456 Transactions. 



Kupe, and I will greet the land-head at Aotearoa or be engulfed in the 

 stomach of Hine-moana." 



How the gallant old voyager sailed his craft across the Southern Ocean, 

 how he missed New Zealand and discovered the Chathams, how he ranged 

 westward to this land, coasted the North Island, and settled at Whakatane, 

 are matters of traditional history. Also how Whatonga., returning home 

 after manv adventures, found that Toi was absent in search of him, how 

 he fitted and manned the famous vessel " Kura-hau-po," sailed forth in search 

 of Toi, and followed him down the long sea roads to Rarotonga, heard oi 

 his voyage to Aotearoa, and lifted the rolling water trail of Te Ririno all 

 across the dark ocean to these shores. How he made his landfall at Tonga- 

 porutu, coasted round the North Gape, and finally joined Toi at Whakatane ; 

 there these Vikings settled down, never more to look upon the palm-clad 

 isles of the sunny north, never again to listen to the thunder of far-driven 

 seas on the guardian reef. 



These were the first folk from eastern Polynesia to settle in New Zea- 

 land among the Maruiwi aborigines, many of whom were living at Maketu, 

 known then as Moharuru. It was inland of that place that Raa-kapanga, 

 brother-in-law of Toi, met with his surprising adventure with a flock of 

 five moa. Soon other immigrants came from the eastern Pacific, including 

 Manaia, and the return of Nuku to the islands seems to have induced 

 others to come and settle here. So the new-comers remained here, took 

 aboriginal wives, and became the progenitors of the mixed Tini o Toi tribes 

 found here by the immigrants of ^' Tainui," " Aotea," " Te Arawa," 

 " Takitumu," and other vessels, nearly two hundred years later. 



Tradition relates that the Maruiwi women were attracted by the com- 

 paratively fair-skinned, good-looking, industrious Maori men. Their 

 progeny lived as Maori, and even now we plainly see the aboriginal 

 element in natives, in hair, and features, and skin-colour. But all this 

 made for trouble, and, as time went on, quarrels took place between the 

 domineering Maori and half-breeds on one side and the aborigines on the 

 other. Fighting and wars followed, ceaseless harrying of the aborigines 

 until none remained save the Toi tribes, the mixed breed. Now, it is 

 recorded that seven vessels manned by survivors sailed from Cook Strait 

 in search of the Chatham Isles, discovered by Toi, of which they had 

 heard. Those vessels, or at least some of them, reached the Chathams, 

 where the refugees settled, twenty-seven generations ago, and where their 

 descendants were found by Lieutenant Broughton on the 29th November, 

 1791. 



Now, one of these vessels, under a chief named Te Kahu, sailed from 

 the mouth of the Eangitikei River. 'Her crew were unable to rig a 

 deep-sea vessel, hence they obtained the services of a 

 Maori expert from Whanga-nui, one Aka-roroa by name. Te Aka-roroa 

 Both this man and his sister accompanied the party to k i i 



the Chathams, and his name was preserved in tradition , 



by the Moriori, or Mouriuri, folk of the Chathams, as shown Waitaka 



in the writings of the late Mr. Shand. Hau-te-horo, fourth Rangi-tuataka 

 in descent from Aka-roroa, returned to New Zealand in | 



after - years, and his descendants . are at Wlianga-nui. Hau-te-horo. 



And that is how the Maori came to know of the arrival 

 of the refugees at the Chathams. This information was obtained from 

 Hauauru and Takarangi, of Whanga-nui, in the year 1854. The descrip- 

 tion of the vessel of Te Kahu shows that iV was a dugout single 



