Te Tau, Taiawhio Tikawenga
Taiawhio Tikawenga Te Tau was a leader of the major Maori political and religious movements in Wairarapa in the 15 years following 1910. He was the younger son of Kaipaoe, a high-ranking woman of Ngati Rakairangi, and her husband, Tikawenga Te Tau, a leading chief of Ngai Tumapuhiarangi. In 1860 Tikawenga initiated a major peace expedition to the trouble spots of Taranaki, Waikato and Hawke’s Bay. Taiawhio was born at Turanganui (near Pirinoa) in the same year, on 16 February, and was named for the expedition.
Taiawhio and his elder brother Puhara appear to have been raised at Papawai, where Taiawhio attended school. He also received an extensive education in the traditions and genealogies of his hapu, and in later life he was a member of the Tane-nui-a-rangi committee, which was charged with recording Wairarapa whakapapa and history.
Probably in 1878 Taiawhio married Makere Kingi of Ngati Muretu, a hapu of the Greytown district. The couple had 11 children before Makere died on 27 August 1893. Only one child, Wiremu Kingi Te Tau, reached adulthood and had issue. On 4 April 1894 at Puketeraki, north of Dunedin, Taiawhio married Pani Parata of Ngai Tahu. She was a licensed interpreter and a talented pianist, later well known at Wairarapa social events. The couple had three children: a son, Richard John Seddon, and two daughters, Hera Merehana and Mary Stuart Victoria (also known as Kuini Wikitoria).
Taiawhio Te Tau was a confirmed admirer of the British royal family. He probably inherited this from Tikawenga, who had been presented to the duke of Edinburgh in 1867. In 1897 he travelled to London to take part in Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. While in London he made a number of gifts to the royal family and received a commemorative medal.
A wealthy man at this time, Taiawhio had interests in a number of Wairarapa land blocks, and farmed an extensive area of family land at Kaumoana, near Masterton. He also owned and operated a horse stud, and bred a number of successful gallopers and trotters; although in 1908 he was suspended from racing for six months for ‘cronk-running’. Taiawhio and his family lived in a large two-storeyed house at Kaumoana. A number of the prized possessions of Ngai Tumapuhiarangi were stored in the house.
In 1901 Taiawhio became interested in Te Hahi o te Ruri Tuawhitu o Ihowa (also called the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah), which originally developed in Marlborough. Within a short period he became heavily involved in its activities as it took root within Wairarapa Maori society. As one of the proprietors of the Maori newspaper Matuhi, Taiawhio appears to have played a major role in the development of the church’s theological tenets and in promoting its cause. He bought a printing press for the paper, and installed his wife as editor. The paper was published regularly between 1903 and 1906.
The church’s teachings were based on the multitude of uses of the number seven in the Bible, and on a belief in the Kingdom of God being brought about in a series of stages. Its dogma included the divine descent – in seven stages – of the English and Maori Kings. Later, a descent line of Maori prophetic authority was added. This carried a Wairarapa bias and featured Paora Te Potangaroa and H. P. Tunuiarangi, Taiawhio’s half-brother. Taiawhio was a keen student of the prophecies of Te Potangaroa, and he subsequently linked the church’s origin and development to him.
In 1910 Taiawhio was elected to the office of district bishop within the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah. Later that year he was created the principal bishop of the whole church, retaining this position until 1925. He regularly led the church in large gatherings to celebrate Christmas and other important events, such as the coronation of King George V in 1911 and the opening of Nukutaimemeha meeting house in 1918. Taiawhio also helped to co-ordinate a large meeting at Te Ore Ore, near Masterton, to analyse Paora Te Potangaroa’s prophecies. In 1921 he arranged the erection of a memorial in Masterton Park (Queen Elizabeth Park) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Te Potangaroa’s utterance of his main prophecies.
Taiawhio was a member of the Liberal and Labour Federation of New Zealand, and he became the leader of its Maori section in 1903. In 1905 he was appointed a health inspector for the Maori Council District of Rongokako. In this capacity he reported to Parliament on the state of Maori housing, and also published details of all Wairarapa Maori households.
