Expedition of Te Seuheu to Waitotara in 1840.

Te Heuheu accordingly prepared his expedition with such secresy, unusual with the New Zealander, that his relatives and particularly his eldest son (who he knew would be strongly opposed to it) were entirely unacquainted with its objects. Prior to the engagement above alluded to, the Natives of Taupo and those inhabiting the West Coast, from Taranaki to Waitotara, had very little intercourse, the latter tribes being quite unacquainted with any reasons for a hostile visit; and the only one assigned by the Taupos themselves was that, having been defeated by another party, they came to seek revenge by attacking them, supposing they were so much reduced by the Waikato wars as to be unable to offer any resistance.