these acts of aggression went on around them: whether
+they should declare war on account of the destruction of their canoe,
+or permit the act to pass without notice. This was the problem over
+which they pondered; and, as they discussed and debated it, "impatient
+feelings kept ever rising up in their hearts." But at last an end was
+made of deliberation, the decision of the tribe being in favour of
+battle as the one and only sufficient means by which they could be
+compensated for the burning of their canoe. In the words of the old
+tradition, "then commenced the great war which was waged between those
+who arrived in the Arawa and those who came in the Tainui."[21]
+
+[6] On this occasion Hotu-nui is credited with having addressed his
+people in the following terms: "Friends, hearken! Ours was the
+first canoe to land in New Zealand before any of you had arrived
+here. But let this be the proof as to which of our canoes landed
+first. Let us look at the ropes which the various canoes tied to the
+whale now before us, and also let us look at the branches of the
+trees which each have put up in building an altar, then the owners
+of the rope which is the driest and most withered, and of the altar
+the leaves of which are the most faded, were the first to land on the
+coast of the country where we now reside."
+
+[7] After the canoe left Whanga-poraoa the first stopping-place was
+at Whare-nga, where the crew amused themselves with various
+games on the beach. To mark the spot, one legend has it, they
+placed one large stone on top of another, while a second story has
+it that this monument, which is still existent and is called _Pohatu
+Whakairi_, represents one of the crew who was turned into stone.
+The next point of interest was Moe-hau, now known as Cape
+Colville. They then landed at Te Ana-Puta, where, it is said, the
+canoe was moored to a natural arch of rock jutting into the sea.
+For some reason the anchor was left at a spot between Wai-hou
+and Piako, and under the name of _Te pungapunga_ (the pumice
+stone) is still to be seen on the coast by those who are curious
+enough to look for it. The course was then deflected slightly to
+the west, and the canoe crossed to Whaka-ti-wai and coasted along
+the mainland past Whare-Kawa, where, it is said, Marama, one
+of the wives of Hoturoa, desired to be put ashore with one of her
+male slaves. Here they were left, and, according to one version of
+the tradition, it was her misconduct with this slave which prevented
+the crew dragging the Tainui over the portage at Otahuhu. The
+canoe then went on, some accounts say, as far as the North Cape,
+and others seem to imply that she was shortly afterwards put about
+and, returning into the Hauraki Gulf, sailed past the islands of
+Waiheke and Motu-Korea, until land was once more made at Takapuna.
+
+[8] Now called Mount Victoria or "Flagstaff Hill."
+
+[9] Waitemata may be interpreted as "the waters of volcanic obsidian,"
+no doubt a reference to the eruptive disposition of Mount Rangitoto.
+
+[10] Otahuhu signifies "ridge-pole." This portage is only 3,900 feet
+long and 66 feet high.
+
+[11] There are different versions of this tradition, some attributing
+the transfixing of the canoe to Marama, others crediting her with
+releasing it. The version given in the late Sir George Grey's
+_Polynesian Mythology_ has been here adopted.
+
+[12] Some authorities are of opinion that the Tainui was not taken
+across the portage at Otahuhu (ridge-pole), and they base this
+contention upon the fact that no traditional marks have been left
+inside the Manukau harbour. All the points of interest which have been
+handed down, and are remembered, are on the sea coast; and from this
+circumstance it is argued that the canoe was never in Manukau harbour
+at all. Others say that some of the skids of Tainui were left at South
+Manukau Heads.
+
+[13] As they were passing the mouth of the Waikato, the priest of the
+canoe, noticing that the river was in flood, named it by calling out
+"_Waikato, Waikato, kau_." Further on, noticing that there were
+no landing-places, he threw his paddle at the face of the cliff and
+exclaimed, "_Ko te akau kau_" (all sea coast). The paddle is said
+to be still embedded in the face of the rock, and is one of the
+traditional marks by which the course of the Tainui can be traced. At
+the entrance of Kawhia Harbour they ran into a shoal of fish, and the
+priest gave this haven its present name by exclaiming "_Kawhia
+kau_." Another account is that the name comes from Ka-awhi, to
+recite the usual _karakia_ on landing on a new shore, to placate
+the local gods.
+
+[14] The distance between these stones is 86 feet, indicating the
+probable length of the Tainui canoe.
+
+[15] Now called Te Fana-i-Ahurei (or, in Maori, Te Whanga-i-Ahurei,
+the district of Ahurei).
+
+[16] The Tainui brought the species of kumaras known as
+_Anu-rangi_ (cold of heaven) and the _hue_ or calabash.
+Those planted by Marama did not come up true to type, but those
+planted by Whakaoti-rangi, another of the chief's wives, did.
+
+[17] "I reckon this country among the most charming and fertile
+districts I have seen in New Zealand" (_Hochstetter_).
+
+[18] The natives call them Whenuapo.
+
+[19] His full name was Raumati-nui-o-taua. His father was Tama-ahua,
+who is reputed to have returned to Hawaiki from New Zealand, and his
+mother was Tauranga, a Bay of Plenty woman.
+
+[20] The date of this incident has been approximately fixed at
+A.D. 1390, or forty years after the arrival of "the fleet."
+
+[21] "It is to be presumed that Raumati's relatives and friends at
+Tauranga made his cause their own, for they met the Arawa people
+somewhere near Maketu, where a great battle was fought. Raumati's
+party, though successful at first, were defeated, and their leader
+killed by the power of _makutu_, or witch-craft, for Hatu-patu,
+the Arawa chief, caused a cliff to fall on him as he retreated from
+the battle, and thus killed him" (_Polynesian Journal_).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A WARRIOR IN THE MAKING
+
+
+In one of the many sanguinary battles of those intertribal wars which
+raged in Old New Zealand from this period down to the introduction of
+Christianity, Werawera, the father of Te Rauparaha, was captured,
+killed, and eaten. The subject of our sketch was at that time a mere
+child, and the grim old warrior who had made a meal of Werawera was
+heard to remark that, if ever the youngster fell into his hands, he
+would certainly meet a similar fate, as he would make a delicious
+relish for so great a warrior's _rau-paraha_. The _rau-paraha_ here
+referred to was a juicy plant of the convolvulus family, which grew
+luxuriantly upon the sand-dunes of the seashore, and was largely used
+by the Maori of those days as an article of food. Such a tragic
+association of the child with the plant was never forgotten by his
+tribe, and it was from this circumstance that he derived that name
+which has stood paramount amongst Maori _toas_[22] of all time--Te
+Rauparaha--the convolvulus leaf. The branch of the Tainui people to
+which Te Rauparaha belonged was the Ngati-Toa tribe, who have already
+been described as occupying the country immediately surrounding the
+shores of Kawhia harbour. Like all the other Tainui tribes, these
+people claimed direct descent from Hoturoa, the admiral of the canoe;
+but the ancestor from whom they derived their name was Toa-rangatira,
+and from him Te Rauparaha was descended in a direct line on his
+father's side. Werawera, however, had married a Ngati-Raukawa lady,
+named Pare-kowhatu, and this fact, placing a bar sinister across Te
+Rauparaha's escutcheon, destroyed in a measure the purity of his
+pedigree from the Ngati-Toa point of view, although, as compensation,
+it gave him an influence with the Ngati-Raukawa tribe, which in after
+years carried with it fateful results.
+
+The Ngati-Raukawa people were closely allied to Ngati-Toa by ties of
+blood and friendship; for Raukawa, the ancestor who gave them name and
+individuality as a tribe, was related to Toa-rangatira, both chiefs
+being descendants of Raka, and through him of Hoturoa. This common
+ancestry gave these two tribes a common interest and sympathy, which
+were steadily increased by frequent inter-marriages; and to these
+bonds they appear to have been faithful through all the varying
+fortunes of their history. Conflicts between the Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa tribes were less frequent than was the case with the
+majority of the tribal families; and when the time came to mould their
+affinities into a closer union, Te Rauparaha used this long-standing
+friendship as the central argument, by which he eloquently sought to
+convince Ngati-Raukawa that there was but one destiny for them and for
+Ngati-Toa.
+
+Te Rauparaha had two brothers and two sisters, all older than himself;
+but none of them ever achieved a great position or reputation in the
+tribe, except perhaps Waitohi[23], who might claim the reflected glory
+of being the mother of that fiery and volcanic soul, Te Rangihaeata.
+This chief, whose life enters largely into early New Zealand history,
+rose to be the fighting lieutenant and trusted adviser of his more
+famous uncle, and, in these questionable capacities, he was probably
+the most turbulent spirit who crossed the path of Wellington's pioneer
+colonists. Towards them he ever manifested an uncompromising hatred,
+the one redeeming feature of his hostility being the absolute
+frankness with which he proclaimed it.
+
+Unfortunately but little is known of Te Rauparaha's boyhood.
+Presumably he was brought up by his mother, after his father's death,
+between the settlements at Maungatautari[24], where he was born about
+the year 1768, and Kawhia, where his father's relatives lived. As he
+grew in years, the greater part of his time was spent at Kawhia with
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, by whom he was regarded as a hereditary chief and
+as one of their future leaders. His influence with Ngati-Raukawa did
+not commence until he had attained to early manhood; and the visits
+which he paid to his kindred at Maungatautari during this period had
+no military importance, and could only be regarded as interchanges of
+friendship. His sojourns at Maungatautari were always welcome, for as
+a boy he is said to have had a particularly sunny disposition, and to
+have entered eagerly into all the amusements dear to the heart of
+Maori children of that day. These enterprises frequently led him into
+mischief, and into those moral pitfalls which beset the path of
+high-spirited lads. But, for all his boisterous spirits, the boy never
+failed to pay respect to his elders, and one of the marked
+characteristics of his nature at this time was his willing obedience
+to those who were entitled to give him commands. He was even known to
+have performed services at the request of a slave, whom he might very
+well have ordered to do his own work, since his birth and breeding
+placed him far above the behests of a menial.
+
+As Te Rauparaha grew to youth and early manhood he began to display
+qualities of mind which soon attracted the attention of the leading
+Ngati-Toa chiefs; but, strange to say, his mother was the last to
+discern these exceptional talents in her son, and always maintained
+that Nohorua, his elder brother, was the clever boy of the family.
+These maternal expectations, however, were not destined to be
+realised.
+
+Before the introduction of Christianity amongst the Maori, it was the
+custom to assign to a young chief some girl from his own or a
+neighbouring friendly tribe as his wife. Neither of the parties most
+directly interested in the alliance was consulted, and their feelings
+or wishes were not considered to have any important bearing upon the
+question. Such a system frequently led to unhappiness and
+heart-burning, but in the case of Te Rauparaha, the choice made for
+him proved to be a happy one, and Marore[25], a girl of tender grace,
+made him an admirable wife. Of her he became extremely fond, and out
+of this affection arose the first military enterprise which gave him
+fame and reputation as a leader of men.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by Jackson._
+ POMOHAKI PASSAGE, KAWHIA.]
+
+As not infrequently happened in Maori life, his own people had
+prepared a great feast for some visiting tribesmen; but when the food
+which had been collected for their entertainment was distributed to
+the various families, Te Rauparaha observed with considerable
+displeasure that the portion given to Marore was of the very plainest,
+and contained no dainty morsel which she was likely to enjoy. The want
+of consideration thus shown towards his child-wife preyed upon the
+young chief's mind, and he speedily determined that, come what might,
+he would find with his own hand the relish which his friends had
+failed to provide. Accordingly he petitioned those in authority at
+Kawhia to permit him to organise a war party for the purpose of
+invading the Waikato country, where he hoped to take captive in
+battle some warrior who would make a banquet for his bride. At first
+his proposals were received with opposition, for the reason that he
+was himself at this time in delicate health, and it was deemed prudent
+that he should await recovery before embarking upon so desperate a
+venture. Moreover, the tribe being then at peace with Waikato, the
+chiefs were naturally reluctant to sanction any act which would
+inevitably embroil them in a quarrel with their neighbours. But the
+fiery enthusiasm which Te Rauparaha displayed for his own scheme, and
+the persistency with which he urged its claims, overcame the
+resistance of the tribal fathers, who thus acknowledged, for the first
+time, the strength of the personality with whom they had to deal.
+
+Armed with this authority, he at once set about marshalling his
+forces, and his call to arms was eagerly responded to by a band of
+young bloods equally keen for adventure with himself. The
+_taua_[26] made its way safely to the nearest Waikato _pa_,
+where the profound peace prevailing at the time had thrown the
+defenders off their guard. In the belief that the visitors were on a
+friendly journey, they invited their advance guard within the walls of
+the village. Soon, however, the error was discovered; and the
+inhabitants, realising the position, flew to arms with an alacrity
+which sent the invaders flying through the gate of the _pa_. The
+impetuous energy of the Waikatos, led by Te Haunga, induced them to
+push the pursuit a considerable distance beyond the walls of their
+stronghold; and it was the strategic use which Te Rauparaha made of
+this fact that gave him the victory and established his claim to
+leadership in future wars. Owing to the difficulty which he
+experienced in walking, he had not been able to march with the
+leaders, but was following with a second division of his men, when he
+saw, to his dismay, his warriors being chased out of the _pa_.
+His own force was as yet concealed behind an intervening hill, and,
+quickly taking in the situation, he ordered his men to lie down
+amongst the _manuka_ scrub, which grew to the height of several feet
+beside the narrow track which they had been traversing. He saw that
+the fugitives would follow this line, in order to rejoin him as
+speedily as possible, and in this anticipation his judgment proved
+correct. At full run they swept past, closely followed by the angry
+Waikatos, who, having escaped from one trap, little dreamed how simply
+they were falling into another. Close in his concealment, Te Rauparaha
+lay until the last of the pursuing body had rushed by; then, bursting
+from his hiding-place, he attacked them in flank and rear with such
+vehemence that they were at once thrown into disorder. The tumult of
+his assault checked the flight of the Ngati-Toas, and the Waikatos,
+now wedged in between two superior forces, sustained heavy losses. Te
+Rauparaha is credited with having slain four of his opponents with his
+own hand, and the total killed is said to have numbered one hundred
+and forty. Amongst these was Te Haunga, the principal chief of the
+_pa_, who formed a specially valuable trophy in view of the purpose
+for which the raid had been organised. His body was carried home to
+Kawhia to provide the relish which Te Rauparaha so much desired for
+Marore.
+
+Although this attack upon Waikato was only one of the many sporadic
+raids so common amongst the Maori tribes, and could not be regarded as
+a military movement of national importance, Te Rauparaha had conducted
+it with so much skill and enterprise that his achievement became the
+chief topic of discussion throughout the neighbouring _pas_, and,
+in the words of an old narrator, "he was heard of as a warrior by all
+the tribes." The fame which he had thus suddenly achieved, and the
+desire to live up to his reputation, inspired him with a new sense of
+responsibility, and he became a keen student of all that pertained to
+the art of war as practised in his day. He was shrewd enough to see
+the advantages attending military skill amongst a people with whom
+might was right, and, even at that age, he was ambitious enough to
+dream dreams which power alone would enable him to realise. He aimed
+at making the acquaintance of all the great chiefs of the surrounding
+tribes; and, when it was safe to visit them, he travelled long
+distances to sit at the feet of these old Maori warriors, and learn
+from them the subtle methods by which fields were won. These journeys
+gave him a familiarity with the country and the people which was very
+useful in the disturbed and precarious relations between Ngati-Toa and
+the neighbouring tribes. In these warlike excursions, which were as
+often of an aggressive as of a defensive nature, Ngati-Toa was not
+invariably successful. But, even in their defeats, the reputation of
+Rauparaha increased with his years, for he was ever turning to account
+some new device of tactics or giving some fresh proof of his personal
+courage.
+
+Nor did he neglect to cultivate the good opinion of his tribe by
+generosity in the discharge of his social duties. His bounty was never
+closed against the stranger; and when he invited his friends to a
+feast, his entertainment was always of the most lavish kind. Even to
+his workmen he was strikingly considerate. He abolished the practice
+indulged in by the field labourers of giving a portion of the food
+provided for them to strangers who happened to arrive at the
+settlement, by insisting that the kumara-planters should retain their
+full ration and the strangers be fed with food specially prepared for
+them. This unconventional liberality speedily created the desired
+impression,[27] and became the subject of general remark amongst those
+who were on visiting terms with the Kawhia chief. It even became
+proverbial, for it was sometimes said of a benevolent Maori, "You are
+like Te Rauparaha, who first feeds his workmen and then provides for
+his visitors."
+
+Reference has already been made to the fact that Te Rauparaha had been
+in the habit of making frequent visits to parts of the country distant
+from Kawhia, for the dual purpose of completing his education in the
+art of warfare and of strengthening his personal relations with
+influential chiefs, who might be useful to him in future diplomacy.
+During one of these excursions he had proceeded as far as what is now
+known as the Valley of the Thames, in the Hauraki Gulf, to pay his
+respects to the chiefs of the Ngati-Maru[28] tribe, who were then both
+numerous and influential in that part of the island. How much he was
+esteemed by the leaders of this people may be judged by the fact that,
+when he was about to return, they, amongst other gifts, presented him
+with a firearm and a few cartridges, his first acquisition of the
+kind. To us the gift of an old flintlock might seem a trivial
+circumstance; but to a Maori, who was lingering on the fringe of the
+Stone Age, such a weapon was a priceless treasure. So dearly were they
+prized by the natives at this time that only the consideration of
+warmest friendship could have induced the Ngati-Maru to part with even
+one. There was in these rusty and erratic "fire-spears" that which
+would before long revolutionise the whole system of native warfare;
+and the shrewdest of the natives saw that the tribe which acquired the
+largest number of guns in the least time would have an enormous
+advantage in the field of battle.
+
+For some years a few vagrant and adventurous voyagers, together with
+the more honest whalers, had been making the Bay of Islands one of
+their principal rendezvous; and in the desultory trade which had been
+carried on between the crews and the natives, guns had first fallen
+into the possession of the Nga-Puhi tribe. The deadly use which these
+warriors had made of this new instrument of destruction, in their
+skirmishes with their neighbours, had so impressed the native mind
+that forces hitherto well-disciplined were seized with panic when
+marched against guns, until it was felt by the inland tribes that such
+weapons were absolutely indispensable to safety or victory.[29] Many
+of the natives, whose curiosity had been aroused by the novel sights
+which they had seen on the visiting whalers, had shipped as seamen
+before the mast in the hope of seeing more of the great world from
+which the _pakeha_ came. In this way they had been carried to Port
+Jackson, where they had witnessed on a more extensive scale the
+destructive power of the European weapons. Owing to the misjudged
+generosity of the Sydney public, some had been able to bring a few
+muskets back with them, while others had secured hatchets and
+bayonets, which, fastened on the end of long handles, were soon
+recognised as weapons vastly superior to the spears and _taiahas_ of
+their fathers. These discoveries accentuated the desire to replace
+their obsolete arms with others of a more modern type; and as a result
+of the excessive demand thus created, the commercial value of a musket
+rose in the market, until the traders asked, and the Maoris willingly
+gave, as much as a cargo of flax for a single weapon. The effect of
+this musket-hunger was to change completely the existing relations
+between the _pakeha_ and Maori, going far to remove the estrangement
+and distrust which had been generated between the two races. Up to
+this time but little respect had been shown to the dark-skinned
+natives of these far-away islands by the rude sailors who had visited
+them; and in their contempt for the "niggers" they had been guilty of
+many outrages which would have staggered humanity, had humanity been
+able to grasp the full measure of their ferocity.[30] Retaliation,
+culminating in the murder of Marion du Fresne and the burning of the
+_Boyd_, followed upon outrage, and hatred, fed by misunderstanding,
+was daily driving the two peoples further and further asunder.[31] But
+the need and the hope of acquiring muskets suddenly changed all this,
+for the natives now saw that it was necessary to their very existence
+that they should cultivate the European, in order that they might
+trade their flax and pigs for guns; while the white man, seeing that
+he could procure these valuable products at so insignificant a cost,
+was nothing loath to forget the many injuries which had been inflicted
+upon his own race.
+
+Thus the spirit of crime and revenge, which for years had darkened the
+page of New Zealand's history, suddenly disappeared in the eagerness
+for trade, and in its stead came the spirit of industry, which sent
+countless natives toiling in the swamps and on the hill-sides,
+preparing in feverish haste the fibre wherewith they might purchase
+this new weapon of destruction. This mad rush for muskets did not
+escape the keen observation of Te Rauparaha, who saw with unerring
+precision what its ultimate effect must be. Had he been a resident of
+the east coast there is little doubt that he too would have plunged
+with enthusiasm into the fatal scramble, trusting to his natural
+shrewdness and business acumen to secure for him a fair share of the
+market's prizes. But he was at the outset placed at this disadvantage.
+His country was on the west coast of the island, where the whalers and
+traders seldom came; and the Ngati-Toa, unlike the Nga-Puhi, had few
+or no opportunities of holding intercourse with the _pakeha_, from
+whom alone the coveted muskets could be procured. It was therefore
+with a heavy heart and sorely perplexed mind that Te Rauparaha
+returned to Kawhia, for he knew with absolute certainty that so soon
+as the Waikatos succeeded in arming themselves with firelocks it was
+only a question of time when they would decide to attack him and his
+people, in satisfaction for many an old grudge. Then the day would go
+hard with Ngati-Toa, who could only encounter this new invasion with
+stone clubs and wooden spears.
+
+As the result of many years of intertribal wars the country
+surrounding Aotea harbour, to the north of Kawhia, had become almost
+denuded of population. A few inconsiderable _pas_ still remained,
+but their defenders were so inefficient as to constitute a living
+invitation to some stronger people to come down and exterminate them.
+Thus it was not surprising that a section of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe,
+whose home was at Raglan, should, after a successful raid in this
+quarter, decide to permanently occupy so inviting a district. They
+immediately attacked and drove out the feeble occupants, and then sat
+down to enjoy the fruits of their conquest. This act of aggression was
+hotly resented by Te Rauparaha, who could not suffer his allies to be
+buffeted in so unceremonious a manner, and within an incredibly short
+period of time he had his fleet of canoes on the water carrying a
+_taua_ to Whanga-roa, where he met and decisively defeated
+Ngati-Mahanga. The report of this Ngati-Toa victory soon spread
+throughout the enemies' domain, and in due course reached the ears of
+those branches of the tribe living at the mouth of the Waikato River,
+who at once resolved to espouse the cause of their defeated friends.
+Manning seven large canoes, they came down the coast with a
+well-disciplined force under the renowned leader Kare-waho, and
+landing at Otiki, they first demolished the _pa_ there and then
+passed on to Ohaua, whither the fugitives had fled, and delivered
+their attack upon that stronghold. No decisive result was achieved, as
+the rupture appears to have been healed before victory crowned the
+arms of either side, and the invaders were as eager to return as the
+besieged were glad to see them go. But the peace thus hastily made was
+as speedily broken, and a series of events was soon to ensue which was
+fated to have far-reaching results. Shortly after the return of the
+northern raiders a noted Waikato warrior, named Te Uira, came into the
+disputed Aotea territory, and while there varied his sport as a
+fisherman by killing a stray Ngati-Toa tribesman. On hearing of this
+tragedy Te Rauparaha and a war party promptly went over and retaliated
+by slaying Te Uira. Though to all appearances strictly within the code
+of morality which sanctions the taking of a life for a life, the
+Waikato people chose to regard this act as one of treachery, and the
+magnitude of the crime was measured by the value of the life taken. Te
+Uira was a man who had ranked high in their esteem. As a warrior and a
+leader of men he was a _toa_, indeed, and his death was to them a
+disaster. They therefore determined that the annihilation of Ngati-Toa
+was the only adequate solace for their injured feelings, and on this
+end they now concentrated their energies. War party after war party
+was sent over to Kawhia, and many desperate battles were fought, out
+of which Ngati-Toa seemed to emerge generally with success. But the
+gloom of impending disaster was gathering round Te Rauparaha, for the
+powerful Ngati-Mania-poto tribe became leagued with Waikato against
+him; and, although he had no difficulty in defeating them singly when
+they met, their coalition with his old enemy was a more serious
+matter. Stung by a recent repulse at Ta-whitiwhiti, they hurried
+messengers to all their distant friends, and in answer to their call a
+combined force of 1,600 men under Te Rau-Angaanga, father of the more
+famous Te Wherowhero, was soon marching against Kawhia's diminishing
+band of defenders. Crossing the ranges, they soon fell upon the
+Hiku-parea _pa_, which they invested at the close of the day. During
+the night half their force lay concealed in ambush, and when the
+garrison emerged in the morning to give battle to an apparently small
+body of besiegers they were mortified to find themselves so hopelessly
+outnumbered and outgeneralled that there was nothing left for them to
+do but die as bravely as they might. The invaders then marched to
+attack the great Te Totara _pa_, where Te Rauparaha was personally in
+command, and here again the defenders were driven in before the swift
+onslaught of the allies. But where his arms had failed him Te
+Rauparaha's diplomacy stood him in good stead. He managed to soothe Te
+Rau-Angaanga into agreeing to a truce, and a temporary peace was
+patched up, only to be broken by the turbulent temper of the
+Ngati-Toa, who saw no impropriety in committing fresh aggressions so
+soon as their militant neighbours had returned home.
+
+The position was thus becoming grave for Te Rauparaha, and in an
+effort to stem the threatening disaster he sought to turn to some
+practical purpose the influence and prestige which he had now gained
+with the neighbouring chiefs. He suggested to his more trusted friends
+amongst the Maori leaders the need and wisdom of a confederation of
+all their tribes against the oppression of the Waikato people. But,
+though conducted with consummate tact and skill, these negotiations
+were destined to be futile. While all were friendly enough with Te
+Rauparaha, mutual jealousies existed amongst the other tribes, which
+destroyed any prospect of that unanimity and cohesion so essential to
+the success of such a scheme. Nga-Puhi remembered how Ngati-Maru had
+invaded their territory in days of old, and now that they were
+possessed of muskets they saw a prospect of repaying the debt--a
+chance much too promising to be lightly thrown away. Te Heuheu, the
+great chief at Taupo, would not coalesce with Ngati-Maru, and the
+Arawa still nursed their grudge against Tainui. These ancient
+grievances, which never seemed to die, kept the tribes outside Waikato
+apart, while the fact that Te Wherowhero had been able to form an
+offensive and defensive alliance with the Bluecher of Maoridom, Te
+Waharoa, so strengthened his position that, after months wasted in
+fruitless appeal, Te Rauparaha returned to Kawhia more than ever
+convinced that if his tribe was to be spared the humiliation of
+defeat, and perhaps annihilation, self-reliance must be the keynote of
+his future policy.
+
+During the next two years (1816-1818) Te Rauparaha devoted himself to
+occasional excursions against Waikato, in which he was moderately
+successful; but his more important operations at this period were
+directed against the tribes of Taranaki. The peculiar ethics of Maori
+warfare were largely responsible for the first of these southern
+descents upon a people with whom he was now beginning to enjoy
+considerable intercourse. A marriage had been celebrated between
+Nohorua, his elder brother, and a Taranaki lady,[32] and by way of
+commemorating the solemnity, a feast on a sumptuous scale had been
+given to the bridegroom's friends. Te Rauparaha, with the generosity
+for which he was at this time remarkable, was not slow to return the
+compliment, and in the course of a few months he journeyed southward
+to Te Taniwha _pa_, where Huri-whenua, the brother of Nohorua's
+young wife, lived, bringing gifts of dried fish and other seasonable
+foods. These social amenities led to still more intimate relations,
+and at the end of the following kumara and taro harvest the chief of
+Te Taniwha proceeded northward in his fleet of canoes on a promised
+visit to Kawhia. A fair wind beating into their triangular sails
+carried the canoes to within ten miles of their destination, and at
+the close of day the fleet headed for the shore at Harihari. Next
+morning they were met at their camp by Te Rauparaha and Rauhihi, who
+assured them of a cordial welcome at Kawhia and then proceeded
+overland to prepare their reception. In the meantime a rolling surf
+had set into the bay where the canoes were beached, and in the
+operation of launching them several were overturned and their crews
+nearly drowned. This misfortune, which involved the loss of all the
+food intended for the feast, angered Huri-whenua exceedingly, and he
+adopted a strange but characteristically Maori-like method of seeking
+balm for his injured feelings. Gathering a party of his people
+together, he set off in pursuit of Te Rauparaha and his friend, and,
+attacking them, succeeded in killing Rauhihi, but not Te Rauparaha,
+who reached Kawhia after an exciting chase. His assailants, knowing
+full well that this unprovoked attack upon their chief would excite
+the indignation of Ngati-Toa, retired in haste to their home, which
+they immediately began to place in a condition of defence against the
+day when Te Rauparaha would return to seek satisfaction for the
+contemptuous disregard of his hospitality and the menace offered to
+his life. Nor were their precautions taken a moment too soon. Scarcely
+had the walls been strengthened and the Waihi stream dammed up so as
+to form a wide lake on one side of the _pa_ than Te Rauparaha
+appeared, accompanied by Tuwhare,[33] one of the most celebrated
+Nga-Puhi chiefs of his day. This was Tuwhare's first visit to the
+south. He had gladly accepted the invitation to join the expedition,
+for his purpose in coming to Kawhia had been to lead an invasion into
+Taranaki territory, in order to secure some of the valuable mats, for
+making which the people of that part were widely famed.
+
+Tuwhare's contingent consisted of not more than two hundred men, but
+they brought with them something which, at this period, was more to be
+dreaded than men--the deadly musket. A few of these arms were carried
+by the invaders, while the defenders had not as yet even heard of or
+seen them.[34] The precautions of the garrison had robbed the
+northerners of all hope of successfully capturing the _pa_ by assault,
+and so they sat down to besiege it in the most leisurely fashion. For
+several weeks besiegers and besieged watched each other across the
+wide lagoon which had been formed by the waters of the Waihi. At last
+Te Rauparaha and his people, growing weary of the enforced inactivity,
+sent proposals of peace to Huri-whenua. These were accepted, and
+subsequently ratified, but not before the pride of Ngati-Toa had been
+salved by their insistence upon a quaint condition. Te Rauparaha,
+recognising that the damming of the Waihi stream had been the means of
+frustrating his plans, demanded that, before the siege was raised, the
+dam should be removed. The point was conceded and the barrier broken
+down; and, as the waters rushed back into their bed, the northerners
+ostentatiously discharged their muskets in token of victory, and
+"then," says a Maori chronicler, "this ignorant people of these parts
+heard for the first time the noise of that weapon, the gun." The war
+party remained for some time on amicable terms at Te Taniwha, and
+before they had resolved to return home they were importuned to engage
+in further aggressions by Te Puoho, of whom we shall hear more anon.
+This warrior was a man of influence amongst the Ngati-Tama tribe, who
+held what has been called "the gate of Taranaki"; and it was due to
+the numerous connections by marriage between the northerners and
+Ngati-Tama that the former had been permitted to pass unmolested to
+the attack upon Te Taniwha. Te Puoho now sought recompense for his
+friendship by enlisting the sympathies of the northern leaders in the
+redress of his own grievances. He solicited their aid in an attack
+upon Tatara-i-maka _pa_, the home of those who had been responsible
+for the death of his sister not long before.
+
+Obedient to Te Puoho's summons, and eager to secure mats and heads and
+slaves, the war party marched upon the _pa_, which stood with its
+terraced ramparts upon the sea-coast eleven miles south-west of New
+Plymouth. Seeing the invaders approach, the defenders went out to meet
+them, and gave them battle on the open space in front of the _pa_; but
+the sound of the guns, and the sight of men falling as by the hand of
+some invisible enemy, so terrorised the defenders that their lines
+were soon broken, and they fled, a demoralised host, back to their
+stronghold, which was immediately stormed and taken with great
+slaughter. This incident inspired the following lament, which was
+composed by one of the Taranaki people, in memory of those who fell at
+Tatara-i-maka:--
+
+  "Sweet is the Spring, the September month,
+  When brilliant Canopus stands aloft,
+  As I lay within my solitary house,
+  Dazed with sad thoughts for my people
+  Departed in death like a flash.
+  To the cave of Rangi-totohu--
+  Emblem of sad disaster--
+  They are gone by the leadership
+  Of Uru, of the fearsome name.
+  'Twas there at the hill of Tatara-i-maka
+  The foe advanced in wedge-like form,
+  Whilst our gathered people bid defiance
+  At the entrance of the _pa_,
+  Where Muru-paenga[35] forced his way--
+  The army-raiser, the leader--
+  His was the fatal blow delivered,
+  At the ascent of Tuhi-mata:
+  Hence I am dried up here in sorrow."
+
+From Tatara-i-maka the _taua_ moved southwards, attacking
+Mounu-kahawai as they went. This _pa_ was taken under cover of
+the smoke caused by firing the dry _raupo_ which grew in the
+neighbouring swamps, and then Tapui-nikau was invested. Here the
+defenders, though fighting only with their _rakau maori_, or
+native weapons, made so gallant a resistance that not even the guns of
+the invaders could penetrate it. They had filled the fighting towers
+of the _pa_ with huge boulders and smaller stones, and the
+branches of the trees which overhung the trenches were lined with men,
+who handed the missiles to those best able to drop them upon the enemy
+as they swarmed round the walls.[36] Changing their tactics, the
+invaders drew off to a position which closed all communication with
+the _pa_, and at the same time gave them complete control of the
+surrounding country, so as to prevent the possibility of succour
+reaching the beleaguered _pa_. It was during the respite from
+active hostilities thus secured that there occurred one of those
+strange incidents which, though common enough in Maori warfare, appear
+so anomalous in the light of European custom. Te Ratutonu, one of the
+defending chiefs, had been so conspicuous in repelling attacks that
+his gallantry and skill in arms became the subject of universal
+admiration throughout the northern camp. But not alone upon the men
+had his bravery made its impression. Rangi Topeora, Te Rangihaeata's
+sister, had witnessed his prowess, and, charmed by his handsome figure
+and manly strength, had been seized with a desire to have the hero for
+her husband. When the clash of arms had ceased, she persuaded her
+uncle, Te Rauparaha, to have Ratutonu "called," a ceremony which was
+performed by some one approaching the beleaguered _pa_, and under a
+guarantee of safety, inviting the warrior into the camp. Ratutonu
+obeyed the summons, and came down from the _pa_ to meet Topeora; and
+to her he was married after the orators had delivered themselves of
+speeches rich in eulogy of their new-found kinsman, and full of
+admiration for the virtues of his bride.[37]
+
+This unexpected union had raised a hope in the breast of the defenders
+that the rigour of the siege would now be relaxed, and that peace
+would be made as a fitting sequel to the romantic nuptials. In this
+they were, however, doomed to disappointment, for the Nga-Puhi,
+knowing that the food of the _pa_ must be failing, would listen
+to no suggestion of compromise. But, moved by a more generous impulse,
+Ngati-Awa, the Taranaki section of the allies, entered into secret
+communication with the garrison, and finally arranged that the
+defenders should be allowed to pass through their lines by night and
+escape to the neighbouring hills. Next morning, great was the
+excitement in the camp when it was discovered that there was neither
+smoke ascending from the fires nor sound from the ramparts of the
+_pa_. The enemy had slipped from under their very hand; had flown
+from under their very eyes; and, as Ngati-Awa kept their own counsel,
+there was not a trace to show or suggest how the trick had been
+accomplished. Nothing, therefore, remained for the outwitted besiegers
+to do but avail themselves of what plunder had fallen into their
+hands, and make the best of their way back to their homes.
+
+Upon the return of the _taua_ to Kawhia, its composite forces
+separated and departed to their respective districts, but not before
+the plans of a still more extensive campaign had been discussed. These
+operations, however, did not commence for a year, and, in the
+meantime, the seriousness of his position in relation to the Waikato
+people was more than ever apparent to Te Rauparaha, whose inability to
+come into contact with the whalers, and the consequent difficulty he
+experienced in becoming possessed of muskets, brought him much
+"darkness of heart." But, as he meditated, his anxiety of mind was to
+some extent relieved by the arrival at Kawhia of the northern portion
+of the war party, the raising of which had previously been agreed
+upon. In accordance with this arrangement, Tuwhare, accompanied by
+Patuone, and his brother, that picturesque figure in Maori history,
+Tamati Waka Nene[38]--whose influence and eloquence were subsequently
+to be so powerfully used to secure the acceptance by the natives of
+the Treaty of Waitangi--left Hokianga in November, 1819, and
+proceeding by a circuitous route which embraced the country of the
+Waitemata, reached the home of Te Rauparaha, and found there a force
+of four hundred men waiting to welcome them.
+
+ [Illustration: BURNING OF THE "BOYD."
+ From a painting by W. Wright, Auckland,
+ by kind permission of the artist.]
+
+Accredited estimates give the strength of the combined contingents
+at fully one thousand men, and they were armed with a greater number
+of muskets than had ever previously been carried into the field by any
+Maori organisation. A further distinction was the presence of many
+leaders whose deeds were to be deeply imprinted upon the records of
+Maori history. Each tribal section was under chiefs who are
+acknowledged to have been amongst the classic warriors of their time;
+so that, in the matter of skilful direction and heroic example, the
+_taua_ might consider itself more than usually fortunate. The primary
+purpose of the expedition appears to have been no more than a love of
+adventure and a desire to kill and eat a few of their enemies; but
+embraced within this scheme was a secondary motive, which involved the
+redress of a grievance which Te Puoho had acquired against the
+Whanganui people, whom he considered accountable for a slight put upon
+his daughter. The friendly relations which prevailed between Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Tama ensured the war party an uncontested passage through
+"the gate of Taranaki"; and, although Ngati-Awa assembled to oppose
+them, they were satisfied to desist, upon Te Rauparaha consenting to
+pay the tribute of ownership by requesting permission to pass through
+their territory.
+
+The first important halt was made at Manu-korihi, on the north bank of
+the Waitara River, where a stay of some length was made for the
+purpose of finally determining the order of their plans. The
+Manu-korihi people became deeply interested in the muskets which the
+visitors had brought with them; and curious to observe their
+effect--at the expense of some one else--they persuaded Te Rauparaha
+and his friends to commence hostilities against the famous
+Puke-rangiora _pa_, whose inhabitants had been guilty of some
+cause of offence. The invitation to attack the great stronghold was
+accepted with alacrity; but when the war party presented themselves
+before the walls, they found it so strongly fortified and so keenly
+defended that discretion dictated a less valiant course, and so they
+passed Puke-rangiora, and went over the mountain track to Te
+Kerikeringa in search of a meaner enemy. This _pa_ was a central point
+in the system of defence set up by Ngati-Maru, who had established
+populous settlements and made great clearings in the forest east of
+the present town of Stratford. Their great fighting chief was
+Tutahanga, who in former days had subdued the pride of both the
+Waikato and the Nga-Puhi. Now he was old, but his martial bearing was
+still such that, when the invaders inquired of their guides how they
+might distinguish him from those of inferior rank, they were told, "He
+is a star."
+
+Graced by the red plumes of the tropic bird, the northerners moved up
+to the attack, but were met with so stout a resistance by the
+defenders, who had donned the white feathers of the sacred crane,
+that, in spite of their muskets, their combination broke, and they
+retired in disorder to the western slopes, where they were compelled
+to resort to the tactics of a regular siege. From these heights, which
+dominated the _pa_, they were occasionally able to shoot down an
+unwary defender who exposed himself to their fire; but they did not
+rely entirely upon this method of fighting to effect their conquest.
+Frequent assaults were made upon the gateway, in one of which they
+succeeded in shooting Tutahanga, and in another Patu-wairua, his
+successor in command. Before his death, Patu-wairua, persuaded that
+the _pa_ could not hold out much longer, desired to make peace if
+possible; but his conciliatory views were overruled by the less
+diplomatic leaders of the tribe. Patu-wairua then sat down and sang a
+lament for his people, whose impending fate he deplored with all the
+affection of a father. In the next sally he was killed in the
+fore-front of the fighting line, bravely sustaining the unequal
+contest, in which the _mere_ was matched against the musket.
+
+With their two great leaders gone and many of their tribesmen dead, a
+feeling of depression settled down upon the garrison, whose position
+was daily growing less secure. But while they were sinking under the
+weariness begotten of incessant vigilance, a Maori-like episode
+occurred, in which the arts of the women were employed to do that in
+which the stalwart arms of the men had failed. As a last device, the
+Ngati-Maru generals hit upon the idea of sending all the young women
+of the _pa_ into the camp of the invaders, to beguile the warriors
+with their charms, and so induce them temporarily to relax the
+severity of the siege. History does not record the fate of these
+maidens of Te Kerikeringa; but they deserve at least a certain
+immortality. For during the diversion thus caused the _pa_ was
+silently evacuated, the survivors of the siege making their escape
+across the Waitara River along the Tara-mouku Valley, and through the
+dense forest which stretched for many miles into the heart of the
+island.
+
+The tidings that Kerikeringa had fallen spread with such rapidity
+that, before the rejoicings of the victors had concluded, the tribes
+to the southward had succeeded in concealing themselves within their
+mountain fastnesses. Consequently we hear of no conflicts with
+Ngati-Ruanui or Nga-Rauru, as the victorious _taua_ passed over
+the old forest track which leads out into the open country near the
+town of Normanby. This peaceful passage was not interrupted until they
+reached the Whanganui River, where they found the resident tribes
+drawn up in battle array to oppose them at the Turua _pa_. This
+_pa_ was situated on the eastern bank of the river, a little
+above the present town of Whanganui; but, in reaching it, the
+northerners were faced with a serious initial difficulty, inasmuch as
+they had no canoes of their own, and Te Anaua, of Whanganui, had taken
+the precaution to remove his flotilla to the opposite shore. But the
+ingenuity of Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha was equal to an emergency of
+that kind. Ordering their men into the neighbouring swamps, they
+employed a month in cutting dry _raupo_ leaves, out of which they
+constructed a _mokihi_ fleet, and on these vegetable rafts the
+whole force was eventually transported across the wide and deep
+river. The capture of the _pa_ was a work of no great difficulty; for
+here, as elsewhere, the muskets exercised their terrifying influence
+upon natives coming into contact with them for the first time.
+
+Southward the march was once more directed, and skirmishes followed
+with Ngati-Apa in the Whangaehu and Rangitikei districts. No
+protracted fighting was possible where the panic-stricken inhabitants
+fled before the all-destroying guns. Across the Rangitikei the
+_taua_ passed into the fertile district of the Manawatu, which
+since the traditional days of Whatonga had been the home of the
+Rangitane people. Of this hostile descent upon the coast the Rangitane
+people declare that they, secure in their mountain fortresses, heard
+nothing until the arrival of the war party at Otaki. Thither some of
+the children of Toki-poto, the chief at Hotuiti, near Awahou (Foxton),
+had gone on a visit to their friends; and there they met Te Rauparaha,
+who inquired of them the whereabouts of their people and the number
+and strength of their _pas_.
+
+The patronising and fatherly demeanour which this warrior could
+assume[39] when his ends were better served by the concealment of his
+true purpose completely won the confidence of the lads, and, in their
+innocence of the man, to whom they were confiding the secrets of the
+tribe, they readily told him all that he wished to know. When the
+desired information had been obtained some of Te Rauparaha's followers
+proposed, as a precautionary measure, that the children should be
+killed; but Te Rauparaha, more far-seeing than they, interposed, for
+he had not yet exhausted their usefulness. In the depths of his
+cunning he had conceived the idea of making the children of Toki-poto
+the instruments by which that chief should be delivered into
+Ngati-Toa's hands. Accordingly, he resisted the demand for their
+blood, saying, "No, let them alone, they are only children. Rather
+let us go and take Toki-poto out of the stern of the canoe." This was
+his expressive and figurative method of conveying to his warriors that
+he sought a more valuable trophy than the life of a child, and that he
+had resolved upon no less a scheme than the assault of the Hotuiti
+_pa_. To Mahuri, the eldest son of Toki-poto, he then turned, and in
+dulcet tones he said, "Go to your father, I will see him."
+
+Accompanied by the Ngati-Toa warriors and their leader, the lad led
+the way to a small lake _pa_ at Hotuiti, whither Toki-poto had
+gone with the major portion of his people from their main settlement
+on the banks of the Manawatu River. The _pa_ itself was built on
+one of the many miniature islets which dot the face of the lake; and,
+while Te Rauparaha and his followers lurked in the bush which fringed
+the margin, he sent the unsuspecting Mahuri to tell his father that Te
+Rauparaha wished to talk with him. The first thought to arise in the
+mind of the Rangitane chief was one of suspicion, and he at once
+exclaimed, "No, I will not go. I shall be slain." But the boy, into
+whose good graces Te Rauparaha had completely ingratiated himself,
+ridiculed these fears, and urged his father to go. To these entreaties,
+and possibly to fears of retaliation if he did not comply, Toki-poto
+at last yielded, and, taking a few of his people with him, went in his
+canoe, unarmed, to welcome his visitor.
+
+Scarcely had they reached the edge of the wood when they were set upon
+by the secreted warriors, and in the massacre which followed the chief
+and a number of his followers were killed, the remainder, with the
+exception of two, being taken prisoners. The two who escaped were
+Mahuri, the innocent cause of the disaster, and Te Aweawe, the father
+of the well-known family who still reside upon the Rangitane lands in
+the Manawatu. Side by side with Toki-poto, there fell that day another
+chief named Te Waraki, whose greenstone _mere_, a weapon famous
+in the annals of the tribe, was buried on the site of the massacre by
+the mourning people, and there it remained hidden for full sixty
+years, until it was discovered in 1882.
+
+Strange to say, Te Rauparaha did not press the advantage gained by the
+removal of Hotuiti's chief by attacking the _pa_, but contented
+himself with carrying off his prisoners to Otaki, where he rejoined
+Waka Nene. Here the two chiefs rested for a time, pursuing vigilant
+inquiries into the number and disposition of the resident tribes. They
+visited for the first time the island stronghold of Kapiti, and found
+it in the possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people, under the
+chieftainship of two men named Potau and Kotuku. The visit was made
+with a simulation of friendship, for the time was not ripe for an
+attack; and the northerners were satisfied for the moment with
+examining the strategical features of the island, and extorting from
+Potau and Kotuku a considerable quantity of the greenstone which they
+had accumulated during the course of their traffic with the Ngai-Tahu
+of the South Island.
+
+Refreshed by their sojourn at Otaki, and considerably enlightened as
+to its military possibilities, the northern war party then pushed on
+southwards, fighting as they went, first at Wai-mapihi, a fortified
+_pa_, the remains of which are still to be seen not far from the
+Puke-rua railway station. The _pa_ was captured, it is said, by
+treachery suggested by Te Rauparaha, and the Muaupoko, whose valour
+had defied the most desperate efforts of their assailants, were hunted
+in and through the bush by their fierce pursuers. Here, and at
+Porirua, a number of canoes fell into the hands of the invaders, some
+of whom now decided to vary the monotony of the land journey by the
+exhilaration of the sea route. This determination ended disastrously.
+Ignorant of the silent currents and treacherous tides of Cook Strait,
+the Nga-Puhi men of two canoes were swamped while taking the outer
+passage in rounding Sinclair Head, and fully one hundred of them were
+drowned. The remainder of the canoes, steering a course inside the reefs,
+escaped the danger of shipwreck, and reached Whanganui-a-Tara[40]
+almost simultaneously with the party who had journeyed by land.
+
+The country surrounding this great basin was then held by the
+Ngati-Ira, a sub-branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, whose
+possessions practically extended from Gisborne to Cape Palliser, on
+the eastern side of the North Island. They were a brave and numerous
+people, and when their _pa_ at Pa-ranga-hau was attacked, they
+fought with a desperation which extorted admiration even from their
+enemies. Though considerable numbers of Ngati-Ira were killed in this
+conflict, Nga-Puhi did not escape scatheless; for one native account
+says: "Ngati-Ira charged them in the face of the flames of their
+muskets, and with their native weapons killed many Nga-Puhi." Hunger
+was now beginning to assert its inconvenience; and the war party were
+at this time compelled to live exclusively on the flesh of their
+slaves, of whom large numbers were killed, each chief undertaking
+successively to provide the necessary supply. Disease also attacked
+their camps, of which there were two; and some mysterious pestilence
+was responsible for the death of many warriors and several chiefs,
+whose heads were preserved and their bodies burned, to prevent them
+falling into the hands of the enemy. Scarcely had the stricken host
+recovered from the prevailing sickness than the Ngati-Ira swept down
+upon the bivouac at Te Aro in the dead of night, and, in the first
+shock of the surprise, inflicted sore loss upon the sleeping warriors.
+Thanks to their guns, the northerners were ultimately successful in
+beating off the attack, and immediately afterwards the pas which
+skirted the harbour were deserted by their inhabitants, who, reluctant
+to accept the responsibility of battle under such unequal conditions,
+beat a stealthy retreat into the Hutt Valley, whither the northern
+chiefs followed them, though their force was now only a remnant of
+what it had formerly been. They travelled by canoe up the river which
+waters the valley, and, as they went, the resident people, confident
+in their numbers, collected along the banks to jeer at them, and
+contemptuously invited them on shore to be eaten.
+
+The details of this campaign are but a repetition of successive
+slaughters; for the panic created by the strange sound and deadly
+power of the gun left the unhappy defenders no spirit to resist the
+onslaughts of their assailants. For several weeks they remained in the
+valley, guided from _pa_ to _pa_ by their slaves, who, to
+save their own lives, were forced to sacrifice those of their
+tribesmen. Every nook of the dark forest was penetrated, and even the
+steeps of the Rimutaka Range were climbed in vengeful pursuit of the
+fugitives. In connection with these manoeuvres the reputation of Te
+Rauparaha has again been besmirched by suggestions of treachery--and
+treachery of the blackest type; for nothing could be more hurtful to
+the honour of a high chief than that he should prove faithless while
+feigning hospitality. It has been recorded by the Nga-Puhi chroniclers
+that, as they pushed on through the forest, they came upon a strongly
+built and populous _pa_, which left some room for doubt as to
+what the issue of an attack would be. To tempt the warriors into the
+open was the policy advocated by Te Rauparaha, and to achieve this end
+he sent messengers to the Ngati-Ira chiefs with offers of peace. To
+render the bait more seductive, a feast was prepared, to which the
+warriors of the Hutt were invited; and, on assembling, a northern man
+sat down beside each one, prepared at a sign from their chief to
+spring upon the unsuspecting guests. Into the _marae_ the women
+brought the food, and, as the unsuspecting Ngati-Ira were revelling in
+the delights of the banquet, the fatal signal was given by Te
+Rauparaha, and a massacre commenced, which ended only with the capture
+of the _pa_ and the rout of its inhabitants.[41] Whether the name
+of Te Rauparaha will ever be cleared of this odious imputation which
+the Nga-Puhi record has branded upon it is uncertain. But, as a
+counterpoise, it must be remembered that those who have made the
+accusations were at least willing participators in the schemes which
+they ascribe to him, and that, if the plans were his, the execution of
+them was undoubtedly theirs.
+
+Having exhausted the field of conquest open to them in the valley of
+the Hutt, the war party returned to the harbour where their canoes
+were beached, and, undeterred by the fact that their numbers had now
+dwindled to less than three hundred, they set off by sea for Palliser
+Bay, by which route they had determined to enter the Wairarapa. A
+successful reprisal by the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe, who had cut off and
+annihilated a small party of the northerners, was the immediate
+justification for this new development in the plans of Tuwhare and Te
+Rauparaha. The opposing forces met at the Tauhere Nikau _pa_,
+near Featherston, which was strongly fortified and bravely defended;
+but the muskets which these rude imitators of Cortes carried with them
+were here, as elsewhere, sufficient to spread consternation through
+the opposing ranks, and the _pa_ soon fell before the Ngati-Toa
+assault. Numbers of the besieged escaped to the hills, where they
+suffered the biting pangs of hunger, and the bitterness of soul
+inseparable from the aftermath of war.[42] Others, keeping to the open
+country, were pursued as far as Porangahau, in Hawke's Bay; and then
+the war party, weary of their bloody work, made their way back to
+Tauhere Nikau, where they spent some days demonstrating their contempt
+for the enemy by eating the bodies of the slain.
+
+When hunger and tribal hatred had been sated, the victorious warriors,
+observing ominous signs of a gathering storm, returned to the west
+coast, and remained for a few days' rest at Omere.[43] While here,
+the eagle eye of Waka Nene descried a vessel[44] in full sail beating
+through Cook Strait. To the quick intellect of the chief, the sight of
+the ship opened up in an instant fresh possibilities; for he knew what
+intercourse with the _pakeha_ had done for the Nga-Puhi, and he saw no
+reason why the same advantages should not be shared by his friend and
+ally, Te Rauparaha. Doubtless that chief had confided his fears to
+Waka Nene, and they had probably consulted long and anxiously as to
+the growing weakness of the position at Kawhia. When, therefore,
+Tamati beheld the passing ship, he saw at a glance that, if this part
+of the coast was frequented by vessels of the white man, it offered
+the same facilities for obtaining arms and ammunition which Hongi
+enjoyed at the Bay of Islands. With unrestrained excitement he called
+out to his comrade: "Oh, Raha,[45] do you see that people sailing on
+the sea? They are a very good people; and if you conquer this land and
+hold intercourse with them, you will obtain guns and powder and become
+very great." This optimistic little speech was apparently all that was
+required to confirm Te Rauparaha in his growing desire to take the
+decisive step of migrating with the whole of his people from the
+storm-threatened Kawhia; and when the chief turned his face towards
+home, it was with the full resolve to come back at the first
+convenient season and make the country his own.
+
+The homeward journey was characterised by the same ruthless behaviour
+towards the resident people which had been practised on the way down,
+those who were captured being killed and eaten without any
+unnecessary ceremony.[46] What occurred within the confines of the
+Manawatu district we do not know, because the present-day
+representatives of the Rangitane people declare that they saw and
+heard nothing of the invaders. As they proceeded further north,
+however, we hear more of them; for while they were in the Rangitikei
+district an incident occurred which it suited the Ngati-Apa people not
+to forget. In one of the many excursions made into the interior in
+search of prisoners, a young chieftainess, named Pikinga, was captured
+by a party of Te Rangihaeata's men. Pikinga was the sister of Arapata
+Hiria, the Ngati-Apa chief against whom Waka Nene and Te Rauparaha
+were operating at the moment; and, if the gossip of the day is to be
+believed, she was possessed of no mean personal charms. She, at least,
+was attractive enough to captivate the most ruthless of the party, for
+it was not long before Te Rangihaeata fell a victim to her charms and
+made her his wife.
+
+Whether this was merely a passing whim on the part of an amorous young
+warrior or a move in a much deeper game of diplomacy, it would be
+difficult to say at this distance of time, particularly as each tribe
+now imputes to the action of the chief a different motive. The
+Ngati-Apa claim, with some insistence, that the marriage was the
+expression of a bond of perpetual peace between them and Te Rauparaha:
+while the Ngati-Raukawa, to whose lot it fell some fifty years later
+to contest the point, contend that no such wide construction could be
+put upon Rangihaeata's action, and that, even if it involved the
+tribes in a treaty of friendship at the time, the compact was
+subsequently denounced by Te Rauparaha on account of the treachery of
+Ngati-Apa. It is quite within the region of possibility that Te
+Rauparaha, having regard to the political aspect of the situation,
+would, so soon as he had measured their strength, lead the Ngati-Apa
+to believe that he desired to cultivate their goodwill; because
+immediately he had determined to seize the country opposite Kapiti, he
+would perceive the wisdom of having some friendly tribe stationed
+between him and his northern enemies, upon whom he could rely to
+withstand the first shock of battle in the event of a Waikato
+invasion. Such tactics would not be foreign to the Ngati-Toa leader,
+for that part of his life which was not spent in battle was occupied
+in the development of schemes whereby the efforts of one tribe were
+neutralised by the efforts of another; and if he could make pawns of
+the Ngati-Apa, he would chuckle to himself and say, "Why not?"
+
+But Te Rauparaha was not the man to seriously contemplate anything in
+the way of a permanent peace with Ngati-Apa, or with any one else whom
+he felt strong enough to destroy. And even assuming that he encouraged
+them in the belief that Rangihaeata's devotion to Pikinga was a common
+bond between them, he would not dream of maintaining such an
+understanding a moment longer than it suited his purpose. It seems,
+therefore, more likely that, when he satisfied himself that the people
+of the Rangitikei were no match for his own warriors, and that he
+could subdue them at his leisure, he was at some pains to impress them
+with a sense of his magnanimity, but only because he desired to use
+them as a buffer between himself and the Waikatos. Years afterwards,
+when he felt secure against invasion, he repudiated all friendship
+with Ngati-Apa, and ordered his people to wage eternal war against
+them. The claim which the Ngati-Apa subsequently made to the land in
+the Rangitikei-Manawatu districts, on the ground that they were never
+conquered by the Ngati-Toa, because this marriage protected them from
+conquest, was therefore not well founded, the ordinary occurrence of a
+chief taking a captive woman to be his slave-wife being invested with
+a significance which it did not possess. Upon the consummation of
+this happy event, the war party, laden with spoil and prisoners, made
+their way back to the north. When they reached Kawhia, after an
+absence of eleven months, Tuwhare being dead,[47] Waka Nene, who had
+now assumed command of the northern contingent, took his leave of Te
+Rauparaha, and Te Rauparaha prepared to take leave of the land of his
+fathers.
+
+[22] Braves.
+
+[23] Waitohi had other children, one of whom, Topeora, afterwards
+became the mother of Matene Te Whiwhi, one of the most influential and
+friendly chiefs on the west coast of the North Island. Topeora is
+perhaps more famed than any other Maori lady, for the number of her
+poetical effusions, which generally take the form of _kaioraora_,
+or cursing songs, in which she expresses the utmost hatred of her
+enemies. Her songs are full of historical allusions, and are therefore
+greatly valued. She also bore the reputation of being something of a
+beauty in her day.
+
+[24] There appears to be some doubt as to the exact locality of Te
+Rauparaha's birth, some authorities giving it as Maungatautari and
+others as Kawhia.
+
+[25] Marore was killed by a member of the Waikato tribe--it is said,
+at the instigation of Te Wherowhero--while she was attending a
+_tangi_ in their district, about the year 1820.
+
+[26] War party.
+
+[27] The traditional accounts of the Maoris have it that at this
+period Te Rauparaha was "famous in matters relative to warfare,
+cultivating generosity, welcoming of strangers and war parties."
+
+[28] This tribe was afterwards partially exterminated during the raids
+of Hongi and Te Waharoa.
+
+[29] "When Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of Whanga-roa,
+in 1819, the terrified people described him as having twelve muskets,
+while the name of Te Korokoro, then a great chief of the Bay of
+Islands, who was known to possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with
+terror for upwards of two hundred miles beyond his own district"
+(_Travers_).
+
+[30] "If we take the whole catalogue of dreadful massacres they (the
+New Zealanders) have been charged with, and (setting aside partiality
+for our own countrymen) allow them to be carefully examined, it will
+be found that we have invariably been the aggressors: and when we have
+given serious cause of offence, can we be so irrational as to express
+astonishment that a savage should seek revenge?" (_Earle_).
+
+[31] Marsden, writing of this time, says that such was the dread of
+the Maoris that he was compelled to wait for more than three years
+before he could induce a captain to bring the missionaries to New
+Zealand, as "no master of a vessel would venture for fear of his ship
+and crew falling a sacrifice to the natives." As an extra precaution,
+all vessels which did visit the country were supplied with boarding
+nets.
+
+[32] Whare-mawhai, sister of Huri-whenua, chief of the Ngati-Rahiri,
+who lived at Waihi, four or five miles north of Waitara.
+
+[33] Tuwhare belonged to the Roroa branch of the Nga-Puhi tribe.
+
+[34] When the musket was first introduced into Taranaki, a slave was
+very anxious to know how it was used. A Nga-Puhi warrior explained to
+him the method of loading and priming, then told him to look down the
+muzzle. The slave did so, whereupon the Nga-Puhi pulled the trigger,
+and the top of the unfortunate slave's head was blown off, much to the
+amusement of the surrounding crowd.
+
+[35] Associated with Tuwhare and Te Rauparaha in this raid was another
+and equally famous chief, named Muru-paenga. That he was a great
+warrior is proved by the fact that his enemies speak of him in the
+lament already quoted as "the army-raiser, the leader," while his
+friend Te Taoho, in a _tangi_ composed after his fall, refers to
+his "warlike eloquence," and compares him to "a richly-laden vessel,
+with all knowledge and great courage." But Muru-paenga is not merely
+famed in song, for his achievements have in a measure passed into
+proverb. In the taking of _pas_, one of his favourite stratagems
+was to stealthily approach the enemy's fort at nightfall, and pounce
+upon it with the first light of dawn. This involved the sleeping of
+his men amongst the tender ferns growing on the outer edge of the
+bush, which in the morning necessarily bore a trodden-down appearance,
+a fact which did not escape the keen observation of those who had oft
+been the victims of his tactics. Consequently, when Muru-paenga was
+killed by Nga-Puhi in 1826, the joyful news went through the country
+which he had previously devastated, and the saying was composed, in
+significant suggestion that the ferns and the people would no longer
+be crushed, "Rejoice, O ye little ferns of the woods, Muru-paenga is
+dead."
+
+[36] "During the siege, Tawhai (afterwards Mohi Tawhai), father of the
+late Hone Mohi Tawhai, M.H.R., who was with the northern contingent of
+the taua in the attack, was close under one of the towers of the
+_pa_ when one of the defenders hurled a big stone at him which
+split open his head. But by careful doctoring he recovered--careful
+doctoring according to Maori ideas meant that they poured hot oil into
+the wound and then sewed it up" (_Polynesian Journal_).
+
+[37] Topeora did not secure her husband without a struggle, for
+another lady, Neke-papa, had also taken a fancy to the handsome
+warrior, and as Te Ratutonu was leaving the _pa_, a dispute arose
+as to which should have him. But Topeora, being fleet of foot, ran to
+meet the advancing warrior, and cast her _topuni_, or dog-skin
+mat, over him, "and this being in accordance with Maori custom, Te
+Ratutonu became the husband of Topeora."
+
+[38] His home was on the banks of the Hokianga River, on the western
+side of the country, opposite to the Bay of Islands. He afterwards
+became a convert to the Wesleyan Mission, and received at his baptism
+the prefix "Thomas Walker" to his old Maori name of Nene, hence the
+name by which he is known in history--Tamati Waka Nene.
+
+[39] The late Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, who knew Te Rauparaha well, has
+assured the writer that when it suited him the wily old chief could
+"lend a most angelic expression to his countenance."
+
+[40] Now known as Wellington.
+
+[41] "All these works of treachery, ambushes, murders, and all these
+wrongs done by the _taua_ of Nga-Puhi, were taught them by Te
+Rauparaha" (_Nga-Puhi account_).
+
+[42] The female prisoners were secured by plaiting flax ropes into
+their long hair, and the men were imprisoned in enclosures made for
+the purpose.
+
+[43] Omere is a high bluff just to the south of Ohariu Bay. This bluff
+was the place which Maoris always visited to see if the Straits were
+calm enough to cross: hence the reference in the old song--
+
+  Where Omere projects outside,
+  The look-out Mount for calms.
+
+[44] It has been suggested that this vessel was either the _Wostok_
+or the _Mirny_ of the Russian scientific expedition sent out by
+Czar Alexander I. in 1819, and which visited Queen Charlotte Sound. If
+this is so, the date of this event was either late in May or early in
+June, 1820.
+
+[45] A contraction for Rauparaha.
+
+[46] On one occasion, when Te Rauparaha was conversing with Mr. George
+Clarke, then Protector of the Aborigines, the latter asked him how he
+made his way from north to south. With a wicked twinkle in his eye, Te
+Rauparaha replied, "Why, of course, I ate my way through."
+
+[47] On reaching Whanganui, a division in the councils of the leaders
+took place, Ngati-Toa and Nga-Puhi remaining on the coast, while
+Tuwhare made an intrepid dash up the Whanganui River with his own
+immediate followers. They fought their way up into the "cliff
+country," in the upper reaches of the river, and here, in an
+engagement at the Kai-whakauka _pa_, Tuwhare received a wound on
+the head from which he shortly afterwards died. On receiving the fatal
+blow, he contemptuously remarked to his assailant: "If thine had been
+the arm of a warrior I should have been killed, but it is the arm of a
+cultivator."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LAND OF PROMISE
+
+
+When the period of feasting and enjoyment, which invariably followed
+upon the return of a successful Maori war party, had terminated at
+Kawhia, Te Rauparaha immediately became involved in a fresh struggle
+with Waikato. The cause of the hostility was remote; but, as Waikato
+had vowed to drive him out, no pretext was too slight upon which to
+base a quarrel. Thus the killing of one of their chiefs by a Taranaki
+warrior, to whom Te Rauparaha was related, was sufficient to justify
+the marching of a large war party against him. Their force advanced in
+two sections: the one came down the inland track, and the other, which
+was to actively engage Te Rauparaha, entered Kawhia from the sea. Two
+_pas_, Tau-mata-Kauae and Te Kawau, speedily fell before the
+invaders, and again Ngati-Toa were defeated at the battle of Te
+Karaka, on the borders of Lake Taharoa, after an heroic struggle, in
+which it is said that three hundred Ngati-Toa fought more than a
+thousand Waikatos. These disasters were indeed darkening the outlook
+for Ngati-Toa, and the position has been graphically described by one
+native historian, who states that "the losses of the tribe of Te
+Rauparaha were very great; by day and by night they were killed by
+Ngati-Pou." Success had also attended the arms of the section of
+Waikato who, under Te Wherowhero, had swept through the Waipa Valley
+and across the forest plateau until they reached the Wai-Kawau
+_pa_ on the sea-coast, just north of the Mokau River. This they
+stormed and sacked by force of overpowering numbers, and, surfeited
+with victory, they united with their comrades at Te Karaka, and then
+triumphantly marched home.
+
+With so many of his _pas_ obliterated and his warriors slain, Te
+Rauparaha retired upon Te Arawi, a coastal stronghold built upon the
+summit of a forbidding-looking rock, which at full tide is completely
+surrounded by a breaking sea. Here he had leisure to reflect upon the
+lessening radius of his freedom and to formulate his plans for
+extricating his people from a position of increasing peril; and we may
+fairly assume that it was now that his final decision to migrate from
+Kawhia to Kapiti was taken. Once resolved on this course, he applied
+himself systematically to the task of persuading his people to enter
+into the spirit of the scheme, over which he himself had become so
+enthusiastic, and which he now deemed necessary to their safety. The
+task was by no means a simple one, for the impending danger was not so
+apparent to all the tribe as it was to their chief; and, moreover,
+there centred in the spot which he was asking them to leave the
+traditions and associations of all the centuries which had passed
+since their forefathers had first landed there from the pilgrim canoe.
+They knew each nook and corner, from the caves to the hill-tops, every
+point of which spoke to them of the beloved past. Here a rock which
+had been a trysting-place in some tragic love affair, there a haunt of
+spirits, yonder a burying-ground made sacred by the bones of their
+ancestors, and there again a battlefield hallowed by the memory of the
+fallen. Each of these was a tie dear to the Maori; and they were loath
+to leave all that linked them to the past and face a future full of
+doubt and uncertainty.
+
+But the confidence which Te Rauparaha had inspired, and the prospect
+of guns and ammunition in abundance, gradually overcame these
+sentimental objections; and before long the Ngati-Toa people agreed to
+follow their chief whithersoever he might lead. Te Rauparaha was,
+however, prudent enough to recognise that his own section of the
+tribe, though brave at heart, were few in numbers for so serious an
+undertaking as the conquest of a new territory. As soon, therefore, as
+he had secured the consent of his own tribe, he paid a visit to
+Maungatautari, for the purpose of obtaining the co-operation of
+Ngati-Raukawa. With them he was no more successful at first than he
+had been with his own people. He pointed out their liability to
+attack, the difficulty in obtaining guns, shut out as they were from
+communication with the whalers, and the prospect of an easy victory
+over the weakened tribes of the coast. But they were reluctant to give
+up all that they possessed for a visionary and problematical success,
+and it was not till quite a year later that he was able even partially
+to break down their resistance. In pressing his claims upon the
+Ngati-Raukawa, he was materially aided by a somewhat romantic incident
+which occurred during his stay at Maungatautari. Although his mother
+was a Ngati-Raukawa woman, and by virtue of that fact he could claim
+chieftainship amongst them, Te Rauparaha was not regarded as a
+particularly brilliant star in their peerage; but what he lacked in
+pedigree was more than compensated for by his mental initiative and
+personal courage. Conscious of his own power, he never lost an
+opportunity of impressing it upon others; and it is therefore not a
+matter for surprise that he made the death of the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+the occasion of advancing his own claims to leadership.
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by Jackson._
+ TE ARAWI PA, KAWHIA.
+ From which the Ngati-Toa migration commenced.]
+
+Thus it was a fortunate circumstance for him that, while he was
+advocating the conquest of Kapiti, Hape Taurangi, the great chief of
+Maungatautari, was seized with a fatal illness, and, while the whole
+tribe sat silently waiting for the end, the question of succession
+seemed to trouble him, as he probably realised the absence of a
+master-mind amongst his own sons. To them he put the question: "Can
+you tread in my steps and lead my people to victory? Can you uphold
+the honour of the tribe?" To these interrogations not one of his sons
+replied, and the silent suspense remained unbroken, until Te
+Rauparaha, springing from the ring of warriors, exclaimed, "I am able
+to tread in your steps, and even do that which you could not do." The
+apparent presumption of this speech was lost in the general
+satisfaction, and, when Hape passed into the Great Beyond, Te
+Rauparaha took over his wives and his leadership, the latter of which
+he retained to his dying day.[48] But the measure of authority which
+had passed to him on the death of Hape did not include the sole
+direction of Ngati-Raukawa's affairs. The tribe still looked to their
+natural leaders for guidance in domestic matters, and the new
+influence gained by Te Rauparaha in their councils, though
+considerable, was not sufficient to overcome the obduracy of the tribe
+towards what they chose to regard as his chimerical proposal.
+
+Nothing daunted, however, by the refusal of his kinsmen to participate
+in his bold enterprise, Te Rauparaha proceeded with patient
+deliberation to make his own arrangements. These involved the most
+careful planning and delicate negotiation, for failure in any one
+direction might wreck the whole scheme. The first consideration was to
+secure safe conduct for his people through the territory of the
+Taranaki tribes, and the establishment of resting-places where the
+very old and very young could recover their strength, and where
+sufficient food could be grown to carry them on to the next point of
+vantage. To this end negotiations were entered into with the Ngati-Awa
+and Ngati-Tama chiefs, who were more or less connected with Ngati-Toa
+by inter-marriage. It would, however, be a mistake to elevate this
+racial relationship into a bond of sincere friendship between these
+tribes, for neither would have hesitated long about a proposal to
+destroy the other, had a favourable opportunity presented itself.
+Their attitude towards each other was distinctly one of armed
+neutrality, which at any moment might have broken out into open
+rupture. But even this negative attitude of the tribes proved useful
+to Te Rauparaha, as it enabled him to approach Ngati-Awa and
+Ngati-Tama with at least the semblance of friendship, while it
+deprived them of open hostility as a reason for refusing his requests.
+The concessions which the Ngati-Toa leader asked for were therefore
+granted, though grudgingly; but he could no more persuade Ngati-Awa to
+go with him than he could impress the Ngati-Raukawa; and when he
+reminded them of the change which was coming over the system of Maori
+warfare, and the weakness in which they would be left by his
+departure, they laughed at his misgivings, boasted of their ancient
+_mana_, and told him that his fears were altogether unworthy of a
+chief of his standing. How dearly they paid for their lack of
+foresight is told in the fall of Puke-rangiora _pa_ a few years later,
+when the Waikatos swept down upon them and drove them flying into the
+arms of the man whose counsel they had so carelessly despised.
+
+Having thus diplomatically arranged an open road for the passage of
+his people to the south, he found it equally essential to secure an
+unmolested departure from the north. He therefore appreciated the
+necessity of making terms with his old enemy, Te Wherowhero, of
+Waikato, and in this important negotiation he availed himself of the
+services of two Ngati-Mania-poto chiefs, who occupied the country
+close to Kawhia and were on friendly terms with Te Wherowhero. These
+chiefs paved the way for a conference, at which Te Rauparaha appears
+to have been unusually candid with his old antagonist. He frankly
+unfolded to him the details of his proposed migration, and, in
+consideration of Te Wherowhero's guaranteeing him immunity from
+attack, he, on his part, agreed to cede the whole of the Ngati-Toa
+lands to the Waikato tribes after his people had vacated them. Such
+easy acquisition of a valuable piece of country was not without its
+influence upon Te Wherowhero. But he was even more impressed by its
+strategic than by its inherent value. The migration of Ngati-Toa
+would rid him of a troublesome enemy on the west, and enable him to
+concentrate all his forces on his eastern frontier, where he would be
+the better able to resist the aggressions of that other remarkable
+figure in Maori history, Te Waharoa, should it ever occur to that
+warrior to attack him. On the understanding, then, that Kawhia was to
+be formally ceded to him, Te Wherowhero undertook not to molest the
+migrating tribe, either during their preparations or on the actual
+march.
