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Haere ra e Pa ma irunga i nga tohu tupu tawa a o koutou koroua. The first lines of a lament for Te Kuru ote Marama,Te Puhi o Te Arawa., The Plume and Pride of Te Arawa. Killed in action on Mokoia Island. " Farewell ye braves, perish in battle at the time betoken by your elders, when the Tawa berries fall."
Reference here to the delicacy of the Tawa tree signifies the month of March or early April when they ripen and fall, so one can say that it was about this time that the raids took place in Rotorua. The late Captain Gilbert Mair stated that his parents arrived at Kororareka in the Bay of Islands in 1820... Hongi Hika set out on his marauding expedition the following year, thus began the slaughter of Te Arawa by Ngapuhi. Tuhourangi were enforced at Motutaua Island in Rotokakahu Lake (Known today as The Green Lake.) when Te Rauparaha arrived on a visit to many of his relatives there. He found that Te Pai ote Rangi a nephew of Hongi Hika had married a local woman of high rank,very discretely he and others had him killed. By this time Hongi had arrived at Hauraki and raided the Ngāti Maru. They then took to sea and landed at Tauranga.,allied with Ngāti Pukengaa and at Te Pare Whaiti draged their canoes across land and refloated them at Lake Rotoehu.
Meanwhile the Ngāti Makino viewed the oncoming horde with dismay and took refuge on the eastern side of Lake Rotorua. On came the horde slaughter after slaughter.The evading horde paddled onwards through Lake Rotoiti through the Ohau channel to Mokoia Island.
Te Arawa called upon their Ariki to upstage the invading horde but to no avail. On the northern side of Mokoia sat Te Arawa with their one and only musket, and reconizing Hongi Hika with his metal hat let fire, which only dented his hat. This angered Te Wera , Hongi's right hand man and ordered volley after volley of musket fire, and so the slaughter raged on and on. Te Wera had married a women from Te Arawa a cousin of Hikaroa and seeing the slaughter of her people called them into her house for protection. Hongi by this time had done much of damage in and
around Rotorua. Eventually he came to Whangamoa where they settled themselves in thatched houses. Early one morning Ngāti Makino arrived and set fire to the huts and managed to set some captives free but not all. Hongi and his people with many of their captives fled and returned north.
Kepa Ehau states that his great grandmother was one of Hongi's prisoners and eventually she returned to Rotorua. Kepa Ehau says he is not ashamed to say that it was a defeat that Te Arawa should not have avenged. Lastly Kepa states that it is his misfortune and shame to say that he is unable to explain the true meaning of MOKOIA.......Moko means Tatoo......."Mokoia" is a command to tatoo!!! The true name of Mokoia Island is Te Motu Tapu A Kahu Moemoe. The sacred Isle of Kahu Moemoe, who was the eldest son of Tama Te Kapua chief of the Te Arawa canoe..............18 : 20.