Smith. — On the History of Otakanmi Pa, Kaipara. 41 



Art. IV. — The History of Otahanini Pa, Kaipara. 



By S. Percy Smith. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 5th August, 1895.1 



The Maori documents sent by Hami Tawaewae to Mr. 

 Fenton when be presented the tiki from Otakauini Pa to 

 the Museum have been placed in my hands for translation. 

 Knowing something of the old history of the Otakanini Pa, 

 which 1 gathered from one of the principal chiefs of the 

 Ngati-whatua Tribe in 1860, I have added a few explanatory 

 notes to Hami's history. 



The Otakanini Pa is situated on a navigable creek, which 

 joins the Kaipara waters about six miles south of x\otea 

 Bluff. It was a strong pa in former days, having the deep, 

 muddy creek on one side and swamps on all others. The hill 

 on which it is built is about 100ft. high, and, as usual, is 

 terraced and fortified on top. It is somewhat celebrated in 

 Ngati-whatua history as having been besieged on more than 

 one occasion. 



At the foot of the hill on which the pa is built a spring 

 gushes forth, from which, in former times, the inhabitants 

 obtained their drinking-water. Tradition says that it was in 

 going to fetch water from this spring that Rona struck her foot 

 against a stone, and therefore cursed the moon, which just at 

 that moment had gone behind a cloud. The result was that 

 Eona, as punishment for her impiety, was taken up to the 

 moon, where she may be seen to this day, as any old Maori 

 will tell you. This is a capital illustration of the locahsation 

 of a world-wide myth, which the Polynesians brought with 

 them from the far-west in their migrations, and which is known 

 to probably all branches of that race. Even the Ainu people 

 of Japan have the same story. With us it is "the man in 

 the moon," not a woman. 



The first occasion on which we hear of Otakanini in Maori 

 history was in the time of Maki, a great man who lived 

 about ten generations ago, and who was the principal chief of 

 the Nga-riki or Nga-iwi Tribe, that formerly owned the whole 

 of the southern Kaipara district and the Isthmus of Auckland, 

 as far as the Tamaki Eiver. It w^as these people who built 

 the great pas around Auckland. For some reason not now 

 known, Maki attacked and took the Otakanini Pa, and killed a 

 great many of its inhabitants. 



It was about the time that Maki flourished that the Ngati- 

 whatua Tribe first made its appearance in the Kaipara 

 district, having conquered their way down from the North 



