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“Rangimatoru.”
The “Rangimatoru” canoe was another old-time vessel which reached these shores before the coming of the “Arawa” and sister-vessels, but at a time long subsequent to the arrival of the “Aratauwhaiti.”
The “Rangimatoru” canoe came to land at Ohiwa. The principal man on board is said to have been one Hape, or, to give him his full name, Hape-ki-tu-manui-o-te-rangi, who is said to have wandered down to the South Island, where he died, a tradition which is supported by legendary evidence of the South Island tribes. Te Hoka-o-te-rangi is also said to have come to New Zealand on the “Rangimatoru.” Some assert that this vessel was really the “Kurahaupo” canoe which had been abandoned by her crew as unseaworthy, and which was patched up by others and brought to New Zealand. If the Hapu-oneone Tribe of Te Waimana were descended from “Rangimatoru” migrants, then that canoe must have arrived long before the “Matatua,” which latter vessel brought the original crew (or a portion thereof) of “Kurahaupo” to Whangaparaoa; for the Hapu-oneone were assuredly an ancient people of the Bay of Plenty district. If, however, the genealogies, given by many
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natives, of Te Hapu-oneone and Hape apply to the same man, then it is clear that the “Rangimatoru” must have arrived about the same time as the fleet of “Matatua,” “Te Arawa,” &c., as the following line will show:—
Te Hapu-oneone
Te Po-tu-mai
Te Po-tahuri-ke
Te Po-ka-rapa-ke
Te Rake
Tikitiki
Hape
Rawaho Tamarau
Hapai-ariki
Ngariki
Ariki-kore
Tirama-roa
Te Whakatangata
Tama-a-mutu
Whetu-roa
Te Kapo-o-te-rangi
Te Umu-ki-marau
Te Tapu
Tama-te-karonga
Te Whakautauta
Rukuwai
Te Haurehe
Taonga-uru
Uetahu
Hinekura
Te Wakaunua
Wati
Piripi (five years, 1902).
Tumutara, of Ngatiawa, stated to me that the “Rangimatoru” canoe belonged to Hape and Tikitiki-o-te-rangi, and seemed to imply that some of the “Aratawhao's” crew returned on board her. Another tradition of Ngatiawa contains a singular statement which would seem to mean that the canoes “Rangimatoru” and “Te Paepae-ki-Rarotonga” belonged to these original people of the Bay of Plenty, and that they accompanied “Te Aratawhao” to Hawaiki in quest of the coveted kumara.
Whether Hape was or was not the origin of the Hapu-oneone Tribe, it is certain that those people were some of the ancient inhabitants of the Bay of Plenty district, and were a numerous people when the historical fleet of canoes, “Te Arawa,” “Matatua,” &c., arrived from Hawaiki. They occupied the district from Ohiwa across to Ruatoki.