Stack. — TracUlional 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 wmd blows " was her reply, 

 " then he sleeps long and heavily." So they waited for a nor'-wester and then 

 proceeded to the cave. Havmg collected a great quantity of fern which 

 they piled at the entrance, they fired it. Wlaen the heat awoke the monster, 

 he could think of no way of escape, except through a hole in the roof; 

 while struggimg to get out through this, the people set upon him with clubs 

 and beat him to death. Fortunately the ogre's dogs were away huntmg, or 

 else he never could have been killed. 



It was during this period that the canoe called Arai te urn was capsized 

 off Moeraki and the cargo strewn along the beach, where may still be seen 

 the eel-basket of Hape Id 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 Eapuwai or Nga ai tanga a te Puhirere succeeded the Kahui Tipua 

 and rapidly spread themselves over the greater loart 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 Eapuwai and Waitaha were portions of 

 the same tribe, Te Eapuwai forming the vanguard when the migration from 

 the North Island took place. Several of my Maori authorities iuchne to 

 this opinion, others maintain that they were separate tribes ; if so they 

 were probably cotemporaries, and like Eangitane 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 

 Hav.'aiki — was the founder of the tribe. He came with Tama te Kapua and 



