MAOKI NOMENCLATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 33

MAORI NOMENCLATURE

EARLY HISTORY OF OTAGO.

Bz W. H. S. Roberts.

XVII.— THE WAIAU (Continued). After leaving Manawa-pore the Waiau receives a fair-sized tributary from the northeast, the Mara-roa (a long piece of cultivated ground). It was also the name of the chief of the Rangi-mata canoe of the first Maori immigration, after whom it is most likely named. Mavora, the name of two lakes, about 23 miles from the Key Hotel, is, not a Maori name, but was imported from the western district of Victoria by Messrs John and Frank Hamilton about 1859. The Mararoa River runs through both lakes. The lower lake is " Little Mavora," and is about two miles long, surrounded by native bush. A two miles' stretch of the Mararoa connects it with the Upper Mavora Lake, which is seven miles in length; neither of them is very wide. Mr H. E. Nickless wrote : " There are two small lakes, called by Europeans the Little and Big Mavaura. The larger of these two the Maoris named Manawa-pore, which means ' anxious heart,' and the smaller of the two they call Hikuraki or Hikuranga." (J.P.S., v, xiv). Hikurangi ie a common Maori place name, meaning " the tail of the sky; that is, the horizon. It is also the name of a mountain in Rarotonga Island. Messrs David M'Kellar and George Gunn, in their report of the exploration of this country in May, 1861, called the upper Mavora Lake, Mawano, but in the application for the Mavora sheep run Mr Hamilton described the northern boundary as Lake Hikiraki (to lift un the sky, or to be restless, or unsettled). THE WESTERN LAKES. The Kakapo (night parrot, also called the green bird) Stream, on the east of the Ramparts Hill, runs into the White Stone River, or Otu-matua (where the main body of the army stood), which is a tributary of the Mararoa. The Te Anau Lake, formerly had its outlet by these three streams, and a feature of the district is the large number of erratic boulders of metamorphic rock scattered about, evidently conveyed and deposited by glaciers. Mr S. Herbert Cox, F.G.S., thinks that the Kakapo Stream was the outlet of Lake Te Anau, and that the lake has subsided 300 ft, as the four principal terraces point out (Geological Keport, 1878). Continuing its rapid course, the Waiau receives the waters from Lake Monowai in the west. Mr C. O. Davis translated it "a watery place in a forest. It may also mean "to plug up water. to stay the flow of water," "to disable by means of charms or incantations. Lake Mono-wai, which is said to have been originally Mono-ki-wai (to plug up full of water), is a lovely sheet of water, 24 miles long by about one broad, covering a curved, or sickle-shaped area of nearly 9000 acres, at an altitude of 500 ft. Mr S. Percy Smith wrote : " The lake we call Monowai had its name given to it by Mr James M'Kerrow, surveyor, when he was exploring in that wild country in 1862. It is composed of the Greek word ' mono.' meaning 'single,' or 'alone,' and the Maori word wai, water. It is true there is a Maori word 'mono,' and Mono-wai means 'a wet place,' or 'a swampy place in a wood,' Sometimes called Waoku. (The mo in mono is pronounced as mo in most.) But it has no connection with the lake's name, unless by some extraordinary coincidence it is also its Maori name. I have never been able to obtain the Maori name of Lake Monowai, though I have, often tried, and old Solomon, of Jacob's River, gave me the names of several places round the Waiau and Hauroko." Mr J. Cowan says: The Maori name of Lake Monowai is Manokiwai (full of permanent water) but it is a personal name." (trans. N.S.I., 38.) Monowai is a corruption of Manokiwai. Mr James M'Kerrow, geodesical surveyor, wrote: "In September, 1862, when on my way through Riverton to engage in the reconnaissance survey of the country drained by the Waiau River, I met the well-known Maori Solomon, and learned from him that there were two lakes in the bush west of the river. He said that he had never seen them, but an old woman in his kaika had seen them when a girl. and that their names were-as I made out from his pronunciation— Howloko and Monowai. Howloko has since been corrected to Houroto and Manokiwai, which you state is the name by which the lake is known to the Middle Island Natives today, may probably be the name that SoloMr Daniels assisted and acted as interpreter." Mr Cassell Douglas wrote as follows regarding Lake Monowai to the Otago WitSe Hongi) says it should be Manowai-

