Best. — Notes on Ancient Polynesian Migrants. 137 



with Hoaki. But her crew returned here on the " Matatua " 

 canoe, and, so say some, also on the " Takitumu," which latter 

 is doubtful. If the " Takitumu " canoe was contemporary with 

 ' ; Horouta," then she obtained some six generations or so 

 before the time of Tama-ki-hikurangi and " Te Aratawhao." 

 Ngatiawa state that on the arrival of " Te Aratawhao " at 

 Hawaiki the people there were attracted by the accounts of 

 New Zealand, hence many of them migrated hither, bringing 

 with them the crew of the " Aratawhao." This migration was 

 the historic one of " Te Arawa," " Tainui," " Aotea," " Matatua," 

 and other vessels, and took place about the fourteenth century. 

 Some assert that the crew of the " Aratawhao " made a prolonged 

 stay at Hawaiki prior to returning to Whakatane. If Irakewa 

 visited New Zealand before " Matatua " arrived, then he must 

 have come after Taukata arrived, for it was the latter's visit here 

 that caused the excitement about the kumara. The " Matatua " 

 canoe was constructed expressly for the purpose of bringing a 

 number of Polynesian migrants to New Zealand, as also the 

 " Aratawhao " crew. It also brought seed kumara to Whaka- 

 tane, and this was the undoing of our old friend Taukata ; for 

 when the men of Whakatane obtained the seed kumara at the 

 hands of their Hawaikian friends, the latter said to them, " When 

 you arrive home be careful in the storing of your seed, and when 

 it is placed in the store, then conduct our friend Taukata into 

 bhe storehouse, and there slay him, even that his blood be spilt 

 within, and do you also sprinkle his blood upon the door, kei hold 

 mai te kura ki Hawaiki, lest the mauri of the kumara return to 

 Hawaiki." Even so was Taukata, the bold Polynesian voyager, 

 slain as a sacred human sacrifice to the gods of the Maori. And 

 for many years after the skull of Taukata was brought from the 

 cave in which it was kept, in the planting season, and deposited 

 on the edge of the cultivation, and in each eye-socket was placed 

 a seed kumara, while the officiating priest performed certain rites 

 in order to cause the crop to be a plentiful one, and to prevent 

 the mauri — that is to say, the vitality, or vital essence, or fertility 

 — of the kumara from returning to Hawaiki. 



Tama-ki-hikurangi acted as pilot for the "Matatua " canoe 

 on the voyage from Hawaiki to Whakatane. 



Toroa, the commandant of " Matatua," is said to have married 

 a granddaughter of Rongoatau at Hawaiki, but found another 

 wife when he came to Whakatane. 



Rongoatau 



Tuturu-whatu 



Iri-a-rangi = Toroa = Te Paerere-i-waho. 



