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TRADITIONS AND LEGENDS. 
The Feather op the Moa. 
This is the story of Taukaituroa, and his dog Ngaupari ; 
he was a man of Murimotu, an ancestor of the inhabitants 
of that part. One of his exploits was going to fight at 
Rotorua, and burning the house in which all his enemies 
were assembled, and thus destroying them ; afterwards he 
returned to Muri motu, and went to Ngati ka hunu to 
carry a plume of the Moa, he received a celebrated green- 
stone mere in payment for the much-prized feather. When 
he returned to Murimotu he died and was buried ; it was 
at Ko kopo he was interred, together with his green-stone ; 
the fear of the men who wished to steal the Mere was lest 
the great reptile which guarded it should kill them, it was 
also a very sacred place, and moreover, quite covered with 
dreadful nettles, so that no man can safely go near the place. 
The true reason however appears to be that no one knows 
where he was buried. 
Lake Mapere. 
At the foot of Pukenui a volcanic hill, about three miles 
distant from Waimate, Bay of Islands, there is a very fine 
lake, from five to seven miles long, and two or three broad, 
at an elevation of more than seven hundred feet above 
the sea ; it is called by the natives Mapere, there is a 
curious tradition relative to its formation, that once it 
was a plain, containing five villages, in one of these situ- 
ated near a wood lived a chief who, wanting some water, 
when his wives and slaves were from home, and being 
ashamed to let his neighbours see him draw it at the public 
fountain, went and began to dig a well in a retired spot ; 
but no sooner had he dug down a little way, than flames burst 
forth from it, which rapidly spread, and consumed the trees 
and village, large stones also were shot out, but after a time, 
the fire was exhausted, and water gushed up, which formed 
the present lake ; the survivors preserved the names of the 
