OLD MAORI WAR TRAIL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 June 1924, Page 3

OLD MAORI WAR TRAIL.

TV H A K A A H U- R A NGI. /Rv W’.A.Q.) In Tnesilav's issue mention is made in vour columns oi' the old M’hakaahu-Ra-ngi (‘‘Looking no at the sky”) tiaok. which started at the old and important 1m on of Ketenmrae (near .Normanby), and travelsed the bush in a more or- less northerly diiection to Alataitawn. in the Sentry Bill district. Entering the dense lorest at Ketornarae, the patn emerged on a. considerable clearing on the banks of the Tawhiti stream, near Alessrs Best’s old homestead. At this point and on the western side of the track a strong pa or fortification, called Rankuku (.‘‘the pigeon’s feather”), stood dominating the track in olden times. In the clearings around apple trees had been planted, and these were hearing fruitfully in the eighties. From the Tawhiti the route pursued a northerly course, almost identical with that ol' the present Mountain Road, till a large clearing and plantations (in later times overrun with havakeke, or flax) was reached at a point about half a mile south of the junction of the Boylan and Mountain Roads. Thence the track passed down a spur covered with beautiful rewa-rewa (honeysuckle), to the famous clearing immediately past the junction above-mentioned. This clearing was called Te Roti, and gave its name in later times to the settlement and railway station of that name; just why I am unable to say, as it is some three miles from the railway line. The

clearing, Te Roti, lies in a hollow, and < iii recent times, owing to the denuda- 3 tion of the hush around, carries a quantity of surface water. A beautiful < spring, clear as the water of life, emerged fiom the southern end in a grove of maho-e and wineberrv, but this spring has long been submerged, owing to the settler in occupation having dammed nn the water there for use. of his stock. After leaving Te Roti the old warpath passed across the Mangawhero stream and between the Ngaere swamp and the present town of E-ltham. Later it crossed the Pa tea some two miles east of the present town bridge at Stratford, and thereafter the numerous streams that fell from the mountain til! open country was again reached at Raima. It does not appear that General Chute, in liis expedition, made use of this track; a! though, as it Avaskmly a narrow path, the Maori tanas (war parties) always Aval king in single file, it would have been of little utility (until enlarged) for the transport of horses and equipment-. Down this pathway, however, in 1834, came the fierce Te Wherowhcro with 2500 Ngati Maniapoto eager to Avipe out the local Ngati Ruaimi' (“Tribe' of the' Ample Food-pits”). Ngati Maniapoto (‘‘Tribe of the Wasted Plain”) Avere the Avarriors par excellence of all the- Maori iwis,. and time after time made forays on Taranaki. On this occasion they penned up the bulk of the local fighting men in a pa called Te Reaki, situated on the Davidson estate, immediately opposite the junction of the Mangimangi and TOll- - streams. After a desperate resistance of three months’ duration, thedefenders surrendered to the conquering TVaikatos. The victors, hoAvever, shortly aftenvards received a Severe check in assaulting the Waimat-e pa (at the mouth of the Kapuni stream), and retired, discomfited, to their oavia country north of the Mokau river. 111 this rai'd it is understood that the old man Wahiroa (Avho died at Normanby fast year, aged 102) Avas taken prisoner by the local natives, and being but a boy bis life was snared to become a tutua (slave) among his cantors. The famous TitokoAvaru also used the TYhnkaah'urnngi track after bis defeat atTiromoana in 1868. Taking to the Ngaere SAvamp, he eluded the pursuing troops and emerged on the old warpath near Ngaere, eventually reaching the famous fortress of Pukerangiora, on the TYa.itara river, where he remained perdu till peace was declared. An association of nearly 43 years with the locality of j this historic pathway brings to my mind many visions of the scenes that occurred thereon, of the passing of mile long tanas of stalwart Inditing men ! armed with the mere or the- tnpara of the aisles of beautiful forest trees resounding Avitb the song of the tui, and of the many flashing streams that intersected it on its forty mile stretch !■ from the Ketemarae flat to the land of - the Ngati-tama. '