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16 The Context of Oral Traditions
founding of a colony in the South Island of New Zealand was preserved amongst
his people in the Spice Islands. Maui, following a known ocean road, reached the
South Island first and expected to find it where he did. His discovery of the North
Island was altogether different. His people had not passed on any knowledge of it to
him. It was Maui therefore who claimed to have fished it up from the ocean and so
earned, for himself and his descendants, rights to the land he had discovered.
These two enriching contexts, one mythological, the other related to climatemodulated maritime exploration and colonization, enable us to appreciate the
historical events represented in the traditional histories celebrating Maui’s visit to
the South Island and his discovery of the North Island. But it is from the fine detail
in the traditional accounts that we gain most insight and can find subtle implicit
evidence for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand.
16.5 Maui the Navigator’s Visit to New Zealand
Accounts of Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand, recorded by Herries Beattie
[6]and John White [7], offer us information in a range of different ways. First, at the
simplest level, there is the account of what happened: the landing of Maui’s canoe at
Mahitahi (Bruce Bay) on the west coast of the South Island, Maui’s progress along
the west and south coasts of the South Island and then up the east coast, Maui’s
climbing of a hill in the north of the South Island and thereby discovering the North
Island, his first landing on the North Island and his meeting with the chieftainess at
Orokoroko in Palliser Bay.
A great deal of historical information can, however, be gleaned from the narrative
detail embellishing this straightforward account. The account begins traditionally as
a hero’s tale. It tells of Maui seeking to avenge the humiliation suffered by his father
through defeat in an encounter with two marine monsters. But this is no simple “St
George and the Dragon” folktale. The names of the two monsters encode historical
events underlying the mythical narrative.
It is important to note here that the Polynesian languages derive much of their
poetic and metaphorical richness from the fact that they are agglutinative. That is,
their words are formed from morphemes, usually single or double-syllable words
that retain their original forms and meanings with little change during the process
of combination. This means that a great deal of meaning is inherent in a word which
can draw upon the full suggestiveness of all the elements from which it has been
formed. The examples we offer will illustrate the principles involved and show how
information can be encoded in the names and language used.
Metaphorically, Maui’s father’s two enemies are mako, tiger sharks. Their names
are given as Mako-tipua and Mako-horopekapeka. The second part of the first tiger
shark’s name is tipua which carries meanings of demon, sorcerer, wizard as well as
of voracious attacker, possibly suggesting that this metaphorical tiger shark might
have represented the tohunga (shaman) of the war party that attacked Maui’s father’s
people. The composite name of the second tiger shark, Mako-horopekapeka, confirms this suggestion, encoding the humiliation of a military defeat. Horo is to fall
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
founding of a colony in the South Island of New Zealand was preserved amongst
his people in the Spice Islands. Maui, following a known ocean road, reached the
South Island first and expected to find it where he did. His discovery of the North
Island was altogether different. His people had not passed on any knowledge of it to
him. It was Maui therefore who claimed to have fished it up from the ocean and so
earned, for himself and his descendants, rights to the land he had discovered.
These two enriching contexts, one mythological, the other related to climatemodulated maritime exploration and colonization, enable us to appreciate the
historical events represented in the traditional histories celebrating Maui’s visit to
the South Island and his discovery of the North Island. But it is from the fine detail
in the traditional accounts that we gain most insight and can find subtle implicit
evidence for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand.
16.5 Maui the Navigator’s Visit to New Zealand
Accounts of Maui the Navigator’s visit to New Zealand, recorded by Herries Beattie
[6]and John White [7], offer us information in a range of different ways. First, at the
simplest level, there is the account of what happened: the landing of Maui’s canoe at
Mahitahi (Bruce Bay) on the west coast of the South Island, Maui’s progress along
the west and south coasts of the South Island and then up the east coast, Maui’s
climbing of a hill in the north of the South Island and thereby discovering the North
Island, his first landing on the North Island and his meeting with the chieftainess at
Orokoroko in Palliser Bay.
A great deal of historical information can, however, be gleaned from the narrative
detail embellishing this straightforward account. The account begins traditionally as
a hero’s tale. It tells of Maui seeking to avenge the humiliation suffered by his father
through defeat in an encounter with two marine monsters. But this is no simple “St
George and the Dragon” folktale. The names of the two monsters encode historical
events underlying the mythical narrative.
It is important to note here that the Polynesian languages derive much of their
poetic and metaphorical richness from the fact that they are agglutinative. That is,
their words are formed from morphemes, usually single or double-syllable words
that retain their original forms and meanings with little change during the process
of combination. This means that a great deal of meaning is inherent in a word which
can draw upon the full suggestiveness of all the elements from which it has been
formed. The examples we offer will illustrate the principles involved and show how
information can be encoded in the names and language used.
Metaphorically, Maui’s father’s two enemies are mako, tiger sharks. Their names
are given as Mako-tipua and Mako-horopekapeka. The second part of the first tiger
shark’s name is tipua which carries meanings of demon, sorcerer, wizard as well as
of voracious attacker, possibly suggesting that this metaphorical tiger shark might
have represented the tohunga (shaman) of the war party that attacked Maui’s father’s
people. The composite name of the second tiger shark, Mako-horopekapeka, confirms this suggestion, encoding the humiliation of a military defeat. Horo is to fall