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The Maori Race

Chapter XIII. Houses, Habitations, Etc

page 270

Chapter XIII. Houses, Habitations, Etc.

The houses and buildings of the Maori were unique in character, and, though rude, and even grotesque to the European eye, they had their own good points in the way of comfort. Some of the larger and more elaborate buildings deserved warm admiration, not only for the massive carvings with which they were decorated but for the skill and infinite patience required to produce effects with the rough material of which they were composed. They differed in their uses even more than the edifices of a civilised town, for in the many delicate shades of diversity to be observed under the iron rule of “prohibition” (tapu), buildings used for one purpose might not be used for another, and our system of having separate rooms in one large building was not to be found in a Maori village. Some houses could be used by chiefs alone, or by a single chief, for the “sacredness of his head” made it impossible for him to stoop under an ordinary doorway or the house would have become tapu and either not to be used except by him, or requiring priestly spells to make it common (noa) again. Other buildings were great carved houses page 271 (whare whakairo), places of amusement, council chambers, guest-houses, store-houses, colleges, etc. Of course all these were not to be found in every settlement, but in the larger fortified places of abode most of them appeared.

The ordinary houses varied greatly in size, from the small kind that would only hold half a dozen people to the more pretentious variety which would contain from fifty to a hundred. They were, however, mostly built on the same general plan and differed more in size and finish than in want of similarity of structure. The house (whare) was usually oblong in shape, with low side-walls, gabled-ends, one small doorway, a window-aperture placed in the end near the door, and both the two latter opening out on to a wide verandah (mahau or whaka-mahau). Inside they were, from the absence of light and ventilation, dark and stuffy, but the closely-woven thatch of roof and walls excluded draughts and made them snug and cosy. In raising the heavy timbers of a large house shears (tokorangi) were used, and a platform (rangitapu) was erected in order to handle the ponderous masses of wood. The main posts consisted of large wooden pillars (poutahu) often carved, supporting a ridge-pole (tahuhu), but part of the weight of the ridge was borne by another post (pou-tokomanawa) of a lighter character than those at the ends, and set as a central prop. Along each side large carved slabs (poupou) were stood in the ground and set leaning very slightly inward. The inner faces of these slabs were each carved to represent some ancestor or historical personage, and page 272 upon the care and workmanship bestowed on these much of the value of the house depended. They were not exactly of the same height because their top line had to be parallel with the ridge pole, which was not level, on of the end posts supporting the roof being slightly higher than that at the other end.

An even number of these slabs stood on each of the side walls (pakitara) of the house, and the space between each carved slab was beautifully finished with reed-work. These reeds (kakaho) were set vertically and fixed with lashing of different patterns made of flax or kiekie (Freycinetia) to laths (kaho tarai) about half an inch wide, crossing them at right angles. The panels of this lattice-work (tukutuku) had elaborate patterns, and the horizontal laths were gaily painted. In the poorer kind of houses there might sometimes be seen a lattice - work lining (tukutuku) of the brown stems of the common fern (Rarauhe: Pteris aquilina).

Both ridge-pole and walls were generally continued beyond the body of the building so as to form the verandah. In some cases, however, the verandah was slightly narrower than the body of the building.

On the side-slabs (poupou) rested the rafters (heke) meeting the ridge-pole above like an inverted V. The rafters were flat on the outer and somewhat curved on the inner and visible side; they were often covered with brilliant scroll-patterns painted in red, white and black.1 On the rafters were laid battens (kaho) running lengthwise with the house and fastened page 273 with lashings. Reeds (kakaho: the seed-stems of Arundo conspicua) were laid on laths (karapi) and fastened to the rafters; upon this frame-work layers (tuahuri) of bullrush leaves (raupo: Typha) were laid and fixed in place by long stitches passed through around the laths and battens. Bundles of bullrush leaves alternated with layers of cutting-grass (toetoe: Arundo conspicua; and toetoe-upoko-tangata: Cyperus ustulata) formed the bulk of the thatch (ato) of the roof (tuanui) but the outermost layer (arawhiuwhiu) was composed of the grass known as toetoe-rakau, the kind of cutting-grass grown in the forest. Tree-vines (aka: Metrosideros sp.), ropes of the climbing-fern (mangemange: Lygodium scandens) or crossed poles of teatree (manuka: Leptospermum scoparium) kept the whole thatch in place and prevented the wind ripping any of it off. Sometimes the high portion of the ridge was protected by fronds of tree-fern (ponga: Cyathea dealbata) and this shield was called turihunga.

