160 
MYTHOLOGY. 
Lis escape by slipping out at the stern as it went down his 
throat ; he then cut into his belly with his mira tuatini, a 
knife made of shark’s teeth, and let in the water which killed 
him. This monster originally came from Rotoaira to Reta- 
ruki and thence down the Wanganui. 
At Kapenga, on the Kainga-roa plains, there formerly 
lived a Taniwha, named Hotu-puku. After having devoured 
great numbers of people, he was at last destroyed by a party 
of brave men from Rotorua; who made strong ropes, and 
formed a large circular snare with them ; stationing a party 
at each end, and sending others to entice the monster out 
of his den, as soon as he scented the men, he came out and 
pursued them ; they retreated through the snare, the monster 
followed, and when the two parties who were laid in ambush 
on either side of the road, saw that his head and shoulders 
had entered, they immediately pulled the ropes tight ; the 
monster struggled very hard, they therefore drove strong 
stakes into the ground to which they made fast the ropes, 
when the entire party united and attacked the Taniwha, and 
at last despatched him. He was of enormous size, being de- 
scribed by the Maori narrator as “ he puke puke whenua ” 
a mountain, and when he was dead he looked like a great 
whale, but covered with scales, and large spikes on his back. 
When opened, they found the remains of great numbers of 
persons, with weapons, green stone ornaments of all kinds, 
so that his stomach resembled te whare huata a Maui — the 
armoury of Maui. 
The same party, justly celebrated by this exploit, were 
immediately sent for to destroy another great Taniwha, who 
resided at the bottom of a deep fountain, called te wharo 
uri : when they reached the banks of the river, they repeated 
all their most potent incantations, the puni, the whakaruhi, 
the wero-wero-Taniwha, the wakapuru to tumangai, the 
whanga-whangai, the whakautu-utu, and many others ; they 
made a taiki, a large cone-shaped basket, in which they 
dive to the bottom of lakes to catch cray and other shell fish, 
one bold chief named Pitaka, with his comrade, volunteered 
to descend into the abyss, and pass a rope round the monster. 
