Maori Religion and Mythology Part 10

"Where is your land?" asked Tu.

"Why, this very land," replied Ihenga. "I ought rather to ask you how long you have been here?"

"Why, I have been here this long time."

"No, no! I was here first."

"No," said Tu, "I and your uncle were first here."

Ihenga, however, persisted. "Ho! surely you came last. The land belongs to me."

"What sign have you," said Tu, "to shew that the land is yours?"

"What is your sign?" replied Ihenga.

"A _tuahu_," said Tu.

"Come on," said Ihenga, "let me see your _tuahu_. If your _tuahu_ is older than mine, you truly came first, and the land is yours."

Tu consented, and led the way to his _tuahu_. When they arrived there, it had the appearance of having been newly made.

Then said Ihenga, "Now come and look at my _tuahu_, and my _ngakoa_."48 So they went together to the Pera-o-tangaroa, where they found a heap of decaying and dried old _inanga_ which Ihenga had brought there from the _tuahu_ of Tu-o-rotorua. So when Tu beheld them, and the old burnt posts which Ihenga had stolen, he was so puzzled that he was almost persuaded that Ihenga must have been the first to occupy the land. However, he said, "let me see your net."

48 _Ngakoa_ were offerings to the _Atua_ of fish and other kinds of food.

"Come up higher," said Ihenga, "and I will shew you my net." And he then pointed to a mark on a distant cliff, caused by a landslip.

"Why, that is a landslip," said Tu.

"No," said Ihenga, "it is a net quite new. Look at that other net which is hanging up, and looks black; that is the old net."

Tu thought it must be as Ihenga said, so he agreed to leave the land, asking at the same time who lived on the island.

"The name of the island," said Ihenga, "is Motu-tapu-a-Tinirau. I named it."

Then said Tu, "Will you not consent to my living there?"

"Yes," said Ihenga, "you may go to the island." Thus the main land came to the possession of Ihenga.

Then Ihenga borrowed a small canoe belonging to Tu, and went on in search of his flock of s.h.a.gs. He found them hanging in a _kahikatea_ tree near Waikuta. He called the stream by that name because of the plant _kuta_, which grew abundantly there. He named the land Ra-roa, because of the length of the day occupied in his canoe. He climbed the tree and threw down the birds, and placed them in the canoe. Then he went on and came to a river which he afterwards named Ngongotaha. There was a hill hard by to which he gave the same name. The hill belonged to the Patupaiarehe or Fairies. They had a _Pa_ on the hill named Tuahu-o-te-atua. He heard them playing on the _putorino_,4? the _koauau_,4? and the _putara_;4? so he thought men must be living there.

He climbed the hill, and when he got near, he heard the sounds of the _haka_ and _waiata_:-

4? Different kinds of wind instruments resembling the flute, only varying in their length.

A canoe, a canoe, A canoe of flax, a canoe.

Grow _kawa_, Blaze _kawa_.

Tie up carefully With leaf of flax, Blazing _kawa_.

Whakatauihi made this _haka_. His was also the proverb, "_ko te ure tonu; ko te raho tonu_." He it was who avenged the death of Tuhuruhuru.5

5 Vide "Traditions and Superst.i.tions," p. 68.

When Ihenga got nearer he perceived that they were not men, but _Atua_.

There was a fire burning on a tree. So he stopt suddenly to look at them, while they looked at him. "A _nanakia_," shouted one of them, running forward to catch him. But Ihenga fled, and, as he was running, set fire to the dry fern with a lighted brand he had in his hand. The whole fern was ablaze, and the tribe of Fairies fled to the forest and the hills. Then Ihenga went back to look at their _Pa_ which had been burnt by the fire. There he found the _kauae_ or jaw-bone of a _moa_, so he named the place Kauae. He then returned to the sh.o.r.e of the lake, and went on in his canoe. He named the hill Ngongotaha, because of the flight of the Fairies.

Ihenga paddled along the sh.o.r.es of the lake giving names to many places as he went-Weriweri, Kopu, Te Awahou, Puhirua-which last he so named because the bunch of feathers fastened to his _paiaka_ fell off. At another place the _inanga_ leaped out of the water, and some fell into his canoe, so he named it Tane-whiti. Another place he named from a boastful thought in his mind, Tu-pakaria-a-Ihenga (Ihenga's boasting).