+
+The question of immunity from attack having been thus satisfactorily
+disposed of, the next matter which Te Rauparaha had to consider was
+the securing of an adequate supply of provisions for his people during
+their pilgrimage. As it was impossible to complete the journey in a
+single season, it was necessary not only that large quantities of food
+should be carried with them, but that planting-places should be
+established at various points along the route of march, where these
+supplies could be renewed from time to time. None of these details
+were overlooked, but all were worked out with mathematical exactitude
+by the consummate organiser in whose brain the migration had been
+planned; and the smoothness and precision with which these precautions
+dovetailed together furnish a remarkable example of high organising
+capacity. As a final preparation, it was necessary that the
+disposition of his fighting men should receive some attention, because
+he could not hope to conceal his real purpose from the people whose
+country he was about to invade. It is true he did not anticipate any
+serious opposition, because the defeats inflicted upon them by the
+recent expedition under Tuwhare, Waka Nene, Patuone, and himself had
+so reduced their strength as to render serious opposition impossible;
+but, in view of the limited force at his command, and the unlikelihood
+of increasing it, unnecessary waste had to be guarded against. He
+therefore divided his warriors into suitable sections, and, appointing
+a sub-chief to lead each company, he retained the supreme command of
+affairs in his own hands. The carrying out of these varied
+preparations had now occupied several months, and when all was ripe
+for departure he paid a last visit to the surrounding tribes and
+chiefs--to Kukutai, of Lower Waikato, to Pehi-Tukorehu, of
+Ngati-Mania-poto, to Te Kanawa, of Waikato, bidding them good-bye,
+and, as an example in good faith, he kept his word to Te Wherowhero,
+saying to that chief: "Farewell! remain on our land at Kawhia; I am
+going to take Kapiti for myself: do not follow me." At Mungatautari a
+final effort was made to induce the Ngati-Raukawa to join him; but,
+although there were evidences of weakening resistance, he had still to
+wait several months before their objections were so far overcome as to
+permit him any measure of hope that they would yet yield and follow
+him. The tour of leave-taking at an end, Te Rauparaha returned to his
+_pa_ at Te Arawi, and there summoned his people to prepare for the
+fateful march. When all was ready, the blazing flaxstick was put to
+the walls of the great carved house which had adorned the _pa_, and as
+the smoke of its destruction arose, the whole tribe of fifteen hundred
+souls passed through the gate which they were never again to enter.
+
+In the case of unlettered peoples there is necessarily some difficulty
+in determining the precise periods at which important incidents in
+their history have occurred; and in this instance we have nothing to
+guide us except the arrangement and comparison of subsequent events.
+By this mode of reasoning we are led to the conclusion that the
+migration from Kawhia must have occurred during the latter months of
+the year 1821. But, whatever obscurity rests upon this point,
+tradition is clear[49] that the circumstances under which the exodus
+commenced were singularly auspicious. The day broke with a cloudless
+sky, and, as the sun rose into the blue dome, the landscape for miles
+was lit by the rosy tints of morn, rendering every peak and valley
+more beautiful. On the route of march lay the hill of Moeatoa, and to
+its summit the pilgrims climbed, in order to take a last fond look at
+their ancient home. As they turned and gazed upon old Kawhia the
+memories of the past came crowding back upon them, and it is easy to
+understand their deep manifestations of sorrow at leaving their
+ancestral domain. The softer sentiments associated with home and
+country are not the exclusive prerogative of civilised beings. These
+people, savage and ruthless though they were, thrilled with the same
+patriotic feeling which prompted the Prophet of Israel to exclaim: "If
+I forget thee, O Jerusalem! may my right hand forget her cunning." And
+although their form of expressing it was neither so beautiful nor so
+poetical, they were, nevertheless, quite as sincere when they cried
+upon the mountain-side: "Kawhia, remain here! The people of Kawhia are
+going to Kapiti, to Waipounamu." "The love of a New Zealander for his
+land is not the love of a child for his toys," says a well-known
+writer.[50] "His title is connected with many and powerful
+associations in his mind, his affection for the homes of his fathers
+being connected with their deeds of bravery, with the feats of their
+boyhood, and the long rest of his ancestors for generations." And
+there is no reason to suppose that these feelings were less active in
+the Ngati-Toa at such a moment than they were in other Maori tribes.
+
+The closing scene in the life of the Ngati-Toa at
+Kawhia has been beautifully described by Thomas
+Bracken, whose word-picture of the scene on Moeatoa
+Hill is amongst the finest that came from his poetic
+pen:--
+
+  "Beneath the purple canopy of morn,
+  That hung above Kawhia's placid sheet
+  Of waters crystalline, arose on high
+  The golden shield of God, on azure field,
+  With crimson tassels dipping in the sea!
+  And from its burnished face a shower of rays
+  Shot up the hills and gilt their spires and peaks
+  In lambent sheen, until the turrets seemed
+  Like precious ornaments of purest gold
+  On mighty altars raised by giant priests
+  In olden times, to offer sacred fire
+  As sacrifice unto the Fount of Light,
+  From whence the planets and the myriad stars
+  Drink their effulgence!
+                          In the wild ravines
+  And gorges deep, the limpid babbling creeks
+  Sang matins as they left their mother hills
+  To mingle in united waters, where
+  They lost their little selves, and merged in one
+  Pellucid flood that gathered stronger life
+  From day to day! as God's great human church,
+  Now building on the earth shall gather all
+  The little sects and creeds and small beliefs
+  That split mankind into a thousand parts,
+  And merge them in one universal flood
+  Of boundless charity.
+                          The dazzling points
+  Of morning's lances pierced the bursting hearts
+  Of all the flow'rets on the fertile slopes,
+  And waked red Kawhai's drops from sleep
+  And shook the dew buds from the Rata's lids,
+  Until its blossoms opened up their breasts
+  And gave their fragrance to the early breeze
+  That played amongst the Koromiko's leaves,
+  And stole the rich Tawhiri's sweet perfume,
+  And strung the flax-leaves into merry tune
+  To woo the Bell-bird from his nest, to ring
+  The Tui up to sing his morning hymns.
+  The scene was made for man, not savage man,
+  The cunningest of brutes, the crafty king
+  Of beasts! but Man the Spiritualised,
+  With all the light of knowledge in his brain,
+  With all the light of love within his heart!
+  And yet they were but savages who stood
+  On Moeatoa's hill, above the scene,
+  Mere savages, a step beyond the brute!
+  But still there were bright sparks of God-lit fire
+  Within their breasts! they loved their native vales
+  With heart and soul! for they had hearts and souls
+  Far nobler than some milk-faced races who
+  Have basked 'neath Calv'ry's sun for ages long,
+  And yet lie grov'lling in the nations' rear,
+  With hearts encased in earth too coarse and hard
+  For Calv'ry's glorious light to penetrate.
+  Poor savages! that Orient had not yet
+  Shed its benignant rays upon their souls,
+  To melt the dross that dragged them down to earth
+  In carnal bonds! they knew not yet the road
+  To reach the standard of their better selves.
+  Yet they were men in all save this! brave men
+  With patriots' hearts, for as they stood and gazed
+  O'er fair Kawhia's hills and vales
+  That stretched into the sea, o'er which their sires
+  In ages past sailed from Hawaiki's shores,
+  The tears ran down their tattooed cheeks, and sobs
+  Welled from their bosoms, for they loved the land
+  With all the love intense a Maori feels
+  For childhood's home! The hist'ry of their tribe
+  Was written there on every rock and hill
+  That sentinelled the scene, for these had known
+  Their deeds of prowess, and their fathers' deeds
+  Of valour! And the caverns held the bones
+  Of those from whom they'd sprung! Their legends wild,
+  And weird traditions, chained them to the place,
+  And ere they burst those links of love they gave
+  A long sad look on each familiar spot
+  And wailed above Kawhia's lovely vale:
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      Cavern, gorge, and bay,
+    Valley, and hill, and plain--
+      We are going away.
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      Take our tears and our sighs;
+    Spirits of heroes slain,
+      Rise up from Reinga, rise.
+
+    Oh! Kawhia, remain,
+      With thee, Tawhaki, stay;
+    Long may he o'er thee reign--
+      We are going away."
+
+The first stage of the journey ended with the close of the fourth day,
+when the _pa_ of Puohoki was reached; and here Te Rauparaha
+decided to leave his wife Akau[51] and a number of the women and
+children under a suitable guard, while he and the bulk of the people
+pushed on as far as Waitara. Here they were received by the Ngati-Tama
+and Ngati-Awa tribes, in whose _pas_ they were quartered for the
+season; and, except that a spirit of parsimony seemed to pervade their
+welcome, they had every reason to feel rejoiced at the success which
+up to this moment had attended their venture.[52] After the lapse of a
+brief period spent in perfecting his arrangements, Te Rauparaha
+decided to return for his wife and her companions, and on reaching the
+_pa_ where they were staying he learned to his great joy that
+Akau had borne him a son. This infant lived to be the well-known
+missionary chief, Tamihana te Rauparaha. Against the advice of his
+tribe, Rauparaha had only taken a band of twenty warriors with him,
+and on the journey back to Waitara his strategic abilities were tested
+to the full to escape annihilation. Three days after his arrival he
+left on his return journey, carrying his infant son in a basket on his
+back. Knowing that he had left Kawhia, a party of the restless
+Ngati-Mania-poto had crept down the coast in the hope of finding some
+stragglers of his party whom they might conveniently kill. But instead
+of meeting, as they had expected, a few irregulars, they came suddenly
+upon Te Rauparaha himself near the mouth of the Awakino River. To some
+extent the surprise was mutual, but the stress of the position was all
+against Te Rauparaha. Supported only by a limited force and hampered
+by the women and children, he was in serious difficulties, as the
+enemy might cut off his retreat and then attack him in force. Suddenly
+a brilliant idea struck him. Before the enemy approached within
+striking distance he ordered twenty of the most active women to
+disrobe and don the mats and headgear of fighting men. Then arming
+each of them with a stone club, he placed them under the charge of
+Akau, who was a woman of magnificent physique, with instructions to
+march in the van brandishing their weapons after the manner of veteran
+warriors. The more helpless women and children were placed in the
+centre, while he and his fighting men covered the retreat. Misled by
+the stratagem, the Ngati-Mania-poto were tricked into the belief that
+the Ngati-Toa force was much stronger than it really was, and instead
+of attacking they began to retire. Observing this, Te Rauparaha
+immediately accelerated their panic by charging down upon them, and in
+the skirmish which followed Tutakara, their chief, was killed by Te
+Rangi-hounga-riri, Te Rauparaha's eldest son by his child-wife Marore,
+who was rapidly making a name for himself as an intrepid warrior. But,
+although the position was somewhat relieved, Te Rauparaha felt that
+the danger was not yet at an end. He was experienced enough in native
+tactics to know that the Ngati-Mania-poto would be tempted to return
+at nightfall and renew the attack in the hope of avenging the death of
+their chief. He therefore could not consider himself safe until the
+Mokau River was crossed, and, unfortunately, when he reached its banks
+the tide was full and the river was in flood. Nothing remained to be
+done except to wait, but in order still to maintain the deception
+twelve large fires were kindled, at each of which three women and one
+warrior were stationed, while the chief and the rest of his followers
+lay prepared for emergencies. It was also an injunction to the
+sentinels at the fires to address each other occasionally in the
+heroic language of the time. "Be strong, O people, to fight on the
+morrow if the enemy return. Take no thought of life. Consider the
+valour of your tribe." These stimulating exhortations, which were
+intended for the enemy's ears as much as for their own, were
+supplemented by fervid speeches from the women, whose shrill voices
+were carried out into the night air as a warning to the enemy that
+they would not lag behind their lords in the coming battle.
+
+Meantime, Te Rauparaha lay waiting for the enemy, who never came.
+Either having no stomach for another encounter with so redoubtable a
+warrior, or still not understanding the true position, they wisely
+declined to provoke a battle, about the result of which they could be
+by no means sanguine. At midnight the tide turned, and the river fell
+sufficiently to be fordable.[53] Leaving their fires burning, the
+Ngati-Toa crept silently down to the bank, and, wading across, made
+their way to the _pas_ of their friends, which they reached
+amidst general rejoicing. Early next morning the scene of the previous
+day's battle was revisited and the bodies of the slain enemy
+recovered to make a feast, at which the sweet revenge harboured
+against Ngati-Mania-poto was surfeited.
+
+While the Ngati-Toa plans were developing in Taranaki, another
+misfortune was falling upon the people of the southern districts from
+the opposite direction. Towards the middle of 1820 a band of six
+hundred warriors, under Apihai Te Kawau, of Ngati-Whatua, Te Kanawa,
+and Tu-korehu, of Waikato and Ngati-Mania-poto, and other prominent
+chiefs, longing for some new excitement, had journeyed down the east
+coast through Hawke's Bay and the Wairarapa, for no particular purpose
+except to kill, eat, or make slaves of whoever might fall into their
+hands. In the course of this pilgrimage of blood they crossed over to
+the west, and there attacked in succession the Muaupoko, Rangitane,
+and Ngati-Apa tribes, upon whom they inflicted sore and mortal wounds;
+and when they retired back to the north they left the conquest of
+Kapiti a matter of comparative simplicity to Te Rauparaha. But they
+were soon themselves to feel the sting of defeat. Passing into the
+Taranaki country on their homeward march, they were set upon by the
+Ngati-Awa people, who strenuously opposed their further progress at
+Waitara. This was a strange reversal of all previous policy on the
+part of Ngati-Awa, who had always been friendly to, and had frequently
+co-operated with, the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato peoples on similar
+raids. By some authorities this new antagonism has been attributed to
+the sinister influence of Te Rauparaha, who was still at Ure-nui
+waiting to harvest his crops. He had not forgotten the anxious moments
+to which he had been subjected on the banks of the Waitara River, and
+it would have been more than human on his part had he not sought to
+balance accounts now that the opportunity offered. "By means of
+plotting and deceit," says one writer, "he succeeded in rousing
+Ngati-Awa--or the greater part of them--to take up his quarrel."
+Whatever the cause of Ngati-Awa's hostility, the effect was a series
+of determined and well-organised attacks upon the northern _taua_,
+which ultimately drove them to seek refuge with a friendly section of
+the Ngati-Awa in the famous Puke-rangiora _pa_. Here they were
+besieged for seven months, fighting repeatedly, and, towards the end
+of that period, suffering intense privations. Frequent attempts were
+made to send intelligence of their straits through the enemy's ranks
+to their friends; but so close and vigilant was the investment that
+their messengers were invariably captured, and their heads fixed upon
+poles and exhibited to the besieged in a spirit of exultant derision.
+One, Rahiora, a young man of the Ngati-Mahanga tribe, did at length
+succeed in evading detection, and travelling into the Waikato by
+Kete-marae and Whanganui, thence by Taupo and Waipa, was able to
+communicate to the great Te Wherowhero the critical plight of his
+tribesmen. Te Wherowhero immediately made his call to arms, and soon a
+numerous relief party was on its way to join the force already in the
+field, which had vainly endeavoured to cut off Te Rauparaha at the
+Mokau. The junction of these forces was successfully accomplished, and
+the pride of Waikato's military strength, under two of the greatest
+chiefs of that time, Te Wherowhero and Te Waharoa, marched southward
+for the dual purpose of raising the siege of Puke-rangiora and of
+attacking Te Rauparaha. Though they failed to reach within striking
+distance of the beleaguered _pa_, their movement indirectly achieved
+its object, for the advent of so large a force lightened the pressure
+of the siege by drawing off a considerable number of the besiegers. Of
+these Te Rauparaha took command, and to his strategical genius was due
+the victory which he ultimately achieved on the plain of Motu-nui.
+This plain stretches along the sea-coast between the Ure-nui and Mimi
+Rivers. At this point the shore is bounded by perpendicular cliffs,
+fully one hundred and fifty feet high, along which are dotted several
+small _pas_, used as fishing-places in olden times. Away to the
+eastward of the plain run the wooded hills, on the steep sides of
+which rise the numerous streams which rush across the plain to the
+sea. On the southern end of one of the spurs descending from the
+range was built the strongly fortified Okoki _pa_, which was made the
+point of assembly by the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Toa warriors.
+
+The Waikato _taua_ came on as far as a place called Waitoetoe on
+the southern bank of the Mimi River, and there commenced to make a
+camp preparatory to throwing down the gage of battle. To the watchers
+in the Okoki _pa_ their fires had been visible for several miles;
+and when it was seen that they had determined to pitch camp, there was
+a general request that their position should be at once attacked.
+Personally, Te Rauparaha preferred to take no risks until the portion
+of his force which was still holding Tu-korehu in check at
+Puke-rangiora should have come up. He, however, yielded to the
+importunities of some of his chiefs, and consented to send out a
+_hunuhunu_, or reconnoitring party, to test the mettle of the
+enemy. To meet the possibility of the skirmish developing into a more
+serious encounter, he took the precaution of concealing a strong
+reserve force, composed of the older men, in the bed of one of the
+wooded streams which ran close beneath the _pa_. Having
+instructed Rangiwahia, of Ngati-Mutunga, in whose charge he left these
+supports, he took eighty of the younger men with him, and advanced
+across the plain by stealthy marches. So secretly was the movement
+effected, that they were within a stone's-throw of the Waikato camp,
+and had actually commenced the attack upon some of the Waikato
+warriors, before their presence was discerned. In the first onset Te
+Rauparaha's followers were roughly handled, and, in accordance with
+their preconcerted plan, they began rapidly to fall back, sustaining
+severe losses the while from the guns of the enemy. Their retirement
+soon developed into a general retreat, which might have been much more
+disastrous but for a fatal division of opinion which sprang up amongst
+the Waikato leaders, as to whether or not the fugitives should be
+pursued. Te Wherowhero was content to have repulsed them, and advised
+resuming the interrupted work of building their shelters; but others,
+not so cautious, urged immediate pursuit, and, these counsels
+prevailing, the whole Waikato force was soon in full cry after the
+retreating scouts. The chase was fierce and stern, and many a good
+Taranaki warrior dropped upon the plain as he sped towards the _pa_,
+for the pursuers kept up as hot a fire as their rapid movements
+rendered possible. Seeing the men falling round him, a chief who was
+running close to Te Rauparaha repeatedly urged him to turn and attack
+the pursuers; but the crafty general, knowing that the time was not
+yet, declined to forestall his prearranged strategy. He held on his
+way, only urging his men to faster flight, while Te Wherowhero incited
+his marksmen to single out the Ngati-Awa chiefs for death. Some two
+miles of the plain had been covered, and the southern warriors were
+nearing their supports. As the foremost reached the wooded gully, they
+waited there to recover their breath, and allowed the pursuers to
+close in upon them. Weary and blown with their long and exciting run,
+the Waikatos came straggling up, innocent of the trap into which they
+had fallen. At the psychological moment Te Rauparaha gave the signal,
+and out dashed his veterans, fresh and eager for the fray, charging
+down upon the exhausted and astonished Waikatos. Their chiefs who were
+in the forefront of the chase were the first to go down, and their
+numbers were perceptibly diminished as they were beaten back by
+repeated charges across the blood-stained field. Te Wherowhero fought
+through the reverse with supreme courage, engaging and vanquishing in
+single combat no less than five of Taranaki's greatest warriors; and
+to his fine defence and heroic example is attributed the fact that his
+tribe was not completely annihilated on the field of Motu-nui. On the
+other hand, it has been whispered that his companion in arms, Te
+Waharoa, did not bear himself in this fight with his wonted gallantry.
+Waikato paid a heavy toll that day. They left one hundred and fifty
+men dead on the field, and the slaughter of chiefs was a conspicuous
+tribute to their bravery--Te Wherowhero and Te Waharoa being the only
+leaders of eminence to escape.
+
+For some inexplicable reason, Te Rauparaha did not pursue his victory
+to the bitter end, as was his wont.[54] This forbearance on his part
+is especially surprising in view of the fact that Te Wherowhero had
+specifically promised to remain neutral during the progress of the
+migration. Possibly the consciousness that he would have done the same
+thing himself induced him to take a lenient view of his old
+antagonist's want of good faith; for there can be no doubt that the
+bloody wars which were at this time ravaging the country had
+completely sapped the old Maori sense of honour. "At the period in
+question, more perhaps than at any other in the history of the race,
+moral considerations had but little weight in determining the conduct
+of either the individual or the tribe. Even the nearest relatives did
+not hesitate to destroy and devour each other." There was thus nothing
+unusual about Te Wherowhero's conduct; but his experience of Te
+Rauparaha on this occasion was such that from that day onward he left
+him severely alone.
+
+The effect of these successive victories was to enhance enormously the
+prestige and power of Te Rauparaha. He began to be regarded with
+reverence by Ngati-Awa and with something akin to worship by
+Ngati-Toa. As a tangible proof of the gratitude which his hosts felt
+for the services which he had rendered them, food, which had been
+grudgingly supplied up to this time, was now given in abundance to his
+people, and, what was of even greater moment to Te Rauparaha,
+adherents began freely to flock to his cause. But, although he had
+beaten off both the Ngati-Mania-poto and Waikato tribes, the position
+was still unsatisfactory to him from the point of view of numbers, and
+so he resolved to make one more effort to persuade Ngati-Raukawa to
+join him. Accordingly he journeyed back to Opepe, a village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo, where he met young Te Whatanui, a chief destined
+to become famous in after years as the protector of the Muaupoko
+people whom Te Rauparaha wished to destroy. Upon the assembled tribe,
+and upon Te Whatanui in particular, he again impressed the merits of
+his scheme, pointing out the altered position occupied by the tribes
+who had managed to become possessed of fire-arms, as compared with
+those who had only wooden spears and stone _meres_. He dwelt upon the
+fact that ships were beginning to frequent Kapiti, and that there they
+could obtain guns, as Nga-Puhi had done at the Bay of Islands. He also
+reiterated all that he had formerly told them about the fertility of
+the soil and the ease with which the country might be conquered: but
+in vain. Te Whatanui volunteered no sign of approval. He gave many
+presents to Te Rauparaha, as marks of respect from one warrior to
+another. He also made him a long oration, skilfully avoiding the
+all-important topic upon which Te Rauparaha had travelled so far to
+consult him; nor did the majority of his people conceal their
+objection to coming under Te Rauparaha's immediate command, to the
+exclusion of their own chiefs. Angered at this perversity, Te
+Rauparaha shook the dust of Opepe from off his feet and proceeded to
+Rotorua, and as far as Tauranga, where he sought the aid of the great
+Te Waru. But he met with no success, for Te Waru had schemes of his
+own which claimed his personal attention. While resting with the
+Tu-hou-rangi branch of the Arawa tribe on his return to Rotorua from
+Tauranga, Te Rauparaha (according to accounts) perpetrated an outrage
+upon Nga-Puhi which was destined to inspire one of the most disastrous
+wars and one of the most daring assaults known in Maori history. His
+motive for "sowing the seeds of evil counsel" is not clear. By some it
+is alleged a jealous envy of Nga-Puhi's success in procuring arms,
+while others find it in the consuming desire for revenge for the death
+of a young relative killed a few weeks before at the fall of the Te
+Totara _pa_ at the Thames. Whatever the motive, before leaving he took
+occasion to recite a _karakia_, or song, informing the Tu-hou-rangi
+that there was a small band of Nga-Puhi travelling about in their
+vicinity, and broadly insinuating that "death and darkness were very
+good things." This hint, however enigmatical, was taken and acted
+upon. When Te Pae-o-te-rangi, Hongi's nephew, and a company of his
+Nga-Puhi followers arrived at the Motu-tawa _pa_, from which Te
+Rauparaha had just departed, they were treacherously set upon and
+killed by the Tu-hou-rangi people. It was to avenge the death of Te
+Pae-o-te-rangi that Hongi performed the Herculean task of dragging his
+canoes from Waihi, near Maketu, to Lake Rotorua, and on the island of
+Mokoia slaughtered the unfortunate Ngati-Whakaue (Arawas), who had
+been entirely innocent of the original crime.
+
+Before quitting Rotorua, however, Te Rauparaha had the good fortune to
+fall in with the Nga-Puhi chief Pomare,[55] who handed over to him a
+few of the men who had accompanied him to the Lake district on a mission
+of bloodshed. With this small reinforcement Te Rauparaha returned to
+Taranaki and prepared to resume his journey southward, having in the
+meantime enlisted the services of some four hundred Ngati-Awas under
+one of the most famous men of his time, Rere-ta-whangawhanga, father of
+Wi Kingi Rangitake.[56] The force at Te Rauparaha's command now
+numbered about eight hundred fighting men and their families. With
+these he resumed his march in the autumn of 1822, when the kumara had
+been gathered in, and advanced without interruption or mishap until he
+reached Patea. Here a slight skirmish took place, and six of the
+invaders were killed, their deaths being immediately avenged by the
+slaughter of some Waitotara people. From them a large canoe was
+captured, and was employed in the transportation of some of the women
+and children by sea, thus saving them the labour and fatigue involved
+in the land journey. Te Rauparaha himself also travelled by water with
+the women, but, with the exception of those required to propel the
+canoes, the men continued on foot along the coast, capturing and
+killing an occasional straggler who had lingered too long in the
+vicinity of the warpath.
+
+At the mouth of the Rangitikei River the canoe was drawn up on the
+beach, and the whole party halted for several days. Hearing of their
+arrival, the friends of Pikinga came down to the camp to welcome her,
+but the remainder of the Ngati-Apa tribe fled to the hills and
+concealed themselves amongst the mountain fastnesses. It would
+therefore appear that the friendship which they afterwards alleged to
+have existed between Te Rauparaha and themselves was not of a very
+substantial character.[57] Nor did the marriage of their chieftainess
+with Te Rangihaeata avail them much; for while the bulk of his people
+rested by the river, odd bands of their fighting men were continually
+scouring the country in search of some plump Ngati-Apa who was needed
+to keep the ovens fully employed. While the weather continued fine, Te
+Rauparaha was anxious to lose no more time than was absolutely
+necessary. So soon, therefore, as his people had been refreshed by the
+rest, he pushed on again, making his next stage the mouth of the
+Manawatu River, where he harassed the Rangitane people by the inroads
+of armed parties on their settlements. But comparatively few captures
+were made, as the _pas_ were deserted immediately the inhabitants
+scented the danger.
+
+The migration which Te Rauparaha was thus conducting had for its
+objective a sweet and fertile spot on the banks of the Ohau stream;
+and when the remaining portion of the coast had been traversed without
+opposition, and the tribe had reached its journey's end in safety,
+preparations were at once made to establish them permanently on the
+land. A _pa_ was built large enough to accommodate the whole
+party, and ground was cleared for cultivations, in which the potato
+was planted for the first time on this coast. Their nearest neighbours
+were the Ngati-Apa, who held possession of the island of Kapiti, and
+the Muaupoko tribe, who were settled round the shores of Lakes
+Horowhenua and Papaitonga. In what light the former regarded the
+aggression upon their borders it is difficult to say; but the latter
+were evidently very ill at ease, for they had a heavy presentiment of
+what the ultimate result would be. But how to avert the danger was no
+simple problem, as they had learned enough in the stern school of
+experience to recognise that victory in open battle was not to be
+hoped for. Strategy was therefore determined upon. Learning from two
+Whanganui chiefs, who were then on a visit to Horowhenua, that Te
+Rauparaha's vulnerable point at this period was his desire to obtain
+canoes, they resolved to tempt him with the bait to which he was most
+likely to fall a victim. The ease with which the chief fell into the
+trap was due to his excessive ambition and the further large schemes
+towards which his aspirations soared.
+
+He had heard strange stories of a treasure-trove of greenstone which
+the Ngai-Tahu people had stored in their _pas_ over on the Middle
+Island; and as he stood on the beach at Ohau and looked across the
+Strait towards the hills of Waipounamu, he dreamed of this wealth and
+how he could possess himself of it. Without a fleet of canoes to
+convey his warriors over the intervening sea, the project of invasion
+was visionary; but even with the frailest vessels he might make it a
+reality, and at one bold stroke add to his dominions, gratify his
+avarice, and satiate his hate by waging war upon the southern tribes.
+
+Of canoes the Muaupoko had many. Residing as they did upon the shores
+of two lakes, these vessels were almost as essential to them as
+gondolas to the Venetians; and when they learned of Te Rauparaha's
+eagerness to obtain what they possessed, a device was cautiously
+planned by which they might rid themselves of a neighbour whose coming
+they felt boded them no good. Into this conspiracy of murder the
+Rangitane people of Manawatu were admitted; and for thus allowing
+themselves to be made the cat's-paw of others they paid a bitter
+penalty, for they succeeded in nothing except in arousing the eternal
+hatred of the great chief, who seemed invulnerable alike to their
+cunning and their force. The authors of the scheme were Turoa and
+Paetahi, both of the Ngati-Apa tribe; and the willing instrument in
+their hands was Toheriri, a leader of the Muaupoko, whose part was,
+shortly after the arrival of the Ngati-Toa at Ohau, to send an
+invitation to Te Rauparaha and a number of his followers to pay a
+friendly visit to his _pa_ at Papaitonga. As already indicated,
+the inducement held out to Ngati-Toa was the promise of a gift of
+canoes, and, under the circumstances, a more artful pretence could not
+have been conceived. "Canoes were at this time his great desire, for
+by them only could he cross over to the island of Waipounamu," is the
+explanation of the position given by Tamihana Te Rauparaha; and, if
+the Muaupoko could gratify that desire, Te Rauparaha was not the man
+to refrain from making a convenience of his enemies, as well as of
+his friends. Accordingly he accepted the invitation, notwithstanding
+the earnest remonstrances of his nephew and lieutenant, Te
+Rangihaeata, who declared his irresistible conviction that murder,
+rather than hospitality, was the secret of the Muaupoko invitation.
+
+Rauparaha was in no mood to speculate about omens, good or evil.
+Canoes he wanted, and canoes he would have, even if the gods or the
+devils were against him. His unusual recklessness even carried him so
+far that he selected only a few warriors to accompany him, and with
+these he arrived, just at the fall of evening, at Papaitonga. The
+party was, of course, received with the most profuse expressions of
+friendship. Toheriri and his fellow-chief Waraki conducted their
+visitors in state to view the canoes which were to be handed over in
+the morning; but, on returning to the _pa_, they were careful to
+conduct Te Rauparaha to a house at one end of the settlement, while
+his followers were provided for at the opposite end. This fact appears
+to have aroused no suspicion in the Ngati-Toa mind; for at night all
+slept soundly, until the shouts of the combined Rangitane and Muaupoko
+war parties were heard in the early morning as they rushed upon the
+slumbering _pa_.
+
+The assailants appear to have been too precipitate in their onset.
+Instead of first surrounding the _whare_ in which Te Rauparaha
+lay, they commenced the massacre of his followers at the other end;
+and Toheriri, who was lightly sleeping in the same compartment as Te
+Rauparaha, was compelled to go out and direct them to the particular
+hut in which their common foe was lying. This delay was fatal to their
+design, but fortunate for Te Rauparaha. In the absence of his host, he
+stayed not to take his leave, but bursting through the _raupo_
+wall which formed the end of the _whare_, he slipped away between
+the houses; and when the tardy Rangitane rushed up to the hut, their
+prey had flown, and nothing remained but to wreak their vengeance upon
+the less distinguished victims, whom they slaughtered without mercy.
+Included amongst these victims of treacherous onslaught were several
+of Te Rauparaha's wives and children. Of the latter, however, two were
+spared, Te Uira and Hononga, the former of whom was a daughter of his
+child-wife Marore. The reason for this partial clemency is not clear;
+apparently vengeance was satisfied by sending them prisoners to the
+Wairarapa, where they afterwards became wives of men of renown in the
+district.[58]
+
+Amidst the chaos of treachery which surrounds this incident, it is
+pleasant to record an act of chivalry of an heroic type. Amongst those
+who accompanied Te Rauparaha on this eventful visit was his son,
+Rangi-hounga-riri, who, it will be remembered, had distinguished
+himself by slaying Tutakara, the chief of the Ngati-Mania-poto, when
+that tribe attacked Ngati-Toa at the Awakino River. He, being strong
+of body and lithe of limb, had managed to break through the attacking
+cordon, and, had he chosen, might have made his escape. But, as he
+hurried away, his ear caught the sound of a girl's piteous crying for
+help. He recognised the voice as that of his sister, Uira. Heedless of
+consequences he rushed back to the _pa_, and, forcing his way to
+the side of the girl, placed his protecting arm around her, and fought
+her assailants until overpowered by superior numbers. By his death, Te
+Rauparaha lost one of his most intrepid lieutenants, and the Ngati-Toa
+tribe one of its most promising leaders. As chivalrous as he was
+brave, he was the type of chief whose nobility lifted the ancient
+Maori above the level of the mere savage, and illustrated the manly
+qualities which so impressed those early colonists who took the
+trouble to understand the people amongst whom they had come. The
+qualities are still there, and justify the hope that, by sound laws,
+and sanitary and educational reforms, such as are now being effected,
+it may yet be possible to stay the process of degeneration which set
+in as the result of the first contact of the Maori with the European.
+
+Te Rauparaha, having slipped from the snare of his enemies, plunged
+into the long grass which surrounded the _pa_, and, in the
+semi-darkness, succeeded in eluding his pursuers, eventually reaching
+his settlement at Ohau, weary, angry, and almost naked. Bitterly
+disappointed at the result of his mission, and deeply enraged at the
+treatment he had received, he in his wrath cursed the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples, and, calling his tribe around him, he charged his
+followers to make it the one special mission of their lives "to kill
+them from the dawn of day till the evening." This doctrine of
+extermination was not preached to unwilling ears; and from that day
+the fixed policy of the Ngati-Toa tribe was to sweep the Muaupoko and
+Rangitane from their ancestral lands. In the reprisals which followed
+as the result of Rauparaha's vow of eternal vengeance, the former tribe
+seems to have suffered most; and there is little room for doubt that
+they would have been ultimately uprooted and effaced from amongst the
+tribes of New Zealand, but for the kindly offices of that dark-skinned
+humanitarian, Te Whatanui, who, years afterwards, took them under his
+protecting mantle, and declared, in the now historic phrase, that
+"nothing would reach them but the rain from heaven."
+
+The Rangitane people were more fortunately situated, having the
+impassable forests of the Manawatu and its inaccessible mountain
+fastnesses to protect them. But they by no means escaped the
+bitterness of persecution, as bands of Ngati-Toa were constantly
+roaming their country in search of some one to kill and devour. The
+constant absence of these parties convinced Rauparaha that the small
+band of men whom he had with him was by no means sufficient for the
+magnitude of the task which his ambitious mind had conceived, and so
+he determined upon doing two things. The first was to strengthen his
+position by conquering the island of Kapiti, which was still in the
+possession of a section of the Ngati-Apa people; the second, once
+again to despatch ambassadors to the north, to persuade some of his
+former allies to join him in mastering a district which promised a
+rich supply of guns and ammunition. As a preliminary to the former
+scheme, he extended his frontier as far as Otaki, from which point he
+could the better watch the movements of the islanders and sweep down
+upon them at a favourable moment. But the intervals in which there was
+lack of vigilance were few and far between, and consequently the first
+series of attacks failed signally. The defenders were strongly posted
+and incessantly watchful; so Rauparaha, seeing that the frontal
+attack, however well delivered, would not avail, decided upon a
+stratagem which, judged by its success, must have been admirably
+planned.
+
+His device was to lull the defenders of the island into a false sense
+of security by apparently withdrawing all his forces from Otaki for
+the purpose of some larger movement in the north, at the same time
+leaving a small band of well-tried men, whose duty it was to make a
+dash for the island and seize it before its inhabitants had recovered
+from their surprise. He accordingly marshalled his forces one morning,
+and, with an amount of ostentatious display which was calculated to
+attract the attention of the Ngati-Apa spies, he marched away to the
+Manawatu at the head of his warriors. The Ngati-Apa saw this movement,
+but did not understand it. Believing that the absence of Te Rauparaha
+meant a period of respite, they withdrew their sentries and gave
+themselves up to rejoicing. This was precisely what the Ngati-Toa
+chief had hoped for and calculated upon. He also had the satisfaction
+of knowing that the most critical part of his scheme was in safe
+hands. His uncle, Te Pehi Kupe, who was left in charge of the attacking
+party, was a tried and grim veteran, and, true to the trust imposed
+upon him, he came out of his concealment just before dawn on the
+morning after Te Rauparaha had left. Silently the intrepid little band
+launched their canoes, and as silently they paddled across the
+intervening water, reaching the island at the break of day. They found
+the inhabitants still sleeping, and unconscious of any danger until
+the shouts of their assailants and the cries of the wounded warned
+them that some desperate work was on hand. Not many of them stayed to
+fight, and those who were not killed in the first onslaught scrambled
+into their canoes and made for the mainland, thus ingloriously leaving
+the last independent stronghold of the Ngati-Apa in the hands of the
+invaders.
+
+It has been charged to the discredit of Te Rauparaha, that, in
+planning this attack upon Kapiti, he cherished a guilty hope that Te
+Pehi might fall in the assault, and by his death rid him of a powerful
+rival in the councils of the tribe. But, while his critics have never
+been slow to attribute to him the grossest treachery towards his
+enemies and infidelity to his friends, there is absolutely no evidence
+that on this occasion he meditated a crime, such as sacred history
+imputes to the King of Israel when he placed Uriah the Hittite in the
+forefront of the battle. Te Pehi was a great chief. He was Te
+Rauparaha's senior in years and his superior in birth. His prowess in
+battle was known far and wide, and the circumstances under which he
+afterwards emulated the example of Hongi by visiting England, and like
+him, subsequently procuring for his tribe, guns and ammunition at
+Sydney, stamp him as a man of strong initiative and individuality. But
+he did not possess the political genius with which his nephew was
+endowed; he lacked the organising power, the tact, and the gift of
+inspiring others with his own enthusiasm. While Te Pehi might lead a
+charge with brilliancy, Te Rauparaha could often gain more by
+diplomacy than he by force of arms; and these statesmanlike qualities
+gave the younger chief an influence with the tribe which Te Pehi did
+not and never could possess. Indeed, the tragedy associated with his
+death at Kaiapoi, in 1828, is sufficient to convince us that he was
+strangely lacking in conciliation and tact. So far as can be learned,
+there is nothing to lead us to suppose that Te Pehi ever questioned
+his nephew's superiority in the diplomatic department of his tribal
+office; on the contrary, he seems to have cheerfully accepted a
+secondary position, and loyally aided Te Rauparaha in all his
+projects. Under these circumstances, it is somewhat difficult to
+imagine what Te Rauparaha was to gain by sacrificing so brave an ally.
+Moreover, the intense grief which he manifested when Te Pehi was
+killed at Kaiapoi, and the signal vengeance which he took upon the
+Ngai-Tahu tribe for their act of treachery, render the suspicion of
+foul play on his part utterly improbable. In view of these
+considerations he may fairly be exonerated from any criminal intent
+towards Te Pehi. It is clear that the seizure of Kapiti was but an
+essential move in his policy of conquest, and that the manner of its
+seizure was but a cleverly designed piece of strategy, certainly not
+unattended by risk, but affording very reasonable chances of success.
+
+The capture of this natural fortress did not result in its immediate
+occupation, for Te Rauparaha still had abundance of work to do on the
+mainland before he could regard the power of the enemy as broken and
+the conquest of his new home complete. In pursuance of his policy of
+extermination, he had been interspersing his larger movements with
+repeated raids upon Rangitane and Muaupoko, in which he invariably
+made them feel the sting of his revenge. Finding that these attacks
+were becoming more frequent and more vigorous, the chiefs of the
+latter tribe conceived a plan by which they hoped to elude the
+persistency of their implacable pursuers. Hitherto their _pas_
+had been built on the shores of the picturesque lakes, around which
+they had lived since their advent into the district, centuries before.
+But they now decided to abandon these strongholds, which were exposed
+to every raid of the enemy, and build their dwellings in the centre of
+Lakes Horowhenua and Papaitonga. At the cost of an amazing amount of
+industry and toil, they constructed artificial islands upon the beds
+of these lakes at their deepest parts, and upon these mounds they
+built a miniature Maori Venice. The construction of these islands was
+most ingenious, and desperate indeed must have been the straits to
+which Muaupoko were driven before they imposed upon themselves so
+laborious a task.
+
+Proceeding to the bush, their first operation was to cut down a number
+of saplings, which were pointed and then driven into the soft mud,
+closely enclosing in rectangular form sufficient space on which to
+place the foundations of the houses. Smaller stakes were then driven
+into the centre of the enclosure, upon which were spitted those
+compact masses of vegetation known as "Maori-heads." A layer of these
+gave the builders a solid basis upon which to work, and huge stones,
+earth, and gravel were brought in the canoes from the shore, and
+poured into the enclosures until the pile of _debris_ rose some
+height above the level of the water. Six such islands were formed on
+Lake Horowhenua and two on Papaitonga, and on these _whares_ were
+erected, which were gradually extended by the addition of platforms
+reaching a considerable distance beyond the islands. Round each of
+these platforms ran a stout palisade, which served the dual purpose of
+preventing the very young children from falling into the water and
+offering a formidable barrier to the assaults of the enemy. As the
+only means of communication with these islands was by canoe, and as it
+was well known to the Muaupoko people that Te Rauparaha had few such
+vessels, they felt comparatively secure from attack so soon as they
+had transferred themselves to their new retreat.
+
+But they little reckoned on the kind of man with whom they had to
+deal, when they imagined that a placid sheet of water could interpose
+between Te Rauparaha and his enemies. Canoes he had not, but strong
+swimmers he had; and it is a fine tribute to their daring that, on a
+dark and gloomy night, a small band of these undertook to swim off to
+one of the Horowhenua _pas_ and attack its sleeping inhabitants.
+With their weapons lashed to their wrists, they silently entered the
+water, and by swift side strokes reached the walls of Waipata, the
+_pa_ which they had chosen for their attempt, and were swarming over
+the palisades before a note of warning could be sounded. Taken at such
+a disadvantage, it was not to be expected that the Muaupoko resistance
+would be effective, for they were both stunned by surprise and
+paralysed by fear at the awful suddenness of the attack. Flight was
+their first thought, and such as were not slain in their sleep or
+caught in their attempt to escape, plunged into the lake and made for
+the nearest shelter. In this endeavour to escape death all were not
+successful, and it is estimated that, between the killed and drowned,
+the attack upon Waipata cost the Muaupoko several hundred lives,
+besides adding to their misfortune by shattering utterly their belief
+in the inaccessibility of their island _pas_. The adjoining _pas_ upon
+the lake, warned of the impending danger by the tumult at Waipata, at
+once prepared for a stubborn defence; but the attacking party, feeling
+themselves unequal to the task of a second assault, discreetly
+withdrew to the mainland before it was yet daylight, and at once made
+preparations for another attack upon a more extensive scale. But both
+prudence and necessity dictated the wisdom of delay; it was wiser to
+wait until Muaupoko had relapsed into their former state of
+confidence, and, moreover, the plan upon which it was proposed to make
+the attack required time for its development.
+
+Recognising the strength of the Waikiekie _pa_, against which the
+energies of his tribe were next to be directed, Te Rauparaha saw that
+success was not to be expected unless he could attack it in force.
+This involved the transportation of a large body of men over the
+waters of the lake, which could only be effected by means of canoes.
+These he did not possess in numbers, and, even if he had, he must
+still devise means of conveying them to the lake, which was several
+miles from the coast. His ingenious mind, however, soon discovered an
+escape from these perplexities, and he at once decided upon a plan,
+which was not without precedent in European warfare or imitation in
+subsequent Maori history. His scheme involved the haulage of his
+canoes over the belt of land which separated the lake from the sea,
+and the enterprise seems to have been as cleverly executed as it was
+daringly designed. Out of the lake runs an insignificant stream, which
+slowly meanders over shallows and between narrow banks down to the
+ocean; and to the mouth of this creek were brought such canoes as had
+fallen into Te Rauparaha's hands at the taking of Kapiti, and a larger
+one which had been procured from his friends at Whanganui-a-Tara.[59]
+Where the water was deep enough, or the reaches straight enough, the
+canoes were floated up the bed of the stream; but as this was possible
+only at rare intervals, the greater part of the distance was covered
+by dragging the vessels over the grassy flats and ferny undulations.
+Such a task would be laborious enough under any circumstances; but on
+this occasion it was rendered even more wearisome by the necessity for
+conducting it in absolute silence. As the success of the expedition
+depended mainly upon the completeness of the surprise, it was
+essential that no note of warning should be given, and therefore it
+was impossible to encourage the workers to greater exertions by song
+or speech; but so heartily did they bend themselves to their
+monotonous task, that the three miles of toilsome road were traversed
+before the break of day.
+
+The outflow of the lake was hidden by a clump of trees which grew
+close to the water's edge, and behind this natural screen the canoes
+were concealed, and the men lay down to rest until the moment came to
+strike. At the first appearance of dawn, the canoes were shot into the
+lake, and before the inhabitants of Waikiekie had shaken slumber from
+their eyes, the shaft was on its way that would send many of them to
+their last long sleep. The _pa_ was attacked on every side, and
+with a vigour which left little chance of escape. Such resistance as
+was possible in such a situation was offered by the drowsy defenders.
+But the mortal fear with which they had come to regard the Ngati-Toa,
+together with the fury of the onslaught and the completeness of the
+surprise, spread panic amongst them, and the resistance was soon left
+to a desperate few. Their valiant efforts brought them nothing but the
+glory which attends the death of the brave. They were quickly borne
+down before the onrush of the assailants, whose shouts of triumph,
+joined with the terrified cries of the fugitives, filled the morning
+air. Large numbers, who looked to discretion rather than valour,
+plunged into the lake, and by swimming, diving, and dodging, a few
+managed to elude both capture and death. But many were slain as they
+swam, and, while their bodies sank to the bottom, their blood mingled
+with the waters of the lake, until it lay crimson beneath the rising
+sun. Warriors and women, old men and children, to the number of two
+hundred, we are told, perished on that fateful morning, which saw the
+Muaupoko tribe driven from Horowhenua, and the epoch of their
+greatness brought to a close. A mere remnant of the tribe escaped, and
+made their way through the forests and mountain fastnesses towards the
+south, where, within the space of another year, they were again
+pursued, hunted, and slaughtered, with all the old relentless hatred
+of their destroyer.
+
+Having inflicted this crushing blow upon Muaupoko, and feeling
+convinced that they could never again be a serious menace to
+Ngati-Toa, the section of the Ngati-Awa tribe who, under
+Rere-ta-whangawhanga and other chiefs, had accompanied Te Rauparaha
+from Taranaki, now determined to return to their own country at
+Waitara;[60] and it was this decision which made it imperative that
+the Ngati-Toa leader should seek efficient aid from some other
+quarter. He accordingly, without delay, despatched messengers to the
+north, once again to invite his kinsmen of the Ngati-Raukawa tribe to
+come and join him. These emissaries, having arrived at Taupo, learned
+that an attempt to reach Kapiti by way of the east coast had already
+been made by Te Whatanui, but without success, as he had been defeated
+by a Hawke's Bay tribe and driven back. This experience had somewhat
+cooled his ardour; but when Te Rauparaha's messengers came with the
+news that Kapiti had been taken, and told of his marvellous success at
+Waipata and Waikiekie, interest in the project at once revived.
+Especially was a young chief, named Te Ahu-karamu, fired with its
+romantic prospects, and he immediately organised a force of one
+hundred and twenty men and set off for the land of promise.
+
+Almost simultaneously with the arrival of these reinforcements,
+additional strength was gained by the accession of another band of
+Ngati-Awa from Taranaki; and, with these additions to his ranks, Te
+Rauparaha felt himself strong enough to resume once more active
+operations in the field. He accordingly moved upon a skilfully built
+_pa_ situated at Paekakariki, some miles to the southward of
+Kapiti, whither the escaping Muaupoko had fled and taken refuge. In
+this adventure a larger force than usual was employed; for not only
+were the new arrivals keen for a brush with the enemy, but the natural
+strength of the _pa_ was such that Rauparaha knew it would be
+useless to approach it without a force of adequate proportions. In
+these anticipations his judgment was correct, as usual, for the
+struggle proved to be an exceedingly obstinate one and the death-roll
+on both sides considerable. After some days of incessant attack, in
+which the few muskets possessed by Ngati-Toa played their fatal part,
+the Muaupoko defence was pierced, and the victory was sealed with all
+the atrocities associated with the savage warfare of the ancient Maori.
+
+The capture of this _pa_ proved to be a rich prize for Rauparaha.
+Not only did it uproot the last stronghold of the Muaupoko people, but
+it brought a substantial addition to his supplies. Large quantities
+of provisions were discovered within the stockade, evidently collected
+in anticipation of a lengthy siege. So provident, in fact, had the
+inhabitants of the Paekakariki fort been in this respect, that the
+large attacking force spent the succeeding two months feasting upon
+the captured stores, interspersed with an occasional cannibal repast.
+This period of rest the visitors were prepared to enjoy to the full;
+for after a battle nothing was more congenial to Maori warriors than
+to lie idly about the sunny places in the _pa_, and discuss in every
+detail the stirring incidents of the fight.
+
+It was while thus basking in fancied security that the tables were
+suddenly turned upon them, and from a most unexpected quarter. Hearing
+from some of the fugitives of the capture of the Paekakariki
+_pa_, and burning to avenge the raid which Ngati-Toa had
+previously made into the Wairarapa, the members of the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe residing at Wairarapa and near Wellington believed that this was
+their golden opportunity. Secretly collecting a fighting force of
+considerable strength, they made their way through the bush to
+Paekakariki, and there fell upon the unwary and self-indulgent
+invaders. To them it was something of a novel experience to be thus
+repaid in their own tactics; but the swiftness and audacity with which
+the blow was delivered completely demoralised them, and the erstwhile
+assailants suffered the humiliation of being beaten back upon Waikanae
+with inglorious precipitancy. The whole procedure necessarily involved
+considerable loss on the part of Ngati-Toa and their allies, and the
+bitterness of the reverse was especially galling because it was the
+first occasion on which they had been worsted in arms since their
+occupation of the country had commenced. The closeness of the pursuit
+did not slacken until the fugitives had reached Waikanae; but beyond
+this point Ngati-Kahungunu did not press their advantage. They were
+now rushing into touch with Rauparaha's permanent settlements, from
+which the echoes of the strife might draw reinforcements at any
+moment. Unwilling to overrun their victory, the men from
+Whanganui-a-Tara withdrew to the south, well pleased with their
+achievement, which was not without its lesson for Te Rauparaha.
+
+The chief saw that the time had not yet arrived when he could relax
+his life-long vigilance. Heavy as had been the defeats which he had
+inflicted upon the resident people, he saw that their spirit had not
+yet been completely crushed. Brave as his own followers were, he saw
+that they were not proof against the panic which often springs from a
+surprise attack. The thing, however, which caused him most concern was
+the hostile attitude which was now being adopted towards him by the
+Ngati-Kahungunu people. Hitherto this powerful tribe, whose domain was
+a wide and populous one on the eastern coast, had remained
+comparatively neutral in the contest for supremacy in the west. But
+now this attitude was abandoned, and under the encouragement afforded
+by this prospect of protection, the displaced tribes were gradually
+venturing back to their deserted settlements. Should an effective
+alliance be formed between his enemies on the two coasts, the position
+would at once become so charged with danger that his comparatively
+small force would find itself in a most critical situation. It was,
+then, the threatening attitude of his neighbours which caused the
+Ngati-Toa chief to decide finally upon the abandonment of the mainland
+and the transference of the whole of his people to Kapiti, there to
+await the result of his mission to his friends at Maungatautari. In
+the meantime three strongly fortified _pas_ were built upon the
+island, and every preparation made against possible attack. These
+_pas_, situated one at either end, and the third in the centre of
+the island, were designed with as keen an eye for trade as for the
+purposes of defence. Te Rauparaha had not lost sight of the main
+purpose of his conquest, which was to bring himself into close
+association with the whalers, from whom he hoped to obtain, by
+purchase, barter, or bullying, additions to his store of guns and
+ammunition. For this purpose Kapiti was easily the key to the
+position. Favoured by deep water and safe anchorage, it afforded the
+securest of shelter to vessels seeking to escape from the dirty
+weather which comes whistling through the Strait. Boats lying snugly
+at anchor under the lee of the land would have opportunities for trade
+from which all others would be cut off; and there is little doubt that
+this commercial advantage was coolly calculated upon when the _pas_ on
+the mainland were evacuated and those on the island were occupied.
+This much at least is certain, that, whether part of a premeditated
+scheme or otherwise, the move proved to be a masterstroke, for it gave
+to Te Rauparaha a virtual monopoly of the white man's patronage, a
+privilege which for years he guarded with jealous exclusiveness.
+
+When it became known that Te Rauparaha had retired to Kapiti, and
+there seemed less danger of immediate molestation, the Rangitane
+people again began to collect in force near their old home at Hotuiti.
+They built a strong _pa_ near the present town of Foxton, and
+here they were joined by a number of Ngati-Apa chiefs and people from
+Rangitikei. This proceeding Te Rauparaha regarded as a danger and a
+menace to his safety; for he had no reason to believe that he enjoyed
+their friendship, and no means of ascertaining when they might think
+fit to wreak their vengeance upon him. He therefore decided to take
+the initiative and attack them. Accordingly, with Rangihaeata and his
+Ngati-Apa wife Pikinga, he marched his war party up the coast and at
+once invested the place. The method by which he sought to reduce the
+_pa_ to submission was a clever stratagem--perfectly honourable,
+perhaps, according to the Maori code of warfare--but utterly repulsive
+to civilised ideas; and, to those who judge him by the latter
+standard, it lowers Te Rauparaha from the high plane of a classic
+warrior to the level of a cunning and unscrupulous savage. His first
+act of generalship aimed at separating the two tribes, a step which
+has been attributed by some to a desire to spare the Ngati-Apa,
+because of their relationship with Pikinga. Others, however, can see
+in it nothing but a clever ruse to divide the defending force, so that
+he might the more easily attack and defeat them singly. He therefore
+sent Pikinga to the Ngati-Apa chiefs with a request that they would
+withdraw to their own territory beyond the Rangitikei River. Probably
+he promised them safe-conduct on their journey; but, if he did, it was
+of no avail, for they firmly refused to evacuate the Hotuiti _pa_, and
+doggedly remained where they were. Feigning, then, to abandon his
+campaign, Te Rauparaha sent to the Rangitane chiefs, inviting them to
+come to him and negotiate terms of peace.
+
+In view of their past experiences it might have been expected that
+such a request would be scornfully declined; but after long and
+anxious debate it was decided--mainly, it is said, on the advice of
+the Ngati-Apa chiefs--that the leading Rangitane warriors should meet
+the Ngati-Toa leader and make the best terms possible with him. The
+result was, of course, the old story: the ruthless slaughter of the
+confiding ambassadors, who found that Te Rauparaha had come, not with
+peace, but unrelenting war. Treachery was no more suspected inside the
+_pa_ than out of it; and while the people were deluded into the
+belief that the war-clouds had passed away, they were being secretly
+and silently surrounded. At a given signal the walls were stormed and
+a bloody massacre followed, from which the Ngati-Toa warriors emerged
+sated with gruesome triumph. The slain were eaten on the spot, and the
+prisoners were taken to Waikanae, there to await the returning
+appetite of their captors.
+
+So dastardly an attack upon their friends and so gross an insult to
+their tribal pride could not be ignored; and although time might
+elapse before the Ngati-Apa peoples would be able to strike an
+avenging blow, it was quite certain that so soon as the favourable
+moment arrived the Ngati-Toa would have to pay the penalty of their
+treachery. But Te Rauparaha never dreamed that they would have the
+temerity to attack him upon his own land, and while he was lying in
+fancied security at Waikanae, the storm suddenly burst upon him. The
+Ngati-Apa, under Te Hakeke, had hurriedly collected their war party,
+and obtaining reinforcements from the fugitives who had escaped from
+the massacre at Hotuiti, came by stealthy marches down the coast and
+fell upon the unsuspecting Ngati-Toa in the dead of night. Next
+morning the camp was in ruins, Te Rauparaha's force was in flight, and
+sixty of his followers, including four of Te Pehi's daughters, were
+lying dead amongst the _debris_. The balance of battle honours having
+been thus somewhat adjusted, the aggressors retired, well satisfied
+with the result. They were allowed to depart without a resumption of
+hostilities, for the supports who had come over from Kapiti were
+either not strong enough, or not keen enough, to pursue them.[61]
+
+Whatever may have been Te Rauparaha's previous disposition towards
+Ngati-Apa, whether he was genuinely disposed to befriend them or
+whether he was merely playing on their credulity, is of no further
+importance, for from that day he took on an attitude of undisguised
+hostility towards them, revoking all promises of peace, stated or
+implied, and becoming, in the characteristic language of
+Matene-te-Whiwhi, "dark in his heart in regard to Ngati-Apa." The
+shield of friendship having been removed, this unfortunate tribe was
+now exposed to all the fury of the most ruthless man in New Zealand;
+and in the raids which his warriors made against them, neither man nor
+woman was spared who was unfortunate enough to fall into his hands.
+These misfortunes created a bond of sympathy between Ngati-Apa and
+their neighbours, the Rangitane and Muaupoko, and paved the way for an
+alliance against the common enemy. Although banished from Horowhenua
+and wandering about the solitary places of the coast, a broken and
+shattered people, there was still sufficient energy and hatred
+remaining in one of the Muaupoko chiefs to make a final effort to
+recover their departed _mana_.
+
+Te Raki, who had suffered captivity at the hands of Te Pehi, aspiring,
+after his escape, to be the regenerator of his tribe, became the
+active apostle of a federation which was to embrace the tribes who had
+felt the weight of the Ngati-Toa hand. From Waitotara in the north to
+Arapawa and Massacre Bay in the south, and Wairarapa in the east, he
+organised an alliance which could hurl two thousand fighting men
+against their redoubtable adversary. Canoes from far and near brought
+this host to the appointed rendezvous, the northerners assembling at
+Otaki and the southerners at Waikanae. From these two points this army
+converged upon Kapiti, their canoes "darkening the sea" as they went.
+The magnitude of the armada, however, was greater than its discipline,
+and before it had proceeded far its movements were discovered. The
+noise of the paddles, as the canoes approached the island in the early
+morning, caught the keen ear of Nopera, and when the right wing landed
+at Rangatira Point, they were opposed by the people whom they had
+expected to surprise. The attack was fierce and desperate, and when
+Pokaitara, the Ngati-Toa commander, found himself being driven back
+towards Waiorua, he astutely proposed a truce. It would give him a
+welcome respite while it lasted, and perhaps some advantage in the
+first moment of its violation. Ignorant of the fact that a message had
+been sent to Te Rauparaha, who happened to be at the centre of the
+island, and hoping for the speedy arrival of his own laggard
+reinforcements, who were still at sea, Rangi-maire-hau, the Ngati-Apa
+chief from Turakina, in a weak moment, agreed to a suspension of
+hostilities. Scarcely had this been arranged, when Te Rauparaha, with
+the major part of his people, arrived upon the scene, and repudiating
+the agreement to which his lieutenant had committed himself, he
+recommenced the sanguinary work, and fought to such purpose that the
+issue was soon placed beyond doubt. With one hundred and seventy of
+their tribesmen slain, the Ngati-Apa attack began to slacken.
+Presently their ranks were seen to waver, and an impetuous charge at
+this decisive moment drove into rout what had hitherto been an
+impenetrable front. The slaughter of pursuit was scarcely less than
+that of resistance. Dead and dying lay on every side, and many found a
+watery grave in their vain effort to swim to the canoes, which had not
+yet reached the shore.
+
+News that disaster had overtaken the advance guard quickly spread to
+the other sections of the allied forces; and, without attempting to
+retrieve the fortunes of the day, they turned and precipitately fled
+in whichever direction safety seemed to lie. When he realised that his
+host had been worsted in the battle, Rangi-maire-hau disdained to fly,
+but threw himself upon the mercy of Te Rangihaeata, who had borne
+himself with conspicuous bravery throughout the attack. That haughty
+chief, however, saw no reason why he should spread his protecting
+mantle over his would-be exterminator, even though the appeal was
+founded on the bond of relationship with his Ngati-Apa wife; and,
+steeling his heart against every entreaty, he ordered Rangi-maire-hau's
+immediate death. With this exception, it is recorded to the credit of
+Ngati-Toa that they used their victory with unusual moderation. Thus,
+the largest force which had ever been marshalled during the Maori wars
+along this coast was defeated by one of the smallest; the organisation
+of two years was dissipated in as many hours; and the invaders were
+only the more firmly established in the land by this futile attempt to
+uproot them. This great victory, which settled for ever the question
+of supremacy, was duly celebrated by feasting and dancing, during
+which Te Rauparaha chanted a song of triumph, which was especially
+offensive to his enemies, taunting them, as it did, with a lack of
+courage, and foretelling even greater misfortunes that were yet to
+befall them:--
+
+  "When will your anger dare?
+  When will your power arise?
+  Salute your child with your nose.
+  But how salute him now?
+  You will see the rejoicing tide
+  Of the warrior's coming glee,
+  And the departure of Rongo-ma-whiti."
+
+While Te Rauparaha was enjoying the fruits of his victory, his forces
+received welcome reinforcements from two quarters. The news of battles
+fought and laurels won had reached Taranaki, where the Ngati-Tama
+chief, Te Puoho, and some of his followers, whose curiosity had been
+aroused by the tales told by their returned tribesmen, came down to
+learn the truth of the matter for themselves. Close upon their heels
+came the long-hoped-for band of Ngati-Raukawa, who signalised their
+advent by at once attacking the settlements in the Rangitikei and
+Manawatu districts. While one party skirted the coast,[62] the other
+struck inland, and under their chiefs, Te Whatu and Te Whetu,
+surrounded and captured a Ngati-Apa _pa_ at Rangiure, and then
+proceeded to Pikitane, where they killed a number of the resident
+people and made the rest prisoners. These two settlements had been
+taken completely by surprise, their people little dreaming that a war
+party was marching through the land. No better prepared were the
+Ngati-Apa then living at Awahuri, who were next attacked, and their
+chief, named Te Aonui, was added to the train of captives. The
+invaders then pushed their victorious march down the course of the
+Oroua River, as far as its junction with the Manawatu. Here they
+crossed the larger stream, and immediately attacked the _pa_ at
+Te Whakatipua. This assault was stoutly resisted by the chiefs,
+Kaihinu and Piropiro, who paid the penalty with their lives, but the
+remainder of the people who were not shot by the invaders were spared
+on proffering a humble submission. This was practically the only
+discreet course open to them. Not only were they placed at a serious
+disadvantage, away from their fighting _pas_, but many of the
+Ngati-Raukawa were armed with guns, while the Rangitane people had not
+as yet been able to discard the wooden spears and stone clubs of their
+forefathers.
+
+The rapid movements of the Ngati-Raukawa, and the completeness of
+their captures, had prevented the news of their presence being
+despatched to the adjoining settlements; and, as a consequence, when
+they ascended the Manawatu and came upon the little _pa_ at
+Rotoatane, situated not far from Tiakitahuna,[63] they were able to
+attack and capture it almost before the people could be summoned from
+the fields. Not that it was a bloodless victory. A Rangitane chief,
+named Tina, fought with desperation, and, before he was overpowered by
+superior numbers, three of the assailants were stretched dead at his
+feet. Once more the advance was sounded, the objective this time being
+the _pa_ at Tiakitahuna itself. This settlement was under the
+chieftainship of Toringa and Tamati Panau, the latter being the father
+of the chief Kerei te Panau,[64] who until recently lived at Awapuni.
+These men were evidently more alert than their neighbours, for no
+sooner did the _taua_ come in sight than they took to their
+canoes and paddled across to the opposite bank of the river. While the
+two tribes were thus ranged on opposite sides of the stream, the
+Rangitane had time to consider the position. Tamati Panau was the
+first to seek an explanation, by calling out to Te Whatu, "Where is
+the war party from?" Clear and quick came the answer back, "From the
+north." That was sufficient for Toringa, who had already tested the
+mettle of the northerners, and he at once sent a curse across the
+water, hurled at the heads of the invaders with all the venom that
+tribal hatred and a sense of injured vanity could instil. Whether it
+was the dread of Toringa's denunciation, or whether the Ngati-Raukawa
+were satisfied with their unbroken course of victory, is not clear to
+the present-day historian; but the Rangitane traditions relate that,
+after firing a single shot from one of their muskets, the invaders
+retired from the district, taking their prisoners with them, and made
+their way south to join Te Rauparaha, who was anxiously awaiting their
+coming.
+
+The prospect opened up to these new-comers was far beyond anything
+that they had dreamed. In fact, so fascinated was Te Ahu-karamu with
+the new and beautiful country which his great kinsman had conquered
+that, after a reasonable rest, he returned to Taupo for the purpose of
+bringing the whole of his people away from a position which was daily
+becoming more exposed to the aggression of the Waikato tribes. But his
+designs in this direction were nearly thwarted by the persistency with
+which the tribe clung to their northern home, even in defiance of his
+threat to invoke the wrath of his _atua_[65] if they dared to
+question the command of their chief. Finding that the terrors of his
+god had no influence upon them, Karamu adopted an instrument of the
+devil, and, taking a torch in his hand, brought his obdurate tribesmen
+to their senses by burning every house in the _pa_ to the ground.
+Rendered thus houseless and homeless, there was nothing for the
+dejected people to do but to follow their imperious leader. In his
+journey back to Kapiti he was joined by two of the most famous chiefs
+of that day--Te Whatanui and Te Heuheu, the former of whom was
+destined to become the patriarch of Horowhenua and the protector of
+its persecuted people. Collecting a strong retinue of followers, the
+three chiefs set off in 1825 by the same route which Karamu had
+previously travelled down the valley of the Rangitikei, varying the
+monotony of the journey[66] through the Ngati-Apa country by
+occasionally chasing frightened fugitives, in order to gratify their
+pride and glut their appetite.
+
+Upon their arrival at Kapiti long and anxious consultations followed
+between the chiefs, the result of which was that Te Whatanui at last
+consented to migrate[67] and throw in his fortunes with Te Rauparaha.
+This was eventually accomplished in 1828-29, the consolidation of the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa tribes making their future absolutely
+secure and bringing Te Rauparaha's wildest dreams of conquest within
+measurable distance of accomplishment. His broadened aspirations had
+long before this extended across the Strait; and, next to the conquest
+of the coast on which he was now operating, it had become his greatest
+ambition to measure his strength against the natives of the Middle
+Island. Their reputed wealth in greenstone had aroused his avarice,
+while the prospect of acquiring additional territory appealed
+strongly to his love of power.
+
+But before he was able to perfect his plans for carrying into effect
+this new stroke of aggression, an event occurred which was destined to
+have important results. It will be remembered that the crowning
+circumstance which had induced Te Rauparaha to leave Kawhia was the
+sight of a vessel beating through Cook Strait. He had there and then
+settled in his mind that this part of the coast was soon to become an
+important rendezvous for whalers, &c., and already his anticipations
+were being realised with an amazing rapidity. The whalers were now
+frequent visitors to Kapiti, and many were the marvels which they
+brought in their train. But most of all were the natives absorbed in
+the prospect of securing from these rough seafarers guns and
+ammunition, steel tomahawks, and other weapons, which would give them
+an advantage over their enemies in the only business then worth
+consideration--the business of war. Many of these ships, however, had
+not come prepared for this traffic,[68] and the lack of guns, rather
+than any hesitation to part with them, made the process of arming a
+tribe a slow one. It had at least proved much too slow for some of the
+more restless spirits of the race; and impatience, added to a natural
+love of adventure, had led some of them to ship to Sydney, and even to
+England, in the hope of bringing back with them the means of
+accelerating their enemies' destruction. Of these latter Hongi had
+been a conspicuous example, and the success which had attended his
+mission to England roused a spirit of emulation in the breasts of
+other chiefs, who were only waiting the opportunity of following his
+example. Of these, Te Pehi Kupe, the conqueror of Kapiti, was one of
+the few who were signally successful. Knowing no language but his own,
+having only the vaguest notions of what a voyage to England meant,
+and a very precarious prospect of ever being brought back, this man
+had thrown himself on board an English whaler, and, resolute against
+all dissuasions, and even against physical force, had insisted upon
+being carried to a country of which he had but two ideas--King George,
+of whom he had heard, and guns, which he had seen and hoped to
+possess.
+
+Thus it came about that, while the ship _Urania_ was lying
+becalmed in Cook Strait, about five or six miles from the land, on
+February 26, 1824, Captain Reynolds perceived three large canoes,
+fully manned, approaching the vessel. Doubtful what such a
+demonstration might portend, Captain Reynolds put his ship in a
+condition to resist an attack if necessary; and when the canoes were
+within hail, he, by word and sign, endeavoured to warn them off. Had
+he chosen, he might easily have sent the frail-looking barques to the
+bottom by a single shot from the ship's guns; but, unlike many another
+skipper of those days, Captain Reynolds was a man actuated by
+considerations which went beyond himself, and the thought of the
+retaliation which might fall upon other mariners coming to the shores
+of New Zealand restrained him from committing any such act of
+brutality. Fortunately there was no need for drastic action, and the
+behaviour of the natives was such as to leave no doubt in the mind of
+the captain that their intentions were of a peaceable character. Te
+Pehi boldly directed his crew to paddle alongside the ship, and,
+divesting himself of all his clothing except a mat which was slung
+across his shoulders, he, with the swiftness of an athlete, climbed on
+board. When he reached the deck, he endeavoured by signs and gestures
+to convey to Captain Reynolds that what he wanted was arms and
+ammunition, and, on being informed that the ship had none to spare, he
+coolly indicated that, such being the case, he had decided to remain
+on board and proceed to Europe[69] to see King George. These words he
+had evidently learned from some of Captain Reynolds' predecessors, for
+he was able to pronounce them with sufficient distinctness to be
+clearly understood. The audacity of this proposal completely staggered
+the master of the _Urania_, and he at once tried to nip such ambitious
+hopes in the bud by peremptorily ordering the chief back to his canoe.
+Te Pehi, however, met this direction by calling to his men to move the
+canoe away from the ship, and the captain next sought to give his
+command practical force by throwing the chief overboard, in the hope
+and belief that the canoes would pick him up out of the sea. But in
+this he was again checkmated. The chief threw himself down on the deck
+and seized hold of two ring-bolts, with so powerful a grip that it was
+impossible to tear him away without such violence as the humanity of
+Captain Reynolds would not permit. At this critical juncture a light
+breeze sprang up, and Te Pehi improved the favourable circumstance by
+ordering his men to paddle to the shore, as he was going to see King
+George, and that he would soon return. This command was at once
+obeyed, and the breeze carrying the _Urania_ off the land, Captain
+Reynolds was reluctantly compelled to keep the chief on board that
+night. But, far from satisfied with his self-constituted passenger, he
+next day made another effort to force Te Pehi on shore, and nearly
+lost his ship in the attempt. This narrow escape, and the favourable
+conditions for getting away from New Zealand, to some extent
+reconciled the captain to an acceptance of the situation; but his
+chagrin was as great as was the delight of the chief, when it was
+found that there was no option but to keep him on board for the
+remainder of the voyage.
+
+With more intimate acquaintance, the relations between the captain
+and chief grew to be of the most friendly nature, and they lived
+together, both on shipboard and on shore, the captain taking a kindly
+interest in explaining to his protege the mysteries of the great world
+upon which he was entering, while the native clung to his new-found
+friend with a confiding affection.[70] The _Urania_ ultimately reached
+Liverpool, where Te Pehi was the subject of much public attention. He
+was shown over the principal manufactories in Manchester and London,
+his great anxiety to see King George was gratified, and, although he
+was subject to a good deal of sickness, yet, thanks to the care of
+Captain Reynolds, he made an excellent recovery. After about a year's
+residence in England, he was placed on board H.M. ship _The Thames_,
+and in October, 1825, he sailed for his native land, loaded with
+presents of clothing and agricultural implements, which were given him
+by benevolently minded people in the hope that, combined with the
+knowledge of their use and blessing, which he had acquired in England,
+they would exercise an elevating influence upon his countrymen when he
+should return amongst them. Vain hope; for on his arrival at Sydney,
+Te Pehi reversed the beautiful biblical allegory, and turned his
+pruning hooks into spears and his ploughshares into guns and
+ammunition, to aid in the work of waging eternal warfare against the
+enemies of his tribe.[71]
+
+Early in the year 1824, and immediately after Te Pehi's departure for
+England, Te Rauparaha found that, in consequence of the many recent
+additions to his forces, the number of natives who had placed
+themselves under his command was then sufficient to enable him to
+begin the main purpose of his conquest, namely, the systematic
+occupation of the land.[72] He and his own immediate tribe having
+decided to occupy the island of Kapiti, where they could be in closer
+touch with the whalers, he now proceeded to partition the country
+along the coast amongst the new arrivals. The first division led to
+civil war and domestic feuds between a section of Ngati-Raukawa and
+the Ngati-Tama from Taranaki, under Te Puoho, which at one time
+threatened to destroy all that he had already accomplished; and it was
+not until a new allotment was agreed upon, by which Ngati-Awa, to whom
+Ngati-Tama were closely related, were given exclusive possession of
+the country south of the Kukutauaki stream, and the Ngati-Raukawa sole
+dominion over the district northward of that boundary as far as the
+Wangaehu River, that his power to resist his enemies was restored by
+the restoration of harmony amongst his friends. Not that there was any
+immediate danger of attack; for his incessant raids upon the Ngati-Apa
+and Muaupoko tribes had reduced them to the condition of a shattered
+and fugitive remnant, incapable alike of organised attack or organised
+defence.
