THE GIANT RONGOKAKO AND HIS MAGIC KIWI.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12790, 15 June 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE GIANT RON GOK AKO AND HIS MAGIC KIWI.

NARRATED BY COLONEL ■' PORTER, C.B. "I do not tell the story as a truth; • I tell the tale as 'twas told to me." Nearly a thousand 1 years ago, there lived m Aotea-roa (Polynesian name for New Zealand) a celebrated Maori ancestor of the many East Coast tribes, named Paoa, avlio was said to have possessed the poAvers of a demi-god. In tho Poverty Bay district and along the East Coast, there are many place names arising from the doings and belongings of this celebrated demi-god. By the legendary lore "of the people; he jwas said to have landed "at the Bay of fPlenty/ eastAA'ard of Opotiki, thei x c abandoned his canoes and travelled with his^' people through the Motu forest and across the mountainous forest range, towards the sea of the "Rising Sun" (Tai; Rawhiti.) Crossing the watershed near Arowhana, - descending into the forests of ilVlangatu, they came upon a magnificent groAvth of totara with Avhich they AVet)e so allured that'\Paoa said to his pedple, "What suitable trees for the coifistruction of canoes to launch us onthe ocean of Kiwa." His people said : "What is the use of making canoes, when ho ; have rib" means of dragging' therii to, "'the coast, so far distant." Pooa'ls - reply Avas. : "Make the canoes and. AA'e'll 'find a'm&aris bf getting them to the sea/ The people then encamped, burpt doAra and .adzed out (the ancient Maori custom),- isome of the finest trees and formed large^ graceful canoes. l^eing completed and m readiness for lauhching, the people asked Paoa what they were; ito do. ;> He replied : "You will be able to laurich them tb-morroW ; I provide the river." Retiring' alone to tne' "fo'rest nedr to Where the carfoes Avere lying on their "rango," he used the most poAverful . "karakias" (iricant/ations)'j;: aiiid pouririg AA ; ater upon the gro)ind, startfidv* a etream running that gradually developed m volume during the! night, which m the* morning had beconie the source of a fairly-sized stream. Calling his'^fe'cqjle^togetheiv s they laririched {the canoes, the river gradually enlarging as it proceeded seaAvard^ by which meanS'*the v canoesr-reaclied the sea at jthe south-Avest end of Turanga (the Maori name for Poverty ,Bay), and ever aftferAvards that river Avas called /the Telmimi-o-Paoa (the river of Paoa) noW knoAvri as . the/Big 'Rjye'r. ;' There i^ 4 slight; ytfriatiop of this part of the legerid.' It is Said that the Hangaroa and Wairoa rivers also derived theif source - from the same cause, and that the mountain range MaungaHaumi Avas the Haumi of Paoa's waka (the lashed on extension of a canoe stem or stern piece.) Tliis chief also gave the name of what is now knoAvn as Young Nick's Head. He had a beautiful r Avhite dog, Avhich AA*as killed by makuto (witchcraft), and transformed into the White cliff or South Head, and is knoAvn by the Maoris from that time to the present 1 as "Te-Kuri-<a'-Paoa." A- ■■ ■ .' ' -.■*■■ ■■'- ■' ■'■ "•■■■-• The tall forest that stood - between the Big River and Te Arai, formerly known as Pipi-Whakau, Avas so nairied from the moaning of Paoa's kuri, which was always heard m tho night on the approach of danger or death to Paoa's people ; tho spirit of the dog still acting ' m faithful guardiansliip of the tribe; Tradition says that prior to the migration of Paoa and his people to Aotearoa, there lived at HaAvaiki, RongoKako, a giant avlio had done much injury to the people, and a ! feud of vengeanoo existed betAveen Paoa and Rongo, The great desire of the former was to destroy the latter, but Paoa's demi-jgbd