Manaia
(Nga-ti-hau)

The curse uttered against Nga-toro-i-rangi was uttered by Manaia. At the time that the hair of the head of Manaia was cut, food was cooked by the two wives of Manaia, who were sisters of Nga-toro-i-rangi, who were called Kuku (nipped tightly together) and Te-hoata (pumice-stone). This food was cooked to be eaten by the priest while the priest with ceremonies and incantations removed the sacredness off Manaia which had come on him by the act of cutting his hair. This food was not sufficiently cooked, and as it was partly raw in each oven Manaia said to his two wives, "Were the stones of Tua-i-korora (beyond korora – penguin) used to cook your brother [Nga-toro-i-rangi], that you two insufficiently cooked the food for my being set free from the tapu (sacredness)?" This curse so hurt these women that they wept. They then chanted incantations and performed sacred ceremonies, and they took the niu and consulted it in regard to the future, and as it gave signs of good omen they fled from Hawa-iki and landed at Maketu, and at once got on to the tuahu (altar) and performed the ceremonies and chanted the sacred incantations. At dawn of day Nga-toro-i-rangi went to the tuahu (altar), and saw them there. He went to the altar to perform his ceremonies and chant his incantations, and met his sisters there. He said, "Is that you two?" ["Are you my two sisters?"] They said, "Yes." He asked, "For what have you two come here?" They said, "It is on account of a curse on you uttered by your brother-in-law Manaia, that you should be cooked by the stones of Tua-i-korora (beyond korora)." Nga-toro-i-rangi said, "Let the stones of Maketu be to cook him." And they all performed the ceremonies and chanted the incantations on the tuahu (altar); after which a totara-tree (Podocarpus totara) was dug around to cause it to fall, that it might be a canoe for them. When this canoe went on its voyage the people sat in the branches, and by their incantations it was made to float lightly on the surface of the ocean. There were twice seventy who went in that totara-tree called Totara-i-karia (the totara-tree dug up), and when they had arrived at Hawa-iki they went on to the courtyard of the tuahu (altar) of Manaia, and then they hit their noses with their fists so that blood might flow, and lay down as though they were dead, that Manaia might think they were really dead. Most of the people of Nga-toro-i-rangi did not get on to the tuahu (altar) of Manaia, but Nga-toro-i-rangi alone got on to the tuahu (altar). At dawn of day Manaia rose and went to his tuahu (altar), and when he page (40)was still some way from the tuahu he saw the people lying near to it, whom he took to be dead men, as all their faces were smeared with the blood of their own noses. Manaia looked at them all and discovered Nga-toro-i-rangi lying on the tuahu (altar). He went back to his own people and ordered them to dig ovens in the ground in which to cook the bodies of these people of Nga-toro-i-rangi; and he boasted and said, "Here is the gift of my gods, and to-day you will be cooked with the stones of Tua-i-korora. You are he who said of me that I should be 'cooked with the stones of Maketu,' but to-day you will be cooked." But Nga-toro-i-rangi, while the people of Manaia were digging the holes for the ovens (hangi), was chanting the incantations for the curse he had been cursed with, and he then rose on the tuahu, and he and his people charged Manaia and his people. The people of Nga-toro-i-rangi were seventy twice told. Manaia fled and escaped, but his people were killed, and Nga-toro-i-rangi and people came back to Maketu. As they left Hawa-iki they saw Manaia collecting people as a war-party to follow Nga-toro-i-rangi and his people; and Manaia and his war-party came after Nga-toro-i-rangi in canoes, and landed at Maketu. But they did not find any people at Maketu but Nga-toro-i-rangi and his wife; and as Nga-toro-i-rangi saw Manaia he called to Manaia and said, "Do not begin the combat at once: wait till to-morrow, and you and I will fight. You must wait out there at anchor on the sea." So Manaia and his host stayed there and cast their anchors out in the sea, and they slept out on the sea. At night Nga-toro-i-rangi and his wife performed ceremonies and chanted incantations at the window of their house to drag the winds of Punga-were (anchor hung up), and a great storm rose and beat on those canoes, and the host of Manaia were lost in the ocean. That defeat was called the Nga-tahi (one tattooed line on the upper part of the nose). Nga-toro-i-rangi sought for the body of Manaia, which was discovered and recognised by the tattooing of the upper part of his forehead, and thus was the body known to be that of Manaia.

