Local Native Names and Their Meanings.

Bruce Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 5, 21 January 1909, Page 5

Local Native Names and Their Meanings.

From one of a series of articles in the Otago Daily Times, written . by Mr W. H. S. Roberts; of Oamaru and formerly of Popotunoa, on Maori nomenclature, 'we extract the following:~ Waihola Lake, south of Waipouri, ought to be spelt Wai*hora, as there is no "I" in the Maori alphabet. It means " water spread out," and it is an extensive lake considering how -shallow the water is. '• A snort tidal/ river* joined by the water from Waipouri, connects the lakes with the Taieri River, sojhat small craft or steamers can reack. Clarendon, at the south end of Lake Waihola. This was a great boon to the coaches and carters in 1862, when there was heavy traffio to the Tuapeka goldfield, before the roads were made. A glaring instance of confusion exists here* Waihola is the name of the lake, a survey district, and a small Government township opened for sale, on January 3, 1862. The township of Waihola is in the survey district of Clarendon. The township of Clarendon, first offered for sale on December 1, 1857, is in the survey district of Waihola 1 The country to the west of Waihola and Horseshoe Bush was f e Eohao Taka-wera (the part. ing instructions of Takawera). The Horseshoe Rush was named, from the shape of the only bush in the district, by Mr W. H. Valpy, who bought the property in the - early fifties. The name ot the hill od the east of Waihola Gorge is Owiti, or rather O-whiti, which means "to be jealous" or " suspicious." A small Government township in Waihola Gorge, 82 miles from Dunedih, on the Main South road, was offered for sale on July 2, 1869, with the name Eapili (accent on first syllable), meaning a gorge or narrow pass. Tokomairiro is a large plain and a river south of Waihola Gorge. It may mean " a pole brought hither." Mrs W. Cameron spells the name Toko* mai*raro, and translates it "to walk with a stick to feel one's way." But it may also mean "to pole oneself up the stream " which is shallow, istoad of using paddles in a canoe. It is a mistake to spell the name Tokomairo, which is the way.it is often pronounced. To the east of Tokomairiro, over the seaward range of hills, is the district and River Aka-tore". Aka is a tree, the metrosideros scandens; tore means " heated," or "to burn." A little farther south is a boat harbor, with a brook running into it called Wangaloa, which should be Whanga (a bay or harbor), and roa (long). The beach at the mouth of the Tokomairiro River was Tera-nui (that big). There are four small rocky islets between the mouth ot the Taeiri and Tokomairiro Rivers mentioned in the deed of sale. Paparoa (long fiat rock) is about four miles south, of Moturata Island; then Ma-toketoke (many toke fish), or, according to some Maoris, Matone-tuki, or Matu-kalu (tat' full-grown bird). All these names may, at different times, have been given by the various owners, but evidently Mataketoke was the name when purchased. A little further south the islands Ha-kinikini (what! to pinch), or Haka nini (a little dance), and Aonui (the god of storm clouds), now Cook's Rock, a tall basaltic rock off the beach, near the mouth of the Tokomairiro River, surrounded by water at high tide; sometimes misspelt Anoi. Probably tho second names in all three islands are or-* rors in orthography. A place on tho mainland, about three miles north of the mouth of tho Tokomairiro Rivor, is Te Kahui v (the herd, or flock, or company of people.) A short distance north of Coal Point, Molyneux, is Wai»Karo (mußsel water), now known as Measly Beach. At the time of the Ngati-Awa raid, about 1838, a couple of war canoes, filled with a war party (taua), landed there suffering from kara-waka (measles), a new disease im* ported by Europeans. They drew up their canoes above high-water mark with great difficulty, and camped, making for themselves temporary shelter whares. It is reported that every one of them died, and the remains of their bones and the canoes were seen by some of the early European settlers and by others as late as 1850. A place on the coast south of Wai-karo is Te Awa*houhou'(the channel dug out). A little further south, Te Akeroa (the long Dodonea viscosa, a tree). Then Mimi-waie. A little nearer Coal Point is Te-Karehu (the spade). The ooal mine near the Tokomairiro ~ River, known as Waronui, was named by the company that opened the pit about the year 1906 (big coal or big pit). A stream on the south-west corner of Tokomairiro Plain, a tributary of that river, is Manuka Creek, so called from the quantity of the tree Leptospermum sooparium that formerly grew along its banks and up the hill sides, along which the railway climbs its tortuous course. About 17 milej inland from Milton the railway crossq the Wai-tahuna River. Tne accent oi "ta," not on "hu" as generally prom meed. It means *' water on sand shoals' or "sand banks in the water." If th accent was on «• hu," it would mean • -sparkling water." They say it does b| ,rkle in the moonlight— Minnehaha, an'the American Indians oall it in their poetical language. The railway station here is Waitahuna, but the town is Havelock, named after the great general, Sir HeDry Havelock, who relieved Luoknow in 1857, oniy to be besieged himself by the rebel army till he was in turn relieved by Sir Colin Campbell. The town of Havelock was offerod for sale on November 7,1862, but it still ia only a village. A hill east of Waitahuna is Te Poutahi (the one -post). Posts were often put up to mark a boundary, or a spot where something happened they wished to commemorate, yet very few marks oi Maori occupation have been found in this neighborhood.

