OLD MANUKAU.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 233, 12 October 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

OLD MANUKAU.

THE LOST LAND OP PAORAE.

A MEMORY OP THE ANCIENT

DAYS.

(By Our Special Reporter.)

A long, long time ago a large expanse of low-lying landf dotted with primitive dwellings and cultivations, stretched out seawards from the present South Head of Manukau Harbour. This tract of country extended southwards in the direction of Waikato Heads; but where once was solid ground the waves of the Tasman Sea now roll, and not a vestige remains of the ancient land of Paorae. The sole reminder that it did once exist is conveyed in the historical traditions of the old Maoris, and it was to clear up some vague native accounts of a Maori "Lost Atlantis," a supposed island which once stood outside Manukau Heads, and which was destroyed by the sea, that a "Star" reporter the other day sought out two old native learned men and questioned them on the subject.

Most observant New Zealanders must have noticed the remarkable changes which erosion, the action of wind and water, have made in the configuration of our coast line, and to one of which in particular this article refers. The general tendency all round our coasts is for the sea to encroach on the land, except at the mouths of estuaries and rivers. The very existence of straight cliffs round our coasts is an evidence of the fact that tbe ever-restless sea is encroaching on the coast. In a number of places, of course, such as on oarts of the West Coast of the South Island, and at the mouth _of the Thames River (where the foreshore seems to be silting up) various causes contribute to the M making" of land. But as a rule, on exposed localities like the wild West Coast, the erosion of the land by the action Of the sea seems to have progressed at an exceedingly rapid rate.

To go back to the tale of Paorae: The two Maori pundits consulted by the writer are the old chiefs Patara te Tuhi and Honana Maioha,, brothers, who live at Mangere, on the shores of the Manukau. They are aged men: Patara (who was the once noted editor of the Kingite papAr "Te Hokioi" at Ngaruawahia in the days before the Waikato war, and' who was afterwards secretary ...to King Tawhiao) is about 78 years of age, and Honana is seventy-five. They are cousins of the late Tawbilao and uncles of the present "Kini**." Mahuta, and besides being chiefs of high rank are well versed in the his*.tory and traditions of their forefathers. And, sitting on the lee-side of a fine tall clump of cultivated flax, the "ngaro" variety, on their an-* cestral farm of Ararata, overlooking the shining waters of the Manukau, the venerable tattooed Kingite chiefs told their story of Paorae to their pakeha questioner:

Away back in the remote days of the ancestors of the present Maoris, the face of the land round Manukau Harbour and the heads presented a cry different appearance to what it foes now. Then the greater part of lyhat is now Manukau (or Manuka) Harbour was solid land, cohered with kauri and other heavy timber. The propf of this is found in the presence of kauri gum on the Shallow tidal flats which form so great an area of this inland sea, and which are dry at low water. This land was low-lying flat and sandy, and through it thm. long salt water creeks or arms of the sea ran—one to Onehunga; one, the Wairopa, up to Papakura; and the other, the Wharehono, up in the direction of where Waiuku is now. Gradually in the course of long years, the sea, to use Patara's words, ate up the soft soil until the sea slowly but surely won the lanti for itself. Thus the Manukau was turned into a saltwater sea, and sea-birds screamed and fishes played where once thick forests of mighty trees flourished in the soft moist earth.

But great as the ravages of the sea were inside the Heads, the all-de-vouring ocean licked up the' lands of mankind even more hungrily out there beyond where the mounts of Mahanihani and Paratutae mark the south and north entrances to the Manukau. "Know ye, oh pakehas, that for many miles out beyond the Heads, southwards in the direction of the Heads of Waikato, there lay in the very ancient days the long flat land which was called Paorae. That is the only name which I, Patara, know as applied to it; it was the name of the northefrn end of the land, the part whic1b lay nearest to where the signal station of the Europeans now stands. How many miles it stretched to seaw.'jirds I know not; our tupunas (ancestors) did not reckon by miles; it might have been three miles, it might have been ten out to sea. It was a flat land, all sand, and on it were, the houses and cultivations of our forefathers in the very remote days -.afore you< pakehas came to this coumtry. When the canoe Tainui which 'brought my ancestors here from __.awaiiki across the Great Ocean ol° Kiwa, passed down the West Coast, this Paorae was a 'large extent of land. And it became a famous place for the cultiva. tion of the kumara; and also the taro. The ground Was warm and very sandy, and t_(e kumara grew abundantly. There were kaingas (villages) of the afccient people on

that land, and it became a favourite spot for the tribes to go for 4kair mataitai,' the 'food of the sea'—-fis* (shark, etc.), pipis, and mussels."

The northern end- of the Paorae FL_£ was covered with kumara gardens and whares in those ancient times. Along the shores, where the waves of the western sea broke in foam on the glistening beaches, there were fishing stations. Long canoes were drawl, up on the hard sand, and in the warm summer months were launched day after day for the capture of the shark and other fish, which were hung up to dry in the sun and preserved for future use. A little way back from the beaches were the cultivations of the sweet potato and the semi-tropical taro, the former carefully planted in separate little hillocks, and diligently kept free from weeds and caterpillars, and protected from the cold, sharp winds by breakwinds of brushwood. The planting of the kumara was an occasion of great importance in those ancient times and surrounded by much religious ceremony. The tohungaa (priests) duly karakia'd the kumara plantations at the planting, and there were offerings of the first fruits to the gods, when the harvesting came, round.

