1856 - Shortland, Edward. Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders - CHAPTER I

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TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS
OF THE
NEW ZEALANDERS.

CHAPTER I.

THE traditions of the New Zealanders may be distinguished under three classes. The first class, comprising such as relate to the origin of the world and of man, have an intimate connexion with their superstitious belief and practices, and were held so sacred that even after Christianity had weakened the dread of trespassing on sacred subjects, those best instructed had a great objection to communicate their knowledge to foreigners. We next meet with a variety of traditions respecting certain heroes, or demigods, who lived in very remote ages. As far as I am aware, these traditions are not considered sacred or worthy of credit; indeed, they are commonly called korero tara, meaning fables. The third class of traditions date from the age of the migration to New Zealand, or from times subsequent

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to that epoch. These, on the contrary, are looked on by the natives themselves--that is to say, by all to whose ancestors they respectively relate--as tales founded on facts, however disfigured they may be by the marvellous. It is to traditions of the last description that we have to trust for any history of this people.

We learn on such authority that the ancestors of the present race came from a distant island named Hawaiki, lying in a northerly or northeasterly direction from New Zealand, or from a group of islands, one of which bore that name. Of any other sources which may have contributed to the colonization of New Zealand, no record has been found to exist among its native inhabitants; while they generally acknowledge, as a fact not to be disputed, the migration from Hawaiki. The causes which led to the abandonment of Hawaiki are variously related; but the most probable tale is, that a civil war having broke out among their ancestors, the weaker party determined to seek a new country, and embarked in several canoes, some of which after a long voyage reached the coast of New Zealand. The two most celebrated of these canoes, named Tainui and Te Arawa, made the land a short distance north of Waitemata, the harbour on which Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, is situated; and a sperm-whale, paraoa, being discovered stranded on the

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beach the place obtained the name of Wangaparaoa, or Whale-port, from that circumstance. A third canoe, called Te Mata-atua, made the land at Wakatane, a small bar river in the Bay of Plenty. And besides these, several other canoes, the names of which are also recorded, are said to have touched at different parts of the coast. All these, however, appear to have belonged either to the same migration, or to successive migrations of nearly the same date.

From an examination of the traditions relating to these events it will be observed, that the principal tribal divisions now found to exist are traceable to an origin in the crews of the different canoes which first arrived in New Zealand. As might be expected, the traditions met with in different districts vary in some points, even when professedly giving a history of the same events; but not to such a degree as to damage the credibility of the main facts, after omitting the fanciful and supernatural embellishments by which they are frequently disguised. The reader, however, will be able to form his own opinion of their historical value from some, which are translated at length in this chapter.

The following tradition, respecting Tainui, is translated from a manuscript 1 written by Ngapora,

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the living representative of one of the crew of that canoe, and a near relative of Te Whero-whero, who is perhaps the greatest chief now living in New Zealand. After stating that he learned the traditions of his tribe from an old man named Papa, his uncle, Ngapora thus proceeds with his narrative:--

TRADITION RESPECTING TAINUI.

"The first canoes which set sail for New Zealand were Te Arawa, Kurawhaupo, and Mata-atua. According to Papa's account, when these three canoes sailed, a chief named Rata, who was very skilful in canoe-building, was left behind with all his division of the tribe. As to the place whence they sailed, Papa did not know whether it was Hawaiki, or some other island.

"Rata, being left behind, determined to build a canoe for his own party. He therefore went one morning to look for a tree fit for his purpose; and having found one, he returned home and lay down to sleep. At dawn the next day, he took his stone axe and went off to cut down the tree; and after a good deal of labour the tree fell. At that instant two little birds made their appearance; one of them was a bird called popokotea, the other a pihi-pihi. This was a bad omen, owing to some error in the manner Rata had set about his work; however, he returned home without much thought about it, and lay down to sleep as usual.

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"Early the next morning, Rata set off again to work on his canoe; but he no sooner reached the spot where he had left it than he beheld the tree standing upright just as he first found it. So he went home and told his sister how he had found the tree, which he had cut down the day before, standing upright in its old place.

"'In what way did you cut down the tree?' inquired the sister.

"'Why, as soon as I arrived at the place where it grew,' replied Rata, 'I began to chop at its trunk; and after I had felled it, and cut off the top, I returned home.' He also told her how he had seen the two birds.