He was elected to the council itself in 1905 as the representative of the Masterton Maori community. In 1908 he became the chairman of the council, a position he would retain until the late 1920s. The Rongokako Maori Council was composed of representatives from every Maori community and commanded the allegiance of the majority of Maori in the district. Its elections were extensively reported in Wairarapa Maori newspapers. Taiawhio was a strict taskmaster and used his position to promote health and hygiene issues, and to stress the need for the maintenance of Maori customs. He also attended a number of national conferences on Maori affairs on behalf of the council.
The Rongokako Maori Council was closely linked to the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah; Taiawhio described the two institutions as the two legs of the Maori people. They shared a philosophy of Maori self-determination and provided a vehicle to achieve that goal. The council and the church were at their peak in the period between 1910 and 1920, and Taiawhio commanded tremendous respect and influence among his constituents.
Enthusiasm for the Maori councils ebbed in the early 1920s, the decline coinciding with the spectacular rise of a new religious and political leader, T. W. Ratana. His prophetic and healing powers attracted many members of the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah, including Taiawhio, who was one of the first to sign the Ratana church covenant in 1925. He later moved to Ratana pa with members of his church. The departure of the principal bishop and so many members meant that the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah was virtually absorbed by the Ratana church.
At Ratana pa Taiawhio introduced the teachings of Paora Te Potangaroa. As a result, Te Potangaroa was acknowledged by Ratana’s followers as part of the succession of Maori prophetic and spiritual leaders beginning with Tawhiao Te Wherowhero and Te Ua Haumene and including Te Whiti, Tohu and Ratana himself.
Taiawhio was an apostle of the Ratana church in 1926 and 1927, but then disappeared from public life, at least in Wairarapa. He had spent some time in the South Island in order to allow Pani to be with her own people, but had returned alone as she could not bear to leave her family. In the latter part of his life, through injudicious land sales and mortgages to sustain his way of life, Taiawhio lost his personal wealth. He was dependent on the old-age pension, and lived in a ‘small miserable room’ with no personal effects.
Pani Te Tau went to Ratana pa in 1939 and found Taiawhio in poor health. She brought him back to Masterton Hospital, where he died on 4 June 1939. Taiawhio lay in state, and was buried at Te Ore Ore marae, where 25 years previously he had been such a dominant figure. He was survived by Pani and their three children.
Te Tirohanga o Hinetearorangi ki te motu ki a Kapiti
Hidden Lakes
Te Whaiti, Iraia Te Ama-o-te-rangi
Iraia Te Whaiti, also known as Iraia Te Ama and Te Ama-o-te-rangi, was born in south Wairarapa, probably in 1861 or 1862. He was the eldest child of Te Rangihakahaka Te Whaiti and Hine-ki-te-rangi, both of Ngati Kahungunu of Wairarapa. His mother was the sister of Hoani Paraone Tunuiarangi, a noted Ngati Kahungunu leader and tribal historian. Iraia had two full brothers, Hoani Te Whaiti (Tutu Hone Paraone) and Patito, and one half-brother, Meiha Keepa Hiu (Hui) Te Miha.
Iraia Te Whaiti received an extensive education in the traditions and genealogies of the many hapu of Ngati Kahungunu of Wairarapa. In later life he was regarded as a leading expert, and wrote a number of articles in Te Puke ki Hikurangi and other publications. He himself strongly identified with Ngati Ngapu-o-te-rangi, centred in the Whakatomotomo valley, Palliser Bay; he also had strong links with Ngati Hinewaka. It is likely that Hoani Tunuiarangi was responsible for Te Whaiti’s education in tribal history, and he became the guardian of his interests following the deaths of Te Rangihakahaka in 1870 and Hine-ki-te-rangi in 1875.
Te Whaiti inherited land interests in a number of south Wairarapa blocks through both his parents, most notably around the southern coast and in the Whakatomotomo valley. Although remaining a staunch Anglican, he was supportive from the turn of the century of Te Hahi o te Ruri Tuawhitu o Ihowa (also called the Church of the Seven Rules of Jehovah), founded by Haimona Patete. Te Whaiti considered he was following the direction of the prophet Paora Te Potangaroa, when, as a service to his people, he began farming his ancestral land in 1881.