+
+It was probably one of the proudest days of Te Rauparaha's life when,
+standing on Kapiti, he formally transferred the whole of the coast to
+his followers by right of conquest, than which no Maori could hope for
+a better title, and proclaimed to the assembled people the precise
+districts which were to be their future homes, where they were to
+cultivate, to catch eels, to snare and spear birds. These
+dispositions, however, did not imply that he was prepared to surrender
+his supreme authority over the lands, and the fact that he desired to,
+and intended to, retain his right of suzerainty was made abundantly
+clear. "The lands I now give you are in our joint rule, but I shall be
+greater in power than you individually"; such were the terms in which
+the transfer was made, and the people acquiesced in a unanimous "It is
+right, O Raha! it is as you say." But Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa were commissioned to do something more than merely occupy
+the land. In imperious tones the great chief commanded them: "Clear
+the weeds from off my field." In other and less figurative words, they
+were to kill and persecute the conquered peoples without pity and
+without mercy; and perhaps it would have been well for Ngati-Raukawa
+had they more faithfully obeyed his instructions, instead of extending
+a sheltering arm to Ngati-Apa and Muaupoko, both of whom subsequently
+proved themselves so unworthy of this clemency.[73]
+
+Under the arrangement thus determined upon at Kapiti the country round
+the beautiful lake at Horowhenua was taken possession of by that grand
+old member of a magnificent race, Te Whatanui, and those people who
+had come from the north with him. The district now known as Lower
+Manawatu was occupied by another section of the Ngati-Raukawa people,
+under Te Whetu, and, still higher up, Rangitikei came under the
+dominion of Nepia Taratoa, a chief who seems to have been as generous
+to Ngati-Apa as Whatanui was to Muaupoko. Southward of Horowhenua, as
+far as the present harbour of Wellington, the country was subsequently
+given over to Ngati-Awa, who were in settled possession when the
+first European colonists arrived. Here in 1825-26 Pomare, their chief,
+led the Ngati-Mutunga _hapu_ of the Ngati-Awa people, who forcibly
+occupied the shores of the great bay, where they hoped to cultivate
+the friendship of the whalers,[74] whose commerce was so profitable to
+them. Their tenure, however, was not an undisputed one. They were
+subjected to frequent raids and incessant harassment from the
+Wairarapa tribe, whom they had displaced, and who deeply resented
+being thus deprived of their one avenue of communication with the
+_pakeha_. This tribe, though powerless to retrieve the aggression of
+Ngati-Awa, missed no opportunity of irritating them, and Pomare was
+not reluctant to hand over his trust to some other chief, so soon as
+he could be honourably relieved of it. This opportunity came when,
+after the fall of the Puke-rangiora _pa_ in 1831, the survivors of
+that (for Ngati-Awa) disastrous day, together with the flower of their
+tribe from their other settlements, abandoned Taranaki, and came down,
+a fugitive host, to shelter under the protecting wing of Te Rauparaha.
+
+With Te Puni, Wi Tako, and Wharepouri, an arrangement was entered into
+in 1834, whereby the land round the harbour and the right to contest
+the ownership of the territory with the unexterminated portion of the
+Ngati-Kahungunu were to be ceded to them for the consideration of a
+greenstone _mere_. Pomare was perhaps the more ready to relinquish
+possession of what is now amongst the most valuable land in the
+Dominion, because he had become possessed of information which seemed
+to open up a much more agreeable prospect than resisting the
+inconvenient incursions of his Wairarapa enemies. One of the young men
+of his tribe, Paka-whara, who had shipped on board a whaler, had just
+returned from a southern cruise, with the intelligence that the
+Chatham Islands were populated by a sleek and inoffensive people, who
+might be expected to fall an easy prey to such hardened veterans in
+war as Ngati-Awa could now furnish. Pomare at once acted upon the
+inspiration; and chartering, partly by payment and partly by
+intimidation, the British brig _Rodney_, he sailed with his followers
+in November, 1835, for the Chathams, where, by a fearful destruction
+of human life, the well-conditioned, unwarlike Morioris were reduced
+within the short space of two years to a remnant of two hundred souls.
+
+Whether the allocation of these districts to these particular chiefs
+was due to their own choice or to the will of Te Rauparaha is not
+known; but in the case of Te Whetu the former appears to have been the
+fact. During the raid which he made upon Manawatu while migrating to
+Kapiti, he had secured amongst his captives a handsome young Rangitane
+woman named Hinetiti, whose charms so pleased him that when he reached
+Kapiti he made her his wife. Hine's gentleness moved her lord and
+master in a way that sterner methods would not, and she soon obtained
+such an influence over him that her will became his desire. Doubtless
+the memory of her old home was ever present with her, even amongst the
+beauties of Kapiti; and, when the partition of the country was being
+spoken of in the _kaingas_, she urged Te Whetu to take her back
+to the banks of the Manawatu, where she might be once more with her
+friends and relatives. In deference to this wish, Te Whetu brought her
+to a little settlement named Te Iwi te Kari, near Foxton. With them
+came the Ngati-Wehiwehi _hapu_, bringing the prisoners whom they
+had taken eighteen months before, and together they occupied the
+district around Matai-Kona.
+
+The Manawatu was still well stocked with Rangitane, for many of their
+larger settlements in the upper portion of the district had not been
+so completely depopulated as some of the more southern _pas_ by
+the captures and slaughters of the marauding northerners. The
+presence of the Ngati-Raukawa in the midst of their country put no
+check upon their freedom, and, according to their ancient custom, they
+moved about from one _kainga_ to another at their pleasure. Indeed,
+the relations between the Rangitane and Ngati-Raukawa appear to have
+been of the most friendly nature after the return of the captives from
+Kapiti, a fact which the former attribute to the marriage of Te Whetu
+with their chieftainess, but which in reality was due to the
+generosity of the Ngati-Raukawa, who, had they chosen, might have left
+nothing but smoking ruins and bleaching bones to tell of the
+Rangitane's former existence.
+
+The feeling, however, was not so cordial between the Rangitane and the
+natives immediately under the leadership of Te Rauparaha, who allowed
+no circumstance to mitigate his extreme desire for revenge; and,
+although no pitched battles took place, there were occasional
+skirmishes and massacres which served to keep alive the fires of hate.
+In like manner he constantly harried the Muaupoko and such members of
+the Ngati-Apa tribe as he now and then fell in with, until these
+people, feeling life to be unbearable if they were to be hunted like
+beasts of prey, decided to place themselves beyond the reach of so
+relentless a tormentor. They accordingly, to the number of three
+hundred souls, including women and children, determined upon flight
+into the Wairarapa; and there they threw themselves upon the mercy of
+the Ngati-Kahungunu, who might be expected to display some sympathy
+for other victims of the suffering from which they themselves had not
+escaped. But here again the hapless people were doomed to a bitter
+experience. Instead of being received with the open arms of welcome,
+they were cruelly set upon and driven back over the Tararua Ranges,
+because of some old and unavenged act of violence which their friends
+had committed, but of which they had probably never heard.
+
+Spurned from the only asylum which appeared to be open to them,
+Ngati-Apa returned to Rangitikei and sought the protection of
+Rangihaeata and Nepia Taratoa, to both of whom they paid tribute for
+the right to live. Muaupoko placed themselves under the protecting arm
+of a Ngati-Raukawa chief named Tuahine, whose heart was touched by
+their destitute and defenceless condition. But his intervention was of
+little avail. However willing he might have been--and there is no
+reason to doubt his sincerity--he proved quite unable to shield them
+against the never-dying wrath of Te Rauparaha. Hearing from some of
+the Ngati-Raukawa people that the remnant of the Muaupoko tribe was
+once more beginning to gather round the Horowhenua and Papaitonga
+lakes, he organised a force of Ngati-Toa, Ngati-Huia and Ngati-Tama
+warriors, and marched upon Papaitonga in defiance of the vehement
+protests of Tuahine and many other Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who wished to
+have done with this incessant slaughter. This lake, which covers an
+area of about one hundred and twenty-five acres, lies a few miles to
+the southward of Horowhenua. From time immemorial it had been the home
+of the Muaupoko tribe, by whom it was originally called Waiwiri, but
+in more recent days the name of the larger of the two gem-like islands
+encircled by its waters has been applied to the whole lake.
+Papaitonga, which signifies, "the islet of the South," is a name which
+reveals in bright relief the poetic fancy of the Maori; for, even now,
+when its scenic charms have to some extent succumbed to the demands of
+settlement, the lake and its surroundings still present one of the
+most charming beauty spots in the whole Dominion. A deep fringe of
+tree-ferns and underwood, backed by a dense forest of native bush,
+skirts its north and northeast shores. Southward, through occasional
+breaches in the woods, can be seen the open undulating ground,
+gradually rising until it reaches the foot of the Tararuas, whose
+snow-capped peaks seem to touch the azure sky. Westward, stretching
+away to the sea, are the low flats over which meanders the
+slow-winding Waiwiri stream, which forms the outlet of the lake. Here
+the visitor is indeed on classic ground, for there is scarcely a
+feature of the landscape which has not, for the Maori, some historic
+association, some tragic story, some deepening memory of the hoary
+past. To this day the island of Papaitonga, so restful with its
+luxuriant crown of soft foliage, but which in the days of old was a
+sanguinary battle-ground, remains "a perfect necropolis of human
+bones," lying concealed beneath a living shroud of vegetation, which
+has silently risen to obscure from human sight the gruesome evidence
+of human savagery.
+
+It was to this spot that Te Rauparaha now, in 1827-28, led his
+warriors, arriving there late in the afternoon. His first care was
+effectually to surround the lake. This he did by posting strong
+detachments of men at various points, the reason for this disposition
+being a doubt as to which direction the fugitives would take in their
+flight, which rendered it expedient to intercept them at every
+possible avenue of escape. Ten men were then left in concealment near
+the canoe-landing, the smallness of the number being designed to
+deceive the inhabitants of the island, who at this time numbered
+several hundred. It was arranged that these men should, in the early
+morning, call to the people on the island to bring them a canoe, the
+intention being to create the impression in the minds of the islanders
+that they were a party of friends. Accordingly, when those in the _pa_
+began to be astir, Te Riu called out to Kahurangi:--
+
+"_E Kahu, e! Hoea mai te waka ki au. Ko tou tangata tenei._" (O Kahu,
+bring over a canoe for me, I am your man.)
+
+Either the call was not heard, or a lurking suspicion forbade a ready
+compliance with the request, for no movement was made by the islanders
+in the direction desired until Te Riu had called again:--
+
+"_Hoea mai te waka, kia maua ko to tangata. Ko Te Ruru tenei._" (Send
+a canoe for me and your friend. Te Ruru is here.)
+
+This last appeal was not without avail. A chief named Takare ordered
+two men to paddle a canoe across and bring Te Ruru to the island, at
+the same time impressing upon them the need of keeping a sharp
+lookout on shore to prevent unpleasant surprises. No sooner had the
+canoe put off than two of the Ngati-Toa divested themselves of their
+clothing, and waded out amongst the _raupo_ flags which grew near the
+landing, keeping only their heads above the water. One was armed with
+a tomahawk, and the other with a stone club known as an onewa, and
+their mission was to prevent the return of the canoe, should the men
+who brought it refuse to take the party on board. On came the canoe;
+but when passing the bulrushes, the rowers, who were peering
+cautiously about, detected the heads of the two men amongst the
+_raupo_, and in an instant the conviction of treachery flashed upon
+them. The man in the stern of the canoe excitedly called to his
+companion to shove off; but Whakatupu, the Ngati-Toa, was too quick
+for him. Springing from his concealment, he laid hold of the bow of
+the canoe and began to haul it towards the landing. The Muaupoko
+nearest to him made a lunge at his head with the paddle, but Whakatupu
+skilfully parried the thrust with his short-handled axe, and then,
+turning upon his assailant, with an unerring blow cleft his skull, and
+sent the lifeless body reeling back into the water. When the man in
+the stern of the canoe saw the fate of his companion, he immediately
+leaped overboard, and dived, coming to the surface again well out of
+the reach of the enemy. By diving and swimming, he at length succeeded
+in reaching the shore, where he concealed himself amongst some low
+brushwood, only to find that he had been tracked, and that it was his
+fate to be shot by Aperahama.
+
+The report of the gun, echoing through the silent bush and across the
+face of the placid lake, was the signal to the concealed warriors that
+the day's work had commenced, and to the unhappy islanders the
+announcement that the dogs of war had again been let loose upon them.
+They instantly prepared for flight, for to men without guns resistance
+was hopeless, even had it been possible. While they were swarming into
+their canoes, their panic was considerably accelerated by the sight
+of a Ngati-Huia warrior swimming towards the island discharging his
+musket as he swam. He had tied his cartouche box round his neck, and
+with his hands he loaded and re-loaded his gun, while he propelled
+himself through the water by his legs. When he reached the island, the
+inhabitants had already left, and were making for the shore. Here they
+were met by a deadly fusilade from one of Te Rauparaha's detachments,
+who were quietly waiting for them. They then turned their canoes, and
+made an effort to land at another point, only to be driven back by a
+second attack as disastrous as the first. Attempt after attempt was
+made to land, and here and there a strong swimmer or a swift runner
+succeeded in escaping; but the harvest of death was heavy, the bulk of
+the people, including all the chiefs, being shot. "As for the few who
+escaped," says a native account, "some took refuge at Horowhenua, and
+others fled to the mountains. After the fall of Papaitonga, the war
+party went on to Horowhenua, where there was more killing. Driven from
+there, the Muaupoko fugitives crossed over to Weraroa and fled to the
+hills. Then the war party returned to Papaitonga. What followed was
+according to Maori custom, but who would care to tell of it? I have a
+horror of that part of the story. If you want to know, ask the old men
+of the Ngati-Toa--Ngahuku, Tungia, and the others. That is all."
+Amongst those who were slain in this fight was Toheriri,[75] a
+Muaupoko chief, whose wife was inspired by the occasion to compose a
+lament in which she mourned the death of her husband, and implied that
+Tuahine had broken his pledge by exposing her people to the raid. But,
+in justice to that chief, it has to be admitted that he was entirely
+powerless to interpose on their behalf; while, on the other hand, the
+whole incident serves to show how ruthlessly Te Rauparaha cherished
+his desire for revenge, and how inadequate he considered the lapse of
+time and the slaughter of hundreds to satisfy the _manes_ of his
+children murdered by Muaupoko at Papaitonga.
+
+So Muaupoko died--or what was left of them lived, and were suffered to
+retain some of their lands around Horowhenua Lake. Pathetic laments
+for their lost lands and their departed _mana_ have been
+composed, and are still sung amongst them. One chanted by Taitoko in a
+lamentation over the dead of his tribe is universally known and sung
+by the Maoris of the coast:--
+
+  "The sun is setting,
+  Drawn to his ocean cave--
+  Sinking o'er the peak of Pukehinau.
+  Here wild with grief am I,
+  Lonely as the bird in the
+  Great waste of waters.
+  Wait, wait awhile, O Sun,
+  And we'll go down together."
+
+[48] "It is not unusual for the natural _ariki_, 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" (_Travers_).
+
+[49] I have here followed the narrative of Travers; but, in his
+_History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast_ Mr. Percy Smith
+makes it appear that at the moment of migration Te Ariwi was being
+besieged; that the exodus was not premeditated, but was suggested to
+Te Rauparaha by a Waikato chief as the only means of escape, and that
+the evacuation of the _pa_ was carried out at night. As affording
+an interesting sidelight upon the diversity of opinion which prevails
+as to the cause of Te Rauparaha's migration, I here append the
+following note which I have received from Mr. H. M. Stowell, a
+descendant of the great Hongi. "There is one striking Rauparaha fact
+which has not yet been properly given: Rauparaha had become a pest
+among his own people, and they warned him to beware--this at his
+Kawhia home. Consequently, when the _taua_, or war party, of my
+people, under Waka Nene and his brother Patuone, arrived at Kawhia on
+their way south, and invited Te Rauparaha to join them, he was only
+too willing. He was in personal danger at home, and he could only lose
+his life, at the worst, by coming south. He therefore came. When the
+war parties returned to Kawhia, Rauparaha at once gave out to his
+people that he intended to move south permanently. This being so, his
+people did not take any steps to molest him, and in due course he came
+south. These facts are important, as showing that his coming south was
+not a mere whim or accident; on the contrary, it was imperative,
+because he had made himself obnoxious to his own people."
+
+[50] John White, _Ancient History of the Maori_.
+
+[51] This woman was one of the wives whom Te Rauparaha had taken over
+after the death of Hape Taurangi at Maungatautari.
+
+[52] On the way down one disaster overtook the party. In the passage
+of the Mokau a canoe capsized and the only child of Te Rangihaeata was
+drowned. It was due to this circumstance that Rangihaeata in after
+years sometimes adopted the name of Mokau.
+
+[53] During the night a peculiar incident, illustrative of Maori life
+at this period, occurred. One of the women, the wife of a chief, had a
+child with her, which, in its restlessness, began to cry. Te Rauparaha,
+fearing that his stratagem would be betrayed by the wailing of the
+child, told its mother to choke it, saying, "I am that child." The
+parents at once obeyed the command, and strangled the child.
+
+[54] As illustrating the peculiar methods of Maori warfare, it is said
+that during the night following this battle Te Wherowhero came close
+to the Ngati-Toa camp and called out: "Oh Raha, how am I and my people
+to be saved?" To which Te Rauparaha replied: "You must go away this
+very night. Do not remain. Go; make haste." Following this advice, the
+Waikatos left the field, leaving their fires burning, and when the
+Ngati-Awa reinforcements arrived in the morning, no enemy was to be
+seen.
+
+[55] This is according to Travers's account. Some authorities say that
+Pomare could not have been there at that time.
+
+[56] Afterwards a thorn in Te Rauparaha's side: the saviour of
+Wellington in 1843, and the honourable opponent of the British forces
+in the Waitara war in 1860.
+
+[57] Between the years 1863-69 a violent dispute raged between the
+Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as to their respective rights to
+sell a valuable block of land known as Rangitikei-Manawatu to the
+Provincial Government. Ngati-Raukawa claimed the land on the ground of
+conquest, while Ngati-Apa urged that the marriage of Pikinga, their
+chieftainess, with Rangihaeata was a bond between them and Te
+Rauparaha, which induced him to protect rather than to destroy them.
+Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were furious when they heard of these
+pretensions, and severely upbraided Ngati-Raukawa for not having
+permitted them to exterminate Ngati-Apa, whom they described as "the
+remnant of their meal."
+
+[58] Te Uira was at this time the wife of Te Poa, who was killed at
+this massacre. Hononga was Te Rauparaha's daughter by his second wife,
+Kahui-rangi.
+
+[59] Now Wellington.
+
+[60] This decision, it is said, was taken partly because they took
+umbrage at Te Rauparaha's overbearing manner, and partly because they
+had heard that another Waikato raid upon Taranaki was imminent. This
+was in the year 1823.
+
+[61] This would be about the year 1824.
+
+[62] This force, to the number of 120, was led by Te Ahu-karamu, a
+chief who afterwards became a prominent and progressive leader of the
+Maori people on the west coast.
+
+[63] Called by the early European settlers "Jackeytown."
+
+[64] Kerei te Panau was at this time a lad of about ten years of age,
+and probably owes the fact that he lived to be about ninety-four years
+of age to this flight across the river in the canoes.
+
+[65] _Atua_--a god.
+
+[66] This migration is known to the Ngati-Raukawa tribe as the _Heke
+Whirinui_, owing to the fact that the _whiri_, or plaited
+collars of their mats, were made very large for the journey.
+
+[67] For this purpose, he and Te Heuheu returned to Taupo, some of the
+party passing across the Manawatu block, so as to strike the
+Rangitikei River 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 Rangataua, where a female
+relative of Te Heuheu, famed for her extreme beauty, died of wounds
+inflicted upon her during the journey by a stray band of Ngati-Apa. 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 ground, 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 Rangitikei, where the chief was
+presented with three Ngati-Apa prisoners. These were immediately
+sacrificed, and then the whole party resumed the journey to Taupo.
+Amongst the special events which occurred on the march was the capture
+of a Ngati-Apa woman and two children on the south side of the
+Rangitikei River. The unfortunate children were sacrificed during the
+performance of some 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 Ngati-Raukawa
+leaders. Shortly after this, Te Whiro, one of the greatest of the
+Ngati-Apa 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
+Ngati-Apa long before, but the women were saved (_Travers_).
+
+[68] The native trade consisted of dressed flax and various kinds of
+fresh provisions, including potatoes, which, prior to the advent of
+the Ngati-Toa tribe, had not been planted on the west coast of the
+North Island.
+
+[69] The words which Te Pehi is reported to have used were "Go Europe,
+see King Georgi." Dr. John Savage in his _Account of New Zealand_,
+refers to the apparent preference which the natives had for the word
+Europe over that of England. He says of a native whom he took to
+London with him, from the Bay of Islands: "I never could make
+Mayhanger pronounce the word England, therefore I was content to allow
+him to make use of Europe instead, which he pronounced without
+difficulty." Possibly Te Pehi experienced the same difficulty of
+pronunciation.
+
+[70] The Maori became popular in the _Urania_, and at Monte Video
+plunged into the sea and rescued the drowning captain, who had fallen
+overboard (_Rusden_).
+
+[71] Captain Reynolds was allowed a sum of L200 by the British
+Government as compensation for the trouble and expense to which he had
+been put by his enforced alliance with Te Pehi (see _N.Z. Historical
+Records_). The account of the chief's visit to England will be
+found in the volume of The _Library of Entertaining Knowledge_ for
+1830.
+
+[72] One of the migrations which took place about this time consisted
+of 140 Ngati-Raukawa men under the leadership of Nepia Taratoa. It is
+known in history as the _Heke Kariritahi_, from the fact that
+those warriors who were armed with muskets had hit upon the shrewd
+plan of enlarging the touch-holes of their guns, in order to save the
+time which otherwise would be occupied in priming. They were thus able
+to keep up a much more rapid fire upon the enemy. Te Whatanui came
+down with this _heke_, to consult further with Te Rauparaha, but
+finding him absent from Kapiti, he returned to Taupo to prepare for
+the migration of his own people.
+
+[73] During the hearing by the Native Land Court in 1869 of the
+dispute which arose between the Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Apa tribes as
+to the right to sell the Rangitikei-Manawatu block of land to the
+Provincial Government of Wellington, Chief Judge Fenton remarked to
+Mr. Travers, who was appearing for Ngati-Raukawa, "The fact is, Mr.
+Travers, it appears to me that the flaw in your clients' title is that
+they did not kill and eat all these people."
+
+[74] At times there were many whalers there--as many as a hundred--of
+various nations. Here they stayed while whales came near the coast:
+but when these ceased to come near the coast, the whalers went out on
+the ocean, and the ships which were full of oil went each to its own
+land, and Rauparaha went back to his people and home at Kapiti
+(_Ngati-Toa account_).
+
+[75] Toheriri was prominent in the conspiracy of 1822 in connection
+with the gift of canoes. After that event, he, with his particular
+_hapu_, went to the Wairarapa for two years, and then returned to
+Papaitonga, where he was killed on this occasion, it is said, with
+great barbarity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SOUTHERN RAIDS
+
+
+The events just narrated have brought us in point of time to early in
+the year 1828, by which period Te Rauparaha was unquestionably master
+of the whole coast from Whanganui to Wellington. Not only was his
+supremacy indisputable in that he had completely silenced his enemies,
+but success had brought its natural result in the shape of numerous
+reinforcements, which had come from the shores of Taupo to share in
+his adventurous cause. Thus he was both free and able to give his
+undivided attention to the realisation of a dream which he had long
+cherished, and which he one day hoped to realise. This was no less
+ambitious a scheme than the invasion and conquest of the Middle
+Island, the forest-clad hills and snow-capped mountains of which were
+plainly discernible as he gazed wistfully across the broken waters of
+Raukawa (Cook's Strait). But it was not the scenic beauties of the
+island which attracted the keen eye of Te Rauparaha, for these alone
+would have no charm for him. His mind was cast in the material rather
+than in the aesthetic mould; his thoughts ran to practical rather than
+to artistic ends, and the real magnet which attracted him southward
+was the hope of possessing himself of the large store of greenstone
+which, according to report, the Ngai-Tahu people had collected at
+Kaikoura as the result of their periodical excursions to the west
+coast, where alone this valuable jade could be obtained.[76] Avarice
+and love of conquest were driving forces in his plans, but there was
+yet another motive operating to impel him onward. If the reader will
+recall the circumstances attending the battle of Waiorua, it will be
+remembered that the host which on that occasion invaded Kapiti had
+been collected from far and near. Some among them had even come from
+the tribe of Ngai-Tahu, which was then the most powerful branch of the
+Maori race occupying the Middle Island, of which they had dispossessed
+the Ngati-Mamoe some two hundred years before. One of the principal
+_pas_ of these people in the northern end of the island was situated
+on a high cliff overlooking the bay of Kaikoura, which at this time
+was estimated to contain between three and four thousand souls, living
+under the direction of a chief named Rerewaka. When the fugitives from
+Kapiti reached their settlements on the Middle Island, and carried
+with them marvellous tales of Te Rauparaha's prowess in battle, these
+stories only tended to intensify the feelings of hatred and envy
+already cherished by the southern chiefs. Their impotent rage found
+expression in a vain and unfortunate boast made by Rerewaka, which
+supplied Te Rauparaha with the strongest of all incentives to a Maori
+raid--the desire for revenge. Rerewaka had not himself been present at
+the battle of Waiorua, otherwise he might have been more modest in his
+language towards the invincible Te Rauparaha. But he had had friends
+with the allies, and the chagrin felt at their annihilation, and the
+taunting song of triumph chanted by the victorious Ngati-Toa, in which
+the subjection of the Ngai-Tahu was hinted at, provoked him to declare
+in an unguarded moment that "if ever Te Rauparaha dared to set foot on
+his land, he would rip his belly open with a _niho mango_."[77] This
+oral indiscretion was overheard by a slave standing by, who shortly
+afterwards, making his escape, reported Rerewaka's boast to
+Rauparaha. The chief of the Ngati-Toa heard with placid countenance of
+his threatened fate, and in answer merely remarked, "So he has said,"
+the apparent unconcern of his reply justifying the native proverb
+concerning him: "_Ko te uri o kapu manawa whiti_" (No one knew his
+thoughts, whether they were good or evil). He was really glad at heart
+of this further pretext for attacking and conquering the tribes of the
+Middle Island.[78] But while he had his mind bent upon revenge and his
+eyes fixed upon the treasure of greenstone, he was in no haste to put
+his design into execution. Leisurely action would enable him to
+mobilise his own forces, and serve to wrap his enemies in imagined
+security; and so for two years he waited patiently, keeping his
+warriors in fighting trim by repeated skirmishes with the shattered
+remnants of the Muaupoko and other northern tribes. But now his plans
+had fully matured, and by this time he had succeeded in gathering a
+large quantity of arms and ammunition from the Europeans, who, having
+learnt its advantages, were making Kapiti a frequent port of call and
+a place of some importance in the whaling industry. With these weapons
+he equipped his chosen men, who, when fighting with their native
+_meres_, were superior even to the best of the Ngai-Tahu or Rangitane,
+but, when armed with the more modern implements of the _pakeha_,
+became simply invincible. His fleet of canoes[79] also had been
+strengthened by the captures he had made after the battle of Waiorua,
+so that he had ample accommodation for the three hundred and forty men
+who comprised his expeditionary force. With this force, the most
+perfectly equipped that he had yet commanded, Rauparaha crossed the
+Strait, making Rangitoto (D'Urville Island) his first place of call.
+Here he found a section of the Rangitane tribe, the descendants of the
+people whom Captain Cook had first met at Ship Cove, who had now
+become powerful in the sense of being numerous. But where the odds of
+skill and arms were against them, numbers only supplied more victims
+for the cannibal feast which followed the battle. Everywhere the
+islanders were defeated and put to rout, many of them being eaten on
+the spot, and as many more carried back to Kapiti, there to await the
+dictates of their captors' appetites. Or, if they were fortunate
+enough to have their lives spared, the reprieve only enhanced their
+misfortune by carrying slavery and degradation with it.
+
+Rauparaha on this occasion swept like a withering blast over the whole
+of the northern portion of the Marlborough Province, neither the
+seclusion of the Pelorus Sound nor the inaccessibility of the Wairau
+and Awatere Valleys protecting the inhabitants from the rapacity of
+his warriors. Deflecting their course from D'Urville Island, they next
+proceeded to the point known in Maori legend as "Kupe's spear," but
+more recently styled Jackson's Head. Here a temporary division of
+their forces took place, the Ngati-Awa allies proceeding up Queen
+Charlotte Sound as far as Waitohi, the Pelorus Sound being the
+objective of Te Rauparaha. The tribe who occupied the shores of this
+great waterway was the Ngati-Kuia, an offshoot of Ngati-Apa, who were
+famed for their skill as fishermen, but who did little cultivation.
+Their principal _pa_, a semi-fortified village called Hikapu,
+stood at the junction of the Pelorus and Kenepuru reaches; and, when
+the fleet of northern canoes was seen sweeping up the Sound, the cry
+was raised "_Te Iwi hou e!_" (The newcomers! the new people!) That
+their coming boded them no good, Ngati-Kuia knew, and those who could,
+disappeared into the forest, while those who could not stayed to fight
+for the _mana_ of their tribe and the honour of their ancestral home.
+For them the battle was one against fearful odds; for, this being
+their first acquaintance with firearms, they were seized with panic,
+and the fight soon degenerated into a massacre. "What are those lights
+and the smoke we see at the village?" inquired a boy as he was being
+hurried through the bush by his fugitive father. "That," replied the
+sobbing parent--"that is Ngati-Toa burning your ancestors' and our
+houses."[80]
+
+Whatever hesitation Te Rauparaha may have had about raiding the Wairau
+during this campaign, was dispelled on its being reported to him that
+the Rangitane chief of the valley, Te Rua-Oneone, whose _pa_,
+called Kowhai, was situated near the mouth of the Wairau River, had
+heaped a curse upon his head, an insult which called for prompt and
+vigorous action. As yet the Wairau natives had had no experience of
+Rauparaha's qualities as a fighting chief. But they had heard rumours,
+and had listened to tales of his doings on the other island, which,
+although painted in glowing colours, had nevertheless been regarded
+with contempt by many of the leading chiefs. Amongst these incredulous
+persons was Te Rua-Oneone, who treated the matter so lightly as to
+remark that "Te Rauparaha's head would one day be beaten with a
+fern-root pounder." According to the Maori code, there was but one way
+of dealing with a scoffer who could speak so contemptuously of a
+chief; and therefore, when the natives of Pelorus, D'Urville Island,
+and Totaranui had been hopelessly beaten, the canoes were ordered to
+the Wairau, where the boastful Te Rua-Oneone had direct experience of
+what manner of man Te Rauparaha was. The fight, which took place on
+the land now enclosed within Bank Farm, was soon over, and could only
+have one result. The Rangitane were brave men, but their stone and
+wooden weapons were useless against the muskets of the Ngati-Toa. Te
+Rua-Oneone was captured and carried as a slave to Kapiti, where he had
+time and opportunity to reflect upon his defeat, which Rauparaha, with
+appropriate sarcasm, called _tuki tuki patu aruhe_, which signifies
+"beaten with a fern-root pounder."
+
+Nor was this merely a raid of bloodshed. Rauparaha sought territorial
+aggrandisement, and adopted the Roman principle of securing the fruits
+of his conquest by planting a colony of his tribe at every centre
+along the route of his victorious march. In each case the newcomers
+made slaves of the strong amongst the men and the beautiful amongst
+the women of the people whom they vanquished.[81]
+
+No sooner had this shattering blow been delivered against the fortunes
+of Ngai-Tahu than Te Rauparaha gave his attention to a matter which
+from force of circumstances had been neglected for many months. At the
+earnest solicitation of Ngati-Raukawa, he now agreed to march against
+the Whanganui people, who, it will be remembered, were responsible for
+the destruction of one of the several Ngati-Raukawa migrations prior
+to the first visit to the South Island. A force which, it is said,
+numbered nearly a thousand fighting men, led by the most distinguished
+chiefs of the allied tribes, with Te Rauparaha in supreme command,
+proceeded up the coast and attacked the Putikiwharanui _pa_, which was
+defended by a garrison almost twice as numerous as the assailants.
+Though not protracted, the struggle was fierce. The defenders made
+many desperate sorties, fighting with great determination and
+affording a fine example of courage, during the two months over which
+the investment extended. The damage, however, which they were able to
+inflict had no effect in causing the forces of Te Rauparaha to
+relinquish their grip. After a spirited defence of eight weeks, the
+assailants succeeded in carrying the place by storm, and the
+inhabitants suffered so severely that they were never afterwards able
+to seek the satisfaction of retaliation.[82]
+
+While the Ngati-Toa were engaged in these minor operations, an event
+occurred which increased the _mana_ of their chief amongst his
+own people and added considerably to his reputation abroad. This was
+the opportune arrival of his uncle and former comrade, Te Pehi Kupe,
+who, laden with the store of weapons which he had procured in Sydney,
+was brought back to New Zealand at this critical juncture in the
+history of the tribe.[83] The jubilation at such an event was
+necessarily great; not so much, perhaps, because of the wanderer's
+return, as because of what he had brought with him. There is at least
+no denying the fact that Te Pehi soon forgot what little of
+civilisation he had learned, except in so far as it enabled him to
+become a more destructive savage. He at once coalesced with his former
+leader; and with this valuable addition to his staff of councillors,
+and the enhancement of his munitions of war, Te Rauparaha felt more
+than equal to the task of carrying the battle to the gates of
+Kaikoura.
+
+Out of this extreme confidence grew a further development of the
+Ngati-Toa scheme of conquest. Their forces were now divided into two
+sections, the one proceeding to the great bays on the Nelson Coast,
+where they intended forcibly establishing themselves, while the
+remainder, under their old leader, aided by Te Pehi and a staff of
+other warriors, prepared to test the merits of Rerewaka's boast. It
+was a fateful day in the summer of 1829 when the canoes with three
+hundred men left D'Urville Island and turned their prows to the south.
+Although few in numbers compared with the enemy they were going to
+meet, they knew that the advantage of arms was with them, almost every
+man being provided with a musket. Moreover, they were full of the
+animation which is born of complete confidence in one's leader, and
+which, in this case, almost amounted to a superstition. No war party
+with Rauparaha at its head ever took failure into account, some of the
+warriors even going so far as to declare that "it was only necessary
+to strike the enemy with the handles of their paddles in order to
+secure a victory."
+
+ [Illustration: THE TIKI, KAIAPOI.
+ Erected on the site of the old Kaiapoi Pa.]
+
+Thus, well-armed and confident, the Ngati-Toa proceeded down the
+coast, resting the first day at Cloudy Bay, and subsequently at
+various other points, and arriving off Kaikoura before dawn on the
+fourth day. Not knowing what the exact disposition of the enemy's
+forces might be, and not being disposed for risks, Rauparaha anchored
+his canoes under the shadow of the peninsula, and then waited for the
+light. In this decision his characteristic good fortune did not desert
+him. It so happened that the Kaikoura natives were at that very time
+expecting a visit from some of their tribesmen in the south; and, when
+the first glimmering of dawn revealed a fleet of canoes on the bay
+below, there being nothing to indicate the direction from which they
+had come, the unsuspecting Ngai-Tahu assumed that their anticipated
+visitors had arrived. The early risers in the _pa_ set up the song
+of welcome--_Haere-mai, Haere-mai_--and soon the whole settlement
+throbbed with life and activity, indicative of the jubilant
+expectation of a reunion of friends. Whilst the elders busied
+themselves with preparations for the hospitable entertainment of the
+strangers, the younger people rushed, shouting gaily, down to the
+beach, to escort the guests back to the _pa_. The quick eye of Te
+Rauparaha at once saw the trap into which his enemy had fallen; and,
+elated at his amazing good fortune, he ordered the advance of the
+canoes, which, with a few sweeping strokes of the paddles, were driven
+swiftly across the intervening water. Before the unwary victims had
+recognised their mistake or recovered from their surprise, the
+Ngati-Toa warriors were amongst them, dealing death-blows on every
+hand. As might have been expected, the Ngai-Tahu, being totally
+unarmed and unprepared for the attack, were slaughtered without
+remorse or resistance, and, as their only safety lay in flight, they
+beat a breathless retreat towards the _pa_, where for a time the
+semblance of a stand was made. But the muskets of their assailants
+were now doing their work of death, while their ruthless charges
+increased the havoc. Before long Rerewaka was a prisoner, over a
+thousand of his people were slain, and his stronghold was in the hands
+of his most detested enemies.
+
+This decisive achievement was fully celebrated during the next ten
+days, with all the atrocities peculiar to cannibal feasts; and after
+the savage appetites of the victors had been surfeited with the flesh
+of their victims, and the nephritic treasures of the _pa_ had
+been collected, the war party returned to Kapiti, carrying Rerewaka
+and four hundred additional prisoners with them, to be killed and
+eaten at the leisure of their conquerors. The majority of them in due
+course met this fate, Rerewaka himself being killed with especial
+marks of cruelty and indignity, because of the insulting nature of his
+language towards the Ngati-Toa chief.[84] In consideration of the
+circumstances which led to this attack upon Kaikoura, the victory has
+ever since been known as _Niho Mango_, or "the battle of the shark's
+tooth."
+
+After the humiliation of Rerewaka and his people at Kaikoura,
+Rauparaha's greatest ambition was to pit himself in battle against
+that section of the Ngai-Tahu tribe who, under Tamaiharanui,
+Rongotara, and other powerful chiefs, held the strongly fortified
+_pa_ at Kaiapohia. But before he had a reasonable excuse for
+picking a quarrel with the people of Kaiapoi, and so attacking them in
+a manner that would be strictly _tika_, or proper, he had another
+opportunity of returning to Kaikoura, to retrieve the dignity of
+himself and his friends. The cause of this second invasion, like the
+previous one, was somewhat remote; but, unlike it, it arose out of a
+superabundance of love rather than of hate. The offence complained of
+was not committed against Te Rauparaha, but against his nephew,
+Rangihaeata. Rangihaeata was at this time rapidly rising into fame as
+a daring and successful warrior, and his place in the tribe naturally
+demanded that much of his time should be given up to the business of
+war, with the result that his functions as the head of his household
+were much neglected. During one of these prolonged periods of absence,
+his _pa_ at Porirua was visited by a chief of the Ngati-Ira (a
+branch of the Ngati-Kahungunu) tribe, named Kekerengu. According to
+tradition, this Kekerengu was a man of remarkable beauty of figure and
+grace of deportment. Tall and stalwart of frame, easy of carriage, and
+engaging in manner, his personal charm was still further enhanced in
+Maori estimation by a particularly artistic _moko_, or tattoo
+decoration. The introduction of this social lion into Rangihaeata's
+family circle was the cause of all the trouble. Kekerengu had so
+insinuated himself into the affections of the warrior's wives, that
+when Rangihaeata returned from the wars, the breath of scandal was
+busy with the proceedings of his family circle during his absence. The
+anger of the chief, on learning what had occurred, knew no bounds.
+Forthwith he sent the fiery cross from _pa_ to _pa_, and in a short
+space of time a force sufficient for his purpose was enrolled. Te
+Rauparaha, to whom the scent of battle was sweet, at once espoused the
+cause of his injured relative, and together they set out in search of
+the destroyer of Te Rangihaeata's domestic happiness.
+
+Kekerengu knew that, as the result of his indiscreet conduct,
+retribution would in some form follow him; but, in order to delay the
+evil day, he judiciously took to his canoe, and with a few of his
+followers crossed the Strait and sought refuge amongst the Ngai-Tahu
+of Kaikoura.[85] Thither Te Rauparaha tracked him; but the inhabitants
+of the _pa_ were not to be taken by surprise a second time.
+Knowing that they were no match for the force they saw approaching,
+they at once abandoned their settlement and flew down the coast,
+through the Amuri, towards Kaiapoi. But this escapade was not to stand
+between the Ngati-Toa and their revenge. When they arrived and found
+the _pa_ empty, they at once decided to go in pursuit. The march
+was swift and forced, and the invaders soon fell in with the
+fugitives, as they were camped at the Omihi stream. Here the unhappy
+wretches were attacked and routed with great slaughter, the few who
+escaped death or capture flying in precipitate haste into the bush,
+through which they made their way to the minor settlements further
+south. Kekerengu's guilt[86] was now expiated in his own blood and
+that of his hosts, and therefore Ngati-Toa might have returned to
+their homes fully satisfied with the results of their expedition. But
+the opportunity was so favourable for carrying out the long-cherished
+design of attacking Kaiapoi, that Te Pehi strenuously counselled going
+on. Te Rauparaha, it is said, was seized by some dark foreboding that
+Fate was trifling with him, and endeavoured to argue his lieutenant
+out of his warlike enthusiasm, but without avail. Te Pehi was bent
+upon storming Kaiapoi, and for once Te Rauparaha allowed himself to be
+overruled by his less cautious comrade. To facilitate the movements of
+the war party, which numbered about one hundred men, all encumbrances
+in the shape of prisoners were left in charge of a detachment at
+Omihi, and the canoes, which had been brought round from Kaikoura,
+were manned and taken as far down the coast as the Waipara River.
+There the force disembarked, and hauling the canoes beyond the reach
+of the tide, pushed on across the plains towards the southern
+stronghold.
+
+Kaiapoi was one of the oldest of the Ngai-Tahu _pas_, as it was
+admittedly one of their strongest fortresses. It had been built by Tu
+Rakautahi in 1700 A.D., at the close of the thirty years' war, which
+had resulted in the expulsion and the almost total annihilation of the
+Ngati-Mamoe people. Its position had been selected with some strategic
+skill, for it stood on a narrow tongue of land about five acres in
+extent, which ran out into the Tairutu lagoon, and was surrounded on
+three sides by the dark waters of that extensive swamp, which
+stretched for several miles to the north and the south. On the
+landward side it was protected by a wide and deep ditch, which in
+peaceful times was bridged over, while its double row of palisades,
+erected upon massive earthworks and surmounted by curiously carved
+figures representing gods and ancestors, rendered it so impregnable in
+the popular estimation that it was sometimes compared to "the
+inaccessible cliff of God," which none had dared to scale. The
+internal arrangements were in keeping with the importance of the _pa_
+as the social and military centre of the tribe. Its population was
+numerous, wealthy, and distinctly aristocratic, and therefore the
+domains of the _rangatiras_ and the commonalty were well defined. The
+dwellings of the chiefs were large and commodious structures,
+"ornamented inside and out with carving and scroll work." There were
+storehouses for the man physical, shrines for the man spiritual,
+playing grounds for old and young, and a burial-place for both when
+their earthly sojourn was over. The commerce of the _pa_ was conducted
+through three gates, two of which, Kaitangata and Hiaka-rere, faced
+the deep moat, and the third, Huirapa, the lagoon on the western side,
+being connected with the opposite shore by a light wooden footway. But
+with all its vaunted strength, the _pa_ had, according to critics, a
+fatal weakness, in that, if subjected to a close investment, it was
+liable to have its food supply cut off owing to its semi-insularity.
+Its builder had been twitted with this supposed defect when he
+determined upon the site of his stronghold, and he silenced his
+critics more by his ready wit than by the soundness of his military
+judgment. For he said "_Kai_" must be "_poi_," or food must be swung
+to the spot. "Potted birds from the forests of Kaikoura, fish and
+mutton birds from the south, _kiore_ and _weka_ from the plains and
+the mountain ranges"; and so down through the century or more which
+had passed since then it had been an essential part of the policy of
+those in authority at the _pa_ to see that its commissariat was not
+neglected, and that its _whatas_ were always full against the day
+when its gates might have to be barred to a troublesome enemy.[87]
+
+Such was the place which, in the opening months of 1829, the northern
+force marched to assault; but they had sadly misjudged the position if
+they imagined that they could take it by surprise. Ngai-Tahu had
+warning enough to enable them to gather their people within the
+palisades, to cut away their bridges, and to stand upon the alert at
+all the most vulnerable points. When, therefore, Te Rauparaha arrived
+under the walls of the _pa_, he adopted the most diplomatic
+course open to him, and made a virtue of necessity by feigning that he
+had come only with the most peaceful intent. His first care was to
+select a suitable site for his camp; he fixed it upon the
+south-western side of the lagoon, and there calmly sat down to await
+developments. Nor had he long to wait. Tamaiharanui, the high priest
+and leading chief of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, accompanied by a native
+named Hakitara, proceeded under commission from the people in the
+_pa_ to inquire the purpose of so unexpected a visit. Hakitara
+was a Nga-Puhi native, having come originally from the northern
+portion of the Auckland Province. When Te Rauparaha had exchanged
+salutations with him and the venerable Tamaiharanui, he proceeded to
+furnish the explanation which they had come to seek. In the course of
+his oration he recited a _tau_, or war song, the idiom of which
+was more apparent to the Nga-Puhi than to his companion, who was less
+learned in northern lore. This battle chant conveyed a message to
+Hakitara which was sinister and disturbing. The protestations of Te
+Rauparaha were most ardent in the direction of peace, and his
+declarations full of the promise of friendship; but the words of his
+song had been so suspiciously indicative of evil intent, that Hakitara
+felt it incumbent upon him to advise the immediate return of
+Tamaiharanui to the _pa_, while he himself remained in the Ngati-Toa
+camp to pick up what scraps of useful information might drop from the
+lips of incautious retainers. By dint of sedulous inquiry,
+particularly amongst the slaves, he gleaned enough to stimulate his
+suspicions, which were more than confirmed when he heard that the
+northerners had desecrated a newly made grave which they had passed on
+the march to the _pa_. Such an outrage to the dead of Ngai-Tahu was
+not the act of friends; and now the living witnesses of Te Rauparaha's
+hostility began to pour into Kaiapoi, viz., the fugitives who had
+escaped from the slaughter at Omihi. For days they had wandered in the
+bush and in the by-paths of the open lands, hoping to evade the clutch
+of their pursuers; and when they arrived with their tale of terror,
+something more than fair words were needed to convince the inhabitants
+of the semi-beleaguered _pa_ that Ngati-Toa had come so far south on a
+mission of peaceful commerce, and not of resentful war. Te Rauparaha,
+with his usual clarity of vision, saw the predicament in which the
+inopportune arrival of the fugitives had placed him, and promptly
+determined upon a desperate expedient, which, he hoped, would allay
+the dark suspicion which he hourly saw growing up around him, and
+which, if unchecked, would assuredly frustrate his enterprise. Not
+only did he feel it necessary to reiterate his assurances that nothing
+but a desire to trade for greenstone had brought him to Kaiapoi, but
+he did more. With a recklessness which only a critical situation could
+justify, he permitted his principal lieutenants--a liberty hitherto
+denied them--to freely enter the enemy's _pa_, and carry on, with
+well-simulated earnestness, negotiations for the exchange of
+greenstone for their own ancient fire-arms and doubtful powder.
+
+Amongst the first of the Ngati-Toa chiefs to avail himself of this
+permission was Te Pehi,[88] who, it will be remembered, had, with
+fatal enthusiasm, inspired the raid, and urged it upon an unwilling
+leader. Together with Pokaitara, Te Aratangata, Te Kohua, Te Hua Piko,
+and several other chiefs equally renowned in Ngati-Toa warfare, Te
+Pehi continued to visit and revisit the _pa_ for several days,
+carrying on a brisk trade, and incidentally noting the interior
+arrangements of the fortress, its people, and the chances of its
+speedy capture. Meanwhile, the Ngai-Tahu agent in Te Rauparaha's camp
+was not idle, and not the least of Hakitara's successes was the fact
+that he had been able to ingratiate himself into the good opinion of
+Te Rauparaha. That astute personage, usually so keen a judge of
+character, was completely deceived by the clever Nga-Puhi, whom he had
+hopes of weaning from the Ngai-Tahu cause. To this end he presented
+him with one of the most attractive of his slaves, a lady named Te
+Aka, whose charms it was hoped would prove sufficiently strong to draw
+the Nga-Puhi warrior back to the north. But Te Rauparaha's cold
+calculations were soon set at naught by the warmth of a human heart.
+Te Aka was not a free woman. She was a slave, whose _pa_ and
+whose people had been overrun and destroyed by the ruthless invader,
+and within her breast there burned the undying desire and hope for
+revenge. Therefore, when she and Hakitara came to understand each
+other, there was soon a joint wit at work to worst the man who fondly
+believed that the human passions were being harnessed to his
+political schemes. So confident was he that he would win Hakitara
+over, that he neglected even ordinary prudence in discussing his plans
+within his hearing. To such excess was this overconfidence carried,
+that one night he called his chiefs together to a council of war,
+which was held under the eaves of the _whare_ which Hakitara occupied,
+where every word could be heard by the occupants. Here the whole
+scheme of the capture of Kaiapoi was discussed and decided upon; and
+so hopeful was Te Rauparaha of success, that he boastingly remarked to
+Te Rangihaeata, "Soon we shall have our _pa_." "Beware of the Nga-Puhi
+man," was Rangihaeata's whispered advice; but Rauparaha dismissed the
+warning by an impatient gesture and a petulant remark that nothing was
+to be feared from that quarter. Hakitara had, however, been greedily
+listening to all that had passed, and when the council broke up he was
+in possession of every detail of the tactics by which the _pa_ was to
+be assaulted on the morrow.
+
+As might be surmised, sleep came but fitfully to the faithful Hakitara
+that night, and just as the first silver ray of dawn was breaking in
+the east, he rose, and, wrapping himself in a large dog-skin mat,
+crept out of the hut into the grey morning, determined to warn his
+friends in the _pa_, if fortune did not desert him. The Maori
+system of warfare, though quaint in many respects, was practical
+enough to include the posting of sentries round the camps; and, even
+if they were not invariably vigilant, there was always the risk that
+one might happen to be watchful at an awkward moment. This fear
+haunted Hakitara as, with beating heart, he wormed his way between the
+huts and through the tufts of waving tussock grass. Tradition records
+that he was successful in eluding a direct challenge; and when he was
+well beyond the circuit of the sentries, he rose to his feet and ran
+with all his speed to the nearest gate of the _pa_. The gate was
+instantly opened to him, and in a hurried whisper he bade the keeper
+summon the chiefs to a conference in a neighbouring house. When the
+warriors were assembled, he disclosed to them in hot, hurried words
+all that he knew of Ngati-Toa's intentions, which, in remembrance of a
+treaty negotiated only the previous day, could be regarded in no other
+light than as a shameless breach of faith. The council decided that
+they would not wait for the blow to fall upon them from outside, but
+would forestall the northerners in their own methods. They knew that
+some of the Ngati-Toa chiefs would, in keeping with the custom of the
+past few days, visit them again for the purpose of trade; and they
+were hopeful that, by a special effort, they might be able to induce
+the great Te Rauparaha himself to come within the gates. It was agreed
+that the chiefs, once within the walls, should be attacked and killed,
+and that then a sortie should be made upon the unsuspecting camp
+outside. Scarcely had this decision been arrived at, when Te Pehi and
+several of his fellow-chiefs entered the _pa_ and began to mix with
+the populace, who were now busy preparing for the business of the day,
+and were in total ignorance of the decision of their leaders or the
+circumstances which had dictated it. There was thus no change in the
+demeanour of the people to excite uneasiness in the minds of Te Pehi
+and his friends. They, on the other hand, knowing that their plans
+were nearing fruition, and believing that the _pa_ was virtually in
+the hollow of their hands, adopted a more insolent air, and were at no
+pains to conceal the contempt with which they regarded the rights of
+Ngai-Tahu property. Thus, Te Pehi boldly entered one of the houses,
+and seizing a large block of greenstone, attached to it a rope of
+flax, and proceeded to drag it towards the Hiaka-rere gate, evidently
+intending to carry it into the northern camp.
+
+The _pa_ was now alive with men and women, for the day was well
+on, and the audacious cupidity of Te Pehi aroused both astonishment
+and anger. As he strode towards the gate, he had to pass a group of
+excited onlookers sitting in the _marae_, or open space which served
+the purpose of a sports ground. One of these, Moimoi, rose and
+challenged Te Pehi's right to purloin his greenstone in that
+unceremonious fashion. With scorn unspeakable, Te Pehi turned upon his
+interrogator, and in tones of bitter contempt inquired by what right
+he, a menial, dared to call in question the actions of a chief. "You
+of the crooked tattoo, what use would your ugly head be to me if I
+were to carry it back with me to Kapiti? It would be worth nothing
+towards the purchase of a musket. But," said he, turning to a stalwart
+native standing near by, "here is a man whose head would be worth the
+taking, but you with the worthless head, how dare you cavil at the
+actions of the great Te Pehi?" The slighting reference to the
+inartistic facial decoration of Moimoi was intended to be particularly
+insulting, for every native was wont to pride himself upon the
+completeness of his _moko_, and Te Pehi had good reason to regard
+himself as something of an authority upon this branch of Maori art,
+for his own tattoo was more than usually elaborate. But the most
+alarming portion of his taunt was his thinly-veiled reference to the
+sale of Moimoi's head. Every one knew that at this period a
+considerable traffic had sprung up in native heads,[89] which were
+preserved by a crude process and traded away to Europeans in exchange
+for muskets. Te Pehi's reference to the matter could, then, only be
+taken as an indication that during his visits to the _pa_ he had lent
+his eye to business, and, in this connection, business meant the
+assault and sacking of the fortress. The full force of this indiscreet
+admission had flashed upon the astonished listeners; but, before they
+could reply, their attention was diverted from the arrogance of Te
+Pehi by another incident which had occurred at the Hiaka-rere gate.
+Pokaitara, one of Te Rauparaha's most intrepid lieutenants, had
+approached this entrance, and was seeking admission to the _pa_, which
+was being denied him. Observing who the visitor was, Rongotara, the
+superior resident chief of Kaiapoi, ordered the keeper of the gate to
+admit him, exclaiming as he did so, "Welcome my younger brother's
+lord," a reference to the fact that Rongotara's brother had been made
+a prisoner at Omihi by Pokaitara, and was at that moment in his
+keeping. The gate was immediately thrown open; but the Ngati-Toa had
+no sooner bent his head beneath the portal than Rongotara dealt him a
+crushing blow with his _miti_, or stone club, which he was carrying in
+his hand, and the lifeless body fell with a heavy thud to the ground.
+
+It was this opening episode in the Ngai-Tahu policy of checkmate which
+had suddenly diverted attention from Te Pehi. But the incident had
+been as visible to him as to those around him, and the moment he saw
+it, the critical nature of his own position dawned upon him, and,
+taking no further thought of the greenstone, he sprang with the
+agility of a tiger towards the south-western angle of the palisading,
+and commenced to scramble up the wall by clutching the vines which
+bound the upright posts together. His plunge for safety would probably
+have proved successful--for several shots which were fired at him flew
+wide of the mark--had not Tangatahara, a Ngai-Tahu warrior of great
+strength and personal courage, closed with him, and, pulling him to
+the ground, despatched him with a blow from his tomahawk.[90] The
+other northern chiefs who were in the _pa_ were apprised of the melee
+which was proceeding by the sound of the fire-arms discharged against
+Te Pehi, and were not slow to grasp the situation. Realising that they
+had been trapped, they knew that it would be of little use attempting
+to escape by the regular gateways, which were all securely guarded;
+and, with one exception, those who were free to do so flew to the
+walls, hoping to scale them, and so get safely to their camp. But they
+were for the most part either overpowered by numbers and tomahawked on
+the spot, or were shot while scrambling up the _aka_ vines. The
+exception referred to was Te Aratangata, who happened to be at the
+northern end of the _pa_, and was at this juncture bargaining to
+secure a famous greenstone _mere_ called by the Ngai-Tahu people "Te
+Rau-hikihiki." The moment he saw what was happening, he dashed toward
+the gate Huirapa, hoping to force his way past the guard, who, he
+supposed, could offer but feeble resistance to his own exceptional
+strength, courage, and skill.
+
+There is every reason to believe that Rongotara rather precipitated
+matters by killing Pokaitara at the gate, as it had been decided that
+an attempt should first be made to induce the great Te Rauparaha
+himself to enter the _pa_, in the hope of including him in the
+holocaust. Still, the plans of the Kaiapoi chiefs were sufficiently
+mature to meet the emergency when it suddenly arose; and so Te
+Aratangata discovered to his alarm that, although he was at the
+further end of the _pa_ from that at which Te Pehi had been
+attacked, he was just as closely surrounded by enemies. When he
+started for the gate, he had virtually to fight every inch of the way.
+He had little difficulty in disposing of the first few who intercepted
+his path; but, as he drew nearer to the gate, his assailants
+increased, and before he had struggled on many yards he was attacked
+by over twenty persons armed with all manner of weapons. Against those
+who ventured at close quarters he valiantly defended himself with his
+_mere_, all the time pressing on towards the gate. A gun-shot wound
+temporarily checked his onward course, and he was soon further
+handicapped by several spear-thrusts, which left the spears dangling
+in the fleshy parts of his body, and from which he found it impossible
+to disengage himself, pressed as he was on every side. These
+difficulties perceptibly weakened his defence, but he was still able
+to fight on, keeping his opponents at bay by swift and desperate blows
+with his _mere_, which, up to this moment, had accounted for all who
+had ventured within his reach. The brave Ngati-Toa had now reached
+within a few paces of the gate, and may have even yet had dreams of
+escape, when the crowning disaster came in the breaking of his _mere_.
+A shot, which had been intended for his body, struck the greenstone
+blade, and shattered the faithful weapon into a hundred fragments,
+leaving only the butt in Aratangata's hand. Now utterly defenceless,
+weakened by his wounds, and hampered by the dragging spears, the
+undaunted chief turned upon his assailants, and, with his last
+strength, grappled with those who came within his reach. The unequal
+struggle could not, however, be long maintained. Emboldened by his
+helpless condition, his pursuers pressed in upon him with angry
+tumult, and he was borne to the ground by Te Koreke, who finished the
+deadly work with a succession of blows with his tomahawk upon the
+prostrate warrior's head and neck.
+
+So fell Te Aratangata, and so fell the flower of the Ngati-Toa tribe
+that day. In all, eight great chiefs[91] were killed, who, by their
+heroism on the field and their sagacity in council, had materially
+aided Te Rauparaha in all his great achievements. They had added
+brilliancy to his battles, lustre to his victories, and had lent a
+wisdom to his administration, whereby the fruits of his enterprise
+had not been wasted by internecine strife. So dire a tragedy as the
+death of the princes of his tribe was a great blow to Te Rauparaha.
+But it is doubtful whether the sacrifice of so much mental and
+physical fibre was more keenly felt by the Ngati-Toa chief than the
+loss of prestige and damage to his reputation, which he might
+reasonably apprehend from his being outwitted at his own game, and
+that, too, by a people whom he had hitherto despised as opponents.
+That they would turn upon him in what he chose to regard as an
+unprovoked attack was something which was not reckoned upon in his
+philosophy, for he had trusted to his blandishments to soothe away
+their suspicions, or to his great name and reputation to awe them into
+submission. And when the blow fell, and he saw his patiently laid
+plans tumbling about his ears, he received the result with mingled
+feelings of surprise, indignation, and something akin to dismay. In
+this frame of mind he deemed it expedient to anticipate any further
+unexpected eventualities by withdrawing his force and making good his
+retreat with as little delay as possible. Consequently his camp was at
+once broken up, and the little army made its dejected way across the
+plain to Double Corner, where the canoes had been left, and next day
+Te Rauparaha set sail for Omihi and Kapiti, having, as the result of
+his first raid upon Kaiapoi,[92] added neither greenstone to his
+treasure nor glory to his reputation as a warrior.
+
+For the better part of two years Te Rauparaha nursed his wrath against
+Ngai-Tahu, and spent the intervening time in devising schemes whereby
+he might secure a vengeance commensurate with the disgrace of his
+repulse and the death of his well-loved friends. One thing on which he
+had fully determined was that Ngai-Tahu should pay for their temerity
+with the purest of their blood, for he would take no plebeian in
+payment for so royal a soul as Te Pehi. His schemes were therefore
+directed against the life of Tamaiharanui,[93] who has already been
+described as the embodiment of spiritual and temporal power in the
+southern tribe. He was the hereditary representative of all that stood
+for nobility amongst the sons of Tahu. His person was regarded as so
+sacred that the common people scarcely dared to look upon his face. He
+could only be addressed by his fellow-chiefs with the greatest
+deference and in the most reverential language; and if, while passing
+through the congested streets of a village, his shadow should fall
+upon a _whata_ or a _rua_, the storehouse and its contents would be
+immediately destroyed, to prevent the sacrilege of a tribesman
+consuming food upon which even the shade of so sacred a personage had
+lighted. Indeed, so sanctified and ceremonious an individual was he,
+that his presence was sometimes oppressive to those who were not
+accustomed to live in an atmosphere of ritual; for the slightest
+disregard of what was due to one so endowed with the spirit of the
+gods might involve them at any moment in the loss of possessions, and
+even of life.
+
+ [Illustration: GILLET's WHALING STATION, KAPITI, 1842.
+ From a sketch by Gilfillan,
+ by kind permission of Miss Gilfillan.]
+
+To secure so eminent a scion of Ngai-Tahu aristocracy would be a
+trophy indeed; but Te Rauparaha knew that it was no ordinary task that
+he was contemplating. An attack upon regular lines might easily defeat
+its own purpose, for a chief so sacred to the tribe as Tamaiharanui
+would scarcely be permitted to sacrifice himself upon the field of
+battle, even if his own inclinations impelled him to lead his people,
+a point of personal courage by no means too well established.[94]
+Strategy must therefore be employed, and it must be strategy of the
+most delicate kind, for, in the naive language of the younger Te
+Rauparaha, "the chief must be enticed, even as the _kaka_ is enticed."
+For the scheme which was finally adopted it has been claimed that Te
+Rauparaha was not originally responsible, but that the idea was first
+conceived by a relative of his, named Hohepa Tama-i-hengia, who had
+been working on board a whaler in the southern latitudes, and heard
+the story of Te Pehi's death on the ship calling in at a bay on the
+coast of Otago. Hohepa, who, in his contact with the European, had
+lost none of that eternal thirst for revenge which marked the ancient
+Maori, at once besought the captain to employ his vessel in the
+capture of Tamaiharanui, promising a large reward from Te Rauparaha on
+his handing over the prisoner at Kapiti. The captain, however, was
+discouraged in the idea by the rest of the ship's company, who were
+eager to reach Queen Charlotte Sound, there to resume their whaling
+operations; and thus the execution of the brilliant suggestion had
+perforce to be suspended until the ingenious author of it himself
+reached Kapiti. There the daring plan was laid before the fighting
+chiefs of the tribe, who were readily convinced of its practicability.
+
+Their first overtures were made to Captain Briggs, whose ship, the
+_Dragon_, was then lying at Kapiti. This seaman has, with a frankness
+amounting to brutality, explained that he ultimately declined their
+proposals, not because the enterprise was repugnant to him, but
+because Te Rauparaha insisted upon taking more men with him than he
+deemed it prudent to carry in his ship. The manner in which the
+captain of the _Dragon_ was approached was diplomatic in the extreme.
+The chiefs explained to him that Te Pehi had been to England, and
+that, as a mark of gratitude for his generous treatment there, he had
+always been the friend of the English. Tamaiharanui, on the other
+hand, had killed more white men than any other chief in New Zealand,
+from which fact they adroitly argued that they and Captain Briggs had
+a mutual interest in compassing his death. Briggs seems to have been
+convinced that Tamaiharanui was a "monster," whose death would be a
+distinct benefit to society, and he unhesitatingly offered to take Te
+Rauparaha and two of his best men to Akaroa to effect the capture. Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko, however, stipulated for twenty men; but, as the
+cautious Briggs considered that "this would have given the chiefs more
+power in the vessel than he cared to part with," he declined further
+discussion. This rebuff delayed, but did not extinguish, the purpose
+of the chiefs. They still hoped that other captains would be more
+amenable to persuasion or more susceptible to reward. There was thus
+considerable excitement at Kapiti on a certain day towards the close
+of the year 1830, when a vessel was seen rounding the Taheke Point,
+and the cry of "A ship, a ship!" was raised from every corner of the
+settlement. Rauparaha immediately ordered out his canoe, and, putting
+off with Te Hiko and a full crew, boarded the stranger, which proved
+to be the British brig _Elizabeth_ of 236 tons, commanded by Captain
+Stewart.[95] The chiefs were fortunate in the type of man with whom
+they had come to negotiate. Stewart was one of the semi-buccaneer
+breed, who, at this period, were all too common in these waters, and
+whose depredations have contributed so many of the ugly pages of our
+country's history. Nor was this case to be an exception. Before
+committing himself, however, Stewart took the precaution of consulting
+Captain Briggs, who advised him not to undertake to carry more natives
+on board than he could safely control. But this counsel[96] was not
+followed, and a bargain was eventually struck, whereby it was agreed
+that the captain was to carry the chiefs and their party to Whanga-roa
+(now Akaroa) Harbour in Banks's Peninsula, in consideration for which
+he was to receive fifty tons of dressed flax--valued roughly at
+L1,200--immediately upon his return to Kapiti. The conclusion of this
+contract gave intense satisfaction to the chiefs, and according to his
+son, "the heart of Te Rauparaha lived in joy."
+
+Some of the apologists for Captain Stewart have endeavoured to show
+that he was not made fully aware of the real intentions of the chiefs,
+and that, when the savage purpose of the voyage was borne in upon him,
+he was then powerless to avert the tragic scenes which were afterwards
+enacted. It has been further urged in extenuation of his crime that,
+when he arrived on the coast of New Zealand, he discovered to his
+dismay that his cargo was totally unsuitable to excite trade with the
+natives, and that he was, therefore, constrained, in the interests of
+his employers, to accept a charter against which there was no law, and
+which promised a rich and speedy remuneration. What measure of truth
+there may be in the former defence it is now difficult to determine.
+It is possible that events developed in a manner and to an extent that
+had not been contemplated by Stewart; but it must be remembered that
+he had discussed with due deliberation the whole project with his
+friend Captain Briggs, and that, if he afterwards found himself
+powerless to control the passions of his charterers, the blame was
+entirely his own for disdaining the advice of his fellow captain
+regarding a limitation of numbers. As to the unmarketable nature of
+his cargo, that specious plea is flatly disproved by the ship's
+manifest. So far from the goods carried being unsuitable for trade,
+there was scarcely anything brought in the _Elizabeth_ for which the
+natives were not eagerly craving. Indeed, there is no room to doubt
+that, had Captain Stewart chosen to confine himself to legitimate
+commerce, he could have easily bartered his guns and his powder, his
+flints and his tobacco, for a cargo which would have given his
+employers an adequate return, without requiring his zeal in their
+behalf to outrage the feelings of humanity. Similarly, it is scarcely
+to be supposed that Stewart's knowledge of the law was so wide that he
+was aware there was no statutory decree prohibiting his entering into
+this unholy compact. He was clearly just as indifferent to its moral
+aspect as he was unaware of its legal bearing. Otherwise he would have
+known that, viewed from this standpoint, there was no distinction
+between a crime committed against a savage and that perpetrated upon a
+civilised being. The absence of any law regulating the conduct of
+individuals placed in such circumstances is no palliation for the
+outrage which he committed; and, so far from his being unwittingly led
+into an error of judgment, his treatment of Tamaiharanui after his
+capture dispels any supposition that he had repented of his bargain,
+or that he was in the least degree revolted by the excesses of the
+natives. Having regard to these facts, the impression conveyed by a
+study of the general character of the man, as revealed by his actions,
+is, that the purpose of the voyage would not have caused him much
+scruple, so long as the reward was ample and easily obtained. Howbeit,
+a few days after the bargain was struck, he received on board his
+vessel Te Rauparaha and one hundred and seventy of his followers,
+accompanied by five of his remaining lieutenants--Te Rangihaeata, Te
+Hiko, Tungia, and Tama-i-hengia, and on October 29th set sail for
+Banks's Peninsula.
+
+The voyage appears to have been propitious enough, for, in due course,
+the vessel arrived at Whanga-roa Harbour, on the shores of which then
+stood the Takapuneke _pa_, and now nestles the sequestered town of
+Akaroa.[97] The coming of a ship was an event much more rare at Akaroa
+than it was at Kapiti, and, consequently, the natives of the _pa_ were
+stirred to the highest pitch of excitement, and desired to enter into
+immediate trade with the vessel, which they misjudged to be an honest
+whaler.[98] Meanwhile Te Rauparaha had carefully concealed all his men
+beneath the hatches, and enjoined upon them the strictest seclusion;
+for the success of his scheme altogether depended upon the concealment
+of the fact that a force of natives was on board. Acting under
+instructions from the chief, Captain Stewart, through his interpreter,
+forbade any of the resident natives to board the _Elizabeth_ until
+Tamaiharanui had returned; for it so happened that, at the time of the
+brig's arrival at Akaroa, that chief was absent from his _pa_,
+superintending the preparation of a cargo of flax which he had sold to
+an English captain. A message was accordingly despatched to Wairewa,
+urging him to come and see a _pakeha_ who was eager to trade. It was
+not, however, till the eighth day that Tama arrived, and, during all
+that time, the Ngati-Toa warriors had been cooped up under the
+hatches, being permitted only a few minutes on deck under the cover of
+darkness. These precautions prevented any suspicion reaching the
+shore; and yet some doubt seems to have lurked in the minds of the
+resident people, for they eagerly inquired of Cowell, the interpreter,
+whether there were any natives on board, and were put off with the
+laughing assurance that such was impossible, as the vessel had just
+come down from Sydney. This statement was seemingly fair enough; but,
+if Sydney was the last port of call, how came those _hutiwai_ burrs
+clinging to the clothes of some of the crew, which a keen-eyed native
+had just espied? _Hutiwai_ burrs do not grow in Sydney, nor upon the
+broad ocean. Then the lie that came handiest was that on the way down
+they had called at the Bay of Islands, and the sailors had probably
+picked up the burrs while carousing on shore. The evasion, however
+palpable, was at least successful in silencing the doubts which were
+just growing to dangerous proportions in the minds of Tamaiharanui's
+people, and the incident had no influence in cooling their ardour for
+trade, for further messengers were shortly afterwards despatched to
+hasten their chief's coming. When Tamaiharanui came, he brought with
+him his wife, Te Whe, his sister, and his little daughter
+Ngaroimata,[99] a name full of pathetic suggestion. He was cordially
+welcomed by the captain, who invited him to his cabin below with every
+show of courtesy and hospitality. But no sooner was the chief seated
+than the door opened, and, to his intense amazement, his mortal
+enemies, Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko, stood before him. To overpower and
+bind him was the work of but a few moments, and then the Ngati-Toa let
+loose upon him the full flood of their invective, taunting him in
+bitter scorn with his infantile simplicity in falling so easily into
+their trap. Te Hiko added insult to injury by advancing and drawing
+back the captive's upper lip, sneeringly remarking, "So these are the
+teeth which ate my father."
+
+In all innocence of what was passing within the cabin, the followers
+of Tamaiharanui swarmed round the ship's side in their canoes,
+clamouring for admission, so that they might trade for the needful
+guns and casks of powder. This permission was granted to a few at a
+time, who, immediately they reached the deck, were conducted by the
+crew to the open hatchway and promptly shoved headlong into the hold,
+where they were secured by Te Rauparaha's men and made prisoners as
+easily and as simply as their chief had been. The failure of these
+people to return to the shore evidently did not excite any
+uneasiness. It was no uncommon thing for natives visiting a ship in
+the offing to remain for several days, or even longer, if their
+presence could be tolerated. Events were thus playing into the hands
+of Te Rauparaha more effectually even than he might have reasonably
+expected; and so, on the evening of the second day after the capture
+of Tamaiharanui, having secured all the visitors to the ship, he was
+now in a position to deal with those who had remained on land. Boats
+were accordingly got out some hours after nightfall, and a strong and
+well-armed party was sent ashore to attack the Takapuneke _pa_.
+Ngai-Tahu accounts of this fight would have us believe that an heroic
+resistance was offered to a cyclonic assault; but the circumstances
+render such an account most improbable. The place was not a fighting
+_pa_, and for the purposes of war was practically defenceless. The
+people, too, were awakened from their sleep by the tumult of the
+attack, and, shorn as they were of their leaders and their warriors,
+there was little hope of any organised defence being made. The attack
+therefore became a rout, and the rout a massacre; and before morning
+broke the people of Akaroa were either helpless captives, bound in the
+evil-smelling hold of a ship, fugitives flying for dear life, or lying
+dead amongst the smoking ruins of their ancestral home.
+
+Having achieved a complete success, Te Rauparaha collected a quantity
+of human flesh for consumption on the voyage, and set sail for Kapiti,
+where the final scene in the tragedy was to be enacted. Tamaiharanui
+and his family were housed in one of the fore cabins, and apparently
+some degree of liberty was permitted him, for on the first night out
+from Akaroa,[100] he, after consultation with his wife, seized a
+favourable opportunity to strangle his little daughter as she lay
+asleep, and afterwards cast the lifeless body into the sea. This
+extreme course he justified to his conscience as averting the eternal
+disgrace of her ever becoming the wife of one of his enemies. His
+unnatural action, however, had the effect of rousing the fury of his
+captors.[101] Fearing that his next step would be to take his own
+life, and so deprive them of the legitimate fruits of their mission,
+they took immediate and adequate precautions by pinioning him fast in
+a position which caused him exquisite torture, and his sufferings they
+watched with intense delight. On the voyage northward high revels were
+kept by the natives, who, if the interpreter's testimony is to be
+credited, were even permitted to cook the flesh of their victims in
+the ship's coppers, without protest from the captain or any of his
+equally degenerate crew.
