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The Pa Maori

[contents]

page 35

Contents

Czook's evidence the earliest. First pa seen by Cook. Pa at Mercury Bay seen by Cook. Scarp of 22 feet. Interior of pa. Islet refuges. Sir Joseph Banks' description of forts. Anderson's remarks. Pa at Queen Charlotte Sound. Dr. Thomson's remarks. Maori had nothing to learn from Royal Engineers. The Pehikatia pa. Earthwork defences. Ramparts, fosses and scarps. Defenders stood on ramparts in pre-gun days. The pa maioro. Tools used in constructing earthworks. How ramparts were constructed. Terraced hills. Stockades. The aparua defence. Methods of lashing Okuratope pa. Arrangement of stockades. How constructed. Huge posts. How they were handled. Oblique stockades. Elevated outer screens. The singular wita defence. The Miramar pa. The Motu-o-Puhi pa. Children formed models of pa. Fighting stages. Elevated platforms to protect entrance. Watchmen stationed on stages. Watch songs. The pourewa platform. Heads of enemies exposed. Fighting stages of Tonga, Marquesas, Fiji, and New Guinea. Gateways. Entrance passages. Sub-divisions of residential area. Crozet's account. Latrines. Middens. Outworks. Water supply.

In the following pages are given some extracts from the works of early voyagers, as illustrating the general appearance and defences of the fortified places of the Maori prior to the advent of whalers and traders, who, by introducing firearms, wrought a change in native methods of attack and defence. The various defences of the pa will then be described, earthworks, stockades and platforms, as also the interior aspect of such places, and methods of attack and defence. In addition are given some interesting notes on certain ceremonial performances pertaining to the construction and opening of a new fort.

In Tasman's Journal we find no notes on Maori life, as that voyager did not land on these shores. Our earliest information on the subject is found in the account of Captain Cook's first voyage, when, in the year 1769, he visited the East Coast district, the Bay of Islands, Queen Charlotte Sound, etc.

Of the first pa seen in New Zealand (at Poverty Bay) Banks writes:—"On a small peninsula at the north east head we could plainly see a regular paling, pretty high, inclosing the top of a hill, page 36 for what purpose many conjectures were made; most are of opinior that it must be either a park of deer, or a field of oxen and sheep." This was evidently a stockaded village.

Cook makes the following remarks on a pa seen by him at Mercury Bay (November 11th, 1769):—"A little within the entrance of the river, on the east side, is a high point or peninsula jutting out into the river, on which are the remains of one of their fortified towns. The situation is such that the best engineer in Europe could not have chose a better for a small number of men to defend themselves against a greater; it is strong by nature, and made more so by art. It is only accessible on the land side and there have been cut a ditch, and a bank raised on the inside. From the top of the bank to the bottom of the ditch was about twenty-two feet, and depth of the ditch on the land side fourteen feet; its breadth was in proportion to its depth, and the whole seemed to have been done with great judgment. There had been a row of pickets on the top of the bank, and another on the outside of the ditch; these last had been set deep in the ground and sloping with their upper ends hanging over the ditch. The whole had been burnt down, so that it is probable that this place had been taken and destroyed by an enemy."

Here we have a very brief note on a promontory fort, cut off from its land base by a fosse fourteen feet in depth, with a rampart or superimposed wall surmounting the inner scarp thereof. As the inner scarp was 22 feet then the rampart must have been 8 feet in height. In addition to this defence of an imposing 22 ft. scarp, a stockade stood on the top of the parapet, which would add at least 10 ft. to the height of the obstacle presented to an attacking force. Another stockade erected outside the fosse was not perpendicular, but leaned inwards over the trench.

