One legend says that when the Maori people first arrived in New Zealand from Polynesia, a high priest named Ngatoroirangi was frozen in a snowstorm while exploring Mount Tongariro. He called out to his sisters in Hawaiki the traditional Polynesian homeland of the Maori-for fire. His prayer was answered; the fire came, and Mount Tongariro erupted. But as the fire traveled to Tongariro, it also created a whole series of volcanoes, which stretched from Polynesia to New Zealand. This series of volcanoes is what we now call the Pacific Rim of fire