A Hundred Years Ago

Evening Star, Issue 20486, 17 May 1930, Page 24

A Hundred Years Ago

Te Rauparaha and His People The Migration to Kapiti [Written by W.F.A. and H.D.S. for the ‘Evening Star.’] The story which follows, to be continued in successive Saturday issues of the ‘Star,’ is tho first account to be published complete in a single story of the warfare between North Island and South Island Muons, which, directly preceding regular British colonisation of the South - Island, had its progress just a century ago. Tho outrage of tho brig Elizabeth was in November, 1830, and the siege of Kaiapoi in 1831. " The raid of a northern war party under To Puoho, which reached as'far as Southland, and return raids meant to reverse tho fortune of war,.followed. The story is taken from a variety of sources not easily accessible to the general reader; the description of tho siege of Kaiapoi combines more material than has been brought together in any previous history; and tho account of return raids includes information, gathered in Otago which is now for tho first time published.

No. Great in the land’was the fame of ■ To Rauparaha, 1 But now, like a fledgling bird, homeless, Forced to the tides of the west to flee! —Lament for Kawhia. At the commencement of ; the nineteenth century the Maoris of the North Island were just beginning that intercourse with Europeans-which gave them a new weapon uv the musket, vastly increasing the destructiveness of their tribal wars. The. Nga Puhv chief Hongi, iwho deluged the north with blood at the same time that lie was. the protector of Marsden’s ; mission, was not the .first to make use of firearms; Another chief of his tribe,, Te : Morenga, had amassed thirty-five muskets, which made him the terror of his neighbours. Hongi saw his way to become a con- : qheror /over, ,-a wider area; So far as the' mission was concerned, Marsden prohibited trade an ,muskets. Hongi forbade his tribe to trade, for anything else until that veto should be lifted. It was not lifted, and Hongi had a new inspiration. Not getting what lie wanted from the missionaries ho went off, just before 1820, on a trip to England, and came back laden with presents which he exchanged in Sydney for 300 of the coveted weapons. At last he was in a position to pay off old scores against 1 his southern enemies, the Wan kato and other tribes. A series of bloody wars began, which were massacres for those who did, not possess the new arm. Soon all the most northern tribes were obtaining, from the traders who visited the coast, muskets in exchange for hogs, tattooed heads, flax, and potatoes. They : were the most precious object of Maori desire, liendall. one of Marsden’s assistants, saw no harm in tho traffic, »and was dismissed from tho mission for his encouragement of it. Before Hongi made Ins visit to England, a few muskets seem to have been scattered about among most of tho tribes of the northern half of the North Island, and from the time of his visit they quickly became more plentiful. r Probably it was about the year 17v0 that To Rauparaha, who was to be the southern scourge of his warlike race as Hongi a few years earlier had been the scourge of the north, was born at Kawhia, where liis tribe, the Ngati Tea, then resided on the coast just north of 'laranaki. At first only a minor chief, his resourcefulness and daring soon brought him . into prominence in his tribe. By liis munificence as a host also ho impressed neighbours. Ho led' raids against the Waikato, and formed a ■friendship with To Heuheu, of Tanpo, which was invaluable to him afterwards for tho protection it gave .to his flank when he led his people down to Kapiti and its adjoining coast to be nearer a source of firearms. Tho Maori population of tho North Island, up till 182 U, was much more numerous than it was twenty years later, when the musket had diminished it; but, except for special regions, like that of the Wanganui River, it was, for tho district traversed by . To Rauparaha’s war parties, very much confined to the coastal strip. There axe and fire had cleared tho ground for habitation. Beyond it, from Manukau Heads to Port Nicholson, and extending from twenty to sixtv miles inland, tho forest stretched. Tho forest was a great food reserve, which was seldom entered except for fowling and fishing or by the war parties which followed in single file tho tracks thiough it, few in number and often scarcely discernible except to skilled woodsmen, But there was a great deal of intercommunication even in those days, as well as of alliance between tribes. A northern journey of Te Rauparaha took lum as far as Kaipara. Apparently he had the desire of forming a combination of tribes to make war against tho Waikato, but that plan was not practicable. Waikato, having increased their supply of muskets by an alliance with Te Waliaroa, wore adjudged to be too strong for attack. Expansion must bo sought towards the south. Towards the end of 1819 a war party of the Nga Puhi and Other North Auckland tribes, including tho brothers Tamati Waka None and Patuone, arrived at Kawhia to join To Rauparaha in an expedition against the Taranaki clans. Tho two brothers, in the later days of the Treaty of Waitangi and afterwards, as Wesleyan converts to Christianity,, were among the most helpful friends of the British, it is conceivable that already the restless mind of Te Rauparaha had begun to brood upon more distant invasions for which this would be’a preparing of the way. With whatever objects tho expedition was conceived it was portentous for the South island Maoris. There had been previous expeditions of the kind, but this was the largest and went furthest. It was to show To Rauparaha the means to effect his ruthless destiny. The northern contingent numbered COO men. To them the Ngati Toa added 400. The northerners had a few ■muskets. To Rauparaha had obtained his first musket, several years before, as a gift from Northern friends. After crossing Taranaki, the party followed the coast as far as Otaki, defeating tribes by the way. From Otaki Te Rauparaha obtained his first glimpse of Kapiti, the “ precipitous ” island, and was seized with the idea that this would he an excellent stronghold for establishing his people, if ho could persuade thorn, to move, well in the track of traders where they could obtain unlimited supplies of the coveted weapon. The wily statesman in Te Rauparaha was always as important as warrior, a combination of qualities which was the secret of his ultimate successHe made friends of the inhabitants of the island. Capturing some canoes, the war party then continued its journey by sea as far as the present site of Wellington. At its approach the Natives of that district fled to the Wairarapa. where they wore pursued and defeated with great slaughter From one of the headlands near Wellington which was a favourite spot for surveying tho Strait, a European ship was scon traversing its waters. Tamati Waka None shouted to To Rauparaha:

“ 0, Halm, do you see that people sailing on the sea? They aro a very good people, and if you conquer tins land and hold intercourse with them you will obtain guns and powder, and become very great.” It was the idea that was already in the mind of his ambitious ally.

