WHEN MOUNTAINS RAMBLED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 35, 12 July 1939, Page 7

WHEN MOUNTAINS RAMBLED

MAORI FAIRY STORIES WHALE AND WHITE ISLANDS HAVE A-RACE Among the many items that conic under the head of tipua, or supernatural objects in Maori lore, are many of the mountains, ranges, hills, \s. lets and isolated masses of rock ol the Tuhoe districts. The most singular of these myths are those concerning the powers of locomotion pos_ scs.scd by divers mountains in formci times, with the story of how they moved at will from place to place. In these curious tales such mountains and rocks are endowed with human attributes, such as affection for each other, the eating of food whereby to sustain life, the power of cooking food and, above all, they arc 0P endowed with the power of speech. In fine these natural objects are giv_ | 'cn man-like, qualities. Such tales were favoured by the Maori of former times > and known to all the people, though, says Elsdon ißcst, it is highly improbable that such myths were ever really believed by the Maori, save perhaps by children, to be records of actual facts. T,ike other people in a similar culture stage the Maori enjoyed the relation of such tales and myths T inasmuch as he had no graphic system wherein to conserve such Items, and spoken language had to supply the place cf '-books. SNOWY HILLS. -j "Best quotes an old native as saying to him: ''You may observe that the . mountains and great ranges are covered with snow in the winter. These ynountains are tupua (enchanted or 'supernatural) and were much revered by our ancestors. Hence the snows of heaven descend upon them. That snow is a token of the importance of the demon mountains that stand on The isle of Aotea-roa. Thus do we see "the names of such mounta'ns couoled with the names of important chiefs who live near them as: 'Maunganohatu is the mountain, Pohokorna "the person beneath it' or 'again 'Ton. qga_riro is the mountain, Tuwharetoa are the people.' The great mountains are demons, supernormal beings.** The Ngati-awa tribe told EKdon Tiest that the mounts Tonga-i*iro had two wives, Pihanga and Ngauniboth names of mountains. 4 quarrel sprang up among nearby male mountains with regard to the ■females and Taranaki (Mount Kg. Mont) sought to obtain Tonga-riro's "wives for himself. The other -demon mountains also strove with him, and at last they separated and disoers?d to various parts of the land, Taranaki going to the western ocean where he K still stands. "BAY OF PLENTY MOUNTAINS Some of the mountains came to vlie Bay of Plenty. They were Whaka-ari (White Island), Paepae.aotea (a small rock islet near White Island), Mou. tohora (Whale Island) and Putauaki (Mount Edgecumbe). Putauaki has 1 wo wives, Whatiura (a nearby hill) and Pohatu-roa (a curious rock mass at Atiamuri Rotorua) . Putauaki was unable to proceed further on account of one of his wives being so long cooking a meal, and day breaking and so he remained where we now see him. The hill Rua-wahia also camc at the same time, but on the road he met one Mahoihoi, a great magician, and the two quarrelled, Rua trying to ilay the who warded off the blow and cleft . Rua-wahia in twain, hencc the name of that mount Rua.wahia, the cleaving of Tarawera. The implication is that Ruawahia was origin all y part of Tarawera before they were torn asunder. All these stories, childish as they may seem, show that the Maori of olden days could recognise the signs of volcanic activity, and realised that Mt. Edgecumbe or Whale Island was a product of exactly the same forces as the Tonga.riro group of mountains TUIIOE STORY The Tuhoe folk, continues Best, have a somewhat different version of the moving of some of the hills. They saj r that Maunga.pohatu, Edgecumbe and Whale Island came from thr> south, travelling northwards until they were overtaken by daylight, "whereupon they were compelled to , take up their present position, ] though some of their children got fur. , ther north. These children are cer- , tain isles in the sea and rocks in the , Whakatane river and elsewhere. The Toka_a-jHoumra. a large rock in a • paddock on the Taneatua road a I

couple of miles out of Whakatane is one of the children, and others are Hinga.rae and Toka-tapu. and other rocks that stand in the Whakatane River, or did stand there until the harbour board sent some of them wandering further afield with , a charge of blasting powder. Still another native story says that . Edgecumbe and Maunga-pohatu came flora the >outh at the same time, but . that Edgecumbe stopped where he stands to_day, and Ma,unga-pohatu, for fear that she would be overtaken by the dawn ( hurried on. When dawn broke and Edgecumbe saw Maunga. pohatu standing afar off on the castrn skyline he desired her and sang a love song to her, but history does not relate whether she paid much attention to it. RACE TO SEA. The creation of the Whakatane and Tauranga (Wai.mana) rivers is ex. nlaincd in another Tuhoc story which says that White Island and Whale Island were originally part of the great Huia-rau range, near Waikare.moana. They started to race to the sea, each forcing its way through the intervening hills and ranges, thus forming the Whakatane and Tauranga (Waimnna) valleys. White Island took the more western route and formed the valley down which flows the Whakatane and Whale Island formed the valley down which flows the Taura v uga River (known to set-, tiers and map makers as the Wairnana). On the way the twain halted to cook and eat food, but White Island was the quickest and he had finished his meal when Mou.tohora, was just opening his oven. Hence the former got a good start of his opponent, and reached the ocean where he now stands. Whale Island heard the roaring sound caused by White Island rushing into the ocean, and knew he had lost the race, so he turned and entered White Island's path and the Waimana became a tributary of the Whakatane. Many other tupua lie scattered over the land our friend Taneatua being responsible for many of them. Per. haps we can tell something of Taneatua, the wanderer and tupua collector, in another article.