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Maori Storehouses and Kindred Structures

Diminutive Elevated Stores

Diminutive Elevated Stores

Of these items we find a number of illustrations in the works of early writers. Thus in Fig. 33, taken from Angas, we have no less than four small pataka, or whata-rangi, illustrating two types—the rectangular with flat floor, and the curious form made by roofing over a section of an old canoe or a portion of hollow tree-trunk.

The two specimens of the latter form are each supported by a single post; the lower rectangular one has two posts, while the upper one has one stout post and a light one supporting the rear end of the little store. In the background of the lower sketch appears the stockade of a village. The upper pataka to the left was sketched at Ahuahu, on the west coast; that to the right at Te Rapa, Taupo; the lower
From Angas.Fig. 34. Challenging a Party of Visitors.

From Angas.
Fig. 34. Challenging a Party of Visitors.

one on the left was also at Taupo; while the small one to the right rear was the property of Te Rangi-haeata, a Ngati-Toa chieftain, at Porirua. In the back-ground of the upper sketch, to the left, we see a page 51potato-store, and in the lower is a woman pounding Phormium fibre with a stone beater.

In Fig. 34 we have another scene as depicted by Angas, showing the wero (challenger) casting his spear at a party of visitors arriving at a village, m accordance with an old Maori custom. In the centre stands a small pataka supported by one post on which are cut notches to serve as steps for the purpose of ascent.

We have in Fig. 35 another sketch from Angas, showing a feast at Matata, Bay of Plenty. This is given as illustrating an open unroofed platform on which baskets of food products, probably potatoes, are stored. It also serves as a rack on which to hang
From Angas.Fig. 35. A Feast at Matata.

From Angas.
Fig. 35. A Feast at Matata.

sundry fish, while from one elevated horizontal pole are suspended bunches of maize-cobs. Putauaki, or Mount Edgecumbe, somewhat poorly defined, appears in the background.
Another village scene is presented in Fig. 36, taken from an old plate. It includes a small pataka on one supporting-post, and a
Fig. 36. Village Scene.

Fig. 36. Village Scene.

page 52 slight-looking elevated platform. In the foreground are four persons engaged in pounding the edible roots of the common fern (Pteris aquilina), formerly much used for food.
In Fig. 37 we see a small pataka, adorned with carving, as it stands in the grounds of the Sanatorium at Rotorua, while Fig. 38 shows a similar one in the model native village erected in the grounds of the New Zealand International Exhibition at Christchurch in 1906-7.
Fig. 37. Pataka in the Sanatorium Grounds, Rotorua.

Fig. 37. Pataka in the Sanatorium Grounds, Rotorua.

Fig. 38. Small Pataka in Model NativeVillage, New Zealand Industrial Exhibition, Christchurch.

Fig. 38. Small Pataka in Model NativeVillage, New Zealand Industrial Exhibition, Christchurch.

Curiously enough we have no good side-view of a carved pataka, such as Figs. 7 and 9 in the Museum collection. In like manner we are sadly lacking in illustrations of pit stores and such common and unpicturesque items.