He pa.s.sed by the river Ohau. He had named this river before, when he first came to the lake, from the name of his dog. As the dog was swimming across it was drawn in by a whirlpool, and so was drowned. Next he came to the land-slip on the mountain which he had made Tu believe to be a net. He named it Te Tawa, because he left there a pole used for pushing the canoe, which was made of the wood _tawa_. The pole stuck so fast in the ground that he could not pull it out, so he left it there.

After pa.s.sing the point Tuara-hiwi-roa he came in sight of his companions. The shout resounds, "Oh! it is Ihenga. Come here, come here, sir-paddle hither." His wife ran down to the water side as the canoe touched the beach.

"See what food you have lying there," said Ihenga. Hine-te-kakara caught up a bundle of rats, and when she saw their teeth she exclaimed "e, e, _he niho kiore_" (eh! eh! a rat's tooth). So the place was named Te Niho-o-te-kiore. Again she made an exclamation of admiration at the heap of birds, "In truth, in truth, a wonderful heap. Come, sirs, come and look at it." So that place was also named "Kahui-kawau," or Flock of s.h.a.gs. Then the birds were cooked, and the next day they all departed to return to Maketu. They went to fetch Kahu. The food, the s.h.a.gs, the bundle of rats, the gourd of _inanga_, and the gourd of _porohi_5-a tempting bait to make Kahu come.

5 _Porohi_, a small fish of the lake.

They reached the Hiapo, and rested there the night. Kuiwai and Haungaroa gave that name, because they left their brother Hiapo there, and he died there. Hiapo saw the _koko_ hopping about the trees, and remained behind while his sisters went on to Maketu to carry messages from Hawaiki to Ngatoroirangi.

The next day they went on, and when they reached Totara-keria they were seen from the _Pa_ by Tawaki. Then came shouts from the _Pa_, "Come, heaven-sent guest, brought hither by my child from beyond the sky. Come, come." They arrive-the _tangi_ commences-then speeches are made.

Meanwhile food is being prepared. When they had done eating the food, Tawaki said to Ihenga, "Tell us about your travels. Whence come you, lost one?"

"I have seen a sea," said Ihenga, "I found a man there."

"Who is the man?" asked Tawaki.

"Marupunga-nui, and his son."

They all knew that the son was Tu-o-rotorua. So Kahu inquired "Where is your uncle and his father?"

"They remain there," said Ihenga, "I have made them go to the island."

"Well done, son-in-law," said Kahu.

Then the food brought by the men was laid in a pile before Tawaki in the courtyard of Whitingakongako. And Tawaki said to his sister "Give some for me and your father." So she gave the bundle of rats, and the s.h.a.gs, and the gourd of _inanga_, and the other fish. And Tawaki and his father sent them to their own dwelling-place.

As he was eating the food Kahu exclaimed "Ha! ha! food sent from the sky, food of Aotea-roa. Why that land of yours is Hawaiki. Food falling into your mouth."

"Yes, yes," said Ihenga, "first kindle the oven. When it is heated you fetch the food from that sea in baskets full."

Then said Kahu "Ah! that land is a land for you, and for your wife, and for your offspring."

"Let us all go there," said Ihenga. To which Kahu consented.

Then Ihenga said, "Let the _mana_ of that land go to you. You are the _Ariki_ of that land-you and your offspring."

"Yes," replied Kahu. "Since you, my _Ariki_, are so great a gentleman as to bid the younger brother's son dwell on that land of yours. Yes-I consent that we all go."

Then the food brought by Hinetekakara was portioned among the whole tribe.

Ten days afterwards they left Maketu, twenty in number, ten of the rank of chiefs, and ten men to carry food. When they reached the small lake, discovered by Ihenga, he said to Kahu "You are the _Ariki_ of this lake." Hence the song of Taipari-

By Hakomiti was your path hither To Pariparitetai, and to that Rotoiti of yours, Sea discovered by Ihenga, Thereof Kahu was _Ariki_.