Hotu-rapa

A chief of Hawaiki. He was the son-in-law of Toto and brother-in-law of Turi. One day Kupe and Hotu-rapa went out upon the sea to fish together. Kupe pretended that his line was stuck and induced Hotu-rapa to dive down to see what the problem was. As soon as Hotu-rapa had made his plunge, Kupe cut the rope attached to the anchor and peddled back to shore as fast as he could go. When Hotu-rapa resurfaced, the canoe was already a long distance from him and would not return, and he perished. Kupe then quickly carried off Hotu-rapa's wife, Kura-maro-tini, and to escape the vengeance of the relations of Hotu-rapa he fled away with her on the ocean, in her canoe Matahōrua, and discovered the islands of New Zealand.

References

Sources

  • Grey, Sir George. (1855). Polynesian Mythology. Auckland: Brett, p. 129.
  • Tregear, Edward. (1891). Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington: Government Printer, p. 86.