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Maori StorehousesandKindred Structures
Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 5
First published 1916
Reprinted without textual alteration 1974
Angas, G. F.—Artist and writer who travelled in New Zealand in the "forties," author of "New-Zealanders Illustrated," 1847, and "Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand," 1847, 2 vols.
Cheeseman, T. F.—Author of "Manual of the New Zealand Flora," 1906.
Colenso, W.—Author of many papers on Maori subjects in "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," &c.
Coote, W. —Author of "Wanderings South and East," 1882.
Crozet, W.—"Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, &c., in 1771-72," by H. Ling Roth, 1891.
Cruise.—Author of "Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand," 1823.
Davis, C. O.—Author of "Maori Mementoes," 1855, &c.
Dieffenbach, E.—Author of "Travels in New Zealand," 2 vols., 1843.
Earle, A.—Author of "Narrative of a Residence in New Zealand in 1827," published in 1832.
Ellis, W.—Author of "Polynesian Researches," 4 vols., 1831.
Grey, Sir George.—Formerly Governor of New Zealand, author of "Polynesian Mythology," &c. The journal of his journey in the North Island in 1849 was written by G. S. Cooper.
Gudgeon, Colonel W. E.—Author of many papers on Maori subjects in "Monthly Review," "Journal of the Polynesian Society," &c.
Hammond, Rev. T. G.—Author of several papers on Maori subjects in "Journal of the Polynesian Society," &c.
Hare Hongi.—Author of various papers on Maori matters in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," &c.
Heaphy, Major.—Author of a paper on Early Wellington, published in Vol. xii, "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," and other items.
Hiko, Te.—An intelligent chief of the Ngati-Toa clan, of Pori-rua.
Jameson, R. G.—Author of "New Zealand and Australia," 1842.
"Maori Art."—Published by the New Zealand Institute.
Mariner.—"An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands," by W. Mariner, 2 vols., 1817.
Marshall, W. B.—Author of "Two Visits to New Zealand in H.M.S. 'Alligator' in 1834," 1836.
McDonnell, Colonel.—Author of "A Native Account of the Pakeha-Maori Wars," 1887.
Nicholas, J. L.—Author of "Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand in 1814," 2 vols., 1817.
Polack, J. S.—Author of "Travels and Adventures in New Zealand," 2 vols., 1838, and "Manners and Customs of the New-Zealanders," 2 vols., 1840.
Power, W. T.—Author of "Sketches in New Zealand," 1849.
Savage, Dr.—Author of "Some Account of New Zealand," 1807.
Selwyn, Bishop.—See "Journal of the Bishop of New Zealand's Visitation through his Diocese," 1849.
Shortland, E.—Author of "Maori Religion and Mythology," "The Southern Districts of New Zealand," and "Traditions of the New-Zealanders."
Skinner, W. H.—Writer of an interesting description of an old-time Maori pa, or fortified village. (See "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Vol. xx). Also donated information verbally.
Smith, S. Percy.—Author of "The Peopling of the North," "Hawaiki," &c.
Stack, Canon.—Author of "Kaiapohia" and "The South Island Maoris"; also papers on Maori subjects in "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute."
Stowell, H. M.—The European name of Hare Hongi; a gifted contributor to our Bulletins.
Taylor, Rev. R.—Author of "Te Ika a Maui," 2nd ed., 1870; also "New Zealand Past, Present, and Future," 1865.
Thomson, Dr.—Author of "The Story of New Zealand," 2 vols., 1859.
Tregear, E.—Author of "The Maori Polynesian Comparative Dictionary" and other works.
Tuta Nihoniho.—A late chief of the Ngati-Porou Tribe, formerly an officer in the Native Contingent. An enthusiastic collector and contributor.
Wade, W. R.—Author of "A Journey in New Zealand," 1842.
Wakefield, E. J.—Author of "Adventures in New Zealand," 2 vols., 1845.
Walsh, Archdeacon.—Author of a paper "On the Cultivation and Treatment of the Kumara," in Vol. xxxv of "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute."
Whatahoro.—A native contributor of much interesting matter on Maori customs, &c.
White, John.—Author of "The Ancient History of the Maori," in 6 vols.; also of some interesting lectures on Maori customs, &c., published with Gudgeon's "History and Doings of the Maoris," 1885.
Williams's Maori Dictionary.—A very carefully compiled and reliable work.
Yate, Rev. W.—Author of "An Account of New Zealand," 1835.
In the description of Maori usages in the matter of the storage of food-supplies which is given in the following pages, a method similar to that employed in the compilation of Bulletin No. 4 has been adopted—viz., the many scattered observations made by early voyagers and travellers have been brought together, and have been supplemented by such new matter as could be collected from natives and others.
The personal examination of interesting systems of cave and pit storage-places, as seen in or near some of the old fortified places of the Maori, impresses the observer with a sense of the great care displayed by the natives in former times in the preservation of food-supplies
It is held that a description of items pertaining to Maori technology will tend to throw light upon many phases of the social life and customs of the natives, a subject that we hope to deal with in the future.
The construction of the elaborately adorned elevated storehouses is now becoming a thing of the past, hence it has been deemed advisable to place on record illustrations of the highly curious and interesting carved designs employed in such adornment, as also some description of other storage-places.
The various objects to be described under this heading may be classified as follows:—
The first of these series is by far the most important, from the native and European point of view, as it includes the carefully constructed and elaborately carved structures with which most of us are familiar, and which often displayed evidence of the highest form of artistic skill attained by the wood-carvers of Maoriland.
The second series includes the communal storehouses found in some native hamlets in former times, as well as others of a more private nature.
The third series embraces many different forms of elevated platforms, and also racks, used as storage-places for food.
The fourth division includes the various forms of pits and semi-subterranean storage-places that were so largely used by the Maori of former times.
The two native terms pataka and whata appear to be used in a somewhat loose manner, and are both applied to the elevated storehouse and the simple platform, stage, or scaffold with no erection thereon. This is somewhat confusing. The generic term for pits is rua, these food-storage pits being known in full as rua kai (food-pits), or by such terms as rua kumara (sweet-potato pit or store) and rua taewa (potato-store).
To judge from information obtained from various sources, the term pataka could not rightly be applied to an open platform—i.e., uncovered and without walls—as it implies something "enclosed."
The term whata, however, simply means "to elevate, to support, or elevate on supports," hence it would appear that this term might be applied to both pataka and open platforms.
Polack terms the raised storehouses or pataka, pouaka (pouwaka), about which name there is some doubt. Pouaka is a genuine Maori word, but we need corroboration as to its application as above given. Polack's knowledge of the native tongue was not extensive. We have seen the word pouaka used as a name for the waka, or trough used in snaring birds; but this also needs corroboration. Pouwaka (not pouaka): Properly speaking, says Mr. Stowell, this name, among Nga-Puhi, applies only to little carved boxes, or diminutive pataka, in which bones of the dead were placed and kept. They were about 30 in. long, and adorned with carved slabs, being placed on the top of a single post about 14 ft. from the ground. They were termed pouwaka whakairo. Occasionally a tohunga would ascend to view the receptacle, to see that the bones had not been interfered with. He ascended by means of a notched beam (ara-whata), which would be taken away again, not left there. A word of somewhat similar form is pouraka, which denotes (1) a platform erected on one supporting-post; (2) a box-like receptacle for a dead body, which was also placed on a post,, according to Williams.
John White applies the names whata, timanga, and komanga to the pataka, or raised storehouse. He remarks that such places are built on two plates hollowed out on one side, the hollow side being downwards when the beams are put in position on the supporting-posts. This was to prevent rats passing up into the storehouse.
The fine carved storehouses raised on posts were termed whata papaka on the east coast. The carvings thereof were of the koruru and karearea type.
Williams's Maori Dictionary gives: "Pataka, storehouses raised upon posts, elevated stage for storing food; (2) enclosure." "Whata, elevated stage for storing food." Also, "Whatarangi, stage or platform elevated on two or more posts." This latter word might be given as whata a rangi.
We hear the term whata applied to platforms, stages, scaffolds, racks, and elevated storehouses. On the other hand, in a letter written by a Wai-rarapa native in 1857, the term pataka is applied to a rude scaffold erected for use in felling a tree; also, the word is used as a verb: "Ka patakatia e au kia tae ki te wahi iti o te rakau" (I constructed a pataka against the tree to enable me to reach the smaller part of the trunk). It would thus appear that both these terms, pataka and whata, are used by natives in a wide sense, as embracing both elevated houses and elevated platforms and stages, including rude scaffolds. This leaves us lacking in specific native terms for these two types of storage-places. The term whata, however, we can follow northward into the many-isled sea, and see that the ancestors of the Maori knew it as a name for a stage or platform, &c., ere they migrated to New Zealand: Tahitian, fata, an altar, a scaffold; Samoan, fata, a raised storehouse, a shelf, &c.; Tongan, fata, a loft, &c.; Mangaian, ata, a shelf; Futuna, fata, a stage; Paumotan, afata, a box; while Moriori gives whata, a raft.
In his account of Te Reinga, Mr. Percy Smith states that a northern native, of the Au-pouri Tribe, informed him that in the north the doors of the kumara stores were always turned to the north, for fear the spirits travelling from the south should enter and thereby tapu the kumara, and so render them unfit for food: This idea does not seem to have obtained elsewhere.
It was customary to build pataka so that they faced the sun—that is, faced some point between east and north, north-east or east by north being the usual aspect. The only object was to secure a warm aspect. To face due north would be too far round, and there seems to have been also a feeling that to face the house in that direction would be a takahi i te rerenga wairua—that is, an interference with the departing-place of the spirits of the dead, which is situated at the northern extremity of the island. If a pataka was so faced, one might remark, "Katahi ki to pataka. Kei te rerenga wairua tonu te waha." In many districts pataka were not necessarily north and south.
The two supporting-posts in the front of a This description of a pataka are termed pou aronui, but there are no specific names for the other posts, or for pataka having six or more supports. Across the tops of these posts huapae.pataka was given verbally by Te Whatahoro, of Wai-rarapa, in 1913.pakatitia, or slotted, so as to fit on the post-heads. The flooring-slabs, termed papa takatakahi, were then laid across on the huapae, or plates. On the top of these floor-slabs, along either side of the pataka, running fore and aft and a little distance in from the edges of the floor, was laid a pole, or worked timber, against which the bottom of the planks to form the walls were placed. These poles were lashed to the plates with aka, or some other material, which encircled the plate and pole, being thrust through narrow spaces between the floor-planks. The planks to form the walls were then placed upright outside the lashed pole, and lashed thereto by means of a cord or aka passed through holes bored in the planks. These holes were bored with a cord-drilling apparatus, having a stone point. A hewn plank was then placed horizontally along the upper parts of the planks of the wall, and on the inside, and lashed to those planks, which had holes bored through them for the purpose, with the tough and pliant aka kai (kaaii). This horizontal plank is the wall-plate of the pataka. No ridge-pole was erected, but the rafters were set up in pairs, crossed like X at the top, and lashed in many cases, but sometimes fashioned to butt together, and the lower ends projecting considerably over the side walls. On the top of the rafters, just above the wall-plate, a strong batten was lashed firmly, in a horizontal position, to the wall at both ends and to each separate rafter. A pole was then placed along the top of the rafters, lashed to the apex of each pair, this supplying the place of a ridge-pole. The intermediate battens to support the thatch were then lashed on to the rafters. The end walls were built in a similar manner to the side walls. In some cases bark was used instead of thatch on the roof; and in some pataka two poles were placed on the floor to receive the lower ends of the planks forming the walls, such planks being inserted into the narrow space between the two parallel poles. In these cases no lashing was employed on the lower ends of the wall-plank.
It should here be observed that the above-described mode of erecting a pataka, or elevated storehouse, in which no true ridge-pole was employed, would not be adopted in the case of a superior store, such as were embellished with carvings—that is, the more permanent type.
The doorways of these pataka were small in size, and fitted with a plank door that slid to one side, as the door of a dwelling-hut does. In some cases the kaurori method was employed, a similar one to that seen in our own bush camps. A piece of timber at one side of the door projected above the top and below the bottom of the door, these projections fitting into holes in plates above and below the door; thus the door swung as if on hinges. We have always looked upon this mode as having been borrowed from Europeans, but Te Whatahoro seems to think that it was pre-European.
The little porch or veranda at the front end of these pataka, formed by the prolonging of the walls and roof, is often used as a place to deposit odd articles in. This little veranda is termed a whakamahau.
Instead of the trough-like timbers, the plates were sometimes hewn timbers shaped like this , and laid on the tops of the supporting-posts.
When European manufactures became plentiful it was no uncommon sight to see tin milk-pans, or other tin dishes, placed on the top of the supporting-posts of these elevated storehouses upside down, and on top of which the foundation plates or beams of the building were laid. These were most effectual in preventing the passage of rats into the store.
So useful are these raised storehouses that many of our bush settlers built such places in which to keep any goods destroyable by rats. The modern method of preventing rats passing up the posts is to nail pieces of tin round them, for which purpose preserved-food tins are often used.
The superior class of pataka, such as those ornamented with carved slabs, &c., were not used as storehouses for crops—kumara and taro—but as pataka taonga, or storage-places for general objects. All kinds of things—boxes containing ornaments or prized garments, also weapons, implements, fine mats and baskets, &c.—were stored in pataka whakairo or ornamented storehouses; as also such articles of food as preserved birds, rats, &c., in calabashes or wooden vessels; kao kumara (dried sweet-potatoes), dried fish, &c. Kumara were never stored in a pataka taonga, but only in pits, caves, ordinary stores, or occasionally in common pataka.
The superior type of pataka—those ornamented with carving or red paint—were given special names, but common rough ones were not. The little whata rangi, described elsewhere, were sometimes named, as also in some cases were whare punanga erected in tree-tops. Each hamlet, however small, had at least one pataka and one whata or platform.
Some pataka had only the pae kai awha carved, and some had the pae kai awha and maihi carved.
Of the pataka of the Taranaki district, Mr. W. H. Skinner says, "There were storehouses built on piles, sometimes on tree-trunks 20 ft. in the air, frequently very handsomely carved and painted red with kokowai, or oxide of iron. In these were stored arms, utensils, fishing-nets, and other property… The ariki, or head chief,… was very tapu, as was all belonging to him. He had a small pataka erected near his house called a pu, in which were kept preserved birds, human flesh, &c., only to be eaten by him. This kind of storehouse had only one post, on which it was stuck like our pigeon-houses. In the same manner all pertaining to the priest was equally sacred. His storehouse was named an ipu, but had two supports…. There was a particular kind of receptacle called kawiu, a pataka on a pole, where the waka (receptacle) of the god was kept."
Here we note the origin of the terms purangi and ipurangi as applied to elevated stores. The word rangi in this connection seems to mean lofty or elevated, as pu-rangi, ipu-rangi, and whata-rangi.
A rough or temporary sleeping-hut is sometimes termed a purangi according to Te Whatahoro, but the term was not applied in former times to such an item. It is also said to be sometimes wrongly applied to a cook-shed, and sometimes to a pataka.
Earle, who spent some months in the northern part of New Zealand in 1827, remarks, "Their storehouses are generally placed upon poles, a few feet, from the ground, and tabooed or consecrated. Great taste and ingenuity are displayed in carving and ornamenting these depositories. I made drawings from several of them, which were entirely covered with carving; and some good attempts at groups of figures, as large as life, plainly showed the dawning of the art of sculpture amongst them. Many of the attempts of the New-Zealanders in that art are quite as good if not better than various specimens I have seen of the first efforts of the early Egyptians. Painting and sculpture are both arts greatly admired by these rude people. Every house of consequence is ornamented and embellished, and their canoes have the most minute and elaborate workmanship bestowed upon them."
The Rev. W. Wade, who travelled through the Roto-rua district in 1838, speaks of a pataka he saw at Ohine-mutu. "In the pa a large elaborately carved pataka, or kumara store, supported on four strong wooden pillars, attracted my attention. The broad boards, which formed the upper angle and most conspicuous part of the veranda of the pataka, were curiously wrought, and surmounted at the angular point by a small uncouth figure (tekoteko). The inner front and small doorway also abounded in grotesque carvings."
The preceding paragraph to the above is also of interest, hence we quote it: "The high fence of Ohine-mutu exhibited a variety of hideous figures as carved tops to the posts. The larger carvings of the New-Zealanders are of the rudest cast, and often highly indelicate; but their smaller and more finished pieces of workmanship display much ingenuity. Their carved spear-heads and club-handles, their tinder-boxes and boxes for carrying their feathers, the head and stern posts of their canoes, their best paddles, the elaborate work in the front of some of their houses, as well as their efforts in a variety of other ways, both in wood and stone—all show their capabilities."
"Their kumara stores are far better built than their most superb houses; and are in general very elaborately carved, having a splendid architrave over the door. These stores, when the kumara crop is in them, are all tapu; and no persons are allowed to enter them, except those who are tapu for the occasion."
It should be here explained that the elaborately ornamented pataka, such as the above, were not used as places for storing the kumara crop in, as is shown in the contributions of Hare Hongi and Te Whatahoro.
In writing of Taupo, Angas remarks, "The houses here are coloured with bright-red clay from the adjoining hot springs; and many of the storehouses for food are adorned with feathers and grotesque carved work."
Cruise, who visited New Zealand in 1820, describes a pataka seen at the Bay of Islands: "The huts of the natives were not very numerous, and the most remarkable among them were the public storehouse or repository of the general stock of kumara, or sweet-potatoes, which stood in the centre of the village. Several posts driven into the ground, and floored over with pieces of timber fastened close together, formed a stage about 4 ft. high, upon which the building was erected. The sides and roof were of reeds, so compactly arranged as to be impervious to rain. A sliding doorway, scarcely large enough for a man to creep through, was the only aperture; beyond which the roof projected so far as to form a kind
Concerning the storehouses in which the sweet-potato crop was stored, Polack, a very early resident, who resided in the Bay of Islands district in the "thirties" of the last century, writes, "Kumara houses, expressly built for the storing of the sweet-potato crop, are put together with much care and neatness, of similar materials and workmanship to the superior houses. For such houses the floors are raised, and the lower parts boarded at the sides, to prevent in some degree the incursion of the rats. A veranda is generally carried from the roof entirely round the building, supported by pillars loaded with whimsical sculptures. The doors are often formed like the Egyptian style, contracting towards the top. On the roof a wooden image is generally fixed." In another account he applies the name pouwaka to small elevated houses in which were stored arms, garments, utensils, trinkets, &c. They were supported on four carved posts, and embellished with carving and red ochre; in fact, they were the ordinary small pataka whakairo used as a storehouse for small miscellaneous items.
Marshall speaks of examining an elaborately carved pataka, the four supporting-pillars of which were also "decorated with a variety of grotesque figures."
Colenso says, "Their sweet-potato stores were also often elaborately finished. Sometimes their stores were neatly set on high posts, which were not unfrequently carved, and were climbed up into by means of a notched pole as a ladder."
In Volume v of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute" the Rev. R. Taylor mentions some storehouses that he saw in Horo-whenua Lake in the "forties" of last century, and an illustration showing their aspect is given in his work "Te Ika a Maui." Writing in 1872, he says, "It is now nearly thirty years since I first visited Horo-whenua Lake, which, though not of great extent, is still one of much beauty. I was struck with its singular appearance, from a number of whata, or native storehouses, being erected on posts in the middle of the lake, and seeing the natives ascend to them from their canoes by means of a notched pole."
The illustration here given (Fig. 1) of these storehouses in the Horowhenua Lake is based on that in the Rev. R. Taylor's work "Te Ika a Maui." Apparently they were situated near the little promontory at the southern end of the lake. This picture is of interest as the only one we possess of storehouses so situated, for such a situation for a pataka was uncommon.
Captain Cruise remarked, in 1820, "The storehouse is always the largest and best building in the village; the one described was about 20 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, and 5ft high; it was quite new, and there seemed to have been more pains taken in erecting it than most of those which we had subsequent opportunities of examining."
Wakefield remarks in his "Adventures in New Zealand": "At Otumatua I saw a very beautifully carved whata, or storehouse, of which Mr. Heaphy had made a sketch on his visit in 1840, and it was pointed out to me on that account." This was in 1843.
Pourewa, or atamira: In former times, says Te Hiko, of NgatiToa, these names were applied to a small house supported by one tall post (see Angas), in which high-born children of either sex were sometimes isolated, and wherein they lived. They occasionally descended, and strolled about, but spent most of their time in the elevated hut. Such treatment was accorded only to children who puhi, and a main object of the above treatment was to prevent her having any connection with the opposite sex.
In Tahitian myths we note that Ta'aroa (Tangaroa), one of the principal gods, had a daughter named Hina, who, in order that her chastity might be preserved, was made pahio (cf. Maori pahiko, a makeshift enclosure), or kept in a kind of enclosure, and constantly attended by her mother. Again, in describing Tahitian marriage customs, Ellis remarks, "They were often betrothed to each other during childhood, and the female thus betrothed was called a vahine pahio (wahine pahiko). As she grew up, for the preservation of her chastity a small platform of considerable elevation was erected for her abode within the dwelling of her parents. Here she slept and spent the whole of the time she passed within doors. Her parents, or some member of the family, attended her by night and by day, supplied her with every necessary, and accompanied her whenever she left the house. Some of their traditions warrant the inference that this mode of life, in early years, was observed by other females besides those who were betrothed."
It is apparent that this Tahitian institution was connected with the Mangaian whare motunau, and that the Maori of New Zealand had some traditional knowledge of the custom.
