Canoe-hauling Chant, or Time Song

The hauling of canoes across portages was not an uncommon usage in former times, and much labour was sometimes expended in such tasks when considered necessary in order to accomplish a set design, as seen in the Ngapuhi advance on Roto-rua. I cull the following from Mr. Wade's journal of a journey through the Manukau district in the far back "thirties":—

"There is a remarkable facility of water conveyance in this part of the Island. With perfect ease canoes can be dragged over the short distances between one river and another; so that the tribes of the Thames on the east coast can pass over to Manukau on the west, and thence on to Waikato. From Wai-te-mata, in the Thames Gulf, canoes are brought to Manukau over the dragging-place on which we were travelling. Crossing Manukau Harbour, they pass up a river or creek, which brings them within so short a distance of the Awaroa, a branch of the Waikato River, that another easy page 111drag puts them in a position either to go out to sea by Waikato Heads, or to paddle on beyond Manga-pouri, upwards of a hundred miles up the river."

In speaking of the portage at Otahuhu, as seen by him in 1834, Missionary Williams remarks: "We walked over the neck of land to Manukau, which is about three-quarters of a mile in extent— good ground, and the appearance of a cart-road, from the numbers of canoes which have been drawn over it from time to time."

When Ngapuhi attacked Waikato at Matakitaki they hauled their great canoes over the portages of Otahuhu and Waiuku, to find the Awaroa Stream, down which they must pass to the Waikato River, blocked by felled trees, the work of their enemies. 'The Waikato tribes," writes Mr. S. Percy Smith, "in anticipation of this event, had felled trees across the stream to stop the fleet, but these were cleared away, and in some places, which are pointed out still, Hongi had to cut short channels across sharp bends in the stream to allow his canoes to pass. The native account says it took Hongi two months to clear away the obstructions."

These northern raiders had a similar task when advancing on Rotorua from the Bay of Plenty in 1823. They took their canoes from Waihi up the Pongakawa Stream. Writes Mr. Percy Smith: "The stream, although deep, is narrow and tortuous, so that it must have been a great labour to force the Ngapuhi war-canoes up its course. On arrival at the head of the stream, where the subterranean water comes forth (from Roto-ehu), the expedition cleared out the old path leading through the forest to Roto-ehu Lake, and then dragged their canoes along it to the lake itself. From Roto-ehu there is a level valley joining the above-mentioned lake to Roto-iti Lake, about a mile and a half in length. Along the path through the beautiful forest there the canoes were again dragged to the shores of Roto-iti at Tapuae-haruru."

In Brees' Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand is a picture showing a number of natives hauling a canoe down what is now Hawkestone Street, Wellington. (See fig. 31.)

Having hauled the rough-hewn hull to tide-water or river-side, wherever the craft was to be launched when completed, the next task was to finish the dubbing. It seems probable that at various stages of the process of hewing out the hull it was left alone for considerable periods of time, in order that the timber might season without splitting. One of these stages was after the rough dubbing of the dugout hull had been done, prior to the final adzing-down of the surfaces. This latter process left the hull ready for its fittings to be attached, its dressed surfaces either smooth or showing the vertical page 112

From Brees' "Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand". Re-sketched by Miss E. Richardson.

and parallel but extremely shallow depressions produced by the slight curve in the cutting-edge of the stone adzes employed. This singular ngao tu impression or effect is admired by Maori craftsmen, and, in finishing off the adzing of house-timbers, different designs, each having its special name, were worked on the hewn surfaces.