Chapter VII.

Rauparaha having thus completed his design of conquering the Middle island, next turned his attention, at the earnest request of the Ngatiraukawa, to avenging a defeat which the latter had sustained some time previously at the hands of the tribes occupying the line of the Wanganui River. In this defeat only a few of the chiefs had escaped the general slaughter, amongst whom were Te Puke and his younger brother Te Ao, both of whom succeeded in making their way to Kapiti. In consequence of this resolution, a war party numbering nearly a thousand fighting men, under the most distinguished chiefs of the three tribes then united under the general leadership of Rauparaha, was despatched to lay siege to Putikiwaranui, a great pa of the Wanganuis, which was occupied and defended by nearly double the number of the attacking force. The siege lasted upwards of two months during which many sorties were made, but the beseigers maintained their ground, and ultimately carried the enemy's works by assault, slaughtering an immense number of them. Turoa and Hori Te Anaua (lately known as Hori Kingi) the head chiefs, however, escaped, but the fact that no attempt was even made to avenge this serious disaster, is of itself the strongest evidence of the power of Te Rauparaha and his allies, and of the absurdity of supposing page xxxii that his occupation of the country he had conquered could for a moment have been disturbed by the remnant of the Ngatiapa, Rangitane, and Muaupoke tribes which had still escaped the general destruction of their people. Soon after the year 1835, the great body of the Ngatiawa, under the chiefs E Puni, Warepouri, Wi Tako, and others, and accompanied by numbers of the Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes, came down the coast, many of them settling around and to the southward of Waikanae, whilst others took possession of Port Nicholson and the Hutt country, from which they drove the section of the Ngatikahungunu, which up to this time had occupied those districts. This migration took place after the destruction of the great Ngatiawa pa of Pukerangiora, inland of the Waitara. * * *

Page 69. The heavy blow thus inflicted upon the tribe,^* and the fear of complete annihilation, determined those who still remained to join Rauparaha and the Ngatiraukawa, whose force, thus increased, would be more than a match for any war party which the Waikatos could bring against them even if the chiefs of the latter tribes felt disposed to carry hostilities into Rauparaha's country. It appears that shortly after the arrival of the Ngatiawa on the coast, they formed the design of taking possession of a large part of the country occupied by the Ngatiraukawa, and particularly that in the neighbourhood and to the north of Otaki. It would seem, moreover, that there was dissension amongst the Ngatitoas themselves, a portion of them taking part with the Ngatiawa, out of jealousy at some apparent favouritism extended by Rauparaha to the great Ngatiawa^† chieftains, and more particularly to Whatanui, whose relationship to Rauparaha, together with his high character as a chief and warrior, gave him great influence with the latter. The immediate cause of the fighting to which am about to refer, however, was a robbery committed by a party of Ngatiruanui, who were caught by the Ngatiraukawa in the very act of plundering their potato pits near Waikawa. A conflict at once took place, in which a leading chief of the Ngatiruanui, named Tawhake, was killed, and this led to hostilities being carried on between the two tribes at various points on the line of their settlements between Manawatu and Waikanae. This state of affairs continued for a considerable time, the forces engaged on each side being numerous and well armed, the result being that large numbers were killed on both sides. Soon after this civil war had commenced Te Rauparaha, who at once saw the disastrous results which must follow from it, sent messengers to Te Heuheu, urging that chief to bring down a force sufficiently strong to enable him to crush the Ngatiruanui, who were the most turbulent of the insurgents, after which he hoped to be able to bring about a peace between the remainder of the contending parties. He was much grieved,

^* Ngatiawa.

^† Should read Ngatiraukawa.—T. C. W.

page xxxiii moreover, at the dissension in his own tribe, part of which, as have before mentioned, had joined the Ngatiawa leaders, and had taken an active part in the numerous engagements which had already occurred. * * * It was, therefore, with great satisfaction that he received intimation from Te Heuheu of his intention to bring a large force to his aid; and, in effect, within two or three months after the commencement of hostilities, that chief, accompanied by other chiefs of note from Maungatautari and Taupo, amongst whom were Tariki and Taonui, reached Otaki with nearly 800 well-armed fighting men. No sooner had they arrived than they proceeded to attack the Ngatiawa at Horowhenua, a pa close to the Otaki river. But even with this great accession to his forces, the contest raged for several months with varying success, the slaughter in some instances being very great. In one of the battles Papaka, a favourite brother of Te Heuheu, was killed, and in another Te Tipi, a son of Rauparaha.