Whare motunau (an old Mangaian institution): The whare motunau, as described by Colonel Gudgeon, was a place where young girls were received and cared for, but only those of good family, until they were of marriageable age, which would not be less than twenty years. When girls were so ready for marriage they were ranged along one wall of a house, and a number of young men of rank were admitted and seated in a row along the other wall. Thus the rows faced each other. The young men then selected each the girl that pleased him, and, if she was agreeable, the twain were, with much ceremony, conducted to the boy's house, and were then looked upon as man and wife.
Dr. Savage, who visited the Bay of Islands in 1805, mentions an extraordinary use made of a pataka in the following words: "A short distance from the residence of the chief is an edifice every way similar to a dovecote, standing upon a single post, and not larger than dovecotes usually are. In this Tippeehee(?) confined one of his daughters several years. We understood she had fallen in love in terrorem to all the young ladies under Tippeehee's government."
Polack makes a curious statement, to the effect that "Houses on posts are also erected for the preservation of food or the honour of young ladies." He mentions a case in which a woman ascended to one of these raised huts, and drew the ladder up after her, in order to escape from an unwelcome suitor. This incident may possibly have been the origin of the latter part of his remark.
Te Whatahoro informs us that occasionally, in former times, a girl might be confined in a pataka for some act of disobedience, but that such an occurrence was a rare one. He has only known of one such case during his long life. In this case a girl wanted to marry a man of whom her relatives disapproved, hence she was confined in a pataka for one year, an old woman being appointed to watch her and attend her. After a year of this seclusion she became "tame," and was allowed more liberty.
The carved pataka seems to have been an object on which the leading chiefs lavished the best and most skilled labour at their command; and whatever might be the position of the ordinary food and store houses in the marae, a good position was always selected, in full view of the chief's dwelling, for the prized pataka whakairo. Evidence of the magnificence of some of these houses is given at the present time by an examination of the pataka and the large carved slabs now in the Auckland Museum, which, though they have suffered from their burial in a cave, give us a vivid idea of what must have been the splendour of the complete work. Nothing so fine is to be seen elsewhere. The intricacy and delicacy of the work is marvellous. Unfortunately, several causes have operated in hindering us from obtaining a statement of the real meaning of the figures represented. The men who were initiated into such knowledge no doubt carried their secrets to the grave. There is, however, a general similarity pataka; not only is the resemblance in one particular district, but from north to south of the North Island. Take for instance, the maihi, or barge-boards, as we should call them, and you will find that, notwithstanding a great variety of detail, some of which is shown in the illustration given herewith, there is a similar motive. This motive has been explained as representing the hauling of a whale, or pakake (possibly a marine monster, not a whale), up to the figure representing possibly the owner at the apex of the gable. The figures overlying the body of the animal are in most cases supposed to represent those assisting in the hauling-in of the whale, and are generally attended by the personal atua of their chief, which is represented by the manaia-like figure between the human one to whom it is giving energy. The large scroll with the partial scroll behind it in some way is supposed to
represent the head of the whale. These figures are almost universal, with very few exceptions. Sometimes, however, the number of assistants helping to drag the whale were fewer or greater.
The next important piece of carving is the paepae, or long carved boards passing horizontally across the front. Here again generally the motive is human or semi-human figures symmetrically arranged with the attendant manaia or assisting atua. In the centre, of course, the figure has one on each side, and in this form resembles many of the old groups seen in sacred representations of older countries, as those, for instance, in which the central figure, human, is attended by good and evil spirits. The central wall, which is usually some little distance back from the front, forms the mahau, or veranda, which in its original condition appears to consist of a central slab pa, or a distinguished ancestor) and superposed figures, which vary very much. The joints of these slabs are covered with the usual battens and feathers. As previously mentioned, the sides consist of one large plank, fixed horizontally, and carved with a series of male and female figures, attended by the manaia or atua. Illustrations are given of the general variants which have been noticed. A great many photographs of pataka are quite misleading in this respect, as specimens have been made up for sale by dealers and others from fragments of house-carvings and cut-up fragments of old pataka, put together without any reference to their original position. This makes the study of the ornamentation extremely difficult to those who have not sufficient experience to point out the discrepancies. It is true that the Maoris themselves, within the last fifty years, have been equally guilty, and rather than take the trouble of making a fresh carving they have cut and made available old work—probably for its associations or to save themselves trouble. Many museums possess fronts of pataka which are made up of various portions of pataka slabs of all shapes and sizes.
The two preceding paragraphs were written by the late Director of the Dominion Museum. The remark concerning the personal atua (god) represented by a manaia-like figure between (?) the human one evidently applies to some illustration that has been mislaid. The side-walls of these pataka did not always consist of a single wide slab fixed horizontally.
The distorted human figure with two flanking manaia is shown more clearly in Fig. 5, in which also the intermediate details are plainly seen. The Maori has a dim idea that the origin of the manaia design was some denizen of the ocean.
Although, in many cases, the central human figure only has a manaia facing it on either side, yet we also note this peculiarity carried out throughout the whole length of a carved slab used as a side-wall, or outer threshold, as observed in Fig. 6 showing one of the latter planks.
The fine carved pataka known as Te Oha, now in the Auckland Museum, formerly belonged to the Ngati-Pikiao clan, of the Bay of Plenty. It is supported by four posts or piles, each of which has a human figure carved in high relief at its base. Across the tops of these posts are placed the horizontal beams that act as sills, and which are 18 in. wide, the upper surface being flat and the under part being rounded—i.e., convex. On the under-side of these beams
wheku, or distorted faces, and the beams project out over the supporting-posts about 3 ft. on both sides. On the top of these sills, plates are laid lengthwise with the building, and about 6 in. from the extremities of the former. Each side wall of the pataka is composed of one wide slab of wood about 3 ft. wide, carved on its outer surface, such carvings being the well-known design of manaia and human figures, both male and female. The fine slabs or planks are placed horizontally on edge on top of the plates, thus forming the side walls of the storehouse, and taking the place of the upright slabs seen in the other form of wooden-walled pataka.
The carved pae, or threshold-plank, in front has a longitudinal projection along the back, which projection fits under the ends of the plates, and is lashed thereto. The principal design in the carving of the two barge-boards is the pakake, and on the top of the gable are two tekoteko, or human figures, with a human head placed between the two. The angles formed by the lower parts of the barge-boards approaching the pae, or threshold-slab, are closed by means of placing three short carved slabs in an upright position in each angle. These slabs are fastened to each other, and secured to the barge-boards by means of lashings passed through holes bored near the edges of each piece.
The inner threshold piece is low, as is usual, and is also carved. The doorway is cut out of the bottom part of the central upright slab of the front wall, a common method in such buildings. The remainder of the front wall is formed by three upright slabs on either side of the central one. The slabs are placed side by side, and bored near their edges for lashing. Battens of wood, painted black, are placed upright to cover the joints, and are secured by passing the lashings over them. By way of ornament, white feathers are inserted in these lashings, the lower parts of such feathers being secured under the lashing, and the rest projecting on either side. The joints of the slabs forming the roof of the veranda-part of the pataka are also battened
in the same manner. The rafters of the same part are also carved, with an elaborate raised ridge, as also is the under-side of the end of the ridge-pole. The doorway is 20 in. by 18 in.
The huge carved pataka of Pokiha Taranui, now in the Auckland Museum, is possibly the most elaborate one ever constructed. It is certainly unusually large and elaborate as to decoration, and must pakake, with manaia superimposed thereon. These, on the occasion of a special feast or hui, had been decorated with silver coins instead of the usual paua shell.
Another very fine pataka, which is now in the Dominion Museum, is the celebrated one which has visited at least two exhibitions in the Old Country, called Te Takinga. It is said to have been made from the canoes drawn overland from the sea to Lake Roto-rua by Hongi when he took Mokoia Island, in Roto-rua Lake, in 1822. It is well carved, and is still in good condition, although it has been such a traveller since it passed out of the possession of the Maoris. The main tekoteko, or small figure surmounting it, is named after Te Takinga, a son of Pikiao. The legs or supports seen in the figure are more modern, and were carved by Morehu, of the Ngatihuia Tribe. From end to end of the paepae is about 15 ft.
Another very old pataka in the Dominion Museum was procured from Maketu. A plate is given of part of the carving, which is very celebrated on the east coast.
In the olden time these carved houses were erected inside the fighting pa, so that they might not be destroyed by the enemy when the adjacent village was taken.
In Fig. 13 we see another style of pataka, a type more often seen in former times than the profusely adorned ones shown above. Here
the carved designs are confined to the threshold-plank, the lower ends of the barge-boards, and the door-frame, with three human images standing on wheku. The carved door-posts (waewae) support a carved lintel-piece (pare), as in a dwellinghouse. The patterns discernible on the under-side of the roof of the porch are painted on the timbers. The design of the carved threshold-plank is unusual, and worthy of note. The weird figures at the ends thereof, as also on the barge-boards, may or may not represent manaia. This store pataka is said to be Nuku-tewhatewha. It formerly stood in the garden of Mr. George Beetham, Moturoa Street, Wellington. The doorway of this storehouse is of greater dimensions than was common in former times.
The pataka shown in Fig. 14 was photographed as it stood in the grounds of the Christchurch Exhibition. It is quite a new work, but the timbers were carved by Neke Kapua and his sons, of Roto-iti, from old patterns. The planks comprising all four walls are completely covered with carved designs, a thing very rarely seen, and
it is by no means certain that the carving of the rear wall planks or slabs was ever a native custom in pre-European days; if so, it was very rarely carried out. A carved plank that butts against the lower ends of the thatch in this specimen is also a dubious feature.
The front view of this pataka shows most richly carved planks, the bodies of the pakake on the two barge-boards being almost entirely lost under a mass of superimposed manaia and wheku designs, together with a deal of detail work that occupies every available bit of space. It reminds one of some of the stone carvings of the Maya folk.
The next illustration, Fig. 15, shows the carved planks of the front wall of a dismantled pataka. Here we have another curious style in the involved and amazingly distorted and uncouth figures depicted. On the first two slabs from the right the figures are fairly distinct, the singular forms being reversed, head and feet; but in the next plank, as also in planks 5 and 6, they are much more involved. On No. 5 the bodies seem to be upright and the heads sideways, while on No. 6 the confusion is worse, the bodies being curved, and the heads
thereof placed at alarming angles thereto, some bodies being apparently headless, or some heads bodiless. The whole forms a very singular study in conventionalized designs, and one yearns to discover the original forms from which these astonishing figures were evolved. The Maori was truly conservative in retaining these old patterns, and objected to change therein.
It may be here noted that, unlike a carved dwellinghouse, a pataka or storehouse had no such embellishments in its interior. They were confined to the porch and to the outside of the walls.
The following brief notes on elevated storehouses were contributed by Tuta Nihoniho, of Ngati-Porou:—
Pataka and rua were always faced to the east or north-east.
The terms pataka and whata are both applied to an elevated house—i.e., a walled and roofed hut or house elevated on supporting-posts, such posts merely supporting the platform (kaupapa) on which the house is built, and which forms the floor thereof. Such a house is termed a pataka because it is enclosed or walled all round; also a whata because it is elevated. An elevated open stage or platform, having no building thereon, is a whata, but cannot be termed a pataka. The term whata may be applied to elevated places that are not platforms, such as racks; any elevated place on which things are placed, as a rail on which nets are hung to dry; also to a pole or stump having projecting pegs or branches on which things are suspended. The word is sometimes doubled, as whatawhata, applied to a rude erection of poles on which a tree-feller stands.
Pataka were used as storehouses for preserved and dried foods (but not for crops such as kumara), also for tools, implements, vessels, and garments.
The posts supporting a pataka might be four or six in number, or more, according to the size of the structure. In the case of a carved pataka, these, or at least the two front ones, were often embellished with a carved human figure, with eyes of Haliotis shell. On the top of these two rows of posts were placed the wide slabs termed papa kiore, the plates on which the building was erected. The upright slabs, or poupou, were let into the papa kiore, or plate, not into a mortised hole in the middle thereof, but into a slot in its edge, and there secured by lashings passed through holes bored through the plate, and others through the upright slabs. The plate also was carefully fitted on to the tops of the supporting-posts. In boring holes in big timbers large cord drills were used, much larger than those used in drilling stone implements and ornaments. In such heavy boring Nihoniho remarks that one person would attend to the drill-point, to keep it in position, while two others manipulated the cords by which the implement was worked—a process that would, presumably, require much practice.
When the upright slabs of the walls were in position in the slots cut in the outer edges of the plates, their outer surfaces were flush with the outer edge of the plate, and a horizontal batten covered the junctions. In some few cases a carved pataka had the wall-slabs carved inside as well as outside, but this was seldom seen as applied kaho paetara, that served as a wall-plate, was lashed to the tops of the upright slabs. The flooring-slabs rested on the projecting plates, or papa kiore. The roof was first covered with a layer of toetoe reeds neatly laid, then with layers of bark of the manuka or totara trees. Long strips of bark were arranged across the ridge-pole, so that they extended over both slopes of the roof, while shorter pieces were curved at the end, and the curve fitted over the ridge, the piece covering one slope only. Bark was never secured with ties to the battens, but, when the roof was finished, then aka (durable stems of certain climbing-plants) were laid fore and aft on the top of the roof, and secured at the ends only.
In addition to these, other such binders were laid across the roof, at right angles to the others, passing right over the roof, and secured by lashings at the two eaves.
The ornamental carved pataka were not by any means numerous, the great majority of such structures being either quite plain (toto kau)—that is, constructed of plain hewn timbers—or had such minor adornments as a carved head (koruru) on the gable, and, possibly, some carving on the pae kai awha, or wide slab in front, over which one passed in order to enter the roro, or porch.
Such edifices as carved houses and carved pataka were erected only in pa or fortified villages, for obvious reasons. If outside the defences, they would be destroyed by the first raiding party that chanced that way. Hence the saying of old that runs, "He whare maihi ka tu ki roto o Kahukura-awhitia, he tohu no te rangatira; he whare maihi ka tu ki te wa patiki, he kai na te ahi."
In his little work "Kaiapohia," Canon Stack remarks as follows: "The visits of a very great chief (upoko ariki), such as Tamaiharanui, were always dreaded, and his movements, whenever he entered a pa (fortified village), were watched with great anxiety by the inhabitants; for if the shadow happened to fall upon a whata (storehouse) or a rua (storepit) while he was passing through the crowded lanes of a town, it was immediately destroyed, with all its contents, because it would be an unpardonable insult for a commoner to eat food upon which the sacred shadow of an ariki noble had fallen."
The principal differences between a carved dwellinghouse and a carved pataka, or storehouse, is that in the former most of the carvings are inside the building, while in the latter they are outside. The outside carvings of a dwellinghouse are confined to the door-jambs, the lintel-piece, the window-borders, the pae kai awha, the poupou of the porch, the tau-tiaki, the maihi with its parata and tekoteko, and pataka the whole of the exterior of the front wall is a mass of carving.
The plain unornamented storehouses, termed pataka kokau, or pataka toto kau, were erected at any place where they might be required, either within or without the defences of a village. These were often built at cultivation-grounds and temporary dwelling-places, such as fishing-camps on the coast.
The vertical carved slabs composing the front wall of a pataka whakairo, or carved storehouse, were fastened together in the usual Maori manner—viz., by covering the join with a batten (painted or charred), and then lashing this on with tight-drawn cords passed through holes pierced in the edges of the slabs. Under the lashings, where they passed over the battens, white feathers were sometimes inserted as an additional ornament (tatai).
The doors of pataka were of two different styles—the paneke and the tatau kauhuri. The former was a sliding-door that slid in a groove formed in the threshold, the door so often seen in native dwellinghouses; the kauhuri was a swinging-door, and it is not clear that it was a pre-European item. A projecting piece at one corner was inserted into a hole formed in the sill, and on this pivot the door swung. To keep it in position, and to supply the place of hinges, it was linked to the jamb by two cord loops passed through holes perforated in the jamb, and others near the edge of the door. This apparatus may possibly have been pre-European, but to us it looks like an idea borrowed from the crude huts of the early white settlers. Some of the oldest natives, however, of Ngati-Porou maintain that the tatau kauhuri was a pre-European usage.
When this swing-door was closed it was secured by means of a cord passed through a hole in the door and another in the jamb, and tied outside.
The front board of the porch of a pataka is known as the ipuipu; it is equivalent to the pae kai awha of a dwellinghouse. Tauwhenua—fore-and-aft beam on top of papa kiore, in middle of pataka, to support the posts of ridge-pole and floor.
In a pataka of six posts (a common number) there are three papa kiore or plates laid across on the tops of the posts. The amohanga are the two long slabs laid along fore and aft of the building on the top of the said plates, and on which the walls are erected.
Our native informant has described above two different modes of erecting the superstructure of a pataka that may confuse the reader. ipuipu seems to be an error. It is usually applied to the beams or sills on which the storehouse is built.
The name of the bell-like fixture on pataka posts to block the passage of rats is ato in the Wai-rarapa district. It was made by tying the upper ends of strips of manuka bark to the post, and the lower ends to a small wooden hoop. Pu kiore seems to be a descriptive name for this item, and ato a specific name.
These pataka, or elevated storehouses, were often named after ancestors. Food-supplies kept in such named stores were not eaten by common people, lest their children die, but only by the descendants of the ancestors after whom they were named.
The high-class carved pataka were opened with the same ritual as pertained to the opening of a new house of note. The kawa rite was performed over it, and in some cases a person was killed in order to give prestige to the event and to supply food for the feast. In some cases a slave was slain for this purpose, or a few men would raid the realm of another tribe and secure some victims.
Whata-a-rangi, a small pataka elevated on one tall post. A platform erected on a tree for storing things on was called by the same name. Some whata-a-rangi were small circular structures covered with bark, and used as places wherein to deposit the bones of the dead. The whata-a-rangi were used as a storage-place for small items, special food-supplies—such as huahua, kao, dried fish, &c.—or in which to keep prized implements, ornaments, vessels, and garments.
Whare rangi: This term is applied to a rough booth of branches erected by fowlers in a tree-top.
The name of whata koiwi was applied to any elevated receptacle in which bones of the dead were kept.
The whata pu kiore was a small pataka elevated on a single post, to which post, some distance above the ground-line, pieces of manuka bark were secured in a downward slanting position, so as to prevent rats climbing up the post.
The usual form of whata rangi seems to have been like unto a diminutive pataka, but Te Whatahoro describes a curious form, the entrance to which was through the floor: The whata rangi was a small storehouse, like unto a diminutive hut, elevated on the top of a karaho, were fitted on to either side of the tenon, so as to rest on the shoulders thereof, and so lashed. Thus these two karaho were in a horizontal position, and parallel, the space between them being the thickness of the tenon-like upper part of the post. At either end a small piece of wood was placed between the ends of these beams, which were then lashed together, thus gripping tightly the pieces between them. Then, at right angles to these cross-pieces, two more were placed on top of them, and there lashed to the top of the post, their upper parts being flush with the top of the post. Strong hardwoods—such as rata, kahikatoa, maire, or ake rautangi—were selected for the beams, which were adzed into form. Thus the foundation of the little storehouse was in the form of a cross, and on this was erected a hut of light materials, often of thatch—such as raupo (bulrush) or leaves of the Cordyline, the latter being a very durable thatch.
These places had no door in the walls, the entrance thereto being through the floor, close to the top of the post. This door was a small wooden trap rudely hinged with pieces of aka (stem of a climbing-plant). A person clambering up the post to these aerial stores usually pushed up the trap-door with his head. At one end of the hut was an aperture in the wall, to admit light when a person was engaged therein. At other times it was closed with a flat piece of bark of the totara tree (Podocarpus totara), which was so arranged as to slide on a horizontal strip of wood. This bark was the inner part of the totara bark, the part known as rangiura, from which the loose outer bark had been taken off.
When erected on lofty posts, perhaps 25 ft. in height, it was said that ladders were not employed as a means of access thereto, but any one ascending to the store simply clambered up the post, this process being much assisted by the use of the tamaeke or kaupeka, or climbing-cord. This was a loop of strong cord in which the feet were placed, and which served to confine them and give the climber a good grip on the post with his feet while he was moving his hands upward for a fresh hand-grip. In the case of a thick post or a tree-trunk, a similar looped cord was used in the hands, and which the operator kept repeatedly moving upwards, as he ascended, by means of a quick jerk.
The term tapaturangi is sometimes applied to a small whata rangi—a hut-shaped box elevated on a single post, and used as a place wherein to keep food, such as preserved birds, rats, &c., destined for the eldest son or daughter of a person of rank, or for a grandchild of such. This term would be used to denote such a place, because pataka is a common word applied to common stores. "Kapa ko te pataka a te mokopuna a mea, he tapaturangi te pataka takoto-ranga kai" is an expression that might be made in reference to the small food-store of any ordinary person; it is not such a place as the pataka of the grandchild of So-and-so, whose food-store is termed a tapaturangi.
Uenuku, a famous ancestor of the Maori, who lived in eastern Polynesia, applied this name to the whata rangi of his son Ka-hutia-te-rangi, and located a ruru (owl) in the roro (entrance-space or porch) thereof as a guardian, which bird was wont to cry an alarm if any thief ventured near. This is said to have been the first occasion on which a whata rangi was so named. Uenuku did not want to term his son's whata rangi by such a common name as that, or as pataka, because other persons so termed theirs by such names. He wanted some new and distinctive name; hence he adopted for it the name of a certain tapu bird known as a tapurangi, a bird not seen by man, for it was a night-flying bird—heard flying during the night, but seldom seen. It was rather a small bird, a long bird with long tail-feathers and its feathers had a gleaming appearance. In olden times, when this bird was heard flying the people would welcome and greet it with these words: "E, I haere mai koe i Tawhiti-nui, i Tawhiti-roa, i Tawhiti-pamamao. Haere. Haere ki te wa kainga" (O, you come from Tawhiti-nui, &c. Farewell. Return to the fatherland).
