OUR HOMELAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 4 (Supplement)

OUR HOMELAND.

BT txait SL UOKTOM.

DOWN THE MAIN TRUNK LINE. THE LEGEND OF THE HAUNTED DESERT. " When wo wero passing over tho National Park," began tho guide, " I told vou the legend of tho lighting of the fires on tho Three Great Mountains, how Ngatoro, tho chief from, distant Hawaiiki, when perishing of cold on the summit of Tongariro, prayed for tht fire from the North to warm him. His prayer was heard, fire broke out from all the mountain tops, and Ngatoro was saved. One day, he ascended the sacred mountain again, and as he stood there, gazing out over the vast area of forest and plain below, he saw approaching far away in the east, a party of warriors from another oi the canoes that had made the journey across the Ocean of Kiwa. This chief was coming to take possession of the mountain and plains, and Ngatoro was very angry, as he himself claimed them by right of discovery. Oncp again ho called upon the gods of the mountains to aid him, and to destroy the invaders. Once again his prayer was answered, but whereas the gods of the volcanoes had first sent fire to warm and save, they now sent dense smoke and darkness, and a terrible rain of ashes from the volcanoes. Tho invaders were bewildered; they could travel no farther, for the 6ky had becomo black as night, and then, as they stood there terrified in the midst of the desert, a fearful storm descended on them! Snow and sleet beat pitilessly upon them; they, who had never before seen snow, cried aloud to their gods to Bave them, but the snow piled up thicker o Rangipo, and tho cold grew more and more intense, and they were all frozen to death there on the dark desert. And ever after that tho desert was known as " Rangipo," the Place where the Sky is Dark. #

" Maori tradition relates also another grim story of Rangipo, in which, about 200 years ago, Taka and a band of followers went out to collect mutton birds on tho flanks of tho mountains, and again a terrible snowstorm swept down upon Rangipo. Taka and his men wero all frozen to death in a cave whero they had taken shelter and their bones wero picked by the camp dogs, who survived. " In later years, this disaster was referred to in a lament composed by a Maori woman for a relative who perished in the desert:

You journeyed far inland yonder, To the. highlands at Raugipc. To the iand where your ancestor Taka And hi 3 people lay piled in a heap. Tho heap of Death. " Round tho Enchanted Sands of One-tapu," continued tho guide, " tho Maoris wove many weird tales of tho fairy folk, tho unseen beings who wreaked fearful vengeance on those who defied tho law of tapu. One of the sacred laws was that no traveller might light a fire, or cook food, when crossing tho haunted deserL If this law were broken, some dire tragedy was bound to befall, either a snowstorm would again come sweeping across Rangipo, or one of the demons would descend, and snatch tho offender away to tho enchanted regions to bo killed, or bereft of bis senses under some terrible fairy spell." Pixie shuddered. "I don't like Rangipo," she said, "It doesn't seem at all a cheerful kind of place, and I am very glad we are looking down on it * from tho air!"