In 1831 he took the major Ngāi Tahu pā at Kaiapoi after a three-month siege [https://web.archive.org/web/20100604224817/http://www.waimakariri.govt.nz/library/history_files/KaiapoiPa.pdf][http://library.christchurch.org.nz/TiKoukaWhenua/Kaiapoi/], and shortly after took Onawe Pā in the Akaroa harbour, but these and other battles in the south were in the nature of revenge (utu) raids rather than for control of territory. Further conquests to the south were brought to a halt by a severe outbreak of measles and the growing strength of the southern hapu who worked closely with the growing European whaling community in coastal Otago and at Bluff.