On November 12th, 1769 Captain Cook visited a pa on the north side of Mercury Bay, of which he remarks:—"This village is built upon a high promontory on the north side near the head of the bay. It is in some places quite inaccessible to man, and in others very difficult, except on that side which faced the narrow ridge of the hill on which it stands. Here it is defended by a double ditch, a bank and two rows of picketing, the inner row upon the bank; but not so near the crown but what there was good room for men to walk and handle their arms between the picketing and the inner ditch. [See Fig. 10, p. 38.] The outer picketing was between the two ditches, and laid sloping with their upper ends hanging over the inner ditch. The depth of this ditch from the bottom to the crown of the bank was twenty-four feet. Close within the inner picketing was erected by strong posts a stage thirty feet high and forty feet in length, and six feet page 37 broad. The use of this stage was to stand upon to throw darts at the assailants, and a number of darts lay upon it for that purpose. At right angles to this stage and a few paces from it was another of the same construction and bigness, this stood likewise within the picketing, and was intended for the same use as the other, viz., to stand upon to throw stones and darts upon the enemy as they advanced up the side of the hill where lay the main way into the place. It likewise might be intended to defend some little outworks and huts that lay at the skirts and on this side of the hill. These outworks were not intended as advanced posts, but for such of the inhabitants to live in as had not room in the main works, but had taken shelter under it.

"Besides the works on the land side, above described, the whole village was palisaded round with a line of pretty strong picketing run round the edge of the hill. The ground within having not been level at first, but laid sloping, they had divided it into little squares and levelled each of these. These squares lay in the form of an amphitheatre, and were each of them palisaded round, and had communication one with another by narrow lanes and little gateways, which could easily be stopped up, so that if an enemy had forced the outer picketing he had several others to encounter before the place could be easily reduced, supposing them to defend every one of the places one after another. The mainway leading into this fortification was up a very steep part of the hill and through a narrow passage about twelve feet long and under one of the stages. I saw no door or gate, but it might very soon have been barricaded up. Upon the whole I looked upon it to be a very strong and well chosen post, and where a small number of resolute men might defend themselves a long time agains t a vastly superior force, armed in the manner as these people are. These seemed to be prepared against a siege, having laid up in store an immense quantity of fern roots, and a good many dried fish, but we did not see that they had any fresh water nearer than a brook which runs close under the foot of a hill, from which I suppose they can at times get water, though besieged, and keep it in gourds until they use it.

"Under the foot of the point on which the village stands are two rocks, the one just broke off from the main, and the other detached a little from it. They are both very small, and more fit for birds to inhabit than men; yet there are houses and places of defence on each of them, and about a mile to the eastward of these is another of these small fortified rocks, which communicates with the main by a narrow pathway, where there is a small village of the natives. Many works of this kind we have seen upon small islands, and rocks, and ridges page 38 of hills on all parts of the coast, besides a great number of fortified towns, to all appearances vastly superior to this I have described. From this it should seem that the people must have long and frequent wars, and must have been long accustomed to it, otherwise they never would have invented such strongholds as these, the erecting of which must cost them immense labour, considering the tools they have to work with, which are only made of wood and stone."

We have here a better, more detailed account of a promontory fort in the same district. The sides of the headland being so steep, the principal defences were those that served to cut the defended area off from the mainland. These defences consisted of two fosses, a wall or parapet and two lines of stockade. The description is not by any means too clear, but the innermost defence seems to have been a wall or rampart on which stood a perpendicular stockade of considerable height. Along the inside of the upper part of this stockade the fighting stage was situated as shown in Fig. ten below. Outside the rampart, at its base, was a fosse, the inner scarp of which, including the outer slope of the rampart, was 24 ft. in height. Along the outer brow of the fosse ran an outer stockade that leaned inward over the fosse, while outside this inclined defence was another fosse. We shall meet with this oblique stockade again, in some cases leaning outward. The stockade round the brow of the steep faces of the promontory, where earthworks were unnecessary, should be noted, as also the fighting stages. Other interesting features are the descriptions of the arrangement of the interior of the fort and the protection of the entrance by means of a fighting stage commanding a narrow passage between two lines of stockade.

Fig. 10—Inner defences of Wharekaho Pa at Mercury Bay, as described by Cook and Banks. Defenders stationed on the lofty stage were enabled to lunge downward outside the oblique stockade with their long spears, and so discourage assailants. (See p. 36.)

