What is "nuku-mai-tore"

In Māori mythology the Nuku-mai-tore are forest-dwelling spirits. Tura joins Whiro's canoe party, but when it enters a whirlpool he catches the overhanging boughs of a tree and lives among the Nuku-mai-tore, to whom he teaches the use of fire, the art of cooking, and the natural way of childbirth together with the ceremonies attending to the birth of a child (Beckwith 1970:502, White 1887-1891, II:8-15, 17-19).