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Te Horeta, also known as Te Taniwha, was a leader of Ngati
Whanaunga, one of the Marutuahu confederation of Hauraki Gulf and
Coromandel Peninsula tribes. The names of his parents are not
recorded. He may have been born about 1757, for he told Captain
James Cook he was aged about 12 when the two met on Cook's visit to
Mercury Bay in November 1769. Cook is reputed to have given him a
spike nail which he wore around his neck.1
In later years Te Horeta recalled his wonder at seeing these new
people. Once others of his people had returned safely from Cook's
ship Endeavour, he overcame his fears and ventured on
board with other children. He remembered Cook's kindness to him and
his companions, and Cook's puzzlement, having asked the men to draw
a chart of the coast on the deck, at the concept of reaching the
Māori underworld via Te Reinga (Cape Reinga). Cook also gave the
people a double handful of potatoes. Te Horeta believed this to be
the decisive introduction of the potato into the Coromandel area.
The potatoes were kept for seed, and within three years Ngāti
Whanaunga were able to hold a feast incorporating the new
food.2
Horeta derived his name Te Taniwha from a conflict that took
place between Ngāti Tamatera and Ngāti Whanaunga. As Ngāti Tamatera
were making their escape in Ngāti Whanaunga canoes, Horeta dove
into the stream where the canoes were filling with the enemy and
managed to swim under the canoes, avoiding the spears of Ngāti
Tamatera warriors. He leapt into a canoe and drove the
occupants into the water. His people watched his feat and named him
Te Taniwha, believing he performed this brave act as a sea god and
not a human.3
NM
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