506 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



" Ngahue proceeded onwards, dwelt far off at Arahura, 

 fixing his abode there (or, stronger still, permanently dwelling 

 there). He broke off a portion of that fish (greenstone), and, 

 carrying it with him, retmnied. Ngahue arriving at Te Wai- 

 rere'killed (or beat, or struck) the Moa ; then (he) went (to) 

 Taurauga (to) Whangaparaoa (and) returned to Hawaiki, and 

 told he had seen the land whose riches (chief productions, 

 or principal things) were greenstone and Moa." 



I now give John White's rendering of that same story " : — 



" Ngahue, at Te Wairere, saw tlie bird Moa, and killed 

 one, and went back to Hawaiki and told the inhabitants of 

 that land that he had discovered a country without human 

 inhabitants, but where there was greenstone to be found." 



And yet again (another version) : " Ngahue returned to 

 Arahura, where he found the bird Moa near the Wairere 

 waterfall, and killed one and carried it in a taha or ipiL 

 (calabash), and went back to Hawaiki, and informed the 

 people of that land of a fine land called Aotearoa which he 

 had discovered." 



And these two versions of that same story J. White gives 

 as from two tribes — Ngatiawa and Ngatihau. Note the 

 differences ; premising that Grey's Maori version w^as old and 

 early {before 1854), and, as Sir George says in his preface, 

 obtained>rrom the best Maori authorities. 



In Grey's English translation little notice is taken of the 

 Moa (just as in the original Maori); even its "killing" is 

 omitted, although the only instance of the Moa being men- 

 tioned in any old story or legend : in J. White's (1887, nearly 

 forty years after) the peculiar amplification — (a) the words 

 " saio the bird Moa, and killed one " ; and, again, (b) ''found the 

 bird Moa, and killed one, and carried it off in a calabash," &c. 



It may be observed, " But J. White's English rendering is 

 that of the Maori relations from two tribes " (pp. 170, 171, 

 part ii.. I.e.). Yes; but note in that of Ngatiawa: — 



1. " Ka kite" (a Ngahue) "i te Wairere, i reira te manu 

 neite Moa e tu ana ka patua e Ngahue," &c. = Ngahue saio (or 

 visited) Te Wairere (some high cliff), and there a single Moa 

 standing. How closely this relation resembles that statement 

 of the East Cape Maoris to me (January, 1838), of the one 

 Moa standing on the top of the mountain Whakapimake ; and 



* " Ancient History of the Maori," vol. ii., p. 187. As I have not yet 

 read (nor even looked into) this work of J. White, now extended to six 

 volumes — save only this second volume, and that by chance — I should 

 perhaps briefly state how I came to look into this volume : through John 

 White having kindly presented me this copy of vol. ii., on account of his 

 republishing in it two of my old historical Maori legends (pp. 167 and 

 173), which he acknowledge^ in the preface. There may bo more re- 

 specting this same very old story of Ngahue in the other volumes. 



