Mangarara

One of the canoes in which the ancestors of the Māori people came from Hawaiki to New Zealand. The chiefs were Wheketoro, Tarawhata, Te-wai-o-Potango, Te-rau-a-riki-ao, and others. In this exceedingly large canoe they brought the lizards, tuatara (iguana), teretere, kumukumu, mokoparae and mokokakariki; also the insects, weri (centipede) whe (caterpillar), weta, kekerengu, etc.; the birds, torea and whioi; also dogs of the Mohorangi breed. They left most of the reptiles on Whanga-o-keno.

When they came near Toka-roa, Tarawhata and his dog Mohorangi were thrown overboard. The struggles of the dog made the sea rough, and the canoe upset. It drifted on shore at Pare-whero and there turned into stone. The reptiles got to land and Te-rau-a-riki-o-ao commanded them to drag the canoe on shore, but it was too heavy so they left it where it had stranded.

The crew of the Mangarara were ancestors of Ngāti-porou. They came about the same time as the Hīrauta canoe.

References

Sources

  • Tregear, Edward. (1891). Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington: Government Printer, pp. 21, 210.
  • White, John. (1887). Ancient History of the Maori. 6 vols. Wellington: G. Didsbury, Government Printer, pp. 2:189, 190.