Tapa-kakahu and his Fish-hook translated by Margaret Orbell This story was written by Timi Wata Rimini and given by him to George Davies, who published it in 1891 in the Journal of the Polynesian Society (vol. X, pp. 188–9). The text was heavily edited, with explanations added and the last sentence omitted. Some expressions were altered; for example, the editor objected to puihi, the transliteration of ‘bush’, and pīki, the transliteration of ‘big’. The text published here is from the original manuscript, which is in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington (Alexander Turnbull's Scrapbook, p. 58). After the story there is a comment written in another hand: ‘Tiimi says that Motu river is the puna or source of all kahawai, they ascend a long way up the river to a tupua or rock where they breed.’ Timi Wata Rimini wrote another account, also published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society (vol. X, pp. 183–7), in which he described how Te Whanau-a-Apanui each year caught great quantities of kahawai at the Motu river. He also related the myth of Pou and Tangaroa that was associated with this event. The Motu river is still a very good place to catch kahawai, and every year people gather there for this purpose. Maraenui, at the mouth of the Motu river, is about 29 miles from Opotiki. Tapakakahu was out fishing a few miles to the east of Opotiki. So according to the story, he ran about 20 miles. Hooks faced with paua shell were used in trolling for kahawai. Eldson Best tells us that occasionally, these hooks were made of greenstone (Fishing Methods and Devices of the Maori, p. 30). Te Rironga o te Paua a Tapa- kakahu i te Kahawai na Timi Wata Rimini Pērātia ake, ka noho tērā tangata, a Tapa-kākahu, i tōna kāinga puihi i Waiaua, i te taha whakauta o Opōtiki. Ka mate taua māia rā i te hiakai ika, ka tae ki tāna pāua pounamu, ka hoe ki te moana, ka whiua tāna pāua ki te wai. I runga anō e haere ana, ka hopukia e te kahawai. A, nō ka tata pū ki te ngahuru āna ika, ka kawea rāpea e te pārekareka, ēhara, ka riro i te pīki kahawai tāna pāua. Ka pōuri te māia nei ki tāna pāua, he oha hoki nā ōna tūpuna. Ka hoki ki uta, ka tae ki te kākahu waero, hīpokina iho ki runga i a ia. Ka haere te māia nei ki te whai i te tere kahawai rā; ko te tere kahawai rā ki waho i te moana haere ai, ko te māia rā ki uta oma haere ai, me te oma, [m]e te karakia haere. Kua mōhio hoki te māia nei, e ahu ana te tere kahawai rā ki Mōtū, koirā hoki te How Tapa-kakahu's Fish-hook was Taken by a Kahawai by Timi Wata Rimini Once upon a time there was a man named Tapa-kakahu who lived at his home in the bush at Waiaua, inland from Opotiki. One day he wanted some fish to eat, so he took his greenstone fish-hook inlaid with paua, paddled out to sea, and threw the hook into the water. While it was still above the water, the kahawai rose to take it. Then when he had as many as ten fish, and was highly delighted, a big kahawai suddenly carried off the fish-hook! Our hero was very upset at this, for the hook was an ancestral heirloom. He went back to the shore and put on his dogs'-tail cloak. Then he started following the shoal of kahawai. They swam along out at sea and he ran along the shore, reciting incantations as he went. He thought that the shoal must be making for the Motu river, for that is the