Te Whatahoro informs us that, although pataka and whata are now interchangeable terms, yet whata should, properly speaking, be applied only to open elevated platforms or scaffolds, having no hut thereon, or roof; while pataka should only be applied to an elevated house or hut. A platform on the ground is called a kahupapa, but never a whata, although a platform on a tree—such as those used by fowlers—may be termed a kahupapa. As a verb, whata means to elevate, support, also to hang. A rack may also be termed a whata. It would, however, appear that the term whata has been applied to elevated storehouses for a considerable period, inasmuch as any elderly native will agree that whata rangi is a name that denotes a small storehouse raised on one post.
From a paper on the food products of the Ure-wera district, occupied by the Tuhoe Tribe, we cull the following: "Pataka pu kiore is an expression applied to storehouses so constructed as to exclude rats, by placing a broad slab on the top of the posts supporting the floor of the store. The
The name of paerangi, according to Te Whatahoro, is applied to a small circular hut erected on the top of a single high post. Its foundation is composed of beams affixed to the post in the form of a cross, as described in the account of the whata rangi. On the upper surface of the extremities of the cross-pieces are secured pieces of pliant aka tokai or rods of manuka, bent so as to form a circle. Another such whiti or ring is formed just inside it, so as to leave a narrow space between the two rings. The butt ends of a number of pliant rods (turuturu), known technically as pou karapi, were then inserted in between the two whiti, all round, and their tops bent down inwards and tied together. Lighter material was then employed for battens, being tied on to the pou karapi at intervals, each completed batten being in the form of a ring, the hut being circular. The frame was then ready for thatching. Pieces of wood were said to have been placed at the bases of the rods, both inside and out, the inner one being the widest, in order to keep them in the desired position.
All paerangi are not circular, some are square in form; hence one might make the remark, "He pataka te ta o te whare paerangi a mea" (The paerangi hut of So-and-so is of a round form).
The whata rangi for food were often supported by arms secured to the posts as extra supports.
The Whanga-nui natives seem to apply the term kauwhata to the whata rangi.
Angas writes, "In their plantations, pataka or storehouses are also frequent, in which they deposit the seed during the winter. These pataka are always raised upon a pole or placed between the forked branches of a tree, to preserve them from the attacks of the rats.
Respecting the erection and uses of raised storehouses in cultivation-grounds, Angas writes, "Picturesque-looking storehouses for seed are also to be seen in their clearings; these are like large boxes, with a gable roof, and perhaps a carved door, with a little image on the top, and are supported on high poles to preserve them from the attacks of the rats, the natives ascending to them by means of a sort of rude ladder."
Marshall, who visited the Taranaki coast in 1834, mentions elevated stores for firewood as having been seen there: "The
The following is a small contribution on the Nga-Puhi storehouses by Mr. Stowell (Hare Hongi):—
, — Dear SirNative Department, Wellington, 23rd May, 1912. I have your memo. of the 6th instant, asking for information (from Nga-Puhi sources) as to—(1) Storehouses, elevated; (2) storehouses, ordinary—i.e., on ground-line; (3) storehouses, semi-subterranean; (4) pits for storage; and (5) platforms, elevated, no house, roofless: their names, descriptions, and uses.
As to (1) storehouses: The generic name for these is
whata, a term which has its origin in the verbwhata, which means "to elevate on supports."(
a.)Whatawere of various kinds, having various uses:Whata-kai, for the storage of readily accessible foods, preserved and otherwise;whata-kahu, for the storage of superior garments (but seepataka);whata-ko, for the storage of digging and gardening tools;whata-taonga, for the storage of goods in general;whata-tao,whata-huata,whata-koikoi, for the storage of fighting-spears, armoury;whata-moenga, for sleeping.The
whatavaried between 3 ft. and 6 ft. high posts. They were ascended by means of aara-whata, consisting of a stout piece of timber with stepping-places notched in at suitable intervals. To ensure thewhatabeing rat-proof (for rats destroyed food and garments), two main devices were used: One of these devices was to procure a fairly sound but derelict canoe (oftotaraorkauritimber), cut it into two equal parts, and place each half parallel and inverted along the top of each pair of thewhataposts. Rats might climb the posts, but could not get past the inverted half-canoes, and so into thewhataitself. (In the event of no such canoe being procurable beams were hollowed on one side, and, this side being placed lowermost on thewhataposts, were quite as effective as inverted canoes.) The second rat-proof device was to notch each post all round, about 2 ft. above the ground, in this way: No rat could get past these notches. (In modern times a broad piece of tin is nailed around each post, thus saving labour and securing equally good results.)The four ground posts of a
whatawere 6 in. to 8 in. in diameter, having to carry the heavy beams of the superstructure. The post-plan was usually a square, the oblong shape of thewhatabeing secured by allowing its floor-beams to project a few feet at one or both ends. Invariably the floor, sides, and roof of awhatawere extended to form a porch at its front. Theground posts having been firmly sunk into the earth, two strong parallel beams were securely fastened to each pair of posts. These were lashed to the posts with torotorovine, which passed from under nicks in the posts through holes bored through each side of the beams. That being done, strong beams were laid along the back and front, which in their turn were securely fastened. These were on a line with the ground posts: The corner wall-posts were next sunk into the side beams over the ground posts, and were fastened to the cross-beams. These formed the true corner posts, no matter how much thewhataitself projected at either or both ends. The floor was then laid down crosswise. It commonly consisted of split and adzed beams, which were trimmed to a uniform thickness and well fitted. Such a floor was of great strength and durability. As this work proceeded the wall-posts were set up at suitable intervals, and well fastened down. When the floor was carried through the whole of the side wall, posts were thus in their places. To these posts (where thatch was intended, for sometimes the walls were of slabs) were fastened, at intervals of 12 in. or 15 in., long laths of 1¼ in.kahikatoa(tea-tree); these were called thekaho, and, whilst strengthening the walls, carried the thatching. The two centre posts were now set up back and front, on a line with the ground posts, and to these the ridge-pole was securely attached. The length of the ridge-pole was regulated by the floor-length, and it projected from the centre posts accordingly. From the ridge-pole rafters were let in to each wall-post, and fastened down.Kahikatoalaths similar to those on the side walls, but closer together to carry the weight, were then fastened to the rafters. Whilst this was being done the work of setting up the additional posts for back and front was going on, and an opening was left beside the centre post at the front, for the door. When all of the posts and rafters had been served withkahikatoalaths the whole was ready for receiving the thatching. This was usually ofrauporeed, a reed which was readily procurable, durable, easily handled, which gave coolness in summer and warmth in winter. The side and end walls having been first thatched, a start was made on the roof. This sometimes got a first coating ofnikaupalm, then one of therauporeed, and finally one oftoetoegrass orwiwi(the common rush). More laths were then fastened on to bind the whole down. These laths were commonly concealed, to become visible only when decay of roofing was well forward. A sliding-door was made, and anara-whata(step-ladder) was provided for permanent use. This was not fixed to thewhata, for that would give access to rats; it was always removed when not required for immediate use. Awhatawas not, in general, provided with a special enclosure, that being reserved for the more fancifulpataka. It should be observed that the thatching was secured with prepared and toughened flax.(
b.)Whata-pouwaka:This was an erection at the top of a single post, which post was 8 in. or 10 in. in diameter, rising some 20 ft. or 30 ft. in the air. Thewhata-pouwakawas used for the reception and deposit of bones or skeletons of deceased children (sometimes the deceased wives) of high chiefs. The post and woodwork of thiswhatawas always more or less carved, inlaid withpauashell, smeared withkokowai(red ochre), and it stood in a small and special enclosure. (Kokowaiwarned all andsundry of the presence of death. The black and white markings found in war-canoes denoted an appreciation of the fact of Life and Death. White represented "Te Ao-marama," or the World of Light, therefore of Life; black, "Te Ao-po," or the World of Darkness, therefore of Death.) A suitable pole having been procured, carved and smeared with
kokowai, was firmly set into the earth. Thewhata-pouwakawas then put together on the ground, and when finished was carried to the pole-top, and fixed in its place. In shape the best class ofwhata-pouwakawas exactly like that of the best class ofwhare-puniorwhare-ahuru—that is to say, its shape was that of the middle section of a superior (keel up) canoe, with accentuated curves. To secure this shape the lines of the ground-plan of both walls were decidedly curved, thus: . The ridge-pole was arched thus: ; and the side walls and roof showed this shape: —the shape of an inverted canoe. Thiswhatahad a porch and a small sliding-door. The walls were sometimes made of worked slabs, sometimes of thatch. The roof consisted of thatch or oftotara-tree bark, sometimes a layer of vari-colouredkakahoreeds being first put on. Thewhata-pouwakawas a house in miniature, the largest being some 4 ft. long, 3 ft. wide, and 2 ft. in height. (Shaped in this canoe-design and with the floor sunk some 12 in. or 18 in., thewhare-punigave one a peculiar idea of strength, grace, elegance, and comfort, which was admired and appreciated by all. In the construction of thesewharethe Nga-Puhi people exhibited remarkable skill, and even art.)(
c.)Pataka:Thepatakawas the finest-designed and most elaborately worked, carved, and inlaid form of elevated storehouse. No pains were spared in its construction, and it therefore ranked with thewhare-whakairo, or heavily carved assembly-hall, as one of the show-pieces of a really well-furnishedkainga(village) orpa(fortified village). Thepatakawas used for the reception and storage of garments of the finest workmanship, and other works of Maori art, which were only withdrawn on very special occasions. It had its own little enclosure or fence, within which none were allowed to casually wander. Thepatakaand its valued contents was under the immediate control of the high chief of the village. Very few of the villagers had access to thepataka. Its name,pataka, conveys the sense of something special and private and enclosed.(2.) Storehouses, ordinary—
i.e., on ground-line: Of these there were two principal kinds—i.e.the ordinarykauta, or roughly built house, and thewharau, shed.(
a.) Thekautawas built of various roomy sizes, its chief features perhaps being a roomy porchway and extra long eaves. Beneath these, leaving plenty of doorway-room, firewood was neatly stacked up for winter use. Thekautawas used for the storage of rough-and-ready things, for fishing implements and material, including canoe-paddles, and generally for the temporary or hurried storage of anything from the rain. Fishing-nets were hung up in akauta, and were thus easily procured when required. The larger class ofkautawas used for a kitchen in wet weather (the Maori preferred to cook out of doors). In a properly orderedpa, however, cooking-houses were built specially, and these were calledwhare-umu, or oven-house.(
b.)Wharau(shed): These were built of various sizes, their principal feature being that one or both ends were sometimes open, and that one or both sides was sometimes left open. Thewharauwas always built low, and mostly rather wide. A special class ofwharauwas that in which the better kind of canoe or canoes of the village was stowed. As the superior canoes were as much as 80 ft. in length, the length of a good canoe-shed orwharaumay be imagined. In this, too, the large and long fishing-nets, orkupenga, were hung. The canoe-paddles were rarely left in this, owing to the risk of children carrying them off and mislaying them. Thewharauwas always handy for the temporary stowing-away of different kinds of goods.(3.) Storehouses, semi-subterranean: These were of many grades, which ranged from the pretentious
whare-pokato the much more humblewhare-rua.(
a.)Whare-poka:Excepting perhaps for its very low walls, thewhare-pokacould not be distinguished from an ordinarywhareMaori. Low sides only were required, because the floor was dug out (poka) and sunk 2 ft. or more from the surface. Thewhare-pokacould be built only in very dry situations. It was a most snug concern, and could be used both for storage and for living in. It was built with a porch.Whare-pokawere built, too, against terraces where sometimes a natural opening was found. Apokawas made when necessary into the terrace-side, and a front put in, with doorway.(
b.)Whare-rua:This was essentially a storage house and pit. Its plan was long and narrow. Its pit (rua) was sunk to a depth of 6 ft. It was finished off with a roof only, no side walls. It could be built only in very dry situations, and was largely used for storing seed-kumaratuber, and tubers for winter and spring use. They were commonly described asrua-kumara.(4.) Pits for storage (
rua-kumaraorrua-kai): These food-pits were common to every village. They were built with the one object of preserving the seed-tubers from destructive insects, mould, &c., or, as the Maori himself expresses it, from the attacks of thepukupuku, tonatona, tahumate, andkunawhea. (The Maori had no hope of replenishing his seed-tubers from sources outside of New Zealand; therefore, supposing a very bad winter or negligent storage caused widespread destruction to their seed-tubers, the position would have been most serious for them.)(5.) Platforms elevated, no house, roofless: These were termed
komangaandtimanga. They were four-posted (I have seen three-posted), and stood from 5 ft. to 10 ft. in height, rat-proof. Seed-tubers and eating-tubers not required for some months were permanently stored upon these stages, until planting-time came around. They were well covered in; so that if the pit-preserved seed-tubers of the village were spoiled or destroyed, the air-preserved would probably be sound. "Put not all thine eggs in one basket," is a principle which the Maori followed, who says,"Ka mate kainga tahi, ka ora kainga rua,"or one-homed is liable to die, two-homed is more likely to live.Sometimes when clearing a
waerengafor a new plantation, one or more suitablemanukatrees (mammoth tea-tree) would be left standing. Fromthe (8 in. or 10 in.) trunks of these trees stout branches would project, three or four. When these were required for use as komangathe branches would be lopped off level at a suitable height for strength. Cross-beams would then be fastened to the branches, and the staging would be built upon these, which served their purpose excellently well, and with one-half of the labour required in building an ordinarykomanga. In all probability, from this primitive style of building theko-mangaorti-manga, the name originates—that is to say, frommanga, which signifies branch, branches.
Kaati ake enei mo naianei.Hare Hongi.Mr. A. Hamilton, Dominion Museum.
From a Nukutaurua native: Whatarangi, or whata rangi—A small whata on one post only erected near or in a pa—to put food for spirits in.
Similar erections to the above were sometimes used for placing the food of a tapu person in, that it might not be interfered with or brought into contact with common objects, things pertaining to tribal gods, or, in short, for any items of a tapu nature. Such small whata as these we have seen in the Ure-wera district within the past few years.
Awhio-rangi: Small one-post pataka for atua and toenga kai, so termed by a Taumaru-nui native.
The small box-like structures elevated on posts, and used wherein to place tapu items, were formerly very common, and even now may be occasionally seen. Angas speaks of one he examined at Kai-tote, Wai-kato district: "A square box, elevated on posts, and covered with a roof, raised by means of slender sticks…. It was filled with old garments, which I afterwards learned were the property of a very celebrated person lately deceased, and that these garments had been placed within this prohibited place under the most rigorous tapu."
In an account of Santa Maria, an island north of the New Hebrides, Mr. W. Coote remarks: "Scattered about the village were small storehouses raised some feet from the ground on piles, and identical in every respect with those used by the Maoris of New Zealand."
It will be noted that similarity of design exists in the carved figures on these elevated storehouses, the most noteworthy item being the manaia, the pakake, and distorted human figures. Of these the latter may be introduced in any design, or almost any part of the building; the manaia, being less universal, was principally employed on the paepae (outer threshold), the maihi (barge-boards), and on the side pakake (whale) pattern is confined to the barge-boards. Manaia and distorted human figures are often superimposed on the pakake (see Figs. 7-9, &c.). In Fig. 9 is seen the detail of fine carving on the body of the pakake, the effect of which is emphasized by the system of small notches (known as taratara-o-kai) cut in the edges of the carved lines. In Fig. 7 we note that the human figures on the barge-boards are each attended by a single manaia, while in Fig. 9 three unattended figures appear on each pakake of the barge-boards, such figures being, in form, neither human nor true manaia, but something between the two. In all these designs we see frequently recurring the three fingers that are so marked an attribute of Maori-carved figures, a peculiarity which appears to have been formerly common in far-distant lands.
The eyes of all these figures are composed of rounded pieces of paua (Haliotis) shell countersunk in the wood.
In Fig. 7 the scroll that is said to represent the head of the pakake on the lower part of the barge-board appears to end in a head furnished with the usual shell eye, while below and distinct from it is a manaia. On the barge-board shown in Fig. 10 the scroll of the pakake ends in a manaia-like figure. In this Fig. 10 also appear male and female human figures, showing the tattoo patterns of the two sexes.
Again, in Fig. 7 we have the double manaia and intervening wheku, or grotesque human figure, as a central design on the threshold-plank, while on either side of it as also on the barge-boards the single attendant manaia only appears. In Fig. 9 no double manaia is seen, while in Fig. 6 each wheku is flanked by two manaia. The uppermost figures on the barge-boards in Fig. 9 are grasping the tails of the two pakake.
In Fig. 7 we see the junction of the two barge-boards at the gable occupied by two human figures, and a spare head between them. This is uncommon; for the usual thing is to see the join covered with a carved head—in this case termed a parata—with a complete human image, called a tekoteko, above it, and projecting above the ridge of the building. In some cases one may see a tekoteko only employed, or a parata with no surmounting tekoteko, more especially in the case of inferior storehouses.
The magnificent pataka depicted in Fig. 9 was constructed about 1868, and was erected at Maketu, the principal owner being Te Pokiha Taranui, a well-known chief of the Arawa Tribe, and known to Europeans as Fox. The principal human figures in the carved designs represent certain ancestors of the tribe.
In Fig. 11 we have a fine type of pataka of ordinary size that presents some interesting features. It was the property of the late Sir Walter Buller, K.C.M.G., and the photograph was taken when the pataka was standing on the shore of Lake Papaitonga. It will be noted that the door is embellished not with carved design, but with painted patterns, and that the scroll representing the head of the pakake is of a pronounced circular form, and not the archaic design seen in Figs. 7 and 9. The paepae, or threshold, shows the single manaia design that leaves the central human figure a free agent, having no flanking manaia facing it. No manaia appear on the barge-boards, save at their lower extremities, while immediately above the scrolls are two obscure designs that may represent conventionalized or symbolical forms of some creature, mythical or otherwise, inasmuch as those designs are possessed of eyes. The grotesque figures carved on the two front supporting-posts have eyes represented by whole paua (Haliotis) shells.
In Fig. 16 are shown a pair of barge-boards in which the pakake figures are clear and prominent, not being covered by superimposed secondary figures. One lonely figure is so situated. They are also remarkable on account of the two scroll-like figures being of almost equal size, thus differing from Figs. 7 and 9.
In Fig. 17 we have a style that is met with occasionally in the barge-boards of both pataka and dwellinghouses, in which the lower part only of the barge-boards is adorned with carving.
In Fig. 18 we have a form of paepae or pae-kai-awha (outer threshold) wherein the manaia is absent, and replaced by scrolls between the heads or human figures, various details filling up the smaller spaces between the principal designs, the whole being enclosed between raised borders.
Of a rarer style is the carved design on a threshold now in the Whanga-nui Museum (see Fig. 19), in which the wheku are of an unusual form, and the centre-piece most uncommon.
In order to show the detail work we give a few illustrations of the doorways of pataka—that is, of the central planks of the front walls, in the base of which planks the doorways were made, usually of small dimensions. Fig. 20 shows two such planks. In the right-hand one the principal figure has a heitiki suspended from its neck, a form of ornament worn as a rule by women only. On either side are grotesque figures with heads placed sideways, below which appear what may manaia, but curiously distorted. On either side of the doorway appear two grotesque heads. The finishing-off process of small notches has not been completed on the left side of the main figure.
In the taller specimen on the left the head of the principal figure is a curiously distorted design, a peculiarity most desirable apparently in Maori eyes. The head of the small figure below it shows that the native carver was quite capable of making a much better representation of a human head. The flanking figures with heads placed sideways on the bodies extend in this case from top to bottom.
Fig. 21 shows a central plank and door in position. In this case the principal figure is flanked by somewhat uncommon designs, there being a notable lack of minor grotesque forms of semi-human shape. It will be noted that the head of the prominent figure is not of the wheku or distorted type, but is to the native eye a natural and lifelike representation. Tattoo patterns are plainly shown.
We now give an illustration of a form of pataka that was much more customary in former times than the highly ornamental ones, the form in which but few carved designs were seen. (See Fig. 22.)
As we here see it, the only carving visible is on the lower ends of the maihi or barge-boards, but it formerly possessed a highly carved facing-board, for which see Fig. 18; also a tekoteko or figure covering the junction of the barge-boards; as also two tautiaki (syn. amo maihi), carved uprights supporting the barge-boards.
This was the pataka of the chief, Te Heuheu, of Taupo, and it formerly stood at Pukawa, but was removed to Waihi. It is named Hinana. A glimpse of Lake Taupo is caught past the karaka trees. The trail of the serpent is noted in the shingled roof.
In Fig. 23 we see a specimen of the common order of raised storehouses, taken from an old print.
Our next two illustrations, Figs. 24 and 25, show two old elevated stores, much the worse for wear, as one often sees them in native hamlets at the present time, for slovenliness ofttimes marks the adoption of our civilization by a primitive folk. No. 24 we saw in the "nineties," before it became dilapidated; it then possessed a lone piece of carved work—a parata or carved head, from the mouth of which a lizard projected as though in place of a tongue. Probably the carved head being held by the lad is the same one.
In Fig. 26 we have a village scene such as is now seldom seen, for its only European items are the clothing of the natives and the building, of which the white roof can be seen in the background. This old order of things is rapidly passing away. In the centre stands a common unadorned pataka, such as were principally used formerly. Note the firewood stacked along the wall of the shed to the right. Some of the huts are roofed with bark.
