TuhoeTuhoe

Ethnologist Elsdon Best spent many years documenting the culture, beliefs, customs and whakapapa of the Ngai Tuhoe people - whom he described as 'the children of the mist'. This monumental two volume work comes back into print with the guidance of Dr Rapata Wiri (Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Ruapani). This volume contains Best's writings. Now in its fifth edition, Tuhoe ranks as one of the greatest tribal histories of New Zealand. This first volume painstakingly details the history, tikanga, lore and beliefs of the last generation of kaumatua to have lived in the old ways, including his principal informants Paitini Wi Tapeka of Ruatahuna and Tutakangahau of Maungapohatu. It tells the story of the tribes of the Urewera through to the coming of the Europeans and the 'riri Pakeha', the fighting that ensued. Traditions, beliefs and practices of the Mataatua tribes make up the second half of the book, leading on to volume 2, which contains the detailed whakapapa (genealogies) and fold-out map of this rugged corner of Te Ika-a-Maui (the North Island). As Dr Rapata Wiri writes in the preface to this edition, the social and anthropological contexts for Best's research have changed significantly in the intervening hundred years, but their value endures: 'Although this book is a product of its time, it significantly contributes to our understanding and knowledge of the tribal traditions and history of Tuhoe and Te Urewera, its lands and its people. To celebrate, we are proud to reprint Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist in 2025, a century after its first publication.'