![Thumbnail: [Volume 37, 1904 page 127]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_37/thumbnails/rsnz_37_00_0153_0127_ac_02.gif)
“Horouta.”
I shall have but little to say concerning this vessel, inasmuch as the traditions connected with her have already been published. “Horouta” seems to have arrived here some five or six generations before the fleet (“Te Arawa,” “Tainui,” “Matatua,” &c.). Some of her crew remained here, and their descendants may be found among the Ngatiporou, Tuhoe, Ngatihau, and other tribes. Among the crew are said to have been Whiro-nui, Te Poutama, Iri-a-rangi, Te Kahu-takiri; Te Rakaupango, Te Kotore-o-hua, and one Whiro-tipua. On this
![Thumbnail: [Volume 37, 1904 page 128]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_37/thumbnails/rsnz_37_00_0154_0128_ac_02.gif)
vessel, it is said, came a number of black-skinned men, who spake a different language to that of the Maori people. These black people were known as Ngai-Tamawhiro among the Maori, and are said to have been the tribe or descendants of one Whiro, but whether Whiro-nui or Whiro-tupua is meant is not clear. These people were probably Mclanesians of Fiji. They lived near Matata, but gradually became extinct, or lost to view, probably through intermarriage with the Maori.
In addition to the crews of the above canoes, there are also traditions of other old-time voyagers who visited these shores in times long passed away, but whose names only are retained. Of these, the most widely known is Ngahue, who visited New Zealand prior to the coming of the historic fleet. He is said to have seen the moa here. Another was Tama-i-waho, also known as Puhao-rangi, who came to New Zealand in the time of Toi (see genealogy). His descendants here are well known. One Irakewa also appears to have reached the Bay of Plenty, just prior to the arrival of the fleet, in some unrecorded manner. A huge rock on the summit of Maunga-pohatu is known as Te Tapapatanga o Irakewa. Irakewa is said to have returned to Hawaiki, and from his descriptions and directions the crew of “Matatua” were enabled to reach Whakatane. There is much mystery concerning Irakewa and his movements. Some of Ngatiawa say that he was a descendant of Toi:—
This Toroa was the chief of the “Matatua” canoe which reached New Zealand with the historic fleet about eighteen or twenty generations ago. Irakewa may have been a descendant of Toi of New Zealand, but, if so, he must have gone to Hawaiki about the time that “Te Aratawhao” made her famous voyage to Polynesia. Awa-morchurehu is said to have been a member of the crew of that canoe. Our most learned man among Tuhoe states that Awa-morehurchu was the father of Irakewa, which would be much more credible.
Taneatua was another old-time wanderer who reached this land somewhere about the time of the arrival of “Matatua,”
![Thumbnail: [Volume 37, 1904 page 129]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_37/thumbnails/rsnz_37_00_0155_0129_ac_02.gif)
but who is never given as a member of the crew of that vessel. His descendants are numerous among the Tuhoe Tribe.
Another old-time voyager was Pou-rangahua, of Turanga, Poverty Bay, he who married Kanioro, a sister of Taukata, of whom more anon. Puketapu, of Waikare-moana, states that Pou came in “Horouta,” but that is not credible if he was a contemporary of Taukata and Hoaki. Pou was a chief of the ancient people of Turanga, and he went to Hawaiki—that is to say, to the isles of the north—in order to obtain the kumara. It is not known how Kanioro reached New Zealand. She may have come with her brothers, who brought the knowledge of the kumara to the Toi tribes of Whakatane, though Puketapu maintains that she came with Pou on “Horouta.” The singular legend of Pou-rangahua and his adventurous trip hither from. Hawaiki on “Rua-kapanga” I have recorded elsewhere. It may also be found in that most modern classic tome, “Maori Lore,” the production of one Izett, who inserted it, without acknowledgment and wofully garbled, in that eccentric and ridiculous work.
Tamarau-apu was another voyager to New Zealand from the isles of Polynesia in times long passed away, but of whom little is known at the present time:—
This Mahoihoi was a contemporary of Waitaha-ariki-kore of the “Paepac-ki-Rarotonga” canoe.
Poutini is said to have been one of the earliest visitors to New Zealand, but his name and doings are so surrounded by myth that no clear account concerning him can be given. He is sometimes said to have been the discoverer of the greenstone, while many speak of him as being the personification of that prized stone.
Although we have no knowledge of any migrants arriving here since the famous fleet of from eighteen to twenty generations ago, yet Cook's interpreter understood certain Maoris to say that, subsequent to the arrival of their ancestors in New Zealand, some canoes had arrived from an island called Ulimaroa.
The Ngatiporou Tribe have a tradition that some of their ancestors left New Zealand to search for the Hawaikian fatherland, but were never again heard of. Shortland, in his essay published in the first volume of the “Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,” mentions a canoe which left Tauranga in the last century, and sailed boldly forth into the Pacific Ocean in search of Hawaiki.