There are stories from our first days on these 

islands, when we were no more than tangata 

and wahine and whānau and small hapu, 

moving from river mouth to mountain to plains, 

exploring, discovering, living and dying and 

building tradition. The stories tell of Pounamu as 

a fish who swam here from the ancient land of 

ancestry, or down from the heavens, or up from 

deep within the earth that is Papatuānuku, the 

mother to us all.

We saw mana and wairua and great mauri in 

this fish that was a stone. We made treasures 

and tools and implements of death and authority 

from it, and in so doing the stone taught us the 

nature of the land from which it came. Some 

stories say that Pounamu is a taniwha, a  mythical creature of great and magical power, while others say the stone is a woman taken from  her lover. She hides now, lost as a captive in the rivers, waiting for him to come to her rescue.

‘There is pounamu in hard rock occurrences, and in small slivers in mountain reefs, but most  Pounamu is found in the river bed. . . Unlike any other mineral resource, it gets moved in floods  and buried and exposed, so there’s the old lore that you look for pounamu after a storm. . .  Pounamu is harder and more dense than other rocks, and the other rocks break down while the  pounamu tries to hang in there and stay in the rivers. . . It’s a bit more like fish swimming up into  the current and trying to stay where they are: they swim upstream moving backwards and  forwards.’ Always did wonder why mum used to  tell me pounamu gets homesick. 

Ngāi Tahu tradition holds that Poutini was pursued here to Aotearoa by another taniwha, Waitipū,  who is the guardian of Hinehōaka (called Hine-tū-a-hōanga in other traditions); she whose essence  is sandstone, blades of which are used to cut, abrade and score the pounamu that is Poutini. So  you see that they are natural enemies, and the science of geology works its way into legend.  Poutini also occupies that space in our cultural memory that is inhabited by deities and humans  together. So we see that when he pauses in his escape from Waitipū at an Island called Tūpua,

Some accounts tell us he fled first to the shore of nearest  convenience, to Tahanga on the Coromandel Peninsula, where  basalt would be quarried for the making of adzes, and then  overland to Taupo and a bay in the great lake called Whangamatā,  named for the more common kind of obsidian, matā, which is  known to be plentiful there. These were the razor sharp disposable blades of the day. Southward  then to Rangitoto (D’Urville Island) just off the north coast of South Island, to Whangamoa, a high  hill range to the east of Whakatū (Nelson). Both of these places would prove a rich source of  argillite, or pākohe, a strong, hard stone that could hold an edge but could be worked with granite  hammer stones and even fire. Pākohe is particularly associated with the Nelson/Marlborough area  but is known to have been traded to all parts of Aotearoa for its general utility. Over the first few  hundred years of settlement, pākohe would prove itself the bedrock of foundation. 

From the high hills above Nelson, Poutini, with his captive, continued on without delay. Relentless  and deadly pursuit harried him, barely a day away. To Onetāhua - Farewell Spit, where stones of  useful and convenient variety, shape and size are found washed up there, including argillite and serpentine, having begun a  journey countless millennia  ago from the mineral belts in  the mountains surrounding Golden and Tasman Bays.  From there down the west  coast of South Island, 

pausing briefly at Pāhua near Punakaiki, until a 

feeling of dread forced Poutini away.

His dread is not unfounded. Embedded in the limestone at  Pāhua is the flint that enabled the people to first bore holes through  pounamu. (see Wāhanga Tuatahi; Chapter One), Tamāhua still follows,  determined and implacable, aided by his magic, driven by his love. And  somewhere out there ,Waitipū, the sandstone Taniwha, grimly anticipates  the grinding of his enemy. Poutini cannot run forever. All the while Waitaiki  laments, grieving for her home and her lover. 

But Poutini’s flight is coming to an end. Waitaiki is cold, bereft, tired,  withdrawn. In his desperation, the taniwha removes from the sea at the  mouth of the Arahura river, heading upstream with his captive to find  some secretive place of concealment. Tamāhua continues south along  the coast past the point of the taniwha’s diversion and on until he reaches  Takiwai at Piopiotahi, the mouth of Milford Sound, where his magic tells  him that Poutini has, for the moment, eluded him. Tamāhua turns and  heads back up the coast, careful now to attend his magic, which  eventually reveals the Arahura river as the site of both his desire and his  retribution. The matter is coming to a head. Poutini knows this. Waitaiki  too, senses an end to her misfortunes. The Taniwha is desperate. Waitaiki  stands, now resolute in her defiance. Tamāhua draws ever nearer. Spite  overwhelms Poutini. If he can’t have this beauty from the north, nobody  can. Wielding a magic of his own, he transforms Waitaiki into his own  essence - pounamu - and places her in a deep pool near the headwaters  of the river. Using all of his skills of deception then, he quietly slips away  downstream hidden in the turbulence and shadows of the river, unseen  by Tamāhua who is perhaps distracted by his certainty that Waitaiki is  somewhere close at hand. Soon Poutini is back at sea, where he remains  to this day, according to this tradition, giving his name to that part of the  western shore that is called Te Tai ā Poutini. Tamāhua will find his beloved  Waitaiki and some say his lament might still be heard in that part of  Aotearoa, echoing through the valleys and hills as a tangi to announce his  grief. Waitiki is remembered as the mother lode of pounamu. 

