Climbers and Name-givers.

Five centuries ago a chief of the Arawa people climbed to the topmost peak of Te Aroha range, and surveyed with wonder the vast expanse of territory that stretched west and south and north as far as vision could carry. His name was Kahu-mata-momoe, which means “Sleepyeyed Kahu.” But the adjective belied this explorer of old; he was by no means one of the dozing kind. “Kahu”—“Hawk”—described him well, no doubt, for, like most Polynesians, pathfinders of that most adventurous epoch in Pacific Islands history, it was his habit to ascend as high as possible above the lower world. Kahu was the son of Tama-te-Kapua, the captain of the Arawa sailing canoe, who had died and been buried on the summit of Moehau (Cape Colville), and he was on his way home to Maketu from a visit to a kinsman at the Kaipara. As was his way, he kept to the tops of the ridges on his travels, and when he came to these parts he ascended the mountain heights that loom like a blue cloud above the Upper Waihou River.

When he felt the soft sea breeze fanning his cheek he murmured words of affection for the friends and places far away, his father, whose grave was high on cloudy Moehau, and the words “Muri-Aroha” came to his lips—love for those left behind. As he stood on the mountain top he thought of his kinsfolk on the distant seashore, and he said, “Let this mountain peak be called ‘Aroha-tai-o-kahu’“ page 26 —his love towards the sea. Then he climbed to a point where he had a clear view over the western plains and hills, and as he gazed long upon that wild lone land he chanted his words of affection and regret for his kinsfolk who had gone to Taupo and other inland parts, and he named that peak “Aroha-uta-o-Kahu,” or “Kahu's Landward Love.”