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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 9 (December 2, 1935)

His Giant Ancestor

His Giant Ancestor.

Moa bones confidently declared to be “millions of years old” have been found in Hawke's Bay. The exact degree of antiquity of such relics is very uncertain. However, I am not disputing the liberal scientific estimate, but merely recalling a story told me once upon a time by a veteran judge of the Native Land Court. He was holding a Court in which the ownership of a certain block of country in the rugged region between Taihape and Murimotu and the Ruahine Ranges was being investigated. An old chief named (say) Winiata was one of the leading claimants.

In his evidence this Maori citèd the deeds of a certain ancestor whose warrior prowess he described. The forefather was one of the conquerors of the country, and he and his descendants claimed by virtue of that conquest and continuous occupation. The warrior of old was a man of giant stature; he was two fathoms high; he used a taiaha ten feet Jong, and his stone club was enormous; it took two ordinary men to lift it; and so on. He was indeed a tremendous fellow that ancestor.