As the conquerors mustered to apply the final coup-de-grace, two elderly chiefs, Taharua and Taiuru, both grandsons of Maru, rose to stop the impending massacre. In a moving address, Taharua recited the genealogies of their ancestors in which were woven the relationship to the defeated Ngati Hako and Ngati Huarere. They, who had fully witnessed an episode of prolonged warfare, condemned its continuance which they believed would eventually lead to their own destruction. It was urged that because the original cause of hostilities was now avenged, it no longer mattered.
Turning to their much younger half-brother, Te Hihi, and their own grandsons who were leading the expedition, Taharua implored them to allow the shattered remnants to remain free and unmolested in the Ohinemuri under his protection. Thus after a century of bitter warfare which saw the demise of the early tangata whenua, the Tainui tribes reigned supreme throughout Hauraki. The victors spread out upon the land, establishing their boundaries according to their respective tribal divisions.
Marutuahu briefly relocate inland
In the 18th and 19th centuries the Marutuahu were a powerful and much feared tribal body described as being the most ubiquitous fighting force, ravaging tribal districts from the northern regions of the Tai Tokerau to the southern island of Te Waipounamu.
They sometimes fought as an integral unit, or part thereof which joined up with other tribes in their intertribal conflicts. They were always at odds with their perennial foes Ngapuhi and Ngaiterangi of Tauranga-Moana and became active participants in several joint expeditions against Ngai Tahu, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Whanganui, Te Atiawa, Te Whakatohea and Waikato.
The effect of these internal wars and the role played by the Ngati Maru tribe impacted adversely upon the history of many related tribes, as previously mentioned. Of them only Ngati Raukawa had a kind word for them as, not only were they related, but they had also been instrumental in assisting with their migration to the Manawatu and Horowhenua district with Ngati Toa under the general leadership of Te Rauparaha.
When not engaged in foreign wars as such they quarrelled continually among themselves, as families did, and were not averse to calling in outside tribes to assist. It is said that because of their passion for conflict, they would certainly have self-destructed, had not the Ngapuhi musket wars intervened.
It was the threat to their compactness that had all these tribes rallying from every point of Hauraki to repel invaders in several confrontations as at the battles of Tiko to Rauroha, Poihakena and the island of Aotea (Great Barrier).
The musket wars of 1820 with Ngapuhi had most of the compact tribes relocating from their lands in Hauraki and Tamaki and fleeing to the safety of the Horotiu and Maungatautari district about Cambridge. Even there they built their pa, some 20in all, in close proximity to each other until they were forced to return home some ten years later.
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