' Na te Manowai Matou ' (we were utterly reduced by slaughter)." Judge Smith, of Auckland, said : "I cannot decide to what language ' Monowai ' belongs, unless it be derived from the Greek !" Mr S. Percy Smith, when surveyor-general, stated: "The lake we all call Monowai had its name given it by Mr James M'Kerrow, when he was surveying in that wild country many years ago. It is composed of the Greek word ' Mono,' meaning single or alone, and the Maori word ' wai,' water." Mr H. P. Young, of Orepuki, writes: " Monowai is said to have been so named by Dr (afterward Sir) James Hector, the Native name being long unknown, from ' monos ' (one) and ' wai ' (a stream), only one stream discharging into it." These quotations show the creation of a legend about the origin of this beautiful sounding name, and it seems a pity to disturb such a picturesque piece of lore, but in the cause of accuracy it ie necessary. The contradiction will be found in Mr M'Kerrow's own report of the survey. "The respective Maori names of these lakes are Howloko and Monowai" (C. Douglas). The mountains south of Lake Monowai are named Kahere-koau (forest shag bird), part of Dean Forest. A VISITOR'S OPINION. Mr H. Merton Waterford, who toured New Zealand during the summer of 1905-6, said : " For loveliness of scenic effect, poetry of outline, and exquisite blending of views of mountains, forests and water, I do not know any place in the world finer than Mararoa, Te Anau, and Manapouri, or Manawa-pouri, and Milford Sound, with that magnificent forest through which the track leads. It is surely one of the most glorious sights on earth. Never, unless on the Himalayas, have I seen more dainty cloud effects than I did on Mitre Peak and Mount Tutoko, and the impression on my mind was even heightened when I looked over to Tutoko later from Harris's Saddle, above the Routeburn, near Wakatipu, over that wonderful, nameless, unexplored country lying between Wakatipu and the West Coast, where the legendary Haweas are supposed to dwell, having entered through the Hawea caves at Milford. The beautiful Hollyford Valley, winding like a silver streak between these lofty ranges, the snow-capped Cosmos and Gates Peaks, the vast snowfields of the cathedral-like peaks of Aspiring, the great glaciers, the sapphire jewels of the lakes, in their settings of emerald green, and the blue and purple and snow white mountains, and the vast forest of jagged peaks, make up a picture the equal of which could not be seen anywhere in the world, not even in Switzerland, much as I admire the Swiss scenery. Wakatipu Lake I regard as in the first rank of tourist attractions of the world. One might spend a year in that locality, and then not exhaust its glories. Queenstown is one of the prettiest spots on earth, and that view from the slopes below Ben Lomond, looking over the lake to the Remarkables, is something I should like to I think of when my turn comes, and I am going out over the Great Divide. Words would never come to me to express how I love the scenery and the environs of Lake Wakatipu. From there I went to the Cardrona. over-country route to Wanaka and Hawea Lakes. They are fairyland in their beauty these twin lakes, and it is a pity they are not better known." (Otago Witness, May 9, 1906.) LAKE HAUROTO. Lake Hauroto (windy lake) is a short distance south-west of Lake Monowai, 16 miles from Clifden and 15 miles from the sea, in a straight line. It is 20 miles in length, narrow and serpentine, at an altitude of 611 ft, and very deep in parts. It is sometimes erroneously spelt Howloko, and Houloko, and Houroko. Roko does not mean " lake," it was the name of a deity, the southern pronunciation of Rongo, who was worshipped in almost every part of the Pacific Islands. He was a son of Rangi and Papa (earth), and assisted at their rending apart. He was also the god of kumara and cultivated food. The outlet from the lake to the strait is by the river Wai-rau-ra-hire (remains of a root crop and a rope), or Wai-raurahiri, sometimes incorrectly spelt Wai-rau-hui, a rapid river 21 miles long, two chains wide, and three feet deep, with steep banks, and mountain gorges. There was a chair on a wire rope for crossing it in 1900, called a " river cage. A Maori reserve west of the Waiau River is named Wairau-rahire. Mr S. Percy Smith, formerly Surveyorgeneral, wrote to the New Zealand Times with reference to the remarks of Mr H. M. Stowell on the spelling and signification of the Maori names of the Otago lakes, saying: "Even a first-rate scholar of the Maori language, such as Mr Stowell is, is liable to err. He may be right about Whakatipu, and although Tare Wetere assures me that it should be Whaka-tipua, I am inclined to think that the name should be Waka-tipua. On this point, however, I am not certain, but with respect to Manapouri, the proper name of this lake is Manawa-popore, as I was informed by old Horomanu Patu, the last of the chiefs of the Ngati-Mamoe." LAKE WAKATIPUA. Lake Waka-tipu (canoe firmly fixed. To d nourish. To make to grow) I think ought ' c to have a final " a "— Waka-tipua (demon ie canoe) but even the Maoris differ in ren gard to its correct name; some agree that !