Best.—Miramar Island and its History. 785 
platforms that this scheme failed. After the lapse of some time the 
invaders were much distressed during a severe southerly storm, for they 
were unable to procure food-supplies from the ocean. The defenders of 
Te Whetu-kairangi took advantage of the miserable condition of the raiders 
and attacked them at dawn. They succeeded in defeating them, and 
the invaders fled to the mainland, a number perishing in the crossing of 
Te Awa-a-Taia. So ended the famous raid of west-coast tribes on the 
land of Tara. 
Such is the story of the original settlement кж Nicholson, and 
Seatoun folk can claim that their corner of the m of Tara was the 
temporary abiding-place of the heroic old-time Polynesian voyagers who 
sailed their open canoes for two thousand miles from far Tahiti to dis- 
cover these isles, and also that it was the site of the first permanent 
settlement in the district. Truly, things have changed since the days 
when the stockades of Te Whetu-kairangi stood on the Seatoun heights, 
and bare-limbed barbarians looked down upon the restless waters of 
round their villages? The clear statements that mar was an is 
at that period form the most interesting part of the legend. On the 
2nd November, 1773, Miramar was a; at some intervening 
flourished eighteen generations ago, а violent earthquake-shock so lifted 
iti i have been the 
traditions, but it may be correct, and the shock may ha 
cause of the raised beaches that form so marked and interesting a feature 
of the adjacent coast-line. The earthquake referred to, if it occurred in 
і Lo- -tahi t have occurred in the fifteenth century. 
the time of Te Ao-haere-tahi, kom: за fe diat da Еле channel 
or entrance has existed, and that the sea has flowed over Miramar Flat. 