"'You went the wrong way to work,' said his sister. 'When you go again, you had better rub your axe on me. 2 First, mind to sharpen it well; and then, as soon as you reach the place, touch me with it, and set to work to fell the tree. Remember also, when the tree falls to the ground, to throw on its butt end some bows of the fern called panako.'

"This practice still prevails to the present day; fern root being employed to touch the first axe used in felling a tree designed for a canoe.

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"Rata went and cut down the tree in the manner he had been instructed, and the instant it fell threw some branches of fern on the trunk. He next proceeded to fashion the exterior of the canoe, by levelling the upper surface, and afterwards hollowed out the hold; and when all this was done, the canoe was tilted over on one side.

"Now it happened one day that the food prepared for the workmen being left unguarded, a little boy named Kowhitinui discovered where it was placed, and ate up the best bits. Rata had not forgot this, and thought how he should punish him. So when the day for tilting the canoe came, he called to the child to pull the rope used for that purpose. The child did as he was bid, for he was a forward boy, and pulled at the rope like an old hand.

"'Put it over your head,' said Rata, tying a loop at the end of the rope.

"This the little fellow did. But as soon as it was fixed about his neck, Rata pulled the rope tight, and strangled him. Afterwards he buried his body beneath the chips of the canoe.

"When at last the work of shaping the exterior of the canoe was completed, and the day of dragging to the water came, all the men of the tribe assembled; and the father of the child was also there. But no one as yet knew that the child was dead; they only supposed he was lost. Before they set to work, they first of all talked over their

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plans, and it was determined that the cargo should be placed on board the canoe the moment it was launched; after which the crew was to embark without delay. The crew numbered one hundred and forty. 3 The chief was named Hoturoa, and the canoe, Tainui.

"All things being properly arranged, Rata stood up and chanted a song, 4 such as is used in dragging canoes; and at the last words of the song the canoe was launched on the water.

"Then, for the first time, Rakataua, the father of Kowhitinui, learned from some of the words of Rata's song, what had been the fate of his child. Rakataua was a man of wonderful power in witchcraft, and in charms and incantations; he was consequently very much feared: and the moment he went in search of his son's body, every one exclaimed, "Let us make haste to be off at once, and leave the man behind!"

"With this they all jumped on board. The chief, as I have said before, was named Hoturoa; the next in rank to Hoturoa was Taiketu; then came Mania-o-rongo, Ao-o-rongo, and Te Taura-waho,

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who were all seated in the stern. In the middle, where the water is baled, was Potukeha; and in the nose or bow was a certain priest, whose name I do not know, with Rata and Hine, 5 the woman who instructed him how to cut down the tree. The provisions placed on board consisted of kumara, or sweet potato, gourds, roots of convolvulus, and mawhai; which was all the food they had for the voyage. 6 By the time Rakataua returned, the canoe had got to some distance, and the crew were pulling away as fast as they could.

"'Bring back the canoe for me,' shouted Raka.

"But it was not brought back; so Raka's heart became dark with anger, and he charmed the mouth of the river, and shut it up. Before then it was wide open; but the moment he charmed it closed.

"Then the priest in the bow of the canoe, whose name is forgotten, charmed also; and the mouth of the river opened again, and the canoe went out to sea, and sailed in this direction till it reached New Zealand. The first land made was Wangaparaoa, where the canoe was held fast by the rock oysters. The priest, however, had made it sail very

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swiftly on its voyage. After leaving Wanga-paraoa, it sailed on and came to land on the other side of Otahuhu, at the spot still called Te-Apunga-o-Tainui (The landing-place-of-Tainui). But as soon as it touched the beach, there was Rakataua to be seen on the shore. He had come across the ocean on the back of a taniwha (sea-monster).

"This part of the country had not yet been inhabited; for the other canoes I have mentioned reached different parts of the coast.

"After being dragged across the narrow isthmus which separates the waters of Tamaki from the water of Manuka, Tainui passed out through the entrance of that harbour, and sailed along the coast to the southward, till it arrived off the river Waikato. On seeing that river flowing into the sea, the priest exclaimed, 'Waikato! Waikato-kau!' (flowing water, nothing but flowing water.) This he said in jest, and at the same time tossed his paddle in the air. As they coasted along the beach called Te Akau, he exclaimed, 'Ko te Akau kau!' (It's nothing but beach.) And when they arrived off Kawhia, he called it 'Kawhia kau' (Nothing but Kawhia). 7 At that place they landed; but there also, Raka had arrived before them. This is no fable; but rather a tale founded on fact."

