118 Transactions. 



Southland Maoris to-day. "Monowai" is really a corruption of 

 " Manokiwai." (See Mr. McKerrow's note.*) 



A memory of the vanished tribe Ngatimamoe is contained 

 in the name " Wawahi-waka," which is that of an island in the 

 upper part of Lake Wakatipu, called by the Europeans " Pigeon 

 Island." " Wawahi-waka " means " splitting canoes " ; it owes 

 its origin to the ancient Ngatimamoe, and other people of the 

 Stone age, who resorted here to fell and split up trees for the 

 purpose of canoe-making. Totara pines of large size formerly 

 grew on this island, now almost treeless. 



Lakes Wanaka, Hawea, Pukaki, and numerous other south- 

 ern lakes were named afl"er persons of olden days. In Lake 

 Wanaka there is a very remarkable little island containing 

 a pretty lakelet, 500 ft. above the level of Wanaka — a lake 

 within a lake. This island ("Manuka " or " Pigeon Island," the 

 pakeka calls it) is " Te Mou-a-hou," meaning " Hou's islet." 

 Another island in Lake Wanaka is " Motu-tapu," or " holv 

 isle "—a very ancient and classic South-Sea-Island name. " Te 

 Motu-tapu-a-Tinirau " will be familiar to students of Polynesian 

 mythology. This was the original name of Mokoia Island in 

 Lake Rotorua — the Olympus of the Arawa Tribe. 



Turning to the mountains of the Southern Alps we find 

 comparatively few of these great snowy peaks named by the 

 Maoris, who did nob care to venture far into the wastes of rock 

 and ice. The beautiful Maori name " Ao-rangi " (" Ao-raki " 

 in the South Island dialect) has been frequently but errone- 

 ously translated as " cloud-piercer," a purely fanciful inter- 

 pretation. The " cloud of heaven " may be accepted as the 

 literal meaning of "Ao-rangi." This place-name embodies a 

 reminiscence of the fatherland of the Maori, for there is 

 a high mountain named " Aora'i " (or " Ao-rangi ") on the 

 Island of Tahiti, in the Society Islands. Tradition also asserts 

 that " Aorangi " was the name of one of the chiefs who arrived 

 in the South Island from Hawaiiki in the canoe " Ara-i-te-uru," 



* Mr. .McKerrow lias kindly furnished the following note on the sub- 

 ject: "In September, 1802, when on my way through Riverton to engage 

 in the reconnaissance survey of the country drained by the Waiau River. 

 I met the well-known .Maori, Solomon (since deceased), and learned from 

 him that there were two lakes in the bush west of the river. He said that 

 he had never seen them, but an old woman in his kailca had seen them 

 when a girl, and that their names were — as I made out from his pronun- 

 ciation — 'Howloko' and 'Monowai.' 'Howloko' has since been corrected 

 to 'Hauroto.' And ' Manokiwai.' which you state is the name by which 

 the lake is known to the Middle Island Natives to-day, may probably be 

 the name that Solo:i on give me, although I was unable at the time t<> 

 come nearer to it than the hybrid 'Monowai,' meaning 'one water.' 

 That designation, as it happens, is not inapt, as the lake is mainly fed by 

 one river." 



