THE TIHI-O-TONGA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 25, 21 June 1911, Page 34

THE TIHI-O-TONGA.

Tutanekai’s Ancient Cliff Pa, and A Maori Shrine.

Specially Written /o- the "Graphic"

ay

JAMES COWAN.

LOOKING due southwards from Rotorua town, one’s view is bounded by a long almost leveltopped range extending from the Hemo Gorge, at the track of W hak irewarewa. on the left, to the wooded mountains of Te Raho-o-Te Rangipiere and Ngongotaha on the right. Most of the skyline is sharp cut and bare of forest. but here* and there are thin clumps of native timber, relics of the ancient woods which once covered all these hills. 'lliis long ridge is Te Tihi-o-Tonga. meaning “The Southern Summit.” or "The Pinnacle of the South.” Rough and barren-looking from a distance, these Tihi-o-Tonga heights are in reality beautiful arable land, and though now lone and deserted they were a couple of generations ago the home of a numerous ami industrious Maori population, rhe country swells gently up from the Rotorua side into a table-land, which at about six miles from the Lake breaks suddenly in a high cliff: the cliff for some miles forms the southern boundary face of the Tihi-o-Tonga. South of this precipice, for most of its length clothed with forest and ferns, there is a deep rolling valley two or three miles in width: beyond again is the wild broken volcanic country through which the Rotorua-Atiamuri-Taupo coach road winds. The Tihi-o-Tonga block is still wholly native-owned, ami is practically unknown to the white man. although so near Rotorua town. It is a decidedly interesting country both on account of

its picturesque surroundings and its historic and legendary associations. An hour’s ride from Rotorua town, up along a narrow Maori track through the high fern and clustering tutu bushes, takes one to the Tihi-o-Tonga tableland, sloping down very gradually northwards from the southern crest. The soil here is surprising! y rich, and when the country is put under cultivation again, as in the olden time, and the industry of half a century back revised, it should be a refreshingly beautiful patch of civilised green and gold amidst the blues and browns of the lake-circling ranges. The Ngati-Whakaue tribe, of Ohinemutu, who own this land, recently proposed to hand over about 2000 acres of the block to the Government for a term of years for the purpose of an experimental farm, where the Maoris of the tribe could lie taught the practical work of agriculture and of sheep and cattle raising, dairying and other useful branches of the farmer's calling. Now, however, 1 hear that they are going to work the land themselves. Kitty years ago large quantities of wheat were grown by the .Maoris on the Tihi-o-Tonga plateau and the gentle hill slipes; the wheat was carted down to Rotorua, where there were flour mills, given to the natives by Governor Grey; one of these waterdriven mills was near the mouth of th? I tuhina stream. Here the Maoris ground their own wheat and made flour; some of the corn was sent away as far as Make tn, on the coast. There are many signs here to-day of that vanished Gol-

den Age of the Arawa Maoris. Old |*each and apple trees, cherries and rasplierrfcs grow wild amongst the high fern and the tntu and cabbage palms; there are ruins of the old villages long since abandoned to the wilderness. Hiding on along the winding, almost hidden track —it was a cart-road in the old days Itefore the Maori war —we are suddenly bi ought up by the abrupt bluff that bounds the Tihi-o-Tonga on the *<>uth. and dismount ami tether our horses. I want to inspect the pa caller! Te Ara-kari-a-Tutanekai and the singular very tapu image Horoirangi and other relics of the ancient Maori of which my companion, old R.ingiriri, the Kaumatua of the Utuhina, lias told me on the way. Kight on the crest of the ridge are the fern-grown earthworks of the venerable Pa Te Whetengu, afterwards called Te Ara-kari-a-Tutanekai (“The pathway hewn out by Tutanekai”) because of the fact that the chief of old had steps cut down the cliff-face from the fort to the

spot where the images of the gods reposed, a sacred tribal Tuahu or shrine, which we shall presently see. The view from this Pa Ara-kari-a-Tu tanekai. looking south over the deep valley to the forested ranges of Pae w henna and llorohoro and the bold cone of Haparangi. is one of remarkable beauty, and one that the tourist never sees. I he ground breaks abruptly at one's feet, and falls to a shadowy forest; the tui's song comes faintly from the depths. Ilorohoro's table topped mesa, a strange upheaval of volcanic rock, rises due south of our view point; at its further extremity the singular colossal rock which the Maoris call llinemoa, after their ancestress of lake-swimming fame, is distinctly seen in this clear atmosphere, a sharp cut gigantic pillared form. Below llinemoa again can be seen the huge rock column known as Hine-Ngawari, also named after a tribal ancestress. This Hine Ngawari rock, old Rangiriri