The Curse of Nga-toro-i-rangi by Manaia

Manaia had his hair cut. On that sacred operation being performed, much food was cooked for the assembled guests, and food was cooked for Manaia by his two wives, Kuku and Hohata (Hoata), the sisters of Nga-toro-i-rangi. The food, however, was underdone, much to the annoyance of Manaia, who said to his wives, "Did the stones of Tua-i-korora, which you used to heat your ovens (hangi) with, cook your brother, that you cooked the food of my purenga (hair-cutting) so badly?" The women wept for this cursing of Nga-toro-i-rangi. This is all, they repeated charms to counteract the curse, they uttered spells, they fled – those wives of Manaia – from Hawaiki to Maketu. There they went and sat on the tuahu to pray. In the morning Ngatoro appeared at the tuahu to karakia, and there saw his sisters sitting on the tuahu. He asked, "Is that you?" They said, "Yes." He asked, "What did you come for?" They said, "A curse of your brother-in-law Manaia against you, that you would be cooked with the stones of Tua-i-korora." Then said Ngatoro, "Leave for the cooking of him the stones of Maketu."

This done, they karakiaed upon the tuahu. And then they dug up a totara-tree for a canoe. They dug it up with its roots – the bare tree in its natural state, unhollowed and unshaped, with its roots and branches remaining. They embarked upon it, the men sitting on the branches. It was the power of the spells of Nga-toro-i-rangi which made it light to float upon the surface of the water. Twice seventy men went upon Totara-karia (the dug-up totara-tree canoe) for that became its name. They reached Hawaiki, and went and sat upon the tuahus of Manaia. The men of Nga-toro-i-rangi struck their noses and made the blood flow, and rubbed it over them so as to make them appear like dead men, that Manaia might say they were dead. The greater part were not near the tuahu; Ngatoro alone sat on the tuahu.

In the morning Manaia rose from sleep and went to his tuahu. From afar he had seen the men laid in a heap, seemingly quite dead. He looked as he passed by, and saw Nga-toro-i-rangi laid on the tuahu as an offering to his god. Immediately he returned and told his people, and commanded them to dig a hangi (oven) to cook his enemies, who had been killed by his gods. Manaia was deceived, and he said, "Behold the bringing of my god. Heat the hangi immediately with the stones of Tu-ai-korora. Was it you, my enemy, who said I should be cooked with the stones of Maketu? Yes, indeed, you shall be cooked immediately." In the meanwhile Ngatoro occupied himself with uttering his incantations and spells on the tuahu, whilst the men of Manaia were digging the hangi in which to cook him and his people, to fulfil the curse upon him. Ngatoro then stood up on the tuahu, and aroused his company, saying, "Arise, slay." All the one hundred and forty men immediately arose to kill. Manaia fled and was not secured, but the multitude were killed. The slaying being over, Ngatoro and his people returned to Maketu.

This being known to Manaia, he went and raised a taua to slay Nga-toro-i-rangi. Manaia embarked, and arrived with a very great fleet of canoes at Maketu. When he arrived there was not any one there but Ngatoro and his wife. Ngatoro cried to Manaia and said, "To-morrow let us fight. It is now too late in the day. Let down your anchors outside." Manaia said, "It is well." There were many thousands with Manaia. They put down their anchors in the sea and slept. During the night Ngatoro and his wife uttered their spells. She stood at the mata-piki (window) of the house, and by the power of her spells she drew towards her all the winds of Punga-were (anchor hung up). That very night it blew a hurricane, and the thousands of Manaia were engulfed in the sea. Truly Ngutaha Nga-toro-i-rangi went to look for Manaia, he saw only his tattooed tumu (shoulder) remaining; the fish had eaten every other part of him.

(Chapter XV to follow this)

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