Maori Place Names.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 01, Issue 9, 1 June 1900, Page 5

Maori Place Names.

By James Cowan

Read at the May Meeting of the New Zealand Literary and Historical Association.

§ONG after the last pure-blooded Maori shall have joined his ancestors in the underworld of Hine-nui-te-Po, the names which his progenitors bestowed upon the mountains and lakes, valleys, groves and streams will remain on the map of New Zealand, and a new race which knows not Hone will arise and ask, "What do these mean?" And even now the wealth of poetic imagery, of historical interest in Maori nomenclature is little known to, or appreciated by, the generality of colonists. To many a name is but a name and nothing more. Yet we find amongst othei's a tendency to search for a suitable name for their houses or homesteads, and a genuine delight when they discover a smooth-sounding and appropriate combination of liquid Maori words; or for want of an original, they resort to Williams' Dictionary and manufacture one for themselves. Queer blunders are made in this way sometimes, but the spirit is there, the craving for a home-name which shall be redolent of the soil. There is a growing tendency in these days in New Zealand to preserve such of the old native place names as have not been forgotten and apply them to the particular location to which they belong, in preference to less appropriate imported appellations. There is in this only justice to the brave race whom we have supplanted, and there is much romantic interest in the ancient names of places throughout our country. A writer says: — "Mountains and rivers still murmur the voices of nations long denationalised or extirpated."

Yoji. I.— No. 9.-48.

There can be no more striking example of the manner in which historical, poetical and racial features have been preserved in place-names than that afforded in our own New Zealand native nomenclature, [n how many a single Maori luime is a whole chapter of history and romance- crystallized— a condensed epic ! Our ruifcive names of localities are usually pleasant to the ear when accurately pronounced, but beyond more euphony they very often possess an appropriateness, a descriptive significance which the imported English name can seldom bestow. At the same time we cannot wish to include in the list of incongruous or inappropriate) names the designations given to coastal localities by Tasman, Cook, and other early visitors to "Aotearoa." The names which they gave to bays and promontories have become historical, and in themselves they recall interesting and often stirring episodes in i,he adventurous voyages of those brave " Searchers of the Seas." There are somo other historical English names given in more modern times, which the writer would bo sorry to see expurgated. Of such is Mercer, the township on the Waikato Rivor, named after the gallant Captain Mercer, who fell fighting at Rangiriri in 1863. Somo of tho English names of South Island localities, particularly of the West Coast Sounds, fit the places remarkably well. And what better name could wo havo for tho Sutherland Falls than the name of the now immortalised plucky pioneer who was the very first that ever gazed upon that wonderful water- leap? And there are many native

names of places, names in common use,

which, if their literal meanings were known, would be dropped like the proverbial superheated esculent by colonists. But the majority of Maori place-names are unimpeachable as to moral character and propriety of language.

world," an ao-tea-roa — and beaching their long canoes on the welcome strand of a new soil. I prefer this rendering to the "long white cloud " of Mr W. P. Reeves' book. And " Te-Ika-a-Maui " — what a magnificent picture that name conjures vp — the fierce

" Aotearoa," the name of this North Island of ours, is a history, a romance, a poem in itself. We can picture in our mind's eye the sea- worn Polynesian Vikings hailing with delight the vision on the far sky lino of the white cliffs of New Zealand shining under the bright summer sun — truly a " long whito

demi-god, the Maori Hercules, chanting his wild "lifting song," hauling up from the boiling deep the wonderful " fish " of an unknown land — the Jkh o/Maui ! Amongst the most interesting place-names in this counti'y are those which contain in themselves reminiscences of the ancient

home of the aboriginal race, and assist us in tracing the " whence "of the Maori. For instance, there is Rarotonga Hill, an ancient pa near Onehunga, which we Europeans call Mount Smart, Rarotonga is the name of one of the best-known of the South Sea Islands, and from it there is no doubt some of the Maoris came. Judge ye, oh pakehas, which isthe more fitting-Rarotonga (literally " the south below,") or Mount Smart ! On the little island of Mokoia, in Lake Rotorua, there is a picturesque old ruined hill-fort known as Arorangi, which is identical with a name of a village on the palm-girt island of Rarotonga. In the Thames district there is a " Hawaiiki," named after the legendary home of the Maori off -shoot of the Polynesians. There is Rangiatea in the Rangitolo Ranges (King Country), and there is a place of the same name in the North, which are practically identical with South Sea Island names. " Hokianga-a-Kupe," the full name of the beautiful Northern hai-bour, contains a reminder of the past in the fact that the mouth of that harbour was the "hokianga" or " returning " point from which the celebrated Maori explorer Kupe is said to have taken his departure for another part of the coast, and eventually for his old South Sea Island homo, Hawaiiki. Such names as Puke-kohe, Puke-iniro, Puke-rimu, Ara-rimu, Motu-karaka, Maungakiekie, Papa-rata, and Wai-mamaku remind us of the forest and plant growths of the land, in places often where the vegetation which induced the Maori pioneers to so name the localities has long since disappeared. These remarks of the author of " Scottish Land Names " may well be applied to many parts of our own country : — " Tho forest has been swept from our hill sides and plains, and were it not for the record contained in place-names the memory of the greenwood would be preserved only by the blackened trunks and roots in the peatmoss." Puke-mau-kuku,* at Coromandel, knows

