HINE-NGUTU

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 100, 13 December 1939, Page 7

HINE-NGUTU

THE LOG THAT IS TAPU GULLS AT MOKOIA Should you travel up the valley of the Rangitaiki, on the road from Rotorua to the Urewera Country, turn off towards Te Tapiri, on the rim of the ranges a thousand feet above the Kaingaroa Plain and from there it is but a comparatively short walk to the falls of the Wheao. This tributary of the Rangitaiki, flowing through the high fern and the black-fruited tupakihi, pours itscl over a broad l'edge of rock into a great circular pool surrounded by bushy banks. The brimming pool empties itself in a series of little rapids towards the main river. Should you see the pool and see also a small log, black and polished with water wear, bear in mind the legend that is told all along the Rangitaiki.

A century or so ago, an aged woman called Hlne-ngutu went into the hush for the purpose of collecting firewood. She gathered a good supply and loaded it on to lier back for transport home to the village. Passing along the bank of the pool, she was hailed by another of the tribe. She turned to answer, forgetting that she was on the very brink of the great whirlpool below the fall. The weight of the firewood on her back caused her to over-balance and she fell into the swirling, furious waters below. She was never seen again. But a log of wood appeared on the surface of the water, circling round and round, and as it seemed to bear a resemblance to a human body, the fancy grew that it wJris the old woman, Hine-ngutu. Attempts were made by the tribe to haul the log out of the pool, but it eluded all -lassoes. Just as a rope was thrown the log would submerge and stay under until the rope was withdrawn. It was said by the tribe that Hine did not wish to be brought back and was staying on the bottom until the fishers desisted in their efforts . Xow. of course, she is tapu through and through and though she is very much reduced in size by water at-

tribution, she is the same old piece, the visible transsubstantiation of Hine-ngutu. Of tliat there can be no possible doubt, say the Maori. Some years ago a party, watching the deep churning basin, with the tapu bit of timber tossing in the water, saw a big black shag rise from a branch. It was the sablepi umaged variety of kawau that the Maori calls papua. It circled over tlic pool, a silent, sombre bird of omen. The Maori say that the bird was always there. It fished in the Wheao and it lived beside the mystic pool. He was they say, the guardian of Hine ngutu. He watched the river and he lived alone there. No doubt he was an atua, a god of some sort. It is legends such as this that reveal the Maori as having an incurably lively imagination. Who among the white peoole would identify that small, black log with Hine-ngutu ? Or linked up a stray shag with that old tale of the Wheao whirlpool ? . Gulls of Mokoia. | It is in a different category that we must place the. stoi'3 r of the gulls of Mokoia. These birds are known as tarapunga and are a sober-plumage:! gull, really a sea-bird but found now in the lakes at Rotorua. No Maori will shoot the;e birds because human souls inhabit them, they say. The spirits of the dead enter into the tarapunga; the leaders of the (locks are tribal chieftains of ancient days. It is said that in the days of Hongi Ilika, the Xgapuhi raided the Arawa early one morning and the first intimation the Arawa had was when the sea-gulls, alarmed by the canoes of the Ngapuhi, circled overhead screaming the news. Hongi Hika's men had no difficulty in defeating the Arawa, but it was said afterwards by the priests of that tribe that the birds should ; be tapu, for they acted as though they were human beings. And that is why the tarapunga is reverenced t to-day. It would seem to be more reason for a legend than the appearance of ( a log of wood on the surface of a T pool after an old woman had fallen