Tarakihi is the Maori name for an important food fish, Cheilodactylus macropterus. It is about the size of the snapper, but rather more slender, and can easily be distinguished by the extreme length of one of the rays of the pectoral fins and a black band above and behind the head; otherwise the colouring is mostly silvery. It is good eating, much used as a smoked product, and represents a large proportion of the marketed fish throughout New Zealand. It occurs on all kinds of ground from shallow to moderately deep water. The porae (Cheilodactylus douglasi) is a similar fish found in northern waters; it differs chiefly in lacking the black head band.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

(Beilschmiedia taraire and B. tawa).

These two trees are endemic New Zealand representatives of a genus, containing about 40 species, that is mainly tropical. The family to which the genus belongs, the laurel family, is also largely tropical. Taraire is a northern representative and is a common lowland or coastal forest tree from almost the North Cape to about latitude 38° S. It usually denotes soils of above average fertility. Tawa occurs in lowland to lower montane forest from almost the North Cape to the Seaward Kaikoura Range in the South Island. It is most plentiful about the central pumice plateau of the North Island where it is the major component of many forests.

Trees of both species grow to medium sizes, 60 to 75 ft tall, and up to 2 to 3 ft in diameter. The plants are dioecious, with small inconspicuous flowers, in panicles hidden among the leaves. The leaves of taraire are elliptical, up to 6 in. long, and have reddish-brown hairs beneath; those of tawa are more lanceolate and whitish beneath. Both have large purplish berries which are relished by native pigeons. The timber from both trees is used commercially, principally for furniture and flooring, though it requires preservative treatment to protect it from the common house borer. It is also very difficult to nail.

The amount of taraire is limited today because the soil on which it grows makes good agricultural land. Tawa forest, on the other hand, is still comparatively extensive in the centre of the North Island, and much is likely to remain because of steep topography or high elevations. Although not a great deal is yet known about the tree, the prospects of management are hopeful. Selection felling is already a system adopted in some places. Growth, although not the equal of that of exotic forest trees on similar soils, is sufficiently attractive to encourage management measures.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(c. 1777-1873).

Pioneer settler.

A new biography of Tapsell, Phillip appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Hans Felk, “to the best of his own recollection”, was born in 1777 at Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of Jans Hansen Felk, a civil servant. He was brought up in Jutland by his grandparents and received his education in Copenhagen. About 1791 he was apprenticed to a local shipowner in whose service he made voyages to Mediterranean ports and to the United States. When, about 1796, his ship was sold in London, he joined a whaling cruise to the Timor Sea. As England was then at war and Europeans could not be employed in British ships, Felk assumed the name Tapsell (top sail) and explained his slight accent by claiming to be a Manxman. He revisited his homeland in time to witness Nelson's bombardment of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. During the following year he commanded two Danish privateers against the British and spent some time as a prisoner of war in Sweden. Towards the end of 1802 he returned to London and paid a brief visit to Malta in a British Government ship.

After this, Tapsell joined a whaling expedition to the South Seas and called at the Bay of Islands some time in 1803. Six years later he returned to this country as mate in the whaler New Zealander. They were in New Zealand waters when news reached them of the Boydmassacre at Whangaroa, and Tapsell's ship was among those which hastened to the Bay of Islands to punish Te Pahi for his presumed complicity in the crime. Tapsell visited New Zealand twice in the following years: in the Catherine (1815), and the Asp (1823). In January 1827 he arrived in the Bay of Islands as chief mate in the Sisters. While he was there the pirated brig Wellington arrived, and Tapsell organised the whalers who recaptured it. After this he took the prize to Sydney, where he found that the Sisters had preceded him and that her captain claimed to have effected the brig's capture. At this time Captain Rous, of HMS Rainbow, arranged for Tapsell to take his master's certificate and offered him command of HMS Alligator. As the latter was refitting, Tapsell took the Darling to Tahiti and, afterwards, commanded the Samuel on a relief voyage to the sealing station at Codfish Island off Stewart Island. He returned to Sydney via Port Nicholson and the Bay of Islands and then took the Minerva on a short whaling voyage.

