Rangitawhiro was a student at Rangihoua mission school in the Bay of Islands in the 1820s. Letters used to represent the Māori language were not finalised by missionaries until the 1840s, so some words in Rangitawhiro's copy book are written differently from today. For instance, his name appears as 'Rangitawido' and Hokianga is 'e'okianga'. An early writer, Joel Polack, observed the variation of language: 'Herd in his chart, calls the Port of Hokianga, Jokeeangar, Mr. Marsden terms it Shukianga, and the Baron de Thierry in his proclamation 1837, Yokianga; the most faithful pronunciation is E'Oakianga ... it is however best known as Hokianga.' (J. S. Polack, New Zealand: being a narrative of travels and adventures during a residence in that country between the years 1831 and 1837. Vol. 2. London: Richard Bentley, 1838, p. 280).
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