* Literal meaning, " Hill on which pigeons are Cftught."

the Maori no more ; tho gold-digger delves in its sides, yet in its name is preserved a memory of the days of old when primitive) man snared the wild pigeon in its leafy

groves

There are not wanting names which recall to us the warlike days of old whon fighting, cannibalism, and all the old savagery of tho pagan Maori were matters of daily life. " Kai-tangata " is a place-name which moans "eat men," and it marks tho scono of Homo cannibal feast of old. " Te-ahi-manawa "is a spot in the thick forest which borders tho turbulent Okahu River in tho Urowora country. Passing along its banks a Maori companion, a young man of the Tuhoo tribe of mountaineers, pointed out to me tho " Ahi-manawa," and told how it was so named, because in the ancient man-eating days a lire had been lit thoro to cook the heart of a captured chief.

The names applied to rivers, mountains, lakes and bays are very often strikingly descriptive. The Maoris call the East Coast the " Tai-Rawhiti " (" tho tide of the shining sun.") The river names very often refer to the special or remarkable features of particular streams, though many names aro widely distributed, such an VVai-roa (" long water"), Wai-nui (" great water,") and tho same applies to mountains — Maunga-nni (" great mountain "), Puke-nui ("big hill,") and so forth are to be met with in many places. But tho old Maori explorer was quick to seize on a striking featuro of the landscape in his land-christoning process. Of such are : Toka-roa (" long rock "), Maunga - pohatu ("rocky mountain"), Puke-moremore ("the bare hill") and Te-Rakau-tu-tahi ("the lone-standing treo"). The beautiful name Waikareraoana (tho " sea of the rippling waters,") is a typical place description. Then we havo " Waikato," which moans the " flowing rivor," Roto-ma ("white lake"), Wai-ma ("clear water"), Puna-ki-tere (" tho swift flowing fountain"), Roto-rangi ("the heavenly lake "), Manga-tangi (tho "crying stream,") Wai-aniwaniwa (" water of the rainbow "), Mount Ao-rangi (which means " the clouds

of the sky ", not " cloud piercer," as it is often erroneously interpreted), Whanga-nui (" great harbour "), Manga-wara (" murmuring brook "), Wai-rere (" flying water "), as applied to a waterfall, Te Uira (" the

Ao-tea, " the white land" or the " white cloud." The broad gulf of Hauraki is so named from the " north wind," and it is mentioned in many a native song. I remember not

lightning"), WlKuifftu'-lui ("harbour of spray"), Wai-tan«i (the "sounding waters"), and innumerable ethers. At the same time it is not every beautiful-sounding name that has anything particularly poetic attached to it. " Korora-reka," for instance, at the Bay of Islands, simply means "sweet penguin"— only that and nothing more. "Tangi-rau," an old tribal burying place of the Waikato tribe, on the banks of the great central river, has a pathetic suggestion for us, for its meaning is " the place of a hundred wailings." And " Tamaki-makau-rau," which is the classical Maori name of the' Auckland isthmus, affords a glimpse of the poetical as well as the practical element in native character, for it tells us that the natural beauties and the other attractions of the district were not lost on the ancient Maoris, who so prized the place that they called it "Tamaki of a hundred lovers." The pretty island of Motu-tapu is "Holy Isle/ and the Great Barrier Island is

long ago hearing a good rolling ha.a song in which the Waikalo men shouted as they dun ml : " Whakarongo ake au Xi to tai o Hauraki E Avawa mai nei ! Wa-wa ! Wni-e-ha ! " " I listen forth To the tide of Hauraki Soiling on the beajh towards me ! Roar, oh, ye waters, roar ! " On the northern side of Waiheke Island is a beautiful open beach of white sand. It is known to the Maoris as " Onetangi, 1 ' (the " sounding shove.") As I stood on the sea beach and listened to the rush of the nor'easter and — " the sound of the trampling surf On the rocks and the hard sea-sand " — I mentally agreed with the natives in their choice of a place name. Tapuae-haruru (the "resounding footsteps") and Wai-