To imagine however that this is the only tradition pertaining to pounamu,  regarded as the most valuable material resource in a land where tribal

society competes for prominence, space and all other resources, would  be to completely misunderstand the place this remarkable stone holds in 

the heart of the people. There are more traditions and variations of the  story than there are types of pounamu itself. Many more. There are  even mythologies that tie the greenstone to the very separation of  earth and sky, placing it in the hands of Gods at the beginning of the  first lighted day in the guise of the legendary toki, Te Awhiorangi, used  by Tāne to slash the vines binding Rangi and Papa together. 

The stories surrounding Ngāhue for example, called Ngake in some  places, reveal to us the complexities involved in unravelling the  apparent mystery of pounamu. Poutini is once again present although,  his role will vary depending upon whom is telling the story. Some say  the taniwha is under Ngāhue’s charge and travels with him as a  companion on his way to Aotearoa. Others insist that Poutini obeys  Ngāhue’s outraged wife who sends the taniwha on a mission to destroy  her errant husband. Still other traditions place Hine-tū-a-hōanga of the  sandstone as a jealous antagonist of Ngāhue, intent on destroying  Ngāhue’s taniwha, again with her own beast, being envious of Poutini’s  qualities. 

Regardless, it is Ngāhue who is widely credited with bringing the stone  to the attention of the people. Tied in many traditions to the exploration  journey of Kupe and his apparent discovery of these islands at the  bottom of the vast Polynesian triangle (although there are other  traditions that beg to differ with the popular version of events), Ngāhue  is a prototypical figure in the evolution of early Maori cultural  advancement, and a name to mark the beginnings of settlement and  ongoing occupation. He is said to have taken the pounamu back to the  ancient homeland of Hawaiki (or in some traditions, Rarotonga or  Ra’i’atea) where he carved the first greenstone tiki as well as two  adzes - toki - named Tutauru and Hauhauterangi that were used to  carve the waka, Tainui and Te Arawa. Here then begins the tradition of  working pounamu, which in those times was called te ika a Ngāhue -  Ngāhue’s fish. 

The Ngāhue traditions begin with pursuit, with a chase from the

The Island of Tūpua is again prominent 

in these other versions of the story of 

stone as tūpua - the obsidian itself - will 

always be important to the people. But 

Waitaiki and Tamāhua are absent from 

these tellings. Instead it is Ngāhue 

attempting to hide Poutini from the 

pursuing Hine-tū-a-hōanga and her retinue, first at Tūpua and then, by differing accounts, at  various places down the east coast of North Island such as Waiapu on East Cape, Uawa near  Tologa Bay, Turanga, Waimata, Nukutaurua, In Hawkes Bay near Heretaunga and further south  along the coast of Wairarapa, each time being thwarted by the presence in those places and  others of sandstone, chert and other progeny of Hine-tū-a-hōanga, the eternal enemy of pounamu. 

Or it is Poutini in pursuit of Ngāhue, to the same effect as far as the purpose of these stories of  stone are concerned, that is, to mark in the memories of generations these trails and places of  value. That all of these stories, mythologies and traditions, and others not even mentioned here still  lead to Arahura by way of obsidian, basalt, argillite, sandstone and flint suggests that Maori  tradition had come to some of the same broad conclusions that geological science arrived at many  centuries later. The story of stone in Aotearoa is mute if not for pounamu. 

The Island of Tūpua is again prominent  in these other versions of the story of  stone as tūpua - the obsidian itself - will  always be important to the people. But  Waitaiki and Tamāhua are absent from  these tellings. Instead it is Ngāhue  attempting to hide Poutini from the  pursuing Hine-tū-a-hōanga and her retinue, first at Tūpua and then, by differing accounts, at  various places down the east coast of North Island such as Waiapu on East Cape, Uawa near  Tologa Bay, Turanga, Waimata, Nukutaurua, In Hawkes Bay near Heretaunga and further south  along the coast of Wairarapa, each time being thwarted by the presence in those places and  others of sandstone, chert and other progeny of Hine-tū-a-hōanga, the eternal enemy of pounamu. 

Or it is Poutini in pursuit of Ngāhue, to the same effect as far as the purpose of these stories of  stone are concerned, that is, to mark in the memories of generations these trails and places of  value. That all of these stories, mythologies and traditions, and others not even mentioned here still  lead to Arahura by way of obsidian, basalt, argillite, sandstone and flint suggests that Maori  tradition had come to some of the same broad conclusions that geological science arrived at many  centuries later. The story of stone in Aotearoa is mute if not for pounamu. 

Glossary: 

Hapu: Tribal grouping of related whānau, sometimes called a sub-tribe. 

Pregnant. 

Mauri: A spiritual essence or life force. 

Tangata: Man. 

Tangi: Lament. Call. 

Taniwha: Mythical creature. Supernatural being. Metaphorical form for greatness or mana in an   individual. 

Tiki: Stylised human figure, known as heitiki when worn as a pendant. 

Toki: Adze blade or axe. 

Wahine: Woman. 

Wairua: Spiritual aspect. 

Waka: Canoe. Ancestral vessel of voyage and discovery closely tied to whakapapa, or lineage. Whānau: Extended family grouping. 

 Give birth.