ABOUT WESTLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 December 1921, Page 4

ABOUT WESTLAND.

•It is intended to publish weekly il column “about Westland,” its eaily •history, its fauna and flora, and Maori notes and anything of historical, zoological a nd botanical interest. Correspondence is invited, especially dwellers in the far south, about of the rarer birds of Westland which are supposed to be becoming extinct owing to the prevalence of stoats and weasels. HISTORY. To go back to the beginning of things it is interesting to remember that the ; first Europeans to set eyes on Westland were Abel Jansen Tasman and his crew j on the 13th of December, 1642. After, discovering Tasmania, Tasman sailed, towards New Zealand and the first, land sighted was the mountain chain ( at the back of Hokitika. Tie then sail- j ed northward along the Coast. It was , 1”7 years later that Captain Cook landed in Poverty Bay on the Sth of October, 1769, and sailetl round both, islands. The first European residents of Now Zcaland settled on the West Coast a. though not actually in Westland. They were sealers from New South Wales, who spent ton weeks in Dusky Soiiut in 1792-3, and built there the first vessel made from local timbers. ! ZOOBOGY. Much interest has been taken locally in the nesting of sea birds on an island at the mouth of the Hokitika river and raids have been made on the eggs, oi cake making purposes. This bird is the. common tern or Sterna Antartica. They go in flocks up the rivers and nested to my knowledge up the Tara-, i makaii and Tlaast rivers; also at the' ; mouth of the Cascade, the Waikukupn 1 and in other places far from the busy

haunts of men. It is now many years since t.bev laid their eggs so close to a town. Mr C. 0. Douglas, the late explorer, in his bird notes states as follows: “The eggs of the lent are tolerable eating, and are very useful at certain seasons. The older race of Maoris must have blessed them. They would last a good while if judiciously robbed as alter their nests have been plundered they will lay as many as three or four times, but if robbed too niton they will leave the locality and not return

for years. The older generation of

Maoris no doubt l.ue-. this and never j chased them away. A nesting place ] was always good to fall back upon in ; ttie cnrlv spring and summer. BOTANICAL. j The ,cd manuka nr Scpfospcrmiin ; Niclinllsii, is flowering veiy profusely in ! Hokitika at present, in a garden in j Hampden St reel I. 'ere is a bush S led

, ! high covered with brilliant red flowers, jj ■Ti c original shrub was found on the

fj | beach at New Mrighion, near Christ|i cbriii'b, and cuttings and seeds were [■ i propagated by nurserymen. Tlicv slinil’s lj j arc a pleasing addition to any gulden. t- .i the llovvp! show .it Chelsea in 191:'

i two plants exhibited ill tubs ill the ! centre of flic rooms were awarded gold i mi dais. They were the w hite and red 1 manuka, Soptospennuns Seopnriuni and S. Niehollsii. The New Zealander who i saw them was affected ill the same way I as the Scoteliman who saw the heather , in bloom. When far from bis ain eotinI try he nearly wept. MAORI .MYTHOLOGY.

1 Many hundreds of years ago, probably : some time towards the end ol the • thirteenth century, far away in the fair ; land of llawaiki in one of the betniti- ' ful Pacific isles of the Society grqup—there dwelt in power and peace a not- : able Native chief named Ngaline, who ■ perforce later became an explorer of the Ploynesian seas and achieved fame

and distinction as a navigator. Like many great men Ngaime possessed bis weaknesses and having fallen into sad disgrace with his tribal community over

a huh named 11 iiietua-hooiign, lie tied away from bis ancestral shores in a large canoe manned by a stout crew selected from his lusty followers. r " ! ., revengeful 11 ili •, so tile legend runs, invoked to her aid, a. handy sea monster named Poutini, whose fatlier was Pangama, tlie god of the ocean. Krom isk.r.d to isle.nil went the swiftly moving ..a!,a of Ngaime, but lie dared not to tarry overlong, for the remorseless Poutini was ever in bis wake, .so as the last resource to cscn|>o liis relentless pursuer, our hero boldly shaped his cum so for the open sea, trusting to bis gx.ds to bring him to that strange land whose existence was recorded m the histories of his forefathers.

For many weary days and dreary nights the brine-sore travellers braved I lie dangers of tlie deep until one clear morning there appeared in the far distance a big white cloud which seemed to beckon on the sea-worn canoe. On approaching nearer, tlie cloud which now could be distinguished as Aorangi, or Mount Cook, indicated to the fanciful minds of the starving and thirsty crew that their course should he made towards the sun. Thus Ngaime sailed for several days until he found himself off the mouth of the river now called the Arnhura. Suddenly the sun was darkened and the only light visible was the brightness of the snowiiolds on the Tara-n-tama mountain at the source of j the river.

From this portent Ngahue decided to land, which was done, and lie and liis men proceeded up the river. In the meantime the indefatigable Poutini had also arrived, and being an enormous green fish was able to still follow the quarry, until a long way up fho river it found itself in difficulties when it reached a deep pool at the foot of a rocky cascade, and iu trying to ascend it, slipped and fell to the bottom of the pool, and from injuries received lav there mortally wounded.

Ngahue now freed front his Ncmisis began to explore the adjacent country and soon discovered the wonderful new and hard greenstone, a valuable find which he shrewdly foresaw would ensure him a safe return at Hawniki, as it its far superior to any implement material there known. Before his departure from the vicinity Ngahue procured a handsome and generous sample block of the greenstone, which ho called “to-ika-Poulini,” or the fish of Poutini, and to the river he gave the name Arahura. in memory of .his distant and coral-fringed island home which also was called Arahura, or Arn’ura, as Ngahue would speak the word, and as it still is pronounced in the softer dial"'.ts of Pohnesis

The literal meaning of Arahura is:— revealing a path from Ara a path, and burn, to disclose, but the word is a very ancient place-name far bier than the period of Ngahue, whose ancestors brought it with them from th-eir old-

time Indian ,homes, many, many generations previously. Poor Poutini left alone in its dying pool shortly expired, and the carcase by some peculiar property of the water was quickly transformed into a large greenstone canoe, which lies there to this day in its resting place high up the Arnhura river. Aye, and it may be seen by any of your readers should you truoble to reach the right spot at the precise time, and dive under the water to the bottom. The attempt must be made at mid-day as the pool is very (lark and the canoe can only he seen when the bright light shines through a cleft in the rocks, which fissure is not in alignment until such time as the sun is at the meridian. And now we know why the greenstone country is called the “Land of Poutini.”