A MAORI TANIWHA

TALES OF "PELORUS JACK"

PET FISH OP A TOHUNGA

"No 'oihei- fish in' all -the world has drawn so much - attention as Peloriis Jack," said Bishop Bennett of Aotearoa in tilling a few Maori legends at Christchureh On'- ; Wednesday (states the "Star").-.."He alone'-of the fish tribe attracted so much interest from legislators that a speejal Bill, was passed by. the I.New 'Zealand Parliament with .the object of preserving the-life of this remarkably interesting denizen of the deep. He was v a bout 15ft of 16ft in length, and of a dark-greyish colour. Unfortunately something has happened to Pelorus Jack,'for he has not been seen for "several years. .'■'Aaaryoung man I remember seeing •him-.0n.-,many .occasions racing along by the:;ijpw 9</.th.e steamer,: and some^ times.- juftiping.elean out of thewater. He appeared to be-thoroughly -enjoying the 1 fun. He had hiapropec haunts, namely, I between Jackson Head and towards the | French Pass. He was never seen outside I this areai-^jv..-. , : .'■. •'. I "I no.tiee that the suggestion that Pelorus Jack may have been killed by jthetwinEaciew:'o£: the Arahura after ! being accust.amed to the single serevy pf-the^ Map'durik'a has been mentioned in a'aisc.qsgigniby the Linnaein Society in London.. J think Pelorus Jack was too' clever 2 a^fish- to be -Killed; by any number ; .of< screws; He must have known all there was to 'learn ~about screws, their sounds, their; vibrations, the -dis"--turbance of .the water, and the danger of getting too near. In any ease, he gambolled always at the bow of the steamer;: and.as far: as I know never ai; the stern. -. . ■ "■. ■'.' • "Now let me- relate some really in-teresting.-Jfaqri. stories' which I collected last month when on a visit- to Ohoka, a small Maori settlement near the mouth of the Pelorus Sound,, and close to the old haunts of Peidrus; Jack. My informant was the old chief,Tahnaraki Meihara,;'known to the: pakeha as 'Mason.'; This. old. man is aboutseye.nty. years of age, and has lived, in the vicinity, of Pelorus Sound .all his life. ,'llis : home just now is at Haveloek. . He'says'the Maoris of this 'di?triet havQ'jtradilions ajibut ai'fish, similar to'Pelp'rus Jack, which'go''■'back for many generations. They always Tef erred to it : as a.'tariiwha' (a monster))..." or '.atua^ (a god). ; The Maoris called him-. 'Kaikai-a-waro. He was the pet fish of a tohunga (priest) called Tu-te-hoto, who lived in this district between 500 and 600. years ago. If Pelorus Jack was the 'same fish, then he must have been,.pver;,so.o. ; years..old. ;\ _: . i ''Meihara says that the direct, descendants of Tu-te-hoto had special' 'maua' '(irifiueiree)" over the-*tamwha,' and by reciting a certain incantation, were able to call up this fish whenever he was required. Many instances are recorded when ' Kaikai-a-waro' was called, up by means of 'karahia,' or incantations, especially when a canoe was in difficulty. The fish would then appear by the weather side of the canoe, and give it protection until it reached calm waters. Meihara also maintains that there were times when the to-j hunga eoulcl,. lead certain omens fot | good or evttjby the direction in which the fish app^SEred. »'; ; "Here is aßiJther: story .about;' the remarkable fiste-r^A; I°"S' y me agaaraM' ing paity/irom'the North Island'made a- sudden attack upon the group of is-' lands at theirentrarice.of Pelorus'So.undi '"', knowii to; tiei-Maoris as 'Kukuwaiata;' and named by the pakeha . Cuetwood Islands. Every- person' on, the islands was. annihilated, with the exception of one man, ua"med^Te-koarUga-umu. This man-concealed Mmself jinia cave. When the xaidersfihad 'departed this solitary survivor ''made' his ■ 'appearance, ; but found that all the canoes had beenjtakeiy by the raiders. He made.himself a raft j by collecting"the stems of the flax called "'kor'ari.*? - As 'the distance to the mainland wa3":about'; four miles, he recited the incantation 'calling up. kaihai-a-waro. In a few moments the big fish j appeared underneath the raft and pushing its back up against the floor of the" raft and carried the raft until within easy each of the shore. Then it dived back into the deep water again,, and, Te-koa-nga-umu scrambled safely ashore and lived for many years to relate hia i remarkable ..experience; - ; '^Now, don't be inbreclulous,' ' added the Bishop, "and express your surprise that the Maori .Bishop should tell sueh\ tall Maori- fish "'yarns. You ;have plenty of such yarns in your old classics, haven't yout'' 1