Volume 5 1896 > Supplement to the Journal of the Polynesian Society- The peopling of the North: notes on the ancient Maori history of the northern peninsula and sketches of the history of the Ngati-Whatua tribe of Kaipara
Supplement TO THE Journal of the Polynesian Society.
THE PEOPLING OF THE NORTH: NOTES ON THE ANCIENT MAORI HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN PENINSULA AND SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY OF THE NGATI-WHATUA TRIBE OF KAIPARA, NEW ZEALAND: “HERU-HAPAINGA.”
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THE following notes on the origin of the Maori tribes occupying the long peninsula stretching from Auckland to the North Cape, are compiled mostly from my own jottings, gathered, in a large measure, from the Ngati-whatua tribe of Kaipara, and supplemented from other sources. For nearly five years subsequent to November, 1859, I was the Government Surveyor of the Kaipara district, and my duties consisted in defining the boundaries of the blocks of land offered by the natives for sale to the Government, through my old friend John Rogan, Esq., who was at that time District Land Purchase Officer. The very nature of the work brought me into daily contact with the old men of the tribe, whose duty it was to point out the boundaries to be defined, Finding that I took an interest in their history, the old men became very communicative, and as we traversed the country so well known to them from childhood, each feature in the landscape recalled to them some incident in the tribal history, which was freely communicated, either at the time, or over the camp fire at night. Luckily I noted down much of this at the time; but, alas! only a part of the stirring tales they told me. These jottings remained in my note-books for over thirty years—mere unconnected entries—in no sense related or in any kind of sequence. Thirty years of study of the race, the language, and their traditions led me to conceive the idea that these rough notes might be worked up into some sketch of the history of the Ngati-whatua tribe, if only I could procure more complete genealogies than I possessed, on which to base approximate dates. With much trouble and patience my friend Mr. C. E. Nelson obtained for me a great deal of this information, which has been supplemented to some extent directly by some of my old Maori friends.
I am also indebted to my lamented friend John White, the author of the “Ancient History of the Maori,” for much information as to the history of tribes outside Ngati-whatua. Strange to say, Mr. White is the only man apparently who ever collected material for a history of the Northern tribes, but he did not live to complete any matter he had gathered.
The original intention was to have written a sketch of the Ngati-whatua history, but it was soon felt that this would be incomplete without notices of the bordering tribes, and therefore what notes I have myself collected from the natives and from others bearing on this subject have been incorporated. To my good friend, the late Hone Mohi Tawhai, I am indebted for most of the Ngapuhi history, and for notes on that of Ngati-whatua to Mr. John Webster, Mr. C. F. Maxwell, the Rev. Hauraki Paora, and others.
It cannot be expected that all here written is accurate; when commenced it was already too late to acquire information to fill in many gaps, and much detail has been lost; but still it is hoped that what has been written will serve to throw a little light on the past history of the country to which it refers, and that in the future it may also allow the descendants of those who preceded us to learn a little of the doings of their forefathers. That this desire will arise in time is certain. But a few generations hence, the remnants of the Maori race will be as ourselves in all respects, and then the desire to know something of their forefathers, beyond the records of the Land Courts, will arise. I at least have the feeling that a plain duty is before me, to place on record what little I have learned, even if only in - iv gratitude for the many kindly offices performed for me by the men of a past generation. Memory carries me back to many a long evening spent over the camp fire, when some grey-headed old warrior would relate with pride the doings of his tribe. Surely few races are so gifted with the power of narrative as the Maori! The euphonious language, uttered with that perfect attention to grammar which distinguish them, the expressive gesticulation, the illustrative poetry, all combined to keep their hearers enthralled and intensely interested in the subject matter of the relation. Alas! not one of those narrators is left; they have wended their way along the dreary beach, by the “spirits' road,” that leads to the Reinga. Let us hope that they have bathed in the saving waters of the Wai-ora-o-Tane!
Wellington, N.Z., August, 1896.
THE PEOPLING OF THE NORTH.
IN reference to the Maori inhabitants of the extreme north of New Zealand, there is great difficulty in evolving out of the various traditions that have been preserved anything like order or sequence. Notwithstanding that this was the first part of the country to be colonized, the pioneers of civilization appear to have interested themselves very little in the history of the race that preceded them. So far as the pakeha-maori pioneers were concerned, it was not to be expected that history should form a portion of their studies, which lay more in the direction of the rum-bottle and the price of “eds.” There were, however, a few notable exceptions. Nor do the early missionaries seem to have been more interested in these questions; again with a few exceptions. But in their case the object seems to have been to suppress in their converts all that related to the past as interfering with the new order of things. This feeling was almost universal amongst all the missionaries of the Pacific; the old traditions were laughed at, scorned, and said to be the work of the devil, hence it soon became the rule that none of the learned men would communicate their ancestral knowledge to their Christian teachers. It was not until the advent of educated men who could sympathise with the old Maori in his traditional lore, that some of the great stores of information which had been handed down with such scrupulous care for many generations became unlocked, but much of it had by that time been lost.
It is a fact, flowing directly from the early settlement of the north, that we know less about the history and traditions of Ngapuhi and other northern tribes, than those of any others. Had it not been for Mr. John White we should scarcely possess the little we do. That little, and what I have been able to glean myself, throws a tiny ray of light into the past history of the country from which Ngati-whatua came.
There can be little doubt that the north was inhabited long ere the fleet of canoes came from Hawaiki1 from twenty to twenty-one - 2x generations ago. Possibly these early people were part of the migration which preceded Toi; what the names of the early canoes were, or the names of the earliest immigrants, are lost in the darkness of the past. We have the names of several canoes which came to the northern peninsula, but they arrived a few generations before the fleet, or at about the same time. It will be as well to enumerate these, and give such particulars as I have been able to learn of them and their crews.
The Mahuhu Canoe.
I believe this to have been one of the earliest of the canoes of which any account has been preserved. It is the ancestral canoe especially of Ngati-whatua, and Rongomai, one of their great ancestors, is alleged to have come in her. She is said first to have made the land at Whangaroa, and after (as we shall see) voyaging down the coast to Waiapu, returned north, and rounding the North Cape—where some of her crew settled—finally remained at Kaipara. The following is the translation of a brief Maori account of this canoe:
“The Mahuhu canoe (finally) landed at the mouth of Kaipara, and the warriors who came in her settled down on the mainland at the entrance to Kaipara, at a place named Taporapora. But that part has become sea in these later days; it was a mainland (papa-tupu) originally, near the mouth of the Oruawharo. Here stood the Whare-kura, or temple, of that people, at Taporapora. The people dwelt there for very many years, reciting their karakias (prayers, or incantations), and their ancient sacred history (karakia whakapapa o mua). That place (Taporapora) was shaved off (taraia noatia) by the sea, and the land disappeared together with the Whare-kura, the atuas (gods) and the tikis (images)—all were carried away by the sea. It was Ngati-whatua who killed the survivors of that people, but the women were taken as wives by Ngati-whatua, and one of their descendants is Te Otene-Kikokiko, who knows all the sacred things of old, together with the atuas and karakias and all the genealogies. The people who dwelt at Te Au-pouri (the North Cape) and the descendants of those who migrated (subsequently) to Waiapu descend from Whatu-tahae, the daughter of Po, who came here in the Mahuhu canoe, which first landed at Whangaroa. Mawete remained at Te Reinga and married Whatu-tahae, to whom was born Whatu-kai-marie. The younger sisters of this first born (tuakana wahine ariki) were Poroa and Taiko. Ngapuhi are descended from Taiko, and Ngati-whatua from Whatu-kai-marie. Poroa migrated to Waiapu, and from her are descended Ngati-Porou and Ngati-Kahu-ngunu, because Kahu-ngunu descended from those ancestors; he was born at Kaitaia. From that Ngapuhi ancestor (Taiko?) are descended also Te Rarawa tribe, besides some from the Tainui people, from Rei-tu and Rei-pae, and some of the ancient people of Kaipara who dwell at Maunganui (Bluff), and also at - 3x Tokatoka (on the Wairoa River, Kaipara) that is Taoho and others (of the Roroa hapu of Ngati-whatua). From them can be derived the history of the wars of old.
