- MD
94: The ancient inhabitants of Taranaki
All our articles with a few exceptions are written for a purpose, often in an order leading to what must be revealed soon. Often we garner information from old journals of the Polynesian Society. Below are selected portions of a lengthy article written in 1907. The information comes directly from the mouths of the old Maori who told tales that would not be openly told or accepted today. Either they are true, or the old ones lied. We just state that to make it clear there is only one answer and either has a consequence for now if you can grasp the hint. (
WHILST there can be but little doubt as to the history of the people who came to New Zealand with the heke, or great migration in the six well-known canoes, it is not so well known with those who preceded them. Indeed, it seems unlikely, at this date, that we shall ever know anything very definite about this aboriginal people—at any rate so far as this Coast is concerned. At the same time there are many indications in the traditions of the people. Probability seems to point to there having been several early migrations and visits from the Pacific Islands prior to 1350 which is the approximate date now generally accepted as that at which the heke arrived……. One recited a genealogy from Ngu to Tamatea, who flourished at the time of the heke circa, 1350; there are twenty-one generations on this line, and this agrees very well with the number quoted above, and the two serve to fix an approximate date at which people were known to be living in New Zealand as the year 850.
It was about the year 650 that the Polynesians first commenced a series of extraordinary and daring voyages, that in 250 years from that date carried them to all parts of the Pacific, and as New Zealand—under its Rarotongan name, Avaiki-tautau—is mentioned amongst the list of islands visited by some of these voyagers, we may fairly assume that between the two dates mentioned, this country was first settled, and by people of the same Polynesian race as those that comprised the heke of 1350.
(The JPS accepted in 1907 that the true tangata whenua were truly Polynesian but not of the migrations involving any of the famous canoes.)
It seems probable, and also natural, seeing their positions, that the Bay of Plenty and the Northern Coasts were first settled, and from there the people spread to other parts, until, at the date of the heke, the aborigines seem to have occupied most of the North Island and probably parts of the Middle Island as well. Strenuous effort was necessary to procure from the sea, the rivers, and the woods, to keep off starvation; and long distances must be traversed in search of these foods, gradually leading to a knowledge of the country and its productions.
In a colder climate, the thin garments so suitable to the tropics, had to be abandoned for warmer material, which they luckily found in the harakeke or native flax. The resultant garments were of great strength and warmth, adorned with handsome patterns (taniko) common to their original home. The houses common to the tropics had likewise to be abandoned for others of a warmer nature, and hence these old-time people invented the whare-puni, quite unlike anything in the Pacific until we reach the shores of far Alaska, and this implied most arduous labour, with the tools they possessed—stone axes and adzes, in the finish of which no other branch of the race approaches—only equally by their beautifully adorned canoes, excelling anything of the kind in other parts of the Pacific. The Maori carving likewise appears to be an of local origin or of great local development, for it is not found elsewhere in so perfect a form. Tradition says it was invented by Rau-ru—some say by Rua—who flourished some five or six generations before the heke; but may be, he in reality only improved on ideas which had long previously been initiated. The same remarks apply to their tattooing; it is apparently local—no other branch of the race possessed it in the Maori form, though some form of tattooing was common wherever the Polynesians are found.
Above are a selection of some unusual artifacts of the Taranaki region that are of the original Tangata Whenua
It would seem also that this forest environment has effected the mental aspect of the people towards their gods. Tane, Io, Tangaroa, etc where some were associated with the deep oceans now they associated with the land and forests. Tangaroa became supreme, yet wasn’t where he was first revered.
The extremely ancient cult of Rangi and Papa, seems to have been retained by the Maoris more fully, with more persistence and greater detail than any other branch of the race. And this seems due to the early isolation of the tangata-whenua, who brought with them from the Pacific the full knowledge of this cult, which was not greatly affected by the invasion of more recent modifications introduced by disturbing elements from other parts of the Pacific. In the islands, Rangi and Papa are certainly known, but amongst the Maoris alone is to be found the great detail and full belief of the origin of all things through them. For proof of this we have only to refer to the traditions of the Moriori of the Chatham Islands, where we shall find the same belief in, and detailed account of Rangi and Papa—modified in some respects, no doubt by their environment, but still the same fundamentally. And no one at this date will probably deny that the Morioris represent most closely the ancient tangata-whenua of New Zealand.
