‘ W. T. L. Travers.—The Life and Times of Te Rauparaha. 47 
order. But unskilfully as they used the musket, and little as it might have 
been feared by Europeans, such was the dread of its effects amongst the 
natives, more especially on the part of the tribes which did not possess them, 
that the strength of a war party was, at that time, not so much calculated by 
the number of its members, as by the quantity of fire-locks it could bring 
into action; and when Paora, a northern chief, invaded the district of 
Whangaroa in 1819, the terrified people described him as having twelve 
muskets, whilst the name of Te Korokoro, then a great chief at the Bay of 
Islands, who was known to possess fifty stand of arms, was heard with terror 
for upwards of 200 miles beyond his owm district. 
But the musket was not the only weapon which the natives obtained from 
the European traders. The bayonet and the tomahawk, the former of which 
was fixed to a long handle, began to replace in their fights the wooden spear 
and battle-axe, and naturally added greatly to the offensive power of those 
who possessed them in any numbers. As fast as the Ngapuhi acquired these 
arms, they made hostile expeditions against the Ngatimaru, and other tribes 
occupying the Thames, and the shores of the Tamaki and Waitemata, carrying 
terror and destruction wherever they went. But in proportion as the whale 
ships and traders from Sydney extended their intercourse with the natives, 
the Ngatimaru, the Ngatihaua, and the Arawa, gradually acquired similar 
weapons, and thus fought on terms of greater equality ; and it was also during 
this period, as mentioned in the last chapter, that Te Waharoa began to 
mature his designs for the destruction of the first of these tribes. I may 
here remark, that the trade referred to was almost confined to the Eastern 
side of the North Island, and that the tribes on the West Coast, at all events 
below the Manukau, had but little opportunity of obtaining the much coveted 
weapons. The wars in which Ngatimaru were engaged against Ngapuhi and 
Ngatihaua, and the want of a sufficient quantity of firearms amongst the 
tribes at Kaipara and Hokianga, coupled with their total absence amongst the 
other tribes on the West Coast, went far towards preventing Te Rauparaha 
from carrying out his designs ‘against Waikato, whilst such designs became 
gradually less feasible, owing to the position of the latter, who, in consequence 
of the offensive and defensive alliance which they had formed with Te 
Waharoa, were enabled, without difficulty, to obtain supplies of muskets and 
ammunition. 
When Te Rauparaha found it impossible to carry out his design, he 
returned to Kawhia, where, by a succession of victories over Waikato, and 
by the practice of hospitality, he greatly increased his power and influence 
with his own trite, whilst he cultivated the friendship (due partly to good 
feeling, but largely to fear) of the Ngatiawa, who occupied the country 
to the southward, stretching from Mokau to Taranaki. He is represented 