Rongomai also came in the Mahuhu canoe, but he was upset and drowned when out fishing, and his body was eaten by the araara fish. Hence Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa and Ngati-whatua will not eat that fish. Rongomai is an ancestor common to Ngapuhi and Te Rarawa (as well as Ngati-whatua). The ancient name of Te Rarawa was Te Aewa.”
It should be stated that some of the ancestors mentioned above are disputed, in so far as they were the progenitors of the Ngapuhi tribe, descendants of those who came in Mahuhu. Taiko is said to have belonged to the Ngati-Awa of Whakatane and migrated north, long after the Mahuhu arrived, quite possibly at the time of Puhi's migration about the years 1350 to 1375. See under Mata-atua.
It will follow from the above tradition, if it is true that Po or his parents came in the Mahuhu canoe, and there is no reason to doubt it, that the following interesting tradition refers to the voyage of Mahuhu, though the name is not mentioned. It is from Mr. John White's collection, and it bears on it the impress of considerable age, the mode of expression being somewhat different to that of the present day; it was probably written in the forties. I give the original Maori, but have altered the sequence of the paragraphs a little to bring them into their proper place historically. It is called:
He Whakapapa Korero na Te Au-pouri. Na Patiki.
Kotahi tino kaumatua o matou i korero i ana korero i rongo ai ia ki nga koeke o mua; i mea, he mohio rawa ia ki nga korero o mua, o nga whawhai, me nga heke, me nga waka rere atu i te Au-pouri, me nga kaipuke i u mai ki reira—ara, nga kaipuke tata mai ki uta, a hoe atu ai te tangata-whenua i o ratou waka ki te titiro i aua puke ra.
E mea ana taua kaumatua—i te tau 1839 i korero ai ia i ana korero ki a Mato, a, na Mato i korero mai ki a au, ki a Patiki—kua tae nga paparanga ki te rua te kau ma waru ki a ia, o ana tupuna i noho ai i Aotea nei. A, ko ia te tangata o to ratou iwi i tohia hei Tohunga; mana e ako nga korero o mua; a, i akona a ia e tona tipuna ki nga korero o mua, a, i mohio ia ki nga ingoa o nga tangata no ratou nga ingoa i aua paparanga e rua te kau ma waru nei.
E mea ana nga korero o aua tangata ki a ia, i whati mai ona tipuna i runga i o ratou waka, i heke mai i nga moutere o te moana ki te hauraro o te Moana-o-Kiwa. Te ingoa o tetahi o aua moutere ko Wae-rota, te ingoa o tetahi, ko Hawaiki, a, te ingoa o tetahi, ko Mata-te-ra.
Ko Wae-rota te motu i rere mataati mai ai ona tipuna, a, rere mai ki Hawaiki. Ka noho ki reira, a, roa noa, ka rere mai a, Mata-te-ra, ka noho i reira, a, roa noa, ka rere mai ki Aotea nei noho tuturu ai; i - 4x te mea he whenua nui tenei. A, i rere mai ratou whaka-te-ra-huru, ara, i rere mai ki te marangai, i rere mai hoki i te auru.
Te moutere i rere mai ai nga tupuna o Hehi, he whenua kai, tupu ai te kumara i uta, i nga wahi koraha o taua moutere—a Wae-rota, a, kai ai ratou i te kai, a, ora ai te noho. Ano ka tini te iwi, ka hae te teina ko ia hei ariki mo ratou; a, tu ana te riri-pei a te teina i te tuakana, a heke mai ana te tuakana me ona pori, me tana whanau, ki te moana rere mai ai ki te rapu kainga mo ratou.
E ki ana aua tupuna ra, he kuri nunui te kuri o etahi moutere nui i tata ki te motu i noho ai, a, i heke mai o matou tupuna i Wae-rota. A, kahore kau he kai tangata a o matou tupuna i aua ra, taihoa nei e kai tangata, no te wa o te mau patu, a, o te papatu parekura. I kai ai i o matou hoa riri, hei ngaki i te mauahara a te ngakau puku-riri, ehara i te mate kai i kainga ai te tangata, engari he kai i te hoa riri, kia ngata ai te ngakau kino ki a ia.
He wahi pu-mahana rawa atu aua moutere ra; a, noho tahanga ai te tangata i te roa o te tau, a, iti noa ake nei te kahu—he maro kau nei.
Ko etahi iwi o reira he pokere-kahu—ara—he mangu kere te kiri, he iwi haunga ki te noho tata mai. A, ko etahi iwi ano o aua motu ra, he kiritea, a, he iwi ata noho, he mahora te uru, he iwi ahu-whenua. Ko nga uri parauri, piro ra, he potetete te uru; a, he noho paru noa iho ai, ngaki ai ano ia i te kai—ehara i te iwi tino ahu whenua; pai ai ki a ratou ake, kino ai ki te iwi kiritea. A, noho kahu kore ai aua mamangu ra. Ko te uru, he kehu, ara, i ahua whero, a, kahore i tikitikia; he mea puhipuhi kia puhihi, a nui noa atu te ahua pokuru, me te ahua whanewhane nei i te tu mai.
Nga kahu o to matou kainga i rere mai ai i tawahi, he ante nei, he rakau aute, mahia ai te peha o taua rakau, a, ko te tinana o te rakau hei poito kupenga. A, mahia ai te hua o o reira rakau hei hinu, ara, he mea tahu a roto o aua hua ra, puta mai ai te hinu. He Ni te ingoa o aua hua, i penei te nui me te upoko tamaiti nei; mau ai taua tu kai nei ki konei, me te uhi-kaho, a kihai noa ake i tupu, a, kua kore i enei ra.
Te take i rere mai ai, ara, heke mai ai i Wae-rota, he hae na te teina ki te tuakana; a, he ngakinga kumara tetahi—he mara tautete-tete. A, ka rere mai te tuakana me ana pori; ka rere ki etahi moutere, a, u noa mai ki Aotea nei. A, rokohanga mai e ona tupuna nga iwi tuturu ake o enei motu e noho ana i Wai-apu. He mea hoki, kihai nga waka i u tuturu ki Muri-whenua, i hoe tonu, ara, i rere tonu ki ia wahi, ki ia wahi, titiro haere ai i te pai o te whenua. A, ko te uri o Toi te iwi i noho i uta, i kite ai ona tupuna i Ohiwa. A, roa noa o ratou i noho ai i reira, ka rere mai ano, ka hoki mai ki Parengarenga, a, noho tuturu iho ana ki reira. A, ko te iwi tuturu o te whenua i Kaitaia, ko te iwi o Kui, a, na Ngati-whatua ratou i pei-haere, a, noho rawa atu taua iwi i Kopu-tauaki, i runga atu, i Tauranga. A, noho - 5x ana ratou i te nui o te whenua i Kaitaia, ara, te iwi o te tupuna o Hehi ma.
