(then known as Tumuki), where they multiplied so rapidly that they are said “to have covered the face of the land like myriads of ants.”
The Waitaha were conquered and destroyed, somewhere about the year 1577, by the Ngatimamoe, a tribe from the East Coast of the North Island, whose ancestors came to Poverty Bay from Hawaiki in the cance Tokomaru. The Ngatimamoe did not long enjoy the fruits of their triumph. In little more than a hundred years they were despoiled by Ngai Tahu, also an East Coast tribe, descendants of the crew of the canoes Taki timu, Kura haupo, and Mata horua, and were by them subjected to the same cruel process of extermination by which they had secured their own conquest of Waitaha.
Before entering on the narrative of Ngai Tahu’s doings on Banks Peninsula, it may be interesting to relate what the Maoris say about one monument of the former inhabitants that still remains, known as the
PA OF NGA-TOKO-ONO
(The Pa of the Six).
Between Fisherman's and Paua Bay, on the edge of a bold cliff, may still be seen the remains of the most ancient Maori pa in this locality. The date of its occupation can only be a matter of conjecture, but if it belonged to the Ngatimamoe, as generally reported, it must be from three to four hundred years old. When Ngai Tahu first arrived, the pa was in much the same condition that it is now: nothing but the earthworks remained to mark where it once stood. In answer to their inquiries respecting its origin, they were told that it was the pa of Nga-toko-ono, and that the tradition about it was, that six chiefs once dwelt there, who went out one day in their canoes to fish, about a mile from the coast, when they were caught by a violent north-west wind, and were blown out to sea and never heard of again.
