An Account of Waitaha Origins, by Wi Pōkuku

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 29, 1 January 1996, Page 7

Margaret Orbell

An Account of Waitaha Origins, by Wi Pōkuku

edited, translated, and introduced by Margaret Orbell

The manuscript account by Wi Pokuku which is published here was transcribed by Herries Beattie, who in the first half of the twentieth century collected many records relating to South Island Maori tradition. The transcription is in the Polynesian Society papers in the Alexander Turnbull Library (MS papers 1187, fol. 124); I am indebted to the Alexander Turnbull Library for permission to publish it. 1 WlPokuku’s manuscript relates to the origins of Waitaha, who are traditionally considered to be the first iwi to settle in Te Wai Pounamu [the South Island]. Before discussing its content, I will say something briefly about early Maori tradition in general and the social, political, and religious circumstances under which this account was written.

Maori myths of origin In Maori cosmogony, the actions of the first ancestors, such as Tane, Hine-ahu-one, and Maui, establish the general nature of the world and its inhabitants. The accounts of these actions are relevant to all human beings and are shared, therefore, by all iwi. Most traditions about the very earliest times vary only in detail from one part of Aotearoa to another. Then, as the story unfolds, we come at a certain point to traditions that tell of the origins of tribal groups and differ, therefore, from one iwi to another. For each tribal district there is a tradition that tells how the founding ancestors of that iwi sailed to Aotearoa from Hawaiki, or

occasionally from other distant lands across the ocean, and how they brought with them vital possessions and knowledge, landmarks, and mana. Each of these local narratives explains, validates, and celebrates the settlement and occupation of a single tribal region. They belong to the people who belong to the iwi concerned. 2 While the Maori acceptance of Christianity in the 1830 s and 1840 s led to abrupt change in religious and social practices, the traditions, fortunately, changed more gradually. Although their use in ritual and song declined rapidly, and in time there were changes in content, these narratives continued to provide the foundations of the histories of the iwi. 3 In particular, traditions relating to ancestral voyages from Hawaiki and the first establishment of tribal territories in Aotearoa were (and still are) crucial to speakers on marae who wish to recall, and perhaps debate, the origins, early activities, and early affiliations of their iwi. They also lead directly on, through whakapapa [genealogies], to traditions which are in fact essentially historical in nature. For the last few centuries an enormous amount of historical information is available.

Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century and beyond, traditions relating to tribal origins remained highly important. Often they were expounded in new contexts. Tribal meetings had grown in size and might now bring together iwi between which there had previously been little contact; this led to much discussion and debate, and sometimes to new syntheses. In a similar way, spokesmen from iwi around the country were now writing at length about early tradition in the pages of Maori-language periodicals. And the establishment of the Native Land Court in 1865 provided another forum for exposition and debate by tribal authorities. However, despite the continuing presence of so many powerful orators it was becoming increasingly difficult, in a world where so many different kinds of knowledge competed for the attention of the young, to ensure the transmission of traditional knowledge from one generation to the next. Although private instruction within families continued to a considerable extent, the old system whereby young men of rank had received formal instruction from experts in houses of learning [whare wananga or whare kura] had fallen into disuse with the arrival of Christianity. During the second half of the nineteenth century, as the danger of cultural loss became more and more apparent, many attempts were made to remedy the situation. Sometimes these took the form of a revival of the house of learning, with modifications appropriate to contemporary beliefs and circumstances. Such revivals were often short-lived but had far-reaching consequences.

South Island houses of learning Although houses of learning in the North Island were often known as whare wananga, other terms were commonly employed in the south. One old man, speaking to Herries

Beattie early in the twentieth century, said that in pre-Christian times three different kinds of whare, or ‘houses’, had been attended by young men during the winter months. Whare tohuka were for the teaching of ‘wizardry’ a term that must imply mainly karakia or ritual chants, especially perhaps those employed in makutu or sorcery. Whare purakau were for the teaching of fighting. And whare kura, or ‘houses of treasured knowledge’, were ‘for the teaching of history and agriculture’, with agriculture certainly including a knowledge of the relevant karakia and the stars that governed the seasons. 4

Revivals of whare kura in the South Island, in the regions now known as North Otago and South Canterbury, led eventually to Wi Pokuku’s role as a teacher and to the manuscript with which we are concerned. At a whare kura which was established in about 1868 at Moeraki in North Otago, the two leading teachers were Matiaha Tiramorehu (ca. 1800-83) and Rawiri Te Maire (ca. 1808-99). Both were rangatira and had received a specialised education. Matiaha was a tohuka (or tohunga) and poet of Kai Tahu descent; Rawiri was a learned man of Waitaha, Kati Mamoe and Kai Tahu lineage. 5 Twenty-five years previously, as young men, they had taken the lead at Moeraki in accepting baptism from the Rev. James Watkin, a Wesleyan missionary in the region. Both had become lay preachers and had worked closely with Watkin and his successor, the Rev. Charles Creed. As well, they continued to be prominent political leaders, and were soon engaged in the arduous task of seeking justice from the government in the complex and all-important matter of the Kai Tahu Land Claim. Matiaha was ‘the first to take up the paper war with the Crown, and ... persisted with it for most of his life. Sadly he did not live to establish a printing press at Moeraki as he had hoped’. 6

