E muri ahiahi,   ka totoko te aroha, Wairua o te hanga,   ka wehe i a au. Wai te teretere,   e rere i waho ra? Nou na e Te Kou,   e hoki koutou, Ripa ki te whenua,   ki Maketu ra ia. Tenei matou   kei runga i te toka. Me rauhi noa,   ki te wairua kau; Te waka ra e,   i tataia mai, Toroa i te wai,   kia paia atu koe, Haere ki raro ra,   ki Hauraki raia Hei matakitaki ma te nui   a 'Ti-Maru. Nei, ka pae noa,   ki Maukaha ra ia! As darkness falls, Sadness comes to my mind, haunted by the crafted thing taken from me. Whose is that group of travellers sailing by over there? Ah, it's yours, Te Kou-a-Rehua. You're on your way back horizonwards to the land at Maketu far away, while we're here on top of this rock. To cheer myself up, I focus on the memory of how the craft used to be; lashed tight, bailed out, all in order,* an albatross of the sea you were not yet obstructed from going on our trip north, all the way to Hauraki, to be admired by the crowds of Ngati Marutuahu. But now, we're totally wrecked back here at Maukaha Rock! *  Tātaia, to be set in order    Tātāia, to be knocked repeatedly, lashed together.    Tatāia, to be bailed out. The wreck of Te Whakapū In about 1790, the young Tuhoe chief Te Ngahuru refurbished the beautifully carved old "Te Whakapu" war canoe and set out from Maketu with some 40 of his men to paddle it north to Tauranga, Whangamata, Whitianga, around the Coromandel peninsular into the Hauraki Gulf and back home again, a round trip of nearly 600 km. But they only paddled it as far as Whangamata. As they tried to leave the shelter of Whenuakura Island, his crew could not manoeuvre the long vessel precisely enough in the rough waters, and it was swept onto the rocks behind the island instead, unnoticed by Te Kou-a-Rehu, a high chief of Ngati Pukenga at Tauranga. Paddling around Maukaha Grant McIntosh of Whangamata, a descendant of Te Ngahuru, writes, "The rocks are rounded and a quite deceptive.  Many of them are underwater, and their position between two islands creates unusual wave focus and  currents.  They are plentiful in kaimoana.  An elder Laura Hiku of Ngati Hako told me once that the rocks are tapu. I wonder if this is because of that event." And a kayaker in the 2005 Coromandel 12-hour Adventure Race describes the waters Te Ngahuru tried to paddle through 200 years previously. "Coming out from behind Hauturu Island we headed off to have a look at Maukaha, but there were a lot of dangerous looking rocks and water around here, so we headed on do a circuit of Whenuakura Island. "There were a lot of boats attempting to land on Whenuakura, and people seemed to be doing OK despite the 3 metre swell that was rolling through the narrow gaps. "The tide had started going out a few minutes before we started the race, and with the swell rolling in, and the narrow harbour mouth, there was a lot of cross current and reflected wave action going on, which made for very interesting paddling!" Te Ngahuru Te Ngahuru was born sometime around 1770 and died in about 1823. In the early 19th century, he was one of the greatest warriors of the Ruatoki district and was famed for his skill with the taiaha. One historian p.25 gives a graphic account of his heroic death at Maketu by a war-party from Waikato, but his official biographer says he died of influenza. DNZB Mihi-ki-te-kapua Although this song has been attributed to Te Ngahuru, it has all the hallmarks of Tuhoe composer Mihi-ki-te-kapua. She was noted for expressing yearnings arising from feelings of deep loneliness, for selecting her words precisely, and for arranging the lines of a song skillfully to build up the exposition of ideas, just as in this moteatea. DNZB See these other later songs of hers.     Taku Rakau E     Engari Te Titi Te Kou Te Kou-a-Rehua was a high chief of the Ngati Pukenga sub-tribe of Tauranga. During Hongi's wars in the 1820s his tribe moved to the Coromandel Peninsula where they were gifted lands by the Ngati Maru to thanks them for their assistance in battle. Te Kou-o-Rehua signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Sources Because of its beautifully crafted sonnet-like structure, and Te Ngahuru's fame as a warrior, this moteatea became widely known, and was recorded in print many times. 1849 by W.B. Baker of Wanganui, The New Zealander 1853 by Sir George Grey, Ko Nga Moteatea 1855 by Rev Richard Taylor, Te Ika a Maui 1861 by William Bailey Baker, On Popular Maori Poetry 1888 by John White, The Ancient History of the Maori 1898 by John Mcgregor, Popular Maori Songs 1929 by Sir Apirana Ngata, Nga Moteatea A Ngati Maru version A modification of this song by the Ngati Maru from Hauraki was recently quoted in a Treaty of Waitangi document. PDF E muri ahiahi ka totoko te aroha Wairua o te hanga ka wehe i ahau. Wai te teretere e rere i waho ra? Nou e te iwi Hauraki! E hoki koutou Ripa ki te whenua ki Te Totara ra ia Tenei matou kei runga i te toka. Me rauhi mai te wairua kau Te waka ra e i tataia mai Toroa i te wai kia paia atu koe Haere ki raro ra ki Hauraki ra ia Hei matakitaki mai m? 'ati Maru Nei ka pae noa ki Tikapa Moana 2   As darkness falls, I'm filled with sadness, haunted by the crafted thing that I've lost. Whose contingent is that sailing by over there? Ah, it's yours, Hauraki people. You're on your way back heading for home, right back to Te Totara pa, while we're here on top of this rock. To cheer myself up, I focus on the memory of how the craft used to be, you were all dried out, an albatross of the sea, you were not yet blocked from going way down, all the way to Hauraki, to be looked upon with envy by the Ngati Maru. Now it's totally wrecked here in the Hauraki Gulf 2.  'Ki Tikapa Moana'.   This may have originally been 'Ki Tikapa raia' = At Gannet Rock itself. Tikapa, or Gannet Rock, is on the north-east point of Waikeke Island, in the middle of the Hauraki Gulf. The war canoes of Ngati Maru The Ngati Marutuahu, from Te Totara Pa (now the town of Thames), were famous for their big sea-going war canoes made from giant kauri trees that grew in the area. The Otunui and the Otuiti had hulls some 2.5m across, with side-strakes about 50cm high. Five warriors could sit at each bench seat, allowing alternate teams to paddle, bail or rest. The broader beam and extra crew enabled these waka taua to navigate the rougher offshore waters, well away from rocks. But most other war canoes had a hull carved from a tree-trunk only about 1.3m wide. These vessels were well suited for rivers and lakes but on coastal journeys they were easily flooded in rough seas. So they had to stay close inshore where the waters were sheltered. And where there were lots of rocks! It seems that a Ngapuhi war canoe had gone on the rocks in the gulf, perhaps off the nor-east tip of Waiheke Island, early in the 19th century. The stranded Ngapuhi warriors had watched helplessly as a victorious Ngati Maru war fleet returned from a raid on one of their settlements, Hongi Hika's War But the Ngati Maru had killed a relative of Hongi Hika during one of these raids. He was in Sydney helping missionaries write a Maori dictionary, and he vowed revenge. He obtained 300 muskets, returned to the Bay of Islands and took a fleet of war canoes first to the East Coast, and then south to Te Totara pa where he killed all its defenders. He followed this up with attacks on other tribes, starting a desperate effort by tribes everywhere to get muskets of their own. One musket could be acquired for three tons of flax fibre. So they produced thousands of tons of scraped flax (used by Europeans for sail manufacture). The Muskets of Hongi. Hongi Hika returning from the East Coast with trophy heads in 1819

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Published on NZFS  May 2008