Thwarts (Taumanu)

The thwarts of a canoe are termed taumanu, tauare, tauware, keretu, ama, and kiato. The latter word is, in Polynesia, applied to the booms connecting the float of an outrigger with the canoe. Tregear gives whakarei as the name of "the high priest's seat, carved

Sketch by Miss E. Richardson after J. Hornell

and ornamented with feathers, at the stern of an ancient outrigger canoe." The stern thwart is said to have been occupied by the two steersmen, the tapu seat or thwart being forward of the one so occupied. Not that natives sat on thwarts to any extent. In smaller vessels the two thwarts next the stern were occupied by the steers-men; the third one was known as ruanuku among the east coast natives, and was occupied by the principal man or men on board the canoe. In coastal voyages such a chief might assist in the steering. It seems that a thwart occupied by a tohunga (priestly adept) or an important chief (in some cases these two offices were combined in one person) might be adorned by carved designs, and there is such an item in the Dominion Museum. This thwart is of a peculiar form, and it does not appear probable that it was ever used as a seat; if it

H. Hamilton, photo

page 138was, then it must have been a most uncomfortable one. It may have been a tapu or ceremonial thwart, pertaining to a tapu person. The carved figures of two lizards on its upper surface are in high relief, 1½ in. at the head, and the space between the two heads is but 9½ in. too narrow for a seat. The total length of the thwart is 5 ft. 5 in. The width of the canoe to which it belonged (inside measurement) was 4 ft. 10 n., as shown by the distance between the two shoulders of the scarfed ends, where fitted on to the gunwale—i.e., the upper edge of the top-strake. The tang or projecting part of the ends is 3 in. in length, which probably represented the width of the top of the strake. Through each end of the beam a hole has been pierced to pass the cord through whereby it was lashed to the gunwale of the top-strake. This hole is situated just on the inner side of the shoulder, and slants inward, as also does the scarf, an accommodation to the inward trend of the side of the vessel. Both holes are of rough outline, irregular, and one looks as though it had been roughly chiselled out, not bored. Two slots, diverging outwards from the holes, show that the lashings were countersunk. The carved representations of lizards are very prominent, and one is 1 ft. 4½ in., the other 1 ft. 5½ in., in length. One has pieces of Haliotis shell inset as eyes, while both are covered with lines of small serrations known as taratara-o-kai. Why these creatures should be carved on a thwart is not clear. The lizard appeared not infrequently in Maori carvings, and is also found in those of Polynesia and Melanesia. Judging from the appearance of the serrations and of the dressed surfaces, this thwart has been fashioned with metal tools, though apparently it is fairly old. The wood is totara of that honeycombed texture known to the Maori as tatarapo and kaikaka.

In the account of the "Takitumu" canoe and its coming from Polynesia, as preserved in tradition, we note evidence of the Maori custom of applying special names to objects. This vessel had twenty-six thwarts, each of which had its proper name. The stern thwart was named "Te Ra-kura"; it was occupied by Rongo-patahi,

Sketches by Miss E. Richardson

Rua-page 139wharo, and Tupai, the three wise men or priestly adepts of the voyagers. The next thwart was named "Te Paerangi": the next was "Te Pae-taku"—it was occupied by Tamatea-ariki-nui and his friends; the next was "Rakau-amoamo," occupied by Hape-ki-tuarangi; and so on. In this case the priestly adepts seem to have occupied the stern thwart; perhaps the next one, "Te Paerangi," was awarded to the steersmen. Tamatea, who was the principal man on board, occupied the third thwart.

In some cases thwarts were scarfed so that the shoulder rested against the inner edge of the top-strake; in others the ends simply rested on the top-strake.

The spaces between the thwarts are termed in some cases taitua and wa patiki; but Taringa-kuri, of Te Atiawa, stated that whariu is the special and correct name for it. Williams gives tauware as the name of this space.