Fig. 27 shows us a small hamlet wherein we see two pataka and two dwelling-huts, the former showing European influence in the material used. To the left front is a cooking-shed, showing firewood neatly stacked in the shallow porch against the front wall.
The village scene depicted in Fig. 28 is an excellent one. It was sketched at the Bay of Islands by a member of the United States Exploring Expedition in 1840. Two items of interest therein are the elevated platform to the right and the pataka with walls and roof composed of thatch. These ordinary items made by securing thatch to a framework of poles or rods are still seen in native hamlets occasionally.
In Fig. 29 is shown a modern type of pataka that offends the eye of the student of the old-time Maori, inasmuch as the building is constructed of sawn timber and roofed with corrugated iron. To this European structure certain Maori carvings have been affixed—viz., a paepae or porch-threshold, a tekoteko, and two barge-boards the lower ends of which have been carved. On the side-walls are secured other carved figures that appear to be old side-posts (pou-pou) of a dwellinghouse.
The information given above on the peculiar carved designs used in decorating a pataka is decidedly meagre. In future bulletins it is proposed to deal further with the subject of Maori carvings, where dwellinghouses and canoes are described in detail.
As to the origin of the Maori carving we are by no means certain. It is clear that we find nothing like it among the isles of Polynesia—that is, among the Maori folk who inhabit the far-scattered isles of the central and eastern Pacific. Hence some writers have stated their belief that the carving of the Maori of New Zealand is a local invention or growth, and has not been derived from any outside source. This view we cannot agree with, though recognizing the fact that such carvings and patterns are not met with in Polynesia. We do, however, find resemblances between certain patterns and schemes of Maori carving and others of Melanesia (including New Guinea in that term). The former are much more conventionalized than Melanesian forms, contain more detail, and are of a much more artistic finish, the execution in many cases being most excellent, as may be seen by referring to our illustrations. As one illustration of such resemblance we reproduce a photograph of three carved planks from Melanesia, now in the Australian Museum, Sydney, which show carved designs that might well be the prototype of the design seen in Figs. 3 and 5.
Mr. R. Etheridge, Curator of the Australian Museum, Sydney, has been good enough to forward us the following notes concerning these carved planks: "Memento carvings—Carved boards, partly in relief, partly in fretwork, or as fretworked beams usually of considerable size. The huts in which these carvings (and masks) Fu na totok (North New Ireland), Mirir (Gardner Islands), and Arionare, farther to the south-east. These boards also display the Manu or bird (totem sign) of the dead, accompanied by animal representations, as the snake, lizard, shark, dolphin, pig, &c. These are not totem signs, but represent evil spirits which fight with the Manu, and are finally conquered by him. The totem signs are taken exclusively from the bird world. Every carving has a particular story illustrating the conflict between a Manu and the evil spirits. A great number of legends and fables exist concerning the former."
We have also to thank the Curator of the Australian Museum for permission to reproduce these interesting photographs.
The description of these planks agrees with that of the barge-boards of a Maori pataka or dwellinghouse, the lower ends of which are often pierced work or fret-work, the upper part being carved in relief. Again,manu is the Maori word for bird, and the contention of good with evil spirits is of interest. In connection manaia in contact with a central human figure as seen in Maori designs, the theory is held by some that the group represents the good and evil spirits contending for the human soul, as taught in the cult of Zoroaster.
In the Maori design we have the two "bird-headed" figures termed manaia, one on either side of a central grotesque human figure, their beaks in contact with the ears or shoulders of that figure. In Fig. 30 of the Melanesian forms we note a similar scheme and arrangement, though much more primitive, both in the scheme and execution, than the Maori form. Thus, in the uppermost item we see the central grotesque figure, with a bird facing it on either side, though a space exists between them. But in the lower item we see these bird-figures close to the central one and connected with its head, though not actually touching it with their beaks. They are gripping some object in their beaks; and the bird to the left on the
In Fig. 32 we note carved patterns on New Guinea implements that resemble Maori work, especially the Maori pattern termed puhoro, and certain patterns painted on the rafters of Maori houses of the best type. (See also Brown's "Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 142.)
We hope, at some future time, to go further into this question of the origin of the Maori carved designs, as also some other Melanesian affinities noted in Maori culture, among which the system of fortification adopted in New Zealand will have a prominent place.
It will be noted that in the best-executed type of carving the human figure is grotesquely rendered, that distorted heads or faces (wheku) unauna, rauru, pakake, kekerepo, &c., but the origin and meaning are lost. Some designs probably were symbolic, but the key thereto is for ever gone unless such forms or their more primitive originals can be traced and explained in other lands. Maori carving may or may not have been conventionalized locally, but we cannot support the assertion that it was of local origin.
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
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 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 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
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.
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.
This type of storehouse was not elevated on posts, but was built on the ground. In some cases we hear of raised earthen floors in these storehouses. In others earth was piled up against the outer faces of the walls, as in the case of sleeping-houses, and which had practically the same effect as excavation of the floor.
In some of the native villages early voyagers saw such buildings of a large size, which were utilized as public storehouses, containing food, implements, weapons, &c, for the benefit of the village community. Again, smaller houses were used as storage-places for the food, &c., of a family group, or, in some cases, of a single family.
The best description given of the large storehouses mentioned above is that left us by Crozet in his excellent account of his sojourn at the Bay of Islands in the year 1772. He describes the arrangement of dwellinghouses in the fortified villages of that district as being two rows of houses with an open plaza (or "parade-ground," as this military writer terms it) between them, and continues, "The whole space between the two rows of houses is only occupied by three public buildings, of which the first and nearest to the village-gate is the general magazine of arms. A little distance off is the food-storehouse, and still farther the storehouse for nets—all the implements used in fishing, as well as all the necessary material for making the nets, &c. At about the extremity of the village there are some large posts set up in the form of gallows, where the provisions are dried before being placed in the stores."
The writer and his companions were shown through the series of public storehouses. The first was the armoury of the village, and contained quantities of weapons of various kinds—spears, clubs, patu, and darts—as also such implements as stone adzes and chisels, made of jade, granite, and basalt. "The magazines are generally about 20 ft. to 25 ft. long by 10 ft. to 12 ft. broad. In the interior there is a row of posts, which support the ridge-board of the roof. In the second magazine, where the savages keep their food in common, we found sacks of potatoes [the kumara, or sweet-potato, is here meant]; bundles of suspended fern-root; various testaceous fishes, cooked, drawn from the shell and threaded on blades of rushes, and hung up; and an abundance of very large calabashes always kept full of water for village use. This storehouse is almost as big, and of the same shape, as the magazine-house. The third storehouse contains the rope, fishing-lines, the flax for making rope,
The third storehouse described by Crozet is equivalent to one known as the whare mata among the Tuhoe Tribe. This was a special building erected and set aside as a storehouse for all implements and material connected with bird-snaring and fishing, and in which such apparatus or implements were made. This building was held to be tapu, and no cooked foods was allowed to be taken into it, nor were women allowed to enter it. Men engaged in making bird-snares, &c., in this building for the opening of the fowling season were tapu, and were not allowed to live with their families until their tasks were completed and the tapu lifted from them. The Ngati-Raukawa Tribe had a similar building in their hamlets. Some account of the whare mata may be found in Volume xlii of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," page 445.
J. L. Nicholas, who sojourned in the northern part of New Zealand in 1814-15, remarks on the superiority of the storehouses of the natives to their dwellings: "The inhabitants, to preserve their winter's supply of food had built a good many storehouses, which were better constructed and much more commodious than their dwellings. I observed one particularly that was as well built, both in point of comfort and convenience, as any of the huts of New South Wales that serve as a residence for our people. It had a door spacious enough to admit a person through it without stooping—a plan that I am surprised they neglect in their dwellings, where ingress is so difficult through the narrow apertures that it is always a laborious task to attempt it. The roof of this storehouse projected more than 3 ft. from the walls, forming a veranda round the dwelling; and to admit a free circulation of air they had made in it two large openings.
In Polack's "New Zealand: a Narrative of Travels and Adventures, &c.," published in 1838, is given an illustration of one of these storehouses with a fence round it. Like most of the illustrations in the above work, it does not bear much resemblance to Maori work, but has one notable peculiarity: this consists of the shape of the door, which is much narrower at the top than at the bottom. Of such buildings the author says, "The house appropriated to the kumara, or sweet-potato, is built expressly of the raupo with exceeding neatness. These have sometimes a veranda all round the building, and are enclosed with a neat fence; the doors are large, neatly carved, and painted. These entrances are often formed in the Egyptian style—narrow above, and widening as it descends; a small figure also surmounts the doorway." The illustration shows a ground-line storehouse, not an elevated one. See also Archdeacon Walsh's account of similar stores, at page 21. The so-called "veranda all round" was simply the projecting eaves at the sides of the building, and the roof gables at the two ends.
Williams's Maori Dictionary gives "Patengitengi, storehouse for kumara"; but whether it be an elevated, subterranean, or ground-line store we know not.
Nicholas, whose writings were published in 1817, speaks of having seen a circular storehouse in the Hauraki district: "On the side of the hill was a fine plantation of potatoes, cultivated with their usual neatness, and in the midst of it two very comfortable huts, with a singular building, probably intended for a storehouse. This strange edifice was built in a circular form, with the roof projecting about 3 ft. from the sides." This building was also surrounded with a fence, but such fencing was probably a modern innovation, practised since the introduction of pigs.
After the trade in flax was inaugurated, the natives in the Northern Island sometimes constructed large houses or sheds in which to store the prepared fibre. Polack states that some of these storehouses were "above 100 ft. in length, 30 ft. in width, and 40 ft. in height… The Phormium fibre) in this village were nearly 80 ft. in length and 30 ft. in breadth. They were constructed of poles and raupo, and the lower parts were open, with only poles placed across."
Marshall, in his "Narrative of Two Visits to New Zealand", speaks of a curious form of storehouse as seen by him in the Ngati-Ruanui district of Taranaki in 1834. In describing the Wai-mate pa, which contained nearly two hundred huts, he says, "In the samples they afforded of the domestic architecture of the New-Zealanders, there was little remarkable when contrasted with the similar edifices of the northern tribes, except that they appear to have been constructed with more nicety and carefulness, and with great attention to beauty of appearance. They were divisible into four varieties: (1) The whare mahana (warm, or sleeping, houses); (2) the kauta (cookhouses, or kitchens); (3) the maua(?) (open, or store, houses); (4) the whata (or wood-houses). The maua(?), or open houses, are so called either from a small opening in addition to the door, or from the wall at one end only reaching half-way across the building, and thereby leaving a wide entrance to the space within, beyond which there is occasionally an inner and sleeping apartment. These houses are used, for the most part, as warehouses in common, where the joint proprietors may safely deposit their implements of husbandry and weapons of war, together with the few articles employed in their still-fewer manufactures."
The above term maua, as applied to a house or hut, is unknown to us. As the author was not a Maori linguist, and the expedition does not, on his own evidence, seem to have had a competent interpreter, it is likely enough that some error was made in noting the name of these huts. The form of these storehouses was a curious one, and if an inner apartment was sometimes partitioned off it was probably a local usage.
The rua tairanga was, it is said, a store built on the surface of the ground, such being its floor, no part of it being excavated. The walls were built up much as in our log huts, by crossing lengths of the tree-fern trunks, the spaces between the logs being blocked with bunches of rarauhe (bracken), after which earth was piled up against the walls. This usage is said to have obtained in the Wai-rarapa district, but it does not look like a Maori mode.
In some cases storehouses with raised floors were constructed, as in situations where the ground was too damp to store supplies in. pataka; but these were very uncommon. It was not a native custom to store kumara or taro in ornamented pataka. Likewise stores like ordinary huts, the surface of the ground forming the floor, were sometimes used; but ever the Maori preferred to excavate pits for storing his crops in, such being semi-subterranean, or wholly so, or in the form of caves hewn out of the soft sandstone or indurated pumice.
In the following account of kumara stores from the pen of Mr. Colenso the first part seems to refer to stores on the ground-level, which do not seem to have been used on the east coast: "The kumara barn or store was almost universally the well-made handsome house of the village—the one sure to catch the eye of the European visitor, from its size, shape, neatness, and profusion of ornamental carved works inlaid with pearl-shell (Haliotis) and stained red. Its walls were made of yellow reeds of the Arundo, placed neatly together, with a squared plinth of the dark stem of the fern-tree set at the base to keep out the rats and wet, while its (thatched) roof was well
mangemange fern (Lygodium articu-latuni), and a drain cut round it to throw off the rain and other waters. Sometimes those stores were also elevated on squared and dubbed and ornamented posts, and sometimes even built up in the forks of the main branches of a dead tree."
It should here be mentioned that walls of store or dwelling houses, though often lined with reeds (the yellow flowering-stalks of Arundo conspicua), were yet never made of such frail material. They were merely used as a neat sightly lining for walls and roof. Also, the highly adorned pataka were never constructed on trees, though rude open platforms often were.
Canoe-sheds: Polack remarks, "Houses are also erected for war-canoes, the sides being generally open. The posts are made strong, for it often occurs that beneath the gable roof families dwell, who ascend thereto by means of a notched pole." These wharau, as they were termed, were also often used as places in which to keep fishing-nets and other items.
These stages, used for the purpose of storing food products on, were simply platforms of timber supported by one or more posts, or by tree-trunks. The latter were sometimes constructed among the branches of living trees, and sometimes on dead tree-trunks. They were often elevated at a considerable height above the ground, and hence were not so likely to be reached by the indigenous rat. Access to them was gained by means of a pole with notches cut therein, which served as a ladder, and was taken down and laid aside, except when actually in use, lest rats ascend thereby. This crude ladder is termed ara-whata. The illustrations given will convey a very good idea of the aspect of these structures.
Darwin, who was at the Bay of Islands in 1835, says, "The villages are chiefly conspicuous by the platforms, which are raised on four posts 10 ft. or 12 ft. above the ground, and on which the produce of the fields is kept secure from all accidents."
Polack (1838) says, "The whata is a platform built upon trees, or raised on stout branches. These are solely used for the purpose of preserving the provisions from the damp ground, the incursions of the rats, and the insidious affections of the dogs."
Jameson, who travelled in New Zealand in 1840, describes some whata he saw at the Bay of Islands: "Among other articles of produce I observed three or four small stacks of wheat, which they had built upon posts encircled with pieces of wood inclined downwards—a contrivance which prevents the depredation of rats. On many of the trees, also, we observed small stages on which potatoes and kumara were deposited, beyond the reach of these voracious animals."
The Rev. W. Yate, in his work on New Zealand, published in 1835, remarks, "That which most strikes the attention in approaching a native village is the stores which are built at the top of the highest trees(?). They are platforms made of strong poles interlaced with twigs, and are very durable. Placing potatoes and corn at this height secures them from the rats, and also ensures to the owner the whole of his property, as no person can ascend to take it from him without being detected." In another place this writer speaks of stages "about 20 ft. from the ground, upon which are placed two or three hundred baskets of corn (maize)."
In Wade's "Journey in the Northern Island of New Zealand" (1842), we note, in his description of the fortified hamlet of Wakatiwai, at the Bay of Islands, the following item: "In all the enclosures, and elsewhere about the pa, are storehouses, consisting of a platform raised upon stakes 10 ft. or 15 ft. high, on which are deposited the potatoes, &c.; and here and there are poles on which are hung bundles of dried fish, scattering their fragrance abroad." In another part of his little work the same author remarks, "One of the methods which the New-Zealanders adopt for preserving their winter stock of potatoes, maize, or kumara is by fixing an open framework on strong posts, commonly about 6 ft. or 7 ft. high, so as to form a stage of the required dimensions, on which the baskets of food are piled, and a rude covering or thatch put over them. These stages are called whata. Sometimes one thick post supports a whata, but more frequently four, six, or nine posts, according to the size. Sometimes you may see the whata with its load raised aloft among the branches either of a decayed or growing tree." The writer speaks of pitching his tent on one of these platforms in order to escape from the swarming fleas of a native settlement.
In the above extract we note that although these stages had no houses built on them, yet in some cases a rude thatch covering was put over the goods stored thereon, in order to protect them from the weather. We may also note that many of these platforms were constructed in an open manner, with spaces between the horizontal
Small islets or rocks were sometimes utilized by the Maori as places for the storage of food, as being free from rats. A low stage would be erected on such places, on which food products were placed. Thus, a small rock islet in the Wai-rau arm of Wai-kare Moana is known as the Whata kai o Maahu (the food-stage of Maahu), because that ancestor had a food-store thereon. Another such, known as the Whata kai o Tamai-rangi, was a small sandbank or islet situated in the eastern arm of Pori-rua Harbour, where that famed chieftainess of Ngati-Ira had a food-store.
In constructing these platforms on trees advantage was taken of the branches, beams or poles being placed in branch-forks in a horizontal position, and then covered with timbers in order to form a floor. Any food stored on such places was much drier than if placed on the ground, and these elevated places were much used in situations where the dampness of the earth rendered it unwise to place food in pits.
Whata rangi: "Maori Art" gives this as a name of "a stage or paltform, on two or more posts." It seems to be applied to stages used for many different purposes, and also to small elevated storehouses. Some tribes apply it to the scaffolding used in tree-felling. A Taumaru-nui native informs us that in his district the name was applied to an elevated stage erected in a village, and used as a seat or reclining-place by the two ariki (first-born male and female of a high chief's family). This would bring it under the head of tapurangi, as will be seen anon.
Williams's Maori Dictionary gives—Komanga: Elevated stage for storing food upon. Timanga: Elevated stage on which food is kept. Paparahi: Stage for drying kumara (sweet-potatoes). Paparahua: A kind of table from which food is eaten (a Rarawa word). Rara: Stage on which kumara are dried. Rangitapu: Scaffolding for raising a ridge-pole
The Rarawa word is of interest, inasmuch as the Maori was by no means addicted to the use of dining-tables. He preferred for such the breast of the Earth Mother, and, for manipulating his food, the tokorima a Maui (the five fingers).
Tregear's Maori Dictionary gives—Kaupapa: A raised platform for storing food; (2) an altar or sacred platform; (3) a raft. Kahupapa: A raft; (2) a shield, a tortoise, a sapping-shield or protection to an attacking party. Kauwhata: An elevated stage for storing food. Tiro: A food-store; a raised place for storing food. Kaiwhata: A pole Whata-amo: A litter.
The word kahupapa is also used to denote a platform such as those constructed on trees by fowlers, or a causeway made of fascines or timber, and similar items.
In "Maori Art" occurs the statement, "Near the cooking-houses would be one or more whata or stores for firewood, raised on posts about 6 ft. from the ground." Probably the most common method of stacking firewood was either in conical stacks, made by leaning long pieces against each other, or by stacking short pieces horizontally at the back or sides of cooking-sheds, such stacks being termed apaapa wahie. The conical stacks of firewood were called kotutu wahie by the Whanga-nui natives, and whakatutu wahie by some others.
Williams gives, "Pouraka or poutaka, a platform attached to one post." Also rara, a stage on which kumara are dried. This latter name was also applied to a horizontal rack on which eels, &c., were placed, and under which a fire was kept going in order to both cook and dry them; and, in fact, to any similar contrivance used for drying things on. In like manner birds were cooked for potting by being suspended in rows from the horizontal bars of a perpendicular rack, termed a matiti among the Tuhoe Tribe.
Maize is dried and kept on a large rack made by attaching poles horizontally to two
-shaped trestles. Such poles are fastened to both legs of each trestle, so that a double rack is thus formed. The shucks are stripped from the grain, but are not severed from the base of the cob, and hence the cobs are easily formed into bundles by tying the shucks together. These bundles are then suspended on the bars of the whata or rack. Another form of whata kaanga (corn whata) does not properly belong to this division of our paper. It is a rough shed built on piles or posts about 4 ft. high, with open walls, often made of manuka brush, but with a weatherproof roof. The corn is shucked and the cobs thrown loose into the shed, where offtimes they remain until next season. When not so filled, these whata are often used by natives as sleeping-places. The ventilation of such a chamber is beyond cavil. These corn-stores are, of course, a modern institution, the natives of the Bay of Islands, who were the first to acquire maize, having been provided with the grain in the "nineties" of the eighteenth century by Governor King, of New South Wales.
In former times, when canoes were housed in long sheds, platforms or lofts were sometimes constructed in such sheds, which served as sleeping-places for families.
Perpendicular racks, for drying fish on, were much used in former times by the coastal tribes. In his account of Queen Charlotte Sound Wakefield says, "Much of their (the natives') food consisted of dried whale's flesh, of which we saw large quantities hung on racks about the village." Many of us have seen such racks in Maori villages. Such racks are often termed tarawa.
In his account of Port Nicholson in 1839 Major Heaphy remarks, "A pa stood at the mouth of the Hutt River, on the eastern side, with large war-canoes drawn up on the beach, while at the hill-foot were tall stages, from which hung great quantities of fish in the process of sun-drying."
A curious form of hollow or semicircular whata was often seen in former times. Some of these were made of a short piece, a section, of an old canoe, set up on the top of a tall post, with the hollowed part upwards. Others were made of the half of a short section of a hollow tree, fixed up on a post in like manner. Some thirty or forty years ago such items were a common feature in native villages. One appears in Brees's picture of the Maori village at Nga-uranga, Wellington.
Dr. Marshall, in his "Personal Narrative of Two Visits to New Zealand," which he visited in 1834, speaks of a food-storing platform suspended from tree-branches, a singular form: "The whata is of very varied construction, being sometimes a mere stage, lifted up about 20 ft. above the ground, upon four stanchions, and in its turn supporting the winter store of potatoes, corn, &c., all carefully covered in with a matting of reed or bulrush; sometimes a rudely manufactured raft, slung from the dead or dying branches of a decayed tree, and apparently out of reach of any common thief, answering the same purpose, and certainly giving an additional touch of the picturesque to the general character of a New Zealand village." The same writer, in describing Te Namu pa, mentions "several whata, or stages, supporting baskets of seed-potatoes, carefully sewed up with dried grass and covered in with fern-leaf."