tells me. is a “stone of power.” for it has a mana-tapu. supernatural influence or attributes; it is the visible form of the genus lovi. the guardian spirit of tin* place. Should a Maori traveller be journeying along the track which winds past the foot of Hine-Ngawari. he will do well to observe the ancient rite of the “I’ru-uni-whenua,** the propitiation of the unseen spirit of the soil, by laying

a leafy offering liefore it. ami saying; “Ilai kai man te inanawa o tauhou.” (“Here is food for thee, the heart of the stranger”) Should this ceremony be omitted heavi ram or sleet 01 hail or other unpleasant weather will in all probability tles4*end and punish that wayfarer for his neglect. Wherefore it is advisable for all brown-skinned traveller*, ami per haps white ones as well, to learn of

these sacred place* and follow the ancient and punctilious custom of the Maori. Nearer, and close by the base of sharply slanting llaparangi. on the right-hand side of the coach road to Taupo, is a bathing pool of hot mineral water known to the Maoris as Te Wai pupu-mahana. “The I’p-hiibbling Warm Waters.” In this spring there are two w'o<xlen logs or poles; they are under the ban of “Tapu.” and should they b? pulled out or otherwise sacriligeously interfered with, say the Maoris, the

spring wiill straightway become cold. Nearer still but on the op|»osite side of the Iteautiful lonely valley at our feet, can be seen the grey cliffs of a strange rock-fort of the ancient Maoris. Te Papowhatu. or “Castle Rock,” a practically impregnable hold in the days of spear ami club, but of whose history very little is know n by the present -day Maori*. It is a wild. bold, romantic picture spread out lad’ore us as we sit on the breezy “Tauinata.” the ohl-time resting place of the Maori, and listen to the folk talk of old Rangiriri. This Pa. Rangiriri tells me. was originally built by Paiaka. a chief of the Ngati-l’enuku-Kopako section of the Arawa tribe, who lived about 309 years ago. 'l'he following genealogical list gives the descent of Rangiriri from Paiaka. the founder of Te Whetengu, as the hill fort was originally called: Paiaka. Kiritai, I’eroa. Te t’ruke. Pai aka. Nga-Turanga, Te Rangi-Wahi-Tu. Nga-Whakehenga, Te Tira-Kahurangi. Rangiriri (now aged sixty). Rangiriri, a quiet old fellow, of*small wiry frame, is a veteran soldier who has carried rille and tomahawk on many a wild forest trail. W hen quite a hoy he went on his first war-path, ami was at the surrender of Te Teko. the great llauhau Pa on the Rangitaiki River, to Ma jor .Mair and his Ara w as. in 18.>5. Afterwards, as a youth of eighteen, he served in the adventurous march under Colonel Whitmore into the gloomy savage

country uf the I’rewera mountaineer* in 1869, and fought at Ruatahuna. and afterwards under Colonel McDonnell at the storming of Te Porere Pa. Te Kooti’s redoubt close to the foot of Tongariro mountain. Rangiriri is something of a medicine-man. His grandfather, one of the powerful Toll ungas of the Arawa*. taught him many Karakias. ami the little old warrior has a strong belie! in the ellicacy of many of ‘these ancestral maul rains and charms. He is the sole repository now of the singular folk lore and priestly ritual associated with the Tihi o Tonga. Clone by our look-out place on the brink of the clitr. and within the fern-grown walls of the old Pa, is a little clear space, surrounded by a slightly-raised bank. This, old Rangiriri explains, was the sacred tuahu of Te W hetengu Pa. the altar where the symbols of certain of the tribal gods were kept, and where the operation of cutting with obsidian iiakes the hair of the chiefs—always a semi-religious ceremony was carried out by the priests. Just to the east, and occupying the highest part of the ancient village is the Crupa. the burial place where the old mas, or kumarapits. were used as graves. 'l’he bones of the dead have been removed, but the tapu of the tribe’s depart<‘d ones, long gathered to their Earth-mother, still clings to the sacred hill-top.