Maori Religion and Mythology Part 9

If I eat of the _maihi_45 of _tohunga's_ house, Let me not be harmed.

Be thou undermost, While I am uppermost.

Give me your _mana_ to strike down.

Close tight your spirit-devouring teeth.

Close tight your man-devouring teeth.

45 _Maihi_ are the two boards placed at an angle at front gable of a house. If the wood of a sacred house were to be accidentally used as firewood for cooking purposes, anyone who ate the food thus cooked would be guilty of a crime, to be punished by the _Atua_ with disease or death.

Then Kahu spat on the _kohukohu_, breathed on it, and offered it to Tama, that is to say, to the image of Tama-te-kapua. Kahu and Ihenga then ate the food cooked for them in the sacred oven. Ihenga ate with a fork, while at the same time he fed Kahu with his left hand.

The same ceremonies were observed at the evening meal.

Eight days after the ceremony of _Pure_, the heart of Ihenga conceived a desire. He was taken with the fair face of Hinetekakara; so he asked Kahu, "When shall we two be free from _tapu_?" Kahu replied "We two will not soon be free." "Oh! be quick," said Ihenga, "that I may return to my elder brothers, to my mother, and to my sisters." Kahu said, "You will not be dismissed soon-not until the _tapu_ is completely removed from you." "How many nights, then, after this?"

Kahu answered, "Twenty nights."

"Ho! what a very long time," said Ihenga, "for our _tapu_."

The remonstrance of the young man here ended; but not long afterwards he persisted in the same manner. Thereupon Kahu began to consider-"Ha! what is it my nephew persists about?" So he asked, "Why are you in so great a hurry to be free from _tapu_?" Then the young man spoke out, "Whose daughter is the maiden who cooks our food?"

"Mine," replied Kahu.

"My fear," said Ihenga, "lest some one may have her."

"I thought there must be something."

"Do not let some other man have her."

"Your cousin shall be your wife," said Kahu, calling the damsel: "Come here, girl, near the door."

The girl came laughing, for she knew she was to be given to Ihenga.

Then said Kahu: "Your cousin has a longing for you."

"It is well," replied the damsel.

"Oh! my children," murmured Kahu. He then cautioned his daughter not to enter the house where young people resort for amus.e.m.e.nt.

"I never go to the play-house," replied Hinetekakara, "I always sleep with my mother in our own house."

"You do well," said Kahu; "in twenty days we shall both be free from our _tapu_."

So they both continued to dwell in their sacred house by themselves, and the damsel always cooked food for them; and when the day fixed by Kahu came he sent Ihenga in a canoe to catch fish to complete the ceremony of removing the _tapu_. The fish were caught, and two ovens were prepared to cook them-a sacred oven for the _tohunga_, or seers skilled in sacred lore-and a free oven for the _tauira_, or those being instructed in sacred lore. And when the food was cooked they a.s.sembled to eat it: the _tohunga_ on the right hand fed each other by hand, and the _tauira_ on the left ate freely their unsacred food. This was done to lighten the weight of the _tapu_, in order that they might be free. When all this was done, and they were no longer _tapu_, Hinetekakara became the wife of Ihenga.

The following morning Ihenga searched for the greenstone _kaukaumatua_, and found it in the place where Tuhoro had buried it. He then fastened it to the ear of Hinetekakara, bidding her go and show the treasure to her father. When Kahu beheld his lost treasure hanging from his daughter's ear he gave utterance to his feelings with tears and words of affection for his dead brother, and when the _tangi_ or lament was ended, bid her keep the treasure for herself, and for her cousin.

Some time afterwards Hinetekakara conceived, and Ihenga went to catch _kiwi_ for her _turakanga_.46 He took with him his dog Potakatahiti, one of the same breed as the dog of the same name which was devoured by Toi and Uenuku.47 Crossing the swamp Kawa, he went to Papanui, and arriving at the cross-road at Waipumuka ascended the hill Paretawa. Thence he went on to Hakomiti, and Pukerangiora, and began to hunt _kiwi_. The dog feeling the heat, and becoming thirsty, went off in search of water, at the same time hunting _kiwi_. When he caught a _kiwi_ he left it on the ground. At last a _kiwi_ ran a long way, and tried to escape by running into a lake where the dog caught it. The dog then began to catch in its mouth the small fish called _inanga_; and having filled its belly returned by the way it had come, always picking up the _kiwi_, which it had left on the ground, and carrying them in his mouth, till he reached his master, laid them on the ground before him. Seeing the dog dripping with water, Ihenga said to his companions, "Ho! the dog has found water.