Although the acceptance of Christianity had involved extensive and traumatic changes in religious belief and activity (most obviously the relinquishment of most atua, religious rituals, and tapu observances), it did not lead to a rejection of traditional history. Matiaha in particular had a high reputation as a genealogist which the missionaries, like everyone else, respected. In 1848, Matiaha provided Charles Creed with an important document on traditional cosmogony, which Creed preserved (and which has now been published). 7 It is significant too that Matiaha’s Christianity did not prevent him, after his father’s death, from having a relationship in the traditional way with his father’s wairua [spirit]. His father assumed the form of a whale, who became Matiaha’s friend and mentor. 8

The whare kura at Moeraki was conducted in a single-roomed weatherboard house known as O-mana-whare-tapu [The Place of the mana of the sacred house] a name that celebrated and asserted the mana and tapu of the institution of the whare kura. A former student recalled that ‘the teaching was largely Kai Tahu and comprised lines of descent from Raki [= the northern Rangi], the coming of the principal canoes and records of battles’; 9 the presence of Rawiri Te Maire and others of Waitaha and Kati Mamoe must, however, have ensured that their traditions were also taught. By

opening each session with a Christian karakia [prayer], the teachers combined the strengths of the Maori and the Christian traditions and placed their histories within a Christian framework. No paper was employed, and no one was allowed to enter or leave while teaching was in progress. As was traditional, one woman was associated with the whare kura and she alone brought food to those attending it. 10 As well as Matiaha and Rawiri, several others taught at O-mana-whare-tapu from time to time. One man who was sometimes in attendance, probably as a teacher, was Hipa Te Maiharoa (d. 1885/86) of Arowhenua. 11 Of the same generation as Matiaha, Hipa was of part-Waitaha descent and had received an intensive education in the traditions of Waitaha and Kati Mamoe. He too founded a school named Puawhero —at about this time. But while both men were distressed by their people’s poverty and ill health and vigorously protested the government’s injustice, they differed as to tactics. Despairing of legal debate and influenced by Hauhau doctrine, 12 Hipa by the early 1870 s had become a prophet and a miracle worker. Riding a white horse and surrounded by throngs of followers, he visited many Maori communities and preached a faith that combined elements of Christian and traditional Maori belief.

Then, in 1877, Hipa Te Maiharoa took direct action, leading a group of followers far up the Waitaki Valley to Omarama to occupy tussocklands which the southern Maori claimed not to have sold to the government. There they built a village, with a meeting house that was used for church services and community discussions; and Hipa named this building Te Waka ahua a Raki [The Semblance of Raki’s waka] after a waka which, in Waitaha tradition, ended up in the sky and became the source of important stars (see the account below). Two years later, when Hipa and his party were forced to withdraw from Omarama and settle on land at the Waitaki river mouth, 13 he again chose a religious name for his new meeting house. This time the house was named Matiti after the man who, immediately after the voyage of Te Waka ahua a Raki, journeyed to the skies to obtain certain other stars, then acquired the Uruao waka and presented it to Rakaihaitu (again, see below).

At Moeraki, meanwhile, Matiaha Tiramorehu and Rawiri Te Maire had parted company. Rawiri, who belonged to the same section of Waitaha as Hipa Te Maiharoa, accepted Hipa’s doctrines and followed him to Omarama, whereas Matiaha rejected this approach, saying that ‘if the people were strong enough they would occupy the disputed hinterland, but because they were not strong they would have to use other measures’. 14 Inevitably, this judgement proved correct.

The point here is, however, that despite their differences these three men had acted similarly in setting up schools to teach the young their traditional history. Hipa, with his own blend of Christian and traditional Maori belief, had obvious political uses for these traditions but only because his politics were inseparable from the values and knowledge that he most cared about. He was, for instance, a skilled astronomer who at night would make observations by placing sticks in the ground to record the positions of certain stars stars which in crucial ways structured people’s lives and

foretold their fortunes and in giving these two meeting houses names relating to the origins of the most important stars, he was associating the houses with the power the stars possessed and the knowledge they could communicate. Perhaps, in preChristian times, this power and knowledge would have been taken for granted; certainly it was usual then for houses to be named after more recent ancestors or events. Hipa now was asserting and celebrating the power of the stars and the events that led to their origin —just as Matiaha had given his whare kura a name that asserted its mana and tapu, rather than the more specific name that would once have been usual.

We cannot know the whole story, but these three men and many of their contemporaries obviously cared deeply about their traditional history, the intricate web of early events and whakapapa that explained the origins of the world and human beings: how could they not? Matiaha, we know, had never turned his back on the traditional history, and there is nothing to suggest that Hipa, Rawiri, or other rangatira of their generation had done so. The main reason for deciding at this time to pass on their knowledge in a formal context was surely that while these men had in their rather different ways maintained a synthesis of Christian and inherited tradition and belief, they were now growing old and they were aware that a new generation had grown up without a full knowledge of their people’s history. They must have wanted to teach it for its own sake, because of its importance. 15