That year, on 1 November according to a family Bible, Te Whaiti married Kaihau Te Rangikakapi Maikara Aporo, of Ngati Hinewaka and Ngati Kauhi hapu of Ngati Kahungunu, and of Ngai Tahu and Ngati Maniapoto. Te Whaiti and Kaihau had 13 children; seven of these died at a young age, largely as the result of various epidemics.
In 1894 Te Whaiti extended the range of his farming activities. He entered into a partnership with a Pakeha farmer, John Sinclair, and bought the huge Whatarangi station from Charles Pharazyn for approximately £10,000. Some of the station was still in Maori ownership at this time, and had been leased by Pharazyn. Sinclair and Te Whaiti bought the rights to the leases. The partnership subsequently became known as Te Whaiti and Sutherland when Mary Sutherland took over from her brother. In 1907 Kaiwaru was added to the holding. Later, Te Whaiti purchased Te Karanga, a block of 770 acres, in his own right. In 1912 he estimated the size of his holdings at 18,000 acres; at this time Whatarangi station carried some 20,000 sheep and nearly 500 cattle. Te Whaiti employed a number of the local hapu in shearing and other activities on the station.
Te Whaiti was one of the few Maori engaged in buying land, and his purchase and operation of the station broke a 40-year pattern of Maori land alienation in the Wairarapa Valley. In 1908 only 140,000 acres of land remained in Maori ownership; of this, only 33,000 acres were being farmed by the owners. Te Whaiti owned at least as much livestock as all other Wairarapa Maori farmers combined. He experimented with various methods of farming and employed Pakeha as well as Maori workers.
Te Whaiti’s expertise in land management was utilised by the wider Wairarapa Maori community. He was elected to the management committee of the reserves for the Wairarapa lakes, and to the management committee of Pouakani, a block of over 30,000 acres situated at present-day Mangakino; it was given to Wairarapa hapu by the government in exchange for the Wairarapa lakes. Te Whaiti also wrote a number of items about farming and agricultural techniques in Te Puke ki Hikurangi.
He was also elected to a number of other committees to represent the interests of his family and hapu. He was the chairperson of the committee of the Kohunui marae, and was a member of the management committee at Papawai pa, the site of the Maori parliament. In 1906 he was elected to the Rongokako Maori Council, the principal governing body of Wairarapa Maori society in the 20 years following 1900. Later he became deputy chairman. He remained a member of the council until at least 1912. In addition, Te Whaiti was a lieutenant in the Wairarapa Mounted Rifle Volunteers, a Maori military company, and was a director of the Mareikura Company, which published a newspaper.
In later life Te Whaiti moved with his family to Te Karearea, a large house in Greytown. He and Kaihau became popular figures in Greytown public life, and took part in a number of community activities. The couple made donations to various public works, and were prominent in the patriotic fund-raising society during the First World War. About 1908 Iraia became a Freemason – the first Maori to do so.
Te Whaiti died from influenza in Greytown on 15 November 1918. He was buried at Ranana cemetery, in the Whakatomotomo valley; a stone memorial was erected by his family in 1923. At the time of his death his considerable personal wealth was estimated at £36,000. The Te Whaiti and Sutherland partnership was dissolved at his death, and his holdings were divided between his three surviving sons; there were also three surviving daughters. Kaihau lived for another 18 years at Te Karearea in Greytown, before she died on 19 January 1937. She was buried next to her husband at Ranana.
Te Wheke is at the Wairarapa Moana Trust Offices
“The two peaks represent the two peaks of Tararua, Puke Amoamo and Puke Ahurangi. The blue is the lake. The taniwha is known as Te Wheke which took the form of a log”. The above is how Wairarapa Moana Trust member Murray Hemi describes the design on a tukutuku panel that is kept at the Trust offices in Masterton The tukutuku panel was created by Myra Wineera (Rewai) and presented to The Moana Trust in Greytown during the 2005 AGM.