At length a great battle was fought at Pakakutu, in which the Ngatiruanui were defeated with serious loss, their chief Takerangi being killed and their pa taken. This battle put an end to the war, for soon afterwards the whole of the leading chiefs on both sides met, and upon the advice and urgent entreaty of Te Heuheu and Whatanui, a peace was made, which was not again broken until the fighting at Kirititonga, which (as will be mentioned in the sequel) took place on the day before the arrival of the "Tory." Immediately after peace had been solemnly ratified the parties divided, the Ngatiraukawa proceeding to re-occupy their former settlements around Ohau and Horowhenua, and also the district between the Manawatu and Rangitikei Rivers, whilst the Ngatiawa retired below Waikanae, occupying the various points, including Port Nicholson, in which they were ultimately found by the agents of the New Zealand Company. Rauparaha, however, was so much grieved at what had taken place, and more particularly at the defection of that part of his own tribe which had joined the Ngatiawa during the recent struggle, that he determined to accompany Te Heuheu back to Maungatautari, and settle there for the remainder of his days. In pursuance of this resolve, he collected his more immediate followers and proceeded as far as Ohau, where, however, he was overtaken by messengers from Otaki and Kapiti, urging him to abandon his resolution and to remain with his people. In this request they were joined by Heuheu, and after much discussion and persuasion he consented to their request, returning to Kapiti, after taking leave of his great ally.

Page 71. This was the last great struggle in which Rauparaha was engaged, but it seems that during the intervals of rest between his various more important undertakings, he was ever mindful of the treacherous attempt of the Muaupoko to murder him, and of the actual slaughter of his children, and had page xxxiv unceasingly persecuted the remnant of this tribe, until at last they, as well as the Ngatiapa and Rangitane, sought the protection of Te Whatanui. In the words of Te Kepa Rangihiwinui (better known as Major Kemp), son of Tunguru, one of the chiefs of the Muaupoko, who had been concerned in the murder, "Whatanui took them under his protection, and promised that nothing should reach them but the rain from heaven," meaning that he would stand between them and the long-nursed and ever-burning wrath of Te Rauparaha. The latter unwillingly yielded to the wishes of his great kinsman, and from that time ceased directly to molest these unfortunate people, who were suffered again to occupy part of their original territory in the neighbourhood of Lake Horowhenua; not as a tribe however, but simply in the character of tributaries, if not actual slaves, to Whatanui. In the words of Matene Te Whiwhi, "Rauparaha was anxious to exterminate Muaupoko, but Whatanui interfered. Some had been taken prisoners, but others were living dispersed in the mountains. When they came to Horowhenua, they came like wild dogs; if they had been seen they would have been caught and killed. There was one there, a woman of rank, whose possessions had covered all Otaki, and who had been a slave of mine. She was the wife of Te Kooku. They had been taken but not killed." But it is clear, nevertheless, that although Rauparaha refrained from directly molesting them, he was not unwilling to join in any indirect attempt to exterminate them for we find that on one occasion Wi Tako,^* in conjunction with some of the Ngatitoa chiefs, having been instigated by To Rauparaha to do so, invited the whole Muaupoko people to a great feast to be held at Ohariu—upon some one of the numerous pretexts which the Maoris knew so well how to use for engaging in festivities, it having been arranged beforehand that these guests should all be murdered and eaten. The bait took, notwithstanding the advice of Whatanui, who distrusting the reasons assigned for the festival, cautioned the Muaupoko not to attend, predicting some disaster to them. Notwithstanding this caution, upwards of 150 attended the festival, all of whom were slaughtered, and their bodies duly consigned to the ovens; but this was the last great act of slaughter of the kind which took place.

Page 73. I do not think it necessary to refer in any detail to the events which took place between the Horowhenua war and the arrival of the "Tory" with Colonel Wakefield in 1839. On the 16th November in that year the ship reached Kapiti, and Colonel Wakefield was informed that a sanguinary battle had just been fought near Waikanae on that morning between large forces of the Ngatiawa on the one side, and of Ngatiraukawa on

^* This occured before Wi Tako's arrival. The people who attended were of the Ngatiapa, Muaupoko, and Rangitane tribes, principally the latter.—T. C. W.

page xxxv the other. This fight is commonly known as the kirititonga, and was caused by the renewal, at the funeral obsequies of Rauparaha's sister Waitohi, of the land feuds between the two tribes. The forces engaged were large, and the killed on both sides numbered nearly eighty, whilst considerable numbers were wounded. Rauparaha himself took no part in the battle, reaching the scene of action after the repulse of the Ngatiraukawa, and narrowly escaping death by swimming off to his canoe, his retreat being covered by a vigorous rally on the part of his allies. This was the last contest which occurred between the natives along the coast in question, the arrival of the European settlers having entirely changed the aspect of affairs.

Page 77. Such is the history of the life and times of a very remarkable man, and of habits and customs which have already become so much things of the past that in the course of another generation there will scarcely be an aboriginal native left who will have the slightest knowledge of them. Indeed the memory of the events I have related is already becoming indistinct, even to those of the principal actors in these events who are still living.