FIRE ON EGMONT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 3, 4 January 1934, Page 9

FIRE ON EGMONT.

TAHURANGFS CLIMB.

INTERESTING MAORI LEGEND.

PAKEHAS' NOVEL TRIP. The novel method of ushering in the New Year adopted by a party of climbers who lit flares and fired rockets on the summit of. Mount Egmont after midnight lias recalled that probably the first occasion on which a fire was lighted by human agency on the sximmit of the mountain was about the year 1420. Tahurangi, after whom the telephone station at the Egmont Mountain House is named, was a leading chief who used to visit a mountain sanctuary named Karaka Tonga. This outlying pa. is recorded as being not only a safe retreat, but a settlement inhabited by the Maoris in the summer and autumn, when they made excursions into the dense forest to secure pigeons, kaka, tui and other birds (says the "Dominion"). At those seasons of the year the birds would be in excellent condition and ready for preserving and potting in the gourds need by the Maori for that purpose. It was also from Karaka Tonga the natives visited the forges to secure tho red ochre (kokowai) that was so much used to paint their houses, canoes and store houses, and to adorn and preserve their most valued carvings in wood.

Taking Possession of the Peak. The chieftain Tahurangi is reported to have ascended Mount Egmont, and as ho was the first man to do so he lit' a fire on top to let people see that he had accomplished the climb and taken possession of tho peak for hie tribe. In olden clays, when the Maoris of Taranaki saw thin whisps of cloud encircling tho summit and blowing away like smoke, they would remark: "To ahi a Tahuransi" (Ah! that is the smoke from Tahurangi's fire), or words to that effect. The swamp lying between Mount Egmont and the Pouakai Ranges, the drainage from which forms Bell's Falls on Mount Egmont and from which source the Stony River receives much of its perpetual supply of water, was named Te Rere-a-Tahurangi by this chief during his sojourn on the upper _ reaches of Egmont. The ancient Maori looked or Taranaki, as he called tho mountain, as a very sacred and tapu place. There were several almost inaccessible places on "Taranaki" where the bones of illustrious dead were deposited. In times of inter-tribal warfare, too, the mountain gave sanctuary for hundreds of years to women and children and the aged men. This has made Egmont very sacred to the natives, and even at tho present day very few Maoris care to infringe the old tapu by climbing the mountain or even visiting its slopes. A few—very few nowadays— of tho older Maoris occasionally make a lone pilcrimape to parts of the mountain to chant the old-time laments to tho memory of ancestors who have their sepulchre in the fastnessoe. New Year Climb.

The party of twelve who welcomed in 1934 in each a novel manner were favoured with pood weather for their climb. There- was very little wind, and in the of -tli© -full moon a jiood climb was made to the Drinking Epck, about 500 feet, above Humphrey's Castle. At that point the climbers were roped in parties of three, ae it was necessary to cut steps for the remainder of the way. Seven rockets, a supply of sodium chlorate ami eugar, and about a gallon of lubricating oil drained from crank cases were used for the- pyrotechnic display. Tho first flare was started with the chlorate mixture about 12.4 on the northern end of the western ppak. Afterwards tho vockete were let off, and the object of the journey to the top was completed. Finally a glare was lit on tho top of the western p.jak. The crank case oil was used laet and it was this that burned longest. Tho display occupied about half an hour, and at 13.45 tho climbers began to descend as far ae Drinking Rock in. the steps cut previously. At tho rock the last of the oil was lit. Owing to the fact that there was a full moon in a clear eky it was considered probable that the pyrotechnics would not bo seen from the lower levels. This assumption proved incorrect, however, as the flares and rockets were plainly visible. Tho climbers returned to the hostel at 4.15 a.m., after a descent taken at an easy. pace.