LAND OF RUAPANI.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1935, Page 8 (Supplement)

LAND OF RUAPANI.

WAIKARE -COMMUNITY. WELL-ORDERED LIFE. EIXGATU WORSHIP. (By MAKUTUAHU.) The opening up by road of the country" around Waikaremoana has revealed to travellers yet another area where until recent years few Europeans have penetrated. As recently as ten years ago it was not always practicable even to ride across the ranges which are the northern retaining wall of the lake. The six-foot track roughly formed half a century or more ago had been almost obliterated in many places, by slips and floods. Giant trees sometimes fell across the narrow ribbon of track cut tlirough dense bush. As far as the travelling pakeha was concerned, most of the land surrounding Waikaremoana was a terra incognita, and the few scattered communities and kainga-to-kainga travellers lived and moved undisturbed as their ancestors had done centuries before.

A tract of land bordering on Waikaremoana, sparsely roaded and little known, lies on the top of the mountain rim which forms the eastern retaining wall of the lake. It has been little visited by Europeans since the troops under the command of Major-General Whitmore followed Te Kooti's trail into Euakituri country, finally meeting him in combat on the banks of the river of that name in August, 1868, in which fight Te Kooti was wounded and forced to flee to the lonely, isplated mountain Puketapu. The headwaters of the Ruakituri River rise on the north-east slope of Waikaremoana's guardian hills, join the Hangaroa River, and with it dash over Te Reinga Falls, reaching the sea at Wairoa. Between Ruakituri and the Taheke outlet at Onepoto above the great power station lies an area of native land and settlement which provides a most interesting study of contemporary Maori life, for it is in the period of transition from the life of olden tinies to that which is influenced by European standards of living.

An Old Strain. In the kainga of Ruapani are living about 100 Maoris. Aβ in much of this Urewera country there is a strong strain from the pre-canoe peoples, the Tangata whenua. Kuapani, the founder of this famous Ngati-Kuapani sub-tribe of the Tuhoe' country, was himself a lineal descendant of Maui-potiki through Kupi, the Tahitian discoverer of New Zealand. Ruapani lived some six generations after Kupe and about 20 generations from our present era. Ruapani's wife was one Rongo-mai-papa, a daughter of the famous Kahungunu and ancestor of the. equally famous East Coast tribe of that name. Tuhoe, who gives his name to a widely spread series of these Urewera tribes, was a man of different origin, being a descendant of Toroa, commander of the Matatua canoe of the Bay of Plenty.

The tribal name "Urewera," which is also applied as the district name for the Tuhoe tribal area, is derived from an accident which befell Mura-kareke, a son of Tuhoe —his flesh (ure) being scorched (wera) whilst he lay beside a fire prepared to cook food for him just prior to his death. From such incidents Ma-ori ancestral names originated, and so preserve much tribal history of ancient times. The pa where was held the festive gathering to be described hereinafter, is known as Te Kuha, biit its fuller and more ancient name was "Te Kuha-tarewa-o-Te-Haumapuhia" (The suspended limb of Te Haumapuhia). Its legend runs as follow: This ancestor—or as some say, ancestress —was the child of Malm, a great-grandson of the famous Toi-kai-Eakau of the Paepae-ki-Raro-tonga canoe. Mahu and his child Hau quarrelled owing to Plan disobeying her parent's request to bring him some water from o. certain spring at Waikaremoana. Malm dismembered her, and her severed limbs became at different places in the lake and in the "VVairoa River, taniwha monsters. After many feats in and about Waikaremoana, the taniwha ancestor turned into a large rock to be seen near One-poto on the lake shores. And so the folk tales go and are still told to account for local topography and nomenclature.

An Orderly Gathering. All types are seen among the people of Euapani, though as a general rule the broad face of the tangata-whenua strain predominates. Some have a. gold glint in the hair which tends towards the Urekehu. The hair also denotes the mixture of races that have modified the original type through the countries on the path of migration. Hair is seen that is very kinky and almost Melanesian, and also straight black hair that may come from a distant Malay etrain.

The dialect spoken is the Urewera variant of the Matatua-Arawa. That the hapus of Tuhoe-potiki are in no danger of extinction is shown by the equal di , tribution of the sexes nwierieally— always noted by Dr. Buck and other

observers as a hopeful sign of racial perpetuation. There are many children, of all ages.

On the occasion of a recent visit, the normal population was augmented by several hundred Maori visitors, who arrived to celebrate the Ne'w Year according to Ringatu custom. In addition to the two large carved Whare-puni, about 50ft by 30ft, two marquees had been erected'to house the guests Ihe eicrht hundred people behaved with the strictest decorum. Each family group kept together during the .day, and in the Whare-puni at night. The natural orderliness of Maori communal life was displayed in the rules for hygiene and cleanliness enforced by the Komiti Marae of Kuapani There were no animals running about the pa. no dogs or cats or poultry All live stock, including pigs, was kept on land across the river. No spitting was allowed, and the use of sanitary conveniences was compulsory. There was constant vigilance from Komiti sentries to see these rules were observed. There was very little smoking and no drinking whatsoever, and it was notable how this was reflected in the people's health —no coughing at night in the whare-puni, nor during the services or speeches. The Ringatu religion here followed was established by To Kooti in the 'sixties, the name meaning "The . uplifted hand." In current practice it is a medley of the Hebrew and Christian, but has* no written liturgy, for of this is is said, "Kii mate to mana" ("The letter killeth the potency").

Ancient and Modern. These Urewera blocks of land are owned communally by each hapu or sub-tribe. Some of the more accessible and fertile land on lower ground is divided into blocks each owned by a single family; much of it is now being farmed. Extra food for the "hui" was all obtained locally and consisted of boiled wild pork, eels, snared birds preserved in their own fat, and vegetables. In the meeting house at night various incidents indicated that although the Maori may be a scientific modern farmer, yet Maori folk lore and legends are still woven into the texture of daily life. At a late hour the commissariat were cleaning up, singing loudly as they worked. There entered the aged chief Irahia, who called in mock sternness, "Kapi nga mahi rorirori!" ("Stop that nonsense"). "E hara tehei wa o Rakataua!" ("You will offend Rakataua"—Rakataua being the goddess of musical sounds in Maori lore). An old lady seated in a corner of the floor nodded and said, "Ae, koia, koia!" ("Yes, indeed, indeed!"). This quaint mingling of ancient and modern in- Ruapani is of interest to the student of Maori life, for it denotes to what extent the old proverbs and legends still persist, and may for a while yet be accessible to the recording of such Europeans whose knowledge of the Maori language and whose known friendliness and sympathy with Maori affaire privilege them to witness the ways and customs of Te Iwi Maori on their own marae.