Wohlers. — Mythology and Traditions of the Maori. 23 



through a love affair with a woman named Hakirimaurea — by the Raeroa 

 (long foreheaded) people. 



There is a tale in Sir George Grey's book which seems to be identical with 

 this murder, though it stands in a somewhat different context. It says that 

 Tuwhakararo had a sister, who was married to the son of Poporokewa (kewain 

 this dialect means a whale). Once he went to visit his sister, when his sister- 

 in-law, named Maurea, fell in love with him. But she was already affianced 

 to a man of that tribe. In the evening, the lover of Maurea challenged him 



to a wrestling match, and was thrown twice by Tuwhakararo, and laughed at 

 by all the people. This made him feel ashamed and vexed, and when 

 Tuwhakararo was putting on his clothes again he threw a handful of sand in 

 his eyes. Then, while Tuwhakararo was rubbing his eyes, his adversary 

 murdered him. Afterwards he was cut up and eaten by all the people in the 

 house, and the bones tied under the roof. 



I have taken this passage out of Sir George Grey's book because it not 

 only explains the murder, but shows also that those people were cannibals, 

 whereas the Maori at that time seem not to have been such. 



7. W/iakatau. 



Whakatau was the son of Tuwhakararo and Apakura. When the news 

 was brought home that his father had been murdered, and when he heard his 

 mother cry, he resolved to avenge his father's death. He painted one side of 

 his canoe black and the other white, and then sailed for the place of the 

 murderers. When the canoe was seen by the people there, they wondered if 

 it were a large seal or a canoe. Several rushed into the sea and swam toward 

 it. When the first swimmer came near, he called to Reinuiatokia (this seems 

 to have been a brother to Whakatau), who was steering, to turn back. 

 Reinuiatokia told him to pass on. He then swam to the fore part of the 

 canoe, where Whakatau killed him with the blow of an axe. The next 

 swimmer met with the same fate, and so on, till a great many were killed. 

 Only one, called Mongotipi, escaped and returned alive to the shore. He told 

 the people that it was a canoe, that one of the men was Reinuiatokia, but that 

 there was another great man whom he did not know. In the night Whakatau 

 landed alone, and sent a message to his mother by the canoe, to watch at night 

 to see the burning of Tihiomanono. Then he hid himself in the bush and 

 disfigured his body with ashes and charcoal, so that he had the appearance of 

 an old mean man. 



Next day there came people into the bush to get firewood. Whakatau, 

 disguised as an old stray slave, joined them, took a bundle of firewood on hi 

 back like the others, and went home with them. When they came to the 



