The second influx of settlers to nw zealand is associated primarily with Toi, one of the most widely known names in early Maori history. An average for a number of genealogies places him eight generations before the advent of the Fleet from Hawaiki and thus approximately in the middle of the twelfth century. Some east coast tribes who claimed descent from the first settlers maintained that Toi was born there. The fullest account of his history was given by Te Matorohanga (81, p. 97) and, as it contains some statements that should not be allowed to pass unchallenged, it is quoted in the following account.

Toi was a chief who lived in Hawaiki, where he was known as Toitehuatahi because he was a first-born. A number of chiefs from islands named Ahu and Tuhua visited Hawaiki and boasted that the men of Hawaiki could not equal them in canoe racing. [Percy Smith (81, p. 97) believed that Ahu was Oahu in the Hawaiian islands, but Tuhua was the old name of the nearby island of Me'etia.] The challenge was accepted and the date set for a regatta in the waters of Pikopikoiwhiti. Whatonga and Turahui, grandsons of Toi, entered their canoe Te Wao for the race. On the day of the competition, all the neighbouring tribes gathered on the shore of Pikopikoiwhiki. After it had been agreed that the course should extend far out to sea before turning back, Toi and the other spectators ascended the hill of Pukehapopo which formed a natural grandstand for viewing the race. The paddles of 60 canoes churned the waters of Pikopikoiwhiti as the race started. They shot out and headed seaward to the distant turning point. However, a strong wind arose which became a gale. The canoes disappeared over the horizon and did not return.

An unsuccessful search was made along the coasts for the missing canoes. The priests were consulted but there were so many conflicting replies from the gods (ka ahua raruraru nga korero a nga atua nei) that page 23Toi determined to set out himself to search for his grandsons. He set sail with a crew of 60 men. He reached Rarotonga but found no trace of his grandsons. He then said, "I will go on to the land discovered by Kupe in the expanse known as Tiritiri o te moana, the land that is shrouded by the high mists. I may reach land, but if I do not, I will rest forever in the bosom of the Ocean Maid." The secretary who reported Te Matorohanga's lectures stated that he was subsequently told that Toi visited other islands before he sailed to New Zealand. Among them was Pangopango which Percy Smith accepted as evidence that Toi reached one of the Samoan islands, sailing from there to New Zealand. I do not share the same confidence in the interpolations in the original text.

Toi made his landfall off Tamaki (Auckland Isthmus), where fires were seen on shore. He landed and found the country occupied by the Tini o Maruiwi and others. The people were numerous and were likened to ants because of their numbers. He dwelt with them for some time, and some of his crew married local women. Toi decided to move on and view the country. He went on to Aotea (Great Barrier Island) where he stayed for a time. Then he went down the coast to an island which he named Tuhua (Mayor Island) after the island of Tuhua (Me'etia) near Hawaiki. From Tuhua, he went on to Whakatane where he established his home at Kaputerangi above the present town of Whakatane. Information regarding the native food supplies was obtained from Raru, one of the Tamaki women who had married one of his crew. It was because they had to subsist on the local foods of the forest that Toi assumed the name of Toikairakau (Toi the wood eater) in place of his original name of Toitehuatahi.

Some of Toi's men visited Maketu, where they made themselves objectionable by marking out land for possession and by forcibly taking some of the women for wives. The descendants of Pananehu, who occupied the land, became angry and killed four of the intruders. The fugitives from the fight returned to Whakatane and informed Toi of the disaster. Toi sent a punitive expedition which returned with 200 men and women as prisoners. The captured people remained with Toi who was kind to them.