The following notes were contributed by Tuta Nihoniho, of the Ngati-Porou Tribe, of the east coast: The taumanu, or thwarts, were sometimes laid flat on top of the flat-topped rauawa (top-strake), and in some cases were provided with a shoulder so as to fit on, the two shoulders being dropped inside the inner edges of the rauawa. The ends of the thwarts were, as a rule, a little inside the outer edge of the top board, and never projected over it, or they would interfere with paddling operations. In order to lash the thwart on the gunwale, or top of the rauawa one hole was bored through the centre of the thwart about 4 in. from the end thereof, then two holes were bored through the top board, or gunwale, one on either side of, and close to, the thwart, and about 2 in. from the inner edge of the gunwale. These two holes were bored diagonally from the flat top of the side-boards so as to emerge on the inner side—i.e., inside the canoe, 2½ in. or 3 in. below the thwart. (See figs. 52 and 53.)

The end of the lashing-cord was secured to the end of the tokai of the floor, which was put in position at the same time, and the cord was then passed up through the taumanu and over it, down through the hole at the side into the canoe, up through the thwart again, over it, and down through the other hole through the top board. This reeving was repeated so as to present a double cord all round; the top of the thwart was in many cases grooved, so as to countersink the lashing, which thus formed no projection. (See fig. 53, p. 141.) The hole bored through the thwart was not always perpendicular, but sometimes inclined inwards like those of the gunwale, thus bringing the three holes more in line on the top than they would otherwise be, and so facilitating the work of lashing. The lashing of page 140the thwarts is strained and tightened by means of the mimiro, as in the case of the top-strake lashing.

Sketch by Miss E. Richardson

There was occasionally a little carving at the extremities of the thwarts of important canoes, and possibly a little in the middle, but never any on those parts used as seats. In some cases a human head was carved on each end of the thwart.

In the case of big canoes two paddlers sat on each thwart, one at each side of the vessel; in some cases a relief, or even two, sat between them. These reliefs changed places with the paddlers when the latter grew weary. In smaller canoes paddlers often kneel or sit on the flooring of the vessel. Again, the smaller and inferior class of canoe, as seen used for river work, have no thwarts or flooring.

The thwarts on "Te Heke Rangatira" canoe are about 27 in. apart, which spacing would do for a fishing-canoe; but in the big ocean-going canoes the thwarts were spaced much wider, and a certain number of individuals, often a family, occupied each such space. It was the custom, in ocean voyages, to assign each thwart to a man and his hunuku (family and baggage), or to a number of single men. In some of the old-time ocean-going canoes it is said that each space between two thwarts would accommodate eight persons. This would mean a space of a considerable size. When a very big canoe was being paddled there would be four men on each thwart, the two outer ones paddling, the two inner ones to relieve paddlers, the others reclining between the thwarts. The latter relieve those on the thwarts.

The thwarts of a canoe were always of an even number. Canoe-thwarts were often made of matai (Podocarpus spicatus), the totara wood being of too brash a nature for the purpose. The following note seems to have a local application: The first taumanu, or thwart, page 141at the stern of a canoe, immediately in front of the chief's seat (which is a small seat just in front of the base of the stern-piece), is known as the taumanu whakahaere. The same name is applied to the thwart nearest the bow. The men on these thwarts are those who control the canoe when a rough sea rises.

The beams used as thwarts were usually split out of durable heart-wood and dressed with stone adzes to required dimensions. Splitting logs and baulks was done with hardwood wedges and wooden beetles. Among the Ngati-Porou tribesmen the following terms were applied to a set of wooden splitting-wedges:—

Sketches by Miss E. Richardson

Splitting-wedges were made from hard and tough woods, such as maire and taiki kowhai, the latter being the weathered heart-wood of Sophora tetraptera from which all sap-wood has decayed. Wedges are called matakahi and makahi in some districts. Matapipi is another name for the ora pipi above, while kaunuku is applied to a large form in the Bay of Plenty district. The wooden maul or beetle used in splitting is termed a ta or pao; it was often a club of hard maire wood, somewhat resembling a huge fern-root pounder in form.

Inasmuch as the canoe possesses no frame, it is clear that the many stout thwarts tightly lashed to the top-strakes serve to render the superstructure rigid and immovable. These thwarts are the true braces that secure the top-strake, and the latter, in the case of a waka haurni, is the agent that renders rigid the dugout hull composed of two or three pieces. The lashing of the several pieces of the hull together is by no means so effective. Thus a waka haumi without a top-strake would be almost useless, and a canoe with topsides must have thwarts to grip and strengthen them.