HISTORY BY POSTCARD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 42, 13 November 1907, Page 11

HISTORY BY POSTCARD.

MIRAMARiIN:.MAbRi'TiiIES.;.,//; Tho'Maori as a national \ontity is slowly but surely passing away, and what specimens remain are. so distressingly-European in their ways as to astonish the'tourist, who expects so much of'tho novel and gets so mucn of 4he eommonplaco when he investigates the native of tho soil. ■ Maggie Papakura, tho famous guido at Rotorua, shows visitors her well-furnished Maori whare, with its untouched library of English classics and its oft-strummed piano; but Maggie does not live there—sho retires at night to the house of hor mother. Tho wharo is merely a soinimental ornament that helps to give the guide's visitors something to talk about and look at. It is only when the passago of time transforms incident and accident into history that people think of tho value of records, and this has occurred to Mr. Hector M'Leod in respect to the history of Miramar, or, as it was known to the Maori, Hataitai or Wh.itaitai. That gentleman, . who resides at Miramar, has made, the , subject quite a hobby, and with a great deal of research and exploration ho has managed to define pretty oxactly what the Penjnsula was like when inhabited by the Maoris. He has been over the ground with several people interested in the matter, including Tamo Parata, M.H.R. (who is tho descendant of a tribo that once resided at Hataitai), and has discovered the location of the pas, kaingas,t etc., and can name them as they wero called. A good deal of tho lore or the Maoris was obtained from such authoritative, writers as Mr. Elsdon Best, who, in turn, learned from John White' (the author of "Ancient History of the Maoris"), who was indebted to the Rev. J.'.W. Stack, of Canterbury (who wrote "Stories of Banks Peninsula," in which there is a .chapter oh immigration from Hataitai). He, with Mr. S. Locke, obtained their information from the descendants of tribes who had been resident at Hataitai— the modern Miramar. i ' . Mr. M'Leod has ingeniously 'given concreto form to his knowledge by publishing si small map of the Miramar Peninsula, with the Maori names of places, pas, kaingas, etc., and indicating where ho and others havo found traces of native habitation in greenstone axes and ornaments, sacred stones, chisels, carving tools, weapons, etc. This map calls Cook's Strait the Sea of flaukawa, and Wellington Harbour Wkanganui-a-roto (or tara). Tho main pas wore those called Oruaiti (on the hill to tho south-east of Seatonn), a pa that was built by To Rerowa, of tho Rangitane tribo; Maupuia, on the sito of Mr. M'Leod's house above tho Miramar cutting on the Evans Bay side (a pa built by To Rahui, of tho Hinepare tribe). The Matakikaipoinga Pa (sacked by the chief Tuahuriri), is placed above, on tlio hill abovo. Shelley Bay; tho Kakariki Pa is placed above Worser Bay, and there was a pa calhd Taputerangi in tho centre of the Miramar (Ngake) Isthmus. The well-known Pinnacle Rocks aro called the Rocks of Kupo, who was a famed navigator. His lieutenant was on Ngake, and; it is related that tho two, In charge of different canoes, onco made a trip up to Kaiwarra, and on tho return to tho soa Ngake'decided to try Evans Bay as a way out, but Kupo took no risks, and wont down tho entrance of the harbour, aud when tho latter sailed round to Lycll Bay to meet his lieutenant he found him scraping a wav across tho sands for his canoe. So the isthmus was called the Istnmus of Ngake. Tho map shows the old lako or lagoon (which formerly oxisted in tho centro of Miramar flat) called Para.- The late Mr. Crawford partly drained tho lake by boring a tunnel through tlio western hills (a tunnel which exists to-day), and which had to be deepened when, in 1fi.35, the land thero was raised four or five feet. In Mr. M'Leod's map Point Halswoll is called Rukutoa. and Point Jerningham Omarukaikuru; Evans Bay is called Kokotahi To Taniwha, and Mount Victoria boasts tho name of Tangi-te-keu. Tho Maori peoples that havo lived at Miramar aro given in order as follows:— Kahui-tipua, To Rapuwai, Waitaha, NgatiMaunoc, Ngati-Kahungunu, Ngai Taliu Ngai Tara, Rangitano, Ngati-ira; and tho tribes—Ngati Hinepare, Ngatikuru, Ngatipuku, and Ngatiawa. Celebrated chiefs who havo figured in the history of Miramar aro Kupo, Tara, Tumara, Tutckawa, Tiotio, Jo Wcra, Mani, Tekano, and Manawa. A postcard with such a mass of information cannot be anything but interesting, and when, in addition, the card contnins a portrait of Tanm Parata, M.H.R., drawings of moa, a Maori canoe, a pretty Maori girl, tho Oruaiti Pa, and a umu (Maori oven), its compilation may woll be regarded as as great a feat as that of the person who can write tho Lord's I Prayor in tho size of a threepenny-piece.