The Inanga, or Whitebait
(Retropinna richardsoni and Galaxias attenuatus)

These inanga were taken in great numbers in some districts, and formed a prized article of food among the natives. As in the case of many other kinds of fish, they were dried and so preserved for future use.

The Maori folk have evolved a curious myth concerning the origin of the inanga, inasmuch as these small fish, also the tui or koko bird, are said to have originated with, or to be the descendants of, one Rehua. Now, Rehua is the name of one of the atua, or supernatural beings, of the uppermost of the twelve heavens, and who is one of the attendants of the Supreme Being. But among the Matatua tribes of the Bay of Plenty district, who imparted to me this myth, Rehua is the name of the star Antares, and it is apparently this Rehua that is alluded to in the myth. Moreover, Rehua is likened to a bird, whose wings, one of which is broken, are represented by certain stars in Scorpio. The fact that Rehua is connected with birds recalls the fact that lehua and rehua are old Polynesian terms for a forest. According to the folk-tale, the inanga, in long-past times, asked Rehua what their duties were to be, and he replied, "When you see a certain gleaming redness appear in the heavens, know that it is a sign for you to proceed to your ancestress Wainui [personified form of the ocean] and there give birth to her grandchildren, after which page 202all will return to the waters of land." So it is that during the Turu and Rakaunui nights of the moon (sixteenth and seventeenth nights of moon) the inanga folk migrate to Wainui, there to bring forth their young. They do not remain there until their young are ready to ascend the rivers, but leave them to be nurtured by the ocean-waves, so it is that the old fish return. When men see the gleaming appearance in the heavens, they say, "O friends! the inanga are migrating." There are said to be three such movements of these fish, the second being known as that of the Kohi o Autahi, and the third as that of Takero, for it is Takero that gives the sign for it to start. The Kohi o Autahi-ma-Rehua is an expression applying to autumn or early winter, while Takero is a star-name. When the parent fish return to the rivers they are termed karaha, hiwi, and pahore (nga pahore o Rehua); this occurs during the months of Matahi and Maruaroa, the first and second months of the Maori year—say, May-July. Many of these old fish were taken as they returned, but the young fish coming later were more highly prized. The young fish ascend the rivers about September: these are called kaeaea, koeaea, porohe, &c. Thus we find in a song of yore, "Te kaeaea i tuku mai rara; i haramai koe i te tai honuhonu o Meremere." The Matatua folk often dried inanga on exposed banks of shingle in river-beds, where the heat of the sun was greater than elsewhere. They were then packed tightly in baskets, a process described by the word whaka. Hunga. A basket full of this delicacy was termed a kete whakahunga-

In another account of the fish connected with Rehua the inanga is not mentioned. This note is from a Takitumu source; the first given came from Matatua. The Takitumu folk explained that the birds and fish pertaining to Rehua were the koko and kopara birds, and the moki, kanae, matamoe, patiki, and maomao fish; these were the vermin that infested the head of Rehua. When visitors reached his home he shook the vermin out of his hair to serve as food for the party of visitors. (Ko nga kai o roto o te mahunga o Rehua he koko, he kopara, he moki, he kanae, he matamoe, he patiki, he maomao, he kutu no roto i tona upoko. Ka puta mai te manuhiri ki tona kainga page 203ka ruia e ia nga kutu o tona upoko hei kai ma te ope ki tona kainga.) This is an unusual and singular version, and the connection between Rehua of the forest and sea-fish is by no means clear.

A small net, called a rana and ranga, was used in taking whitebait on the east coast of the North Island. In the Otaki district a form of trap or net made of a thin rush called wiwi tone was used for the purpose. The ranga, as made by Ngati-Porou, was not a netted fabric, but a kind of mat made of rushes or a plaited mat-like fabric of strips of undressed flax resembling a floor-mat. It was about 10 ft. in length and 3 ft. in width; it had a short rod at each end to expand it. Missionary Taylor tells us that inanga were driven into shoal water and caught with a long, shallow, oval net, or taken in deep water in a funnel-shaped net fixed to the end of a pole; being small and scaleless, the whole fish is eaten.

In vol. 51 of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute the Rev. H. J. Fletcher describes how inanga were taken at Taupo by means of traps and nets. Rushes were used as material for the traps, and a form of weir was erected, at the open part of which a trap would be set. These traps, of the hinaki type, were set at the openings of weirs erected in streams ascended by the fish. It is not quite clear as to what the form of the weir was, but apparently it was a straight barrier extending from the bank out into the stream for some distance, but inclining down-stream. "At the narrow place the hinaki was securely fastened with the mouth in the narrow gap. The young fish ascending the river would crowd into the place prepared for them and pass on into the hinaki." Evidently in this case the opening at which the trap was set was near the bank, and the trap was set with its mouth down-stream, in which case there must have been some device at the inner end of the funnel entrance to the trap to prevent the fish escaping. Set with mouth down-stream, the water-pressure would not tend to keep the entrapped fish in the hinaki, but to force them to the entrance. The writer refers to an illustration of a weir with inanga trap set thereat in Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 2, p. 56; but that illustration shows a V-shaped weir, and the trap set with its mouth up-stream apparently. I have myself seen inanga taken as they proceeded down-stream, but in such cases they were driven down by a number of natives walking abreast and noisily splashing through the water.

