230: Tangata-roa

A 'giant'. There are many legends in which giants are mentioned as having lived in New Zealand; some of these relating to historical or semi-historical persons, and others being pure myth.

• Tama-te-kapua was nine feet high; and he was vanquished in single combat by Ruaeo, who was eleven feet high.

• Tū-hou-rangi was nine feet in height, and was six feet up to the armpits. The bones of Tū-hou-rangi were used for a long time in priestly ceremonies, being brought out and set up in the high places at the time of the kumara being planted. They were taken away by the Ngā-puhi tribe when they stormed the island of Mokoia, in Lake Rotorua.

Tama-te-kapua

A famous ancestral hero of the Māori people. He was the giant son of Haumai-tāwhiti, of Hawaiki, and is first spoken of as journeying with his brother Whakaturia in search of Pōtaka-tāwhiti, a dog belonging to Haumai-tāwhiti. This dog, it was discovered, had been killed and eaten by Toi-te-huatahi and Ue-nuku. In revenge, the brothers robbed Ue-nuku's fruit (poporo) trees. Whakaturia was caught and hung up in the smoke of Ue-nuku's house to die; but by stratagem and the help of his brother he managed to escape. The image above is of this hero depicted in a carving at Tamatekapua meeting house in Ohinemutu, Rotorua in 1880.

War ensued; and it was found that an emigration was the only possible way of preserving the lives of some of the weaker tribes. Canoes were built, and the Arawa, Tainui, Matatūa, and other canoes set out for New Zealand.

Tama-te-kapua was in command of the Arawa, and enticed Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest of the Tainui on board his own vessel. He also carried off Ngātoro's wife (Kea) and Whakaoti-rangi, the wife of Ruaeo. On account of Tama taking liberties with the wife of Ngātoro, and thus arousing the anger of the great priest, the Arawa was nearly lost in the whirlpool of Te Parata.

The Arawa at last reached Whangaparaoa, in the North Island, and her crew found that the Tainui had arrived there before them, and claimed the prior right of possession. Through the cunning of Tama, this claim was disproven. The Arawa went on to Tauranga, and to Maketu. Here Ruaeo (whose wife had been carried off) found Tama, and engaged in a fierce duel, in which Tama, gigantic as he was, was overmatched, beaten down, and insulted. Tama went on with Ngātoro to Tangiaro, and died there; but when dying, he ordered his children to return to Maketu.

Tama had two sons, Tuhoro and Kahu-mata-momoe. These men buried their father on the summit of Moehau (Cape Colville). The parting words (poroporoaki) which Tama spoke to his sons were:

"E papa nga rakau i runga i a koeMau ake te Whakaaro ake. Ae, Ae.E haere nga taua i te ao nei,Mau e patu, Ae, ae."

Ruaeo

A chief of Hawaiki, a giant of eleven feet in height. At the time of the Migration of the Māori people to New Zealand, Whakaoti-rangi, the wife of Ruaeo, was decoyed on board the Arawa canoe by Tama-te-kapua, and carried away. Ruaeo arrived in his canoe Pukā-tea-wai-nui, and obtained access secretly to his wife, who was living with Tama at Maketu. Ruaeo brought one hundred and forty of his men, and challenged Tama to single combat. Tama, himself a giant of nine feet stature, accepted the challenge, but was overthrown, beaten, and insulted beyond expression. Ruaeo and his people then left the place, and chose a home for themselves.

Tu-hou-rangi

A chief noted for his tall stature, he having reached the unusual height of nine feet, and six feet up to the armpits. His bones were used by later generations at religious ceremonials, they being brought out by the priests and set up in the sacred places at the time when root-crops were dug up, when the fishing season commenced, and when an enemy was to be attacked. The bones were eventually carried off by the Ngā-puhi and never seen again.