434 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
I shall commence with the traditions of the Taupo district, and on a 
future oceasion will follow up with matters connected with Hawke’s Bay, the 
East Coast, and other parts of the country, and with older traditions or 
myths. I am one of those who firmly believe the Maori has occupied this 
country for a more lengthened period than is generally supposed, and that 
their traditions go far to prove that the country was inhabited long before 
the arrival of the mueh-talked-of canoes, viz. Te Arawa, Tainui, etc. 
Supposing the Saxons had asked the ancient Britons if they were the 
aborigines of Britain, no doubt the answer would have been in the affirm- 
ative, and sueh was the universal opinion until lately. But now Sir C. 
Lyell, Professors Dawkins and Flowers, M. Quatrefages, M. de Mortillet, and 
many other men of science, have clearly proved that mankind roamed over 
our native country for, perhaps, one hundred thousand years before the 
arrival of the Celts, and probably for double that period, in fact for untold 
ages, and not a relie of their existence remains except a few bones and rude 
stone axes. But to proceed. 
Historica, Traprrions or THE Taupo anp East Coast TRIBES. 
The names of the earliest Maori inhabitants of the districts of Taupo 
and Heretaonga (Hawke’s Bay) were :—At Taupo, Hotu and Ruakopiri ; at 
Patea, Whitikaupeka ; at Kaimanawa, Te Orutu and Tuhiao; at Runanga 
and Urewera, Te Marangaranga; at Upper Mohaka, Te Maruwahine ; at 
Heretaonga, Te Whatumamoa, Te Koaopari, Toi, Tane-nui-arangi, and 
Awa-nui-arangi. 
Ko Hotu and Ruakopiri. 
The people who first occupied Taupo and the surrounding country were 
Hotu and Ruakopiri, and they considered the distriet for ever theirs. Hotu - 
and Ruakopiri, it is said, came to Taupo by way of Waikato and the north. 
Kurapoto and his followers are said to have arrived in the Arawa canoe, 
and travelled across from the Bay of Plenty. 
On reaching Taupo, Kurapoto* found the country fully settled by Hotu 
and Ruakopiri. Fighting commenced between the two parties, and Kura- 
poto drove the Hotu to the upper end of Taupo Lake; then peace was made 
by Knurapoto, and the two people theneeforward resided together in the 
lake district. The remnant of these tribes still point out Taupo as theirs. 
Ko Tia. 
This is an account of one of our ancestors who came in the Arawa from 
Hawaiki, and travelled to Taupo. It is through Tia the present name of 
* If Kurapoto, who is said to have arrived in the Arawa canoe, found the Taupo 
country filled with people, where could those people have come from, if no earlier migra- 
tions took place? For tradition says the Arawa and Tainui, and the other canoes named, 
arrived about the same time, 