I u ki Waiapu te heke nei, a ka whanau mai i reira nga uri toko-toru a, ko Po te tokotoru o ratou. A, ka ahua nui ia—a Po—ka heke mai te iwi nei ki Kaitaia, a, ka noho i reira; a, ka tae ki te wa i whanau ai te tamaiti ra—a Puhi. A, ka puta te iwi, a Ngapuhi i a ia. A, ka marara haere te iwi ra, a ka peia a Ngati-awa e Ngapuhi, atu ano i Kaitaia, i Hokianga, a, ka heke tera, ka hoki ki Kaipara, a, Taranaki atu ana. A, ka heke tera i Mangonui, o Ngati-awa, ka heke, noho rawa atu i a Kauri i Tauranga.
I nga ra o mua, kahore kau he papatu o aua tupuna nei, he tautete kau ki ta te arero patu—he kupu te whawhai—kaore e mau patu.
He tini nga waka i eke mai ai o matou tupuna, a, e ki ana te kaumatua i rongo ai a Mato, a, korero mai ia ki a au, he waka nui aua waka, me o ratou waka haumi, hei mau kai mai mo te iwi i nga waka tapu. He tupuna tapu hoki aua tupuna o matou; tapu te tangata, tapu te whare, tapu nga kakahu, tapu katoa nga mea o a matou ariki.
Ko nga waka a o matou tupuna i eke mai ai, i takoto i Rangaunu, a, popopo noa iho i reira.
Kotahi kaipuke i u mai ki te pito ki raro nei i nga ra o mua rawa atu, i nga kaipuke i u mai i nga ra i u mai ai tetahi ki raro mai i Mangonui. E kiia ana ko te ingoa o te whenua i rere mai ai taua kaipuke, ko “Te-upoko-o-tamoremore,” a ko te ingoa o taua kaipuke, ko “Te-pu-tere-o-Waraki.” Taihoa nei e u mai te kaipuke mataati ki Tokerau i nga ra o te oranga o te matua o Nene raua ko Patuone.
A, kotahi kaipuke i u mai ki Rangaunu, a kotahi o matou i riro atu i taua kaipuke, a ngaro tonu atu. A, no muri iho ka u mai ano tetahi kaipuke, i u mai ki te tiki wahie mai pea; no te mea, he wahie te mea i utaina nuitia ki taua puke, a, homai ai he kahu kura ki te iwi i uta. A, no muri iho o tenei, ka u mai a Kawana Kingi, a, nana te poaka i kitea ai ki reira, me te riwai, me te puka.
An Ancient History of the Au-pouri (the People living at the North Cape).
There was one of our old men named Hehi, who related the history he learned from the old people of former days; he said he was fully acquainted with the ancient history, with the wars, and with the migrations, and with the canoes which sailed away from Te Aupouri, and also with the ships which came there, that is, the ships that approached the land which the natives went off to examine.
That old man said—it was in the year 1839 he related the history to Mato, and Mato told it to me, Patiki—that the generations of his ancestors down to him who had lived in Aotea (New Zealand) were twenty-eight. He was the man of all his tribe who had been specially - 6x dedicated (tohi) as a priest; it was his duty to teach the ancient history, which was taught to him by his grandfather. He was well acquainted with the names of all those included in the twenty-eight generations.
The people of old related to him, that their ancestors had fled in their canoes, and migrated from the islands of the sea to the north of the Sea-of-Kiwa. One of those islands was named Wae-rota, another Hawaiki, and another Mata-te-ra.
Wae-rota was the island from which his ancestors first sailed, thence they came to Hawaiki. They dwelt there for a long time and then sailed onwards to Mata-te-ra where they again stayed, and then finally came on here to Aotea, and dwelt here permanently, because this is a great land. They came towards the sunrise, that is, they sailed towards the east coming from the west.
The island from which the ancestors of Hehi came was rich in productions; the kumara grew wild inland in the open places of the island of Wae-rota, and the people lived on the fat of the land—in plenty. When the people had grown numerous, jealousy between two brothers arose through the younger desiring to be ariki or lord over them, and a war of expulsion was originated by him against the elder brother, resulting in the migration of the latter with his retainers (or tribe—pori) and his relations over the sea to find a home for themselves.
The ancestors said that the animals (kuri) of some of the large islands near where they dwelt were very large, that is the island Waerota from which they migrated. There was no man-eating in those days of our ancestors; it commenced at a subsequent date, when they took to fighting with weapons, and after battles. The reason why our ancestors ate their enemies was through revenge and hatred of the angry heart, not through hunger after man's flesh—enemies were eaten to assuage the bitter feelings of the angry heart.
Those islands mentioned were exceedingly hot, so that men went naked all the year round, using barely any clothing, nothing but the maro, or waistcloth.
Some of the people of those parts were black—that is, with very black skins, a people who smelt very strongly when near. There were some people also of those islands with fair skins, who were a peaceful people, with straight hair, and great cultivators of the soil. The dark people, who smelt so, had curly hair, and lived in a state of constant dirt, and though they cultivated, did not do so to a great extent; whilst friendly amongst themselves, they abhorred the fair-skinned people. They also were entirely nude, those black people. Their hair was also light-coloured, that is reddish, and never bound up in a top-knot (like the Polynesians), it was bunched out to be stiff, and appeared in lumps (or tufts), and their appearance generally was ill-favoured as they stood before one.- 7x
The clothing of the place from where we (our ancestors) sailed from on the “other side” was made of aute, a tree named aute (Broussonetia papyrifera, Paper mulberry), the bark of which was prepared, whilst the wood was used as floats for fishing nets. The fruit of the trees of that place was converted into oil, that is, the inside was rendered down (tahu) into oil. The fruit was called ni, and was the size of a child's head; some of that fruit was brought to this country as well as the uhi-kaho (yam), but it never grew, and now it is lost altogether in these days.
The reason why they sailed or migrated from Wae-rota was jealousy on the part of a younger towards an elder brother; another reason was a quarrel about a kumara cultivation, the right to which was contested. So the elder brother sailed away with his adherents (or tribe, pori) for some other islands, and landed in Aotea. On their arrival, his (Hehi's) ancestors found the original people of this country living at Wai-apu (near the East Cape). The people of the canoes did not at first settle down (u tuturu) at Muri-whenua (the Land's-end, the North Cape); they continued on, to this place and that, searching out the best parts of the land. It was the “descendants of Toi” who lived inland or ashore at that time, and they were seen by his (Hehi's) ancestors at Ohiwa. After a lengthened stay at that place they returned to Parengarenga (near the North Cape). There they settled down permanently. The original people of the land about Kaitaia at that time were the “people of Kui,” who were afterwards expelled by the Ngati-whatua tribe, and settled down at Kopu-tauaki, and beyond, at Tauranga. And so the ancestors of Hehi dwelt in the breadth of the land at Kaitaia.
