Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Maori Race

Canoes

Canoes.

Many ot the canoes (waka) of the Maoris are still in evidence to bear witness to the industry, patience, and skill, of the men who designed them. They appear, notwithstanding their beauty both of line and ornament, to be degenerate specimens of the craftsmanship of the hardy navigators whose vessels dared the unknown dangers of the Pacific and brought the voyagers from Hawaiki to New Zealand. If tradition can be at all relied on, these exploring vessels were double canoes (huhuru, unua, unuku or taurua) of great size and carrying power. The famous “Arawa” canoe had above her double hull a deck or platform (pora) on which houses or cabins (pako kori) had been constructed; there were also shrines or sacred places thereon for the better worship of the page 115 ancient gods. The service of a priest or chaplain appears to have been, if not a necessity, a very considerable advantage if it could be procured. The names of some of the ancestral canoes have become very famous. Modern steamers of magnificent build and heavy tonnage are now trading across the ocean bearing the names of certain of the old Maori vessels, such as the Arawa, Tainui, Mamari, Tokomaru, etc. Legend speaks of still older canoes such as that of the hero Rata, canoes well known in the South Seas as well as in New Zealand as the vessels of ancient and brave explorers and warriors.8

The outrigger canoe (amatiatia or waka-ama) so well known in most of the South Sea Islands, was also a possession of the Maori. The famous Aotea canoe was said to have been a waka-ama. It was beneath the outrigger of such a canoe that the famous Maui crushed his wife's brother Irawaru before turning him into a dog. Both the double canoe and that with the outrigger have entirely disappeared from among the Maoris, and it is doubtful if any native now alive has seen either of them in New Zealand. Double canoes were plentiful two hundred years ago when Tasman touched at these islands, and a few were seen a century ago by Cook, but the memory of this roomy and seaworthy form of vessel has become legendary and shadowy. Their use was probably abandoned on the relinquishment of long sea voyages, and because they were not suited for navigation of narrow rivers and intricate coast lines.

page 116

Of the form generally preserved, that of the canoe hewn from a single log, or the main hull of which was so hewn, we have many beautiful specimens. The work of building one of the larger and more important variety was a task requiring much forethought and preparation. First, a tree suitable through its great size and solidity had to be selected, and this tree must be growing in a place whence haulage to the water was possible. Cultivations were then made as near to the tree as convenient, in order that the workmen employed should have plenty of food during the construction of the vessel. Some men skilled in the shaping of large canoes had to be engaged (perhaps from a distance), because a craft so expensive in the amount of thought and labour to be expended upon it could not be left to the superintendence of an inferior artist. A good deal of time was thus spent on preliminaries, patience being one of the most necessary qualities for success with primitive materials, and also because the food had to be grown. Then began the religious ceremonies. Priests had to be consulted as to an auspicious day for beginning the work, incantations were chanted and rites practised to propitiate the Lord of Forests and his attendant wood-elves. These spirits were supposed to be greatly annoyed by the destruction of one of the “forest children,” the trees, by man, and unless they were mollified by charms they would either interfere mischievously with the construction of the canoe or bring ill luck upon it at its completion, so that a war-party in such a canoe would be defeated, or, if it was a page 117 fishing canoe its crew would catch no fish. Incantations and charms were always recited over the axes used in felling and shaping the timber. If a canoe was to be particularly sacred, a victim, often a chief's son, was sacrificed, and the body buried at the foot of the tree. The work of felling a very large tree with no tool but a blunt stone axe (such tree perhaps from four feet to ten feet in diameter) would have been almost an impossibility, but it was greatly aided by the use of fire. The process was to light a circle of small fires round the tree; when the wood was somewhat charred, the fire was drawn on one side at that place and the blackened portion chipped out with the axe, the fire was then replaced and the next little fire removed. When at last the tree fell, it was a great misfortune if it should be split or shaken by the heavy shock, as then all the labour previously expended would have been thrown away. (Felling smaller trees without the use of fire is described under “Food.”) Little fires were then made along the upper portion of the prostrate trunk, and the rough shape of the canoe worked out by means of the charred part being chipped away with the axe. While the chiefs were doing this part of the work the slaves and men of lesser rank were busy making a path to the sea or river, by breaking down undergrowth, removing all obstacles, and preparing the rollers. Sometimes this path would be miles in length and great care was needed to prevent the partially-hollowed trunk from being split or injured on its way to the shore, so the road was carefully laid with skids on page 118 which the embryo canoe could slide. These rollers were generally “charmed” so as to give an easy journey.

