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The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions: Horo-Uta or Taki-Tumu Migration. [Vol. III]

Chapter IX

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Chapter IX.

Disturb me not, O buoyant youths!
I of myself must travel on,
And go the road that you must tread,
And wait your coming there.
Yes, close to you the weeds of Tura wait;
Grey hairs and death not distant are.
My days of youth and power are past,
And darkness hath embraced my eyes.
Leave me now, enfeebled, here to lie,
And let me gaze on what ye soon must be.

Kui, Tutu-Mai-Ao, and Turehu.
(Nga-Puhi.)

This island, Ao-tea-roa (long white cloud), was fished up by Maui, and when seen it was land. Hence it was called the “Fish of Maui.”

Maui left Kui (short of food) in charge of the land, and from Kui are descended the tribe called Nga-ti-kui, who are a numerous people on the “Fish of Maui.”

When the people of Maui had lived many years on the “Fish of Maui” a people voyaged from the other side of the ocean who were called Tutu-mai-ao (procure the clouds), and came to the “Fish of Maui,” and so soon as they landed began to kill and assume a superior knowledge over the resident people, and intermarried with them, and eventually the people of Kui were annihilated, and Kui himself went down and lived beneath the surface of the earth, and the power over and the authority on page 189 the “Fish of Maui” were assumed by the Tutu-mai-ao. But, again, a people called Turehu (sleepy, fairy-like people) came from the other side of the ocean, and landed on the “Fish of Maui,” and attacked the Tutu-mai-ao in the same way as they had dealt with Kui, and intermarried with the Tutu-mai-ao, and soon took the sole power and rule over the land, and Tutu-mai-ao became exterminated. And, again, there came a people who were descendants of the Maui line of ancestors, to seek for the land of Maui, who were called Maori (ma-ori, by the breeze), and when they had lived ten generations on the land they acted in the same way to Turehu as Turehu had done to Tutu-mai-ao, and Turehu became extinct, and Maori have occupied this land, the “Fish of Maui,” for forty-six generations.

Now, O people! consider Kui, Tutu-mai-ao, and Turehu. These have all disappeared, and not one is here to whom we can bid welcome.

Now Tutu-mai-ao has become an indistinct being, which, when looked at for some time, disappears. And Turehu is now represented by the Patu-pai-a-rehe (wild men), who go on the mountain, where their language, when heard, is taken for that of man, but which is only the voice of the Turehu spirits, who are now no more, but have been exterminated, and what they knew and their history have been lost.

Kahui-Tipua. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

The Kahui-tipua (or ogre band) were the first occupants of the South Island. They were giants, who could stride from mountain-range to mountain-range, swallow rivers, and transform themselves into anything, animate or inanimate, that they chose. The following is the tradition of the tipua of Matau (hook) (Molyneux):—

When Te-rapu-wai, who dwelt at Matau, went in small parties of ten to hunt for weka they never returned. Tens and tens went out and never came back. Then every one felt sure something was consuming them, but what it was they could not tell. A long time passed, and then it was found how these page 190 people perished. It was learnt from a woman, the sole survivor of one of these hunting-parties. She said that on the hills they were met by a tipua (an ogre) accompanied by ten two-headed dogs. After killing all the men he carried her to his cave near the river, where she lived with him, and in time became covered all over with scales from the ogre's body. She was very miserable, and determined to escape; but this was not easy, as the ogre took care to fasten her by a cord, which he kept jerking whenever she was out of his sight. As the cave was close to the river, she crept to the entrance, where raupo grew thickly, and, having cut a quantity, tied it in bundles. The next day, when the monster slept, she crept out and formed the raupo-bundles into a mokihi (raft), and then tied the string to the rushes, which, being elastic, would prevent the immediate discovery of her flight when the cord was jerked. Getting on to the raft she dropped down the river, the swift current bearing her rapidly towards its mouth, where her friends lived.

