Srack.—Traditional History of the South Island Maoris. 61 
knew about the ogre, and they resolved to put him to death. ‘‘ When does 
he sleep ?” they asked. ** When the north-west wind blows” was her reply, 
“then he sleeps long and heavily." So they waited for a nor'-wester and then 
proceeded to the cave. Having collected a great quantity of fern which 
they piled at the entrance, they fired it. When the heat awoke the monster, 
he could think of no way of escape, except through a hole in the roof; 
while struggling to get out through this, the people set upon him with clubs 
and beat him to death. Fortunately the ogre’s dogs were away hunting, or 
else he never could have been killed. 
It was during this period that the canoe called Arai te uru was capsized 
off Moeraki and the cargo strewn along the beach, where may still be seen 
the eel-basket of Hape ki tauraki, and the slave Puketapu, and the cala- 
bashes and kumeras. 
Passing on from these legends, we come to the traditions which I have 
classed as unreliable, relating as they do to tribes that have been utterly 
destroyed. 
Uncertain Traditions. 
Te Rapuwai or Nga ai tanga a te Puhirere succeeded the Kahui Tipua 
and rapidly spread themselves over the greater part of the island. They 
have left traces of their occupation in the shell-heaps found both along 
the coast and far inland. It was in their time that the country around 
Invercargill is said to have been submerged, the forests of Canterbury and 
Otago destroyed by fire, and the moa exterminated. I am inclined to think 
it is not at all improbable that Te Rapuwai and Waitaha were portions of 
the same tribe, Te Rapuwai forming the vanguard when the migration from 
the North Island took place. Several of my Maori authorities incline to 
this opinion, others maintain that they were separate tribes; if so they 
were probably cotemporaries, and like Rangitane and Ngai Tahu in subse- 
quent times—one may have come from the west, and the other from the 
east coast of the other island. 
Waitaha. 
Of the Waitaha very little is known, their traditions having almost 
entirely perished with the extinction of their conquerors. But there is 
sufficient evidence to warrant the supposition that the few traditions which 
still remain were preserved by the remnant of Waitaha; who were spared 
by Ngatimamoe to work their fisheries and kumera plantations till they 
thought it necessary for their own safety to exterminate them in order to 
prevent their alliance with the invading Ngai Tahu. There is no reason 
therefore to regard the traditions relating to the Waitaha as mere fables. 
It would appear that Waitaha—one of the original immigrants from 
Hawaiki—was the founder of the tribe. He came with Tama te Kapua and 
