First discoveries of Taupo
(Nga-ti-hau)

Tradition says that one of the first parties of natives who went to settle at Taupo miserably perished from cold and hunger.

Taka
(Nga-ti-hau)

Taka left Taupo to catch birds. Kiwi (apteryx) Weka (ocydromus australis) and Kakapo (strigops habroptius) on the ……….

Muri motu (North clump of trees) district where these birds were very plentiful on the Rangi po (day of darkness) road the 140 of them were overtaken by a storm of snow, they were so pressed for food, that they had to eat their dogs, then their slaves, then each other gave his child to his companion to eat there they cooked with the spears and Taiahas as they had no fuel at last they all died of hunger.

Taka
(Nga-ti-hau)

Taka (fall) a chief of the Nga-ti-hau was the first who went from Whanga-nui to settle at Muri motu beyond Taupo but he and his party miserably perished from cold and hunger on the Rangi-po road which runs over a spur of Tonga-riro.

He was going to Muri motu by the Rangi-po road to spear birds but he found the snow so deep that he was kept there by the snow two months, he and his whole party found their food all consumed, and they eat their seed kumaras which they had taken there in order to plant and to take possession of the land if found to be good. They next eat Hinu-kawa mixed with a certain white clay afterwards they eat their slaves, their being all eaten, they had to kill their children, and then their wives and then one another until all perished. The snow being so deep that it was level with the tops of the trees 140 are said to have thus perished. The bones of this people are said to remain there to this day in a sacred place on the Rangi-po road.

(This contains 174, 175, 176, 177 & 178)

Taka
(Nga-ti-tuwhare-toa)

A chief of the Ngati-au came to a district called Muri-motu from there he went to Rangi po, where he stayed two months on account of the deep snow, there the party had consumed all their food, and they had to drink Hinu kawa mixed with clay to support life when this was finished Taka ordered his slaves to be killed one after another to live on all these being eaten, their children were then eaten one after another, these being all eaten, the men killed their wives to eat, these were all consumed the men then killed each other and then the party all eat each other till the last one man died of starvation, the snow was so deep that it reached the tops of the forest trees where they were, 140 thus to have died, their bones are said still to be seen on the Rangipo road to Taupo.

Taka
(Nga-ti-tu-whare-toa)

Taka of the Nga-ti-au (hau) tribe and his party were the first to go and reside on land at Taupo in the Muri-motu (last clump of tree) district, and they were killed by snow; he was a chief of the Nga-ti-hau, and went to Muri-motu and on to Rangi-po (day of darkness) and he and his party were kept there two months by snow, and when they had consumed all their food they eat of Kawa oil mixed with clay, and when this was consumed they eat their slaves, and when these were consumed they eat their children and when these were consumed they eat their women, and at last they eat each other and thus one hundred and forty perished and not one escaped of the party and the bones of these are to be seen on the Rangi-po road going towards Taupo.

(186 is to follow this)

Tau-kai-tu-roa
(Nga-ti-hau)

The plume from the feathers of the Moa and Tau-kai-tu-roa and his dog Ngau-pari. Taukai was a man of Muri motu an ancestor of the inhabitants of that part of the country and of Whanga-nui. One of his exploits was going to fight at Rotoaira and burning the house in which

(188 to follow this)

all his enemies were assembled, and this destroyed them. He then returned to Muri-motu, and afterwards he went to Ngatikahungunu to carry the feathers of the Moa for which he received a celebrated green stone mere as payment for his Moa feathers. When he returned to Muri-motu he died and was buried, and it was at Kokopo he was interred with his green stone mere. That which prevents the mere being taken from the dead is the fear of the is the great a reptile which guards it least the reptile should kill them, it is also a very sacred place where he is buried moreover it is quite covered with nettles so that no man can safely approach the place.

