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Making New Zealand vol 01 no 02: The Maori
The Maori Was an Expert Fisherman With Net or Hook
The Maori Was an Expert Fisherman With Net or Hook
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Entitled 'Amuri, New Zealand, sketched 12th December, 1850,' the original of this water-colour painting is in the Canterbury Museum. The carving of stern-post and prow of the canoe shows to the expert that it was done with steel European tools by Maori craftsmen in the Kaikoura district.
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Canoes on the Wanganui River, from a sketch by J. A. Gilfillan. Note the difference in ornament between the two canoes, one a simple river dugout for short trips, the other a more elaborate canoe for longer journeys.
The Maori used his workaday canoe frequently. If his tribe lived inland, then there were eels and small fish to be taken from the river. If his was a coastal people, then he used his canoe for deep-sea fishing and for seine netting. Each tribal group had its own named fishing grounds whereon it knew each deep and shallow and the habits of all the fish that could be caught.
Many types of net were used. All of them— whether seine net or frame net, hand net or scoop net—were made from dressed flax fibre. The making of the great seine nets—anything frompage 23
500 feet to 1,000 or more yards long—was both a serious industry and a tapu undertaking. No persons other than the net makers were allowed to be present. Canoes appearing close to shore where the netters were at work were immediately seized. One of the first lot of fish caught in the new net was taken by a priestly expert to the shrine of the village and there offered to the gods. The first catch of fish was cooked in three ovens— one oven for the important men, one oven for the influential women, and the third oven for the commoners. The commoners ate only after food from the first two ovens had been tasted.
Hooks of all sizes were used for line fishing. The hooks were made of bone, wood, stone, shell, and, rarely, of greenstone. They were of various shapes according to the fish it was desired to catch. Fish line cordage was made from flax fibre. It was strong and durable.
In the catching of fresh-water fish, the Maori was also a great expert. Eels were his favourite river food. He caught them in eel-pots set at eel-weirs that zigzagged across suitable rivers. Lampreys, whitebait, and shellfish also provided a welcome change of diet according to season and fisherman's luck.
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This composite picture is taken from 'The New Zealanders Illustrated' (1847) by G. F. Angas:
- 1 • 'Mode of fishing with nets on Lake Taupo.'
- 2 • 'A fishing weir, or eel trap, on the river Mokau.'
- 3 • 'A wooden fish-hook.'
- 4 • 'Fish-hook generally in use.'
- 5 • 'Eel trap, formed of twigs.'
- 6 • 'A wooden digging stick.'
- 7 • 'A pounder for beating flax.'
- 8 • 'Wooden flute.'
- 9 • 'Bark bucket.'
- 10 • 'Flax basket.'
- 11 • 'Ancient wooden bowl for kumaras.'
- 12 • 'Flax sandals.'
- 13 • 'Flax Sandals.'
- 14 • 'An aged slave woman.'