A man named Poi, with his wives, went from Whakatane to Tauranga to visit relatives of his wives. The local people, who were descendants of Ruatamore, killed Po. The Ngati Awa and the Koautaranga tribes, who were evidently affiliated with Toi at Whakatane, raised a war party of 400 and attacked the Ruatamore people to exact revenge. The Ruatamore tribe was defeated at Mangakino on the east side of Mokau on the west coast. One hundred young men and 500 young women of marriageable age were captured and brought back to Whakatane. Among the women prisoners was Piopio, a daughter of Pohokura who lived at Okoki in the page 24Urenui district of Taranaki. On learning of his daughter's capture, Pohokura travelled to Whakatane and begged Toi to return Piopio to him. Toi consented and said, "When you get home let her name be Kairakau." This was a high compliment, as it was part of Toi's own name of Toikairakau. Pohokura, appreciating the magnanimity and the honour, replied, "Since you have named her, let her remain as your wife, for I know you will look after my child." Toi replied, "I consent but she shall be a wife for my grandson, Te Atakore." Pohokura, having consented in his turn, returned to his people in the west.

The Ngati Awa, who were named after Toi's grandson Awanuiarangi, took their female prisoners to wife and added the male prisoners to their military strength. They thus increased in numbers, and the name of Te Tini o Awa was applied to them in place of Ngati Awa. Through the marriage of Piopio, many of them went to Taranaki to dwell with Pohokura. This, according to Te Matorohanga, was the origin of the Awa people of Taranaki who now call themselves Te Atiawa. The Atiawa people on the other band hold that though they descended from Awanuiarangi, they originated in Taranaki and that the Ngati Awa of Whakatane separated from them and went east to the Bay of Plenty. As my own tribe of Ngati Mutunga belongs to the Atiawa confederation of Taranaki, I will not venture an opinion as to which is right.

In the Matorohanga account, there are a number of inconsistencies. Ancestors who lived at different periods of time are brought together to converse with each other. An example has been given already of Kupe, who lived in 950, giving sailing directions in the first person to Turi, who lived in 1350. In the above story Pohokura, the younger brother of Taitawaro, who came in the Okoki canoe visits and speaks to Toi, who arrived in New Zealand after the descendants of Pohokura and his contemporaries had increased to such an extent that they occupied a large part of the North Island. The Ngati Awa, descended from Awanuiarangi, the grandson of Toi, muster a war party for a punitive expedition and capture the daughter of Pohokura who interviews Toi. Such statements, if accepted literally, do not make sense, and their inconsistency must have been as obvious to the Maori scholars of the past as they are to the students of today. The fact that they are repeated would seem to indicate that the Maori historians indulged at times in a literary style that used the first person or oratio recta between noted ancestors in describing events which occurred long after the period of one or both ancestors.

The Whatonga Expedition

Whatonga and Turahui had forged well ahead of the other contestants in the canoe race at Pikopikoiwhiti and were about to turn when the heavy squall came off the land and drove the vessel away to the deep page 25ocean. Night came on and during it and the next day, they ran before the wind. At night a fog closed down and direction was lost. Happily, when the fog lifted the next day, they saw an island ahead. They were hospitably received when they landed and Rangiatea, the ariki of the island, gave his daughter in marriage to Turahui. He also provided Whatonga and the members of the crew with wives. And so they settled down for a time at least. In a further reference, the name of the island was also given as Rangiatea. The inhabitants of Rangiatea (81, p. 105) were described as forming three types and the physical characters of each type were enumerated in detail with the same facility that characterized the description of the impossible first settlers.

A highly imaginative episode now follows. After the departure of Toi, the mother of Turahui further consulted the priests for news of her son. The priests decided to send Turahui's pet bird, a green-breasted cuckoo (wharauroa) named Te Kawa, to search for its owner. A string knotted to convey a message (tau ponapona) was tied around the bird's neck and it was sent on its way with a blessing. It reached Rangiatea and alighted on the roof of a house. Seeing its master below, it called down, "Are you Turahui?" Receiving an affirmative reply, the gifted bird alighted on Turahui's shoulder. Turahui removed the knotted cord and read the message, which ran as follows (81, pp. 84,105):

Kei te ora koutou? Kei tewhea motu koutou?
Are you alive? At what island are you?

Another knotted cord was sent back with the bird with the following message, "We are all alive at Rangiatea." The bird flew off towards the east and the direction was noted.

