TANEATUA THE EXPLORER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 38, 19 July 1939, Page 6

TANEATUA THE EXPLORER

RAMBLING S UP-RIVER HIS DEMON DOGS Ol' all the gentlemen whose lifes ami loves form Maori history, one of tlie most eccentric was Taneatua, brother of Toroa of the Matatua canoe, whose memory is preserved today by the town of Taneatua. It is generally believed that Taneatua came to New Zealand on the Matatua canoe, and that he was the custodian or medium of the god Rongomai which was the protective deity of Matatua, but some Maoris assert that he came here in some odd way>of his own. Elsdon Best says that his Ngatiawa informants told him that Taneatua, came to New Zealand before Matatua with his father Irakewa, and that about the same time other tribal ancestors arrived here. Taneatua is said to have married Hine-mata.roa, of Nga Potiki, one of the original people of the land. Others assert that he married Te Ripoi, a descendant of Hine. we will not worry about that. THE "MANA" OF MATATUA Nothing is definitely known about Taneatua's dwelling place, for, he seems to have been a wanderer and an explorer, and it is said that he took the puhi, or feather ornaments that bedecked Matatua, and also the carved wooden prow inland to Purnkau, up the Whakatane valley, where he built a house named Whare_ariki. In the course of his wanderings he came to the site of the present township of Taneatua, and there he left one of his dogs. It is still there irv the shape of a small mound, called Otara-hloi and Te Kuri o Taneatua It was a tipua. but a very mild form of demon, and it seems to have possessed no harmful powers, so no placatory rites were performed for it. There was no sense in wasting a charm and offerings on an object that has no power to harm you. Taneatua was evidently a dog fancier for he travelled with a big pack of kuri. He was apparently careless of them, though. DEMON DOG From Taneatua he went up the OWhaketoro naming trees, rocks in the stream bed, and hills. All this time he was probably seeking land on which to settle, but the country was all occupied. At a snot named Te Purenga, he left the first-born of one of his weird offspring in a. pond in the form of a dog. Okiwa was the name of this beast, and he was in residence in his pond up till a few years but it was to sedfc him for, at the approach cf stranger,, pond and dog vanished. From this Maori water spaniel comes the wind Okiwa which blows down the gorge of the Whakatane to Ruatoki and Opouriao, and often saves the crops from being destroyed bv frost. Tts cause is the barking of Okiwa and the wind is accompanied by m : st or fog which is explained a? the steam of the breath of Taneatua's dog. This useful tipua must thus be credited with good intentions towards agriculture, and no doubt his actions are often welcomed by Mr J. Merritt and other officials on the native scheme lands. STILL HEARD The dog OkiAva seems to have annoyed folks, for the story is that it was slain by one Ira-kahanui and its body cast into the pond. It is said that it can be heard to bark at night by those brave enough to camp near the pond, and Elsclon Best says that when travelling down the Whakatane valley with an old Maori he'camped for the right nearby. In the dead of night he says lie heard a dog barking on the forest range above, and drew the native's attention to it. "That is the demon dog of Taneatua" he remarked. Best says it seemed to worry him and after thev had arrived at Ruatoki he heard him telling other natives that he had ceas •! givi.n.jO- him any information about. h;> imeanny beings of the lands th-w 'ra versed lest sonic evil result to ViM! - elf. A TALKING TREE From Te Purenga To.neatua went 'o O-riha, where lie left another of '■is dogs named Pahou. A dog the ess, but st 11 dogged, he went to O-aaua-te-rangi, and ascended a nil! at ;e Kohuru where he lay down to est beneath a hinau tree. lie ob-c-rved .sonic berries oil the tree arc! •Isviehed I'ort'i his hand to pJuel' ! !k■ i: 1 when that fruit spoke saying

gently that the tree was sacred, for on it had been placed the umbilical cord of one Kataka., one of Taneatua's children. Taneatua left that fruit very alone, and in, later times that tree, named Te Iho c Kataka was resorted to by childless women and for centuries it was held in great esteem. The prow and feather ornaments which formed the mana of Vhe .Matatua were carried about by Taneatua . They were deposited in sevcr.nl places and eventually brought back to Pu-irakau. MORE WEIRD OBJECTS Many were the tipua, or supernatural objects, that Taneatua left behind him-in his travels. the mouth of the Manga-orHou stream, whichi flows into the Whakatane about as far upstream as Galatea is in relation to the Rangita,iki, stands a rock named Takuahi-te-ha which is a place where prudent travellers placate the spirits of the land to ensure fine weather by the simple act of plucking some leaves or fern and plae ing them on rock. Another tipua is Mohea, a tree near Matai-rangi, further upstream. Should a person when; passing the tree ask ''What place it?" rain falls immediately, so pighunters and excursionists in that wild country should take warning to bridle their curiosity. Taneatua ended his jaunt near the summit of the Huia-rau range. Her<?another of his pack of hounds died, and Taneatua threw the body over a cliff at a place since known as Wha_ kataka. UP THE WAIMANA Unable to discover any land Tarneatua returned to Otara-hioi f am* later proceeded up the Waimana river. When travelling near Mohoao.nui he raised his eyebrows, probably in surprise at the rugged nature of the country thereabout. Hence that placewas named Mata-hi. Te Nana got its name from the unpleasant affliction of*boils with which Tane was suffering at the time. Apparently he opened one at this spot, and gave the name to the place, nana or nganga meaning the core of a boil. TeKoinga, a place hard by r was named from the ''singing" of his ears. Our bold explorer and his dogs went up stream, and ascended the Waiiti tributary. Here he lit a camp fire and, after the manner of-its kind, it spread and burned a patch of the surrounding country which has since been known as Te Wera ? or, in, full, Te Wera-a-Taneatua. Taneatuathen returned and settled at O-tara-. hioi where he is said to have married Puhau-nui of Nga Potiki. He is saicl' to have died at Te Wera, though some say that he went north with Puhi who quarrelled with Toroa, "kii> per of the Matatua canoe, and took the vessel away to North Auckland.