To turn to the most diminutive item we have seen described as a whata. This was a small platform constructed in a hangi, or steam-oven, and on which a kumete, or wooden bowl, was placed. The whole was then carefully covered, and so the water was brought to boiling-point. (See Bulletin No. 3 of the Dominion Museum: Dr. Buck's paper on Maori weaving.)
Whata karaho: This was a term used to denote an elevated platform, open and roofless, with four supporting-posts. It is apparently synonymous with rahoraho.
At the tauranga waka, or place where the canoes of a hamlet were kept and hauled up on returning from a fishing expedition, a platform was usually erected, on which the fish were laid, head and tail, by the women as they cleaned them, and after this task was completed such fish would be carried by the women to the village. These tasks were always performed by the women on the return of a fishing-party.
Whata papa does not seem to have been a specific name for any particular kind of platform or raised hut, or one used for any particular purpose, but the expression simply implies a raised place constructed of papa, or hewn slabs.
In Bishop Selwyn's journal of his travels in New Zealand occurs the following passage, showing how much struck he was with the appearance of the lofty platforms erected at native villages. Those described were seen on the second day's march south of the Rakaia River: "January 13, 1844. Arrived at a native settlement, Te Wai a Te Rua-ti, standing out of the plain like an oasis of the desert. Its lofty whata (potato-stores) standing up against the sky, by the aid of a little imagination, suggested the idea of the ruins of an ancient temple."
A whata kupenga, or net-rack, on which large fishing-nets were hung to dry, usually consisted of two horizontal and parallel rails fixed on the top of posts, and about 8 ft. or 10 ft. apart. The nets were spread over these racks to dry and then put away in a pataka, in which were stored all forms of fish-nets and traps, such as purangi, tawiri, hinaki, &c. Such a raised storehouse for nets was often called a whatanga tawiri; for it must be borne in mind that the word whata is not only a noun, but also a verb, meaning "to elevate." A fish-drying rack was termed a tarawa or whata ika.
An elevated platform, with a roof over it, but no walls, was used for the purpose of drying fish, and was termed a wharau. In modern times leaves of the tobacco-plant have been placed in such places to dry.
Whata with two or three floors: In an illustration of an old-time Maori fortified village are depicted two whata, each of which has three floors or stages. On these stages are piled baskets of food products, while from the outer edges are suspended rows of dried fish. Each whata is supported by four posts, which in one case are carved on their lower parts. The same picture shows such a stage with two floors or platforms; and another such stage appears in an old sketch of a place near Nelson.
Te Whatahoro, of Wai-rarapa, has never seen or heard of any whata or open platforms with two floors. Such a thing would be Kia heke iho ra i nga tupuna, katahi ka tika" (Were it a mode handed down from our forefathers, then it would be correct).
A crude arrangement used at temporary settlements or camps, and known as a whata kura, is described by Te Whatahoro as being simply a small tree taken up with roots attached, and the stem cut off perhaps 8 ft. or 9 ft. above the ground. This was then set in the earth with the roots upward, whereupon the roots formed a convenient place to put baskets of potatoes or other items on. Such rude erections were used by women in camps in open country. When camped near trees, a platform would be constructed among the branches of a small tree. The ake rautangi tree was favoured as a whata kura at a place periodically visited, such as a fishing-village, on account of its durability.
The following items were also given by Te Whatahoro:—
Whata pu kiore: This was a carefully constructed raised platform, on which were placed bodies of the dead intended to be eaten. The four horizontal side beams of this structure, on which the platform rested, were carved with the pattern termed pu kiore. This pattern is seen on the sides of canoes of a superior type. These carved beams were termed huapae, a general term for beams, &c., in a horizontal position, and not by any means a specific term. [This definition of the above term differs from those given by other tribes, and we look upon it with some doubt.]
Whata kaupe: A rough, raised platform, supported on four posts, and used as a place whereon to put eel-pots, &c., to dry, to keep baskets or other items; a generally handy place.
The series of racks consisting of two upright posts and a horizontal cross-piece, over which a heavy ridge-pole was slid into position, was termed a kaupae or amorangi.
Tunui-a-rangi, of Wai-rarapa, states that a curious form of whata kai was erected at the taumata korero of a pa—that is, at the place where the elder chiefs assembled in order to discuss affairs of the clan. This form of whata was simply a small tree, which was felled, conveyed to the hamlet, and set upright in the ground. The branches were not cut off—that is, a number of branches were left on the trunk, one for each member of the party that was wont to meet at the spot. Doubtless the ends of such branches would be cut off, leaving a certain length thereof projecting whereon to hang baskets. The trunk of such a whata was carved in some fashion, and painted whata, each man's leavings being placed in a separate basket and hung on the particular branch assigned to him. This custom was, of course, in observance of the law of tapu. Any person interfering with such food would be slain.
The Tahitians erected within their houses a curious form where-from to suspend divers vessels. Ellis says, "The fata, or stand, with one or two projections, and a notch on the top, from which the calabashes of water, baskets of food, umete, &c., are suspended. Great labour was formerly bestowed on this piece of furniture, and the fata pua was considered an ornament to the house in which it was erected. About a foot from the ground a projection extended 6 in. or 8 in. wide, completely round, flat on the top, but concave on the under-side, in order to prevent rats ascending and gaining access to the food."
Platforms for stacking firewood on were termed rahoraho wahie, says Te Whatahoro. These were platforms placed on four or more posts about 5 ft. high, having no roof, but merely three or four uprights at each end to confine the stack of wood, the pieces of fuel being of irregular lengths.
A stack of firewood stacked as we "cord" up fuel would be termed a taiki wahie in the Wai-rarapa district. When placed on end so as to assume a cone-like form, such is termed a whakatutu wahie or kotutu wahie. Firewood thrown into a loose heap would be a haupu wahie. The expression apaapa wahie is applied by some tribes to firewood stacked as the taiki above mentioned, while others apply it to fuel stacked in and supported by slings of aka (tough stems of climbing-plants). These slings, or pieces of aka were secured over the doorway inside the front wall of a sleeping-house, says Te Whatahoro, arranged so as to bow out like the letter D, and the pieces of fuel were arranged in these loops. This was all good fuel selected for the little fires kept burning in the takuahi, or fireplaces, and might not be taken for cooking purposes. Fuel was also stacked in the apaapa or taiki style in cooking-sheds. In the Matatua district the suspended slings for fuel seem to have been affixed to the back wall of a sleeping-house, not over the door.
Another method of stacking fuel for a cooking-shed was that known as a pahuki. This mode implied the stacking of fuel lengthwise along the inside walls of a cooking-hut. To keep such a stack in position, two upright poles were used to confine it, having the pou wha-kaawe. In this method there are no close walls to the hut, walls being represented by a few upright posts to support the roof, and which serve to confine the stack of fuel. As the fuel on the inner side of such a stack was consumed, that on the outer side was moved inwards, and occasionally a fresh supply replaced that taken from the outer part of the stack.
The kaiwhata, explains Te Whatahoro, was a small receptacle for food that served the purpose of the safe or meat-safe of the European, and was suspended from a high gallows by means of a cord. It was constructed as is a hinaki, or eel-pot, the framework consisting of many wooden hoops made from pieces of aka, the tough pliant stems of climbing-plants. These hoops were of different sizes, the largest thereof forming the base of
the kaiwhata, the others diminishing in size upward until the topmost one was merely a diminutive item; thus the apparatus was cone-shaped. Small straight of pieces aka were fastened to these hoops (whiti), much as an eel-pot was made. The bottom was of similar material, and was often a separate piece that acted as a door, being secured to the body of the apparatus by tying. The food to be so preserved from rats and birds was placed on this circular base, then the cone-shaped structure was placed over it and tied thereto, while a cord secured by one end to the upper or small end of the cone served to suspend it. In some cases a bowl containing certain food was placed in such a safe.
This apparatus was hoisted up to an arm projecting horizontally from the top of a high post, about 20 ft. in height, it is said. This upright post had a notch on the top, and just below its summit was secured the korewa, or arm, which was butted on to the post and secured thereto by means of two horizontal battens, about 2 ft. in length, placed one on either side of the post and arm, and lashed securely to both. A brace or strut extending from the post upward to the arm also served to hold the latter in position. At the outer end of the arm was a notch similar to that on the top of the post. The cord, one end of which was secured to the upper part of the "safe," passed up through the notch on the end of the arm, then
When the above apparatus was used in wet weather, and it was desired to protect the food contained in it, then a rude cover, termed a poreku, was made for it. This cover was in the form of a hollow cone, and was made of pieces of rangiura, the inner bark of the totara. These pieces of bark were cut into the desired shape while still green, and also pierced with holes for sewing them together, then tied to pieces of stick laid across them, and allowed to dry. When dry and rigid they were sewn together, their edges overlapping, by means of reeving a light cord through the pierced holes. Thus a conical cover to place over the kaiwhata, or safe, was formed.
Both platforms (food-stages) and pataka were occasionally built in water, such as lakes and ponds, not only to avoid rats but also human thieves. In the Wai-rarapa district pataka were sometimes built in ponds, and in such places valuables were often kept.
Platforms were often erected among the branches of living trees adjacent to a hamlet, and used to store food-supplies, &c., on. Occasionally such trees stood within the defences of a pa. In some cases notched poles were used whereby to gain access to these stages, and in others the arowhata was employed.
In the Wai-rarapa district the tokorangi or kautawa was a simple apparatus for hoisting meat up out of the way of dogs, &c. The tokorangi was composed of two poles set up in the form of an inverted
V (so,
); the butts sunk in the earth, the tops crossed and lashed together. Across these two sticks, near the apex, was lashed a short cross-piece, the middle part of which was round and smooth, and over this the rope working the apparatus was passed. The item to be hoisted, such as a piece of meat, was secured to a short bar of wood; if a side of pork or man, simply laid over it. Short cords were fastened to either end of this bar, and to these another short cord that suspended the bar to the end of a long pole. To the upper end of this pole was secured one end of a long cord that passed over the cross-piece of the tokorangi and thence to the ground. Pulling this cord over the tokorangi.
Fern-roots were sometimes placed on open platforms, exposed to all weathers, until dry, then packed in baskets and put away in the cooking-huts.
The posts supporting platforms, &c., on which food was stored were worked smooth of surface in order to prevent the passage of rats, or a hole the size of the post was made in the centre of a sheet of Dieffenbach mentions a cone-shaped island in Queen Charlotte Sound named Matapara.totara bark, which was slipped down over the post before the superstructure was erected, and fixed at a point some distance above the ground. This preventive was termed a matapara whata.pataka. In some cases these matapara were formed of a hewn slab of wood, with a hole in the centre to admit the post. In other cases wooden troughs, termed waka, were placed, hollow downwards, on the top of the posts, where they served as foundation-plates for the superstructure. Such troughs were not canoe-shaped, but open at both ends. Again, such plates sometimes consisted of a broad flat hewn slab fixed on the tops of the supporting-posts. All these items prevented the passage of the native rat, but it is probable that it was not such a persistent and destructive creature as the Norway rat.
The following brief remarks on the subject of platforms are from Tuta Nihoniho, of the Ngati-Porou Tribe:—
Whata—i.e., common food-platforms—never received special names, nor was there any carving on them.
In modern times a whata or platform, with two or three floors, one above the other, but with no walls, has sometimes been used whereon to store seed-potatoes (but never kumara), the same being usually placed in round creels made of split supplejack, and termed toi (toiki by some tribes), a thatched roof generally placed over the uppermost platform. Such a construction is termed a whata purapura.
Fern-roots (aruhe) were piled for drying purposes on a rough raised platform some 6 ft. high, having no roof. This would be termed a whata aruhe simply because it was used for such purpose.
Rahoraho: This term would be applied to the platform or decking in a canoe, also to a floor of slabs or other materials laid on the surface of the ground. If so laid on the ground as dunnage to protect something placed on it in the way of keeping it off the ground, it would probably be referred to as a whakapuru.
Eel-fishers sometimes erected a raised platform at the edge of a lagoon, or pool in a swamp, from which to fish, a basket being attached to the structure into which to put their catch. Such a platform would be termed a puhara hi tuna, or eel-fishing platform (or stage), the term puhara being applied to an elevated platform only.
The term kahupapa is applied to many things, as an elevated floor or platform, a raft, a corduroyed road, &c.; also to the toetoe lining of a house-roof and the ornamental work between the posts of a house, because both are put together on the ground in wide sections ere being placed in position.
Timanga, as a name for an elevated storage-place, is apparently a northern word, and is not so employed by the east-coast peoples.
Occasionally a platform elevated a little above ground was seen at the side of the marae, or plaza, of a village, and on which the elderly men would sit at such times as in the evening when the young folk were amusing themselves on the plaza.
Racks: Fish-drying racks were termed whata ika or tarawa ika.
Arowhata and arawhata: A form of ladder, says Te Whatahoro, termed an arowhata was used in former times whereby to gain access to platforms used by fowlers in trees, to lofty platforms or pataka, or to tree dwellings, such as the whare punanga. These ladders, being constructed of flexible materials, were hauled up when necessary by means of a cord fastened to the lower end, thus cutting off access to the tree or platform. The arowhata was constructed in the following manner: Two long pieces of aka, the pliant stems of certain climbing-plants, were used as sides of the ladder, and across these were fastened the steps, kaupae or kaupeka, pieces of aka toro-raro, tied on with thin stems of aka-kuku or of mange-mange (Lygodium articulatum). The tie was first tied round the upright, then the two ends of it passed round the step-piece in opposite directions and crossed on the step, then reversed and brought back round the upright or side piece of the ladder and secured. Long ladders of this description were used for ascending trees, and smaller ones for pataka.
The form of arowhata that was pendant was called arowhata taepa, but in some cases they were lashed to the trunk of the tree, in which case they were termed arowhata tamau. These latter could not, of course, be hoisted up.
Arawhata: The ladder more commonly used for pataka and platforms was the arawhata or turuki, which was usually a beam or length of the trunk of a tree, about 8 in. in thickness, in which a pataka, but were always removed after use and laid aside, thus rendering the store inaccessible to such noxious creatures as rats, dogs, and children. The notched-pole ladder is termed turuki on account of its notched steps.
Hakari stages: The term hakari implies a feast or entertainment. These feasts were fairly common occurrences in Maoriland in former times, and often were of a ceremonial character. In many cases the immense quantities of food presented to visitors at these meetings, or at such of them as were remarkable for the inclusion of extra-tribal guests, or were of a political nature, were stacked up on high erections composed of a number of platforms one above the other.
These many-floored stages were of two very different forms. One was pyramidal, and was built by setting up a stout tree-trunk in a vertical position and then placing strong rickers in position, their butts being planted far out from the central post, and their tops resting against it, where they were secured by strong lashings. The platforms were now constructed by lashing rickers in a horizontal position on the framework, and on these horizontal beams the pole flooring was laid. In Yate's "Account of New Zealand" (1835) is an illustration of one of these conical erections which has fifteen platforms, on each of which there is room and to spare for men to walk upright without being in danger of knocking their heads against the floor above. This would mean a height of about 100 ft., which seems very great, and must be an exaggeration. The author says, "A large number of strong poles are erected, and stages are made at a distance from each other of from 8 ft. to 10 ft., till they reach the top. Sometimes these piles are from 80 ft. to 90 ft. high, and from 20 ft. to 30 ft. at the base, gradually rising to a point; when filled, they present one solid mass of food. The whole is decorated with flags, and, when in an elevated situation, presents a very imposing appearance. The portion belonging to each tribe is particularly pointed out; and when the ceremony of presenting it is over, the people carry away their portions, and the building, upon which it was all piled, is left to go to ruin or cut down for firewood, as the natives never use, the same wood, nor choose the same spot, for a second hakari."
The illustration of this curious pyramidal staging, or series of platforms, given in the above work is of much interest. Men are
Mr. Colenso gives some description of these stages in Volume xiii of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute." "The food was generally piled up in the form of a pyramid, from 80 ft. to 90 ft. high, and 20 ft. to 30 ft. square at the base, gradually rising to its apex. To build up this, the straight trunk of a large tree was first obtained
Of these hakari stages, Taylor remarks in "Te Ika a Maui," "Sometimes a number of poles were planted in the ground, 50 ft. or 60 ft. high, which were made to support eight or ten stories, heaped up with baskets of food to the very top."
The other form of hakari stage was of a very different shape, and a
good illustration of one is given in Thomson's "Story of New Zealand," Volume ii, as a frontispiece. The staging so depicted was erected at a great feast held at the Bay of Islands in 1849, in order to
celebrate the peace-making between the two races. This picture shows a long erection, not a conical one, but of a long form. The two rows of poles or rickers are inclined inward so as to meet at the top, and the whole seems to be braced and stiffened by means of erecting vertical poles in the middle of the structure. The picture shows seven
In Volume i, page 189, Thomson makes the following remarks concerning these feasts and stages: "Twelve months before the festival food was planted, and preparations made for it. Previously to the arrival of the guests the food was piled either on the ground or on wooden scaffolds. Such erections were square pyramidal towers, having an elevation of 50 ft., or ranges of 6 ft. high, extending from half a mile to two miles (!). There were several compartments in these receptacles for food, each being filled up with sweet-potatoes, taro, maize, fern-root, potted birds, dried fish, karaka berries, and other things…. Six thousand guests have been counted at such banquets…. The wood of the banquet building was used by the guests to cook their food…. In 1836 there was a celebrated hakaria at Matamata, on the Thames. Here a European counted eight thousand baskets of potatoes, five hundred thousand eels, eight hundred pigs, and fifteen casks of tobacco." The statement that these stages were made from half a mile to two miles long is, of course, absurd, and cannot possibly be accepted.
The following description of a hakari staging erected at Hokianga, was written by the late Colonel McDonnell: "The scaffold which was to support the piles of food was six kumi long (a kumi is 60 ft., so the total length was 360 ft.). Each scaffolding was one kumi in length, and tapered up from its base, which was twice the stretch of a man's arms (about 12 ft.), to 40 ft., 50 ft., 60 ft., and 75 ft. in height, according to the strength or amount of food the hapu (division) of the tribe it belonged to had, and tapered off at the top to about 18 in. broad. On the bottom tier would be about 600 baskets of kumara (sweet-potatoes); a strong platform was lashed over this to support the next tier of, say, 500 baskets; then another platform, and so on, until a single row of baskets graced the top of the pile. In all, to each piece of scaffolding there would be between 3,000 and 3,500 baskets of kumara; here and there would be calabashes of preserved birds—pigeons, tui, kaka, weka, kiwi, curlew, ducks, and widgeon; fish of all kinds, tons of them taken in immense tidal bag nets, 70 ft. long by 25 ft. square at the mouth, narrowing off to 18 in., an immense basket capable of holding two hogsheads fastened on the other end, &c."
Of the presentation of these masses of food-supplies to the guests, this writer says, "The next day the feast was 'called'—that is, each hapu of Ngati-Whatua by a corresponding hapu (clan or subtribe) of the Popoto folk, and this was subdivided again and again until all the food and delicacies were distributed."
A peculiar mode of piling up food-supplies was practised by the Tongans. Mariner describes such as having been seen by him at a ritual feast: "Tuitonga's marly (? malae or marae) is near his own residence, and on this were erected four columns of yams in the following manner: four poles, about 18 ft. long, were fixed upright in the ground to the depth of a few feet, at about 4 ft. distance from each other in a quadrangular form; the spaces between them, all the way to the top, being crossed by smaller poles about 6 in. distant from each other, and lashed on; the interior of this section being filled up with yams as they went; and afterwards other up-right poles were lashed on to the top with cross-pieces in like manner, still piling up the yams; then a third set of poles, &c., till the column of yams was about 50 ft. or 60 ft. high, when, on the top of all, was placed a cold baked pig. Four such columns were erected, one at each corner of the marly."
In many cases, however, no staging was used, the food being piled in long heaps on the ground. So far as we can ascertain, these stages were seldom used on the east coast and in the southern parts of the Island, nor have we heard of them in the Whanga-nui and Taranaki districts.
Mr. Skinner informs us that the hakari stages, as depicted by Yate and Thomson, were not erected by the Taranaki natives, who followed the tahua system practised on the east coast, wherein the food was piled on the ground in long heaps.
Te Whatahoro informs us that among his people a hakari stage would be termed a whata kopiha kai, the platform of which was constructed of poles laid side by side. It might have side walls of plank or rangiura bark. On this stage the baskets of food were stacked, and in bad weather would probably be covered with mats called topaki, made of leaves of Cordyline, which overlapped each other so as to prove an excellent water-shedder. The butts of the leaves were placed outwards, and the mat somewhat resembled a rough pora or whakatipu cape in its aspect. So far we have not noted any proof that the large hakari stages with many or several platforms or floors were used in the southern part of the Island.
The expression kopiha kai was often applied to a quantity of food heaped or stacked on the ground, while a rua kopiha is a pit store for food products, such as crops.
It must be remarked that the hakari stage was not a common usage, but confined apparently to the more northern tribes. Among others, as we have seen at Whanga-nui, Poverty Bay, and elsewhere, the food-supplies for presentation to guests at these functions were stacked in a long heap or row on the ground-line, such a heap being known as a tahua.
