TE-HIWI-O-TOROA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 94, 29 November 1939, Page 3

TE-HIWI-O-TOROA

UENUKU JUDGES

TRIAL BY WATER

Classic mythology tells how Paris judged the contest of the goddesses for the prize 01 beauty. Somewhat similar but far removed in place is the story of the judgment of Uenului

In Lake Rotorua, somewhere about halfway between the southern shore and the island of Mokoia, there is a place where the water shallows a little. Here is a long sandbank, called Te Hiwi o Toroa, or "The Soul of the Albatross.'' This was a favourite fishing bank for the fresh-water cray fish and the kakahi shellfish.

Uenuku-Kopako was a very handsome fellow, tattooed in the best manner. Moreover, he was the hero of many fights. He had three wives.

As it happens in the majority of harems, there was considerable jealousy, and Uenuku's thatched house was not always peaceful. The ladies could not agree among themselves on the question of matrimonial precedence, as to which one of them was, or should be, the favourite wife; or which should accompany the lord and master on his trips; or the one recognised as his chief partner. Uenului was patient for a while and stood the bickering but there came a day when his patience was exhausted. Had he not been a kindhearted, he might have settled the question by knocking one or two of the wahines on the head with his mere. But, instead, lie thought of a plan of settlement. He ordered out his canoe. W !P «P ¥ Paddling out to Te Hiwi o Toroa, were Rangi-whakapiri, Hinepito. and Tao-i-te-kura. These were the wives of Uenuku tKopako. Uenuku himself plied the steering paddle. Just over the shoal, Uenuku told his - wives to cease their paddling. They stopped, and were then instructed to look down through the

clear water. They peered over the side and watched the little crayfish crawling on the white pumice sand.

"Now," said Uenuku, "this is the place of the test. It is the day ol decision. I am weary to death of jour quarrelling, your dispute to

which of you shall be my first wife. It must stop. This is the test. You shall all dive for me, and the one to prove herself the strongest diver shall be my best-loved wife. The one to touch the bank and return with a handful of shell or sand to prove it shall be the winner.

That was the test

Each young woman in turn cast of the flax waist garment she was wearing, poised for a moment, taking a long, deep breath, and plunged down. Rangi-whakapiri was the first to dive. The others waited. Rangi came up and sadly admitted that she had failed to reach the bottom of the lake. The other two sighed. It gave them a better chance. Hinepito was the next and she. too, Avas unsuccessful. Then Ivura, beautiful, strong of lung, laid aside her mat and dived into the lake. The seconds passed. The hall' minute, minute, two minutes. Longer, and then Kura appealed. Her breast was heaving, she was gasping for air. But in her haril she grasped something; it was a hand ful of sand. Kura had won.

Uenuku was pleased. No more domestic strife. It had all been settled by his wonderful idea to have a long dive—the ruku.

Kura, the Mokooia queen of beauty chanted a song of love and triumph as tlie canoe turned for home.

When Tao-i-te-Kura had left the beach before the trial by water, she had worn a plume of the Toroa—or Albatross. She had this bunch of the soft, downy feathers in her ear. It was an ornament of the old-lime Maori. She had dived and dislodged the plume and it had floated up to the surface near Uenuku.

He named the place as it is today— Te Hiwi o Toroa, in in.inory of Kura's plume that floated up from the depths of the lake.