Lockk.— Historical. Traditions of Taupo and East Coast Tribe. 451 
by Nukuhau and Hipapahua and on to the entrance of the race at the 
Huka falls. Here his friend Ririwai jumped ashore and was saved, but 
Tamatea and his thirty companions continued on over the falls and there 
perished. His canoe, in the form of a rock, is still to be seen at that 
place. 
Ko Kahungunu. 
We will now return to the doings of Kahungunu, the ancestor from 
whom the tribe is named, that, on the arrival of the European, owned the 
large stretch of country reaching from the north of Mahia Peninsula to 
near Wellington—some two hundred and fifty miles of the east coast of 
this island. 
After remaining for a time at Tauranga (Bay of Plenty), on a certain 
occasion, Kahungunu, with his sister Whaene and their people, were out 
fishing; the net belonging to the sister being hauled in, Kahungunu ran 
and sewed up the fish in the body of the net, at which Whaene was very 
angry and struck him a blow, of which Kahungunu was so much ashamed 
that he left the place. When he arrived at the forest he ate some paretas, 
so the place was called by that name. Further on he ate a kaka, so the 
place was called Kaka-Rai-a-mio, then on to Pauauehu and Ngarara, Wha- 
kawae, then to Kohahu-Paremoremo ; further on he saw a cave, into which 
he entered. After stopping here for a time he saw a man passing named 
Paroa, who, seeing Kahungunu, and not knowing who he was, invited him 
to the village, to which, on the arrival of his companions, he proceeded. 
After living there for some time Paroa said to his daughter, whose name 
was Hinepuariari, ** Girl, there is a husband for you.” Paroa by this time 
had found out it was Kahungunu, so they became man and wife. Shortly 
after this one of the women said to Hinepuariari, *' How do you like your 
husband ? and she replied, ** Ehara i te hanga, kahore e rupeke ana mai takoto 
tome mai i waho i te tahu, ka haere te rongo mo te kuha o Kahungunu.” 
When Rapa and her daughter Rongomaiwahine, who lived at Tawapata, 
near Table Cape, heard the report, Rapa repeated the following proverb :— 
« Kei te nui he awa o tatapouri te tuhera atu nei." 
Kahungunu, on a certain occasion, requested his wife Hinepuariari to 
comb and dress his hair: so she combed all day until evening; and in the 
morning she commenced again. She then was able to form it into a top- 
knot, she rubbed it with oil that was held in a paua shell (Haliotis). After 
using ten paua shells of grease, the hair was not limp, she could not bind 
it; so she held it fast between her knees, and was then able to get it 
together so as to bind it with flax ; but the flax was not strong enough to 
hold it,—it kept breaking. So Kahungunu told his wife to fetch his girdle. 
The flax from which the girdle was made grew. at Tauranga. With this 