haruru (the " shaking, sounding water ") are similarly apt and beautiful. One of the northernmost points of this island — Te Rerenga-Wairua (" flight of the spirits ") — is so named in accordance with a poetical fancy of the native people. The " Spirits Flight " is a long desolate rocky cape which runs down to meet the stormy surges that ever swirl and rage round the wild North Cape. Here the spirits of the departed pass along, and, waiting till an opening presents itself in the tossing sea kelp, flit swiftly downwards into " Gloomy Po," the silent land of death.

The name Rohc-potae, which is applied by the natives to the so-called " Kiug Country," embracing all that vast expanse of land between the Waikato frontier and Taupo and the West Coast, is a most apt and descriptive term. It may be colloquially interpreted as "all round the hat." Here the boundary of that great circular mass of mountain, valley

a home for himself and liis family had tho true squatter's instinct for picking out tho " eyes " of the country. And now To Karu-o-te-Whenua is being thrown open to the pahekn settler. History repeats itself, and I. only hope that no unronmniic white ollieial will attempt to substitute " Seddonvillo " or "Packhorse Gully" for "Tho Eye of tho Land." There is no spot tint has not at some time or other been given a distinctive name by the Maori settlers and travellers. Even springs of water, trees and rocks havo (heir names and stories. Many trees in this country have their special distinguishing names such as Manuka-tutnhi, in the Waikato, Te-iho-o-kataka (a hinau tree in the Urewera country) and Hine-hopu, a celebrated sacred matai tree on the bush road from Lake Rotoiti to Kotoohn. Hiue-hopu was a Maori chieftaiuess, who " flourished," as the historians would say, many gonora-

and plain is pithily likened to the encircling brim of a hat. Te-Karu-o-te-Whenua (" the eye of the land ") is a locality in the Rohepotae district not far from Te Kuiti. There are two very deep pools of water there which are pointed out as the eyes. The Maori pioneer who selected this particular spot as

tions ago, and whose spirit now lives, according to the Maoris, in that ancient hollow tree, a dryad, a goddess of the woods. In the South Island the colonists have been very careless and indifferent concerning the correct orthography of those native names that are known, and owing to the

sparseness of the native population in Te Waipounamu English names have to a very large extent superseded the Maori. In the names of mountains, passes, rivers and glaciers in the Great Southern Alps, the memories of early European pioneers and explorers are very properly preserved, but it is a pity that where native names exist, and are known they should not be spelt accurately. Hardly One of the names of the great Southern lakes is rightly spelt, and as the original owners of the soil are gone for ever it is next to

tangata (a locality known as " Cannibal Gorge "), Awatere (" swift river "), Waitaki (equivalent to the northern Waitangi), are, however, very plain as to meaning. The liver Inangahua suggests by the composition of its name a place where the Maoris were accustomed to catch and preserve the nimble whitebait. Reverting to North Island names, the name Roto-kakahi, that of a lake on the Rotorua-Tarawera Road, informs us that in its fwaters the natives found one of the

impossible to arrive at the true meanings of many of the names. For instance Lake Wakatipu (which the ignorant paheha shears of its final vowel) may bo either Whaka-tipu

or Waka-tipua. In the latter name one

could trace a dim reference to some ghostly 1 legend of the great snow-fed lake — a " phantom canoe " (or literally a " devilcanoe "), which was seen floating on its cold mysterious waters under the shadows of the everlasting mountains. Such names as Wai-makariri ("cold water"), Kopi-o-Kai-

sources of their food supply, the fresh-water shellfish known as the kakalri, which was obtained by means of a rake and net or primitive dredge. Since the Tarawera eruption the bivalve has no longer been hauled from the lake bottom, in fact the deposits of volcanic mud and detritus from the hills seem to have smothered the poor kaJcald out of existence.

Another natural history hint is conveyed in the name Motu-taiko, a picturesque island in Lake Taupo. It is so called from the fact

that it is frequented at times by the taiko, a species of petrel, which makes its way inland here from the distant sea coast.

