MAORI NOMENCLATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 18

MAORI NOMENCLATURE

EARLY HISTORY OF OTAGO. By W. H. S. Roberts. DUNEDIN. he upper part of Otago Harbour, iposite Dunedin, had the Maori name of v>te-poni. or Ote-poutu, meaning " the place of the steep points," or "where the Doint? of land come together," referring to Legan"s Point and the point opposite at i Anderson's Bay. the part of the harbour 1 'outh of those points forming a horseshoe■Shapetl bay, contracted as at the heels, by the oo'uts referred to. Ota-go H-irbour Cnom the Heads to Dunedin is 13 miles long, the shores of which in 1848 wero | wooded to the water's edge. Very little , of the beautiful forest now remains. Dun- | edin is a Gaelic word, meaning " the face of the hill," or "a height wjth a steep face,*' and was the Highlander's name for Edinburff". At firtt it was intended to name the chief town of Otago New Edin- ' burgh, but at the instigation of Mr William Chambers, the celebrated EdinburgTi | publisher, the present name was selected. Most of the streets are named after those in tho Scottish capital, a dozen or so being Tiamvd after early settlers. ' Mr Diigald Ferguson thus apostrophises Dunedin : — .^ "" Upcn her hill Dunedin, how beautiful she siajids! JThe ocean wafting to her feet the wealth of other lands. Round promontories bending, far as the eye can reach, •On -eveiy side extending., her rising suburbs stretch. Opposing and closing, on Avery sid« th« scene Are hills on hills reposirrj, with fertile vales betwe«n." Mr Charles Kettle, who had charge of the first surveys in Otago, reached Port Chalmers, with his joung bride, in the Mary •Catherine on February 23, 1846. He sfarted Messrs Robert Park and William Davison to s>urvey the town of Dunedin. The roughness of the 6ite made this -no easy matter. At fiTst the area laid off in sections and sireets was only 865 acres, after-, wards extended to 14-00 acres. It was conetitutod a borough under the Otago ordinance on July 4, 1865, and proclaimed a -ciiy in the New Zealand Gazette, June 20, i£7B. In 1905 the area of the municipality Wo* increased to 3286 acres by the amalgamation of Caversham and South Dunedin. | Ti«rs were a large number of Maori cettlemirts in former days, where Dunedin now -tl<tncls, therefore no general name was fe'i- - en to it. One immediately north of vhere the Chief Post Office is, was O-te-poti. meaning " beyond which j-ou cannot tfo," implying you cannot go any farther in & canoe by water ; or it may mean " the place of the angle." It was occupied by iha Ngai-ta-pahi hapu. The Otepoti Settlement had its northern boundary up lk« Rattray and Maclaggan streets gully, striking in a southerly direction across the iop of High, Stafford, and Walker streets xy «• creek called O-te-rara <the place of 1-je stage on -which sweet potatoes were •<tri«<J), which formerly ran into the bay Just below Mariket street, and therefore tn&y be accepted ac the Maori name for Dunedin. The Toi-tu (uncultivated 1 , or " fcne Chief Toi stood ") was a little brook, wLich in wet weather collected the water from the high land between High street *wnei York place, including the Victoria Park, and rushing down Serpentine avenue *nd Madaggan street reached the bay near ( Water street, where the Maoris alwaya landed, and camped when any of them visired Otepoti. Jt was on the bank of this stream, about where the the Stock Exchange Buildings sxm are, between High and Water streets, th».t Mr Charles Kettle pitched his survey caoip in 1846, co as to obtain cjean water srom the Toitu Stream, and scrub which l?J* w on its bank for firewood and shelter. TJie Provincial Government afterwards built x k. comfortable house near there for the ."Maoris, having an upstairs floor, where they ale-pi, when on a visit to the young settlejtnent, tlve lower part being used for cooking and eating rooms. When the hill oelTveen the stream and Manse street was j •-•ut down the roof was taken away, and the hou6e buried as the ground was raised. Tho gaol site wa3 Xga-moana-e-rua (the h&o ei^as, or the roofs cf two kumara pits). if vT^ts only a narrow strip of land between iiut bay and Bell Hill, which has been by reclamation, as all the land *•&) P3iictet E?y to the head of the harI'o'ay Jiis been. T;t.e 2at from Hanover streot to Frederick ttrg&j and lha Water of Leith was Mataulc*reay (fishhook made of the plant Ripog\>iufn parviSorum, or supplejack). There wt« ,-uco a kaika on the beach near the aiov.th cf tho Water of Leila, aa it was in ifHS, rsaintd Tutfli-a to-matauira. meaning .&* ipf of MaUuira " (flashing face).

