Similar skirmishes continued throughout the eighteenth century, waged with a merciless ferocity that must have seriously reduced a once numerous population. On occasion the battles became scenes of bloody carnage. Such conflict occurred in 1750 on the site of the present township of Balclutha, which saw the triumph of the Kati Mamoe. Some fifteen years later at Kaitangata, the Kai Tahu avenged this defeat and routed the Kati Mamoe. Eventually the two groups decided to erect a post on a conspicuous hill known as Popoutunoa, near Clinton: to mark the division of the territory. Thus the Kati Mamoe remained unmolested in the southern portion of the island. Or at least this is Canon Stack's view of the significance of these events. Certainly an end to conflict was brokered at this time which involved marriage across Kati Mamoe and Kai Tahu lines.