| NEW
ZEALAND
MOTE * ATEA |
Te
Ngahuru's Lament |
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Te
Ngahuru's lament for his treasured war canoe, destroyed on rocks at Whangamata
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| E muri ahiahi,
ka totoko te aroha, Wairua o te hanga, ka wehe i a au. Wai te teretere, e rere i waho rā? Nou na e Te Kohu, e hoki koutou, Ripa ki te whenua, ki Maketu rāia. Tēnei mātou kei runga i te toka. Me rauhi noa, ki te wairua kau; Te waka ra e, i tataia mai, Toroa i te wai, kia paia atu koe, Hāere ki raro rā, ki Hauraki rāia Hei matakitaki ma te nui a 'Ti-Maru. Nei ka pae noa, ki Maukaha rāia! | As
darkness falls, I'm filled with sadness, haunted by the craft that's been taken from me. Whose contingent is that sailing by over there? Ah, it's yours, Te Kou-a-Rehu. You're on your way back heading for home, right back to Maketu, while we're here on top of this rock. To cheer myself up, I focus on the memory of how the canoe used to be; all spruced up, an albatross of the sea to catch everyone's attention on our trip north, all the way to Hauraki, to be looked upon with envy by the Ngati Maru. Now it's totally wrecked here, at Maukaha Rock, of all places! |
In about 1800, the young Tuhoe chief Te Ngahuru refurbished the beautifully carved old "Te Whakapu" war canoe and set out from Maketu with some 40 of his men to paddle it north to Tauranga, Whangamata, Whitianga, around the Coromandel peninsular into the Hauraki Gulf and back home again, a round trip of nearly 600 km.
But they only paddled it as far as Whangamata. As they tried to leave the shelter of Whenuakura Island, his crew could not manoeuver the long vessel precisely enough in the rough waters, and it was swept onto the rocks behind the island instead.
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Grant McIntosh of Whangamata, a descendant of Te Ngahuru, writes,
And a kayaker in the 2005 Coromandel 12hr Adventure Race describes the waters Te Ngahuru tried to paddle through 200 years previously.
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Te Ngahuru was born sometime around 1770 and died in about 1823. In the early 19th century, he was one of the greatest warriors of the Ruatoki district and was famed for his skill with the taiaha. One historian p.25 gives a graphic account of his heroic death at Maketu by a war-party from Waikato, but his official biographer says he died of influenza. DNZB
Although this song has been attributed to Te Ngahuru, it has all the hallmarks of Tuhoe composer Mihi-ki-te-kapua. She was noted for expressing yearnings arising from feelings of deep loneliness, for selecting her words precisely, and for arranging the lines of a song skillfully to build up the exposition of ideas, just as in this moteatea. DNZB
Te Kou-a-Rehua was a high chief of the Ngati Pukenga sub-tribe of Tauranga. During Hongi's wars in the 1820s his tribe moved to the Coromandel Peninsula where they were gifted lands by the Ngati Maru to thanks them for their assistance in battle. Te Kou-o-Rehua signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
Because of its beautifully crafted sonnet-like structure, and Te Ngahuru's fame as a warrior, this moteatea became widely known, and was recorded in print many times.
1849 by W.B. Baker of Wanganui, The New Zealander
1853 by Sir George Grey, Ko Nga Moteatea
1855 by Rev Richard Taylor, Te Ika a Maui
1861 by William Bailey Baker, On Popular Maori Poetry
1888 by John White, The Ancient History of the Maori
A modification of this song by the Ngati Maru from Hauraki was recently quoted in a Treaty of Waitangi document. PDF
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E muri
ahiahi | As
darkness falls, I'm filled with sadness, haunted by the craft that I've lost. Whose contingent is that sailing by over there? Ah, it's yours, Hauraki people. You're on your way back heading for home, right back to Te Totara pa, while we're here on top of this rock. To cheer myself up, I focus on the memory of how the canoe used to be, all spruced up, an albatross of the sea, to draw everyone's attention when we went south, all the way to Hauraki, to be looked upon with envy by the Ngati Maru. Now it's totally wrecked here in the Hauraki Gulf |
2. 'Ki Tikapa Moana'. This may have originally been 'Ki Tikapa raia' = At Gannet Rock itself.
Tikapa, or Gannet Rock, is on the north-east point of Waikeke Island, in the middle of the Hauraki Gulf.
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The
Ngati Maru, from Te Totara Pa (now the town of Thames), were famous for
their big sea-going war canoes made from giant kauri trees that grew in
the area.
The Otunui and the Otuiti had hulls some 2.5m across, with side-strakes about 50cm high. Five warriors could sit at each bench seat, allowing alternate teams to paddle, bail or rest. The broader beam and extra crew enabled these waka taua to navigate the rougher offshore waters, well away from rocks. |
But
most other war canoes had a hull carved from a tree-trunk only about 1.3m
wide. These vessels were well suited for rivers and lakes but on coastal
journeys they were easily flooded in rough seas. So they had to stay close
inshore where the waters were sheltered. And where there were lots of
rocks!
It seems that a Ngapuhi war canoe had gone on the rocks in the gulf, perhaps off the nor-east tip of Waiheke Island, early in the 19th century. The stranded Ngapuhi warriors had watched helplessly as a victorious Ngati Maru war fleet returned from a raid on one of their settlements. |
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But
the Ngati Maru had killed a relative of Hongi Hika during one of these
raids. He was in Sydney helping missionaries write a Maori dictionary,
and he vowed revenge.
He obtained 300 muskets, returned to the Bay of Islands and took a fleet of war canoes first to the East Coast, and then south to Te Totara pa where he killed all its defenders. |
He
followed this up with attacks on other tribes, starting a desperate effort
by tribes everywhere to get muskets of their own.
One musket could be acquired for three tons of flax fibre. So they produced thousands of tons of scraped flax (used by Europeans for sail manufacture). The Muskets of Hongi. |
Hongi Hika returning from the East Coast with trophy heads in 1819
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John.Archer@xtra.co.nz
Published on the web May 2008