+
+Upon the arrival of the _Elizabeth_ at Kapiti, on the 11th of
+November, the _pas_ were almost deserted, the majority of the
+people being absent in the swamps and on the hill-sides, preparing the
+flax which was to be Captain Stewart's payment. The news, however,
+soon spread that the great Ngai-Tahu chief was a captive on board, and
+crowds came flocking from the mainland to verify the reported triumph
+of their leader. The major part of the prisoners were landed on the
+12th of November, and the natives now expected that Tamaiharanui would
+also be handed over to them at once, to be disposed of in their own
+fashion. But on this point Captain Stewart was obdurate, for he
+probably saw but little prospect of securing his flax if once the
+prisoner passed beyond his keeping. He therefore resisted the tribe's
+demands for this species of _habeas corpus_, and detained the
+chief, heaping upon him the additional pain and ignominy of keeping
+him in irons until he could be redeemed by the fulfilment of Te
+Rauparaha's promise. Either this was no simple matter, or, more
+likely still, his followers, having to some extent satisfied their
+craving for excitement and revenge, relaxed their efforts in the
+fields, preferring to discuss in the _kaingas_ the strange adventures
+of their comrades at Akaroa. From whatever cause, there was a distinct
+failure on their part to complete the contract. Day after day went
+past, and still a residue of the flax was wanting. At the end of six
+weeks, Captain Stewart was persuaded that it was hopeless to wait
+longer, and, probably wishing himself well out of the whole business,
+he handed Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha, and made his course with
+all speed to Sydney, arriving on January 14, 1831.[102]
+
+The prisoner was taken on shore in Rauparaha's canoe, and, at a great
+feast held in honour of the occasion, was surrendered to the wives of
+Te Pehi to do with him as they pleased. A final appeal for life was
+made to his captor by Tama; but Te Rauparaha took high ground, and
+replied that if it was a matter that rested with himself, he would
+most certainly spare him, but the death of Te Pehi was a calamity
+which affected the whole tribe of Ngati-Toa, and hence the final
+decision must rest with them. About the precise time and mode[103] of
+the unfortunate chief's death there is much doubt, for scarcely any
+two accounts agree, except in the central fact that Tamaiharanui
+subsequently met his fate at the hands of Tiaia, Te Pehi's principal
+widow. The most favourable view of this lady's conduct in revenging
+the death of her lamented husband is given us by her own tribe, who
+have averred that "on landing, the chief was given up to the widow of
+Te Pehi, who took him and his wife to her own house, giving up half to
+their use. They talked like friends to each other, and the widow
+behaved so kindly to him, that a stranger would have taken them for
+man and wife, rather than a doomed captive and his implacable enemy.
+She used even to clothe him in her finest garments and deck his head
+with choice feathers. This continued for about two weeks, until she
+had assembled her friends, or thought her victim sufficiently fat to
+kill.[104] She then suddenly caused him to be seized and bound, with
+his arms stretched to a tree, and whilst he was in this position she
+took a long iron spear, with which she stabbed him in the jugular
+artery, and drank his warm blood as it gushed forth."
+
+Harrowing as this spectacle must have been, and awful as it is to
+contemplate, it must be remembered that the manner of Tamaiharanui's
+death was not more savage than that of many another leader of men,
+perpetrated in Christian countries and in the name of a higher cause.
+By the Maori code the death of the Akaroa chief was not only
+justified, but necessary to appease the spirit of the departed Te
+Pehi, and the more humiliating his death, the more adequate the
+compensation to the dead. A student[105] of Maori life and character,
+than whom perhaps none have had better opportunities of mastering
+Ngai-Tahu history, and who, from his calling, could scarcely be
+accused of callousness towards Tamaiharanui's sufferings, has given it
+as his mature opinion that, "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 Ngati-Toa was little more than a
+repetition of the cruelties which he had himself inflicted upon
+members of his own tribe." Possibly the knowledge that he would not
+have acted differently himself assisted the unhappy captive to resign
+himself to his fate. For, although he has been described as both cruel
+and cowardly, by one whose verdict it is not easy to challenge, this
+much must be laid to his credit: that neither the mental nor the
+physical torture invented for him by his barbarous enemies was
+sufficient to break down his rugged fortitude or to tame his defiant
+spirit.
+
+When the _Elizabeth_ reached Sydney, the circumstances attending
+the death of the Akaroa chief were reported to Governor Darling by Mr.
+Gordon Browne, and the Governor, with commendable promptitude, ordered
+the arrest of Stewart and proceeded to put him on his trial. The
+depositions were referred to the Crown Solicitor on February 17, but
+that official expressed doubts as to the statutory power of the colony
+to bring the offender to justice, it not being clear whether offences
+committed in New Zealand against New Zealanders were punishable under
+the laws of New South Wales.[106] Darling was in no way disconcerted
+by this legal difficulty, but urged with some vehemence that the point
+should be tested, holding that it was "a case in which the character
+of the nation was implicated, and that every possible exertion should
+be used to bring the offenders to justice." Stewart retained Dr.
+Wardell, a lawyer eminent in his day, for his defence, and while the
+officers of the Crown were seeking to make good their ground, the
+delay was utilised to spirit away the witnesses whose testimony might
+be fatal to Stewart. Meanwhile, the _Elizabeth_ was allowed to put to
+sea under another captain, and Stewart was held on bail,
+notwithstanding the strenuous protests of his counsel. With the
+witnesses out of the way, Dr. Wardell became more confident, and
+boldly demanded the release of his client. But the Governor could not
+but be influenced by the prayer of the more honourably disposed white
+residents of New Zealand, who expressed the fear that their "lives
+would be made answerable for the proceedings of their countrymen," or
+by the touching appeal of the natives, who came personally to plead
+that speedy steps might be taken by England to put a curb upon the
+unbridled behaviour of her degenerate sons. The curb which Darling
+proposed to apply was to appoint a resident representative of the
+colony in New Zealand, and he suggested to the Secretary of State for
+the Colonies that Captain Sturt[107] should be employed in this
+capacity. The carrying out of this scheme was delayed by the recall
+of the Governor, and the appointment of Sir Richard Bourke as his
+successor, to whom Darling deemed it prudent to leave the initiation
+of a system which it would be his lot to administer.
+
+All this time justice was tardily picking her way amongst the
+complicated meshes of the law, and it was not until the 21st of May
+that Stewart was called upon to face his trial. Even then the Crown
+Solicitor was not prepared to proceed upon the main indictment, but
+sought to get a conviction upon a minor offence, to which course Dr.
+Wardell took the strongest exception, and warmly demanded the
+discharge of Stewart's recognisances. The Crown justified its action
+on the ground that its witnesses were not forthcoming, for great
+remissness had been shown in letting them depart; and, notwithstanding
+Dr. Wardell's protest that it was unfair "to hold Stewart to bail in a
+sum of L2,000 for an indefinite period," the Chief Justice decided to
+adjourn the matter, and allow it to come up for consideration on a
+future day. When that day arrived, the Crown Solicitor was still
+unready, and applied for leave to abandon the charge of misdemeanour,
+and proceed upon the main information so soon as his witnesses were
+available. But his witnesses were the same intangible quantity that
+they had been ever since they had first vanished, and there was not
+the remotest prospect of their appearing. Dr. Wardell knew this, and
+bantered his learned friend upon his unfortunate predicament, in which
+he was compelled to "skip from a charge of murder to a misdemeanour,
+and then to murder back again." He earnestly pleaded the hardship
+imposed upon Stewart by these delays, for which he was in no way
+responsible, and claimed either instant dismissal or immediate trial
+for his client, who, he believed, or affected to believe, was the
+unhappy victim of circumstances.[108] To all this the Crown might
+have justly retorted that the disability placed upon Stewart was
+gentleness itself compared with his own conduct towards his fettered
+captive. Possibly this view was influencing the Court, for it still
+refused to take the responsibility at that stage of discharging the
+prisoner, but appointed the 20th June as the day on which Dr. Wardell
+might make application for the discharge of Stewart's recognisances.
+But when, after further adjournments, that application was argued on
+June 30th, the Crown was unable to convince the Court that the accused
+man should be indefinitely detained, and the Bench, reluctantly, no
+doubt, announced that he must be "discharged on his own recognisances
+in the sum of L1,000." So ended Governor Darling's sincere endeavour
+to make national reparation for one of the blackest crimes which have
+ever dishonoured the relations of the white man with the Maori, a deed
+which must be counted dark even at a time when the spirit of humanity
+seemed to slumber. Whatever palliation the apologist may find for the
+rough sea captain, whose occupation and environment were not conducive
+to the gentler qualities, it is not to the credit of a civilised
+community that its public opinion was apathetic in the presence of
+such an atrocity as that in which Captain Stewart had steeped his
+hands. It is to be feared that the Governor failed to receive the
+support from his officers, or from the community, which a jealousy for
+the national honour might have demanded;[109] while it is equally true
+that active sympathy with Stewart was largely responsible for the
+ease with which the witnesses were got out of the way. It was,
+perhaps, due to the fact that he was never brought to trial, rather
+than to any other cause, that no jury of Sydneyites acquitted Stewart.
+
+The tidings of Te Rauparaha's successes in the south were rapidly
+filtering to the ears of his friends in the north, by the agency of
+the devoted messengers who were repeatedly travelling backwards to
+their old home. With each fresh tale of victory told by ardent tongues
+to wondering ears, some new hope or ambition was awakened in the
+breast of the Ngati-Raukawa who still lingered in their settlements
+round Lake Taupo. Apart from the larger migrations which from time to
+time came down to join Te Rauparaha, less important bands were
+continually being attracted by the glory of Ngati-Toa's splendid
+achievements. Many of these soldiers of fortune reached Otaki and
+Kapiti with little adventure; for there was no inclination on the part
+of the subdued remnant of the Ngati-Apa to risk a conflict with these
+fiery spirits as they pushed across the ferny hills of Rangitikei. But
+one small company, travelling further to the northward than was
+customary, came into conflict with, and met disaster at the hands of,
+the Whanganui people, who secured the momentary advantage of a
+victory. From out of this defeat, two young men, Te Puke and his
+brother, Te Ao, succeeded in making their way to Kapiti, where the
+story of their misfortune made a deep impression upon chiefs and
+people alike. But matters more urgent and nearer home were pressing in
+upon the chief, and because of lack of opportunity, rather than of
+desire, the day of reckoning with Whanganui must be indefinitely
+postponed.
+
+The business which thus preoccupied the mind of Te Rauparaha was the
+need of adjusting the differences and unravelling the complications,
+which were daily accumulating, as the result of accretions to his
+forces. With the arrival of every new contingent of warriors,
+provision had to be made for their immediate entertainment, and for
+their ultimate settlement on the land, in order to leave them
+comfortable and contented. This their mutual jealousies made somewhat
+difficult, and no small measure of diplomacy was needed to avert civil
+ruptures, such as afterwards threatened to destroy all that unity and
+unquestioning devotion to his authority had accomplished. Though there
+was this simmering of discontent between the men of Ngati-Raukawa and
+Ngati-Awa, fortunately for Te Rauparaha no crisis occurred, and any
+ill-feeling that might lead to such an event was soon forgotten in the
+thrilling announcement that another attempt was about to be made to
+capture the great _pa_ at Kaiapoi. This decision was, we are led to
+understand, arrived at somewhat hurriedly, and was largely accelerated
+because of a vision seen by a hoary seer of the tribe, who had
+interpreted the manifestation as a mandate to go forward to the
+attack. His _mata_, or prophecy, has been preserved amongst the oral
+treasures of Ngati-Toa, and has been freely translated as follows:--
+
+  "What is the wind?
+  It is north-east, it is south.
+  It is east in the offing, oh!
+  Come then, O Raha!
+  That you may see the fire
+  On the crimson flat of Kaiapohia.
+  By the prow of the 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."
+
+It might be supposed that, with the capture and death of
+Tamaiharanui, and all the carnage that had followed upon the Akaroa
+raid, Te Rauparaha would have felt that he had taken sufficient
+vengeance upon Ngai-Tahu for the slaying of Te Pehi and his comrades
+in arms. We are, however, assured by an authority deeply versed in the
+intricacies of Maori etiquette that no such limit was placed upon his
+actions, and that, so far from his proposal to again attack Kaiapoi
+being anything but strictly "correct," no alternative course would
+have adequately met the exigencies of the case. No sooner, therefore,
+was the chief's decision to obey the _tohunga's_ call to arms publicly
+proclaimed, than preparatory measures on an exceptional scale were
+commenced with alacrity and enthusiasm. There was to be no trifling
+with the occasion, which, it was generally understood, would be
+pregnant with the fate of tribes; for Te Rauparaha had determined that
+as the result of this priest-ordained raid either Ngati-Toa or
+Ngai-Tahu would be for ever humbled in the dust. The force to be
+raised was to consist of seven hundred and fifty warriors, and only
+the pick of the men were to be taken--the Ngati-Toa, the Ngati-Raukawa
+and Ngati-Awa tribes contributing their quota in nearly equal
+proportions. The traffic in arms and ammunition had now become so
+lucrative at Kapiti that there was no difficulty in arming every man
+with a musket more or less serviceable. Food was also abundant, for so
+rich had been the harvest of captives that at this time, it is said,
+Te Rauparaha had upwards of two thousand slaves constantly employed in
+planting or reaping the crops, which grew abundantly on the alluvial
+flats along the mainland coast. The question of transport presented
+greater difficulty. The conveyance of so large a force across the
+rough waters of Cook Strait was a serious problem, as there was no
+adequate supply of canoes for the purpose. This perplexity was,
+however, solved by the decision to transport the force in sections.
+The first division was to be landed at the Wairau, with instructions
+to march over the inland track, which led through the wild and
+picturesque Wairau Gorge, and over the Hanmer Plains, to a rendezvous
+appointed for them at the mouth of the Waipara River. While this
+detour was being made purely in the interests of adventure, the
+remainder of the warriors were to embark at Kapiti, and make their way
+by slow stages down the coast, until they should unite with the inland
+party at the Waipara. Here the canoes were to be beached, and the
+whole force was then to march rapidly upon the doomed _pa_, in the
+hope of surprising the inhabitants and carrying the fortress by one
+swift and resolute stroke.
+
+So soon as the summer of 1831 was sufficiently advanced,[110] these
+plans were put into execution, and, as far as is known, were carried
+out with admirable precision. The two sections of the allied forces
+met at the appointed place, and, with as little delay as was
+permissible, set off in good order across the plain. But their
+movements had not been so secretly conducted as could have been
+wished; for the fleet of canoes had been espied coming down the coast,
+and a breathless messenger had carried the startling intelligence to
+the people in the _pa_. The first impulse of the latter was to
+gather all the people in from the fields and out-stations, and then to
+consult the patron deity of the tribe, and endeavour to ascertain by a
+process of revelation what the issue of the invasion was to be. The
+Rev. Canon Stack has left on record a description of the elaborate but
+idolatrous ceremonial by which the movements of a wooden image,
+dangled in the hands of a shrieking priest, were to reveal the future.
+The consultation of the _atua_ was most piously performed at a
+spot outside the _pa_, consecrated for the purpose of this and
+similar religious rites. There the prescribed questions were put to
+the nodding image, in the presence of a trembling people, and the
+answer, as read by the priests, was that there was to be one defeat.
+This prophecy they immediately interpreted as foretelling the ultimate
+repulse and humiliation of the approaching enemy. So satisfactory a
+termination to the toro was received with much congratulation, and
+served instantly to revive the drooping spirits of the people, who
+returned in jubilant procession to the _pa_. But the gates were
+scarcely closed before the muskets of Te Rauparaha's men were heard
+snapping in the distance, as they kept up a running fire upon some
+belated stragglers.
+
+That the _pa_ was surprised is now a matter of history, but
+fortunately for its slender garrison, Te Rauparaha did not realise how
+hopelessly unprepared they were. During the year or more which had
+elapsed since his raid upon Akaroa, the people of Kaiapoi had been
+deeply immersed in the endeavour to cultivate a trade with the
+itinerant whalers who paid their fitful visits to Whangaraupo[111] and
+other parts of Banks's Peninsula. In their anxiety to make the utmost
+of these infrequent opportunities, they had lost sight of the
+probability of another attack upon their settlement, and this unwary
+attitude had been encouraged by the fond belief that the difficulties
+of transporting from Kapiti a force large enough to assault the
+_pa_ with any prospect of success were so formidable that even Te
+Rauparaha would never seriously contemplate such an undertaking. How
+illusory these dreams of safety were, and how little they understood
+the dogged spirit of the man against whom they were called upon to
+contend, they now realised to their cost. At the moment of Te
+Rauparaha's arrival the _pa_ was deserted, except for a guard of
+old people and a number of women and children. The greater part of the
+population had only a few days before gone off to Whangaraupo, in
+company with the influential Otago chief Taiaroa, who had been paying
+a friendly visit to Kaiapoi. Some had gone merely to bid their great
+kinsman farewell; and so remote was the need of strong arms and stout
+hearts at home considered that many of the younger men were purposing
+to travel southward with him to Otakou.[112] Kaiapoi was thus
+practically denuded of its fighting men, and it says much for the
+courage and ingenuity of those who were left that, in this sudden
+emergency, they were able to make so brave a show along its ramparts
+as to utterly deceive the northern leader. Had the _pa_ been attacked
+promptly and vigorously, there is no room to doubt that it would have
+fallen, for its thin veneer of resistance must soon have been pierced;
+but this was one of the few occasions on which the Ngati-Toa chief's
+clearness of perception and promptness of decision failed him, and the
+price of his vacillation was a long weary siege, and the loss, to him,
+of many valuable lives.
+
+As a preliminary step in the defence of the _pa_, the Kaiapoi
+people had hurriedly removed the few temporary houses and fences which
+had been erected immediately in front of the landward approach, and
+which would have afforded some degree of shelter to the approaching
+enemy. Their destruction left not only an unbroken view of the
+movements of the enemy, but deprived them of every vestige of cover,
+so that, in rushing to the assault, they had to pass over ground
+exposed to the pitiless fire of the defenders. For this reason, the
+first attack was repulsed with considerable loss, as was also a
+second, which was delivered with some additional energy. The defenders
+had entrenched themselves behind the first line of palisades, and,
+with their bodies protected by the deep ditch which ran the whole
+width of the narrow isthmus between the converging swamps, they were
+able to concentrate their fire upon the advancing warriors with so
+deadly an effect that Te Rauparaha was led to believe the defence to
+be much more formidable than it really was. Surprised that his coming
+had been so evidently anticipated and so amply provided against, and
+irritated to find himself baffled in his hope of snatching a victory
+from a napping victim, he retired beyond the range of the Ngai-Tahu
+guns to deliberate on his next move. As the result of a consultation
+with Rangihaeata, Te Hiko, and his other lieutenants, it was agreed
+that all hope of carrying the fortress by a _coup de main_ must
+now be abandoned, and it was decided to adopt the more prosaic
+course of investing the _pa_ and subjecting it to the annoyance
+and humiliation of a regular siege.
+
+A camp was formed immediately in front of the _pa_, and so placed
+as to intercept the path which led to its main entrance. A wing of
+this camp stretched round amongst the sand-hills to the westward, so
+as to command the approach to the Huirapa gate. In these quarters
+Ngati-Toa and their allies sat down in patience, to tempt the enemy to
+a sortie, but ever ready to profit by any momentary looseness or
+indiscretion on the part of the defenders. Meantime a few of the
+residents of Kaiapoi who had been shut out when its gates were closed,
+but had succeeded in evading capture by their superior knowledge of
+the surrounding maze of swamps, had fled southward to carry the news
+of the invasion to their friends who had gone to Whangaraupo with
+Taiaroa. These messengers were fortunate in intercepting their
+tribesmen before they had departed for the south, and, at the earnest
+solicitation of his Kaiapoi relations, Taiaroa agreed to return and
+lead the defence of their fortress. All possible reinforcements were
+speedily gathered from the Peninsula _pas_, and the combined
+forces set off along the coast to endeavour to raise the siege. Their
+march to the Waimakariri River was rapidly executed; but here some
+delay was occasioned, owing to the difficulty in getting the people
+across the broad and rapid stream. At the cost of much labour, a
+_mokihi_ flotilla was constructed, on which they crossed to the
+northern bank; and then, fearing that their movements might be
+discovered if they approached nearer to the _pa_ before darkness
+set in, they lay down to await the fall of evening. Under the cover of
+darkness they resumed their march, which was still conducted with the
+utmost caution, more especially as they approached the vicinity of the
+besieged _pa_. By the glowing watch-fires which they saw in the
+distance they knew that the enemy was sleeplessly alert, and that any
+impetuosity on their part might easily prove fatal to themselves, and
+equally disastrous to their friends watching and waiting their coming.
+It had been decided that the attempt to enter the _pa_ should be made
+on the western side, where the swamp which fringed the fortress was
+narrowest, and where they could be admitted by the Huirapa gate. It is
+probable that when Taiaroa came to this determination he was not aware
+that he must pass near to a section of the enemy's camp. But here
+fortune favoured him, for the high wind which was blowing at the time
+drove those of the besiegers who were keeping watch to crouch closely
+over their fires, and, by agitating the surrounding foliage, aided
+materially in concealing the movements of the warriors as they crept
+cautiously through the long and waving grass. By adroitly advancing
+when the breeze blew with greatest violence, and throwing themselves
+flat upon the ground when it lulled, they drew so near to the
+Ngati-Toa lines that they could plainly hear the sentries conversing
+amongst themselves. Their position at this juncture was most critical,
+and in the intensity of their excitement they scarcely dared to
+breathe. Nothing, however, occurred to betray their presence,[113]
+and, at a preconcerted signal, every man rose from his concealment,
+and shouting, "Taiaroa to the rescue! Taiaroa to the rescue!" plunged
+into the dark waters of the swamp and swam towards the _pa_.
+
+It is doubtful whether the surprise of the Ngati-Toa sentries or of
+the defenders was the greater, as they were suddenly aroused by the
+tumult of the struggling horde which had swept in upon the scene. The
+first thought of the defenders was that a clever ruse to gain
+admission to the _pa_ was being practised by Te Rauparaha, and they
+at once lined the walls, and began a brisk fusilade upon the splashing
+forms in the water below. Darkness, uncertainty, and excitement,
+however, made their aim extremely erratic, and no damage of any
+consequence was done before the voices of the leaders were recognised,
+and what had seemed a daring and ingenious assault was discovered to
+be the eagerly-looked-for succour. The firing instantly ceased, and
+the Huirapa gate was thrown open to the dripping warriors, who, as
+they emerged from the water, were received in the warm embraces of
+their grateful friends.
+
+With the arrival of Taiaroa and of the Kaiapoi chiefs whom he had
+brought with him, a new spirit animated the population of the _pa_,
+and its defence was organised upon a more systematic plan than before.
+To Whakauira was entrusted the defence of the Kaitangata gate, and
+Weka was given a similar responsibility over Hiaka-rere. Other
+vulnerable points were similarly entrusted to the personal care of the
+best and bravest of the chiefs, who were not only to defend their
+particular positions against attack, but were to lead all sorties made
+by their own companies. In guarding against surprises, the garrison
+were greatly aided by a watch-tower, which stood close to the
+Kaitangata gate. This tower was no pillar of masonry, such as a Norman
+of old would have attached to his castle, but was merely the tall
+trunk of a totara tree, firmly set in the ground, on the top of which
+was perched a little wooden hutch, after the form of a native
+_whata_.[114] The sides of this cabin were constructed of thick
+wooden slabs which had been carefully tested, and demonstrated to be
+proof against any bullet fired from the nearest point to which an
+enemy could safely come. Before daylight every morning a faithful
+watcher crept into this elevated cabin, and, peering through slits cut
+in the sides, was able to command a view of all that was passing
+within the enemy's camp, and communicate the results of his
+observation to those within. In this way the defenders were able to
+anticipate and successfully counteract the tactics of Te Rauparaha,
+who, much to his chagrin, found all his movements checked. But the
+role of attack was not confined to the Ngati-Toa; for, in the early
+stages of the siege, frequent sorties were made by the defenders,
+though, it must be admitted, with but doubtful success. Their fighting
+was of a more emotional order than that of the northern men, who were
+desperate fellows, and just as willing to submit to punishment as they
+were to administer it. Their tenacity of purpose, combined with the
+fact that they were led by the most skilful native tactician of his
+day, gave them an undoubted superiority in these hand-to-hand
+contests; and the Ngai-Tahu defenders derived but little comfort from
+their spasmodic efforts to disperse the enemy's camp. One excursion of
+this kind, however, was more than usually heroic. Intelligence having
+been brought that Te Rauparaha had moved his canoes down the coast
+from Double Corner, where they had been left when he first landed, to
+the mouth of the Ashley River, Taiaroa, on a dark and stormy night,
+took a few men with him, and, swimming and wading through the swamps,
+succeeded in reaching the spot where the fleet was lying securely
+beached. The purpose of the sortie was to destroy the canoes. But here
+was furnished an example of that want of forethought which is to be so
+frequently noted in Ngai-Tahu warfare, and which stood in such marked
+contrast to the methods of Te Rauparaha. The expedition had armed
+itself with only light hatchets, which proved to be quite incapable of
+making any material impression upon the heavy hulls of the canoes.
+Consequently, Taiaroa and his men had to content themselves with
+merely slashing at the lighter timbers and severing the cordage which
+lashed the thwarts and side boards, which would, at least, render the
+vessels unseaworthy until repaired. Finding it impossible to achieve
+their object with the axe, an attempt was made to burn the canoes; but
+the blinding rain-storm which was raging at the time rendered futile
+every effort in this direction, and the bold little band was compelled
+to return to the _pa_, having succeeded in nothing beyond risking
+their own lives and imposing a passing inconvenience upon the
+besiegers.
+
+Three anxious months had now passed since the siege began, without
+anything decisive having been accomplished on either side. Te
+Rauparaha had hoped that hunger and the losses they had suffered would
+have sapped the strength of the defence; but in this he was mistaken,
+for events were proving that the old idea, that the _pa_ could be
+starved into submission, was a delusion. As a matter of fact, the
+defenders were well supplied with food, their storehouses having been
+filled with the fruits of the early crops, while the surrounding
+swamps provided them with an abundant supply of eels. On the other
+hand, Te Rauparaha was frequently hard pressed for supplies; while, on
+the score of losses, he had fared rather worse than the defenders.
+Finding that he was making no progress along the orthodox lines of
+attack, he now decided to revolutionise his methods. He recalled to
+mind the words in the song of the seer Kukurarangi, "Embrace it, get
+closer and closer"; and, acting upon this prophetic injunction, he
+conceived the idea of sapping[115] up to the walls of the _pa_
+and demolishing the palisades by fire. He accordingly ordered three
+trenches to be dug, one by the Ngati-Toa, one by the Ngati-Raukawa,
+and the third by Ngati-Awa, no doubt relying upon a spirit of friendly
+rivalry between the tribes to accelerate the work. At first they
+suffered considerably, for the men working in the open trenches
+offered a conspicuous mark to the riflemen concealed behind the
+outworks of the _pa_. The casualties were, however, sensibly
+reduced when Te Rauparaha ingeniously deflected the line of the sap
+and carried the trenches forward in a zigzag direction. The spademen
+were thus protected by the angle at which they worked, and additional
+security was given them by the placing of slabs of wood across the top
+of the open sap. These precautions almost entirely neutralised the
+efforts of the sharpshooters, and the sap proceeded rapidly, and with
+a regularity and precision which excited the admiration of those early
+colonists who saw the trenches before their symmetry had been
+destroyed.
+
+These proceedings were naturally viewed with considerable alarm by the
+garrison, and frequent sorties were resorted to for the purpose of
+putting a check upon the progress of the work. These excursions,
+whether unskilfully conducted or badly executed, may have hindered the
+operations of the sappers, but they certainly failed to compel the
+abandonment of the sap. As an answer, the besiegers occasionally
+delivered a surprise attack, and it was in repulsing one of these that
+Te Ata-o-tu fought with such heroic courage that by his signal bravery
+he has helped to redeem the general ineptitude of the defence. The
+story of how "Old Jacob" (for as such he was known to the early
+Canterbury colonists) slew Pehi Tahau has been worthily told in the
+warrior'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. 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.
+Happening 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 being that he might shoot me before I could grapple with him.
+
+"I had only a tomahawk on a long handle, having left my 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 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 nigger-heads 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 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 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 loath 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, contenting 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 complimentary acknowledgments 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_, Rauparaha
+strolled amongst us inquiring whether the man who killed the chief
+Pehi Tahau was 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 battlefields of the North Island."
+
+At the end of the fourth month the trenches had, by dint of incessant
+labour, and in the face of repeated attacks, been brought to within a
+few feet of the wall, and then Te Rauparaha was in a position to
+develop the second phase of his scheme--the burning of the hitherto
+impregnable palisades. For many weeks his people were employed in
+cutting down and binding into bundles the _manuka_ scrub which
+grew in abundance on the flats in the immediate vicinity of his camp,
+and when these bundles had been dried in the sun, they were carried
+into the trenches and passed along to the further end, where a
+stalwart warrior seized and threw them with all his power in the
+direction of the doomed _pa_. This was a work which cost Ngati-Toa
+dearly, for there was an interval of time, in the act of hurling the
+sheaf of _manuka_ forward, during which the body of the thrower was
+exposed to the galling fire of the defenders; and they placed their
+best marksmen in a position from which they were able to take unerring
+aim at the unprotected figure in the trench. Many a brave fellow who
+had passed safely through the stress of siege and sortie met his fate
+in that twinkling of an eye. But, notwithstanding the peril of the
+post, there was no lack of volunteers to accept its awful
+responsibility, and as soon as one martyr to duty went down with a
+bullet in his brain, another sprang forward to fill his place. So the
+work of piling up the combustible material went on with scarcely an
+interruption. At first, the defenders made bold to emerge from the
+gates of the _pa_ at night, and hurriedly scattered the piles of
+brushwood which had been accumulated during the day. But this was only
+a temporary respite, and no permanent obstruction to the policy of Te
+Rauparaha. Day by day the process went on of hurling the bundles of
+_manuka_ from the trenches, until at last the quantity to be moved
+became so great that the defenders, in their brief rushes, were unable
+to disperse it. Then it began to mount higher against the palisades,
+and every night saw the position becoming more and more critical, with
+scarcely any resistance on the part of the besieged.[116] Indeed, the
+semblance of a panic was now beginning to make its appearance within
+the _pa_, and the opinion was rapidly taking root that their
+relentless enemy was slowly gathering them within his toils. A feeling
+of deepest depression fell upon the populace, and proposals were even
+secretly discussed by some of the younger men to abandon the _pa_
+before the inevitable catastrophe plunged them in disaster. Taiaroa
+actually adopted this course. Taking his Otago contingent with him, he
+left the _pa_ under cover of night, and made good his escape through
+the gloomy swamps. To some this might appear an act of base desertion;
+but it is the duty of the historian to rescue the name of so brave a
+chief from so dark an imputation. The secret motive which impelled him
+to leave Kaiapoi at this juncture was his settled conviction that some
+diversion must be created, during which the inhabitants would have a
+reasonable prospect of clearing the walls of the dangerous pile of
+_manuka_. His intention was, therefore, to proceed southward to his
+own dominion, where he hoped to raise a large force, and return to
+meet Te Rauparaha in a decisive battle on the open field. Events,
+however, moved too rapidly for him. Before he was able to give effect
+to his plan, Kaiapoi had fallen, and nothing remained to him but to
+shelter its unhappy fugitives.
+
+With the departure of Taiaroa for the south, the people seemed to feel
+themselves deprived of the moving spirit of the defence, and, instead
+of redoubling their energies, they sullenly yielded to the pessimistic
+impulses of their mercurial nature, and abandoned themselves to
+brooding and despair.[117] Te Rauparaha, now finding his tactics less
+seriously opposed, made strenuous efforts to ensure the perfection of
+his plans; and, having done all that remained to be done, he resigned
+himself to wait with such patience as he could command for a
+favourable wind to carry the fire from his flaming bundles against the
+walls of the _pa_. And now a curious contest arose between the
+_tohungas_ of the opposing tribes; for, while the priests of Ngati-Toa
+were daily repeating incantations for the purpose of inducing a
+southerly wind, the priests of Ngai-Tahu were as piously imploring the
+gods for a wind from the north. The impartiality of the deities in
+these circumstances was remarkable, and distinctly embarrassing; but
+it is nevertheless a fact well remembered in connection with the fall
+of Kaiapoi, that while the conflicting prayers filled the air, an
+atmospheric calm set in, and for several weeks no breeze of any
+violence blew from either direction. But it was not to be supposed
+that this condition of aerial negation would continue for ever. At
+length, on a day some six months after the siege had been commenced,
+the dawn came in with a nor'-west wind blowing strongly across the
+plains. To the besiegers, this appeared to be all in favour of the
+besieged. But those within the _pa_ knew from long observation that
+the nor'-wester was an exceedingly treacherous wind; that sudden
+changes were apt to be experienced when the wind was in that quarter;
+and that, regarded in the light of experience, their situation was by
+no means as rosy as it looked. That their fate was hanging by the most
+slender thread was a fact perfectly apparent to the chiefs in command,
+who, after consultation, came to the conclusion that their only hope
+of safety lay in the bare chance that, if the menacing brushwood,
+which lay piled against the wall, was fired from the inside, the wind
+might hold out long enough to carry the flames away from the _pa_
+until the source of danger was removed. This view was strongly held by
+Pureko, who was now entrusted with the defence of the threatened
+portion of the _pa_; and he decided to take upon himself the
+responsibility of proving the accuracy of his theory. Accordingly, he
+seized a firebrand, and thrust it into a pile of _manuka_, which
+instantly became a seething mass of flame.
+
+When Te Rauparaha saw that his enemy was likely to circumvent him, he
+at once ordered his men to belt up, take their weapons with them, and
+carry the burning brushwood against the palisades, so that the fuel
+which had been collected at such infinite pains might not be consumed
+in vain. Without staying to question the wisdom of this order, a rush
+was immediately made by the younger warriors to obey the command; but
+they were met by a fusilade from the defenders who lined the walls,
+which worked havoc amongst their ranks. Had the contending parties
+been left to fight the issue out untrammelled by the intervention of
+external agencies, it is more than probable that Te Rauparaha would
+have been worsted in this attempt to fire the _pa_, and would have
+been compelled either to abandon the siege till the ensuing summer or
+to repeat during the impending winter the toilsome process of laying
+his fire train to the gates of the fortress. But at this juncture, as
+in so many others of his eventful life, his characteristic good
+fortune did not desert him. While his men were being mown down under
+the galling musketry of the enemy, the wind suddenly swung round to
+the south, and the whole aspect of the combat was instantly changed.
+The flames were carried high against the walls, licking the palisades
+with fiery tongues, while dense clouds of smoke rolled backwards,
+driving the garrison from the trenches and from every station of
+defence.
+
+By this marvellous reversal of fortune Te Rauparaha was not slow to
+profit; and no sooner had the firing of the defenders slackened than
+his men crept up to the walls, and, as an essential precaution, filled
+up the loopholes through which the Ngai-Tahu marksmen had taken aim.
+This must have seriously hampered the defenders, had they been
+disposed to stand to their posts. But they were no longer animated so
+much by the desire to save the _pa_ as to save themselves. Panic
+had now taken the place of heroism, and despair had completely
+extinguished all idea of defence. The _sauve qui peut_ of
+Napoleon became equally the policy of Ngai-Tahu, and from this point
+there was nothing heroic in the defence of Kaiapoi. In a marvellously
+short space of time, the flames had completely enveloped the outer
+works; and, while they were eating their way through the wooden
+walls, many of the besiegers were indulging in the wild joy of the war
+dance, which, according to one native chronicler, was so vigorously
+conducted that "the noise they made was like thunder, and the earth
+trembled." As soon as a breach had been made, the attacking force
+rushed between the burning palisades, and the massacre--for it can be
+described by no other word--commenced.
+
+  "Through the fire, and through the smoke,
+  Swiftly Ngati-Toa broke
+  With a scream and a yell;
+  And the glare and the flare
+  Of the fire-tongues in the air
+  Flung a demoniac light
+  On the horrors of the fight:
+  And the children in affright,
+  And the women in despair,
+  Shrieked for mercy, but in vain.
+  And the blazing timbers threw
+  A ghastly lurid hue
+  On the wounded and the slain.
+  And, as the fierce light gleamed
+  On the warriors, they seemed
+  Like fiends unloosed from hell.
+  A struggle, fierce and short,
+  And the keepers of the fort
+  Were slaughtered for the feast:
+  And the red sun in the west
+  Went down as Kaiapoi fell."
+
+No semblance of resistance was offered except by a desperate few, and
+those who still lingered were either struck down by their infuriated
+pursuers, or were captured and bound, to be spared or killed, as
+future circumstances might dictate. When the stampede commenced, the
+Huirapa gate was made the first avenue of escape, as it led directly
+into the surrounding swamp. But Te Rauparaha had provided against this
+by posting a strong body of men on the opposite bank; and, as fast as
+the fugitives landed, they fell into a snare as fatal as that from
+which they had just escaped. Numbers of the more active, impatient at
+the delay caused by the total inadequacy of this single outlet,
+scaled the walls, and dropped down into the swamp below, swimming or
+wading in the direction of the plains to the westward. Those who
+selected this mode of retreat were almost all successful in making
+good their escape, for they were able to secure the friendly shelter
+of those dense clusters of vegetation[118] which freely studded the
+face of the swamp; while the black smoke-clouds, which were carried on
+the wind, hung low upon the water, and effectually screened them from
+the searching eyes of their pursuers.
+
+It is estimated that some two hundred of the fleeing garrison reached
+safety by concealing themselves in the slimy waters and rank
+vegetation of the Tairutu lagoon, until the vigilance of the
+northerners had relaxed sufficiently to enable them to creep out and
+slip away to the southward, or to Banks's Peninsula, where they could
+rely upon finding shelter in some of the tribal _pas_.[119] But
+by far the greater part of the inhabitants, who could not have
+numbered less than a thousand souls, met death in various ways. Many,
+especially the women and children, who essayed to cross the swamps,
+were either drowned in the attempt or shot down as they swam. Others,
+who, owing to age and infirmity, were slow in eluding the attack, were
+never able to leave the _pa_ at all. The aged and the very young
+were killed without ceremony; but the more comely were for the most
+part overcome and bound, destined either for the feast or for a life
+of slavery, adorning the household of a chief or working as menials
+in the fields. Pureko, who had put the brand to the burning, was one
+of the first to fall, being disembowelled by a gun-shot; and within a
+few moments there was also witnessed the pathetic death of the
+patriarchal Te Auta,[120] the venerated priest of the tribe, who was
+slain as he knelt at the shrine of his patron deity, vainly imploring
+the assistance of Kahukura[121] in this their hour of greatest need.
+The air was rent by the shrieks of the dying, the shouts of the
+victors, and the crash of falling timbers, mingled in one hideous din,
+which typified all that is blackest and most brutal in human
+passion.[122] When an end was made of this gruesome work, and the
+smoking walls were ruined beyond repair, the captives were removed to
+Te Rauparaha's camp, situated on the spot now known as Massacre Hill;
+and there the full rites of the cannibal feast were celebrated at an
+awful cost of human life,[123] every detail being observed which, in
+the light of national custom, would ensure the eternal humiliation of
+the defeated tribe.
+
+Kaiapoi having now fallen, and the dispersal of its people being
+complete, Te Rauparaha might have reasonably retired from the scene,
+satisfied with the laurels which his conquest had brought him. But it
+would seem that lust of victory and greed of revenge were in him
+insatiable. He knew that there were still some well-populated
+_pas_ on Banks's Peninsula, and he was determined not to return
+to Kapiti until he had reduced them also. The canoes which had been
+damaged by Taiaroa were, therefore, repaired with all possible speed,
+and, after provision had been made for the prisoners who were to be
+taken to Kapiti, the remaining canoes were directed to proceed to
+Banks's Peninsula. A small _pa_ on Ri-papa Island, in Lyttelton
+Harbour, was first attacked and reduced, and then the canoes were
+steered for Akaroa, from which point the war party was to move to the
+assault of Onawe. This _pa_ had been but recently constructed,
+and owed its existence to the widespread dread which the name of Te
+Rauparaha had now inspired. When it was known on the peninsula that
+he had laid siege to Kaiapoi, a feeling of insecurity crept over the
+natives there, who were seized with a grave presentiment that their
+turn might come soon. And how inadequate were their small and isolated
+_pas_ to withstand the shock of assault or the stress of siege! They
+accordingly hastened to concentrate their forces in one central _pa_,
+and the spirit-haunted hill of Onawe[124] was the point selected for a
+united stand. The _pa_, which was built upon the pear-shaped
+promontory which juts out into the Akaroa Harbour, dividing its upper
+portion into two bays, was both extensive and strong, and into its
+construction several new features were imported, to meet the altered
+conditions of warfare caused by the introduction of fire-arms.
+
+With the fall of Kaiapoi, the alarms and panics to which the people of
+the peninsula had been subjected through Te Rauparaha's foraging
+parties were brought to an end, and they then knew that their worst
+fears were about to be realised. On the day after the sack of the
+_pa_, a few of the fugitives had arrived at Onawe with the
+doleful intelligence that the fortress had fallen, and that, so far as
+they could gather, the northern canoes were at that very moment being
+made sea-worthy, for the purpose of conveying the victors to Akaroa.
+Hurried messengers were then sent to all the outlying _pas_,
+calling the people in to Onawe, and preparations were at once made to
+resist the impending attack. Tangatahara, who, it will be remembered,
+had been the immediate cause of Te Pehi's death, was placed in chief
+command, with Puka and Potahi as his subordinate chiefs. The garrison,
+which consisted of about four hundred warriors, was reasonably well
+equipped for the struggle, for they had been moderately successful in
+securing fire-arms from the whalers, and those who did not carry
+muskets were at least able to flourish steel hatchets. In these
+circumstances, Te Rauparaha found them a much more formidable foe than
+had been the Muaupoko of Horowhenua, or the Ngati-Apa of Rangitikei.
+There he had all the advantage of arms; here he was being opposed on
+almost even terms; but there still remained in his favour a balance of
+spirit, courage, and tenacity of purpose. In the matter of provisions
+the _pa_ was well provided against a protracted siege, while one of
+the features of the new fortification was a covered way, which led to
+a never-failing spring on the southern side of the promontory.
+Scarcely were the people gathered within the _pa_, and all the
+preparations for its defence completed, than the sentinels posted on
+the lookout descried, in the early morning, the northern fleet
+sweeping up the harbour. The alarm was at once given, and every man
+sprang to his post to await the oncoming. The canoes paddled to the
+shore below the _pa_, and there Te Rauparaha committed an error in
+tactics, the like of which can seldom be laid to his charge. He had
+hoped that, by his early arrival, he would have been able to take the
+garrison by surprise and effect an easy victory; but in this the
+vigilance of the defenders had frustrated him, and he therefore
+decided to delay the attack. In the meantime, he permitted his men to
+land, but unwisely allowed them to become separated. The Ngati-Toa and
+Ngati-Raukawa went to what is now known as Barry's Bay, and Ngati-Awa
+occupied the beach at the head of the harbour. In these positions
+respectively the sections of the invaders immediately began to
+establish their camps, and numerous fires, eloquent of the morning
+meal, were soon smoking on the shore.
+
+Tangatahara saw with some satisfaction the disposition of the enemy,
+and shrewdly determined to profit by the advantage which their want of
+cohesion gave him. He resolved upon the manoeuvre of first attacking
+Ngati-Awa, in the hope that he might defeat them before Te Rauparaha
+could come to their assistance, and then he would be able to turn
+upon the unsupported Ngati-Toa and drive them back to the sea. But
+either Tangatahara was much mistaken in his calculations or his
+directions were only indifferently executed, for his manoeuvre failed
+ignominiously. As his men sallied out of the _pa_, their movements
+were noticed by the sentries of Te Rauparaha, who lost no time in
+communicating the fact to their leader. Instantly, the Ngati-Toa camp
+was in a state of intense excitement; every warrior dropped his
+immediate employment and rushed to secure his belt and arms. When
+equipped, they went off in hot haste, floundering through slime and
+soft mud, to reinforce the threatened Ngati-Awa. Tangatahara, seeing
+that his movement was observed and understood, hesitated and was lost.
+A halt was called, and, while his men stood in indecision upon the
+hill-side, the advancing Ngati-Toa opened fire upon them with fatal
+effect. Tahatiti was the first to fall, and several were wounded as
+the result of the opening volley. The Ngai-Tahu then began to fall
+back, firing the while; but their musketry failed to check the onrush
+of Te Rauparaha's veterans, who were now thoroughly seasoned to the
+rattle of bullets and the smell of powder. The retreat to the _pa_ was
+safely conducted; but, for some reason, the defenders did not
+immediately pass through the gates and shut them against the invaders.
+They continued to linger outside, possibly to watch with greater ease
+the approach of the enemy. As they were thus engaged, a number of the
+captives taken by Te Rauparaha at Kaiapoi suddenly came over the brow
+of the hill and entered into conversation with those of their own kin
+who were still outside the gates. During this friendly parley, Te
+Rauparaha came boldly up to the walls with his own followers and
+demanded the surrender of the _pa_. Those within the walls were now
+placed in the dilemma that they could not fire upon the enemy without
+imperilling the lives of their own friends; and it was equally unsafe
+to open the gates to admit them, as the besiegers might rush in with
+an impetuosity that could not be resisted. In these circumstances the
+parley was continued, Te Rauparaha pointing to the presence of so many
+Kaiapoi notables as a living evidence of his clemency, while the
+captive Ngai-Tahu joined with him in advising the policy of surrender,
+chiefly, no doubt, through a jealous apprehension that the inhabitants
+of Onawe might escape the misfortune and disgrace which had befallen
+themselves.
+
+Thus the battle, which had opened with visions of courage, degenerated
+into a war of words, of which the best that can be said is that the
+insincerity of the invaders was only equalled by the indecision of the
+defenders. Only one man in the _pa_ appeared to have a clear idea
+of what his duty was. This was Puaka, who, recognising Te Rauparaha
+amongst the crowd, pushed his gun through a loophole, took aim, and
+fired almost point-blank at the chief, whose miraculous escape was due
+to the fact that one of the Kaiapoi captives, who was standing close
+to Puaka, pushed the muzzle of the musket aside just in time to
+deflect the shot. As might be supposed, the incident served only to
+intensify the confusion and disorder. Some of the invaders seized a
+moment's want of vigilance on the part of the sentries at the gate to
+force an entrance into the _pa_, where they commenced killing
+every one around them. All the brave vows which had brought the Onawe
+_pa_ into existence were then forgotten, and the high hopes which
+its fancied strength had inspired were shattered in this moment of
+supreme trial, which revealed in all its nakedness the inherent
+weakness of the Ngai-Tahu character. Panic seized the people, and for
+some time the _pa_ was the scene of the wildest confusion. Here
+and there a brave show of resistance was offered; but for the most
+part the defenders were too dazed at the swiftness of the Ngati-Toa
+rush even to stand to their arms, which, in their distraction, numbers
+of them even threw away. Of those outside the _pa_, not a few
+dashed for the bush as soon as the fighting commenced, and made good
+their escape. But those within the walls were caught like rats in a
+trap; and, during the conflict, the shrieks and imprecations of the
+miserable fugitives were mingled with the hoarse shouts of the
+victors, as they rushed bleeding and half naked from one place of
+fancied security to another. The conquest of Onawe, though swift, was
+none the less sanguinary. After the last vestige of resistance had
+been stamped out, the prisoners were collected and taken down to a
+flax-covered flat. There the old and the young, the weak and the
+strong, were picked out from their trembling ranks; and, at the
+command of the chief, those who from excessive youth or extreme age
+were regarded as valueless were at once sacrificed to the _manes_ of
+the dead, while the more robust were preserved as trophies of the
+victory.
+
+For a few days following the fall of Onawe, the surrounding hills and
+forests were scoured by the restless victors, in search of such
+unhappy fugitives as might be found lurking in the secret places of
+the bush. Few, however, were captured, and in some instances
+successful retaliation reversed the fortune of the chase, and the
+pursuers became the pursued. When the prospect of further captures was
+exhausted, the northern warriors asked for and obtained leave to
+return to their homes, and the canoes, with the exception of that of
+Te Hiko, immediately put to sea, a rendezvous being appointed for them
+at Cloudy Bay. Te Hiko was detained by the fact that his canoe stood
+in need of repair, and, during the operation, an incident occurred
+which justified the high estimate of his character which was
+subsequently formed by many of the earliest colonists.[125] He was the
+son of Te Pehi, whose death two years before was the immediate and
+avowed cause of this southern raid. If, then, the fires of hate and
+fury against Ngai-Tahu had burned more fiercely within him than in
+others of his tribe, there might have been some justification for it.
+But Te Hiko proved to be more chivalrous than many who had received
+less provocation. Amongst the prisoners who had fallen into his hands
+at the taking of Onawe was Tangatahara, the commander of the fortress,
+who, it will be remembered, had been the most active agent in causing
+the death of Te Hiko's father. What ultimate fate was intended for
+Tangatahara is uncertain, but he was fortunate enough to be spared an
+immediate death. He was, however, closely guarded; and, as he was
+sitting on the beach surrounded by Ngati-Raukawa warriors, two of the
+women who had accompanied Te Rauparaha's forces espied him, and
+immediately put in a claim to Te Hiko for his death, in compensation
+for the injury which the captive chief had caused them. The claim,
+though clamorously made, was firmly resisted by Te Hiko who
+endeavoured first to persuade and then to bribe them, by a gift of
+rich food, into a more reasonable frame of mind. Neither his
+blandishments nor his bribes were successful in appeasing their desire
+for the captive's life; and it was not until Te Hiko gave them plainly
+to understand that he was determined not to give his prisoner over as
+a sacrifice to them, and that he regarded his authority as outraged by
+their persistency, that they sullenly consented to compromise their
+claim. What they now asked was the right to debase the chief by using
+his head as a relish for their _kauru_, a vegetable substance which a
+Maori chewed, much as an American chews gum or tobacco. To this
+modified proposal Te Hiko reluctantly consented, and the women,
+approaching the captive, struck his head twice with their _kauru_,
+which they proceeded to masticate with enhanced enjoyment because of
+the flavour which it was thought to derive from his degradation.
+
+Though he had thus far humoured the women, the want of consideration
+shown by them for his position as a chief so incensed Te Hiko that he
+there and then determined to release his prisoner, and so prevent his
+authority in regard to him being flouted by irresponsible personages.
+That night he roused Tangatahara from his sleep, and, taking him to
+the edge of the bush, bade him escape, a command which he was not slow
+to obey, nor found it difficult to fulfil.[126]
+
+[76] To the ancient Maori greenstone was invaluable as a material out
+of which to manufacture weapons and ornaments; but after the
+introduction of fire-arms the _mere_ was superseded by the
+musket, and it is doubtful if, when the trinkets of the European were
+available, the native would take the trouble to laboriously work out
+an ornament from so hard a substance.
+
+[77] A shark's tooth fixed upon a stick and used as a knife.
+
+[78] This could scarcely have been otherwise, for Rerewaka's insolent
+speech amounted to a _kanga_, or curse, which, according to the
+Maori code, could only be atoned for by the shedding of blood.
+
+[79] The canoe used by Te Rauparaha on many of these southern raids
+was called Ahu-a-Turanga, and for this reason it is supposed that it
+came from the Manawatu, that being the name of an ancient track over
+the Ruahine Ranges near the Manawatu gorge. It is said that this canoe
+is now lying rotting at Porirua Harbour. Another famous canoe of this
+period was called Te-Ra-makiri, a vessel captured from the
+Ngati-Kahu-ngunu at Castle Point by Ngati-Tama, and presented by them
+to Te Rauparaha. This canoe was held to be exceedingly sacred, and now
+lies at Mana Island.
+
+[80] "Having reached at sunset to within a mile of the spot where the
+_Pelorus_ anchored, we again encamped on a shingly beach in a bay
+on the east side of the Sound. At this spot there were some ten or
+fifteen acres of level ground, on which we were shown the remains of a
+large _pa_, once the headquarters of the tribe conquered and
+almost exterminated by Te Rauparaha" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[81] It was to this policy of settlement, following upon conquest,
+that Marlborough owes the presence of the little cluster of northern
+natives who are settled on the banks of the Wairau River--the most
+southern outpost that now remains to mark the aggression of Te
+Rauparaha.
+
+[82] Hori Kingi Te Anaua, a chief well-known in after years as the
+firm friend of the Whanganui settlers, escaped from this defeat, as
+one quaint native account puts it, "by dint of his power to run."
+
+[83] Some difficulty has been experienced in closely tracing the
+movements of Te Pehi. He left England on board H.M.S. _Thames_ in
+October, 1825, and the _Thames_ reached Sydney on April 11, 1826.
+Whether she came on to New Zealand bringing the chief with her, I have
+not ascertained. The probabilities are that she did, for the late
+Judge Mackay, who is an excellent authority, says Te Pehi returned
+direct to New Zealand, but afterwards made the voyage back to Sydney
+to procure arms, from which place he returned in 1829, at the juncture
+referred to in the text.
+
+[84] Here we meet with one of the many discrepancies in the published
+histories of the time. The Rev. Canon Stack makes it appear in his
+_Kaiapohia_ that Rerewaka was killed during the battle, but Mr.
+Travers (_Life and Times of Te Rauparaha_) states that he was
+taken prisoner; and this version is sustained by Tamihana te Rauparaha
+in his published account of his father's life, wherein he says
+Rerewaka was taken to Kapiti to be "tamed."
+
+[85] Canon Stack would seem to imply that Kaikoura and Omihi were one
+and the same place; but from a petition presented to the House of
+Representatives in 1869 by the Ngai-Tahu tribe, it seems clear that
+they were separate places, and that their destruction took place at
+different times. Omihi is about 15 miles south of Kaikoura, near the
+Conway River, but the battle took place on the hills near the valley
+which leads down to the Waipara.
+
+[86] Some accounts make it appear that Kekerengu was killed by a
+wandering band of Ngai-Tahu after he landed on the Middle Island, and
+that, although he had greatly offended Te Rangihaeata by his
+impropriety, it was really to avenge his death and not to punish him
+that this raid was made upon Kaikoura and Omihi. But these are
+variations in tradition that we can scarcely hope to reconcile at this
+date.
+
+[87] Kaiapoi is a popular abbreviation of the old name--Kaiapohia,
+which signifies "food gathered up in handfuls" or "a food depot," but
+Kaiapohia was seldom used except in formal speeches or in poetical
+compositions. The name originated in the incident related in the text,
+and the place became in reality a food depot, because, owing to its
+peculiar situation, large quantities of food, particularly kumaras,
+were raised every year, not only for local consumption, but for the
+purposes of exchange with other branches of the tribe which possessed
+abundance of particular kinds of provisions which could not be
+procured at Kaiapoi.
+
+[88] Tamihana te Rauparaha would lead us to suppose that his father
+was averse to this course, and was again overpersuaded by Te Pehi's
+impetuosity. He makes him say to Te Pehi, "Be cautious in going into
+the _pa_, lest you be killed. I have had an evil omen: mine was
+an evil dream last night," But what, says Tamihana, was the good of
+such advice to a man whose spirit had gone to death?
+
+[89] At first only the heads of chiefs were sold, as they were the
+most perfectly tattooed, but when chiefs' heads became scarce, the
+native mind conceived the idea of tattooing the heads of the slaves
+and selling them--the slave being killed as soon as his head was ready
+for the market. Sometimes the slave was audacious enough to run away
+just as he was attaining a commercial value, and the indignation of
+one merchant who had just sustained such a loss is humorously
+described in Manning's _Old New Zealand_.
+
+[90] In an account of this incident given by a Captain Briggs to the
+newspaper _Tasmanian_, in 1831, he states that a European named
+Smith, who had been left at Kaiapoi by a Captain Wiseman, for the
+purpose of trade, attempted to save Te Pehi's life, and was himself
+killed for his interference. If this was so, the Ngai-Tahu accounts
+are discreetly silent on the point; but Briggs infers that Te
+Rauparaha and Te Hiko made it one of the arguments by which they
+sought to convince him that he ought to assist them to capture
+Tamaiharanui, and so revenge the death of his countryman.
+
+[91] The names of the chiefs who were killed on this fatal day were Te
+Pehi, Te Pokaitara, Te Rangikatuta, Te Ruatahi, Te Hua-piko, Te Kohi,
+Te Aratangata, and Te Rohua. Tamihana te Rauparaha states that in all
+some twenty of his father's people were killed, but that a number were
+successful in escaping by clambering over the palisades.
+
+[92] The Rev. Canon Stack considers that this event occurred either
+late in 1828 or early in 1829.
+
+[93] It is doubtful whether Tamaiharanui took any part in the killing
+of Te Pehi and his comrades, but that would not relieve him of his
+liability to be killed in return, as the whole tribe was responsible
+for the acts of every member of it.
+
+[94] 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 cowardly, cruel, and capricious--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 (_Stack_).
+
+[95] The _Elizabeth_ arrived in Sydney in July, 1830, and in the
+following month left for New Zealand. A contemporary Australian
+newspaper described her cargo as consisting of four cases and eighteen
+muskets, two kegs of flints and bullets, two bales of slops, two kegs
+of gunpowder, one bundle of hardware, and five baskets of tobacco and
+stores.
+
+[96] A more or less exaggerated account of this raid appeared in the
+newspaper _Tasmanian_ on January 28, 1831, and in a subsequent
+issue, Captain Briggs, in passing some comments upon it, said the
+penalty which Captain Stewart had to pay for disregarding his advice
+was that "the natives wanted to do as they pleased with him and his
+ship." He further said that he endeavoured to persuade Stewart not to
+deliver Tamaiharanui over to Te Rauparaha after their return to
+Kapiti, but that worthy declined to carry the chief to Sydney, on the
+ground that "The Marinewie," as he called him, "had been too long on
+board already."
+
+[97] Properly spelt Akau-roa--"the long coast line"; doubtless
+referring to the deep inlet which forms the harbour of Akaroa.
+
+[98] According to a Parliamentary Paper published in 1831, the
+_Elizabeth_ carried eight guns, two swivels, and a full supply of
+small arms. This fact, it is said, deluded some of the natives into
+the belief that the ship was a British man-o'-war.
+
+[99] Signifying "tear-drops."
+
+[100] Some accounts say that this occurred before the vessel left the
+harbour.
+
+[101] It is said that the action of Tamaiharanui also so roused the
+righteous anger of Captain Stewart that he deemed it his duty to have
+the chief triced up to the mast and flogged. This met with the most
+marked disapproval from Te Rauparaha, who maintained that as his
+prisoner was a chief he should not be punished like a slave.
+
+[102] The _Australian_ newspaper records the arrival of the
+_Elizabeth_, Captain Stewart, in Sydney, on the above date, with
+a cargo of thirty tons of flax, and carrying Mr. J. B. Montefiore and
+Mr. A. Kemiss as passengers.
+
+[103] When the _Elizabeth_ returned to Kapiti, her company was
+increased by a Mr. Montefiore, who was then cruising round New Zealand
+in his own vessel, in search of commercial speculations. Hearing of
+what had occurred at Akaroa, he became apprehensive of his own safety,
+and fearing that all the white people in the country would be killed,
+he joined the _Elizabeth_ in the hope of being carried away from
+New Zealand at the earliest possible moment. In giving evidence before
+a Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1838, he related what he
+knew of the capture and death of Tamaiharanui. He claimed credit for
+having protested to Captain Stewart against the chief being held in
+irons, and succeeded in getting the fetters struck off, as the
+prisoner's legs had commenced to mortify. He also stated that his
+appeal to Captain Stewart to take the chief to Sydney, and not to hand
+him over to his enemies, was futile. According to Mr. Montefiore, who
+said he went ashore and "saw the whole process of his intended
+sacrifice," Tamaiharanui was killed almost immediately after being
+given up, but other accounts supplied by the natives place it some
+weeks later. The wife of Tamaiharanui, unable to bear the sight of her
+husband's agony, ran away from the scene of the tragedy, but was
+recaptured and subsequently killed. Tamaiharanui's sister became the
+wife of one of her captors, and lived at Wellington. It is generally
+admitted that Te Rauparaha did not witness, or take any part in,
+Tamaiharanui's death. Heaven knows, he had done enough.
+
+[104] If this is an accurate statement of what occurred--and there is
+every reason to believe that it is--the treatment of Tamaiharanui
+presents an interesting parallel to the manner in which the Aztec
+Indians of Mexico regaled their prisoners, destined to be sacrificed
+at the annual feast to their god Tezcatlipoca.
+
+[105] Rev. Canon Stack.
+
+[106] The Sydney _Gazette_, in referring to the case, remarked
+that its peculiarity lay in the fact that it involved "the question of
+the liability of British subjects for offences committed against the
+natives of New Zealand." The point was never tested, but it is
+doubtful whether the Imperial Statute constituting the Supreme Court
+of the Colony of New South Wales (9 Geo. IV., cap. 83) gave express
+power to deal with such offences as that of Stewart. An amendment of
+the law in the following year (June 7, 1832) made the position more
+explicit.
+
+[107] Captain Sturt afterwards did valuable work as an explorer in
+Australia, but received no suitable recognition from the Imperial
+Government. Sir George Grey vainly endeavoured to procure for him the
+honour of knighthood.
+
+[108] There is not much doubt that, had the case gone to trial,
+counsel for the defence would have endeavoured to prove that Stewart
+was compelled by the natives to do what he did; for the
+_Australian_, a paper controlled by Dr. Wardell, argued that it
+"could not divine the justice of denouncing Stewart as amenable to
+laws which, however strict and necessary under certain circumstances,
+were not applicable to savage broils and unintentional acts of
+homicide, to which he must have been an unwilling party, and over
+which he could not possibly exercise the slightest control."
+
+[109] It will be charitable, and perhaps just, to suppose that this
+feeling arose more from personal antipathy to the Governor than from
+any inherent sympathy with crime. Governor Darling had succeeded in
+making himself exceedingly unpopular with a large section of the
+Sydney community, which resulted in his recall in 1831.
+
+[110] The expedition probably started about the end of January or
+beginning of February.
+
+[111] Now Lyttelton Harbour.
+
+[112] His _pa_ was in the vicinity of what is now the city of
+Dunedin.
+
+[113] The Rev. Canon Stack relates how one of the Ngai-Tahu men, Te
+Ata-o-tu, was carrying his infant son on his back during this march.
+When they approached the _pa_, some of his companions, seeing how
+closely it was invested, whispered to him to strangle the child, lest
+it might cry at a critical moment and betray them. The father,
+however, could not find it in his heart to take this extreme step, but
+he wrapped the boy tightly in a thick mat, and, strapping him across
+his broad shoulders, carried him safely through the dangers of that
+terrible night. The child, however, was only spared to be drowned in
+the waters of the swamp as his mother vainly endeavoured to escape a
+few months later, when the _pa_ fell.
+
+[114] A storehouse erected upon a high central pole, to
+protect the food from the depredations of rats.
+
+[115] So far as is known, this was the first occasion on which the
+principle of the sap was applied in Maori warfare.
+
+[116] An interesting parallel to these proceedings is to be found in
+Gibbon's description of the siege of Constantinople: "To fill the
+ditch was the toil of the besiegers; to clear away the rubbish was the
+safety of the besieged; and, after a long and bloody conflict, the web
+which had been woven in the day was still unravelled in the night."
+
+[117] It is a popular belief in some quarters that the reason why the
+defenders so lost heart was that they were oppressed by the guilty
+knowledge that they had acted treacherously in killing Te Pehi and his
+companions.
+
+[118] Popularly known as "Maori-heads" or "Nigger-heads." Flax and
+_raupo_ also grew freely in the swamps.
+
+[119] This was rendered more difficult owing to the fact that for many
+days Te Rauparaha's followers were scouring the country, far and wide,
+in search of fugitives. The Rev. Canon Stack mentions the pathetic
+instance of two young children who were in hiding with their father.
+He left them to go in search of food, promising to return; but he
+never did so, having in all probability been captured and killed. The
+children, who afterwards lived to be well-known Canterbury residents,
+sustained themselves by eating _raupo_ roots for several months,
+until they were found by an eeling party in the bed of the Selwyn
+River.
+
+[120] Te Auta is described as a man of grave and venerable appearance,
+who was a strict disciplinarian in all matters pertaining to the
+religious ceremonies of the _pa_, his authority in these respects
+being considerably enhanced by his long white hair and flowing beard.
+He was one of the last of the Ngai-Tahu _tohungas_, who were
+deeply versed in all the peculiar rites of Maori heathendom.
+
+[121] Kahukura was the patron divinity of the Ngai-Tahu tribe. His
+cultus was introduced by the crew of the Takitimu canoe, who were the
+ancestors of the Kaiapohians (_Stack_).
+
+[122] Amongst the prisoners taken was a boy named Pura, who excited
+the interest of Te Rauparaha. The chief took him under his personal
+protection, and on the night that Kaiapoi fell, he led him into his
+own _whare_. In order to prevent any possibility of escape,
+Rauparaha tied a rope round the boy's body and attached the other end
+to his own wrist. During the early hours of the night the chief was
+exceedingly restless, but after he fell asleep Pura quietly disengaged
+himself from the rope, and tied the end of it to a peg which he found
+driven into the floor of the _whare_. He then crept stealthily to
+the door, but in passing out he had the misfortune to overturn a pile
+of _manuka_ which was piled up outside. Luckily, the brushwood
+fell on top of him, completely covering him, but the noise aroused Te
+Rauparaha, who, as soon as he perceived that his captive had flown,
+raised the alarm, and in an incredibly short time the whole camp was
+in a state of uproar and panic. The warriors, suddenly aroused from
+their sleep, were in a condition of extreme nervous tension after the
+excitement and exertion of the day. Some imagined that the prisoners
+had risen in revolt, while others believed that the fugitives had
+returned in force to attack the camp, and it was some time before
+order could be restored and the true position explained. Meanwhile,
+Pura lay panting with fear and trembling lest he should be found, for
+recapture meant certain death. His hiding, however, was not
+discovered, and when the camp had once more settled down to sleep, he
+quietly pushed the brushwood aside, and, threading his way out into
+the swamp, made good his escape to the south, where he afterwards
+joined the main body of the fugitives. Pura subsequently became a
+well-known resident of Lyttelton, under the name of Pitama.
+
+[123] "Some conception may be formed of the numbers slain and eaten
+when I mention that some time after the settlement of Canterbury the
+Rev. Mr. Raven, 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 from the present town of
+Kaiapoi to the north. Ghastly relics of these feasts still strew the
+ground, from which I myself have gathered many" (_Travers_).
+
+[124] "The summit of Onawe was called Te-pa-nui-o-Hau. There, amongst
+the huge boulders and rocks that crown the hill and cover its steep
+sloping sides, dwelt the Spirit of the Wind, and tradition tells how
+jealously it guarded its sacred haunts from careless intrusion"
+(_Tales of Banks's Peninsula_).
+
+[125] "Te Hiko struck us forcibly by his commanding stature, by his
+noble, intelligent physiognomy, and by his truly chieftain-like
+demeanour. His descent by both parents pointed him out as a great
+leader in Cook Strait, should he inherit his father's great qualities.
+He was sparing of his words and mild in speech. He had carefully
+treasured up his father's instructions and the relics of his voyage to
+England.... He was said to pay his slaves for their work, and to treat
+them with unusual kindness, and the white men spoke of him as mild and
+inoffensive in his intercourse with them" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[126] "Before the northern fleet got clear of Banks's Peninsula, a
+number of the prisoners escaped, the chief person amongst 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 Ngai-Tahu after Te Rauparaha's last raid" (_Stack_).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SMOKING FLAX
+
+
+The conquest of the southern districts being now completed, and the
+winter months approaching, the whole of the northern fleet took its
+departure for Cloudy Bay, where, according to the records of the
+whalers who were there at the time, scenes of the wildest excitement
+prevailed for many days, and the unhappy condition of the captives was
+observed with much compassion by persons who were powerless to
+intervene. From Cloudy Bay the main body of the conquerors passed over
+to Kapiti, and there the scenes of unbridled ferocity were resumed,
+until sufficient slaves had been killed and eaten to fittingly honour
+the returning warriors. These rejoicings at an end, Te Rauparaha set
+himself to seriously administer the affairs of his own people, which
+were always in danger of violent disturbance, due to the mutual
+jealousies of the tribes when not preoccupied by the excitement of
+war. This work of domestic management almost wholly absorbed his
+attention during the next few years; and it was fortunate for the
+Kaiapoi captives that he had so much on hand, as the pressure of
+circumstances and the stress of inter-tribal complications more than
+once compelled him to treat them with greater consideration than might
+otherwise have been their lot. While these events were proceeding in
+the North Island, the Maoris in the south were slowly reorganising
+their forces. The majority of the fugitives from Kaiapoi and Onawe had
+travelled southward until they reached Taiaroa's settlement at Otago,
+where, under his guidance, they began to formulate their plans for
+avenging their many humiliations. Amongst these fugitives was
+Tu-te-hounuku, the son of the treacherously captured Tamaiharanui, who,
+recognising that his own people were not equal to the task of
+accomplishing vengeance, sought the aid of the great Otago warrior,
+and chief of Ruapuke, Tu-Hawaiki. This chief had received from the
+whalers the startling appellation of "Bloody Jack,"[127] not so much
+because of his sanguinary disposition as from the lurid nature of his
+language. He was a warrior of the progressive type, who at once saw
+the advantage of intimate intercourse with the white man; and to this
+end he made common cause with all the whalers stationed along the
+coast. He assisted them in their quarrels, and they in return supplied
+him with the implements of war necessary to overcome his tribal
+enemies. In this way he managed to acquire the mastery over a large
+area of country, and to amass a considerable amount of wealth. He
+owned a small vessel, which was commanded by one of his whaler
+friends, in which he frequently made trips to Sydney. There he formed
+an acquaintance with Governor Gipps, who presented him with a number
+of old military uniforms; and on his return to New Zealand he enrolled
+a squad of his own tribe, clothed them in the soldiers' garb, drilled
+them, and on state occasions paraded them as his personal bodyguard,
+"all the same the _Kawana_."[128] To this enterprising barbarian the
+prospect of a brush with Rauparaha--or with any one else for that
+matter--was a most agreeable one, and so the alliance with
+Tu-te-hounuku was entered upon after the most trifling negotiation.
+
+Although Taiaroa appears to have taken some part in organising the
+expedition, he did not accompany it. The leadership was therefore
+entrusted to Tu-Hawaiki, who came and secreted himself in the vicinity
+of Cape Campbell, being thus favourably situated for an attack upon
+the Ngati-Toa, who now had entire control of the northern portion of
+the Middle Island, where a section of their people were continuously
+settled. Moreover, it had become one of their practices to visit Lake
+Grasmere for the purpose of snaring the paradise duck, which then, as
+now, made this sheet of water one of their favourite breeding grounds;
+and it was while upon one of these bird-catching expeditions that Te
+Rauparaha nearly lost his life. Being intent upon the manipulation of
+his snares, he was unconscious of the approach from behind the Cape of
+Tu-Hawaiki and his horde, until, with a savage yell, they pounced upon
+the unwary Ngati-Toa. For the latter the situation was indeed
+critical, and all its difficulties were taken in by Rauparaha at a
+glance. He saw that in point of numbers the odds were terribly against
+him, and that to stand his ground and fight it out with such a
+formidable foe could only result in certain death. On the other hand,
+the chances of escape had been almost completely cut off; for when the
+party landed at the lake, the canoes, with one exception, were drawn
+up on the beach, and were now high and dry. The delay in launching
+these meant the difference between life and death, so closely were
+they pressed. But fortunately for him, one still remained in the water
+some distance from the shore; and on observing this solitary gleam of
+hope, Te Rauparaha swiftly made up his mind that discretion was the
+better part of valour. He raced for the sea, and, plunging into the
+surf, swam to the canoe with rapid and powerful strokes, followed by
+at least forty of his own people. At the canoe a general scramble
+ensued, in which only the fittest survived, the remainder being left
+struggling in the water to escape as best they could, or be despatched
+by their enemies as opportunity offered.
+
+In the meantime, those of the Ngati-Toa who had not been able to
+plunge into the sea were unceremoniously killed on the spot, and those
+of the attacking party who were not actively engaged in this
+sanguinary work at once launched the canoes lying on the Boulder Bank,
+which divides the lake from the sea, and set off in hot pursuit of the
+retreating Rauparaha. As might be expected, the chase was a desperate
+one, each party straining every nerve to defeat the object of the
+other. Rauparaha, standing in the stern of his canoe, by word and
+gesture urged the men at the paddles to renewed exertions; not that
+they required much exhortation, for they knew that their lives
+depended entirely upon themselves. But, notwithstanding their utmost
+endeavours, it soon became painfully evident that their pursuers were
+gaining upon them, owing to the overloaded condition of the canoe.