The ogre did not wake for a long time. When he did he called out, “Kai-a-mio, e! (food of the dogs), where are you?” Not receiving an answer, he went to the entrance of the cave and searched. Not finding any footprints there he smelt the water, and at once discovered how she had escaped. Then in his rage he swallowed the river and dried it up from end to end, but not before Kai-a-mio was safely housed in her native village. After cleaning herself from the scales which covered her body, the woman told her people all she knew about the ogre, and they resolved to put him to death. “When does he sleep?” they asked. “When the north-west wind blows,” was her reply, “then he sleeps long and heavily.” So they waited for a north-wester, and then proceeded to the cave. Having collected a great quantity of fern, which they piled at the entrance, they fired it. When the heat awoke the monster, he could think of no way of escape except through a hole in the roof. While struggling to get out through this the people set upon him with clubs and beat him to death. Fortunately the page 191 ogre's dogs were away hunting, or else he never could have been killed.

It was during this period that the canoe called Arai-te-uru (bar of the west) was capsized off Moe-raki (sleep in the day), and the cargo strewn along the beach, where may still be seen the eel-basket of Hape-ki-tau-raki (club-foot in the calm year), and the slave Puke-tapu (sacred hill), and the calabashes and kumara.

Passing on from this tradition, we come to traditions which relate to tribes that have been utterly destroyed.

Te-Rapu-Wai. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

Te-rapu-wai, or Nga-ai-tanga-a-te-puhi-rere (the seekers of water, or the descendants of the flying plume), succeeded the Kahui-tipua, and rapidly spread themselves over the greater part of the South Island. They have left traces of their occupation in the shell-heaps found both along the coast and far inland. It was in their time that the country around Invercargill is said to have been submerged, the forests of Canterbury and Otago (O-takou) destroyed by fire, and the moa exterminated. Te-rapu-wai and Wai-taha (beside the water) were portions of the same tribe, Te-rapu-wai forming the vanguard when the migration from the North Island took place. Several Maori authorities incline to this opinion, others maintain that they were separate tribes; if so, they were probably contemporaries, and, like Rangi-tane (spouse of heaven) and Nga-i-tahu (the spouse) in subsequent times, one may have come from the west and the other from the east coast of the North Island.

Wai-Taha. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

Of the Wai-taha very little is known, their traditions having almost entirely perished with the extinction of their conquerors. But there is sufficient evidence to warrant the supposition that the few traditions which still remain were preserved by the remnant of Wai-taha who were spared by Nga-ti-mamoe (cook-food for a long time, sodden) to work their fisheries and page 192 kumara-plantations till they thought it necessary for their own safety to exterminate them in order to prevent their alliance with the invading Nga-i-tahu. There is no reason, therefore, to regard the traditions relating to the Wai-taha as mere fables.

It would appear that Wai-taha one of the original immigrants from Hawa-iki was the founder of the tribe. He came with Tama-te-kapua and Nga-toro-i-rangi (the visits to heaven) in the canoe Arawa (shark), and his taumata (peak of a hill where the temple was, and where they could bask in the sun), near Taupo, is still pointed out. But at a very early date he or his immediate descendants must have left that locality and travelled south. Separated by the stormy straits of Rau-kawa (deep blue) from their countrymen, Wai-taha were long left in the enjoyment of peace and plenty, and as a consequence rapidly increased, till, as the Natives say, “they covered the land like ants.” The size of the pas and the extent of the kitchen-middens along the coast attributed to them afford conclusive evidence as to their numbers. At Mai-rangi (from heaven) and Kapuka-riki (little handful) (Cust) the remains of a walled pa extending for about three miles along the downs existed till the settlement of Europeans in that locality. Wiremu te Uki, Henare Pereita, and others, who frequented the place to gather the stems of the cabbage-palm, which grew luxuriantly there in “soil enriched by the fat of man,” for making kauru (cooked root of the tii, which is very sweet), a favourite article of food, assert that twenty years ago the broad outer ditch of the pa could be seen, and that from the bottom of it to the top of the bank was about seven feet; and that at regular intervals along the wall there were openings showing plainly where the gates had been. They recollected old men saying that these gates were known to have had names, which were now forgotten. Te-wai-manongia (the water shut up) and his son Tauhanga-ahu (wait for an answer from the gods) are said to have ruled these pas at the time they were destroyed by Nga-ti-mamoe.

