Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
See below for English translation
Kai te taha tonga o te moana o Te Rotoiti, ki tua o Pateko ko te mātārae o Ngarehu.
Ki tua o tēnei wāhi, he awaawa, ina whāia rawatia e te tangata ka piki ake ki tona tihi ko Pāhinahina. Ko Paehinahina anō hoki o ōna ingoa karangaranga.
Ko Pāhinahina he kainga onamata.He pā tūwatawata otīā, he pā whakairo hoki. Mēnā koe e tūtei ana kai te tihi o te pā, he marama noa te te titiro ki tētehi taha, ki tētehi taha, ā, ki te kohamo o te pā – otīā e taea ai te kī he pā tīhore hoki a Pāhinahina. Kotahi anahe te kuhunga ki te pā, ara, mā te waharoa e tu mai na i te taha tonga.
E kore e taea te hoa ngangare te pā ki te whakaeke. Nā te teitei o te kūmore e rangatira ai te titiro ki ngā hau e whā.Ka kitea hoki rā te hoa riri e hoe ana ki runga ki te moana, e mā raro ana ranei ki runga ki te oneone.Kāti. Ka huri ngā kaupeka, ka huri ngā whakatupuranga, tū pakari nei a Pāhinahina.
Engari e hoa mā. He ahakoa ēnei pākai riri, i mōhio rānei e kotou i taea ai a Pāhinahina e te hoa ngangare.
Kai tētehi rangi ka rewa he ope tauā. Ka puta i te pā whakatetonga ai. Ko te take o tā rātau i haere ai, he patu tangata.
E hiakai kikokiko te tino take. Ka iti ki mua, ka nui ki muri, ā, nā wai rā ka tū ki Waimatā. He awa kai te pūtake, kai ngā tauwharewharenga o Moerangi. He kaupeka huarahi tēnei.
Ko te huarahi tēnei mai i Rotokakahi mā te riu o Pareuru ki Te Whakarewarewa, ā, ki tua hoki ki Te Rotorua nui a Kahumatamomoe.
Ki konei rātau whakatakoto kokoti ai. Ka wāhingia te tauā kia rua ope. Ko tētehi ngohi ki taha tētē, ko tētehi ngohi ki taha kōmako takoto ai. Ka rokohina e te ope tauā e toru tangata e hakoke ana.
Ko Torekāhe, he rangatira me ōna taina tokorua. Ko Uakura me Ngarehu. Nō Ngāti Te Whetu ki Motutawa nō Te Rotokakahi ēnei rangatira.
Kīhai i roa rātau e haere ana ka tutakarerewa ngā kanohi o Torekāhe ki te mata o te tao e takoto ana ki raro ki ngā rau huruhuruwhenua. Nā reira i mōhiotia e ia kua mau rātau ki te koromāhanga o te mate.
E kūware iti ōna tuahine. He mōhio hoki nō te rangatira e kore e ora ōna tuahine, engari anō rā ia pea?
Ka tahuri ia ki ōna tuahine ka kī atu ki a rāua; ‘Kua mate tātau’. Ka hongi hongi katoa rātau. Ka maranga te tauā toto o Ngāti Pikiao, hūpane kaupane ana ngā toa me ā rātau taiaha me ā rātau akerautangi.
Ka poka te karo a Torekāhe ke rere te ate o tana taiaha ka ngaua ki te mātenga o te ito. Ka hinga te mata-ati a Torekāhe. E takawhetawheta ana ngā waewae o te rangatira, kai te whakaoraora kai te whakarehu, kai te karo hoki i ngā pekekiwi a te hoa riri, whaitiri kapakapa he ahakoa te kaha o te hoariri he kaha ake tō tātau tenga kākāriki, ka tahuri ia ki te oma ki te nehenehe ka ora i te hiwi, tana taenga kai te tihi e hamama ana te māngai ki te rahi o Ngāti Pikiao; ‘Haere, e hoki! E kore ahau e mau i a kotou; he manu honenga ahau nō te pae!’
Engari ka pēwhea ōna tuahine?
Ka mauheretia rāua tokorua, e kore e taea te pēwhea. Ka rewa te mere a te rangatira ki te rangi kia kitea e ia ki te ate o tana pounamu, ka haua ki te kohamo o tōna taina, ka mate.
Ka tuaruangia, ka mate ōna tuahine tokorua. Ka poroa o rāua ūpoko ki te mata tuhua, ka whakatārewangia ki a kite kau i a Torekahē. Ka poroporoakingia ōna tuahine; ' Aku tuahine e! Haere, haere. Mō kotou te tai awatea, mōku ki te tai o te pō!”. Ka takioma a Torekāhe ki ōna kāinga, ki ōna pā ki te whakarewa ope tauā ngaki utu māna.
On the southern coast of Lake Rotoiti, opposite the little burial-island of Pateko, is the steep woody headland known as Ngarehu; behind it is a deep gully, and then rises the cliffy hill Paehinahina also known as Pāhinahina.
This hill is the site of a celebrated fort of ancient times, a pā which occupied a very strong position. On three sides it was defended by cliffs; the only entrance was on the south side where the approach was along a narrow ridge.
The spot was an excellent one for a fortified village for any canoes on the lake could be seen while yet a long way off, and the cliffy walls made the pā impregnable against a sudden assault.
It was captured, however, on one occasion in a remarkable fashion.
A long time ago, a small company of Ngāti Pikiao warriors filed out from the gateway of Paehinahina and took the narrow trail through the forest and over the manuka-clothed hills southward.
They went out on the war path.
They marched along until they reached the vicinity of the stream called Waimatā under the western bluffs of Moerangi. Here the war trail intersected the track which led from Rotokakahi through the Pareuru Valley to Te Whakarewarewa and Rotorua.
Here the scout out ahead crept back and reported that there were three people in sight, coming along the track from Rotokakahi. The Ngāti-Pikiao band of warriors sank to the earth instantly, then their leader posted them ready for attack, half the warriors on one side of the track and half on the other.
The ambush laid; the men waited quietly.
The three travellers were a chief named Torekāhe and his sisters, Uakura and Ngarehu. Torekāhe was the chief of Ngāti Te Whetu, on Motutawa, the island in Rotokakahi.
Torekāhe quick eye noticed something moving a moment in the low manuka shrubbery just ahead. It looked like a spear projecting above the bushes. Then he heard a sound of a breaking branch close by the track, and he caught a glimpse of a feather head-plume. He knew that he had walked right into an ambush.
Torekāhe, death’s hand is at your throat!
The chief of Motutawa divined instantly that he could not save his sisters, and that it would be marvellous if he succeeded in escaping himself. He turned, and exclaiming, “It is death!” he quickly pressed his face to the faces of his sisters in succession, in the greeting of the hongi, the touching of noses—his last farewell.
The next moment with a terrible war-cry the Ngāti-Pikiao men leaped from their hiding-places. Torekāhe sprang to one side of the track and made a feint at the enemy with his taiaha, then like lightning he faced about, and leaping to the other side charged through his adversaries.
He reached a near-by hill brow, and he cried to Ngāti-Pikiao:
“You will never capture me; I am the swift bird from the south!’
Then, as he expected, he saw his sisters killed. From a distance Torekāhe cried his poroporoaki, his parting message to the unheeding ears:
“Farewell my sisters. Depart on the morning tide, I shall follow on the evening tide!’
And Torekāhe turned and spread the news of invasion and murder. And the band of Ngāti Pikiao hurried back to Rotoiti.
- To be continued.