Whatonga, Turahui and their men with their wives and families set out in six canoes on the course indicated by the bird. They were met by the bird with another knotted message asking if they would return. The canoes finally arrived back at Hawaiki where they were welcomed with all the detail characteristic of Maori receptions. Whatonga asked the priests to create a solar halo (kura-hau-awatea) and a lunar halo (kura-hau-po) to inform the people of Rangiatea that they had arrived safely.

In this story, it would appear that if Rangiatea was the present Ra'iatea, the Hawaiki from which Whatonga set out and to which he returned, was Tahiti. In the Tahitian legends, Hawaiki was the old name of Ra'iatea. As Ra'iatea is little over 100 miles from Tahiti, and Whatonga made it on the second day after the race, this part of the story may have some grain of fact. However, it is curious that Toi did not search the islands of the Society group before he set out for New Zealand. The selection of a cuckoo to perform the functions of a carrier pigeon may have been induced by a knowledge of the migratory habits of that bird.

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The use of a knotted cord to convey messages is somewhat startling. The Marquesans used a mnemonic device (ta'o mata) of sennit with a knot for each generation in a lineage much as the Maoris used a genealogical stick (rakau whakapapa) with knobs to represent the generations. The Hawaiian tax collectors kept a tally of the taxes to be paid in dogs, hogs, and other commodities by tying loops, knots, and tufts of various sizes and colours to lines of cordage. These three devices, however, were for numerical counts and could not convey any other form of message. The scribe (81, p. 104) who explained the technique of the knotted cord to Percy Smith, stated that knots spaced from the tip of the finger to the first joint, the second joint, the knuckle joint, and the wrist joint, conveyed four different messages. The only message he could remember was that the spacing from the finger tip to the first joint meant, "How are you all getting on?". This rather conveniently explains the first part of the message from Hawaiki but the scribe could not explain how to send such a message as "We are at Rangiatea". The whole story appears to be pure fiction and one wonders if the scribe had included it in the tradition after hearing about the Peruvian quipu.

Whatonga fitted out a voyaging canoe named Te Hawai to search in turn for his grandfather Toi. The canoe hull had three blunt joins (haumi tuporo), 26 thwarts (taumanu), two bailing places (puna wai), and two anchors. Wash boards (pairi) were added to the bow and it was painted with red ochre (kokowai whenua) mixed with shark oil. A crew of 66 experienced men were given appointed places in the canoe. The canoe name was changed to Kurahaupo in memory of the lunar sign which had been given to Rangiatea. The vessel was launched after the appropriate religious ritual.

Whatonga and his younger cousin Mahutonga occupied the place of honour in the stern. Mahutonga was the priest of the canoe and had charge of the gods, Maru, Tunuiateika, and Ruamano. The gods were evidently in the form of material symbols and, though the tradition does not state their form, Percy Smith (81, p. 110) inferred that they were images. Various chiefs are mentioned, among them being Tamaahua and his wives, Ruatea and his wife, Hatauira, Maungaroa, Taramanga, Tokaroa, and Popoto. Popoto had charge of the bow anchor and the bow uplifting paddle (hoe-whakaara).

The Kurahaupo reached Rarotonga, where Whatonga was informed that Toi had gone on to the land of the high mists. Ruatea decided to remain in Rarotonga, but Whatonga decided to follow in the wake of Toi. Land was finally sighted at Muriwhenua (North Cape) and after catching some fish, the Kurahaupo sailed down the west coast as far as Tongaporutu. Here Whatonga went ashore to make inquiries from the local settlers. A woman of the Tini o Pananehu people informed him that page 27Toi was living on the east side of the island and that it would not take long to reach that part if he travelled overland. However, Whatonga decided to sail round the northern end of the island and complete his quest by canoe. Thereupon Maungaroa, Hatauira, Korehewa, Moko, Pou, Te Auaha and some others decided to remain at Tongaporutu. Having rounded the North Cape, Whatonga and his men went ashore at a place they named Otuako after one of their crew who had died.

