The Fairies of Moehau Translated by Margaret Orbell Fairies, or patupaiarehe, were said to be much like human beings, but with white skins and red hair. They lived on the mountain tops. Most of the time they could not be seen, though sometimes on a misty day a tohunga might catch a glimpse of them. One of the places most frequented by the fairies was Moehau, the high mountain at Cape Colville on the Coromandel Peninsula. Edward Tregear, in his book The Maori Race (p. 523), tells us that Moehau was so sacred to the fairies that few people dared approach it, but that ‘those who did so had wonderful stories to relate of seeing fairy-forts made of interlaced supplejack, and of finding plantations of gourds. If anyone attempted to lift one of these gourds it was found to be too heavy to move’. John White says that the fairies' pa were in dense forest on the heights of the mountain, and that no man could make a way through the woven supplejack that surrounded them (Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 33, p. 211). The mountain was tapu, or sacred, both because of the fairies and because it was Tamatekapua's burial place. The famous ancestor Tamatekapua was captain of the Arawa canoe during the migration to this country. For an account of his burial on the summit of Moehau, see Edward Shortland's book Maori Religion and Mythology, p. 52. Perhaps it was thought that the presence of Tamatekapua lessened the power of the fairies. The last sentence of the account published here is a graceful, if somewhat ambiguous, compliment to Sir George Grey. It implies that of all men, only Governor Grey has sufficient mana to ascend the sacred mountain—though this would be an act that would destroy much of its sacredness. The manuscript is in the Auckland Public Library manuscript collection (GNZMMSS 7). It was collected by Sir George Grey, and is undated. It may have been among the traditions that Grey collected in 1849, during a journey through the Thames district. It is headed, in a different hand, ‘The origin of mana of Thames tribe’. This must refer to the fact that Moehau was the sacred mountain of the people of the district. The Fairies of Moehau E hoa, he pono anō tēnei hanga te patuparehe, mai anō i mua, i a Tamatekapua e ora ana. Koia te kaupapa o taua hanga, a, nō tana matenga, kāhore he nohoanga mō rātou. I tanumia hoki a ia ki Moehau, a, kei reira te tino pukenga o taua iwi i a tāua e noho nei. Tēnā anō te ana ōna e tanu nei kei te tihi o Moehau; te tohu, he korau nui whakaharahara. Tēnā, i noho kaupapa-kore taua iwi, ā, taea noatia ngā rā o tēnei iwi o Ngāti Rongou, arā, o Ngāti Rongoi, ka waiho te rangatira o taua hapū, a Matatahi, hei kaupapa. A, ka haere ētahi o ngā tāngata o taua hapū ki te patu poaka i Moehau; ko te The fairies do exist, my friend, and have done so since the early days, when Tamatekapua was alive. The reason for their hostility was that from the time of his death there was no dwelling-place for them. Tamatekapua was buried on Moehau, which right down to the present day has been the place most treasured by the fairies. His burial cave is there on the peak of Moehau; an enormous tree-fern marks the spot. Nevertheless, they had no quarrel with us until the time of this people Ngati Rongou, also known as Ngai Rongoi. Then Matatahi, the chief of this sub-tribe, gained their enmity. Some men from the sub-tribe went pig-