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Kawhia has ever since remained in possession of the descendants of some of the crew of this canoe, who form a tribe called after it Tainui, and their present chief, Te Kanawa, traces descent directly from one of those who first set foot in New Zealand.

This, as well as all the tribes, more than twenty-five in number, which together are comprehended under the general name of Waikato, have sprung from a Tainui source. From the same source are derived the tribes now inhabiting the Hauraki or Thames district; namely, Ngati-maru, Ngati-paoa, Ngati-tamatera, and Ngati-whanaunga, descended from the sons of Maru-tuahu, who migrated from Kawhia. Add to these the two principal tribes now residing on the shores of Cook's Straits, Ngati-toa, who migrated from Kawhia very recently, under Te Rauparaha, and Ngati-raukawa, who migrated from Maunga-tautari, in the Waikato district, about the same time, and we have accounted for nearly one-third of the aboriginal population of New Zealand as being descended from the crew of Tainui. And among all these tribes a striking similarity of dialect and idiom is observable.

With regard to the origin of the natives living further north, comprehended under the general titles, Ngati-whatua, Nga-puhi, and Rarawa, the first is also, I believe, descended from the crew of Tainui. But the Nga-puhi and Rarawa tribes have the same

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origin as the Ngati-kahu-unuunu, who inhabit the districts extending from the East Cape to Cook's Straits.

Of the voyage of the second canoe, Te Arawa, and of the history of its crew and their descendants, I obtained a circumstantial narrative while at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty, where I resided for several years, in the capacity of a political agent, styled a Protector of Aborigines.

On one occasion I was invited to attend a large meeting, composed of some of the principal persons of the tribe, children of Te Arawa, as they call themselves; and among the matters then discussed was the nature of their claim to the land whereon they dwelt, and to an island called Motiti, only a few miles distant. This island had at one time fallen into the hands of another tribe, had afterwards been retaken, and was now a debateable ground on which neither party ventured to settle.

In order to explain in the clearest manner how the case really stood, they agreed to go back to their earliest history, and bring it down step by step to the present day. The person selected to be the principal spokesman was an elderly priest, named Tatahau, and I had by my side a missionary native, the son of Te Amohau, one of the great men of the tribe, who assisted me in taking notes of what was said.

Their narrative preserves so many minute cir-

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cumstances, looking like truth, that I prefer to give it in a literal translation of their own words. It was subsequently often read to natives of Waikato, and Tauranga, who would gladly have pointed out any misrepresentations. But its correctness was very generally assented to; and so well known were the words of the celebrated charm of an ancient priest, named Ngatoroirangi, that when I commenced reading it, I was more than once interrupted by my hearers, who, taking up the words, would chant it to the end.

NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE OF 'TE ARAWA.'

"Listen all ye Waikato, all ye Naitirangi, to the title of my land--of Maketu; how my canoe, the Arawa, came here, and landed at Maketu. My own is my land, the spot where my canoe touched the shore at the entrance of the river. Don't meddle with my land. Mine is Maketu. Mine is Motiti. For it was Ngatoroirangi who won the battle at Motiti, the battle of Maikukutea.

"There was one main stem to the tree, and there were ten branches. One of the branches was cut down and hollowed out for a canoe for Hou, for He, for Tia, for Te Matekapua. These were the names of the chiefs of the party who embarked in the canoe. And the canoe was named Te Arawa.

"Now, it came to pass after they had put to sea from Hawaiki, as they sailed hither over the ocean,

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that the crew were in a great strait because they had no priest to charm their canoe, to make it sail bravely when the wind blew. So they took counsel how to get a priest for their canoe; and they went and fetched Ngatoroirangi."

My informants at Maketu did not say how or whence they obtained Ngatoroirangi; but I afterwards heard from natives of Waikato, that the priest Ngatoroirangi belonged to their canoe Tainui, and that the crew of the Arawa having invited him to come on board their canoe, to aid them with his skill or charms in stopping a leak, afterwards would not suffer him to return.