Sufficient food having been gathered, the Kurahaupo moved down the east coast and arrived at Moharuru (Maketu), where they saw smoke arising ashore. They landed and were hospitably received by the settlers of Pananehu and Taitawaro stock. The local chief, Matakana, gave 50 girls in marriage to Whatonga's party, who were men selected for their fine physique and strength and were greatly desired as husbands by the local women. On inquiring about Toi, the people pointed east to the headland of Kōhi, saying that there was a river (Whakatane) there and on the high ground on its far bank was the home of Toi. Thereupon, Whatonga passed along the coast to Kaputerangi, where grandfather and grandson were reunited and the long search happily ended.

By this time, Toi's own people had waxed numerous, because his men had taken two and three wives each from the local people. The young men captured in a previous battle had been incorporated into Toi's tribe which adopted the name of the Tini o Awanuiarangi from one of Toi's grandsons as shown in the following genealogy:

The Tini o Awanuiarangi tribe subsequently split into two divisions. One division remained at Whakatane with Toi and became the present Ngati Awa of that district. The other division moved off through Hawkes Bay and finally settled in Taranaki where they became the Atiawa of the present day. This is an east coast version which is not held by the Atiawa.

Whatonga also decided to move owing to overcrowding in the Whakatane district. The Kurahaupo canoe was launched and voyaged south to Turanga (Poverty Bay) where Mahutonga and Popoto settled.

Whatonga had three wives and one named Hotuwaipara gave birth to a son whom she named Tara because she had pricked her finger with a fish spine (tara) shortly before he was born. Through another wife named Reretua, Whatonga had a grandson named Rangitane. Tara and page 28Rangitane with their forces defeated the Tini o Ruatamore in Hawkes Bay. Tara and his people, evidently accompanied by his father and mother, moved on to the area around the present Wellington Harbour which was given the name of Whanganui a Tara (Great harbour of Tara). His tribe took the name of Ngaitara and it also occupied Porirua and the islands of Kapiti and Mana. Tara, Whatonga, and Hotuwaipara are said to have been buried in a cave named Wharekohu on Kapiti Island.

The descendants of Rangitane under the tribal name of Rangitane occupied country in Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Horowhenua, Otaki, and Paekakariki. This is the Matorohanga version of the origin of the Rangitane as descended from Whatonga, the commander of the Kurahaupo canoe which came to New Zealand in the time of Toi. A different account states that the Rangitane claim descent from ancestors who came in the Kurahaupo two centuries later with the Fleet.

Confusion has arisen through two canoes bearing the name of Kurahaupo. Percy Smith (79, p. 162) states that Te Moungaroa was the chief and priest of the Kurahaupo canoe which formed one of the Fleet. Associated with Te Moungaroa is the charming story of Wharematangi, son of Ngarue, and his magic dart. According to a Taranaki lineage (79, p. 103), Ngarue was a son of Te Moungaroa and the lineage numbers only 17 generations back from 1900 A.D. Ngarue lived at Waitara in Taranaki and on a visit to Awakino further north, he married Urutekakara, said to be a daughter of Raumati who set fire to the Arawa canoe. While living in a temporary shelter on a cultivation, the local people made disparaging remarks about Ngarue living on other people's land. Ngarue, deeply offended, decided to return to Waitara. Before leaving, he told Urutekakara, who was pregnant, the name to give to the son or daughter when it was born. A son was born and named Wharematangi (House open to the wind) after the shelter on the cultivation. To cut a long story short, Wharematangi, by means of repeatedly casting a magic dart, was guided to his father's home at Waitara and acknowledged.

There seems little doubt that Te Moungaroa and the magic dart story links up with the Kurahaupo canoe which came with the Fleet in about 1350 A.D. However, Te Matorohanga (81, p. 119) states that Maungaroa was one of the crew of the Kurahaupo commanded by Whatonga in about 1150 A.D. and that he was disembarked at Tongaporutu on the west coast where he married a local woman named Torohanga. They had a son named Ngarue who married Urutekakara and their son named Wharematangi found his father Ngarue at Waitara by means of a magic dart. The version given by Percy Smith is the Taranaki one and as the Waitara people claim descent from Ngarue and had a large meeting house named Ngarue, it is more likely to be correct.

