The Migration of Turi to Aotearoa

 The Migration of Turi to Aotearoa

(A legend from New Zealand)

While Kupe was away from Hawaiki on his voyage of discovery a quarrel arose between Turi and the high chief Uenuku, which led to Turi's leaving Hawaiki in the canoe Aotea. This was the second of the two canoes that Toto built, being made from the other half of the tree from which Matahorua had come. It belonged to Turi's wife, Rongorongo, who was the daughter of Toto and sister of Kura marotini.

The quarrel between Turi and Uenuku began when Turi, after getting in his kumara crop, sent Uenuku a portion as his atinga, or tribute, and Uenuku took the smallness of the gift as an insult. The tribute was carried to Uenuku by a little boy named Potiki roroa. Some say that this child was Turi's son. When Uenuku saw how small a portion of the crop had been set aside for him, he killed the boy who brought it, and devoured him.

Then Turi set his mind upon revenge. He decided that the most satisfying form of utu would be to kill Uenuku's own small son, whose name was Oe potiki. In the hope of enticing him to come out he set all the children of his own family to whipping tops, throwing the teka, and other games, on a piece of ground where Oe potiki could see them. This did not work; but later, on a day that was very hot, the children of Turi's household all went bathing in the river, and this time Oe potiki came out to join them. Then Turi snatched him and split his head with a club. The body of this child was eaten by Turi and his friends, but the manawa, or heart and lungs, were kept aside and when some women were carrying gifts of food to Uenuku, Turi handed them a basket of baked kumara, with the manawa of Oe potiki, cut up and cooked as a relish in the middle.

Uenuku had not yet learned the fate of his son, and as he sat down to the feast he sighed: 'Poor little Oe potiki, how he would have liked this delicious food; but he no longer comes to sit and eat beside me.' After he had eaten, one of Uenuku's friends who had been told about it said to him: 'They have made you eat the manawa of Oe potiki.' He answered with the saying, 'Very well, he lies in the belly of Toi,' meaning that there would be a dreadful revenge. But he showed no other sign of feeling, lest he satisfy his enemy.

Turi then was living in his house Rangiatea, and his wife, Rongorongo, had a new baby daughter, whose name was Tane roroa. One night Rongorongo went outside to feed her baby and she heard Uenuku singing a chant about Oe potiki:

Bring me the thousands,

bring me the many,

bring me all the Ngati rongotea!

Let Oe potiki work death. The first revenge is sweet!

Assemble here!

Let all who hear assemble!

She went to Turi and told him, and Turi at once knew what this meant. He knew that Uenuku was planning a great revenge for the murder of his son and for being made to eat his heart.

Now Kupe had by this time returned to Hawaiki, and when Turi heard of the land he had discovered, this land of high mists inhabited only by birds, he decided to come to Aotearoa. He therefore embarked with all his family in his wife's canoe, the Aotea, and from Kupe he received the directions. 'Mind that you keep sailing to the east,' said Kupe, 'where the sun rises. Keep your bow pointing always in that direction.' Yet Turi reached these islands in spite of this advice. He tried to persuade Kupe to accompany him, but Kupe replied with the saying which we still use, 'E hoki Kupe?', which means in the pakeha's words, 'Not I!'

'When you get there,' said Kupe, 'you had better go at once to the river I found. Its mouth opens to the west, on that side of the island. You will find there only two inhabitants. One carries its tail straight up and sticking out. Do not mistake the voice of the other for a man, it cries out just like one. If you stand on the other side of the river and call out to them, you will hear them answering you from the other side. That will be the place I found.' This place that Kupe spoke of is the mouth of the Patea river.

In his haste to get away Turi nearly forgot to take on board the two great steering paddles that belonged to the Aotea - their names were Kautu ki te rangi and Te Rokuowhiti - and also the two bailing scoops, Tipua horonuku and Rangi ke wheriko. They were fetched for him by his brother-in-law Tuau, and when Tuau had put them on board Turi said to him: 'Just come out a little way and see me started.' Good-naturedly, Tuau agreed and went on board, intending to leave the canoe as it passed the harbour opening.

And so the Aotea left Hawaiki, carrying some seed kumara of the variety called kakau; some edible rats in cages, and some tame green parrots; some pukeko, or swamp-hen; and seeds for growing the gourd, or calabash, and many other necessary things for founding a new settlement. Hence the name of that canoe, 'Aotea of the precious cargo'. There were also taken certain gods, in the form of the carved sticks in which their spirits lived, including Maru. The adze Te Awhiorangi, too, is said to have been brought here in the Aotea.

As they left the shore in the late afternoon Tuau sat in the stern paddling, as a gesture, to help his brother-in-law on his way. Near the harbour entrance Turi said to him: 'You come to the middle here and let me paddle,' which Tuau did. But soon he found that they had gone well past the headland where he intended to get out, and Turi, who was short of crew, paid no attention when he was asked to stop. Thus Tuau was carried off by a trick of Turi's, and left Hawaiki grieving for his family, lest they think he had deserted them.