The only native writer on the old tangata-whenua was Hamiora Pio. He refers in many places to the peaceful lives led by this old-time people, and states that wars and troubles only arose after the arrival of the heke. This may have been true as a general statement, in fact seems highly probable, for some of the common causes of war were non-existent at that time—there was abundance of room for the people to spread—the forests, lakes and mountains would not, at that period, have been appropriated so closely by family and tribal claims, such as obtained afterwards. Moriori history, whilst accounting for the migration to the Chatham Islands by war, would seem to confirm the idea that peace was the rule with the tangata-whenua, otherwise the agreement come to by the people during the first generation of their occupation of that island, to the effect they should live in peace in future, as they did from that date until their conquest by the Maoris in 1836, would not have been possible.
Against this theory of Hamiora Pio's, we have the fact that a great many of the fortified pas still existing were built by the tangata-whenua, which seems to show that the necessity for protection had arisen in some parts, and, moreover, the Maori pa is a feature peculiar to New Zealand only. (where they learned it from the tangata whenua)
It is now necessary to enter more particularly into the evidence of the early occupation of the Taranaki district with some long genealogies:
At twenty-seven generations from the present time we find Te Manu-waero-rua, who was undoubtedly one of the tangata-whenua living in New Zealand, and is given by the East Coast traditions as either father or mother of Toi-kai-rakau, who by a mean of numerous line, flourished thirty-one generations ago. The first three names on the line beginning with Tu-mua are called Te Kahui-Tu, and the first six on the right are the Kahui-Ru—Kahui meaning a flock, a name which is only applied to the tangata-whenua people. These lines do not tell us when the junction occurs with the crew of the heke, but the marriage shown at generation twenty-four is about the period. Te Kahui-Tu people, or Tribe, are said by tradition to have lived at Waitara and the names of their whare-kura (houses of learning, council) have been preserved—they are as follows: Ramaroa, Uro-weka, Puaki-taua, Maruarua, and Poporo-tapu.
The original name of Mount Egmont - no doubt given by the tangata-whenua - was Puke-haupapa, or Ice-hill, so named from the perpetual snow on top; the second name was Puke-o-naki, which refers to its graceful slope, and finally it received its present name of Taranaki, after Rua-Taranaki who is said to have been the first man to ascend it.
Mere lists of names in a genealogy mentioned above are of little interest to the ordinary reader, but to anyone who will take up the study of the ancient cult, of which these form a part, they are pregnant with meaning. This, however, is not the place for that—they are printed here to preserve them for the future student, for no where else are they to be found, in their present form.
There is a reference to Te Kahui-rua to be found in a song about the celebrated axe “Te Awhio-rangi, the Stone of Ngahue
Te Whatu-a-Ngahue (or Ngahue's stone) is an emblematical or poetical term for the jade; a large piece of which was taken by Ngahue to Rarotonga and Tahiti, and from it were formed the axes with which some of the canoes of the heke were made.
This again shows that the greenstone was known to the tangata-whenua before the arrival of the heke, and consequently they must have been acquainted with the West Coast of the Middle Island, for there alone is it to be found.
Moreover, in the Chatham Island genealogies, long before the Moriori migrated to that place, we find a man named Pou-namu, which is the Maori name of the jade. Again the Morioris have a tradition of a celebrated axe brought with their ancestors Moe, from New Zealand, named “Toki-a-ra-meitei” which is supposed to be buried at the ancient tuahu, or altar, at Owhata, on that island, and, as Mr. Shand says, was described by Tapu, the late learned man of the Morioris, as made of jade.
On the subject of the early visits to Milford Sound, on the West Coast of the Middle Island, the following is interesting and has not - it is believed - been recorded before. In January 1891, Mr. Lewis Wilson, then Under Secretary, Marine Department, on his return from Milford, told the writer that the prisoners, who had been sent to that place to make a road up to and along the shores of Lake Ada, in excavating for a house-site, at three feet from the surface a Maori stone-axe was found. The surface of the land was covered with very large trees. On 14th February, 1891, Professor Aldis, who had just returned from Milford, told the writer the same story, which he and Professor Hutton obtained from the gaoler in charge. But the Professor called the object a chisel; it was two and a-half inches broad, not made of greenstone, and was found under two and a-half feet of shingle and sand, the surface of which was covered with large trees. This object must have been lying there a very great many years to have allowed of large trees growing over it. Of course it does not follow that the tan-gata-whenua made, used, and lost the axe.
