TE RAUPARAHA AND RANGIHAEATA. 
333 
subject is a painful one, and fain would I pass by it unnoticed; 
but this cannot be done. The views taken on the subject vary. 
The fight at Wairau has been differently described. The 
following account is chiefly from the lips of a native who had 
no sentiments in common with those concerned; and as he 
received it from one who was in that encounter, it may be 
regarded as an impartial narrative; and also explains some 
points which were before inexplicable. 
It commences with stating, that an angry feeling was excited 
in the breast of Rangihaeata, on account of the result of a 
trial. A native woman was supposed to have been murdered 
by some European, and there appears much reason to think 
the supposition was correct; still, there was not sufficient 
evidence to convict him : he therefore escaped. This woman 
was a connexion of Rangihaeata, and he viewed the acquit¬ 
tal of the accused as a sign of the judge’s partiality towards 
a countryman, and could not forget it. Shortly after¬ 
wards it was told him that the Europeans were surveying 
the Wairau Valley. He exclaimed with indignation, this is 
the second time they have wounded me; they murdered my 
relative, and now they are taking my land ; they are seeking a 
quarrel with me. The Company professed to have bought 
the Wairau, but the natives disallowed the purchase. He 
therefore went and told Te Rauparaha his uncle, and said, 
Let us go and send the surveyors back to Nelson, to the 
place which they have really bought; but Wairau I shall not 
part with. They therefore crossed over the Straits, and com¬ 
manded the surveyors to leave, as the land was not sold. The 
Europeans said it was. Who then, answered Rangihaeata, 
could sell my land ? They said it had been sold by other natives. 
He denied having had anything to do with the sale. They 
replied, It did not signify whether he had or not; the land 
was theirs. This greatly exasperated the chief. He ordered 
his men to take all the things belonging to the surveyors out 
of the temporary building they had erected, and to be careful 
and leave nothing belonging to them in the house, and then 
commanded them to set it on fire. The Europeans threatened 
Rangihaeata, and told him he would be hung. 