These places are known collectively as rua kai, or food-pits, but, as seen by the heading above, are of different forms. They may be subdivided as follows:—
The only form of Maori store that has been made prominent in published accounts of Maori life is the highly adorned pataka or elevated house-like store. It is well to again mention that these ornate buildings were not only not used as places of storage for crops, but that very few of such places were seen in native villages. A Maori hamlet in pre-European times might contain one such building, many of them did not possess one, and few could boast of several. On the other hand, the common, plain, unadorned pataka were much more numerous, and each family might aim to possess one such.
But the most numerous items coming under the head of "storage-places" were certainly pit stores, semi and wholly subterranean, as also elevated platforms with no building erected thereon. These excavated storage-places were a truly remarkable feature in Maori village life, and the places wherein their main crop was stored. These places are not ornate structures, and have never been thoroughly described, having possibly been looked upon as being of too humble and non-striking a nature to call for any special remark. But they were the most useful of all native stores, and hence are herein described with detail that may seem tedious to the reader. The common, unadorned, or slightly ornamented pataka or whata was used for the storage of certain food products and for miscellaneous items, but the heavily carved pataka was a rara avis, and can scarcely be described as a food-store.
The style of rua now under discussion may be termed semi-subterranean, inasmuch as it was made by excavating earth (on level ground) to a depth of 3 ft., and sometimes 4 ft. or 5 ft. This excavation was of an oblong form, and was covered with a
-shaped roof. In some cases the earth walls were lined inside with slabs of wood, or, when procurable, slabs cut from the trunks of tree-ferns. When the smaller stems of such species as Dicksonia squarrosa were so used they were simply "flatted" on two sides. Larger stems could be split down the middle. But the most highly prized species for such work is the wheki-ponga or pu-nui (Dicksonia fibrosa). The thick trunks of this species are, as Mr. Cheeseman describes, "everywhere thickly coated with matted fibrous aerial rootlets, giving it a diameter when mature of from 1 ft. to 2 ft." These thick trunks furnish fine broad slabs for the lining of the walls or roof of the food-pits. Such pieces are sliced off the trunk of a desired length, and, as the peculiar material does not break easily, are easily conveyed from a distance to the place where they are to be used, without suffering any injury. This material is preferred to ordinary timber for such covering purposes, for the reason that it withstands the attacks of marauding rats, which creature does not seem able to penetrate it. We have often noticed in the forest attenuated-looking trunks of this tree-fern carved into curious forms, where natives have been hewing off slabs of the fibrous material. When a food-pit was roofed with this material it really served as a lining to such roof, being covered with a roof of thatch or bark, which is a durable material and a good water-shedder.
When travelling from Rua-tahuna to Te Whaiti in January, 1842, Mr. Colenso descended the Okahu Stream, and remarks in his journal, "On the banks of this river I also saw specimens of a fine arborescent fern (Dicksonia fibrosa) which attains the height of 18 ft.; its caudex is very bulky, and is composed of thick layers of fibres, resembling at first sight the fibrous interior of the husk of a coconut. The trunks of the larger ones were grotesquely hewn by the natives into all manner of uncommon shapes, in their cutting away the fibrous outside for the purposes of planks for their houses and stores, it being more easily worked than wood, and forming a better defence against rats."
Angas remarks that the roots of tree-ferns "are used by the natives to cover over the entrances to their potato-stores: these are sunk in the ground, the porous nature of the root imbibing the superabundant moisture from above." It is doubtful if the roots of tree-ferns were ever much used for this purpose, unless aerial roots are meant.
The bark of the kahikatoa or manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is much prized for this purpose. It is very durable and easily accommodated to any form of roof, while the natives possess the knack of arranging it on a roof in a very neat manner. Bark is kept in place on a roof by placing poles on it, such poles being lashed to the framework at the ends of the hut.
These stores were made in many sizes up to 25 ft. in length, and even longer. Favoured situations for them were near the edge of a terrace or on the summit of a spur, such places being better drained than others. Near some of the old fortified villages rows of such storehouses have been made on convenient ridges. There is a row of about nine on a ridge near the old Haukapua pa at Rua-toki, some of which are nearly 30 ft. in length. Of course, nothing but the excavations are left, all sign of woodwork having perished long ago, but some of these excavations are now 5 ft. below the level of the adjacent land. Hence one descended several steps in going down into such places.
The end walls were made in a similar manner to side walls, preferably of slabs of tree-ferns. In many cases the roof was covered with earth.
Most of the larger or more famous storehouses, both semi-subterranean and pataka or raised stores, received special names, as dwellinghouses did. Thus famed stores of the Tuhoe folk included Ma te Hau-o-Puanui e whakahoki mai." It appears that the above chief's wife eloped with another man one fair morn, some two centuries and a half ago. Rangi was urged to pursue the sinful twain, to slay the man, and bring his wife back. It was then that Rangi made the above remark, "The Hau-o-Puanui will bring her back." He opined that ere long she would return to the well-stocked food-store of that name and we believe she did so.
As observed, some of these food-stores were of considerable size, and would contain a great quantity of food. In the district of the lower Whakatane valley there is an old-time saying extant, showing that such places were constructed with the ridge-pole consisting of four pieces of timber, which would mean a large storehouse. "Tikina ki waho ki te Whanau Pani hai mahi i te rua, kia toru ai hono o te rua" (Go out and procure the services of the Whanau Pani to construct the store, and let it be made with three joints [in the ridge-pole]). Whanau Pani was the popular name for three brothers of Ngati-Awa who were famous house-builders and wood-carvers.
In Wade's "Journey in the Northern Island of New Zealand" (1842) occurs the following: "The whata has already been mentioned as one form of provision-store, as also the pataka. In districts where the ground is pretty constantly saturated with moisture the whata is adopted as the preferable mode, the potato or kumara being liable to rot in moist underground rua; but in drier districts, or where the soil is less porous, the rua is common. There are two forms of rua. One form is a quadrangular hole, about 3 ft. deep, dug in the ground, with the framework of a sloping roof erected over it, and covered in with strong thatch, the entrance being by a small door in the front. The other form is a cave dug in the earth, and entered by a hole from the top, or sometimes, as at Pa-teko, from the side. At the time of our residence at Tauranga the site of the old pa at Te Papa was so full of underground rua, mostly overgrown, that it was hardly safe to walk over it."
Of the semi-subterranean storehouses Mr. Skinner says, "Sometimes the storehouses were sunk in the ground 3 ft. or 4 ft., and the whole covered with a -shaped roof made of slabs, and outside them a covering of earth."
Te Whatahoro contributes the following notes regarding this type of storehouse: "The rua tahuhu was a storehouse formed by kumara crop was placed in such stores—tubers selected for the purpose of cooking for guests. The two heke ripi (maihi) of a rua tahuhu were sometimes ornamented with notched patterns, termed whakatatara, but never with such carvings as are seen on a dwellinghouse, or the elaborate pataka carvings. Such notched heke ripi boards were also sometimes painted with horu, or red ochre, but never the plain ones. Only the store-pits of persons of importance were so treated."
The rua whenua seems to have been much the same as a rua tahuhu—an excavated pit, with the roof above the ground-level. The excavated part was sometimes lined with slabs of tree-fern (ponga). To roof these pits pliant poles of manuka were thrust down into the earth, bent over into the form of an arch, and tied together in that position. Horizontal battens were then tied on to these poles, and the thatch lashed to these battens. The back wall was formed by inserting poles in the earth and bending their pliant tops over the rear end of the house (prior to thatching), and so lashing them. The front wall was vertical, and furnished with a small door and a pihanga, or, more correctly speaking, a koropihanga—a small opening for ventilation. When thatched the roof was covered with earth, thus leaving merely the front wall exposed. This is a Wai-rarapa form. The roof was always made with a slope; it was never flat. In the Whanga-nui district, we are told that the trunks of Dicksonia squarrosa were used for lining these food-pits, as well as for other purposes. Among the Tuhoe Tribe the trunks of several species of tree-ferns were used, and broad slabs or flakes of the trunks of Dicksonia fibrosa (punui) were employed wherewith to cover the roof-frame of pit stores.
When storing kumara, or sweet-potatoes, in such pits, the tubers are not allowed to come into contact with the slabs that form or line the walls, as such contact would cause decay to set in. The walls are lined, often with rushes, in order to prevent such contact. Many of such places had no wall-lining save rushes or fern.
The slabs or lengths of tree-fern trunks are termed pairi ponga in the southern part of the North Island. The Dicksonia squarrosa is known as whekii in some districts. The stems of this tree are much used wherewith to construct the walls of rough huts, as cook-sheds, &c., and such a hut is termed a whare tirawa among the Ngati-Pukeko folk of the Bay of Plenty. Dicksonia fibrosa is known as punui in the Matatua district, but as whekii-ponga, pehiakura, and whekii-kohunga in some other districts.
Some of the larger rua kumara, or stores, were partitioned inside for the purpose of sorting the crop and placing the different sizes, &c., of the tubers in separate divisions of the store. Some of these stores were so arranged as to have a free passage from the entrance along the middle, while partitions, termed pakorokoro, were erected on either side at right angles to the passage, thus dividing each side of the alleyway into several bins. In one of these divisions the small tubers would be placed; in another the kumara tapuku, or large rounded tubers; in another the kumara kokau, or long narrow tubers; and in another the kumara mahora, those having a smooth even surface. It was in this way that tubers were sorted for seed when the crop was stored, and this saved time and trouble when the planting season was at hand. This is an east-coast item.
This style of food-storing pit was never made of so large a size as many of the form described above, for obvious reasons, except such as were made on the brink of terrace formations. It is made by excavating a rectangular pit or chamber in sloping ground, as the side of a hill or slope of a terrace. The earth forms the walls and back in many cases, but they are sometimes lined with trunks or slabs of tree-fern trunks. A
-shaped roof is placed over this chamber, which, again, is often covered with earth, and a door is made in front. When potatoes or kumara are stored in these pit chambers the floor is first covered with fronds of rarauhe (Pteris aquilina) or Dicksonia squarrosa, on which they are placed. Potatoes are placed loose and heaped anyhow in such places, but much more care is taken in storing the kumara, or sweet-potato. Each tuber is handled separately and carefully examined for any signs of bruise or abrasion, as such defects mean rapid decay; and all sound ones are then stacked up in rows, one by one, with the greatest care. A well-kept food-store is a striking example of care and neatness.
In all cases these pits and semi-subterranean stores are so tended that storm-water does not collect near them. In many cases small drains carry off such waters.
Tregear's Maori Dictionary gives rua-tirawa, a store with an "elevated floor." We do not know of any kind of rua with an elevated floor. Probably in error for "excavated." The tree-fern Dicksonia squarrosa is termed tirawa by the Ngati-Pukeko folk, or at least its trunk is, and a shed the walls of which are composed of such trunks is known as a whare tirawa.
Williams's Dictionary gives patengitengi, a storehouse for kumara; rua-koauau, kumara store; rua-tahuhu, potato-store; rua-tirawa, a store with an excavated floor.
The Rev. T. G. Hammond says: Rua-pare, a storehouse built on the ground; rua kopia, an excavated store-pit (cf., rua kopiha); patakitaki, divisions in a storehouse; koropu, a low house.
Tregear gives koropu, a hole for storing food in; and another authority gives koropu, an underground house; though Williams's Maori Dictionary gives it as "a house built of wrought timber."
Pakorokoro is given by one authority as a storehouse. Tregear gives pakoro, a potato-stack (? a heap); and pakorokoro, as a place in which to keep pigs.
These rua kai or pit storehouses were constructed for use only, and were not ornamented, as were raised stores in many cases. In these two forms of rua already described a little carving might be seen on the lintel of the doorway, but not often, and in the true pits to be described nothing was heeded but pure usefulness.
The following notes were obtained from Te Whatahoro, of the Wairarapa district:—
In the case of the more important store pits or huts, wherein were stored the bulk of the crop for preservation, a certain karakia (charm, invocation, &c.) was recited over each such store when completed, on account of the task having been brought to a satisfactory conclusion; being equivalent, or almost so, to the kawa recited over a new house. Another charm or invocation was recited over each such store when it was filled, and just prior to it being closed. These ceremonies were performed by a priestly adept. This latter rite rendered the store and its contents tapu. No women were allowed to enter a store that had been made tapu. Men only stored away the crop in such places, and men only took the contents out when required. Having been taken out by men, women carried the baskets to the rua kopiha, the pit store in which products for present use were kept, placed them therein, and took them therefrom as wanted, inasmuch as this type of store is not tapu.
When a tapu store of kumara is opened for the first time since it was filled and closed, the man who opens it puts in his right hand and takes out a single tuber, taking one from the pile on his right as he faces the interior of the store. He takes this tuber and roasts it at a fire kindled out in the open, not in a cooking-shed, and then gives it to his elder brother or his grandchild to eat, or possibly to his own wife, in which latter case it is said to be tamawahinetia. This ceremony is performed in order to take the tapu off the contents of koai, and medium-sized ones termed taranga, were taken for the use of the people to whom the crop belonged, and these were consumed ere the large tubers were taken, though the fine large ones were always selected for the use of visitors.
When one of these stores was closed the door was slid to close the entrance aperture, and a cord, one end of which was secured to the door, was passed through the wall, drawn taut, and secured to a peg driven firmly into the ground, after which both peg and cord were covered with earth, so as not to be easily detected by any person seeking to rob the store. This cord is called the taura miro of the store, and sometimes the taura whakarae, the former being the truer or more genuine name. In many cases, however, where the type of hut permitted of such a usage, the cord was led along the side wall to the rear wall, passed through it, pulled taut, and secured outside in some secret place, underground or otherwise, so that it could not be seen.
These food-pits were often given special names, just as pataka and dwellinghouses were—such as Te Rua-titi, a pit store belonging to Te Whatahoro I, an ancestor of the Wai-rarapa peoples.
Te Whatahoro knows nothing of the doors of stores having been narrowed at the top, as described by Polack.
Mr. C. O. Davis, in a paper on "Ancient Stone Images of the Maoris," says, "Due attention also was paid to the building of storehouses year after year; and when the crop was gathered in the storehouses and their contents were declared to be tapu or sacred, after the performance of the necessary ministrations. All that remained of the crop outside the consecrated building became by right the property of the tohunga."
The following is taken from a description of a Maori village by Sir George Grey: "Storehouses in which their vegetable products were stored were sunk in the ground, the pit thus made being neatly roofed over; they were entered by a carved door, and the roots were built up on each side of the storehouse in stacks, with a neat central passage running between their perpendicular sides; a ladder led down into the pit, the door being kept carefully closed. The neatness and convenience of such storehouses was complete."
This form is a true pit, and has been described as "a hole in the ground with a lid to it." In making such pits a hillside is not sought; a level site is better. The edge of a terrace and tops of ridges are good sites, but in loose soil, such as pumice country, they may be made almost anywhere. In making these pits a hole some 20 in. square is dug, and after being carried down a short distance the excavation is widened until a pit of the requisite size, say 4 ft. square or more, is formed. This is sunk to a depth of perhaps 5 ft. from the surface. The walls are vertical or curved and even, but are not lined, although fern-fronds of the harsher kind, as of rarauhe, &c., are used to cover the floor and to face the walls with when food is stored in the pit. In making the excavation the earth is put in baskets and passed up through the entrance-hole, whence it is carried away by an assistant.
To close the entrance of these pits a kopani, or lid, was used. A square frame of timber was constructed at the edges of the entrance-hole, and on this was placed a rude lid or cover. According to the depth of the pit, it might or might not be provided with a short ladder for descent, such ladder being a section of a small tree with notches cut in it for steps, the typical arawhata or ladder of Maoriland. The sides of this square entrance-hole were often lined with slabs of wood or tree-fern. We shall also see that in some districts these pits were made of a circular form.
Dr. Marshall, quoted above, remarks that some of these food-pits seen by him at Te Namu pa, Opunake, in 1834, were 7 ft. and 8 ft. pa, lower down the coast, he says, "As observed before at Te Namu, potato-pits were found in all directions, and so numerous as completely to honeycomb the whole of the ground occupied by these pa. Here, however, they were fitted in many instances with trap-doors, which, being shut down, excluded the wet from without and allowed even the most incautious to walk over them in perfect security. Most of these holes were well stocked, and several of them filled with potatoes for consumption; those for seed being put in baskets carefully covered with fern, and stowed along the ridges of different houses or heaped upon whata in every corner of the pa."
Several names are applied to these pits among different tribes, but rua is the generic and most widely used one, albeit, as it may be applied to any pit or hole, rua kai, or food-pit, describes them better.
Williams's Maori Dictionary gives hapoki, a pit for storing potatoes; hapoko, a pit for storing potatoes; hopekiwi, a potato-pit; kopiha, a pit for storing potatoes; korotangi, a pit for storing potatoes. Koropu—a store, a hole for storing food in—is given in Tregear's Dictionary.
Among the Tuhoe folk a pit excavated in the same form as a rua kai, or food-pit, and used for the purpose of catching rats, is termed a kopiha kiore. It is also known as a torea. It should here be remarked that these pits made for the purpose of catching the native kiore, or rat, were formerly used in considerable numbers, and, as our forests are felled and burned, are thus often seen. As they much resemble in form the smaller food-pits used for storage purposes, the one may well be mistaken for the other. Rat-pits were so excavated as to be much larger at the bottom than at the top, so as to prevent the rats escaping.
The form of pit store described above is sometimes made on sloping ground, but not, as a rule, ground with a steep slope. The framework surrounding the entrance thus has a slope to it, hence the lid or door has the same pitch, which causes it to shed storm-water the better. Even when made on quite level ground one side of the entrance is often raised so as to impart a slant to the lid. A small ditch led off any storm-waters on a hillside. Many of these old hillside pits may be seen at the Bridge pa, an old native settlement long since deserted, just south of Te Korohiwa (south of Titahi,
In his paper "The Ancient Fortified Pa," published in Volume xx of the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. W. H. Skinner has some interesting notes on food-stores. Of the pit stores he says, "Near each family's quarters (in a fortified village) were the underground rua, or pits, in which the kumara and other stores were preserved. These rua are a prominent feature in all Taranaki pa (fortified villages). They were usually 6 ft. to 8 ft. deep, and 8 ft. to 10 ft. wide at the bottom, but narrowing upwards to the entrance, which was about 2 ft. square, lined with slabs of the fibrous matter cut from the whekii tree-fern, which would last certainly over one hundred years. It was only the square upper part of the rua that was so lined to a depth of 18 in. or 2 ft. The rua mouth was covered over with slabs of the same tree-fern."
We have lately had an opportunity of examining some very well-preserved rua kai, or food-pits, at the Tunu-haere pa, which is situated on a spur on the right bank of the Whanga-nui River, and opposite the native village of Kaiwhaiki. This pa was abandoned in the latter "forties" of the nineteenth century. An illustration of it in Power's "Sketches in New Zealand" utterly fails to show the true form of the hill. At this place, within the old lines of the defences, are many old store-pits, some on sloping ground, some situated at the bases of certain small scarped summits of the spur. A person would descend into them by means of a log of wood cut into a series of steps, and in some cases steps were cut out of the earth within the pit when it was being formed. The well-like entrances to these pits are of rounded form and about 2 ft. wide. The depth of soil, from the surface down to where the chamber widens out, is in some cases as much as 3 ft., in others much less; but doubtless changes have been effected in such matters since the desertion of the place—as by erosion, trampling of stock, rooting of pigs, &c. The pit-chambers are dome-shaped as regards the upper parts, most being circular at the base, a few square, and one is semicircular in form. In no case is the original floor visible, all being covered to a lesser or greater extent with earth and other debris that has fallen in through the well-like entrance-holes during the past sixty years. These entrance-holes are at one side of the pit as a rule, not in the middle, as is often the case elsewhere. The walls seem to have been formed in a perpendicular manner for 2 ft. or 3 ft. upward from the floor, and then gradually and symmetrically converge in order to form the dome-shaped roof. Great pains have been taken in order to fashion these kumara, of different sizes. It would also serve as a step. Its height was not ascertained, owing to the mass of debris on the floor, but it is probably 2 ft. or 3 ft. A semicircular pit examined had its entrance on the flattened side. These entrances would be protected from the weather by wooden slabs. A square-shaped pit measured was 9 ft. by 7 ft. Others, again, were somewhat smaller. In one case a pit has apparently been sunk on the narrow summit of the ridge, then the surrounding earth cut away so as to leave a square block 5 ft. or 6 ft. high standing isolated, and which represented the walls of the pit. In this case one would have to clamber up to the top of the earth-mound by some form of steps, and then descend into the pit.
Since writing the above notes we have received a communication from Mr. T. W. Downes, of Whanga-nui, informing us that he has made inquiries of older natives of Kaiwhaiki as to the purport of the earthen partition in the above-described pit. He was informed that this and other such pits were not used for the purpose of storing food-supplies in, but were excavated and used for the purpose of storing water in—to conserve water for the use of the inmates of these hill forts. In this particular instance the nearest water-supply is a creek at the base of the spur on which stands the Tunu-haere pa—a heavy climb for a laden person.
These water-storage pits are semicircular in form, with an opening on the top whereby persons descended, as shown in the illustration. In some cases the raised central piece, or low partition, was composed of earth, as in the one examined by us, the surface thereof being covered with wooden slabs in order to preserve its form: in other cases it was constructed of timber. A person descended through the mouth of the pit, and stood on the raised central part in order to fill vessels when procuring water, dipping it from one of the two compartments into which the lower part of the pit was divided.
These water-storage pits at Tunu-haere are situated at the base of a mound formed, when the pa was scarped and terraced, by leaving intact a portion of the original summit of the ridge. The pits are excavated at the base of this mound, and rain-water falling on the mound was conducted into them, and so preserved for future use, the pit-mouth being covered with slabs of wood in order to prevent waste and contamination. In some cases the water-cisterns were filled by hand.