Wi Pokuku, the writer of the document published here, studied with Matiaha Tiramorehu and Rawiri Te Maire at Moeraki and also with Hipa Te Maiharoa; he was remembered as having been ‘probably the man who learnt most’ from Hipa. 16 He became a strong supporter of Hipa and was among those who made the journey in 1877 to Omarama; two years later he moved with Hipa’s party to their new home at the mouth of the Waitaki River. Soon after this, in about 1880, he returned to Moeraki and taught traditional history there, continuing the work that had been undertaken by Matiaha Tiramorehu and Rawiri Te Maire. It was then that he wrote this account of Waitaha cosmogony, which must have formed a basis for much of his teaching of history and whakapapa. With some others, 17 Wi Pokuku continued to teach at Moeraki for many years, playing an important part in the oral transmission of tradition and also, it seems, making some use of writing in his teaching. We are told too that in the 1890 s several children living at Moeraki were sent to a nearby Pakeha school to learn to write so that they could record their elders’ knowledge while the opportunity was still there. 18 In such ways, much was saved for future generations.

The three waka In this document, Wi Pokuku is not concerned to give all the waka traditions known in the south. Instead, he records a sequence of three voyages that relate specifically

to the arrival in Te Wai Pounamu [the South Island] of the ancestors of Waitaha, the first people to inhabit that island, and to provisions that are made for their wellbeing. It is a short account but dense with meanings. In several ways these waka traditions differ from those recorded elsewhere. The waka and the people come in the first instance not from Hawaiki but from distant lands three are named which are located, it seems, in far places where the sea meets the edge of the sky; only in an appended note does the writer mention that the Uruao, the waka in which the humans finally arrive, visits Hawaiki on the way. And, although it is usual for waka in such traditions to arrive in Aotearoa bearing a remarkable cargo (which may include whales, birds, reptiles and insects, plants, gods, ritual objects, and other treasures), I do not think that there are any other waka traditions in which stars are brought in this way. Such voyages from Hawaiki (or from regions beyond) seem in some southern traditions to play a larger part in making the world ready for humans than they do in the north. Another instance of this: although leading men in northern waka traditions do often create remarkable landmarks (most notably the creation by Ngatoroirangi of volcanic fire in Ngauruhoe), in this southern story of the Uruao the systematic and large-scale creation of lakes by its captain, Rakaihaitu, has no close counterpart in the north. 14

First in Wi Pokuku’s account there comes Te Waka-huruhuru-manu [The Bird’sfeather waka], which he merely names. Herries Beattie remarks in a note that this ‘was the trial canoe of bird feathers’. Some said that when the ancestors were living in a large distant country and wished to leave it for other lands, they sent out Te Waka-huruhuru-manu to determine whether there was a space between the sky and sea through which a ship could pass; its voyage showed that this was so. Another authority believed that this waka ‘was a spirit [atua] canoe and there were only spirits on board’, and that these spirits had been responsible for bringing into existence Te Wai Pounamu [the South Island]. Before this time the ancestors of the Maori lived in a land far to the north: ‘There were no South Sea Islands then and no New Zealand’, and the ship ‘left that land to go over the sea and plant islands here and there’. 20 Here again we have a southern waka tradition in which the waka and its crew play an important part in shaping the world.

The second waka, Te Waka-a-Raki [Raki’s waka], comes closer than the first, making landfall in the part of Aotearoa most distant from Te Wai Pounamu (the far north of the North Island, the territory of the people of Te Aupouri). This is another preliminary expedition that does not bring humans to Te Wai Pounamu but in certain respects prepares the way. One authority, the son of Hipa Te Maiharoa, believed that the crew of this waka did leave descendants in the far north, and that they were fairies. 21 The same man went on to say that the waka did not return to its land of origin but ‘to show the people there it had arrived safely, and also to serve as a guide to future navigators, its likeness was placed in the sky and transformed into a group of stars’.

These stars control the seasons, bringing sometimes abundance and sometimes hardship. Now comes the Uruao, which was given by Tai-te-whenua to Matiti, then by Matiti to Rakaihaitu (it is common for ancestors who are about to make the voyage to Aotearoa to obtain their vessel and significant possessions from other persons). But Matiti first went up into the sky to visit a man named Tokopa and to obtain from him certain important stars. After the waka’s arrival, Rakaihaitu dug the lakes 22 while his son Te Rakihouia investigated the food resources on the eastern seaboard. Then ‘cabbage trees were planted, and femroof, and ‘birds and all things’ were established (these resources must have been brought on the Uruao).

As for the Uruao itself, ‘it did not return to the place from which it had come ... but instead its semblance was established upon the surface of the ocean’. Whereas Te Waka-a-Raki had gone up to the sky and become stars, the Uruao stayed on the water and became a storm. And this at first sight is confusing. Why should the men of Waitaha have believed that their ancestral waka now took the form of a storm, the thing they most dreaded encountering out at sea? But there is a logic here. Overtaken by a storm, the crew of a waka would be able to turn a potentially unmanageable situation into a manageable one by regarding this storm as the Uruao itself. They were now riding not a storm but the Uruao, and so were able to ensure their survival by performing the karakia that in the beginning had saved the first occupants of the Uruao. Since they were reliving this ancestral tradition, the outcome would necessarily be the same as it had been on that first occasion.

