Mou ki tapu kaha nui o Tangaroa, Mou ki tenei waka, Mou ki tenei tauira, Ko koe te waka tauiratia, Ana mai e koe te kaha, Tane Tangaroa te w[h]anatu, Taku kaha nei ki w[h]are pouri o Tangaroa, i tai, Te homai, Te herea, Te notia, Te nota, Te w[h]akamaua ki tenei kaha, Te w[h]anatu taku kaha nei, Ki w[h]are huakina o Tangaroa i tai, Te homai te herea te w[h]akamaua, Ki tenei kaha, Tena te kaha ka wiwi, Tena te kaha ka rawe, Tena to kaha ka mou, Mou ki mua waka, Mou ki roto waka, Ko koe te waka tauiratia ana mai, E koe te kaha Tane Tangaroa, E rarawe taku ure ngaua. Sustained by the great sacred strength of Tangaroa. You the canoe are made strong, The strength of Tane, the strength of Tangaroa is mine. Whose is this strength? The strength of Tama Titoko. This is the strength achieved, This is the strength obtained, This is the lasting strength, This current flows steadily, Moving evenly before the canoe, Moving evenly on the one side, Moving evenly on the other side, Sustained by the great sacred strength of Tangaroa, Making strong this canoe, Making strong this spell. You the canoe are made strong, You have absorbed this strength. Tane and Tangaroa drive the canoe along, From them comes my strength in the deep house of the sea, Tangaroa. From the sea the giving, From the sea the captives on the lines, From the sea the lines pulled tight, From the sea the catch on the knotted lines, The sustaining of my strength, The growing of my strength, That I may come to the house of Tangaroa the sea and find it open. From the sea the giving, the captives on the lines, the holding firm, By these words of strength. This is the strength achieved, This is the strength obtained, This is your lasting strength, Moving evenly before the canoe, Moving evenly at its sides, You the canoe are made strong, Yours is the strength of Tane and Tangaroa, Many fish are biting at my hook. Before the fishing began, the tohunga stood up, stretched out his arms, and recited this chant. The canoe, made from a tree, belonged to Tane. There was war between Tane and Tangaroa, the land and the sea. In this chant, the tohunga is trying to make Tangaroa co-operate with Tane (the canoe), and give them good weather and plenty of fish. On their return to land, the tohunga recited the chant on the next page as thanks to the gods for the fish they had caught. (For reasons of space, some of the place-names have been omitted from the translation). ‘Au’, in the last lines, means both a current in the sea, and the smoke of Tane; that is, the wood in the oven in which the fish is being cooked. The word ‘nota’ is not in any Maori dictionary; it seems likely to be related to Sanskrit ‘naddha’, a knot. There are several obscure words in the Maori; another is ‘karawhe’, which is probably a mis-hearing of ‘karewa’, to swirl.—A.S.