It usually appeared to the people only as a harbinger of misfortune or death.
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See below for English translation
He korero mo tetehi taniwha o Te Rotoiti
Tērā tētehi kaumatua nui te mātauranga ko Ngamahanga Te Ruahuihui tōna ingoa. Nō Ngāti Rongomai ki Te Ruatōkia. I tukuna atu e ia tētehi kōrero iti mō tēneimea ko te taniwha e ai ki a tātau te Māori. Nāna tēnei kōrero e whai ake nei. Nōna e itiiti ai i kaha kōrerongia te taniwha e ngā pakeke.
Ki te takiwā o Te Ruatōkia kei te moana he taniwha. Ko Mataura tōna ingoa. He pou tau kēwai. Ko tikanga o tēnei pou. Ka pae ngā kupenga ki te pou, ka whiwhita te tau kēwai ki te pou rānei. Ko te wāhi o te moana i tū ai tēnei pou tau kēwai ko te taha whiti o te motu iti a Pāteko e anga atu ana ki Tapuwaeharuru o Hatupatu. Ko ēnei wāhi katoa kai te taha tonga o te moana o Te Rotoiti.
Ehara a Mataura i te pou tū noa iho. He pou haere, he pou hakoke, he pou tere moana. Ka maunu te pou ka tere i ngā wai ehuehu o Tauwehe ki Te Hikuwai, ā, mai i Te Hikuwai ki Tauwehe.
He au tere ēnei nō Te Rotoiti. Nā Kahu-Pukatea tēnei pou tau kēwai. He rangatira ia nō Waitaha, ka noho mai a Waitaha ki ngā pā whakairo o Te Rotoiti.
Ko ngā uri o Hei tēnei iwi. Wheoi anō e tere ana a Mataura i te moana, ko Kahu-Pukatea anahe te rangatira e tika ana ki a ia.
E ai ki ngā pakeke ka kitea a Mataura e tere ana he tohu aitua.
He whakatūpato i te iwi. E riri ana ngā iwi ka kitea a Mataura he tohu pakanga nui, ko tana tohu, ka tini hoki ngā ika māna.
Ka hua mai a Mataura me he tau aio he tohu mate, he tohu aituā, ki a mataara kai patua te iwi, kai makuturia te iwi, kai whaiwhaiāngia te iwi, kai māuiui rānei.
E ai ki tēnei kaumatua o tātau nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e ono tekau mā wha ka kitea e Te Arawa tēnei taniwha e tere ana i te moana. He mōhio nō ngā tohunga koia tēnei he tohu whakatūpato i ngā hapū me ngā iwi o Te Arawa ki a kāua e uru atu ki te riri Pākehā.
He ahakoa ngā tohutohu, kāore ētehi i aro atu, nā ka haere rātau ki te mate. Ko Te Ranga te riri e kōrerongia nei e Ngamahanga Te Ruahuihui. Ka mate ngā rangatira o Ngai Te Rangi, ka mate hoki ngā rangatira o Ngāti Rangiwewehi, whaihoki, ka mate ngā toa o Ngāti Pikiao.
Te motu iti a Pāteko e anga atu ana ki Tapuwaeharuru o Hatupatu. Photo/ Raimona Inia
Ka hinga i te mata o te pū, ko ētehi i okaina ki te pēneti.
Ko Te Upoko o Huraki Tai he rākau tupua, otīā he taniwha haere hoki. E tere nei a Te Upoko o Huraki Tai i Te Rotoiti me tana peka rākau e whakaangi ana anō nei he ringaringa tangata he māmari waka rānei.
Ka ū ki Tapuwaeharuru , ā, ki te taha whiti, ki te takiwā o Korokitewao, ka nui te karakiatia e ngā tohunga. Ka whakareia ki ngā kākākura ki ngā pūhoi o te kukupa anō nei he tino rangatira.
Nō reira kai aku rangatira. He whakamihi nāku ki tō tātau rangatira ki a Ngamahanga Te Ruahuihui mō ēnei kura huna. Tēnā koe e koro.
English Translation
“In my younger days there was an enchanted tree, a sacred taniwha-log, which used to drift about this lake, Rotoiti.
Its name was Mataura. It had originally been a pou-tau-koura, that is a post to which the crayfish nets were fastened or stretched or fishing; it stood on the east side of Pateko Islet, the side facing Tapuwaeharuru village, but it broke adrift and went sailing about the lake, and it was regarded as a taniwha.
Its owner was one Kahu-Pukatea, of the Waitaha tribe, and he alone could approach it. It was a tohu-aitua, an evil omen, to see it at close quarters, should one be out in a canoe; it usually appeared to the people only as a harbinger of misfortune or death.
Should you see it in a year when war prevailed, it was a sign that there would shortly be a battle in which many lives would be lost.
Should you see it in a tau-aio, that is, a year of peace and quietness, it was an omen of misfortune to your tribe in the form of a fatal visitation of sickness or of deaths caused by witchcraft.
The islet of Pateko in Lake Rotoiti. Photo/ Raimona Inia
It was seen floating about, with its head raised above water, in the year of the great fight at Te Ranga, near Tauranga [in the year 1864] when the imperial soldiers so terribly defeated the many tribes and shot and bayoneted many of the Ngaiterangi and also the Ngati-Pikiao of this district, and the Ngati-Rangiwewehi of Rotorua.”
There are many taniwha that still cruise the waters of Te Rotoiti and the many lakes of Te Arawa. Te Upoko o Huraki Tai is known as a rākau tupua, a tree that has been imbued with special powers.
It sails throughout Te Rotoiti lake with its broken branch gliding through the water.
It was stated by Ngamahanga that when Te Upoko o Huraki Tai sometimes beached at Tapuwaeharuru, at the eastern end of the lake, the tohunga accompanied by the people would recite prayer to propitiate the spirit of the medium and would also gather items of significance to adorn their guardian as if Te Upoko o Turaki Tai were a living person.
Therefore it is appropriate to acknowledge Ngamahanga Te Ruahuihui the sage of Te Rotoiti and his insight into the wonders of nature.
