CHAPTER II: THE HISTORY OF THE NGATIAWA TRIBE.
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CHAPTER II.
THE HISTORY OF THE NGATIAWA TRIBE.
ACCORDING to the tradition of the tribes the ancestors of the Maoris came to New Zealand in several successive migrations.
The first canoe that reached this country was named Matahourua, and was commanded by a chief named Kupe, who took possession of the country by naming all the mountains and rivers from Wanganui to Patea. The next canoe that arrived was called Aotea, and was commanded by the chief Turi, who gave names to all the rivers and mountains from Patea to Aotea. Some of these names are poetical, most are expressive, some are gross, and of some the meaning is obscure. Taranaki, the name given to the great mountain, is derived from tara, a peak or prominence, and naki probably from ngaki, clear from vegetation, signifying the barren or treeless mountain. It was customary in old times for the distant tribes to call this mountain Pukehaupapa, which is a common appellation for a snow clad mountain like Mount Taranaki. Waitara, one of the most considerable rivers in the Taranaki district, signifies mountain stream. Te Henui, another river, signifies the great sin. Huatoki, fruitful in worms. Tapuae, the echo of footsteps. Oakura, the spot where the sun lingers. Among the rocks and capes---Paritutu, the great sugarloaf rock, signifies the rising precipice; Moturoa, the tall Island; Motumahanga, the twin island; Ngamotu, the islands, and Omata, near to the headland or cape.
According to Mr. John White the ancestors of the Ngatiawa came to New Zealand in a canoe named Tokomaru, commanded by the chief Manaia, who having murdered a number of men who were working for him felt himself under the necessity of seeking fresh fields. Manaia made the land in the vicinity of the Bay of Islands, and coasting along he doubled the North Cape, stretched along the bight of the West Coast and eventually entered the Waitara river where he took up his abode. From this latter circumstance the tribe took its name Ngatiawa, signifying the tribe of the river. Manaia found the district occupied by a tribe called Ngatimokotorea of whom he had not previously heard. They were not a warlike race and were easily overcome by the new arrivals. Manaia killed many of them, others escaped, and a portion of them intermingled with the conquerors. Tradition assigns Ngapuketurua as the most ancient settlement of the Ngatiawa. This place is situated on the west bank of the Waiongona river among a number of singular volcanic hills, and has been more recently called Mahoetahi, or the grove of mahoe trees. This spot seems to have been chosen for the large extent of good land in its vicinity, and from the facility it afforded for forming a number of fortified villages. The Ngatiawa are said to have been
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in old times a very restless race, and of all the tribes in New Zealand they were the most numerous and powerful. They are now located in the north end of the North Island, in the Bay of Plenty, at Taranaki, on both shores of Cook Strait, and at the Chatham Islands. They migrated first to the Bay of Plenty, and after a brief stay there went up the East Coast to the Thames, and ultimately to the North Cape. In the course of their wanderings they drove the tribes out of each district which they visited. They overran all the Ngapuhi district in the north, and were the cause of that portion of the Ngatiwhatua, who were located at the North Cape, coming south and joining the main body at Kaipara, and having by force of numbers taken all the land on the west coast to the north of Wangarei, they claimed it as their rightful property, not only by the law of might, but also because of having buried their dead in the sacred places of the tribes of the land. For they had, according to the native law, proved the power of their own heathen customs relative to the dead to be superior to that of the tribes into whose territory they had come. There is a small river to the north of Hokianga called Wangape, near to which H.M. sloop of war Osprey was wrecked. In the neighbourhood of this stream there is an old repository of bones which are, it is said, the remains of the people of the Ngatiawa tribe. The native laws relative to the burial of the dead are very strict. It is supposed that to bury the dead of an inferior tribe in the same place where the superior chiefs are interred without the consent of the relatives of these chiefs would cause the gods of the superior chiefs to destroy the tribe of the relatives of the inferior persons so buried. Hence, the circumstance of the Ngatiawa having buried their dead in utter disregard of such consent proved their undisputed right to the district, not only by the law of force, but also by that of superior rank. The restless disposition of the Ngatiawa led them again to the south, and in this migration the tribe divided, part going by the West Coast, and part by the East Coast. The chief of the West Coast party took with him a tame lizard. The Maoris are not more in fear of any known thing than of a lizard, and this tame one became the passport of the Ngatiawa from Hokianga to Taranaki. Being in the midst of enemies, and reduced in numbers by the division of the tribe, they had to travel circumspectly. The East Coast party went by water and landed at the Bay of Plenty, taking possession of the district they still retain. The West Coast party settled at the home of their ancestors on the banks of the Waitara river and in the neighborhood thereof, where they remained till many of the tribe were induced to go to the south to assist the great chief of Kawhia, the renowned Rauparaha, in his exterminating wars. Quarrelling with that chief, the Ngatimutunga hapu fled from Wellington in the English brig Rodney in 1836 to the Chatham Islands, where they destroyed a great number of the Morioris and enslaved the rest. In 1870, having sold their possessions in the islands to Europeans, many of them returned to Taranaki and were located north of the Urenui,
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where they rapidly decreased in numbers and are now nearly extinct. Taranaki was originally the name of the district inhabited by the Taranaki tribe south of the Sugarloaves, and Tokomaru the name of that extending from the Sugarloaves to the White Cliffs; but the whole district lying round the mountain is called by the Europeans Taranaki. The hapus of the Ngatiawa in the district settled as follows:--Atiawa at the White Cliffs, Pukerangiora near the junction of the Waitara and Manganui rivers, Ngatimarua, Ngatimutunga, and Ngatirahiri north of the Waitara; Ngatimaru on the Waitara, considerably inland and to the east of the mountain; Puketapu south of the Waitara on the mount in Puketapu Bay, where in old times the crimson veronica flourished, and Ngamotu at the Sugarloaves, a spot attractive by reason of the excellent fishery afforded around the basis of the islands and the fastnesses of the rocky pinnacles.
Maori antiquities abound in the shape of old forts and pits, and stone axes. The Ngamotu pa was until very recently in existence. The ruins of a very strong pa were observable before the war on the top of Marsland Hill in New Plymouth. The name of this stronghold was Pukaka. The ruins of a very strong pa near the North Head of the Waiwakaiho River are still observable. The intrenchments around it are equal to European military works. This pa was called the Rewarewa. It is said to have been constructed to withstand an assault of the Taranaki tribe during some intertribal quarrel, and that it was garrisoned by 2000 men. A few Maoris resided at this pa when some of the early settlers arrived, but it has been deserted for many years. The mount opposite to the landing place at New Plymouth was called Pukeariki, or the hill of chiefs, on account of its being the burial place of some of the principal chiefs of the district. It was held sacred by the natives for many years after the arrival of the Europeans, but is now doomed by the Harbor Board to be levelled in order that it may form part of the town.
