The 1894 Polynesian Society editors write that Pakauwera "is an old man about 75 years old - quite one of a previous generation; one belonging to the old times. He knew this story by rote, as it was taught to him by his grandfather, Pakauwera, when he was a child, and was very particular in dictating it to Mr. Best to ensure that it was correctly rendered. To hear the old man repeat this story with the accustomed gesticulations, the expressive features, and appropriate modulation of voice, is very different to reading it in a meagre translation, in which it loses the greater part of its force." From Pelorus Sound.
Biographical sources
- "Ko Hinepopo/The Story of Hine-popo." Trans. S. Percy Smith. Journal of the Polynesian Society 3 (1894):104.
Traditional
- "Ko Hinepopo/The Story of Hine-Popo." Trans. S. Percy Smith. Journal of the Polynesian Society 3 (1894): 98-104.
- In this Māori text with English translation by S. Percy Smith, Pakauwera writes of the epic swim of Hine-popo from the North Island to Rangitoto [D’Urville Island] after being abandoned by her husband Manini-Pounamu, his brother Te Hiki-Paroa and the rest of their village. After arriving at Rangitoto, Hine-Popo lured her husband, his brother and the men who travelled with them out on a fishing expedition. She then invoked an incantation against them resulting in many drownings and Manini-Pounamu and Te Hiki-Paroa being swept to Hawaiki where they battled a taniwha and competed for the hand of a woman in marriage. The Journal of the Polynesian Society editors write that this story ‘presents some features in common with the history of Tura and Whiro, the former of whom, met on one of his voyages with a people who ate their food raw, were choked by smoke, and gave birth to their children in the manner above described.’
Other
- Taylor, C. R. H. A Bibliography of Publications on the New Zealand Māori and the Moriori of the Chatham Islands. Oxford: Clarendon Press, Oxford UP, 1972. 80.