In front of the verandah of a house, short perpendicular slabs (amo), often carved or painted, supported the barge-boards (maihi) of the gable, and formed very striking and highly embellished adornments. A carved face (koruru) was placed at the junction of the barge-boards, and above this was an image (tekoteko) which, especially on state occasions, was decked with feathers and ornaments.

This tekoteko is traditionally connected with the origin of wood-carving. In the old days there lived a chief named Ruapupuke, whose page 274 little son went with other boys to bathe. Tangaroa, the god of ocean, seized the child and set him as a tekoteko on the ridge-pole over the doorway of his house beneath the waves. Ruapupuke, on being told his son's fate, dived down to the depths of the sea and saw his boy perched up on the house-top. The child called out, but the father took no notice. Passing on, Rua came to the woman Hine-matiko-tai, who directed the man what to do to recover his son. He was to hide in the house and when it was dark the water-kelpies would come there to sleep. Then when all were asleep he was to close up every crevice, and let no warning beam of light enter. These instructions were followed. When it was nearly dawn, Tangaroa, the chief of the sea-people, awoke and asked if daylight was not near, but the woman replied, “No; sleep on!” So they slept, lulled to security by her assurances, till the sun was high. Then the light was admitted and the sea-creatures all died. Ruapupuke burnt the house—all but the door and window frames, the side-posts and the ridge-pole. These he took back to earth, and they served as patterns for human carvers of wood.

Skirting boards (papaka) were placed between the side slabs in the interior of a house. The back-end (tuarongo) of the building, that farthest from the entrance, consisted of long slabs (epa) set upright and carved like the side-pieces; these epa were generally six in number, three on each side the centre-post, with lattice of reeds between them. The epa were fastened page 275 to a board (heke-tipi) placed on edge and extending from ridge-pole to corner-post (riko). The other, the front end (roro) of the house, contained the door-way (kuwaha) and the window aperture (matapihi). The window space is now called pihanga at times, but anciently this was applied to a square opening in the roof partially closed with a louvre and used for ventilation or rather for letting out the smoke, a kind of immature chimney. In some houses there was a small orifice above the door and through this the hand could be passed to grasp the shafts of spears lying concealed under the eaves (peru), so that in case of alarm a person standing on the verandah could reach his weapons.

The threshold (paepae poto) was an important piece of timber and often received a special name, such as Pae-a-Hakumanu (the threshold of the Maori house in Christchurch Museum). The doorsill received particular attention in the ceremonial opening of a building. In the upper surface of the sill was a groove in which a wide board (papa) slid horizontally and served as a door (tatau). It was not permitted for anyone to sit on the inner threshold of a house, as it was tapu and the proverbial saying respecting it was “Respect the sacred threshold of Hou.” The two side-jambs (whakawai) of the doorway supported a piece of wood (tuapoki) on which rested the elaborately-carved lintel (korupe). The doorways themselves were very low, and a grown-up person would have to bend low to enter. The small window-aperture, which was about two feet square, had a sliding page 276 shutter of wood, similar to that of the doorway. Both door and window-shutter were sometimes fastened by knotted cords (ruru-aho-tuwhere) and great ingenuity was shown in making peculiar knots to ensure that strangers should not enter.

A kind of boundary step or low fence to the verandah was formed by the outer threshold (paepaewaho or paepae-roa, or paepae-kai-awha) consisting of a thick slab of wood set on edge. This outer sill often received a distinctive name, thus, in the great house “Hotunui” at the Thames, it is called Ruamano; in the Christchurch Museum house “Hau-te-ana-nui-o-Tangaroa” (The Great Sacred Cave of the Sea God). The outer threshold is sometimes named Te Pae o Rarotonga.

The Maori house had no chimney, except the pihanga above mentioned, but often a substitute for a fireplace was made by the formation of a small hearth (takuahi) defined by four stone slabs placed on edge. Of course the fire burnt thereon was only used to obtain warmth, not for cooking purposes; cooking was attended to in the open air or under shed-roofs. Often the fire was made of rimu bark so as to give as little smoke as possible. The small hearth usually occupied a position between the front roof-pillar and that supporting the centre of the ridge-pole. There was (usually) no outlet for the smoke, and to this cause must be ascribed the inflamed eyes from which many old natives suffered.