The Ara-teatea rapids, on the Upper Waikato River, could not have had a better name — the " white path," or, let us say, " milky way." Here the foaming cataracts tumble and boil through a narrow gorge, a wild

the old barbaric custom of forcibly taking possession of a girl as a wife. Qmu-tao-roa, a place which a political squabble of some years ago brought into prominence, moans " tho oven long of cooking." Ahi-koreru

denotes the place where a lire was lit to cook wild pigeons. YVhanga-iuomona, a little valley in the vast north Taranaki bush, on

procession of river rapids and white water, which " Ara-teatea " exactly describes. Amongst the miscellaneous list of land names in our country are very many which attract attention because of some particular event which they commemorate, or some incident which struck the name-givers. Matamata-harakeke means "the tips of the flax-leaves."" Tango-wahine refers to

the Waikato-Stratford railway route, signifies a " fat " or " fertile " valley, and it does not belie its name, for the creeks abound with fat eels ; pigeons, tui, and kaka swarm in the trees, and the rich alluvial soil needs but little tickling — a truly fertile spot alike for the ancient Maori and the modern pa/ceha settler. The beautiful name Wai-o-roago-mai,

which may be interpi-eted as " water sounding hitherwards," is extremely appropriate as applied to a picturesque locality on the slopes of Mount Te Aroha, where waterfalls abound.

In Te Moari (" the swing ") we are reminded of an old-time Maori amusement now extinct. A Moari was usually a slender tree or ricker stripped of its branches overhanging a stream or pool, and from the top of which by long flax ropes the happy children of Nature were wont to swing and dive into the cool water.

Such names as Rua-taniwha and Maungataniwha perpetuate the legendary memories of those strange mythical demons or water monsters which the Maori called " taniwha."

A bit pf an old-time romance is bound up in the name Te-Whariki-rau-ponga, which belongs to a locality away up in the wooded hills of the Ohinemuri mining district. The name is most wonderfully mangled by the average New Zealander and by the newspapers, and I have seldom seen it spelt the same way twice. The story attached to this name is said to be this : A young chief of the Upper Thames people eloped with a handsome girl, a chief's daughter, and fled with her over the mountains. Oii the way they spent a night at this (then nameless) spot, aud made a couch of the long fronds of the ponga tree-fern. This, the people say, is the origin of the name, which literally translated is, " The sleeping-mat of ponga-

leaves."

One day, riding through a wilderness of fern and flax in the so-called King Country, some fifteen miles beyond the old aukati frontier-line, we came upon a bold isolated crag of limestone rock rising from a little fern valley. One side of the hill was perpendicular, but the other was trenched and terraced where the slope was more gradual and there was a coating of soil, and at the foot stood a little native hamlet. " This place is Pa-tokatoka," said my Maori companion, "it was a fortification of my tribe, the Ngatimatakore, in the days of the past." And then followed the recital of a stirring narrative of the cannibal days of

old. Pa-tokatoka was a literal description of that isolated hill castle, for its meaning is " the rock fort " — the " dun " of the ancient Celts.

There is a remarkable lone rock standing on the open uplands between Maungatautari and Wharepuhunga, in the Upper Waikato basin. Its name is Ngatoka-haere, " the walking stone." It is said by the Maoris that the stone travelled from Titiraupenga, a mountain considerably to the southwards in the Hurakia district, and hence it is called " the walking stone." As for those unimaginative persons who would ridicule this story — why, let them go there on the trail to the Icainga of Aotearoa, and see the rock for themselves — and doubt no more !

And yet another : There is (my informant was of Ngatimatakore) a certain cave at Kawhia, West Coast, on the sea beach, called Te Atua-ngaro (" the unseen spirit"). This is why it bears that name : There is a hidden spirit dwelling in that cave. It is said that if a man goes to gather pipis in or at the cave of that spirit, a mysterious voice will call out: " Why are you gathering my children ? I will go out and suck your bones there !" " And " (very seriously added my Maori friend) " the spirit goes out and sucks his bones." I presume the atua is considerate enough to kill the sacriligeous pipigatherer first.

Near Otorohanga, in the King Country, is the site of a once famous pa of the Ngatiraaniapoto tribe, known as " Te Marae-o-Hine — " the courtyard of Hine (the lady)." This place was remarkable as having been a sort of town of refuge in the days of old. It was in this pa, say the Maoris, that the famous chieftainess Hine, a relative of the great chief Maniapoto, resided some thirteen generations ago. She was greatly respected by her people, and her pa became a sanctuary in times of war, apparently because of the sacredness as well as popularity of Hine.