There is a lake below, perhaps." However they did not then go to look for it, for they were busied about cooking food. Meanwhile the dog began to roll on the ground in front of Ihenga, belly upwards. It then lay down, but not long after began to vomit, and the _inanga_ were seen lying on the ground. Then they went to look for the water, and the dog ran before them barking every now and then to let his master know which way he was going. In this way they soon came to the lake. Shoals of _inanga_ were leaping on the water; so they made a net with branches of fern, and having caught a great many, cooked some for food; after which they returned to Maketu, carrying with them basketsful of _inanga_ to show to Kahu, that he might know how the lake abounded with food. Ihenga named the lake Te Roto-iti-kite-a-Ihenga (=the small lake discovered by Ihenga), thus claiming it as a possession for his children.

46 _Turakanga_ (=throwing down) was a ceremony in which a stick set up to represent the path of death was thrown down. A form of _karakia_ was, at the same time, used.

47 Vid. Sir G. Grey's "Mythology and Traditions," p. 63.

When they reached Maketu Ihenga told Kahu about the lake he had discovered.

"Where is it?" inquired Kahu.

"Beyond the hills."

"Is it a long way off?"

"Yes," said Ihenga.

"Beyond the first range of hills?" inquired Kahu.

"At the sixth range of hills," said Ihenga.

"Oh! it is near," said Kahu.

Then Ihenga bid his companions show Kahu the food they had brought.

But Kahu said, "No; leave it alone till to-morrow."

The next morning the oven was made ready for the ceremony of _Turakanga_. Hinetekakara dipped in the river, and two mounds of earth were made-one for a male child, and one for a female child. The path of death was thrown down, and the path of life set up. Then the woman trampled on the mound for the male child with one foot, and with the other foot she trampled on the mound for the female child. Then she ran and plunged in the river, and when she rose to the surface she swam ash.o.r.e, put on her _tawaru_, and returned to her house.

When the food was cooked all the men a.s.sembled to eat it-the men of the race of Houmaitahiti. There were six hundred _kiwi_, and two baskets of _inanga_. And as he was eating Kahu murmured, "Ho! ho! what prime food for my grandchild."

After some time a child was born and was named Tama-ihu-toroa, and when it grew strong in limb, so that it could turn about from one side to the other, Kahu said to Ihenga, "Go, seek lands for your child."

CHAPTER VI.

CLAIMING AND NAMING LAND.

No place in the world ever received a name which could not be accounted for, though there are hundreds of such names of which we can now give no explanation.-_Farrar on Language_, p. 22.

Ihenga set out with four companions. He went in a different direction to that of his former journey. He now went by way of Mataparu, Te Hiapo, Te Whare-pakau-awe. When on the summit of the ridge he looked back towards Maketu, and greeted his home there. Then turning round he saw the steam of the hot springs at Ruahine. Believing it to be smoke from a fire, he said to his companions, "Ha! that land has been taken possession of by some one. Let us go on." They entered the forest, and having pa.s.sed through it, came to a waterfall. Afterwards they came to a lake in which was a large island. Proceeding along the sh.o.r.e of the lake Ihenga gave names to various places. On arriving at a point of land jutting out into the lake, which he named Tuara-hiwi-roa, they halted; for they saw a flock of s.h.a.gs perched on the stumps of some trees in the lake. They made snares and fastened them to a pole to catch the s.h.a.gs, and placed the pole on the stumps of the trees. Presently the s.h.a.gs perched on the pole, and were caught in the snares, some by the legs and some by the neck. But the s.h.a.gs flew off with the snares, pole and all. The young men thought they would alight in the lake, but Ihenga said, "No, they are flying on; they will alight on Te Motu-tapu-a-Tinirau." Ihenga had given this name to the island, which was afterwards named Mokoia by Uenuku-kopako.

Then Ihenga went alone in pursuit of his birds along the borders of the lake. He pa.s.sed by Ohinemutu, where he found the hot springs, and the steam which he had supposed to be the smoke of a fire. When he reached the hill at Kawaha, looking down he saw the smoke of a fire burning below at Waiohiro; so he thought with himself, "Shall I go on, or no?"

He decided on the no; for he saw a net hanging near a stage, on which there was food, so he went to look for the _tuahu_ or sacred place for the net. When he had found it he forthwith set to work to carry off the earth, and the posts, and the old decaying _inanga_, in order to make a _tuahu_ for himself by the face of the cliff at Kawaha. Then he brought fresh earth and new posts to the _tuahu_ of the man of the place, and carried away some posts partly burnt by fire. He also stript off the bark from branches of _koromuka_ and _angiangi_, and fastened them together with flax, and set them up in the inclosure of the _tuahu_ belonging to the man of the place. When Ihenga had done all this secretly, he named his own _tuahu_ Te Pera-o-tangaroa, and went on to the place where the fire was burning.

As soon as he was seen, the people of the place waved their cloaks, and shouted cries of welcome. And when the ceremony of _uhunga_ was ended, the chief, whose name was Tu-o-rotorua, inquired when Ihenga had come to the lake.

"Ho! this is my own land," said Ihenga.