Ko te pukapuka whakaako kite korero tipuna na WFPokuku, Moeraki 1880

He putake tenei. Ko Waitaha, ko te wahi i haere mai ai ka waka me ka takata, ko Te Patu-nui-o-aio, ko Taepataka-o-te-raki. Ko Te Waka-huruhuru-manu te tuatahi. Muri atu, ko Te Waka-a-Raki; i a Te Moretu tenei waka e takoto ana. Ko Matahua, ko ka karakia tena o ruka i tena waka. Ko te kauhoe ko Te Tinitini-o-te-para-rakau. Ko te atua, ko Tukaitauru. Ko te toki nana i tukutuku mai te moana, ko Ka Paki-tua te ikoa o te toki.

Ka u taua waka ki Te Aupouri, ki tera motu, ka whakakitea tera motu kite takata. Kaore i hoki tenei waka, ekari i whakaahuatia kite raki. Koia ‘Te Waka ahua a Raki’, te waka a Tamarereti. No reira i hoatu ai ka whetu tohu o te tau mo ka tau kai, mo ka tau kore-kai; mo ka tau pai, moka tau kino. Na reira ko Autahi hei tohu mo te tau, ko Takurua hei titiro, ko Puaka hei tohu mo ka ika ote moana. Ka oti tenei waka kite raki.

Muri mai ko Uruao. Ka [a]hu ano a Matiti ki Te Tahitaha-o-te-raki, ki Te Patu-nui-o-aio, ki Taepataka-o-te-raki; ka [a]hu a Matiti ki Tautari-nui-o-Matariki, ki a Tokopa iaia ka whetu kino, ka whetu pai, ka whetu kai, ka whetu kore-kai ka tau kai,ka tau kore-kai,ka tau pai,ka tau kino. Ka riro mai a Wero-i-te-ninihi, a Wero-i-te-kokoto, a Wero-i-te-aumaria nei te ahuru nei, te mahana nei. Ko Uruao, na 23 Tai-te-whenua i tuku mai ki a Matiti, na Matiti i tuku mai ki a Rakaihaitu. Ka manu mai a Uruao, ka riro mai i kona ka takata a Waitaha, ka riro mai Te Kahui Tipua me Te Kahui Roko, ka riro mai a Toi me Rauru, ka riro mai i a Rakaihaitu te ko a Tuwhakaroria; ko Matua-a-rua te atua. 24

Ka haere tonu mai a Matiti, ka u mai ki tera motu, kua ki tera motu i te takata. Ka tika tonu mai a Rakaihaitu ki tenei motu; kaore he takata o tenei motu. Ko Rakaihaitu te takata nana i timata te ahi ki ruka ki tenei motu. Ka nohia tenei motu e Waitaha, katahi a Rakaihaitu ka haere ra waekanui o te motu nei haere ai, me ka takata; ka riro tonu tono 25 ko te roto-a-uta, te roto-a-tai: Takapo, Pukaki, Ohou, Hawea, Wanaka, Whakatipu-wai-maori, Whakatipu-wai-tai. Haere tonu: Te Anau, Waiau, tae noa atu kite mutuka mai ote moutere. Ka waiho ka kaitiaki i reira, ko Noti raua ko Nota.

Ka hoki mai [a] Rakaihaitu: Te Roto-nui-a-Whatu, kai Maranuku, Waihora, kai Taiari, Kaikarae, Wainono, Okahu, Te Aitarakihi, Waihora, Wairewa; i konei ka huaina te ikoa o taua ko, ko Tuhiraki. No reira ka whakatauki, ‘Ka puna karikari a Rakaihaitu’. ‘Ka poupou a Te Rakihouia’, mo ka pa hao, tuna, kanakana. Ka whakapepeha a Waitaha ki 26 ‘te hao te kai ate aitaka a Tapu-iti’. I reira, ka toua te 27 kauru, te aruhe, me ka manu, me ka mea katoa, ka tuturu tenei motu. Ko Rakaihaitu te takata, ko Te Rakihouia; ko Waitaha te hapu. E ai tona whakatauki o mua, tae noa mai ki tenei raki:

‘Ka puna karikari a Rakaihaitu’. ‘Ka poupou a Te Rakihouia’. ‘Ka pakihi whakatekateka a Waitaha’. Ko te waka, ko Uruao. Kaore i hoki kite wahi i haere mai ai, ki Te Patu-nui-o-aio, ki Tapaetaka-o-te-raki, ekari i whakaahuatia ketia ki ruka kite moana. No reira ka kaumatua i karakia ai i ka tere moana: 28

Puta-i-tua, Puta-i-waho, He putaka, he whai ao, he ao marama. Kati i konei. Tera atu ano ka karakia. Otira, me whakamarama i konei te ahua o ka waka e rua. Ka waka i haere mai i Te Patu-nui-o-aio, Taepataka-o-te-raki, ko Te Waka huruhuru-manu, ko Uruao. No

te uka mai ki Hawaiki ka waiho atu Te Kahui Roko, ka riro mai i a Uruao Te Kahui Tipua. I muri, ka manu mai ko Matatua. Katahi ka haere mai Te Puhi-matua, me Te Puhi-mau, me Te Puhi-haere; ka kiia ko Haere te karakia.