There were not, as far as can be learnt, any Maori fortifications or permanent settlements of importance on Paorae. The big pas were at Waitara (a little stream which runs into the sea some distance south of Manukau Heads), on the South Head itself, and inside the Heads, at Awitu and Tipitai, Paorae was a great kumara plantation of the Ngaiwi, or Ngaoho, tha very ancient aboriginal people who occupied all this land about the Manukau Heads and south to Waikato. Tha Tamaki isthmus, including the site of the present city of Auckland, was then owned by the long since extinct Wai*» ohua nation, who swarmed over itfertile plains and entrenched themselves on its volcanic hill cones. But in time Ngaiwi were dispossessed by Waikato, who came down like a wolf on the fold and slaughtered the owners of the land from the Waikatd Heads to Manukau, capturing the paa at Waitara and elsewhere. So passed the land "to the brave"—"Kua riro Id te toa"—and the Waikato warriors became possessed of the coast lands of Paorae. One of the conquering chiefs was Kauahi who became the lord of the kumara flats of Paorae.

Here the two narrating chiefs were asked if this land were an island or not. No, they emphatically said, it was not an island. It was a part of the mainland, but was quite flat, extending from the base of the present cliffs away oceanwards. In those days there was no South Channel, such as the steamers now take when crossing the Manukau bar, bound towards Taranaki. It was a sandy tract of land, elevated only a few feet above the sea, where now the blue waves roll. The three creeks of the Manukau then, according to the ancestral traditions, discharged' to the north, of the present bar, out beyond where the sharp volcanic heights of Paratutae and Marotiri stand. The old man Patara also stated that in the ancient timies there was a noted eel lake ("roto-tuna") of fresh -water out in the land of Paorae, a itood distance beyond where the seq| j coast now is. The people used to make large hauls of eels there, and alyp caught ducks which frequented the lake. Paorae, in fact, was a desirable bit of territory *fbr tbeI,Olden" Maori. It was rich in the food delicacies of the times. _ "And how perished that land,, 0 Pa?" ' "E—e! Kua kai ite tail (It was eaten up hy the salt sea!)," was thQ old historian's reply. "Ever since itl was first inhabited and cultivated, ~hat land was gradually being bitten into by the ocean. Each year, each ye.ur the sea would eat a piece of th* Paorae; the waves would roar right • up tv the plantations, and the growers of tl\e kumara would be edged back and b*ack. Tbe great waves of the Tai-Ha'uauru would dash against... th. land of sand and wash portions of it away, a <_ d so in time the ■ ocean rolled over it aM. B_*t there was no great or sudden caitastro'phe. It did not perish by any griiat eaithquake, or by a sudden and awful hu tricane from the sea. it was worn away gradually until now, as you may see, the*e is not a sign of that ancient Paorae and the Tide of the West Wind breata on the black sands at the foot of '#c £igh white cliffs Avhich run fro_U Mahamhani right down to the saniS\ -bills at tbe mouth of the Waikato." .. ' Patara said that his fat her, the noted chief Maioha, rememl>. re* Be, em§ 'in his boyhood'the fast var.vfrb.ng land. of Paorae. Maioha died a\b\vit. 1860, and it would therefore be afpd ut 1800, or some years before that, ju_.t over a hundred years ago, that the sand lands outside the Heads were \ still visible. Rogomate, Maioha's father, was one of the chiefs who owned t\he kumara lands, of Paorae, and thVJ great Kaihau, grandfather of the pre* sent Henare Kaihau, M.H.R., was also one of the overlords of the Lower .Waikato and the country around M'anukau Heads, and in hds time the Paorae flats still resisted the encroachments of the sea .and were fishing places and kumara plantations. In Maioha's time the old fort "Te Pa-o-KokaAo" stood on the South HeadIt has now been worn away by erosion, by water, wind and weather. It is pxobab'le, judging from the traditions of the Maoris, that the pre- ~ sent Manukau bar is a formation .pf comparatively rec^ut date. Patara and Honana both a^ee that the bar is a "mea hbiii. quite a new thing, and they are fully aware of the changes which have taken placVJ in the channels over the bar of .recent years. They state that their elders informed them a great many yeitrs ago that the bar did not exist when' Paorae was inhabited and cultivated. s(The fact is the Southern shoals and rtayid banks of the bar are part of the ancient Paorae, with the surface * gashed away.) It is only since the .sandy territory beyond the cliffs was washed away that the dangerous sandbanks at the mouth of the Manukau became noticeable. The Maori name for the Manukau bar is "Te Kupenga-Q-Tara-mainuku"—"The Pishing net of Taramainuku." This Tara' v«as an avcestor of the very remote times.

There is an old proverb applied to this roaring bar, which gnu. .Ih the gates of the Manukau: "Kei to tun b Manuka, te kite ki muri kite Kupeogia-o-Taramainuku" —'"When you pass out beyond the Manuka waters, da not look back till you reach t-he'-Kugehga" —a sort of Maori eqmvaltn; .for "Don't halloo till you are out ■>•' '■•<* wood." I (To be concluded next week.