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W. T. L. Travers.. The Life and Times of Te Rauparaha. 63 
treacherous act on his part, committed for the express purpose of involving 
Te Pehi, and a number of other members of the tribe, in destruction ; but it 
is difficult to suppose that Rauparaha could have maintained his high position 
if this charge, and others of a similar nature, were in any degree well 
founded. My own impression is that the whole affair was planned for the 
express purpose of throwing the defenders of Kapiti off their guard, and so of 
securing a conquest which had already been several times attempted in vain, 
but which he felt to be absolutely necessary for the success of his ultimate 
designs. It appears that one day he started with a large force of Ngatitoa 
and Ngatiawa for Horowhenua, for the avowed purpose of harrassing the 
remnant of Muaupoko and Rangitane who still wandered about that district, 
and that before dawn of the morning after his departure (which had been 
made known on the previous day to the people on the Island through their 
-own spies), Te Pehi, and his own immediate followers, crossed the Strait and 
attacked them. Thrown off their guard by the knowledge of Rauparaha’s 
absence with the bulk of the warriors, they bad neglected their ordinary 
precautions against surprise, and were easily defeated, many being slain, 
although the greater number escaped in their canoes to the main land, and 
found refuge in the forests and swamps of the Manawatu. On the return of 
Rauparaha’s war party, he at once passed over to Kapiti, where he usually 
resided from that time until his death. Shortly after the taking of Kapiti, 
Wi Kingi and the great body of the Ngatiawa returned to the Waitara, only 
twenty warriors remaining with the Ngatitoa. Thus weakened, they were 
ultimately compelled, by events which I am about to relate, to abandon their 
settlements on the main land, and to remove to Kapiti, where they formed 
and occupied three large pas, one named Wharekohu, at the southern end of 
the Island; another named Rangatira, near the northern end; and one named 
Taepiro, between the other two, Te Rauparaha and Rangihaieta, with the main 
body of the people, residing in the latter. Before relating the events which 
took place after the departure of the Ngatiawa, it is necessary that I should 
call attention to many affairs of importance which occurred between that 
event and the first settlement of the Ngatitoa at Ohau. It will be remembered 
that at the close of the last chapter I mentioned the attempt made by the 
Muaupoko to murder Rauparaha, near Lake Papaitanga, and the determina- 
tion of himself and his tribe to lose no opportunity of taking vengeance for 
the slaughter which had taken place on that occasion. At the time of this 
occurrence, the Muaupoko were still numerous and comparatively powerful, 
having suffered much less during the previous incursions of the Ngapuhi and 
Waikatos, than the neighbouring tribes; but they were, nevertheless, no 
match for the better armed and more warlike Ngatitoa, and therefore rarely 
met them in the open field, relying for security rather upon the inaccessibility 