In 1828 Tapsell settled permanently in New Zealand. He opened a trading post, on behalf of a Sydney merchant, at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty district, and entered into friendly relations with the powerful Arawa group of tribes. In 1835, when Te Waharoa besieged Maketu, Tapsell's post was destroyed and he and his family were forced to flee to Rotorua. During the next few years he opposed the extension of missionary activities among the Arawas and, as a result, became extremely unpopular with the Church Missionary Society. Although Te Waharoa's raid had left him almost destitute, Tapsell continued in business with indifferent success. In 1848 he applied for a post as pilot at the Bay of Islands, but the Government was unable to find him a vacancy. In his declining years he lived in comparative poverty with his family at Whakatane and Maketu. Tapsell died at Maketu on 6 August 1873.

Tapsell married three times. His first, performed by Kendall on 23 June 1823, was to Maria Ringa, a Ngapuhi mission girl, who deserted him soon after the service. On 21 April 1830 Marsden married him to a sister of Waikato. Tapsell's third marriage, solemnised by Pompallier in 1845, was to Hineiturama, an Arawa chieftainess, by whom he had six children. Hineiturama was killed in the siege of Orakau.

In his own day Tapsell was noted for his courage and firmness of character. During his long sojourn among the Maoris he acquired a remarkable knowledge of their traditions and culture. He was a highly regarded chief among the Arawa tribe and it was his influence which did much to establish friendly contacts with the Europeans.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

I.A. 1/66 (MSS), National Archives; Australian Almanack, 1829 Hawes; A Trader in Cannibal Land, Cowan, J. (1935); Thames Advertiser, 14 Aug 1873 (Obit).

Tapanui is situated on undulating country between the western slopes of the Blue Mountains and the Pomahaka River, a major tributary of the Clutha. Normal passenger access is by the direct Southland-Central Otago highway which passes through Tapanui from Waipahi to Raes Junction. By this route Tapanui is 38 miles south-west of Roxburgh and 18 miles north of Waipahi. A branch railway, terminating at Edievale (14 miles north) and carrying goods traffic only, runs through Tapanui station 2 miles west of the town.

Sheep raising is the most important farming activity, with some mixed agricultural farming on the lower land. Forestry, with its related activities, is the important industry of the district. The New Zealand Forest Service operates a large sawmill at Conical Hill (8 miles south), and a privately owned sawmill specialises in the making of boxes for Otago's fruitgrowing areas. The employees of both mills live in Tapanui. A privately owned lignite mine nearby produces enough low-grade coal to meet West Otago's needs. Town industrial activities are few and are associated with the servicing needs of the district.

Tapanui came into being between 1858 and 1860 as a sawmilling centre in an area of fine native forest. After the native timber resources were depleted, extensive tree nurseries were established by the State and progressive afforestation followed. Timber production has remained the main reason for the existence of the town. Tapanui was constituted a borough under Otago Provincial Government legislation in 1876.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 434; 1956 census, 409; 1961 census, 767.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

(c. 1790–1862).

Chief of the Popoto tribe, Hokianga.

Samuel Marsden met Te Taonui at Utakura in September 1819 and pronounced him “a very well informed man”. The following March, when the missionary again visited Hokianga, Te Taonui accompanied him back to the Bay of Islands, returning to Hokianga aboard HMS Dromedary. At their first meeting he had asked Marsden to send a missionary to Hokianga; but when Wesleyan missionaries made it their headquarters Te Taonui remained aloof, for it was not European religion that attracted him, but European trade. A shipyard and timber depot had been established at Te Horeke in late 1826 under the protection of Muriwai, Patuone, and Nene. When Muriwai died in early 1828, Te Taonui, who was his younger brother, succeeded to the leadership of the Popoto tribe, and later visited Sydney, possibly working his passage in the brig Governor Macquarie, Captain Kent.

In the next decade Te Taonui was intimately involved in McDonnell's stormy career. In 1836 he abetted, perhaps even inspired, the Additional British Resident's extravagant Kaipara claims and his extensive Hokianga purchases, one of the unwilling sellers claiming in later years that at the time of the purchases Te Taonui had been allpowerful on the Hokianga. By denying Thierry's claim to Utakura in November 1837, Te Taonui was defending McDonnell's interests as well as his own; and the following month he further strengthened McDonnell's hand by thwarting White's plans to deport his rival to Hobart. The former missionary offered him £200 to take the ex-Additional British Resident prisoner; but Te Taonui refused the bribe, no doubt after shrewdly weighing the pros and cons, for he was said to know well the value of money. In 1839 S. McD. Martin described Te Taonui as “a chief of considerable influence, and an extensive dealer in spars and timber, the dimensions of which he can calculate with much precision”.

