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16 The Context of Oral Traditions
East Australian Current. This flows past New Caledonia parallel to the east coast of
Australia. Eventually, in response to the landmass of New Zealand, it reverses its
southerly direction and turns north to flow along the west coast of the South Island.
There, according to tradition, Maui made his landing at Mahitahi (Bruce Bay) and
there, according to traditional accounts, he saw in the hills the fires of the “wild men
of the woods”, evidence that descendants of first-wave colonists still survived in the
South Island. These people he probably expected to see if his sailing instructions
had been handed down from the Lapita-age explorers who first discovered the South
Island and prompted its settlement.
What Maui did not expect to find was the North Island and its inhabitants. It is
clear from all accounts of his visit that this was a totally unexpected event. Maui’s
travels along the south and east coasts of the South Island are carefully detailed –
marked by place names tracing his route and honouring members of his crew. The
southern Alps, for example, were named Tiritiri-o-te-moana, named for Maui’s misinterpretation, as his canoe drew towards Mahitahi, of the sight of snow on the Alps
as “a mirage of the ocean”. Herries Beattie [9] lists the many place names that
authenticate the route of Maui’s coastal journey in the South Island:
The high bunch round Mount Cook was called Aotea, and the foothills Puke-maeroero
(hills of the wild men of the woods). . .[at] Big Bay where a hill was named in memory
of the axe which slew the marine monsters, this axe being called Tihe-mauri-ora. . .Along
the northern shore of Foxeaux Strait we get the names Okui, Oue and Kai all considered to
be connected with Maui’s voyage. . .His own name is perpetuated in O-maui Beach at Port
Adventure, Stewart Island, O-maui Cliff at New River Heads, Maui Rock near Waikouaiti,
Maui near the mouth of the Opihi River, O-maui, a coastal rock near Akaroa Harbour. . .An
intriguing name was that bestowed on the Moeraki Peninsula, Te Raka-a-Hine-atea, named
after Maui’s father Te Raka, and the latter’s mother Hina-atea [Maui’s paternal grandmother]. . . .Coming to Kaikoura Maui climbed a hill and from there saw or ‘fished-up’
the North Island. That hill was his ‘taumanu’ or fishing station, and if the South Island is
called Te Waka-a-Maui (the canoe of Maui) that hill is Te Taumanu-a-Maui [Maui’s fishing
station].
16.6 Maui’s Meeting with the Chieftainess of Orokoroko
The detailed place names add authenticity to the traditional accounts. But it is the
details Beattie quotes from his South Island informants about Maui’s meeting with
the chieftainess of Orokoroko that are most fascinating:
South Island tradition says the part of the North Island which Maui first came to was
Orokoroko, and when comparing that part of New Zealand to a fish, Orokoroko point is
said to be the tip of the nose. A North Island tradition about Maui’s fish (A.H.M. II, p.114)
says that its upper jaw is the Orongorongo Point, its lower jaw was Te Rimurapu and its
forehead was Turakirae. All my informants laid stress on the fact that as Maui drew near
his ‘fish’ he saw a village on shore, men were fishing off the coast, smoke was ascending
from the whares (houses), women were calling to each other, dogs were barking, and children playing about. The largest house in the kaika (village) was occupied by a woman, the
chieftainess, and she was the head person of the community. She met the canoe and it
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
East Australian Current. This flows past New Caledonia parallel to the east coast of
Australia. Eventually, in response to the landmass of New Zealand, it reverses its
southerly direction and turns north to flow along the west coast of the South Island.
There, according to tradition, Maui made his landing at Mahitahi (Bruce Bay) and
there, according to traditional accounts, he saw in the hills the fires of the “wild men
of the woods”, evidence that descendants of first-wave colonists still survived in the
South Island. These people he probably expected to see if his sailing instructions
had been handed down from the Lapita-age explorers who first discovered the South
Island and prompted its settlement.
What Maui did not expect to find was the North Island and its inhabitants. It is
clear from all accounts of his visit that this was a totally unexpected event. Maui’s
travels along the south and east coasts of the South Island are carefully detailed –
marked by place names tracing his route and honouring members of his crew. The
southern Alps, for example, were named Tiritiri-o-te-moana, named for Maui’s misinterpretation, as his canoe drew towards Mahitahi, of the sight of snow on the Alps
as “a mirage of the ocean”. Herries Beattie [9] lists the many place names that
authenticate the route of Maui’s coastal journey in the South Island:
The high bunch round Mount Cook was called Aotea, and the foothills Puke-maeroero
(hills of the wild men of the woods). . .[at] Big Bay where a hill was named in memory
of the axe which slew the marine monsters, this axe being called Tihe-mauri-ora. . .Along
the northern shore of Foxeaux Strait we get the names Okui, Oue and Kai all considered to
be connected with Maui’s voyage. . .His own name is perpetuated in O-maui Beach at Port
Adventure, Stewart Island, O-maui Cliff at New River Heads, Maui Rock near Waikouaiti,
Maui near the mouth of the Opihi River, O-maui, a coastal rock near Akaroa Harbour. . .An
intriguing name was that bestowed on the Moeraki Peninsula, Te Raka-a-Hine-atea, named
after Maui’s father Te Raka, and the latter’s mother Hina-atea [Maui’s paternal grandmother]. . . .Coming to Kaikoura Maui climbed a hill and from there saw or ‘fished-up’
the North Island. That hill was his ‘taumanu’ or fishing station, and if the South Island is
called Te Waka-a-Maui (the canoe of Maui) that hill is Te Taumanu-a-Maui [Maui’s fishing
station].
16.6 Maui’s Meeting with the Chieftainess of Orokoroko
The detailed place names add authenticity to the traditional accounts. But it is the
details Beattie quotes from his South Island informants about Maui’s meeting with
the chieftainess of Orokoroko that are most fascinating:
South Island tradition says the part of the North Island which Maui first came to was
Orokoroko, and when comparing that part of New Zealand to a fish, Orokoroko point is
said to be the tip of the nose. A North Island tradition about Maui’s fish (A.H.M. II, p.114)
says that its upper jaw is the Orongorongo Point, its lower jaw was Te Rimurapu and its
forehead was Turakirae. All my informants laid stress on the fact that as Maui drew near
his ‘fish’ he saw a village on shore, men were fishing off the coast, smoke was ascending
from the whares (houses), women were calling to each other, dogs were barking, and children playing about. The largest house in the kaika (village) was occupied by a woman, the
chieftainess, and she was the head person of the community. She met the canoe and it