In a later communication Mr. Fletcher states that in the Taupo district pa inanga, or weirs for taking whitebait, were not carried right across a stream. A spot was chosen at a place where the current struck in towards the bank and formed a small eddy. "The shore fence was not carried far out, only far enough to give a sufficient page 204depth of water to cover the hinaki. The outer fence was carried out far enough to be sure that the stream of inanga did not pass outside of it. When travelling up-stream inanga keep near the banks and in shallow water…. The angle of the approach varied with the conditions of the bank and stream, but it was always more or less acute. A peg called a tou was driven into the bed of the stream above the weir for the purpose of fastening the hinaki securely. A loop was worked on the net [?] to drop over the peg; these hinaki were square-ended." It now looks clearer: the peg mentioned would hold the trap in position, while the weir was really composed of two fences and was apparently of the V-shaped form, though this is not stated. Apparently the apex of the V was up-stream and the hinaki trap faced down-stream.

The rush-like plant used for making these fish-traps of Taupo seems to be Cladium Vauthiera; it is there found growing among manuka and scrub. It was kept in water when traps were being made, so as to preserve its pliant nature. This may be the wiwi tane of Otaki, and again it may not.

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Mr. Fletcher tells us that the net formerly employed at Taupo for taking inanga in the open lake was from 50 to 100 yards in length, and 6 ft. to 8 ft. in depth—a large net for fresh-water use; but, then, it was used in the lake. Wooden floats were attached to these nets, which were worked from canoes out in the lake or from the shore. Such fishing continued from September to March. These nets seem to have been used as seines or drag-nets. Probably those seen by Angas were of smaller size. He wrote as follows concerning their use: "They have a clever method of taking them: between two canoes is fastened a net into which they drive the shoals of small fish by means of a pole about 20 ft. long, having at the ends tufts of raupo or grass, which they wave along the surface of the water."

The tapora net for inanga mentioned by Mr. T. H. Smith in his paper on Maori implements (Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. 26,) I know not, but the name is certainly applied to small baskets in which inanga and other small fish are cooked. Angas speaks of his native travelling companions cooking an excellent supper "consisting of masses of small fish enclosed in flax-leaves and tied up in bundles; these packages were placed upright before the fire against a frame of sticks, and were kept turned round until sufficiently cooked, when they emptied out of the broad leaves beautifully done."

These inanga, when ascending streams, naturally seek slack water, and, knowing this, the Maori often took them by means of a device termed umu, koumu, and whakaumu—three names it hath. As explained by a member of the Ngati-Porou Tribe, the device was a simple one, consisting merely of an excavated ditch made on the down-stream side of a sand or shingle bank and continued for some distance into the same. This trench was made so that as the fish worked up-stream they found the entrance to it and noted that it contained running water; hence they would enter it and endeavour to so pass up-stream. When the shoal, or a goodly portion of it, had entered the trap, in which there would be not less than 6 in. of water, the trench-diggers appeared on the scene, and, after blocking the page 206 open end of the trench, proceeded to scoop out the whitebait in rah (plaited baskets). The trench might be carried 50 ft. into the sandbank. As is well-known, such an exposed gravel or sand bank is often situated where a rapid exists in a river, and ascending fish would readily enter any side channel available in the hope of avoiding such rapid. In reaching the end of the excavated trench they would seek in vain for an outlet in that direction. This informant also, told me that tuarenga are the young of inanga-papa, and inanga-purakau.

Now, under certain circumstances the above plan would doubtless work well—that is, if the trench were excavated in a deposit of stones, gravel, or sand through which water seeped more or less readily, so as to produce a certain amount of current flowing down the trench. The migrating fish would here find easy water and take advantage of it. But if the blind trench was made of earth, clay, or silt formation through which no seepage water flowed, the water in the trench would be dead water, having no current. It is doubtful if the fish would enter such dead water; not detecting any current, they would probably decide to continue their way up the main stream. In the Otaki district this trench device was commonly employed in the taking of inanga, but the trench was carried right through the spit or tongue of land, hence the waters flowed freely through it. A form of fish-trap termed a kaka was used in connection with this trench-page 207like water-run. As described by two Otaki correspondents, this trap was of cylindrical form and was open at one end. Its length was some 4 ft. or 5 ft., and the diameter 12 in. to 18 in. One end was closed, and the other left entirely open, having no form of entrance funnel such as is seen in hinaki. The material formerly employed was either strips of Phormium leaf or rushes, the former being considered the best for the purpose. It was made by means of a plaiting process in the case of Phormium, but I am not aware as to what method was used in making the rush trap. This trap was laid in the waters of the trench so that about about half of it was submerged, the trench being made narrow, so that the trap practically filled it. This trap would be kept in shape by means of aka hoops, and probably a couple of rods lashed to it longitudinally imparted rigidity to it. These two details were not explained.

