ORIGINAL CANOES. 
123 
The following is a list of the Canoes which are reported to 
have brought the first settlers to the island:— 
1. Mataorua. —Its chief was Kupe ; it came to Wanganui 
a te ra (Port Nicholson). Kupe went back to Hawaiki. The 
Nga te rua nui came in it. 
2. Aolea. —Turi was its chief; it brought the karaka, which 
was first planted at Aotea, the kaka.ua (kumara), the para 
tawiti, or yam. The name is now given to an edible fern, 
the former being lost. The pukeko, kiore, kakariki, and all 
plundering birds came in it; also the Nga-ti-rua-nui, Nga 
rauru, Wanganui, and Ngatimaru. This canoe is also called 
Aotea roa. 
3. Tainui. —Hoturoa was the chief, Waikato, Nga ti Rau- 
kawa, Nga Puhi, Nga ti Awa. The anurangi, a kind of 
kumara, came in it. 
4. Arawa. —Nga Toro i rangi was its Ariki, and Tama te 
Kapua its chief. The ancestors of the Nga ti wakaue, and 
the Nga ti Porou were in it. This was a double canoe. 
5. Kuru aupo. —Ruatea was its chief; Nga ti Apa, Taranaki, 
Nga ti rua nui, Nga ti Kahungunu were in it. 
6. Orouta. —Uengapuanaki was the chief; Nga ti Rua-nui 
came in it. 
7. Taki tumu. —Tamatea-hua tahi-nuku roa, was the chief; 
Nga ti Rua nui. 
8. Matatua. —Rua auru was the chief; Nga ti rua nui, Nga 
ti Kahungunu. The taro was brought in this canoe. 
9. Pangatoru (according to another account this canoe is 
called Papakatoru). —Its chief was Rakewananga ora; Nga 
ti rua nui, Nga Rauru came in it. (Some traditions state that 
this canoe did not land its men, as the natives opposed their 
doing so.) 
amongst the stumps at the bottom as to be almost torn to pieces, bringing up 
large branches of trees with it. The greatest depth of the lake was found to 
be five fathoms. From it flows a river over a ledge of rock, to the west, and 
falls into the Hokianga. This ledge is doubtless a stream of lava, which, crossing 
the lowest part of the plain, stopped its drainage, and thus formed the present 
lake, which might, with a very little expense, and no doubt some day will, be 
restored to what it must have been—one of the most fertile plains in this part 
of the island. 