Te Matorohanga also included Te Hatauira as a member of the crew page 29of the first Kurahaupo but the Taranaki tribe claim him as an ancestor who came in the second Kurahaupo which is supported by a genealogy (79, p. 105) of only 20 generations.

It is thus evident that the Matorohanga school in order to add detail to their narrative of Whatonga have transferred some well-known Taranaki ancestors from the Kurahaupo of the Fleet to the Kurahaupo of Whatonga. Knowing that Te Maungaroa and Te Hatauira were west coast ancestors, Whatonga's canoe was deflected to Tongaporutu to unload them and men Whatonga had to sail round the North Cape to reach the Bay of Plenty area with which Maori tradition associated him.

The Story of Manaia

Numerous quarrels took place in Hawaiki before the coming of the Fleet and one of them is associated with Manaia. The story of Manaia has been told in three versions from the Chatham Islands, west coast, and east coast respectively. The major incidents which occurred in Hawaiki were the manufacture of spears, an offence against Manaia's wife, and Manaia's revenge. The fighting which followed led to a migration to New Zealand.

The Chatham Islands' version recorded by Shand (66, p. 31) states that Manaii was married to Niwa and they had a large family. Manaii directed his family to make spears from an akepiri tree and 80 spears were made from it. The heart wood of the tree proved too difficult to work and was discarded. Niwa instructed her youngest son named Kahukaka, how to make the discarded heart wood into the finest spear of all and he accomplished the task secretly. When the people wondered who the craftsman was, Niwa, unable to contain her pride, spoke to her son saying, "You are my Kahukaka begotten of me in the Astelia wastes and now you have come forth a man and become great." From her saying, Manaii concluded that his wife had committed adultery. He found out that her lover was Porohiti and he waged war against him and his people. The story ends with the statement that it was due to such wars that people subsequently migrated but there is no reference to Manaii himself leaving Hawaiki.

The west coast version recorded by Grey (44, p. 221) states that Manaia invited a working party (ohu) under the chief Tupenu to make spears for him. While Manaia and his people were out fishing to obtain food for their guests, the working party assaulted Rongotiki, the wife of Manaia. Manaia, while fishing, hooked a fish by the tail and knew from the omen what had happened to his wife. On his return Rongotiki confirmed his fears. Manaia, with an armed force, secretly surrounded the working party and urged his son, Tu-urenui, to take the honour of opening the attack. While Tu-urenui hesitated, a young man dashed page 30forward and killed one of the workers, shouting, "I, Kahukakanui, son of Manaia, have slain the first fish." Manaia knew from the young man's cry that he was his son, born out of wedlock. In the battle which ensued, the workers were put to flight and Manaia slew their leader, Tupenu. Other battles followed and the losses began to pile up against Manaia. He accordingly left the country in a voyaging canoe named Tokomaru. According to Grey's version, the Tokomaru arrived at New Zealand but the subsequent details show that it has been identified with the Tokomaru which formed one of the Fleet. Though the Moriori and the west coast versions of Manaia differ as regards the names of his wife and the leader of the opposing party, they are identical in the making of spears and distinction having been acquired by the illegitimate son Kahukakanui. However, as the Moriori had left New Zealand before the arrival of the Fleet and as their version does not mention the Tokomaru, it is evident that Grey's informants added the later Tokomaru story to a much older narrative of events which took place in Hawaiki. In the story (44, p. 223), it states that Rongotiki roasted fern root for her husband's meal. This is a New Zealand addition to the story, for fern root was not used as food in Hawaiki.

