172 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



known, dauger, vengeance, death. They dread the influence 

 of the atua, for every bad event, whether of fear, or pain, or 

 disease, was the outcome of anger on the part of an active 

 avenger, who to them only manifested himself to show dis- 

 pleasure, resentment, or vengeance. Taupo was in truth a 

 place of darkness; but at the time of the incoming of the 

 colonists all its terrors to the natives had passed away, and 

 the unknown and dreaded forces which manifest themselves 

 within the volcanic zone from time to time had little or no 

 dread for the thousands of natives who resided within the 

 limits of devastating influences of the active volcanoes of 

 Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu, and Edgecumbe. 



And, as showing the long residence of the natives in 

 the country, the legends concerning the extinct volcanoes 

 of Pihanga, near Tokaanu, of Egmont, in Taranaki, and of 

 Tongariro and Ngauruhoe, imply settlement in the vicinity 

 of the volcanoes at the time of great activity, such as must 

 have modified very largely the topographical aspects of the 

 country. One legend runs to the effect that Egmont at one 

 time stood on the spot now known as Lake Roto-aira, that 

 Tongariro was in love with Pihanga, and that Egmont, 

 having made improper advances to Pihanga, was struck by 

 Tongariro and forced to flee to where he now stands. Of 

 the volcano Ngauruhoe the story runs " that when Nga- 

 tororirangi, the chief priest, or tohunga, who piloted the 

 ' Arawa ' canoe from Hawaiki, with Tia, another great chief, 

 took possession of the country extending from the Bay of 

 Islands to Ruapehu for his people, he ascended Ngauruhoe 

 (which at that time was not a volcano) to perform his 

 needful incantations. In accordance with Maori rites he 

 set up a tuahu, or altar, so as to insure to his people 

 the possession of the country and a happy and fruitful 

 future. When in the midst of his karakias, or incantations, 

 the cold was so intense that it seemed as if he must die. It 

 then occurred to him to send for the sacred fire, which was 

 kept during his absence in the custody of his sisters, Hoata 

 and Pupu. Seeing them at that moment on Whakaari, or 

 White Island [120 miles] , he urged them to bring the fire if 

 they would save him from perishing. In response one of his 

 sisters dived into the sea in the direction of Tongariro, and 

 reached her starving brother in time to save him from a cruel 

 death. In her passage underground she set fire to the world 

 below, hence the hot springs, puias, fumeroles, &c, in the line 

 of route. In commemoration of the event Ngatororirangi left 

 the sacred fire burning in the mountain." Then, again, the 

 word " Ruapehu " implies a shattering or a breaking to pieces, 

 and it may have been that the name was given in response 

 to the explosions and the ejection of stones of many varie- 