The jealous sisters of the Ruamahanga
In the distant past, many Maori tribes lived along the rich river flats of the Wairarapa valley and beside the main tributaries of the Ruamahanga River from which the name “Ruamahanga”, meaning “many tributaries”, is given. Among its other meanings, Rua means “two” or “both” and Mahunga means “either” or “two”.
For the purpose of our legend, we will assume that the river was named for the sisters, Rehutai, or mist of the breaking surf” and Tangimoana, or “the voice of the breaking surf”, who lived beside the river near Te Whiti.
So beautiful were the sisters that men were afraid to court them. They were proud maidens and enjoyed the power over which nature had endowed them.
One day a handsome Wairarapa warrior named Rautoroa, or “plume of the albatross”, having heard of the beautiful twins came to their kainga with gifts. Both girls were impressed with his looks and bearing. Their hearts went out to him and soon the sisters became jealous of each other.
Rautoroa did not know which girl to marry so he decided to bide his time.
Rehutai asked her sister to fetch a calabash of water from a spring nearby. Tangimoana re fused to go unless her sister went with her as she did not relish the idea of Rehutai and Rautoroa being left along together.
Rautoroa told hem that his thirst was so great that he needed two calabashes of water and so the two girls agreed to go.
When they came to the pool where the water was cool and clean, Tangimoana filled her calabash and then she pretended to stumble, disturbing the water and making it muddy and foul. Then she ran back to Rautoroa, leaving the enraged Rehutai to wait until the water had cleared before filling her calabash.
When she returned she found Tangimoana wearing Rautoroa’s cloak, which according to tradition made her his wife.
Flinging the calabash aside, Rehutai snatched the whale-bone club from Rautoroa’s belt with the intention of killing her sister, but the love for her twin sister so overwhelmed her that she replaced the club and turned away. Making her way to a secret spot, she wept bitterly and made a mourning wreath of leaves for her head.
At dawn she left her kainga and walked until she came to a hill. She slowly climbed the hill until she disappeared into the mist and cloud at its crest and she was never seen again.
The hill is now known as Ohine-mokimoki, the place of the lonely girl.
The love story of Lydia and Kahu
In the little village of Kaikokirikiri, near Masterton, lived Lydia, the grand-daughter of the chief Karaitiana Te Korou, a prominent man of the area.
At Te Ore Ore was Kahu, a handsome young Ngapuhi, said to be a salve of Manihera. It was Kahu’s duty to take messages and gifts of food to Te Korou from Manihera. On one of these visits to Kaikokirikiri Kahu met Lydia, but dared not speak to her because of his status as a slave.
It soon became apparent that Lydia and Kahu were showing affection for each other. Lydia sent Kahu a message to meet her at Kuripuni and their Lydia pleaded with Kahu to take her away. She gave Kahu the plan of their sleeping whare and the position where she would be sleeping. In the whare a fire was lit in the center and the occupants slept with their feet towards the fire.
While the family slept, Kahu cut the bark lining where Lydia slept and silently dragged her out. Kahu took her to a cave at Matahiwi, the land leased by Mr Holmes senior.
On learning of his grand-daughters disappearance, Te Korou flew into a violent rage and vowed that if any of the other tribes were sheltering Lydia he would terminate them, but kahu had friends at kaikokirikiri and each night he would receive a basket of food delivered to the cave.
The present of food led to the discovery of the lovers’ hideout. Armed with muskets, Te Korou and his nephews set out for the cave. Mr Holmes snr, who was aware of Lydia’s elopement, hurried to the cave to await Te Korou’s arrival.
When Te Korou arrived at the cave he found, to his amazement, Mr Holmes waiting with his musket at the ready.
Te Korou said that he had some to kill the slave. He believed that with Lydia being of high rank, the whole incident was a put up job by the Te Ore Ore Maoris, to discredit his mana.
After prolonged pleadings by Mr Holmes to save Kahu’s life, Te Korou finally conceded, saying that he would spare Kahu’s life if Mr Holmes gave them bags of flour, sugar, tobacco and ammunition for their muskets. This Mr Holmes agreed to do, providing Te Korou and his men returned to the pa immediately.