The story of Tama-ahua, and the greenstone, belongs to this period of the tangata-whenua. It is a Taranaki story. In it he is said to have belonged to “the Kahui-maunga,” to those people who, it is claimed, came to Aotea-roa by way of land; “they walked here,” which is merely another way of saying that the circumstances of their arrival had been completely lost.
The following genealogical table also traces descent from the tangata whenua, at least it must be assumed so, for there is not a single name on it that can be traced to the tables of the heke. It is from the Ngati-Ruanui tribe of Patea, Taranaki. It commences by stating that Tu-tange-te-okooko-riri, who flourished as late as 1840, “descended from Rangi-nui (the great Heaven father) and Te Whani married Marama from whom descended:—
THE STORY OF Mt EGMONT / TARANAKI
Mr. Skinner adds the following:—“Taranaki on his journey from Taupo was preceded by a stone - a female - of great mana, called Toka-a-Rauhotu, which acted as a pilot, or guide, keeping well in advance of Taranaki. The day preceding the capture of Egmont by Pou-a-kai, Toka-a-Rauhotu had reached within a short distance of the coast, on the south side of Wai-wera-iti (Stoney river). On awakening in the morning she turned to see if Taranaki was following, and then discovered that Pou-a-kai had thrown out a new arm, or spur, in the night encircling and making a prisoner of Egmont. Toka-a-Rauhotu has remained until the present day, a thing of great veneration to all the tribes, still looking upon her old friend and follower with longing eyes. But the great mana (supernatural power) which she once possessed has since the coming of the Pakeha departed, and men who now fearlessly touch her, do not die as in former times. The carvings on the face of this rock were done generations ago by a party of Ngati-Tama, seventy in number, who dug up the stone with great labour, and removed it; but the same night it returned to its old resting place. The infringement of the tapu implied in this act of Ngati-Tama brought- its own reward, for they all died under the influence of makutu, or witchcraft. Toka-a-Rauhotu in its journey from Taupo, was accompanied by may familiar spirits in the shape of lizards, who dwelt around the rock.”
Te Toka-a-Rauhotu
There are stories current on this coast of a people called Maero, who are described as wild men of the woods, and who probably were the remains of some of the original people driven to the forests and mountains by the incoming crews of the heke. Even so late as the fifties of last century, they were supposed to inhabit the great forests in inland Taranaki. They have sometimes been confused with the Patu-pai-arehe, or fairies—so called—but this is quite a modern idea. At Puke-koikoi, on the Whanganui river, was a hill occupied by the Maero before that river was inhabited by the present tribes, and which the Maero abandoned after the place had been visited by the newcomers—they did so, because the tapu of their homes was desecrated by the invasion of newcomers.
It is a question if in some cases the term Tu-rehu—generally identified with Patu-pai-arehe—does not refer also the old-time people. When Kupe the navigator called in at Kawhia, on his voyage down the coast, he saw people there whom he called Tu-rehu. The people he also saw at Patea—though said to be birds—were probably men; for we also have the statement, “Turi (of Patea) and his son slew the men of this island; the name of that race was Kohikohi.”
The Rev. T. G. Hammond of Patea, a conscientious and careful inquirer, who will be quoted several times in the course of this narrative, says (1891):—“I am of opinion from what I can gather that there was a race of men in this and other parts of New Zealand when the Maoris (those of the heke) arrived. Hone Mohi Tawhai (a very intelligent and well-educated Maori, long since dead) I am sure, quite believed that the Turehu were a race of real men inhabiting Hokianga
Wi Hape, an old man of Te Ati-Awa, living at the Hutt, has stated the fact that on the arrival of the “Tokomaru” and other canoes on the Taranaki Coast, the crews found people living there.
“A people named Te Kahui-toka were found living at Patea when Turi, captain of the ‘Aotea’ arrived there.” Note again the word kahui as a name for a tribe. Their names were:—Tokanui, Tokaroa, Toka-whareroa, Toka-kahura and Toka-potiki, probably all brethren.
