Parāone’s horses: — a letter from Hōhepa Tamamutu, 1875

Authors

  • Margaret Orbell

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/knznq.v2i1.594

Abstract

When horses were first introduced to Aotearoa they were so rare and expensive that they were owned only by the most powerful families. In Taupō in 1844, a travelling artist, G. F. Angas, found that the only horse in the region belonged to Te Wāka, son of the great Te Heuheu. Sent as a present by a northern rangatira (Te Wāka Nēnē), the animal had been shipped to Tauranga then taken overland with much trouble and excitement. Now Te Wāka was to be seen galloping along the shores of the lake, and young people had covered ‘nearly every flat board within the settlement’ with ‘numberless charcoal drawings of men on horseback’ (Angas II, 111-12).

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Author Biography

Margaret Orbell

References

Angas, George French. Savage life and scenes in Australia and New Zealand. 2 vols. London: Smith, Elder, 1847.

Grace, John Te H. Tuwharetoa: the history of the Maori people of the Taupo district. Wellington: Reed, 1959.

Sinclair, Keith. Kinds of peace: Maori people after the wars 1870-85. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1991.

Williams, Herbert W. Dictionary of the Maori language. 7th ed. Wellington: Government Printer, 1971.

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Published

1999-06-06