The fool of Frederick street -,as a. tapu spot, known as Te Iri-o-wharawhara te i'aki, meaning " the place where Wharawhara te Rak. was lifted up." About 150 years ago Wharawhara, a Tangata tapu, or ! oar red man — that is, a chief and toliung-a |of very high rank, died there. A post was nxed in the ground, and he was tied to it, dressed in his best mats, with his '" taiaha " (a wooden weapon like a swoid, the handle being beautifully carved and | decorated with a bunch of leather*) in hie right hand, so that his tribe could ace him, before he was buried, standing in state. Logan's Point was Tau-ranga-pipipi (a landing-place for cockles), or, as Mr Chapman says, Otu-k-ai-wheti, whicM 1 am told was a kaika cloee by. Pelichet Bay was named by Mr C. Keft'n after Mr Charles Louis Harris Pelichet, a surveyor, who " landed in Nelson on No- \ ember 5, 1841, and came to Otago in November, 184-7, to assist Mr Kettle. Mr John Anderson built a email house north of Hanover etreet, near Pelichet Bay, where he lived with his wife and father. Here was born his &on on December 10, 1846. the first white child born in Dunedin. >\ hen Mr Pelichet came he occupied this cottage which Mr Anderson had vacated, as he had returned to Anderson's Bay. O-poho means the dwelling-place of the Chief Poho i, the chest). It 16 a creek running on tlie east side of the Northern Cemetery into Pelichet Bay, at its northern head, and aleo of the spur above it, including the rifle butts and old hatching ponds, and further north. Signal Hill, on the northeast of Opoho, was Te Pahure-o-te-Rangi-pokiha (the escape of Mr Rangipo'kiha). It was named after a chief of the Ngati-wai-rua. The Water of Leith, named after the river two miles north of Edinburgh, had the Maori name O-wheo (the residence of Mr Wheo, "uncooked"), a chief of the Ngati Mamoe tribe, who resided there. His kaika, also named Owheo, was on the bank of the stream, where Howe street joins Leith street. The wooded ridge extending from the Water of Leith northwards as far a 6 the present town of Opoho was Te Man* Kapakapa a Tiki (the fluttering bird of Tiki. Tiki iray be the name of some chief, or of the deity). It included most of the Botanical Gardens, reaching westward to Leith street. The brook running down the North-East Valley into the Water of Leith was Puke Hau Kea (the mountain parrot rising in the wind, or the hill of Haukea). The name also included the blope on the east of the brook. A very 6tnall tributary of the Water of Leith is the Oha-io Stream, meaning " the generous God." Returning to the south of Otepoti, the hilly ground west of the OteTara Brook as far as the Carisbrooik Stream was Te Rara (the rib). It started from Upper Stafford etreet, including all the land to Hillside, Montecillo, and Carisbrook, returning to the little gully south of High streot. Te Rara was a Waitaha chief according to some authorities. At on© time they were very numerous in the -U:ddle Island, as far back as the fifteenth century. The hilly land west of Otepoti, from Upper Stafford street to the upper part of Maclaggan etreet, including the Town Belt and cattle market, was Pokohiwi (the shoulder), named after a chief of the Ngati-ma-hikihiki, a sub-tribe of Ngai Tahu by marriage with the Ngati Mamoe. A email creek on the north side of Jubilee Park was Wai-moi (sour water), supposed to have been named after a Waitaha chief. St. Clair, with its beautiful suburban houses, was Whaka-here-kau (to make a conciliatory present). It embraced a large area, inoluding the sandy beach, the rocks to the south of it, ''The Cliffs," and the range of hills as far as the gully at the ■end of Cargill road in Caversham. A place on the flat at St. Clair adjoining \\ hakaherekau was Kote-rakia-tea (day dawn). Some authorities 6ay that Pomuahine was the Maori name of the little rocky island off St. Clair, called