Chap.V. battle 0¥ waikanae. m 
distinguished guests. Among these were the Ngatirau- 
kawa, a tribe who were induced several years before by 
Rauperaha to come from tlie interior of the North 
Island in order to assist him in his conquest of these 
parts, and who were led by a renowned chief named 
TVatamii, or " the Great Store." They commonly re- 
side at O^flAri, about twelve miles north of TVaikanae,?LTA 
had been incited by Rauperaha to annoy the Ngatiawa 
on their first arrival from Taranaki. Feuds, bloody 
wars, and a bitter hatred of each other, had been the 
consequence ; and some of their old grievances had been 
revived by their meeting at Mana. Rauperaha cun- 
ningly fanned the flame ; and mutual insults and re- 
criminations followed, on the passage of the Ngatirau- 
kawa past TVaikanae to their homes after the feast. 
Shots were fired in defiance over their heads as they 
passed along the beach, and even some pigs which they 
were driving were taken from them and killed by the 
Ngatiawa. They prepared for a contest, were mar- 
shalled by their chiefs the same evening, and, by pre- 
vious concert with Rauperaha, attacked the JVaikanae 
pa at daylight. 
Two rivers meet there, the TVaimea and the TVai- 
kanae. A small out-lying village, situated on the sandy 
tongue of land between the two, sustained the first 
brunt of the attack. A Ngatiraukawa spy, who found 
a boy of ten years old awake in one of the huts, asked 
him for a light for his pipe, thinking to make him be- 
lieve that he was a friend. His blood, however, was 
the first spilt ; for the gallant little fellow took up a 
loaded musket and shot him dead on the spot. His 
friends now invested the village, which, with only 
about thirty men, held out until their friends from the 
main pa were roused by the firing and crossed the 
PP^aikanae to their assistance. A fierce and bloody 