The migration landed at Wai-apu in New Zealand, and three descendants (of the elder brother?) were born there—Po being the third. When Po was nearly grown up the people migrated to Kaitaia and settled down there, until the time when the child Puhi was born, from whom are descended the Ngapuhi tribe. Then the people spread over the land, and after a time the Ngati-Awa tribe were expelled by Ngapuhi from Kaitaia and Hokianga, and they migrated to Kaipara, and even as far as Taranaki. Some of the Ngati-Awa migrated from Mangonui and, under their chief Kauri, settled down near Tauranga.
In the olden days there was no fighting amongst Hehi's ancestors; their quarrels were settled by the tongue's weapons—war was by words—never by arms.
There were many canoes in which our ancestors came, and the old man who told me said those canoes were very large, each having a tender to carry stores for the other and sacred canoes. The ancestors of old were very tapu—the men were tapu, their houses, their clothing; everything belonging to our arikis was sacred.
The canoes in which our ancestors came were left in Rangaunu Bay, and there rotted away.- 8x
There was a ship came to these northern parts (of New Zealand) in very ancient days, long before that one which called in to the north of Mangonui. It is said that the name of the country from which it came was Te-upoko-o-tamoremore (“the head of baldness”), and the name of the ship was Te-pu-tere-o-Waraki (“the drifting stem of Waraki”—a sea-god, a European). This was before the first ship came to the Bay of Islands, in the days when the father of Nene and Patuone was alive.
There was one ship came (afterwards) to Rangaunu (Doubtless Bay) which took away one of our people, who was lost for ever. After that came another, which probably put in to get firewood because firewood was the thing they took most of. They gave those on shore some red garments. Subsequently to this came the ship of Governor King, which brought us pigs, potatoes, and cabbages for the first time.”
The above is one of the most interesting traditions, from several points of view, that has been preserved by the Maoris. We are first told that the ancestors of these people came from Wae-rota, an island that must be in the Western Pacific, near some of those inhabited by the Melanesians, who are accurately though briefly described. This same island is known to the Rarotongan traditions (see Journal, Polynesian Society, vol. i, p. 25), where it occurs in connection with the names of several of the Fiji and other islands of the Western Pacific. It was also known to the ancient Samoans (Loc. cit., vol. iv., p. 106, twelfth voyage), but its position is unknown, the old name of Wae-rota having probably—as so often occurs—been replaced by a more modern one. The name will also be found in the following old karakia, which is said to be a kind of thanksgiving (taumaha) before food; though it appears more like one used in planting the hue:
The hue is the native gourd, a species of cucurbita, and the interesting thing in this karakia is, that it seems to show that the Maoris obtained this useful plant from Wae-rota originally.
Mata-te-ra is also the name of an island known to the ancestors of Rarotongans, Samoans, and Maoris alike, and reference to it will be found in the same places quoted above. Its position is equally unknown at the present time. The particular Hawaiki mentioned may be Savai'i of Samoa, but I think more probably some place to the - 9x west, or north-west. In the course given as “towards the sun-rise,” we must be particular to note that this refers to that from Wae-rota or Hawaiki to Mata-te-ra, not to Aotea.
The mention of the large animals found in the adjacent islands also seems to place Wae-rota far to the north west; it could scarcely refer to the Solomon Islands, for there are no large animals there, but it might refer to New Guinea, where there are kangaroo and other animals.
The word ni, as that of a fruit, mentioned in the tradition, is the almost universal name in Polynesia for the coco-nut, and this is the only positive reference to it by name that I am aware of in Maori traditions. The description of the black people who went naked and who smelt so strongly is very applicable to the Melanesians, as is the account of their crisp tufty hair, often dyed with lime to a reddish or yellow color.
The early ship mentioned is very probably Tasman's, which was off the North Cape in 1642. The next ship referred to is probably that of De Surville, who was at Rangaunu or Doubtless Bay in 1769, at the same time Cook passed outside within a few days of De Surville's visit. Governor King's visit was in 1793. The father of Patu-one and Nene referred to, was Tapua, and he was one of the chiefs who boarded Captain Cook's ship at the Bay of Islands as the “Endeavour” came into the Bay. Patu-one was a child at the time.
The description of Hehi's ancestors, and their peaceable mode of settling their quarrels without fighting reminds us of the Morioris, with whom there is little doubt they were connected, for if the Moriori genealogies are right, these people had settled at Te Aupouri before, or about the time, the Morioris migrated from New Zealand.
The proof that the account just given refers to the Mahuhu canoe is based on the statement that Po—or probably his parents—came in that canoe. This is not entirely satisfactory, but until further information is to hand it may be accepted, especially as it states that Po's son Mawete married Whatu-tahae, whose daughter Whatu-kai-marie was the ancestor of Ngati-whatua, the tribe of all others that claims Mahuhu as their particular canoe. It is now impossible to get the genealogical descent from this lady to any of the Ngati-whatua now living, but the following table gives the descent from the chief of this canoe to the people now living at Kaitaia, &c.
This list was given by the Rev. Mr. Matthews to the Rev. R. Taylor in 1840. Mr. Matthews received the information from an old Maori priest named Hahakai, who lived at Doubtless Bay, and who remembered the visit of Captain Cook. The last on the list, Moehau, was an old woman at that time (1840) and a priestess, then - 10x
Dr. Shortland has preserved a tradition which is evidently based on the above, but it is there said (“Traditions,” p. 24) that the canoe was Kura-haupo. Now, if ever Kura-haupo came to this country at all, and I am inclined to believe Te Kahui Kararehe's account given in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. ii, p. 189, to the effect that it did not, it was at the time of arrival of the fleet, which is only twenty or twenty-one generations ago, and therefore Dr. Shortland's informant was, I think, wrong as to the name of the canoe, though the other facts are partly true. It is stated by him on the authority of a Rarawa native, “That Po, Tiki, Ruaewa, and Mawete were some of those who discovered this island. … They came in the Kurahaupo. … The ancestors of the tribes who dwell in the south (at East Cape) were Whatu-tahae, a daughter of Po. She married Mawete and from these are descended Ngati-Porou and Ngati-Kahungunu. Some of the children of Po came to this part of the island—Kaitaia—their names were Whatu-kai-marie (another daughter of Po's), Poroa, and Taiko, who were the ancestors of Ngapuhi and Te Rarawa.”
Whilst we cannot get the direct genealogical proof as to the Ngati-whatua connection with the people who came in the canoe whose voyage has been referred to above, it is acknowledged on all hands that the tribe occupied the very country these people came to, until they migrated south many generations afterwards. The connection therefore follows as a matter of course.
