E—No. 7

LECTURES ON down, he would teach them a new way to kanikani, and when they had done this he was to run from one end of the house and out at the door, when he (Tama) would be there and bolt the door, as soon as he was outside. This was done, and he effected his escape. On this Toi and Uenuku the priest attacked the pa of Houmoitawhiti, the father of these young men, and not being able to take it, they returned to their own settlement. Hou (the father) soon after this died, and on this account Tama and Whakaturia determined to leave Hawaiki, as their father being dead, they would not be able to withstand the attack of Uenuka if besieged again. This then was the cause of the people who came in the canoe Arawa migrating to New Zealand. They did not, however, start in uncertainty as to whether they should find any land; as there had been a former migration to this country, the people of which had returned to Hawaiki. This migration is said to have taken place as follows :—lliuetuaohanga being jealous of a man called Ngahue, whose god was a sea monster called Poutini, (other traditions say its name was Mata) Hine caused Ngahue to be driven from Hawaiki, riding on this god, aud thus he discovered an island called Tuhua. Hine followed him there in a canoe, and drove him from this land also. He again started, and discovered the island of Aotearoa ; but, fearing he should be followed there also, and expelled, he left, in search of some more distant country, and arrived in New Zealand, taking up his abode at Arahura; or, as another tradition states, at Arapawanui. During his residence here, he found a block of the green stone so much prized by the Maories, which he took back with him to Hawaiki. Out of this stone the axes were made, which were used in constructing the canoes in which Tama and others shortly afterwards came to this land. Our time being limited, we therefore can but briefly mention a few of the other migrations. The natives who in ancient times held the Auckland district, and occupied Mount Eden as their principal fortification, say they came in a canoe called Tainui, by which name the tribe is called to this day, and the remnant of them reside at Whaingaroa. The Tainui is said to have come in company with the canoe Arawa. The people of the Arawa first discovered land. Tainui then parted company for some time; they, however, met again at Whangaparoa, and, having there quarrelled about a whale, the Arawa went along the, East Coast, and Tainui went into the Tamaki river, where they observed sea-birds coming from the West. Suspecting that there must be a sea-coast near, they went in search of it, and discovered the Manuka river. They therefore dragged their canoe Tainui across the portage, passing by the spot on which the residence of Mr. Edwin Fairburn is now situated, and coming out into the Manuka waters by the last bridge which is crossed in going to Otahuhu from Auckland, they proceeded out of the Manuka harbour, and coasted along to Kawhia. Here they landed, and part having settled there, the other portion of the tribe returned to Mount Eden, and took possession of this district. The Mokau, and two or three of the Waitara tribes, say their ancestors came in a canoe called Aotea, commanded by Turi. It is stated that this migration left Hawaiki on account of a murder. Turi made land on the West Coast, near a river, into which he went, and called it after his canoe, —hence the name of the Aotea river. The Ngatiawa tribe (the old occupants of the Taranaki district) say, the canoe known by the name of Tokomaru, and commanded by Manaia, was that in which their ancestors came. Thi* migration left Hawaiki on account of Manaia having killed a number of men who were working for him. Manaia made land near the Bay of Islands, and, coasting along the West Coast, doubled the North Cape, and stretched along the indent on the West Coast, and eventually took up his abode on the Waitara.* The old inhabitants of the middle island say their ancestors came in a canoe called Takitumu, commanded by Tata. This migration left Hawaiki on account of a quarrel about a plantation. This is the only migration of which it is said that they cast lots and ate each other, when their provisions failed. The survivors landed at Tauranga; part of the migration remained there, the other portion proceeded on, and crossed Cook's Straits, and there settled, somewhere about Nelson. Each one of these migrations claims the honour of being the parent family from which the whole of the New Zealand tribes have descended ; enumerating, each against the other, the genealogy of their own ancestors, naming the man from whom the different tribes took their name and origin. In fact, some few tribes in the Waikato district, rather than admit they are the younger branch of any one of the migrations, assert that their ancestress came over on the back of an albatross ; quoting an old song in proof thereof. Other tribes on the East Coast, for the same reason, state they are the offspring of a man who came under water from Hawaiki; quoting, as a proof, a proverb to that effect. I narrate these stories to show that there exist so many contradictory statements, even amongst the natives themselves, as to their origin, that it really becomes a matter of no little difficulty to unravel them all so as to arrive at the real truth ; thus proving, that to come to any cer-. tainty, or even prevent their various traditions from contradicting each other, the collector of such must not confine himself to any one portion of New Zealand, but must gather them from every tribe, and then out of the whole set forth that which is received as the belief of the New Zealanders as a collective people, and not as divided into tribes, We may be also allowed to remark, that those who have had time and inclination for this, and who have confined themselves to the traditions, superstitions, and ceremonies of one district, will no doubt find many things in this lecture which they have not only never heard of before, but they may also hear that which they consider their research will warrant them in contradicting; and we

* Tradition states, Manaia found the Waitara district occupied by a people of whom he bad not previously heard. They were not a warlike race, and were easily overcome by Manaia and his followers. Manaia killed many of thenj, others escaped, and a portion became members of the Ngatiawa tribe.