"Informer times" (once said tome an old acquaintance, now dead, who could trace his descent back to the great Maniapoto) " when war parties pursued people across

the Waipa River, above Otorohanga, the pursuit ceased as soon as tlie vanquished ones had crossed the river in the direction of the residence of Hine. Hence the saying of our people 'Do not mistake the Marae-o-Hine.' This was the oi'igin of that custom •' when our ancestor Maniapoto died a dispute arose between two of his sons as to who should assume the direction of tribal affairs and become the Ariki in succession to Maniapoto. The brothers quarrelled, their

occupation of the Hottit family, but tho Ngatimaniapoto and other natives of tho district have by no moans forgotton tho derivation of the name or the story of their renowned ancestress. The Maori settler of old has left his mark in the Auckland district, especially in the form of trite and descriptive names. Waitemata may bo set down as meaning " shining waters." Wai-takaro (which should bo spelt with-

supporters took up arms, and the two parties fought. After the battle, in w hich one of the sons was defeated, he and his followers fled towards the fortified village of his relative Hine. When they had crossed the river at Mohoaonui, near the Kahikatea bush, the other chief cried out to his war party on the river bank, ' Do not pursue to the Marae-o-Hine.' So the chase ended. This was because of their great respect for that lady." Hine's marae is now a peaceful farm in the

out the final " i ") is a peculiarly appro, priate name, for it may bo interrupted as " hurrying " or " falling " waters.

Taka-puna, the original Maori name of tho North Head and its vicinity, moans a descending spring of water, or shortly and literally " falling fountain." It is said to have taken its name from an over-flowing spring of beautiful clear water which ran down on to the beach near the western side of the North Head. The spot was a

favourite camping ground of the Maoris in former days, and the original spring called Taka-pana is still to be seen in the form of a well. The native name of Ponsonby, but more particularly applied to Shelly Beach and the adjoining point, is Okaf, which may be broadly interpreted as meaning " the place of fires," in which one can see a reference to the olden times when canoe parties were wont to draw their craft up on the sandy beach and kindle their nightly camp fires and discuss their Jcumara and fish after the fashion of the Maori. The original name of the Watchman Island, in Auckland Harbour, is Motungaengae or "Cockleshell Island." Te To, which was formerly applied to the western point of Freeman's Bay, is a name which seems to have arisen from the fact that close to the point was a little beach where canoes could be hauled up (" to ") on the shore. Awataha, meaning " river side," is the native name of the reserve on the creek at the head of Shoal Bay, near Lake Takapuua, on which the Roman Catholic Orphanage stands. Tuka-runga, which means to "fall from above," is the original name of Mount Victoria, North Shore, which was in olden days a Maori pa, and on which a modern 8-inch gun is now mounted. Owairaka (Mount Albert) means " the place of Wairaka," who was a chief of many generations back. Kohi-marama, a really beautiful name, may be freely translated as "gathering shellfish by moonlight." It was the name of what is now known as the Bastion Rock wheu that little islet was a part of the mainland, and was a fortified Maori settlement.

t This name and several others hero mentioned were given me by members of the Ngatiwhatua

tribe.

A century and a half ago the Ngatiwhatua tribe (whose descendants now live at Grakei) swept down on the Waitemata from the Kaipara, captured Kohi-marama and other pas on the south side of Auckland Harbour and put the original inhabitants in the oven in order to save any vexatious law suits on the subject of trespass or manorial rights.

One rather curious " paheka- Maori " name is worth mentioning. It is Poneke, the common Maori name for the city of Wellington. This is a Maori corruption of "Port Nick," by which abbreviation Port Nicholson was known in the early days. By an easy transition the Maori softened it into " Po-nik," and then received it into the native tongue as Poneke.

One could go on interminably listing Maori place names, bat heoi ano, as the natives say. Just a few musical examples in conclusion: Ara-pohue (" path amongst the convolvus ") ; Whenua-kite (" the land seen"), grotesquely locally pronouuced " Fenugit " ; Wai - ngongoro (" snoring river," in allusiou to the noise made over its stony bed ") ; Wai-puna ('• spring of water"); Pulce-aruhe (" fern hill ") ; Moerangi — Moe-raki in the South (" sleeping heavens ' ) ; and To Kui-a-te-Karoro (" the feast of the sea gulls "), where a great battle was fought in the. North, and the bodies left on the sea beach. And if you are anxious to exercise your tongue on the Maori language here are some fair examples on which to begin —

Te Whakamanimaru -o - Hine - Ruavangi (" the shade of Lady Ruarangi " — a certain tree) ; Te Moehau-o-Tama-te-Kapua (" the sleeping sacredness of the Son of the Clouds " — the Maori name of Cape Colville), and Te Taumata-Whakatangihanga - Koauau (" the hill on which the nose flute was sounded ").

Certainly there is a good deal in the aboriginal tongue. And who but a Maori could put so much into a littlo place name ?