The Curse Of Manaia, Part 2

We had left Ngatoro and his warriors feasting, after defeating Manaia’s village.
And Manaia going to the other villages in the area, hoping to amass a revenging force.

Ngatoro and his warriors, unaware of this, had retired towards their canoe.

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They soon came to a stream that they had to cross and having forded it, they continued towards their canoe,

By the time they reached the canoe, the avenging force assembled by Manaia had reached the stream.

Ngatoro now felt thirst and remembered that they had no water for the crew of the canoe, so he said, “There is no water here for us”.

Rangitu, hearing the voice of his commander, answered cheerfully, “No, there is none here, but there is plenty in the stream we have just crossed”.

So they gave the great calabash of the canoe to Rangitu, and he returned towards the stream, but before he got there the host of Manaia had reached it and had occupied its banks.

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Rangitu, who did not see them, as soon as he got to the edge of the stream, dipped his calabash to fill it, and as it did not sink easily, being empty and very light, he stooped down and put his hand on it to press it under the water.

Whilst he was holding it with one hand to press it under water, one of the enemy stealing upon him made a blow at him with his weapon.

Rangitu saw nothing, but merely heard the whizz of the weapon as it was sweeping down through the air upon his head, and as quick as thought he jerked the calabash out of the water and held it as a shield in the direction he heard the weapon coming from.

The weapon is parried off from one side of his head, but the calabash is shattered to pieces, and nothing but the mouth of the vessel which he is holding is left in his hand.

Then, off he darts, fast as he can run and reaches Ngatoro and his band of 140 warriors.

As soon as he is thus sure of support, in a moment he turns upon his foes.

Ha. Ha, he slays the first of the enemy and carries off his victim.

Then Tangaroa has risen up, he is soon amongst the enemy, he slays and carries off the second man.

Next Tama-te-kapua kills and carried off his man, thus it is with each warrior.

The enemy then breaks and flees, and a great slaughter is made of the host of Manaia, yet, he himself again escapes with his life.

The name given to this battle was Tarai-whenua-kura.

Having thus avenged themselves of their enemies, Ngatoro and his warriors returned to New Zealand and settled down at Maketu, and cultivated farms there.

Manaia, on his part, was not idle, for shortly after they had left his place of residence, he, with his tribe, set to work at refitting their canoes.

Ngatoro, in the meantime, occupied the island of Motiti, off Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty.

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There he built a fortified village, which he named Matarehua, and a large house ornamented with carved work, which he maned Taimahi-o-Rongo,

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He also made a large underground store for his sweet potatoes, which he named Te Marihope.

Ngatoro and his old wife generally lived nearly alone in their village on Motiti, while the great body of their people dwelt on the mainland at Maketu.

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Suddenly, one evening, Manaia, with a large fleet of canoes and a whole host of warriors, appeared off the coast of the island.

They pulled straight up to the landing place, opposite the house of Ngatoro, and lay on their paddles there, whilst Manaia hailed him, calling out,

“Ho, brother in law, come out here if you dare, let us fight before the daylight is done”.

Ngatoro no sooner heard the voice of Manaia, than he came boldly out of his house, although he was nearly alone, and there he saw the whole host of Manaia lying on their paddles, at the anchorage off his landing place, but at once hailed them, shouting out,

“O brother in law, well done, just anchor where you are for the night, it is already getting dark, and we shall not be able to see to meet the edge of one weapon with the other, the warriors could not, therefore, parry one another's blows, tomorrow morning we will fight as much as you like”.

Manaia no sooner heard this proposal, than he assented to it, saying,

“You are right, it has already grown dark”.

Ngatoro answered him, You had better bring your canoes to the anchorage outside there”.

Manaia, therefore, told his army to anchor their canoes and to lose no time in cooking their food on board, and the priest Ngatoro remained in his fortress.

All the early part of the night Ngatoro remained in the sacred place, performing enchantments and repeating incantations, and his wife was with him, muttering her incantations, and, having finished them, they both returned to the house.

While in the house they continued to perform religious rites, calling to their aid the storms of heaven.

Whilst they were so engaged, the host of Manaia did nothing but amuse themselves, singing Hakas and songs, and diverting themselves thoughtlessly, as war parties do.

Little did they think that they were so soon to perish, no, they flattered themselves that they would destroy Ngatoro, now having caught him almost alone,

As soon as the depth of night fell upon the world, whilst Ngatoro and his aged wife were still in the house.

The old woman was sitting at the window, watching for what might take place, she heard the host of Manaia insulting herself and her husband, by singing taunting war songs.

Then, the ancient priest Ngatoro, who was sitting at the upper end of the house, rises up, unloosens and throws off his garments, and repeats his incantations, and calls upon the winds, and upon the storms, and upon the thunder and lightning, that they may all rise up and destroy the host of Manaia.

The god Tawhiri-ma-tea harkened unto the priest, and he permitted the wind to issue forth, together with hurricanes, and gales, and storms, and thunders and lightning.

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The priest and his wife harkened anxiously that they might hear the first bursting forth of the winds, and thunders and lightning, and the rain and hail.

Then, when it was the middle space between the commencement of night and the commencement of the day, burst forth the winds, and the rain, and the lightning and thunder, and into the harbour poured all the mountainous waves of the sea.

There lay the host of Manaia, overcome with sleep, and snoring loudly, but, when the ancient priest and his wife heard the rushing of the winds and the roaring of the waves, they closed the house up securely, and lay composedly down to rest.

As they lay there they could hear a confused noise, and cries of terror, and a wild and tumultuous uproar from a mighty host.

But, before very long, all the loud confusion became hushed, and nothing was to be heard but the heavy rolling of the surges upon the beach.

Nor did the storm itself last very long, it had soon ceased.

When the next morning broke, the aged wife of Ngatoro went out of her house and looked to see what had become of the host of Manaia.

She cast her eyes along the shore, where she saw them lying dead, cast up on the beach

The name Ngatoro-i-rangi gave to this slaughter was Maikukttea, and the name given to the storm that slew them all was Te Aputahi-a-Pawa.

He gave the name Maikukutea to the slaughter, because the fish, having eaten the bodies of Manaia’s warriors, only their bones, and the nails of their hands and feet, but hardly any part of their bodies could be found.

Of the vast host of Manaia that perished, not one escaped, the body of Manaia himself, they recognized by some tattoo marks on one of his arms.

Ngatoro now lighted a signal fire to his relations and warriors at Maketu, that he wanted them to cross over to the island.

When his chosen band of 140 warriors saw the signal, they launched their canoe and pulled across to join their chief.

On reaching the island they found that the host of Manaia had all perished.

The bottom of the following post has a list of my previous posts on the Maori

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

with thanks to son-of-satire for the banner