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The Maori: Yesterday and To-day

A Waikato River Song

page 165

A Waikato River Song.

This is a short specimen of the tuki-waka or time-song still heard on the Waikato river in canoe races, the chant of the kai-tuki or kai-hautu, the captain of the waka, as he gives the rhythmic
A famous cannibal warrior: The Chief Taraia Ngakuti, head of the Ngati-Tamatera tribe, Ohinemuri, Upper Thames. Died 1871.

A famous cannibal warrior: The Chief Taraia Ngakuti, head of the Ngati-Tamatera tribe, Ohinemuri, Upper Thames. Died 1871.

measure for the paddle-strokes and cheers on his toiling crew:

Kei runga riro
Nga manu mohio
Ko Mumuhau
Ko Takereto
Tiraua ka waiho
Nga ki-titiro.
A tena, tena!
Hukere, hukere!

page 166

Ngiha te ahi
Ki Maunga-tautari,
Hei a Rangi-ngatata.
No na no,
Te huruhuru
Kei ana tapa.
Hukere, hukere!

(Translation.)
Above us fly
The birds of knowledge,
Mumuhau and Takereto,
Wise birds that bid us watch
The omens of the sky.
That's it, go along!
Quickly, quickly dip!
Yonder blaze the fires
On Maunga-tautari's height,
The fires of Rangi-ngatata.
See our feathers flying,
The plumes of our canoe.
Now quickly dip your blades.

The two birds mentioned here as “wise birds” were certain sacred birds that according to legend lived on Repanga (Cuvier Island), at the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf. They were believed to foretell the weather; that is by their cries and the manner of their flight the people knew when rain and high winds were coming.

Maori Women's Canoe Race, on the Waikato River. [L Hinge, photo.

Maori Women's Canoe Race, on the Waikato River.
[L Hinge, photo.