The following is translated from “Nga Mahinga,” by Sir G. Grey. It refers to the arrival of Manaia and his party in the “Toko-maru” canoe, circa 1350. “Then they paddled on down the coast until they arrived at Tonga-porutu, where the canoe was finally left, and the people travelled on overland to Puke-aruhe, then to Papa-tiki, then along the beach of Kuku-riki to Mimi 21 river which they waded, afterwards crossing the Motu-nui plain to Kaweka, and to the Ure-nui river. This river had another name previously, but on the arrival of Manaia and his son Tu-ure-nui at that place, it was named after the latter. They forded this river, then proceeded on overland to Rohutu at the mouth of the Waitara river, where they settled. Now, there were people living there, the native people of this island; but they were killed by Manaia and his party, and the country taken by Manaia, his sons and followers. The reason they were killed by Manaia was so that they should possess the land.”
Mr. Wells, in his History of Taranaki, p. 4, quoting Mr. John White, says:—“The people found at Wai-tara by Manaia, were called Ngati-Moko-torea”; but I have nowhere else come across this name. No doubt these people were some of the original Tini-o-Awa, later called Ati-Awa.
The collective names of the families or tribes of the tangata-whenua, differ entirely from those terms used by the immigrants of the heke. It is only after the arrival of the latter that we become familiar with the now common Ngati as a collective word for a tribe. Previously, the names were Kahui, Tini, Whanau, etc. 22 Ngati is used exactly in the same manner in Raro-tonga as in New Zealand. The Tahitians have the word ‘Ati,’ which, as they do not pronounce the ng, is identically the same word with the same meaning, but it is not used in the same manner as in New Zealand. In Pau-motu Ngati is a tribe, but in no other of the Polynesian dialects is it found (according to the Dictionaries). Hence the Ngati is peculiarly Eastern Polynesian, which we might expect seeing that the heke came from there to New Zealand.
But did the tangata-whenua come from the same quarter of the Pacific to New Zealand? The writer is strongly of opinion that they did not - that in fact they came from Western Polynesia, but the evidence is so slight, and depends upon so many considerations, that it cannot be stated here. The direct evidence of names does not help us much, though this is the most important of all, for the tangata-whenua traditions have mostly been lost.
Hamiora Pio, already referred to, states that Maku (who visited New Zealand circa 850) came from Mata-ora, a name that cannot be identified. Some of the northern accounts seem to indicate—though this is not certain—that some, at least, came from Mata-te-ra and Waerota, names which equally cannot now be identified; but the general position of which can be fixed from Tahitian and Rarotongan traditions as islands lying to the N.W. of Fiji, or, possibly some of the Fiji Islands themselves. The Hawaiki of the tangata-whenua is probably Savai'i of the Samoa group, whilst that of the heke is Hawaiki-runga, or Tahiti and the adjacent groups.
A very astute man of the Taranaki tribe states positively that his ancestors who came over in the heke, found a numerous people here called Kahui-maunga with whom the newcomers amalgamated, and he supports this by arguments which are convincing, and really more like those of a European than a Maori, though the probability is that he never discussed the matter with any one before the writer questioned him on the subject. He claims that Rua-tupua, Rua-tawhito, and Rua-Taranaki shown on the Tables No. 2 and 3, belonged to this Kahui-maunga people, and that their descendants are still to be found amongst the Taranaki tribe.
The “fishing line” of Maui-Potiki may be taken as equivalent to saying, that the origin of these people is unknown—that they date from the time when Maui-Potiki “fished up” New Zealand from the depths, as he is accredited with doing in the case of so many islands—in other words his “fishing” was his discovery of the Islands. This seems to lend support to Judge Wilson's and Col. Gudgeon's theories, that one Maui-Potiki was the ancestor of all the tangata-whenua people.
This chapter commenced with the statement that very little of the history of the tangata-whenua of this coast has been preserved. All that is known or may legitimately be deduced is stated above, and it will be seen how little it is. Their history has been so overlaid by that of the more forceful heke, that it has even been doubted if ever such a people existed. But this idea is now exploded and the tangata-whenua must take their place as forming a large element in the present population. Some writers have supposed that, prior to the heke, New Zealand was occupied by a non-Polynesian race; in the writer's opinion there is no justification for such a belief. It is probably true that on one or two occasions Melanesians may have arrived in New Zealand on board vessels under the command of Polynesians, and that a few may have remained in the country. But these would be extremely few in number. So far as we know, they all returned with their masters to the Central Pacific—they in fact would be slaves brought to paddle the canoes.
Many names in Taranaki come from elsewhere in the Pacific in the same manner European settlers gave names of their homeland to certain locations.