The east coast version given by Te Matorohanga (81, p. 129) shows a remarkable growth of details. Manaia's wife was Warea and they lived at Whaingaroa in Hawaiki in a house named Nukuahurangi. Manaia employed a number of craftsmen under the chief Tomowhare not only to make spears (tokotoko) but also halberts (maipi), paddles (hoe) and canoe end sections (haumi). While in the forest with his people to procure birds as food for his working party, two mating birds fell at Manaia's feet. This was an omen similar in meaning to the fish omen in the west coast version. Manaia returned secretly at night and found his wife sleeping beside Tomowhare under the window opening (matapihi) of the guest house. Without waking them, he marked his wife's legs and the lower border of Tomowhare's tapa garment with a piece of blue clay (pukepoto). He met his party returning from the forest with their supply of birds. They marched to the space before the guest house and Manaia led the tau chant appropriate in announcing a catch of birds. It was early morning and the workers aroused by the chant, poured out of the guest house, Warea among them. Warea and Tomowhare were convicted by the evidence of the blue clay. Manaia challenged Tomowhare to single combat and the characteristic technique of adding detail in the Matorohanga accounts is here evident in the statement that the two opponents fought first with short spears (tokotoko), then with long spears (huata), and as neither could overcome the other, they took to short clubs (rakau poto). In the close fighting, Manaia slew his rival. Fearing the vengeance of Tomowhare's powerful kinsmen, Manaia fled to Aotearoa in a canoe page 31named Tokomaru with Te Aowhaingaroa as his priest or navigating officer.

The preceding part of the story is a variation of the happenings in Hawaiki but there are four interpolations taken from the culture which developed at a later period in New Zealand. These are the procuring of forest birds in sufficient quantity to feed a working party, the characteristic tau chants used in bringing in preserved birds, the matapihi window in the guest house, and the use of pukepoto clay for marking.

The second part of the story introduces a new character not present in the west coast version. After Manaia had left, Nukutamaroro, stated to be the elder brother of the deceased Tomowhare, attacked those of Manaia's tribe who had not gone with him. When he learned that his enemy had fled, he exclaimed, "What! He has left this pool of blood behind him and fled for refuge to a distant land? He has left you to cover the nakedness of his wife Warea."

Nuku sailed in pursuit of Manaia with three canoes; Tangiapakura and Waimate were double canoes (waka unua) and Houama, a single canoe with an outrigger (waka marohi). He reached New Zealand and sighted Manaia's canoe near Mana Island off the west coast of what is now the Wellington Province. The fast-sailing outrigger canoe headed off Manaia and the two double canoes caught up. A sea battle was fought and the casualties are given as 200 on Nuku's side and 100 on the Tokomaru. An armistice was made, Manaia landing and Nuku remaining afloat with the promise of renewing the battle ashore on the next day. In the evening, Te Aowhaingaroa, the priest of Tokomaru, raised a violent storm by means of magic spells and Nuku's fleet was driven ashore with further loss of life. When day dawned, Manaia found Nuku lying on the beach with two wounds in his thigh. After a passage of words, they made peace. Nuku and the survivors of his crews repaired their canoes but the double canoes were converted to single outriggers to make them light for returning to their land. And so, Nukutamaroro returned to Hawaiki.

The story proceeded with the further movements of Manaia and the Tokomaru canoe but unlike the west coast version, the tale is hitched onto the period of Toi. Manaia sailed north along the west coast and at Whaingaroa (Raglan), he met Maungaroa and Hatauira who had come with Whatonga in the Kurahaupo. He sailed round the North Cape and reached Whakatane, where he learned that the Kurahaupo had just left for the south. He overtook the Kurahaupo at Mataahu and the two canoes sailed on together to a bay further south which was named Tokomaru after the Tokomaru canoe. Manaia subsequently returned to Whaingaroa on the west coast and the story ends.

Here again we have confusion over the period of a historic canoe. As page 32with the Kurahaupo canoe, the west coast version links the Tokomaru with the Fleet period and the east coast version with the Toi period, a difference in time of 200 years.