Some time before the Nga-ti-mamoe invasion there lived on page break
Aurei. Kapeu. Kurukuru.

Aurei. Kapeu. Kurukuru.

page 193 the banks of the Ra-kaia (day of theft) a chief named Tu-te-wai-mate (Tu of the bad water), regarding whom a story worth recording has reached us. Moko, (tattooed), a robber-chieftain, had fixed his stronghold on the Wai-para (sediment), the choice of the spot being determined by the existence of a cave in close proximity to the highway along which a regular trade was carried on up and down the coast; the preserved mutton-birds, dried fish, and kauru from the south being exchanged for preserved forest-birds, mats, and other things from the north. Moko was in the habit of robbing and murdering any small party of carriers who might venture too near to him; and he might have continued to do so without molestation, as the carriers were for the most part slaves, whose death was not worth avenging, had he not been so unfortunate as to kill a near relation of the great Tu-te-wai-mate. This chief, already smarting under previous losses of property, was exasperated beyond all endurance by the murder of his kinsman, and summoned his tribe to destroy Moko and his band. The people responded in such numbers to his call that when they started on their march the dust they raised resembled the smoke of a great fire on the plains, and their spears darkened the sky. Leaving the bulk of his forces at Kapuka-riki, Tu-te-wai-mate pushed on early one morning with a few chosen warriors to Moko's stronghold. He found the place quite unprepared for an attack, all the men except Moko being away. Having ascertained from some women whom he questioned that the robber-chieftain was asleep in a cave hard by, he quietly approached, the spot, where he found him lying asleep on a mat, all unconscious of danger. But, like a true knight, he scorned to strike his sleeping foe, and, raising his voice, he uttered the following challenge:—

I, Tu-te-wai-mate,
Tu-te-wai-mate, son of Popo-tahi (anointed one),
Swift as the wind from the Ra-kaia Gorge,
Have forestalled the drying of the morning dew.

page 194

[Tu-te-wai-mate,
Tu-te-wai-mate a Popo-tahi,
Te hau tuku mai i roto Ra-kaia,
Te mahea te hauku o te ata.]

The startled robber, raising himself to a sitting posture, replied,—

Ho, Moko,
Moko, son of Hau-tere (swift wind),
The wind coming down from Mount Tere (float),
The man who was fed upon uncooked shark.

[Ho Moko,
Moko a Hau-tere,
Te hau tuku mai runga Maunga-tere,
Te tangata i whangainga ki te mango mata.]

As he uttered the last word the treacherous Moko, by a sudden and unexpected thrust, felled his generous foe to the ground, and soon put an end to his existence.

Poua-Kai (Bird). (Wai-Taha.)

It is from the Wai-taha that the following account of the destruction of a gigantic bird of prey has been handed down. The event occurred in times preceding Tu-te-wai-mate and the period referred to in the scraps of Wai-taha history which have survived. (The story possesses peculiar interest when considered in connection with the discovery of the Harpagornis moorei at Glenmark. Does it prove that the Maoris knew that bird, or is it to be classed with the taniwha stories common in the north—is it an imported and localized tradition?)

