W. T. L. Travers.— TAe 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 ISTene, 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 IY. 

 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 