The next canoe after Mahuhu, or it may be about the same period, unfortunately we do not know the name of, whilst the fact remains that a party of immigrants did arrive from Hawaiki, and settled in the north, occupying the country around Hokianga Heads and along - 11x the coast northwards. The reason that we know little of this migration is, because Ngati-whatua exterminated the people in their migration south. The following is the story as preserved by the Rarawa tribe: “Tu-moana came in his canoe from Hawaiki, and landed at Te Tauroa, the long point just to the south-west of Ahipara, where he left his canoe safely housed (ki reira wharau ai). He and his people wandered over the land for some time, finally settling down at Hokianga. Tu-moana's hapu remained at Hokianga, but he himself returned to Hawaiki. Subsequently his hapu was conquered by Ngati-whatua and Ngati-Awa, and so, such of Ngati-Tu-moana as were not killed became incorporated in those two tribes, and amongst the descendants of Puhi-moana-ariki (the ancestor from whom Ngapuhi take their name). Tu-moana dwelt at Hokianga for a considerable time, and then he felt a longing for his old home at Hawaiki, so he and several members of his hapu returned to Ahipara, to Te Tauroa, for the purpose of preparing their canoe for the long voyage. Then they sailed away to Hawaiki in consequence of the love they felt towards their old home. Rua, the daughter of Tu-moana, followed after him to Ahipara, lamenting his departure. Tu-moana said to her, “Cease crying; remain in this country with those of my hapu who are left. You shall be a high chieftainess to them (he ariki tapairu) I will return to Hawaiki, to that other home of ours, and those other relations of ours. Cease crying; when I reach the other side I will pray (karakia) to the gods to cause the thunder to crash so you may know I have safely arrived. Remain here. Be at peace; do not quarrel; do not tell tales (korero tutara) amongst yourselves; remain at peace in this land of ours.”
“So the canoe sailed away with Tu-moana and his companions; there were many of them, probably twenty twice told. The canoe sailed, whilst Rua remained at that place for a long time, and then she and her people left, proceeding first to Te Reinga (Cape Maria Van Diemen), and afterwards back to Hokianga. She returned by way of Kaitaia, and thence went to Mangonui, from whence she came back and went up the Takahue valley towards Maungataniwha. When at Oruru, Rua took a gourd and filled it with the fat of dogs, duly prepared with scented raukawa leaves. As they ascended Maunga-taniwha, in the valley near there, the gourd fell out of Rua's hand and was broken, and all the fat (or oil) ran away, hence was the place called Te-ipu-a-Rua (Rua's gourd). Then they travelled on to Owhata, to Te-Atua-ka-rere, and to Rapa-pukatea, which was named after the rapa or stern part of the canoe of Tama-hotu, which was made there. Rua and her companions then descended into Manga-muka valley, and, taking canoe, paddled down to Te Rangi and Omapere, near Hokianga Heads, and rejoined her people whom her father had left there.”
It is clear to me that Tu-moana's migration was prior to the arrival of Te Mamari canoe, at which time Hokianga Heads was occupied by the crew of that canoe, but at what period Tu-moana actually arrived there is no means of telling.- 12x
Riu-kakara and other Canoes.
We next come to several canoes which are said to have arrived at various places north of Auckland, but the dates at which they got here are unknown, and indeed very little has been handed down about them, principally because the descendants of those who came here in those vessels have been exterminated in the wars which took place not very long after the arrival of the fleet of canoes in the middle of the fourteenth century. Much information might have been obtained fifty years ago in reference to the canoes, but, alas! with the exception of Mr. John White, no one took the trouble to collect it, and even he has left very little on record.
Te Rua-karamea. Judge Gudgeon mentions in vol. i. of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, p. 218, that this canoe came to Mangonui, and that the chiefs on board were Te Uriparaoa and Te Papawi. Mr. W. J. Wheeler informs me that he also learnt that this canoe came to Mangonui, but there is no further information about it. It is probable that the descendants of her crew disappeared in the wars about the time of the Ngati-Awa inroad into those districts some twelve to fifteen generations ago.
Waipapa. Judge Gudgeon, in the same Journal, mentions that this canoe also came to Mangonui, and that the chiefs on board were Kai-whetu and Wairere. Mr. Wheeler learnt from the northern people that she landed at Rangiaohia in Doubtless Bay.
Te-Mamaru. The chief of this canoe was Te Pou, and he landed at Rangiaohia, according to Judge Gudgeon; but at Taipa, near Mangonui, according to Mr. Wheeler.
It is possible that these vessels formed part of the several canoes mentioned in the account already given of Mahuhu, and which rotted away at Rangaunu, for all the places mentioned are close to that spot.
Moe-kakara. According to Mr. White, this canoe landed on the coast between Te Kawau Island and Whangarei, and the account goes on to say that from her crew sprung the Kawerau and Ngati-Rongo tribes (the latter is a branch of Ngati-whatua). The people of Hauraki and Ngati-whatua conquered the descendants of those who came here in Moe-kakara, and they were also killed off by the foul disease called tu-whenua or leprosy. There are very few of them left in the world. It is probable that this is the same as the next to be mentioned.
Te-waka-tu-whenua. I learnt from Ngati-whatua that a canoe so named landed at a place still called Te-waka-tu-whenua, a little bay just north of Cape Rodney, and she was so called because her crew introduced the tu-whenua or leprosy into the country, and that the Kawerau of Omaha and Mahurangi descended from them. They - 13x gradually nearly all died out owing to this affliction, though a few of the people are still living. Mr. White notes, “This was another canoe which landed at Te-waka-tu-whenua, on the south side of Te Arai. Descended from her crew were the Ngai-Tahuhu tribe, from which branched off the hapus who dwell at Te Arai, but they are lost in death, carried off by the foul disease tu-whenua. The Kawerau and Wai-o-hua tribes also descend from this canoe. Let it be clearly understood about the hapus who came from those canoes: from Tainui came the people of Waikato; from the latter Nga-iwi of Kawhia, who migrated to Wai-te-mata; from the latter Ngati-rangi of the Mamari canoe. From the Wai-o-hua of Tainui came Ngati-tutaki; from them the Uri-o-hau; from them the Parawhau. From Ngai-Tahuhu the Kawerau; from the latter Te Uri-ngahu and the Akitai. This canoe had another name—Moe-kakara. Near the beach at Waitakere river are buried numbers of the people who died of the tu-whenua. No one will touch their bones lest they be attacked by the disease.” Whilst the main facts of this tradition are probably true, the origin assigned to some of the tribes is manifestly wrong.
Te-riu-kakara. This is the ancestral canoe of the Whangaroa people, at which place the canoe made the land. From here the people spread out both north and south—to Mangonui on one side, and to the Bay of Islands on the other. Beyond these brief facts, which are from Mr. John White, we know nothing of Riu-kakara or those who came in her, though it is always claimed that her crew occupied the country named, and from the persistence of these statements I should gather that she arrived after those noted above. One of the Whangaroa tribes, the Ngati-uru, does not descend from the crew of Riu-kakara, for they only migrated to that place about the year 1770–1775, having been driven from Whangamumu, south of the Bay of Islands, and the southern shores of the Bay itself, because their chief (Kuri) killed Marion du Fresné, which led to a war with the Bay of Islands people.
Tu-nui-a-rangi. According to Judge Gudgeon, this is one of the northern canoes, and from her crew descended some of the Ngapuhi and probably some of the Whangarei tribes. I never heard of this canoe from the people of the north, but do not on that account doubt the statement.
