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The Maori Canoe

The Voyage of Manaia and Nuku to New Zealand

The Voyage of Manaia and Nuku to New Zealand

Shortly after the arrival of Whatonga, another expedition, composed of four vessels, arrived here from eastern Polynesia. The cause of this movement was as follows: Two chiefs, named Manaia and Nuku, quarrelled in their island home, Manaia having killed a relative of Nuku. Being dubious of his ability to hold his own, Manaia manned a seagoing canoe named "Tokomaru" and sailed for New Zealand, here to seek a new and more peaceful home. Nuku fitted up three vessels and started in pursuit. Of these craft "Te Houama" was a single canoe, doubtless fitted with an outrigger; the other two, "Waimate" and "Tangi-apakura," were double canoes. These vessels made for Rarotonga, whence they started on the voyage to New Zealand. Of that voyage we have no details until the canoes reached Cook Strait. Nuku called at Rangitoto, or D'Urville Island, which he is said to have named after a place or island in eastern Polynesia, and eventually came across Manaia at sea off Pukerua. A fight occurred at sea, after which the matter was fought out on the beach of Pae-kakariki. Having settled their differences, with some loss of life, Manaia sailed northward to Kaipara, and afterwards to the Bay of Plenty and to Tokomaru, on the east coast. The latter place is said to have been named after his vessel. Manaia returned to the west coast, to Whaingaroa and Taranaki, and the Atiawa folk of Taranaki claim him as an ancestor.

Nuku did not remain here, but returned to Polynesia. It is said that he separated his two double canoes and sailed them back as single vessels, which would be provided with outriggers.

We now come to a period of probably two hundred years during which many voyages were made to and from New Zealand. The names of many vessels that arrived here from Polynesia have been preserved, as also those of some vessels or voyagers that left here for the northern islands; in all probability others have been forgotten. It is, however, impossible to place them in proper order as to date of arrival.

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Some of the vessels that are said to have come hither from Raro-tonga were named "Rangiahua," "Aotearoa," and "Mapouriki"; but this was in later times. "Te Karaerae" and "Pou-ariki" were two others; yet others were "Niwaru," "Wakanui," "Mahunui", "Mangarara," "Tere-anini," "Te Aratauwhaiti," "Te Mahanga-a-Tuamatua," and "Mamari," concerning which we have but little information. "Rangi-matoru" was a vessel that made the land at Ohiwa at some time prior to the arrival of "Matatua." "Oturereao" reached the same port, and is said to have brought some plants of ante (Broussonetia papyrifera). Their crews settled at Ohiwa. The vessel named "Nukutere" is said to have come to land at Waiaua, east of Opotiki, where her crew remained. Another, known as "Te Paepae ki Rarotonga," came to land at Tara-o-muturangi, near Matata; but another tradition gives this as the name of the vessel of Toi. Colonel Gudgeon has stated that the Rarotongans have preserved a knowledge of this canoe. Ngati-Ira, of Opotiki, say that a canoe from Polynesia named "Tuwhenua" landed at Motu, Bay of Plenty. Others state that "Te Waka Tuwhenua" was a vessel so named because its crew introduced a form of leprosy (tuwhenua) here, but that the real name of the canoe was "Te Riu-kakara."

Among the natives of Whakatane district exists a tradition that, many generations ago, a canoe arrived at Whakatane from some distant land. Its crew was composed of a very dark-skinned folk, whose skin-colour, it is said, "kaore i hapa i to te mangurnangu" (i.e., did not differ from that of a negro). These people settled at Omeheu, on the Rangitaiki River, but gradually became lost to the world—presumably by intermarriage, possibly in other ways.

In vol. 14 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society is some account of the coming of a people known to the Maori as Ngutu-au. Their origin is unknown, but they reached Whare-kahika (East Cape district) in a canoe of remarkable construction. This latter statement would simply mean that it differed from Maori canoes. They lived for some time at Matakawa, and then left to return to their distant home.

Yet another vessel that reached the east coast from Polynesia was that in which came a woman named Hine-rakai, who was in search of her brother, Tu-te-amokura, who had been carried away to sea in a drift canoe. These voyagers remained here, and their descendants are among the Wahine-iti Tribe.

A number of names of other vessels that are said to have reached New Zealand from Polynesia are given in Tregear's Maori Dictionary and in vols. 1 and 12 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society.

