A war party prepares to leave for a raid. Te Rauparaha often led such parties as a young man. Alexander Turnbull Library TE RAUPARAHA Part 1: Kawhia and the Journey South by W. CARKEEK In one of the many battles which raged around the shores of Kawhia Harbour during the later part of the 18th century Werawera, the father of Te Rauparaha, was taken prisoner and killed. His body was carried off and eaten by enemy chiefs one of whom boasted that if Werawera's infant son should also fall into his hands the child would make an excellent relish for his rauparaha, an edible juicy plant of the convolvulus family which grew in abundance on the nearby sand dunes. This incident which occurred at about the time of Cook's first visit to New Zealand was commemorated by Werawera's relatives in calling his son the convolvulus leaf, or Te Rauparaha, a name which in later years was to cause more profound changes in the southern half of New Zealand than any other in the history of Maoridom. Although not of the highest rank in the Ngati Toa Te Rauparaha could trace his descent on his father's side to Toa Rangatira from whom the tribe derived their name. His mother was chieftainess of Ngati Ruakawa and this fact as well as the mana he had acquired on the death of the Raukawa chief Nape enabled him in later years to exercise a certain limited influence over that tribe as well as his own. Little is known of his early life but it seems certain that most of his boyhood days were spent between the settlements of Kawhia and Maungatautari, the home of his mother's people. He was said to have entered eagerly into all the amusements and pastimes that were popular with the Maori children of that day. Often these diversions led him into mischief, and more than once had been the cause of irksome worry and anxiety to his elders. But in spite of his troublesome nature and boisterous spirits, as a child he was credited with an unfailing