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CHAPTER XL 



THE TRAIL TO THE RANGES. 



WHATEVER may be the value of the central portion of Tutira in the 

 future, and personally I believe it will be very great, it was to the 

 natives immediately prior to European civilisation almost worthless. 



There existed upon its surface neither forests for birds nor suitable 

 streams for eels. Place-names are in consequence fewer in number and 

 records of the past scantier. 



From the ford Maheawha the trail proceeded in a northerly direc- 

 tion. On the left of the track lay several hundred acres of flattish 

 lands and low rolling downs by the name of Parae-ia-kai-ora. About 

 the centre of this region rose the little hill Tamaiahua, opposite which 

 a fairly well-defined subsidiary track branched off in the direction of 

 Otupare, " Conical Hill." Proceeding on its way the main track 

 rose gradually until it reached Orawaki. This height, better known 

 as the "Image Hill," got its name from the image or tekoteko which 

 at one time stood on its summit. I understand that the original, 

 a fine piece of carving, adorned with greenstone earrings and clad 

 in finely woven mats, was highly thought of. It was burned in one 

 of the numerous fern fires which used to sweep the countryside ; only 

 a rude replica of the original remained in the 'eighties. The rough 

 block of totara from which it was carved had split, but showed, never- 

 theless, the moko or tatoo pattern on the face, and the conventional 

 three fingers crossed over the belly. 1 It had been erected by an elder 

 brother of my old friend Werahiko in pious memory of a grand- 

 uncle named Kupa. Here, according to tradition, a whare-puni of 

 considerable size once existed, built for the convenience of people 



1 In early days the missionary bell topper was in demand as adornment for the 

 The Rev. Mr Spencer, working during the 'forties at Tarawera, was made by the Maoris to 

 promise a promise he was never allowed to forget that his discarded headgear should be 

 reserved for this special purpose. Our " image " on Orawaki hill, naked and alarmingly 

 masculine, clad in the ecclesiastical bravery of a top-hat, could only then have been further 

 christianised by a bishop's apron. 