The document teaching the ancestral history written by WF Pokuku. Moeraki, 1880

This is an account of origins. As for Waitaha, the places from which the waka and the people came were Te Patu-nui-o-aio [The Great boundary of calm] and Taepataka-o-te-raki [The Place where the sky hangs down to the horizon]. The first waka was Te Waka-huruhuru-manu [The Bird’s-feather waka]. Afterwards cam zTe Waka-a-Raki [Raki’s waka], which had been lying in the care of Te Moretu. As for Matahua, that was the karakia on board this waka. 29 The crew were Te Tinitini-o-te-para-rakau [The great multitudes of the para-rakau] . 30 The god was Tukaitauru. The name of the adze that made the sea subside is Ka Paki-tua. 31 When this waka landed at Te Aupouri in the other island, 32 that island was revealed to people. This waka did not return; instead its likeness was transferred to the sky. This is the origin of Te Waka ahua a Raki [the semblance of Raki’s waka], Tamarereti’s waka. 33

From there the stars were given, the signs of the seasons seasons with food and seasons without, good seasons and bad seasons. So Autahi became the sign of the year, Takurua is there to be seen, 34 and Puaka became the sign for the fish in the ocean. 35 This ends the information about this waka in the sky. 36 Afterwards came the Uruao. Matiti went towards Te Tahitaha-o-te-raki [Lightly touching the sky’s side], Te Patu-nui-o-aio andTaepataka-o-te-raki. And Matiti went towards Tautari-nui-o-Matariki 37 and Tokopa —it was he who had the bad stars, the good stars, the stars without food, the stars with food, the seasons with food, the seasons without food, the good seasons and the bad ones. And he took away with him Wero-i-te-ninihi, Wero-i-te-kokoto and Wero-i-te-aumaria —the warmth, the warm weather. 38

As for the Uruao, Tai-te-whenua gave it to Matiti, then Matiti gave it to Rakaihaitu. The Uruao floated in this direction, and it was then that the people of Waitaha were brought here. Te Kahui Tipua and Te Kahui Roko were brought as well, 39 and Toi and Rauru, 40 and Rakaihaitu brought Tuwhakaroria’s ko. 41 Matua-a-rua was the god. Matiti kept coming in this direction, and the waka landed at the other island. But that island was full of people, so Rakaihaitu went straight on to this island. There were no people in this island. Rakaihaitu was the man who first lit a fire on this island. 42 When this island was inhabited by Waitaha, Rakaihaitu set off with some companions through the interior of the island, and [with his ko he dug] the lakes in the interior and the lakes by the sea: Takapo, 43 Pukaki, Ohou, 44 Hawea, Wanaka, Fresh-water-Whakatipu 45 and Salt-water-Whakatipu. 46 Then he went straight on to

Te Anau and Waiau, 47 all the way to the end of the island. There he left guardians, Noti and Nota. Then Rakaihaitu returned by way of Te Roto-nui-a-Whatu, 48 Maranuku, 49 Waihora, 50 Taiari, 51 Kaikarae, 52 Wainono, 53 Okahu, Te Aitarakihi, 54 Waihora, 55 and Wairewa; 56 there he pronounced the name of his ko to be Tuhiraki. 57 That is why people repeat this saying: ‘The pools dug out by Rakaihaitu’. 58 As for ‘Te Rakihouia’s upright posts’, this saying relates to the weirs that catch mud eels, eels and lamprey. Hence Waitaha’s proud saying that ‘mud eels are the food of the descendants of Tapu-iti’. 59 Then cabbage trees were planted, and femroot, and the birds and all things; this island was established permanently. Rakaihaitu was the man, and Te Rakihouia, and Waitaha were the iwi. From the early times and right down to the present day, the sayings about them are:

‘The pools dug by Rakaihaitu’. ‘Te Rakihouia’s upright posts’. ‘The plains where Waitaha walked proudly along’. 60 The waka was the Uruao. It did not return to the place from which it had come to Te Patu-nui-o-aio and Tapaetaka-o-te-raki but instead its semblance was established upon the surface of the ocean. 61 That is why the elders recited this karakia on ocean voyages: 62

Go through to the far side, go through beyond. We’re going through, gaining the world, the world of light. I will stop at this point. There are many other karakia as well. 63 But I must explain the nature of these two waka. The waka that came here from Te Patu-nui-o-aio and Taepataka-o-te-raki were Te Waka-huruhuru-manu and the Uruao. When it landed at Hawaiki, Te Kahui Roko were left there and the Uruao brought Te Kahui Tipua here with them. Afterwards Matatua floated towards us. So then Te Puhi-matua came here, with Te Puhi-mau and Te Puhi-haere; 64 it is said that Haere was the karakia.

Bibliography Beattie, J. Herries, Our Southernmost Maoris (Dunedin, 1954) Beattie, J. Herries, Traditional Lifeways of the Southern Maori, ed. by Atholl Anderson (Dunedin, 1994) Beattie, J. Herries, ‘Traditions and Legends: Collected from the Natives of Murihiku’, a series of articles in 14 issues of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, 24 (1915) —31 (1922), passim.

