82 TUTIRA 



the Papakiri returned to its old course ; its fresh healing waters stayed 

 the process of decomposition. 



Whatever may have been his methods and reputation on Tutira, Te 

 Whatu-i-Apiti a kinsman by the way of the Tutira folk whom he had 

 treated so scurvily was received in friendly fashion at Tangoio, where 

 then stood the strongly-fortified pa Te-rae-o-Tangoio " the forehead of 

 Tangoio." Tangoio had been a celebrated chief of the very ancient Toi 

 people who owned these islands before the time of the Maori, and upon 

 his deathbed had requested that his pa, should be thus named. Here on 

 this fine foreland or forehead, the red-haired Te Whatu-i-Apiti was 

 entertained by Tataramoa, whose wife Porangi was a descendant of 

 Kohipipi. There he formed an attachment to Tukanoi, his host's 

 daughter, and there he stayed a considerable time. Parting with 

 Tukanoi he was a man of no particular refinement of feeling these 

 were his good-bye words : " Ki te whanau to tamaiti he imikehu me 

 tapa tona ingoa ko Whakatau, ke te ivhanau he mangu, he tane ke nana " 

 " If your boy is born with red hair, call him Whakatau ; if he is born 

 with black, I shall know you have been with other males." 



As a matter of fact, Te Hata-Kani here made a slip, using the 

 anglicised word " tariana " stallion instead of the true Maori word 

 "taiie" male, his sentence running: "If your boy is born with red 

 hair, call him Whakatau ; if he is born with black, I shall know you have 

 been with other stallions." After all, however, as the old man insisted, 

 the sense was the same. 



Well, in due course the anticipated boy was born, and let us hope 

 and trust, to the gratification and not to the surprise of the damsel 

 Tukanoi, his hair was red ; he had come true to type and was duly 

 called Whakatau. At a later period the event proved a fortunate 

 incident for the people of Tangoio. It happened this wise : Otua of 

 Tangoio married a sister of Te Hiku-o-Tera of Herataunga, a man of 

 immense stature. One day whilst the giant lay asleep, Te Otua, his 

 brother-in-law, particularly struck with his length from hip to knee, 

 stooped down and began to take exact measurements, not as white men 

 do by " hands " or " feet," but by the Maori method of clenched fists. 



It was an enormous limb, a titanic limb, a limb that Porthos 

 might have envied. In his excitement Te Otua forgot his manners 

 and the decencies of reticence ; neglecting caution in an ecstasy of 

 delight and enthusiasm, he exclaimed to himself as he proceeded with 



