84 TUTIRA 



once they pounced upon and killed him. With utu thus procured, Te 

 Hiku-o-Tera called to Whakatau to reveal himself; the taua departed, 

 the red-headed son of Te Whatu-i-Apiti returning with his new-found 

 friends to Heretaunga. 



It will be now convenient to return to the southern extremity 

 of the lake, and from there follow up the track on the western side. 

 From the flat Piraunui it passed over the ridge of land situated be- 

 tween the lakes Orakai and Waikopiro. Continuing northwards along 

 the margin of the lake, it reached the peninsula Tautenga upon which 

 the wool-shed stands. Here the lakes Tutira and Waikopiro used to 

 be separated by what was an impenetrable morass, but is now, owing 

 to stock traffic, a sandy bar. The peninsula, now much eroded by 

 traffic of sheep, must have at one time been utilised as a burying- 

 ground, for numbers of skulls and human bones have been exposed 

 as the light top-soils have become worn away. Below its broken 

 northern edge rests the rock also named Tautenga; and not far 

 distant, in deep water, lies, or used to lie, the log Te Kewa-a-Hinetu. 

 It is fifteen feet in length, a foot and a half in girth, and bears a 

 general resemblance to a fish's head. As its name Rewa the floater 

 implies, it is endowed with the magic power of moving from spot to 

 spot, the trail of its progress being then distinct on the sandy bottom. 

 Its approach to Tautenga was particularly ill - omened, and used to 

 presage death in the hapu. Te Rewa-a-Hinetu is a branch of a 

 tree named Mukakai, which has travelled from the South Island up 

 the coast to Otaki ; another branch rests in the Wairarapa lake, 

 another at Tikokino, another at Te Putere. The presence of any 

 portion of this famous tree is said to be indicative of abundance. 

 With its disappearance the food supply of the tribe is said to dwindle 

 and diminish. 



Debouching on to the hill at Tautenga are two spurs the 

 one known in modern times as the wool -shed ridge, Te Mata, 

 and the other Te-roa. The latter was a guide to the shoal 

 called Urumai ; when from the surface of the lake the range Urumai 

 on Kaiwaka station could be detected over the dip in the Te-roa 

 saddle, the shoal Urumai could also be located exactly. The correct 

 method of obtaining eels from this spot was to strike the paddles 

 noisily, causing the eels below to dive into the mud, where they 

 could be speared. Travelling northwards along the lake edge we 