In some cases a wing fence was run out into the stream to turn the fish into the trench in which the kaka was set. In ascending a river the inanga hunt slack water, and so hug the bank, as a rule. They pass up the trench if the current therein is not too strong for their liking, and so pass into the kaka trap, through which water flows readily. So the fish enter the open (lower) end of the trap and pass up inside the trap until they reach its closed (up-stream) end, where they find further progress blocked. They do not turn and swim down-stream, but endeavour to find a passage through the closed end of the trap, for the current tells them that the waters are running free ahead of them. When the fish are running well a person remains by the trench to empty the trap occasionally, after which he resets it.

When the inanga are migrating seaward they act as do eels—that is, they cease to hug the bank, and take advantage of the current.

In these degenerate, or advanced, days the kaka form of fish-trap, though still employed, is of very different materials, inasmuch as it is composed of a wire frame covered with wire gauze; moreover, it is not cylindrical, but is of the shape of a cylinder that has been bisected longitudinally. These curious contraptions are made up to 6 ft. in length and 3 ft. in width.

This name of kaka is, in the South Island, applied not to a trap, but to a long rectangular net of the kupenga hao type. The following note, contributed by Mr. W. J. Phillipps, explains how this net was used:—

A Maori Method of taking Inanga in Lakes Forsyth and Ellesmere.

Enormous numbers of larval smelts (Retropinna retropinna) and larval minnow (Galaxias attenuatus) were formerly taken during the spring and early summer months in Lakes Ellesmere and Forsyth. During February, 1926, I found post-larval smelts common in Lake Forsyth, while Galaxias attenuatus was less common. These post-larval page 208smelts have a band of silver on the side, which is less apparent in the adult. They are called tikihemi by North Island Maoris, who also refer to the adult as paraki.

To take the inanga a net called kaka was made of flax stripped down to 3 mm. wide, and cross-strands plaited as in fig. 82. These vertical strands of flax were kept a uniform width to prevent the occurrence of weak patches. The net was generally about 6 ft. high and 30 yards long, though sometimes the length was much greater. Over one hundred longitudinal strands of flax were plaited, and the mesh was seldom more than 1½ mm. Poles held the net taut and upright at each end, and sinkers were attached below.

A diagram (fig. 83) has been prepared to illustrate the method by which inanga were secured. The net was taken to point A in a small bay of the lake. Here the net was placed on board a canoe, one end being left on shore, where it was held upright by one or more natives. The canoe was taken in a semicircular direction to the point B, the net being payed out as the canoe proceeded. On arrival at B, assuming all the net to have been payed out, the boat was turned to row slowly with the net parallel to the shore in the direction of D, while simultaneously natives at A commenced to drag their end of the net to C. The natives on shore stood still at C while the canoe moved on, dragging the net page 209behind it in a semicircular direction through E and F to G. When the canoe had arrived at G, natives at C commenced to gradually bring the net ashore between G and K, by which time the canoe occupants would have dragged their end of the net ashore at H. Natives at H and K now gradually approached each other until they were at points O and N. In the small semicircular portion of the net between these points the majority of the fish were found. This last part of the net was dragged ashore very carefully.

The net fabric illustrated in fig. 82 does not show the Maori ta, or netting process employed in net-making, but the whatu process, by means of which garments were woven—the "tied cloth" of some writers. In this case two cross-strips are used, whereas four were often employed when fabricating garments. This inanga net must resemble a mat in appearance.

The following notes on the taking and drying of inanga were obtained from a South Island native:—