povyer was not so great as Rongo's, who possessed the "miagic..kiwi."'P<ioa, while visiting the coast .towards the East Cape, learnt that the Great South- Sea Giant, knoAvn as Rongo-Kako, was about to make one of his 'periodical peregrinations throughout the South Seas; and it was generally knqWri ' that he Avas ; usually accompanied by a huge kiwi (probably meaning a moa), that possessed tremendous magical powers of migi'ating, transferable to the person AA r ho i>ossessed it. Pao -himself avos endowed Avith considerable demi-god powers, and yet desired to catch Rongo-Kako's kiAvi : for himself. In furtherance of this he cut down a young tree Avith Which to make a snare, land plantfed the foot m the mountain of Hikurangi, bent * and pegged the top down to tlie high hill, . diAading, Tokomaru and 'Waipiro Bays, some 1500 feet above the ocean. Attached to this peg was a rope loop; the same as used m miniature by the" Maoris "for snaring forest rats or birds, Avhich becoming entangled m ;the loop, sprang, the snare and thoy • Avere caught! ! 'Thts" • -spot ;* is known „as the'/; "Ta-,Whiti-a-Paoa" (Paoa's snare.) V "/!■/■ Rongo-Kako, ' * travelling * from ' the soutliAvard Kvith his kiWi, stepped' on the south-Avest side of the Mahia Peninusla, where the natives -still show the impressions of a foot on the .rocks called the "TapaAvae". or foqt-print - : of i RongoKalto. Touching .at Poverty Bay;, they also show the footprints 'of his kiAvi on the rocks'/at the, mouth of' the 'Waikanae stream at its junction, with ■ the ' Turanganui river, Opposite;-the "TokaAla^Taeao" (tlie river beacon rock), which/. \vas many generations back ' the' mark between the Ngati-ka-hungunu and Ngatiporou» tribes. ■■-': ii . , ... „'u• :,-.••'■ Moving ' southward his next fobtpritit on the > rocks is slioAVn at the rocky point, betiveen Pouawa ' and !Whapgara, knbAyn by all. Ayhd travel tlie liast^ Coast as the bad "Tapuwae" rocks;. Veally being the footprint of Rongo-kalfo. y Stepping v 'nbi'thward he sstAy; Paoa's snare,, . sot upon.' 'J^a-wliiti, arid knew it was for -the, purpose of catching his magic kiwi} 'he therefore" Taised''-''his walkiri'g staff and struck the'./tree^Avhich sprang the snare, which recoiled to an erect, . position: atAHikurangi, and the osciUation . AA^as . so great, that it caused th© mountain to* - be 'fih'akfen to : pieces, thus foririing the lesser mountain^ now knoAvn as ' Aorangi-^-Maunga, ' Honokau, and Taetae. yThe, rope share SAvung AvestAvard along the ranges, and the high mountain ridge, I ':' known ' as AroXvhana,' is J sai4 ( tp7 be the . loop of, the snare. ' 'Having 'escaped ■ the. threatened danger to, his kiwi, .Rongo-Kako passed north eastAvard again to , the' SbUth'Seas, leaving the last knoWh" inipression of his footprints on . .the rocks' at Horoera^ beyona the East Cape. .He, never again revisited New Zealand. . Such .is Athe, legend related by J he East Coast" tribes-of the wandering giarit 'Roneo^Kalcb 'and his imiigic kiwi. • Note!.— -ThO ' totara bush alluded, to as th&; pi-joe Avhere Paoa's people .constructed the- canoes is stilb hvexistence, or much of it isj fi'Om •which' thd Maoris of Poverty Bay' in early arid later tinies, have derived' their supply of enormtlus totara, , from i-Avhieh source* the.b eautiful Whakato ■ carved chui'dh' (recently-des-troyed by'fu-e). AA r as !I Merived'; 'also' the cai'ved house m the -museum m Wellington, taken away from- Poverty Bay m tho early sixtibs. The : massiveness pf the bass-relief -oAWitlgs iri'**tlie church destroyed Avasythe H admiratipn .of a|l Who saw them. These edifices 'were,. erected when the first Bishop.. Williams' established the mission station at Whakato To Arai. ' ":;' REINA.