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The above fort, as shown by Mr. Haszard, was that known as Whare-kaho (See Transactions of the N.Z. Institute, vol. 35, p. 30.) It is said to have been occupied by a clan known as Ngati-hei and Capt. G. Mair states that it was besieged by Ngati-Tama-te-ra in the time of Tuterangi-anini, who cut off the water supply and eventually took the place with much slaughter. A few of its inmates escaped to Te Puta-o-Pare-tauhinu, a pa situated on a rocky islet in the form of an arch on the north side of Mercury Bay.

The following is Banks' description of the Whare-kaho pa; he places the height of the stage at 20 ft. which is more likely to be correct than Cook's 30 ft:—

"It was situated at the end of a hill where it jutted out into the sea, which washed its two sides: these were sufficiently steep, but not absolutely inaccessible…. The whole was enclosed by a palisade about ten feet high, made of strong poles bound together with withies: the weak side next the hill had also a ditch, twenty feet in depth, nearest the palisade. Besides this, beyond the palisade was built a fighting stage, which they called porává [pourewa]. It is a flat stage covered with branches of trees upon which they stand to throw darts or stones at their assailants, they themselves being out of danger. Its dimensions were as follows: Its height above the ground 20½ ft., breadth six feet six inches, length 43 ft.; upon it were laid bundles of darts, and heaps of stones; ready in case of an attack…. The side next the road was also defended by a similar stage, but much longer; the other two were by their steepness thought to be sufficiently secure with the palisade. The inside was divided into, I believe, twenty larger and smaller divisions, some of which contained not more than one or two houses, others twelve or fourteen. Every one of these was enclosed by its own palisade, though not so high and strong as the general one; in these were vast heaps of dried fish and fern roots piled up, so much so that if they had water, I should have thought them well prepared for a siege, but that had to be fetched from a brook below; so that they probably do not besiege a town as we do in Europe. Without the fence were many houses and large nets, the latter, I suppose, being brought in upon any alarm."

Banks also makes the following remarks:—"The state of war in which they live, constantly in danger of being surprised when least upon their guard, has taught them, not only to live together in towns, but to fortify those towns, which they do by a broad ditch, and a palisade within it of no despicable construction."

An Auckland correspondent supplies a photograph of a promontory which he states was an old pa. It is situated a little south page 40 Fig. 11—Site of an old promontory Pa at Mercury Bay, probably one of those described by Cook and Banks. Drawing by Ethel Richardson of Mercury Bay, below the Purangi river. He describes it as inaccessible. The photo shows a fine rock archway and an outer rock buttress. This promontory fort is shown in Fig. 11 above.

In Anderson's narrative of Cook's voyages some high stockades seen on the Mahia coast are referred to as follows:—"High palings upon the ridges of hills were also visible in two places, which were judged to be designed for religious purposes." Of other pa seen between Matata and Tauranga, he writes:—"The villages were upon the high land next the sea, more extensive than any we had seen, and surrounded by a ditch, and a bank with rails on the top of it. There were some inclosurers that resembled forts, and the whole had the appearance of places calculated for defence."

Of the fortified places at Mercury Bay examined by Cook, Banks and Solander, Anderson writes:—"The smallest was romantically situated upon a rock, which was arched; this village did not consist of above five or six houses, fenced round. There was but one path, which was very narrow, that conducted to it." Of another and larger pa in the vicinity he writes:—"The town was named Wharretouwa. It is seated on a point of land over the sea, on the north side of the bay, and was pailed round, and defended by a double ditch. Within the ditch a stage is erected for defending the place in case of an attack; near this stage quantities of darts and stones are deposited that they may always be in readiness to repel the assailants. There is another stage to command the path that leads to the town; and there page 41 were some outworks. The place seemed calculated to hold out a considerable time against an enemy armed with no other weapons than those of the Indians."