The taking of inanga: The first run of these fish commenced in the autumn, and these early ones are called pukoareare. When they entered the streams the channels dug for the purpose of taking them had been already prepared by the Maori. The water of the stream was allowed to flow through these channels even to the time when the inanga migrated. When the fish entered a channel it was blocked with a kaka, a form of fish-trap. The place selected for taking the fish was carefully prepared. In early morn the traps were arranged when the sun was well up, then the traps were lifted, and found to be full of fish. These were spread out on papaki or on ordinary mats. These papaki fabrics were carefully plaited by women to serve as page 210mats on which to spread these fish. They were so exposed for as long as seven days, or even longer, then packed in baskets and stowed on stages. The first run of inanga continued for a month; then came the second run or migration, known as matuaiwi, and now great numbers of the fish were seen. Again the fish would pass into the artificial channels, also old channels made in former times. Many persons participated in the task of taking this fish at the fish-taking place of each clan. The places where the fish were to be caught were blocked. If a large stream, the places selected for taking the fish were very carefully prepared by the native folk. Great numbers were taken in the kaka traps, and spread out to dry. Those people who did not care to spread their fish out on the papaki flax mats just spread them on the surface of the earth or on tussock-grass; some considered that the fish acquired from the flax mats a bitter flavour. Should a meal of fresh fish be desired, then some would be cooked and eaten. When the fish were spread out for drying, then some were cooked in a steam-oven—such as it was desired should be so cooked. Others were kept in the dried condition in baskets and stowed in elevated stores for future seasons. The inanga is always taken in the daytime, and it is caught during three periodical runs that occur in April, May, and June. (See Appendix 15 for the Maori version of these notes.)

The following effusion appears to be a form of charm repeated by persons engaged in taking inanga:—

Tere te inanga nei, tere ki te auaunga o te wai
Tere te inanga nei, tere ki te hikuhiku o te wai
Oi whiwhia, oi rawea
Homai taku taonga ki au; he taonga!

The late Wi Tauri, of Taupo, stated that when the task of netting inanga was commenced, then the principal expert took two fish of the first catch and deposited them at the sacred place of the village as an offering to Rongomai. When the netting was over for the day, then a ceremonial feast was held, for which a part of the catch was cooked in separate steam-ovens—one for the priestly expert, one for the ruahine (a woman who took part in the tapu-removing ceremony), one for the fishermen, and another for the bulk of the people. All such ceremonial performances were held to be highly necessary. If the taumaha ceremony over the offering of two fish mentioned above was neglected, then the fishermen would meet with no further success. Again, on this first day of the fishing those who remained at the village were not allowed to partake of food, or to cook any, until the fishermen had returned and the proper ceremonies had been performed.

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Some interesting specimens of hinaki inanga, or whitebait-traps, have been preserved in our museums. These traps are smaller than eel-pots, and some of them are diminutive. Old specimens that have been found buried in swamps are noteworthy on account of the extremely fine workmanship displayed in their manufacture. Two such traps in the Auckland Museum (Nos. 5530 and 6036) show very neat work, the material employed being small split stems of mange-mange. No. 5530 is but 15 in. in length and 7 in. or 8 in. in width.

Mr. H. E. R. Wily, of Mauku, Auckland, describes a diminutive hinaki that must have been used in taking small fish in the long ago. His description is as follows: "About forty years ago a heavy flood cut a channel through the Akaaka Swamp and lowered the level of the peat about 12 ft. Twenty years later I began draining, and found my hinaki, which had been covered by about 17 ft. of peat. The hinaki is 10 in. long and 5 in. in diameter. The longitudinal strips run thirteen to every 2 in. with great regularity, and are crossed every ⅝ in. in just the same way as yours. [See Journal of Science for January, 1919.] It is made of split mangemange, with the split side inside. The apex where the strips meet is most ingeniously finished off. The aperture for emptying is near the apex, and is 2½ in. by 2 in. A staple is neatly worked into the fabric to make the small trap-lid fast to. This lid is woven in the same manner as the body, but the longitudinal strips composing it are diagonally woven into the main fabric in such a manner that when unfastened it flies open and remains so."

W. T. Power, in his Sketches in New Zealand (1849), writes as follows of the inanga: "There is a kind of whitebait in most of the rivers in the spring months quite equal to their Blackwall congeners. The Maoris catch them in flax nets in immense quantities, and cook them in compressed masses in their underground ovens. In this state they resemble fish-cheese, and are by no means to be despised."

Colenso tells us that inanga were dried in the sun for future use.

The small fish called tikihemi (smelt) is sometimes taken with inanga. It is a scaly fish about 5 in. in length, flat-sided and sharp-nosed, having a blue stripe along its sides from gills to tail. It goes to sea about March, and comes up the streams with the inanga. They are not so plentiful as they used to be from Wellington to the Manawatu. The Rev. R. Taylor speaks of the tikihemi as follows: "The tikihemi corresponds with our trout; it is sometimes found of the length of 14 in., but is seldom taken in any quantity." This seems to refer to a quite different fish. In years past our tikihemi was taken in considerable numbers after a flood in the Otaki River, when it would be found in the pools left by the receding flood. This fish is called titihimi by Mr. Downes in his paper on fish of the page 212Whanganui River (see Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. 50, p. 307).He terms it the smelt, and states that it is known as ngaure (?ngaore) when young, and takeke when large. Ngaore is a term applied to the young of inanga.