Dacker, Bill, Te Mamae mete Aroha: The Pain and the Love. A History of Kai Tahu Whanui in Otago, 1844-1994 (Dunedin, 1994) Dryden, Mary, ‘Waka-a-Rangi by Herewini Ira’, Te Karanga 5, no. 2 (1989), 9-10 Mikaere, Buddy, Te Maiharoa and the Promised Land (Auckland, 1988) Orbell, Margaret, Hawaiki: A New Approach to Maori Tradition, rev. ed. (Christchurch, 1991)

Orbell, Margaret, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend (Christchurch, 1995) Taylor, W. A., Lore and History of the South Island Maori (Christchurch, 1952) Te Maiharoa, Tare, Folklore and Fairy Tales of the Canterbury Maoris. Told by Taare te Maiharoa to Maud Goodenough Hay ter (Mrs. T. Moses), ed. by Herries Beattie (Dunedin, 1957)

Te Tari Taiwhenua / Department of Internal Affairs, Nga Tangata Taumata Rau, 1769-1869 (Wellington, 1990) Tikao, Teone Tare, Tikao Talks: Traditions and Tales Told by Teone Taare Tikao to Herries Beattie (Dunedin, 1939) Tiramorehu, Matiaha, Te Waiatatanga mai o teAtua, ed. by Manu van Ballekom and Ray Harlow (Christchurch, 1987) Williams, Herbert W., A Dictionary of the Maori Language, 7th ed. (Wellington, 1971)

Correction: In Harry Evison’s article ‘The Wentworth-Jones Deeds of 15 February 1840’ in the Turnbull Library Record 28 (1995), 43-60, Figures 1 (left) and 6 (left) were inadvertently transposed. We wish to apologise for this error.

Turnbull Library Record 29 (1996), 7-24

References 1. Hemes Beattie’s transcription is entitled ‘Tradition of Southland’. While Beattie had only a limited knowledge of Maori, his transcript is generally reliable and the meaning is always clear. Beattie tells us (see Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’, viii, 83) that it was on Stewart Island that he ‘was shown a note-book that had belonged to Wi Pokuku, at Moeraki in 1880’, and that ‘it contained the longest account of the ancient canoes that the collector has yet seen’. He

published a partial translation which contains some inaccuracies and lacks the Maori text (Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 83-85). In the edited Maori text given here, an underlined letter kis equivalent to the letters ng in North Island Maori. Note: see the Bibliography for full references to works cited here. 2. Hawaiki and these other distant islands are, in a religious sense, the source of fertility and mana. For a discussion of these migration traditions, see Orbell, Hawaiki. In a few traditions, notably those relating to Toi, the earliest ancestors in a region were believed to have lived always in Aotearoa (rather than having come from Hawaiki, or some other distant land across the ocean). 3. Nor was there a problem with the Pakeha missionaries, who generally considered most if not all of the traditions (apart from that of Rangi and Papa) to be basically historical in origin, even if ‘encrusted with myth’. Not understanding the religious character of these narratives, the missionaries saw no conflict with Christian belief. They were wise to come to this conclusion, as it would in any case have been quite impossible for the Maori to have rejected their history. Their past was part of their present and could not have been abandoned. 4. Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’,vn, 74-75. As Beattie indicates, the terms and their meanings varied considerably. The word ‘tohuka’ is equivalent to the northern term ‘tohunga’ and refers to an expert, especially one with sacred knowledge. 5. It is considered that Waitaha arrived first in the South Island and that they were followed by Kati Mamoe, then Kai Tahu. There has been extensive intermarriage amongst these peoples, especially the first two.

6. Dacker, Te Mamae mete Aroha, p. 68. 7. Tiramorehu, Te Waiatatanga mai ote Atua. See also Tiramorehu’s biography in Nga Tangata Taumata Rau, pp. 349-52. 8. Dacker, p. 68, tells us that ‘called Karaki after his father, who had also been a famous tohuka, the whale was a friend and mentor’. But clearly this whale was identified with Karaki, not just called after him. 9. Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 98. Beattie’s informant was Tare Te Maiharoa, son of Hipa Te Maiharoa. Since Rawiri Te Maire was a teacher as well as Matiaha Tiramorehu, some Waitaha and Kati Mamoe traditions must also have been taught. 10. Dacker, p. 54.

11. Hipa Te Maiharoa’s eldest son, Tare Te Maiharoa, later told Herries Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 93) that ‘the meetings at Moeraki in 1868 did not strictly speaking constitute a whare kura, although a lot of history was taught at them’. In saying this, he may have been thinking of the Christian prayer that opened each session; but while the school was transitional in nature, it seems to have been widely referred to as a whare kura. 12. A visiting tohunga from the north, Piripi Te Kohe, travelled through much of Canterbury in 1866 and strongly influenced Hipa Te Maiharoa (Mikaere, Te Maiharoa, pp. 39-52). The Kaingarara cult, of which Piripi was an adherent, had evolved in Taranaki in the 1850 s because so many Maori people were dying of previously unknown diseases. These deaths were believed to be due to the fact that most Maori were no longer able to cope with tapu and were unknowingly intruding upon tapu places; in response to this situation, the Kaingarara tohunga gave communities confidence by ritually removing the tapu from sacred places where the indwelling spirits had become hostile to humans. The Kaingarara faith by this time must have been broadly similar to the Hauhau faith.