The next day Lydia and Kahu accompanied by Mr Holmes with the promised goods, arrived at Kaikokirikiri where a huge feast was held for Lydia and Kahu.
After he returned to the pa, Te Korou had called a hui and told his hapu of the arrangements with Mr Holmes, and that this must be honoured.
Lydia and Kahu were now man and wife and both lived at Kaikokirikiri for many years and left many descendents.
Later, Kahu the former slave was to don the cloak of chieftainship. Mr Holme’s action in preventing the death of Kahu became a legend among the Wairarapa Maoris and in those days, Lydia and Kahu’s descendants became known as the “flour and sugar hapu”.
When Mr Holme’s son Edward Carlton, arrived at Te Hopai to take up land, he was besieged by the local chiefs with offers – that they had daughters and nieces of a marrying age, but there was no mention of merchandise.
One chief, Paratene, did intimate that if Mr Holmes took his niece as his wife he would lease him 800 acres which he would finally end up owning, but this was not to be.
The Story of Haunui-a-nanaia
Popoto and his wife Nanaia had a son called Haunuiananaia who was the ancestor of the Te Ati Hau a Paparangi people of the Whanganui region. Haunui had reason to pursue his errant wife Wairaka who had run off with a slave. He set out from his home at Te Matau a Maui following the path of Wairaka and her lover across the island and down the west coast. After exacting his revenge he decided to go home via the East Coast. Haunui named many of the landmark features that he came across during his mission.
He started back towards Te Matau a Maui. He climbed a high mountain and on reaching the top he sat down to rest. There he thought about what he had done. He named the mountain Remutaka -‘to sit down’. It is now known as Rimutaka. As Haunui sat there he saw a lake before him. When he looked towards the lake the reflection of the sun caught his eyes and made them water. It was this incident that led to the name – Wairarapa. It was not so much the glistening water but the reflection of the sun that caught his eye and made them water. The full saying is found in a number of old waiata that have been left behind, ‘ka rarapa nga kanohi ko Wairarapa’ – his eyes sparkled hence Wairarapa.
After resting a while Haunui stood up and saw in the distance, at the northern end of the valley, a high mountain standing alone. He concentrated on this mountain as a navigational landmark and named it Rangitumau – meaning ‘standing up to the sky’ or alternatively ‘holding up the sky’.
Haunui descended Remutaka and travelled into and up the valley. At the first river he came to he discovered a whare or maemae, the walls and roof of which were thatched with Nikau Palm leaves. He named this river Tauwharenikau -‘the house made of nikau’.
At the next river crossing he sat down on a bank to rest and as he looked down into the water he imagined he could see Wairaka’s face which made him sad. This river he named Wai o Hine Wairaka –‘water for his woman’ referring to the tears he shed. We know it today as ‘Waiohine’.
He named the river we know as Waingawa – Waiawangawanga, awangawanga meaning uncertain or troubled because the river appeared to go in all directions with many bends. It did not look like it knew where it was going.
At the next river he tested the depth with his tokotoko/walking stick and gave it the name Waipoua. Another term for tokotoko is pou and wai is water.
The final river that Haunui named was Ruamahanga meaning ‘twin forks’ which can refer to the many tributaries that join the river or also to a waka-inuwai (bird snare trough) that he found placed in a fork in a tree by the river.
Haunui returned home on his god Rongomai, a giant eagle that is today seen in the form of a meteor, but before doing so visited Rangitumau to look back over the land he had come from.
