IN ANCIENT MAORILAND.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 164, 22 January 1896, Page 3

IN ANCIENT MAORILAND.

W;■•..., COLLECTED FMOSI THE DESCENT * jUNTSOFTHE ABOHIGrNAL PEOPLE OF [' E g ingitaiki Valley and theUke.;;i:a Country, and fkojttheMataA.TUA TIIIBES. By ELSDON BEST. Riven by members of the Ngati-Mana- „ ~'' STgati-Wharc, Tuhoe, Ngati-Apa, vl ti-Awa, Ngati-llamua and Patuneiiliou Tribes. ■■• KoIIIKOIIIA NGA MARAITAEA O MATAATUA." CHAPTER VII. WVKS OF THE MATAATUA ASD AItAWA TitruES. Friend ! We will own go forth and look upon t' lo lands of the ancient Alarangaranga, and I will point out to you the battle-grounds where our forefathers defeated the multitudes of Haeaua and Kaepohatu. But do not carr y that bag of money with you, nu r yet your pipe, nor yet anv food. \„(1 do not tell your pakeha friends 'hat I have shown to you the inauri of Eau"itaiki, or they may come and interfere with it and destroy its virtues nnd then we shall no longer catch any iish in that river. Then I will point out t" J' ou where we fought the Tuhoe „t Oputara and we will look upon the defences of that ancient fort. •Vml in the spot where the sun shines mi brightly upon us, and in the sight of Putaunki and Tarawera andTawkiuau and Pekepeke and Kakarahunui _those great mountains that saw the deeds of our ancestors —I will tell you of the wars of old, and the customs of our forefathers. YoushnJl seetheabode of Ngarangibangu, thatdread taniwha of old ; find of le Turi-o-llino-nga-wari, the tupua of Wai-irohia; and ~f ]line-i-wharona at Te Puta-kotare u ho is iho patron demon of eels ; and those which bear her mark, which is a stripe or baud, are sacred eels, and must "not be cooked and eaten in an ordinary manner or evil will surely come upon the people. Friend ! Some men in this world possess wisdom nnd some do not. There are many, very many pakehas, who despise and laugh at our ancient knowledge, nnd truly is that knowledge a hidden thing from such men. lint you who possess the kura'huna of Tain'ui and of Takitimr, and I who know the history of Mntaatua—we will talk together of the days of old, mid you shall hear of our arrival in this land twenty long generations ago And of the people whom wo found line-and of those things that are troubling you—therua-kohuund uniukulia and whakapavu wahine aud many others. And you shall make a hook, even a large book of these things. And that book shall remain for our descendants to gather knowledge from, oven in the days to come. Such were the words of an aged friend of mine on the occasion of his last visit to me. when he gave me many valuable genealogies and t.r.iditions of the men of Mataatua. It is to his keen interest in such things that 1 owe much of the matter herein given, but I regret to say that he has left the World of Light and has gone to join the men of old of whom he Joved to talk. .May his lines be cast in pleasant places in the Concealed Lund of Tank. And his last words to me wire these : 0 Son ! Bo strong to endure. Think not of the world of to-day for it is full of evil. Rather let your thoughts turn to the rescue of oui ancestors from oblivion, that all men may know of their great deeds, Listen ! It was I who taught you the old proverb: Ka n nti bo tetedcura,ka orahe tete-kura.' E rama! Who indeed is there to fill ] ice? No! They have all gone 1 and now I too am going. E noi ' Remain in this world, 0 Son ! Remain in peace. s 'o this old warrior passed away f:i m thi i Ireat White World for ever. J R koro E! Mou te tai ata, uioku te tai po ! Tin: First Taking of OruxAitA. This teds oE the old battle-grounds (i Inline and Ngati-Apa in the days of old. The cause of the war was the killing of Tahaki-a-niua of Tuhoe by Ngatimanawa at Ruatahuna. Grief off« i •• dWhakarotu,thewifeofTahaki, aiid she suit for To Arohana and Tuton :n of Tuhoe to avenge the death of her husband. They agreed, and then arose Tuhoe and came to To I'aewhakataratara by the old war track from Ruatahuna to Whirinaki. And looking down from that great hill they boheld the broad valley of Rangitaiki and the Bmuke arising from the fires of the enemy, the; descendants of Toi-kai-rakau and of Manawa-uha, of Where pakau, and Apa-koki. And of Tahgi. haruru of old, wdio, with the ancestor Apa slew the original people of the loud. Then Tuhoe passed swiftly down the narrow ridgo that leads to Tauaroa and Kokotahi, which ridge is known to us asTe Pewn-a-To-Winire-lio. For when the chief Te Winirehe stl%v the fierce war-party rushing down ho uttered this saying:—Kia penei taku pewa, waiho tonu iho hei ingoa ■ r 'f; laua wahi ko To Pewa-a-Te "inirche, Iliusthe taua descended nnd nr>>vtd at Oputara, the pa of Ngati"'nnawa and Ngati-Apa. Then the iißnt hi gan, as Tuhoe assailed the men (, t Whirinaki, entrenched in their strong fort, in Oputara. For two days J-ne battle raged and then the pa fell, ■luljoe had gained tho victory nnd the Otnef taken was Hape-boromarania of A gfiti-Manawa, from which ancestor

conies l.be Ngatbllapo. Ho was tbo chief of those people and lie was killed by Tuhoe and his body thrown over the cliff, that steep cliff yondor, opposite Te Puta-Kotare, Aud Tuhoe returned to Bualahuna. [To BE CONTIKOKD.]