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."