A Poua-kai (aged eating) had built its nest on a spur of the Tawera (morning star) Mountain, and, darting down from thence, it seized and carried off men, women, and children as food for itself and its young. For, though its wings made a loud noise as it flew through the air, it rushed with such rapidity upon its prey that none could escape from its talons. At length a brave man called Te-hau-o-tawera (the sacred power of Tawera) came on a visit to the neighbourhood, and, finding that the people were being destroyed, and that they were so page 195 paralyzed with fear as to be incapable of adopting any means for their own protection, he volunteered to capture and kill this rapacious bird, provided they would do what he told them. This they willingly promised, and, having procured a quantity of manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) saplings, he went one night with fifty men to the foot of the hill, where there was a pool sixty feet in diameter. This he completely covered with a network formed of the saplings, and under this he placed the fifty men armed with spears and thrusting weapons, while he himself, as soon as it was light, went out to lure the Poua-kai from its nest. He did not go far before that destroyer spied him, and swooped down towards him. Hau-o-tawera had to run for his life, and just succeeded in reaching the shelter of the network when the bird pounced upon him, and, in its violent efforts to reach its prey, forced its legs through the network and became entangled. The fifty men plunged their spears into its body, and after a desperate encounter succeeded in killing it. (Wereta Tainui, of Greymouth, says that near Inanga-hua there is a place called the Poua-kai's Nest, where tradition tells of one being killed. Irai Tihau, of Wai-rewa, saw at Poupou-tu-noa, in Otago, in 1848, near the River Kaeaea, what was said to be a Poua-kai's nest. The name may be translated “the old glutton.”)

The Wai-taha, after a peaceful occupation of what was then known as the “food-abounding island,” were obliged to resign possession of it into the hands of Nga-ti-mamoe, and were ultimately destroyed or absorbed by that people.

Nga-ti-mamoe. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

The origin of the Nga-ti-mamoe is nearly as obscure as that of their predecessors. Like them they came from the North Island, being driven down before a stronger tribe. Their pitiless treatment of Wai-taha was afterwards repeated upon themselves by the stronger and more warlike Nga-i-tahu. (Their destruction of the Wai-taha, and their own subsequent destruction, accounts for the absence of all traditions relating to the visit of Abel Tasman in 1642. Just as the destruction of page 196 the tribes inhabiting the shores of the strait by Rau-paraha (leaf of the paraha plant) in this century explains why no account of Captain Cook's visit in 1769 has been preserved amongst the Natives now residing in that neighbourhood.)

From the Natives at the extreme south of the Island a genealogical table has been obtained which traces their origin to the offspring of Awa-topa (creek of the stingray). The following legend states the cause of their leaving the North Island:—

Awa-topa and Rauru (god of the hair of the head) were brothers, sons of Ruarangi (full-grown animal) and Manu-tai-hapua (sea-bird of the pool). They both commenced to build houses for themselves at the same time. Rauru was the first to finish; and, having performed the ceremonies of purification, he announced his intention of going off on a voyage. His elder brother begged him to wait till he had completed his house; but this Rauru refused to do. Awa-topa, overcome with rage at his refusal, killed him. The tribe, hearing of what had taken place, avenged Rauru by killing Awa-topa. This led to the secession of three families, children of the elder brother-namely, the Puhi-kai-ariki (plume that is better than all others), Puhi-manawanawa (plume that contends), and Matuku-here-koti (Matuku who conciliated the child prematurely born), who went to the South Island. The rest of the tribe remained behind on the North Island. Relationship is claimed by the descendants of Nga-ti-mamoe with Wai-kato (smarting water) through a puhi (betrothed woman) of the Awa-topa clan who settled there, and with Nga-puhi (the plumes) through Maru-nui (great shade), who was connected with Maru-kore (no shade), one of their ancestors.

During the Nga-ti-mamoe occupation an event occurred which seems to throw some light upon the origin of the Chatham Islanders:

