NAMES. 
157 
Rau paraha, the leaf of the convolvolus, was a name given 
to that chief by his father’s murderer, who said, if lie caught 
him he would be a relish for that vegetable. 
Huia, the daughter of Pomare, gave her infant the name of 
Nota (north star), the vessel on board of which Pomare was 
carried a prisoner, in defiance of a flag of truce. The widow 
of Matene Ruta, who was taken prisoner at Porirua, during 
the late war, and cruelly hung, to commemorate the event, 
called her infant, which was born after its father’s death, 
Repeka, the hung. 
Some derived their names from their occupations. Rua kiri 
kiri (gravel pit) was the name of a slave, chiefly employed in 
digging and carrying gravel to the kumara and taro grounds, 
which are so covered, nearly a foot deep, in order to obtain 
better crops. 
Some names are taken in defiance, although they have 
originally been given by way of reproach, or as a curse ; thus, 
when a woman made a song on Poto, a great chief, and said, 
“ Talcu kuru kanga ko koe e Poto te kai mo roto ko te Rangi 
ivakarurua ,” which is, literally, You are the pounder of my 
rotten corn, O Poto ; the food for my stomach is Rangi waka- 
rurua, your father. This was a great curse, and to show his 
indignant defiance, Poto took the name, Kuru Kanga, and 
his friend Taui, who was his relative, to show his entire 
sympathy with him, also took as his name Te kai o roto. 
Horpatene’s first name was Taui, but now his surname is Te 
kai o roto. 
Chiefs frequently acquired names from their peculiar way of 
fighting. Mawai is a creeping plant like the cucumber, which 
climbs over the fortifications of the pa, a name given to 
its original bearer to commemorate his crafty way of sur¬ 
prising pas. Heu heu implies that the chief suddenly came 
upon his enemy by sculking amongst the brush wood. Tinirau 
signifies the warrior, who slew many hundreds with his own 
hand. Other names mark the lofty pretensions of their owners. 
Rangi-iri-hau is the heaven lifted up above the wind or storm, 
to show that he was too great to be moved by any of the out¬ 
breaks of his enemies. Rangi i runga, the heaven above, one 
