The Voyage To New Zealand, Part 2, [Arawa]

Having arrived at the coast of this new country, they pulled down the sails and began to paddle towards the shote.

Then one of the chiefs of the canoe cried out to his messmates, “See there, red ornaments for the head are much more plentiful in this country than in Hawaiki, so I will throw my redhead ornaments into the water”.

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So saying, he threw them into the sea. The name of that man was Tauninihi, the name of the redhead ornament he threw into the sea was Taiwhakaea.

The moment they got on shore they ran to gather the Pohutukawa flowers, but no sooner did they touch them than the flowers fell apart, then they found out that these redhead ornaments were nothing but flowers.

All the chiefs on board the Arawa canoe were then troubled that they should have been so foolish as to throw away their red ornaments into the sea.

Very shortly afterwards the ornaments of Tauninihi were found by Mahina on the beach of Mahiti.

As soon as Tauninihi heard they had been picked up, he ran to Mahina to get them again, but Mahina would not give them up to him.

Thence is the proverb for anything which has been lost and is found by another person, “I will not give it up, ‘iis the redhead ornament which Mahina found”.

As soon as the party landed at Whanga-Paraoa, they planted sweet potatoes, that they might grow there, and they are still to be found growing on the cliffs at that place.

Then the crew, wearied from the voyage, wandered idly along the shore, and they found the fresh carcass of a sperm whale stranded upon the beach.

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The Tainui canoe had already arrived in the same neighbourhood, although they did not at first see that canoe, nor the people who had come in it.

When, however, they met, they began to dispute as to who had landed first and found the dead whale, and as to which canoe it belonged to,

To settle the question, they agreed to examine the sacred place which each party had set up to return thanks to the gods for their safe arrival, that they might see which had been longest built.

They found the posts of the sacred place put up by the Arawa were quite green, whilst the posts of the sacred place set up by the Tainui had evidently been carefully dried over a fire before they were fixed into the ground.

The people of the Tainui also showed part of a rope which they had made fast to the whale’s jawbone.

When these things were seen, it was admitted that the whale belonged to the people who had come on the Tainui canoe, and it was surrendered to them.

The people of Arawa, determining to separate from those in the Tainui, selected some of their crew to explore the country in a north-westerly direction, following the coastline.

The canoe then coasted along, the land party following it along the shore, this was made up of 140 men, whose chief was Taikehu, and these gave rise to the place, the name of which is Te Ranga of Taikehu.

The Tainui left Whanga-Paroa shortly after the Arawa, and, proceeding nearly in the same direction as the Arawa, made the Gulf of Hauraki, and then coasted along to Rakau-manga manga, or Cape Brett.

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To the island with the arched passage through it, called Motukokako, which lies off the Cape.

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Then they ran along the coast to Whiwhia, and to Te Aukanapanapa, and to Muri-whenua, or the country near the North Cape.

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Finding that the land ended there, they returned again along the coast until they reached the Tamaki, and landed there.

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Afterwards, they proceeded up the creek to Tau-oma, or, the portage, where they were surprised to see flocks of sea-gulls and oystercatchers passing over from the westward,

They went off to explore the country in that direction, and to their great surprise, they found a large sheet of water lying immediately behind them, so they decided to drag their canoes over the portage at a place they named Otahuhu, and launch them again on the vast sheet of salt-water which they had found.

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The first canoe that they hauled across was the Tokomaru, and they got it across without difficulty.

They next began to drag the Tainui over the isthmus, they hauled away in vain, they could not stir it, for one of the wives of Hotu-roa, named Marama-kiko-hura, who was unwilling that the tired crews should proceed further on this new expedition, had, by her enchantments, fixed it so firmly to the earth that no human strength could stir it.
The Tainui legend has a different reason

So they hauled, they hauled, they excited themselves with cries and cheers, but they hauled in vain.

They cried aloud in vain, but could not move the canoe.

When their strength was quite exhausted by these efforts, another of the wives of Hoturoa, more learned in magic and incantations than Marama-kiko-hura, grieved at seeing the exhaustion and distress of her people, rose up and chanted forth an incantation far more powerful than that of Marama-kiko-hura.

At once the canoe glided easily over the carefully laid skids and soon floated securely upon the harbour of Manukau.

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The willing crews urged the canoes with their paddles, and soon discovered the mouth of the harbour, on the west coast, and passed through it into the open sea.

They then coasted along the western coast to the southwards, and discovering the small port of Kawhia, they entered it, and, hauling up their canoe, fixed themselves there for the time, while the Arawa was left at Maketu.

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Info From Sir George Grey

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-spread-of-the-descendants-of-hoturoa

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

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-warrior-deeds-of-kaihuma

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/how-kaihamu-killed-his-enemies-at-waiatapu

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/tupahau-goes-fishing-at-marokopa

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/maki-s-battles-in-tamaki

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/karewa-s-fights-with-the-ngapuhi

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-continuing-battles-of-the-tainui-people

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-story-of-maru-tuahu

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/continuing-maru-tuahu-s-story

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/kiki-and-tamure-the-two-sorcerers

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/te-rauparaha

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/some-of-the-stories-of-tawhaki

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/some-more-of-the-stories-of-tawhaki

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/rupe-s-ascent-to-heaven

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/kae-s-theft-of-the-whale

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-murder-of-tuwhakararo

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

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-life-and-times-of-whakatau

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-toi-te-huatahi-and-tama-te-kaoua

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-legend-of-poutini-and-whaiapu-or-the-discovery-of-new-zealand

https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/the-voyage-to-new-zealand-part-1-arawa

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