TE RAU A MOA.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 404, 14 October 1911, Page 5

TE RAU A MOA.

WHAT MEANS THE NAME? (By J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S., in the Lyttelton Times). Investigators into the relationsip between the Maoris and the moa have noticed that the great bird is not referred to in legends and sayings as frequently.as might be expected. It is also somewhat noticeable that the moa's name was not made much use of in giving place names. As far as my inquiries show, there is only one place in the South Island that bears the bird's name. It is Awamoa, near Oamaru, and it is named by a European, not a Maori. In the North Island the word is used more frequently, but the name of Te Ran-a-Moa, near Kawhia, on the West Coast, excited my curiosity, and I wrote to Mr H. L. Bryant, a resident of the district, asking if he could throw some iight on its origin. "Strange to say," he writes, "the name has nothing to do with the extinct moa. The Maoris frequently use much the same words and sentences to convey different meanings. I inquired from an intelligent Maori the meaning of the name of this place, and he said that it was 'a hunded plots of land,' divided, I suppose, amongst the tribe. A Maori interpreter gave the meaning as 'a hundred warrior 3 who were never defeated.' I think that the latter version is probably the correct one._ I have not heard of any moa bones being found near this place. It may, however, interest you to know that I have found bones in such a remote place as Hariss' Peninsula, at the eastern entance to Pelorus Sound. The peninsula comprises some thousands of acres. It is connected with the mainland by a na-row ridge about two chains wide, along which the birds probably walked I found the usual heap of small, smooth gizzard stones with the remains. I have also ploughed out moa bon.e3 in the low-lying country between Blenheim and the sea. They were found embedded in the original soil after the flood silt had been scooned out to form the embankment. The sea beach must have been close to the place when the birds were alive."

I also submitted the question in regard to the origin of Te Rau-a-Moa to Mr S. Percy Smith, of New Plymouth, author of "Hawaiki, the Whence of the Maori," and he has sent the following reply: "I know the place and the name. It was one of the old Tawhiao's cultivations, on the Alexandra-Kawhia road. There is some uncertainty as to the meaning, but 'rau' means a plume, and the whole name is 'The Plume of Moa.' I have also heard the other meaning of 'moa,' that is the ridges or hillocks in which the kumara was planted, but I do not think it applies this case, because of 'rau,' nnr do I think the other meaning, 'A warriors who had never been defeated,' is right. There are numbers of names in which the word moa enters, and in most cases thev appear to apply to the moa bird. Within three miles cf here there is 'Pana-moa,' the moa flat, where, probablv, the moa was killed at some time. As I write, another meaning has occurred to me for 'Te Rau-a-Moa/ . in which 'rau' is to 'catch,' as a slave or a prisoner, and perhaps the name means, 'Wh«re the moa was 1 caught.' But I think that the first meaning is probably correct."