that the defenders must soon succumb to the attack but during a lull in the fighting Te Rauparaha unexpectedly arrived with reinforcements from a pa further south on the island. The tide of battle was turned and the attacking force in a great state of confusion were completely routed. “Thus”, wrote T. Lindsay Buick, “the largest force which had ever been marshalled during the Maori wars along this coast was defeated by one of the smallest”. During the celebrations and cannibal feasting which ensued Te Rauparaha taunted his prisoners by chanting the following song of triumph:— “Awhea to ure ka riri? Awhea to ure ka tora? Tukua te ihu ki te tamaiti. Me pewhea; ka kite koe I nga tai whakamanamana. Te toa haere ana, Ka riro he Rongo-mai-whiti.” This version was given to John White by Tamihana Te Rauparaha. “When will your anger dare? When will your power rise? Salute your child with your nose But how salute him now? You will see the rejoicing tide Of the warrior's coming glee And the departure of Rongo-ma-whiti.” It has been suggested by a present day Maori authority on Te Rauparaha that many of his strategic plans and successful conquests could be attributed to the genius of his eldest sister Waitohi. Few major undertakings were entered into, it is said, without her advice and counsel. Although no previous writer has mentioned this possibility, there is nevertheless reasonable evidence that the important question of the settlement and apportioning of the conquered land was left to her discretion. Following a dispute between Ngati Raukawa and those of Ngati Tama under Te Puoho over part of the conquered territory, Waitohi stipulated the boundaries and areas which were to be occupied by the various hapus and tribes. At her request the Ngati Awa moved to Waikanae where they took possession of the land to the south of the Kukutauaki stream. While Ngati Raukawa agreed to occupy the land from the north bank of that stream to as far as the Whangaehu river, Ngati Toa remained on Kapiti and also later occupied Mana Island and Porirua. Buick quotes Te Rauparaha as saying to the leaders of the three tribes, “the lands I now give you are in our joint rule, but I shall be greater in power than you individually”. These were the terms of the transfer and Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Awa and Ngati Toa were said to have agreed unanimously to them. These events occurred about the year 1825, some three years after the great heke tahutahuahi. There had already been white traders and whalers visiting the shores of Kapiti and Cook's Straits. The pakehas looked favourably on this Early portrait of Te Rauparaha (From a drawing in the Turnbull Library, reproduced by permission of the trustees of the F. A. Bett estate). coastline where they planned to operate whaling stations and small trading posts. Many early white settlers were later to regard Te Rauparaha as “everything bad, most treacherous and deceitful”, but this conflicts with the evidence of the Rev. Richard Taylor according to whom: “the whalers and traders, who had the best opportunity of being intimately acquainted with him (and that too at a time when his power to injure was the greatest) invariably spoke of him as having ever been the white man's friend”. The fact probably is that he was extremely friendly to traders he favoured, but much less so to those he had reason to dislike. Taylor, who had met the chief on many occasions, describes him as having been of small stature, “but his countenance was striking; he had a Roman or hooked nose, an eagle glance, which read the thoughts of others without revealing his own, and a look which clearly marked his dauntless bearing. It seemed impossible to take him by surprise; his being long accustomed to command, gave him a dignified demeanour, and his fertility in expedients, a cunning or rather shrewd cast of countenance; even when he was clad in a blanket, few could look at him without being impressed with a feeling that he was no ordinary person.