and South Sea Lore, which was a combination

of Polynesian and Arab methods. The Arabs were

seafarers too of course, and came down into the Indian

Ocean. Their waka were called prau.

Who knows how far they got?

Waka 68

Is it a myth – the idea of Polynesia,

a colonial construct partitioning the Pacific?

What does it matter when there are other myths

that have more influence on our lives?

At least ‘Polynesians’ can embrace

a continuity outlined in genealogies stretching

back to the gods. Nga Puhi, for instance,

have Matahourua in Kupe’s time, which was re-adzed

in his grandson Nukutawhiti’s time to become

Ngatokimatawhaorua. In that case Polynesia returned to Aotearoa.

Waka 69 Kupe

Who was he? Why did he come here

of all places? Was he actually the first person

to arrive? One account has him coveting Kuramarotini,

who was already married to Hoturapa – the voyage being one

long elopement. Another has him chasing the great

pet octopus of Muturangi aboard Matahourua

because it kept stealing the bait off his hooks.

For a safe return journey he sacrificed his son

Tuputupu-whenua here in the Spring of the World of Light.

Imagine such a thing. I could never do it.

In Nga Waka o Nehera by Jeff Evans there is mention

of people already present in Aotearoa who Kupe visited,

namely Taikehu and his people at Patea. Kupe named many

places in Aotearoa, which the following poems

describe, based on references in the Journal of the Polynesian

Society and other sources listed in Evans.

Anne Nelson tells of Hui Te Rangiora who came

before Kupe and sailed so far south he saw icebergs.

That’s a claim lodged well before Richard Pearse’s flight

over the Wright Brothers or the first kiwi pavlova.

Waka 70

Among the places and landmarks associated with Kupe and the

Matahourua expedition are the following … (Evans, p.97)

i Matakitaki

Kupe talks to his daughter:

I was looking for hapuka I had summoned from the deeps,

when my eyes ascended white mountains in the distance,

I stared and stared – from this pile of common rocks which

I will remember as the place of Matakitaki (in Palliser Bay)

I find myself deleting the roll of names relating to Kupe,

listed in Evans: they are translatable without me, the sail

of Matahourua that needed replacing, the ure or penis

of Kupe which Smith says he ‘scratched’ while he sunbathed,

the names of waka bailers and anchors, his dogs,

his footprints left in clay – relics pointed out

for a millennium by learned people. Who am I to retouch

these icons of Kupe? He hardly needs rediscovery.

There is a Kupe in all of us, who struggles for love,

and with the forces of the deeps. I look for him.

Waka 71

Burt Reynolds has made his screen come-back

in Boogie Nights, getting an Oscar nomination to boot.

Likewise, so has outrigger canoeing. Competitors

in the World Sprints come from 28 different countries

in Oceania. New Zealand won eight gold medals in Samoa