But the last act in the intertribal war had not yet taken place. In 1836 Te Puoho,[#endnote_] a kinsman of Te Rauparaha, tried to persuade the ageing warrior to march once more against the people of Otago harbour and Murihiku. Te Rauparaha refused and said: It is easy to burst the tree at the root (Kaiapoi), but harder to burst it at the branches (Murihiku). He must not expect the people in the south to be sitting in trees with their breasts open like pigeons facing the sun.[#endnote_] Te Rauparaha may have given an official blessing, conditional upon victory. At any rate, in the summer of 1836, Te Puoho led his war-party, about seventy in number, down the West Coast as far as the Awarua River, toiled painfully and crossed the mountains through today's Haast Pass — a miracle of endurance — and, half-famished, moved down the valley of the Makarora River and captured a village at Wanaka. The invaders then proceeded up the Cardrona Valley, crossed the Crown Range and the Kawarau River, using a natural rock bridge, then finally, by following the Nevis and Nokomai Rivers, entered the enemy's heartland, Murihiku. After a short rest to recuperate, they pushed on along the old Māori track that ran over the low hills west of Gore and, soon after crossing the Mataura River, the party reached Tuturau and sacked the village. Unfortunately for the invaders, the whole south soon became aware of the invasion, for Te Puoho did not know that the news of his presence had, despite precautions, been taken to Tūhawaiki at Ruapuke. Nor would he have known that Taiaroa was visiting the island. The two chiefs hastily assembled a force of between 70 and 100 men. The whalers transported the warriors to the mainland. The local pākehā, 'in a state of considerable alarm', prepared to flee at a moment's notice. The unsuspecting Ngāti Toa slept at Tuturau while the Kai Tahu surrounded the village. During the night, the Kai Tahu tohunga summoned up the pulsing heart of Te Puoho, a favourable omen, and in the morning the Kai Tahu quickly defeated the invaders, killing Te Puoho. Taiaroa intervened to save the lives of some of his kin who had helped him to escape Te Rauparaha's clutches during the Siege of Kaiapoi in 1833. At Ruapuke, Bluff and Otago the pākehā and the Kai Tahu celebrated their triumph with enthusiasm and relief.[#endnote_]