Fed by Seven Lakes

Te Ao Hou, September 1965, Page 50

Fed by Seven Lakes Serving for much of its length as the boundary between Canterbury and Otago, the river has its source in the Takapo and Pukaki Rivers which are fed by the seven lakes: Lakes Takapo, Pukaki, Ohou, Te Kapaururu, Te Oteote, Otauwhiti and Whakapapa. The northernmost of these great lakes is Takapo; its correct name is Takapotiri. My Arai-te-uru relatives told me that Takapotiri was the son of Tane-mahuta the forest god, and was the tutelary deity of the kaka, kakapo, kea and tarepo birds. I believe that Parliament decided that Takapo was the correct spelling, but as we all know, the general public still continues to call it Tekapo. Opposite Takapo is Lake Pukaki, a word which means ‘a great swelling or choking in a throat’. This name refers to the time when the water comes rushing down in the flood season, and there isn't room to contain it. (The word pukaki can also mean a source, as of a river). Ohou is a lake slightly to the south-west of Pukaki. It is now called Lake Ohau, but according to my people this is incorrect. However though I have heard the name Ohou mentioned by the elders, no-one seems to know much about it. Possibly the name comes from one of the tribes who were the first to arrive here-that is Ngapuhi te Aitanga, Te Rapuwai, Waitaha, Hotumamoe, and later on the Tahupotiki or Ngai Tahu. There are two places named Ruataniwha or ‘dragon pit’; one is close to Lake Ohou and the other is by the junction of the Ohou and Waitaki Rivers. The taniwha is the counterpart of the English dragon.