The above was not by any means a common usage, and seems to have been quite unknown in many districts. Te Whatahoro, of Wai-rarapa, informs us that he has heard of them as having formerly been used. We are indebted to Mr. Downes for sketches, as well as the above information.
Mr. Skinner informs us that this partition-like step is also seen in store-pits in the Taranaki district, but we do not know that water was ever stored in such pits in that district.
Mr. Field speaks of the kumara storage-pits of the Whanga-nui district as being beehive-shaped excavations in dry ground, usually on the tops of ridges, with a square opening just large enough to enable a person to descend into them. This well describes pits seen by us at Tunu-haere.
Mr. Skinner informs us that the store-pits (rua) of the Taranaki district are almost invariably circular in form, dome-shaped, and having square entrance-holes. At Otumatua pa, five miles south of Opunake, many rua were excavated in rock; while on the Mikotahi Islet were many such dome-shaped pits, all connected with a central one by means of passages, and it is believed that some of these were occupied as dwelling-places in former times, the hut space on the islet being extremely limited. At one old pa visited by Mr. Skinner many pits were situated within the outer defence of the pa; short tunnels had been driven in to the base of a central mound, and a circular pit-chamber excavated on each side of the end of each tunnel, thus economizing space, so that all available building-sites could be utilized for huts.
In connection with the various circular store-pits used by some Maori tribes, the following extract from A. H. Allcroft's "Earthwork of England" is of some interest: "At Fisherton, near Salisbury, was found a group of curious underground pits of conical section, the entrance being by narrow sloping shafts which expanded below into circular chambers, from 7 ft. to 10 ft. in diameter. These seem to have been constructed in the Stone Age." Pits of various forms, says this writer, were made for use as storehouses, and to contain water.
Great care was always taken in the selection of the situation for pit stores, the driest soils and driest situations being sought, hence the edge of a terrace, the high bank of a river, and the tops of ridges were common situations for such stores. Some of these would be situated within the lines of defence of a village, but many of them were outside, and even at some distance from the hamlet. In the event of invasion by a numerous enemy such outside stores would be emptied if time permitted of it, and their contents placed in the pa.
All these pits and semi-subterraneous stores come under the name of rua, and the walls and floors were always lined with rushes or bracken, or some such items, ere the crops were stored therein; otherwise the tubers would be apt to decay, as much more care is necessary to preserve kumara than is the case with the potato. A lining of rushes round the slab or earthen walls of a pit is termed patutu. The rushes were laid in an even manner on a level piece of ground, and formed into a long mat by means of weaving two ties along the entire length of the row. This mat would then be rolled up, taken into the pit, and there unwound and placed round the walls, with the butt end of the rushes downwards. Such a lining was pouturu) are stuck in each corner to keep it in position; and when a certain quantity of tubers are stacked up they hold the patutu or mat in place, whereupon the pegs are removed. In some cases slabs of wood are placed on the floor, upon which a layer of bracken-fern is laid, and on this again a layer of rushes, upon which the tubers are carefully stacked, each one being laid with care on the heap so as to avoid any abrasion or bruising. In some cases the layer of slabs seems to be dispensed with, and this would depend upon the nature of the soil, some soils being much drier than others. Lycopodium and fronds of Dicksonia squarrosa are often used as dunnage.
Taro (Colocasia antiquorum) and kumara were never stored in the same pit by the Maori, for he believed that the latter would be harmfully affected in some manner by such a usage. Nor were kumara and potatoes stored together. Taro and potatoes may be placed in the same pit, but not mixed together, being placed in separate bins. Te Whatahoro remarks that many years ago he heard Te Hapuku remark, when partaking of some sweet-potatoes, "Ha! He kumara whakaranu ranei ki te taewa, inahoki te ahua nei he maaro" (Have these kumara been mixed with potatoes, for they are hard?).
In an account of the Wai-mate pa (of "Alligator" fame), published by Mr. Seffern, occurs the following: "There were about thirty provision-rooms, in which were excavated cells which would each hold about 50 tons of potatoes. These provision-houses were entered through a waterproof trap from their cook-houses." This was in 1834.
Mr. T. H. Potts, in his "Out in the Open," speaks of food-pits he saw at Hikurangi: "The potato-pits are excavated in dry places, with a framed entrance of strong squared wood, over which are laid sheets of bark or broad flattened slabs of tree-fern. These well-stocked stores of food appear to be in charge of women; a long string of girls daily start from the pits, each damsel carrying a flax kit heavily laden with this favourite esculent." This was during a large native meeting held at that place.
In writing of storage-pits some word of explanation should assuredly be given as to the curious subterranean dwelling-places occasionally made and used by the Maori in former times. These whare manuku in the Wai-rarapa district. They were made by excavating a rectangular pit about 4 ft. deep, over which was erected a
-shaped roof of timber, which was then covered with a thick layer of earth. Such places were sometimes occupied by very old folk who were past work. The floor of such places was often covered with a deep layer of dry sand, in which the old people would lie in order to keep warm, and which is said to have been a good substitute for bed-clothing. These dwelling-pits are said to have been warm places to sleep in. In the year 1849 two very old women were observed living in one at Wai-rarapa.
These have been noticed in some parts, but were not commonly used, as were the forms of store-pits already described. In a few cases natural caves were used for storing-places, and even for living in; but this would be merely as a temporary abode—such as in the case of persons travelling, either for a single night or longer, when weatherbound. Natural caves were also used as dwelling-places by parties frequenting the coast for the purpose of fishing, &c., or by those engaged in collecting forest-products. Some caves used for such purposes received special names—such as Te Waha-o-te-ana, on the old track from the Whirinaki River to Otukopeka; and Te Ana-o-Tikitiki, at Wai-kare Moana. Many of these shelters, termed ana by the Maori, are better described as rock shelters than as caves. Stages or platforms were often erected in such places by fishers and woodsmen, to be used for storing food products and other items on.
Caves used as stores were, however, more frequently artificial, it would appear. These were sometimes excavated in cliffs, where the formation admitted of such work by a people not possessed of metal tools. Such artificial caves are usually rectangular in form as to the lower part, and somewhat rounded off above. At Mingi-nui, on the Whirinaki River, Te Whaiti district, is a small cliff or bluff of indurated pumice, in which some caves have been excavated. These were used as places wherein to store potatoes, the entrance being closed with wooden doors. When last seen by us one of these caves was occupied by old Hamiora Po-takurua, of Ngati-Whare, as a sleeping-chamber; that old nonagenarian asserting that it was more desirable as such than his hut, then largely occupied by Pulex canis.
In describing various kinds of food-stores used by the Maori, Mr. Wade, who visited the Roto-rua district in 1838, says, "There are rua. One form is a quadrangular hole, about 3 ft. deep, dug in the ground, with the framework of a sloping roof erected over it, and covered in with a strong thatch, the entrance being by a small door in the front (this seems to apply to the pit excavated in sloping ground). The other form is a cave dug in the earth, and entered by a hole from the top, or sometimes, as at Pa-teko, from the side." In describing Pa-teko Islet, in Roto-iti, this author describes the artificial-cave food-stores in the cliffs of that picturesque isle: "We put across to view a singular island called Pa-teko, lying off Motu-oha Point. The island is high and rocky, but a good part of it, on the side facing Motu-oha, covered with verdure. Its steep sides had been perforated by the people to form rua or caves, for the storing of kumara or potatoes. The mouths of some of the rua were open, others closed by square wooden doors. A few natives were living on the rock as guardians of the stores. On one side, just above a native hovel, there was a cavity larger than the rest, having a semicircular range of smaller rua just above it, and appearing at a distance like the ruined entrance of an old monastery."
At a place named Te Pehu, near Roto-rua, are some of these cave stores or cave dwellings, and which are described by Mr. Cowan in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Volume xvii, page 222. Mr. Cowan says, "A series of singular little doorway-openings cut in the mossy cliff was seen on the right, and investigating these we found that they gave access to the ancient cave dwellings. We counted nine of these artificial caves, all on an alignment; a number of them, close together, were connected by openings cut through the soft rock. The little doorways, from 3 ft. to 4 ft. high, exactly resembled the openings to the rua or kumara pits which are often seen on the sites of old pa cut out of the hillsides. No doubt these caves, or some of them, were originally made for food-stores……. Entering one rua near the lower end of the terrace we found it to measure 5 ft. in height, with a length of 13 ft., and a width of 8 ft. 6 in. The roof was of a dome-shape, very carefully rounded; the marks of the stone axes … with which the Maoris chipped out the soft rock were still as plain and well preserved as if they had only been made yesterday, instead of centuries ago. The sides of the little under-ground dwellings were very smoothly cut; the floors were cut out to a foot or so below the level of the terrace outside…. The next caves are so close that they are connected by the wall-openings already spoken of, so that the people in one could converse with their neighbours." These caves are said to have been made about two hundred and fifty years ago though possibly enlarged since that time.
Mr. Cowan also mentions certain artificial caves at the Okoihu pa which were used as storehouses: "On the uppermost terrace, in the sandy walls are a series of old kumara store-pits, their arched roof as perfect as when they were first hollowed out many generations ago."
In the Whanga-nui district a storage-pit in the form of an artificial cave made in the face of a bluff or hillside is known as a rua pongere. The mouth of such a cave was closed by means of slabs of whekii. The semi-subterranean roofed rua is often referred to in the same district as a rua tuanui—literally, a "roofed rua." See also Tuta Nihoniho's description of the rua-roa at pages 107-108.
One or two similar caves, probably used as kumara stores in former times, may be seen near an old pa on the left bank of the Whakatane River, opposite Tane-atua. Here also the walls retain the marks of the tools used in excavation. The cluster of pa, or forts, in this vicinity were formerly occupied by the Kareke and Ngai-Tamango clans.
In his journey from Taupo to Roto-rua in May, 1841, Dieffenbach came across some of these cave stores: "The sides of this small ravine consisted of cliffs of pumice or tufa; and here the proprietors of the potato-ground had hollowed out deep caves, which were secured from without, and were full of potatoes. Snares made of flax were laid all round the entrance, for the purpose of destroying the rats… One of the holes filled with potatoes had been left open for the use of travellers, as is customary in New Zealand."
At the old Ihupuku pa, situated about a mile from the Wai-totara Railway-station, may be seen a remarkable series of old storage-pits and caves exemplifying three distinct types. They are situated on the summit and in the steep sides of the picturesque isolated hill that formed a fortified village of the Nga-Rauru Tribe in neolithic and also post-European times.
The storage-pits referred to are extremely numerous; there must be several score of them in all on the summit and sides of the hill. These pits are of three distinct types,—
Those of the first type were provided with a door in the front wall; those of the second with a lid-like trap; while the third type had a similar trap, but it was fixed in a slanting position of perhaps 80°, those of the second type being almost horizontal.
At the northern end of the pa is an interesting store-pit 9 ft. by 5 ft., with a dome-shaped roof, and divided into two parts by a partition 5 in. thick. This pit was excavated out of soft sandstone, as easy to cut as cheese, and the neatly formed partition is simply a part of the sandstone left standing. Of this partition, 2 ft. at the back of the pit extends up to the roof; the balance is about 18 in. or 2 ft. high. The pit walls are perpendicular, and the whole finished in a very neat manner. Another pit hard by is circular in form, and about 8 ft. or 9 ft. in diameter, and this also is divided by a similar partition. Some of the pits, of type 1, are 6 ft. deep and 18 ft. by 12 ft. in size; others, of type 2, have perpendicular walls and dome-shaped roof. All are very neatly formed, while in some both walls and roof are curved.
But the most interesting series is seen near the base of the eastern slope of the hill—the sunny slope; none are noted on the western slope, for the Maori ever liked to face his storage-places to the sun. In these soft sandstone bluffs and slopes are many cave stores of interesting form, numbers of which are in an excellent state of preservation; others are choked with debris and vegetation. Quite possibly some of these have been excavated in late times, since the introduction of the potato; but, inasmuch as all have been fashioned on the old patterns, these are as good as pre-European ones for purposes of description.
To describe some of these forms: One has a rectangular entrance-hole some 36 in. wide and 30 in. high, opening into a cave about 11 ft. long by 6 ft. wide at the bottom. The roof is about 5½ ft. high at its highest part, and is dome-shaped; and none of the walls are vertical, save the front one, the back and end walls curving gradually to merge into the dome-shaped roof. This latter expression, however, is not quite correct, as the front wall is not curved or arch-like, as are the other three, hence a cross-section of this storage-cave is that given in diagram.
It will be observed that the entrance is not at the floor-level, but high up, at about the middle of the front wall. In no case was the entrance noted at the floor-level; in some cases the upper part of the entrance is flush with the roof of the cave. This possibly was designed
A few yards northward along the slope is another such artificial cave that is oval in form, and measures some 11 ft. by 7 ft. or 8 ft. All the walls are curved inwards from the floor-line, and merge perceptibly into the arched roof, which is about 6 ft. high at its loftiest part. It must, however, be borne in mind that a certain amount of debris has collected on the floors of these caves, hence all figures concerning height may be queried. Not one of these stores is now in use, and they seem to have been in a state of "innocuous desuetude" for many years. In one case only is noted a piece of timber pertaining to the apparatus for blocking the entrance-hole, or door, that has survived.
The entrance to the above cave is situated high up, the top of it flush with of the roof of the cave. Across the middle of the cave, under the entrance, a block of sandstone formation has been left so as to form a partition, dividing the cave into two parts that might be termed "bins." This partition is about 16 in. wide, with vertical sides, and about 3 ft. high above the original floor. We are informed by local natives that the sweet-potatoes were sorted, and the large tubers stored apart from the small ones in such places. This cave, like most others, has been very neatly formed, and is most symmetrical in its proportions.
Just north of the above is one of the smaller well-like pits, with the entrance-hole at the top. It is rectangular in form, with a dome-shaped roof. Then comes another small one about 5 ft. by 5 ft.; then an oval one about 5 ft. by 4 ft.; these last two being cave stores.
An oval-shaped cave near by is about 10 ft. by 8 ft., and has a partition across the middle some 30 in. or 36 in. high, like those described above. The entrance of this cave is in a good state of preservation, and illustrates clearly how the entrance-holes to these store-caves were closed by means of little doors, or traps. Across the bottom of the hole a wooden beam still remains in position, and the Dicksonia squarrosa, were used for such traps.
Some of the entrance-holes to these caves were as small as 20 in. by 24 in., and all were probably rectangular originally, though some are now much abraded.
One rectangular cave, about 12 ft. by 8 ft., has half its floor sunk about 30 in. below the level of the other half. Another, about the same size, with a dome-shaped roof, has a partition-wall about 6 in. thick across the middle. A smaller cave has a low partition for three-quarters of its width, then the partition extends right up to the roof. Another is oval in form, about 11 ft. by 7 ft., and has half its floor some 2 ft. or 2½ ft. lower than the other half, while on the edge of the higher part a partition-wall of sandstone 4 in. or 5 in. thick rises to the roof for half the width of the cave, the rear half.
It is evident that the excavators of these caves formed the roofs thereof in dome-like form, because they had learned from experience that this indurated sand, or soft sandstone, stood better in that shape.
Thirty-seven of these caves and pits formerly used for storage of crops were seen on the eastern face of the hill, and there are probably more.
In the sandstone bluffs on the left bank of the Wai-totara River, a mile down the valley, there appear to be some more of these cave stores, but these were not examined.
This river is said to have been so named on account of its bed containing a large number of stumps of totara trees (Podocarpus totara). About one mile from its mouth some hundreds of stumps are seen standing up in the channel of the river, at low water. These stumps are apparently in situ, and, presumably, when these trees were growing the land was at a higher level above the sea; also the course of the river must have been changed here, as it now flows through what must have been a dense forest. Wakefield noted this phenomena in 1840, and remarks: "About a mile from the beach … was a deserted fishing-village, as the racks and fish-bones sufficiently described. In totara trees rose vertically above the level of the water, almost impeding the whole navigation… I concluded that the river had at some distant period changed its course, and flowed through a totara grove."
Mr. Cowan, in his "Maoris of New Zealand," describes a small artificial cave at Te Whetengu, near Roto-rua, that was used as a repository for sacred objects: "Just opposite the carved figure and close to the foot of the stone stairway is a singular and cave-like opening, a recess cut in the face of the cliff. It is about 4 ft. deep and about the same width, but the mouth is much smaller, about 12 in. by 15 in.; the sides are squared and shaped as if a wooden door once closed it. This cave, Rangiriri said, was the sacred storehouse of the gods, and in it was kept the image of the great war-god of the Arawa Tribe, Maru-te-whare-aitu."
The following account of the different kinds of storage-pits and semi-subterranean stores, as constructed by the natives of the east-coast district, has been contributed by Tuta Nihoniho, of the Ngati-Porou Tribe. He first remarks that all storage-places for the kumara were subterranean (as the rua tahuhu); in no case were ordinary huts or store-huts built on the surface of the earth so used. Both kinds are included in the generic term of rua kai. Including a small and crude makeshift type, there were four different forms of rua kai employed in the above district:—
Rua tahuhu: These were the best-constructed store-pits of the roofed kind, and were sometimes large enough to contain an immense quantity of tubers. Special names were assigned to them, usually the names of ancestors. Kapokapo-a-wai and Tauranga-wai-kahia were the names of two large stores of this type at the Ngati-Ira pa of Whakaihu-puku, at Waiapu. Large rua tahuhu had three tahu—the true ridge-pole and the longitudinal pole parallel with it on either side of the roof. These side poles helped to support the i.e., to support the ends of such slabs on if they were not long enough to reach from the ridge to the top of the earthen wall. There were posts to support each of these longitudinal beams, the number of such posts depending on the length of the store. If a long one, there might be several hononga or joinings of these beams. Although there might be two series of slabs to form the roof of a large store-pit, there was no break in the slope of the roof, be that roof a hoka (sharp-pitched) or a kaupaparu (low-pitched) one. Rua tahuhu, then, was a name applied only to the rua that had three tahu, as described. It was never applied to such as had but one tahu—that is, the ridgepole only, and not the side beams parallel to it. The plate at the ground-line for the lower ends of the roofing-slabs to rest on was termed the paetara.
The body of the store being an excavated rectangular pit, it follows that the walls are represented by earth alone—vertical walls of earth. Along the tops of the side walls—i.e., on the surface of the ground near the edge of the pit—a beam might be placed to act as a wall-plate to support the lower ends of the up-and-down slabs that formed the roof, but in many cases this plate was dispensed with, and the lower ends-of the roofing-slabs rested on the earth. The plate was desirable in cases where the soil was of a friable nature, whereas in a stiff soil, such as clay, no such plate was needed. In covering the roof, one end of the flat-hewn slabs of wood used for a first covering rested on the ridge-pole, the lower end on the ground or wooden plate; thus the roof resembled an inverted V. The lower ends of such slabs were placed a little distance outwards from the edges of the pit, so that the storm-water running off the roof might not percolate through the soil into the pit. From the eaves the earth was cut away, so as to form a downward slope from the eaves to a small runnel or ditch formed parallel with the eaves. This ditch was so made as to have a fall outwards toward the front of the rua, so that storm-waters might be let down the sloping ground in front of the pit. In order to secure such easy drainage, these pit stores were usually formed along the edge of a terrace, or, if such a site was not obtainable, then on sloping ground. In cases where the storm-water from the roof and ditch (manga or tamanga) ran down a steepish slope near the mouth of the pit, and would be liable to scour out the earth of such slope, slabs of timber were sunk in the surface of the sloping earth, as a channel or runway for the waters to flow down. Such a runway was also termed a tamanga.
The very large store-pits were made in terrace formations, for obvious reasons; a small pit store might be made in sloping ground, kumara in. Storm-water or seepage-water would cause at least the rear end to be damp, not to speak of the difficulty of roofing the pit. Very great care was necessary in storing the kumara, so susceptible was it to damp. A slight dampness, or bruise, or abrasion would cause these tubers to decay, and such decay was quickly communicated to surrounding tubers. Hence the crop was handled most carefully, each tuber being handled, manipulated, and stacked separately, nor was any earth allowed to adhere to them. A crop of kumara stacked in a pit store is the very height of elaborate neatness.
When, however, the Maori obtained the common potato he soon found it needed much less care in handling and storing, that it could be thrown carelessly into a basket, and poured out in a heap in the store; also that it might be kept for a considerable period in ordinary huts or elevated stores. The cultivation of the potato also demands much less labour and care, hence the decay of kumara cultivation.
It will be seen that the roof of a rua, or pit store, was not constructed as that of a house—it had neither rafters nor battens, save that in large ones the extra tahu on either side helped to support the roof, the covering resting on it as it does on the roof-battens of a house. The slabs or planks used to cover a pit store were of totara timber, if available, on account of its durability; they were known as oka when used for this purpose. They were placed close together, side by side, up and down the roof, simply laid on, and not secured in any way. Over this layer of slabs was laid in a similar manner a layer of turihunga, or flat-hewn slabs of various species of tree-ferns. The actual trunk of the tree-fern was not so utilized, but the slabs were hewn from the thick masses of aerial roots developed by certain species, more particularly by Dicksonia fibrosa. These are laid on the top of the wooden slabs, side by side, so as to break joints, but are not secured. Over these turihunga was laid a thick layer of thatch, of leaves of the toetoe kakaho (Arundo conspicua), laid on in overlapping layers, the whakapipi process—as in thatching a house-roof, save that in the case of the rua the thatch is not tied on. Strips of the bark of manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) or of totara (Podocarpus totara) were often used in place of the toetoe thatch. The bark so used in roofing pits and houses was the outer bark only of those trees; the inner bark was never so used by the Maori. The loose semi-detached outer bark was obtained by freeing a strip at the base of the tree, and then pulling the lower end outwards from the tree until it became detached far up the trunk, aka (pliant stems of climbing-plants). These bundles were then ready for transportation to the settlement, being carried on men's backs by means of shoulder-straps (kawe). This outer bark of these two trees is known as kiri amoko. Peeling this outer bark off does not kill or injure the tree as would the detaching of the inner bark, and in course of time another such layer of loose outer bark would be formed. To destroy the trees would be a pernicious process. The inner bark of the totara was used for some purposes, as in the construction of the curious vessels termed patua, but such material was obtained when a tree was felled for house-building or canoe-making purposes.