13. For Te Maiharoa, see Mikaere. 14. Dacker, p. 54. 15. A rather different interpretation, in the case of Matiaha and Rawiri, is put forward by Bill Dacker (pp. 52-54), who links the opening of the whare kura at Moeraki with the visit a couple of years before of Piripi Te Kohe. Although there may have been some indirect connection, the transmission of traditions such as that recorded by Wi Pokuku could not have been, as Dacker maintains, associated with an attempt by Matiaha and Rawiri ‘to free their wahi tapu and traditions

from the mana ... of the old gods’. The opening recital of a Christian karakia does not imply, exactly, that the traditions were to be kept ‘alive through the mana of Jehovah’. Within the framework of the synthesis of Christian and Maori tradition, the Maori traditions retained their mana. 16. Hipa’s son Tare made this comment. See Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 93. 17. Dacker (p. 91) names Herewini Ira as a fellow teacher. For a short account by Herewini Ira of Waka-a-Rangi [= Waka-a-Raki], see Dryden, ‘Waka-a-Rangi by Herewini Ira’. 18. Dacker, p. 91. Dacker’s book is a rich source of information on the social, political, and religious history of the Maori people of Otago during the last 150 years. 19. There is also the tradition of the Araiteuru waka, which was wrecked near Moeraki: the spherical boulders on the Moeraki beach are the petrified kumara and other possessions abandoned by the crew, while the crew themselves turned into hills and mountains and so left no descendants. Again, it is the scale of the phenomenon in the south that is unusual: a great many mountains were believed to have come into existence on this occasion. 20. For all these beliefs, see Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’, i, 6-7.

21. That is, patupaiarehe or perhaps turehu. Tare Te Maiharoa, talking to Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 87). 22. In fact, most of the lakes named were dug by glaciers. It was apparent that they had been dug by some agency, so it was quite reasonable to attribute this to the leader of the first group of humans to arrive in the land. 23. At this point Beattie mistranscribed na as nai. This has been corrected. 24. The present manuscript has Matuarua, but Matua-a-rua is the form given by Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 80-81) in publishing another version of the story. 25. There is an error at this point in Beattie’s transcription, but the general meaning is clear. His interlinear translation reads, ‘He started to go through the middle of the island with his men & took his spade to dig both inland lakes & lakes near the sea’. 26. Beattie has Waitaka, an obvious slip. The word that follows is probably a mistranscription of ko. 27. At this point Beattie mistranscribed te as ke.

28. Beattie’s interlinear translation, based upon information he was being given, at this point includes an explanation which is not in the Maori text: ‘The old men used to repeat the prayer that brought it over the sea’. 29. The meaning must be that this was the karakia that made possible a successful voyage; compare another version given in translation by Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vra, 80-81). 30. Matiaha Tiramorehu (pp. 20, 42) has Te Tinitini-o-te-para-rakau as the atua [spirits] who at first prevent Rata from felling a tree, then later come to his assistance and swiftly adze the vessel for him. Te Tinitini-o-te-para-rakau were associated with the myth of Rata by another of Beattie’s informants; see Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 82. 31. Matiaha Tiramorehu (pp. 19, 42) has Nga Paki-tua as the name of the adze which Kahue gives Rata to enable him to adze a waka in which he can sail to revenge his father. This is an appropriate role for Kahue because he is the guardian of greenstone, and the blade of the adze itself was no doubt regarded as being of greenstone. 32. The North Island.

33. In many traditions, in the North Island as well, ‘Tamarereti’s waka’ [Te Waka a Tamarereti] is the name given to a conspicuous group of stars. These stars vary somewhat in different accounts; see Orbell, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend, p. 176. Perhaps here the waka includes the three stars named: Autahi, Takurua, and Puaka. 34. Autahi is Canopus and Takurua is usually the name given to Sirius. Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ..vrn, 154) tells us that Takurua was the ‘pointer’ for the star Autahi. It appears, then, that its rising in the east showed that Autahi would soon appear. 35. Puaka, or Puanga, is Rigel in the constellation of Orion. In the South Island, its rising in the east

in mid-June (or else the first new moon that occurred after this event) marked the start of the new year. 36. At this point in the manuscript, Beattie notes that ‘This relates to the first canoe of the Maoris. Wakahuruhurumanu was the trial canoe of bird feathers. Te-waka-a-rangi [.v/c] was the first wooden canoe. I have genealogy in which Te Moretu is mentioned & it is away in mythical times after creation. Tamarereti had something to do with that canoe but my informant does not know what. Asking after “Uruao” I was told that was not the name of the first canoe but of the first storm & hence squalls at sea are still called “Uruao” ’. 37. Matiti first goes to the edge of the sky, then up into the sky. Matariki are the Pleiades, and the word tautari is defined by Williams as ‘upright rod in the wall of a ... house, supporting the small battens to which the reeds of the tukutuku lattice are fastened’. Beattie explains in a note that ‘Matiti went to the portion of the sky ruled over by Matariki’, and this, in view of Williams’ information, suggests that the term tautari is here applied metaphorically to a region in the sky. Tautari-nui-o-Matariki might then be interpreted as ‘Great wall-rod of Matariki’.

