hau), Rauparaha and his party were taken completely off guard by a Ngaitahu war party. A Ngatikuri chief managed to seize him a short distance from where his canoes were hastily embarking, and although he was held for some moments in a tight grip, the elusive old warrior wriggled free leaving only his cloak in the hands of his captor. According to traditional accounts he then swam out to one of the canoes where on finding it overloaded he ordered some of its occupants overboard to make room for himself. The year 1839 saw the beginning of a new era in the southern part of New Zealand. Tamihana Te Rauparaha recorded that at this time “Christianity was first proclaimed in this part, and Matere Te Whiwhi and I went to Tokerau (Bay of Islands) to bring a minister to this end of the North Island, so we might put an end to the desire for war in Rauparaha's mind”. The result of this journey was the arrival some months later of the Rev. Octavius Hadfield, a man who quickly exercised a profound influence over the tribes under Rauparaha's control. Later in the same year the death occurred on Mana Island of Rangihaeta's mother Waitohi. She was Te Rauparaha's eldest sister, and as was customary on the passing of an important person a huge gathering of the local tribes was assembled. As many as three thousand people were said to have been present. A Rangitane slave who had come to bring tribute from his people at Pelorus was killed by Te Rauparaha and served up as a delicacy for some of the more honoured guests. During this meeting a dispute arose between Ngatiawa and Ngatiraukawa when the old grievances were aired and bitter hatred was renewed. Fighting broke out between the two tribes at Waikanae where the Ngatiraukawa had to pass a large Ngatiawa settlement while returning to their homes after the tangi. This conflict, in which the Ngatiawa succeeded in completely routing their opponents on the beach near Waikanae, was known as the battle of Te Kuititanga. It is important as being the last of the tribal wars in the southern part of New Zealand. E. J. Wakefield, in his journal, describes his arrival at Kapiti in the “Tory” on the day following the dispute. After meeting Te Rauparaha, Wakefield, accompanied by the ship's surgeons, crossed over to the scene of the battle, where they attended to some of the wounded. Te Rauparaha had taken no part in the fight, but in Wakefield's opinion he had been the instigator, having incited Ngatiraukawa to annoy the Ngatiawa on their first arrival from Taranaki. He says, “feuds, bloody wars, and a bitter hatred of each other had been the consequence; and some of their old grievances had been revived by their meeting at Mana. Rauparaha cunningly fanned the flame and mutual insults and recriminations followed.” According to Rusden the quarrel was about Wakefield's own ill-omened gifts at Port Nicholson. A fact that was admitted by the natives of both sides. Disputes over the payment and sale of land to the New Zealand Company were quite common and followed in the wake of the “Tory” at many of her ports of call. Even Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeta actually came to blows over the sharing of goods received for the sale of some land purchased from them by the pakeha. This fight was witnessed by Te Rau-O-Te Rangi who as a little girl was one of the crowd of natives who gathered on the beach near Taupo pa at Plimmerton to watch the two chiefs do battle with Maori weapons. Neither of them was badly hurt and evidently no serious consequences resulted. Wake-field's impression of Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeta is summed up in the following extract from his “Adventure in New Zealand”. “Their respective stations were pithily described by one of the whalers, who told us that ‘the Robuller’, as he mispronounced his name, ‘cast the bullets, and the Rangihaeta shot them’. Rauparaha was the mind and his mate the body on these blackmail gathering rounds. They had both acquired a violent taste for grog; and this, and firearms and powder, were the principle articles demanded.” Although Colonel Wakefield, on behalf of the New Zealand Company, had claimed to have purchased most of the land in the vicinity of Cook Strait, certain misunderstandings arose between both parties to the sale. It was evident that the native signatories to the deed, amongst whom were Rangihaeta and Rauparaha, had signed away large tracts of land which they had not intended parting with, and they had also put their signatures to a transaction which included huge territories where they had little or no title whatsoever. With the arrival of Capt. Hobson, the first British Government Agent, a proclamation was published declaring all land sales void. A court of enquiry had been set up, and a Mr Spain had been appointed as Land Commissioner to thoroughly investigate all claims. Early in 1841 the Ngatitoa tribe began to voice a strong disapproval of European settlement in the Porirua district. Both Rauparaha and Rangihaeta emphatically denied having sold that area, and the ferocious Rangihaeta had crossed over from Mana to tell the white settlers that under no circumstances would he part with the land. He wished it for his people, and would maintain his right, but acknowledged himself a British subject having signed the Treaty of Waitangi with his uncle and other chiefs at Kapiti in the previous year. Colonel Wakefield was nevertheless insistent that the land belonged to the Company by right of purchase, and he was determined that a European settlement be established there. Work had already been started on the cutting of a road through to the new proposed Porirua settlement, and in April 1841 Mr C. H. Kettle was sent to survey the area. Kettle soon found on his arrival that Rangihaeta had given explicit instructions to his tribe to obstruct all attempts by the Europeans to survey the place. During the first few days Kettle