CHAPTER VI.
CLAIMING AND NAMING LAND.
No place in the world ever received a name which could not be accounted for, though there are hundreds of such names of which we can now give no explanation.—Farrar on Language, p. 22.
Ihenga set out with four companions. He went in a different direction to that of his former journey. He now went by way of Mataparu, Te Hiapo, Te Whare-pakau-awe. When on the summit of the ridge he looked back towards Maketu, and greeted his home there. Then turning round he saw the steam of the hot springs at Ruahine. Believing it to be smoke from a fire, he said to his companions, “Ha! that land has been taken possession of by some one. Let us go on.” They entered the forest, and having passed through it, came to a waterfall. Afterwards they came to a lake in which was a large island. Proceeding along the shore of the lake Ihenga gave names to various places. On arriving at a point of land jutting out into the lake, which he named Tuara-hiwi-roa, they halted; for they saw a flock of shags perched on the stumps of some trees in the lake. They made snares and fastened them to a pole to catch the shags, and placed the pole on the stumps of the trees. Presently the shags perched on the pole, and were caught in the snares, some by the legs and some by the neck. But the shags flew off with the snares, pole and all. The young men thought they would alight in the lake, but Ihenga said, “No, they are flying on; they will alight on Te Motu-tapu-a-Tinirau.” [pg 69] Ihenga had given this name to the island, which was afterwards named Mokoia by Uenuku-kopako.
Then Ihenga went alone in pursuit of his birds along the borders of the lake. He passed by Ohinemutu, where he found the hot springs, and the steam which he had supposed to be the smoke of a fire. When he reached the hill at Kawaha, looking down he saw the smoke of a fire burning below at Waiohiro; so he thought with himself, “Shall I go on, or no?” He decided on the no; for he saw a net hanging near a stage, on which there was food, so he went to look for the [tuahu] or sacred place for the net. When he had found it he forthwith set to work to carry off the earth, and the posts, and the old decaying inanga, in order to make a [tuahu] for himself by the face of the cliff at Kawaha. Then he brought fresh earth and new posts to the [tuahu] of the man of the place, and carried away some posts partly burnt by fire. He also stript off the bark from branches of koromuka and angiangi, and fastened them together with flax, and set them up in the inclosure of the [tuahu] belonging to the man of the place. When Ihenga had done all this secretly, he named his own [tuahu] Te Pera-o-tangaroa, and went on to the place where the fire was burning.
As soon as he was seen, the people of the place waved their cloaks, and shouted cries of welcome. And when the ceremony of uhunga was ended, the chief, whose name was Tu-o-rotorua, inquired when Ihenga had come to the lake.
“Ho! this is my own land,” said Ihenga.
“Where is your land?” asked Tu.
[pg 70] “Why, this very land,” replied Ihenga. “I ought rather to ask you how long you have been here?”
“Why, I have been here this long time.”