Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Plume of the Arawas

II. The Canoe Hull

page 129

II. The Canoe Hull

Alas, my chief, my ariki beloved!
Thy death was as the flaw in noble axe,
Yet there are here of thine own kindred blood
Who soon will smite with savage, heavy blow
The tribe that took thy life in (Tuhoe) land.

The capture of the Pari-maté Pa by Tuwharétoa and a taua of only seventy men was quoted for generations afterwards as a perfect example of a sudden raid, both in its details and in the overwhelming power of its final thrust. But only a brief record of it need be given here.

Setting forth at the very beginning of the northern spring, before the Tuhoe people of the high lands of the interior were stirring from their winter quarters, the war-party disappeared for a time from the sight of men, and no rumour of its movements or even of its departure penetrated into the fastnesses of the Uréwera.

Before daybreak on the fourth day, however, it reached the head of the gorge unobserved, and, in a surprise attack, captured the rock-pa at slight loss and quickly consigned its dwellings to the flames. Then, having seized the valued weapons of the slain, recovered the whalebone patu of Rata, and secured a prize in the shell trumpet Te Umu-kohu-kohu, the war-party retired from the Uréwera, and set out for the Inland Sea.

At dusk on the following day they reached the page 130 slopes of Mount Tauhara, and from the crest next morning they saw the sun rise upon Taupo. Sunrise upon Taupo! The warriors were astounded at the play of emotion on their leader's face as they joined him in a chant of praise.

Presently they followed him to the western side, and looked down.

There below was a river which could only be Waikato, the mighty Waikato, springing from the Lake outlet into the fullness of life at a single bound. An island in the river not far from the outlet attracted Tuwharétoa's attention at once; it looked an ideal place from which canoes might rush forth to the conquest of Taupo. He pointed it out to Rata, and said:

“ Upon that island will be hewn out our fleet of canoes. The hulls can come from those patches of forest on the river bank. Then we will seize that island over there in the Lake. A fleet of Te Arawa upon Taupo! Ha! Already I hear the swish of the paddles!”

………..

Late afternoon found Tuwharétoa and Rata hidden in the scrub on the edge of the plateau close to the eastern shores of Taupo, looking down into a valley through which ran a river.

“It must be the Hinémaiaia,” said Tuwharétoa, “for there some distance beyond it on the face of the hill is the rock-cliff of which Te Moana did tell me. Below that cliff did Tia first, and then Ngatoro, perform the most sacred rites known to our people, and from their time on has it been known as ‘Taupo.’ Indeed, it was from the cliff yonder that the Lake itself derived its name. A sacred spot!” page 131 He quietly chanted a karakia, and then turned his gaze to a fortified village near the river's mouth. Suddenly he gripped the arm of Rata, and pointed. Ah! The fairness of that hair, and the style of that walk!

“The Haughty One!” said Rata.

“ Yes!” said Tuwharétoa.

………..

At dawn Tuwharétoa lay concealed in the luxuriant undergrowth of a clump of trees close to the Ngatihotu pa, and before long his position grew dangerous. Numbers of young warriors began to exercise with their weapons on the flat between the trees and the palisade, and more than once the Arawa narrowly escaped discovery.

But the danger was removed when Rerémoa and her attendant maidens appeared in view, for the embarrassed warriors retired within the palisade, leaving only a few of their number outside to act as a guard in case of need.

Rerémoa wandered about the flat, and it was some time before she caught the messages coming from out the trees. Then suddenly she realised that he was there, and the watching Arawa saw a flush of colour mount to cheek and brow.

He heard Rerémoa tell her attendants that she would enjoy the shade for a while, and that she did not wish to be disturbed. The maidens withdrew to the palisade, but remained within sight and call, while the watching guard drew off to either side.

In apparently casual fashion Rerémoa wandered over to the trees, and along the fringe of the undergrowth, until she felt the unseen presence close at hand.

page 132

Then she lay down, and soon her arms and head were hidden from view. The sentries upon the towers and the warriors out on the flat thought that she was seeking sleep, or perhaps relief from the heat and glare of the morning sun; but the maiden was holding the Arawa's hands and was pressing them softly to her face. For a time neither could speak, and then she whispered to him:

“O Manaia! At last thou hast come again. Know this, that not a day has passed but I have thought of thee! Even against my father's wishes I have thought of thee, and longed for thy return. And sometimes I have felt thee very near to me. Indeed, sometimes I have said to myself, ‘It is the spirit of my love that joins me in the land of dreams.’”

