Henry Matthew Stowell (1859–1944), also known by the pen-name Hare Hongi, was a New Zealand language interpreter and genealogist of European and Māori descent.
[1][2] In his teens, he spent over a year at Waitaha village, near Ahipara, where he learned Māori lore from Ngā Kuku Mumu, a tohunga.
[1][2][3] He travelled from Cape Reinga to the Bluff twice, studying Māori language, and collecting histories, lore and legends.
They had six daughters including Eileen Constance Cowan, an illustrator, photographer, and painter, and a son, who passed away during the influenza epidemic.
"[1] There are extensive archives of his unpublished work now held in Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa The National Library of New Zealand.