The story of Ngarara Huarau
KO te kainga i noho ai tenei taniwha, kei Wai-marama, kei Here-taunga. Ka noho nei, a, ka roa, ka puta te aroha ki tona tuahine, ki a Pari-kawhiti. Ko te kainga o te tuahine kei Wai-rarapa. Kaore a Ngarara-huarau i mohio, kei hea tona tuahine e noho ana, engari katahi ka pihongia ki nga hau. Ka pau nga hau te pihongi, ka tae ki te hau tonga ka rangona e ia te kakara o tona tuahine. Katahi ka haere mai ma te moana, me te pihongi haere tonu mai; tae rawa ki te ngutu-awa o Pahawa, kua tuku atu te kakara o tona tuahine i te hauauru. Ka haere atu a Ngarara-huarau ma roto i te awa o Pahawa. Ano ka tae ki te ngutu-awa o tetehi awa, ka kite ia i te rere; he nui te tiketike. Ka oho tona mauri, e kore ia e eke ki runga. Ka huaina te ingoa o taua awa ko Mauri-oho-o-Ngarara-huarau, i taua ra i karanga-tia ai taua ingoa tae noa mai ki tenei ra.
Heoi, ka rere te taniwha nei, kia eke ia ki runga. Kihai i eke. Ka tu ona waewae ki waenganui o te pari, ka tupeke ake nga waewae o muri, ka tu ki te tūnga o nga peke; katahi ka rere, ka eke ki runga. Ka haere i roto i taua awa eke noa ki te upurangitanga ki roto o tetahi hiwi, ko Maunga-rake te ingoa. Ka eke ia ki runga, ka rongo i te ngenge, ka whakatuapuku i tona tuara. He mea mohio e nga tangata ki te openga o nga peke i te whenua, ka tapaia te ingoa o taua wahi ko Hau-tuapuku-o-Ngarara-huarau.
Ka haere ia, ka tae ki tetahi awa, ko Koura-rau te ingoa, 10 maero pea te matara mai i te wahi i noho ai tona tuahine. Ka noho i roto o Koura-rau. Ko te tikanga o tenei ingoa, he nui no te koura-wai o roto i taua awa. Heoi, ka noho nei te taniwha, ko tana mahi, he patu i nga tira haere; ara, he kai i nga tangata, horopuku tonu, ahakoa he kawenga ta te tangata, ka horomia pukutia e taua taniwha—ahakoa he tamaiti i runga i te hakui e waha ana, ka heke tahi raua ki roto i te kopu o te taniwha nei—ahakoa nga tokotoko me nga taiaha, ka pau katoa te horo.
Ka mahara mai nga iwi o te taha moana, ki nga tira o reira, kei nga kainga o uta e noho ana. Ka pera hoki te mahara o nga iwi o uta nei ki o ratou tira i ahu atu ra ki te taha moana, kei reira e araitia ana e te tupuhi o te moana te tae ki te mahi kai moana hei maunga mai ma ratou ki o ratou kainga i uta nei. Kaore! kua pau i a Ngarara-huarau.
No muri mai ka kitea e etahi tangata, kua noho he taniwha ki roto o Koura-rau. Ka haere te rongo o te matenga o nga tangata o Wairarapa ki te tai-rawhiti, katahi ka mohiotia e nga iwi o reira, kua ahu mai a Ngarara-huarau ki te upoko o te motu nei. Ko tana mahi ano tenei i Wai-marama, he huna i nga tangata o reira. No te haerenga atu nei o Ngarara-huarau i Wai-marama, ka ora nga tangata o reira. Ka mauria atu te rongo e nga tira haere, ka rongo nga tangata o Here-taunga kua mate nga tangata o Wai-rarapa, ka mauria mai hoki te rongo o nga mahi a Ngarara-huarau i Wai-marama, ka rongo nga iwi o Wai-rarapa nei.
Heoi, ka rapua e nga iwi o Wai-rarapa nei he ritenga e mate ai a Ngarara-huarau, a, ka kitea, koia tenei: Me mounu kia puta ki waho i tona rua i noho ai, a, me taki haere kia uru ki roto ki tetahi ngaherehere. Ko taua ngahere me tapahi he umu mo ia rakau, mo ia rakau, ko tetahi taha me waiho kia mau ana. Ko nga rakau e tu ana i te taha o te huanui ma te auta haeretanga a te taniwha e turaki nga rakau, a, ma te hinganga o tetahi rakau ki runga i tetahi rakau ka turaki, a, ka tamia, ka kore e tino kaha; hei reira ka werowero ai ki te tokotoko, ki te huata, me te whiu ki nga patu me nga pou-whenua, a ka mate ia. Heoi nga whakamaramatanga mo te ritenga e mate ai; me nga karakia ki to ratou atua.