+Rauparaha then determined upon a course which can scarcely recommend
+him to our admiration, although Nature's first law, self-preservation,
+might be urged in extenuation of his crime. Without further ceremony
+he ordered half the people in the canoe, many of whom were women and
+children, to jump overboard, and those who demurred were forcibly
+compelled to obey.[129] Thus relieved of some of its burden, the canoe
+gradually forged ahead, and the diversion of the pursuers' attention
+to the jettisoned passengers, who were struggling in the water,
+enabled Rauparaha to make good his escape to Cloudy Bay. The Ngai-Tahu
+people are especially proud of this encounter, which they regard as a
+brilliant victory, and have called it _Rua Moa iti_, or "The battle of
+the little Moa's feather."
+
+It could not, of course, be supposed that a man of action, such as Te
+Rauparaha was, would long remain idle while so black a stain upon his
+reputation as a warrior remained unavenged. He therefore lost no time
+in sending his messengers to a branch of the Ngati-Awa tribe, who then
+resided at the Wairau, soliciting their aid in a mission of
+retaliation. The request was readily granted, and, with this
+reinforcement, a war party of considerable strength set sail in their
+canoes for the _karaka_ groves which grew luxuriantly at
+O-Rua-Moa Bay, immediately to the south of Cape Campbell, where it was
+fully expected that the enemy would be resting. In these anticipations
+they were disappointed. The prey had flown; and if the purpose of the
+expedition was not to fail utterly, there was nothing for it but to
+push on until the object of their search was found. They were soon
+rewarded, for close to the shore, at the mouth of the Flaxbourne
+River, Tu-Hawaiki and his braves were encamped, and here the gage of
+battle was thrown down. That the encounter was a desperate one may be
+judged by the fact that both sides claimed the victory, and they seem
+to have withdrawn from the combat mutually agreeing that they had each
+had enough. According to the Ngai-Tahu account, Te Rauparaha's
+stratagem of sending one hundred and forty men of Ngati-Awa down the
+steep face of a cliff to cut off Tu-Hawaiki's retreat was successfully
+circumvented, the flanking party being caught in their own trap and
+every one of them destroyed. The Ngati-Toa are equally positive that
+the palm of victory rested with them; but in that event the advantage
+gained was not sufficiently great to justify them in following it up,
+for Tu-Hawaiki was allowed to depart next morning unmolested to
+Kaikoura. On the journey down an incident occurred which betrayed the
+savage side of this man's nature, and showed how much he deserved, in
+another sense, the title of the old whalers, when they styled him
+"Bloody Jack." During the voyage the canoe commanded by Tu-te-hounuku
+was capsized in a southerly gale, and the young chief was drowned,
+although every other man was saved. The selfishness of the men in
+seeking their own safety and letting their leader perish so enraged
+the fiery Tu-Hawaiki, that as soon as he heard of the accident he
+ordered the canoes ashore, and with his own hand slew every one of the
+surviving crew.[130]
+
+Immediately after this skirmish Te Rauparaha returned to the North
+Island, where there was urgent need of his presence. With the coming
+of the Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Ruanui, and other Taranaki tribes, the domestic
+disagreements, of which he stood in daily dread, began to ferment, and
+were already breaking out into open rupture. The Ngati-Awa had cast
+envious eyes upon a piece of country under tillage by Ngati-Raukawa,
+in the vicinity of Otaki, and were openly boasting of their intention
+to make it their own. Their cause was espoused by their Taranaki
+relatives, and even a section of Te Rauparaha's own people threw in
+their lot with them against their old allies, the Ngati-Raukawa. This
+defection, which was especially distressing to Te Rauparaha, arose from
+some act of favouritism--real or fancied--displayed towards Te
+Whatanui, the great Ngati-Raukawa chief, for whom Te Rauparaha ever
+felt and showed the highest regard. These strained relations, however,
+did not break out into actual civil strife until the Ngati-Raukawa
+people discovered the Ngati-Ruanui malcontents looting their
+potato-pits at Waikawa. Up to this point the Ngati-Raukawa had borne
+the pin-pricks of the Taranaki braggarts with some degree of patience;
+but this act of plunder satisfied them that, unless they were prepared
+to defend their property, they would soon have no property to defend.
+They therefore stood no longer upon ceremony, but straightway attacked
+the Ngati-Ruanui settlement, and thus let slip the dogs of civil
+war.[131] In the conflict which ensued Tauake, a Ngati-Ruanui chief,
+was killed, an incident which only served to fan the flame of
+internecine strife, and hostilities of a more or less virulent nature
+involved all the settlements along the coast from Waikanae to
+Manawatu. Both sides were equally well armed, for guns and ammunition
+were now plentiful, the traders having learned the Maori's weakness,
+and being prepared to pander to it for the sake of cheap cargoes of
+flax and potatoes. The consequence was that in each skirmish numbers
+of the belligerents were killed, and Te Rauparaha saw with increasing
+dismay the havoc wrought amongst his fighting men, and the useless
+waste of tribal strength which must ensue from these insane
+proceedings. Only too clearly he realised that, watched as he was by
+enemies both on the north and to the east, this state of division
+might at any moment be seized on as an opportunity for attack. His own
+efforts to reconcile the disputants were unavailing; and when he saw
+the spirit of insurrection growing and spreading beyond his power of
+control, he determined upon making an appeal for outside aid. He
+accordingly dispatched a mission to Taupo, requesting Te Heuheu to
+bring down a large force wherewith to crush out the seeds of
+rebellion, by inflicting a telling defeat upon the most turbulent
+insurgents. Te Heuheu's reply to this appeal was of a practical kind.
+Within a few months he marched out from Taupo with an effective
+fighting force of eight hundred men, officered by some of the most
+famous of his own and the Maungatautari chiefs of that time. Almost
+immediately upon their arrival on the coast, they, in conjunction with
+Ngati-Raukawa, proceeded to attack the Ngati-Awa at a pa close to the
+Otaki River, and for several months the conflict was maintained with
+fluctuating success. Notwithstanding the numbers brought against them,
+the Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Ruanui proved themselves stubborn fighters,
+maintaining their ground with heroic desperation.
+
+In several of the battles the slaughter was exceedingly heavy, amongst
+the slain being counted many important chiefs attached to both sides;
+but still the issue hung in doubt, and so it remained until the great
+battle of Pakakutu had been fought. On this occasion a supreme effort
+was made by Te Heuheu, and the struggle culminated in the decisive
+defeat of Ngati-Awa. Their _pa_ was taken, and their chief
+Takerangi was slain. With his death was removed one of the principal
+factors in the quarrel, and the way was paved for a settlement
+honourable in its terms to all the parties. A conference of
+considerable importance was immediately held at Kapiti, at which the
+disquieting issues were discussed, and in the debates upon these
+contentious points both Te Heuheu and Te Whatanui raised their voices
+with force and eloquence in the cause of peace. As a result of these
+negotiations, the differences which had so nearly wrecked Te Rauparaha's
+consolidating work of fourteen years were amicably settled.[132] The
+general result was that Ngati-Raukawa were reinstated in their
+possessions at Ohau and Horowhenua and as far north as Rangitikei,
+while Ngati-Awa retired southward of Waikanae, and extended their
+settlements as far in that direction as Wellington, where they
+replaced Pomare, and where, under Te Puni and Wharepouri, they were
+found by Colonel Wakefield and his fellow-pioneers of the New Zealand
+Company when they came to the spot in 1839.
+
+But, though the civil war had thus ended in a manner satisfactory to
+himself and to his friends, Te Rauparaha was stung to the quick by the
+knowledge that his authority had been so completely set at defiance by
+Ngati-Awa. And this feeling of irritation was further intensified by
+the fact that some of his own tribe had shown him so little regard as
+to aid and abet them in their rebellion. Their disloyal conduct so
+preyed upon his mind that, as the result of much serious reflection,
+he determined to absolve himself from all further responsibility on
+their behalf, by abandoning the business of conquest and returning
+with Te Heuheu to Maungatautari, where he proposed to live for the
+remainder of his days the quiet and restful life, to which waning
+years look forward as their heritage. To this end he collected a
+number of his most trusty followers, and, shaking the dust of Kapiti
+from his feet, had travelled as far as Ohau in the execution of his
+petulant decision, when he was overtaken by representatives of all the
+tribes, who begged him to return and once more become a father to
+them. In these entreaties the suppliants were joined by Te Heuheu,
+whose advocacy broke down the chief's resolution. He at length agreed,
+amidst general rejoicing, to retrace his steps, and none rejoiced more
+sincerely than the repentant Ngati-Awa.
+
+Between the date of the battle of Pakakutu and the arrival of the ship
+_Tory_, Te Rauparaha does not appear to have been engaged in any
+conflict of great importance in the North Island, the years being
+spent in visiting the various settlements which had been established
+under his guiding genius. These journeys frequently led him across
+Cook Strait to the Middle Island, where, at Cloudy Bay, there was now
+a considerable colony of his own and the Ngati-Awa people, who were
+actively cultivating the friendship of the whalers.[133] These visits
+also more than once led him into sharp conflict with his old enemies,
+the Ngai-Tahu, who were ever vigilantly watching for the favourable
+moment to repay their defeat at Kaiapoi. Once they met him on the
+fringe of Port Underwood, at a spot still called Fighting Bay, where
+they claim to have defeated him with considerable slaughter. From this
+engagement, in which his small force was neatly ambushed, the great
+chief only escaped by diving into the sea and hiding amongst the
+floating kelp, until he was picked up by one of his canoes, and,
+availing himself of a heavy mist which suddenly enveloped the scene of
+strife, fled, leaving his allies, the Ngati-Awa, to continue the
+unequal struggle. After the fight, the bones of the slain were left to
+bleach on the beach, where they were repeatedly seen by the first
+settlers at the port.[134]
+
+This success did not induce the Ngai-Tahu to pursue the retreating
+enemy across the Strait; but, elated in spirit, they returned to the
+south for the purpose of fitting out an expedition on a much more
+extensive scale, with which they hoped to inflict a crushing blow on
+their hated enemy. These operations were superintended by Taiaroa, who
+in a few months had gathered together a flotilla of canoes and boats
+sufficient to transport some four hundred men. These he commanded in
+person, and with them proceeded by slow stages to the neighbourhood of
+Cloudy Bay. Hearing that Te Rauparaha was at Queen Charlotte Sound,
+the southern warriors steered their fleet for Tory Channel,[135] but
+failed to encounter the enemy until they had reached Waitohi, near the
+head of the Sound. Here they met, and immediately attacked a large
+party of Te Rauparaha's followers, who were under the personal
+direction of their chief. The ground upon which the battle took place
+was broken and wooded, and it was difficult to bring the whole of the
+respective forces advantageously into action at once; and therefore
+the combat resolved itself into a series of skirmishes, rather than a
+pitched and decisive battle. At the end of the first day Te Rauparaha
+shifted his position, a fact which has encouraged the Ngai-Tahu people
+to claim the credit of a victory. But Ngati-Toa did not retire from
+the field altogether; and for several days hostilities continued to be
+carried on in a succession of duels between the champions of the
+opposing tribes, in which the battle honours were fairly evenly
+divided between them. In these contests Te Rauparaha is said to have
+warned his men against risking defeat by coming too confidently into
+close quarters with the enemy. Numerous incidents during the siege of
+Kaiapoi had served to impress him with Ngai-Tahu's prowess in this
+class of warfare, and any recklessness on the part of his warriors
+might therefore easily lose him a valuable life. Thus, when a
+Ngati-Toa and a Ngai-Tahu were struggling upon the hill-side in full
+view of both forces, and victory ultimately rested with the southern
+warrior, Te Rauparaha exclaimed to those about him, "_I kiia atu ano_"
+(I told you it would be so). But though an occasional success of this
+kind attended the southern arms, nothing of a decisive nature was
+accomplished by Taiaroa on this raid. Scarcity of provisions shortly
+afterwards compelled him to withdraw to the south; and before he had
+time or inclination to devise fresh reprisals, events of an external
+nature had so operated upon the Maori mind as to make any further
+conflict between the Ngati-Toa and Ngai-Tahu tribes undesirable if not
+impossible.
+
+It is now fitting to remember that, while these events had been
+proceeding along the eastern coast of the Middle Island, the process
+of subduing the southern tribes had not been neglected on its western
+shore. Out of the extreme confidence which pervaded the Ngati-Toa mind
+upon the return of Te Pehi from England, a wider field of conquest was
+sought than appeared to be provided by the plains of Canterbury. In
+obedience to these aspirations, an important division of their forces
+was sent across the Strait for the purpose of forcibly establishing
+themselves in the bays of the Nelson coast. _Hapus_ of the Ngati-Toa
+and Ngati-Awa united in this expedition, which was attended with
+unqualified success. They immediately moved to attack the Ngati-Apa
+settlements in Blind and Massacre Bays, from out of which they drove
+the inhabitants with ruthless severity, and immediately assumed
+possession of the soil. Those who had fought under Te Koihua and Te
+Puoho, the Ngati-Awa leaders, built _pas_ and remained in permanent
+occupation of the conquered country;[136] but Niho, a son of Te Pehi,
+and Takerei took their Ngati-Tama, and perhaps a few of their
+Ngati-Rarua, warriors across the wild and almost trackless mountains
+which intervene between Blind Bay and the west coast. From the Buller
+district they worked their way southward, killing and taking prisoners
+almost the entire population as they went, until they reached the
+Hokitika River, where resistance ceased and the need for further
+aggression disappeared.
+
+Niho and Takerei settled at Mawhera, on the banks of the Grey River,
+the centre of that romantic region, the greenstone country, which for
+centuries had been the Eldorado of Maori dreams.[137] At various other
+points, both to the northward and southward of Mawhera, the
+northerners established themselves in permanent _pas_, to the
+total exclusion of the weaker tribes, who had formerly controlled the
+barter of the precious nephrite. From these points of colonisation the
+restless spirit of the invaders was ever carrying them further
+southward and eastward in search of excitement and adventure. No
+systematic occupation of the land appears to have been attempted
+southward of Hokitika; but stray bands of marauders were frequently
+setting off on predatory expeditions into the pathless mountain-waste
+of western Otago, which then sheltered the shadowy remnant of the
+Ngati-Mamoe race. Further and further these adventurers penetrated
+into the deep glens, rugged passes, and dark forests, until they knew
+the geographical secrets of the interior almost as intimately as did
+its former conquerors.[138]
+
+In the absence of written records, many of these militant journeys
+have necessarily been effaced from memory, and no tradition has been
+left to commemorate those whose valiant spirit led them into the wilds
+of a hostile country, from which only a lion-hearted courage could
+bring them safely back. Of one such venture, however, undertaken about
+the year 1836, for the purpose of attacking Tu-Hawaiki on his island
+fortress at Ruapuke, the story has been preserved; and, because of its
+ambitious conception and dramatic ending, it is worthy of being
+narrated here as it has been told in the tribal traditions. The chief
+concerned in leading the adventure was Te Puoho, who came originally
+from the country south of the Mokau River, in Taranaki, to assist Te
+Rauparaha in his policy of conquest. He was at this time the head
+chief of the Ngati-Tama tribe, who were closely allied to Ngati-Awa,
+and whom the fortune of war had now settled round the great bays on
+the Nelson coast. Hearing that the inhabitants away to the south were
+"a soft people," Te Puoho conceived the idea of raiding their country,
+and, in addition to matching himself against Tu-Hawaiki, securing a
+large number of slaves,[139] whom he intended to use as beasts of
+burden. To this end he first completed a strong stockade, in which he
+intended to herd his captives, and then he set off with a fighting
+force of some seventy men, and a small number of women, to pierce his
+way through the dense forest and dangerous passes of the overland
+route. Arrived at the Grey River, where Niho and his people were
+settled, he expected to be largely reinforced from amongst his former
+friends; but, to his consternation, he found that his old comrade,
+Niho, was distinctly hostile, and most of his people coldly
+indifferent. A number of his own followers, finding that the purpose
+of the expedition was not approved by Niho, declined to proceed
+further in the enterprise and returned to Cook Strait. But at length
+Te Puoho, nothing daunted, succeeded in persuading a section of the
+Ngati-Wairangi to reverse their decision not to accompany him, and
+then with about a hundred followers he commenced his march southward.
+
+His first route took him over the sinuous tracks which hugged the
+coast line until they reached Jackson's Head, a distance of many
+hundred miles from the point of departure. Few particulars of this
+stage of the journey have been preserved: but it is known that they
+returned northward as far as the Haast River,[140] where they
+deflected their course to the eastward, and proceeded inland by way of
+the Haast Pass. At Lake Hawea they met a Ngai-Tahu eeling party, from
+whom they ascertained that the chief with his two wives had gone to
+Lake Wanaka. On the pretence of guiding two of Te Puoho's men thither,
+the chief's son, Te Raki, succeeded in getting them deeply entangled
+in the bush; and then, abandoning them to their own resources, he
+slipped away to his father's camp and advised him of what had
+occurred. Arming themselves, they went in search of the two men, who
+were now wandering aimlessly about, and, finding them floundering in
+the forest, they soon succeeded in killing them. When it dawned upon
+him that he had been duped, Te Puoho exacted _utu_ from amongst the
+other members of the eeling party, and pushed on further into the
+interior. They navigated the upper waters of the Molyneaux on
+_mokihis_, and made their way down the valley of the Mataura through
+the country of Wakatipu. In view of his previous achievements in that
+direction, no one would have been surprised had Te Rauparaha or his
+people attempted an invasion of these far southern districts by sea;
+but no one ever dreamed of a blow being struck at them by an inland
+route. Consequently, when this war party marched down the valley of
+the Mataura, the inhabitants were wholly off their guard, and fell an
+easy prey to the invaders. An eeling party was captured at Whakaea,
+and their store of food proved exceedingly welcome to the hungry
+wanderers, whose only provender up to this time had been wild cabbage,
+the root of the _ti_ palm, and a few _wekas_. These wanderings had now
+occupied the northern men nearly two years, during which many of them
+had died of cold and hunger. But, though a "dwindled and enfeebled
+band," they were still strong enough to secure another party of
+Ngai-Tahu, whom they found camped in the midst of a clump of _korokiu_
+trees, which then grew upon the Waimea Plain. Te Puoho believed that
+he had secured the whole of the party, but in this he was mistaken.
+Some few escaped, and, hastening off to the Tuturau _pa_, warned the
+people there of the approaching danger, the fugitives making their way
+to the Awarua whaling station. Te Puoho and his party immediately
+proceeded to occupy the abandoned _pa_, in the hope that a prolonged
+rest would recruit their exhausted powers; and, innocent of the fact
+that retributive justice was at hand, they settled down to leisurely
+enjoy the recuperative process.
+
+From Awarua news of the raid was dispatched to the island of Ruapuke,
+where Tu-Hawaiki and his men were. Memory of the event is still well
+preserved on the island, as the last occasion on which oblation was
+offered to the god of battle. In accordance with ancient Maori custom,
+this ceremony took place in an immense cavern, which opens to the sea
+beach beneath the island fortress. It may still be seen, a dark abyss;
+and, although geological periods must have elapsed since it was
+instinct with the life of mighty waters, the echo-swish still sounds
+and resounds, as if acting and reacting the story of its birth. Shut
+up amidst these ghostly sights and sounds, the tribal _tohunga_ spent
+the night in severe exorcisms. Outside in the open was heard the clash
+of arms, plaintive wails and lamentations of the _tangi_ for the dead.
+At dawn of day the prescribed spells to weaken the enemy were cast and
+the invocation to the spear was spoken. The followers of Tu-Hawaiki
+then sailed for the mainland and effected a landing at what is now
+known as Fortrose. Concealing themselves during the day, they marched
+under cover of night, reaching Tuturau early on the morning of the
+third day. Being unapprehensive of danger, the inmates of the _pa_
+were in their turn caught napping, and the recapture was effected as
+smartly as had been the original capture. As the attacking force crept
+cautiously within gunshot, Te Puoho was observed sleeping on the
+verandah of one of the houses. A slight noise fell upon his quick ear
+and startled him. He sprang to his feet; instantly the report of a gun
+rang out, and he fell a lifeless heap upon his bed. Some thirty in all
+were killed. The rest, with one exception,[141] were taken prisoners,
+and confined on Ruapuke Island, whence they were afterwards smuggled
+away by a pakeha-maori boatman named McDonald, who, under an
+arrangement with the Ngati-Toa tribe, landed them safely back at
+Kapiti.
+
+The Haast River raid, as the exploit of Te Puoho is known in Maori
+history, becomes interesting not only because it was on this occasion
+that the followers of Te Rauparaha reached the most southerly limit of
+their aggressions upon Ngai-Tahu, but because it affords another
+evidence, if such were needed, of the extremes to which the Maori was
+ever ready to go in order to get even with an enemy. Primarily, the
+raid was designed as a stroke of retaliation upon Tu-Hawaiki, whom
+they hoped to surprise by pouncing upon him from a new and unexpected
+quarter. To effect this, a long and dangerous journey had to be
+braved; they had to penetrate into a region in which Nature seemed to
+have determined to impose in the path of human progress her most
+forbidding barriers. Not only had this band of half-clad savages to
+cross what the late Sir Julius Von Haast has described as "one of the
+most rugged pieces of New Zealand ground which, during my long
+wanderings, I have ever passed," but they had to contend with
+snowfields lying deep in the Southern Alps, the swollen torrent, the
+pathless forest, and the foodless plains. Not even the roar of the
+avalanche as it swept down the mountain-side, the impassible precipice
+as it loomed dark across their path, nor the severity of the climate,
+with its oscillations from arctic cold to tropical heat, was
+sufficient to chill their ardour for revenge. So for two years they
+wandered amidst some of the grandest and gloomiest surroundings, at
+times suffering bitterly from cold and hunger. In the stress of these
+privations the weaker ones died; but the survivors were sustained by
+the enthusiasm of their leader, who directed their course ever to the
+southward, where they hoped some day to meet and vanquish their hated
+rival. Of the fate which overtook them, history has told; and, though
+future generations may be reluctant to endorse the purpose of their
+mission, they will not refuse to credit them with a certain spirit of
+heroism in daring and enduring what they did to accomplish their end.
+
+The peace which had been dramatically concluded at Kapiti by Te Heuheu
+breaking the _taiaha_ across his knee, and which closed what is
+known as the Hao-whenua war, was sacredly observed by all the tribes
+for some years; and this respite from anxiety afforded Te Rauparaha
+freedom of opportunity to pursue his grudge against the Rangitane and
+Muaupoko peoples. The humiliated remnant of the Muaupoko tribe had by
+this time sought and obtained the protection of Te Whatanui, who had
+promised them, in his now historic words, quoted many years afterwards
+by Major Kemp, that so long as they remained his dutiful subjects he
+would shield them from the wrath of Te Rauparaha: "I will be the
+rata-tree that will shelter all of you. All that you will see will be
+the stars that are shining in the sky above us; all that will descend
+upon you will be the raindrops that fall from heaven." Although
+slavery was the price they had to pay for the privilege of breathing
+their native air, it at least secured them the right to live, though
+it did not secure them absolute immunity from attack. More than once
+Te Whatanui had to protest against the inhumanity of Ngati-Toa towards
+those whom he had elected to save from utter destruction; and these
+distressing persecutions did not cease until the Ngati-Raukawa chief
+told Te Rauparaha, in unmistakable language, emphasised by
+unmistakable gestures, that, before another hair of a Muaupoko head
+was touched, he and his followers would first have to pass over his
+(Te Whatanui's) dead body. Unwilling to create a breach of friendship
+with so powerful an ally as Te Whatanui, Te Rauparaha ceased openly to
+assail the helpless Muaupoko, though still continuing to harass them
+in secret. He plotted with Te Puoho to trap the Rangitane, and with Wi
+Tako to ensnare the Muaupoko: the scheme being to invite them to a
+great feast at Waikanae, to partake of some new food[142] which the
+_pakeha_ had brought to Kapiti. So far as the Rangitane were
+concerned, the invitation was prefaced by an exchange of civilities in
+the shape of presents between Mahuri and Te Puoho; and when it was
+thought that their confidence had been secured, the vanity of the
+Rangitane was still further flattered by an invitation to the feast. A
+considerable number of them at once set out for Waikanae; but, when
+they arrived at Horowhenua, Te Whatanui used his utmost endeavours to
+dissuade Mahuri, their chief, from proceeding further. Knowing Te
+Rauparaha as he did, he felt convinced that he could not so soon
+forget his hatred for those who had sought to take his life at
+Papaitonga: and, while he would have had no compunction about killing
+in open war every man and woman of the tribes he was protecting, his
+generous soul revolted against the treachery and slaughter which he
+feared lay concealed beneath the present invitation. His counsel was
+therefore against going to Waikanae; but the impetuous young Mahuri
+saw no reason for alarm, and, heedless of the advice of Te Whatanui,
+he led his people to their destruction.
+
+On their arrival, the hospitality of Te Puoho was of the most
+bountiful nature. The visitors were shown to their houses, and no
+effort was spared to allay any suspicion of treachery. But one night,
+as they sat around their fires, the appointed signal was given, and
+the guests were set upon by a force superior in numbers by two to one,
+and, to use the words of a native[143] who knew the story well, "they
+were killed like pigs," only one man escaping from the massacre. This
+was Te Aweawe, whose life was spared at the instigation of Tungia, in
+return for a similar act of humanity which the Rangitane chief had
+been able to perform for him some time before. In justice to Te
+Rauparaha, it should be stated that this massacre was not entirely
+prompted by his old grudge against the Rangitane people, but partly
+arose out of a new cause of grievance against them, which serves to
+illustrate the complexity of Maori morality and the smallness of the
+pretence upon which they deemed a sacrifice of life both justifiable
+and necessary. The offence of which the Rangitane people had been
+adjudged guilty enough to deserve so terrible a punishment was the
+fact that they were somewhat distantly related to the Ngati-Kahungunu
+tribe, resident in the Wairarapa. These people had some time
+previously killed a number of Ngati-Toa natives, whom they believed to
+be plotting their destruction; for, while they were discussing their
+plans in one of the _whares_, a Ngati-Kahungunu, who was sleeping with
+at least one ear open, overheard their conversation, and at once gave
+the alarm, with the result that the tables were turned on the scheming
+Ngati-Toa. Their deaths, however, had to be avenged; and it is easy to
+understand how gladly Te Rauparaha would avail himself of this new
+excuse for wiping out old scores.
+
+The morning after the massacre, Tungia took Te Aweawe outside the
+Waikanae _pa_, and, placing a weapon in his hand, said, "Go! come
+back again and kill these people." The released chief at once made his
+way back as best he could to the Manawatu, where he found most of the
+settlements deserted by the terror-stricken inhabitants, in
+consequence of the appalling news which had just reached them of the
+death of their friends. He, however, succeeded in collecting about
+thirty warriors, and with these he travelled down the coast, receiving
+additions by the way from a few stragglers belonging to his own and
+the Muaupoko tribes. When they reached Waikanae, they found the
+Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa peoples busily engaged in gathering flax to
+trade away for guns and powder and little suspecting an attack. They
+had beguiled themselves into the false belief that the shattered
+Rangitane would not be able to collect in so short a time a force
+sufficiently strong to harm them. When, therefore, Te Aweawe, at the
+head of his brave little band, burst in upon them, dealing death at
+every blow, they, in their turn, were at all the disadvantage of being
+taken completely by surprise. Upwards of sixty of the followers of Te
+Rauparaha were killed, amongst them a chieftainess named
+Muri-whakaroto, who fell into the hands of the enraged Te Aweawe, and
+was despatched without the slightest compunction. Matea, the Rangitane
+chief second in command, was more chivalrous to Tainai Rangi, for he
+spared her and brought her back, a prisoner certainly, but still
+alive. Such of the flax-gathering party as were not slain made good
+their escape down the coast; and the avengers of Mahuri, fearing that
+they might soon return with a large and active war party, beat a hasty
+retreat, well satisfied with the result of their mission of
+revenge--the last great act of slaughter perpetrated by the resident
+people as a protest against the conquest of their country.
+
+Any policy of retaliation which Te Rauparaha and the chiefs who were
+co-operating with him may have contemplated, as a step towards
+restoring the equilibrium of tribal honour, had to be indefinitely
+delayed, owing to the rapidity with which events developed in another
+direction; and that delay robbed them of future opportunity. The death
+of Waitohi, Te Rauparaha's sister, and mother of Rangihaeata, had just
+occurred at Mana, where she had been living with her son. The demise
+of so high-born a woman necessarily demanded a _tangi_ on an
+unusually elaborate and extensive scale, and the whole of the tribes
+who had been associated with Te Rauparaha in his scheme of conquest
+assembled on the island to attend the obsequies of the honoured dead.
+Levies of provisions were made upon all the tributary tribes on both
+sides of the Straits, and for several weeks the peculiar rites of a
+Maori funeral were continued without intermission.
+
+It is said that, for no other purpose than to appear opulent in the
+eyes of his guests, Te Rauparaha ordered the killing and cooking of
+one of the poor slaves who had come from the Pelorus with his people's
+tribute to the feast. Be this as it may--and it is by no means
+improbable under the circumstances--the strange admixture of funeral
+and festival, which marks the Maori _tangi_, was observed at Mana
+in all its completeness and elaboration. But the death of Waitohi
+brought in its train something more than a great _tangi_; for
+indirectly it was the cause of the renewal of hostilities between
+Ngati-Awa and Ngati-Raukawa, culminating in the engagement known in
+Maori history as Kuititanga, which was fought on October 16, 1839. It
+is not clear why or in what way the old sore between these comrades in
+arms was re-opened, but the weight of testimony inclines towards the
+assumption that Te Rauparaha's irrepressible passion for intrigue was
+the moving impulse in urging Ngati-Raukawa to take the step they did.
+Whether he had grown jealous of Ngati-Awa's increasing numbers and
+power, or whether, having achieved all he could hope to accomplish, he
+wished to shake himself free from any further obligation to them,
+cannot of course be asserted with any confidence. Ngati-Raukawa were
+nothing loath to join in any conspiracy against Ngati-Awa. Living, as
+they did, north of Kapiti, they began to find themselves somewhat out
+of touch with the whalers; and probably it was the rapid extension of
+trade, enabling Ngati-Awa to procure guns as readily as Rauparaha
+himself, that induced him to instigate Ngati-Raukawa to break the
+truce which had existed since the battle of Pakakutu. No breach of the
+peace actually occurred at Mana, but bickerings and threats foretold
+the coming storm; and when Ngati-Awa returned to their _pas_ on
+the mainland, it was with the full consciousness that the attack would
+not be long delayed. The Ngati-Raukawa mourners remained at Mana for
+some time after Ngati-Awa had left, and it would have caused the
+latter no surprise had Ngati-Raukawa made an attack upon them--as
+indeed they invited it--as they passed Waikanae on their way to Otaki.
+This Ngati-Raukawa did not do, but went on with every semblance of
+peace, even ignoring the shots of defiance which were fired by
+Ngati-Awa as they passed. Towards evening, however, they altered their
+tactics, and, doubling back, surrounded the Kuititanga _pa_ during the
+night, in preparation for the attack at daybreak. A reconnoitring
+party was sent out to investigate the state of the defences, one of
+whom was indiscreet enough to enter a house, and, rousing a boy by his
+intrusion, attempted to cover his blunder by asking him for a light
+for his pipe. The boy sharply recognised his visitor as a
+Ngati-Raukawa; and knowing that no friendly native would be prowling
+about at that unseemly hour, sprang for his gun, and fired point-blank
+at the intruder. The echo of the shot rang through the clear morning
+air, and was the signal for a general movement on both sides. The
+women and children made a hurried flight to the neighbouring
+settlements, from which Ngati-Awa reinforcements swarmed up to the
+assistance of their beleaguered tribesmen; and by daylight the full
+strength of both forces--variously estimated at between eight hundred
+and a thousand men--was actively engaged. The _pa_, which bore the
+brunt of the first assault, stood close to the seashore on a narrow
+tongue of sand, between the Waikanae and Waimea Rivers.[144] At the
+inception of the attack it was defended by a slender company of thirty
+men, who offered so stubborn a defence that the assailants were held
+in check until assistance arrived. A strong company of Ngati-Awa
+crossed the Waikanae, and, catching Ngati-Raukawa between two fires at
+this point, caused them to deploy and so open an avenue, by which the
+supports reached the _pa_. Trenches were now hurriedly dug in the
+loose soil, which, together with the protection offered by the
+stockade, afforded them a friendly shelter from the fire of the enemy.
+In this respect they were more fortunate than the aggressors, who,
+fighting in the open, suffered a greater number of casualties,
+including several of their principal chiefs.
+
+Te Rauparaha took no part in the battle; but that he anticipated its
+occurrence is proved by the fact that he landed from his canoe shortly
+after it commenced. And when, at the close of an hour's desperate
+fighting, Ngati-Raukawa, who had his silent sympathy, if not his
+active help, began to waver under their heavy losses, he thought it
+prudent to get beyond the danger zone, and, plunging into the surf,
+swam towards his canoe. Ngati-Awa, who knew that he was inside the
+enemy's lines, saw the movement, and made a spirited effort to
+frustrate it, in the hope of capturing the man to whose subtle
+intrigues they attributed all their misfortunes. An equally vigorous
+rally on the part of Ngati-Raukawa intercepted their rush, and saved
+the chief, though at heavy cost to themselves. With Te Rauparaha safe
+amongst the whalers, who were watching the conflict from their boats,
+Ngati-Raukawa began rapidly to fall back; and, after maintaining a
+slackened fire, retired from the field altogether, taking their
+wounded with them, but leaving to Ngati-Awa the victor's privilege of
+burying the dead. Sixty of the Ngati-Raukawa had fallen, but only
+sixteen of the defenders. There were, however, many wounded in both
+camps. These were attended to by the medical men on board the
+_Tory_, which arrived at Kapiti on the day that the battle was
+fought; and, as Dr. Dieffenbach has left a graphic account of what he
+saw, no better authority can be here quoted:--
+
+ "All the people of the village were assembled; and, though grief was
+ expressed in every face, they received us with the greatest kindness
+ and attention, and we were obliged to shake hands with everybody.
+ They regarded us as friends and allies, for we had brought with us
+ from Te-Awaiti some of their relations; and when they saw the medical
+ men of our party giving assistance to the wounded, their confidence
+ and gratitude were unbounded. Some of the women gave themselves up to
+ violent expressions of grief, cutting their faces, arms, and legs
+ with broken mussel-shells, and inflicting deep gashes, from which the
+ blood flowed profusely. We had brought with us E Patu, the son of a
+ chief in East Bay, whose uncle had been killed in the battle. We
+ found the widow standing on the roof of a hut, deploring in a low
+ strain the loss of her husband. When E Patu approached she threw
+ herself upon the ground, and, lying at his feet, related to him, in a
+ funeral song, how great had been their happiness, how flourishing
+ were their plantations, until the Ngati-Raukawa had destroyed their
+ peace and bereft her of her husband. During this time E Patu stood
+ before her, convulsively throwing his arms backwards and forwards,
+ and joining in her lamentations. An old woman, bent down under the
+ burden of many years, had her arms and face frightfully cut; she was
+ painted with red _kokowai_, with a wreath of leaves round her
+ head, and gesticulated and sang in a similar manner. In this place
+ there were no wounded; they had been carried to the principal and
+ most fortified _pa_, which lies a little to the northward. This
+ latter village was very large; it stood on a sand-hill, and was well
+ fenced in, and the houses were neatly constructed. Everything was
+ kept clean and in good order, and in this respect it surpassed many
+ villages in Europe. The population seemed to be numerous, and I
+ estimated it, together with that of the first-mentioned village, and
+ a third, about a mile higher up, to amount, on the whole, to seven
+ hundred souls. Several native missionaries, some of them liberated
+ Ngati-Awa slaves, live here; and the natives had built a large house,
+ neatly lined with a firm and tall reed, for their church and
+ meeting-house. At the time of our visit they were expecting the
+ arrival of a missionary of the Church of England from the Bay of
+ Islands, who purposed living amongst them. The medical aid which they
+ had given to their wounded was confined to binding the broken limbs
+ with splints made of the bark of a pine, or of the strongest part of
+ the flax-leaves, and carefully protecting the wounds from external
+ injury by means of hoops. Some of these bandages had been very well
+ applied. I went to the beach on the following day to attend my
+ wounded patients and to visit the scene of battle. This was at the
+ third village, and many traces of the strife were visible: trenches
+ were dug in the sand of the beach, the fences of the village had been
+ thrown down, and the houses were devastated. The Ngati-Awa buried
+ their own dead; and the improved state of this tribe was shown by the
+ fact that, instead of feasting on the dead bodies of their enemies,
+ they buried them, depositing them in one common grave, together with
+ their muskets, powder, mats, &c., a generosity and good feeling as
+ unusual as it was honourable to their character. The grave of their
+ enemies they enclosed, and made it _tapu_ (sacred)."
+
+While this internecine strife raged up and down the coast, its
+disturbing influence had almost completely suspended the systematic
+settlement of the land by Europeans. There were many in Australia who,
+but for the peril of life and uncertainty of title, would long before
+this have swarmed over to New Zealand and occupied its shores. Only
+the most wanton and the more adventurous had come, and of these latter
+a few had been invited by the chiefs to remain, land being given to
+them on which to reside and establish themselves as traders. In
+isolated instances attempts had been made, chiefly by some subterfuge,
+to acquire from the natives large tracts of country for a nominal
+consideration; but these examples of dishonesty almost invariably
+brought their own punishment. One of the most unscrupulous of such
+perfidious transactions was that of Captain Blenkinsopp. He had sailed
+these seas in command of the whaler _Caroline_, and had made more
+than one trip to Cloudy Bay. There he became infatuated with a Maori
+woman of the Ngati-Toa tribe. His alliance with her gave him influence
+with Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who, about the year 1834, entered
+into a bargain with him, the spirit of which was that for the right to
+procure wood and water for his ship while at Cloudy Bay, the captain
+was to present the tribe with a ship's cannon,[145] which he had then
+with him at Kapiti. The conditions of this bargain were reduced to
+writing by Blenkinsopp, but not the bargain Te Rauparaha had counted
+upon. For wood and water, Ocean Bay and the magnificent Wairau Plain
+were substituted in the deed; and Rauparaha, with that reckless
+disregard for the value of his signature which he exhibited at all
+times when fire-arms were concerned, had signed it with the lines of
+his _moko_.
+
+The Wairau Plain is the floor of the valley through which the Wairau
+River runs. Terminating on the shores of Cloudy Bay, it recedes in
+ever-increasing elevation and diminishing breadth back for many miles,
+until it vanishes in the gorge at the foot of the Spencer Range.
+Covering an area of 65,000 acres, it comprises some of the richest
+agricultural and pastoral land in the Middle Island, and was at this
+time treasured by Rauparaha as one of his principal food-producing
+centres. Eager as he was to procure weapons with which to slaughter
+his enemies, he was equally sensible of the value of this valley; and
+it is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he would have parted with so
+rich an estate for a single piece of rusty artillery, subject to the
+additional disadvantage of the difficulty involved in its transport.
+Knowing that he was, for such purposes, ignorant of the English
+language, Blenkinsopp, with a touch of irony, presented Te Rauparaha
+with a copy of the deed, and told him to show it to any captain of a
+man-o'-war who might visit Kapiti. Te Rauparaha did not wait for a
+naval officer, but gave the document to a whaler protege of his, named
+Hawes, then living at his island fortress. Hawes explained to
+Rauparaha that by the deed he had parted with all his land at the
+Wairau: whereupon the chief, in a fit of anger, tore up the paper,
+threw the fragments into the fire, and declared that, so far as he was
+concerned, the contract was at an end. Not so with Blenkinsopp. He
+sailed to Sydney, and there proceeded to raise a substantial sum of
+money upon the security of his deed from a solicitor named Unwin, then
+practising in that city. For reasons which need not be discussed here,
+Mr. Unwin eventually claimed the valley as his own; and his attempt to
+occupy the district, its disastrous failure, culminating in the
+massacre at the Wairau Bar, in 1840, of his manager and all his men,
+are now matters of history, affording another instance of how the just
+sometimes suffer for the unjust. Nor were the deception of Mr. Unwin
+and the death of Mr. Wilton and his fellow employees the full measure
+of the toll exacted as the result of Blenkinsopp's perfidy. When
+Colonel Wakefield met at Hokianga the native woman who had formerly
+been Captain Blenkinsopp's wife, and was now his widow, she showed him
+a document which purported to be the original deed to which her late
+husband had secured Te Rauparaha's signature. As a matter of fact, the
+document was no more than a copy which had been left amongst the
+captain's papers, but, believing it to be genuine, Wakefield purchased
+it for L300;[146] and it was largely on this spurious foundation that
+his brother, Captain Wakefield, subsequently, and with such fatal
+results, sought to build up the New Zealand Company's claim to the
+Wairau. This transaction, in which Captain Blenkinsopp was so
+scandalously concerned, was but typical of many another, by which the
+credulity of the natives was cunningly exploited. Their influence had,
+however, been so far comparatively harmless, and the measure of injury
+they had inflicted had told more heavily upon the unscrupulous
+speculators than upon the natives.
+
+But now Te Rauparaha, and those tribes with whom he was associated,
+were about to be brought into contact, and to some extent into
+conflict, with a more persistent earth-hunger, and more powerful
+land-buyers, than any which had yet operated upon the coasts of New
+Zealand. The spirit of colonisation was abroad in England, and the
+restless genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield[147] was busy coining
+schemes whereby the spirit of the hour might be embodied in action.
+Canada and South Australia had each attracted his attention; and now
+his eyes were turned to New Zealand as a field suitable for the
+planting of his quasi-philanthropic projects. His writings upon the
+subject of colonisation had drawn within the circle of his influence a
+galaxy of men, whose liberal education, lofty ideals, and generous
+impulses had earned for them the title of "philosophic radicals," and
+with these men, who stood for the most advanced development of English
+political aspiration, as its sponsors, the New Zealand Company was
+founded in 1839. With the story of this Company's early political
+troubles we are not concerned, for they bear only slightly on
+subsequent events in New Zealand. But the central fact with which we
+are concerned is that the Company was established for the purpose of
+acquiring land from the natives and transporting emigrants from
+England to settle thereon. To this end, the expeditionary ship
+_Tory_ was hurriedly despatched from the Thames, and arrived
+safely in New Zealand waters, bringing with her Colonel Wakefield,
+brother of the founder of the Company, with a staff of officers
+charged with the duty of conducting the negotiations for the purchase
+of land and arranging other preliminaries--which appeared to be
+regarded in the light of mere formalities--incidental to the
+introduction of a great colonising scheme. In furtherance of her
+mission, the _Tory_ paid a brief visit to Queen Charlotte Sound
+and Port Nicholson, and reached Kapiti on October 16, 1839, the day on
+which Ngati-Raukawa had been routed by Ngati-Awa at the fight of
+Kuititanga.
+
+The first tidings of this engagement was brought to the officers of
+the _Tory_ by a canoe-crew of natives who had just left the scene
+of strife; and although the sea was high, a boat's company had been
+organised, and was on the point of starting for the battlefield, when
+a message came from Te Rauparaha, who had returned to Evans' Island,
+that he wished them to pay him the honour of a visit. Accordingly, the
+course of the boat was deflected to the island, and there the chiefs
+of the two races met for the first time. Te Rauparaha was sitting upon
+the ground beside his wife, a woman who has been described as being of
+the "Meg Merrilies" type. He was deeply smeared with red ochre, and
+evidently in an uneasy frame of mind. His manner was restless, his
+glance furtive, and he was obviously depressed at the result of the
+battle. As Colonel Wakefield and his party approached, Te Rauparaha
+rose and hastened to exchange with them the missionary greeting,
+shaking them by the hand. With equal alacrity he sought to convince
+them that he had been in no way concerned in promoting the fight. In
+these protestations it cannot be said that he was in the least
+successful, for the Englishmen had already been prejudiced against him
+by the tales of his duplicity told them by both whalers and Ngati-Awas
+at Cloudy Bay; whilst his wandering, distrustful glances, as he spoke,
+were not calculated to inspire confidence. Though, on the whole, his
+conduct was unsatisfactory, the interview was occasionally illumined
+by flashes of his imperious nature, the inborn power to lead and
+command momentarily asserting itself, only to be again clouded by a
+mean cringing, which seemed to bespeak a craven spirit.
+
+Being assured that there were no hostile natives harbouring on board
+the _Tory_, Te Rauparaha left Evans' Island for Kapiti, promising
+to visit the ship on the following morning. Next day he was received
+by Colonel Wakefield with a salute of guns, which filled him with
+alarm, until it had been made clear that the demonstration was
+intended as a great compliment to him and those chiefs who were with
+him. The preliminaries of the reception being over, the question of
+the land purchase was introduced to the chiefs; but Colonel Wakefield
+discovered them to be distinctly hostile to his proposals, an
+opposition which he attributed to the influence of Mr. Wynen, the
+agent for a Sydney land syndicate, whose headquarters were then at
+Cloudy Bay. The energies of this gentleman had been insidiously
+applied to prejudice the native mind against the Company's scheme of
+colonisation; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the
+Colonel was ultimately able to dissipate these prejudices, and to
+obtain their consent "to look over their land, and if he found it
+good, to take it." A gale which raged through the Strait prevented all
+communication with the shore and suspended the negotiations until the
+21st, when Colonel Wakefield made a definite proposal to purchase all
+the Ngati-Toa possessions, together with their rights and claims on
+both sides of the Strait. After he had exhibited to their wondering
+eyes a great portion of the goods--the finery and the trumpery--which
+he intended to dignify by the term "payment," his proposals were
+doubtingly accepted, Te Hiko pressing for more soap and clothing, and
+Te Rauparaha clamouring for more arms. Te Rauparaha dictated to Mr.
+Jerningham Wakefield the names of the localities involved in the sale;
+and the binding nature of the bargain was impressed upon the natives
+as clearly as the linguistic limitations of Dicky Barrett, the
+interpreter, would permit.
+
+These preliminaries settled, the following day was appointed for the
+distribution of the goods; but the ceremony was intercepted by the
+indisposition of Te Hiko, whom Colonel Wakefield regarded as an
+indispensable party to the transaction, and he refused to proceed
+without him. This refusal greatly aggravated Te Rauparaha, whose hands
+were itching to grasp the guns, which had been thrown like leaven
+amongst the heap of worthless stuff; and he railed bitterly against
+the deference paid to one whom he designated "a boy," destitute alike
+of any interest in, or knowledge of, land. "Give us the goods," said
+he, "with more powder and arms. Of what use are blankets, soap, tools,
+and iron pots, when we are going to war? What does it matter whether
+we die cold or warm, clean or dirty, hungry or full? Give us
+two-barrelled guns, plenty of muskets, lead, powder, cartridges and
+cartouche boxes." This militant appeal was coldly ignored by Colonel
+Wakefield, who steadfastly declined to consider the question of
+distribution until Hiko's return, which did not occur until two days
+later. On the 23rd, however, the chiefs again assembled, and the
+merchandise, which the Company offered as payment for the land, was
+ostentatiously displayed on the deck of the _Tory_. The
+consummation of the transaction was, however, still to be delayed.
+While Te Hiko was busy trying on one of the coats which he had
+selected from the pile of clothing, Te Rauparaha, Tungia, and several
+of the warlike chiefs made an unseemly rush to secure some of the
+fowling-pieces, which were lying on the companion hatch ready for
+distribution. This exhibition of selfishness so exasperated Te Hiko
+that he at once threw down the garment, and, calling to Rangihiroa to
+accompany him, went down over the ship's side and made for the shore
+in a fit of ill-humour, out of which he could not be cajoled until
+next day.
+
+Colonel Wakefield immediately suspended the proceedings, whereupon Te
+Rauparaha again became deeply offended at the consideration shown for
+one whom he regarded as so much his inferior; but, in spite of
+importunities and threats which sorely tried his patience, the Colonel
+refused to recede from his former attitude, and declined to take one
+step towards the sale in Hiko's absence. As Wakefield was adamant
+against all their menaces and blandishments, nothing remained but to
+return on shore for the purpose of placating Te Hiko, which they
+shortly succeeded in doing. Next day, unsolicited by Colonel
+Wakefield, both Te Hiko and Te Rauparaha came off to the ship, and,
+after entertaining themselves for some time with the novelties of the
+_pakeha_, they asked that the deed of sale might be read over to
+them, the map being at the same time consulted. After questions had
+been asked and answered, and all doubts on either side apparently
+cleared away, the fateful document was signed, Te Rauparaha making a
+mark peculiarly his own, and Te Hiko subscribing the sign of the
+cross. Each then left the vessel, possessed of a gun, promising that
+the rest of the chiefs would come on board and sign on the next day.
+This ceremony was duly performed, but only eleven signatures were
+obtained, Te Rauparaha and two minor chiefs signing as proxy for the
+natives on the opposite side of the Strait. A share of the gifts was
+reserved for Te Rangihaeata, who was at Mana, and had taken no part in
+the negotiations. On Thursday, 24th October, Colonel Wakefield was
+able to report to his Directors in London that he had acquired by his
+purchases at Port Nicholson and Kapiti, at a cost of a few guns, some
+powder, lead, and miscellaneous goods, "possessions for the Company
+extending from the 38th to the 43rd degree of latitude on the western
+coast, and from the 41st to the 43rd on the eastern." But Colonel
+Wakefield still had some reservations as to the completeness and
+validity of his purchases; for he added to his report this qualifying
+sentence: "To complete the rights of the Company to all the land
+unsold to foreigners in the above extensive district, it remains for
+me to secure the cession of their rights in it from the Ngati-Awa,
+and, in a proportionately small degree, from the Ngati-Raukawa and
+Whanganui peoples."
+
+Three days later he had an interview with the Ngati-Awa people at
+Waikanae, and they, being excited by the spirit of war and fearful of
+another attack by Ngati-Raukawa, were easily tempted by the sight of
+guns and the prospect of powder. Several of the elder chiefs addressed
+the assemblage, and urged their followers to acquiesce in the
+Colonel's proposals, conditionally upon their receiving arms and
+ammunition. To this stipulation Wakefield felt no reluctance in
+agreeing, and, for the purpose of giving it effect, a conference was
+arranged to take place on board the _Tory_. On the appointed day
+(8th November) the natives were astir bright and early; soon after
+daylight they "began to come on board, and by 12 o'clock more than two
+hundred had assembled on the deck, including all the principal chiefs
+of the Sounds." To these unsophisticated dealers in real estate was
+produced the deed, phrased in stilted terms, which purported to convey
+to the Colonel, as agent for the Company, and in trust for the
+Company, a vast area of country, over much of which the signatories
+had absolutely no authority whatever.
+
+"Know all men that we the undersigned chiefs of the Ngati-Awa tribes,
+residing in Queen Charlotte's Sound, on both sides of Cook Strait, in
+New Zealand, have this day sold and parted with, in consideration of
+having received, as full and just payment for the same, ten
+single-barrelled guns, three double-barrelled guns, sixty muskets,
+forty kegs of powder, two kegs of lead slabs, two dozen pairs of
+scissors, two dozen combs, two pounds of beads, one thousand flints,
+the land bounded on the south by the parallel of the 43rd degree of
+South latitude, and on the west, north and east by the sea (with all
+islands), and also comprising all those lands, islands, tenements,
+&c., situate on the northern shore of Cook Straits, which are bounded
+on the north-east by a direct line drawn from the southern head of the
+river or harbour of Mokau, situate on the west coast in latitude of
+about 38 degrees South, to Tikukahore, situate on the east coast in
+the latitude of about 41 degrees South, and on the east, south and
+west by the sea, excepting always the island of Kapiti, and the small
+islands adjacent thereto, and the island of Mana, but including
+Tehukahore, Wairarapa, Port Nicholson, Otaki, Manawatu, Rangitikei,
+Whanganui, Waitotara, Patea, Ngati-Ruanui, Taranaki, Moturoa, and the
+several sugar-loaf islands and the river or harbour of Mokau."
+
+The goods which were specified in the deed as the price of the land
+were carefully arranged on deck; but during the process of distribution
+a violent altercation took place, which was only quelled by a threat
+from the Colonel to send the wares below and proceed to sea, if peace
+was not immediately restored. Advantage was taken of the "momentary
+calm" thus secured to obtain the coveted signatures, and consenting
+chiefs to the number of about thirty appended their marks to the
+document. Scarcely had the distribution of the beads and bullets
+recommenced than another melee, even more violent, took place. "In a
+moment," says the Colonel in his report to the Company, "the most
+tumultuous scene we had ever witnessed took place, in which many blows
+were exchanged: never did a ship witness such a scene of violence
+without bloodshed." A similar, "if not more unfriendly," riot occurred
+on shore amongst those natives who had first conveyed their goods to
+land before they commenced their peculiar method of division; but it
+mattered nothing to the Company's representative how the natives
+abused their goods or each other so long as they had put their marks
+to his deed. Equally was it a matter of indifference to the Maoris how
+many deeds they signed, so long as they became possessed of arms and
+ammunition. It was sufficient for the one that he had outwitted his
+rivals, and appeared to be doing well for his employers, and for the
+other that they had satisfied the most pressing need of the moment.
+Neither looked beyond the immediate present, or took a single thought
+for the long years of mistrust and misunderstanding that were to
+follow upon their hasty and ill-considered transactions. Confident
+that he had made "a full and just payment" for the land described in
+the deed, Colonel Wakefield on 9th November went on shore and took
+possession of the estate, in the name of the Company; and, in order to
+distinguish their possessions, "which so greatly predominate in this
+extensive territory," from those of other buyers, he designated them
+North and South Durham, according to the respective islands in which
+they were situated. Having completed his purchases at Kapiti to his
+own satisfaction, Colonel Wakefield, on 18th November, sailed northward,
+intending to call in at Whanganui for the purpose of perfecting his
+purchases there, as he regarded that district as one of some
+importance. But before he left he had received a glimmering that his
+proceedings had not been perfectly understood, and the first shadow of
+doubt must have crossed his mind when Te Rauparaha calmly informed him
+that he (Te Rauparaha) wanted more guns, and, in order to get them,
+intended to make further sales, embracing territory which the Colonel
+believed he had already bought. Language of the most reproachful
+character was used towards the chief, and his speedy repudiation of a
+solemn bargain was characterised in unmeasured terms; but Te Rauparaha
+steadfastly maintained that, so far as he was concerned, the sale in
+the Middle Island had not included more than D'Urville Island and
+Blind Bay at Nelson. Subsequent investigations proved that Te
+Rauparaha was right and the Colonel was wrong; but it is doubtful
+whether, when he left for Whanganui, the latter had realised the full
+extent of his error, and therefore he parted from the chief with
+bitterness in his heart and an angry word upon his lips.
+
+While these events were in progress in New Zealand, the operations of
+the Company and its contemporary land-speculators had not passed
+unnoticed in England. The British authorities were beginning to regard
+those islands with an anxious eye, but they displayed a painful
+indecision in adopting measures to meet the political emergency which
+they were commencing to realise was inevitable. As a tentative step,
+Mr. Busby was sent from New South Wales in the capacity of British
+Resident; but his usefulness was shorn down to the point of nullity by
+the purely nominal nature of the powers with which he was endowed.
+Negative as the results of this experiment had been, it nevertheless
+encouraged the British authorities to take a still bolder step in the
+appointment of Captain Hobson, R.N., as the accredited British Consul,
+who was authorised to negotiate with the chiefs, and, if possible, to
+acquire the country by cession, preparatory to annexing it as a
+dependency of New South Wales. Even Hobson's position was extremely
+anomalous until the now famous Treaty of Waitangi had been formulated
+and successfully promulgated amongst the tribes. The ratification of
+this document by the chiefs was a severe blow to the New Zealand
+Company, while it is doubtful whether the Maoris had more than a
+nebulous idea of its real meaning. It, however, gave the British
+Government the colour of right to institute the principles of
+established authority in those islands, where it had become their
+imperative duty to control the colonisation which their indifference
+had not been able to thwart. With the policy of the Treaty of Waitangi
+we are not now concerned, beyond recording the fact that, in order to
+give effect to that policy, it became necessary to procure the
+signatures of all the principal chiefs, as acknowledging their assent
+to the solemn obligations involved in the covenant. To this end
+Archdeacon Williams came southward, and in due course reached Kapiti,
+where, on May 14, 1840, he succeeded, but by what means we are not
+told, in inducing Te Rauparaha to sign the treaty. Similarly, Major
+Bunbury, an officer of the 80th Regiment, had been despatched by
+Captain Hobson in H.M.S. _Herald_, charged with the mission of
+securing the assent of the chiefs in the Middle Island to the
+proposals of the Government. After having visited all the southern
+_pas_ of importance, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Queen
+both at Stewart Island and Cloudy Bay, he arrived at Kapiti on June
+19th, and to him we are indebted for the following account of what
+there occurred:--
+
+ "When we arrived off the island of Kapiti several canoes were leaving
+ the island, and on my preparing to go ashore, fortunately the first
+ canoe we met had on board the chief Rauparaha, whom I was anxious to
+ see. He returned on board with me in the ship's boat, his own canoe,
+ one of the most splendid I have yet seen, following. He told me the
+ Rev. Mr. Williams had been there, and had obtained his signature to
+ the treaty, and on inquiring for the chiefs Rangihaeata and Te Hiko,
+ I was informed that we should meet them both, probably at the island
+ of Mana, and, as this lay on our route to Port Nicholson, thither we
+ proceeded, the chief Rauparaha remaining on board the _Herald_,
+ his canoes following. On our arrival, the _Herald_ having
+ anchored, I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Williams and Rauparaha.
+ We learnt that Hiko, son of the late chief Te Pehi, had gone out on a
+ distant expedition. The other chief, Rangihaeata, after some time
+ returned with us on board, accompanied by Rauparaha, when both signed
+ the treaty."
+
+What arguments or other inducements were held out to the chiefs to
+lead them to append their marks to the document is not clear.
+Rauparaha subsequently boasted that he had received a blanket for his
+signature, but whether this gift, or bribe, was tendered by the
+missionary or the Major is equally a matter of doubt. It would,
+however, be safe to assume that the blanket was a more potent factor
+in securing the allegiance of the chief to the policy of the treaty
+than any arguments that could have been pressed upon him. It is
+certainly asking much of the intelligence of Te Rauparaha to assert
+that he was seized with the full significance of the step he had
+taken, seeing that the terms and intentions of the treaty were
+afterwards so diversely interpreted by cultured Englishmen.[148] Major
+Bunbury, when being sent out on his southern mission, was instructed
+by Captain Hobson to assemble the chiefs, to explain the provisions of
+the treaty to them, and further, to give them "a solemn pledge that
+the most perfect good faith would be kept by Her Majesty's Government,
+that their property, their rights and privileges should be most fully
+preserved." In direct conflict with this official view, which was an
+accurate reflex of the instructions given to Captain Hobson himself by
+the Marquis of Normanby, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies,
+Lord Howick persuaded a Committee of the House of Commons to condemn
+the treaty as "a part of a series of injudicious proceedings," and
+with a light-hearted ignorance of Maori reverence for landed
+rights,[149] to assert that the acknowledgment of Maori property in
+wild lands subsequent to the Queen's assumption of sovereignty was
+"not essential to the construction of the treaty, and was an error
+which had been productive of serious consequences."
+
+Whether or not Te Rauparaha and his fellow-signatories were able to
+analyse the language of the treaty with the precision of an English
+statesman, they had certainly never placed upon it such a loose
+interpretation as this. And when tidings of the Committee's deliberations
+reached the colony, the alleged "serious consequences" which had
+followed upon the observance and administration of the treaty as laid
+down by Captain Hobson were safety itself compared with the
+catastrophe which might have followed from this rash attempt to
+repudiate, in the interests of the New Zealand Company, the essential
+principle of the treaty--that the "full, exclusive, and undisturbed
+possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other
+possessions" was guaranteed to the natives by the Queen. Fortunately,
+at this time there was at the head of Britain's Colonial Department a
+Minister who held national honour to be dearer than personal gain.
+Lord Stanley, to his credit, refused to comply with the recommendations
+of the Committee to confiscate the native land "without reference to
+the validity or otherwise of its supposed purchase from the natives,"
+and at the end of the famous three days' debate induced the House of
+Commons to adopt his view of the nation's obligations to the Maoris.
+
+The Crown having now assumed sovereignty over New Zealand, it became
+necessary to administer its affairs impartially in the interests of
+both Maori and _pakeha_ population; and, in this connection, one
+of its first and most pressing duties was to make an honest effort to
+unravel the complex web of land claims, in which both races had become
+unhappily entangled. The Government of Lord John Russell accordingly
+appointed as a commissioner to adjudicate upon claims of all classes
+of buyers Mr. Spain, an English lawyer, who, it is said, had been a
+prominent electioneering agent on the side of the Liberals. Mr. Spain
+arrived in New Zealand on December 8, 1841, and immediately took steps
+to establish his court. He has been described as a man of solid
+intelligence, but burdened with a good deal of legal pedantry; slow in
+thinking and in his apprehension of ways of dealing with new
+emergencies; steady and plodding in his methods, thoroughly honest in
+his intentions, and utterly inflexible to threats, though, perhaps,
+not unsusceptible to flattery. Considering the magnitude of their
+alleged purchases, the claims of the New Zealand Company naturally
+took precedence over all others in the business of the court; and,
+having regard to the temperament of the Commissioner, an inauspicious
+start was made by the representatives of the Company metaphorically
+shaking their fists in his face. In some degree their annoyance may
+have been pardonable, for they, believing themselves to be the
+pioneers of a great colonising scheme, had flattered themselves that
+not only the merit of their cause, but the fact that they had made
+their purchases prior to the proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty,
+would have placed them outside the exacting conditions of the Treaty
+of Waitangi.
+
+The coming of Mr. Spain, and his insistence upon an exhaustive
+examination of their titles, was a heavy blow to them, which they at
+first thought to ward off by affecting an attitude of amused
+indifference. They laughed at the treaty, with its engagement to
+respect Maori rights in land, and its elevation of the Maori to a
+civil status equal to themselves. But amidst this simulated merriment
+they exhibited an ill-concealed chagrin that the little self-governing
+community, which they had hoped to set up on the shores of Cook
+Strait, had been so unceremoniously superseded by the sovereignty of
+the Queen, and they resented with fear and anxiety the appointment of
+a commissioner, who might deem it his duty to ask awkward questions
+regarding their titles. Their policy was, therefore, one of delay and
+evasion, which was inaugurated by their raising technical objections
+to the constitution of the court, its jurisdiction, and its forms of
+procedure, but, most of all, to Mr. Spain's determination to call
+native evidence. That was surely an unnecessary elevation of the
+savage, and a corresponding degradation of the white man. In fact,
+they openly asserted that to put the testimony of the one against the
+other was a gratuitous insult to the dignity of the British subject.
+But this was not the full measure of Spain's offending in the eyes of
+the Company's champions. He was audacious enough to ask Colonel
+Wakefield to submit proof that those natives who had signed the
+Company's deed had the right to sell the land which they thus
+purported to convey to the Company; and some of them made themselves
+conspicuously offensive in the manner in which they ridiculed this
+demand as preposterous and ridiculous.
+
+The proceedings of the court at Wellington[150] do not materially
+concern our purpose, for Te Rauparaha took no part in the sale of Port
+Nicholson, nor need we burden the narrative with the interminable
+finesse which took place before the court was able seriously to attack
+the work which lay before it in other districts. When this condition
+was at length reached, Spain soon saw that he was faced with a most
+serious problem. That the Company's purchases were in most instances
+bad he had little hesitation in declaring. But there was no blinking
+the fact that hundreds of settlers had risked their all on the
+assurances of the Company that they could give them a title, and it
+would have been cruel indeed to visit the sins of the Company upon the
+unfortunate colonists. Spain, therefore, halted between justice to the
+Maoris and equity to the settlers, satisfying the requirements of his
+office by issuing interim reports, hoping that in the meantime some
+workable compromise might be evolved. This was ultimately found in an
+arrangement whereby Mr. Clarke and Colonel Wakefield were to agree
+upon what additional compensation was to be paid for the land
+purchased, and, failing their arriving at an understanding, Mr. Spain
+was to be the final arbitrator. At the outset of these negotiations,
+Mr. Clarke stipulated that the natives were not to be evicted from
+their _pas_ or their cultivations, nor were their burial-places
+to be disturbed; but to these reasonable reservations Colonel
+Wakefield could not at first be induced to frankly agree, while his
+unwillingness, or his inability, to comply with the ultimate awards
+tended to accentuate rather than to soothe public irritation.
+
+Meanwhile, Rangihaeata had been busy entering his practical protest
+against what he believed to be a violation of his rights at Porirua.
+He, in conjunction with Te Rauparaha and Te Hiko,[151] stoutly
+contended that Porirua, like the Wairau, had never been sold; and
+when, in the early part of 1841, the Company's surveyors went there to
+survey, Rangihaeata blocked up the forest track, levelled the
+surveyors' tents to the ground, and, at the end of each day, undid all
+the work which they had performed. This interference with the survey
+was obviated by an assurance being given to the chief, that, even if
+the land were surveyed, the Company's title must still be investigated
+by Mr. Spain before the settlers would be permitted to enter upon it.
+But, in defiance of this assurance, Colonel Wakefield, in April, 1842,
+issued leases to four settlers--Joseph Hurley, Thomas Parry, Benjamin
+Lowndes and Josiah Torr--who at once proceeded to erect houses and
+occupy their holdings. Two of the houses were nearly finished when the
+intelligence was brought to the chief. Rangihaeata immediately gave
+the settlers notice of his intention to pull their houses down; and
+this threat, so chivalrously declared, was duly executed next day,
+without any unnecessary violence, by the chief and a band of fifty
+men. The indignation which followed this assertion of native authority
+found expression in a public meeting at Wellington, at which the
+arrest of Rangihaeata was violently demanded, and those present
+declared their readiness to assist the Sheriff in effecting his
+capture. With the mandate of this meeting Mr. Murphy, the magistrate,
+refused to comply,[152] and when, in the following June, the huts were
+again demolished, he wrote to the Governor declaring his determination
+not to interfere "to prevent any natives keeping land which they state
+they have not sold, until Mr. Spain decides upon the claims." This
+determination to regard the Porirua land claims as _sub judice_
+met with the entire concurrence of Captain Hobson, but was as bitterly
+assailed by Colonel Wakefield, who committed the indiscretion, almost
+criminal under the circumstances, of declaring, when speaking at
+Wellington, that he had not treated with the natives for a settlement
+of their claims, but preferred to employ the inconvenience created by
+these claims as grounds of complaint against the Government, and as
+arguments in aid of his efforts to secure the removal of the Governor.
+With such a feeling of declared insincerity pervading Colonel
+Wakefield's conduct, it is small wonder that the differences between
+the natives and the Company were slow of settlement, or that the
+efforts of Spain and Clarke to that end were unduly protracted.
+Equally true is it that thereby the cares and worries of the Governor
+were unnecessarily aggravated, while both brown and white populations
+were exasperated almost to the point of desperation by the vexatious
+delays. The irritated state of the public temper thus engendered not
+only made acts of violence possible, but even encouraged them, and
+these only added fuel to the threatened conflagration. A native woman
+was found by her friends murdered at Wellington, and suspicion fell
+upon a European. Only a few months later a settler was discovered
+lying upon the Petone road with his skull fractured, and questioning
+eyes were at once turned in the direction of the Maoris. The
+burial-grounds of the natives were being repeatedly desecrated by
+_pakeha_ looters in search of greenstone ornaments, and in the
+prosecution of this shameful traffic, deep offence was given by the
+secret exhumation of the body of Te Rauparaha's brother, Nohorua, at
+Cloudy Bay. For this act of violence to the honoured dead the natives
+would at one time have taken swift vengeance; but, acting under the
+restraining counsel of Mr. Clarke, they consented to refer their
+complaint to the Government for settlement, a forbearance which the
+Protector, in his letter to Captain Hobson, assured the Governor
+greatly surprised him.[153] The weight of these and other accumulating
+troubles began to tell heavily upon the frail physique of Captain
+Hobson, and borne down by the stress of his increasing responsibilities,
+he died at Auckland in September, 1842. Before his successor, Captain
+Fitzroy, arrived in the Colony, the tragedy for which the country was
+being rapidly prepared had been enacted, and the faithlessness of the
+New Zealand Company had been written in letters of blood on the floor
+of the Wairau Valley.
+
+[127] "Amongst these, there was a great chief named Tu-Hawaiki in
+Maori, 'Bloody Jack' by the Englishmen, because in his English, which
+he learned mostly from the rough whalers and traders, he often used
+the low word 'bloody'" (_Memoirs of the Rev. J.F.H. Wohlers_). Tu
+Hawaiki was both the patron and the pupil of the whalers, and was
+referred to by them as an evidence of what they had done in civilising
+the aborigines. "He was undoubtedly the most intelligent native in the
+country in 1840, and his reputation for honesty was such that
+Europeans trusted him with large quantities of goods" (_Thomson_).
+
+[128] "Just like the Governor."
+
+[129] Travers doubts the occurrence of this incident, holding that had
+Te Rauparaha been guilty of such conduct towards his own people, he
+could never have retained the respect of his fellow-chiefs. Wakefield,
+on the other hand, insists upon it, and it is also referred to in a
+Ngati-Toa account of Te Rauparaha's life found in White's _Ancient
+History of the Maori_.
+
+[130] A modified version of this incident states that all the crew
+were drowned except an old woman, who escaped by clinging to the
+overturned canoe. Tu-Hawaiki and his friends waited about the shore
+for some days until the bodies were cast up, and then the old woman
+was killed, her death being part of the religious rites performed at
+the funeral ceremonies. But there are discrepancies in the tradition,
+upon which it is now impossible to arbitrate.
+
+[131] This war is known in Maori history as the Hao-whenua war.
+
+[132] Te Heuheu's peace was made at Kapiti. He took a _taiaha_
+and broke it across his knee. Some people then gave him a long-handled
+tomahawk, and Hoani Tuhata gave a sword, and peace was made (_Native
+Land Court Record_).
+
+[133] I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Robert McNab, for the following
+note, culled from an American whaling captain's log, which probably
+refers to this period, the incident described having occurred at
+Cloudy Bay on Saturday, April 30, 1836:--
+
+"At 4 had visit from Roabolla (Rauparaha), the head chief of this Bay
+(just returned from a marauding expedition), accompanied with the
+customary demand of lay of tobacco, muskets, and cask of powder, which
+I peremptorily denied. This they returned with a threat that I should
+not whale here, to which I replied I was perfectly willing to go to
+sea, for I would not submit to any imposition, although I would
+present them with the same the English ships and parties did, but no
+more, and if they would not take that they should have nothing. They
+finally consented to receive a dozen pipes, 10 lbs. tobacco, and a
+piece of low-priced calico of about 30 yards, priced 17s. 4d., and a
+tin pot, then dismissed them with a blessing. He afterwards came and
+demanded supper, which I, of course, declined furnishing him, and bade
+him goodbye. There is no other way to deal with these people only to
+be positive with them, and let them know you do not fear them, as if
+any timidity is shown, they demand everything they see, nor would the
+ship hold enough for them, and the bad conduct of masters has
+encouraged them to be very importunate. I am willing to allow a lone
+ship here, not well armed, might be obliged to comply with their
+requisition, but no excuse can be offered for any one to do so now, as
+there are seven ships here all partially armed, and yet he showed me
+three muskets given him by the captains of ships the other side, to
+their shame be it spoken, for if they only reflected they would know
+'tis for the interest of these natives to keep on good terms with us,
+as they know if ships are hindered coming here, adieu to their darling
+tobacco, muskets, and pipes. I have adopted this line of conduct from
+my own conviction, and the advice of the English masters now here who
+know them well."
+
+[134] This fight is known in Ngai-Tahu tradition as _Oroua-moa-nui_.
+The Rev. Canon Stack says that Paora Taki, afterwards a well-known
+Maori Assessor at Rapaki, who was fighting under Tu-Hawaiki,
+recognised 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 with which to assault him.
+
+[135] Dieffenbach says: "Ten or twelve years ago (1827-29) the
+southern headland of Tory Channel was the scene of a sanguinary
+contest between the original natives of the channel and the tribes of
+the Ngati-Awa. Rauparaha, at the head of the latter people, earned
+inglorious laurels by shutting up his opponents on a narrow tongue of
+land and then exterminating them."
+
+[136] "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
+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_" (_Travers_).
+
+[137] "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" (_Stack_).
+
+[138] When Mr. Edward Shortland was travelling in the Middle Island in
+1843-44, an account of which he has left us in his _Southern Districts
+of New Zealand_, he had for guide and assistant a native named
+Huruhuru, who employed the leisure of his evenings in giving Mr.
+Shortland information about the interior of the country, with which he
+was well acquainted. He drew a map of the four great lakes in central
+Otago, described the country through which the path across the island
+passed, and was able to name the principal streams, and even to point
+out the various stopping-places at the end of each day's journey.
+
+[139] In confirmation of at least one purpose of the expedition--that
+of securing slaves--it is interesting to note that, with the exception
+of two children who were killed and eaten at Lake Wanaka, none of the
+prisoners were sacrificed, although the temptation to do so must have
+been difficult to resist, as the party often suffered severely from
+hunger.