(165A to follow this)

Tutae-poroporo
(Nga-ti-hau)

Tutae-poroporo (the down or pappus of the solanum aviculare and nigrum) was the name of a reptile which came into the Whanga-nui (great harbour) from Tonga-riro (the scale or scab of a wound gone or healed) and the cave in which he lived is a little below Tau-mahuta (startled or jumping spouse) and the reptile made the Kai-toke (eat worm) (Lake) and even on to nguku-riro (Nuku-riro) (move to a distance, gone) Lake much larger in extent, as his upper jaw was at Tawhana-roa (long bend) and the lower jaw was at Kai-e-rau (eat the hundred) and in the days that that reptile was alive, a man named Ao-kehu (red at dawn of day) took a wife from Ara-pawa (path of smoke) and some one insulted her, and so Ao-kehu was vexed at the insult offered to his wife.

(189 to follow this)

Tutae Poroporo and Au-Kehu
(Nga-ti-hau)

Tutae-poroporo (down or pappus of the solanum) swallowed Au-kehu (red current) and his calabashes, but Ao-kehu (red dawn of day) to save his life he crept into the calabash, which when the monster began to chew killed the Taniwha (monster) and after the death of the monster the great water in which the monster had lived dried up.

Tutae-poroporo and Au-Kehu
(Nga-ti-hau)

A monster lord (reptile) called Tutae-poroporo (the down or pappus of the solanum aviculare and nigrum) lived at Pou tu (stand erect in the Roto-a-ira (lake of Ira (freckle or mark on the skin)) and this monster came from that part to the Whanganui (great harbour) river to the part in the river called Re-taruke (prize dashed away) from which part he came down to Pipi-riki (………. a little) and from that part he came on to Taumahuta (jumping spouse) and he killed all men, and wrecked all canoes which he met on his way down the river, but Au-kehu (red current) killed this monster. Au kehu was the ancestor of the Whanga-nui (great harbour) people. Au-kehu went to Arapawa (road of smoke) to search for the daughter of Ngu-taha (one tattoo only on the upper part of the nose) but soon after Au-kehu was tattooed he went to court this woman, and he was known or recognised by this woman by the tattooing on his face she they became man and wife, and not long afterwards the father of the woman asked of Au-kehu and said "What is the food eaten at your place?"

Au-kehu replied kumara (ipomoea batatas) and dried kumara (kao) and fish".

And his wife said to Au-kehu "Let us go to your home that I may eat of the food the kumara" and the wife also asked "What month is the kumara crop taken up?"

Au-kehu said "At the Ngahuru (March) the kao (peeled and dried kumara are prepared for kao).

Ngu-tahi and his people or party and his daughter sailed away from their home and came and landed at O-taki (make a speech while pacing to and fro) and Au-kehu combed his hair while they were at O-taki, that is his wife combed his hair, and while she was doing this she said to her husband Au-kehu "Your hair would do very well page (191)as a substitute for the leaves or mats which are put on the bottom of a Hangi (Maori oven) on which to lie the food while it is cooking".

Au-kehu, appeared to be angry at her saying this; as these words were a curse by his wife on him, and soon after this, this wife of his dishonoured his bed with another man, and Au-kehu was inclined to kill his wife, that is that she should be killed by the monster which lived in the Whanga-nui (great harbour) river, which reptile was called Tutae-poroporo (down or pappus of the solanum) so he coaxed his wife to go with him to Whanga-nui, and when they had arrived at Rangi-tikei (day of strides in walking) the father of the wife called to the people and said "Let us paddle on to Whanga-nui as it is so near to us" and when they had arrived to one side of Rangi-tikei Au-kehu said "We are near to my home" and they smelt the aroma of the kao which the people were preparing at Whanga-ehu (harbour of spray) and they saw how heavy a sea was dashing up against the cliff at Te-Karaka (the corynocarpus laevigata) and the father in law of Au-kehu asked him "Why does the sea yonder dash so violently up against the cliff?"

