Te Ao-hikuraki

Reliable Traditions.
Ngai Tahu.—Causes that led to their Migration.
About the year 1650 we find the Ngai Tahu located at Hataitai, between what is now called
Wellington Harbour and the coast. In this pa dwelt a band of warriors renowned for courage and
daring, whose warlike propensities had made them rather obnoxious to their kinsmen and
neighbours, the Ngatikahununu. Among this band dwelt an old chief named Kahukura te paku, who
was connected with the Ngaitara tribe, then settled at Waimea, in the South Island. His son, Tu
maro, was married to Rakai te kura, daughter of Tama ihu poro, the seventh from Tahu, the founder
of the tribe. Shortly after his marriage Tu maro was called away for a time from Hataitai; and during
his absence his wife, who was pregnant, contracted an improper intimacy with Te ao hikuraki. Tu
maro returned just before his wife gave birth to a child, and, being ignorant of her misconduct,
proceeded, when the pains of labour began, to repeat the customary charms to aid delivery. Having
exhausted his store of charms, and repeated all the genealogies of his ancestors in vain, he
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began to suspect that something was wrong, and questioned his wife, who, after a little delay,
confessed that one of his relations had been to her. “But who was it?” he demanded. “Te ao
hikuraki,” she replied. The moment that name was uttered the child was born. Tu maro, without
going near his wife, kept removing her from house to house till her purification and that of the child
was accomplished. Then he came to her early one morning and told her to paint herself and the
infant with red ochre; to put on her best mats, and to adorn her head with feathers. The woman did
as she was bid, wondering all the time what her husband meant to do. When she had finished
adorning herself, Tu maro led her into the court-yard of Te ao hikuraki, whom he found sitting under
the veranda. “Here,” said he, “is your wife and child!” and then, without another word, he turned
away and went back to his own house. He then summoned all his immediate friends and relations,
and informed them that it was his intention to leave the place immediately, as he could not live on
friendly terms with those who had dishonoured him. His father approved of the proposed step, and
acting on his advice their hapu, carrying with them their families and all their moveable goods,
crossed the straits and entered Blind Bay, along the coast of which they sailed till they reached the
mouth of the Waimea, where they landed and built a pa. Here, for upwards of twenty years, the
Ngaitara, Ngatiwhata, and Ngatirua, sub-sections of the Ngai Tahu tribe, separated from their main
body at Hataitai, grew into such importance through their alliance with Ngatimamoe, that they came
at last to be regarded more in the light of independent tribes than parts of one and the same; and
this often complicates the narrative.