page 15

Part I
Introductory Remarks

The vessels of Polynesia and their manipulation form one of the most interesting subjects connected with the Pacific area. Not only are the various types of interest in regard to their structure, origin, and modes of use, but what specially appeals to the imagination is the fact that in these vessels the ancestors of the Polynesian peoples performed voyages of amazing length, and explored vast areas of the Pacific Ocean.

So intimately connected is the waka maori, or native vessel of New Zealand, with kindred forms in Polynesia and other regions of the great island system, that it has been found necessary to extend our purview to those areas, and to give some account of such allied forms. This is doubly necessary to throw light on certain types of vessels formerly used by the Maori of New Zealand, but which have gone out of use since the visits of Captain Cook to these shores. This extension of our subject will also tend to show how the Maori of former times navigated the Pacific, how he discovered and settled far-separated isles, and how he found his way to New Zealand. A description of the Maori canoe and its management must include some explanation of native methods in the prosecution of deep-sea voyages. Many of the most interesting illustrations of such undertakings occurred at a period prior to the peopling of New Zealand by Polynesians. The Maori of these isles are Polynesians who have been isolated for about five centuries, but have preserved some interesting traditions concerning the long voyages made by their ancestors, including some from eastern Polynesia to New Zealand.

We thus commence with the knowledge that the natives of these isles are a section of the Polynesian race occupying the far-spread page 16island system from New Zealand northward to the Sandwich Isles, and from Easter Island westward to the eastern bounds of Melanesia and Micronesia. Melanesia extends as far eastward as the 180th degree of longitude, at the Fiji Group. North and south of that group the Polynesian area reaches farther west, and outlying posts of this adventurous people are found far within Melanesia and Micronesia. All these far-sundered units of the Polynesian race speak dialects of a common tongue. The Maori of New Zealand represents one of these units; his vessels were those of Polynesia, modified to some extent in later times.

The old type of Maori, the type that preserved the traditions of the doings of the seafarers of yore, and loved to dwell thereon, was much given to discoursing upon the ara moana, or "sea-roads," which were traversed in past centuries. These traditions tell us of long voyages made in far-off times, often with mythical accretions, of strange lands and strange people encountered by dauntless voyagers of yore. They tell of the rolling sea-roads that lead from the revered mother-land to the red sunrise, and of how the men of old followed them ever eastward through the island system. They explain the signs by which the coming storm was known, and how the vessels were prepared to meet it. They show us the sea discipline of a race of courageous explorers, the methods by which trained men overcame the perils of the ocean, and how the old Polynesian sea-rovers laid down the water-roads across the broad breast of Hine-moana for all time. For these were the men of whom it might be written—

There to burst all links of habit,
And to wander far away
On from island unto island
At the gateways of the day.

The description of Maori canoes and their management, including methods of navigation formerly employed by the natives of these isles, is by no means an easy task at the present time. Some types of vessels used by former generations have long since been discarded, and no description of them was ever recorded by early visitors to these shores. These were the double canoe, and the single canoe provided with an outrigger, concerning which it is difficult to obtain any reliable information. The same remark applies to canoe-sails and to certain other matters. Very few natives now living possess any knowledge of the management of canoes at sea, for sea voyages have long been abandoned. Coastal voyages were given up many years ago, and sea-fishing from canoes has been discontinued. Nothing page 17remains save the use of a few canoes on river and lake, such as is seen on the Whanganui River. It is probably a fact that we have a more detailed account of the fittings and management of the deep-sea vessels used by the ancestors of the Maori five centuries ago than of the modern type used on these shores a hundred years since. To one person alone are we indebted for detailed illustrations of the ordinary types of the Maori canoe, the French voyager D'Urville. Cook's artists and draughtsmen, with all their opportunities, neglected to give us any good series of illustrations of the three most interesting items of Maori industrial art—their canoes, forts, and superior houses.

In like manner, we find no good detailed description of the waka maori, or native canoe, in any of the numerous works written by early missionaries, traders, and visitors to these shores: all disappoint us. Thus it is that the writer is compelled to adopt the same course as that pursued in the compilation of a former paper, on native fo ts—viz., to collect such meagre accounts of the Maori canoe as have appeared in various works on the Maori, and add to them such information as has been gathered from natives directly or is embodied in oral traditions.

In regard to canoes of Polynesia we are more fortunate, and in the writings of Ellis and other early observers we find some good descriptions of the various forms of canoes employed in the isles of the Pacific. Some of these resembled certain New Zealand types, which were modified forms of Polynesian prototypes. It must be borne in mind that the Maori canoe was introduced from Polynesia: the local vessels are closely related to those of the eastern Pacific.

Of the three types of canoe used by the Maori of New Zealand, one only has been described and illustrated, the single canoe possessing no outrigger. This is the only one that has survived to the present day, and the only one of which we can give a really satisfactory description. The superior specimens of this type have indeed disappeared. Only one good hull has been preserved in our museums—that of the "Toki-a-tapiri," in the Auckland Museum; but we have details as to their fittings, and D'Urville's admirable drawings.