In an Arawa story recorded by Grey (44, p. 162), a series of battles occur between Manaia of Hawaiki and Ngatoroirangi, the priest of the Arawa canoe. Manaia was married to Ngatoroirangi's sister and after the Arawa canoe left Hawaiki, Manaia had occasion to upbraid his wife because her oven of food was uncooked when it was opened. The wrathful husband said, "Is the firewood the bones of your brother that you are so sparing in its use?" This was a dreadful curse and the wife by miraculous means sent her daughter to New Zealand where she told her uncle of what had happened. Ngatoroirangi embarked for Hawaiki with a war party and defeated Manaia at the battle of Ihumotomotokia. He returned to New Zealand and while living at the island of Motiti in the Bay of Plenty, Manaia arrived with a fleet to obtain revenge. The fleet came in close below the cliff where Ngatoroirangi's home was situated and Manaia challenged his enemy to fight. Ngatoroirangi from the cliff replied that it was too late in the day and asked Manaia to postpone the battle until the next morning when they would have the full day to decide their quarrel. The fleet thereupon lay off the shore for the night. During the night, Ngatoroirangi by means of his magic powers drew all the winds into a calabash according to an old lament. He then broke the calabash with a spear and the winds issuing forth raised a terrific storm which wrecked the entire fleet and drowned its crews including Manaia. The corpses strewed along the shore had their finger nails bleached by the salt water and hence the battle with the elements was named Maikukutea (White finger nails).

Though the Arawa story has a different background of events to that of the Matorohanga version, it is significant that the two stories record a punitive expedition from Hawaiki to New Zealand, the postponement of a battle until the next day, and the wrecking of the visiting fleet during the night by a violent storm conjured up by magical means. I believe that the Matorohanga school borrowed these elements from the Arawa story and inserted them in the tale of a different Manaia.

The problem of the name of Manaia's canoe is solved by a Ngati Ruanui lament for Tonga Awhikau (51, vol V p,. 114) which, however, is badly translated in parts. One of the verses refers to the crime against Rongotiki, the death of Tupenu, and the brand of illegitimacy (tohi raukena) of Kahukaka, son of Manaia. The first two lines of the verse are as follows:

E iri e Papa i runga o Tahatuna,
Te waka o Manaia.
Recline O Sir on Tahatuna,
The canoe of Manaia.

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The context proves that the verse refers to the Manaia of the west coast version but instead of associating him with the Tokomaru canoe, the lament definitely states that his canoe was the Tahatuna. Old laments which were transmitted by memorizing the exact words are more reliable than prose accounts which have been composed at a later period. Hence Manaia's canoe was the Tahatuna and not the Tokomaru.

Return Voyages to Hawaiki

A voyage back to Hawaiki during the second settlement period was recorded by Best (11, p. 130), the purpose being to obtain the sweet potato. While Tamakihikurangi, a descendant of Toi, was living at Kaputerangi, Whakatane, two castaways from a wrecked canoe were discovered by his daughter, Kurawhakaata. They were two brothers named Taukata and Hoaki, sons of Rongoatau of Hawaiki. They stated that their canoe, Nga Taiakupe, was a waka pungapunga (a canoe of pumice), which sounds somewhat evasive. They were taken to the village and treated hospitably. On placing the local foods, before them, Taukata expressed dissatisfaction with the menu. He asked for a bowl and some water. Taking some dried, cooked sweet potato (kao) from a double belt he wore around his waist, he proceeded to mash the kao with his hands in the water in the bowl to produce a thick gruel. He offered the bowl to his hosts to taste the gruel, and relishing its sweetness, they asked what it was. They were told that it was the sweet potato (kumara) which grew in Hawaiki at Parinuitera and Ngaruru-kaiwhatiwhati. When asked how it could be obtained, Taukata replied that they must build a seagoing canoe and voyage to Hawaiki to obtain the seed. A totara log opportunely drifted up on the beach, and from it, a canoe named Te Aratawhao was built under the direction of the castaways. Under the leadership of Tamakihikurangi, a crew was selected and the names of 20 of them are given in the story. Hoaki was included as the pilot but Taukata was left with the home people. The canoe duly reached Hawaiki, and Hoaki obtained the required seed potatoes from Marutairangaranga. The chants used on the voyage are given in full in the native words. They consisted of four types: the roti for calming the wind, the tata for bailing the canoe, the awa for facilitating the course, and the ruruku to keep the lashings firm and the canoe seaworthy. Such details would carry conviction were it not that the Maori repertoire contains a wealth of chants and songs which can be readily deflected to illustrate any subject.