The war party ( made their way back to their northern homes, travelling mainly by sea in canoes which had been captured. Land parties followed the coast usually, and progress would bo difficult where that consisted of cliffs. There were tracks across Taranaki, and when these were preferred to the coastal routes the’motive would bo to avoid the cliffs and strong pas that guarded them. Arrived at Kawhia, To Ilauparaha found new reasons for persuading his people to move southward. Their extermination w*« threatened by the Waikato, bad neighbours to be at feud with while the Ngati Toa still had few muskets. Old men, women, and children accompanied the party, probably 1,500 souls in all, which set forth soon on a new journey to the south, making this time a migration, not a raid. Their lares and pcnates they carried with them, like the fugitives from Troy. The old-time Maori was an intense lover of his home scenes. Every ridge and hillock was endeared to him by tribal and ancestral associations, and the Ngati Toa sang their own ‘ Lochaber No More’ as they turned their hacks for over on the familiar places. There was trouble at the outset with the Ngati Maniapoto tribe, and a stratagem of Te Ilauparaha, when lie found himself with only twenty men surrounded by hostile hosts, was typical of Ins artfulness as a leader. Ho caused largo fires to be lighted in various places, and all the women to be dressed up like men, .while lie himself and others of the warriors, and even some of the disguised women, kept addressing warlike speeches to each party round the fires, so that, should the enemy be near, they might think a largo war party was assembled there. Another incident of this peril probably was less than distinctive. The crying infant of a chief threatened to betray the weakness of the party and provoke an attack. Te Ilauparaha at once gave orders to the r pr ents of the child to throttle it, am. the command was obeyed. The Ngati Tama held the main gateways to Taranaki, and their friendship was assured by marriage alliances. The Ngati Mutunga, bordering them to the south, with the sea for their western front, had threatened hostility at the first, and the conversion _ of their attitude to one of friendliness was of great assistance to Ngati Toa. Their new friends, assigned them places for cultivating at Urenui, about twenty miles north of the present site of New Plymouth, and tnere they waited for the kumara and potatoes to grow with which they would resume their journey. The end of the summer, when the crops were ripening which assured sufficient food supplies to an invading force, was the favourite time for warlike raids’and excursions, wherever the kumara grew in Now Zealand. While ho awaited the harvest which was to furnish the commissariat of his people To Rauraraha sought allies, not very successfully at _ that stage, among the neighbouring tribes. As the “bramble bush” migration, the next part of the exodus is known. Its difficulties were like those experienced in forcing one’s way through the tataramoa, or native bramble. It was a year and a-half from the departure from Kawhia before Kapiti. was reached after incessant fighting. By a surprise attack the Island, which was to be henceforward Te Rauparaha’s chief stronghold, was captured, but his position for some time was highly precarious. His own people who had come south with him up to tin's stage were but few in numbers; Taranaki bands who had joined him on the way turned back, with good hearts or bad. when the main object of their alliance seemed to bo accomplished, or fighting and cannibal feasting had lost their relish, or their pride adjudged _ his commands too overbearing, or j their own homes, threatened once more by the Waikatos, needed defending. All the tribes of. the coast from Mount Egmout to the Wairarapa were his enemies. A combined attack which was made to recover the island was beaten off. however, with heavy carnage. According to a Maori account, the water was darkened by the number of the attacking canoes—probably several hundred. It was a great victory for To Rauparaha, and his position was strengthened as now migrations of In's own tribe and of the Ngati-Rankawa and other neighbours followed him to the vicinity of Kapiti. The tribes on this part of the mainland, as far as Port Nicholson, were virtually exterminated by the new allies, who thenceforth possessed the country. It is a year after this that a famous friend of_ To Ilauparaha, the chieftain Te Pehi, of his own tribe, who was to play a fatal part in the South Island incursion, conies into nur story. Ships were coining in increasing’ numbers to Kapiti, and To Rauparaha’s stock of arms, secured for flax, was mounting, mounting. But Te Pehi had an ambition of his own. Whv should he not emulate Hongi? So one day in February, 1824. a British ship, the Urania, was hailed by him in Cook Strait, and he leaped aboard, ordering away his war canoes. He must be taken to England, whore ho would seo King George, The captain, who demurred at his command, but was forced to grant it, unless his unwanted guest 1 was to be thrown overboard to perish, soon acquired a liking for this masterful savage, which became firm friendship after an incident which occurred on the voyage. While the ship was at Montevideo Captain Reynolds fell overboard and would have perished but for the intrepidity of To Pehi, who plunged after him into the water, and, having cauglit hold of him as ho was sinking, supported him with the one arm while ho siyam with the other, till they were both again taken on board. Tlio captain was astonished by the

quickness with which a veneer of civilisation was acquired by his protege. To Pehi reached London, and spent some time there, returning to New Zealand to take part in the first expedition to Kaiapoi. (To be continued.)