By their timely arrival and welcoming speeches at the first treaty meeting at Waitangi on 5–6 February 1840, his fellow Hokianga chiefs Nene and Patuone won for themselves the accolade of official favour. Te Taonui's outspokenness at the Hokianga treaty meeting a week later probably cost him a similar place in the sun. He was the first to sign the treaty at Hokianga; but in the day-long discussion which preceded the signing he was openly critical of British intentions.

Throughout the war against Hone Heke Te Taonui and his tribe fought with distinction, his brother Te Huru being killed and his son Aperahama very severely wounded. But when British troops were sent against Heke it was Nene who went to Kororareka to welcome them, Te Taonui being left at Lake Omapere to contain the rebels. And when the first distribution of supplies to the Maori allies was authorised, it was to Nene they were given, although Te Taonui had asked for ammunition to be sent to him and had, at that time, more men in the field than Nene. If the Popoto chief had withdrawn his men from the fighting (as Maning says he threatened to do), this error of judgment in regarding Nene as the overall leader of the Maori allies could have cost the Government dear. In the Ruapekapeka campaign Governor Grey gave Te Taonui an independent command, and he was sent to Hikurangi with a contingent of 400 men in an attempt to prevent Heke from joining forces with Kawiti.

After the war the Popoto chief accused Grey of passing him by, an accusation which, on the evidence available, seems justified. And he kept on insisting that Heke was not to be trusted. It was not until September 1848, six months after the Governor and the rebel leader had met amicably at Waimate, that Te Taonui also met Heke and, one assumes, made peace with him.

By his own people Te Taonui is remembered as Makoare (Macquarie), a name no doubt associated with his visit to Sydney. He died in September 1862, probably in his early seventies. It could as truthfully be said of him, as was later said of Nene on the Government monument erected to his memory, that he was “Te Hoa Tuturu o te Pakeha”. Makoare Taonui was indeed the steadfast friend of the Pakeha; but the friend who is quick to criticise is not always remembered with gratitude.

by Ruth Miriam Ross, School Teacher and Authoress, North Auckland.

• O.L.C. files (MSS), Maori Affairs files (MSS), National Archives
• George Hawke Journal (m/fm), Turnbull Library
• Great Britain Parliamentary Papers 311 (1841), 108 (1845)
• New Zealand's First War, Buick, T. L. (1926)
• Old New Zealand … together with … the War in the North, Maning, F. E. (1948)
• Busby of Waitangi, Ramsden, E. (1942)
• Sir George Grey, Rutherford, J. (1961)
• Reminiscences of an Old Settler, Webster, J. (1908).

(c. 1815-82).

Prophet and chief of the Popoto tribe, Hokianga.

A new biography of Taonui, Aperahama appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Aperahama Taonui, as well as his father, Makoare Taonui(q.v.), signed the Treaty of Waitangi at the Hokianga meeting of 12 February 1840. But whereas the elder Taonui merely made his mark on the parchment, the younger, being mission taught, wrote his own name, in the form “Abaraham tautoro”.

On 8 April 1845 Aperahama reported to the authorities that the Popoto tribe had commenced hostilities against Heke; but within a fortnight, in the fighting at Lake Omapere prior to the arrival of British troops, he was very severely wounded, a bullet passing through an arm and entering his body. He was taken to Auckland where, after many months, he recovered, though the bullet was never extracted. During his stay in the capital he met Governor Grey and, in January 1846, visited Waikato. For his services in the war he was given a grant of £15 and a pension of £5 a year. (By 1863 he was receiving £75 a year.)

Aperahama shared his father's suspicions of Heke, writing to Kati (whom he had met in Waikato) from Kororareka in March 1846: “Hone Heke only is still urgent to fight. Peace is not yet made–much evil prevails”. Early in the following year, as a precautionary measure, he was living with Papahia, a Rarawa chief whom Makoare Taonui suspected of planning to join Heke in further disturbances.