Tuapeka, where gold was discovered by Gabriel Beid in .jjine. 1861, is the Maori name for the common fern (Pteris aquil" ion), It was known that gold existed at Tuapeka before 1861, but it had not been found in payable quantity. Mr Alexander Garvie, surveyor, found the color in several pieces near Tuapeka in March, 1858, aud Edward Peters, better known 88 Black Peter, a native of Bengal, found gold there in 1859. The town af Tuapeka is Lawrercp, and is 60 miles from Dunedin. The first sale of town sections was held November 5, 1862. It wbs constitu'ed a municipality on .Tone 15, 1866, b ipg the ninth borough under the Ot-go ovdioance. Rouga-here is on the south-west side of the Molyneux, and was formerly known 3 ttpkleburp, It ib }Q wiles from

Tuapeka. I think this should be Rongohere (Bongo's epear), Beaumont (BeautU Jul mountain), a township/on the Moly* noax, over wnieh there is a bridge, was named after a email town on the north, east of the county of Essex. The eastern slopes of the Blue Mountain here were olothed with a forest ot birch (beech), flanked with manuka. Fallow deer are plentiful on the hill Bide. Two lakes appear between Tokomairiro and the Molynoux, at such a low elevation that they appear to have been inlets from the sea at some distant period. The northerq, one is Tu-aki-toto (blood from the disembowelled fish or bird), formerly and more oorreotly, known as Rangitoto, or in the southern dialect, Raki-toto (a day of blood), a murderous battle having ocoured on its banks. It is very shallow, with an area of 2094 acres, which appear to be slowly filling with - debris from the adjoining bills. The other lake, dose below it, with which a water-Way connects it, is Kai-tangata (eat men), pronounced by the southern Maori, Kaitakate, where the viotims of the battle were cooked and eaten.' It is a little deeper than Tuakitoto, but covers only 370 acres. Formerly these lakes swarmed with wild ducks and the blaok pukeko, or swamp hen, with its long red legs, whioh was imported from Hawaiki by Turi in the Aotea oanoe, one of the first migration, about 1850. Now imported swans are added to the aviary. A hill and a native bush on the oast of the Tuakitoto Lake is Tara«tu (anger aroused), where a coal mine has been opened. A township was laid out at the junction oi Kaitangata Creek with the Matau River, and named Kaitangata. The first sections were sold on February 28tb, 1862. It was proclaimed a borough in November, 1857, containing 1158 acres. The principal population, which in 1906 numbered 1682 souls, are coal miners, employed in digging blaok dia« monds out of the hill. In the fifties there was a Maori kainga there, and a fair extent of native bush. An extensive Maori head swamp (Tutao Kuri—Oarex virgata) formerly exißted between the lake and the terraces on the north-west of the lakes, which is being drained and cultivated now.