• Waka-tipua is right. Mr Halswell, in his !t 1841 map, spelt it Wakatopa. The surface d of the lake is 1070 ft above sea level, but it r " has a depth of 1296 ft, the bottom being '.n. n nearly level from end to end, getting shal18 low near the shores. A depth of 1400 ft °" has been sounded in one place 16 nines °" from Kingston. Its length is 52 miles, and Ie breadth varying from one to three and ald half miles, the total area being 114 square lt miles. " The Maoris have a confused legend ** about a primeval giant of Murihiku, who : met with a violent death in these parts. *• and was cremated afterwards. His sacred *** ashes falling on the horrified earth burnt * r their way down and down, till at last the - waters o*f Lake Wakatipu were gathered m together in a cavity which was altogether s t" bottomless." (Canterbury Times Christmas ri Number, 1902.) Such a legend evidently *■ points to the probability of a volcano havm intr existed there, and the great depth of w 1400 ft in one spot strengthens the eupposiv - tion But geologists say that the real giant *• was glacial; a vast moving glacier scoopc'e' in°- it out year after year, yet the hypothesis vs of"the agency of both the great powers of x ~ Nature ia most likely correct. The Rev. r " Mr Green, of alpine climbing fame, was es enchanted with Lake Wakatipu and said : =c "It is amazingly beautiful." He had not ie then seen Lake Manapouri. ■'' Mr Cassell Douglas wrote : " Everyone ill knows that Wakatipu is not the correct ~~ word, 60 the question was whether Waka-

tipu or Wakatipua was the correct form. ** The incorrect orthography of the term Wakitipu, as printed upon the new issue of stamps, drew attention to the matter in 1898, and since then the question has recurred now and again. Most of the best Maori scholars give their adherence "to Wakatipu (to nourish, or cause to grow), but, nevertheless, the right form is Wakatipua (phantom or devil canoe, or another rendering, the hollow of the demon) Reference to some ancient maps will convince those who are doubtful of this." (Otago Witness, October 2, 1907.) The meaning " hollow of the demon " may be explained by the above legend. Mrs W. Cameron says the- correct name is Wakatipu, and translates it " to build up all round about." j The water from Lake Wakatipu formerly escaped into the Oreti and Mataura by Kingston and the Dome Pass, until the moraine at Kingston was formed, and the overflow, perhaps assisted by an earthquake, | cut the Kawa-rau (leaf of the shrub piper j excelsum) River, through the gorge to the Molyneux at Cromwell. Some Maoris say the proper name of the Kawa-rau River is Ka-waru (the right). " The junction of the Kawa-rau with the Clutha is 525 ft above sea level. The outlet of Lake Wakatipu, which is the beginning of the Kawarau River, is 1070 ft above sea level; the distance between the two points is 40 miles. Therefore the Kawarau has a fall of 545 ft from Lake Wakatipu to Cromwell." (Hutton's " Geology of Otago.") The fall on that portion of the Kawarau from Lake Waka- ! tipu to the junction of the Arrow River, | i about eight miles, is only 45ft. leaving 500 ft j fall for the remaining 32 miles, its course ! being through a deep, rocky canyon most jof the way. In one place the rocks join, forming a natural bridge. Mr W. S. Young, surveyor (of Manaia), claims that he was the first white rran who went to | Lake Wakatipu. An old Maori legend pro- 1 phesied that after a space of time, which ; was calculated as the end of the nineteenth century, all the water in North and Central Otago would be drie^l up excepting Lake i Wakatipu; a disaster which, fortunately. I has been postponed sine die. The gold diggers calculate the outfall of water from Lake Wakatipu at 14,000 sluice heads a j minute. A government sluice-head runs | 500 gallons, or 80 cubic feet, per minute, , which gives seven million gallons. The i post office at Victoria Bridge, Kawarau | Gorge was altered to Waitiri, which should | be W.haitiri, meaning "thunder," in 1906. ' The Otago Witness, March 31, 1860, in j its leading article, mentions a piece named j Haka-rara-kei, apparen>trv near the south ■ of Lake Wakatipu, but I cannot ascertain where. The Witness says: "We hnve now ascertained with tolerable certainty that there are six lakes in_ the