White Island, but a Maori told me that its proper name is Ponui-a-hino (great night of the girl). The- hills extending southward from the north end of Wbakahcrokau, known as Lookout Point, were Ko-ranga-a-runga-te-Rangi— a name which is often mentioned in Maori history. <l Te Rangi Ihia, a noted Ngati Mamoe chipf, who was in alliance with the Ngai Tabu, married Hinc Hakni, a daughter of the ruling chief of >>gai Tanu at Kaiapoi. He died at Otepoti (Dunedin). Ho was buried on the peak Te raka a runga te raki, that his spirit might see thence his old haunts to the eouxhward " (Rev. J. W. St&eik). Tahuna Park is a modern name given to the racecourse at St. Kilda. Il means a sand bank; the seaside, or the beach. The accent i 3 on the fir=t syllable "ta," with "hu" short. Kai-tuna (eat eels) w^ the stream near the Gasworks, which is crossed by the Anderson's Bay road. Musselburgh, to the south of Anderson's Bay read, was Kaikarae (to eat the bird karae).

i I Anderson's Bay was Puke-tai (the hill i ' near salt water, or the hill on the oppo- - J t.ita side, most likely the latter, as the ) | kaikas were all on the Duiiedin side of the ■ I harbour). Anderson's Bay was named after . I Mr and Mrs John Anderson, who came : from Nelson, and landed at Koputai on 1 i December 30, 1844. He went up the rher i J and settled at Anderson's Bay early in 1845, and built a hut of rough timber, ! lushes, and snowgrass on a piece of rising ; ground on the foreshoie. When the suri icyors arrived in 1846 he obtained work, and removed temporarily to Pelichet Bay. . The Sandymotint Post Office on the Peninsula, about eight miles from Dunedin, was re-named Puke-hiki (a raised-up hill) on August 16, 1904. Some people say that the Tomahawk is a corruption of Toma- ' haka- (toma "a. burial place," haka " a dance or song "). Lawyer's Head was Te Ika a Parehika (Mr Parehika's fish). On the west of Dunedin, north of Pokohiwi to Roslyn, the land "was named Te Au (the cloud, or fog). It reached down to Arthur street, including the Boys' High School. Half-way Bush was_ Tapu-taki-noi (to hang up a sacred challenge). West of Half-way Bush is the district of W*kari, mentioned before. It is occasionally misspelt Wai-kare (rippling water), but the correct spelling is Whaka-ari (to hold up to view). Mr Tuckett mentions passing a hill between Bluesflcin and the Taieri with the I name of Kapuka-tau-mohaka, which Dr Hocken says is Mount Cargill. The name means snaring pigeons with a string. In this he differs from Mr F. Chapman, who says Mount Cargill is Mihi-waka. I think Dr Hocken is right. A stream running from Flagstaff to the sea west of Dunedin, spelt Kaikoria,, perhaps should be Kai-kori (food in oven), or lfai-kora (a lazy fellow, or little to eat). On the sketch map of the Otago Purchase Deed it is spelt Kai-karia. A small townehip on original section 142, Kaikorai district, was offered for sale on January 28, 1876, under the name of Ara-wata, which means "a path full of holes." St. Michael's Mount Island, off the mouth jf the Kai'korai, was Okaihae (where the food wa& disJiked), or Okaiha, as written in the Purchase Deed. Saddle Hill was named by Captain Cook on February 25, 1770. It was" the second place he ga\e a name to after leaving Bank's Peninsula. He named Cap© Saunders, and remarked in his log, " There i«, about three or four leagues to the southwest of it, and very near the shore, a remarkable Saddle Hill." Shortland says I the name of the pommel of Saddle Hill is Makamak.i (a shrub, Achama rosoefolia, ! or to throw about). In the Purchase Deed plan it is Puke Makamaka, but it is gene- ' rally written Omakamaka. The altitude of Saddle Hill is 1563 ft above eea le\cl. The other peak of Saddle Hill, or some place close to it, is Pikawara, or Piki-wara. A place a little south of Saddle Hill was ' named Papa-kaio (the flat of the shrub Myoporam