Gently he returned the pressure of her hands, and she sighed her happiness at this sign, the ancient Maori sign, of love returned. Then, knowing the need for haste, she whispered again:

“My father fears and hates thy tribe. Aué! The word has spread around the Lake that soon the Arawas move south again, and mean to conquer. What manner of man their leader is no one can say, but his warlike name brings dread to all our villages and pas. Even Tuhoe are said to fear his wrath. Dost know this chief Tuwharétoa, O Manaia? Maybe he is of kin to thee, and will show mercy to thy friends of Ngatihotu. We are thy friends, are we not?”

A warning whisper was the only reply. The maiden rose hastily to her feet, and moved across the flat to give her father affectionate greeting. She tried to lead him away, but he would not go. He walked about the flat with her, and the watcher from the trees gazed at him with interest. Old, white-haired, page 133 thin, and care-worn he was, yet the breeding was there, from the Homeland, from Hawaiki. Tuwharétoa felt pity for him as he thought of the troubles that were sure to come. A shame that he had no sons to share his load!

Presently, to Rerémoa's dismay, her father sat down in the shade within an arm's length of the hidden Arawa, and then, to her alarm, he began to talk about the fleet of canoes he was assembling for the defence of Taupo. In the daintiest of ways Rerémoa pressed her fingers to his lips, and begged him to rise and to accompany her for a walk around the pa before the morning meal. Later they could talk about more serious things. To the Arawa's relief, the old chief at once yielded to her whim.

………..

Throughout the rest of that day Tuwharétoa kept to his hiding-place, not daring to move lest he should be seen and his meeting with Rerémoa be thereby made known. But he had thought out his plan for seeing her again. Towards the end of the summer he would be back at this spot among the trees. If Rerémoa could come, he would meet her at this spot on the Mutuwhenua or last night of the moon in the ninth month of the Maori year. He would meet her just before daybreak, and he would then arrange to see her father, that he might discuss with him a matter of vital interest to two tribes.

Towards nightfall Rerémoa came back again, but only for a moment. She feared to arouse the suspicion of the watching sentries. A brief whispering, then back she went into the pa, and only her father noticed her heightened colour and the light that page 134 shone in her eyes. He wondered, but he said nothing.

………..

Two days later, while the Arawas were moving along the western edge of the Kaingaroa plateau on their way back to Hikurangi in the north, Tuwharétoa decided to deviate his course to the west, so as to pass through a belt of forest country bordering upon the Waiotapu River. This was ceded land, land ceded by the Kahupungapunga tribe in Mawaké-Taupo's time as the price of peace with Te Arawa, and Tuwharétoa was anxious to inspect it while the opportunity offered. Moreover, he wished to make sure that the former owners had not resumed their occupation of the land since his father's death.

Reaching the forest, he found that the tracks through it were overgrown, but passable. Such signs of occupation as were seen were not of recent date, and soon Tuwharétoa was satisfied. Yet a large clearing interested him; the wide tracks cut through the dense forest on either side of the clearing excited his curiosity.

He forced his way up the right-hand track and quickly came to its end.

Hearing his cry of surprise, Rata hastened to his side and the warriors followed. They gathered around the moss-covered stump of a totara tree, a huge totara, by far the biggest stump of any they had ever seen. But where was the tree?

Tuwharétoa examined the track, and then exclaimed: “Ha! A giant canoe-hull has come from this tree. Here are the remains of the skids. Let us follow the tracks!”

page 135

He hastened back into the clearing and then down the track on the other side until he reached the head of a gully down which a small stream flowed towards the nearby river. And there he found it — and promptly shouted:

“Here is my fleet of canoes, O Rata; in one hull a whole fleet of canoes!”

Eagerly Rata set the warriors to work clearing away the undergrowth, and soon a half-finished hull lay exposed to view, explaining everything. Clearly the Kahupungapunga people who had been shaping and hollowing that canoe had been interrupted in their work by the ceding of the forest, and had sought to save the hull by shifting it down to the river in this unfinished state. A heavy task! Yet they had almost succeeded, for the hull lay jammed at the very entrance to the gully that would have led to the river.

And the hull was undamaged, for the enduring qualities of the matured totara wood had been proof against decay, and the trunk did not appear to have been jarred at the time of its fall. Whoever had felled that tree had been expert. No doubt other trees had been used to ease its fall, and had accompanied the giant totara to its death.

Tuwharétoa drew Rata aside, and together they discussed what action they should take. Finally it was decided that Rata and a number of warriors would remain to guard the hull, while Tuwharétoa and the rest would move on to Hikurangi.

As soon as possible, however, reinforcements would be sent to Rata in order to hasten the finishing-off of the hull. Finally, the Marangaranga people from around the Kaingaroa plateau would be pressed into page 136 service, so that no labour might be lacking for the great work.

Thus did they plan; and then, having inspected the gully and fixed upon the site of a dam that would impound the creek, Tuwharétoa hastened on with his men through the forest on his way to the north.