W. T. L. Travers. — The Life and Times of Te Baujxcraha. 73 



exclusively on the West Coast of the Middle Island, and it appears that the 

 Ngaitahu of Kaikoura and Amuri especially, had long been in the habit of 

 sending war parties across the island, for the purpose of killing and plundering 

 the inhabitants of the district in which it was obtained. These expeditions 

 sometimes passed through the Tarndale country to the Upper Waiauua, and 

 from thence through the Kopiokaitangata, or Cannibal Gorge, at the head 

 of the Marina River, into the valley of the Grey, from whence they ran down 

 the coast to the main settlements from the mouth of that river to Jackson 

 Bay, and at other times passed from the Conway and other points on the 

 East Coast through the Hanmer Plains to the valley of the Ahaura, a 

 tributary of the Grey, and so to the same localities. The line of route by the 

 Cannibal Gorge runs partly through a tract of country which I now occupy 

 as a cattle-run, and my men have frequently found stone axes, pawa shells, 

 remains of eel-baskets, and other articles, left on the line of march ; similar 

 articles being also found on the line through the Hanmer Plains. The scenery 

 of the upper country on the line by the Cannibal Gorge is very grand and 

 beautiful, the valley of the Ada, the head waters of which rise within half a 

 mile of those of the Marina, running through an immense cleft in the Spencer 

 Mountains, the summits of Mount Una and the Fairy Queen, capped with 

 perpetual snow, rising abruptly on each side of the stream, to a height little 

 under 6,000 feet, whilst the valley itself is rarely more than a quarter of a 

 mile in breadth. The Cannibal Gorge is extremely rugged, and the fall of 

 the river tremendous, its waters, when swollen by rain and melting snow, 

 pouring down the gorge for miles in a perfect cataract of foam, and with a 

 roar, which, echoed from the rocky glens on each side, rivals that of Niagara. 

 During their journeys to the coast through these rugged scenes the war 

 parties lived entirely on eels, wekas, and kakapos, which, at that time, were 

 numerous in the ranges ; whilst on their return, after a successful raid, 

 human flesh was often carried by the slaves they had taken, and the latter 

 were, not unfrequently, killed in order to afford a banquet to their captors. 

 During these expeditions large quantities of green-stone, both in rough blocks 

 and in well-fashioned weapons — an art especially known to the West Coast 

 natives — were often obtained, if the approach of the invaders was not 

 discovered in time to jDermit the inhabitants to conceal themselves and their 

 treasures, and it was the accumulated wealth of many years which Pauparaha 

 expected to acquire in case he should prove victorious in his projected attack 

 upon Rerewhaka and his people. 



Chapter YI. 

 It was not until the morning of the fourth day after leaving D'Urville 

 Island that the war party reached the Kaikoura Peninsula, and as they had 



K 



