Stack. — TraJilionaJ Jlhtoyij of the South Island Maoris. G3 



Having ascertained from some women Avhom lie questioned that the robber 

 chieftain was asleep in a cave hard by, he quietly approached the spot, 

 where he found him lying asleep on a mat, all unconscious of danger. But 

 like a true knight he scorned to strike his sleeping foe, and raising his 

 voice he uttered the following challenge : 



"Tutewaimate "I, Tutewaimate 



Tutewaimate a Popotahi Tutewaimate, son of Popotahi, 



Te hau tuku mai i roto Kakaia Swift as the wind from the Eakaia 



Gorge 

 Te mahea te hauku o te ata." Have forestalled the drying of the 



morning dew." 

 The startled robber, raising himself to a sitting posture, replied : 

 "Ho, Moko "HoMoko, 



Moko a Hautere Moko, son of Hautere, 



Te hau tuku mai runga maunga The wind rushing down from Mt. 



tere Tere, 



Te tangata i whangai nga Id te The man fed upon uncooked 

 mango mata." shark." 



As he uttered the last word the treacherous Moko, by a sudden and 

 unexpected thrust, felled his generous foe to the ground, and soon put an 

 end to his existence. 



It is from the Waitalia that the following account of the destruction of a 

 gigantic bird of prey has been handed down. The event occurred in times 

 preceding Tutewaimate and the period referred to in the scraps of Waitaha 

 history which have survived. The story possesses XDCculiar interest when 

 considered in connection with the discovery of the liarpagornis moorei at 

 Glenmark, Does it prove that the Maoris knew that bird, or is it to be 

 classed with the Taniwha stories common in the north, is it an imported, 

 and localized tradition ? 



A Pouakai had built its nest on a spur of Mount Tawera, and darting 

 down from thence it seized and carried off men, women, and children, as 

 food for itself and its young. For, though its wings made a loud noise 

 as it flew through the air, it rushed with such rapidity upon its prey 

 that none could escape from its talons. At length a brave man called 

 Te Hau o Tawera came on a visit to the neighbourhood, and finding that 

 the x^eople were being destroyed, and that they were so paralj'zed with fear 

 as to be incapable of adopting any means for then- own protection, he 

 volunteered to capture and kill this rapacious bird, provided they would 

 do what he told them. This they willingly promised, and having procured 

 a quantity of manuka saplings he went one night with fifty men to the foot 

 of the hill, where there was a pool, sixty feet in diameter. This he completely 



