IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH ISLAND

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 157, 6 July 1936, Page 5

IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH ISLAND

Along the Coast to Mokau

(Part 3-4). (Copyright). Dr. Ernest Diffonbnch, the New Zealand Company’s naturalist ivas among the first Europeans to explore the coast lino of Northern Taranaki and close upon one hundred years ago, following his fearless ascent of Mt. Egmont in face of tho Maori assertion that the mountain was tapu and guarded by ngarara (crocodiles) who would assuredly eat him, to say nothing of the physical harm that would come to him should he chance to meet a moa which was said to exist in the forest fastness of the mountain slopes, ho examined the country over which our search is now being pursued. “The country near the sea-coast bears, in many places, the traces of former extensive native cultivation, and the ruins of several pas,” he wrote. “The whole district between Taranaki and Mokau has not ut present a single inhabitant, although one of the most favoured districts of New Zealand.”

Some years earlier the Rev. Yate paid a visit to tho Waikato and he also recorded in his work on early New Zealand evidence of the remains of one time extensive pas along this coast. At that period New Zealand’s geographical shape had not been worked out to the plan we know it to be to-day and the coastline between Tongaporutu and Mokau was described on Yate’s map of New Zealand as Tui Bay. There was only tho haziest idea regarding the coastline about Mokau which was delineated as a rather deep inlet with a pronounced headland sheltering the in land waters from tho westerly winds He found small scattered native settlements between Mokau and Kawhia while tho country between Mokau and Taranaki was almost free of human habitation.

One explanation in justification for this rather singular condition of a fertile coastline being found clear of human occupation, yet not within evidence of former human habitation, is recorded in the history of the doings of the Maori away back in the sixteenth century when the Ngati Tama people, a branch of the Tainui canoe stock, who occupied and cultivated the country between Mt. Messenger and Tongaporutu, fell foul of the Ngati Ruanui tribe of Taranaki because of the act of supporting the cause of the Ngati Whare who lived at Waimate. This Ngati Whare tribe along with the Ngati-ta-maahuroa hapu, might have enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous existence down to to-day but for an irresistible urge to assert their equality with the powerful Ruanui people which led to their downfall and extinction Ono day a party of Ngati Whare people passed by a chieftainess of the Ngati Ruanui engaged in pounding fern-root and in a, mood which left no doubt as to the dark feelings harboured by the Nagti Whare, one of the party remarked: “Pound away at your fern-root; it is ‘wkarikiriki’ for yourself and children.” Now the meaning of this remark was that the product from the pounding of tho fern root •would provide a covering for the botton of the oven in which she and her people would be cooke(l.

Until the moment of that indiscreot remark, history is silent as to the motive actuating the Ngati Whare people to challenge the known qualities of the Ngati Ruanui. A poorer tribe yet one probably suffering from some real or imaginary slight the Ngati Whare people foolishly allow r ed their feelings to over ride their better judgment and, jealous of tho fortunes of tho Ruanui tribe, mado a target of this defenceless chieftainness. To suggest that the product of her labour would be so employed was an insult to the honour of her people and to be levelled at one of high rank increased the enormity of tho offence.

The old chieftainness did not reply to this curso but in the evening when her people returned from a fishing expedition she told of tho insult she had been subjected to during their absence and so great was the indignation of her people that they immediately gathered a taua together and proceeded to exterminate the Ngati Whare. A few escaped and sought protection by the Nagti Tama people who thus became involved. Some Taranaki liapus joined in the fray but tho Nagtu Ruauui prevailed and conquered much land from the defeated enemy. Peace intervened for some time and then one day, during a wrestling match, one of thg Ngati Tama people murdered tho Taranaki champion and, wrote Thomas Gudgeon, “whether tho deed was done in tho heat of the moment, or designedly, it mattered little to Taranaki, who, collected their forces and fell upon Ngati Tama and killed them all but one small hapu, who were spared out of friendship to their chief, the ancestor of the renowned warrior Tautahi, tho fighting chief of all the west coast natives at the time.” According to Gudgeon it was this trouble that gave the Taranaki Maori a taste for war and it had reached a climax when the first pakehas began to arrive. Tho deserted pas noticed by Diffenbach told of the desolation that had resulted from inter-tribal conflicts which grew in severity as the time approached for European colonisation of the country. The powerful Waikato tribes constantly raided along this coast and with the elimination of the Nagti Tama tho Maniapoto people became possessed of the country stretching away northwards to Kawhia. The influence of the Waikato tribes now intrudes more generally upon our search and resting awhile at Mokau the opportunity will bo taken to introduce something of the legend of the Tainui canoe and her illustrious navigator the great Hotu-roa. (To be continued.)