W. T. L. Travers.—The Life and Times of Te Rauparaha. 51 
muskets and ammunition, but the quantity was not sufficiently large to afford 
them the means of successfully resisting the probable attacks of the tribes 
nearer the coast, whose opportunities of trade with the whale ships enabled 
them to acquire an abundant supply of both, as well as of tomahawks and 
other iron weapons of the most deadly character. ‘Te Rauparaha, no doubt, 
represented to them the probability of obtaining similar supplies from ships 
frequenting the shores of Cook Strait, whilst the severe blow inflicted on the 
tribes occupying the territory in question, by the war party under Tamati 
Waka Nene, Patuone, and himself, afforded a prospect of easy victory. It was 
not, however, until after he and his people had reached Taranaki, in the 
course of their migration, that he succeeded in inducing Watanui, one of 
the principal chiefs of the Ngatiraukawa, to concur in his project, under 
circumstances which will be related hereafter. In the meantime, he and his 
own tribe made up their minds to leave, and finally departed from Kawhia in 
1819 or 1820; but I reserve, for the next chapter, the account of this highly 
interesting event, and of those which took place during their subsequent 
journey southward. 
CHAPTER IV. 
THE voluntary migration, from their ancestral possessions, of an independent 
and comparatively powerful tribe like the Ngatitoa, with a view to the 
conquest and settlement of a new territory, must, under any circumstances, 
be looked upon as a remarkable event in the later history of “Old New 
Zealand ;” but our wonder at the undertaking ceases, when we reflect upon 
the peculiar position occupied by this tribe—and, in fact, by all the tribes on 
the western coast of the North Island, to the South of the Manukau—at the 
period when it took place, more especially with reference to the opportunity 
of acquiring fire-arms, which had become an absolute necessity to any tribe 
desirous of maintaining a separate independent existence, whilst we are forced 
to admire the sagacity of the chief who conceived, and of the people who 
adopted, such a design. There can, indeed, be little doubt that had the 
Ngatitoa attempted, in the then changed circumstances of native warfare, to 
retain possession of their ancient territory against the increasing power of the 
Waikatos, more particularly after the alliance of the latter with Te Waharoa, 
they would certainly have been annihilated. ; 
I ought to have mentioned in the last chapter, that in the long period 
during which the Ngatitoa, Ngatiawa, and Ngatitama occupied adjoining 
districts, frequent intermarriages took place between members of these tribes, 
so that the leading chiefs, especially, of each came to be connected with 
„those of the others by ties of blood. Te Rauparaha himself was in this 
position, and this circumstance, added to his great fame as a warrior and 