Of the fortified places seen at Queen Charlotte Sound during Cook's first voyage, Anderson writes:— "Some of the company in their excursion met with fortifications that had not the advantage of an elevated situation, but were surrounded by two or three wide ditches, with a drawbridge, such as, though simple in its structure, was capable of answering every purpose against the arms of the natives. Within these ditches is a fence, made with stakes, fixed in the earth…. On the 24th we visited a hippah [pa]* which was situated on a very high rock, hollow underneath, forming a fine natural arch, one side of which joined to the land, and the other rose out of the sea…. The hippah was partly surrounded with palisadoes, and it had a fighting stage, like that already described." Another pa visited was seated on a rock almost inaccessible; it consisted of about one hundred houses and a fighting stage. The islet refuge is illustrated in Parkinson's work.

The following remarks are also from Anderson's work:— "The hippahs or villages of these people, of which there are several between the Bay of Plenty and Queen Charlotte's Sound, are all fortified. In these they constantly reside; but near Tolaga, Hawke's Bay, and Poverty Bay, only single houses are to be seen, at a considerable distance from each other."

Anderson makes a curious statement, as follows:—"On the sides of the hills were erected long stages, supplied with darts and stones, thought by us to be retreats in time of action; as it appeared that from such places they could combat with their enemies to great advantage." In this singular remark Anderson seems to have confused the fighting stages of fortified villages with whata or elevated food storage platforms, or possibly with the erection of poles of unknown use seen on a hill at Tolaga. Why should isolated stages be supplied with darts and stones?

In Becket's account of Cook's first voyage appear the following remarks on some fortified villages situated at Queen Charlotte Sound:—"In this part of New Zealand we saw many towns, whose inhabitants had either fled or been exterminated; some of them appear to have been deserted or uninhabited four or five years, being overgrown with shrubs and high grass. On a small island lying S.E. from the place where we anchored, was one of these deserted towns, most agreeably situated, and consisting of about page 42eighteen houses, placed in a circular form; it was surrounded by a wall curiously constructed by driving two rows of long stakes or spars into the ground, at convenient distances, and afterwards filling the intermediate space with what we called broom stuff, being a small kind of brush, made into bundles like faggots, and placed on end in double rows, supported by others lying parallel with the ground. In this manner the wall is raised six or seven feet in height, and, notwithstanding the simplicity of its structure it is not easily broken or destroyed, especially when guarded by men who fight not only to preserve freedom and property, but their own bodies from being cruelly butchered and eaten.

"At a little distance from this town we saw the remains of a more regular fortification, situated on a high hill, near a pleasant bay. The hill itself was almost inaccessible, and on its top was a level flat, large enough for a town, which was surrounded by a fence made from spars two feet in circumference, drove deep into the earth, and about twenty feet in height: these were placed in contact with each other, and without them was a ditch about ten feet in breadth: within the fence were several large reservoirs for water, and stages adjoining to the spars, for supporting those who were placed to guard the town, which appeared to have been spacious enough to contain two or three hundred houses, though none were then remaining. The sides of the hill were in every part so steep that nobody could ascend them except by crawling on his hands and knees.

"At the bottom of this hill we observed the ruins of a town which belonged to the proprietors of this castle, and which was the place of their common residence; for, besides their town, the natives have always a separate fort or stronghold, which serves them for a place of retreat, and a magazine for securing their dried fish, fern root and other provisions; and, to prevent its being taken by surprise, they always leave a sufficient number of armed men therein, and thither they all retreat upon an alarm; always keeping in readiness a sufficient quantity of water in reservoirs, and regular piles of spears and stones dispersed along the stage adjoining to the fence; the height of these stages being fitted to afford those on guard sufficient shelter behind the fence, and so much elevation as not to be impeded by it in flinging their stones or using their spears, etc.