Tradition says that a canoe, manned entirely by chiefs whose names are forgotten, but who are known as “Nga toko ono” page 197 (the Six), went out from Para-kaka-riki (seed for the little green parrot) to fish, and when a long way off from the shore a violent north-west wind sprang up and drove them out to sea, and they were never heard of again. (It is not at all improbable that this canoe reached the Chathams, and that the crew became the progenitors of one section of the present inhabitants. Te Koti, a Maori Wesleyan minister who was stationed for some years on the principal island, states that the Mori-ori (shorn by the wind) have preserved the names of many of the headlands around Aka-roa (Haka-roa long haka) (d), and that they number Mamoa (sodden)—probably a corruption of Ma-moe (ta-moe—cook till sodden)—amongst their ancestors. It is an interesting fact that many of the words in use by the Mori-ori are nearer akin to the Raro-tongan (lower south) form than the Ma-ori (taken by the wind) equivalent. It is quite clear that the Nga-ti-mamoe, like the Nga-i-tahu, came from the east coast of the North Island. How long it was before their possession of the South Island was disputed it is hard to guess correctly; but, judging from their numbers, and the total subjugation of Wai-taha to their rule when the Nga-i-tahu appear on the scene, they could not have held it for less than a hundred years.)

Nga-I-Tara. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

A small tribe called Nga-i-tara (descendants of Tara-barb) were the first to make alliances with Nga-ti-mamoe, and were the cause of Nga-i-tahu crossing the strait.

Nga-i-Tahu. (Nga-i-Tahu.)

The Nga-i-tahu were located at Ha-taitai (salt air), between what is now called Wellington Harbour and the coast. In this pa dwelt a band of warriors renowned for courage and daring, whose warlike propensities had made them rather obnoxious to their kinsmen and neighbours, the Nga-ti-kahu-ngunu(unuunu) (who take their garments off). Among this band dwelt an old chief named Kahu-kura-te-paku (red garment the page 198 little—junior), who was connected with the Nga-i-tara (descendants of Tara—small sea-gull) Tribe, then settled at Wai-mea (insipid), in the South Island. His son Tu-maro (stand unyielding) was married to Ra-kai-te-kura (day of red glow), daughter of Tama-ihu-poru (son with a pug-nose), the seventh from Tahu (beloved), the founder of the tribe. Shortly after his marriage Tu-maro was called away for a time from Ha-taitai; and during his absence his wife, who was pregnant, contracted an improper intimacy with Te-ao-hiku-raki (rangi) (cloud at the end of heaven). Tu-maro returned just before his wife gave birth to a child, and, being ignorant of her misconduct, when the pains of labour began, proceeded to repeat the customary charms to aid delivery. Having exhausted his store of charms and in vain repeated all the genealogies of his ancestors, he began to suspect that something was wrong, and questioned his wife, who, after a little delay, confessed that one of his relations had been with her. “But who was it?” he demanded. “Te-ao-hiku-raki,” she replied. The moment that name was uttered the child was born. Tu-maro, without going near his wife, kept removing her from house to house till her purification and that of the child was accomplished. Then, early one morning, he came to her and told her to paint herself and the infant with red ochre; and to put her best mats on, and to adorn her head with feathers. The woman did as she was bid, wondering all the time what her husband meant to do. When she had finished adorning herself Tu-maro led her into the courtyard of Te-ao-hiku-raki, whom he found sitting under the verandah. “Here,” said he, “is your wife and child,” and without another word turned away and went back to his own house. He then summoned all his immediate friends and relations, and informed them that it was his intention to leave the place immediately, as he could not live on friendly terms with those who had dishonoured him. His father approved of the proposed step; and, acting on his advice, their hapu, carrying with them their families and all their movable goods, crossed the strait page 199 and entered Blind Bay, along the coast of which they sailed till they reached the mouth of the Wai-mea, where they landed and built a pa. Here, for upwards of twenty years, the Nga-i-tara, Nga-ti-whata (sons of Whata—the stage), and Nga-ti-rua (sons of Rua—the pit), subsections of the Nga-i-tahu Tribe separated from their main body at Ha-taitai, grew into such importance through their alliance with Nga-ti-mamoe that at last they came to be regarded more in the light of independent tribes than parts of one and the same; and this often complicates the thread of this history.

