TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

Taupo Times, Volume 11, Issue 76, 1 July 1953, Page 1

TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

TALES OF THE TAUPO COUNTRY THE LOVE TRAGEDY OF WAIARO HI ['N ote : Mr H. D. London, Secretary of the Whakatane and District Historical Society Inc., has kindly drawn our attention to the following tale of the Atiamuri district. It is taken from the "Reminiscences" of the late Captain Gilbert Mair, N.Z. Cross, published in 1923.] Near Atiamuri, on the Upper Waikato River, there is a curious row of smonumental stones, about which some fantastic theories have been propouuded. "When I first saw them, in September 1866, they were 140 in number, and had all been procured from the flaky deposits in the neighbourhood. An old chief, Manihera Nihotahi, then living near the noble Horohoro Mountain, gave me thke following narrative of their origin, never before committed to writing. Waiarohi the Fickle. » About twelve generations ago. Te Manihera 's gireat ancestor, Ruamano, was living at the eastern foot of Horohoro with his numerous people the Ngatiwaihakari. His wife, Waiarohi, w^is. remarkable for her beauty, and it. happened that a Ngatiraukawa chief, Whaita by nam.e, came on a friendlv visit to Horohoro from his home at Kakepuku, that striking conieal hill which forms one of the portals of the King Country. His guest having expressed a wish for "kaimataitai"'' (sea food), Ruamano set out for Hauraki to procure fish. During his absence Whaita and Waiarohi becam,e much enamoured of each other, and Ruamano learned on his treturn how

snameluily his hospitality had been abused. He therefore told Whaita that only the laws of hospitality pro* tected him from punishment, and that he had better go immediately. Historic Place Names. However, some of Ruamano's enraged kinsmen gave chase, and Whaita only escaped death by spring1 ng across a gcrge of the Rahopaka Stream, still called Te Rerenga a Whaita, "Whaita's Leap." Waiarohi hecame mad through losing her lover, -and her demented wanderings are pea*petuated by certain place names. Where Ruamano once lived is called T.e Parekarangitanga a Waiarohi, "The Mad Adorning of Waiarohi," beeause she used to adorn her hair with f lower s, and sit on a hill awaiting her lover's return. A precipice nearby is called Te Herehere nga, where her maidens bound her hand and foot as she was about to throw herself into ihe abyss, the name meaning "The Binding Place". That remarkable hill opposite Horohoro is known as Haparangi, "Crying to Heaven," beeause Waiarohi was wont to climb the fieights to bewail her lost lover. A red stone on the Rotorua-Taupo Road, called Te Tangihanga a Waiarohi, "The Weeping Place of Waiarohi", marks the spot where the griefstricken woman was discovered by Whaita, who had ventured to return, and who then took her to Teewe, near Whakamaru Mountain, where a numerous people called Ngatikahupungaptmga, subjects of Whaita's rekided. Death of Waiarohi. t Here the lovers lived very ha^pily till occasion arose for Whaita to return to Kakepuku to sup3erintend the kumara planting. There tidings were brought to him that Waiarohi, who was about to bear him a child, had suddenly disappeared. Suspecting

[ treachery, Whaita ordered his people to dig up the newly-planted crops and convert the tubers into kao, a form of food used by war pairties. Reaehing Teewe, Whaita was guided to the burnt remains of Waiarohi's house. throwing himself in an agony of grief among the ash.es, his face struck a hard object, which he recognised by the kauae, the hairp-shaped tattooing on the ehin, to be Waiarohi's lower jaw. She had evidently fallen face down in a pool of her own blood, which , had preserved that portion, while the . rest of her body was consumed. ! Whaita soon learned that his slaves, becoming weary of pirocuring birds and other delicacies for their mistress, had beaten her to death, at the same time sending a message to their over- , lord that she had neturned to Rua- ! i mano. Whaita immediately attacked | , the treacherous Ngati-kahupunga- ' ! punga; slaughtering great number s 1 and pursuing the remnant to Atiamuri, where they were h.emmcd in amongst the rocks on the west bank of the Waikato River. Here 140 were slam, and the much discussed row of srones was s.et up to mark Whaita's teriible re- { venge. A few of survivors found a final refuge in Hawkes Bay, where I met the last lineal descendant ,a oneeyed man nam.ed Pene, who died about thirty years ago. When I first saw the stones in 1866 they formed an unbroken line, with here and there one several feet higher than the others, to mark a fallen chief. In 1873 my native contingent was stationed at Niho-o-te-Kiore, and during my absence on sick leave a number of the memorial stones were carried away to make baker's ovens at the camp. Such is the true story of the Atiamuri stones, despite theories as to megalithic monuments.

Gilbert

Mair,

, N.Z.C,