Stack.— 0'« Cameron's Theory respecting the Rahid Tipua, 163 



thoughtlessly touched with the tip of his tongue ; this act, as he was tajm, was 

 an awful act of impiety, for which he was instantly punished by being trans- 

 formed into a mountain, ever since known by his name, Tuinii-aki. Another 

 consequence of his awful crime was that Tam.ateane\ev found his wives, whose 

 enchanted bodies furnish the Maori with the highly valued greenstone, the 

 best kmd of which is often spoilt by a flaw known as tutae koka, or the dung 

 of the bird the slave was cooking when he licked his burnt finger. 



The Legend of Hau-mia. 



Hau-mia was the son of Kiapara-te-hau (the wind is sporting). He 

 belonged to the Kahui Tipua. At a place called the Kohanga o Hau-mia 

 (nest of Haumia), on the face of a cHff known as Pari-nui-awhiti (great 

 cliff of Whiti), you may trace the gable of Hau-mia' s house, the upright 

 posts, and the cross battens. It was here that Hau-mia' s people tried 

 to stop the canoe of the celebrated navigator Kupe, by placing a reef 

 of rocks in his way, but they did not succeed, as he went far outside them 

 and escaped. 



For the Legend of Kopu wai and Aral Te Uru, see Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 Vol. VIIL, 1877. 



I now turn to the most interesting part of Mr. Cameron's paper, that 

 relating to the derivation of the names Kahtii Tipua, and Ngapuhi. After 

 carefully examining the evidence to hand, I am reluctantly forced to the 

 conclusion that it does not support his hypothesis. The relation existing 

 between the Maori words and similar Indian or Malay words is undeniable, 

 but it is explained by the fact that the races using them have a common 

 origin. When these words are examined, it will be found that their mean- 

 ing must be very much strained to make them fit in with the theory. 



Kahui Tipua means in Maori a band of terrestrial monsters — an ogre or 

 demon-band. Hzii means to congregate ; prefixed by the particle ka, it 

 means a herd or flock. Tipua is a poetical form of Tupua, which comes 

 from the verb tupu, to grow ; the idea being that the creature so called 

 sprung out of the earth — that it was, in fact, an avrox^wj^. In Archdeacon 

 Williams's dictionary, one of the meanings given for tujnia is steal. This 

 is an associated meaning, and does not belong to the word in its primary 

 sense. Terrestrial monsters being regarded as hostile to man, the word 

 came to be used in the same way that many words are employed by us ; as 

 for instance, jockeyed, mesmerized, or macadamized. Tipua is sometimes 

 applied in Maori as we apply monstrous in EngUsh. 



Nga Puhi is the other name, which, singularly enough, is almost 

 identical in appearance with the Indian words meaning serpent-race. But 

 here again, I am inclined to thmk that the likeness is more a]Dparent than 

 real. Xga Puhi is a contraction for Nga-aitanga a te Puhirere. Nga is the 



