MAORI HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 22, 26 January 1935, Page 12

MAORI HISTORY.

SOUTHERN LEGENDS,

NGAITAHU'S CONQUESTS

THE END OF TU-TE-KAWA. (By A. 11. CARRIXGTOX). VIII. During the incidents relating to the 'Xgaitahu invasion of the South Island, culmination in the occupation of the pa at Pari-whakatau and the disappearance of Xgatimamoe north of the Conway, two important events had occurred which were to lead to the extension of the Xgaitahu movement to the south. Uraho, the old chief who had led the early migration, had been killed, but his son Mil rii, though having the opportunity, failed to take his revenge by killing the Xgaitara chief who had been captured and released him. 1 his action, which had taken place in Tory Channel, annoyed a chief named Waitai, who said that he would go to n place where the tribe's rights would not be interfered with in such a way With a large following, stated to be .'SOO, he went south to Otago. where he fought the indigenous inhabitants, or his own people, to his heart's content.

Waitai and his men fell on evil days, and became so weakened by their continued fighting and internecine strife that the Ngatimamoe were able to overcome them, only'two men, Kaiapu and Te-makino, escaping to report the disaster to their relatives in the north. These two men braved all the dangers of the overland trip from Otago to Marlborough, where they told their friends all that they had seen. They spoke of the eels and flatfish of Wailiora (Lake Ellesmere), the groves of cabbage trees (ti) from which the kauru was made, the flocks of birds, ducks (putangitang), parrots (kaka), weka, and all the plenty that abounded in the vicinity of the plains. As the wanderers described the places they had seen, one chief or another would claim it as his: "That mountain shall be my pillow and that valley my footstool," or merely " That shall be my possession." In such a manner was much of Canterbury divided among the great chiefs of Ngaitahu, even before they bad seen that land, and from these very claims do the present occupants, descendants of those chiefs, hold their titles to the land to-day.

Younger Generation Arrives. The other event of importance lias already been referred to; the arrival from the North Island of the senior branch of the Ngaitaliu tribe under the aged chief Tu-te-ahuka. With him should have come Tuahuriri, a man of the highest birth and mana, but his drowning in Cook Strait has already been told. And so there comes on the scene a younger generation, the eons of Tualiuriri, and their associates, who still had to make a home for themselves, and who were anxious to emulate the deeds of the older men. Pariwhakatau was taken, there was nothing for them to do in the north, but the wonderful land flowing with milk and honey described by the returned adventurers from the south seemed to be theirs for the taking. There were three eons. Hamua, the eldest, died of some illness shortly after reaching Kaikoura; his wife returned to her North Island relations, and nothing more is heard of that branch. Tu-rakau-tahi, the second son, was clubfooted and was therefore unable to take the part of warrior and leader of the tribe that his birth demanded. It was upon Moki, the third son, that the vindication of the family honour rested, and he was a fighter worthy of the name. In his great war canoe Makawhiu (desolator) and accompanied by many famous Ngaitahu chiefs, Te-raki-whakaputa (Tu-rakau-tahi's father-in-law), Mako (Maru's brother), Te-rua-hikihiki, who has already been mentioned, and a host of others, Moki descended upon Canterbury and Banks Peninsula. There was no fighting in North Canterbury, all the peaceful Ngatimamoe and Waitaha. communities living in the swamps surrendering at once. On Banks Peninsula, however, some opposition was met. Pigeon Bay Headquarters. Moki took his fleet to Pigeon Bay (Koukourarata), -which became his headquarters during the fighting that followed. The first attack was against a pa named Parakakariki, on the point on the south side of Long Bay. The remains of the trenches can still be distinctly seen. A story is told of Moki's keenness to obtain the honour of killing the first man. Rushing forward at the head of his men, he saw in the dim light of dawn what he took to be two men and gave both of them a heavy blow with his mere, at the same time calling out the time-honoured cry: "Naku te ika i te ati" ("To me is the fish at the beginning"—meaning the first person slain in battle). His two victims, however, turned out to be stones set up at the entrance of the pa, and some lesser personage than Moki gained the coveted honour. The pa, of course, fell, and the inhabitants suffered the usual fate. I

The next big pa was that of Waikakahi, situated on the flat shingle bank between Lake Ellesmere and the sea, about half a mile from where Lake Forsyth enters the ocean. There lived i'll-tc-kawa, a very old man, whose. 5011, Rangitamau, had built for himself n pa at Taumutu. Killed Chief's Wives. To explain the identity of Tu-te-itiiwa it is necessary to revert again to 'he days before Ngaitahu left the North it land. Tuahuriri, whose name has j'ready cropped up several times, was | 'iving at his pa, Te-mata-ki-kai-poinga (Point Hals well, Wellington Harbour), before the migration to the South Island. For some reason or other he had incurred the wrath of a certain branch of d!h family; who brought a war party igainst him. Tu-tc-kawa was the first nfan to get into the pa, though he was aot the leader of the attack, but before loing so he had found opportunity to ivouse Tuahuriri, who escaped. In r.der to prevent Tuahuriri's wives from falliiif into the hands of enemies, Tu-te-k-awa~killcd them, but after the battle was over he fled to the South Island, as he feared the vengeance of Tuahuriri. For a time he' lived in the vicinity of Kaiapoi, then moved to Lake Ellesmere, where he built his pa, Waikakahi. The knowledge that this man was in the nei"hbourhood had been an added incentive to the relatives of Tuahuriri to k make \rar on Banks Peninsula.

Moki and liis war party were very anxious not to give the alarm to the old man, and the pa was carefully reconnoitred. The first intimation old Tu-te-kawa had that enemies were near was their shadows at the . doorway of the house where he was lying in the sun, tucked up in rugs. Tualiuriri had always told his sons to spare the old man"if they should come across him, but that prohibition did not extend to the family of the women he had killed. As Moki looked down at Tu-te-kawa a spear held in the hand of Whakuku (brother of the dead women) was thrust past him and into Tu-te-kawa's breast. So was a death avenged and Banks Peninsula fell into the hands of Ngaitahu.