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Chapter II.
The Voyage to Aotearoa.

SO Tainui put to sea without the high priest Ngatoro-i-rangi, who had been carried off so deceitfully in the Arawa. With sail and paddle began the long voyage of this strong outrigger canoe to the new land, Nukuroa, or Aotearoa. But the beginning of the voyage was stormy and perilous. The seas became angry and then was heard the warning cry of the seabird called the torea; it cried “Keria! Keria!” Hoturoa ordered his crew to put about and return to anchorage. The angry seas became calmer and Tainui again put forth to sea.

Then again was heard the sharp cry of the torea, “Keria! Keria!” Again the stormy winds raged and the seas ran high; and once more Hoturoa put back for shelter. That is why we who are descended from the crew of the Tainui canoe are always watchful when we go to sea should anyone hear that bird utter its call, “Keria! Keria!” We know when we hear that cry that it will not be long before a storm bursts.

Now Hoturoa, in his anxiety, visited the chief Tama. He found Tama and Ngahue loading their canoe, Poutini, for the same voyage. Hoturoa asked Tama to come and be his tohunga, that is, the tohunga for the Tainui canoe, because both Tama and Ngahue were tohungas, and it was not needful that both should be in the same ship. Tama asked: “Where has Ngatoro-i-rangi gone?” Hoturoa replied: “He has gone in the Arawa.”

So Tama took compassion on Hoturoa and he gave over Poutini to Ngahue, and thus it was that Tama came to the Tainui canoe with his two wives. Those who remained said: “O Tama, this is the Tamatea, the ninth night of the moon,” and he said: “This Tamatea will seek that Tamatea at sea and there we shall decide our fate.” And Tama asked Hoturoa what it was that was preventing the canoe from sailing, and Hoturoa told him of the torea’s warning and the storm.

Tama stepped aboard the Tainui, and uttered the following prayer:

Tukia,
Tukia te urunga,
Tukia te moenga,
Ko marama heke te po,
Te koi te koa,
Te whakarahia,
Hira mai te hihira,
page 10 Ara mai te ara,
He manu whakarongo,
Tupua koa te manu nei,
A te torea uta,
Kowhetewhete mai
Ana ngutu.
Ko Tu ki taha maui,
Ko Rongo ki taha katau,
Tuturu o hiti,
Whakamaua,
Kia tina,
Tina,
Ui e,
Taiki e!

Then Tama uttered the second of his prayer charms:

Aha te ngarahu,
Ngarahu kauri,
Whakataerangi tia
Rere te nehu,
Rere ki uta,
Rere te nehu,
Rere ki tai,
Rere ki tangata koia tena.
E mau maina,
Marangai ka ruia
Eke ana i te papa
O huati huata.
Homai taku hoe ki au.
Hoea te wai.
He kura te winiwini,
He kura te wanawana,
Ki tua o Rehia,
Ki tua Reta,
Ki taku whainga,
Makau e keke,
Keke mai te keke,
Ara mai te ara,
He manu whakarongo,
Tupua koa te manu nei
A te torea uta,
Kowhetewhete mai ana ngutu,
Ko Tu ki taha maui,
Ko Rongo ki taha katau,
Waiho i to tu, waiho to aro,
E tu numia, e tu rawea,
E tu pakaurorohi,
Whakaotinuku,
Whakaotirangi,
Ko to manawa,

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Ko taku manawa,
Ka irihia.
Whano! whano!
Hara mai te toki.
Haumi e-e.
Ui e,
Taiki-e!

Now at last Tainui was able to sail the trackless ocean. She encountered adverse winds and tempestuous seas, but still she sailed on, combating the waves. Now Tama became exhausted with his efforts, and in his extremity he uttered this incantation:

Ka hura tangata uta,
Te turaki atu ki tangata tai,
Ka hura tangata tai,
Te turaki atu ki tangata uta.
Pera hoki ra te korepe nui,
Te korepe roa.
Te wahi awa
Te toetoe awa,
Whakamoe, e tama, ia ia,
Te awa ko Tu.

Tama coupled this incantation with another, in which he introduced his own name and those of the gods of war and of cultivation and the peaceful arts:

Ko Tu, ko Tu,
Ko Rongo, ko Rongo,
Kaua Tama e utua,
Tukua atu Tama,
Kia puta i tua
I te tawhangawhanga,
He putanga Ariki
No Kongo ki te ata
Tauira mai e.

And these prayer-charms calmed the seas and brought fair winds, and so Tainui sailed peacefully along towards the new land of the south.