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Te Ao Hou, December 1963, Page 18

The Editor, ‘Te Ao Hou’. It was pleasing to see my old favourite the story of Ponga and Puhihuia re-printed in ‘Te Ao Hou’. I have in my possession a booklet, a translation of ‘Ponga and Puhihuia’, written in 1927 by the Rev. H. J. Fletcher. In the foreword Mr Fletcher says, ‘This old story of Ponga and Puhihuia dates from about the middle of the 17th century. A version was first published in Maori in the year 1854 in Sir George Grey's ‘Mythology and Traditions of the New Zealanders’. A translation of the same was published in 1855. In John White's ‘Ancient History of the Maori’ Vol. IV, there is a much fuller account of the same event. Unfortunately White's book is rare in the land, and the story little known. As a picture of the life and conversation of the old time Maori it is unsurpassed, and should be as well known to Europeans as the story of Hinemoa of Rotorua, or Te Huhuti of Hawkes Bay. ‘The original Maori of White's version is full of misprints, but some years ago the late Mr S. P. Smith lent me a copy he had corrected for his own use; he also supplied me with the meanings of many words not recorded in any published dictionary. Mr Smith also suggested that Mr White has added considerably to the original Maori from his own knowledge of Maori life and customs. The story is remarkable not only for its clear account of Maori life, but for its astonishingly large vocabulary. The original Maori of 50 pages contains upwards of 1,000 distinct words.’ My copy of the Rev. Fletcher's translation was given to me by Mr G. Allwright of the Polynesian Group of Palmerston North. I have never heard the story of Te Huhuti of Hawkes Bay. I wonder if someone from there could send it along to ‘Te Ao Hou’ so we could all add it to our store of precious stories of our land. KATE SHAW, (Rotorua)