The continuation of the narrative is not so impressive for Te Aratawhao never returned with the desired freight. Her crew, however, are said to have found their way back to New Zealand as passengers on the Matatua, which formed one of the Fleet of 1350. The sweet potato, therefore, arrived by the Matatua, the seed tubers were duly planted, and the page 34crop was harvested. The potatoes were carefully handled to prevent bruising, and were stored to be kept warm. A tragic event added some continuity to a disconnected story when Taukata was killed and his blood sprinkled on the door of the storehouse to prevent the living principle of the sweet potato from returning to the sunnier clime of Hawaiki.

The story is interesting, for it confirms the statement that the people of the Toi migration and the early tangata whenua did not have the sweet potato and that it was not introduced until the period of the Fleet which brought the third wave of settlers to New Zealand.

Another tradition of a voyage back to Hawaiki for the sweet potato is associated with the Horouta canoe. The story was dictated by an old tohunga of the Ngati Porou, named Pita Kapiti, to Mohi Turei (55, p. 152) at Waiapu. It resembles the preceding story, in that two men from Hawaiki arrived in New Zealand by unorthodox transport. The two men were Kahukura and Rongoiamo, who crossed over on a human dorsal arch formed by a number of people whose feet were imbedded in Hawaiki with their hands touching the North Island, evidently in the vicinity of Whakatane. The event was post dated by the statement that the two visitors were received at the home of Toi where local foods of Cordyline roots (ti), tree fern pith (mamaku), and fern root (aruhe) were placed before them. Like Taukata, Kahukura did not relish the food and he asked for some bowls with water. Rongoiamo emptied part of the contents of his belt into the bowls, which were stated to be 70 in number. When the mixing was completed, Toi was instructed to dip his forefinger in the bowl and taste. As he licked his finger an incantation was recited. He was then allowed to use all his fingers and "the sweetness of the food tickled his throat." On being told that the delicious food was the kumara which could be obtained in Hawaiki, an expedition was planned immediately. The Horouta canoe belonging to Toi was lying in its shed and it was launched next morning with a crew of 70, Rangituroua being the priest.

After appropriate chants of which the full Maori texts are given, the Horouta arrived in Hawaiki. The kumara crop had already been dug up and stored in the rua (store pits) in the village named Huiakama, and a sentry in the village kept reciting a watch alarm. Evidently interpreting this to mean that the people might prove hostile, Kahukura ordered the canoe to be poled to the side of a cliff where the sweet potato grew in abundance. Kahukura struck the side of the cliff with a digging stick (ko) named Penu and recited an incantation. The sweet potatoes poured down the cliff and filled the hold of the canoe. Kahukura recited another incantation and removed the digging stick to stay the inundation. Some rats and swamp hens (pakura) fell into the hold with the sweet potatoes and thus added variety to the freight of the Horouta. As the canoe page 35returned during the period of the Fleet, its return voyage will be described with the canoes of that period.

Apart from the supernatural bridge and the exaggerated 70 bowls filled from part of the contents of a body belt, this story is very similar to the preceding one in its plot. They are probably different tribal versions of the same tradition with local details varying as regards the names of the canoes and the two visitors from Hawaiki. Toi was probably meant for a descendant of Toi whose name had been forgotten. The rua store pits and the sentry's watch alarm are local interpolations, for both these cultural elements were developed in New Zealand later than the period of the story. The two stories support the Maori belief that the dried, cooked kumara (kao) was used as provisions on long sea voyages. I am not sure that kao was prepared in Polynesia, but perhaps this detail was used to provide a theme for the stories. The acceptance of the two stories, however, does not bring the sweet potato to New Zealand before the period of the Fleet.