In Māori tradition, ''Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi'' (also known as ''Māhuhu'') was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. According to Māori traditions, the waka ''Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi'' explored the upper reaches of the North Island north of the Kaipara Harbour during early Māori settlement of New Zealand. Its crew explored Whangaroa, Tākou and

Whangaruru Whangaruru is a rural community and harbour on the east coast of Northland, New Zealand. Mokau, Helena Bay, Whakapara, Hikurangi and Whangarei are to the south and the Bay of Islands is to the northwest. The Whangaruru area includes the villa ...

. They continued south before returning to Pārengarenga and sailing down the west coast. On the west coast there are two narratives of the captaincy of ''Māhuhu''.

Te Roroa Te Roroa is a Māori iwi from the region between the Kaipara Harbour and the Hokianga Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. They are part of the Ngāti Whātua confederation of tribes. In the early 19th century Te Roroa fought a series of wars wit ...

people of the Waipoua forest say the ''Māhuhu'' canoe was captained by Whakatau and called at Kawerua on the west coast of the North Island where Whakatau's son married a local. The alternative narrative, told by the Te Uri-o-Hau and Te Taoū (from the Ngāti Whātua tribe of Helensville and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

) has ''Māhuhu'' under the command of Rongomai and stopping not at Kawerua but Tāporapora Island in the Kaipara Harbour (this island no longer exists). Rongomai was drowned when the canoe overturned after visiting the island and his body was eaten by the araara or

trevally The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only famil ...

fish. Because of this incident, the Nga Puhi and Te Rarawa

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

who claim descent from Rongomai, did not dare to eat the trevally in the times before they embraced Christianity. The tradition then tells of ''Māhuhu'' heading back north to

Rangaunu Harbour Rangaunu Harbour is a shallow harbour in the far north of New Zealand. It is situated on the east coast at the base of the Aupouri Peninsula. The name in Māori language, Māori means "To pull out a shoal of fish". With an area of it is the fifth ...

where the crew eventually settled. At the end of its service the waka was interred in a creek, Te Waipopo-o-Māhuhu in the

. As part of the 1990 commemorations of the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Ngāti Whātua made a large waka which also bears the name ''Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi'' or ''Māhuhu-o-te-rangi''.

References

*E. Shortland, ''Traditions & Superstitions of the New Zealanders'' (Longman, Brown: London), 1856, 25. *E.R. Tregear, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'', (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay), 1891, 20–21. Māori waka Māori mythology {{Maori-myth-stub

See also

References