In the smaller houses and food-stores, the interior of the roof and walls was often to be page 277 seen lined with leaves of the palm-tree (nikau: Areca sapida). They were set in regular rows with the fronds neatly plaited, and these had a very handsome appearance.

Some of the dwelling-houses were called “nestling-houses” (whare-puni) or “warm houses” (whare-mahana) because in them the inmates crowded together for warmth. These could often be seen banked up with earth at the sides (and partly up the roof), the floor being sunk a foot or two below the outside surface-level of the ground. Every chink and crevice being stopped up to exclude draughts, such houses were very unhealthy, not only from the vitiated air, and the presence of smoke, but from the danger to those using them when leaving the heated atmosphere within and meeting the more child temperature outside.

Inside the larger dwelling-houses pieces of wood (pae or pahuruhanga) were laid to mark off resting places from the narrow passage between, and also to keep the fern and rushes used as bedding from drifting about the floor. Sleeping- or floor-mats (whariki) were laid over the rushes, etc., on occasion. When a man of importance shared a whare with others of his family his sleeping place was sometimes screened off.

There are few perfect specimens of Maori architecture left in New Zealand. There are still some beautifully carved specimens of tribal meeting-houses to be seen, but almost all of them have been spoilt by the introduction of European doors and windows, or by some page 278 incongruity of the kind. The Maori houses in Wellington (the name of the house at Wellington is Te-hauki-Turanga) and Christ-church Museums have been marred by the introduction of glass windows or an entrance in the side walls or fluted boards instead of reed-work, or some other defect. The carved house at Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, is a beautiful and almost unique representation of an ancient Maori building. Hotunui, the assembly house at the Thames, is a fine structure. It measures eighty feet in length by thirty-three in breadth and twenty-four in height. Twenty figures of ancestors embellish each side of the interior. When it was being erected, the ridge-pole, from its immense weight, baffled all attempts to raise it into position until an old priest chanted the invocation known as “the raising of Tainui” (Te huti o Tainui) when the great tree at once slipped easily into its place. Later, a number of the workmen fell ill, on account of some women having made a cooking-fire with the chips from the chisel of the carver, and the sickness (mate-ruahine) had to be “lifted” by means of priestly ceremonial. A small fire was made among the other chips and two sweet potatoes (kumara) roasted thereon. These, after many incantations, were given to the daughter of the chief to eat, and when she had disposed of the food the plague was stayed.

The house was very tapu during its erection; no woman was allowed inside, nor could cooked food be taken therein. When all was finished page 279 and the house ready for occupation the ceremony of its “naming” and opening to the public had to be proceeded with. The people assembled and stood in front of the structure. The officiating priest fastened a piece of some sacred plant to the main centre-post (poutuarongo) at the back of the house; afterwards, holding a branch of karamu or kawakawa (sacred shrubs), he recited the kawa-whare incantation, striking different parts of the house with the branch the while. Then he ascended the roof and chanted the spell (karakia whakanoa) to lift the tapu from the house and make it “common” (noa), the people joining in the chorus. If the priest made a slip or mistake in his incantation it was a sign that the building would soon be destroyed or that the death of the builders was near. The priest having entered the house through the window and opened the door the building had to be left, until, as the Morning Star, Kopu, arose in the sky, three women of rank (generally old) went through the doorway to “trample the threshold” (takahi te paepae). Had this not been done before the public entered, the ridge-pole (the sacred back-bone) of the house would have sagged down in the centre and the appearance of the house would have been destroyed. This “treading of the threshold” safely accomplished the house was open to those entitled to enter.

A more terrible ceremony accompanied the opening of very grand houses, such as a temple or council-hall. A member of the tribe was killed and his heart was cut out, cooked, and page 280 eaten by the officiating priest, with many incantations uttered therewhile. Among the East Coast tribes the body of the victim was buried inside the house at the base of the end-slab (poupou-tuarongo) next the back of the building, on the left side looking from the entrance. Among the Arawa, Urewera, and many other tribes the body was buried at the foot of the central pillar, the pou-tokomanawa. The body of the victim was called a “stone” (whatu) * for he was the foundation-stone of the new edifice. In some cases, after a lapse of time, exhumation took place and the bones would be taken to a shrine or altar (tuāhu) to be deposited as a spiritual influence (manea) for the owner of the house.

