eBook Polynesian Mythology

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composed of men; but no; it was only formed of clumps of grass dressed up.
Now the people of the place they were attacking drew out to the battle, and as they pressed
nearer and nearer, they pushed forth long heavy spears, and sent forth volleys of light spears
made of the branches of manuka, at the colunm of Ha-nui. Alas! it is broken; they retreat, they
fly, they fall back on the division of Ha-roa; they are here rallied, and ordered to charge; but they
do not-they only poke forward their heads, as if intending to go; the enemy has reached them,
and is on theirt again; they are again broken and disordered; they run in now upon the third line,
that of Karika; they are rallied, and again ordered to charge; but they only press forward the
upper part of their bodies, as if intending to advance, when the enemy is already upon them in
full charge. It is over; all the divisions of Hatupatu's brothers are broken and flying in confusion;
what did it matter whether they were many or few, they were all cowards. Their enemies saw no
brave men's faces, only the black backs of heads running away.
All this time the division of Hatupatu appears to be sitting quietly upon the ground, and when the
men in full retreat came running in upon it, Hatupatu rose up to order them to charge again. He
cried out: 'Turn on them again, turn on them again'; for a long time the enemy and Hatupatu.
were hidden from each other's view; at last they saw him. Then rushes forward Hatupatu from
one party, and a chief of the enemy, named also Karika (like his brother), from the other, and the
latter aims a fierce blow at Hatupatu with a short spear; he parries it, and strikes down Karika
with his two-handed sword, who dies without a struggle; motionless, as food hidden in a bag, he
draws forth his whalebone patu, cuts off Karika's head, and grasps it by the hair. It is enough
the enemy break fall back fly; then his brothers and their warriors turn again on the foes, and
slay them; many thousands of them fall. Whilst his brothers are thus slaying the enemy, he is
eagerly seeking for Raumati; he is found; Hatupatu catches him, his head is cut off; it is
concealed. The slaughter being ended, they return to their encampment; they cook the bodies of
their enemies; they devour them; they smoke and carefully preserve their heads: and when all is
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POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY
79
done, each makes speeches boasting of his deeds; and one after the other, vaunting to have slain
the great chief Raumati. But Hatupatu said not a word of his having Raumati's head.
They return to Roto-rua; this time he goes in the canoe with them; they draw near to the island of
Mokoia, and his brothers, as they are in the canoe, chant songs of triumph to the gods of war;
they cease; their father inquires from the shore: 'Which of you has the head of Raumati?' and
one, holding up the head he had taken, said: 'I have'; and another said: 'I have'; at last, their father
calls out: 'Alas, alas! Raumati has escaped.'
Then Hatupatu stands up in the canoe, and chants a prayer to the god of war over a basket heaped
up with heads, wbilst holding up in his hand the head of Karika.
Then his hand grasps the head of Raumati, which he had kept hid under his cloak, and he cries:
'There, there; I have the head of Raumati.' All rejoice. Their father strips off his cloak, rushes
into the lake, and repeats a thanksgiving to the gods.
When he had ended this, he promoted in honour his last-born child, and debased in rank his
eldest sons.
Thus at last was revenge obtained for the burning of the Arawa, and the descendants of Tama-te-
kapua emigrated, and came and dwelt in Pa-kotore, and Rangitihi was born there, and his
children, and one of them came to Rangi-whakakapua, or Rotorua, and dwelt there; and
afterwards one of his daughters went to the Whakatohea tribe, at Opotiki. After that Rangitihi
and all his sons went to Ahuriri, to revenge the death of the husband of Rongo-mai-papa, and she
was given up to them as a reward; then grew up to manhood Uenuku-kopako, and began to visit
all the people subject to him at Whakamaru, at Maroa, at Tutukau, at Tuata, and he went and
afterwards returned to Pa-kotore, and whilst going backwards and forwards, he lost his dog,
named Potaka-tawhiti, at Mokoia; it was killed by Mata-aho and Kawa-arero.
He came back from Whakamaru to look for it, and when he found it had been killed, a great war
was commenced against Roto-rua, and some were slain of each party. After this, Rangite-aorere,
the son of Rangi-whaka-eke-au, grew up to man's estate; in his time they stormed and took the
island of Mokoia, and Roto-rua was conquered by the son of Rangitihi, who kept it still and still,
until the multitude of men there increased very greatly, and spread themselves in all parts; and
the descendants of Ngatoro-i-rangi also multiplied there, and some of them still remain at Roto-
rua. Tumakoha begat Tarawhai, and Te Rangitakaroro, was one of his sons; his second son was
Tarewa, and his third was Taporahitaua.
The Emigration of Turi
THE following narrative shows the cause which led Turi, the ancestor of the Whanganui
tribes, to emigrate to New Zealand, and the manner in which he reached these islands.
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POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY
80
Hoi-matua, a near relation of Turi, had a little boy named Potiki-roroa; this young fellow was
sent one day with a message to Uenuku, who was an ariki, or chief high-priest, to let him know
that a burnt-offering had been made to the gods, of which Uenuku, as ariki, was to eat part, and
the little fellow accidentally tripped and fell down in the very doorway of Whare-kura, the house
of Uenuku, and this being a most unlucky omen, Uenuku was dreadfully irritated, and he laid
hold of the little fellow, and ate him up, without even having the body cooked, and so the poor
boy perished.
Turi was determined to have revenge for this barbarous act, and to slay some person as a
payment for little Potiki-roroa, and, after casting about in his thoughts for some time as to the
most effectual mode of doing this, he saw that his best way of revenging himself would be to
seize Hawe-potiki, the little son of Uenuku, and kill him.
One day Turi, in order to entice the boy to his house, ordered the children of all the people who [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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