THE SEA OF THE RAUKAWA.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXV, Issue 38, 21 May 1909, Page 7

THE SEA OF THE RAUKAWA.

rlfho thousands o£; travellers who yearly lyLgOook Strait little of the myJK, and legends that surround the iwacberous Sea of Raukawa, at the call the Btretch of water. There of tradition associated with [S&Strait,and in..hiß dejightfyj booklet H the' Marlborough Sounds region/ Mr Cowan details ianaa^l l interesting Ifiriei that he has gleaned from the old iforis in the diatritt. In the olden IS. many canoes passed to and fro' •cross the opeij Lflas of war-candes,particularly those loader the famous, cannibal conqueror Ijj Rauparaha made their way southward fr° m to Ulapiti, bound on Lpediijons against the Ngaithu of the iaMgptone Island. The canoes someILes met with sudden gales in the |gtt»it, and not infrequently 'tfce long LffOff craft were lost with all hands. Ijhe canoe-men of those days were wea-Itier-w 66 sailors, an d would shelter in. L. coves along the coast until a favloflible slant of wind offered facilities for IJjdiing across the Strait. The Brothare now lighted for the guidL w of the mariners lie in what was |the direct course of the canoes, and they Lk, much dreaded by the Maori on acjL, n t of the high and broken seas by Ifliioh they are'surrounded. I Ngawhatu was regarded as a tapu LfWj and was invested by the Maoris a supernatural mana, or influence d dread. An Atua was supposed to in the fog-wreathed cliffs, and he always appeased with charms aud observances, so that canid should pass his sacred crags in gfety. It was an invariable custom ihen strangers to the Sea of Raukawa jere passing his stronghold for the first joe, to veil their faces when the islets lere reached. The eyes were blindfoldbided with a covering of leaves, as it ns imagined that if a stranger looked 51011 the sacred cliffs, the Atua would je affronted, and would by his enchantnents, stop the canoe, so that no unonnt of paddling could move it. jfbere was also a friendly and beneficjot Atua who could be summoned from the deep if a canoe were in danger, and lie was described as 9 great whale-like fell, with a hollow in his back. He lotild swim beside the boat, and by his itana smooth the seas, and make the tsysafe for those who trusted in their ucestral taniwha. Many natives stoutly maintain that the Atua is known to |e pakeha now Pelorffs Jack.