Then came the “towing out,” the hauling along of the heavy mass to the chanting of priests and the sound of animating songs only used on such occasions. In hauling, the ropes were fastened on each side of the bow; a separate sub-tribe at each rope if possible. On arrival at the beach the work of shaping commenced anew. The hewing and dubbing of the hull (hiwi) had now to proceed with the greatest carefulness, and only a few skilled hands were allowed to touch the work. The chips from a new canoe were burnt in a sacred fire with much ceremony, lest they should be used in connection with the evil spells or other witchcraft. The top-streaks (rauawa) were two planks, one for each side to heighten it, and each plank was hewn from a single tree by the method of cutting away all the wood except the central portion; as these planks were often 60 feet or more in length and from 15 to 20 inches deep, their preparation was no light task. Corresponding holes were made along hull and side planks, pierced by means of a drill armed with a quartz point: then the top-streak was lashed to the edge (henga) of the hull by means of prepared flax passed through the holes, and these caulked with the down or pappus (hune) of the bulrush (raupo). A batten (taká) was fastened over the lashing holes; the carved bow-piece (tauihu) and stern-piece (korapa, taurapa, or rapa) fitted, and a deck or platform (kaiwae), consisting of gratings made page 119 of small sticks, was provided on which the paddlers could kneel. Carved braces (taumanu) were lashed athwart to stiffen the top sides. The preparation of the exquisitely carved sternand bow-pieces was sometimes the work of years, as only a small portion could be done at a time lest the timber should crack. Under the double spirals (pitau or wini wini) of the bow-piece in every large canoe the carved figure of Maui lies prostrate. In old days every Polynesian canoe carried a god as its figure-head. In the bottom (kaunaroa) of the hull a hole was bored for the escape of bilge-water, and fitted with a plug (karemu). When the canoe had been caulked, painted, provided with masts, sails, and paddles, it was at last ready for sea. Finally, it having been hauled to the side of the water, the priest baled water with his hand on to the bow of the canoe and sprinkled it with water thrown on with a branch of a certain shrub (kawakawa) while he chanted an invocation.9

The largest sized and most elaborately ornamented canoes were those used for war (wakataua). These had, when fully decorated, long antennæ of feather-decked rods (hihi or puhi) protruding from the carved work of the bow, and ropes (puhi-rere) of feathers bound about the high wooden lace-work of the stern, or trailing behind like a floating plume. They ranged from 60 to 100 feet or more in length; a celebrated example, the “Aratawhao,” is said to have been 18 fathoms or 108 feet in length of hull, and its lengthened portion (haumi) was 14 fathoms or 84 feet, but this great length of page 120 192 feet must have been exceptional. “Okunui” and “Okuiti,” canoes of the Ngati-Maru tribe, would hold five men abreast in rows, two outside paddling, three inside resting as reliefs. Such canoes could travel at 10 miles an hour. The next size (waka tete) was generally employed for fishing or travelling purposes; these were of plainer build, with a carving resembling a human head with protruding tongue for a figure-head. (See also “Fishing.”) The third-class canoes (waka tiwai or tararo), on which little or no labour in the way of ornament was expended, were used for ordinary rough work. They were not necessarily small vessels; some would hold 20 or 30 people, but others only three or four. The smallest kind of canoe (kopapa) was paddled by a single occupant or perhaps by two or three if not particular about space or risk.

The larger canoes were usually painted red with ochre, or red and black. The sails (ra or mamaru) were light mats of bulrush (raupo) leaves; these sails were of triangular shape, the apex of the triangle being downward, and were kept distended by one side being fastened to the mast (tira or rewa) and the other to a sprit (takotokoto). Balers (tata or tiheru), often with carved handles, were provided with which to free the canoe from water. An anchor (punga) also was part of the equipment; this being usually either a heavy stone with a hole through which a cable (taura) of plaited flax was passed, or a stone contained in net-work. Fishing canoes formerly had platform-decks like war-canoes, and also fireplaces (pakaiahi) page 121 with stones that could be heated for cooking food, and especially fish.

Distinguished persons usually occupied a seat (tungauru) at the stern of the canoe, that being the post of honour. Here too was erected the tiny temple of the sea-god under whose protection voyagers by sea placed themselves, a miniature copy of the larger shrine that in former days was built on the deck of the great double or outrigged canoes. Food was not allowed to be eaten on this sacred part of the vessel or anywhere aft of the centre; this, the “quarter-deck,” was tapu, while the central part of the ship was common (noa). This rule did not apply to a war-canoe made sacred for a fighting expedition and when the warriors were themselves tapu for war; any cooked food on such a sacred vessel would desecrate. Even the canoes of the great Migration are said to have had other canoes as tenders in order to carry food for the sacred ships.

The Maoris possessed a ruder craft than any of these in the raft (moki or mokihi) made of bulrush (raupo) and formed somewhat into the shape of a canoe. The leaf of the bulrush (Typha angustifolia) is full of little air-filled compartments that give great buoyancy until the leaf has undergone prolonged immersion. These rafts were sometimes 50 or 60 feet long and could sustain a large load without sinking; they were very safe.10 In some cases these bundles were strengthened by a framework of the dry flower-stem (korari) of the flax plant (Phormium tenax) and this to some extent resembled the curious canoes (pahì) of the Morioris of the page 122 Chatham Islands. On the bulrush-rafts long distances of broken water were sometimes traversed. It is recorded that one of the chiefs of the Ngapuhi tribe, viz, Te Mauparaoa, who was born of Ngatikahungunu, was with his war-party, overcome at the Great Barrier Island, near Auckland, and the tiny remnant of the expedition escaped into the forest. Only fifteen men survived, and these men without canoes or provisions. They managed, however, in the night to make a raft (mokihi) of flax-sticks and raupo-leaves, and on this rickety structure crossed the twenty miles of open sea that separated them from the precipitous shores of Little Barrier Island. At the East Cape a raft made of buoyant timber was used, and in this natives would frequently go out to sea a great distance from land.

The Maoris always faced the bow in paddling, looking in the direction in which they were going. Of course this was because the paddle (hoe, hirau or hiwa) was short and thus did not need to have a fixed fulcrum, as the oar has in the rowlock, and with the oar the greatest power can be obtained when the back is turned to the direction in which the boat moves. When the Maoris first saw a boat manned by Europeans they said “These fellows are goblins, their eyes are at the back of their heads; they pull on shore with their backs to the land to which they are going.” The chiefs sometimes used the powerful steering paddle (urunga).