Manaia Reaches New Zealand

We left Manaia on board his late brother in law’s canoe, the Tokomaru, having just slain his brother in law as an offering to the gods.

They sailed on and on, and it had proceeded very far from the land they had quitted, when one day, the dog Manaia had taken into the canoe, scented land, and began to howl loudly, struggling to get loose and jump overboard into the water.

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The people in the canoe were surprised at this, and said, “Why, what can be the matter with the dog”.

Some of them said, “We had better let him go if he wishes it, and see what comes of it”.

So they let the dog loose, and he jumped overboard, and swam ahead of the canoe, howling loudly as he went, and this he continued to do until night fell on them.

The canoe followed for a long time the faint howling of the dog, which they could indistinctly hear.

At last, he had got so far off that they could no longer distinguish it, but the dog, after swimming for a long time, reached the land.

In the meantime, the canoe came following straight on the track which the dog had taken, and when at length the night ended, and the day began to break, they again heard the howling of the dog.

The dog had landed close to the carcass of a whale, and they pulled on their paddles, eagerly to reach the shore, and as soon as they reached it they saw the whale lying stranded there, and the dog, by its side.

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They were rejoiced, indeed, when they ascertained this was the country for which they had been seeking.

First allotted out equally amongst them the whale they had found, but, first, Manaia addressed his men, saying,

“We must now build a house to shelter us, and then, we shall cut up the whale”.

His people at once obeyed their chief’s directions, some of them began to collect materials for building a shelter, others to clear spots of ground, and to prepare them for planting.

Some of them called out, “Here is the best place for our village”. whilst others, on the contrary, cried out, “No, no, this is a better place for it”.

Others, who had got a little farther along the beach, cried out, “Here is still a better place”, and others, yet further ahead said, “Here, here, this is the best place we have yet seen”.

Thus, all were led to leave their proper work, and to wander a long way along the shore, exploring the new country, and seeking a site for their future home.

At last, they found that little by little they had been drawn a long way from the spot where they had landed, and from the whale which they had found.

Now there were some other canoes coming close after the Tokomaru canoe, which presently made land, too, and reached the shore just at the point that the Tokomaru had been pulled up onto the beach.

They saw the marks of the Tokomaru upon the sand and the sheds that had been put up, and the bits of land that had been cleared.

They, without delay, began to claim each one as his own, the sheds, the cleared ground, and the whale, which all belonged to the people of the canoe which had landed first.

Then they went to search for the people who had come in that canoe, and when they had found them, each party saluted each other, and when their mutual greetings were over, the people who had come over in the first canoe asked those who had come in the second,

“When did you arrive here?”

The second canoe answered them by saying.

“When did you arrive?”

Then the first canoe answered,

“A long time ago”.

Then the people of the second canoe answered

“And we also arrived a long time ago”.

Those who had come in the first canoe now replied,

“Nay, nay, we arrived before you”.

Then those in the second canoe answered,

“Nay, nay, but we arrived here before you”.

They continued disputing, arguing each party with the other.

At last Manaia asked them,

“What are the proofs you give to show when you arrived here?”

They answered,

“That is all very well, but what proofs have you got to show when you arrived here”.

Manaia replied,

“The proof I have to show when I arrived is a whale of mine which I found upon the beach”.

Then the people who had come in the second canoe answered,

“No, indeed, that whale belongs to us”.

Manaia answered quite angrily,

“No, I say that the whale belongs to me, just look you, you will find my sheds standing there, and my temporary encampment, and the pieces of land which my people have cleared”.

The others answered him,

“Nay, indeed those are our sheds, and our pieces of cleared land, and, as for the whale, it is our whale, let us go and examine them”.

So the whole party returned together, until they came to the place where they had landed, and when they saw all these things there, Manaia said,

“Look you, that whale belongs to me, as well as those sheds, and the cleared pieces of land”.

But the others laughed at him and said,

“Why, you must have gone mad, all those houses belong to us.and the clearings, and that whale too”.

Manaia, who was now quite provoked replied,

“I say no, the clearings are mine, the sheds are mine, as well as the whale”.

The others, however, answered him,

“Very well then, if that is the case, where is your scared place?.

Manaia answered them,

“Where is your sacred place, also then?”

They replied,

“Come along and see it”.

They all went together to see the sacred place of these newly arrived people, and when they saw it, Manaia believed them.

Although he gave credit to the fact of their having arrived first, Manaia was sorely perplexed and troubled, and he abandoned altogether the part of the country he had first reached, and started again to seek for another for himself, and for his relations, and his people.

They coasted right along the shores of the island, and doubled the North Cape, and from thence made a direct course to Taranaki.

They made land fall at Tongaporutu, between Pariwinihi and Mokau, and they landed there.

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They remained there for some time, and left the god they worshiped there, the name of the god was Rakeiora.

They then turned to journey back towards Mokau,

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Some of them went by land along the coast line, and others in their canoe, the two parties keeping in sight of one another as they examined the coast.

When they reached the river Mokau, those in the canoe landed, and they left there the stone anchor of their canoe, it is still lying near the mouth of the river, on its North side, and it is called Punga-o-Matori.
[this is now held in the New Plymouth Museum]

They then pulled back in the Tokomaru, to Tongaporutu, and leaving the canoe there, they explored the country unto Pukearuhe,[White Cliffs]

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thence they went on as far as Papatiki, and descended to the shore at the beach of Kukuriki.

Travelling along the beach, they reached the river of Onaero,

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They forded it, and passed the plain of Motu-nui, and Kawaka, and Urenui.

That river had a name before Manaia and his people reached it, but when Manaia arrived there with his son, Tu-ure-nui, he changed its name, and called it after his son.

They forded the river travelled on, until they reached Rohutu, at the mouth of the Waitara river,

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and they dwelt there, and there they found people living, the native people of these islands.

Manaia slew them, and destroyed them, so that the country was left for himself, and for his descendants, and for his tribe and their descendants.

Manaia and his followers, destroyed the original occupants of the country, in order to obtain possession of it.

Manaia was the ancsetor of Ngati-Awa tribe, he fought two great battles in Hawaiki, the names of which were Kirikiriwawa, and Rotorua, the fame of his weapons resounded there, their names were Kihia, and Rakea,

There also, was the fame of his son, Kahu-kaka-nui-a-Manaia, of the youth who was baptised with the baptisim of children whose fathers are not known.

The first of the below posts has a list of the previous posts of Maori Myths and Legends

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-war-was-declared-between-tainui-and-arawa

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-curse-of-manaia-part-1

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-curse-of-manaia-part-2

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-hatupatu-and-his-brothers

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/hatupatu-and-his-brothers-part-2

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-the-emigration-of-turi-an-ancestor-of-wanganui

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-continuing-legend-of-turi

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/turi-seeks-patea

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-manaia-and-why-he-emigrated-to-new-zealand

with thanks to son-of-satire for the banner