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We now come to an important immigration of people from eastern Polynesia that took place about the fourteenth century, or twenty generations ago. These people appear to have left the Society Group on account of quarrels and intertribal fighting—quite possibly those isles had become overpopulated—and made the voyage to these shores in large seagoing canoes named "Te Arawa," "Tainui," "Takitumu," "Matatua," "Aotea," and "Horouta." There were possibly others but these names appear to be agreed to by all. Of these vessels the "Arawa" is occasionally spoken of as a double canoe, and she is said to have carried two sails, which also means two masts. "Aotea" and "Takitumu" (also known as "Takitimu") are distinctly stated to have been outrigger canoes, and probably others were of the same type. It seems probable that many of the vessels that came hither from Polynesia were of the outrigger type.

In a lecture delivered at Auckland by Mr. Watkins on the subject of the vessels by which certain ancestors of the Maori came from eastern Polynesia to New Zealand about twenty generations ago, the speaker remarked: "From various traditions and legends it could be gathered that the canoes were double canoes, that they had masts, a deck-house, and a stage above it. There was every reason to believe that the Maori war-canoe, as seen by Europeans when New Zealand was first discovered, was a comparatively recent invention, and was adopted by the Maori colonists to meet the new conditions they were placed in when they finally settled down in New Zealand, and when communication with Polynesia ceased." This statement as to double canoes has been made by several writers, but the most reliable evidence is to the effect that both forms of vessel, double canoe and outrigger, reached New Zealand. In Watkins's painting of the coming of the Maori, the masts appear to have shrouds and ratlines, a purely Paumotuan form, and one that is hardly likely to have been used in voyages hither from the Society Group five hundred years ago. The canoes are depicted as double, and decked throughout, having a low bulwark, except in the middle. The dugout hulls have apparently but one top-strake. The sails seem fairly correct. In Goldie's painting of the coming of the Maori the canoes are also shown as double. There are three dubious features noticeable—(1) The carved prows of Maori form; (2) the sail is provided with intermediate longitudinal spars; (3) the women appear to be all long-haired and the men short-haired, whereas the reverse was the Tahitian and Maori custom.

It is, of course, impossible to state precisely what was the form of the Society Islands deep-sea vessels, and their fittings, five hundred years ago, but it is improbable that they were fitted with the highly page 397carved prows peculiar to the waka taua of New Zealand, for that was probably a local production. A form of arrow-head sail of Melanesia was in use at the Society Group in Cook's time, but quite possibly had not been adopted there when the Maori left those parts, or we should presumably know something of it here.

Mr. Fenton, in speaking of the vessels used by these far-voyaging Polynesians, remarks: "It is supposed that they were the double canoes still used in the Pacific Ocean, which are vessels of considerable strength and great speed, of which the use and construction have long since been discontinued in New Zealand. Whatever was the size and form of the craft used by these navigators, it is clear from the legends that they had houses on deck, and were capable of carrying many people…. The vessels used by the navigators may have been of a much more powerful and efficient type than is now known amongst the South-Sea-Islanders." Again, he writes: "A people living at a place or in a country called Hawaiki constructed powerful vessels in the form of double canoes, with decks and houses amidships, capable of carrying considerable numbers of people, with the requisite food-supplies; that they were propelled by paddles worked by strong crews, and by sails attached to three masts; that they were capable of withstanding storms; and that they could progress in any direction that the commanders desired." This is a sample of the remarks made by writers on the coming of the Maori. The statements about the double canoe, deck-house, and three masts all seem to centre round the "Arawa." "Takitumu" and "Aotea" are distinctly said to have been single vessels. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the islanders ever possessed any more efficient vessels than those seen by early voyages and missionaries at the Cook, Society, Paumotu, and Tongan Groups.

The following note was communicated to the late Mr. John White by a member of the Nga Rauru Tribe: "Our ancestors were skilful navigators on the great ocean, as is shown by the many voyages they made hither from Hawaiki, and also from these isles back to those lands. They studied and were acquainted with the prevailing winds during the different seasons of the year, also the movements and positions of the stars in each month, hence they could safely cross the ocean. Also, they knew the proper places from which to set out from Hawaiki for these isles, and the places here from which to start for Hawaiki."

In New Zealand there were certain recognized starting-places for vessels leaving these shores in order to return to Polynesia. Mr. White has recorded some of these places in the north, such as Manga-page 398whai, Waka-tuwhenua, and Whanga-te-au, which are near Te Kawau, Whanga-rei. Another was the bay or inlet known as Te Au-kanapanapa, on the same stretch of coast.