Whatever may be the date of the arrival of the six canoes mentioned above, we are enabled to fix with more certainty the arrival of Mata-hourua and her celebrated captain, Kupe, from whom several tribes trace descent. It is unnecessary to repeat the well-known story of Kupe's voyage to New Zealand and his return to - 14x Hawaiki; but the fact of his meeting Turi in the Aotea canoe on the latter's voyage here, serves to fix the date with some certainty. A comparison of several genealogies of southern tribes, where Kupe's descendants are mostly to be found, shows that, combined with those of Turi and other immigrants by the Aotea, Mata-hourua arrived about twenty-one generations ago, or about the years 1325 to 1350. Whilst the direct descendants of Kupe are to be found—so far as I know—in the south alone, it is clear from the number of places to which his name is attached in the north, that he stayed there some time, and probably left descendants there, who became absorbed in the tangata-whenua, or original people of the country.
It is true that the Ngapuhi tribe claim descent from Kupe, but the genealogical table they trust to is so manifestly wrong that no reliance can be placed on it. This table includes in it ancestors of both Tahitians and Rarotongans, who are known from other sources to have lived some time before Kupe. It is in effect the outcome of that strong desire, common to the Polynesian race, to trace their descent from those whom they consider illustrious or connected with the great deeds of their ancestors. It is impossible now to unravel the tangled skein of this table, but the mere fact of their placing Kupe at the head of it shows some warrant for believing that this celebrated navigator did leave descendants in the North.
Hokianga is named in commemoration of the fact that Kupe left that place on his return to Hawaiki, the full name being Te Hokianga-o-Kupe (the returning of Kupe). At the mouth of the Whirinaki river, Hokianga, the old natives show a stone somewhat in the shape of a dog, which is said to be one of Kupe's dogs turned into stone, and which was left there by him when he visited that part. The stone is on the east side of the entrance to the river. At Wharo, on the west coast, north of Hokianga, are some marks in a rock like foot-prints, which are said to have been made by Kupe and his dog. The anchor of Kupe's canoe is said to be on the point at Rangi-ora, near the “Narrows,” in Hokianga river. One of the balers of Kupe's canoe used to be pointed out on the beach near Te Kohukohu, Hokianga, opposite to Motiti Island. Another baler is said to be at Te Tou-o-Puraho, near Te Whaka-rara-o-Kupe, inland of Te Kerikeri, Bay of Islands. Kupe is said once to have given a feast at a place between Te Kerikeri and Whangaroa. At the feast he used long stones, instead of the usual poles of wood, to hold up the food. These stones are called Te Whakarara-o-Kupe, and are to be seen at this day near Tarata-roto-rua.
In his travels from Te Kerikeri to Hokianga, Kupe carried a stone which he left in a valley on a branch of the inland Waihou, Hokianga, at a place called Te Puru. When any Maoris pass that way they utter the karakia called Whakauru, which is repeated by strangers - 15x coming to a new place. One of these karakias begins, “Ka u ki mata-nuku, ka u ki mata-rangi,” &c. Whilst repeating this the travellers throw on to the stone sprigs of karamu or kawakawa, or pebbles, which they have brought with them for the purpose. They then pass on, but never look back until out of sight of the stone.
To the east of Whangaroa there is a projecting point, where the water is very clear; it is called Te-au-kanapana, or “Flashing current”; and it is here that Kupe is said to have made the land on his voyage from Hawaiki. It is one of the places also where canoes used to take their departure from in going back to Hawaiki.
Kupe—say the Ngapuhi people—(wrongly so, however,) was the first man to come to New Zealand, and he came in search of Tuputupu-whenua. After looking for him all along the southern coast he discovered him at Hokianga, and from that place Kupe returned to Hawaiki. His canoe was also called Tapuae-putuputu, and in it Kupe brought the rat, and a species of roi (fern-root) that grows at Ohuri, Waima, Hokianga.
I am indebted to Mr. John White for the above notes about Kupe, and, setting aside the marvellous, they seem to show that he was some time in the north before he set out on his return voyage.
In an account of the Rarawa ancestors, in Mr. G. H. Davis' possession, the Mata-hourua canoe is claimed as being one in which some of their ancestors came to New Zealand, but they call it Kowhao-mata-rua, and say that Nuku-tawhiti came here in her. This is, however, a mistake, as will be seen later on. Hone Mohi Tawhai told me that Kowhao-mata-rua or Nga-mata-whaorua is the name generally given in the north to Kupe's canoe (which is Mata-hourua in the south), and that he was not aware who were Kupe's descendants living at Hokianga when the Mamari canoe arrived, but one of these, named Te Tahau, married Ihenga-para-awa, a descendant of Nuku-tawhiti's, as will be shown later on
Kura-hou-po and Mata-atua.
Some of the northern tribes—especially Te Rarawa, who live along the coast northward from Hokianga Heads—at Ahipara, Kaitaia, and other places—claim Kura-houpo canoe as having brought over some of their ancestors. Very little is known of this canoe, and if the Taranaki people are to be believed (see Journal, Polynesian Society vol. ii, p. 189), she never came to New Zealand at all, but was wrecked just on the eve ef departure from Hawaiki, her crew coming across in the Mata-atua canoe. Another story, told by Te Arawa tribe, is that the canoe was left behind at Hawaiki, but was subsequently repaired by other people, who brought her to New Zealand under a new name—Te-ringa-matoro. All the authority we have for supposing that some of the crew of Kura-houpo settled in the north is that already quoted under the head of “Mahuhu,” wherein it is stated that Po, one - 16x of the ancestors of Te Aupouri people, came in Kura-houpo, and the following brief statement from Te Rarawa tribe: “Ko Kura-houpo te waka, te tangata o runga ko Po”—“Kura-houpo was the canoe, the man on board was Po.”
With reference to Mata-atua, we have from the same Rarawa papers in Mr. G. H. Davis' collection the statement that “Mata-atua was the canoe, Miru-pokai was the man”; and that he derived his name from the fact that he had circumnavigated the North Island, but that he finally settled down at Herekino and Whangape, and became the progenitor of the Ngati-kuri tribe of those parts. The story goes on to make the important statement that the offspring of Miru-pokai—Po, Nuku-tawhiti (of the Mamari canoe), and Rua-nui (of the same canoe)—intermarried with the original people of the land, and “hence were the wars the descendants of these people engaged in. The man who owned this land originally was Ngu, who lived at Muri-whenua, and from him came the Karitehe or Turehu,” a mythical people, who are often by Europeans called Fairies. The narrative goes on: “The iwi tuturu (or own people) of this ancestor (Ngu) are Te Au-pouri and Ngati-kuri tribes, whose line of descent is as follows:—
“Hine-tapu (given below) left this part and migrated to Turanga-nui, but her son Tamatea was left behind at Ranga-unu, and those descended from him are called Ngai-Tamatea. There are also descendants from Te Kura.” Here the narrative breaks off, unfortunately, without showing the connection with those who came from Hawaiki. It has been held that the Tamatea mentioned in the table is the same as Tamatea - pokai - whenua, and that he migrated to the south, and through his son Kahu-ngunu became the progenitor (in part) of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe of the East Coast. Hone Mohi Tawhai told me that he thought this Tamatea was a descendant of one of those who came in the Takitumu canoe, which might be the case, as some of the immigrants by that vessel are said to have come north and “settled at Wharo, Kaitaia, on the east coast of the North Island, near the North Cape, at Rangi-aohia and Oruru.”2 From the claim Ngati-whatua make to be descended from some of the Takitumu crew, this seems probable, for it was in this same part of the - 17x country that Ngati-whatua had their homes before their migration south. If the Tamatea shown in the marginal table is identical with Tamatea-pokai-whenua, then about nineteen generations have to be added to the table to bring it down to the present day.3 At fifteen generations back from the present time a descendant of this Tamatea named Taurere married one of the southern people who, under the name of Ngati-Awa, about that time made an irruption into the Northern Peninsula. Notwithstanding the uncertainty that exists about Tamatea, there is sufficient in this table and what has been said to show that there were people here long before the fleet arrived in about 1350.