It has been said that Aperahama was a ship's interpreter “for several different European languages”. Although this claim is surely somewhat exaggerated, it is quite possible that on his travels between Auckland and the north in the Victoria and other vessels his services as interpreter were sometimes called upon. He would surely have acquired some knowledge of the English language during his long convalescence in Auckland in 1845 and on subsequent visits (in 1858 Governor Gore Browne presented him with an English dictionary and a writing desk); moreover, being mission educated and himself a mission teacher–it is said that at one time he had a school at Rawene–he was of a scholarly disposition. It is of interest to note that, when forwarding a collection of Maori implements to Grey in 1850, he complained of the irregularity in receipt of Te Karere Maori.

Aperahama appears to have been recognised as the actual leader of his tribe for some time prior to Makoare's death in September 1862. In 1859 he was made an assessor at Hokianga, and in March 1862 attended the first Bay of Islands Runanga, at Waimate. He was also a member of the Hokianga Runanga, and in 1867 worked for a peaceful settlement in a land dispute between the Uritaniwha and Ngarehauata tribes at Te Ahuahu.

A fellow Hokianga chief and assessor, with whom Aperahama was on fairly intimate terms during the 1860s, was Papahurihia, also known as Te Atua Wera. During the 1830s this Omanaia chief had been the leader of a religious movement, the first of the Maori nationalist cults, which opposed the spread of Christianity in the Hokianga; and in the 1845 war he had been Heke's supporter and chief priest–“the wisest priest and prophet of all the Ngapuhi”. Though he later made his peace both with Christianity and with the Government, there is no reason to suppose that by the 1860s there had been any lessening of his remarkable psychic powers or of his fundamental misgivings about Europeans. The mysticism and increasing doubts about Pakeha good faith which characterised Aperahama's later years may have resulted, at least in part, from his association with Papahurihia.

As a prophet Aperahama Taonui had a large following both in Hokianga and in Kaipara, where nga kupu o Aperahama are still quoted and debated. He was a principal agitator and supporter of a petition concerning Treaty of Waitangi observance, which was taken to England after his death by Hirini Taiwhanga; and it is said that when the Maori monument commemorating the treaty was erected on the Waitangi marae in 1881, Aperahama advocated that a Maori mat, not the Union Jack, should be used in the unveiling ceremony, prophesying that if the treaty (that is, the monument) were placed under the British flag the Maori people would lose the rangatiratanga which had been guaranteed to them by the Queen.

In his last years Aperahama spent most of his time amongst the tribes on the Northern Wairoa and Otamatea Rivers. He died in March or April 1882 and was buried at Oturei, near Dargaville.

Though much of his life is obscure it is doubtful if any other northern chief of his time has had a more lasting influence than Aperahama Taonui, the interpretation of whose prophecies and writings is of particular concern in present-day Kotahitanga, a movement much concerned with Treaty of Waitangi observance.

by Ruth Miriam Ross, School Teacher and Authoress, North Auckland.

• Maori Affairs files (MSS), Resident Magistrate's Letter Books (MSS), National Archives
• Maning Papers (MSS), Auckland Public Library
• Rawene Educational Centenary, Irvine, F. M. J. (1959)
• Old New Zealand … together with … the War in the North, Maning, F. E. (1948).

(Phyllocladus trichomanoides). This medium-sized (60–70 ft high) forest tree gets its common name from the fan-shaped, flattened branchlets, or phylloclades.

These take the place of leaves which are borne on other branchlets arising in whorls. It is found in lowland forest from Northland to below the centre of the North Island and in the northern part of Nelson and Marlborough in the South Island. It is most abundant throughout the northern forest, and there it regenerates particularly well.

The branches on the lower part of the trunk fall off without leaving knots; consequently the bole is smooth and the timber in it clean. The phylloclades are 1–2 in. long and the true leaves are reduced to scales on the side of them. The male flowers are in the form of catkins produced on the tips of branchlets; the female flowers, which later form nuts, are on the side of the phylloclades.

The timber is straight-grained, of considerable strength, white and dense for a conifer. It is sought after for special purposes when available on the market. The bark is rich in tannin, and the Maoris extracted a red dye from it.

Phyllocladus is a small genus but contains species found in Tasmania, New Guinea, Borneo, and the Philippines. In New Zealand there are three species. As well as tanekaha there are Phyllocladus glaucus, toatoa, a small northern tree extending to about Taupo, and P. alpinus, mountain toatoa, a plentiful shrub or small tree in the subalpine belt of North and South Islands. In West Taupo the three species meet, and dense clumps of hybrids can occasionally be found.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(1816-84).

