52 Transactions. 



tangiwai from across Lake Whakatipu." Mr. Cowan says in his Maoris 

 of New Zealand the full name of the lake is Te-roto-whakatipu-whenua. 



The late Mr. W. S. Young, of Otakeho, writing to me regarding his 

 surtey trips in 1857-59, said a very intelligent old Maori, Kawana by 

 name, told them he used " to live at a large lake called Wakatapu, the 

 only place where greenstone could be obtained. Opposite their settlement 

 on the shore of the lake was a great cliff, which occasionally broke away, 

 when the chief would launch his sacred canoe, Wakatapu — hence the name 

 given to the lake — and, paddling across, obtain pieces of greenstone and 

 distribute them among the tribe. Ultimately the northern Maori came 

 after greenstone and destroyed the lake tribe. . . . When or how 

 the name first degenerated from Wakatapu to Wakatipu is more than I 

 can tell. Had we lived in southern Otago I think the lake would have 

 been called Wakatapu (sacred canoe)." Mi. Young saw the lake and a 

 slip in a cliff from the top of the Shotover Mountains ; but as he soon 

 after removed to the North Island he never saw at close quarters the Roto 

 Wakatapu and the Pari Pounamu (greenstone clifi) described by old Kawana. 



In a letter to me Mr. S. Percy Smith says he is inclined to think the 

 name should be Whaka-tipua, and that is also my conclusion. An old 

 legend says the lake-bed was formed by a giant ogre or tipua, called 

 Kopu-wai, being burnt there. Shortland wrote wakapapa instead of 

 whakapapa, so he may also have written " Wakatipua " for " Whakatipua." 

 The tradition of a canoe crossing the lake for greenstone will probably be 

 true, but it has become grafted into or intermixed with the older story 

 that the great hollow in which the lake lies was formed by the ashes of 

 the giant. Hence we find the conflicting opinions already recorded. The 

 matter cannot be regarded as settled yet, but it is hoped that the foregoing 

 information may help towards a solution. 



The question as to whether the name is rightly Wai-pounamu or Wahi- 

 pounamu is an interesting one. The southern Maori was almost as bad as 

 the cockney for deleting and adding the aspirate. - Dozens of examples 

 could be given, but one will suffice here. There is an island east of 

 Stewart Island, and its name is Wahi-taua, but it is usually called Wai- 

 taua. Even in Mr. Justice Chapman's paper there are two illustrations of 

 this trait. One kind of greenstone is called aukunga on page 513, and 

 on page 515-.it is called hauhunga. On page 509 an ear-pendant is termed 

 kapehu and also kapeu. One of my informants found a kapen. on Pigeon 

 Island (Wawahi-waka), Lake ' Wakatipu, in the year 1864. It must be 

 very old, as it was worn white". As far as I know, he has it still in his 

 possession. To revert to Wai-pounamu and Wahi-pounamu, I think it 

 is probable both forms were used — the former for the rivers of Westland, 

 where pounamu was got in the water, and the latter for perhaps Piopiotahi 

 and Te Koroka, where it was procured from clifis or mountain-sides. 



Mr. Cowan gives the kind of greenstone that was found at the head 

 of Lake Wakatipu as koko-tangiivai, but I was told it Avas inaka (or inanga). 

 I heard recently that a European resident in that locality had come 

 across what he considered to be an old greenstone-quarry. If that be so, 

 we should be able to ascertain something more than we know at present 

 about this traditional pounamu hunting-ground. 