"Having taken on board Ngatoroirangi, they sailed onwards over the open sea till they made the land at Wangaparaoa. At that place Taininihi threw away his kura 8 He flung his kura into the sea as soon as he beheld the red flowers of the rata 9 tree. The kura was picked up by Mahina. Hence the proverbial expression, Kura-pae a Mahina. 10

"While the Arawa was at sea, Te Matekapua

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committed adultery with Ngatoroirangi's wife. Kearoa was her name. Therefore Ngatoroirangi, being angry, caused the Arawa to run aground on a shoal, called Te Korokoro-o-te-Parata; and the nose of the canoe was ingulphed in the shoal.

"Then the crew cried out, E Toro, e! Ka taka te urunga o Kea (0 Toro, oh! the pillow of Kea will fall). 11 So Ngatoroirangi had pity on them, and saved the Arawa by a charm. 12

"After this event, the Arawa sailed on to Wangaparaoa. Next it touched at Aotea (the larger Barrier Island), afterwards at Hauraki, and Moehau (Cape Colville). At a place called Repanga, in Ahuahu (Mercury Island), Ngatoroirangi set free two birds, his tame pets. 13 One of these birds was called Takereto, and the other Mumuhau--a male and a female. Katikati was the next place touched at. Te Ranga-Tai-kehu is the name of the spot; so called from te ranga, or party of Taikehu.

"At Katikati, they found some of the men of Tainui, with their chief Raumati. This is the reason we acknowledge that Tauranga first belonged to the men of Tainui.

"So leaving Raumati and his party at Tauranga,

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the Arawa sailed from Te Ranga to Maunganui, which was taken possession of by Tutauaroa, who remained there. The next night the crew rested at Wairake. In the morning they reached Maketu, where the Arawa was hauled on shore for the last time, and its two stone anchors were cast into the river. Toka-parore (wry-stone) was the name of the anchor belonging to the nose or bow; Tu-te-rangi-haruru (like-to-the-roaring-sky), that of the anchor belonging to the stern.

"From that time, Ngatoroirangi dwelt on shore; and also Te Mate-kapua, He, and Tia, and Waitaha-nui-a-He, the son of He, and Tapuika-nui-a-Tia, the son of Tia.

"Now when Raumati heard that the Arawa was hauled on shore at Maketu, he and his men went and set fire to the Arawa. Then Hatupatu led a war-party to attack Raumati; and engaging with him on the west side of the entrance to Tauranga, directly opposite to Maunganui, he there killed him; and sticking his head on a post, set it up on the spot where he fell. Therefore the place was called Panipani (cheeks). 14

"Afterwards part of the men of the Arawa continued to dwell at Maketu, while part went to

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Rotorua; and thence they spread to Taupo, and to Wanganui.

"Makahae, the son of Tapuikanui-a-Tia was one of those who settled at Maketu.

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Having thus made me acquainted with the genealogies of the two principal chiefs present, they proceeded to narrate how the first cause of strife arose between themselves and their neighbours, a tribe called Naitirangi, descended from the crew of the canoe Te Mata-atua, which, as we have already stated, landed at Wakatane, about thirty miles to the east of Maketu.

The cause was a barbarous murder; and as they themselves never give credit to a tale without being told particularly the names of all the persons principally interested in it, they appear to have thought it most satisfactory to begin by giving me the genealogy of the murderer. I will continue to write down their own words, which will show what an accurate debtor and creditor account they keep with their enemies of injuries received and repaid, from generation to generation.

"The country of Tomatea was Opotiki. [This place, about twenty miles east of Wakatane, was occupied by descendants of the crew of Te Mata-atua.]

The begot of Tomatea was Tanemoeai.
The begot of Tanemoeai was Romainoarangi.
The begot of Romainoarangi was Rangiowiri and Werapinaki.

"It happened that, while Rangiowiri was staying on a visit at Maketu, he murdered Punohu, the daughter of Tatahau. 15 Her dead body was found

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some time after hidden in a swamp. The discovery was made by seeing a kahu, or sort of kite, hovering over it.

"The payment 16 for Punohu was Werapinaki.
"The payment for "Werapinaki was Tatahau.

"At the same time Maketu, and the neighbouring lands occupied by Tapuika, were taken by Naitirangi, the tribe of Werapinaki. And those who escaped fled to Rotorua and elsewhere.