+
+[140] "For three miles we followed this stream, flowing in a
+north-north-east direction, through a comparatively open valley, with
+occasional patches of grass on its sides, and arrived then at its
+junction with a large stream of glacial origin, and of the size of the
+Makarora, which came from the eastern central chain, and to which,
+according to the direction of His Honour the Superintendent, I gave my
+name. This river forms, before it reaches the valley, a magnificent
+waterfall, several hundred feet in height" (_Haast's "Geology of
+Canterbury and Westland"_).
+
+[141] The exception above referred to was Nga-whakawa, Te Puoho's
+brother-in-law, who escaped in the dim light of the early morning. Mr.
+Percy Smith, writing in the _Polynesian Journal_, says: "His was
+a most unenviable position. A distance of nearly five hundred miles in
+a straight line separated him from his own people, the intermediate
+country being occupied by tribes bitterly hostile to his, who would
+welcome with joy the opportunity of sacrificing him. But notwithstanding
+the exceeding difficulties which lay in his path, this brave fellow
+decided to try to rejoin his relatives at Massacre Bay, at the extreme
+north end of the South Island. How long his arduous journey took I
+know not, but it must have been months. He dare not keep near the east
+coast, which was inhabited by his enemies, but had to follow the base
+of the mountains inland, seeking his sustenance in roots of the fern,
+which is very scarce, and of the _taramea_, occasionally snaring
+a _weka_ or other bird. So he made his toilsome way by mountain
+and valley, swimming the snow-cold rivers, ever on the alert for signs
+of wandering parties of his enemies, only lighting fires after dark by
+the arduous process of _hika-ahi_, or rubbing two sticks together,
+enduring cold, fatigue, and hunger, until, after making one of the
+most extraordinary journeys on record, he at last reached the home of
+his people at Parapara, Massacre Bay. Here he was the first to bring
+the news of the disaster which had befallen Te Puoho and his
+companions. The daughter of this man, born after his return, named Ema
+Nga-whakawa, was still living at Manawatu a few years since."
+
+[142] This food was composed of pumpkins, probably the first grown on
+the coast.
+
+[143] The late Rangitane chief at Awapuni, Kerei te Panau.
+
+[144] Kuititanga means the wedge-shaped piece of land which is
+formed by the junction of two rivers.
+
+[145] This celebrated cannon is now at the town of Blenheim. Its
+history has been stated as follows, by the late John Guard, of Port
+Underwood. In 1833, his father, the original "Jack Guard" of the
+_Harriet_, brought this gun from Sydney and traded it away to
+Nohorua, a brother of Rauparaha, for the right to establish a whaling
+station at Kakapo Bay. This bargain was greatly facilitated by a
+demonstration which Guard gave by loading the gun and firing it off,
+for its power vastly pleased the natives, who christened it
+_Pu-huri-whenua_, "the gun that causes the earth to tremble." In
+1834, Captain Blenkinsopp came upon the scene, and is said to have
+carried the gun away from Kakapo Bay "without leave or licence," and
+bartered it to Rauparaha for the Wairau Plain and Ocean Bay.
+Subsequently, it was brought back to Port Underwood by Rauparaha, and
+again given to Guard's father. After his death, it was taken
+possession of by the province of Marlborough as an historic relic,
+during the superintendency of Mr. Eyes.
+
+[146] "Previous to sailing, Colonel Wakefield purchased from a lady,
+representing herself to be the widow of Captain Blenkinsopp, some
+deeds professing to be the original conveyances of the plains of the
+Wairau by Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and others to that gentleman, in
+consideration of a ship's gun. They were signed with elaborate
+drawings of the _moko_ or tattoo on the chiefs' faces" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[147] According to Lord Lytton, Edward Gibbon Wakefield was "the man
+in these latter days beyond comparison of the most genius and widest
+influence in the great science of colonisation, both as a thinker, a
+writer, and a worker, whose name is like a spell to all interested in
+that subject."
+
+[148] Mr. Somes, one of the champions of the New Zealand Company in
+London, thus expressed the views of the Directorate upon the treaty:
+"We did not believe that even the Royal power of making treaties could
+establish in the eye of our courts such a fiction as a native law of
+real property in New Zealand. We have always had very serious doubts
+whether the Treaty of Waitangi, made with naked savages by a Consul
+invested with no plenipotentiary powers, could be treated by lawyers
+as anything but a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment." To this Lord Stanley replied through his
+secretary that he was "not prepared, as Her Majesty's Secretary of
+State, to join with the Company in setting aside the Treaty of
+Waitangi after having obtained the advantage guaranteed by it, even
+though it might be made with 'naked savages,' or though it might be
+treated by lawyers as a praiseworthy device for amusing and pacifying
+savages for the moment. Lord Stanley entertains a different view of
+the respect due to obligations contracted by the Crown of England, and
+his final answer to the demands of the Company must be that, as long
+as he has the honour of serving the Crown, he will not admit that any
+person, or any Government, acting in the name of Her Majesty, can
+contract a legal, moral, or honorary obligation to despoil others of
+their lawful and equitable rights."
+
+[149] "Long before the arrival of the white man in New Zealand there
+was a proverb amongst the Maoris--'_He wahine he whenua, e ngaro ai
+te tangata_,' which may be rendered in English 'For land or wife man
+stakes his life'" (_Clarke_).
+
+[150] When the court opened at Wellington on 16th May, one of the
+first witnesses called was Dicky Barrett, who had acted as interpreter
+to Colonel Wakefield when making his purchases, and Mr. George Clarke,
+who appeared as the representative of the natives, has left us the
+following sketch of Dicky's appearance in the box: "Barrett was a
+shore whaler who had married a native woman; he was a decent fellow
+enough among men of his class, but he was very ignorant, and I soon
+made him show, in the course of his evidence, that he did not even
+understand the English meaning of the deeds he professed to interpret.
+He admitted, too, that instead of telling the natives, as the deed set
+forth, that one-tenth of the surveyed lots should be reserved for
+their use, he had simply put it that one lot of the alienated land
+should be kept for the Maoris and one for the _pakehas_, and so on
+through the whole--that is, one half the land should be kept for their
+use. He admitted, further, that he had taken no account of many
+natives who were unwilling to sell. It soon became clear that Barrett's
+qualification to interpret was that he spoke whaler Maori, a jargon
+that bears much the same relation to the real language as the pigeon
+English of the Chinese does to our mother tongue."
+
+[151] "Te Hiko, whose signature Colonel Wakefield had boasted of
+obtaining in 1839, being examined before the Governor, the Chief
+Justice, Colonel Wakefield, the Rev. O. Hadfield, and others, denied
+that he had signed any deed of sale of Porirua. E. J. Wakefield
+asserted the contrary. The ignorant Barrett ... admitted that Hiko's
+signature was 'not obtained willingly,' and Clarke, the Protector,
+skilled in the language, declared that the document signed was
+calculated to mislead the natives. Hiko was constant in his denial of
+Wakefield's statements, and Hobson's mind was 'left with the
+impression that he had not sold' the land" (_Rusden_).
+
+[152] Subsequently, a similar application was made to Chief Justice
+Martin, when he arrived in Wellington in October, 1842, but he also
+declined to issue a warrant for the arrest of Rangihaeata, partly
+because the application was _ex parte_, and argument was
+requisite before judgment could be given on so grave a matter, and
+partly on technical grounds connected with the Police Magistrates
+Ordinance.
+
+[153] Mr. Spain, writing to Captain Hobson in 1842, remarked that the
+natives at Wellington had, upon many occasions, shown the greatest
+forbearance when deprived of their cultivations, and he very much
+doubted whether their white brethren would have followed their example
+if placed in similar circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+WAKEFIELD AND THE WAIRAU
+
+
+Amongst the many unsatisfactory negotiations for the purchase of land
+entered into between Colonel Wakefield and Te Rauparaha, few seem to
+have been so ill-defined as that relating to the Wairau Plain. Whether
+Wakefield really believed that he had bought it, or whether Rauparaha
+was equally confident that he had not sold it, will never be known.
+Certainly it is difficult to understand how such a wide difference of
+impression could have arisen between them, had they both been sincere
+in the transaction. It is true the Colonel might have considered that
+the plain was included in the purchases made in 1839, when he
+bargained for four hundred miles of country, extending from the 38th
+to the 43rd degree of latitude on the west coast, and from the 41st to
+the 43rd degree on the east coast. But he knew that the plain had
+never been specifically named, and in his heart he must have felt that
+no valid title could rest upon a purchase made as this one was, its
+full purport not being clearly explained by Dicky Barrett, who acted
+as interpreter, and the signatures of three chiefs only being obtained
+to the deed, when thirty thousand natives had, by native law, a voice
+in its disposal. That Colonel Wakefield did have some reservation,
+later on, about his right to the land is almost certain, for, after
+the settlement of Nelson had been in progress about a year, he
+strongly opposed the suggestion of his brother, Captain Wakefield, to
+include the Wairau in the district to be surveyed, partly because he
+considered that its occupation might militate against the success of
+the Wellington colony, but chiefly because he anticipated that the
+Company's title would be disputed by other claimants and by the
+natives. It would therefore seem that Captain Wakefield, the resident
+agent of the Company, was the more to blame for the improper
+occupation of the valley and for all the subsequent trouble, which he
+expiated with his life. He was as conversant as the Colonel with the
+whole circumstances of the case, perhaps more so; and, had it not been
+that he had no alternative between opening up the Wairau and
+acknowledging the ignominious failure of the Nelson settlement, he
+would hardly, in the face of so many warnings, have persisted in his
+high-handed and injudicious course.
+
+The story of the Nelson settlement repeats the tale of undue haste,
+imperfect preparations, a disposition to make florid promises and hold
+out inflated inducements, that characterised all the New Zealand
+Company's attempts at colonisation. One of the essential features of
+this settlement was that each settler should receive 150 acres of
+rural land, 50 acres of suburban land, and one town acre. But after
+the most thorough exploration of the region round Blind and Massacre
+Bays, it was found that, although a great deal of inferior country had
+been included in the sections laid off by the surveyors, there was
+still an enormous deficiency in the area required to provide for all
+the settlers who had either paid for their land in advance or were
+waiting to settle on it. Misled by the reports of some of his
+officers, Captain Wakefield had caused it to be broadly published that
+there was more than sufficient land at Port Whakatu to meet the
+requirements of the settlement, and it was while looking round for
+some tangible fact to justify his assertion that he bethought him of
+the Wairau.
+
+During his many excursions in search of rural land, Mr. Tuckett, the
+Company's chief surveyor, had discovered a route via Top House, by
+which the Wairau might be reached after a journey of 110 miles. This
+fact was reported to Captain Wakefield, who ordered that a complete
+examination of the district should be made by Mr. Tuckett. He,
+accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Davidson, and Captain England, a
+landowner in the settlement, made an extensive exploration, and
+subsequently conveyed the discomfiting intelligence to the resident
+agent that the Wairau Plain was the only available surface between
+Cape Farewell and Cape Campbell sufficient to afford the number of
+sections required to complete the settlement. The survey of the plain
+was then decided upon, but intelligence had reached Kapiti that the
+_pakehas_ had been down to the Wairau and that they intended to
+take possession of it. Immediately upon the receipt of this news,
+Rauparaha, accompanied by Hiko and Rangihaeata, crossed over to Nelson
+and sought an interview with Captain Wakefield. In plain and
+straightforward terms the natives told the Europeans, who had gathered
+in Dr. Wilson's residence to hear the _korero_, that they had not
+sold the Wairau to the principal agent of the Company, and that they
+had no intention of doing so, unless (to use Rauparaha's own
+expressive phrase) "the cask of gold was very great." They therefore
+warned them not to go there, as they had no right to the land.
+
+Captain Wakefield's answer was that he intended to proceed with the
+survey, as he claimed the land in the name of the Company. Rangihaeata
+vehemently denied the sale, and backed up his protestations by a
+threat that if Captain Wakefield attempted to carry out his intentions
+he would meet him and take his head. The agent was in no way disturbed
+or shaken by the hostile attitude of the chiefs; and to Rangihaeata's
+boisterous manner he calmly replied that, if any interference was
+offered, he would come with three hundred constables and arrest the
+belligerent natives. This unconciliatory attitude did not in the least
+assist to clear the atmosphere, for Rangihaeata went about the
+settlement during the next few days openly threatening with death
+every one who, he conceived, had any authority amongst the colonists,
+if they ventured to annex the Wairau, unless they could first succeed
+in killing him, in which event, he said, the land would remain as the
+lawful possession of the conqueror. Rauparaha, on the other hand,
+assumed the air of the diplomat, and professed not to sympathise with
+the policy of his lieutenant, whom he described as a "bad man." At the
+same time, in his fawning fashion, he entreated the Europeans not to
+go to the Wairau, and begged that the dispute might be referred to Mr.
+Spain, the Government Land Commissioner, who had been appointed to
+investigate the claims of the Company. But Captain Wakefield
+repudiated the jurisdiction of Mr. Spain in the matter, and refused to
+comply with the request. The chiefs, finding that neither threats nor
+persuasion could shake Captain Wakefield in his determination to take
+possession of the Wairau, indignantly left the settlement, Rauparaha
+expressing his intention to lay the whole circumstances of the case
+before the Queen's Commissioner and demand an immediate settlement of
+the claim.
+
+Scarcely had the angry Ngati-Toas left Nelson than the three chiefs
+who were resident at the Wairau arrived. These natives were sons of
+Rauparaha's elder brother, Nohorua, the oldest of whom, Rawiri Puaha,
+had previously informed Mr. Tuckett, when that gentleman visited his
+_pa_, that the plain was theirs and that Rauparaha had no power
+to sell it. They were gratified at the idea that the Europeans looked
+upon it with a favourable eye, but, at the same time, they were in no
+haste to enter into any negotiations for its sale until they had
+considerably extended their cultivations, in order that they might
+fairly claim a larger compensation. Doubtless one of their reasons for
+desiring closer intercourse with the _pakehas_ was that, in
+addition to their clearings, they had a large number of pigs running
+on the plain, which they used as a marketable commodity with the
+settlers at Port Underwood. But as fast as they cleared and cultivated
+the land and reared their pigs, Rauparaha was in the habit of coming
+over and coolly helping himself, with the result that his relations
+with the resident people were by this time considerably strained, and
+they probably thought that the presence of the settlers would check
+these depredations on the part of their high-handed relative. When
+they heard that Rauparaha had been to Nelson, they, being utterly
+mistrustful of his methods, at once concluded that he had gone there
+for the purpose of selling the plain; and it was to counteract this
+policy, as far as possible, that they went to see Captain Wakefield.
+The latter had always been much more considerate to resident natives
+than to those whom, like Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, he described as
+"travelling bullies."[154] He was therefore most anxious to make a
+valid and binding bargain with Puaha, to whom he offered a small
+schooner, and any reasonable quantity of goods, if he would
+acknowledge that the Wairau had been purchased by his brother, the
+Colonel. This Puaha refused to do, and therefore, at a subsequent
+interview, the resident agent adopted another line of argument,
+contending that the Company had already a legal title to the district
+by virtue of its being included in the latitude and longitude
+purchases made in 1839, and by right of a deed bought from Captain
+Blenkinsopp's widow for L300. Puaha denied the validity of both
+titles, pointing out that "the Wairau" had evidently been written into
+the first deed after signature; and that, in the second case, if
+Rauparaha had sold any portion of the land to Blenkinsopp, he had no
+right to do so without his (Puaha's) consent, which had never been
+asked and never given. For three days the conference was continued by
+the agent and the chief, without either being able to convince the
+other; but, at last, Puaha withdrew, still protesting in manly and
+dignified language against the views of the agent as to his title to
+the land.
+
+After these animated interviews, it might have been supposed that
+Captain Wakefield would, in his calmer moments, have seriously
+reviewed the position, and that against the vague and shadowy rights
+of the Company, as expressed in the two deeds in his possession, he
+would have set the fact that the authenticity of these sales was being
+stoutly contested by the resident and non-resident natives interested.
+He might have been expected also to recognise that the whole question,
+having been placed in the hands of Mr. Spain, was _sub judice_, and as
+such should remain in abeyance until the court had pronounced its
+judgment. These considerations were, however, altogether outweighed by
+the desire to placate the settlers, who were clamouring for their
+land, and to prevent the exposure of the Company's inability to fulfil
+its engagements. The fear that, if this could not be done, he would be
+open to crushing censure from all with whom they had entered into
+engagements, and the desire to rescue his own and his brother's
+reputation from public anger and ridicule, biased his otherwise
+judicial mind against the merits of the opposing case. Accordingly, he
+decided to act upon the impulse that moved him most, and on April 15,
+1843, he entered into three contracts for the survey of the plain with
+Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson, Mr. Cotterell, and Mr. Parkinson. In
+view of the probability of native interference, a special provision
+was inserted in the tenders that the contractors were to be
+indemnified in case of loss; and, on this understanding, the
+surveyors, with forty assistants, arrived a few days later, and
+commenced operations--Messrs. Barnicoat and Thompson at the Marshlands
+side of the valley, Mr. Cotterell in the neighbourhood of Riverlands,
+and Mr. Parkinson still higher up the plain, towards Grovetown.
+
+At first, the resident natives allowed the work to proceed with but
+slight resistance. Once or twice they refused to permit timber to be
+sawn for pegs and ranging rods; but with the exercise of a little tact
+and patience these difficulties were overcome, and the work had
+proceeded with so little friction that before Rauparaha arrived Messrs.
+Barnicoat and Thompson had practically completed their contract, the
+others not being quite so far advanced.
+
+Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were at Mana when the news of these
+proceedings reached them, and they at once engaged with their English
+friend, Joseph Toms, to convey them and a portion of their party in
+his schooner, _Three Brothers_, to Port Underwood, whence they
+intended to reach the Wairau in their canoes. On the 1st of June the
+schooner and the canoes arrived at the port, and Rauparaha, with one
+hundred armed followers, at once proceeded to the house of Mr. Cave,
+who for seven or eight years had been employed there as cooper for the
+whaling stations, and with whom they were on the best of terms. To him
+they declared their intention of burning the surveyors' camps, and for
+that purpose they left for the Wairau the same evening, in eight
+canoes and a whaleboat. Next morning Rauparaha, with thirty of his
+people, appeared at Mr. Cotterell's camp on the Opawa River, and,
+after stripping his huts, burned the _toetoe_ grass with which
+they were covered, as well as the survey pegs and ranging rods
+prepared from manuka sticks. They then assisted the surveyors to carry
+their belongings to the boats, and shipped them off to the _pa_
+at the mouth of the river. Their next proceeding was to paddle up the
+Wairau to Mr. Barnicoat's camp, which was situated on the river-bank
+close to the Ferry Bridge, and there they re-enacted their settled
+programme. In these proceedings Rauparaha was very firm, yet
+conciliatory. There was no exhibition of temper or violence towards
+persons or property. He simply gave the surveyors to understand that
+he would have none of them or their surveying there, and that the
+sooner they returned to Nelson the better he would like it;[155] and,
+to this end, he assisted them to remove their instruments and personal
+effects to a place of safety before demolishing their _whares_.
+In logical fashion, he argued that the _toetoe_, having grown
+upon the land, was his, that he was entitled to do what he pleased
+with his own, and that so long as he did not interfere with any of the
+articles brought from England, he was committing no breach of justice.
+
+The instruments and baggage were placed in the boats and taken down to
+the _pa_, where they were safely landed and their owners treated
+with every consideration. But, before matters had reached this crisis,
+the contractors had despatched a joint letter to Mr. Tuckett, at
+Nelson, explaining the gravity of the situation, and asking him to
+come down at once and certify to the work already done. On receipt of
+this communication Mr. Tuckett, accompanied by Mr. Patchett, at once
+set out for the Wairau; and, on his arrival at the bar, on 3rd June,
+he was met by Mr. Cotterell, who briefly related all that had
+transpired since the arrival of Rauparaha, and the present position of
+natives and contractors respectively.
+
+So soon as he had grasped the situation, Mr. Tuckett hastily wrote a
+letter in pencil to Captain Wakefield, giving details, and intimating
+his intention of remaining on the scene until the Captain should make
+his pleasure known to him. This letter he entrusted to Mr. Cotterell,
+who at once left with his men in the boats for Nelson. The chief
+surveyor then set off up the Opawa River to the site of Mr.
+Cotterell's camp, where he pitched a tent and remained all night. In
+the morning he proceeded, in company with Mr. Patchett and Mr. Moline
+(Mr. Cotterell's assistant), to search for Mr. Parkinson, and, when
+they arrived at his hut, they found it in possession of a few natives,
+who had in no way interfered with it. The surveyor and his party not
+being there, Mr. Tuckett inquired for Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, who
+he was informed were in the bush. He thereupon explained that he
+intended to go over to the Awatere, that he would be absent about
+three days, and that at the end of that time he desired to meet the
+chiefs at Mr. Cotterell's camp, where he would converse with them over
+the recent events. The natives gladly undertook to convey this message
+to Rauparaha, who, with Rangihaeata, a number of their followers, and
+Mr. Parkinson's men, were awaiting them at the appointed place of
+meeting when the party returned from their explorations beyond the
+Vernon Hills. Here the expected conference took place, Rauparaha
+calmly but firmly explaining his reasons for interference. He claimed
+the Wairau as his own, but since there was a dispute about it, he had,
+on his return from Nelson, placed the matter in the hands of Mr.
+Spain, who had appointed a day on which to hear the case, Rauparaha on
+his part undertaking that in the meantime none of his people should
+enter upon the land. The day appointed by Mr. Spain had passed, and
+fearing that, if the survey was finished before he adjudicated upon
+their claim, they would lose their land, they had determined to stop
+the proceedings. Rauparaha expressed himself as being still willing to
+abide by Mr. Spain's decision, but the survey must cease and the
+Europeans must leave, until such time as that judgment should be
+given. Mr. Tuckett vainly endeavoured to point out the hardship this
+course would impose upon the contractors and their men, who were
+dependent upon their work for their living.  He also explained that he
+was expecting instructions from Captain Wakefield, and asked
+permission to remain until he heard from his superior.
+
+His request for delay was met by a command to remove his tent to the
+boat, and, upon his refusing to obey, Rangihaeata burst into a violent
+passion, and, in a torrent of invective, reminded Mr. Tuckett of the
+warning he had given him in Nelson, ironically remarking that, if he
+was so fond of the Wairau, he (Rangihaeata) would bury him there. This
+insulting outburst was treated with studied contempt by the chief
+surveyor, who quietly rebuked Rangihaeata for his ungentlemanly
+behaviour, telling him that he would not converse with him until he
+mended his manners. While this brief altercation was proceeding,
+Rauparaha had remained silent, although he was evidently exercising a
+restraining influence upon his comrade. But he now advanced, and once
+more politely requested Mr. Tuckett to have his tent removed; but
+that gentleman still persisted in his right to remain, whereupon
+Rauparaha, becoming impatient, ordered some of his own people to carry
+out his behest, and in a few minutes the tent was struck and stowed
+away in the boat. Mr. Tuckett then deemed it unwise to offer further
+objection, and, together with the two chiefs, he agreed to go back to
+the _pa_.
+
+It had been Mr. Tuckett's intention to embark for Nelson next morning,
+but in the night a south-easterly gale came up and blew for three
+days, causing such a surf on the bar that Rauparaha advised him not to
+attempt to cross it. During this compulsory stay, the chief was most
+profuse in his expressions of goodwill towards the Europeans, and by
+his fawning and obsequious manner created a feeling of revulsion in
+the minds of the Englishmen. Rangihaeata, on the other hand, left them
+severely alone, seeking neither favours nor intercourse of any kind,
+and, save on one occasion, his isolation was complete. That exception
+arose from the fact that one of the men reported that he had lost a
+handkerchief and a billhook, which he had seen in the possession of
+Rangihaeata's people. Mr. Tuckett at once approached the chief, and
+asked to have the property returned. His reply was that he had some
+bad men as well as good ones amongst his followers, with the sarcastic
+addition that perhaps Mr. Tuckett was in the same position; but that,
+as he had come to the Wairau to defend his own and not to thieve, if
+the surveyor could identify the man, he would have his property back;
+failing that, he could have _utu_ instead. The billhook was soon
+found, and here the incident ended; but the impression it made upon
+Mr. Tuckett was that, if Rangihaeata was more violent than Rauparaha,
+he was up to this point certainly the more noble of the two.
+
+As soon as the weather cleared, the chief surveyor prepared to take
+his departure, but, as the boat would not carry both passengers and
+baggage, it was finally decided that Messrs. Barnicoat and Parkinson
+should remain, while Messrs. Tuckett, Patchett, and Moline proceeded to
+Nelson, although the chiefs raised no objection to the whole party
+remaining until additional boats could be brought, or until they could
+be conveyed to one of the whaling stations at Port Underwood. By noon
+on the following day Mr. Tuckett and his companions had got well into
+Blind Bay, when they observed the Government brig _Victoria_ under
+full sail. A gun was fired from the ship as a signal to board her. On
+doing so, they learned that the vessel had just left Nelson, and was
+proceeding to the Wairau with the police magistrate (Mr. Thompson),
+Captain Wakefield (the Company's agent), Captain England, J.P., Mr.
+Cotterell, and some of the would-be proprietors of the proposed
+settlement, as well as the chief constable, Mr. Maling, and
+twenty-four labouring men who had been sworn-in as special constables.
+The agent informed the chief surveyor that, after Mr. Cotterell had
+arrived at Nelson and made his report, it had been decided to proceed
+as soon as possible to the scene of operations, and arrest the chiefs
+on a charge of arson, a warrant having been granted by Messrs.
+Thompson, P.M., Captain Wakefield, Captain England, and A. McDonald,
+Esq., Justices of the Peace. Mr. Tuckett was naturally surprised and
+deeply grieved at this intelligence, and, in deprecation of the rash
+and impolitic step he informed Captain Wakefield of Rauparaha's
+interview with Mr. Spain, and of the chief's willingness to abide by
+the decision of the court. He further pointed out the great care
+observed by the natives not to interfere with any of the surveyors'
+property, or to injure the persons of any of their employees. He
+proceeded to argue that the men on board would not number one-half the
+strength of the natives then at the Wairau; and contrasted this
+numerical weakness with the threat made by the Captain at Nelson,
+that, if Rangihaeata interfered with the survey, he would come with
+three hundred constables to arrest him. His impression, therefore, was
+that the smallness of the party would inspire confidence in the minds
+of the natives rather than dread, and he strongly urged that, however
+satisfied the agent might feel about the result, prudence demanded
+that they should appear on the plain with such a force as would
+completely overawe the Maoris, and to which there would be no
+humiliation in surrendering. In support of his views, he handed to
+Captain Wakefield a letter which he had received from the Rev. Mr.
+Ironside on the day that he had met Mr. Cotterell at the bar, in which
+the missionary, ripe in experience of Maori feeling, and knowing how
+tenaciously they clung to their rights in landed property, ventured
+the opinion that, unless this dispute was most diplomatically handled,
+the result might be extremely serious.
+
+Mr. Ironside, taking the missionary view of the Company's scheme of
+colonisation, expressed great anxiety lest a collision might arise out
+of the subject of the claims to land, which would eventually terminate
+in the extinction of the native tribes, as had been the case in other
+countries settled by Europeans. He urged upon Mr. Tuckett not to be
+precipitate in endeavouring to include the Wairau in the Nelson
+survey, informing him that the resident natives and Rauparaha were at
+issue about the land, to such an extent that the former, if left to
+themselves, would probably withdraw from the Wairau, and treat with
+the Nelson agent for the sale of it.
+
+Captain Wakefield expressed himself deeply thankful for the counsel
+contained in Mr. Ironside's letter, and also for the advice tendered
+by Mr. Tuckett, with whose whole conduct he entirely acquiesced. So
+impressed was he with the force of the chief surveyor's arguments that
+he at once went into the cabin where Mr. Thompson was, and requested
+him to read Mr. Ironside's letter, stating that from it and other
+considerations urged by Mr. Tuckett he had come to the conclusion that
+it would be wiser to return to Nelson. Mr. Thompson was totally averse
+to turning back. He begrudged missing the opportunity of giving the
+natives what he called "a prestige for the law," and of showing the
+Government the correct way to deal with such troublesome fellows. At
+the same time he expressed the opinion that, if the authorities at
+Wellington had dealt with these chiefs as he had dealt with Ekawa at
+Massacre Bay, they would long ago have ceased to give annoyance. He
+also stated that, if they returned at that stage, they would simply be
+laughed at by the settlers, and he was not going to put himself in
+that undignified position. In his determination to go on Mr. Thompson
+was seconded by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr. Richardson), who begged that
+the expedition might not be given up, as he considered it was "only a
+lark"; and, in deference to the aggressive mood of the magistrate and
+the jocular anticipations of the lawyer, Captain Wakefield surrendered
+his better judgment. Mr. Tuckett, still apprehensive that disastrous
+consequences would follow if these unwise counsels prevailed,
+earnestly remonstrated with Mr. Thompson, taking up the attitude that
+he was exceeding his rights in proceeding to execute his warrant with
+an armed force. The magistrate admitted the correctness of Mr.
+Tuckett's premises, but hotly resented the assumption that he intended
+to use the force at all. He explained that he was not sure that he
+would land the men. Certainly he would not give out the arms or take
+the force into the presence of the natives until he had first
+exhausted every plausible means of getting the chiefs to submit
+themselves to trial on board the brig. Should they refuse to do so,
+which he did not expect, then he would investigate the charge on the
+spot, and afterwards decide whether he should call in the aid of the
+armed party or not. Had this plan of operations been strictly
+observed, much that afterwards happened might have been averted; but
+in no single particular did the magistrate follow his promised line of
+action, for as soon as the vessel arrived at Cloudy Bay, the men were
+supplied with fire-arms and landed at the mouth of the Wairau River.
+
+On seeing the Government brig enter the bay, the Maoris had abandoned
+the old _pa_ at the bar and retired further up the plain. Next
+morning the magistrate's band of special constables was ordered to get
+ready and go in pursuit. Perceiving that his worst fears were likely
+to be realised, and that the magistrate would not go without the armed
+force, Mr. Tuckett made a final appeal to Captain Wakefield, and
+offered to go himself and see Rauparaha, in company with the chief
+constable and the interpreter, if only the men bearing arms were
+allowed to remain where they were. To this suggestion the Captain
+readily agreed, and at once put the proposal before Mr. Thompson, who
+also consented, and ordered the chief constable to prepare himself for
+the journey; but when Mr. Maling announced himself ready to go, he
+presented such an armour-plated appearance that the chief surveyor
+absolutely refused to be seen in his company. He wore a cutlass at his
+side, a brace of pistols and a pair of handcuffs in his belt, while in
+his hand he carried a pair of heavy leg-irons. How he proposed to get
+Rauparaha down to the bar when he was both handcuffed and hobbled is
+not very clear, nor did he have time to explain. Mr. Tuckett at once
+drew attention to his accoutrements, and pointed out that the
+leg-irons would have an especially exasperating effect upon the
+natives; while, if he insisted upon carrying pistols, it would at
+least be judicious to conceal them, and so avoid the appearance of
+intimidation. The magistrate at once ordered that the irons should be
+discarded, but also intimated that he had changed his mind as to the
+mode of procedure, and that he had now determined that the whole force
+should participate in the arrest, a decision from which no amount of
+persuasion could induce him to deviate.
+
+At the outset an attempt was made to ascend the river in boats, but as
+the tide was on the ebb and the wind unfavourable, the travelling was
+both slow and laborious, and before they had proceeded very far, the
+boats were abandoned, and the party, except Mr. Cotterell and his men,
+who remained in a whaleboat, commenced the march along a survey track
+which ran parallel with the river. By this time the ardour of the men
+had considerably cooled; the bitter cold night experienced at the bar
+had helped to extinguish their enthusiasm, and now the keen morning
+wind and bad walking through the long wet grass completely dissipated
+all idea that the affair was to be regarded in the light of a pleasure
+trip. During the course of the journey, which was both a slow and
+irritating one, Captain Wakefield expressed the opinion that the
+natives were more inclined for trade than for war, and that the
+prospect of their attempting to fight in the event of a forcible
+arrest being made was very small. In reply to this, Mr. Tuckett still
+adhered to his former opinion that the Maoris would most certainly
+offer resistance if the armed force was taken into their presence.
+While this discussion was going on, the party reached the bend in the
+river at the back of Grovetown, where they met a number of resident
+natives, who, in consequence of their differences with Rauparaha, were
+quitting the Wairau and returning to Port Underwood. Amongst them were
+Puaha, a lad named Rore (who afterwards became the honoured and
+respected chief of the Wairau natives), his father, and a few other
+Maoris cutting timber in the bush. Of these they inquired the
+whereabouts of Rauparaha, and were informed that he was a few miles
+further up the valley, at the Tua Marina stream. Night coming on, they
+decided to camp in the Tua Mautine wood, but took the precaution to
+send Puaha forward to acquaint Rauparaha with the nature of their
+visit; and he was followed by the remainder of the natives at a later
+hour. Mr. Thompson was careful to explain to Puaha that he had not
+come to interfere with him; but it was noticed that his countenance
+bore a most anxious and concerned expression, and in the brief
+interview which he had with the magistrate, he not only advised, but
+earnestly entreated him not to precipitate a quarrel by taking the
+armed men into the presence of Rauparaha and his followers. If he did
+so, it would be impossible to convince them that he had not come for
+the purpose of shedding blood. The pained look that fell upon the face
+of Puaha when he realised the magistrate's intentions made a deep
+impression upon Captain Wakefield, and he several times made reference
+to it. Even when waking from his sleep in the night, he spoke of the
+fact as though he had a gloomy presentiment that all would not be well
+on the morrow. Mr. Thompson did not appear to be troubled with any
+such forebodings; his concern was that he would not have the
+opportunity of arresting the chiefs, who would probably make good
+their escape as soon as Puaha conveyed his message to them. He
+endeavoured to make light of the agent's fears by explaining that
+Puaha's troubled looks were due to the conflict between the dictates
+of his barbarous nature and the influence of his Christian teaching,
+which, under the circumstances, would naturally burn within him--a
+course of reasoning that Captain Wakefield seemed to cheerfully
+accept.
+
+At dawn next morning,[156] the camp of Te Rauparaha was easily located
+by the smoke rising through the forest trees at the mouth of the
+Waitohi Valley, about four miles away. The magistrate then mustered
+his constables, and served out to each man eighteen rounds of ball
+cartridge. All told, they numbered forty men, bearing muskets,
+bayonets, and cutlasses, besides ten or twelve gentlemen who were
+without arms, the chief surveyor and Mr. Cotterell being members of
+the Society of Friends, and refusing, in accordance with their
+religious principles, to carry them. After a short march across the
+plain through the fern and _toetoe_, they arrived at the foot of
+the Tua Marina hills, and there they halted, having, during the course
+of the journey, been cautioned not to fire unless ordered to do so.
+
+The constitution of the arresting party was not calculated to ensure
+success in the event of resistance on the part of the Maoris. They
+were untrained and without discipline. Some of them were even
+unwilling participants in the expedition, for they had been coerced
+into coming by the threat that they would lose their employment in the
+service of the Company if they refused to assist in the arrest of the
+chiefs. Their arms were old-fashioned and not in the best of repair;
+there was a total lack of organisation, and apparently no common
+understanding as to who was in authority. Under these circumstances,
+the result could scarcely have been different, regard being had to the
+character of the men with whom they had to deal.
+
+Anyone sitting on the hill-side even now can, without the aid of a
+vivid imagination, picture the animated scene which unfolded itself on
+that bright June morning. What are now grass paddocks were flats, more
+or less covered with native scrub. Of what was then dense bush only a
+few detached fragments now remain, but otherwise the physical features
+of the landscape are but little changed. The Maoris, when they first
+observed the Europeans, were squatting around their camp-fires on the
+western side of the Tua Marina stream. They immediately hailed them
+and inquired if they intended to fight. Mr. Thompson answered in the
+negative, and, after explaining the purpose for which he had come,
+asked the natives to place a canoe across the stream that he might
+come over and talk the more freely to them. Rauparaha consented to
+this course, but stipulated that the armed men should not be allowed
+to cross over; and, the magistrate agreeing to this condition, the
+special constables were left in charge of Captain England and Mr.
+Howard, who had instructions to act if called upon. He himself,
+accompanied by Captain Wakefield, Mr. Patchett, Mr. Tuckett, Mr.
+Cotterell and Mr. Brooks,[157] the interpreter, crossed over in the
+canoe, which was immediately drawn back again alongside the bank by a
+native nicknamed Piccawarro (big-fellow), to prevent any surprise from
+the force on the other side of the stream. When the magistrate walked
+into the presence of the natives, he observed that they numbered about
+ninety men and thirty-five women and children; but, as an indication
+of their peaceful intentions, they had placed in the midst of their
+group three women, the wives of Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and Puaha,
+while the party of resident natives sat on one side, and the immediate
+followers of Rauparaha on the other. The noble and dignified Puaha
+stood in the centre with a Bible in his hand, reading from it select
+passages, and exhorting both parties to peace, while the natives
+sitting around chanted the usual welcome, _Haere-mai, Haere-mai_.
+Rangihaeata lay concealed behind some bushes, but Rauparaha came
+forward frankly when Mr. Thompson inquired for him, saying "Here am
+I," and offered to shake hands with the strangers. But this courtesy
+was declined by the magistrate, who pushed the chief's hand away, and
+it was left to Mr. Tuckett and Mr. Cotterell to perform the politeness
+of a friendly greeting.
+
+In reply to Rauparaha's inquiry as to what had brought them there, Mr.
+Thompson proceeded to explain to him, through Brooks, the interpreter,
+that he was their prisoner. Rauparaha disdainfully replied that it
+would be time enough to indulge in such talk when Mr. Spain had made
+his inquiry about the land. They then strove to make him understand
+that, as this case had nothing to do with the land, but was a charge
+of arson, it did not come within the province of Mr. Spain to inquire
+into it, but that the charge must be heard on the brig. Rauparaha
+declared that he had not destroyed any European property, in proof of
+which he appealed to Mr. Cotterell, who admitted the truth of his
+assertion, and therefore he would not go on board the brig, but he was
+quite willing that the matter should be adjudicated upon there and
+then, and, provided the compensation demanded was not excessive, he
+would be prepared to pay rather than there should be any ill-feeling
+between the two races. Thereupon he was told that, if he would not go
+voluntarily he must be taken by force, and a pair of handcuffs were
+produced to impress him with the sincerity of this threat. His
+chieftain blood was aroused by this insult; he indignantly dared them
+to try to imprison his hands in such implements and bind him like a
+slave, but begged for longer time to talk the matter over. The
+magistrate, who was now rapidly losing his temper, began to stamp and
+rave, and scorning the need for further argument, desired the
+interpreter to finally ask Rauparaha to say whether he would go on
+board the brig or not; and, upon his still firmly refusing to do so,
+Mr. Thompson turned to Brooks and exclaimed, with a violent gesture in
+the direction of the opposite bank, "Then tell him there are the armed
+party; they will fire on them all." A native from the Bay of Islands
+who was present amongst Rauparaha's people, and who understood a
+smattering of English, told those of Rauparaha's party that an order
+to fire had been given, and sixteen of them at once sprang to their
+feet, and, presenting their muskets at the magistrate, awaited the
+order from their chief to fire. The mistaken impression under which
+this hostile display had been made was at once removed by the chief
+surveyor and Mr. Patchett, who walked over to them and explained that
+only a threat, and not an order, to fire had been given, and on this
+assurance they immediately subsided to their seats on the ground.
+
+The altercation between Mr. Thompson and Rauparaha still proceeded.
+The former produced his warrant, which he told the chief was the
+"book-a-book" of the Queen "to make a tie," and that he was the Queen,
+again adding, in high and excited tones, stamping his foot the while,
+that if Rauparaha did not consent to surrender himself, he would order
+the Europeans to fire on them. This was quickly interpreted to the
+armed natives by the stranger from the Bay of Islands, and they
+instantly sprang to their feet and pointed their muskets at Mr.
+Thompson and his companions, as before. At this point, the peace-making
+Puaha[158] stepped forward with his Testament in his hand and said,
+"Don't fight, don't fight! This book says it is sinful to fight. The
+land has been made good by the preaching of the missionaries. Don't
+make it bad again." In this way he strove to reason with Mr. Thompson,
+but the latter in his frenzy and rage pushed the native aside, and
+angrily called out for Rangihaeata to come forward. That chief, on
+hearing his name, came from behind the bushes which concealed him,
+and, leaping into the midst of the throng, began to brandish his
+hatchet in dangerous proximity to the magistrate's head, meanwhile
+upbraiding him in a most violent manner. "What do you want with
+Rangihaeata that you come here to bind him? Do I go to Port Jackson or
+to Europe to steal your lands? Have I burned your house? Have I
+destroyed tents or anything belonging to you?" Such were the pertinent
+inquiries made by the angry chief; and, as it was quite evident from
+his flashing eyes and bitter tones that he was in no mood to be
+trifled with, Mr. Patchett appealed to the chief surveyor to
+interfere, "otherwise," he said, "we shall all be murdered."
+Rauparaha, seeing that his companion's manner was not likely to
+improve matters, ordered him to retire and leave the settlement of the
+matter to Puaha and himself, at the same time leading Rangihaeata's
+lame wife, Te Rongo, to him, so that she might be under his
+protection. Mr. Tuckett then seized the opportunity of pointing out to
+Captain Wakefield that, in the event of Rangihaeata's temper getting
+the better of him, they would be completely at the mercy of the
+natives, seeing that their retreat had been cut off by the removal of
+the canoe. After a brief consultation with Puaha, they agreed that it
+would be wiser to restore the means of communication between
+themselves and their party on the other side of the stream. Captain
+Wakefield, taking the initiative, jumped into the canoe, and with the
+aid of a pole shoved the bow down the stream until he found a
+convenient landing-place on the other side. While this movement was in
+progress, Mr. Thompson[159] had made another attempt to place the
+handcuffs upon Rauparaha's wrists. Just at that moment, when the chief
+had indignantly wrested his hand from the magistrate's grasp, and was
+bitterly protesting against the conduct of the Queen's officers,
+Captain Wakefield stepped on to the opposite bank of the creek, and,
+noticing a threatening movement towards Mr. Thompson on the part of
+the natives, in a loud voice gave the command, "Men, forward;
+Englishmen, forward!" The company at once obeyed, and four of the men
+who were in the front, Morgan, Clanzey, Ratcliffe and Tyrrell, jumped
+into the canoe for the purpose of crossing over to assist Mr.
+Thompson. Almost simultaneously the latter turned and entered the
+canoe at the other end, with the result that she was nearly capsized.
+A momentary confusion ensued, during which one of the Englishmen, in
+striving to get in front of his companions on the bank, tripped and
+fell, and in the fall his gun was accidentally discharged. That was
+the fatal crisis, for it turned what had hitherto been only stirring
+drama into fearful tragedy.
+
+The natives had now no doubt that the Europeans had come to fight, and
+Te Rauparaha, believing death to be imminent, turned, and, stretching
+his arms heavenward, exclaimed, "_Hei kona e te ra, hei kona e te ao
+marama--haere mai e te po, haere mai e te mate_" (Farewell, O sun,
+farewell, thou world of light; come on, O night, come on, O death).
+This was a cry which a chief would only utter in a situation of
+deepest stress, and no Maori loyal to his leader would refuse to obey
+the call, even though it should cost him his life. The natives
+therefore briskly returned the fire, the first volley being fatal to
+Tyrrell, who was shot in the throat. Clanzey and Ratcliffe were also
+shot by the first discharge of musketry, and their bodies fell into
+the water and sank to the bottom. The Englishmen returned volley for
+volley, and, in the midst of the general fusilade, Mr. Thompson and
+his party passed safely over in the canoe. Mr. Tuckett was the last to
+leave the bank on which the natives were, which he did by entering the
+stream, and, with one hand on the canoe, pulling himself through the
+water. At this stage of the fight the natives might easily have killed
+every one of the leading Europeans; for, when the latter started to
+cross the stream, the muzzles of the native guns were no more than a
+few yards away from them. The fact that they were not shot must have
+been due to some chivalrous sentiment on the part of the natives, who,
+seeing them unarmed, honourably abstained from attacking them. For
+some ten minutes after crossing the creek, Mr. Tuckett stood no more
+than twenty yards away, fully exposed to the fire that was being kept
+up by the natives and fourteen or fifteen of the European rank and
+file. Beside him stood Messrs. Barnicoat, Cotterell, Richardson,
+Patchett, and Maling. The two latter were shot almost at the same
+moment. Mr. Richardson bent over Mr. Patchett and inquired if he was
+hurt, to which he replied, "I am mortally wounded--I am mortally
+wounded; you can do no good for me; make your escape."
+
+ [Illustration: _Photo by W. Macey._
+ MONUMENT ON MASSACRE HILL, WAIRAU.]
+
+The bullets now began to rain down upon them thick and fast. As
+several of the labourers had fallen in the vicinity, including
+Northam, Smith, and Burton, Mr. Tuckett and his friends retired to the
+foot of the ridge, whither the other officers had gone with a portion
+of the men to consult as to the best course to pursue. They decided to
+retreat up the hill, and called to Mr. Tuckett and the rest of the
+party to follow them. This act of mistaken generalship cost them dear,
+for up to that time their fire had kept the natives penned up on the
+other side of the stream. But the moment they observed the Europeans
+falling back, they dashed into the water, and, carrying their guns
+above their heads to keep them dry, crossed over and took possession
+of the trees which grew on the opposite edge. Secure within this
+cover, they opened a galling fire upon the Europeans, who were now
+hopelessly exposed upon the face of the fern-clad hill.
+
+Mr. Thompson did his utmost to steady the party by exclaiming, "For
+God's sake, men, keep together!" But his appeals were for the most
+part disregarded, not more than a third of the men remaining with
+their leaders, the rest retreating up the ridge and firing haphazard
+as they went. Captain Wakefield's attempts to instil something like
+discipline into the men were likewise frustrated by some panic-stricken
+individual rushing up and shouting out, "Run for your lives, lads,
+run!"--an injunction which they were not slow to obey. In an instant
+all semblance of organisation had disappeared. Time after time a few
+men were got together, but the majority were always utterly beyond
+control. On the last partial rally Captain Wakefield and Warrant
+Officer Howard ordered the men to fix bayonets and charge the natives;
+but on one of the men (Richard Painter), who had been in the
+artillery, pointing out that there was no one visible to charge at,
+the idea was abandoned. The natives were still maintaining a steady
+fire, and a protest on the part of the artilleryman, who declined to
+remain where he was "and be shot down like a crow," led to a further
+retreat up the hill-side. On the second brow of the hill they met Mr.
+Cotterell, who was sitting down with a double-barrelled gun at his
+side. At the commencement of the quarrel he had been unarmed, but he
+had now seized this weapon in self-defence. He appeared deeply
+distressed at what had occurred, and expressed his intention of
+quitting the scene; but he was dissuaded from this course by Captain
+Wakefield, who, addressing him in most earnest tones, said, "For God's
+sake, Mr. Cotterell, don't attempt to run away; you are sure to be
+shot if you do." Mr. Cotterell therefore remained with the party, only
+remarking to Painter, one of his own men, "This is bad work, Dick."
+
+Being now out of range of the native fire, a council of war was held
+of such of the party as could be got together, and finally it was
+decided that Captain England and Mr. Howard should bear a flag of
+truce to the natives, and endeavour to settle the dispute by
+negotiation. A white handkerchief was accordingly fixed on a stick,
+and, with this fluttering in the breeze, the two officers started
+towards the wood. As an indication of their sincerity in desiring to
+relinquish fighting, Captain Wakefield ordered all those who were with
+him to lay their arms on the ground, and the natives, seeming fully to
+appreciate the nature of the advances that were being made to them,
+ceased firing, and a number of them left their muskets behind the
+trees and came out to meet the bearers of the flag. Captain England
+and his comrade had almost reached the wood, when some of the
+Englishmen who had halted much higher up the hill than Captain
+Wakefield, seeing the Maoris emerging from the bush, commenced to fire
+upon them, notwithstanding that they had seen the flag of truce, as
+well as their companions laying down their arms. Regarding this as a
+dastardly act of treachery, the Maoris beat a hasty retreat into the
+bush, and reopened a rapid fire upon the Englishmen, whereupon Captain
+England and Mr. Howard ran back to the hill, and reached the spot from
+which they had started, uninjured by the native bullets.
+
+This attempt at conciliation having failed through the folly of their
+own people, the magistrate and Captain Wakefield decided to go further
+up the hill and meet those who were in advance of them, to induce
+them, if possible, to act in concert with the rest. In this they were
+no more successful than before, for no sooner did the one section
+begin to advance than the other began to retreat. Seeing that this
+must go on indefinitely, Mr. Tuckett endeavoured to persuade Captain
+Wakefield that their best hope of reaching the beach and getting back
+to the brig was to abandon the ridge which they were climbing, and
+strike down into the plain. Although this advice was twice pressed on
+Wakefield, he took no notice of it, and Mr. Tuckett thereupon, calling
+to Mr. Barnicoat and a labourer named Gay to follow him, descended in
+an oblique direction on to the plain below. For a moment Mr. Cotterell
+hesitated which course to take, but finally decided to go up the spur
+with the rest, and this decision cost him his life. When Captain
+Wakefield and his party began their last retreat, most of them left
+their muskets lying on the brow of the hill, and were therefore quite
+defenceless; but the Maoris kept up a running fire as they gradually
+crept up the side of the range. As they approached the summit of the
+first knoll, Mr. Cotterell stopped and surrendered himself when the
+natives reached him, calling out, "Enough, enough! that will do the
+fight," in the hope of assuring them that the Europeans wanted peace.
+But he was immediately struck down and his body thrown into a manuka
+bush. Captain Wakefield followed his example by surrendering a few
+minutes later, as did also Captain England, Messrs. Richardson,
+Howard, Brooks, Cropper, McGregor, and the magistrate. A few of the
+younger natives were in the van of the pursuit, and these held the
+prisoners in hand until the arrival of Rauparaha, whom they had
+outstripped. At first gold was offered as ransom, and it seemed as if
+the feud would end without more bloodshed, for the chief had accepted
+the assurances of Captain Wakefield that the shooting had been a
+mistake, and had shaken hands with them all. But Rangihaeata, who had
+killed the wounded as he found them lying on the hillside, panting
+with haste and anger, rushed up and called out to Rauparaha, "What are
+you doing? Your daughter Te Rongo[160] is dead. What are you doing, I
+say?"
+
+Scorning the acceptance of gold, he then fiercely demanded the lives
+of the principal Europeans as the only _utu_ that would compensate him
+for the loss of his wife, exclaiming in impassioned tones, "We are
+sure to be killed for this some day. The white people will take _utu_;
+let us then have some better blood than that of these _tutua_ (common
+men). We are chiefs; let us kill the chiefs, and take _utu_ for
+ourselves beforehand." To this Rauparaha was at first reluctant to
+agree, and his objections were well supported by Puaha and the other
+Christian natives; but he felt that, in view of Te Ronga's death, the
+demand was a reasonable one, and he at length yielded to the powerful
+appeal of his lieutenant, and delivered the unfortunate colonists over
+to their fate.
+
+At this juncture Mr. Thompson seemed, for the first time, to be
+apprehensive of serious consequences attending his conduct, and he
+implored Rauparaha to save their lives. But that chief haughtily
+answered, "Did I not warn you how it would be? A little while ago I
+wished to talk with you in a friendly manner, and you would not; now
+you say 'Save me.' I will not save you." The whole party then retired
+a little lower down the hill, and there the massacre commenced.
+Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were killed by Te Oru,[161] a son
+of Te Ahuta, the first native who fell in the fight, as a retribution
+for the death of his father. Brooks, the interpreter, was struck down
+by Rangihaeata and despatched by the slaves, which would account for
+the mangled condition in which his body was found by the burial party
+from Port Underwood. The rest of the slaughter, according to native
+accounts, was conducted mainly by Rangihaeata. His method of procedure
+was to glide silently behind the victims while they were standing
+amongst the crowd of natives and brain them with a single blow of his
+tomahawk. The peculiar part of the tragedy was that none of the
+Englishmen, except Captain Wakefield, made the slightest resistance,
+and even he was checked by Mr. Howard exclaiming, "For God's sake,
+sir, do nothing rash!" Perhaps their ignorance of the native language
+prevented them from understanding all that was passing around them
+until they received the fatal blow. But there was no struggle, no
+cries, except from the native women, led by Puaha's wife, who pleaded
+with the men to "save some of the _rangatiras_, if only to say they
+had saved some." No Englishman who survived actually saw the massacre,
+and therefore it is impossible to describe the exact method of its
+execution; but the colonists to all appearances met their fate with
+the greatest equanimity. George Bampton, who had concealed himself
+amongst the fern only a few yards from the spot where the tragedy was
+enacted, in giving evidence at Nelson a few days after the event,
+deposed that "he heard neither cries nor screaming, but merely the
+sound of beating or chopping, which he supposed at the time to be
+natives tomahawking the white people."
+
+In accordance with Rauparaha's express orders, none of the dead bodies
+were mutilated or stripped, although Captain Wakefield's watch was
+taken by Rangihaeata and buried with Te Rongo, while one native
+furnished himself with a pair of white gloves and another with a pair
+of silver-mounted pistols. After burying their own dead in the Waitohi
+Valley, the two chiefs, with their followers, came down to the mouth
+of the Wairau River, bringing with them their own canoes and the
+whaleboat which had been taken up by Mr. Cotterell and his men. In
+these they went first to Robin Hood Bay, and then to Te Awaiti, in
+Tory Channel, where they remained a few days, finally crossing the
+Strait to Mana and Otaki, there to await developments.
+
+Shortly after the skirmishing began, a Sydney merchant named Ferguson,
+who had been a passenger in the brig to Nelson, and had accompanied
+her to the Wairau under the impression that he would have a pleasant
+outing, had taken one of the wounded men, Gapper, down to the river
+where the boats had been left that morning, and, with him and the
+boatman who had been stationed in charge, had paddled down the river
+to the bar, and reached the brig that afternoon. A number of the men
+had also gone down the Waitohi Valley, which was then densely bushed,
+and by this means had evaded pursuit until they could return to Nelson
+by the overland route. Others, again, who had broken away from the
+main body had made for the sea, so that before Mr. Tuckett and his two
+companions had proceeded very far they were joined by eight of the
+original party, one of whom, John Bumforth, was badly wounded in the
+shoulder. Mr. Tuckett first proposed that they should divide into two
+parties, the one to proceed to the bar and the other to the vicinity
+of Port Underwood, thinking that by this means the chances of some of
+them reaching the brig would be increased. But the men stoutly refused
+to separate, and the chief surveyor then decided to proceed to the
+corner of Cloudy Bay nearest the port, where luckily they found one of
+Mr. Dougherty's fully equipped whaleboats riding in the bay a few
+chains off. They hailed the boatmen, and explained that they wished to
+be taken to the brig, which was anchored some seven or eight miles
+away; but owing to the heavy swell that was rolling into the bay at
+the time, and the large number of the party, there was the greatest
+difficulty in persuading the whalers to comply with the request. Even
+after the danger of embarking had been overcome, the headsman had
+almost made up his mind not to risk the voyage to the brig, but to
+land the party at Port Underwood. But fortune still favoured the
+fugitives, for at this moment another boat's crew, who had been
+watching their movements, imagining that they had sighted a whale,
+came out in pursuit, and the two boats raced for the brig, which was
+almost reached before the pursuing crew discovered the true position
+of affairs. Up to this point the whalers had not been informed why Mr.
+Tuckett and his friends desired to get on board the brig, but they
+were now told that a _fracas_ had occurred between the Europeans and
+the natives, that the leaders of the party were Rauparaha's prisoners;
+and a promise (that was never fulfilled) was extracted from the
+boatmen that they would convey the intelligence to the other settlers
+at the port, and prepare them to act as they might think best under
+the circumstances. The captain of the brig then sent his boats to
+search the shore, in the hope that other fugitives might have reached
+the beach; but no one was seen, and no unusual circumstance was noted
+except the burning of a large fire at the mouth of the river, which
+had been lit for some purpose by the natives. The brig then weighed
+anchor and sailed for Wellington, the captain, whose inclination was
+to enter Port Underwood, adopting this course at the earnest
+solicitation of Mr. Tuckett, who believed that, if assistance was
+necessary, it could be more easily obtained from the larger centre of
+population.
+
+When the news of what had happened spread through the infant
+settlement early next morning, the excitement ran wild and high, and
+the settlers, believing that at the worst Captain Wakefield and his
+friends were only prisoners in the hands of the natives, immediately
+organised a band of volunteers to effect their forcible rescue. Their
+departure was, however, delayed by a gale, which had the effect of
+making most of the volunteers seasick; and, by the time the storm had
+abated, wiser counsels prevailed, and it was decided that only a
+quorum of magistrates and Dr. Dorset, the surgeon of the settlement,
+should proceed to the scene, the impression having gained ground that
+intercession was more likely to prevail with the Maoris than the
+presence of an armed force. The brig left Wellington for Cloudy Bay
+that night, and it was when she arrived at Port Underwood that Colonel
+Wakefield and Mr. Tuckett learned for the first time the appalling
+nature of the tragedy which had been enacted. They also learned that
+the natives, both resident and visiting, had hurriedly left the
+Wairau, believing that retaliatory measures would speedily be taken
+against them.
+
+Altogether about twenty-seven of the arresting party had managed to
+elude the pursuit of Rangihaeata's warriors. After undergoing intense
+privations, some wandered back to Nelson, but most of them went to
+Port Underwood, a few suffering from wounds, and all from protracted
+hunger and exposure. The first to arrive were Morgan and Morrison, who
+reached Ocean Bay with their trousers worn to their knees, and they
+were shortly followed by others who were in no better plight. Their
+wants and wounds were attended to by Mrs. Dougherty, who ministered to
+them with the kindest of care, and it was by these few survivors that
+the whalers were first apprised of the catastrophe. The Rev. Mr.
+Ironside had heard vague rumours about impending trouble between the
+chiefs and the Government; but, as he had not seen the arrival of the
+brig, he paid no heed to them until the following Sunday, when, in the
+midst of a heavy rain-storm, he noticed a Maori swiftly paddling his
+canoe up the bay. Knowing that a native would only be out on such a
+day under exceptional circumstances, Mr. Ironside sent one of his
+mission-boys to inquire. The boy did not return, which only increased
+the anxiety, and later on, when a few particulars did reach the
+station, they were only sufficient to indicate that a collision had
+taken place, without any details. That night the missionary and his
+wife retired to rest a prey to harrowing suspense.
+
+Next morning the storm had increased to a perfect hurricane, and as it
+was impossible to launch a boat, they could do nothing but wait. By
+Tuesday the weather had moderated, and a boat's crew of whalers took
+Mr. Ironside down to Ocean Bay, where the two chiefs and their
+exultant followers had arrived. From them the whole story was gleaned,
+and by them the tragedy was justified; "for," said Te Rangihaeata,
+"they killed my wife, Te Rongo, and they did not punish the murderer
+of Kuika."[162]
+
+Mr. Ironside at once asked permission to go and bury the dead,
+whereupon the fiery Rangihaeata ejaculated, "What do you want to go
+for? Better leave them to the wild pigs. But you can go if you like."
+Still the gale was too severe to admit of venturing across the twelve
+miles of open sea; but so anxious had they all become, that next
+morning a start was once more made from Ngakuta, and at the imminent
+risk of their lives the brave crew pulled their boat across the stormy
+bar into the river. On arriving at Tua Marina, Mr. Ironside and his
+party found that all the bodies had been left as Rauparaha had
+directed--unmutilated. The watch of Captain Wakefield was gone, one of
+the pistols, which he had evidently attempted to fire, had been laid
+across his throat in compliance with Maori custom, and a piece of
+"damper," in savage derision, had been placed under his head. The body
+of Brooks, the interpreter, was found to be in the most mangled
+condition, the others apparently only having received the one final
+and decisive blow, when they were struck down by the enraged
+Rangihaeata. Five bodies were discovered in the bush close to the
+creek, and were there interred with the benefits of Christian burial,
+while those who were slain on the brow of the hill, thirteen in
+number, were buried close by with similar rites. This fatiguing work
+had been almost completed by the devoted missionary and his band of
+native helpers when Colonel Wakefield, with the party from the brig,
+arrived to assist. On an extended search being made by the combined
+parties, one more body was found at the point where the road turns
+into the Waitohi Valley, and it was buried where it lay. Probably it
+was that of Isaac Smith, who had either sought to escape after being
+mortally wounded, and had died in the attempt, or had been overtaken
+in his flight and killed where he was found. Mr. Patchett was buried
+in a single grave on the spot where he fell, and Tyrrell and Northam
+were interred together close beside him.
+
+In recognition of the kindly and humane service rendered by Mr.
+Ironside during this critical and anxious period, the Nelson settlers
+presented him with a testimonial in the shape of a handsome edition of
+the Bible, bound in three volumes. The gift was gracefully
+acknowledged by the reverend gentleman in a letter to Mr. Domett,
+dated from Wellington on February 20, 1845.
+
+Upon the return of the party to Port Underwood, Messrs. Spain and
+McDonough (the magistrate at Wellington) set about collecting, with
+all possible speed, all available information concerning the disaster
+from those of both races who had been present, and who had now arrived
+at the settlement. Amongst those whose depositions were taken were two
+Maori boys, who had both been wounded, and were being taken care of by
+female relatives. Their story was a general corroboration of the Maori
+version, and they were both unanimous in declaring that, when the
+Europeans were overtaken on the brow of the hill, Puaha, who was one
+of the first to reach them, offered them his hand and did all in his
+power to obviate further bloodshed by pointing out that he had counted
+the slain, and, as both sides had exactly the same number shot, there
+was no need for further _utu_. In this view Rauparaha at first
+concurred, but he finally gave way before the vehement protestations
+of Rangihaeata, who reminded him in violent tones of his duty to his
+dead relative, Te Rongo. He had then allowed his enraged lieutenant to
+work his wicked will, which Puaha and his people, being unarmed, were
+powerless to prevent. At the conclusion of his inquiry, Mr. Spain left
+for Wellington, taking the wounded with him; and those of the
+survivors who had escaped uninjured proceeded back to Nelson, some in
+the boats and some overland. Before leaving the port Mr. Tuckett was
+authorised by Colonel Wakefield to act as agent for the settlement
+until the pleasure of the New Zealand Company should be known. His
+journey home was rather an adventurous one, as he had a very narrow
+escape of being intercepted by the natives when sailing through the
+French Pass. Some of his companions who were venturesome enough to
+call in at Tory Channel, were detained there for a week by the
+natives, but were ultimately permitted to take their departure
+unharmed.
+
+The body of Mr. Maling, the chief constable, had not been found when
+Mr. Ironside made his first search upon the scene of the massacre, a
+fact which created no surprise at the time, for it was thought
+probable that he had succeeded in making good his escape into the
+bush. But, as he had not arrived at any of the settlements, the
+missionary again returned to Tua Marina for the dual purpose of making
+an extended search and of protecting the graves already made from
+desecration by the wild pigs, with which the valley was at that time
+thickly stocked. He was successful in finding two bodies floating in
+the stream, being the remains of Clanzey and Ratcliffe, who had been
+shot while crossing in the canoe. These were reverently interred on
+the banks of the creek near where Mr. Patchett had been laid. The last
+resting-place of these men bears no mark to distinguish it from the
+surrounding landscape, but a plain though substantial monument has
+been raised over the spot where Captain Wakefield and his companions
+fell; while a memorial church, built by the Wakefield family, stands
+prominently upon the point of the hill, and solemnly presides over the
+whole scene.
+
+It would be difficult to describe the intense excitement which
+agitated the whole colony as the tidings of the massacre flew from
+settlement to settlement; and in the white heat of their anger the
+settlers were guilty of saying and doing many rash and intemperate
+things. Few of them had made themselves conversant with the whole
+facts of the case, and fewer still stayed to reason out the natural
+actions of men under the circumstances. All that they knew, and all
+that they cared to know, was that their countrymen had been, as a
+Nelson settler forcibly expressed it, "brutally butchered by a parcel
+of miscreant savages, ten thousand of whose useless lives would have
+all too cheaply purchased their survival, let the cant of
+ultra-philanthropists say what it will." But this fierce indignation
+was not participated in by the Europeans alone. Flying from the scene
+of the tragedy, Te Rauparaha arrived with his retainers at Waikanae,
+cold and wet with the sea spray which had swept over him on the
+passage across the Strait. He immediately assembled the Ngati-Awa
+people and told them the tale of the massacre, holding their attention
+by the graphic nature of his narrative. At first his listeners were
+unsympathetic, but he appealed to their sympathies by feigning
+physical distress. Bent in body and trembling in voice, he appeared to
+speak with difficulty, and used a hacking cough with some effect to
+melt their sternness. But his most telling point was made when,
+advancing a few steps, he held up his shaking hands and dramatically
+exclaimed, "Why should they seek to fetter me? I am old and weak; I
+must soon pass away. What could they gain by enslaving me? by
+fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not what they
+seek. It is because through my person they hope to dishonour you. If
+they can enslave me they think they can degrade the whole Maori race."
+
+This was the dart that struck deep into Maori pride, and wounded their
+sense of honour. Instantly the tribe rose responsive to the
+suggestion, and weapons were gripped, eyes flashed, and the spirit of
+war surged in every breast. Missionary Hadfield was present, and saw
+the sway wielded by the old chief's oratory. He saw, too, how critical
+was the position, and gladly availed himself of the timely suggestion
+made by one of the missionary natives to ring the bell for evening
+prayers, and thus bring back the warriors' thoughts to a more peaceful
+frame. Next morning Te Rauparaha journeyed to Otaki, and there
+harangued the fighting men of Ngati-Toa. Here there was no need to
+adopt the arts of the stage. His auditors were his own followers, many
+of whom had been with him since childhood. They knew him and trusted
+him, and with them his word was law. He therefore threw off the guise
+of broken manhood, of fettered limbs, of tottering steps, and stood
+before them the bold and imperious chief that he was. His words
+ringing with the timbre of commanding confidence, were direct and to
+the purpose. "Now is the time to strike. You see what the smooth
+speech of the _pakeha_ is worth; you know now what they mean in their
+hearts. You know now that tyranny and injustice is all that you can
+expect at their hands. Come then and sweep them from the land which
+they have sought to bedew with our blood."
+
+In these warlike counsels he was ably seconded by Te Rangihaeata, who,
+reasoning as a Maori would reason, had always strongly held the view
+that, as the white men would be certain to seek satisfaction for the
+massacre, their duty was to get what _utu_ they could while the
+opportunity to do so was theirs. He therefore joined with his chief in
+urging an immediate march upon Wellington, in order by one swift
+stroke to obliterate the _pakeha_ and his settlements. These
+sanguinary proposals were not preached to unwilling ears, for it was
+but natural that the Maori should judge the settlers by their leaders,
+the representatives of the New Zealand Company, whose bad faith now
+appeared so audaciously transparent. But there was one chief who was
+proof against the hysteria of blood which had seized the tribes. Side
+by side with Hadfield he stood like a rock above the billows of hate
+which surged around him, and by his calm and stedfast loyalty broke
+the fury of the storm. This was Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake, the
+Ngati-Awa chief of Waitara. His resolute opposition to Te Rauparaha's
+plans was an obstacle which that chief could not overcome. He carried
+his own people with him, while Hadfield soothed the Ngati-Raukawa into
+neutrality. Without Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Toa was not
+equal to a task which with their united forces would have been a
+simple matter. That the Maoris had the power at this time to drive
+the colonists into the sea, had they chosen to exercise it, has been
+freely admitted by the settlers themselves,[163] so that the service
+which Wiremu and the good missionary Hadfield rendered to the Colony
+at this juncture can only be estimated at the value of the infant
+settlement itself. And, with regret be it said, Wellington is even now
+destitute of any monument to which the passing generations might point
+as a public recognition of the fact that these two men once stood
+between it and extermination.
+
+Before Te Rauparaha was able to extend his projects for avenging his
+wrongs beyond his own immediate sphere of influence, he was visited by
+Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the aborigines, who gave him
+his most solemn pledge that the Government would not attack him
+without first hearing his side of the question, and begged him to try
+and keep the natives quiet until the case could be investigated.
+Following close upon Mr. Clarke came Mr. Spain, deputed by the
+magistrates at Wellington, and empowered to speak as one in
+authority.[164] He strove to assure the natives that they were
+mistaken if they imagined that the Europeans would wage war against
+them indiscriminately by way of retaliation for the death of Captain
+Wakefield and his comrades. The question of punishment rested solely
+with the Governor, and, until he could decide who should be punished
+and what the punishment should be, there would be no act of aggression
+against the natives.
+
+"Your words are very good, but who can tell what will be the words of
+the Governor?" was the comment of one of the chiefs upon these
+assurances. To this Spain could only reply by pointing to their past
+intercourse, and asking if during their long acquaintance they had
+ever known him to deceive them. Fortunately, his record stood him in
+good stead, and the chief agreed that he for one would help to protect
+the Europeans. While this discussion was proceeding, Rauparaha had
+joined the assembly, and at this point he rose and delivered what Mr.
+Spain considered "a most powerful speech." He traversed anew the
+events which had led up to the _fracas_, and vehemently asked,
+"Is this the justice which the Queen of England promised to the Maori?
+You are not satisfied with having taken all our land from us, but you
+send a Queen's ship headed by a Queen's officer to fire upon us and
+kill us." Spain endeavoured to expound to the angry chief the niceties
+of British law, under which a warrant to arrest did not necessarily
+imply established guilt; had he surrendered he would probably have
+been admitted to bail until the day of the trial, and, so far from the
+Queen and the Governor being to blame for the conduct of the
+magistrate, they had never heard of the warrant. On Spain expressing
+his abhorrence of the killing of the captives, Te Rauparaha admitted
+the error of the step, which he palliated as due to their own custom
+and Rangihaeata's grief at the death of his wife. He then proceeded to
+question Spain with an acumen which astonished the lawyer, and forced
+him to form a very high estimate of the chief's intellectual capacity;
+for his examination was as keen "as if I had undergone that ordeal in
+Westminster Hall at the hands of a member of the English Bar." What Te
+Rauparaha wished to guard against was treachery. He wanted everything
+open to the light of day, and the conference ended by his saying to
+Spain, "If the Governor should decide upon sending soldiers to take
+me and Rangihaeata, let us know when they arrive, because you need not
+take the trouble to send up here for us. If you only send word I will
+come down to Port Nicholson with a thousand Maoris and fight with the
+_pakehas_. If they beat us, they shall have New Zealand, and we will
+be their slaves, but if we beat them, they must stand clear."
+
+Mr. Spain next proceeded to Otaki. There he was told that the natives
+intended to stand loyally by their chiefs, and that any attempt to
+seize them would lead to immediate reprisals. Following closely upon
+Mr. Spain's departure, Mr. Jerningham Wakefield reached Otaki. He came
+from the north, and, as he drifted down the Whanganui River, he
+received the first tidings of the death of his uncle. It was difficult
+at first to give credence to the nebulous rumours which reached him;
+but the constant reiteration of the same story about a fight with the
+_pakehas_ and the death of "Wideawake" gradually compelled
+attention, and ultimately received confirmation at the white
+settlement then known as Petre.[165] Here Wakefield was the recipient
+of a message from Te Rauparaha, demanding to know whether he was for
+peace or for war, and preferring a request that "Tiraweke" would come
+to Otaki to _korero_ with him. In the meantime he had sent his
+canoes to Manawatu, and was preparing for his retreat into the
+interior should he be attacked. Wakefield left Petre, and at the end
+of the first day he was met at Rangitikei by the old Ngati-Raukawa
+chief Te Ahu karamu,[166] who had gone thither with an armed party to
+conduct his friend safely through the disturbed district. On reaching
+Otaki, Wakefield went to Rangi-ura _pa_, the principal settlement,
+where the Maoris placed only one interpretation upon his
+coming--vengeance upon Te Rauparaha for the death of his uncle.
+
+For two days Wakefield rested at Otaki, but saw nothing of the chiefs.
+Rangihaeata was reported to be some distance in the interior, building
+a strong _pa_, where it was understood that the chiefs had
+determined to make a stand should the authorities seek to pursue them.
+Te Rauparaha was at the Pakakutu _pa_ at the mouth of the river,
+endeavouring to break down the influence of Mr. Hadfield and Wiremu
+Kingi. His efforts to consolidate his forces were various, as suited
+the circumstances. He sought to ingratiate himself into the good
+opinion of the missionary natives by appearing to become zealous in
+religious observances; on the feeling of others he played by a recital
+of his wrongs; and towards the European residents of Otaki he assumed
+an attitude of unconcealed hostility, and ordered their removal from
+the district. This step he deemed to be necessary, in order that he
+might be free to act unhampered by spies in the supposed impending
+campaign against the Queen's troops, and it was this mandate which
+brought the chief and Wakefield face to face.