Heoi, ka whakaetia e te iwi enei ritenga katoa. Katahi ka whiria he taura. Ka oti, ka tapahia haeretia nga rakau o te taha o te huanui hei haerenga mo Ngarara-huarau. Ka oti, ka patu te kuri; ka mutu ka kowhiria nga toa tokorua, ka whakapatia o raua waewae ki te atua kia tere ai te oma, ka whakaponotia te hau o nga tangata nei me ta raua kuri-mate, me te taura hei tukutuku i te kuri ki te waha o te rua o te taniwha. Ka tae raua ki runga o te rua ka tukutuku i runga i te taura. Kaore ano kia tae ki waenganui o te pari ko te tiaho o nga whatu kua puta ki waho o te rua; no muri i puta ai te upoko. Te putanga mai, ka haere nga tangata nei—te haere a te taniwha te haere a nga tangata. E haere ana nga tangata nei ano ko tiurangi! ara, ko to manu e kiia nei he kāhu. Na te mea ano ka ngaro nga tangata nei i roto i te ngahere ka tomo tahi hoki te taniwha. No te oinga o te hiku ka pa ki te rakau kua oti te tapahi ra, ka hinga ki raro—ko te oinga o te upoko, ka hinga nga rakau, ka auru nga peka ki tetahi rakau, ka hinga, katahi ka hingahinga nga rakau, ka tamia a Ngarara-huarau ki te whenua. Nawai ra i kaha; kua kore e kaha; e werohia ana ki nga tokotoko, e patua ana ki nga pou-whenua, a, ka mate a Ngarara-huarau.
Katahi ka haea te puku. Anana! e whakapapa ana te tangata, te wahine, te tamariki i roto i te puku. Heoi, ka tanumia nga tangata, ka hoatu ma Mahuika e kai a Ngarara-huarau. Ko te upoko ka tapahia ka whakamaroketia, a, whakakohatu tonu iho. Ko te karakia nana i tiki i taki a Ngarara-huarau, ara, ko te tapuae, ko “Pawhakaoho,” ko “Tu-mania,” ko “Tu-paheke.”
Ka mutu nga koreo o tenei taniwha; i kite au i te upoko kohatu me te Mema nei, me Piukenana—kei te taha tonu o tona whare e tu mai nei ano.
The Taipo of Tinui
Apparently the different tribes of Maoris worshipped different deities to help them when fishing.
If an eeling expedition failed to catch fish, the Maoris at once knew the gods were angry and it was no use going on trying until they went back to the pa and the tohunga had gone through fresh ceremonies and appeased their wrath. I was told this story in Wairarapa, where there are bare hills so steep that no vegetation clings to their naked sandstones. They are called taipos, or devils. If a Maori went fishing or birding between them in the Maungapakeha Valley, he might fail to get either birds or eels. The reason was that the Tinui taipo was angry, and would say to the Maungapakeha taipo, “This man has offended me; he shall catch no more eels or birds to-day.” That Maori might try as he liked, he got no more that day. After returning to the pa and reciting karakias he might thus appease the angry taipos, and next day they would allow him to catch plenty.
Tiokerere connects lakes
Tiokerere is a flax plant whose roots travel between four lakes. Three are on the Tararua mountains and the forth is at Te Tirohanga a Hinetearorangi ki te Motu a Kapiti which is otherwise known as the Hidden Lakes north of Masterton. Two of the mountain lakes are those known as Hapuakorari where one is on the eastern side and one on the west. The third lakes name and location have been lost for now.
Tupuna would say not to cross or stamp on the root of Tiokerere or else you were asking for trouble.
Trees
In local mythology trees were made to be clothes for Papatūānuku. Each tree was the child of Tanemahuta and a female spirit. All the trees made Papatūānuku look more beautiful but also protected her skin. All trees made oxygen and each different tree had special parts that could help us humans.