The next and final process in roofing the rua, or pit, was to cover the whole roof thickly with earth, including the ridge or summit; this earth being trampled down in order to solidify it, in time it came to grow herbage of divers species, which tended to retain the earth covering in position.
The tuarongo, or back of the rua, was also made of wooden slabs and turihunga, set up perpendicularly. As the store was essentially a pit store, it follows that the only part of the back end to enclose in this manner was the upper part—that triangular space above the level of the walls. Earth was then banked up against the rear end so as to quite conceal it. The front end of the rua was, however, a different proposition. Here the whole end was often to be closed in the same manner, save that a space had to be left for the door. The same material was used in constructing the front walls; and earth was piled up against the wall, and padded or compressed so as to form a broad-based wall outside the wooden wall.
The ridge-pole of these roofs was not quite horizontal, but raised a little higher at the back end of the house than at the front end. The object of this was to prevent any moisture collecting on the under-side of the ridge-pole dripping on to the stored tubers. Such moisture was sometimes produced by the warmth of these earth-covered pits; and when it so condensed and formed on the ridge-pole it ran down the slightly slanting timber to the front wall, and there descended. Such moisture was, however, but small in quantity, if any; but damp air could so escape. No aperture was left in the front wall, and when the door was closed the interior of the rua was in darkness. The two slabs set up as door posts or jambs were called whakawai, and a horizontal cross-piece was placed on the top of them. Across the upper part of the inner side of these jambs perepere—a piece of board or plank with a notched edge—and against this the top of the door rested when closed. The notches in the edge of the board formed small apertures through which the damp air, or pumahu, is said to have escaped. These perepere were sometimes carved with such a pattern as kowhaiwhai, and sometimes adorned with pieces of bright-coloured paua, or Haliotis shell (ka tiwhaia ki te paua).
The door was composed of one or two planks. If two, they were placed edge to edge, and sewn together by means of passing a strong cord through holes bored through the planks near their edges. The door was about 4 ft. high, and wide enough to admit a large basket filled with tubers. This door was not swung or hung in any way, but was quite detached, and was lifted in and out of a groove at the bottom of the doorway, such groove being formed by securing two pieces of wood parallel to each other. When the pit was to be closed the bottom of the door was inserted in the groove, and the door pushed in between the door-jambs until its top came against the perepere. It was held in position by means of a peg jammed in between the edge of the door and one of the jambs, in many cases a small slot being cut out of the edge of the door-plank to receive the peg. Thus the door is jammed tightly in its upright position. (In some cases, says Tuta Nihoniho, the door of a rua was hung to one of the jambs by means of cords passed through holes bored in at the edge of the slab forming the door and others bored through the jamb. It swung on these cords somewhat awkwardly, and had often to be dragged or lifted in order to open it. It is by no means assured that this was a pre-European usage.)
A small roro, or porch-like extension of the roof, was often a feature of these rua; it would be about 3 ft. deep, and served to protect the face of the store and doorway from the weather. Posts (pou taumaihi) supported the taumaihi, or facing-boards of the gable. These boards were often carved (as in some cases were the outer sides of the planks composing the door) with such patterns as taowaru, manaia, or kowhaiwhai—that is, in the case of the more important rua, to which a special name was assigned. The roof of the porch was covered like the roof of the pit; in fact, it formed a part of the same roof, but it was not covered with heavy slabs, merely with bark and earth, the bark being supported by short battens, termed tatara.
In response to a request for further information on the above subject, our friend Nihoniho supplied the following:—
The door of a rua is in the middle of the front wall. The two whakawai, or door-jambs, are wide slabs, on top of which is placed epa. On the inner edge of this epa the perepere is attached, and extends right up to the tahu, or ridge-pole, which it touches. Thus, the door being in the middle, there is no pou tahu or post sunk in the ground to support the front end of the tahu (ridge-pole), its place being supplied (as in many of our structures) by a short upright extending from the epa to the under-side of the ridge-pole, the latter resting on it.
The epa and the two whakawai, or door-jambs, being wide hewn slabs, extend outwards for some distance, the whole looking like a wide shelf supported by two wide uprights, until the wall is finished. The whole of the front wall, on both sides of the door and over it, are now reinforced (outside the slabbing) with puddled earth—earth mixed with water and formed into a wall by a punching and patting process, as we ourselves construct a clay chimney in a bush hut. Above the door this clay is supported by the wide epa, or lintel.
To form the roro or veranda, which is practically a continuation of the roof of the rua, though constructed separately, posts are set up about 3 ft. in front of the front wall of the rua, and to these posts are secured two pairs of maihi, one pair about a foot above the other, with an open space between, the lower pair acting as rafters for the two sides. Short battens are laid horizontally, with one end on the lower maihi, the other on the roof of the main building, and on these battens the covering of the roof, consisting of bark, is laid. The space between the two sets of rafter-like maihi in front is then blocked by means of placing short rods of manuka in an upright position on the inside of the upper maihi (kaha runga) and the lower maihi (kaha raro), where they are secured. At the back of these are placed strips of bark to prevent the earth of the roof from falling through. The roof is then covered with earth, like that of the rua itself, and the porch protects the door and mud wall from the weather. In some cases a koruru, or carved wooden head, is placed at the junction of the two upper maihi. A little space, perhaps an inch, is left between the top of the door and the epa or lintel, and the perepere is fixed with its notched edge downwards so that the notches or open spaces are level with the open space above the door: thus a little ventilation is provided. It is from the points of this notched board that the tota or moisture drips, whenever it runs along the tahu and down the perepere.
The name of rua tahuhu was applied to the large pit stores only, some of which would hold an immense quantity of tubers. Such large stores were owned in common by many families, each having its own allotted portion of floor-space. A passage-way was left downniho. The floor-space allotted to a whanau (family, or family group) was termed a tawaha.
Prior to stowing away the kumara crop, the floor of the rua was covered thickly with dry manuka brush and fronds of rarauhe (Pteris aquilina), the same material being placed along the walls so as to prevent the tubers coming into contact with the earth. In commencing to store the season's crop, the stacking of the tubers in a rua was commenced at the inner end or back of the pit, where a niho, or stack, was made in the right-hand corner. Then one was made in the left-hand back corner, and so on, building out towards the front of the pit. Even in small pit stores the tubers were piled in separate stacks, although the stacks were close together, so that a stack might be all used ere another was commenced. When stacked by an adept all sides of each stack were vertical, and the stacks needed no side support whatever. In the large rua tahuhu each family built its own niho, or stack, on its own tawaha, or division of the pit, entirely independent of those of its neighbours. No partitions were erected, but each family niho was stacked up with vertical sides and face, and as deep as the space between the pit-wall and the central passage. Such a depth might be 4 ft., 6 ft., or 8 ft., and the height about 5 ft.; the width depending upon that of the tawaha, which might be regulated by the number of persons in the whanua (see above). But although the stacks are piled separately, so that each could stand alone, yet no space is left between them, lest rats enter therein and work havoc. When stacking the tubers every endeavour was made to close any hole therein by which a rat might enter, small-sized tubers being inserted into such apertures. All this was with the view of compelling any raiding rat to attack the outside of the stack, where the damage wrought would soon be detected. When a stack was removed the neighbouring one stood intact, without crumbling down.
In stacking the tubers, each one was lifted separately and placed in position, the operation being described by the word whakapipi. The niho were, as a rule, about 3 ft. in width, and, in the smaller pit stores, would not be more than 3 ft. to 4 ft. deep—i.e., from wall to passage-way.
The smaller rua, made for the use of one family, were not termed rua tahuhu. The space immediately inside the doorway of these smaller rua, on both sides, was termed the kerepeti, whereat were stored the finest and largest tubers specially selected in the sorting, and which were kept for distinguished visitors. Back of this space rua tahuhu no kerepeti was used, but each person sorted out his tubers and placed the large ones together so as to be accessible when required. The process of sorting the kumara was termed kopana or mahiti (ka mahititia nga kumara rarahi, ka kopanatia nga kumara pakupaku). The very small kumara, termed takora, were not stacked, but put aside for immediate use. Very diminutive tubers, mere root-like items about as thick as a lead-pencil, called hekerau, are, as a rule not used, but thrown out to pigs.
Small enclosures, such as divisions in a potato-store, are termed pakorokoro.
The rua tatara was so called from the manner in which its contents were protected from rats. The pit was of the dug-out type with a
roof over it, and excavated on the edge of a terrace or hillside. At a little distance away a ditch, perhaps 30 in. deep, was dug round it. Then, on the inner side of the ditch, a series of short stakes were stuck in the earth so as to project out over the ditch in a horizontal position, but not too far. On the top of these sticks sheets of bark were laid, on which was put a layer of earth. Rats getting into the ditch and climbing up the inner side thereof were unable to pass the roof-like tatara, as the above-described protection was termed. Thus the rats were unable to approach the store-pit.
Archdeacon Williams gives tatara, pointed pegs placed horizontally in the eaves of a rua kumara to keep out rats.
The well-like pits or holes made in the ground and entered from above through a trap-door are termed rua kopiha among the Ngati-Porou Tribe, but they were not much used by those folk. They are used for potatoes as well as for kumara. These underground chambers were sometimes square, sometimes round. Short ladders were used as a means of descending into them.
To cover a rua kopiha four short wide pieces of slab were laid at the edges of the square entrance-hole, placed so as to slope downwards away from the entrance. Then a very wide slab was laid over these, so as to cover the entrance-hole. Rain-water runs off this on to the sloping pae or border-slabs, off them on to the ground, a small ditch being formed in the earth round the pit to run such waters off. The expression rua kopia, occasionally seen, should be rua kopiha.
The kumara was always stored in these pit stores, never in an ordinary hut or pataka (elevated storehouse), as they would not keep in the two latter structures, but would soon decay. Natives say that it is the warmth of the pits that preserves the tubers. Of course, some might be placed in a pataka for immediate use.
The store-pits were never fenced in in former times, for there was no animal that could molest them except the rat, which gave a good deal of trouble. In some cases a rua tahuhu, or the smaller ones of similar form, had their walls lined with turihunga, or slabs of tree-fern, in which case no rat could enter. When not so lined, rats sometimes burrowed through the earth and entered the pit.
The space within a rua tahuhu between the front wall and the central-ridge-post (or first of the intermediate posts) is termed the moana.
Owners of a rua often inspected its contents to see if there was anything wrong that might cause decay, such as waitau, or moisture, that sometimes was seen collected on the ridge-pole. On fine bright days the door was often left open until the sun went off it. If any moisture dripped on to the kumara it would cause them to decay.
In the case of rua or semi-subterranean stores being made in level land, the ground would be so manipulated as to slope away from the store in all directions, so as to run off all storm-waters, also a porch would protect the entrance of the store.
In some cases, when a man had stacked his crop of tubers in his pit store, he would obtain the services of an adept to recite over it certain charms to prevent the decay of his stored food products, and to slay or render demented any person who entered the pit to steal its contents. Also, when a man left his house for some time, he might secure the door of his store-pit in some peculiar way in order to detect any interference with it, or he might so charm it that if a thief entered it he would at once become demented, and would wander about shouting "Kumara! Kumara! Kumara!" Says Tuta, "I saw many persons so afflicted in my youth." In tying the door-fastening of a store the final knot made with the cord was sometimes a very complicated one. In the case of a store being plundered, when not protected by the dread arts of black magic, the owner would obtain the services of a tohunga, or shaman, who performed a certain rite at the plundered place that would render the thief demented wherever he might chance to be, and he also would wander around the hamlet calling out the word "kumara," or such a sentence as "Naka tonu aku kumara, kumara, kumara."
It sometimes occurred that caves were formed in cliffs, with a door fixed at the entrance, to serve as storage-places for kumara.
It might happen that a man had a quantity of tubers to store for which he had no storage-room, in which case he made a tawaero, as it was termed. He formed a raised foundation of earth in a circular form, about 1 ft. high at the edge but hollow in the middle. A layer manuka brush and rushes was laid on this, and then the kumara were carefully stacked up on this foundation in the form of a solid cone, coming to a point at the top. Dry manuka brush was then placed round and against it, then a layer of toetoe leaves, after which earth was heaped up against it all round so as to cover it. At the base of the foundation a small ditch was made to carry off storm-waters.
Mohi Turei, of Ngati-Porou, speaks of the rua tawaero as though it were a shallow circular pit lined with toetoe leaves, and the heap of kumara covered with a thatch of the same material. Such a heap of kumara is termed a rua whakatoke, but if potatoes are so stored it is termed a rua tawaero. Such a shallow basin-like pit was made on rising ground, as on the top of a knoll, if convenient. The rua tawaero was sometimes made of an oblong form.
In Major Heaphy's account of his exploring trip down the west coast of the South Island he describes the method adopted by his native companion for preserving provisions from the destructive rat: "To outwit his old enemies the rats, Kehu buried the provisions, nicely lining the hole with bark, covering the place over with ashes—a proceeding which we certainly should not have decided upon for security against burrowing animals, but which he knew was effective."
The rua kaupapa is not a pit, but the name is applied to a heap of kumara or potatoes piled up on the surface and covered with earth, having no erection over or around it. Cf. koputu.
In his district, says Tuta, taro was not stored in the above-described store-pits, but in holes dug in the ground some 2 ft. or 3 ft. in depth, in which the taro were placed, then covered over with a layer of tutu leaves, and those again with a gravelly soil. The leaves decayed, and had some effect in preserving the crop—that is, in keeping them damp. Taro decayed if stored in too dry a place.
The rua-roa was a tunnel-like hole driven into a hillside, the entrance thereto being fitted with a door. In some cases short branch tunnels or drives were made from the main drive. Should the material be inclined to slip or cave at any spot, it was confined by means of lagging, termed takitaki-a-manu. These store-places were used in olden days, and were often quite dry. Cliffs composed of an indurated form of pumice were favoured places for such stores. The edible roots of Pteris aquiline, termed aruhe, were often placed in such a pit, and covered with earth to prevent them becoming too dry.
The rua kopiro was a pit in the ground into which water was conducted, and in which hinau berries were steeped, and, in later times, maize.
Such are the notes supplied by Tuta Nihoniho concerning the modes of storage in excavated pits on the east coast of the North Island, and it is the most detailed and satisfactory description we have received. Our informant has ever displayed a keen interest in our Bulletin work, a strong desire to put such matter on record, and a wondrous patience in explaining details to a dense-witted member of an alien race.
In his paper on the "Cultivation of the Kumara," published in Volume xxxv of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," Archdeacon Walsh makes the following remarks on the storage of the crop:—
"The storing of the crop required the greatest care and judgment, as, in spite of every precaution, it was barely possible to preserve the stock until the next planting-time. Besides being a delicate article to handle, the kumara is susceptible to every change of weather. A single bruised or chafed tuber will soon rot and communicate the decay to those in contact with it, while a very short exposure to damp, or even to cold air, will quickly spoil the whole lot.
"In constructing their storing-places the Maoris followed no uniform fixed pattern. As was usual with them, the idea they had in their minds was worked out subject to local conditions, and, as these varied more or less in every locality, it is not surprising to find a corresponding variety in their appliances.
"The chief question being the exclusion of damp and the maintenance of a moderate and even temperature, the object was very simply attained in a dry porous soil by the rua. This was a circular pit sunk in the ground 5 ft. or 6 ft. deep, and about the same in diameter, narrowing in at the top, and closed by a trap-door made of a wooden slab. The tubers were handed down to a person standing in the middle, and were piled radially around the sides on a bed of soft fern or Lycopodium (waewae koukou), a layer of the same material being placed between them and the wall. If sufficient accommodation was available only one pile was made, as they kept better if not packed in too large a mass. The enormous number of these rua on the volcanic plains of Taranaki and elsewhere shows the extent of former plantations.
"In situations where the soil was not sufficiently porous to allow the rua to be self-drained it was built partly above ground, generally on the slope of a hill. The pit was dug 2 ft. or 3 ft. deep…. An outfall drain was made from the bottom, and a surface channel round the top carried off the storm-water. A roof was made over the pit, the rafters being set in the ground at an angle of about 30°, and covered with sticks and fern, on which was piled a thick layer of earth, and the whole was coated with fronds of nikau to preserve the earth from the wash of the rain. The entrance was made in the
"Very frequently, however, the storing-place was entirely above ground. A small house was built, with the walls about 4 ft. or 5 ft. high. These were framed of dressed slabs set vertically in the ground, with battens lashed on horizontally at intervals of a few inches, and covered over with two or three thicknesses of raupo, so as to be completely airtight. Mangemange (a kind of climbing-fern) or sheets of totara bark protected the lower part of the walls, and against this the earth was thrown up from a ditch sunk below the floor-level, which acted as a drain for the building. The roof was framed in a similar manner to the walls, and also covered with raupo, sometimes with an inner sheeting of totara bark, while an upper layer of toetoe grass, secured by ropes of mangemange or wooden battens, preserved the raupo from the wet. A door was generally placed at each end, so that, in order to prevent the wind blowing in, the house could always be entered from leeward; and the opening was made just large enough to allow a man to creep in on all-fours. This class of storehouse was always a conspicuous and picturesque object. They were often ornamented with elaborate carvings, inlaid with paua shell (Haliotis), and finished off with a tekoteko, or grotesque wooden figure, set up at the apex of the roof.
"Sometimes the storehouse was set up on legs 3 ft. or 4 ft. high, when it was called a pataka; and, as the imported rat found its way into the settlements, precaution had to be taken against its incursions by socketing the tops of the legs into heavy cross-pieces of timber hollowed out like sections of an inverted canoe.
"When only a small quantity of tubers had to be dealt with, a very simple device called the whakatoke was sometimes adopted. A shallow circular depression made in the ground was covered with a layer of long stalks of the common fern (Pteris aquilina), with the roots meeting at the centre and the heads radiating outwards. On this were piled about half a dozen baskets of tubers. The heads of the fern were then bent upwards and inwards so as to enclose the lot, and were tied together over the top. The whole was then covered with toetoe grass, and a layer of earth was thrown up from a trench round the outside.
"There were other modes of storing, which were variations or adaptations of those mentioned, in all of which the Maoris were guided by local circumstances. Sometimes the pit was made inside a large shed, and sometimes it was driven horizontally into the face of a steep bank. Occasionally the tubers were placed on a raised (whata) and covered with mats and fronds of nikau, while in some rare instances the storehouse was built in the forked branches of a tree."
The writer then quotes an item from Colenso's remarks on these stores: "All these storehouses were rigidly tapu, as were also the few persons who were allowed to visit them for any purpose, all visits being formal and necessary. The labour bestowed on them in those early times, before the use of iron, was immense, and they were mostly renewed as to the reed-work every year."
The above is an excellent description, for a brief one, of the various styles of storage-places used by the Maori in former times. The writer does not, however, tell us which tribes the notes were gathered from; some of the forms described are probably northern usages. The circular rua or pit described was by no means a universal form, many of such being square, as seen on the east coast. The semi-subterranean stores described in the fourth paragraph were rectangular, and in many cases were made on the summits of spurs or ridges; we have seen the remains of hundreds so situated, many on sharp razorback spurs, where drainage was an easy matter. The storehouse wholly above ground was certainly uncommon, and, we believe, unknown in many districts—that is, as a kumara store. The two-door system also was probably confined to certain tribes or districts. In regard to the pataka and whata, these were not erected or used as kumara stores in most districts though a few for immediate consumption might be put in such places. Precautions against the entry of rats had to be taken in pre-European times, though the imported rat is a much greater nuisance than ever the native rat was.
Though the Dominion Museum has a fairly good collection of photographs of the highly ornate carvedpataka, and of parts of such buildings, yet illustrations of more common forms are decidedly scarce. Hence we have but few representations of the ordinary plain, unadorned, elevated storehouses, and none of the inferior ones occasionally seen, in the construction of which a framework of poles was erected and covered, walls and roof, with a thatch of coarse grass or bulrush. Such common objects do not appeal to the photographer. The ordinary pataka of to-day, although useful as of old, bears a different aspect to the old-time ones, on account of certain European innovations, such as sawn boards, shingled roofs, &c. To judge from the illustrations of canoes, houses, and pataka met with in works dealing with the Maori, one might naturally suppose that the majority of such items are, or were, superior structures pataka, platforms, pit and cave stores, &c., that we possess so few illustrations of them.
We have, however, shown in the preceding pages how the Maori stored his food products and miscellaneous goods, and that the highly ornamented store-house, the carved designs of which would represent some years of tedious labour, was not a common object, and no whit more useful than a plain unadorned structure.
The subject treated on in this bulletin—viz., the storehouses, platforms, and pits used by the Maori people—may possibly be deemed unimportant and unattractive, but it includes and illustrates some of the most skilful work performed by the old-time Maori, and also throws light on other phases of their industrial life. That life, together with their social customs, can only be satisfactorily understood after an intensive study of the material before us—a study which it is hoped that the publication of this bulletin will aid.