The strangers who came to Wharekauri arrived in three different canoes—namely, “Rangimata,” of whom Mawake was the chief; “Rangihoua,” whose captain was the chief; “Rangihoua,” whose captain was Honeke; and lastly, “Oropuke,” commanded by Moe.

The laws, manners, and customs of the Morioris, derived from their ancestors, were very good, benevolence to all men

being the predominant feature. According to their ideas it was very evil to cause the death of another, or to take from a man his land. The various tribes were constantly exchanging visits, and when they occupied each other's lands for a time they never attempted to claim what did not belong to them. The work of the present day would indeed have appeared evil, and quite opposed to their customs. For integrity and uprightness the works of the present generation cannot compare with those of our forbears. Their laws were founded absolutely on justice and truth, and were promulgated by Rangimaiwhenua, ever in ancient days, hence our unwarlike and inoffensive nature, for we followed the teachings of our ancestors, Rongomaipapa, Rongomaiheri, Marupuku, Tutarangimarama, Minoi, Te Timo, Moari, Hamatirikaka, Rakiroa, Tupeneke, Tamangarue, Maruhokote, and Ke. The offspring of those ancestors was Nunuku. He it was who established the law that men should cease to slay one another, at the time when man-eating was prevalent consequent on the coming to these islands of the warrior Moe and his tribe Te Rauru in the canoe “Oropuke.” Those people were consumers of human flesh till Moe was slain. Nunuku's descendants multiplied and perpetuated the covenant which he had established, when he said “After me, through all generations, all evil is to be laid aside. Even if blood be shed, no one must be put to death.” (I muri i au ki tera whakapaparanga, ki tera whakapaparanga, ko te patu me taputoake.) It was from the teachings of Nunuku that peace came upon the land, and the Morioris lived in peace and happiness from the time of their ancestors Matanga, Maruhoanga, and Tamaturangi. They were, moreover, a very sacred people, and obeyed most strictly all the laws relating to tapu, &c. For instance, the women and men never ate together, nor would the young people eat in the presence of their arikis, or the chiefs with the plebeians. They were very strict in all their religious observances, and prayers were invoked every time food was partaken of.

The food of the Morioris consisted of eels, fish, karaka-berries, birds, fern-root, paua, pipi, porure, whitebait, &c. Thus did these people live from one generation to another. Their god was Hatitimatangi. He appeared in the stormy winds, and his attributes were to cure all ills and heal all diseases that mankind is heir to, and to cast out devils. And so it came to pass in the days of a certain generation, a man was born who was afterwards called Moturangi. He lived at Kaingaroa, and the god Hatitimatangi descended upon this man and abode with him in his dwelling, and revealed to him that shortly a child would be born into the world. Now, the people awaited the fulfilment of this prophecy and the appearance of the promised stranger. And

on a certain day, in the early morning, a woman named Hinekai-wairua went out from the door of her house, and lo! she beheld a young child lying among a heap of firewood, and she pondered within her heart, saying, “Surely this must be the child we were told would appear”; but her hands were not laid upon it. Now, the child was unlike the people of this world—it was altogether different; and the woman Hinekaiwairua ran and hastened to bring some cooked food as a propitiatory offering, lest the apparition disappear, and she fed it with milk from her breast, and it was rawea in appearance. When it grew to manhood it was unlike any one else it had a dark skin (kuriparauri), and its face was quite black. The name of Rutowaikura te Wakaputa was bestowed upon it; and on arriving at adult age he took to wife a woman of the land and begat children—Tamahuareka, Tumatakoao, and others.

Up to this period the garments worn by the Morioris were made from flax, but weaving was discontinued, and they clothed themselves with garments made from seal-skins. But if such were not obtainable, then would they plait mais from flax, and only the chiefs would wear the seal-skins. Their most highly prized garments, which were also a token of rank, were of two kinds, and called respectively tahei and marohara. Their ornaments were red feathers, albatross-plumes, sharks' teeth, and awanya. The garments mentioned were very finely woven. Only the tahei was made from carefully dressed flax, while the marohara was composed of undressed flax-leaves, the tahei being worn next the skin and the marohara over it. The latter was about 5 yards long, and after being wrapped round the body about 2 yards were left, forming an apron or fringe which hung down before and behind and waved to and fro with the wind, and was called taputapu. When thus clothed the Morioris adorned their foreheads with red feathers, and wore albatross-plumes at the back of the head. Inner garments of seal-skin or albatross-skin were also worn.

The following are the Moriori names of the months:—

The names of the moon were as follows:—