Paths, Wharves, and Fish Ponds

Where a path was needed over sharp-pointed gravel, slabs of karaea were laid flat at intervals to form stepping stones. Paths are most noticeable on the small islet of Te Kasi. Lamont, in attempting to leave Motu-unga page 146 without the consent of his hosts, reached the islet of Te Kasi and found his way blocked by the Northwest Passage. It was then that he noticed a number of paths which he described (15, p. 188) as follows:

Angry and grieved, I sat on the mound, which, the excitement over, I dreaded the pain of walking on. Looking over it, I observed for the first time that it was hollowed out like a cone, and intersected with paths of large flat stones, some lines of which crossed over the summit and descended to the water's edge. The place had, at one time, been used for some peculiar ceremonies, but of what nature I could never afterwards learn.

Smith (23, p. 92) quotes Lamont: “In another place he says, ‘I observed that the mound was hollowed out like a cave.’” Thus, through what is probably a printer's error, Lamont's “cone” has become a “cave,” and it adds an air of further mystery to the little islet. The islet of Te Kasi has been built up largely of broken, sharp-pointed, branched coral. A strong tidal current sweeps through the Northwest Passage, and there is a back eddy between Te Kasi and the neighboring islet of Te Hara. The islet is circular, and the varying currents and tides have piled up broken coral against its periphery so that it is “hollowed out like a cone,” the sides having been built up by natural deposits of coral. Good fishing is to be had on all sides, and the foundation sites of small shelters, some of them mere patches of smooth gravel, are abundant proof, even without the assurances of the men who accompanied me, that the islet had been a favorite camping ground for fishermen. The broken, branched coral which everywhere covers the ground is the sharpest I had seen, too much so for the comfort of even the tough-footed Tongarevans. Flat slabs of karaea had therefore been laid down by the fishermen to form the paths which radiate from the hollow and cross the raised periphery to descend to the water's edge. The paths were used by the fishermen, and Lamont could never afterward learn of ceremonies because there had been none.

Each island division has a landing place opposite some channel in the inner reef where canoes can be paddled or poled over the shallow part of the lagoon to the shore. Where the water, deep enough to float the canoes, comes up to the land, the land edge has been faced with coral boulders and slabs to form a wharf and thus to prevent the land edge from crumbling away. Such an old-time wharf was noticed on the island of Kavea opposite the marae of Mahora-kura. The edge is faced with a single row of upright slabs about 2 feet high.

Where the water is too shallow for the canoes to reach the land, piers built of coral boulders have been run out into water deep enough to allow disembarkation. Lamont (15, p. 172) speaks of one of these piers:

page 147

The kingdom of Omuka is particularly fortunate in its little harbor. The wide reef we had been coasting along narrows towards its north end till it abruptly turns into the land, which, on the other hand, bends out into the lagoon, forming a quiet little cove. A pier of coral boulders has been built out some distance into deep water, so that at all times of the tide canoes, or even vessels, may come alongside.

The pier mentioned by Lamont was at the present village of Omoka, where an up-to-date wharf to serve trading schooners has taken the place of the former simple pier.

The building of wharves has been continued by the descendants of the stone age Tongarevans, but in order to give better accommodations to the larger sailing boats, bigger stones are now needed. Unfortunately, the new culture, and especially the religious side of it, has inculcated in the minds of the natives a lack of appreciation of ancient institutions. New boat wharves have been built at Tokerau, Rukutia, and other islands from the limestone pillars of maraes. It has been truly said that the altar cloth of one aeon forms the door mat of the next.

Fish ponds for the growth of young mullet were formed from some of the large, somewhat brackish freshwater pools that exist on a few of the islands. In addition, parts of the shallow lagoon are inclosed by loose walls and coral boulders, with the shore forming part of the boundary. Such inclosures were seen at Te Puka and other islands. Fish ponds, such as Moeahiahi between the islets of Te Puka-nui and Tahakoka-a-vai, were named. Mr. Philip Woonton still uses one of the fish ponds.