Page:Hawaiki The Original Home of the Maori.djvu/102

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this land of Atia-te-varinga-nui, there ruled in very ancient days (B.C. 450 according to the genealogies) a king or ruling chief named Tu-te-rangi-marama, who is accredited with building a temple twelve fathoms high, which he enclosed with a stone wall, and named it "Koro-tuatini," or place of many enclosures. It was built as a meeting place for gods and men; and here the spirits of the ancients after death foregathered with the gods. It was a ngai tapu kakā, "a sacred glorious place," of great space within, and filled with many beautiful and wonderful things. Here were originated the different kinds of takuruas, feasts and games, by Tu-te-rangi-marama, to dignify the land. From Atia came the "trumpets, the drums, of two kinds, and the numerous evas, or dances. Here also originated the karioi or houses of amusement, singing and dancing, besides many other things and customs. Here was first originated the takurua-tapu, or sacred feasts to the gods Rongo, Tane, Rua-nuku, Tu, Tangaroa, and Tongaiti, and here also were the meeting places of the great chiefs of that period—of Tu-te-rangi-marama, of Te Nga-taito-ariki, of Atea, of Kau-kura, of Te Pupu, of Rua-te-atonga and others, and of the great priests of old when they assembled to elect the kings, to meet in council to devise wise measures for men, slaves, and children. These were the orders of men who dwelt in that land, and these were the people who spread over