"The payment for Tatahau was Rangiowiri, who fell in a parekura, or battle in the open ground.

"Afterwards a peace was made. Putaringamaru was the name of the chief who made the peace with Naitirangi. But Manu, the brother of Punohu, was not pleased; for he desired more payment.

"Some time after, Kotarerua, one of the tribe Naitirangi, killed a person at Maunganui, which still remained in possession of natives descended from Te Arawa. He killed him in payment for his father Tuhuihuia, who lost his life at Te Tumu. It happened that as Tuhuihuia was going one day to gather a species of grass, called toetoe, to thatch his hut, he fell in with a war-party coming from Maunganui, who killed him.

"Following up this blow, Naitirangi took the pa, or fortified village, at Maunganui by storm, put all

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its males to death, and made slaves of the women and children.

"The payment for Maunganui was Tukoukou.
"The payment for Tukoukou was Kahuroro.

"There the contest terminated. And Tauranga was abandoned to Naitirangi."

Thus in the eighth generation from Tia, that division of the Arawa family which settled on the coast was driven back to their relations at Rotorua and elsewhere, and their place was occupied by a division of the Te Mata-atua family, who continued to hold undisputed possession of their lands for several generations, till Europeans began to frequent the country to purchase flax.

The swamps near Maketu produce this plant in great abundance and excellence. And when Naitirangi found themselves unable to supply flax enough for the traders who sent vessels laden with blankets and muskets to pay for it, they invited the descendants of their ancient enemies to return to the coast, and help them scrape flax, for which they were to receive a part of the payment. Numbers then began to flock to Maketu from the interior; and a European agent was established at the place, by some merchants of Sydney. It was the business of this trader to collect the flax in a large store, where it remained till a vessel arrived with goods to exchange for it. These goods, when brought on

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shore, were paid over to certain influential chiefs, who divided them as they thought fit.

It happened that, on one of these occasions, a chief named Huka, whose party were entitled to a considerable share, was absent at Rotorua when the ship arrived off Maketu; and by the time he reached the place, he found all the goods had already been divided, without considering him and his friends. Enraged, he returned to Rotorua, revolving in his mind how he could most readily wipe out the disgrace of the slight he had received.

There is a mode of retaliating authorized by the customs of the New Zealanders, called wakahe, which means, literally, putting your adversary in the wrong. It is adopted chiefly when the person who has done the first injustice is a near relation, or one of the same tribe, from whom the injured person could not or would not like to seek redress directly. He will then commit some act of violence on a neighbouring tribe, so as to involve his own tribe in a foreign quarrel, and thus punish the whole in order to get at that part of it who did him wrong.

An opportunity presented itself to Huka of obtaining redress in this manner, by killing a chief of the powerful Waikato tribe, who was staying at Rotorua on a visit. This unlucky visitor he and his friends not only killed, but cooked and ate. Within a short time the expected vengeance came.

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A strong force from Waikato burnt or carried away the stores of flax collected at Maketu, and having killed two chiefs of importance, as a matter of course, cooked and ate them on the spot.

The war, thus savagely begun, was carried on with great vigour on both sides till very lately. The Rotorua tribes, however, re-established themselves at Maketu, and not only maintained themselves there against the united efforts of Waikato and Naitirangi, but finally, collecting a force of more than a thousand men, surprised a pa of Naitirangi, called the Tumu, about three miles distant from Maketu, and took it after an obstinate resistance; thus, re-conquering a large portion of the lands their ancestors had lost.

This was the position of affairs in this district when British government was first established in New Zealand.

Far from running any risk of punishment from his own tribe for such an act, Huka was perhaps rather raised in public estimation afterwards. There is a well-known song which laments the fate of the two chiefs killed at Maketu, named Haupapa and Te Ngahuru. Though made by the widow of one of them, it does not breathe a word of reproach or anger against Huka; but merely blames Waikato for not attacking the place where Huka lived instead of Maketu.

Custom sanctions the greatest enormities; and

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hence this act of Huka was justifiable in the eyes of his countrymen, however horrible to a European. Were it necessary, many instances of the same mode of proceeding as that chosen by Huka might be cited.

