Walsh. — The Manuaute, or Maori Kite. 383 



descendants. He flew a kite named Tuoronuku from Pakanae, near the 

 mouth, of the Hokianga River, and as it went forth the turu manu, or kite- 

 song, was sung, as follows : — 



Taku manu, ka turua atu nei. 

 He karipiripi, ke kaeaoa ; 

 Turu taku manu, 

 Hoka taku manu, 

 Ki tua te ha!ia-wai ; 

 Koia Atutahi, koia Rehua 

 Whakahoro tau tara, 

 Ki te kapua, Koia E ! 



[Translation, by Mr. S. Percy Smith.] 



My bird, by power of charm ascending. 



In the glance of an eye, like the sparrow-hawk. 



By this charm shall my bird (arise). 



My bird bestrides (the heavens) 



Beyond the swirling waters. 



Like the stars Atutahi and Rehua,* 



And there spread out thy wings, 



To the very clouds. Truly so. 



As the string was let go the kite drifted along before the wind, and fell 

 to the ground at Kaikohe, a distance of twenty-five miles from Pakanae — 

 of course, conveying the mana of the tribe, and communicating it to the 

 land on which it fell. The Maoris followed it up, and ever since the district 

 of Kaikohe has been occupied by a branch of the Ngapuhi Tribe. 



Another instance is related by Mr. J. White in his " Ancient History of 

 the Maori " (vol. 5, p. 94). " In the days of old," he says, " the Nga-ti- 

 koroki, of the Waikato tribes, put a kite up in the sky, and when it had gone 

 far up the line broke, and the kite went in the direction of Here-taunga 

 (Mercury Bay). The owners followed it, and found it in a place now known 

 by the name of Whenua-kite (land found or discovered). Having found the 

 kite, they gave the place the name it now bears, and the Ngati Koroki claim 

 and hold possession of that land to this day." 



The Ngatihaua, a Waikato tribe, als<^ put up a kite at Maungatautarij 

 when the string broke. They followed up the broken string, which they 

 found resting along the tree-tops, and discovered the kite at WTiitiauga, also 

 in Mercury Bay, and on that account the tribe afterwards laid claim to the 

 land at Whitianga in the Native Land Court. 



A similar device is said to account for the presence of a small detached 

 body of the Ngapuhi Tribe at Koputauaki, near the township of Coromandcl. 



There was still aiiother use found for the kite, described by Mr. J. Whitef 

 as follows : " In the days of old an aute kite was the medium of communi- 

 cation between the various tribes who lived at a distance from each other. 

 . . . The kite, when made, was kept till the wind blew from its owners 

 towards the district in which the tribe lived for whom the message was 

 intended. The kite was then taken and made to fly far up in the sky. Then 

 the line that held it was allowed to go, and the kite was blown far away, 

 and alighted at the home of those for whom the message was sent. These, 

 when they had seen the kite, would divine the purport of the message, and 

 the receiving tribe would at once go in a body to the place from which the 

 kite had been sent." 



* Canopus and Antares. 



t " Ancient History of the Maori," vol. .5, p. 94. 



