122 
TRADITION OF LAKE MAPERE. 
fly and an ancient god, came to their aid, by his exquisite 
power of smell, he found out where he was buried, and by his 
low thrilling sound over the spot, enabled them to discover 
the poor child’s remains. 
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 level 
ol the sea; it is called by the natives Mapere. There is a 
curious tradition relative to its formation. They state that, 
once it was a plain, containing five villages ; in one of these, 
situated 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 a 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 
places and families by calling the head lands after them. Two 
old chiefs still living at Mawe, a village on its banks, declare 
that, when they were boys, watching with their tribe, by the 
side of the lake, for fear of their enemies, in bravado they ran 
up the hill Putaia, a very sacred spot, which has several 
remarkable fissures in it; down one of these they threw some 
stones. Afraid of what they had done, they ran away, when 
a tremendous rumbling took place, and the earth shook 
under them until they were so frightened that their teeth 
chattered. After some time, they saw an island suddenly rise 
up in the middle of the lake, which extended nearly across it; 
it remained the whole of that day, and then gradually sunk, 
leaving a shoal in its place, which is still to be seen, the deepest 
water being near the shores.* 
* 1 his tradition is probably founded on fact. That the site of the present 
lake was a wood, is evident from the number of trees which are still standing 
in the water. When Captains Ross and Crozicr came to Waimate, they cast 
the seine into the lake at some distance from the shore ; but it was so entangled 