When daylight came, Tapo, the priest and navigator of that canoe, became insolent and disobedient to his chief (some say because of Turi's trickery to Tuau) and Turi had him thrown over the side. When Tapo found himself in the sea he called out cheerfully: 'Come on, Turi, let me live in the world a little longer,' as if it was all a joke. From his manner Turi realised that Tapo must be under the protection of Maru, one of the gods they had brought with them; and Maru, in fact, let Turi know that he was angry, for Turi distinctly heard the god say: 'If you go without my servant you will never reach Nukuroa'. Not to anger Maru any further, he therefore turned about, and took that navigator on board again.

And so they sailed across the ocean, in the direction of these islands and not towards the east as Kupe had directed. When they had been at sea for some days and had been through some heavy weather, the Aotea's seams began to open. Water from the waves was pouring through the cracks beneath the topstrakes, the bailers were hard at it day and night, and Turi was constantly reciting chants to keep the canoe afloat. At last they sighted the small rocky island of Rangitahua. They landed there, and replaced the lashings and caulking of their topstrakes, and refitted the whole canoe. It is said they also obtained some berries of the karaka tree and brought them to this land. If this is so, then they were there in the month of March.

Now another canoe was travelling in company with Aotea. It was called Te Ririno, and its chief was Potoru. This canoe also landed at Rangitahua. It was carrying some dogs, to supply both food and clothing for the chiefs in their new country. On Rangitahua they killed two of these dogs, Whakapapa tuakura and Tangi kakariki. One, they cut up and offered as a sacrifice to the gods, and the other they cooked and shared amongst themselves. When they had eaten, they unwrapped a sacred cloak called Hunakiko and spread it on the ground, and called upon the gods to see them safely over the last part of their journey. They set up posts to the gods on that island, and removed all bad luck from the canoes by saying over them the prayers Keuenga, Takanga, and Whaka inuinumanga. After that they were ready to embark.

Then there was a great argument down on the shore between Turi and Potoru, the chiefs of the two canoes. They had different ideas about the proper sailing directions. Turi was for sailing east, according to Kupe's strict advice, and Potoru was for heading in the direction where the sun went down. Turi kept repeating what Kupe had said, but Potoru insisted that they must travel west; so Turi gave in, and it is said that they left Rangitahua on a south-west course. As a result of this the Ririno was wrecked on a reef in that island group, and hence the popular saying about the 'obstinacy of Potoru'.

Now Potoru was right, of course. But after this Turi set his canoe toward the rising sun, and still reached Aotearoa. During this last part of the voyage Turi's wife Rongorongo gave birth to a son, whom they named Tutawa. By this time they had only nine of their kumara left. Turi offered one of them to the gods to secure protection for Tutawa. He touched the roof of the baby's mouth with it and spoke the appropriate prayers and cast it into the sea, and then sailed on. Some days later they sighted land, and even at that time there was trouble on board. One of the crew, a man named Tuanui a te ra, who had a crooked foot, was disobedient and insolent to Turi, so he was thrown overboard.

At last the Aotea was run ashore on the western side of the north island, in a little harbour north of Kawhia to which the name Aotea was given. One of the first things the voyagers saw when they walked on the beach to stretch their legs was the crooked footprint of a man-none other than Tuanui a te ra.

They rested for a while and then, leaving Aotea in the harbour, set off to the south to look for the river running west that Kupe had described. One party, Turi sent ahead under Pungarehu, with stones from some of their karaka berries, to be planted on the way. Then Turi followed with another party, crossing many rivers facing west and giving them the names they bear today. He skirted round Kawhia harbour and named it. He crossed what we call the Mokau river, naming it Moekau from his sleeping there. The Waitara he named from the wide steps he took when fording its mouth. At two places he spread out the sacred cloak or kura called Hunakiko, and from this act those places were named Oakura and Maraekura. To other places also, Turi gave the names that are written down in the book by Governor Grey.

At last Turi reached the river mouth that Kupe had described, and there he built a pa, or fortified village, which he called Rangitawhi. It is said that there were no inhabitants when Kupe came to these islands, yet Turi built a pa. He erected a post there which he called Whakatopea, a house which he named Matangirei, and a latrine called Paepae hakehake. His whata, or storehouse, he named Paeahua, and the well he dug was Parara ki te uru. To the river itself he gave its name, Patea.

At this settlement Turi planted his kumara seed. Because of the sacrifice at sea, they had now only eight. These they divided into pieces and planted separately, and when the shoots came up Turi used the chant called Ahuroa to make the ground tapu and pro- mote the plants. As a result, in due season they lifted eight hundred baskets of kumara from that kumara plot.

Rows of puke (earth mounds) where kūmara will be planted

In this way Turi took possession of this part of the land that Kupe found. Rongorongo was his principal wife, and from their children sprang the tribes of the Whanganui district, and the Ngati Ruanui.

Source:

Maori Myths and Tribal legends

Antony Alpers

1966

Pages: 141-147