In his paper on the canoes of Torres Strait, Professor Haddon remarks that "Few subjects in ethnology offer a finer field of research than the many important problems connected with the morphology, modifications, and distribution of canoes." The origin and distribution of the Polynesian forms, especially those of the outrigger and double canoes, is assuredly a subject of deep interest. The writer of this paper possesses, however, neither the knowledge nor facilities to enable him to enlarge upon these matters, but can merely give page 18some account of Maori canoes and quote accounts of those of Polynesia, &c.

All forms of Maori canoes come under the generic term of waka, a term applied also to wooden troughs, boxes, and other receptacles, as also to the human medium of a spirit-god. Each form, however, had its specific name, as is shown below.

Certain writers have objected to the term "canoe" being applied to the waka maori of New Zealand, owing to its being inappropriate. But it is by no means a simple matter to find a more appropriate one. It is scarcely advisable to employ the native term of waka; and the prau of the western Pacific differed in form, having its lee side flat and the weather side rounded—also an outrigger. The term "pirogue," like that of "canoe," is applied to a dugout vessel. "Canoe" is also applied to vessels made of sheets of bark, though Webster's definition is "A boat used by rude nations, formed of the trunk of a tree, excavated by cutting or burning into a suitable shape." This describes a simple dugout, but does not embrace a vessel fitted with top-strakes, prow, and stern-pieces, &c., as were many Polynesian vessels, in which also the dugout hull was sometimes composed of two or three pieces. The term "canoe" is retained throughout this paper, for want of a better one, but it scarcely seems suitable.

In a paper on "The Early History of the Moriori" (natives of the Chatham Isles), written by Mr. A. Shand, occur the following remarks: "With regard to the term 'canoe' (as we call thewaka), having in view the present-day build of such, it is certainly a misnomer, and the term 'vessel' would be more appropriate, for no canoe of the present type could, except under the most exceptional circumstances, ever have crossed the long stretch of ocean between Rarotonga and New Zealand, or New Zealand and Chatham Islands, consequently it may be accepted as an impossibility. The wordwaka, with Maori and Moriori, embraced all sizes and kinds of canoes, and it is quite certain that the vessels in which they made their long Pacific voyages were not of the present type."

Presumably Mr. Shand had the inferior craft of the Chatham Isles in his mind when he wrote the above lines, for the larger craft of New Zealand might have served as vessels for deep-ocean voyaging. In order, however, to so use them it would have been necessary to provide them with an outrigger, or to have formed them into double canoes.

It is not safe to assume that the vessels that reached New Zealand were of an extraordinary size. It seems probable that larger canoes have been constructed here than any of those that arrived from Polynesia. In the case of double canoes the carrying-capacity would, page 19of course, be much increased, though for deep-ocean voyaging these craft are said to have been more clumsy than a single vessel fitted with an outrigger. When we consider the skill and daring of the old Polynesian voyager, it is not necessary to imagine a "Toki-a-tapiri," 83 ft. in length, as bringing the Maori to these isles. The Maori of former times was quite capable of crossing the ocean—say, from Rarotonga hither—in vessels of 60 ft. to 70 ft. in length. The canoe known as "Te Heke Rangatira," now in the Dominion Museum, is a specimen of the second class of Maori vessels, fitted with top-strakes and used in sea-fishing and coastal voyages, as also in war expeditions. Its dugout hull is 46 ft. long, width (inside measurement) 4 ft. between top-strakes, and depth a little over 2 ft. This craft would accommodate at least twenty men on a sea-fishing trip, and in the event of a sudden squall her crew would bring her safely to land through a rough sea in a manner hereinafter described. Many drift voyages of hundreds of miles have taken place in the Pacific in smaller vessels than "Te Heke Rangatira."

When Polynesian voyagers settled in New Zealand they found here forests containing huge trees suitable for canoe-making, hence they were enabled to hew out hulls of great size that needed but a single side-plank to convert them into sea-going vessels. In many of the groups of Polynesia no such large trees were procurable; and we know that the canoes of Tahiti seen by Cook and his companions were composed of shallow dugout hulls, with built-up sides consisting of a series of planks lashed on one above another. It is possible that bigger timber was obtainable in those parts at the time when the ancestors of the Maori left that region. Vessels of greater beam than any hitherto made may have been employed here, owing to the great girth of our forest-trees, and this may have led to the gradual abandonment of the outrigger by the Maori. Possibly some minor changes in structure took place here, but nevertheless it is doubtful if the vessels that reached these isles from the eastern Pacific long centuries ago differed much from those seen here by Tasman, Cook, and other early voyagers. These navigators found here the double canoe, the single canoe fitted with an outrigger, and the single canoe without that aid. Add an outrigger to the larger Maori canoe fitted with top-strakes and you have an ocean-going vessel. All these types are found in various regions of the Pacific. There is no need to imagine another type to bring the Maori to New Zealand.

