434 



Transactions. 



From a second lament of the same period, composed by Niikii, who died 

 about 1840, the word " moa " occurs in a similar phrase ; but one example 

 is enough to show that the bird was known under the name of " moa " 

 about that time. 



Te Tangi mo te Momo, i mate I A Ngati-Kahtjkgfnu, I TE Roto a-Taba 



(Otira I Kahotea). 



Tera te whetu, kamokamo ana mai, Me horo mat a tonu 



Ka tangi te whatitiri, Te roro o Pare-ihe, 



Ka rapa te ixira, Hei poupou ake 



Te tohu o Hoturoa Mo roto i a au. 

 I maunu atu ai. 



Kaitoa kia mate, 

 Nau i rere mua, 

 He waevvae tapeka 

 Ki te ara ripeka. 

 He pukainga pakake 

 Ki Te Roto-a-Tara. 



Ma wai e huaki 



Te umu ki Kahotea ? 



Ma Te Rauparaha, 



Ma Tohe-a-Pare, 



Mana e tamoe, 



Te awa kei Ahuriri. 



Kia riro ana mai 



Taku kai ko Te Wera, 



Iri mai E Pa ! 

 I runga te turutuni ; 

 To uru mawhai 

 Ka piua e te tai. 

 To kiri rau where 

 Ka whara kei muri, 

 Kia koa noa mai ra 

 Te wahine 'Ati-Puhi. 



Tahuri mai o mata 



Te tihi ki Tii-au 



Mowai rokiroki. 



Ko te huna o te moa 



I makere iho ai, 



Te tara o te marama. 



[Translation. ] 



A Lament for Te Momo, who was killed by Ngati-Kahxtnguntj at Kahotea 



(near Te Roto-a-Tara). 



Yonder the star glittereth (winks), Who shall cause the sleep of death 



Crashes the thunder. To fall on the waters of Ahuriri, 



Flashes forth the lightning, ' That I may obtain Te Wera as my food 



The sign of Hoturoa* And swallow raw the brains of Pare-ihe 



(Whose descendant has departed). 



'Tis well you died ; 



Forward you ran, 



With hurrying feet 



That led to insecurity. 



By the cross-roads you sped, 



Where fell the chiefs at Tara's Lake. 



Who now will be the first at Kahotea ? 



The ovens to uncover 



(Who shall avenge the death-ovens at 



Kahotea ?) 

 'Twill be for Te Rauparaha, 

 Or perhaps Tohe-a-Pare,t 



As an all-sustaining food within. 



Alas, father ! thy head now rests 



On the (accustomed) stake,J 



Thy curly hair 



Blown by the sea-breezes, 



Thy warm-tinted flesh. 



Now a thing of the past. 



Giving delight to the 'Ati-Puhi women. 



Turns now thy glance (in vain) 

 To the summit at Tirau,§ 

 That place of ocean-like calm ; 

 Hidden art thou like the extinct moa ; 

 The horns of the moon have fallen. 



* The thunder crashed and lightning flashed at the death of a great chief, as it did 

 the death of Hoturoa, captain of the " Tainui." an ancestor of Te Momo. 

 t Tohe-a-Pare was the second name of Te Whata-nui, head chief of Ngati-Raukawa 

 at that time. 



at 



J" Turuturu'" here is the stake on which preserved heads were stuck, and often 

 exposed in the houses where women were engaged in weaving, and these women used 

 to jeer at the head, as the Nga-Puhi women are said to do in the above. 



§ Tirau is a well-known place (now), east of Cambridge, in the Ngati-Raukawa 

 territories, and presumably was the home of Te Momo. 



