“MAUNGATUA.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20743, 14 June 1929, Page 7

“MAUNGATUA.”

TO THE EDITOR. ■ S 3“lf s one who has been interested n the place names of southern New Zealand for many years, I have read with le ft e rs under the above title. tX. l i res . et ? t <)kject ,n writing is not to f.f rt J *? the discussion on the meaning , orc [ Wnch I have always understood meant Mountain of the Spirit” or Mountain haunted by a local god,” or perhaps Ghost Mountain”.), but to ask m lil » more information from ■ ”■ ”•> who says that of the seven important ranges of Otago only one has a Maori name, whereas of the six important Otago lakes five have Maori names. Will he oblige by naming these 13 geographical features—a little more information might then be forthcoming.—! am, June 11.' J ' - H ' B ’

TO THE EDITOR, ■ Sir, —Your correspondent, “£. V. 8.,” is, in to-day’s Daily Times, trying to tell me as politely as possible that I do not know what I am talking about. If I do not, I venture to suggest that, to a cer*all} .degree, “E. V. B.” is in the same position. At any rate, “E. V. B.” admits that his information is second-hand, whereas mine is first-hand. He quotes the example ’’.Aorangi ” to disprove my statement. I thought that someone would quote it. Several Maoris, however. - have told me that although Aorangi ” is a genuine Maori word, it was the whites who applied it to Mount Cook. Further, the fact that there is no Maori name applied to the Southern Alps themselves, or to any of the peaks other than Mount Cook seems to support my arguments. Is it not strange that the greatest range in New Zealand should nave no Maori name, if the Maoris, many of whom lived and are living within full view of it, had been accustomed to name ranges, etc.? The knowledge possessed by " E. V. B.” of Maoris and Maori names in general seems to savour of the Reference Library My knowledge has been gleaned froin merfibers of the Maori race. *

If “ E. V. B.” has ever studied a foreign .language, he should realise the futility of one ignorant of the language going to a dictionary and looking up words with several meanings and expecting to apply them correctly. strange translations have been caused thereby. As for the other names quoted, “E. V. B.” admits that “he cannot definitely prove them to be of Maori origin.” Has “E. V. B.” ever been round Mount Egmont? If so, did he hear the Maoris talk of Egmont as “Taranaki.” I was all over that district for six weeks, and I never heard a Maori, although I met a good many, refer to the mountain as Taranaki. It was always called Egmont.

Finally, if the facts, about Central Otago names are true, why did the surveyor rename the mountains only and not the lakes and rivers also? Why, I ask, rename the Remarkables and not Lake Wakatipu? Perhaps there is a reason!— I am, etc.. F. W. W.

TO THE EDITOR, Sik, —There have been several letters recently in the Otago Daily Times dealing with the name “ Maungatua.” The correct spelling of the word is “ Mauka atria,” but the North Island rendering is “ Maringa atua.” In the Polynesian Journals ‘there are two versions of the one story as related by some old Maoris as to the origin of the name as far as it relates to the hill. The story reads: “ The Takitimu canoe had run down the east coast till just below the Otago Peninsula, when she ran off a great wave which the legend avers is represented by the Mauka atua (now called Maungatua) range.” Another story related by Mr H. Beattie; who wrote one of the above versions. is to the effect that one of the crew of Arai te uru canoe, a canoe which came before the Takitimu, had a man on board called Mauka atua. Tradition also states that this man’s name was given to Mount Sefton.

Mr James Cowan states that there is a legend supporting the title of “Maunga atua,” with the assertion that a spirit (atua) dwells in these tremendous solitudes, and that its thundering voice is heard m the crashing of the avalanches that continually fall from Sefton’s icehung cliffs. Mr Cowan reckons this legend a modern invention.

In the face of these. stories one would be bold to dogmatise Els to the exact meaning of the name '‘Maunga atua," as applied to the hill in the Taieri Valley. It is more than probable that it was derived from the name, of the chief on, the Ami te urn canoe, and the origin of his name must he sought somewhere ainon" the IF™ °LVi le / a , cific - Th c translation of Ihe Hill of the Demon " is permissible but “ The black god ” cannot be entertained Maunga” as a place name always means mountain except when it is the name of a person, and even then it is usually derived from a place.—l am etc., '

™ , r „ H. J. Fletcher, The Manse, SeacliiT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l am greatly interested in the little discussion in your columns upon the meaning of the name “ Maungatua.” The meaning, “ Black God,” given by one of your correspondents, is absurd, as the word work for black does not occur in it, and the word “ Atua ” means a spirit, not a god in the true sense of the word. Nothing gan be more certain than that * Mountain of Spirits ” is the correct interprotation—'‘Maunga,” a mountain; “ Atua ” a spirit. The double “ a ” hasbeen discarded in the European spelling. An old Native well known to the first settlers of this district as “ Maori Jack,” told my father and others that the name was given to the mountain on account of a peculiarly weird moaning sound which was occasionally heard issuing, apparently from the interior of the mountain. Many residents of the foothills have heard the uncannv sound. I have heard it several

times during my lifetime, and always on calm, still evenings. It resembles nothing so much as wind blowing into an empty vessel, pitched in a very low ■ vibrating key. To the superstitious Maoris it savoured of the supernatural, as they could find no natural explanation of the phenomenon; hence the idea of an “ atua " or spirit inhabiting the mountain. That the Natives did not altogether regard the mountain as tapu, or sacred, may be gathered from the fact that numerous Maori ovens have been found all over the district, and that many stone implements have been found. in various places, this proving that they roamed freely about the mountain side. As no traces of any permanent settlement or pa have been discovered near the mountain it is probable those ovens and weapons were used by hunting parties from across the plain, who made temporary camps only. There can be no doubt that hunting parties frequently came over in pursuit of kakas, pigeons, tuis, and wekas, as these birds abounded in the bush on the mountain slopes. That the Maoris occasionally built whares appears probable, as I once discovered unmistakeable traces of one 'I 4 'J^ 8 engaged in clearing a patch of thick, tangled growth from a field close to the edge of the bush. A piece of ground had been levelled and the hard clay bottom had been left to form a floor, iwo or three inches of black loam had accumulated over it, and the bush had P^T n i Up a S ain> At one corner of this hard clay pan two distinct ridges of hard ae , veral inches high and thick, and at ri § ht angles to each other. L +„ dls S ov T d / ou^side of these could dff,W ? + wh A fc a PPeared to have been were then with tne same black loam as covered the an--olfL Clay fIOO S- «te ™ very fil l !, P - oved by the feet that a large fl,f d s *noe grown about the centre of T or ’i the / e f a yed stump being there Info? d peered the space. Several years ffeM ’ X hen , 1 i vas P lo oghing that same field, the plough turned up a fine specistotle a se close by the site of the ailcient whare.—l am, eta, Maungatua, June 12. ’ ATTS-