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“Te Aratauwhaiti.”
In an article by Colonel Gudgeon, entitled “Maori Migrations to New Zealand,”* we find this remark: “‘Te Aratauwhaiti,’ said to have been the first canoe that ever came to New Zealand, and that Maku, the ancestor of Toi-kai-rakau, came therein,” &c. It is doubtful whether Maku was an ancestor of Toi, the Wood-eater, but Tiwakawaka, the principal person on board “Te Aratauwhaiti,” certainly was so. Moreover, my informants state that Maku did not come in that vessel, but that he visited New Zealand, arriving at Whakatane, subsequently, and found Tiwakawaka, or his descendants, living at Whakatane. He (Maku) then returned to Hawaiki—that is to say, to the isles of Polynesia.
In White's “Ancient History of the Maori,” vol. i., p. 127, we find this remark: “Ko te Ara-tau-whaiti o Tane, he waka”—but nothing more.
The account given by the descendants of Toi of this old-time vessel is as follows: In times long passed away, when Maru, Haere, Kahukura, and other descendants of Tane quarrelled among themselves, then it was that Tiwakawaka came to this land, to Aotearoa. He came in the canoe “Te Aratauwhaiti” from Mataora. He found a lone land, for Aotearoa had no inhabitants when he arrived here. My informant is very particular to state that Tiwakawaka and Maku came from different lands—the former from Mataora, the latter from Hawaiki. He says, “In regard to the first people of this land, Tiwakawaka came from Mataora. He did not come from Hawaiki; he came from Mataora, and remained here, settling at Whakatane, which was known as Kakaho-roa to the ancient tribes. (Ko Tiwakawaka, kaore i haere mai i Hawaiki, i haere ke mai ia i Mataora, i te kainga o ona tipuna, o Tane ma, o Tu, o Tangaroa, o Rongo, o Tawhirimatea, o Tangotango.) Tiwakawaka was the first ancestor to dwell in this land. He was a grandson of Maui. He was the original ancestor of all the ancient tribes who dwelt here. The following tribes all sprang from him:—
Ngati-Ngainui
Te Tuoi
Te Tini o Te Makahua
Te Tini o Te Marangaranga
Te Rarauhe-turukiruki
Te Rarauhe-maemae
Te Tawa-rarau-ririki
Te Tururu-mauku
Te Tini o Te Kokomuka-tu-tarawhare
Te Tini o Te Kawerau
Te Raupo-ngaueue
Te Tira-maaka
Te Patupaiarehe.
In after-times it was Maku who came from Hawaiki and landed at Whakatane, where he lived a while with the people of Tiwakawaka, and then returned to Hawaiki. The saying of Maku
[Footnote] * “Journal of the Polynesian Society,” vol. i., p. 217.
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was this: “Tiwakawaka i te pae tuarua o Aotea-roa.” So Maku returned whence he came, nor did he ever come back to these shores; hence the old-time saying, Maku hokinga tahi. And the descendants of Tiwakawaka dwelt here even unto the time of Toi, who also sprang from Tiwakawaka, and to the time when the new people came from Hawaiki in “Matatua” and other canoes. I say that Tiwakawaka did not dwell in Hawaiki; his home was that of Pani. (Kihai a Tiwakawaka i noho ki tena kainga, ki Hawaiki. No Pani tona kainga.)
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According to various lines of descent, it would appear that the Polynesians have inhabited New Zealand for about nine hundred years, calculating on the basis of twenty-five years to a generation.
I am of opinion that Maku was a voyager who did not remain on these shores, or we should hear of his descendants,* and that he visited New Zealand at a time when the offspring of Tiwaka-waka had increased and multiplied to such an extent as to occupy most of the North Island, if not the South also; for traditions preserved by the Ngatiawa Tribe assert that Maku found the land occupied “from one end to the other.” Ngatiawa say that Maku came to this land of Aotearoa borne by a taniwha (water-demon), which, I take it, is equivalent to the admission that they do not know the name of his canoe.
Te Papa-titi-raumaewa, the mother of Tiwakawaka, married her father's brother, Maui-mua. This is probably the reason why native tradition asserts that incest originated with Maui. Another version has—
Maui mua = Papa-tu-rangi
Tiwakawaka = Haumia-nui
[Footnote] * “Ka hoki a Maku ki Hawaiki, tona whakatauki tenei. Hoki ake nei a Maku, to ake te tatau ki te whare. Oti tonu atu ki Hawaiki tera tipuna, kihai i hoki mat.”