 He would have had more of an association with the small, yellow-skin, finger-sized variety known as "hutihuti", "rekamaroa", and "taputini", which the Māori had brought with them from eastern Polynesia, rather than larger varieties brought by later sealers, traders, and whalers in the early 19th century.In the Māori language, "rongo" can mean 'peace' (after war).Rongo is generally portrayed as the creator of the kumara, a plant associated with peace; probably because the intense cultivation it needed was best performed in times of peace.