Au-kehu answered and said "It is dashing in violence to show regard to me, and is waving in welcome to me as I now return to my home". And when they had arrived at the mouth of the Whanga-nui river, all the people about one hundred and forty of Ngu-tahi perished, but Au-kehu and his wife were saved in the canoe of Au-kehu, but Au-kehu was saved because the monster Tutae-poroporo swallowed him, and he was the last of the people swallowed by that monster, and he alone of his party was near the mouth of the monster and Au-kehu had a staff which was the jaw bone of a shark called Tatera (or Uru-roa) and by this he sawed the throat of this monster so that the monster died, and Au-kehu landed on shore and they cooked and eat the body of page (192)this monster, that is the people of Whanga-nui eat it. Now when this monster was dead, the land near the entrance of the Whanga-nui river became dry, as before this time it was a bay, and was a lake, and Au-kehu lived there, and his fame for having killed this monster was spread far and wide, and his sister Matawai (fountain head) became the wife of Kau-moana (swim in the sea) who had Tupu-a-ki (true word) who had O-kehu (red) who took E-ringa (a hand) and had Puku-taonga (much goods) who had Tio (oyster) and Tau-weke-iti (very little beloved). Tio had Ringa (hand) who had Rapia (scratch or clutch) who had Hamarama who had Tau-weke-iti junior who had Ka-kaitauria (eat and count what is eaten) and Te-ao-ke-taha (the other side of a cloud) and Keo (peak). Keo had Mare-ua (cough in the rain) who had Hakaraia Korako (albino).

When the tribe of Nga-rauru heard of the power of Ao-kehu they came from the Tara-naki east to Wai-puna (spring water) and found Ao-kehu and his one hundred and forty people living there, and the Nga-rauru asked him and his people to go and kill the monster called Te-wawae-te (divide or separate) which lived in the Pa tea (fair fort) river. This monster Ao-kehu went and killed, and he went on to the Nga-ti-rua-nui people to kill a monster called Nga-hapi (the cooking ovens) which was in the district in which this people lived, when he had killed this he sailed forth to the open sea to kill a monster there called Ika-roa (long fish) and when he had killed this, the Nga-rauru people gave him the daughter of one of their chiefs to wife, and her name was Tu-ka-niti (game with fern stalks (d)) and Ao-kehu returned home and lived at Purua (play up) and he is considered as one of the ancestors of the Whanga-nui people.

Ao-kehu
(Nga-ti-rua-nui)

Ao-kehu (red cloud) was a grandfather (progenitor) of ours and he was eaten (swallowed) by the god Tutae-poroporo (down or pappus of the solanum) now this god was a monster or a goblin which lived in the Whanga-nui (great harbour). Now Ao-kehu was a lord by birth, and was also a Priest, who poled his canoe up that river, and went from the heads of that river and was going up it to the interior, and this god saw Ao-kehu going up the river, and pursued him and having caught him swallowed him, but when Ao-kehu saw that he was pursued by the monster took his sacred stick called Tai-timu-roa (long ebb tide) which he still held in his hand when the monster swallowed him, so that when he was in the monster's stomach and began to meditate, at the same time the sacred stick began to move or shake, which made Ao-kehu think of the many exploits he and his sacred stick had accomplished in days gone by, and the many battles they had fought and won, and Ao-kehu felt comforted because he had his old friend the stick or staff at his side, so he took this staff and began to chant incantations over his stick, and the monster began to tremble from the effect of the power of the incantations he had chanted, and he tossed his tail from bank to bank of the river which caused mud and pebbles to be thrown up to where the town of Whanga-nui now stands, when Ao-kehu had ceased to chant over his stick he then thrust his staff through the side of the monster till the point of the staff was out in the water of the river, and he then drew the staff in to him again which made the monster tremble, so Ao-kehu with his staff made the hole his staff had made as large as he could that water from the river should come into the stomach of the monster and kill it and that Ao-kehu might have an opening by which he could escape, when the hole was large by the use of the sacred staff Tai-timu-roa, Ao-kehu ran page (194)out of the monster's stomach and the monster died, he who had eaten all the people he met on the river and had wrecked every canoe he found.

The cave in which this monster lived, is a little up the river and nearly opposite where the Mou-toa (caught the warrior) is put up, the monument for those who were slain by the Hauhau people at Mou-toa.