434 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



I shall commence with the traditions of the Taupo district, and on a 

 future occasion will follow up with matters connected with Hawke'sBay, the 

 East Coast, and other parts of the country, and with older traditions or 

 myths. I am one of those who firmly helieve 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 much-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 such 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 relic of their existence remains except a few bones and rude 

 stone axes. But to proceed. 



Historical Traditions of the Taupo and 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 Buakopiri ; at 

 Patea, Whitikaupeka ; at Kaimanawa, Te Orutu and Tuhiao ; at Bunanga 

 and Urewera, Te Marangaranga ; at Upper Mohaka, Te Maruwahine ; at 

 Heretaonga, Te Whatumamoa, Te Koaopari, Toi, Tane-nui-arangi, and 

 Awa-nui-arangi. 



Kn Hotu and Ruakopiri. 



The people who first occupied Taupo and the surrounding country were 

 Hotu and Buakopiri, and they considered the district for ever theirs. Hotn 

 and Buakopiri, 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 Buakopiri. Fighting commenced between the two parties, and Kura- 

 poto drove the Hotu to the upper end of Taupo Lake ; then peace was made 

 by Kurapoto, and the two people thenceforward 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 Araioa canoe, found the Taupo 

 country filled with peo2Dle, 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, 