+
+As a result of Rauparaha's prohibition, a _pakeha_ settler named
+White, who had been living under the patronage of Te Ahu karamu, found
+himself suddenly stopped at the Otaki River while in the act of
+driving some thirty head of cattle on to the land upon which his
+patron chief had invited him to settle. This high-handed action
+naturally aroused the anger of the Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who had
+hitherto assumed that they were masters of the territory which they
+had chosen to "sit upon" when the division of the conquered lands was
+made. Te Ahu was especially angered at what he regarded as an
+uncalled-for encroachment upon his prerogative as a chief. He
+therefore announced his determination to proceed to the Pakakutu
+_pa_ and demand from Te Rauparaha a complete renunciation of his
+views. Wakefield was invited to be present, and to his facile pen we
+are indebted for a graphic account of what followed. The _korero_ did
+not commence immediately upon the arrival of Te Ahu's party at the
+_pa_, and Wakefield employed the interval in the kindly office of
+helping to dress the wounded leg of a Maori, whom he has described as
+one "particularly gentle and dignified in his manners." While thus
+engaged, Te Rauparaha approached him, and, with evident signs of
+apprehension as to the propriety of his doing so, offered a friendly
+salutation. Wakefield coldly declined to grasp the hand which he
+naturally believed was imbrued in his uncle's blood; and Rauparaha,
+immediately acknowledging the delicacy of his position, muttered "It
+is good," and returned to his seat. The speech-making commenced by his
+entering upon a lengthy narrative of himself and his conquests, for
+the evident purpose of riveting in the minds of his hearers the fact
+that he was the brain and the heart of the tribe. His story was
+eloquently told, for not the least of his great natural endowments was
+the precious gift of the silver tongue. The tale of conquest ended, he
+was proceeding to refer to the incidents of the Wairau, when Wakefield
+rose and checked him. Naturally the latter was sensitive upon the
+point of prejudging so dreadful a tragedy, by listening to an
+_ex-parte_ statement of its facts, when he was fully persuaded that at
+no distant date he would hear the truth disclosed before an impartial
+tribunal. He therefore told Te Rauparaha that he would not remain if
+he proposed to discuss the affair of the Wairau, but begged him to
+confine his speech to a justification of his extreme and arbitrary
+desire to drive the Europeans away from Otaki.
+
+Te Rauparaha acknowledged the reasonableness of this request, but so
+anxious was he to excuse himself in the eyes of Wakefield, that his
+oration had not proceeded far before he reverted to the subject of the
+massacre. Thereupon Wakefield rose, and, walking to the stile at the
+outer fence, was in the act of stepping over it to proceed home, when
+a chorus of shouts called him back, and a promise was given that there
+would be no further reference to the Wairau. Te Rauparaha then
+earnestly addressed himself to the status of the _pakehas_ at Otaki,
+claiming the land as his alone. He admitted the validity of the sales
+of the Manawatu, Whanganui, and Taranaki, but not those of Otaki or
+Ohau, and insisted that the white people, whalers included,[167] must
+remove to those districts which the Company had fairly bought. He
+upbraided the Queen for sending her constables to tie his hands. "Who
+is she," he asked, "that she should send her books and her constables
+after me? What have I to do with her? She may be Queen over the white
+people; I am the King of the Maori! If she chooses to have war, let
+her send me word, and I will stand up against her soldiers. But I must
+have room; I must have no white people so near."[168]
+
+Challenged as to the inconsistency of these views with his action in
+signing the Treaty of Waitangi, he wheeled sharply round and
+exclaimed, "Yes; what of that? They gave me a blanket for it. I am
+still a chief, just the same. I am Rauparaha. Give me another blanket
+tomorrow and I will sign it again. What is there in writing?" The
+attitude of absolute authority assumed by the chief distinctly alarmed
+Wakefield, who saw in it the elements of unlimited trouble for the New
+Zealand Company. For if Te Rauparaha's claim to exclusive jurisdiction
+over the land was well founded, then verily many of their purchases
+had been brought to the brink of repudiation. Turning hastily to Te
+Ahu and several of the chiefs around him, he sought enlightenment on
+the point, reminding them that they had frequently laid claim to
+large possessions in the neighbourhood, but had never acknowledged Te
+Rauparaha as having the least right or interest in them. Then Te Ahu
+proceeded in a tone of apology and regret to elucidate one of the many
+intricate phases of Maori land tenure which were now beginning to
+prove so embarrassing to the Company. He explained that when the tribe
+burned their houses at Maungatautari and came down to assist Te
+Rauparaha in his conquest, they had selected Otaki out of the
+conquered lands to be their future home. In times of peace Rauparaha
+would have made no claim to the land, nor would his claim have been
+acknowledged if he had. In proof of this, he quoted the scorn with
+which Rangihaeata's assumptions over the Manawatu had been rejected by
+Ngati-Raukawa; but now that the war clouds were in the air, the
+_riri_, or anger, had completely altered the whole aspect of affairs;
+the land had reverted to him who had conquered it, and Ngati-Raukawa
+had no land which they could call their own. "And then he rose," says
+Wakefield, "and endeavoured to persuade Rauparaha to change his
+determination. He reminded him of the 'war parties which he had
+brought to him on his back to assist him against his enemies, through
+dangers and troubles more than he could count.' He related how 'he had
+burned the villages of the tribe at Taupo to make them come with him
+to be by the side of Rauparaha on the sea-coast.' He counted how many
+times he had adhered to him 'in his feuds with Ngati-Awa,' and
+described 'how much of the blood of Ngati-Raukawa had been spilt for
+his name.' Te Ahu had now warmed with his subject, and was running up
+and down, bounding and yelling at each turn, and beginning to foam at
+the mouth, as the natives do when they seek to speak impressively.
+'Let the cows go!' he cried. 'Let them go to my place!'
+
+"Rauparaha seemed to consider that Te Ahu's eloquence was becoming too
+powerful, and he jumped up too. They both continued to run up and down
+in short parallel lines, yelling at each other, with staring eyes and
+excited features, grimacing and foaming, shaking their hands and
+smacking their thighs. As they both spoke together, it became
+difficult to hear what they said, but I caught a sentence here and
+there, which gave me the sense of the argument. 'No!' cried Rauparaha;
+'no cows; I will not have them.' 'Let them go!' yelled Te Ahu. 'Yield
+me my cows and my white man--the cows will not kill you.' 'No cows, no
+white men! I am King! Never mind your war parties! No cows!' answered
+Te Rauparaha. 'The cows cannot take you,' persisted Te Ahu; 'when the
+soldiers come we will fight for you, but let my cows go.' 'No, no, no,
+indeed,' firmly replied the chief, and sat down.
+
+"Te Ahu remained standing. He took breath for a minute, then drew
+himself up to his full height, and addressed his own people in a
+solemn kind of recitative. 'Ngati-Raukawa,' he sang, 'arise! Arise, my
+sons and daughters, my elder brothers and my younger brothers, my
+sisters, my grand-children, arise! Stand up, the families of
+Ngati-Raukawa! To Taupo! to Taupo! to Maungatautari! To our old homes
+which we burned and deserted; arise and let us go! Carry the little
+children on your backs, as I carried you when I came to fight for this
+old man who has called us to fight for him and given us land to sit
+upon, but grudges us white people to be our friends and to give us
+trade. We have no white men or ships at Maungatautari, but the land is
+our own there. We need not beg to have a white man or cows yielded to
+us there if they should want to come. To Maungatautari. Arise, my
+sons, make up your packs, take your guns and your blankets, and let us
+go! It is enough, I have spoken.' As he sat down, a mournful silence
+prevailed. An important migration had been proposed by the chief,
+which no doubt would be agreed to by the greater part of the Otaki,
+Ohau, and Manawatu natives, on whom was Rauparaha's chief dependence
+for his defence.
+
+"I noticed that he winced when he first heard the purport of Te Ahu's
+song; but, while Te Ahu continued, his countenance gradually resumed
+its confidence. Much as I abhorred his character, I could not but
+yield my unbounded admiration to the imperious manner in which he
+overthrew the whole effect of Te Ahu's beautiful summons to his tribe.
+Instead of his usual doubting and suspicious manner, his every gesture
+became that of a noble chief. He rose with all the majesty of a
+monarch, and he spoke in the clearest and firmest tones, so that the
+change from his customary shuffling, cautious and snarling diction was
+of itself sufficient to command the earnest attention of his audience.
+'Go,' said he, 'go, all of you!--go, Ngati-Raukawa, to Maungatautari!
+Take your children on your backs and go, and leave my land without
+men. When you are gone, I will stay and fight the soldiers with my own
+hands. I do not beg you to stop. Rauparaha is not afraid! I began to
+fight when I was as high as my hip. All my days have been spent in
+fighting, and by fighting I have got my name. Since I seized by war
+all this land, from Taranaki to Port Nicholson, and from Blind Bay to
+Cloudy Bay beyond the water, I have been spoken of as a King. I am the
+King of all this land. I have lived a King, and I will die a King,
+with my _mere_ in my hand. Go; I am no beggar; Rauparaha will fight
+the soldiers of the Queen when they come, with his own hands and his
+own name. Go to Maungatautari.' Then, suddenly changing his strain, he
+looked on the assemblage of chiefs, bending down towards them with a
+paternal smile, and softening his voice to kindness and emotion. 'But
+what do I say?' said he; 'what is my talk about? You are children! It
+is not for you to talk. You talk of going here and doing that. Can one
+of you talk when I am here? No! I shall rise and speak for you all,
+and you shall sit dumb, for you are all my children, and Rauparaha is
+your head chief and patriarch.'"
+
+This fearless rejection of Ngati-Raukawa assistance, culminating in an
+arrogant assumption of absolute authority over their movements,
+completely won him his point, and one of the highest chiefs said to
+Wakefield, "It is true, Tiraweke! He is our father and our
+_Ariki_. Rauparaha is the King of the Maori, like your Queen over the
+white people." The others, full of conscious dignity in being
+followers of such a leader, acknowledged his authority by bowing a
+silent assent. Rauparaha remained inflexible in refusing to permit the
+cattle to enter the district, but, in deference to the urgent
+persuasions of the chiefs, he subsequently relaxed his prohibition
+against the white men already settled in the district, but stoutly
+refused to sanction the coming of any more.
+
+But this effort of Te Rauparaha to consolidate his forces was in no
+sense the full range of his preparations. To augment his fighting
+strength was as much his policy as to unite those who already
+acknowledged allegiance to him. And this he sought to do in a quarter
+which, in view of past events, he would have been least expected to
+approach, and where his advances, once made, would have been least
+likely to touch a responsive chord. His scheme involved no less a
+delicate task than salving the wounds of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, and
+negotiating a friendly alliance with the men whose _mana_ he had
+so rudely trampled in the dust at Kaikoura and Kaiapoi. To this end he
+collected a number of the most influential prisoners whom he had taken
+at the latter place, and, bidding them go back to their tribe, charged
+them to use their utmost endeavour to promote a good feeling towards
+him amongst their people. This unexpected act of clemency--or apparent
+clemency--which restored to them their much esteemed chief Momo, their
+great warrior Iwikau, and others equally noted in their history, went
+far to soothe the injured pride of Ngai-Tahu, who, after much serious
+debate, decided to forget the past, make peace, and accede to the new
+proposals. As an earnest of their acceptance of Rauparaha's terms,
+Taiaroa at once paid a visit to Kapiti, and, as he professed to be
+aggrieved at the manner in which some land transactions had been
+conducted in the south, there is little doubt that, had an attack upon
+Wellington been contemplated, he and his people would have combined
+with their former enemies to effect the annihilation of the
+colonists.[169]
+
+A fearful uncertainty thus continued to agitate the breasts of the
+settlers; and when H.M. ship of war, _North Star_ arrived in
+Wellington on 31st August, as the result of a memorial sent by the
+settlers to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, she was
+received with a salute of guns and a display of bunting, which
+indicated a belief that the day of retribution was at hand. It was
+not, however, for four days that her commander, Sir Everard Home, was
+able to enter into communication with Major Richmond, the principal
+officer of the Government in Cook Strait. By him he was assured that
+"he had received various reports of meditated attacks upon Wellington
+by the natives under Te Rauparaha; that the chief was at a _pa_
+not more than fourteen miles away, with between five hundred and a
+thousand of his fighting men; that Taiaroa, the chief from the Middle
+Island, had joined Te Rauparaha, and, having been an ancient enemy to
+him, had made peace; that the _pa_ at Porirua was fortified, and
+every preparation made for an attack on the town of Wellington." To
+this Sir Everard, having regard to his explicit instructions not to
+intervene unless the natives and the whites were at actual war,
+replied that, in his judgment, the circumstances did not warrant his
+interference, but that he would keep his ship in the harbour as a
+salutary check upon Maori aggression. In the meantime he penned the
+following letter to Te Rauparaha:--
+
+ "FRIEND RAUPARAHA,--It has come to my knowledge that you are
+ collecting the tribes round you, because you expect that I am going
+ to attack you. Those who told you so said that which is not true.
+ It was to keep the peace and not to make war that I came here.
+ You know that where many men are met together, and continue without
+ employment, they will find something evil to do. They had best go
+ home."
+
+Sir Everard Home, having satisfied himself that no immediate crisis
+was likely to arise at Wellington, unless it was precipitated by the
+settlers themselves, was constrained by reports of seething discontent
+at Nelson to visit the settlements in Blind Bay. But, before
+proceeding thither, he decided to call in at the island of Mana, and
+there personally discuss the situation with Te Rauparaha himself.
+Accompanied by Major Richmond and Captain Best, he left Wellington
+Harbour on the morning of October 5th, and anchored the _North
+Star_ under the lee of Mana that afternoon.
+
+ "As soon as the ship anchored," says Sir Everard in his official
+ report, "I landed, attended by Major Richmond and Captain Best,
+ who commanded the detachment on board the _North Star_. We
+ first went to the whaling station, or great _pa_, where we found Mr.
+ Chetham (clerk of the Court), who had been sent to join us. We
+ also soon after met Mr. Clarke. He informed us that Te Rauparaha
+ had left that morning at daylight for Waikanae, which must have
+ been a voluntary movement, as no person knew our intention till
+ the Strait was entered. We immediately went round to the _pa_
+ where the tribe was established. Here we found no one on the
+ beach to receive us, and, having landed, walked to the huts, where
+ we found a few persons sitting together. Rangihaeata, they said,
+ had fled to the bush, Te Rauparaha was at Waikanae, and, finding
+ that nothing could be done, we returned on board."
+
+During this visit to Porirua, the attention of the official party had
+been directed to the presence of the New Zealand Company's boat, which
+had been brought by the natives from the Wairau, after the massacre,
+and hauled up on the shore of Taupo Bay amongst some twelve or fifteen
+canoes; and this fact was made a subject of discussion next day when
+the frigate reached Kapiti.
+
+Landing at Waikanae, where the interview was to take place, Sir
+Everard Home says:--
+
+ "We were received by the Rev. Mr. Hadfield, a missionary, a
+ gentleman of high character and great intelligence, who, living in
+ the _pa_ amongst the natives, knows every movement, for none could
+ take place without his knowledge. He at once declared all the reports
+ (of an intended attack upon Wellington) to be without foundation.
+ Having walked to his house, which is within the _pa_, we
+ proceeded to his school-yard, and the chiefs, Te Rauparaha, and Rere,
+ chief of the tribe inhabiting the _pa_ of Waikanae, came,
+ accompanied by about fifty men. I then stated to the chief all that
+ was reported of him, and asked him what he had to say to contradict
+ it. He replied that, far from wishing to continue the quarrel with
+ the Europeans, which had been commenced by them, and not by him, his
+ whole time was occupied in travelling up and down the coast,
+ endeavouring to allay the irritation of the natives and to prevent
+ any ill consequences arising from the provoking language and threats
+ with which they were continually annoyed by the Europeans travelling
+ backwards and forwards. That, for himself, he believed them to be
+ lies invented by the white men, having been assured by the Police
+ Magistrate that no steps would be taken until the arrival of the new
+ Governor, or the pleasure of the Queen was known. He also declared
+ that they all stood in fear of the white men, and asked why I had
+ come if it was not to fight with and destroy them, for they had been
+ told that was my intention.
+
+ "I told them that the Queen's ships went to all parts of the world,
+ and that my object was to preserve peace rather than to make war, and
+ he was advised to believe no reports which he might hear, but to
+ inquire into the truth of them of Major Richmond, through Mr. Clarke
+ or Mr. Hadfield."
+
+The conference then dispersed, but at a later hour Te Rauparaha was
+sent for to Mr. Hadfield's house, and asked if he would send a letter
+to the principal chief at Porirua, requesting him to deliver up the
+Company's boat to Sir Everard Home. His reply was that he had but
+little influence amongst the Porirua people, but that, as he had
+always been against the retention of the boat, he would assert what
+authority he had to secure its return. He then became curious to know
+if the surrender of the boat would end the quarrel; but Major Richmond
+discreetly declined to commit himself on the point, and appealed to Te
+Rauparaha's position as a chief to see that justice was done. Te
+Rauparaha then penned the following letter, which he addressed to the
+Porirua chiefs:--
+
+ "Go thou, my book, to Puaha, Hohepa, and Watarauehe. Give that boat
+ to the chief of the ship; give it to the chief for nothing. These are
+ the words of Te Rauparaha. Your avarice in keeping back the boat from
+ us, from me, Mr. Hadfield, and Mr. Ironside, was great. This is not
+ an angry visit, it is to ask peaceably for the boat. There are only
+ Mr. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, and the chief of the ship: they three who
+ are going peaceably back to you that you may give up the boat.
+
+ "This is my book,
+
+ "TE RAUPARAHA."
+
+Armed with this authority Sir Everard Home returned to Porirua, where,
+after lying at anchor all day on Sunday, he landed on the following
+day, and made a formal demand for the return of the boat. At first, Te
+Rangihaeata was inclined to resist the request, but, on receipt of a
+private message from Te Rauparaha that a refusal might mean trouble,
+he yielded the point, and the boat was ultimately handed over with
+"the greatest good-humour."
+
+During the interview at Waikanae, Te Rauparaha had given the most
+profuse assurances that he, relying upon the promise that there would
+be no reprisals until the facts surrounding the massacre had been
+investigated, was employing his best endeavours to pacify his people.
+But his efforts, he said, were often nullified by the disturbing
+rumours which reached them of armings and drillings[170] by the
+settlers at Wellington, which seemed to portend war rather than peace.
+But the seeds of irritation and mistrust had already been sown much
+further afield than Waikanae and Otaki; for the natives, on leaving
+the Wairau, had taken with them, as well as the boat, the handcuffs
+and leg-irons which had been foolishly brought down by Mr. Maling to
+ensure Rauparaha's capture. These were sent from one _pa_ to
+another, and wherever they were exhibited, the enemies of the
+_pakeha_ were not slow to insinuate that, when the English became
+numerous in the land, they would provide leg-irons for the whole of
+the natives. The sight of these manacles, and the dark hints with
+which they were everywhere accompanied, created bitterness and
+resentment against settlers, with whom the Maoris had always lived in
+perfect harmony; so that before many weeks had passed away it only
+required a single spark of indiscretion to set the whole colony in a
+blaze of war. At no period of her history has New Zealand stood so
+much in need of firm, discreet and conciliatory guidance as in this
+critical juncture;[171] and fortunately the hand of authority was
+strong enough to prevent the spark being kindled. Acting-Governor
+Shortland, taking a bold but unpopular initiative, on July 12, 1843,
+issued the following proclamation:--
+
+ "Whereas it is essential to the well-being of this Colony that
+ confidence and good feeling should continue to exist between the two
+ races of its inhabitants, and that the native owners of the soil
+ should have no reason to doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's solemn
+ assurance that their territorial rights should be recognised and
+ respected. Now, therefore, I, the officer administering the
+ Government, do hereby publicly warn all persons claiming land in this
+ Colony, in all cases where the claim is denied or disputed by the
+ original native owners, from exercising rights of ownership thereon,
+ or otherwise prejudicing the question of title to the same, until the
+ question of ownership shall have been heard and determined by one of
+ Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to investigate claims to land
+ in New Zealand."
+
+The wisdom of thus holding the hands of the settlers until the title
+to their lands had been settled by a constitutional course was not at
+first apparent to the pioneers, who treated the proclamation with
+scant respect, and roundly abused it and its author in the public
+press.
+
+ "If," said one writer, "it had been the desire of its framer to hound
+ a troop of excited savages upon a peaceable and scattered population,
+ to destroy the remains of friendly feeling existing between the two
+ races, to imbrue in blood the hands of both, and lead to the
+ extermination of one or the other, such a proclamation might have
+ served its purpose."
+
+This style of exaggerated invective will serve to show the unreasoning
+pitch to which even the better class of colonists had allowed
+themselves to be worked by the news of the catastrophe. Nor were they
+content with merely upbraiding the authorities in the press and at
+public meetings; deputations waited upon the Acting-Governor at
+Auckland, urging him to take immediate steps to avenge the death of
+Captain Wakefield. The Nelson deputation consisted of Dr. Monro and
+Mr. A. Domett, and the essence of their petition was contained in the
+following paragraph:--
+
+ "We have no hesitation in stating that it is the general opinion of
+ the settlers at Nelson that our countrymen who were killed at Wairau
+ Plain lost their lives in endeavouring to discharge their duties as
+ magistrates and British subjects, obedient to British law, and that
+ the persons by whom they were killed are murderers in the eyes of
+ common sense and justice."
+
+They therefore hoped that impartial justice would be done, and that
+the penalties of the law would certainly overtake those whom its
+verdicts pronounced to be guilty. But to this and all other petitions
+of a similar tone Mr. Shortland staunchly refused to accede. In his
+reply to Dr. Monro and Mr. Domett he clearly set forth the error under
+which the settlers were labouring, when they ascribed the disaster to
+the performance of duty on the part of the magistrates, and pointed
+out that it might be more fairly attributed to an excess of duty on
+the part of those officials, in attempting to annex land which had
+never been legally purchased. After dwelling upon the criminality of
+those who were responsible for the final conflict, he proceeded:--
+
+ "But whatever may be the crime, and whoever may be the criminals, it
+ is but too clear that the event we must all deplore has arisen from
+ several parties of surveyors, without the concurrence of the local
+ Government, proceeding to take possession of and to survey a tract of
+ land in opposition to the original native owners, who had uniformly
+ denied its sale. His Excellency therefore deems it proper to inform
+ you that the New Zealand Company has not selected any block of land
+ in the valley of the Wairau, nor has the local Government yet
+ received any intimation that it is the intention of the Company to
+ select a block in that district."
+
+To say that the Englishmen were trespassers is the mildest way in
+which the case against them can be stated, especially in view of the
+forceful opinion expressed by Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General, who
+described their conduct as "illegal in its inception and in every step
+of its execution, unjustifiable in the magistrate and four constables,
+and criminal in the last degree on the part of the attacking party."
+Writing from Port Nicholson ten days after the massacre, Mr. Spain
+confirmed Mr. Swainson's condemnation of their conduct, which he
+declared to be "an attempt to set British law at defiance and to
+obtain, by force, possession of a tract of land, the title of which
+was disputed, and then under the consideration of a commissioner
+specially appointed to investigate and report upon it." From the
+information he had been able to collect, Mr. Spain arrived at the
+conclusion that at the commencement of the affair the natives
+exhibited the greatest forbearance, and the utmost repugnance to fight
+with the Europeans. His views were cordially endorsed by Mr. Clarke,
+the Protector of the aborigines, who reported to the Acting-Governor
+that he was "satisfied that such an unhappy affair as that of the
+Wairau could never have occurred had not the natives been urged to it
+by extreme provocation." These emphatic opinions from men who were not
+only capable of arriving at a judicial conclusion, but were impartial
+in the sense that they were not concerned in the catastrophe, together
+with the decision of the Attorney-General that no act of felony had
+been committed by the natives in burning the huts, fortified His
+Excellency in ignoring the violent clamour of the settlers for
+revenge. They induced him even to go further, and prohibit the
+military displays which they were beginning to organise amongst
+themselves under the plea that they were in imminent danger of being
+attacked by the natives. This prohibition was to their excited minds
+the crowning injustice of all; and in October, when H.M.S. _North
+Star_ arrived at Port Nicholson, the Wellington and Nelson settlements
+were practically in a state of open rebellion. When Sir Everard Home
+was applied to by the colonists to execute a warrant against Rauparaha
+and Rangihaeata for murder, he was compelled to "decline the honour,"
+and admit candidly that he did not consider a force so necessary to
+put a check upon the natives as to keep in subjection the irate
+settlers themselves. The settlers further memorialised Sir Eardley
+Wilmot, Governor of Tasmania, for assistance, and he immediately sent
+a battleship to their aid. But he took the precaution to warn Captain
+Nicholson not to land his troops unless the natives and Europeans were
+in actual conflict; and this not being the case when the ship arrived,
+she soon after took her departure. In their extremity the settlers
+then turned to a French frigate which was lying in New Zealand waters;
+but Major Richmond, on hearing of the proposal to call upon her
+captain for aid, indignantly vetoed it as being "a stain upon British
+arms."
+
+The social and political atmosphere was still in this condition of
+ferment when, towards the close of the year, Captain Fitzroy, the
+newly appointed Governor, arrived. It was not, however, until February
+that he was able to give his undivided attention to the adjudication
+of matters connected with the massacre; but he then spared no pains to
+make himself master of all the facts upon which a decision was to be
+based. He first studied the merits of the European case, and then
+journeyed to Waikanae, where he landed on February 12, 1844, with his
+suite, consisting of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Spain, the officers of the
+_North Star_, Major Richmond and Mr. Symonds, the Wellington
+magistrates, and Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the
+aborigines. There he met Rauparaha and Rangihaeata with upwards of
+four hundred of their tribe, congregated for the _korero_ in an
+enclosure in the centre of the _pa_, the Governor being provided
+with a chair, Rauparaha sitting by his side. His Excellency,
+addressing the assembled natives through Mr. Clarke, said:--
+
+ "I have heard from the English all that happened at the Wairau, and
+ it has grieved my heart exceedingly. I now ask you to tell me your
+ story so that I may compare the two and judge fairly. When I have
+ heard your account of that dark day, I will reflect and then tell you
+ what I shall do. The bad news I have just heard about killing the
+ English after they had ceased fighting, and had trusted to your
+ honour, has made my heart very dark, has filled my mind with gloom.
+ Tell me your story that I may compare it with the English, and know
+ the whole truth. When I first heard of the death of my friends at the
+ Wairau, I was very angry and thought of hastening here with many
+ ships of war, with many soldiers, and several fire-moved ships
+ (steamers). Had I done so your warriors would have been killed, your
+ canoes would have been all taken and burnt, your houses and your
+ _pas_ would have all been destroyed, for I would have brought
+ with me from Sydney an irresistible force. But these were hasty,
+ unchristian thoughts: they soon passed away. I considered the whole
+ case. I considered the English were very much to blame even by their
+ own account, and I saw how much you had been provoked. Then I
+ determined to put away my anger and come to you peaceably. Let me
+ hear your story."
+
+Rauparaha then arose, and after being exhorted by several of his tribe
+to speak out that all might hear, he began in slow and measured tones
+to narrate their land troubles with the Company in the Wellington
+settlement, and then he passed on to the Wairau. This land, he
+declared, was taken away by Thompson and Captain Wakefield, and he
+described the visit of Rangihaeata and himself to Nelson to protest
+against its occupancy; nor did he omit to mention the threats then
+used towards them by Captain Wakefield. Then he told how they had gone
+over and stopped the survey, and brought Messrs. Cotterell and
+Barnicoat down to the bar, and how they had afterwards met Mr.
+Tuckett, and likewise refused him permission to remain.
+
+ [Illustration: TAUPO PA, PORIRUA.
+ Where Te Rauparaha was captured.]
+
+ "After Mr. Tuckett had gone to Nelson," said Rauparaha, "we continued
+ our planting, till one morning we saw the _Victoria_ (the
+ Government brig). Then were our hearts relieved, for we thought Mr.
+ Spain and Mr. Clarke had come to settle the question of our lands.
+ Being scattered about on the different places on the river, we took
+ no further notice, expecting a messenger to arrive from Mr. Spain;
+ but a messenger came up to say that it was an army of English, and
+ that they were busily engaged in cleaning their arms and fixing the
+ flints of their guns. They met Puaha, and detained him prisoner. They
+ said, 'Where are Rauparaha and Rangihaeata?' Puaha said, 'Up the
+ river.' After Puaha and Rangihaeata arrived, we consulted as to what
+ we should do. I proposed going into the bush, but they said 'No, let
+ us remain where we are: what have we done that we should be thus
+ beset?' The Europeans slept some distance from us, and, after they
+ had breakfasted, came on towards us in two boats. We remained on the
+ same spot without food. We were much alarmed. Early in the morning we
+ were on the look-out, and one of the scouts, who caught sight of them
+ coming round a point, called out, 'Here they come! here they come!'
+ Our women had kindled a fire and cooked a few potatoes that we had
+ remaining, and we were hastily eating them when they came in sight.
+ Cotterell called out, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha answered, 'Here I am,
+ come here to me.' They said again, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha again
+ saluted them. Cotterell then said, 'Where is a canoe for us to
+ cross?' Thompson, Wakefield, and some other gentlemen crossed over
+ with a constable to take me, but the greater number stopped on the
+ other side of the creek. Thompson said, 'Where is Rauparaha?' I
+ answered, 'Here.' He said, 'Come, you must come with me.' I replied,
+ 'What for?' He answered, 'To talk about the houses you have burnt
+ down.' I said, 'What house have I burned down? Was it a tent
+ belonging to you that you make so much ado about? You know it was
+ not; it was nothing but a hut of rushes. The materials were cut from
+ my own ground; therefore I will not go on board, neither will I be
+ bound. If you are angry about the land, let us talk it quietly over.
+ I care not if we talk till night and all day to-morrow; and when we
+ have finished, I will settle the question about the land!' Mr.
+ Thompson said, 'Will you not go?' I said 'No,' and Rangihaeata, who
+ had been called for, and who had been speaking, said so too. Mr.
+ Thompson then called for the handcuffs and held up the warrant,
+ saying, 'See, this is the Queen's book, this is the Queen to make a
+ tie, Rauparaha.' I said, 'I will not listen either to you or your
+ book.' He was in a great passion; his eyes rolled about and he
+ stamped his feet. I said I would rather be killed than submit to be
+ bound. He then called for the constable, who began opening the
+ handcuffs and advancing towards me. Mr. Thompson laid hold of my
+ hand. I pushed him away, saying, 'What are you doing that for?' Mr.
+ Thompson then called out 'Fire!' The Europeans began to cross over
+ the creek, and as they were crossing they fired one gun. The women
+ and children were sitting round the fire. We called out, 'We shall be
+ shot,' After this one gun, they fired a volley, and one of us was
+ killed, then another, and three were wounded. We were then closing
+ fast; the _pakehas_' guns were levelled at us. I and Puaha cried out,
+ 'Friends, stand up and shoot some of them in payment.' We were
+ frightened because some of them were very close to us. We then fired;
+ three of the Europeans fell. They fired again and killed Rongo, the
+ wife of Rangihaeata. We then bent all our energy to the fight, and
+ the Europeans began to fly. They all ran away, firing as they
+ retreated; the gentlemen ran too. We pursued them and killed them as
+ we overtook them. Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were brought to
+ me by the slaves, who caught them. Rangihaeata came running to me,
+ crying out, 'What are you doing, I say?' Upon which some heathen
+ slaves killed them at the instigation of Rangihaeata; neither Puaha
+ nor the Christian natives being then present. There was no time
+ elapsed between the fight and the slaughter of the prisoners. When
+ the prisoners were killed, the rest of the people were still engaged
+ in the pursuit, and before they returned they were all dead. I forgot
+ to say that during the pursuit, when we arrived at the top of the
+ hill, Mr. Cotterell held up a flag and said, 'That is enough, stop
+ fighting!' Mr. Thompson said to me, 'Rauparaha, spare my life.' I
+ answered, 'A little while ago, I wished to talk to you in a friendly
+ manner, and you would not; now you say, 'Save me,' I will not save
+ you. It is not our custom to save the chiefs of our enemies. We do
+ not consider our victory complete unless we kill the chiefs of our
+ opponents. Our passions were much roused, and we could not help
+ killing the chiefs."
+
+At the conclusion of Rauparaha's address, Captain Fitzroy desired time
+to reflect upon what he had just heard, and, at the expiration of
+half-an-hour, he announced his decision as follows:--
+
+ "Now I have heard both sides, I have reflected on both accounts, and
+ I am prepared to give my judgment. In the first place, the English
+ were wrong; they had no right to build houses upon lands to which
+ they had not established their claim--upon land the sale of which you
+ disputed; on which Mr. Spain had not decided. They were wrong in
+ trying to apprehend you, who had committed no crime. They were wrong
+ in marking and measuring your land in opposition to your repeated
+ refusal to allow them to do so until the Commissioner had decided on
+ their claim. Had you been Englishmen, you would have known that it
+ was wrong to resist a magistrate under any circumstances, but not
+ understanding English law, the case is different. Had this been all,
+ had a struggle caused loss of life in the fight--wrong and bad as it
+ would have been to fight in the sight of God--I could not have blamed
+ you so much as the English. The very bad part of the Wairau
+ affair--that part where you were very wrong--was the killing of the
+ men who had surrendered, who trusted to your honour as chiefs.
+ Englishmen never kill prisoners; Englishmen never kill men who have
+ surrendered. It is the shocking death of these unfortunate men that
+ has filled my mind with gloom, that has made my heart so dark, that
+ has filled me with sorrow; but I know how difficult it is to restrain
+ angry men when their passions are aroused. I know you repent of your
+ conduct, and are now sorry that those men were killed. As the English
+ were very greatly to blame, as they brought on and began the fight,
+ and as you were hurried into crime by their misconduct, I will not
+ avenge their death."[172]
+
+In arriving at this determination, Captain Fitzroy may have been
+actuated to some extent by considerations of expediency; for, had he
+decided in any other way, the reprisals of the English would
+undoubtedly have created a war with the natives, which the Government
+was not in a position at that juncture to carry to a successful issue.
+Therefore, to have provoked hostilities with Rauparaha would have
+meant the obliteration of all the settlements before the necessary
+reinforcements could have arrived. At the same time, there was a large
+measure of justice in the course he chose to adopt, which, in the
+calmer judgment of to-day, must receive the endorsement of all
+impartial men, as it did that of Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, immediately the Governor's decision was known to the
+Home authorities. In his despatches on the subject, Lord Stanley made
+it clear that, in his opinion, Mr. Thompson and Captain Wakefield had
+needlessly violated the rules of English law, the maxims of prudence,
+and the principles of justice; and having thus provoked an indefensible
+quarrel with a barbarous tribe, they could not reasonably complain at
+the barbarities practised in the subsequent conflict. He was therefore
+satisfied that, in declining to make the Wairau massacre a subject for
+criminal proceedings, the Governor had taken a wise, though
+undoubtedly bold, decision. As might have been expected, the action of
+Captain Fitzroy in refusing to arrest the two chiefs created a tempest
+of ill-will against him amongst the settlers, but, on the other hand,
+the Maoris were overjoyed at the prospect of once more possessing the
+friendship of the _pakeha_, and instantly resumed a sociable
+demeanour towards the colonists. This feeling, upon the advent of
+Captain Grey as Governor, was gradually reciprocated by the Europeans,
+who in time came to recognise the folly of their fears, and the
+absurdity of their hostile attitude. In this way, the startling nature
+of the catastrophe, which had paralysed the efforts of the New Zealand
+Company and thrown a pall over the settlement of the whole Colony,
+began to lose its deadly effect, and the splendid scheme of setting a
+new gem in the British Crown was rescued from the disaster which
+threatened it.
+
+[154] On the 13th June, Captain Wakefield wrote to his brother from
+Nelson: "The magistrates have granted a warrant, and Thompson,
+accompanied by myself, England, and a lot of the constables, are off
+immediately in the Government brig to execute it. We shall muster
+about sixty, so I think we will overcome these travelling bullies."
+
+[155] As told to the author by the late Mr. Barnicoat.
+
+[156] Saturday, June 17, 1843.
+
+[157] John Brooks had been engaged as a sawyer at Cloudy Bay. He was
+thoroughly acquainted with the native language and habits, having been
+eight years resident amongst the Waikato tribes.
+
+[158] Rawiri Kingi Puaha was born at Kawhia, and belonged to one of
+the best of the Ngati-Toa families. He migrated southward with Te
+Rauparaha, and was married to one of Te Pehi's daughters. He died at
+his own village, Takapuahia, Porirua Harbour, on September 6, 1858. He
+was a man widely respected by the colonists, and to the day of his
+death he "maintained a high character as a consistent and
+conscientious Christian."
+
+[159] "The conduct of Mr. Thompson has been unquestionably the means
+of bringing about the fatal conflict in which he himself lost his
+life. There is only one way of accounting for the part he has acted in
+that affair; as far as he is concerned, no more blame can be attached
+to him than to any other lunatic, for such he was to all intents and
+purposes, and such he was well known to be, even to Mr. Shortland"
+(_Martin's Letters_).
+
+[160] Te Rongo was not the _daughter_ of Te Rauparaha, as that
+word is generally understood by Europeans, but a much more distant
+relative. She was the widow of Te Whaiti, a nephew of Rauparaha and a
+first cousin of Rangihaeata, who married her because she was the widow
+of his near relative. The story that she was shot while standing in
+front of Rangihaeata to protect him is pure romance. She was killed by
+a stray bullet while hiding in the swamp at the rear of the Maori
+camp.
+
+[161] "Yesterday we passed (near Maraekowhai) the grave of Te Oru, the
+chief who killed Captain Wakefield at the Wairau" (_Crawford's
+"Travels in New Zealand"_).
+
+[162] This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A
+degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman,
+Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The
+natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev.
+Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried
+according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the
+crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being
+mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him
+do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was
+a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever
+after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in
+not punishing him.
+
+[163] Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in
+1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the
+shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven
+hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was
+stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to
+massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and
+Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."
+
+[164] On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr.
+McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the
+Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of
+Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to
+communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their
+determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take
+vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the
+whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will
+inquire into it and decide according to law."
+
+[165] Now known as Whanganui.
+
+[166] Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this
+journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in
+revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki
+natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon
+Wellington."
+
+[167] "Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many
+friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor,
+among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe
+for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha
+turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[168] Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen,
+but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he
+was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently
+vindictive towards those from whom he differed.
+
+[169] "Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting
+jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so
+that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better
+understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake'
+(Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land,
+and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he
+did not get plenty of _utu_" (_Wakefield_).
+
+[170] These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the
+native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that
+the settlers meditated an attack upon them.
+
+[171] The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the
+massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and
+there was no vessel of war on the station (_Mundy_).
+
+[172] This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke
+to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim
+the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood--a course which
+the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own
+customs--British prestige and power are said to have suffered
+considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have
+remarked, "_He paukena te pakeha_" (The Governor is soft, he is a
+pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa
+and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the
+payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends
+killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE CAPTIVE CHIEF
+
+
+The decision of which Governor Fitzroy had delivered himself, as the
+result of his hurried investigation into the circumstances attending
+the tragedy at the Wairau, brought him into bitter conflict with the
+more influential colonists, and added to his native troubles a
+European difficulty, which ultimately played no small part in his
+official undoing. Fitzroy had, with a patriotism worthy of the best
+traditions of our race, sacrificed place and high prospects in the
+homeland to assume the Governorship of New Zealand, a post which was
+afterwards described by Lord Stanley as "a laborious, responsible, and
+ill-remunerated office in a distant colony." Without money, or the
+means of obtaining it, to carry on his civil administration, and
+destitute of military support wherewith to assert his authority, he
+found himself defied by the natives and thwarted by the Europeans. His
+appeals for soldiers were unheeded, and his schemes for supplementing
+his revenue were disallowed by the Home authorities, who, instead of
+repairing their policy of parsimony, recalled the Governor. Thus was
+cut short a career upon which Robert Fitzroy had entered with only the
+highest motives, throughout which he had acted with the utmost
+devotion, and in which he had failed only because with his limited
+opportunities it was humanly impossible to succeed. His successor in
+the arduous task of soothing the dual discontent was Captain Grey,
+late of the 83rd Regiment, who was then serving the Crown with
+conspicuous distinction as Governor of South Australia. His success
+in dealing with native difficulties there, his achievements as an
+explorer, added to his valuable personal qualities, were his chief
+recommendations for the new responsibilities which it was proposed to
+ask him to assume. That the judgment of those responsible for the
+selection was sound, history has proved; but the administrations of
+Fitzroy and Grey cannot fairly be compared, for the reason that, while
+the former was expected to rule a turbulent population without either
+men or money, the latter was freely supplied with both. The new
+Governor was further invested with the additional prestige derivable
+from the title of Governor-in-Chief, and from the fact that he was
+supported by a Lieutenant-Governor, who, in his subordinate authority,
+was stationed in the Southern province. Captain Grey assumed the
+duties of his new office on November 18, 1845. His first recorded
+contact with Te Rauparaha was on the occasion of his receiving from
+him and other chiefs a memorial, in which they expressed their anxiety
+to know his political intentions, and begged him to give them someone
+skilled in both native and European laws, who would advise them how
+best to avoid conflict with the _pakeha_. They were, they said,
+deeply anxious to obey the laws of the Queen, and just as they had
+teachers amongst them to lead them to a proper understanding regarding
+the will of God, so, in order to avoid misunderstanding, they desired
+some one to act as their guide and friend in the matter of the
+temporal law. Grey was more than gratified with this evidence of
+loyalty and desire for harmony, and, in his reply, endeavoured to make
+it clear that it was his duty so to direct his authority as to secure
+the peace and happiness of all under his jurisdiction. "Maoris and
+Europeans," wrote the Governor, "shall be equally protected and live
+under equal laws, both of them alike subjects of the Queen and
+entitled to her favour and care. The Maoris shall be protected in all
+their property and possessions, and no one shall be allowed to take
+anything from them or to injure them; nor will I allow Maoris to
+injure one another. An end must be put to deeds of blood and
+violence." This clear and explicit declaration of his determination to
+permit of only one law for the _pakeha_ and Maori, and to hold the
+racial balance justly before the eyes of the world, touched a
+responsive chord in the heart of the Maori nation; and Te Rauparaha
+was but expressing the general sentiments of the people when he wrote
+in reply to the Governor's message: "We have heard your words, which
+are like the light of day to us; our hearts are glad. Friend, now will
+I hold fast your words for good, and for living in quiet, both of
+natives and Europeans. Your protecting word has come forth for one and
+for the other; your kind words are a light to us. Now, for the first
+time, I can say the light has dawned for the Maoris, and now no
+wrong-doing shall spring from me. I mean the errors of the natives. If
+you cannot come hither, will you write to me?" Not less reassuring was
+the word of Wi Kingi Rangitake, of Ngati-Awa.
+
+With these pronouncements of loyalty from the two most powerful chiefs
+on the west coast, Grey felt more than equal to the task of subduing
+the malcontent natives under Taringa-kuri, chief of the Kaiwara
+_pa_, whose depredations in the Hutt Valley had been causing the
+greatest anxiety to the Wellington settlers. Both Te Rauparaha and
+Rangihaeata had laid claim to part payment for the land which the New
+Zealand Company had purchased in this valley, their claim being based
+upon the alleged conquest of the country. This conquest Mr. Spain held
+to be incomplete, inasmuch as they had not resided on the land, which
+was really occupied by Ngati-Awa. He therefore disallowed their claim,
+although Mr. Clarke, junr., was anxious to pay out of the L1,500
+awarded to the natives a sum of L400 in liquidation of their rights,
+he having come to some such arrangement with Rauparaha at an interview
+which took place at Waikanae in the presence of the Governor. Hearing
+of Mr. Spain's objection, Rauparaha, on February 3, 1844, penned a
+letter to him, Mr. Clarke, and the Governor, in which he warned them
+against paying the purchase-money for Port Nicholson over to "wrong
+parties," and listening to "strange men," at the same time urging them
+to make haste and come to Otaki for the purpose of explaining their
+intentions to Rangihaeata and himself.
+
+ "FRIEND MR. CLARKE, MR. SPAIN, AND THE GOVERNOR,--This
+ letter is from me and Rangihaeata, respecting your foolish work in
+ paying for the land. This was the cause of you and us going wrong
+ at the Wairau, the foolish paying to wrong parties. Do not listen to
+ strange men, but make haste and make known to us your intentions,
+ that the truth of what you have said may be seen. Friend Clarke,
+ make haste. Desist from listening to any man. Son Clarke and
+ Mr. Spain, desist also from carrying your payment to men who have
+ nothing to do with it, but bring it straight to us--myself and
+ Rangihaeata. This is all my speech to you by us.
+
+"RAUPARAHA.
+"RANGIHAEATA."
+
+To this Mr. Clarke replied on the 29th, assuring Rauparaha that
+anything that he had promised him in the matter of payment would be
+carried out. Simultaneously, Mr. Spain arranged to hold a court at
+Porirua, in order to comply as speedily as possible with Te
+Rauparaha's request. This court, which was opened on 8th March, was
+attended by most of the leading chiefs and upwards of two hundred
+natives. After the preliminary addresses had been disposed of, Mr.
+Spain formally opened the court by saying, "Rauparaha, I received your
+letter asking me to settle the Port Nicholson purchase, and after
+inquiry I have decided that the natives who owned the land are
+entitled to more money, and I therefore offer you new terms." To this
+Te Rauparaha answered, "My wish was to settle my claims at Port
+Nicholson, but you want me to give up the Hutt." "Did you not consent
+to receive L300 for Port Nicholson and the Hutt?" inquired Mr. Spain
+in an injured tone; to which Te Rauparaha replied that he had not
+regarded the bargain in that light. Efforts were made to convince him
+that he had signed a deed in which the Hutt was included, but he
+insisted that the boundary was not to go beyond a creek known as
+Rotokakahi. "I am aware of the cause of this objection," said Mr.
+Spain. "That man sitting by your side, Taringa-kuri, is cultivating
+land at the Hutt to which he has no right." Te Rauparaha's answer was
+that the land belonged to Taringa-kuri, as he was the oldest man of
+the resident natives; whereupon Mr. Spain rose to depart, and as he
+did so he turned, and, more in sorrow than in anger, upbraided Te
+Rauparaha for thus breaking faith with him in so flagrant a manner.
+
+The court then adjourned without either party having been able to
+convince the other. But Te Rauparaha did not permit the grass to grow
+under his feet, for he at once despatched Taringa-kuri to cut a line
+through the scrub and bush dividing the Upper from the Lower Hutt
+Valley, in order to define clearly what territory he considered
+belonged to the _pakeha_ and what to the Maori. On hearing that
+this work was in progress, Mr. Spain felt it incumbent upon him to go
+out and warn Taringa-kuri that he was committing an illegal act, and
+that the boundary he was attempting to create would not be recognised
+by the Government. Mr. Spain's reception was not an encouraging one.
+"If you have come to make remarks about our cutting this line, you may
+as well return, as we will listen to nothing you have got to say, nor
+will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen,"
+was the truculent declaration of the first native whom he met.
+Taringa-kuri was not less uncompromising. "I am cutting a line to
+divide the lands of the settlers from our own, and I am doing it under
+Te Rauparaha's orders," was his emphatic reply to Mr. Spain's demand
+for information as to why this work was proceeding. And in answer to
+the Commissioner's protest that the line being cut was not the line
+agreed upon, the chief, with a fine show of indignation, accused him
+of hostile intentions. "It is plain," he said, "you are not peaceably
+disposed; you heard at Porirua that Rauparaha would not agree to your
+boundaries, and you appear determined to insist upon them. You had
+better return to the land of your birth."
+
+Immediately upon his return to Wellington, Mr. Spain despatched a
+letter to Rauparaha again severely censuring him for committing a
+breach of faith in sending Taringa-kuri to cut the line contrary to
+his (Mr. Spain's) decision, and concluding by saying, "Let me tell you
+that after all that has occurred, Kuri is acting contrary to the laws
+of the Governor, and, if he persists in his illegal acts, he will be
+punished by the law accordingly." This letter Mr. Spain first showed
+to Mr. Hadfield, who approved its contents, and translated it into the
+native tongue for him, Mr. Spain thinking that this course would
+enhance its value in the native estimation. On the 27th Rauparaha
+replied that it was not he who was withholding the land, but
+Rangihaeata, who had negatived his voice in the councils of the tribe.
+But he still reiterated his former contention that he had never agreed
+to sell the Hutt.
+
+The remonstrances on the part of Mr. Spain having proved fruitless,
+the Governor first pacified Heke[173] and Kawiti in the north, and
+then came south in February, 1846, with all the prestige of a
+successful "fighting Governor," to direct his operations against the
+truculent Taringa-kuri. In an interview, the Governor peremptorily
+demanded the evacuation of the valley. The chief pleaded for time to
+reap and remove the standing crops; but the Governor, strong in the
+knowledge that he had right on his side, and an ample force to sustain
+his demand, refused to consider any compromise, and gave the chief no
+alternative between immediate compliance and a declaration of war. The
+natives hesitated to test the question by an appeal to arms, and
+sullenly withdrew from the disputed territory, but not from the valley
+itself. They fell back upon a _pa_ up in the ranges, which the
+Governor afterwards described as "the strongest position he had seen
+in any part of the world." From this mountain fastness they made
+sudden and destructive raids upon the peaceful settlements in the vale
+below. Two hundred soldiers were left to render the settlers what
+measure of protection they could, by defensive tactics. Their
+instructions were not to attack the rebels in their stronghold, but,
+by vigilantly preventing them from securing supplies, to endeavour by
+starvation to render its continued occupation impossible. This policy
+had early the anticipated effect, and, acting on Te Rauparaha's
+assurance that the rebels had abandoned the _pa_, the Governor visited
+the spot, and has thus described what he saw:--
+
+ "The forest which had been held by the enemy was traversed by a
+ single narrow path, almost impassable for armed Europeans. This path
+ ascended a narrow ridge of rocks, having a precipice on each side
+ covered with jungle. The ridge of rocks was so narrow that only one
+ person could pass along it at a time, and it led to a hill with a
+ broad summit, upon which a fortress had been constructed in such a
+ manner as completely to command the path, which was rendered more
+ difficult by an abattis placed across it. The rear of this position
+ was quite as inaccessible as the front, and on each flank was a
+ precipice; from the number of huts placed upon it, it must have been
+ occupied by from three hundred to four hundred men."
+
+No sooner was this position abandoned than another, almost equally
+impregnable, was taken up, and from this lair in the depth of the
+hills a band of marauders crept down through the forest early in April
+of 1846, stole past the troops, and late in the afternoon murdered a
+settler named Gillespie and his son, while they were engaged threshing
+wheat. There were soldiers in the vicinity at the time, but they were
+more intent upon getting grog from Burcham's public-house than upon
+protecting the settlers; and so stealthily was the attack carried out,
+that no one knew of the tragedy until Charles Gillespie, returning
+home in the dusk, found his father and brother in the throes of death.
+Te Rauparaha disclaimed, and probably with truth, all knowledge of or
+participation in this treacherous act, and even offered his assistance
+in bringing the murderers to justice. Rangihaeata was not so frank--or
+it may be that he was even more frank--for he instantly betook himself
+to the hills, and openly declared himself in sympathy with those who
+were thus contesting the question of the supremacy of the races. He
+refused to give the murderers up to the authorities, and busied
+himself with preparations for continuing the contest. Nor had the
+military long to wait for his onset. The most advanced British post in
+the valley was known as Boulcott's Farm, commanded by Lieutenant Page,
+who had a force of fifty men with him. Here, just before dawn, on May
+16, 1846, the sentry, as he kept his lonely vigil, was startled by
+seeing some dark body creeping through the grass towards him. Without
+waiting to challenge, he fired, and in an instant the air was rent
+with the savage yells of a horde of warriors, who, under Mamaku, had
+left Rangihaeata's _pa_ at Pahautanui on the previous day, and,
+scaling the mountain range, had fallen upon the sleeping camp. The
+sentry and the picket were soon overpowered and killed, but not before
+the alarm had been given by Allen, the bugle-boy attached to the
+company. Roused from sleep by the commotion, he seized his bugle, and
+was in the act of sounding the call to arms, when a blow from a
+tomahawk struck the instrument from his hand. He still had time to
+recover it, and blow a blast which awakened his sleeping comrades,
+before he was laid low by a second stroke of the murderous axe. A
+galling fire was at once opened upon the outpost from the surrounding
+bush by the secreted natives, and Lieutenant Page and two men, who
+were with him in one of the out-buildings, hurried off to join their
+comrades who had been sleeping in the stockade. Intercepted by a swift
+rush on the part of a band of natives, they were only rescued from
+their perilous position by a determined effort on the part of the
+sergeant, who rallied some of the men and went to his commander's
+relief. Three men went down with wounds, and the remaining six fought
+the savages hand to hand, checking their onslaught until the wounded
+were got safely away and the remainder were able to retreat to the
+barn. Here the available force was assembled, and, leaving a
+sufficient garrison to defend the position, Lieutenant Page[174] and
+his men sallied out in extended order, firing as they went. Under this
+pressure the attack soon slackened, and, on the arrival of
+reinforcements, was turned into retreat, but not before six men had
+been killed and four wounded. During the following month there was
+another skirmish in the valley, which did not redound greatly to the
+credit of the British arms.
+
+These repeated raids convinced the Governor that he must lance the
+lairs which were harbouring these human wolves, who represented all
+that was worst in the native race. He had been desirous of deferring
+field operations against these malcontents until the winter was over;
+but, realising that every successful attack only encouraged the enemy
+to further excesses, and diminished the enthusiasm of the loyal
+natives, he now determined upon an immediate and active campaign. The
+policy of road-making, which had been initiated some months before,
+was vigorously prosecuted, the friendly natives, as well as the
+soldiers, being employed in the work. The deep paths which were thus
+cut through the luxuriant beauty of the wilderness to Porirua and into
+the heart of the Hutt Valley robbed the forest of much of its terror,
+and were masterly counter-strokes to the secret tactics of
+Rangihaeata's followers. That chief's reply to the Governor's policy
+was to build a _pa_ at Pahautanui, so skilfully situated and so
+strongly fortified that he openly boasted that nothing but British
+artillery could drive him from it. But he did more than this. A
+_tapu_ placed on the Porirua track for a time disturbed and
+paralysed our native allies; but the inconvenience was only
+temporary, and the Governor succeeded in gradually breaking down the
+chief's authority.
+
+An important military post was established at Porirua, garrisoned by
+three hundred men, and the services of the friendly natives were
+enlisted in the contemplated movement against the forces of
+Rangihaeata. His _pa_ was reconnoitred on the night of July 8th
+by Lieutenant the Hon. Charles Yelverton, of the Royal Artillery, and
+Mr. McKillop, then a midshipman on board H.M.S. _Calliope_, and
+the conclusion at which they arrived was that the artillery might
+easily be brought forward against the _pa_, and that in all other
+respects its investment was feasible, so soon as the Governor had a
+sufficient force at his disposal for the purpose. But there was one
+other factor to be taken into account. What would Te Rauparaha's
+attitude be if Rangihaeata were attacked? In his _pa_ at Taupo,
+on the shores of Porirua Harbour, he occupied a strong strategical
+position; and, though he had consistently professed his friendship for
+the Governor and his loyalty to the Queen, he was supremely
+distrusted, both by the authorities and by our native allies. As early
+as June of 1846, Major Last had reported to the Governor, from
+Wellington, that he was "a little suspicious of Te Rauparaha";[175]
+but the insinuation of disloyalty coming to the chief's ears, he
+challenged the Major's suspicions by offering to come to Wellington to
+prove the contrary. In view of the intensely hostile feeling
+prevailing amongst the European population against the chief, Major
+Last deemed the proposed visit to be ill-timed and impolitic, and
+declined to encourage Rauparaha in his intention. But the bold and
+fearless proposal must have shaken the officer's confidence in the
+grounds for his aspersion. The position of the chief at this time was
+a most unenviable one, for there is evidence that the Governor had
+begun to share the doubts of Major Last. It must not be forgotten,
+however, that the seeds of suspicion may have been assiduously sown in
+his mind by Rauparaha's tribal enemies, who would have exulted in
+embroiling him in a dispute with the local authorities. Even his
+friends who were with Rangihaeata in the field, either to further
+their own schemes or out of resentment at his passive attitude, sought
+to draw him into the vortex of the struggle. The _mana_ of the chief
+was still great, and Rangihaeata and Mamaku endeavoured to conjure
+with his name and claim his sanction for a letter to some tribal
+comrades containing an appeal for assistance.
+
+The native carrying this letter was captured, and the intercepted
+document placed in the hands of the Governor, who immediately sailed
+for Porirua in H.M.S. _Driver_. On board the vessel he was
+visited by Te Rauparaha, and, during the interview, the incriminating
+message was produced and handed to the chief, who instantly denounced
+its contents as falsehoods and its writer as his enemy. "I watched him
+narrowly at the time," says Grey, "and his manner was such as to lead
+me to think that he really had no knowledge that such a letter had
+been written." Though thus frankly confessing that the letter was an
+injustice to the chief, the Governor, either from some innate mistrust
+of his visitor or a too ready disposition to listen to the sinister
+suggestions made against him, resolved that he would take no risks as
+to the future conduct of the man whom he believed he had to checkmate.
+He therefore determined that, before moving against Rangihaeata, he
+would forestall any possibility of an attack upon his lines of
+communication by capturing Te Rauparaha and holding him hostage for
+the good behaviour of his tribe. Without indicating by sign or word to
+the chief that the friendship between them was at an end, and without
+permitting him even to suspect the existence of any doubts as to his
+loyalty, the Governor took his farewell of Te Rauparaha, and on the
+afternoon of July 22 left Porirua. For the purpose of allaying
+suspicion, the _Driver_, in which he sailed, ostentatiously steamed to
+the north; but during the night she returned and stealthily anchored
+at the entrance of the harbour. Boats were lowered, and a company of a
+hundred and thirty men, under Major Last, Captain Stanley, of H.M.S.
+_Calliope_, and Lieutenant McKillop,[176] landed, and silently
+surrounded the stockade of the Taupo _pa_, in which the chief and his
+people were sleeping. The arrangements of the capturing party were so
+admirably made that no suspicion of what was moving around them was
+allowed to reach the natives until the stormers rushed into
+Rauparaha's _whare_, and, seizing the chief in his bed, carried him,
+in spite of his struggles and protestations, down to the boat side.
+Lieutenant McKillop, who personally accomplished the seizure of the
+chief, has left on record the following account of the exciting
+incident:--
+
+ [Illustration: TE RANGIHAEATA.
+ After a drawing by C. D. Barraud. Esq.]
+
+ "I was sent for soon after we arrived, and had an interview with the
+ Governor, who informed me of Rauparaha's treachery, and his wish to
+ have him and three others taken prisoners, if possible by surprise;
+ and knowing that I was acquainted with their persons and locality, he
+ asked me if I would undertake the capture of the 'Old Serpent'
+ myself, allowing me to choose my own time and method of doing it,
+ Major Durie, the Inspector of Police, being selected to take the
+ others. Accordingly it was arranged that we were to leave the ship
+ before daylight the next morning and land quietly on the rocks some
+ little distance from the _pa_ in which our treacherous allies
+ lived, taking a mixed force of bluejackets and soldiers, amounting to
+ two hundred men, to support us in the case of the natives rising
+ before we had effected our object. It was the Governor's particular
+ desire that we should not lay our hands on these men until we had
+ told them they were prisoners for treason, but on no account to let
+ old Rauparaha escape. I took Mr. Dighton with me to act as
+ interpreter, and four of our men unarmed, giving them instructions to
+ seize upon the old chief as soon as he was made aware of the charge
+ preferred against him, and to hurry him down to the boat before he
+ could rouse his people, the principal object being to secure him. We
+ landed at break of day, and while they were forming the troops on the
+ beach, I with my small party ran on, as it was then light, fearing
+ that conscious guilt might sharpen their ears and frustrate our
+ plans. When we reached the _pa_ not a soul was stirring, but our
+ heavy footsteps soon brought some of the sleepers to the doors of
+ their huts, knowing we were not of the barefooted tribe. We could not
+ wait to give any explanation, but pushed on to the hut which
+ contained the object of our search, whose quick ears had detected
+ strange footsteps. Never having liked me, he did not look at all easy
+ on perceiving who the intruder was, although his wife showed no alarm
+ and received me with her usual salutation. Upon informing him that he
+ was my prisoner, he immediately threw himself (being in a sitting
+ posture) back into the hut, and seized a tomahawk, with which he made
+ a blow at his wife's head, thinking she had betrayed him. I warded
+ the blow with my pistol and seized him by the throat, my four men
+ immediately rushing in on him, and, securing him by his arms and
+ legs, started off as fast as his violent struggles would allow of,
+ which for a man of his age (upwards of seventy) were almost
+ superhuman. He roared out lustily 'Ngati-Toa! Ngati-Toa!'
+ endeavouring to bring his tribesmen to his rescue, and in a few
+ seconds every man was on his legs and came rushing over to see what
+ was the matter with their chief; but the troops and bluejackets
+ coming up at the same time and surrounding the _pa_ prevented
+ any attempt at a rescue, as he was already in the boat. His last
+ effort to free himself was fastening with his teeth on to my
+ coxswain's shoulder, who bore this piece of cannibalism unflinchingly.
+ I sent Mr. Dighton off to the ship with him, there being not much
+ chance of his escaping from the boat, particularly as he was informed
+ that he would be shot if he attempted to escape. I then returned to
+ the _pa_ to search for arms and ammunition, and also to see if
+ the other prisoners had been secured. The interior of the _pa_
+ presented a woeful spectacle, the women all howling in chorus with
+ the pigs and the children, the two latter being much knocked about in
+ the search for arms."
+
+In the melee which ensued upon the capture of Te Rauparaha, four other
+natives were also seized by Major Durie, and in the same arbitrary
+manner were carried off to the ship.[177] Two of these were the
+influential chiefs, Te Kanae (the _ariki_ of the Ngati-Toa tribe) and
+Hohepa, and two were men of inferior rank. By some writers who have
+been at no pains to conceal their hostility to Te Rauparaha, it is
+alleged that upon his arrival on board the _Driver_ he manifested the
+most craven spirit, until he was assured that it was not the
+Governor's intention to hang him from the yard-arm. But, whatever be
+the truth of this assertion, he at least retained sufficient dignity
+and self-respect as a chief to strenuously object to the additional
+humiliation of being imprisoned in company with men of no standing in
+the tribe; and, in deference to his injured pride and his vehement
+expostulations, Pohe and his companion were sent ashore and released
+from their brief captivity.
+
+Naturally, the little settlement at Taupo was thrown into a state of
+intense excitement. The seizure of their chief was so sudden, so
+unexpected, that its reality could not for the moment be grasped; but
+when its full significance broke in upon the astonished tribe, the
+startling tidings was immediately despatched to Te Rangihaeata, who
+was still sitting in defiance in his stronghold at Pahautanui. He at
+once made for the coast, but was too late. The Governor had several
+hours' start of him, and he was compelled to make a wide detour to
+avoid the British post at Porirua. He arrived on the wooded hill-side
+above Te Rauparaha's _pa_ only in time to see the war-ship with
+her captives steaming down the coast.[178] Enraged and disappointed at
+what he must have regarded as the perfidy of the _pakeha_, and
+disheartened at his own impotency, he gloomily retired to his lair,
+there to sing[179] that beautiful lament, in which he mournfully
+acknowledges the increasing ascendancy of the stranger, and chides the
+waning loyalty of his own people.
+
+             "My brave canoe!
+    In lordly decoration lordliest far,
+              My proud canoe!
+          Amid the fleet that fleetest flew--
+    How wert thou shattered by the surge of war!
+          'Tis but the fragments of thy wreck,
+          O my renowned canoe,
+    That lie all crushed on yonder war-ship's deck!
+          Raha! my chief, my friend!
+          Thy lonely journey wend:
+  Stand with thy wrongs before our god of battle's face:
+          Bid him thy foes requite!--
+  Ah me! Te Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace--
+          Ah me! the English ruler's might!
+
+          Raha! my chief of chiefs!
+          Ascend with all thy griefs
+  Up to their Lord of Peace--there stand before His face--
+          Let Him thy faith requite!--
+  Ah me! Te Toa's sad defection and disgrace--
+          Ah me! the English ruler's might!
+
+          One counsel from the first I gave,
+          'Break up thy forces, comrade brave,
+          Scatter them all about the land
+      In many a predatory band!'--
+          But Porirua's forest dense,
+          Ah, thou wouldst never stir from thence,
+          'There,' saidst thou, 'lies my best defence,'--
+          Now, now, of such design ill-starred,
+      How grievously thou reap'st the full reward!
+
+         Hence, vain lamenting--hence, away!
+         Hence, all the brood of sorrow born!
+         There will be time enough to mourn
+      In the long days of summer, ere the food
+      Is cropped, abundant for the work of blood.
+      Now I must marshal in compact array,
+  Great thoughts that crowding come of an avenging day!"[180]
+
+The seizure of Te Rauparaha, at such a time and in such a manner, is
+one of the many debatable points in the history of this period, and,
+notwithstanding that many pages have been written upon the incident,
+the ethics of the act are apparently as far from final determination
+as ever. To the present writer its justification lies in its success.
+There is no doubt that, however high-handed and arbitrary, it was a
+tactical stroke which compelled waverers to pause, and paralysed those
+who were already in active hostility. On the other hand, it might just
+as easily have roused the whole Maori race into a frenzy of injured
+pride, and plunged the country into the vortex of a retaliatory war.
+Only one thing saved New Zealand from this calamity, and that was the
+tribal dissensions. Had the Maori been a united people, this
+unprovoked indignity put upon one of their greatest men must have
+excited their bitterest passions against the perpetrators of the deed;
+and one almost shudders to realise in what a hair-balance the fate of
+the little Colony trembled at this moment of her history. In
+criticising the Governor's policy, however, it must be borne in mind
+that he, with his knowledge of Maori conditions, may have counted upon
+these very intertribal hatreds to prevent anything in the nature of a
+general rising. This being assumed, his action is shorn of some of its
+rashness and impolicy, and he becomes entitled to credit for the
+success of his methods of overawing the turbulent spirit of the
+malcontent Maoris. On no other ground than that the end justifies the
+means can the seizure of Te Rauparaha be defended, nor, so far as the
+writer is aware, has any other defence ever been seriously attempted.
+The most that can be urged against the chief is that, unlike Te Kingi
+Rangitake, he did not join the allies and enter upon active
+hostilities against the so-called rebels. Of the fact that he secretly
+aided them there is little evidence and no proof. What evidence there
+may be is confined to the intercepted letters, admitted by the
+Governor himself to be forgeries, and to the unsupported statements of
+natives, some jealous of his power, and others aggrieved at his
+previous treatment of them. In this respect Te Rauparaha must have
+felt that, having sown the wind, he was now reaping the whirlwind; for
+those natives who had gone down under his hand in war, or had been
+outwitted by his diplomacy, were only too anxious to represent him in
+an unfavourable light to the Governor, and were never tired of
+insinuating, and even broadly asserting, that his spirit was behind
+the rebellion, even though his hand might be invisible.
+
+In communicating with Mr. Gladstone on July 23, 1846, Grey described
+his military operations, which were designed to check a company of
+some two hundred rebels who, he had reason to believe, were marching
+from Whanganui to join Te Rangihaeata. He landed at Waikanae, Otaki,
+and Ohau, where he had a conference with the friendly chiefs. He
+proceeded to say: "The whole of the chiefs with whom I had interviews
+declared that these disturbances were to be entirely attributed to the
+intrigues of Te Rauparaha." How much his mind was influenced by the
+opinions of the chiefs may be judged by the fact that on the following
+day he launched his successful stroke, but how little he had weighed
+the value of their testimony may also be inferred from the
+circumstance that a year later he wrote a despatch to Mr. Gladstone's
+successor at the Colonial Office, in which he was forced to admit that
+after retaining Te Rauparaha in captivity for ten months his
+difficulties in deciding how to dispose of him were enhanced by the
+fact that all his "efforts made to secure the evidence of Pohi[181]
+failed, consequently it was not possible to prove Te Rauparaha's guilt
+in a court of law."
+
+It is strange, if so many chiefs knew that the brain of Te Rauparaha
+was forging the balls which Rangihaeata was firing, that none were
+able to testify to the fact in an established court of law, and,
+travesty upon British justice though it may seem, it is nevertheless a
+fact that the man who had relied upon the Treaty of Waitangi to
+secure him his rights and liberties was detained a prisoner without
+formal charge and without the chance of a trial until it was thought
+possible to prove his guilt. How far Te Rauparaha's seizure and
+continued detention were a palliation to the wounded feelings of the
+European settlers it is difficult to pronounce, but it is not in the
+least unlikely that the Governor paid some regard to the popular
+effect of the step, even if he totally ignored its judicial aspect. In
+all probability Te Rauparaha was at this time the best-hated man in
+New Zealand. The memory of the massacre at the Wairau had not yet died
+out, and there were many who, misunderstanding that fatal event, could
+not look upon the chief whose name had been so tragically associated
+with it in any other light than as a social and moral outcast. To this
+not inconsiderable section of the community imprisonment was much too
+good for Te Rauparaha, but it was preferable to the negative attitude
+of Governor Fitzroy, and Grey, no doubt, counted upon standing well
+with these extremists by the initiation of a policy in which there was
+a touch of retribution, however barren it might be of justice.
+
+With the European population, then, the kidnapping of the Ngati-Toa
+leader was, on the whole, a popular move, and with a number of the
+natives it was hailed as an act of retribution, long delayed, but
+nevertheless a judgment at last. Upon his own people the effect was
+different. They were stunned by the swiftness of the blow and
+confounded by its audacity. Here in a twinkling the very eye had been
+plucked out of their head, the heart torn from their body, and that,
+too, at a time when they had no quarrel with the Government, and by a
+man whom they had been wont to regard as their friend. Their first
+impulse was to fly to arms. To attack Wellington, to sweep the
+_pakeha_ into the sea, to avenge the wrongs of Te Rauparaha, was
+the cry. Te Rangihaeata called his own followers about him and sent
+out his appeals to the northern tribes: "Friends and children, come
+and revenge the injuries of Te Rauparaha, because Te Rauparaha is the
+eye of the faith of all men. Make haste hither in the days of
+December." But his design for the extermination of the Europeans was
+doomed to be frustrated. His own particular faithfuls were few in
+number, and the one great chief, Te Heuheu, to whom he might have
+looked for encouragement in such an emergency, was dead, buried
+beneath a huge landslide which had overwhelmed his village on the
+shores of Lake Taupo. Of others with whom he had been accustomed to
+co-operate in the days gone by, some were espousing the cause of the
+enemy, and some, having embraced the Christian faith, had grown weary
+of incessant war. Their reply, which was something in the nature of a
+rebuke, betokened that they had realised the futility of opposing the
+further progress of the _pakeha_. "How can you dry up the sea? That is
+why we say, finish fighting with the European." Such was their answer
+to his summons to arms, and Rangihaeata was left to fall back upon his
+small band of war-worn desperadoes to carry on a struggle which was
+hopeless from the first.[182]
+
+Abandoned to his own resources, he applied himself to his duties of
+leader with the energy of despair. Realising that his position at
+Pahautanui was no longer tenable, as its swamps and shallows were no
+protection against the artillery which he knew was collected at
+Porirua, he withdrew his forces into the deeply wooded Horokiwi
+Valley. Through this forest defile, tangled and matted by an almost
+impenetrable undergrowth, he was pursued by a force of 1,000 men,
+composed of militia and native allies, under Major Last. Te
+Rangihaeata's generalship proved equal to the peculiar circumstances
+in which he found himself, and his genius for war won for him the
+warmest encomiums from British officers, who have generously expressed
+their admiration for the skill with which the chief conducted his
+retreat. Into the density of the wooded valley he led his pursuers,
+enticing them by a simulated resistance, but abandoning his camps as
+soon as they pressed too closely upon him. In one of these
+semi-fortified resting-places the British soldiers discovered the
+bugle which had been taken from the boy Allen when he was struck down
+at the fatal fight at Boulcott's Farm.
+
+At length, retreat being no longer possible, the rebel chief turned at
+bay and fought his pursuers at a point near the head of the valley.
+His decision to throw down the gage of battle here was not the result
+of accident or impulse, but was due to deliberate calculation. The
+position was admirably chosen, and he held the enemy in check long
+enough to enable him to fortify it effectively. He threw a rough
+breastwork of tree-trunks across the narrow neck of a spur springing
+from a densely wooded hill, the approach to which was flanked by steep
+ravines, leaving so narrow a ridge that it could only be passed
+abreast by a very limited force of men. This wooden rampart, which
+presented so imposing a front to an enemy, was liberally perforated
+with loopholes, through which the defenders were able to concentrate
+their fire with deadly effect upon any approaching force. This
+arrangement, combined with the inaccessible nature of the ground, made
+its seizure by storm practically impossible. Nevertheless, an attack
+was determined upon, and on the morning of August 6, 1846, fire was
+opened upon the position, but with no other visible result than that
+Ensign Blackburn[183] and two privates were killed and nine others
+wounded. On the following day the assault, which had been so
+inauspiciously commenced, was suspended, for Major Last had now seen
+enough to convince him that some projectile more searching than
+bullets was necessary to dislodge the defenders from their stronghold.
