TAPOUKA. 
349 
inland, sufficiently near to command a view of what was going- 
on. The natives, unsuspecting the snare, saw these pretended 
seals sporting about in the breakers, and came out to catch 
them. When the whole tribe was thus drawn out, and whilst 
intent on their supposed game, out rushed Old Wig and his 
tribe, and cruelly massacred them ; some fled to a neighbour¬ 
ing island, to which they were pursued, and there killed in the 
caves in which they sought to conceal themselves. My in¬ 
formant saw their bones still remaining, a monument of this 
cruel adventure. 
Tapouka died of the measles about 1833. He was related 
to another great Chief named Bloody Jack, one of the prin¬ 
cipal men of the Ngai tahu : he was one of the Chief supporters 
of the whalers, and through them became possessed of consider¬ 
able wealth. In imitation of the Governor of New South 
Wales, where he had repeatedly been, he kept a number of 
men drilled and clothed in old uniforms, which the Governor 
gave him; and when any Europeans visited him, these were 
duly drawn out before them. He also had a vessel of his own, 
which was commanded by one of his European friends. He 
made common cause with the whalers, in all their quarrels, 
and they, in return, lent him their aid, and thus enabled him 
to obtain the mastery over the neighbouring tribes. 
Tute ounguku, the son of Tama hai'a nui, invoked the aid 
of Bloody Jack to revenge the death of his father, who was 
murdered by Te Bauparaha. That Chief was surprised by 
Bloody Jack, and nearly all his party cut off; Rauparaha him¬ 
self had a very narrow escape of falling into his hands ; he fled 
in a canoe, to lighten which he threw twenty men, women, and 
children into the sea. This Chief lost his life in returning 
from the Kaikoura in an open boat, in company with a young 
Chief named Topi, who was in another boat. Bloody Jack 
took an inner passage in the dark, and was capsized in the surf, 
and although his companion was called to come to his aid, 
he most unfeelingly refused, being indignant at Bloody Jack’s 
having appropriated a larger portion of money received for 
the sale of land than he was entitled to. He, therefore, 
perished. 
