Page:Maori Religion and Mythology.djvu/79

Papanui, and arriving at the cross-road at Waipumuka ascended the hill Paretawa. Thence he went on to Hakomiti, and Pukerangiora, and began to hunt kiwi. The dog feeling the heat, and becoming thirsty, went off in search of water, at the same time hunting kiwi. When he caught a kiwi he left it on the ground. At last a kiwi ran a long way, and tried to escape by running into a lake where the dog caught it. The dog then began to catch in its mouth the small fish called inanga; and having filled its belly returned by the way it had come, always picking up the kiwi, which it had left on the ground, and carrying them in his mouth, till he reached his master, laid them on the ground before him. Seeing the dog dripping with water, Ihenga said to his companions, "Ho! the dog has found water. There is a lake below, perhaps." However they did not then go to look for it, for they were busied about cooking food. Meanwhile the dog began to roll on the ground in front of Ihenga, belly upwards. It then lay down, but not long after began to vomit, and the inanga were seen lying on the ground. Then they went to look for the water, and the dog ran before them barking every now and then to let his master know which way he was going. In this way they soon came to the lake. Shoals of inanga were leaping on the water; so they made a net with branches of fern, and having caught a great many, cooked some for food; after which they returned to Maketu, carrying with them basketsful of inanga to show to Kahu, that he might know how the lake abounded with food. Ihenga named the lake "Te Roto-iti-kite-aIhenga (=the small lake discovered by Ihenga), thus claiming it as a possession for his children.