38. That is, Matiti took them from Tokopa, in whose possession these stars had been. The three stars mentioned here are unidentified. Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vn, 75) quotes from another southern account the information that Wero-i-te-ninihi and Wero-i-te-tokota are the stars denoting winter (Wero-i-te-tokota and Wero-i-te-kokoto may be different versions of the same name, or we may have here another of Beattie’s mistranscriptions). Elsewhere, Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ...’, vm, 80-81) quotes another informant as describing these two stars as propitious; he also tells us (‘Traditions and Legends ... ’, vm, 87) that Wero-i-te-ninihi was one of the stars that Flipa Te Maiharoa used to observe at night. Wi Pokuku tells us here that the star Wero-i-te-aumaria brings the warm weather. This fits its name, for the word aumaria is a variant of aumarie, meaning ‘peace, calm’. 39. Te Kahui Tipua [The Group of supernatural beings] were a race of giants with magical powers; see Te Maiharoa, Folklore and Fairy Tales of the Canterbury Maoris, p. 6 (where, however, they are said to have walked across the sea to Aotearoa). Later in the present account, we learn that ‘when it landed at Hawaiki, Te Kahui Roko were left there’. This happens because Te Kahui Roko are the kumara, and are to be brought from Hawaiki to Aotearoa on another occasion. Compare Beattie, ‘Traditions and Legends 11.

40. The early ancestor Toi, along with his son Rauru, appears in numerous traditions as being the first inhabitant (or one of the first) in the country; see Orbell, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend , p. 220. Matiaha Tiramorehu (pp. 2, 24) has Toi and Rauru among the many offspring of Raki and Papatuanuku. 41. This is no ordinary ko (or digging stick), as becomes apparent. It is common in traditions telling of migrations from Hawaiki for ancestors who are about to make the voyage to Aotearoa to first obtain significant possessions from other persons. 42. That is, who lit a domestic fire, an act signifying that he was taking possession of the place. Fire here represents human energy. 43. Now usually known as Lake Tekapo. 44. Now usually known as Lake Ohau.

45. Beattie gives the English name as Lake Wakatipu. 46. Beattie gives the English name as Lake McKerrow. This lake in South Westland is near the coast (hence ‘salt-water-Whakatipu’) and flows into Martins Bay. 47. Fed by the waters of Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri, the Waiau River flows southward to Foveaux Strait. Rakaihaitu may have been believed to have dug out the river mouth. Perhaps, however, the point is simply that Rakaihaitu went as far as he could before he returned. 48. In a published commentary, Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends ... vm, 84) tells us that this is ‘now called Lake Tuakitoto by the white people it is near Kaitangata township’. 49. Beattie identifies this as ‘the mouth of the Clutha’. I do not understand the word kai in the Maori

text at this point. Does it indicate the mouth of the river? 50. Now usually known as Lake Waihola. 51. Beattie identifies this as‘the Taieri’. This is the region around the Taieri River. Does the word kai indicate the Taieri Mouth? 52. Beattie ( Our Southernmost Maoris, p. 138) identifies this as the proper version of Kaikorai or Kaikarai. The name Kaikorai now belongs to a stream which flows into the sea via an estuary just south of Dunedin, and has lent its name to a Dunedin suburb. 53. Wainono Lagoon is on the coast south of Timaru. 54. Te Aitarakihi is described by Taylor ( Lore and History of the South Island Maori, p. 94) as in the Timaru district, at ‘the commencement of the Ninety Mile Beach’. Rakaihaitu may be simply regarded as having passed through this place, rather than having dug a lake there. 55. The English name for this is Lake Ellesmere. 56. The English name for this is Lake Forsyth. 57. The ko, or digging stick, is now a peak named Tuhiraki, near Wairewa (Lake Forsyth). Its English name is Mount Bossu. 58. This saying celebrates the existence of the lakes created by Rakaihaitu. 59. Te Rakihouia is Rakaihaitu’s son. While Rakaihaitu has been making his way south through the interior, Te Rakihouia has sailed southward along the coast investigating the rich seafood resources in the region. At a certain point he studied the migratory habits of eel and lamprey, and built weirs at the river mouths; these are the weirs referred to here. Beattie identifies Tapu-iti as the wife of Te Rakihouia.

60. Beattie identifies this as the ‘correct name of [the] Canterbury Plains’. 61. Beattie (‘Traditions and Legends vm, 160) explains that ‘to this day in Murihiku (Southland) a squall at sea is called uruao\ 62. In his interlinear translation, which is based upon information he was given, Beattie at this point includes an explanation not in the Maori text: ‘The old men used to repeat the prayer that brought it over the sea’. This makes explicit the fact that it was the recital of this karakia during the voyage of the Uruao which brought the vessel safely to land. It also makes it clear that when in reality this karakia was recited by men in a waka out on the ocean, they did so because of the great mana that the karakia possessed as a consequence of its use on this first occasion. 63. At this point in his transcription Beattie notes, ‘here follows genealogy’. Unfortunately he did not copy out this whakapapa but went straight on to WT Pokuku’s explanatory note that followed. 64. This waka the Matatua is probably the Mataatua, a waka well known in North Island migration traditions; if so, we have here a different tradition about it. In his translation, which is based upon information he was given, Beattie at this point writes about ‘tribes called’ Te Puhi-matua, Te Puhimau, and Te Puhi-haere.