MYTHOLOGY. 
49 
and Kumea Warona would have overtaken him, but perceiving 
his danger, he again uttered the potent words, matiti, matata; 
the earth, obedient to the spell, opened at once and received him. 
Puzzled at his strange disappearance, she again scratched about 
and cried, Ina ano koe e Hana ? Are you here, Hana ? After 
some time, he once more ventured from his hiding place, but 
she soon caught sight of him, and pursued : he cried out to a 
tuft of toe toe, matiti matata, or, as another account states, 
tatenga tatanga ; it immediately lifted up itself, and he went 
under, thus she was again disappointed in her search. The 
last time he entered the ground, he came out behind Ohine 
motu, near a ngawha, or boiling spring. The ground around 
these is generally only formed of a very thin deposit of stone, 
which arches over a large portion of the gulf, and poor Kuran- 
gai-tuku stepping upon this, it was too weak to bear her great 
weight, she fell in, and was boiled. The name of that hot 
spring is Waka-rewa-rewa. 
Besides the Patu-paearehe are the Tua-riki* who appear 
closely to resemble them, and the Macro, who is described as 
being a wild man, living on inaccessible mountains, occasionally 
making a descent and carrying off any he can lay hold of. 
He is said to be covered with hair, and to have long fingers 
and nails, eating his food raw.f 
There is also the Taringa-liere, a being with a face like a 
cat; and likewise another, called a Taipo, who comes in the 
night, sits on the tops of houses, and converses with the 
inmates, but if a woman presumes to open her mouth, it 
immediately departs. One more of these imaginary creatures 
remains to be noticed, which is called a Taniwha. It is generally 
described as being an immense fish, sometimes as large as a 
whale, frequently it assumes the form of a lizard or crocodile, 
at other times it more closely resembles the eel. It resides in 
deep water, generally in the bends of rivers, but quite as fre¬ 
quently under cliffs, rocks, and mountains; wherever a quick- 
* This word is short for Atua-ririki (little gods). 
f The natives say, that the Tararua range is now his only habitation, in the 
northern island, where he is still, He hapu mariri (a numerous tribe), and 
that he is identical with the Nga-ti-mamoe, who live on the lofty mountains 
of the middle island. 
E 