But what complicates it still further is the existence of small settlements of Natives in the sounds who came from the west coast of the North Island; including detachments of Rangi-tane (spouse of heaven), Nga-ti-haua (sons of Haua— the stupid), Nga-ti-hape (sons of Hape—club-foot), Nga-i-te-iwi (the people), Nga-i-tawake (sons of Tawake—mend a rent in a canoe), Nga-ti-whare-puka (house of sow-thistle), and Nga-i-tu-rahui (those who are sacred). The Rangi-tane appear to have been the most important. Te-hau (the wind) was their chief, and his cultivations at Te-karaka (the karaka-tree), known as Ka-para-te-hau (the wind will change) and O-kainga (food eaten), are still pointed out. Kupe, the great navigator, is said to have poured salt water upon these cultivations for the purpose of destroying them, and so formed pools which remain to this day. These Natives never seem to have extended their settlements much beyond the sounds, and little of their history worth recording has been preserved by the remnant of their descendants who escaped destruction at the hands of Te-rau-paraha (leaf of the paraha plant).

Beyond Wai-mea the Nga-ti-wairangi (the irritable) and Nga-ti-kopiha (the food-store), who, in common with Nga-ti-mamoe and Nga-i-tahu, were descended from Tura (bald), took up their abode, and spread from there all down the west coast.

About twenty-five years after the secession of Kahu-kura-te-paku and his followers, communication with Ha-taitai was reopened under the following circumstances: Tu-ahu-riri (the page 200 dam in the water), deserted in infancy by Tu-maro (stand firm), had now attained to man's estate, and had settled with his wives on the southeast coast of the North Island. But he could not rest till he had solved a question which had troubled him all his life. Once when a child he had been startled by hearing the mother of one of his playmates, whom he had struck, exclaim, “What a bullying fellow this bastard is!” Running up to his own mother, he immediately asked if it was true that he was a bastard. “No,” she said. “Then where,” he asked, “is my father?” “Look where the sun sets: that is where your father dwells.” He kept these words treasured up in his memory, and now, having attained to man's estate, he determined to go in search of his father. Leaving his wives behind him he embarked with seventy men in a war-canoe, and crossed the straits to Wai-mea; arrived there he landed and drew up the canoe in front of the pa. The inhabitants came forth to welcome him in, and invited him to occupy the residence of their chief. On entering the house Tu-ahu-riri laid himself down on his back near the door, whilst his companions seated themselves round the sides of the house. As no one in the place recognized any of them, the usual preparations were made for their destruction; as it was always held, by us Maori that those who were not known friends must be regarded as our enemies, and treated accordingly. Kahu-kura-te-paku stationed armed men all round the house, and while he was preparing to attack the newcomers the women and slaves were busy heating the stones and preparing the ovens to cook their bodies. While these preparations were being made, and every one was longing for the time when the bodies would be cooked and ready for them to feast upon, the children of the village came flocking round the entrance curious to see the strangers. One more venturesome than the rest climbed up to the window, and communicated to those behind him what he saw; while so occupied Tu-ahu-riri, looking up at the roof, said, “Ah! just like page 201 the red battens of my grandfather Kahu-kura-te-paku's house which he left over the other side at Kau-whakaara-waru” (bath in the summer). The boy on hearing this ran and told the men who were lying in wait. They made him repeat the words several times, and then Kahu-kura-te-paku said, “I never left any house or painted battens on the other side, only the boy on whose account we came across. Go, ask him his name.” Then one arose and approached and called out, “Inside there. Eh! Sit up. Tell me who you are.” Then Tu-ahu-riri sat up and said, “I am Te-hiku-tawa-tawa-o-te-raki” (tail of the mackerel of the heaven—spotted clouds), the name given to him by his father when he was born. The man went back and told Kahu-kura-te-paku, who was overwhelmed with shame when he discovered that he had been craving after the flesh of his own grandson. Approaching the house he told him to come forth, not by the door, but the window (d), so that they might take the tapu off the wood and stones which they had got ready to cook him and his friends with, as the intention had defiled them. Having clambered through the window and embraced his grandson (grandfather), Tu-ahu-riri felt that he was safe; nevertheless he did not forget the indignity to which he had been subjected by his own relations, and he determined to take the first opportunity of punishing them for it. When returning to his own home with Kahu-kura-te-paku a few weeks afterwards, the people of Wai-mea begged Tu-ahu-riri to come back and visit them in the autumn, when food would be plentiful, and they could entertain him more hospitably. But, instead of doing so, he waited till he knew that they had planted their fields, and had nothing in their storehouses; then, taking one hundred men in addition to the seventy who went with him before, he recrossed the strait. When he landed with all his followers the inhabitants of Wai-mea welcomed him very warmly, but apologized for the small quantity of food which they had set before him, which, they assured him, was owing, not to inhospitality, but to the emptiness of their stores. When every page 202 particle of food in the place was consumed Tu-ahu-riri returned home. Shortly after his departure the house he occupied was accidentally burnt down; the site of it was soon covered with a luxuriant crop of wild cabbage, which the people of the pa, driven by hunger, had to gather and eat, and in consequence of their so doing they all died. The greens were tapu, because they grew on the site of a house once occupied by Kahu-kura-te-paku and his grandson. (The colic produced by famished people gorging on greens proved fatal because the pain was attributed to the agency of the offended atuas of their chiefs. This incident throws light upon the frequent occurrence in past years of fatal effects arising from breaches of tapu.)