+He accordingly sent to Porirua and procured two small mortars, which,
+after infinite labour spent in dragging them into position, were
+discovered to be absolutely worthless for purposes of attack, for the
+high forest trees made accurate gunnery impossible. Seeing his troops
+in a deplorable condition, even after this short bush campaign, and
+hopeless of driving Rangihaeata out, except at an enormous sacrifice
+of human life, Major Last decided to withdraw the regular troops and
+leave the friendly natives, under Puaha, to watch and wait for hunger
+to work its effects upon the stubborn garrison. A few days sufficed
+for this. On the 13th the allies were surprised by a hail of lead
+suddenly raining down upon their lines. No sooner had they sprung to
+arms than they saw that the enemy was afoot, the volley which they had
+fired being the signal for retreat. Immediately the real nature of the
+movement was ascertained, Puaha and his loyalists rushed forward over
+the fallen trees and broken ground, and reached the breastwork only in
+time to see the last of the defenders escape by the thickly veiled
+forest track, where they were swallowed up by the bush and lost to
+human view.
+
+Hunger and cold had done their work, for there were no signs of food
+supplies inside the camp except some edible fern. Nor did the escape
+of the defenders to the open avail them much, for they were so harried
+by the followers of Puaha as they fled along the snow-covered mountain
+ridge that the opportunities for procuring food were few and
+uncertain. Some made their perilous way to the coast, in the secret
+hope of finding food and shelter amongst their friends in the
+_pas_, but these were for the most part found by the vigilant
+Wiremu Kingi, and either driven back into the mountain fastnesses or
+promptly secured as prisoners of war.[184] Deeming himself fortunate
+to have so far evaded death or capture, Te Rangihaeata retreated
+northwards with his famished adherents until he reached the lowlands
+of the Manawatu. There, beaten though still defiant, he retired to a
+_pa_ built in the midst of the swamps and marshes of Poroutawhao,
+where he laid down his arms and, sullenly drawing his mat about him,
+prepared to watch the irresistible march of the _pakeha_, though
+refusing to acknowledge defeat at his hands. "I am finished," he wrote
+to the Governor, "but do not suppose that you conquered me. No; it was
+these my own relatives and friends, Rangitake and others. It was by
+them I was overcome, and not by you, O Governor."[185]
+
+A new cause for anxiety, in the outbreak of hostilities at Whanganui,
+now diverted Grey's attention momentarily from the fugitive chief,
+who improved the respite thus given by refraining from any act of
+violence. Although no formal peace was declared, Grey wisely decided
+not to precipitate further trouble by following him into the marshes
+of Poroutawhao. True, on the very day (April 18, 1847) that the news
+of the outbreak at Whanganui reached Wellington, the chief made a
+sensational descent upon Kapiti. In the grey of the early morning a
+whaler named Brown was awakened by a sound at the door of his hut,
+and, as he raised himself on his elbow, he saw the tall form of
+Rangihaeata enter the room with a tomahawk in his hand. The whaler not
+unnaturally thought he had come to take his life, and, in his
+subsequent narration of the incident, he indulged in some heroics,
+telling how he had challenged the chief to slay him on the spot. But
+Rangihaeata was not in search of a defenceless whaler's blood. He had
+come to demand some powder which was rightly his, and which he had
+left there for safe keeping. When he had secured his property, he went
+harmlessly away, after shaking hands in the most friendly manner with
+the frightened seaman. Some of his followers, however, were not quite
+so scrupulous; and, in searching the hut for the powder, they had
+appropriated a bundle of bank notes and some sovereigns, and secreted
+them about their persons until they returned to the _pa_. Here
+Rangihaeata discovered the theft, and immediately sent back the
+plunder to the Governor, accompanied by a characteristic note, in
+which he made it clear that, however much he might be in opposition to
+the Government, he had no desire to be esteemed a common thief.
+
+With Rangihaeata beaten out of the field, we may now return to Te
+Rauparaha, whom we left in the hands of his captors. To ensure his
+greater security, he was, immediately upon the arrival of the
+_Driver_ at Wellington, transferred to H.M.S. _Calliope_,[186] where
+he was placed under the watchful eye of Captain Stanley, for whom, we
+are told, he afterwards acquired a high regard. On board this ship he
+was detained with some show of liberty for upwards of ten months,
+visiting the principal ports of northern and central New Zealand, as
+the duties of the station demanded the presence of the vessel. During
+all this period no attempt was made to bring him to trial, though no
+pains were spared by the Governor to secure the evidence which would
+ensure his conviction. In a despatch written to the Colonial Office on
+December 1, 1846, Grey endeavoured to explain his position and justify
+his halting attitude, but, in the trenchant words of one of his
+critics, his was a justification which itself required to be
+justified:--
+
+ "A number of designing Europeans, who are annoyed at my
+ interfering with their illegal purchases of land, have thought it
+ proper to agitate the question of the justice and propriety of my
+ arresting Te Rauparaha. Some most improper publications have
+ already appeared, and I regret to state that I find a great effect is
+ being produced upon the minds of the native chiefs. The difficulty
+ of my position is that I am not yet quite satisfied whether or not it
+ will be expedient or necessary to bring the old man to trial. In fact,
+ I am rather anxious to avoid doing so, and I fear that, were I to
+ make public the various crimes for which he has been seized by the
+ Government, and the proofs of his guilt upon which the Government
+ justify his detention, a large portion of the European population
+ would be so exasperated against him that it would be difficult
+ for the Government to avoid bringing him to trial; and, if I were
+ compelled to adopt this step from having made known the charges
+ against him, I should probably be accused of having ungenerously
+ prejudiced the public against him previously to his being brought to
+ trial."
+
+The only impression which the unbiassed student can derive from a
+perusal of this specious reasoning is that the Governor, in seeking to
+excuse himself for an unjustifiable action, has in reality delivered
+his own condemnation for a grave breach of trust. If the "various
+crimes" of which the chief was suspected were as defined as the
+Governor implies they were, and if "the proofs of his guilt upon which
+the Government justified his detention" were clear and unimpeachable,
+obviously then it was his bounden duty to the Colony and to Te
+Rauparaha that the chief should be brought to trial at the earliest
+possible moment. But the real fact was that the offences of Te
+Rauparaha were as imaginary as the proofs of his guilt were mythical,
+and he was kept captive on a ship of war while the Governor was
+diligently endeavouring to find Pohi, who was supposed to be possessed
+of important secrets, or was sedulously filling in the missing links
+in the chain of evidence which he hoped would establish the fact that
+certain messengers, who were known to have carried information to
+Rangihaeata, were indeed sent by Te Rauparaha.
+
+A fruitless ten months was spent in these endeavours to bring home
+guilt to Te Rauparaha, and at the end of that time Grey was forced to
+admit that he was still unable to prove the chief guilty in a court of
+law. He therefore began to consider how far he was justified in longer
+detaining him, while still refusing to do him the justice of giving
+him a clear acquittal. He temporised with other reasons, from which it
+is clear that he regarded the step as one of expediency rather than of
+right. "The detention of the prisoners," he wrote to Earl Grey, "has
+caused expense and inconvenience to the Government"; and therefore, to
+relieve his administration of something which it had forced upon
+itself, he was magnanimous enough to loose the chains from off the
+chief. But the Governor was also influenced by other considerations.
+He believed that the capture and long captivity of Te Rauparaha had
+completely destroyed his _mana_, so that he was now incapable of
+originating any new mischief, even if he were so inclined. But we
+may also do him the justice of believing that he was genuinely anxious
+to placate the Ngati-Toa people, who had repeatedly petitioned him for
+their leader's release, and to allay an ugly suspicion, which had
+gained credence amongst them, that Te Rauparaha had been murdered, and
+that his so-called detention was merely a subterfuge to cover a
+desperate crime.
+
+ "Repeated applications," wrote the Governor, "have been made
+ by Te Rauparaha's tribe for his release, and this step seems to be
+ quite justified by his ten months of good conduct. Waka Nene and
+ Te Wherowhero also petitioned for his release, and went guarantee
+ for his good behaviour. Upon the whole, with the larger force that
+ will be placed at my disposal, and after the convincing proofs which
+ the natives have so frequently afforded of their regarding their
+ interests as identical with those of the Government, I entertain no
+ apprehension of Te Rauparaha being able to effect further mischief,
+ even if he were disposed to do so. I therefore determined to order
+ his release, merely requiring Te Wherowhero and Waka Nene to
+ pledge their words for his future good conduct, and although I
+ exacted no conditions either from themselves or from the prisoners,
+ I recommended them to require both Te Rauparaha and Hohepa to
+ reside on the northern portions of the island until I felt justified in
+ stating that I had no objection to them permitting Te Rauparaha to
+ return to his own country."
+
+Under the guarantee of good conduct given by Te Wherowhero and Waka
+Nene, Te Rauparaha was released at Auckland, and was received as a
+guest into Te Wherowhero's house, which had been built for him by the
+Government in what is now the Auckland Domain. Here, though nominally
+free, he must have felt the bitterness of his exile, for he frequently
+displayed the humiliation which was surging within his soul by
+relapsing into periods of deep melancholy, during which he doubtless
+meditated upon the departed glory of the past and the hopelessness of
+the future. With him times had indeed changed. From the imperious
+leader of a victorious tribe, supreme and absolute, his word the word
+of authority, his very look, his merest gesture, an unquestionable
+command, he found himself shorn of his power, degraded by captivity,
+destitute of influence, and little more than a memory--the hoary
+vestige of a stately ruin. But his path was not all strewn with
+thorns, and there were not wanting those, both Maori and European, who
+strove to lighten his burden and salve his wounded soul. Visitors
+frequently sought to cheer his drooping spirits, and, as a compliment
+to the conqueror of Kapiti, Te Wherowhero brought the flower of the
+Hauraki chiefs to do him honour. In September, 1847, two hundred of
+these warriors, casting aside their tribal prejudices, came and
+visited him. As the kilted band of strangers advanced, Te Rauparaha,
+dressed in a dogskin mat and forage cap, went out to meet them. He
+saluted several of the leading men according to native custom, and
+then followed the speechmaking inseparable from Maori gatherings.
+Squatting in a semicircle upon the ground, the assemblage listened
+with rapt attention to the oration delivered by Te Rauparaha, of whom
+all had heard, but whom few had previously seen. His speech was a
+dignified recitation of his past deeds, and while he spoke of his
+struggles with Waikato, his pilgrimage, and his conquests, he
+delivered himself brilliantly and dramatically, for the fire of the
+old warrior seemed to burn again within him and the blood of the
+victor to pulsate once more through his veins. But when he came to
+describe his seizure and captivity, the injustice and humiliation of
+it all bore down his valiant spirit, and he concluded his oration with
+difficulty and almost in tears. To this great effort of Maori
+eloquence replies of a lengthy and ceremonial nature were delivered by
+Taraia, Te Wherowhero, and several members of Hauraki's aristocracy,
+and then food was served on a sumptuous scale to the strangers. It
+was, however, noticed that Te Rauparaha ate but sparingly and was ill
+at ease. He rose and walked to his house, into which he was followed
+by two of the women, who there sang to him of the deeds of his
+fathers, and of the heroes of the ancient line from which he had
+sprung, the lament bringing a flood of tears to the old man's dim eyes.
+Still under the surveillance of Te Wherowhero, Te Rauparaha spent six
+months in the country of the Waikatos, the scene of some of his
+youthful exploits; but, feeling his freedom to be liberty only in
+name, and himself a stranger in a strange land, he preferred a request
+to the Governor to be allowed to return to his own people by the
+shores of Cook Strait, where was centred everything in life that he
+valued. The Governor granted his request, believing that he had now
+nothing to fear from the chief, and recognising that his return would
+have a quieting influence upon Rangihaeata, who, during his uncle's
+absence, had steadfastly refused to believe that the man by whose
+orders Wareaitu[187] had been executed would be more merciful to Te
+Rauparaha. Accordingly, in January of 1848, the Governor, Lady Grey,
+Lieut.-Colonel Mundy, Te Wherowhero, Taraia, Te Rauparaha, and several
+other chiefs, embarked on board H.M.S. _Inflexible_ and steamed
+for Otaki. Arrived there, the vessel was immediately boarded by
+Tamihana Te Rauparaha, who, clothed in the garb of a clergyman, came
+off to welcome his father.
+
+The morning of January 16, 1848, was the time appointed for the
+restoration of Te Rauparaha to his people. When the boats had been
+lowered to row the party ashore, the old chief came upon the
+quarter-deck dressed in full naval uniform, even to the cocked hat and
+the epaulets. His surprise and indignation were, however, considerable
+when he observed that the Governor and his suite had no idea of
+regarding the event as a State occasion, and were clothed in simple
+undress coats. Nor was his ill-temper improved when the Governor
+further robbed the incident of ceremonial importance by refusing to
+accord to him the honour of a salute from the ship's guns as he left
+the vessel's side. With eyes flashing and nostrils dilated, he sprang
+back into his cabin, and, throwing off his brilliant uniform,
+immediately reappeared wrapped in the sombre folds of an ancient
+blanket. Wounded in spirit at the absence of those impressive features
+which would have made his homecoming something of a triumph, he landed
+on the Otaki beach in no enviable mood; and, as the party proceeded
+towards the inland _pa_, he turned away from them, and sitting down in
+the sand with his face towards the ocean, covered his old grey head
+with his mat, and for two hours sat and sobbed like a child. During
+this meditation of tears no one approached him. Maori etiquette
+forbade his kinsmen breaking in upon his grief, and European courtesy
+dictated a discreet respect for the feelings of one who had come back
+to find the times so vastly changed, and for him so sadly out of
+joint.
+
+In that brief time, as the old warrior sat sighing in sympathy with
+the sobbing sea, there must have passed before him in vivid picture
+the whole panorama of his eventful life--his struggles, his schemes,
+his dreams, the anguish of defeat, the glut of victory, and then the
+final triumph in which tribe after tribe went down before him, and his
+name became wonderful and mighty throughout the land. But now, because
+of the advent of the _pakeha_, power had melted in his hand like
+snow. His life, like the wind-swept ruin of his old heathen _pa_,
+which stood broken and dilapidated a few chains off, had become but a
+shadow and a memory of the past; an exemplification of the fallible
+and transitory nature of mundane things. At length, rousing himself
+from his reverie, he proceeded to the new Christian settlement of
+Hadfield, at Otaki, which had been built mainly by the efforts of his
+son, Tamahana te Rauparaha, and his nephew, Matene te Whiwhi. A motley
+crowd of five or six hundred people poured out of the little
+settlement to welcome their chief, the Governor, and Lady Grey; and,
+as an evidence of the elevating influences which were operating
+amongst them,[188] prayers in the native tongue were read in the open
+air, before the feast which had been prepared for the visitors was
+placed before them. A glass-windowed, carpeted _whare_ was the
+banquet-room, and a clean damask cloth covered the table at which the
+guests were seated, while a daughter of Rangihaeata courteously
+discharged the duties of hostess.
+
+On the following day Te Rauparaha presented himself before
+the people, and was received with the usual evidences of Maori
+jubilation--interminable speeches, wild and barbarous dances, and
+endless feasting. Almost immediately he exercised the prerogative of
+his freedom by visiting Rangihaeata, who was hovering in the
+neighbourhood of Otaki, but with what intent no one knew. Te Rauparaha
+was accompanied by Te Wherowhero and some of the visiting chiefs, and
+the _korero_ lasted several days. What the precise nature of their
+discussions was will never be known; but that they were not of a
+treasonable nature may be inferred from the fact that the Governor,
+hearing that Rangihaeata was at that time harbouring a notorious
+murderer, whom he refused to deliver up to justice, sent a letter to
+Te Rauparaha calling upon him and his compatriots to show their
+displeasure at Rangihaeata's conduct by instantly withdrawing from his
+presence. At the time the letter arrived, the chiefs were on the point
+of sitting down to partake of Rangihaeata's hospitality; but without
+hesitation they rose and left, though not before telling the obdurate
+chief their reason for doing so.[189]
+
+This evidence of unfailing loyalty to the Crown was as gratifying to
+the Governor as it must have been aggravating to Rangihaeata, who,
+when he met His Excellency at Otaki, roundly abused him and all the
+_pakehas_ for their presumptuous interference with his affairs.
+He declared that he was not tired of war, but evidently men and women
+had changed with the times, and now preferred to fight with the tongue
+rather than the _mere_ or the musket. His contempt for the
+Europeans and all their doings was still as vehement as ever,[190] and
+in his violent denunciation of their encroachment upon his privileges
+as a chief, he declared that he wanted nothing of them, and he wore
+nothing of their work. He was then standing before the Governor, a
+tall and picturesque figure arrayed in a lustrous dogskin mat, with
+adornments in his hair; and when Grey quietly exposed his
+inconsistency by pointing to a peacock's feather dangling about his
+head, he angrily muttered, "True, that is _pakeha_," and cast it
+scornfully from him.
+
+Though Rangihaeata never accepted the Christian faith, in course of
+time his feelings mellowed and his attitude somewhat modified towards
+the occupation of the land by the white people. He not only acquiesced
+in the policy of road-making, which he had at first so strenuously
+opposed, but in 1852 he constructed two lines at Poroutawhao at his
+own expense. A school was even established at his _pa_, and
+subsequently his declared principles not to use British goods were so
+far modified that he purchased and drove in an English-made buggy
+along roads made by British soldiers. His feelings, too, towards the
+Governor considerably softened, and when, in 1852, Sir George Grey was
+about to proceed to England for a holiday, the chief wrote to him in
+terms of genuine friendship, which gave proof of the surprising change
+which had come over the hitherto untamable spirit of "the tiger of the
+Wairau":--
+
+ "O Governor! my friend, I send you greeting. I need scarcely
+ call to your remembrance the circumstances attending my flight
+ and pursuit: how it was that I took refuge in the fastnesses and
+ hollows of the country, as a crab lies concealed in the depths and
+ hollows of the rocks. You it was who sought and found me out,
+ and through your kindness it is that I am at this present time
+ enjoying your confidence and surrounded with peace and quietness.
+ This, then, is the expression of my esteem for you, which I take
+ occasion to make now that you are on the point of leaving for your
+ native land."
+
+The release of Te Rauparaha was the signal for a furious outburst of
+hostile criticism against the Governor, and Colonel Wakefield led the
+agitation in one of the biased and bitter effusions usual with him
+where Te Rauparaha was concerned.[191] But the anticipation of the
+Governor that the chief could, or would, cause the authorities no
+further trouble, appears to have been amply justified. So far as is
+known of him from this time until his death, he lived quietly and
+unostentatiously at the Otaki settlement. It would seem that he
+accepted with as good grace as he might the new order of things, and
+even sought to assist his people in reaching a higher plane of
+civilisation than at his advanced years he himself could ever hope to
+attain. It is at least accounted unto him for righteousness by his
+son, Tamahana, that it was at his suggestion the Ngati-Raukawa people
+built the now famous church[192] at Otaki, wherein the tribe has so
+often heard the glad tidings of "peace on earth and goodwill towards
+men," so strongly contrasted with their old heathen doctrine of blood
+for blood. A striking feature in the architecture of this church is
+its central line of large totara pillars, which rise to a height of 40
+feet, carrying the solid ridge-pole above. These wooden columns were
+hewn out of the forest on the banks of the Ohau, which in those days
+ran into the Waikawa, forming one large stream. The trees were felled
+in the bush, floated down the river to the sea, and thence dragged
+along the coast, one native standing on the tree with pole in hand to
+guide it through the surf, while a string of stalwart men tugged at
+the heavy tow-ropes, as they marched along the sandy beach. Column
+after column was, in this way, eventually landed at Waitohu, near
+Otaki, and then hauled across the sandhills by hundreds of brawny arms
+to the site where the church now stands. There the trees were, with
+infinite labour, dressed and prepared with native adzes, which are
+still kept in the church as interesting mementoes. No machinery of any
+kind was available to assist in the construction of the sacred
+edifice. Hand labour was everywhere brought into requisition, and only
+the most cunning workmen were employed, men of reputed skill being
+brought from the Manawatu to design and execute the carvings of the
+interior, while the reed lacework round the walls was also dexterously
+woven by these same masters of Maori art.
+
+Some attempt has been made, but with dubious success, to prove that Te
+Rauparaha ordered the building of this church because he had become
+deeply and genuinely religious, and his son has given us the pious
+assurance that he spent these last of his days "continually
+worshipping."[193] "I saw," says an intelligent but newly arrived
+clergyman, who visited him at this time, "amongst the other men of
+note, the old and once powerful chief, Te Rauparaha, who,
+notwithstanding his great age of more than eighty years, is seldom
+missed from his class, and who, after a long life of perpetual
+turmoil, spent in all the savage excitement of cruel and bloody wars,
+is now to be seen every morning in his accustomed place, repeating
+those blessed truths which teach him to love the Lord with all his
+heart and mind and soul and strength, and his neighbour as himself."
+This amiable picture, drawn in a spirit of enlarged charity, is
+unfortunately dimmed, and the sincerity of the chief's religious
+convictions discounted, by the story related of him by a
+conscientious, if unfriendly, critic. "A few days before his death,"
+says this writer,[194] "when suffering under the malady which carried
+him off, two settlers called to see him. While there, a neighbouring
+missionary came in and offered him the consolations of religion.
+Rauparaha demeaned himself in a manner highly becoming such an
+occasion, but the moment the missionary was gone, he turned to his
+other visitors and said: 'What is the use of all that nonsense?--that
+will do my belly no good.' He then turned the conversation on the
+Whanganui races, where one of his guests had been running a horse."
+Such an incident, if true, leaves behind it the impression that the
+chief was shrewd enough to observe that the Christian faith had taken
+root amongst his people, and conventional enough to adopt it for
+fashion's sake, without realising any real spiritual change. But we
+will not attempt to pass judgment upon one who was at so manifest a
+disadvantage in grasping the mysteries of a faith which centuries of
+science and learning have left still obscure to many more fortunately
+circumstanced. But, whatever the chief's spiritual condition may have
+been, it was not vouchsafed to him to witness the completion of his
+building scheme. He had long passed man's allotted span, and life's
+last stage was closing in upon him. He was in his eighty-first year,
+and was stricken with an internal complaint, the precise nature of
+which has not been ascertained, but which necessitated his taking much
+rest. His last days were therefore spent in enforced inactivity, and,
+while practically an invalid, his greatest delight was to recount to
+those capable of appreciating his narrative the stories of his early
+campaigns. The late Bishop Hadfield was especially favoured in this
+respect; and when he grew weary of the company of his own people (of
+whose intellectuality he had so small an opinion that he once remarked
+that they could talk of nothing better than dogs and pigs), he would
+send for the missionary, and regale him with stories of the past, told
+with a native force which aroused astonishment and admiration in the
+mind of his hearer. His descriptions of former fights were generally
+dramatic, frequently graphic, and always eloquent, for his vocabulary
+was rich in words and phrases which were far beyond the linguistic
+capacity of the natives by whom he was surrounded. It is to be
+regretted that these recitals have perished with the good Bishop.
+Until quite late in his life a vivid impression of them remained in
+his memory, and his constant readiness to refer to them confirms the
+claim that Te Rauparaha was a man of superior intellect, in so far as
+that term may be applied to a Maori of his day.
+
+Towards the end of November, 1849, the complaint from which he was
+suffering begun to assume a more malignant form. On the 24th of that
+month he received a last visit from Rangihaeata, and bade farewell to
+his erstwhile comrade in arms. Three days later he was dead; the event
+was consummated for which Colonel Wakefield so devoutly wished when,
+ten years before, he wrote: "It will be a most fortunate thing for any
+settlement formed hereabouts when he dies, for with his life only will
+end his mischievous scheming and insatiable cupidity." Had Te
+Rauparaha been asked to pen his opinion of the promoters of the New
+Zealand Company, he might have couched his judgment in much the same
+terms. But now that he was dead there was no need, and little desire,
+to keep open the floodgates of vituperation, and there were many who
+in his lifetime could find no kindly thought for him, but were willing
+to bury the bitterness of racial misunderstanding in the grave wherein
+the chief was so soon to be laid.
+
+The news that Te Rauparaha was dead spread like a prairie fire, and
+natives from all parts of both islands flocked to Otaki to swell the
+weeping multitude who wailed around the bier of the dead chief. So
+altered, however, had the times become, that, though there was a
+feast, there was little _tangi_ of the barbarous sort, for his son
+Tamahana, who was sincere and consistent in his emulation of European
+methods,[195] discouraged in the native people, as far as possible,
+the indulgence in their time-honoured mourning customs, and, according
+to a contemporary authority, the whole proceedings were conducted "in
+a most decorous manner." The interment took place on 3rd December, the
+last resting-place being a spot chosen by his friend Rangihaeata,
+within the church enclosure, and immediately in front of the unfinished
+building. A procession of fifteen hundred people followed the body to
+the grave, where the beautiful burial service of the Anglican Church
+was read by Mr. Ronaldson, the native teacher from Whanganui. The
+coffin, made in the usual manner, was covered with black cloth, and
+the final chapter in the life of this remarkable man was written on
+the brass plate which adorned the casket:--
+
+KO TE RAUPARAHA I MATE I TE
+
+27 O NOWEMA 1849
+
+[Te Rauparaha died on November 27, 1849.]
+
+[173] Heke had asked the pertinent question, "Is Rauparaha to have all
+the credit of killing the _pakeha_?"
+
+[174] "From what I know of the young lieutenant, I have no doubt he
+laid about him vigorously. Even had burly Rangihaeata confronted him,
+I should not have feared the result" (_Mundy_).
+
+[175] It was quite the orthodox thing for natives on opposite sides to
+hold intercourse with each other during war, and Rauparaha, having
+many relations engaged with Rangihaeata, would, in accordance with
+this custom, keep up a certain connection with them, and they with
+him. This, not being understood by the British authorities, was
+probably mistaken for treachery.
+
+[176] Afterwards McKillop Pasha, an Admiral of the Khedive of Egypt.
+
+[177] Grey, in his despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies,
+describing the seizure of Te Rauparaha, states that a "considerable
+quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the disaffected portion
+of the Ngati-Toa tribe" was also seized, though he makes no attempt to
+explain what steps were taken under the exciting circumstances to
+ascertain who the precise owners were.
+
+[178] On the voyage to Wellington the prisoners were quartered in the
+workshop above the boilers. During the night a great disturbance was
+heard in this direction, and, on an examination being made, it was
+found that the room was full of steam. One of the boilers had sprung a
+leak, but the natives imagined that their vapour bath was an ingenious
+contrivance to compass their death.
+
+[179] Mr. Percy Smith is my authority for saying that Rangihaeata did
+not actually compose this lament, as is generally supposed, but merely
+adapted it from a very old original.
+
+[180] In October, 1850, Dr. Dorsett, as Chairman of the Settlers'
+Constitutional Society, in a letter addressed to Earl Grey, complained
+of the inadequacy of Te Rauparaha's punishment. Sir George Grey
+replied by quoting two laments, of which this was one, "to show the
+light in which the natives regarded the punishment inflicted on him."
+
+[181] Pohi was one of the inferior chiefs arrested with Te Rauparaha
+and afterwards released. Subsequently, Grey discovered that this man
+was supposed to possess "important information."
+
+[182] For the passive attitude adopted by many of the Ngati-Toa people
+some credit must be given to Te Rauparaha, who had already advised his
+son to go to the tribes and tell them to remain in peace. "I returned
+on shore," says Tamahana, "and saw Ngati-Toa and Rawhiri Puaha. We
+told them the words of Rauparaha respecting that which is good and
+living in peace. Two hundred Ngati-Raukawa came to Otaki. Rangihaeata
+wished to destroy Wellington and kill the _pakehas_ as satisfaction. I
+told them the words of Te Rauparaha, that they must put away foolish
+thoughts, live in peace, and cast away bad desires. They consented."
+
+[183] Ensign Blackburn, who was a fine officer and a great favourite
+with the troops, was shot by a native secreted in a tree, and he in
+turn was almost immediately brought down by an artilleryman.
+
+[184] Under the chilling atmosphere of bleak winter the enthusiasm of
+our native allies soon began to cool and the vigour of their pursuit
+to slacken. Power, in his _Sketches in New Zealand_, gives an
+amusing account of a big _korero_ held at Otaki to decide whether
+or not they would continue the chase, in which he says: "Rangihaeata's
+sister was present and addressed the meeting in favour of her absent
+brother, making at the same time some very unparliamentary remarks on
+the aggressions of the _pakehas_ and the want of pluck of the
+Maoris in not resisting them, as her illustrious brother was doing. An
+old chief requested her to resume her seat, informing her at the same
+time that she was the silly sister of a sillier brother. He then put
+it to the meeting whether pigs and potatoes, warm fires and plenty of
+tobacco, were not better things than leaden bullets, edges of
+tomahawks, snow, rain, and empty bellies? All the former, he distinctly
+stated, were to be enjoyed on the plain; the latter they had had
+plentiful experience of in the mountains, and was it to be expected
+that they--and he confidently relied upon the good sense of the
+meeting--could be such fools as to hesitate for a moment? The applause
+of the old man's rhetoric was unanimous, and it received no slight
+help from the timely appearance of a procession bearing the materials
+for a week's feasting."
+
+[185] Lieutenant McKillop, writing on this point, says: "We never had
+any such decided advantage over him in our various skirmishes with his
+tribe as to dishearten him, and had we been unassisted by friendly
+Maoris I have no doubt he would have held out and carried his point."
+
+[186] While the _Calliope_ was lying at Wellington, Te Rauparaha
+was visited by his son Tamahana, who has left it on record that, in
+that trying moment of his life, his father displayed a spirit of calm
+forgiveness towards those who had so treacherously deprived him of his
+liberty. His advice was: "Son, go to your tribes and tell them to
+remain in peace. Do not pay for my seizure 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."
+
+[187] In his _Travels in New Zealand_, Crawford remarks: "During
+the march to Pahautanui, a Maori named Martin Luther (Wareaitu) was
+taken prisoner and was some months afterwards tried by court martial
+and hanged. I cannot help thinking that this was a blunder." Dr.
+Thomson is even more emphatic, and declares that "Luther's death is a
+disgrace to Governor Grey's administration."
+
+[188] Visitors to modern Otaki cannot fail to notice a tall pole
+erected near the roadside opposite the church. The totara tree out of
+which the pole was hewn was brought there at the outbreak of the Maori
+war. It was intended as a flagstaff, but Mr. Hadfield persuaded the
+Maoris to remain perfectly neutral and make no demonstration one way
+or the other. The tree lay for many years on the common until the Rev.
+Mr. McWilliam induced the Maoris to shape the tree into a tapering
+obelisk 40 feet high, with the dates 1840 (the year when Christianity
+was established at Otaki) to 1880 (the year the obelisk was erected)
+going spirally round it from bottom to top, and so it became a
+memorial of the English Church Mission at Otaki. It was first erected
+in the middle of the common, but in 1890, that is, the fiftieth year
+of the mission, it was moved into the corner opposite the church gate.
+It is called by the Maoris the "Jubilee." There was a great gathering
+of Maoris on that occasion, and fifty of them were clad in white and
+took part in the ceremony. The chief speaker was Kereopa Tukumaru, an
+old chief from Kereru, who had been one of the first converts to
+Christianity, and was now able to tell what great things the religion
+of Christianity had done for the Maoris. "This man," says Mr.
+McWilliam, "was the most consistent Christian I have ever had the
+privilege of knowing." He was most industrious, but when not working
+he was reading his Bible. He knew nearly the whole of it by heart. His
+grave may be seen near the Kereru railway station on a small natural
+mound. It is an oblong raised vault, built of concrete, with a
+beautiful white marble angel standing over one end.
+
+[189] Colonel Mundy mentions that a remarkably plausible report was
+circulating in Wellington at this time, to the effect that
+Rangihaeata--in order to prove himself a convert to civilisation--had
+signified his intention to kill and eat the aforesaid murderer, and
+then "go into the best society."
+
+[190] As illustrating Rangihaeata's intolerance of Europeans,
+Crawford, in his _Travels in New Zealand_, mentions that when he
+visited Fraser's whaling station on Mana in 1839, he saw sitting in
+the corner of the room a large Maori wrapped in his mat. "He listened
+to the conversation, but said nothing. At last, as if displeased, he
+uttered a hideous and prolonged grunt, and rose to his feet: I was
+struck with his height and imposing, although savage, appearance--he
+grunted again and walked out of the room without speaking. This was
+Rangihaeata, the great follower or coadjutor of Te Rauparaha--the Ajax
+of his tribe, as the other was the Ulysses."
+
+[191] As illustrating the feeling of the time, we may mention that
+very great indignation was expressed in Wellington because Bishop
+Selwyn had taken Te Rauparaha to the house of the Rev. Mr. Cole, a
+clergyman of Wellington, to stay there during a visit to the city.
+Major Richmond, the Superintendent, and the Sub-Protector, Mr.
+Forsaith, had gone to Porirua and provided for his safe escort to
+Wellington. The Bishop had publicly refused to shake hands with
+Rangihaeata, showing to the natives his horror of the massacre at the
+Wairau on every occasion. But he refused to recognise Te Rauparaha as
+responsible for it, and did no more than his clear duty in providing
+for his safety on this occasion. The outcry raised against him was
+bitter, but was quietly ignored by him (_Brett's "Early History of
+New Zealand"_).
+
+[192] The church, which is a noble specimen of native architecture,
+was built under the supervision of Archdeacon Hadfield and Rev. H.
+Williams. It was commenced in 1849 and opened in 1851. Its length is
+80 feet, its breadth 36 feet, and its height 40 feet. The ridge-pole
+is hewn out of a solid totara tree, 86 feet long.
+
+[193] "Te Rauparaha was not baptized, and, although his son wished the
+burial service of the Church to be used at his funeral, the minister
+did not feel himself justified in doing so; however, a lay member of
+the Church Missionary Society from Whanganui, opportunely passing
+through the place, read the service over him, and thus terminated the
+eventful life of the New Zealand warrior" (_Rev. Richard
+Taylor_).
+
+[194] The late Sir William Fox in his _Six Colonies of New
+Zealand_.
+
+[195] In 1868, Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife Ruta (Ruth) lived by
+themselves about half-way between Otaki and Waikanae on his sheep run,
+but he now and again came to his town house in Otaki and stayed a few
+weeks. He was a fine, handsome man, tall and stout, but active and
+mentally energetic. He always dressed well, and in cleanliness and
+neatness was a thorough English gentleman. He had been home to England
+and presented to the Queen. He never forgot what he saw there, and he
+wished to be considered an English gentleman. For that reason he lost
+influence with his tribe. He held aloof from _tangis_ and other
+Maori feasts, but was most hospitable and generous to Europeans. His
+wife was a most ladylike and charming woman. She was not so well
+educated as Tamihana, but for all that she had the manners and taste
+of an English lady. She died several years before him, and he erected
+a small marble stone over her grave; but when he died, and was laid by
+her side, no monument of any kind was erected to his memory; the
+cast-iron fence, which had been broken accidentally, was not even
+repaired. The Maoris did not care much for him, because he was too
+civilised and _pakeha_-like for them, so they made no general
+mourning at his death. In his youth, Tamihana te Rauparaha and Matene
+te Whiwhi had journeyed all the way to the Bay of Islands to beg for a
+missionary, and in response to their request Mr. Hadfield (who was
+afterwards Bishop of Wellington and Primate) came back with them to
+Otaki, and lived amongst them and taught them Christianity for thirty
+years.
+
+The graves of Tamihana te Rauparaha and his wife are enclosed with an
+iron railing. On the tombstone of the wife is the inscription: "_Te
+ohatanga tenei mo Ruta te Rauparaha wahine O Tamihana te Rauparaha, i
+mate ki Otaki i te 10 o nga ra o Hurae, 1870._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE
+
+
+Te Rangihaeata survived his uncle by seven years, living during this
+time quietly at Poroutawhao. Though ceasing his violent opposition to
+the occupation of the land by the settlers, he still clung to his
+refusal to traffic in the native estate, either with individuals or
+with the Government. Almost immediately after the close of the war,
+Lieutenant-Governor Eyre and the Rev. Richard Taylor penetrated
+through the bush and swamps which surrounded Poroutawhao, and met the
+chief in the very heart of his stronghold. He was then, says Mr.
+Taylor, an old man with a head as white as the top of Tongariro, and a
+spirit somewhat resembling that active volcano, always fuming. His
+white hair strongly contrasted with his bronzed features and highly
+tattooed countenance. The missionary thus describes the retreat in
+which they found him, and the reception they met with:--
+
+ "A long, low, narrow strip of land, running through deep swamp, led
+ to his retreat; the name of the place aptly describes it, being a
+ cork, or stoppage, to war, and few would have liked to draw it out.
+ The _pa_ was on a mound, the only one in the vicinity, and
+ strongly fortified in the native style, with thick, lofty posts
+ deeply sunk in the ground, and bound together with a _huahua_,
+ or connecting pole, running round at a height of about ten feet.
+ Inside the outer fence there was another, behind which the defenders
+ could post themselves, and take aim through the outer one. The
+ _pa_ was divided into a number of small courts, each equally
+ well defended, and connected by very narrow passages. We found the
+ chief with his wives and his head men assembled in the chief court,
+ or _marae_, sitting on mats in front of his house. Fresh fern
+ was strewed on the ground, and new mats laid on it for us; we were
+ received with great respect, and welcomed with a loud
+ _haeremai_: we sat down on the chief's right hand, and conversed
+ on various subjects, until we were invited to enter a neighbouring
+ house, where no one followed us, except a neatly dressed and
+ good-looking lady, who was appointed to wait upon us according to
+ Maori etiquette: there was a kind of table formed of two boxes, one
+ placed on the other, with a new red blanket placed over it, and a
+ form similarly covered in regal style. On the table was placed a dish
+ of good fresh-baked cakes, another containing sugar, a knife, spoon,
+ and two basins, one nearly allied to a wash-hand basin in size. The
+ lady then brought a tea-kettle, and filled our cups with an infusion
+ of mint, which she called tea. The wash-hand basin was, of course,
+ placed before the representative of Majesty, who viewed with dismay
+ its enormous capacity, which, being given him from respect, he could
+ not well avoid draining to the bottom. After enjoying the Governor's
+ perplexity, when the lady left the room, I emptied the contents of
+ our bowls into a calabash, from which our natives were drinking; our
+ repast being ended, we returned to the chief and sat by his side. The
+ Governor requested me to ask the chief to sell some land, which I
+ respectfully declined doing. He then attempted to do so himself: at
+ first he was not understood, but when the chief comprehended what he
+ meant, he gave a savage look of defiance, thrusting out his tongue
+ and rolling about his eyes in such a way, that his Excellency, who
+ had never seen such a display before, stared in amazement, and
+ evidently felt anything but at ease. It need not be said that the
+ land negotiations were speedily terminated, and we were soon
+ threading our way back along Rangihaeata's swamp-girt road."
+
+Not less interesting was the experience of Lord Charles Butler and Mr.
+Carnegie, two officers of the _Calliope_, who, upon the cessation
+of hostilities, conceived the adventurous idea of visiting the chief
+in his lair at Poroutawhao. Starting from Wellington, accompanied by
+Lieutenant Servantes of the 96th, who during the war had acted as
+interpreter with the Government troops, and Tamahana Te Rauparaha,
+they experienced considerable difficulty in pushing their way across
+the country to the place of Rangihaeata's retreat. By dint of
+perseverance they at length reached the borders of the swamp
+surrounding the small hillock on which the _pa_ was built, and,
+meeting some of the natives there, they sent them on to the chief to
+ascertain if he would be prepared to receive them. A messenger soon
+returned to say that Lord Charles and Tamahana might come on, but that
+if Ewie (Lieutenant Servantes) attempted to do so, he would be shot.
+Rangihaeata had persuaded himself that Servantes had been acting the
+spy in the late proceedings against him. This impression, which was
+quite erroneous, doubtless arose from the fact that this officer had
+been a great deal in the company of the natives before the outbreak of
+hostilities, that he was thoroughly conversant with their language,
+customs, and haunts, and consequently was frequently acting in
+conjunction with the native allies when no other Europeans were near.
+There being no opportunity to offer explanations which might remove
+the chief's prejudice, Servantes deemed it prudent to respect
+Rangihaeata's mandate, and remained where he was, the others
+proceeding to the _pa_. As they approached, sounds and evidences of
+excitement, which they were at a loss to understand, greeted them, and
+as they drew nearer, several armed natives came out of the _pa_,
+pointing their muskets at Mr. Carnegie, at the same time abusing him
+with a tornado of picturesque native epithets. This hostile
+demonstration arose from the fact that they had mistaken the naval
+officer for Servantes; but, when the guides had silenced the clamour
+sufficiently to obtain a hearing, the necessary explanations were
+made, and the party was led into the _pa_. They found Rangihaeata
+leaning against his _whare_, and taking aim at the gateway with his
+gun, having fully determined to end the days of the supposed spy if he
+dared to enter the _pa_. The introductions were, however,
+satisfactory, and, putting away his musket, he gave his hand to his
+guests, whereupon his tribe likewise disarmed themselves, and prepared
+to extend hospitality to the visitors. Lord Charles opened the
+proceedings diplomatically, by presenting Rangihaeata with a few
+pounds of tobacco and a red blanket; and, as soon as the chief had
+filled his pipe with the fragrant weed, and adjusted the blanket to
+his brawny shoulders, he sat down and entered into a most amiable
+conversation with the _pakehas_, for whose refreshment he took care
+that food should be brought. He plied his visitors with many questions
+concerning Te Rauparaha and those natives who were prisoners with him,
+and closely inquired of those Europeans with whose names he was
+acquainted, making special reference to Lieutenant McKillop, of whose
+conduct in the war he had formed an excellent opinion. He was also
+exceedingly complimentary to Lord Charles, of whom he said he had
+received very flattering reports, but he was equally regretful of the
+conduct of his own people in deserting his standard, and spoke
+bitterly of his experiences since he had abandoned his _pa_ at
+Porirua. These misfortunes did not, however, detract in the least from
+his hospitality to his visitors. He begged them to remain with him
+until next day, in order that he might have the opportunity of killing
+a pig and regaling them with due splendour on the morrow. This kind
+invitation they modestly declined, and, after explaining that their
+visit was of purely a private nature, and not one which would warrant
+them in carrying back any message to the authorities, they took their
+leave of the chief, whom they have described as being particularly
+dirty, but a fine handsome man.
+
+By his winning ways and the generous use of presents, Governor Grey
+several times induced Rangihaeata to leave his retreat at Poroutawhao
+for the purpose of holding conferences with him; and when he believed
+that he had sufficiently ingratiated himself into the good opinion of
+the chief, he ventured to propose the sale to the Government of the
+Waikanae district. "It would have been the subject for an artist,"
+says one writer, "to picture the indignant look of the chief as he
+flatly and rudely refused, telling the Governor to be content with
+what he had already got. 'You have had Porirua, Ahuriri, Wairarapa,
+Whanganui, Rangitikei, and the whole of the Middle Island given up to
+you, and still you are not content. We are driven up into a corner,
+and yet you covet that also.'" But, though his overtures were thus
+indignantly spurned and rejected, the _mana_ of the Governor did not
+suffer any diminution in the estimation of the chief, who to the end
+of his days continued to regard Grey with that chivalrous respect
+which is extended by one warrior to another whom he deems to be worthy
+of his steel.
+
+In 1856, while still residing at Poroutawhao, Rangihaeata was stricken
+with measles in a particularly malignant form, but, with his
+characteristic recklessness of consequences, he refused to take the
+ordinary precautions to facilitate his recovery. Though still in a
+high state of fever, he decided to visit Otaki, and ordered his groom
+to drive him thither. When passing the Waikawa River, he thought to
+abate the fever by taking a cold bath; and, stopping the buggy, he
+plunged into the river, from which he emerged with the hand of death
+upon him. He was taken on to Otaki, where his malady rapidly increased,
+and two days afterwards he passed away. His body was taken back, at
+the head of an enormous procession, to Poroutawhao, where he was
+buried beside his wife, the _tangi_ in his case being marked by
+all the barbarous features of native mourning, interspersed with not a
+few of the prevailing European vices.
+
+When in the prime of life, Rangihaeata stood over six feet in height,
+a handsome man, magnificently built. Like his more notorious uncle, he
+too had features of aquiline mould, lit up by a pair of piercing black
+eyes, which instantly flashed out their resentment on any real or
+fancied insult. He was exceedingly jealous of his _mana_, and quick
+to blaze into a fit of indignation at any word or act which he might
+construe to be a reflection upon his authority as a chief. That
+authority he frequently asserted by levying toll upon the settlers and
+whalers, but never in any case from pure cupidity, or where he did
+not, by Maori law, have some good and valid claim to _utu_. Against
+these extortions, as they were pleased to regard them, the whalers
+appealed to such authority[196] as they could find in the islands; and
+when they were unable to obtain what they deemed to be justice in that
+quarter, they took the law into their own hands, and tried to rid
+themselves of their tormentor by means of the poison-cup. Frequent
+attempts were made to poison him at the whaling stations; and we are
+credibly informed that, on one occasion, he was induced to swallow a
+pint of raw rum heavily drugged with arsenic. But, in their excess of
+zeal to compass the chief's death, they had been led to apply too
+great a quantity of poison, and instead of its acting as they
+anticipated, it merely acted as an emetic. If this statement be
+well-grounded, or if the whalers were as Major Bunbury described them
+to be, when he visited Mana in order to procure Rangihaeata's
+signature to the Treaty of Waitangi, it is not to be expected that
+such dissolute associates would afford the chief much light and
+leading in the path of rectitude.
+
+The reckless disregard by the settlers and whalers of the sanctity of
+native custom was responsible for many of the misunderstandings, which
+they have debited against Rangihaeata for malice and mischief; while
+no attempt has been made to exonerate him on the ground that he
+probably saw the act only from the point of view of his native origin
+and upbringing. He was in spirit and in the flesh a Maori, and gloried
+in it, openly professing a detestation for the _pakeha_ and all that
+he had brought to the country. He affected a supreme contempt for the
+luxuries of the white man; but the weakness of human nature had
+blinded him to the inconsistency of which he was daily guilty in
+acquiring and gratifying an uncontrollable love of tobacco and rum.
+When under the influence of liquor he was querulous and violent; but
+his drinking indiscretions were generally redeemed as far as possible
+by the payment of ample compensation, for, savage though he was,
+Rangihaeata was not destitute of a liberal sense of justice.[197] This
+he applied to himself as rigorously as to others. When he was flying
+before the troops in the Horokiwi Valley, he frequently inquired if
+those who were hottest in pursuit were relatives of the victims of his
+anger at the Wairau; for to him "a life for a life" was an inexorable
+law, to which even he must bow, if the friends of the massacred men
+should overtake him. In the cause of what he believed to be the
+liberty of his people he did and dared much, enduring intense
+hardships for the maintenance of a principle, and when we charge him
+with harbouring criminals and refusing to deliver them over to
+justice, our resentment against his conduct may be mitigated by the
+reflection that his loyalty to these misguided friends was not so much
+due to a sympathy with crime, as it was a practical protest against
+what he believed to be their unfair treatment by the New Zealand
+Company. Rangihaeata stoutly resisted all attempts to convert him to
+the Christian faith, clinging to his heathen gods as closely as he
+clung to his antipathy to European settlement. His convictions on
+these points were deep-rooted and irrevocable; and he died as he
+lived, a savage, guilty of much bloodshed, yet not altogether devoid
+of nobility. Though he never rose to the level of Te Rauparaha as a
+warrior or a statesman, he was, nevertheless, a strong man amongst his
+people, opposed alike to the missionary and the settler, but only
+because he saw with a prophetic eye that the growing ascendancy of the
+_pakeha_ meant the ultimate subjugation of the Maori race. Viewed from
+this standpoint--the only one equitable to Rangihaeata--his policy of
+hostility cannot be characterised as that of a stubborn rebel, but may
+with greater justice be regarded as the policy of a patriot.
+
+The character and personal attributes of Te Rauparaha have been the
+subject of much conflicting comment, and the pen-portraits of him
+which have come down to us have consequently varied, in sympathy with
+the mood or interest of his critics. In physical appearance, all,
+however, agree that he was short of stature and aquiline of
+feature;[198] and, though at times obsequious in manner, he was
+equally capable of displaying an imperious dignity of deportment which
+marked him as a man accustomed to wield unquestioned authority. While
+in repose, the general expression of his countenance was placid and
+thoughtful; but when under the influence of excitement or agitation, a
+receding forehead, a furtive glance, and tusk-like teeth, revealed by
+a curling lip, detracted considerably from his impressive appearance.
+Though upwards of sixty years of age when he came into contact with
+the Europeans (for he claimed to have been a boy when Cook visited the
+country), he was still possessed of a wiry frame, and was capable of
+exerting great physical strength and activity, his limbs being
+straight, his step elastic, and his athletic vigour little diminished
+by age. Perhaps the most graphic description given of the chief is
+that penned by Mr. Jerningham Wakefield, whose cameo-like portrait may
+be accepted as faithful, and typical of others given by contemporary
+writers of equal integrity, if of inferior literary skill. Wakefield
+saw Te Rauparaha for the first time on the morning after the battle of
+Kuititanga, from which the chief had just returned; and to the
+excitement of that event may be attributed the agitation observable in
+his manner, the "wandering watchful glances" he threw around him, and
+the air of "evident fear and distrust," all of which contributed so
+forcefully to the creation of an unfavourable impression on the minds
+of his visitors.
+
+ "As we leaped from our boat, he advanced to meet us, and, with looks
+ of evident fear and distrust, eagerly sought our hand to exchange the
+ missionary greeting. During the whole of the ensuing conversation he
+ seemed uneasy and insecure in his own opinion, and the whalers
+ present described this behaviour as totally at variance 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 every one. 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, were plainly discernible on
+ a nearer view."
+
+Such was the man who, in or about the year of Bonaparte's death, began
+to play the Napoleonic _role_ in New Zealand.[199] Like the
+Corsican conqueror, to whom his life affords an interesting historical
+parallel, he derived no especial advantage from hereditary lineage,
+for his place in the Maori peerage was only sufficient to lift him
+above the native plutocracy. In his rise to eminence birth played but
+a minor part, his path to fortune being carved out by innate
+enterprise, inherent courage, wonderful executive capacity, and that
+dash of political unscrupulousness which is seldom absent from leaders
+of men. From his youth up he displayed masterful qualities of
+mind,[200] which infallibly lift their possessor above the level of
+mediocrity, and when such qualities are found, whether in savage or
+civilised society, the measure of success attained is only limited by
+the degree of opportunity offered. Te Rauparaha's escapades as a boy
+reveal his natural bravery; his care as a young man for the generous
+entertainment of his visitors indicates an appreciation of the value
+of a good social impression; his exertions to master the art of war
+were sustained by a clear recognition of the fact that authority in an
+age of strife was impossible without military success; and his
+ambition to furnish his people with guns was just as clearly the
+result of the knowledge that military success was impossible without a
+weapon as efficient as that wielded by the enemy. It was not any doubt
+of the bravery or fidelity of his people that induced his anxiety
+regarding their safety at Kawhia, but a conviction that, unless they
+could procure muskets and fight Waikato on equal terms, their doom was
+sealed.
+
+But there was also that in him which made him hunger for conquest just
+as keenly as he desired to evade being conquered; and if the discovery
+of an escape from his dilemma at Kawhia was accidental, he was, as a
+rule, careful to leave nothing to accident in the execution of his
+fully matured plans. The migration from Kawhia to Kapiti was a bold
+and daring conception, fraught as it was with difficulties of
+transport, peril to old and young, and, more than all, with the
+certainty that every inch of the way would have to be either bargained
+for or fought for. Yet it is the manner in which the idea was executed
+rather than the idea itself that calls for our admiration. It was
+characterised by wise planning, discreet forethought, accurate
+calculation, clever diplomacy, skilful strategy; and, when all else
+failed, there were the strong right arm and the courageous heart to
+compel compliance, if compulsion were needed. That Te Rauparaha was
+blessed with abundant confidence in his own prowess is demonstrated by
+the lightheartedness with which he assumed the rank and
+responsibilities of the dying Hape Tuarangi; and it was just this
+spirit of cheerful self-sufficiency which inspired others with that
+unbounded trust and confidence in him, which enabled him to lead his
+people away from the ties of their ancestral home, and induce them to
+share with him the dangers and uncertainty of a great enterprise. It
+is at least a tribute to Te Rauparaha's talents as a leader that, so
+long as the Maori remained unchanged by European influences, he
+continued to receive the loyal support and unfailing allegiance of his
+people. He was always popular with the masses, otherwise he could not
+have accomplished a tithe of what he did. No criticism of Te Rauparaha
+is sound which represents him as wholly bad. There is in human nature
+a rough method of arriving at what is right; and no public, whether
+savage or civilised, will for long tolerate, much less venerate, a
+leader whose only policy is his own aggrandisement.
+
+The undisputed position which Te Rauparaha enjoyed in the affections
+of his own people, the fidelity with which they followed him, till the
+_mana_ of the chief was superseded by the ascendancy of the
+_pakeha_, afford proof that they, at all events, were able to
+discern some meritorious qualities in him, even though not endowed
+with the higher ethical vision of a modern critic. It has been
+suggested that, in after years, when dissensions arose amongst the
+tribes which acknowledged his chieftainship, the revolt was due to
+shattered confidence, this shaken faith being traceable to a belief
+that he was treacherously plotting with Ngati-Raukawa to compass the
+expulsion of Ngati-Awa from Waikanae. But it must not be forgotten
+that, by this period, the advent of the _pakeha_ had created a
+new atmosphere around the Maori, and the policy of the missionary in
+extolling the convert to the disparagement of the chief had, in a
+measure, destroyed the power of the people's leaders. And, in the
+general decline of hereditary authority, Te Rauparaha's _mana_
+had suffered with the rest. It had therefore become more
+difficult--and it may have been impossible--for him to quell
+internecine strife by the peremptory means which he would have
+employed in the days of his absolute supremacy.
+
+No candid review of the chief's career can, however, fail to take
+cognisance of the fact that his methods frequently gave rise to
+suspicions of deepest treachery, the doubtful honour of these
+proceedings having long since passed into song and proverb. In common
+with all successful leaders, he possessed the virtue of keeping his
+own counsel. He made his plans, nursed them in his own mind, and, in
+the fullness of time, gave his orders accordingly--a secretive habit
+which gave origin to the saying: "No one knew his thoughts, whether
+they were good or evil." This reticence has, by some writers, been
+given an interpretation which does not rightly belong to it: because
+he was reserved, therefore he was treacherous. Such a deduction does
+not necessarily sum up the whole position. But, even when this has
+been admitted, there still remains the imputation of treachery, left
+by the derisive songs and proverbs, to be either admitted or combated.
+The unblushing apologist for Te Rauparaha might conceivably argue that
+these chants were but the creation of prejudiced or malignant minds;
+but the charges of deception, amounting to treachery, are too
+frequently reiterated to be rejected as altogether groundless.
+Barbarous though the Maori was, he had a code of honour which could
+not be lightly violated; and when a member of a tribe was killed, it
+was not the fact that he was dead which agitated his friends, but the
+circumstances of his dying. "Was his death _tika_?[201] Had it been
+compassed in fair fight? Or was it _kohuru_?"[202] These were
+questions always demanding a satisfactory answer, for the laws
+governing life and death were well defined. And, judged by these laws,
+it is impossible to hold Te Rauparaha blameless of the crime of
+treachery. The killing of the Rangitane chief, Toki-poto, the capture
+of the Hotu-iti _pa_, the seizure of Tamaiharanui, and possibly many
+another similar deed not so specifically recorded, were all acts of
+treachery, and serve to dim the lustre of his larger achievements
+conducted strictly in accordance with Maori military law.
+Nevertheless, it is possible that there has been much exaggeration in
+relation to this phase of the chief's character. When his troubles
+with the New Zealand Company began to develop, and more particularly
+after the Wairau massacre, it became the mission of a section of the
+European community to represent him as the incarnation of all that was
+cruel, treacherous, and unspeakably wicked. In this connection it
+becomes especially dangerous to accept unreservedly the judgment of
+the Wakefields, who were early prejudiced against him by his
+opposition to their colonising methods, and were afterwards deeply
+embittered towards him by the death of their relative at the Wairau.
+Impartiality under such circumstances is almost too much to expect;
+and it is only just to Te Rauparaha to say that they availed
+themselves fully of their special opportunities for disseminating a
+prejudice against him, so that a view so long uncontradicted can
+hardly now be eradicated.
+
+In no respect has the reputation of Te Rauparaha suffered more from
+bitter hostility than in connection with the Wairau massacre. And we
+cannot wonder; for at the time of its occurrence he had arrayed
+against him a galaxy of literary talent, such as the Colony has never
+seen since, and day by day these wielders of facile pens fed with
+scholarly vituperation the flames of racial animosity, which were
+already burning at white heat. They spoke of murder; they clamoured
+for revenge; and all who failed to see as they saw were exposed to the
+darts of their merciless sarcasm. But, with the softening influence of
+time, men's hearts have mellowed, stormy passions have subsided, and
+we of this day are able to review the facts with more sober judgment
+than was possible to those who lived and wrote in the heated
+atmosphere of the time. In this unhappy quarrel it must now be
+accepted as an established fact that the New Zealand Company were the
+aggressors. The Wairau Valley may, or may not, have been included in
+their original purchases; but Captain Wakefield knew that this point
+was being contested by the natives. He knew further that the dispute
+had been by them referred to Mr. Spain, and therefore no reasonable
+excuse can be advanced for his attempt to seize the valley while its
+title was still subject to judicial investigation. Te Rauparaha's
+attitude in the early stages of the trouble amounted to no more than a
+temperate protest. He personally interviewed Captain Wakefield at
+Nelson; he was as conciliatory in requesting the surveyors to leave
+the field as he was decided that they must go; he calmed Rangihaeata's
+violence at the conference with Mr. Tuckett; and, as Mr. Spain's final
+decision was fatal to the Company's claim, the charge of arson
+preferred against him dwindles into a legal fiction. The conciliatory
+tone thus manifested by the chief was equally marked in the more acute
+stage, which arose at Tua Marina. While the magistrate fumed and
+raged, the chief stood perfectly calm. He more than once begged that
+time should be taken to talk over the case; but the mad impetuosity of
+Thompson would brook no delay in determining a cause the merits of
+which he, the judge, had already prejudged in his own mind. For the
+precipitation of the conflict which followed, who shall say that the
+fault was Te Rauparaha's? It was neither his hand nor his command
+which put the brand to the bush, nor does it appear that it was ever
+within his power to control the outburst of human passion which flamed
+up upon the firing of the first shot. What part he took in the fight
+is uncertain. It has never been suggested that he bore arms, and
+therefore we may assume that he was an excited spectator, rather than
+an active participant in the melee. That he was early on the brow of
+the hill, after the retreat had ceased, would appear to be beyond
+doubt; but his first act on reaching the Europeans was to shake hands
+with them, a proceeding which seemed to imply that, even after all
+that had passed, his friendship had not been irretrievably lost.
+Indeed, there is nothing to lead us to suppose that he harboured any
+thoughts of retaliation, until Rangihaeata violently demanded _utu_
+for the death of Te Rongo.
+
+This demand placed Te Rauparaha in a serious dilemma. Against any
+feeling of friendship for the Europeans which may still have lingered
+in his heart, he had now to set a claim which was wholly in accord
+with native custom; a right, in fact, which had been recognised by
+his forefathers for more centuries than we can with certainty name; a
+feature of Maori justice supported by ages of precedent, and which,
+imbibed from infancy, had become a part of his nature. This was
+undoubtedly the crisis of the tragedy. Had Te Rauparaha decided
+against Rangihaeata, there would have been no massacre; but where his
+detractors are unfair to him is in appearing to expect that he should
+have suddenly risen superior to his Maori nature, and, in place of
+allowing his actions to be governed by Maori law, that he--a
+heathen--should have viewed the attempt to seize his land and his
+person, together with the death of Te Rongo, in the forgiving spirit
+of a Christian. No Ethiop was ever asked to change his skin more
+rapidly; and if Te Rauparaha failed in the performance of the miracle,
+he only failed when success was morally impossible to him. In the
+massacre itself he had no share; and, beyond the fact that, under
+intense natural excitement, he gave a tacit consent to Rangihaeata's
+deed, he appears to have stood outside it.
+
+Of his relations with the whalers, accounts vary. If we accept the
+Wakefield view, we must believe that by them he was heartily detested
+and distrusted. That he was acquisitive to the point of aggression is
+possible; that he was often overbearing towards them may be equally
+true, for these are characteristics frequently seen in the powerful
+savage; but there are also instances recorded in which he showed a
+ready generosity and a strict sense of justice towards the whaling
+community.
+
+ "The whalers and traders, who had the best opportunity of being
+ intimately acquainted with him, and that, too, at a time when his
+ power to injure was greatest, invariably spoke of him as ever having
+ been the white man's friend. He always placed the best he had before
+ them, and in no instance have I heard of his doing any one of them an
+ injury. Speaking of him to an old whaler, he said emphatically that
+ Te Rauparaha never let the white man who needed want anything he
+ could give, whether food or clothing; in fact, his natural sagacity
+ told him that it was his interest to make common cause with the
+ Europeans, for it was through them that he acquired the sinews of
+ war, guns, powder, and shot, and everything else that he
+ required."[203]
+
+The impartiality with which he held the balance between the two races
+may be gathered from the following incident: A whaleboat had left
+Waikanae to proceed to Kapiti, the crew taking with them a native, who
+sat in the bow. On the journey over the Maori managed to secrete
+beneath his mat the small hatchet which the whalers used to cut the
+line, and was quietly walking off with it when the boat reached the
+island. Before he had gone many steps one of the crew whispered to the
+headsman what had happened, whereupon that worthy picked up the
+harpoon and drove it straight through the Maori's back, killing him on
+the spot. The native population was at once thrown into a state of
+uproar and fury, threatening dire vengeance upon the whalers, but Te
+Rauparaha quelled the disturbance in an instant, and, after inquiring
+into its cause, walked away, declaring that the native had only met
+with his deserts.
+
+Towards his native enemies Te Rauparaha was unquestionably merciless
+and cruel, though not more so, perhaps, than was sanctioned by the
+spirit of the times in which he lived. Yet that he was not wholly
+incapable of admiration for a worthy opponent is shown by his seeking
+out and sparing Te Ata o Tu, the Ngai-Tahu warrior, who fought so
+bravely against him at Kaiapoi. Even in this case there are persons
+who affect to believe that self-interest rather than chivalry may have
+been the moving impulse in his conduct, for he possibly counted upon
+so skilful a fighter being invaluable to him in his northern troubles.
+But surely we can afford to be magnanimous enough to concede to so
+fine an example of generosity a less mercenary motive?[204] Though
+relentless to a degree towards those tribes who came between him and
+his ambitions, it must always be remembered that his ruthlessness is
+not to be judged from the Christian standpoint. His enormities, which
+were neither few nor small, were those of a savage, born and bred in
+an atmosphere into which no spirit of Divine charity had ever entered.
+Compared with the excesses practised in civilised warfare by such
+champions of the Cross as Cortes and the Duke of Alva, his deeds of
+darkness become less repugnant, if not altogether pardonable.
+
+The attitude which he adopted towards the European was in exact
+opposition to that assumed by Te Rangihaeata. He welcomed rather than
+resented the coming of the white man, although he found reason to
+protest against the methods employed by the New Zealand Company in
+acquiring land on which to settle them. Nor in this respect can it be
+said that his objections were captious or ill-founded; in fact, with
+the exception of the Hutt dispute, the Commissioner's decisions were
+invariably a vindication of his contentions. Some doubt has
+necessarily been cast upon his loyalty to the Government (which he
+accepted when he signed the Treaty of Waitangi), by virtue of the fact
+that he was seized and held captive because of his supposed
+infidelity. There are those with whom it is only necessary to accuse
+in order to condemn. In this case accusation carried condemnation with
+it, but condemnation without proof of guilt is injustice. Whatever the
+measure of Te Rauparaha's duplicity may have been, the Governor
+conspicuously failed to do more than suspect him, and as conspicuously
+failed to bring the chief face to face with his accusers. It was never
+proved, nor was any attempt ever made to prove before a court of
+competent jurisdiction, that Te Rauparaha had held communication with
+the enemy. Even if he had so communicated, an easy explanation might
+have been found in the native practice, under which individuals in
+opposing forces frequently visited each other during the progress of
+hostilities. Te Rauparaha had many friends with the rebels, and it
+would appear perfectly natural to him to hold friendly correspondence
+with them, whilst himself maintaining an attitude of strict
+neutrality. Considering the contemptuous disregard which many British
+officials displayed towards rites and customs held sacred by the
+Maori, it is not to be expected that they would trouble to understand,
+or try to appreciate, this subtlety in the native character. And so,
+what was to the Maori a well-established and common custom, was by
+them translated into treachery, for which Te Rauparaha was made
+captive in a manner which leaves us but little right to talk of open
+and honourable tactics.
+
+His conduct while a captive on board the _Calliope_ appears to
+have been exemplary enough, and he succeeded in impressing those with
+whom he came into contact by his quick perception, particularly of
+anything meant to turn him into ridicule, of which he was most
+sensitive. He frequently became much excited and very violent, and at
+other times, when talking of his misfortunes, he would become deeply
+moved, and the tears would run down his wrinkled cheeks. It is
+recorded that he was very grateful for any kindness shown him; and
+when Lieutenant Thorpe left the ship to return to England he expressed
+the most intense sorrow, crying the whole day, and repeating the
+officer's name in piteous accents. This, it was noted, was not merely
+a temporary affection. When, a year later, the _Calliope_ was
+leaving the New Zealand station, he sent his favourite a very handsome
+mat, begging the officer by whom it was sent to tell Lieutenant Thorpe
+how glad he would be to see his face once more, and how well he would
+treat him now that he was free. Similarly, when Lieutenant McKillop
+was proceeding home, Te Rauparaha took him aside and entreated him to
+go, on reaching England, and convey to Queen Victoria his regard for
+her and express his keen desire to see her, only his great age and the
+length of the voyage standing between him and the consummation of that
+desire. "He hoped, however, she would believe that he would always be
+a great and true friend of hers, and use all his influence with his
+countrymen to make them treat her subjects well, and that, when he
+became free again, there would be no doubt as to his loyalty, as he
+would himself, old as he was, be the first to engage in a war against
+any who should offend her or the Governor, of whom he always spoke
+with the greatest respect." During his captivity the news of the
+outbreak of the war in the Sutlej reached the Colony, and, noticing
+the excitement on board the _Calliope_, he asked to be informed of the
+contents of the papers giving details of the battles. In this subject
+he maintained the liveliest interest; and, when he had sufficiently
+grasped the details, he was perceptibly impressed by the magnitude of
+the armies engaged and the tremendous resources of the Empire, about
+which he, in common with all natives, had been distinctly incredulous.
+That his release was marked by no exhibition of resentment is at least
+something to his credit, and the ease with which he afterwards adapted
+himself to the strangely altered order of things is proof that his
+nature was capable of absorbing higher ideals than are taught in
+savage philosophy, although it is doubtful if he ever reached the
+purer heights attained by a clear conception of the beatitudes of the
+Christian religion.
+
+In the life of Te Rauparaha there is much that is revolting and
+incapable of palliation. But, always remembering his savage
+environment, we must concede to him the possession of qualities which,
+under more enlightened circumstances, would have contributed as
+fruitfully to the uplifting of mankind as they did to its destruction.
+His superiority over his fellows was mental rather than physical; his
+success lay in his intellectual alertness, his originality, strategic
+foresight, and executive capacity. He was probably a better diplomat
+than he was a general, but he had sufficient of the military instinct
+to make him a conqueror. And if, in the execution of his conquests,
+the primary object of which was to find a safe home for his people,
+the weaker tribes went down, history was but repeating amongst the
+Maoris in New Zealand the story which animate nature is always and
+everywhere proclaiming, and which, in the cold language of the
+philosophers, is called "the survival of the fittest."
+
+[196] "On shore, I was much tormented by the zeal of some European
+sailors, who appeared to be a drunken set of lawless vagabonds,
+belonging to the different whaling establishments in the neighbourhood.
+The only respectable person amongst them was a stock-keeper in charge
+of some sheep and horned cattle, and the captain of a whaling vessel
+ahead of us. I asked the sailors, who were complaining that some of
+the property taken was theirs, if they had any specific charge to make
+against Rangihaeata, who was the most powerful chief in the
+neighbourhood. However, I could get nothing from them but vague
+declarations against native chiefs in general, to which I replied that
+the fault was probably as much on their side as on that of the
+natives. The old chief, who was present, appeared to understand the
+drift of the conversation, for he went into his hut and brought out
+several written testimonials of good conduct; on which I desired Mr.
+Williams to explain to him how much I was gratified in perusing them,
+and that I trusted that under the Queen's Government he would continue
+equally to deserve them: that he would find the Government just and
+even-handed, and that punishment would follow evil-doers, whether they
+were natives or Europeans. To which he replied, 'Kapai,' apparently
+much satisfied" (_Major Bunbury_).
+
+[197] "On Saturday (November 24, 1849), Rangihaeata and a party of his
+followers paid a last visit to Te Rauparaha. At the Ohau ferry
+Rangihaeata demanded some spirits from the temporary ferryman (the
+regular one being absent). On being refused, he knocked him down, and
+then helped himself, but afterwards tendered _utu_ for the
+violence offered and the spirits taken" (New Zealand _Spectator_,
+December 1, 1849).
+
+[198] In an enclosure opposite the Maori church at Otaki there stands
+upon a pedestal a marble bust of Te Rauparaha. The bust was procured
+in Sydney by Tamihana te Rauparaha at a cost of L200, and the
+likeness, which is said to be a very faithful one, was copied from a
+portrait painted by Mr. Beetham. Because Te Rauparaha had not become
+even "nominally Christian," Mr. Hadfield refused to permit the
+erection of the bust within the church enclosure, and for two years it
+lay upon the common, packed in the case in which it had come from
+Sydney. Subsequently, Mr. McWilliam, the native missionary, collected
+a few pounds with which to purchase the pedestal, and had the bust
+erected where it now stands. On the authority of Dieffenbach and
+Angas, it is said that Te Rauparaha possessed the physical curiosity
+of six toes on each foot.
+
+[199] It is estimated that during the course of Te Rauparaha's
+campaigns no less than 60,000 lives were sacrificed.
+
+[200] Mr. Spain, in one of his reports, has said: "Rauparaha is the
+most talented native I have seen in New Zealand. He is mild and
+gentlemanly in his manner and address; a most powerful speaker; and
+his argumentative faculties are of a first rate order."
+
+"He must have been a most powerful man, and, if his mind had been
+cultivated, would, no doubt, have been a most clever one. As it is, he
+seldom gets the worst of an argument about his own proceedings, puts
+such searching questions and gives such evasive answers, that he
+puzzled the best of our logicians on many occasions when endeavouring
+to get him to give a decided answer about his not giving us the
+assistance he promised when we were trying to capture the murderers
+from Rangihaeata" (_McKillop_).
+
+[201] Correct, according to prescribed rules.
+
+[202] Treachery, amounting to murder.
+
+[203] Rev. Richard Taylor.
+
+[204] "I must not omit to mention that, cruel and bloodthirsty as this
+man appears to have been, he must occasionally have made exceptions,
+as one of his slaves voluntarily accompanied him into captivity on
+board the _Calliope_, waiting on him and paying him every
+attention for a period of eighteen months, knowing from the beginning
+that he was quite free to leave him at any time. He was offered a
+rating on the ship's books, but this he refused, saying there would be
+no one to wait on the old man if he was otherwise employed"
+(_McKillop_).
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF TE RAUPARAHA'S WIVES AND
+CHILDREN
+
+
+            { = Marore (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (the trap).
+            { +---------------+-------------+-------+
+            {   |             |             |       |
+            { Uira.  Ranga-hounga-riri.  Tutari.  Poaka.
+            {
+            { = Kahui-rangi
+            { | (stranger).
+            { +---+------------+
+            {     |            |
+            {  Hononga       Atua
+            { (landslip).   (god).
+            {
+            { = Ranga-ta-moana (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (day of taking at sea).
+            { +-------+-------------------+
+            {         |                   |
+            { Whetu-kai-tangata       Puta-kino
+            { (man-eating star).   (note of evil).
+            {
+            { = Hope-nui (Ngati-Toa)
+            { | (big waist).
+            { +---+-----------------+
+            {     |                 |
+  Rauparaha {  Motu-hia         Te Malata
+  (leaf of  { (cut off).   (carry on a litter).
+   paraha). {
+            { = Akau (Tu-hou-rangi)
+            { | (sea-coast).
+            { +------+------------------------+
+            {        |                        |
+            {  Tamu-whakairia         Tamihana Rauparaha
+            { (king lifted up).   (Thompson leaf of paraha).
+            {
+            { = Kutia (Tu-hou-rangi)
+            { | (nipped together).
+            { +--+
+            {    |
+            { Paranihia
+            { (Frances).
+            {
+            { = Kahu-kino (Ngatirangitihi)
+            { | (evil garment).
+            { +---------+
+            {           |
+            { Rangi houngi-riri tuarua
+            { (day of battle, second).
+            {
+            { = Kahu-taiki (Ngati-Toa)
+            {   (garment of wicker work).
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: MAP OF NEW ZEALAND]
+
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Old New Zealander, by T. Lindsay Buick
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