N connection with the ancient history of the Taranaki Coast, and indeed of New Zealand generally, there is another important question to be settled, which has proved a source of confusion and trouble to all who have seriously considered Maori History. I refer to the ancestor named Toi, with various sobriquets, such as Toi-te-hua-tahi and Toi-kai-rakau. On the one hand we have one of that name who undoubtedly was a celebrated tangata-whenua, living at Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, some eight or nine generations prior to the arrival of the fleet of canoes in circa, 1350; and on the other, we have a man of the same name, usually called Toi-te-hua-tahi who flourished about the same period in Hawaiki, 1 and from whom many people trace descent. Were these one and the same man or not?
It is quite certain that the second name has been applied to the aboriginal chief of Whakatane, very probably through confusion of the two; or, kai-rakau, the wood-eater, may be merely a sobriquet applied to Toi-te-hua-tahi on account of his living on the native products of New Zealand, before the kumara and taro were introduced to the country. The name, unfortunately, is not an uncommon one on the ancestral lines. For instance, we have one Toi shown on the Rarotonga genealogies, who flourished sixty-five generations ago, and E. Toi of fifty-four generations ago (the E. in this case being simply a vocative introduced into the old karakias), another who flourished some thirty-four generations ago, and others mentioned in Rarotonga history. In New Zealand there are also several, but all subsequent to Toi-kai-rakau.
In the above table, Hoaki and Taukata are the two men who were wrecked on the coast near Whakatane, and who disclosed to Tama-ki-Hikurangi and the other tangata-whenua people of that place, the existence of the kumara in Hawaiki, which led to the building and voyage of the “Aratawhao” canoe to Hawaiki, and which voyage again had an influence in starting the fleet for New Zealand in 1350.
If we may believe the Moriori traditions, it was about the period of Rauru and his son Whatonga that the troubles arose in New Zealand, which caused that people to migrate to the Chatham Islands.
Rauru's son was Whatonga, and of him very little is mentioned in Maori tradition, beyond the fact that he was an ancestor of many of the- tangata-whenua tribes, none of whom, however, are called after him, though his father Rauru gives his name to the Nga-Rauru tribe of Wai-totara, West Coast. One of the names of the Seventy Mile Bush is Te Tapere-nui-a-Whatonga, but it is doubtful if this name is not derived from a descendant of the same name who flourished several generations after the man we are writing of.
Put in the briefest form, the above are the most essential points in the argument relating to the question of whether Toi of Polynesia is the same as Toi of New Zealand. However we may decide, there are potent reasons against the decision. But the balance of evidence appears to the writer to be capable of a summary statement as follows:—
1. That there was only one original Toi, a common ancestor of both Maoris and Rarotongans.
2. That he was probably born and lived for many years in New Zealand, then visited Central Polynesia, taking his son Rauru with him, that after living there many years he returned to New Zealand, and died at Whakatane.
3. That Rauru after living many years in Central Polynesia returned to New Zealand, his son Whatonga—probably born there—accompanying him, and both died in New Zealand.
4. That voyages between New Zealand and Central or Eastern Polynesia were more common, prior to the date of the fleet, than is generally supposed, the exact particulars of which have been lost.
New Zealand carving is local and peculiar, not found elsewhere in the Pacific, except in New Guinea, where we occasionally see what is probably the same motif as in the Maori carving. Now one named Rauru was a voyager (see ante); it was he who went on the expedition, from either Samoa or Fiji, to bring back the taro plant, and, doubtless, the place he went to—Wairua-ngangana—laid to the north of those groups. It may have been New Guinea he went to, or called at, and there learnt the art of carving, which he and others more fully developed in New Zealand.
We make the strong point here that the Polynesian Maori did not regard themselves as the tangata whenua of the land. They referred to those already here as such, and is another reason why the Treaty of Waitangi never uses the term tangata whenua in reference to Maori. This is because in 18... few Maori were audacious enough to do so, nor had time enabled the history to be covered long enough for it to changed to mean the fourth or even fifth immigration (being the 'fleet' which arrived at different times from different locations) could now be called a name that did not belong.
On the other hand, anyone who was born here and lives here, can in some way regard themselves as tangata whenua - in the true spiritual sense of the word. But if Polynesian immigrating here from 1350 onwards can claim the term as unique to them in the light of the above (let alone the future reveal based on DNA etc), then so can the son of a Chinese immigrant if he was born here. And that is an interesting thing that can be debated publically in future years.