The statement of the Rarawa people that they derive descent (in part) from Miru-pokai, who came in the Mata-atua canoe, seems probable from the following considerations: The most complete account of this canoe and her people is to be found in vol. iii, p. 65, Journal of Polynesian Society. We learn from it that, after landing part of her crew at Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty, the rest of them took the canoe and sailed north, finally settling down at or near Whananake, some miles south of the Bay of Islands. I learnt quite recently (1895) from the Ngati-Awa people of Whakatane that in late years they had received invitations to visit these northern people as relatives, which confirms the story of some of the crew of Mata-atua having gone north and settled—as my informant said—near Motu-kokako (Cape Brett), which is not very far from Whananake.
The account as published in the Journal quoted, infers that the Mata-atua went on north at once, soon after the first landing, but this could hardly be the case if the following is correct, and it was told me by two old men of Ngati-Awa quite independantly of one another. After the immigrants had settled down at Whakatane and been there some time, everyone was engaged in preparing the ground for the kumara plantations. Whilst so engaged, a quarrel arose between Toroa, the captain of Mata-atua, and some of the others, amongst whom were Nuake, Nuiho, Puhi, Whare, and others, about the cultivations. This took place on the ridge between Kapu-te-rangi pa and Orahiri pa, or just above the entrance to Whakatane river. The place was pointed out to me. Leaving Toroa and his immediate relations at Whakatane, the others whose names have been mentioned took the Mata-atua and went away north. This division of the people probably took place some few years after their first arrival, for the Orahiri (or Rahiri-paopao) pa had been built by Puhi and his immediate followers, and it is of some size, sufficient to contain 80 or 100 people. It was here Puhi lived in his house called Rahiri-te-rangi. I was also told that Mata-atua first - 18x made the land at Muri-whenua, having come from Pari-nui-te-ra in Hawaiki, and from there coasted down to Whakatane. If so the people knew where they were going when they went to Whananake.
The name, Miru-pokai, is not mentioned in the Ngati-Awa account, amongst those who came in Mata-atua, but it is quite likely he was one of them, and his name would only be remembered by his immediate descendants. There is also nothing improbable in some of them settling at Whangape, and moreover we have the statement of the northern people that there formerly existed about Whangape, Ahipara, and those parts a tribe named Ngati-Miru: “It was Toa-a-kai, of Hokianga, who fought that people Ngati-Miru, which tribe is lost in these days, and we do not now know who their descendants are through their extermination. Toa-a-kai was also constantly at war with the Rarawa.”
Since the above was written, the story of the quarrel amongst the crew of the Mata-atua at Whakatane, has been procured with much detail by Mr. Elsdon Best, the information being derived from the Urewera and Ngati-Awa tribes. A well informed member of the Urewera tribe tells me that the Puhi above referred to, in consequence of this quarrel, in which he cursed his elder brother Toroa, received the name of Puhi-kai-ariki, and from him Ngapuhi take their name. On a future page the descent from the brother of this man to the present day will be shown: the brother's name was Puhi-moana-ariki.
The fact of these immigrants by Mata-atua having finally settled down in the north, seems also to furnish a reason for the subsequent migration of some of Ngati-Awa in later years to these same districts in the northern peninsula; they would be sure of finding relations there.
In the various accounts of the voyages of the canoes which came to those parts of New Zealand lying to the south of the Auckland Isthmus, it is generally stated that they formed part of a fleet which left Hawaiki about the same time. None of these southern accounts make mention of Mamari as forming part of the fleet, nor, as a rule, is her name mentioned at all; but nevertheless she is essentially the canoe of the Ngapuhi tribes. Hone Mohi Tawhai told me his father (Tawhai, who was a very learned man) and the old men of Ngapuhi all said that Mamari “was one of the later canoes, and arrived here about the same time as Taki-tumu, Mata-atua, Tainui, and Te Arawa.” It is probable, therefore, that her crew were actuated by much the same influences in leaving their old home—Hawaiki. Tawhai said that she came from Wawau, which I believe to be intended for Vavau, the modern name of which is Porapora, one of the Society Islands. This however was not the only name known to these people; there are others of adjacent islands or places, which in many cases they applied - 19x to localities in New Zealand; amongst them are the following: Hone Mohi Tawhai says, “This is what I learned from my father in reference to the name Wai-ma, it is in full, Waima-tuhi-rangi. According to him, it was a name brought from one of the islands which the ancestors of the Maori people stayed at during their migration to this island. On their arrival they named several places after those in the islands they came from, but in which one Waima-tuhi-rangi was situated I do not know; perhaps in Hawaiki, perhaps in some other island. Moehau, at Waima, is also an ancient name, it is used in the welcome of our tribe to strangers, ‘Haere mai e te iwi! ki roto o Moehau,’ ‘Welcome O people! Come to Moehau.’ It descended from our forefathers to us; my father said the name was brought from Hawaiki, and given to the water of Waima, and thus became a name of pride and power, even from our ancestors to those of our tribe, the Mahurehure, who now live at Waima-tuhi-rangi. Another name of one of the islands from whence they came was Mamangaia-tua, which I think was the same as Wawau, but am not sure. Another place mentioned was Raro-pouri, which I think is meant for Raro-tonga. Others are Mata-te-ra, Awarua, and Otia-iti, which my father thought might be intended for Tahiti. Friend! I have found the name of one of the islands you say you think the Maoris came from, that is Raiatea, or in Maori, Rangi-atea. I heard this name from my father. The occasion of his mentioning it to me was in reciting a pihe (a funereal dirge) for the death of Nuku-tawhiti, No. 2 (the captain of Mamari). Thus runs the pihe:
There is a continuation of this pihe, but I only quote this part on account of the name Raiatea,4 which my father said was an island in the parts from whence migrated the ancestors of the Maori people. According to what my father told me of what he learnt from the words of his forefathers, that place, Hawaiki, possessed the kumara in great abundance. If cultivated one year, in after years it grew spontaneously in the midst of other vegetation. Hence the saying of my progenitors to those who remained in idleness on the days of the month devoted to cultivating the kumara, that is in the second month of the year, Hongongoi (July). When the young men remained in the houses, the following was said to them, ‘E noho! E noho! Ko Hawaiki te whenua e tupu noa ake te kumara i roto i te rahurahu, e ora ai koutou i te kai i runga i ta koutou noho mangere!’ ‘Remain there at ease! This is Hawaiki where the kumara grows spontaneously amidst the fern, you will have plenty of food with your idleness!”- 20x
Mr. White says that after Nuku-tawhiti in the Mamari had reached the land, near the North Cape, he fell in with Kupe, who told him that Tuputupu-whenua was to be found on the West Coast. Nukutawhiti is also said by Mr. White to have come in search of this person, but it is questionable if there is not some confusion here, for Kupe is also alleged to have come to look for Tuputupu-whenua. Of course it is possible they both may have been on the same errand; the legend shows, whichever may be right, that communication between New Zealand and Hawaiki had taken place not many years previous to Kupe's voyage; possibly Tu-moana had conveyed the information to Hawaiki. We shall hear something about Tuputupu-whenua later on.