Not only was a near relative needed as a sacrifice of this kind, but even a favourite child of the ruling chief might be selected. Taraia, to make sacred his new house at Herepu, near Karamu, Hawke's Bay, slew his youngest boy and offered him as a whatu. Thus goes the lullaby-song (oriori):

“Then Taraia built his house,
Placing his youngest child
As a whatu for the rearmost pillar
Of his house Te Raro-akiaki.”

Instances have been known of the sacrifice of slaves as whatu, but ordinary men were not of sufficient consequence for such a purpose. If, however, a distinguished captive was available the victim might suffice, as Te Whakaroro, page 281 when captured by the Ati-Hapai tribe, was used as a whatu for their great temple, Te Uru o Manono. His bones exhumed and hung up within the building, guided, by their rattling, his son Whakatau to the place to wreak vengeance for the insult.

An important house was always erected so as to lie with its greatest length north and south, in order that the spirits of the dead flying northwards to Te Reinga (Hades) might not cross the ridge-pole and so destroy the inmates. A certain sort of resemblance to humanity seemed to the Maori to pervade a great house. Where the chiefs sat, inside, near the window, i.e., the roro or front end, was the head, the rafters were ribs, the ridgepole the back-bone, etc. A lofty name often that of an ancestor, was given to such a house, and it was supposed to have a prestige and spiritual identity (mana) of its own.

Next to the large public buildings the most highly decorated structures were the store-houses (pataka or whata). Those used for kumara were painted red as containing sacred food, and some of these had balconies all round them. Generally the food-stores were like the ordinary house, in the shape of an inverted V placed on side walls, but the stores were raised on high strong posts or piles cut in such a manner as to make them impossible for rats to climb. Each had a verandah approached by a notched pole or slab (arawhata) used as a ladder. In one example to be seen near Napier the piles were carved into images of human beings supporting the pataka. The page 282 interiors often showed side-slabs of tree-fern stems roughly worked, but the outside was profusely ornamented with fine carving, inlaid haliotis (paua) shell and feathers. Some food stores were very large, but tiny ones, the property of individual chiefs, dotted the enclosure of a fortified village. Other storehouses, also on piles, served as armouries to contain the spears and weapons of the warriors or as receptacles for the valuable fishing nets of the maritime tribes. Rough whata for holding firewood were also to be seen in a pa.

There are no verified instances of the natives erecting stone buildings, although legend refers to a large house of stone on Waiheke Island, near Auckland. Houses have been known to be erected on platforms in trees as aerial forts, and food stores have been seen constructed above the surface of deep water, as in Horowhenua Lake, but both these methods of gaining additional security may be considered as abnormal and extra to Maori usage. Canoe-sheds (wharau) were used by natives dwelling on the coast or near large rivers; these sheds were little more than roofs of thatch intended to protect valuable vessels from sun-cracks.

Artificial caves or pits (rua) were excavated for the purpose of storing tubers as food. These were sometimes lined with timber, and so formed little houses underground. They were seldom decorated; a little carving on the lintel of the doorway being the only ornament. Cooking was done in small sheds (kauta), generally mere roofs on poles, page 283 although the uninflammable stems of tree-ferns were used at times to make rough side walls. Each chief and family had their own cooking-shed, but it was possible that several cooking-places might be under one roof, so long as each had a separate entrance, and was partitioned off from the others, if only by stacks of firewood.

The sacred portion (wahi-tapu) of a village was a place set apart from common uses, generally just outside the pa and usually fenced off. It might contain the body of a chief which there awaited the final burial or exhumation (hahunga), but it might be only a place in which “prohibited” (tapu) things were placed. For example, the remnants of a chief's food had to be thrown into such a place, lest any inferior might partake of them. In more modern times the wahitapu has become a cemetery.

* Whatu is “stone” everywhere in Polynesia, but in modern Maori it is Kowhatu; the word whatu being reserved for “fruit-stone” or “hail-stone.”