In the North Island, patupaiarehe inhabited mountains such as
Mount Pirongia, the
Coromandel Range from
Mount Moehau to Mount
Te Aroha, the
Urewera Ranges, and the
Waitākere Ranges. According to
Ngāi Tūhoe they were small beings, while the
Whanganui Māori say they were at least two metres tall. Mohi Tūrei of
Ngāti Porou described their skin as white, albino, or the colour of red
ochre.
Moehau patupaiarehe In traditions recounted by the
Ngāti Maru elder Hoani Nahe, the patupaiarehe were inhabitants of the country before Māori arrived. Their were Ngāti Kura, Ngāti Korakorako, and Ngāti Tūrehu. Their chiefs were Tahurangi, Whanawhana, Nukupori, Tuku, Ripiroaitu, Tapu-te-uru, and Te Rangipouri. Part of the reason that patupaiarehe were hostile was said to be because the Māori had driven them from
Mount Moehau, where the ancestor
Tamatekapua is buried in a cave at the peak of the mountain, which was said to be marked by a
tree fern. Mount Moehau was described as their most treasured place. Hinerehia hailed from
Moehau Range and fell in love with a Māori man who she met while gathering shellfish on a misty low tide in the
Waitematā Harbour. She lived with him at Mōtuihe and they had several children together. Hinerehia wove only at night; frustrated by this, the women of the village asked the
tohunga to trick her into weaving past dawn so that they could learn the skill. The tohunga asked the women to cover the windows from the dawn light and he asked the birds to be silent instead of ushering in the dawn with song as they usually did. In this way they succeeded, but when Hinerehia realised she had been tricked she flew back to Moehau within a cloud, distraught at leaving her husband and children. During the time of chief Matatahi, five
Ngāti Rongoū (or Ngāi Rongoi) men went out hunting. After setting out they discovered a
calabash hanging from a
rewarewa tree, which they cut down and claimed as theirs. They continued walking and eventually found the path to be blocked by
supplejack, which had been twisted around so that, while it was still growing, it formed a fence within which the patupaiarehe were growing plants such as
rangiora. They continued, caught a pig, and returned to the calabash. One man tried to carry the calabash back but it was so heavy that he almost passed out from the weight; he constantly needed to rest, so they discarded it and continued to their village. The next day when they cooked the pig they had caught, they found nothing in the
hāngī but skin and bone once they had opened it. That night, the man who tried to carry the calabash was dragged from his home. He tried to resist by clinging to a couple of trees, but the patupaiarehe were so strong that the trees were pulled out of the ground, and he was carried to the water and drowned. The other four men were also killed.
Ngongotahā patupaiarehe According to one Te Matehaere of , the peak of
Mount Ngongotahā was called (“The Altar of the God”), and served as the principal home of the Ngāti Rua tribe of patupaiarehe 600 years ago during the time of
Īhenga. Their chiefs were Tuehu, Te Rangitamai, Tongakohu, and Rotokohu. They were not an aggressive people, and they were not war-loving. They were thought to number at least a thousand, and their skin colours ranged from -white, to the same colour as an ordinary Māori, with most of them being 'reddish'. Their hair had a red or golden tinge, and their eyes were black or, like some , blue, and they were as tall as any other human. The women were beautiful, described as 'very fair of complexion, with shining fair hair'. Their clothes were (flax garments dyed red), and and ('rough mats'). Their diets consisted of forest-food and
whitebait caught from
Lake Rotorua. These patupaiarehe had an aversion to steam, however. Whenever the people living close to a patupaiarehe home (such as at Te Raho-o-te-Rangipiere) opened their , the patupaiarehe would allegedly lock themselves away to avoid the steam. Where they lived, Te Tuahu a te Atua, was a dry place with no sources of water (possibly as a further precaution against humid conditions), so they had to climb down to the 'northern cliffs, near the side of the Kauae spur', which happened to be the sacred burial place of the
Ngāti Whakaue . They carried the water back to the summit of the mountain inside (gourds,
calabashes). An early explorer of the
Rotorua region, Īhenga, had many encounters with the patupaiarehe who lived at Mount Ngongotahā. When he first ventured into their , the patupaiarehe were very inquisitive and wanted to keep him, particularly a beautiful woman patupaiarehe who wanted Īhenga for a husband. Īhenga drank water proffered in a calabash, then, sensing a trap, fled the mountain in hot pursuit, only escaping the patupaiarehe by smearing foul-smelling shark oil on his skin. == South Island traditions ==