Henry Matthew Stowell

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.

Biography He was born in Waimate North, Northland, New Zealand on 4 February 1859. His father was John Shephard Stowell, a sawyer who had come from the United States. His mother was Hūhana (Susan) Farley, daughter of Matthew Farley and Rīmaumau (Maumau), a high-born woman of the Ngāpuhi iwi. Between 1920 and 1940, he struggled to have his writings published, in a space dominated by Pākehā.

Publications Stowell authored the Māori–English Tutor and Vade Mecum, published in 1911, the first Māori grammar written by a Māori author, which also included Māori topics such as "ailments and diseases, sport and past times, tohunga, the lore of tapu, marriage customs and land tenure." It used the Ngāpuhi dialect as standard Māori language, and considered all other versions as dialects.

He published several articles under the name Hare Hongi, including:

Hongi, H. (1898). "CONCERNING WHARE-KURA: ITS PHILOSOPHIES AND TEACHINGS." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 7(1(25)), 35–41. Hongi, Hare (1907). "A MAORI COSMOGONY." The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 16 (3(63)): 113–119. Hongi, Hare. (1909). "ON ARIKI, AND INCIDENTALLY, TOHUNGA." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 18 (2(70)), 84–89. Hongi, Hare. (1912). "WHIRO AND TOI." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 21 (2(82)), 29–38. Skinner, H. D., & Hongi, Hare. (1916). "ON MUMMIFICATION." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 25 (4(100)), 169–172. Hongi, Hare. (1916). "KURANUI AS A NAME FOR THE MOA." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 25 (2(98)), 66–67. Hongi, Hare. (1918). "ON THE GREENSTONE “TIKI.” WHAT THE EMBLEM SIGNIFIES." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 27 (3(107)), 162–163. Hongi, Hare. (1918). "AN ANCIENT 'FLUTE-SONG.'" The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 27 (4(108)), 222–224. Hongi, Hare (1920). "THE GODS OF MAORI WORSHIP. SONS OF LIGHT." The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 29 (1(113)), 24–28.

In 1929, he began a series of radio broadcasts on the pronunciation and meaning of Māori place names, which was shortly abandoned. Hare Hongi also published several poems including "The Defence of Orakau" and "Maori Hymn to the Creator."

There are extensive archives of his unpublished work now held in Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa The National Library of New Zealand.