In Māori tradition, ''Tāwhirirangi'' was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. ''Tāwhirirangi'' was captained by Ngāhue, and originally landed in the

Hokianga The Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as the Hokianga River, a long Estuary, estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. The original name, still used by local Mā ...

before heading to the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. Ngāhue is said to have then discovered

pounamu Pounamu is a term for several types of hard and durable stone found in the South Island of New Zealand. They are highly valued in New Zealand, and carvings made from pounamu play an important role in Māori culture. Name The Māori word ...

Friedrich Ratzel Friedrich Ratzel (August 30, 1844 – August 9, 1904) was a German geographer and ethnographer, notable for first using the term ''Lebensraum'' ("living space") in the sense that the National Socialists later would. Life Ratzel's father was th ...

in ''The History of Mankind'',Ratzel, Friedrich. The History of Mankind. (London: MacMillan, 1896). URL
http://www.inquirewithin.biz/history/american_pacific/oceania/songs.htm
accessed 18 February 2010. when discussing legend preserved in song, reported in 1896 that a chief by the name of Ngahue was driven to flight by a civil war which devastated

Hawaiki (also rendered as in the Cook Islands, Hawaiki in Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is, in Polynesian folklore, the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in man ...

. After a long journey, he reached New Zealand and returned to Hawaiki with pieces of greenstone and the bones of a giant bird.

References

Māori waka Māori mythology {{Māori-myth-stub

See also

References