lffitum. j A good deal has been said and written about the name of the railway station ona | mile from Moegiel and nine miles from ' Dunedin, which is called Wingatui, the ] question being, Is it Maori? Tui is Maori for the pretty parson bird, with its white bands, but winga can hardly be so, though a writer says the name means " the watering place of the tui." Messrs Thomas Culling and J. Blair in 1893 both wrote to tho Otago Daily Times, stating that the , name was given by Mr William Stephen- ( son about the year 1858. While shooting one day he wounded a tui, but it flew away. A spectator remarked that he had . " winged a tui bird." Mr Stephenson then ' 6a id he would name hie farm in memory of the circumstance, " Wing-a-tui." A mineral spring discovered in the North Taieri has been named Wai-rongoa, meaning "medicine- water." Mr W. Skey, Government analyst, says: "It ia diuretic j and stimulating both to the circulation and j lto the ner\ous system." It is extensively ' [ bottled for sale by Messrs Thomson and Co. The water is saline-chalybeate. The spring is three miles and a-half from Wingatui Railway Station, but there is a flag^ station a few minutes' walk from the spring. Mr Alexander Thomson purchased 160 aores of land, including the spring, in i October, 1894, and has erected a dwellinghouao a-nd premises for bottling the water, etc. j The proper way to spell the district , known as Taieri (pulp) is Tai-ari, which , some people translate, "to smash or j pound up." Long custom has caused the ■ general spelling "Taieri" to be accepted as eon-ect, but Mrs W. Cameron, a well- . educated half-caste, says Taiari is correct, ' and means "the shining river." It may be a contraction of tai (sea) and aria (to , appear, or to resemble). Otners say Taiari j was named from a peculiarity in the How of j it-j tides on tho eleventh day of the moon. ' The Rev. J. W. Stack and Edward Short- ! land both epell it _ Taiari. The Taiflri ' Plain is an extensive, rich alluvial flat 18 miles long-, and averaging over fivo . xailej in breadth, -well watered. Part of it

[ is subject to floods from the river, which is tided for many miles. An affluent oi ! the Taian, maiked in the Otago Purchase ! map, Ohiri, was spelt by Shortland Owhiro meaning "the abode of the deity whero," ! the pation of tlne\e?, and a most famous i -voja-ger. M. F. Chapman spells it Owheo, and sa\s it is, the name of Silverstream l and its continuation, Scrogg's Greek to the Taiari River. As Ovvheo was the name • of tne Water of Leith, I think it probable that Owhiro is the correct name for Serogg's Creek, for Shortland is generally right. U-tokia (Mr Tokia's place) — Tokia means fair i\ eathcr, or damp — is the brook which runs into the sea at Brighton and the hill above it. Ihere is an island off the mouth of the Taiari River known as Moturata (the rala tree island), where Mr Tuckett in 1844- found a. whaling station in full | work belonging to G. and C Weller Bros., of Sydney. The boatmen were both Europeans and Maoris, in charge of Thomas Chasland, an Australian half-caste native, a man of great size and strength, an excellent boatman, and having most wonderful eyesight. He had married Puna (a spring of water), a eister of the Maori chief Taiaroa. In 1844 Taiaroa lived at Port Levi, Bank's Peninsula. Tuckett said 'of Motu-rata : " Sometimes at low j water there is a dry bank to the main- ! land ; at other times the entire beach has shifted, and the mouth of the river has taken its place. At times the waves break to and fro, so that it seems impossible to get across without being swamped." This description is equally applicable now. . Beautiful cool, fresh water is obtainable I in a cave on the western slope, though the rocky islet is surrounded by the salt ' sea. Onumia, part of the Maori Reserve, is at the mouth of the Taiari on its nor- ■ them