Administrator and scholar.

A new biography of Tancred, Henry John appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

H. J. Tancred was born at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, a younger son of Sir Thomas Tancred, Sixth Baronet, and was educated at Rugby under Arnold. Being a younger son of a landed family, he had to make his own way in the world, and he chose to enlist as a cadet in a hussar regiment in the Austrian Army. He served in the suppression of the nationalist movements of 1848 in the Austrian Empire. While acting as King's Messenger he had a serious fall from his horse and broke his jaw and his thigh. As a result he had ever afterwards a certain impediment in his speech and walked with a dragging foot.

He went to England for his sick leave and, becoming interested in the settlement of Canterbury, resigned his commission and purchased a land order for 50 acres from the Canterbury Association. He landed first at Wellington, where he met J. R. Godley, and he arrived at Lyttelton by the Barbara Gordon shortly before the Pilgrims. He was then 34 years old, a man of varied experience and wide reading. He must have made an impression, for he was voted to the committee of the Canterbury Land Purchasers' Association and was chairman of the Christchurch Colonists' Society (which speedily collapsed owing to the undemocratic point of view of the chief organisers). He was a candidate in the contest for the first Superintendency of Canterbury and was criticised for splitting the “dear land” vote and giving Colonel Campbell and his “cheap land” a chance. In any case FitzGerald's prestige made him unbeatable for the Superintendency. He was elected to the Provincial Council and was a member for most of its existence; and, until his acceptance of the post of Speaker, he was leader of the executives for longer than any other member.

In 1856 he was called to the Legislative Council and was twice a Minister without portfolio. He was Attorney-General in 1859 and Secretary for Crown Lands and Postmaster-General under Stafford. In 1855 his Canterbury posts were Resident Magistrate in Lyttelton and Christchurch, Keeper of the Public Records, Sheriff, and Commissioner of Police.

When Charles Bowen resigned the Speakership of the Council in February 1865, John Ollivier announced that he was a candidate for the vacancy, but he immediately withdrew when it became known that Tancred was being considered. The Lyttelton Times, discussing him, said: “He is a gentleman of large experience and perfect independence of character and position; he represents very completely those settlers who at the first gave such a tone and character to Canterbury as have raised it to the highest position among other colonies. He has only one drawback, indeed, but that is important; he lacks the tone and power of speech required by one who may have to rule amidst the storms of debate”. In spite of his unfortunate defect, it appears that he gave general satisfaction as Speaker.

He and his brother took up the station of 10,000 acres between the Selwyn and the Rakaia, known as Malvern Hills. He lived there and looked after it when his political activities allowed. He sold his share of the run in 1858 to Bishop Harper.

Practically all Tancred's political life, except for his time as Speaker, was spent on the executive and administrative side and was hidden from the public gaze; and, indeed, it would seem that this was what he preferred. There is no doubt that his ability was highly regarded by those with whom he worked. He was defeated in various elections by men who were obviously his inferior in ability and it seems that he was quite lacking in the gift of addressing an election crowd and winning its sympathy and regard. It may have been his defective speech, or perhaps his great learning lay too heavily upon him, or perhaps he was given to sarcasm. Crosbie Ward gives us a clue in his Songs before Session.

“Herr Tancred is coming, Oh! Dear! Oh! Dear!

Herr Tancred is coming, Oh! Dear!

To prove education

Is best for the nation

Enforced by a tax and a jeer.”

It should be remembered, however, that he spent the formative years of his youth as an officer in the most hated army in Europe, quelling nationalist risings.

While his success as a democratic politician must be qualified, his generous enthusiasm for the cause of education was undoubted. But it was university education that really interested him. He believed in schools but only to give the bare essentials to the working classes. He was chairman of the first provincial commission on education which issued a report, later famous, on organised education in Canterbury. When the Collegiate Union (the forerunner of Canterbury College) started to organise lectures in 1874, he was lecturer in history, and he and his wife enrolled themselves as students in the botany and zoology classes. He was an original Governor of the Collegiate Union and of Canterbury College, and was the first Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, retaining that office until his death. He was a Fellow of Christ's College for many years and founded the Tancred Scholarship. He was president of the first Canterbury Society of Arts.

