Ngahue

According to Māori mythology Ngahue (sometimes known as Ngake) was a contemporary of Kupe and one of the first Polynesian explorers to reach New Zealand.

No time has been fixed for these voyages, but according to legend he discovered pounamu (Greenstone) and Ngahue killed a Moa (large flightless bird - now extinct).

The wife, however, caused a green fish named Poutini, a son of the sea god Tangaroa, to pursue her fleeting spouse.

Ngahue reached the West Coast of the South Island in line with Aorangi (Mount Cook) with Poutini hot on his tail.

Up the Arahura River sped Ngahue; Poutini followed after, failed to ascend the cascade, was injured, and fell into the deep pool, where the great fish was turned into a greenstone canoe.According to a Ngāti Kahungunu tradition, Ngahue was a major chief on Hawaiki at the time when the first Māori travelled to New Zealand.

[5] Tūnui made Te Uira a Karapa into the threshold of his door and windows, but he subsequently offended the gods and they caused a great earthquake to swallow up the whole house.

However, on the journey, they met Manunui Te Heuheu II and he gave them Kaiarero to offer instead, taking Pahikaure for himself.

It was said that Kaiarero had dissolved itself in the water, which was traditionally believed to be a power of īnanga rere, and returned to the ocean from which it had originally come.