interior, extending from north to south — namely, theHawea, the Wanaka, the Wakatipu. the North and South Te Anau. and the Hakararakei; the latter we believe is part of the Wakatipu viewed from a soiithern point." Manapouri was not mentioned. " At the loweir end of Lake Wakatipu, not far from the Kingston Railway Station, there is a group of craggy peaks, Mount Dick, 6020 ft high, and the adjoining hills west of the lake, called by the Maoris j ' Nga puke maeroero ' (the fairy, or ogre mountains). These mountains tower immediately above the steamer on the left hand, as it starts up the lake. They were regarded with dread by the old Maoris, who peopled them with giants and fairies (maeroero). The late chief Paitu, who lived at Riverton afterwards, whan he was a youth resided at the Kaika Ta-kere-haka. where Kingston now stands. Paitu and his companions spent much of their tune hunting the weka (woodhen) for food. The elder people warned him not to cross a certain little stream at the base of the mountains, for beyond it was the home of the maeroero amidst dark overhanging cliffs " (Trans. N.Z.1., 38). One evening, enticed by the sight of some weka on the forbidden side of the brook, the boys crossed the stream with fear and trembling, still anxious to catch some birds. They chased a weka into the bush, and were on the point of catching it when a mysterious voice told them to return home, and not to touch his birds. Thoroughly frightened the boys raced for home. Fear "put life and metal in their heels, " and they were soon across the stream, satisfied like Tarn o' Shanter, that "a running stream the warlocks darena cross, for they had a full share of superstition which the uneducated of all nations are plagued with. There are three small islands near the head of Lake Wakatipu, the largest of which is known as Pigeon Island, from the number of native wood pigeons (Maori name kuku from ite call) which formerly were to be found there. Ite Maori name is Wawahi-waka (splitting a canoe) ; it owe* its name to the Ngati-Mamoe, who resorted there to fell the large totara trees, and eplit them for the purpose of canocmaking. The island now is almost tree-

The Greenstone River, entering Lake Wakatipu from the west , is Wai-pou-nanu (the Green-stone River) of the Maori. Mr W H Valoy's property at the head of the lake is Kohi-marama ( accent on first syllable. meaning collected light or to focus light. A small lake near the head of Lake Wakatipu, is Rere (waterfall. or to run, as water), one of the prettiest lakes in the Cold Lakes district. A writer to a local paper tried to make out that the lake was named after W. G. Rees who was the pioneer runholder on the lake and had been corrupted Rere, but that is not correct. The peculiar, rough, serrated range south-east of Queentown. known as The Remarkables. was Konu-wai (water swallower). It was so called because, a fierce tipua or ngarara, a monstrous giant ogre half man, half reptile, named KopuWai," lived in a cave on the eastern side of the mountain, near the Matau (Clutha) River (Tourist W. Otaso) The Queenstown park adjoins the town on the south where the old Maori Kaika. Te Kirikiri (the gravel) once stood. Diamond Lako, at Pa-radis? head of Lake Wakatipu was O-turu (Turu's place). Turu means "to last a short time or to build an eel weir." It was at one time a great resort of the Maoris and Europeans have found stone implements, spears, eel pot, etc, on its banks. Lake Hayes. near Frankton was Te Wai whaka-ata (mirror-water) (Tourist W. Otago). " J E H., " Maori Point, wrote to the Otago Witness. 23rd Augusy. 1898, as follows": "Recently general public attention has been called to the mispelling of the name Wakatipu on the new issue New Zealand postage stamps, the authorities stating that the correct spelling is Waka-tipu. and not Wakitipu, that being the misspelt title on the stamps. In 1856 I was often brought in contact; with the Maoris, who lived in a

village on the banks of the Waitaki River. One among them was a fair English scholar. He told me that a mighty lake called Whaka-tipu existed near the Greenstone River, the Maoris using the ravine of that stream as part of their ancient track to the West Coast. To establish the locality of the Whaka-tipu lake, he further stated that its overflow was called Kawa-rau River, where a natural rocky bridge exieted, as at present, near the Roaring Meg, where, after floating their 'mokis' down from the lake, they drew them inshore, and carried them past this natural bridge, then relaunched them. The way he pronounced the word Whakatipu was ' Fakatipu,' thus making tha letters ' wh ' sound as our ' ' f'. ' " "Whaka-tipua