Nearly all his work was done behind the scenes. He shunned publicity. He was looked upon with respect for his ability and with admiration for his learning. He has left no legend; no stories are told of him; Dr Barker did not take his photograph. His natural bent was authoritarian and he was never quite at home in a young democracy. He married on 30 July 1859 at Nelson, Georgiana Janet Grace, only daughter of the Hon. Major Richmond, C.B., M.L.C. He died on 27 April 1884, aged 68.

by George Ranald Macdonald, Retired Farmer, Kaiapoi R.D.

• Rulers and Statesmen of New Zealand, Gisborne, W. (1897)
• Early Canterbury Runs, Acland, L. G. D. (1946).

(c.A.D. 1350).

Legendary traveller.

Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua was born in Hawaiki in the period before the Great Migration. He was the son of Rongokako and a descendant of the legendary Maui. He came to New Zealand in the Takitimu canoe but left it at Turanga (Gisborne) and travelled overland, keeping close to the coast, until he reached Ahuriri. There, according to the legend, his pet crocodile, Tapu-Te-Ranga, escaped. From Ahuriri he continued towards the Ruahines, but his son, Kahungunu, was unwilling to cross them and returned to settle on the Heretaunga Plains. Tamatea continued his journey until he reached a high mountain, where another of his pets, the serpent, Pohokura (or Pukeokahu), escaped. When he reached the Moawhango River Tamatea plunged the brands from his fire into the waters, where they became taniwhas (spirits) and may be seen to this day. As he walked along the beach towards Wanganui, his dog ran into the sea and became a taniwha. Shortly before he reached the pa at Wanganui, Tamatea paused to dress his hair. From this circumstance, the place became known as Putiki-waranui-a-Tamatea or Tamatea's top-knot. He paddled up the Wanganui River until he reached Omaka, where there proved to be no anchorage. Tamatea therefore bent one of the rocks in the river and tied his canoe's anchor cable about it. He reached Lake Taupo and paddled his canoe across it to the Waikato River, but lost his life shortly afterwards when he tried to shoot the Huka Falls. In the course of his travels Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua left his name upon many geographical features: the most famous of these is a little hill, near Porangahau, Hawke's Bay, called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauo-tamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu or “the hill where Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua played his flute….”

Tamatea had two wives. His principal wife, Iwirau, was the mother of Kahungunu, the eponymous ancestor of the Ngati Kahungunu; his other wife, Mahakiroa, was the mother of four sons, including Apa, the eponymous ancestor of the Ngati Apa.

Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua, or Tamatea-who-encircled-the-land, is the great land traveller of Maori tradition. He is not to be confused with Tamatea-Ariki-Nui, the captain of Takitimu canoe.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Te-Ika-a-Maui, Taylor, R. (1870).

(c.A.D. 1350).

Archpriest, navigator, and captain of Takitimu canoe.

The canoe Takitimu left Hawaiki for New Zealand about A.D. 1350. It carried sacred relics and among its crew were those schooled in the old-time lore of Hawaiki. It arrived at the western end of Ninety-mile Beach at a place called Awanui and then travelled on round the island to the safe landlocked harbours of the East Coast. As Tamatea decided to stay at Tauranga, Tahu took charge of the canoe as it travelled on in search of greenstone.

When Tamatea had decided where to settle, he took to wife a descendant of the Toi people and acquired the name Tamatea-mai-tawhiti (Tamatea-from-a-distance). He was respected for his past accomplishments and died shortly after the birth of his son Rongokako.

With Tahu and other chiefs, the canoe proceeded to Wairoa (Hawke's Bay) where a skid fell off and was used as a tiki to adorn Kopu Para Para's home which, tradition has it, was named “Takitimu”. The canoe voyaged on to Wairarapa, where the priest Tupai settled, and then down the Westland coast to the Arahura River (between Greymouth and Hokitika) where they found greenstone.

The crew of the Takitimu became the ancestors of the Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungunu, and the Ngai Tahu tribe of the South Island.

by Robert Ritchie Alexander, M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), B.T.(CALCUTTA), PH.D.(MINNESOTA), Teachers' Training College, Christchurch.

• Takitimu, Mitchell, J. H. (1944)
• The Story of Old Wairoa and the East Coast District, Lambert, T. (1925)
• Hawaiki – The Whence of the Maori, Smith, S. P. (1898).