The taking of Te-mata-ki-kai-poika (poinga) (the obsidian at the game of poi) (d) is the next event of importance in the history of Nga-i-tahu.

Tu-ahu-riri had from some cause incurred the ill-will of a powerful member of his own tribe, the veteran warrior Hika-oro-roa (long rubbing the sticks to produce fire), who assembled his relations and dependents and led them to the attack of Tu-ahu-riri's pa, situated somewhere on the east coast. They reached the place at dawn of day, and as the leader was preparing to take the foremost place in the assault, a youth named Turuki (sucker), eager to distinguish himself, rushed past Hika-oro-roa, who uttered an exclamation of surprise and indignation, asking in sneering tones “why a nameless warrior should dare to try and snatch the credit of a victory he had done nothing to win.” Turuki, burning with shame at the taunt, rushed back to the rear and addressed himself to Tu-te-kawa (the baptism), who was the head of his family, and besought him to withdraw his contingent and to attack the pa himself from the other side, and forever prevent such a reproach from being uttered again. Tu-te-kawa, who felt the insult as keenly as his young relative, instantly adopted his suggestion; and so rapidly did he effect the movement that his absence was not discovered before he had successfully assaulted the pa and his page 203 name was being shouted forth as the victor. Tu-ahu-riri was surprised asleep in his whare, but succeeded in escaping, leaving his two wives, Hine-kai-taki (tangi) (weeping daughter) and Tuara-whati (broken back), to their fate. These women were persons of great distinction, and were related to all the principal families in that part of the country, and their lives ought to have been quite safe in the hands of their husband's relations. But Tu-te-kawa, who was a man of cruel disposition, finding the husband had escaped, killed both the women. As the war-party were re-embarking a few hours after, Tu-ahu-riri came out to the edge of the forest, which reached nearly to the shore, and, calling Tu-te-kawa, asked, “Have you got my waist-belt and weapons?” On being answered in the affirmative, he begged that they might be given back to him. Tu-te-kawa stepped forward and flung them towards him. After picking them up Tu-ahu-riri threatened his cousin with the vengeance of his atuas (gods) for the injury he had done to him, and, retiring into the depths of the forest, he invoked the help of his familiar spirits, and by their agency raised the furious gale known as Te-hau-o-Rongo-mai (the wind of Rongo-mai—the whale). This tempest dispersed Tu-te-kawa's fleet, and many of the canoes were upset and the crews drowned. He with much difficulty reached the South Island, where, to escape the vengeance of Tu-ahu-riri, he decided to remain. He had nothing to fear from the Nga-ti-mamoe, to whom he was related on the mother's side, and he knew that his presence would be still more welcome to them because he was willing to turn his arms against the remnant of Wai-taha who still maintained their independence. We now take leave of Tu-te-kawa for some years, and return to trace the fortunes of the warriors at Ha-taitai, of whom we have heard nothing since Tu-maro's secession.

