Ar~m. %£.

RANGITIKEI-MANAWATU LAND CLAIMS.

5

called Pikinga, notwithstanding that she had been taken prisoner by himself on the occasion of the first inroad into the Ngatiapa country. After arriving at Kawhia the Ngapuhi returned to their own country, and need not be again mentioned, as they have not made any claim on account of their alliance with Te Eauparaha on the occasion of the first invasion. About a year after the return of Eauparaha to Kawhia he mustered his tribe and some other followers, and, taking also the women and children, ho again marched for the South, with the intention of permanently occupying and securing the conquest of the lands which, up to this time, he had merely overrun. The effect of the invitation by Te Eauparaha to the Ngatiraukawa Tribe to come and settle on his newly acquired lands was, that soon afterwards strong parties of Eaukawa came from time to time to Kapiti, partly to examine the new country which had been offered to them, but chiefly, it would appear, moved by the reports which they had heard that gunpowder and firearms were procurable at that place from European traders, who, about that time, had commenced a traffic for flax and other Native produce. These parties of Eaukawa, on their way South, in passing Ihrough the country of the Ngatiapa, killed or took prisoners any stragglers of the Ngatiapa or others whom they met with, and who had lingered imprudently behind in the vicinity of the war track, when the prudent but brave war chief of the Ngatiapa had withdrawn the bulk of the tribe into the fastnesses of the country whilst these ruthless invaders passed through, being doubtless unwilling to attack the allies of Te Eauparaha, with whom he had wisely made terms of peace and friendship. In passing through the country of the Ngatiapa these Eaukawa parties also took a kind of pro forma, or nominal, possession of the land, which, however, would be entirely invalid except as against parties of passing adventurers like themselves, who might follow ; because the Ngatiapa Tribe, though weakened, remained still unconqucred, and a considerable proportion of their military force still maintained themselves in independence in the country under their Chief Te Hakeke. But what was no doubt fully as much in favour of the Ngatiapa Tribe, and which may probably have been the cause of their not having been eventually subjugated, was the fact, already noticed, that Eauparaha, on his return from the North, after having invited the Ngatiraukawa to come down, had made peace with the Ngatiapa, thereby waiving any rights he might have been supposed to claim over their lands ; and indeed, from that time, for a long period afterwards, friendly and confidential relations undoubtedly were maintained between Te Eauparaha and his tribe and the tribe of Ngatiapa, which were only broken off, more by accident than by design of either party, in consequence of a few men of the Ngatiapa having been killed in an attack made by Ngatitoa and others on a fort belonging to the Eangitane Tribe, in which these Ngatiapa men happened to be staying at the time, and whose death was afterwards avenged by the Ngatiapa, after which peace was again established between them and Te Eauparaha. To Europeans not much acquainted with the peculiarities of Maori thought and action, the destruction, by these passing parties of Ngatiraukawa, of individuals of the Ngatiapa Tribe—a tribe with whom Eauparaha was then on peaceful and even friendly terms, —their destruction by parties who were not only also allies of Eauparaha, but who were then actually in expectation of receiving from him great benefits in the shape of grants of land, and above all, the opportunity of trading for firearms, may appear a strange inconsistency, and not to be reconciled with the fact of the people so treated being in any other position than that of helpless subjection, and not —as has been seen —in alliance with the paramount Chief Eauparaha; but to those who know what the state of society (so to call it) was in those days, and have noted the practical consequences arising therefrom, this matter presents no difficulty. The Ngatiraukawa parties would, as a mere matter of course, act as they did, without anticipating any reference whatever to the matter by Te Eauparaha, to whom they were bringing what he most wanted, a large accession of physical force, and who would not, therefore, have quarrelled with them at this time for such a small matter as the destruction of a few individuals, no matter who they were, provided they were not of his own particular tribe. It was the pride and pleasure of the Eaukawa to hunt and kill all helpless stragglers whom they might fall in with: it was customary under the circumstances, and being able, also, to do it with impunity, they were, according to the morality and policy of those times, quite within rule in doing so. As for the Ngatiapa Tribe themselves, they would not at all blame the Ngatiraukawa in the sense of their having done anything wrong; being Maori themselves, they would appreciate the circumstances of the case, knowing that they themselves would have done the same if in the same position. They would also fully understand the reason why the paramount Chief Eauparaha could not notice the matter, and that, in fact, the Ngatiraukawa had done nothing to be considered as wrong or out of order, but only something to be returned in kind and with interest at some future day, provided that the Ngatiapa should ever be able, and that it would be good policy in them to do so when the opportunity offered. I have made these remarks, which are applicable to the actions and proceedings of ail the different Eaukawa parties when on their way South to join Te Eauparaha at Kapiti, for the purpose of showing that no acts of the Ngatiraukawa Tribe previous to the arrival of their whole force at Kapiti, whether by killing or enslaving individuals of the Ngatiapa, or by taking a merely formal possession of any of their lands, did give them (the Ngatiraukawa) any rights of any kind whatever over the lands of the Ngatiapa Tribe according to any Maori usage or custom. It should be noted here, that on the first coming of Eauparaha on his expedition of conquest, he found living amongst the Ngatiapa a party of Eangitane, a tribe whose proper tribal lands were adjacent to, but distinct from, those of the Ngatiapa. These people, upon the second coming of Eauparaha, on his return from the North, were still there, and they, in confederation with some other people of the Muaupoko Tribe, did, by means of a treacherous stratagem, very nearly succeed in killing Te Eauparaha, who barely escaped by flight, leaving four of his children and all, or very nearly all, of his companions dead at the place where they were attacked. This affair occurred immediately after Eauparaha had made peace formally with the Ngatiapa Tribe, who, it is in evidence, had warned him against the treacherous design of the Eangitane and others; notwithstanding which they very nearly succeeded in ridding themselves of the most dangerous of all their enemies, Te Eauparahara —famoua 2