To return to the earlier history of the descendants of the crew of the Arawa: these spread themselves from Maketu to Rotorua and the adjacent lakes, thence to Taupo, and finally across the island to the river Wanganui, near Cook's Straits, peopling the shores of the numerous lakes of the interior; but they did not extend themselves along the sea coast. They now form one of the most important natural divisions of the New Zealanders, their numbers amounting, on a rough estimate, to about one-sixth of the entire population, or, perhaps, to rather more. They have also some general peculiarities of dialect, which distinguish them from the Waikato tribes, and from the rest of their countrymen.

Of the canoe Te Mata-atua, I have but little to add to the information already given. The descendants of its crew are known by the general name Ngati-awa. They spread themselves from Wakatane, the spot where they first landed, to the westward and eastward along the coasts of the Bay of Plenty. When Cook visited New Zealand, he remarked that the natives met with along all this coast acknowledged one great chief, named Taratoa. But at Mercury Bay he found natives who, though

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they knew the name of Taratoa, did not acknowledge him as their chief. Cook imagined these latter to be some outlaws, as they had no permanent buildings at that place; but they were without doubt some of the descendants of Tainui--perhaps a fishing party of Ngati-tamatera.

The country inland at the back of Opotiki, in the Bay of Plenty, is occupied by a large division of the tribe Ngati-awa, called Te Uri-wera; who have the reputation of being greater adepts in makutu, or witch-craft, than any other tribe in New Zealand.

Bordering on the eastern limit of Ngati-awa, and occupying the whole coast line from the East Cape to Port Nicholson, is the important division of the New Zealanders, known by the general name of Ngati-kahu-unuunu. They were formerly more powerful than at the present time, for they once extended along the north shores of Cook's Straits, as far as Rangitikei, 17 and over the greater part of the middle and southern islands. 18

The following outline 19 of the tradition relating to their early history was obtained from a native of

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the Rarawa tribe, which derives its origin from the same source.

TRADITION RELATING TO THE TRIBES NGATI-KAHU-UNUUNU, NGA-PUHI, AND RARAWA.

"Po, Tiki, Ruaewa, and Mawete, were some of those who discovered this island. The names of the canoes which sailed from Hawaiki were Tainui, Arawa (shark), Kurahaupo, Moekakara, Mahuhu, and Mamari: and there were others besides, the names of which cannot now be known. The place first touched at was Whaiapu 20 (East Cape). The food brought from Hawaiki was then so nearly consumed that all which remained could be packed in the corner of a small basket. This was planted, and began to grow in New Zealand.

"The ancestors of the tribes who dwell in the south--meaning the East Cape district--were Whatutahae, a daughter of Po. She married Mawete; and from them are descended Ngati-porou and Ngati-kahu-unuunu, from one extremity to the other. Some of the children of Po came to this part of the island--meaning the Bay of Islands and Kaitaia. Their names were Whatu-kaimarie, another daughter of Po, and Toroa, and Taiko, who were the ancestors of Nga-puhi and of the

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Rarawa, and also of Te Rauparaha 21 and Taoho 22 who lives at Kaipara.

"Mahuhu, the canoe in which the chief Rongomai embarked, was upset, and his body was eat by the araara; which is the reason why that fish has ever since been held sacred by Nga-puhi and by the Rarawa, none of whom dared (before they embraced Christianity) to use it for food.

"The origin of the name Nga-puhi was the puhi or feathers of the canoe Tainui; and the ancient name of Rarawa was Aewa."

Somewhat of the primitive history of all the tribes of the north island has now been given, with the exception of those who inhabit the districts of Taranaki and Wanganui, or who have sprung from the same stock as they have. In the first edition of this work, I was unable to give more than a conjectural notice of the origin of these tribes, having had but little personal intercourse with them. A volume has since been published by Sir George Grey, 23 containing a variety of traditions collected while he was Governor of New Zealand; and among them are two traditions, in a very circumstantial form, relating to the first arrival in New Zealand of the ancestors of the tribes now under consideration.