means 'to nourish,' ' to rear,' from the word tipu or tupu (to grow, or spring up, as a tree). Rakaihaitu hollowed out the crooked channel between the mountains with infinite toil I and many incantations " (Trans. N.Z.1., I 33) Rakaihaitu came to New Zealand in his canoe Uruao from Hawaiki over 900 years ago, and took possession of all the eastern part of Te Wa'hi Pounomu, and with his large ko, or wooden spade, dug out all the lakes, his first being Wairewa (Lake Forsyth) on Bank's Peninsula. One of the Maori chiefs from the North Island, who was about the first who explored the southern lakes, was Rakaihaitu. He was credited with having dug the lakes out, giving rise to the proverbial expression " Nga Waipuna Karikari a Rakaihaitu " (the water- springs dug out by Rakaihaitu), meaning Wakatipu and other lakes (" J. P. S.," XIV). OTAGO NOMENCLATURE. Mr Jules H. Tapper, of Clifden, Waiau, wrote W. H. S. Roberta as follows: "I have been reading your articles on Maori Nomenclature in the Witness with great interest. . . . Concerning this locality (Waiau) you are somewhat wrong in your Gtatements. At Clifden it is a suspension bridge, not a cantilever one, as you describe. It was erected in 1900, not 1895. The mouth of the Waiau was as you describe it some 15 or 17 years ago, but now the river rushes straight out into Te Waewae Bay, having managed to cut its way through a large shingle bank. I do not think it was ever called the Waiaurahiri, for there is a very rapid stream (as fast again as the Waiau) called the Wairau-rahiri, which drains Lake Hauroto, and which has to be crossed on the Preservation Inlet track. Maori lore has it that once upon a time a natural limestone bridge existed at Clifden, extending from the rock (called here the ' Maori Girl Leap ') on the east side of the Waiau to the rocks on the western side. In a previous article you mention the position of the Waiau stalactite caves as being near the mouth of the Wairaki Stream, which drains into the Waiau. This is not correct, as they are situated some one and a-half or two miles from the Clifden bridge, in the Limestone Gorge. There is a spot on the Preservation Inlet track called Landhill Point. It is said that it was there that our southern Maoris made) their last stand against Bloody Jack, and were wiped out. The spot is still littered with their skele--tons, alongside huge Maori ovens." - I thank Mr Tapper for the interest he takes in my articles on Maori Nomenclature, and for his kindness in pointing out and correcting the errors in them. The mistake in calling the Waiau bridge a cantilever was caused by a telegram cut out of a local paper stating that " tenders closed in Wellington on April 10, 1895, for a cantilever bridge over the Waiau River, in Southland, 400ft long." etc. I unfortunately overlooked the following clipping: " April 6, 3893 (not 1900). The suspension bridge across the Waiau was opened yesterday by the Hon. Mr J. Ward, for the Minister of- Lands. It is 366 ft long and 12ft wide and was designed by Mr Howarth. Southland County engineer. The weight of the cables is 40 tone, capable of carrying- a 137-ton load. The weight of material is 2269 tons." The Waiau is accounted the second river in volume in New Zealand, the discharge being 557,299 cubic feet per minute (Year Book). It is extremely rapid. I do not think I am wrong in saying that it was sometimes called Waiau-rahiri, as many places had two or more names, given by different 'tribes, and the meaning is quite different from that of Wairau-rahiri, which will be mentioned in my next article. The rock referred to by Mr Tapper is a very pecu-liar-shaped one (overhanging the river a short distance below the bridge), locally known as the Maori Maiden's Leap. The legend is that two rival tribes were camped near there, one on each bank of the river. A girl belonging to the tribe stationed on the eastern bank fell in love with a handsome warrior, who was a chief of the Western tribe. When her people discovered this they chased her out of the camp, threatening to kill her if she attempted to communicate with her lover. However. as is usual with Maori girls her devotion to her hero was stronger than her affection for her tribe, so she used to sit on this rock and signalise to him. One day her neonle went to the rock to punish her for her disobedience, when, to escape them, she jumped into the rushing river and attempted to swim across. The legend is silent as to her fate. A peculiarity of the rock is that to a person approaching the bridge it appears like the Egyptian Sphinx, while to others further away it assumes the profile of the celebrated W. E. Gladstone.