The Spread Of The Descendants Of Hoturoa

The descendants of Hoturoa started from the Pa [village] at Rangiahua, by the waters of Kawhia, and spread from Mokau in the south to Hauraki, Auckland in the north, and along the Waikato River.

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When Hoturoa and his wife, Whakaotirangi set up home at Rangiahua the seed kumara [sweet potato] that she had hidden under her sleeping mat on the Tainui, were brought forth and the ten remaining plants were buried in prepared soil and the place was called Kareanui.

The ten plants, with the blessings of the gods, produced two hundred baskets of kumara when harvested.

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While they lived at Rangiahua, Hoturoa’s second wife, Marama-kikohure, gave birth to a son, whom Hoturoa named Motai.

One day Marama went to the shore to gather some shellfish, and she left the child with Hoturoa.

As soon as Marama got out of sight the baby began to cry, Hoturoa nursed the child, he fed the child and it continued to cry, by trickery he got the child to sleep.

When Marama returned and found out what Hoturoa had done, she cursed him and his wife Whakaotirangi, and they were smitten with sores.

Marama and her brothers and relatives left Rangiahua and moved to Aotea where she raised her son.

When he was old enough and grown into a man, she told him what had happened, had he became determined to get revenge.

So he gathered his mother's relations together, and they fell a large Kauri tree and fashioned it into a canoe, and hauled it to the sea.

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Motai then urged his mother's people to return to Hawaiki-iti and raise a strong crew of warriors to attack Hoturoa.

Hoturoa heard of the doings of Motai, and when he saw the canoe launched he invoked the aid of his gods to upset it, and when the canoe met the first strong wave of the ocean it capsized, and all those on board were drowned, and the canoe of Motai was turned to stone.

That stone canoe is still in Aotea harbour, and can be seen today. The name of the canoe was Rewatu.

After all these events Hoturoa and his wife Whakaotirangi died and were buried above the sea at Kawhia.

The chiefs Hotuhope, Hotumatapu, Ue, Raka, Kakati, and Tawhao and their people all lived peaceably at Rangiahua, there was no war, no trouble, these men of old had agriculture, and fishing, and the arts of peace as their main pursuits.

But it could not last.

Turongo and Whatihua were born at Rangiahua, and when they reached manhood Turongo was made chief.

At this time a young chieftainess of the Ngati-Ruanui tribe, Ruaputahanga, famed for her beauty, heard of Turongo, and she came to pay him a visit.

When she reached the village she met Whatihua’s first and asked him where she could find Turongo.

Whatihua offered to show her and took her instead to his house, where he made her his wife.

When Turongo and his father heard how Whatihua had deceived Ruaputahanga they were very angry, and they left the village and went to the lands of Ngati-Kahungunu, and he married Mahina-a-rangi. His father had gone with him and died shortly afterwards.

Turonga lived at Maungatautari, where his son Ruakawa was born.

Ruakawa had Rereahu, who had Maniapoto, the great ancestor of the Ngati-Maniapoto tribe.

Then, and now, when a visitor is welcomed onto a Maree, he gives a complete history of his ancestors as far back as he can, including a member of the great canoe that they arrived in.

Meanwhile, Whatihua and Ruaputahanga lived in Rangiahua, and he took a second wife Apakura.

He favoured the beautiful Ruaputahanga, and almost abandoned Apakura, and Ruaputahanga was happy.

Then Apakura bore a son, Uenuku Te Rangihoka, and Whatihua returned to Apakura, Ruaputahanga was not happy, and she left Rangiahua for her homeland, by way of Marokopa, south of Kawhia, with Whatihua pursuing her.

When she reached the Moeatoa cliffs, the tide was in, and the waves were boisterous,

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They dashed onto the perilous beach track, she cried out to Whatihua, “Return, lest you perish in pursuing me, for the tides of Rakei-mata-taniwha will engulf you”.

So Whatihua returned to Apakura, and Ruaputahanga returned to her people Ngati-Ruanui, in Taranaki.

Trekking on a few generations, the people of the Tainui had multiplied and spread to form many tribes.

There lived at Kawhia two young chiefs whose names were Huamai and Mango.

Haumai married Mawake, Mango decided to travel to the Taranaki and visit the Ngati-Rauru people.

There he met a young woman called Hiapoto, and fell in love, fortunately, his love was returned, and she became his wife.

After a while, he decided to return to Kawhia, and Hiapoto bade farewell to her people as she would make a new life at Kawhia.

When they arrived Mango found that all the land he was hoping to make his home on had been taken by Huamai.

He asked Haumai for some of the lands that were his birthright, but Haumai was greedy and would not give him any land.

This angered Mango, and he perceived that there was no place for him unless he took it by force, so he gathered his friends together and formed a war party, and attacked Haumai and his followers.

They fled before him, none dared to face him, and they feared that Mango would attack and kill Haumai.

While Mango was attacking the Pa [fortified village] and killing men, Haumai’s followers placed their Rangitira [Chief] on a litter and carried him away, for he was ill and could not walk.

Mango continued his attack, and being victorious, followed the retreating party, and overtook the litter and party.

These men, believing that Mango would not actually kill Haumai, they all crowded in under the kauhoa [litter] on which the sick man lay, by this act they became tapu [sacred/forbidden], for Haumai was a very sacred chief.

When Mango and his men rushed up and saw this, it stayed their hand, and Haumai and his men were saved.

This ended the strife, and Mango settled on the shores of Kawhia.

There is a story of how Haumai killed a Taniwha [monster of the seas] called Raparoa, which lived in a cave at the base of the cliff on the oceanfront at Honipake, on the Kawhia coast.

Haumai’s home was in Taungatara Pa, and he made a plantation of kumara [sweet potato] at Honipaka, close to the seashore, being unaware the Taniwha lived in the cave beneath his garden.

Now this Taniwha, Raparoa, was a mischievous monster, and when he knew that the kumara crop had come to maturity, he exerted his power of evil and raised a great storm and spouted salt water over the crops and spoilt them, the whole crop was ruined, and the kumara rotted in the salty ground.

When Haumai saw what had happened he descended the cliff to the sea to discover what had caused the sea water to be sprayed over his land.

Here he beheld Raparoa, and he boldly asked the monster, “O Reparoa, why do you not go and see the fishes at Puponga?”.

Puponga is the place where all the fish assemble, and it was the time when the mackerel were plentiful in those parts.

So when Raparoa heard what Haumai said, it immediately set off for Puponga, eager to feast on the fish.

As soon as he had left, Haumai filled in his hole in the bottom of the cliff with stones and sand.

When Raparoa returned he found his home filled in and he left to find another one.

Finding none, Raparoa died, and the people took his great sharp teeth and made ear ornament from them.

Haumai was known as “The remover of the Taniwha”

Some Info From

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/tainui-canoe-travels-from-hawaiki-to-new-zealand

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/myths-and-legends-of-new-zealand-intro

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-this-series-began

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