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From this authority it appears that the Taranaki tribes -- now known collectively as Te Ati-awa -- came from Hawaiki in their canoe Tokomaru. This canoe made the coast of New Zealand at night, and the land was first discovered in a singular manner by a dog 24 on board, which scented the carcase of a whale stranded on the beach. This, from the similarity of the circumstances mentioned, seems to have been the same place as that spoken of in the traditions of Tainui and the Arawa, as their landing place. The narrative goes on to say that other canoes having also reached the same place, a dispute arose as to the proprietorship of the whale and the land; whereon Manaia, the chief of Tokomaru, resolved to go elsewhere. He and his party, therefore, sailed northward till they arrived at the extremity of the land, and then coasted along the western shore till they made Taranaki, and finally

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settled there. At Waitara, a little to the north of Taranaki, they found a few inhabitants: 25 but Manaia and his men killed them, and took possession of their land.

Subsequently to the discovery of new Zealand by Cook, Te Ati-awa were driven from their lands at Taranaki (New Plymouth), by the Waikato tribes, and in their turn encroached on the lands of the Ngati-kahu-unuunu, on the shores of Cook's Straits, driving them back as far as Wairerapa.

The present possessors of the Chatham Islands are a division of this tribe. Stimulated by the report of some English sailors, who represented the country as remarkably fertile, and its owners as a quiet and peaceful race, they offered the Captain of a trading vessel to load his ship with flax, if he would transport them there. Being well provided with fire arms, they had no difficulty in killing or making slaves of the more lawful owners of the soil.

The tradition of the Wanganui tribes relates that their ancestors came to New Zealand in a canoe, called Aotea, which gave its name to a small harbour on the west coast where they first landed. At that place the canoe was abandoned; and the crew, with their chief Turi, proceeding on foot along the shore to the southward, at last settled on the

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river Patea. From Turi and his wife Rongo-rongo, Sprung the tribes Whanganui and Ngati-mamui. 26

In connexion with this tradition, a strange tale is told concerning the adventures of a contemporary of Turi, named Kupe, who, according to them, was the first discoverer of New Zealand. This Polynesian voyager, after examining part of the east coast of the north island and the shores of Cook's straits, without finding any inhabitants, returned home again with so favourable a report of the country, that his friend Turi and his party went in search of it. The tale, however, is so mixed up with the extraordinary and fabulous, that it can scarcely be believed to have any foundation in truth. The utmost we can venture to say is, that, considering the known skill of the Polynesians in nautical matters, it is possible that one of their canoes might have reached New Zealand, and afterwards returned to Polynesia.

It is related by other tribes, that attempts have several times been made to return to Hawaiki; and within the last twenty years an instance occurred at Tauranga where a family fitted out and provisioned a canoe for a long voyage, and then put to sea with the design of returning to that island, having no

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better guide than the stars and the tradition of its position. The fate of these intrepid voyagers was, of course, never known in New Zealand, but that such an undertaking should ever have been deliberately planned and entered on, is hardly credible; and we should look in vain for a more remarkable instance of the bold and adventurous spirit of this people.

From the genealogies of the two chiefs given in this chapter, it appears that only about eighteen generations have passed away since New Zealand was first colonized; that is to say, a space of time, probably, not much exceeding five hundred years. To test the probability of this conclusion, the genealogies of several other chiefs of the Arawa family, descended from the same and from different individuals who composed its crew, were carefully collected and compared, when it was found that they all nearly agreed in reckoning the same number of generations from the time when their forefathers first landed in New Zealand. It was from the coincidence between the number of generations in all the genealogies 27 collected in this tribe, that I was first led to believe that such records had really a positive value; for their remarkable uniformity in this point -- being undesigned--is the best proof of their correctness.

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Similar inquiries were made among the branch of Ngati-kahu-unuunu, now settled in the Middle Island, and among tribes of the Tainui family; and, as far as they went, the same result was obtained. It would be a matter of interest to pursue this method of investigation through the three other primary divisions--the Wanganui and Taranaki families, and the Ngati-awa of the Bay of Plenty. Should it be found that in each of these the principal persons now living agreed in counting nearly the same number of generations from the first landing of their ancestors in New Zealand, a strong additional proof would be obtained of the fact of the migrations being contemporaneous; while if the Wanganui family alone reckoned a greater number of generations than the rest, we might fairly credit their tradition, that their ancestors were the first settlers in New Zealand.

The idea, however, that these islands were not peopled at a very remote period is supported by the scantiness of the population very generally when first discovered by Cook, and more particularly so of the middle and southern islands, which, according to the accounts given by the New Zealanders, were colonized from the north island.