Though constantly at war with their neighbours or quarrelling amongst themselves, they had succeeded hitherto in maintaining their ground; but certain events occurred after the fall of Te-mata-ki-kai-poika and the defeat of Tu-ahu-riri page 204 which ultimately led to their migration to the South Island.

The first was the marriage of Tiotio's (prickly) two daughters to Te-hau-taki (tangi) (noisy wind), which was brought about in the following manner: Te-hau-taki, who was the chief of a hapu (sub-tribe) living at Kahu (hawk) and allied to Nga-ti-mamoe, was one day driven out to sea from the fishing-ground by a gale of wind. Fearing that his canoe would be upset, and being unable to get back to his own place on the South Island, he tried to reach the opposite shore of the strait, and with much difficulty effected a landing after dusk at Whanga-nui-a-tara (great harbour of Tara—Port Nicholson), just below the Nga-ti-kuri (the dogs) Pa. “We are all dead men,” he said to his crew, “unless we can reach the house of Tiotio unobserved.” (Tiotio was the upoko ariki, or hereditary high priest of the tribe, and probably Hau-taki regarded him in the light of a connection, since his son Tu-te-ure-tira (row of stone axes) was married to a Nga-ti-mamoe woman and living amongst that tribe.) “Is there any one of you,” he asked, “who can point out this chiefs house?” Fortunately one of the crew had been before to Ha-taitai and was able to act as guide. Having drawn up their canoe, they all marched noiselessly in single file till they reached the remotest of the chiefs' houses, which were distinguished from others around them by their great height and size. Passing by those of Maru (sheltered), Manawa (breath), and Ra-kai-tau-wheke (day of the year of eating the octopus), they came to that of Tiotio. Entering the house they found his wife seated beside a fire near the door, and the old man himself lying down at the farthest end. Roused by the noise of their footsteps, the old chief stood up and asked who they were. Te-hau-taki replied, “It is I.” No sooner were they aware who it really was than the old wife gave a loud cry of welcome, but she was instantly checked by her husband, who dreaded the consequence of rousing the pa, and begged her not to attract attention by her loud crying, as that would endanger page 205 the lives of the whole party. He then told her to quickly set food before them, as they could not be killed after having been entertained as guests by the chief tohunga (priest) of the tribe. In obedience to his wishes, she placed a poha (bowl) of preserved koko (tui, or parson-bird) before them, and when they had finished their meal she went over with a message from her husband to Ra-kai-tau-wheke, who was married to two of their daughters, Tahu-pare (plume of the beloved) and Rongo-pare (fame of the plume). That chief, on hearing of Te-hau-taki's arrival, asked whether he had been allowed to eat in his father-in-law's house. On being answered in the affirmative, “That is enough,” he said: “I will come and see him in the morning.” Before doing so, however, he sent to inform Manawa and Maru and others, and as soon as what had happened became generally known throughout the pa the warriors assembled round Tiotio's house, and with yells and frantic cries hurled their spears against the roof and sides, and behaved as if they intended to pull the house down. When old Tiotio remonstrated with them they ceased their violence, and invited Te-hau-taki to come out to them, when there was much talking and speech-making of a friendly kind, which finally ended in a proposal that Tiotio's remaining daughters, Ra-kai-te-kura and Ma-hanga-tahi (first twins), should be given in marriage to Te-hau-taki. As all the parties concerned were agreeable to this, the marriage took place without delay. The Nga-i-tahu chiefs asked many questions of their visitor about his house in the South Island, and were so favourably impressed with his answers that many responded to his invitation to accompany him when he returned. The final migration, however, did not take place till some time after Te-hau-taki's return.