IN ANCIENT MAORI LAND.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 155, 20 November 1895, Page 3

IN ANCIENT MAORI LAND.

ByELSDON BEST.

• K".;'K"111A 3JGA HARAJIAUA 0 MATA- I SIIME Al-I-ITIoNAI. P.VKTK TLAKS COX- . eu xixgTHEAILATA"WIIAOCaXOEGIY£X . v OIE ÜbEAVERA. should you bo talced by men oi this |.„.,1 - swii't be your answer—-I am f, v m Knngi which stands above us Jir .'t Papa -which lies bcuoath us. \ (1 Knngi took Papa and their (iff*. 'J ,o were five- -Paia-te-rangi, Tanewhirinaki, Tane-te wai-ora, To Potiwha and Pangi-uui. Friend ' Hence sprang Taukata and [loako who caino from Hawaiki to tJiis land i" ancient times. Knngi-nui nas killed by Heta in the war of ven- ... ~,,,.,. for Tu-wbakarnro. '1 hen Ue,:i sought to obtain satisfaction for the death of his child. Then came • ;.. wars of old, Tai-paripari and Monna-wnipu. To Tihi-o*Muuono was iniriit. Hoake and Taukata came to ■, icnron. They came on Nga-tai-a* , wliich was a canoe formed of migopiinga (pumice). When Taukata brought the kumara from Pari' iiui-te-ni, he said.to his grandfather. Maru-tni-raugnraugo, " What shall I idke with me to tho other sido (ki • V ;.ii: ':" And -Mara said, " Take tho preserved kumara, that is, the kao kumara." Enough! They came, and landed at Whakatanc. And Te Kura-whnka-atn, daughter of ToWcai-rakau win) occupied Te Knpu-o-te-rangi pa ;,1 UTinkutane, on going down to the bench and approaching Nga-Tai-o-Kupo overheard Taukata repeating tho following incantation to cause the suo to shine forth : Upoko, upoko, whiti te ra Tenei to wahine te aitia nei K te ugarara Upoko whiti te ra. The" meeting of Taukata and Hoake with Toi as given by Tuhoe is much ■;>. snmo as tho Ngati-Awa version. The} say that Total a-keria and Te j Arntawhao were one and the same canoe, The totara log out of which the canoe was made, was covered with drift woed (lawhaowbao) as it lay in thu liver bed, and hence the name Te Arntawhao. Tuhoe also give the awa-mi in.a of To Aiatnwhao.) fc'o To Arntawhao sailed forth upon the Sea cf Toi and went to Hawaiki to bring the kumara from Pnii-nui-te- • a. And Taukata and Hoake leaped iihhoro and were met by Maru-tai-rangnraiign who chanted this song to them : Lhika! Lhika! ka uwea koe i ru° uga te ata ura Ki runga to ata men Maku e ki i.tu—pikilia o koe i in ngn te ngaru nui 1 i unga Ic ngaru roa A\ aeri a e koe i tai Ka \.w< i 1 1 i runga oteMoana'nuia k.va Etnkoto . i i Hurikangti n ugnru ki waho kite moano Tuiuamai e koe kia Tu-hikitia. kin Tu-hnpninga Awn ii.ai Nuku, awa mai Rnngi lUikuhia e koe i le ruku i to kawau Koia te rangi e tu nei. e—i. \Yhen the song was ended all the ; 11 pie drew in nr that they might hear the ston of these voyagers who had i'ii.i aross the grtnt ocean from far distant Aotearon. And Maru-tairanga-rauga said to Taukata, " Whose comI'll!:;. i-lbi>'r' : Taukata said, "These are the Children el'Toi." jVlaru asked "Why have they come across the Daik Oce.'.n ?" " They have eaten of tho sweet food of Hawaiki, the kao kumara, which we took- to Aotearoa, and they have come to obtain the kumara." So the men of Toi, of To Arntawhao, were kindly treated by the men of Hawaiki who gave them an abundance of kumara. Then it wns that tho kura was obtained. .Mam said, "Take with you the kura, tho kura of Tai-ninihi. Then Te Arntawhao returned to Aotearoa. After that came Mataatua which brought the km a and the kumara and the Knraka and the tare. The kumara cultivation ground was Matire-rnu. He- knraka were Tnpu-te-nui and Tapu-te-kakea. Enough! This was :! •' 'ii appearance of the kumara find the kura in ibis laud, in Aotearoa. ■ l '"'i ' Ii succeeding generation has carefully cultivated She kumara, even uuto the present day. In the time of Roiigo-knrae the following saying came ii In use: I ikinn ki waho kite whanau pani ioi niahi i te rua kia toiu ai bono o te run." Such was the saying in regard to die abundance of the kumara. Here etuis the story of Te Aratawhao or 'lotnradieria. CHAPTEB V. Tl.'E Aui lUGIXAL I-'Kel I.K OF THEBAXaiTAIKI Y.W.IJ'.V. ■low THngihnruru and Whare-paloiu destroyed Te Tini-o-Tc Marangaranga. the traditions preFcivcd by the descendants of the aboriginal people of the liny of Plenty District prove that liie district between Taurnngn. and ' '1 otiki must have been densely populated for a long time before the pre~ sent Maori race arrived from the 'hvwnikian fatherland. The number 'a tribes which occupied this district is mute astonishing and it is a fact R thai Iheir descendants, who now ocI eujiy the Valley of the Pangitailci and 5 "'her parts, are proud of their descent !I from the pre-Maori tangata whenua aiid never tire of extolling tho virtues "> the •• aruHitude of Toi." In regard to the genealogies from the aboriginal tribes given in a, former chapter, it is

■ probable that the migrants from Ilai wniki intermarried with fhe aboriginal people at the time of the commence' nieut of the genealogy and that the ) first name given is that of a tribe and i not of an individual. 4 ' In like manner, | it is bv no means certain th.it the groat ancesti r Toi ilourished at the time of the coming of tho Mataatua canoe from Hawaiki, but more than { probable that he had departed to Te i Ji'aniia generations before that time and that the tribal name (Te Tini-o-Toi) is preserved by the Mataatua migrants as that of an individual. It is strange to note how some of the people of the Eangitaiki District are divided in their loyalty between Toi and Toroa, Tangiharuru and Wairaka, aboriginal and migrant. Not that it should be inferred that the indigenes were not a Polynesian people for they were simply an early migration of that far reaching rnce.j" 'See genealogies from Tuoi to Te Bau-po-Mgaueue, given in Chapter 111. tSinee I have been brought into contaet with the descendants of the original people of ibis District, I have come to the conclusion that the primary ancestors of the tangata whenua of New Zealand ciime from a totally different part of the Pacific to that winch sent forth the fleet of canoes known among ethnologists as the historic migration. Not only were they iif a different grade of culture but many of their traditions assert, that their tupunas did not come from Hawaiki but from Mataora, which is a different place, and that they were descended froinMaui. [To in-: Cuimvmd.]