From the information given on a previous page, it would appear that Nuku-tawhiti in the Mamari canoe arrived here about the time of the great heke or migration in about 1350. The genealogy given in the margin seems to bear this out also. We know very little of the others who came in the canoe, but Rua-nui, said to be a brother-in-law of Nuku-tawhiti's, was one, and there were other relatives of the same hapu. Rua-nui's three children were Korako-nui-a-Rua, Te Maru-a-te-huia, and their sister Ruatapu.
These people settled down at Hokianga Heads, and became the principal progenitors of the Ngapuhi tribe. It is said that Rua-nui introduced the native rat or kiore-maori, which escaped into the forest, but could be recalled by using the proper form of words, which is as follows:
The canoe Mamari did not end its voyage at Hokianga Heads, for she was subsequently taken on towards the south, and in attempting to land through the surf on the Ripiro beach, she was smashed up by the breakers and left there. The place where she was wrecked is about ten miles south of Maunganui Bluff, and is called Omamari to this day.
Nuku-tawhiti (No. 2, as H. M. Tawhai calls him to distinguish him from a man who bore the same name, but lived some time before) became the great progenitor of the Ngapuhi tribes, or, at least, the - 21x one from which the Hokianga chiefs are most anxious to trace their descent. The tribe, like others, is, however, much mixed, not only with the descendants of those who came in other canoes, but with the tangata-whenua, or aborigines, as will be shown. Rua-nui became one of the progenitors of Te Rarawa and Au-pouri tribes. I am unable to say with certainty, but it is probably through Rua-nui that these northern people, especially Te Rarawa, claim a descent from "Teheketanga-rangi, or the “Heavenly descent”—in other words, through the god-man Tawhaki. Many tribes of Maoris do the same, but, in all cases that I know of, this is a purely Polynesian descent, entirely unconnected with the tangata-whenua, or aborigines. The Hawaiian people equally claim a descent from Tawhaki; but, as Fornander has shown, this arises through the migration of tribes from Southern Polynesia to Hawaii, from twenty-two to thirty generations ago. It seems to me that this claim of a celestial origin arose from the fact of the irruption into the Pacific of a branch of the Polynesian race long after the arrival of the first adventurers into those parts; and that, being gifted with a more advanced civilization, with probably a somewhat different religion, these later arrivals came to be looked on in some senses as gods, more especially after the lapse of centuries, when their supernatural powers would become magnified in the imagination of the people, and their actual origin become lost to view. The Maori traditions relating to Tawhaki and his contemporaries are more full than those of any other section of the Polynesian race, and this shows probably a more intimate connection with this later migration than any other branch.
I am unable to give the actual genealogical connection between Tawhaki and these northern tribes, but it can be shown in the case of many others. It is found from them that Tawhaki flourished about twenty-six or twenty-seven generations ago. The Rarawa papers in Mr. G. H. Davis' collection, however, give the ancestors prior to him, and, as it may prove useful for comparison, I insert the table here in the margin.
In one of the Maori traditions relating to Tawhaki the names of Upolu (Kupara), Tutu-ila (Tutuhira), Olosenga (Rarohenga), all Samoan islands, are mentioned, and a war described in which Tawhaki and Maru took part. Although I think the account of this war is not a part of the particular tradition in which it is found, it evidently refers to some of Tawhaki's doings, and seems to suggest, from the inclusion of the Samoan names, - 22x that Tawhaki lived in Samoa. There are many other things which bear this out. What I want to draw attention to is that, in the Rev. J. B. Stair's paper on “Samoan Voyages,”5 we find this name Malu or Maru as a chief of Samoa, and from knowing that Tangiia, the son of Maru, lived about twenty-four generations ago, it follows that Maru lived about twenty-five generations ago, and therefore might have been a contemporary of Tawhaki's.
“Ko te wahine a Tawhaki, ko Hapai. Na! ka puta te kupu a Te-manu-i-te-ra ki a Tawhaki, ‘Kaua e puta ki waho i ta korua whare mahimahi ai, kei werohia korua e nga hihi o Te-manu-i-te-ra.’ Kihai i whakarongo a Tawhaki, puta ana ki waho mahimahi ai. Na, ka mutu ta raua mahimahi, haere ke ana a Tawhaki ki tetehi wahi ke atu. Hoki rawa mai, kua riro te wahine i a Te-manu-i-te-ra. Katahi ia ka rapu; na, katahi ia ka tu ki te taha o te moana, a, ka karakia, a, ka mutu te karakia, ka haere ki te rapu i te moana. Koia hoki e kiia nei e te iwi Maori, ‘Ko te moana tapokopoko a Tawhaki.’”
“Tawhaki's wife was Hapai. Behold! there came forth the command of The-bird-in-the-sun to Tawhaki, ‘Go not forth from thy home to make love, lest thou be speared by the rays of The-bird-in-the-sun.’ But Tawhaki listened not, but (they) went outside and made love. Now, when they had ended, Tawhaki went away to a different place. On his return, his wife had been abducted by The-bird-in-the-sun. Then he searched; he stood by the side of the sea, and uttered his karakias, and on their conclusion proceeded over the sea in his search. Hence do the Maori people say, ‘The engulphing ocean of Tawhaki.’”
The above is a very strange fragment, and is doubtless the remains of some more complete story, the greater part of which is lost. The main point in it is the fact that Tawhaki lost his wife Hapai through disobedience of the command uttered by “The-bird-in-the-sun.” I have another version of this story from the Ngati-kuia tribe of the Middle Island, wherein the “rays of The-bird-in-the-sun” are replaced by a line and fish-hook attached, which was let down from Heaven, and which Hapai—against Tawhaki's warning—seized hold of, and was at omce drawn up to Heaven.
The localization of legends common to many nations is world-wide. Of this, Polynesian history is full. Nothing in the above fragment indicates its locale, but in another, obtained for me by Mr. W. J. Wheeler from Timoti Puhipi, of Te Rarawa tribe, the scene of Tawhaki's search for his wife is laid near Whangape, fifteen miles or so north of Hokianga. I had asked Mr. Wheeler to try and ascertain for me whether the name Rarotonga, which is that of a place between Whangape and Herekino, was an old one, and if there was any history attached to it. This elicited the story below and the accom-
1 I have long been of opinion that the immediate Hawaiki from which the Maoris came, is Havai'i, or Raiatea, one of the Society Group.
2 See J. White's “Ancient History of the Maori,” vol. iii, p. 47.
3 Since the above was written, Judge Gudgeon's researches have proved that the Tamatea here shown, and his father (Kauri), migrated to Tauranga, and from Tamatea's son (Kahu-ngunu) the Ngati-Kahungunu take their name.—Journal, Polynesian Society, vol. v, p. 4.
4 Raiatea and Porapora (or Vavau) are within a few miles of one another, and both form part of the Society Group.
5 Journal Polynesian Society, vol. iv, p. 130.