In connection with the form of Maori canoes, and the differences shown therein from some of the Polynesian craft, there is one possible origin for such differences that has not been treated of. We are told in Maori tradition that when their ancestors from page 20eastern Polynesia reached New Zealand they found the Mouriuri (or Maruiwi) aborigines in possession of objects made of greenstone (nephrite). In order to obtain this stone they must have possessed the art of making canoes capable at least of crossing Cook Strait. Of what form were those canoes? Unfortunately, tradition is silent on that subject. It is, however, quite possible that canoes constructed by the mixed descendants of the aboriginal Maruiwi and Polynesians—that is, by the Maori—differed from eastern Polynesian forms, on account of being modelled to some extent on aboriginal forms. There is in the Dominion Museum a model of an outrigger canoe of Woodlark Island, off the New Guinea coast. In this model the carved figurehead and high carved stern-piece resemble Maori forms more than those of any Polynesian canoe we know of. In both these objects we see the curvilinear designs that are so marked a feature in Maori carvings, and for which we look in vain to Polynesia.

In a lecture on "Maori Superstitions" delivered by Mr. J. White in Auckland about the year 1863 occurs the following remark: "The present canoe is called waka, the model of which is said to have been taken from the dry seed-pod of the rewarewa (Knightia excelsa, New Zealand honeysuckle). Those who may desire to see how minutely the model has been followed will, on comparing them, observe that even the figurehead and the projecting piece over the stern have been copied." No more misleading remark could be made than the above, for it gives a reader the impression that the Maori canoe represents a distinct type, of local origin, whereas vessels of similar form are found in other parts of the Pacific.

Canoes are referred to in Maori song and story as Tane-mahuta and Te Riu o Tane-mahuta. This is because Tane (the "Fertilizer" in Maori myth) bears the name of Tane-mahuta as the progenitor of trees, and from trees are canoes made. The expression Te Ara tauwhaiti o Tane is also applied to them, and may be rendered as "the narrow way of Tane." The word ara, meaning "pathway," &c., is also applied to the means of travelling or moving. The term waka is likewise used in a peculiar manner sometimes as meaning a means of conveyance. An old native once remarked to the writer, "Now, if we had a waka pakeha [European canoe] such as you call a buggy, we could soon reach our destination."

In Maori myth the origin of canoes is explained by a story that, in times long passed away, one Hautu-te-rangi amused himself by floating shells on water and placing small stones therein, whereupon his father made for him a small wooden vessel, and thus a rude form of dugout canoe was evolved.

page 21

The first canoe of which we have any note in Maori tradition was named "Uruao," and this vessel is said to have been commanded by one Tama-rereti, who made a voyage of exploration in her in remote times. No particulars are given in the tradition, and possibly the whole story is a myth. The name of Te Waka o Tama-rereti (The Canoe of Tama-rereti) is applied by the Maori to a constellation, generally given as Scorpio by writers on native lore. Among the Tuhoe Tribe, however, the name is applied to the Tail of the Scorpion; while the curved row of stars near it, including Antares, is known as Te Waka o Mairerangi (The Canoe of Mairerengi). Some interesting notes on the "Urauo" canoe are given in volume 22 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, at page 18. The explanation given in the Rev. R. Taylor's work, Te Ika a Maui, of the position of the Canoe of Tama-rereti in the heavens is impossible. Another old myth tells us that in Tama-rereti's vessel "Uruao" the stars were placed so as to protect them, lest they be jostled by their two elders, the Sun and Moon, and so fall from the breast of Rangi, the Sky Parent.

The vessels by which the ancestors of the Maori left their old-time father-land are said in tradition to have been provided with top-strakes sewn or lashed on to the hulls. The names of vessels by which the Maori reached New Zealand have been preserved in tradition, as also interesting particulars concerning them.

It is well to explain at this stage that ordinary canoes were, among the Maori folk, held to be almost public property; hence the old-time saying, "He waka eke noa," meaning that a canoe may be used by any one. Thus a canoe made by members of a family group would be used by all members of that group, each of whom would speak of it as "my canoe." An individual might dub out a small canoe for his own use, but his relatives would certainly make use of it. In regard to a bigger and finer vessel, such as a war-canoe, the head chief might be spoken of as its owner, but this would be a complimentary allusion—it really belonged to the village community. It might even be cut up and used as a mortuary memorial of that chief when he died; but this would be done by consent of the people as a token of respect to their deceased leader.

In Maori myth the ocean is personified in Hine-moana, the Ocean Maid; but one Kiwa is the guardian of all seas, and his realm is termed Te Moana nui a Kiwa (The Great Ocean of Kiwa). Tangaroa is the origin and tutelary deity of fish, while Tangaroa-whakamau-tai and Rona-whakamau-tai control the tides, the latter being also the conductor of the moon. Kaukau is another of the beings controlling the ocean. The ocean is sometimes alluded to as page 22Tahora nui atea, Marae nui atea, and Mahora nui atea—expressions that denote a vast open expanse. It is termed the Marae o Hine-moana (or the plaza of the Ocean Maid), Marae roa, and Tahua roa. Tahua and marae have a similar meaning, hence marae roa equals tahua roa. The meaning of "courtyard," usually assigned to marae, and often to tahua, is a restricted local usage. Rongo-marae-roa is "Rongo of the vast ocean expanse."