bank. The first cliff on the southern bank of the Taiari River is Te Rerenga o to Hakikura (the leap of Hakikura, a Maori girl). It is at the lower end of j Humbug Reach. The legend is that a Maori maiden named Haki Te Kura, • daughter of Tu-wiri-roa, the Ngati Mamoe , chief of the pa at the Taiari Mouth, attempted to leap from the rocks "Jo join her love)*, Koroki-whiti (a smooth-toned or j musical -voiced speaker), son of the Ngati Mamoe chief of the Waihola pa, Tukianau, who had fled south from Pakihi, north of J Kaiikoura, who was passing in his oanoe 1 when fleeing from his enemies the Ngai Tahu. She failed to jump into the cance, , and was killed. Another legend is that a Maori chief named Tv Hokairangi, of ( the hapu, which had a pa on Te Moua ' Hill (the back of the neck), near M'Kegg's I Hotel, Henley, was the hero of " the Maori leap," known as Te Rerenga o tv Hokai- ' rangi. The pa having been captured by the North Island chief, Tv Pare Taniwha, who chased Tv Hokairangi to the high, perpendicular rock, from which he jumped into the river to avoid being captured, but 1 was transfixed by a spear as he made the leap. An immense number of Maori ovens (umu) were found on Moua Hill when Europeans first settled in the neighboxirj hood, bearing testimony to the slaughter by Taniwha and his warriors, and the horrid canibal orgies that followed. "A favourite picnicking resort on the Lower Taiari is John Bull's Gully, formerly known as John Bull's Garden. John Bull was a whaler of early days, who arrived in Otago in the forties in an American schooner named Amazon. He was an American by birth, and his real name was Robert O'Neill. He was possessed of most unusual strength— a second Samson. He had a Maori wife. He and his wife lie sid« by side in the Maori burial ground near Henley." — Otago witness. A little north of the Taiari River was a buah on the face of the hill called Kuri (a dog^, known to Europeans as Kuri Bush, where several immigrants took up land in the early days of settlement. The swamp near Henley is Taki-tui (to follow the tui bird). The bush at Henley was Mai-ta-papa (the Podocarpua spicata tree lying flat down). The kaika at the bend above the bridge on Main road was Taka-ahi-tau. About the year 1825 a Ngai-tahu chief named Taki-anau, from Tau inutu, Lake Waihora, Canterbury, with several companions, settled at Taka-ahi-tau. The mound in Mr W. Palmer's paddock at Otokia (the damp place), not Otakia, was the site of tbe Otokia pa. A hill between Henley and Otokia was Mata-hara (ugly face). A place near Otokja was Motupipi (cocicle shell island). Another place was Tukituki-tau (tak-a down or destroy a partition). Moeraki (to sleep in the day time) Bush is also near Otokia. It was a very early settlement, and an accommodation house was built clo3e to the Main road by William Adam in November, iB6O, which he claimed was half way l*elwoen Dunedin and Tokomairiro, or Fairfax, which was the township in those days, about 19 mile 3 from both. One of the firot schools in the East Taiari was built at Moeraki, and named Otakaia, where both Native and European children were educated. In ICS9 there was no trace of the ancient pa at Wai-hora-puka (the tree

i Meryta sinclairii, where the water spread ' out;, which, I think, should be Wai'iors,- --; puke (puke a hill), as it was an island hillock at the junction of the Waihcra and Waipori Lakes. It is now known as Rani > Island, and owned by Mr Leo Smith. The ridiculous conglomerate name ghert i to a railwa}- station three miles from Henley is the worse vandalism yet attempted "with the Maori language. I refer to Titri, 24 miles from Dunedin. It is neither Maori nor English. Ti is the Maori lor cabbage tree, but what is tri? Jt it is intended for ti tree it should be »o .spelt a.nd printed as two words. Cabbage trees were plentiful there in the early days.