44 Transactions. 
alliance were of great service to the latter, and permitted a ready means of 
communication between him and his Ngatiraukawa allies during the prosecu- 
tion of his designs in the South. 
It is almost impossible to determine the date of the birth of Te Rau- 
paraha, but from the best information I have been able to obtain as to 
his, probable age at the time of the Treaty of Waitangi, I am disposed 
to fix it at about the year 1770. „He was born at Kawhia, where, except 
during occasional visits to other parts of the Island, and especially to 
his kindred at Maungatautari, he resided until he obtained the complete 
leadership of his tribe. He had two brothers and two sisters, all older than 
himself, but his brothers never assumed positions of importance amongst their 
people, and neither of them ever exhibited the particular qualities which have 
made Te Rauparaha so famous in the history of “Old New Zealand.” 
Te Rauparaha is said to have been a good, pretty, and playful child, possessing, 
amongst other qualities, that of obedience in a high degree. It is recorded of 
him, that on one occasion when directed by an old slave of his father’s, named 
Poutini, to fetch water in a calabash, an order which, considering his rank, he 
would have been quite justified in disregarding, he at once obeyed and fetched 
it. But, like other youths, he now and then got into scrapes; and, to use the 
naif language of his son, “he did many good and many foolish actions.” As 
he advanced in years, his mind developed rapidly, and he soon exhibited an 
extraordinary degree of wisdom, though his parents scarcely gave him credit 
for qualities quite apparent to strangers; and, as it seems, were rather 
inclined to snub him in favour of his elder brothers. But this condition of 
things did not long continue, and the following incident brought his peculiar 
talents prominently before his people, and enabled him at once to assume a 
position of great authority amongst them, leading, ultimately, to the absolute 
chieftainship of the tribe. It was a custom amongst the Maori chiefs, before 
the introduction of christianity, to assign a wife to each of their male 
children, even before the latter had attained the age of puberty. In the 
case of Te Rauparaha, a girl named Marore had been given to him as the 
wife of his boyhood, of whom, as he grew up, he became very fond, and 
in whose cause he obtained his first experience as a warrior—his “baptism 
of fire.” It appears that his parents had invited a large number of the 
tribe to a feast, and when the food—the fish, the eels, and the kumera—had 
been placed upon the platform, Te Rauparaha saw that the portion allotted 
to Marore had no relish. This made him very sad, and after some con- 
sideration he asked his father’s permission to lead a war party into the 
country of the Waikatos, in order that some people might be killed as a relish 
for the food apportioned to Marore. In those days his wish was, no doubt, 
considered strictly reasonable and proper—strictly tika in fact—and his father 