"Some of these castles, which have not the advantages of an elevated situation, to supply those defects are surrounded by two or three wide ditches, with a drawbridge, which, though simple in its structure, is capable of answering every purpose: and within these ditches is a fence made from spars fixed in the earth after the manner of that which was last described, but with this difference, that they page 43 incline inwardly, a circumstance which we thought favourable to the besiegers, but, on communicating this opinion to one of their chiefs, he assured us of the contrary, observing that if the spars should be pointed or inclined outwardly towards the enemy, that inclination would afford the assailants an opportunity of sheltering themselves under their points, from which it might be impossible to dislodge them, and that they would there be able to dig subterraneous passages into the castle. The same chief told us that these strongholds were never taken, unless by surprise, or when the enemy being masters of the field, converted the siege into a blockade, and, depriving them of all external subsistence, occasioned a famine within; and when this happens, the besieged, having no hope of foreign aid, all their friends and countrymen being shut up in the same castle, are compelled either to perish with hunger, or sally out and meet the spears of their enemies."

The above narrative contains some statements of considerable interest. The advantages of the oblique, inward leaning stockade are not, however, well explained. They were employed in conjunction with elevated platforms occupied as fighting stages that were erected on the inner side of an interior and vertical stockade, and secured to that stockade by means of withie lashings. Defenders stood on this stage, protected about breast high by the upper part of the vertical stockade, and from that coign of vantage lunged downward with their long spears at assailants outside the oblique palisading. The latter was laid at such an angle that this could be done. See Fig. 30, p. 92.

The combined palisading and rampart mentioned above was not a native usage in other parts, so far as we are aware; this is the only defence of the kind mentioned by early writers. Bundles of manuka scrub seem to have been packed into a space between two stockades, and no mention is made of earth as forming any part of the rampart, an improbable arrangement, inasmuch as the mass of dry brush would be highly inflammable, and so constitute a serious danger.

The mention of reservoirs for water situated within the defences is worthy of remark, and represents an occasional usage.

Of fortified positions seen near the East Cape, Banks writes:— "We saw plainly with our glasses villages larger than any we had before seen, situated on the tops of cliffs in places almost inaccessible, besides which they were guarded by a deep fosse and a high paling within it, so that probably these people are much given to war. In page 44 the evening many towns were in sight, larger than those seen at noon, and always situated like them on the tops of cliffs and fenced in the same manner."

When off Portland Island during his first voyage Cook speaks of having seen "in two places high rails upon the ridges of hills, like what we had seen upon the peninsula at the northeast head of Poverty Bay: as they were ranged in lines only, and not so as to enclose an area, we could not guess at their use, and therefore supposed they might be the work of superstition". This may possibly have been a pa in course of erection. Another puzzling item is noted by Cook as having been observed on a hill at Tolaga, north of Poverty Bay:—"Mr. Banks … climbed a hill … to see a fence of poles which we had observed from the ship and which had been much the subject of speculation. … The poles appeared to be about sixteen feet high; they were placed in two rows, with a space of about six feet between them, and the poles in each row were about ten feet distant from each other. The lane between them was covered by sticks, that were set up sloping towards each other from the top of the poles on each side, like the roof of a house. This rail work with a ditch that was parallel to it, was carried about a hundred yards down the hill in a kind of curve; but for what purpose we could not guess."

When passing up the coast from Matata towards Tauranga, Cook saw more fortified villages:—"The villages which were much larger than any we had yet seen, were built upon eminences near the sea, and fortified on the land side by a bank and ditch, with a high paling within it, which was carried all round: besides a bank, ditch, and pallisadoes, some of them appeared to have outworks. Tupia [Tupaea] had a notion that the small inclosures of pallisadoes, and a ditch that we had seen before, were morais [marae] or places of worship; but we were of opinion that they were forts."

In his Story of New Zealand, Dr. Thomson remarks as follows on Maori forts:—"The construction of the war pa exhibits the inventive faculty better than any other of their works. Their shape and size depending much on the nature of the ground and the strength of the tribe. They had double rows of fences on all unprotected sides; the inner fence, twenty to thirty feet high, was formed of poles stuck in the ground, and lightly bound together with supplejack withies and torotoro creepers. The outer fence, from six to eight feet high, was constructed of lighter materials. Between the two there was a dry ditch. The only openings in the outer fence were small holes; in the inner fence there were sliding bars. Stuck in the fences were exaggerated wooden figures of men with gaping mouths and page 45 out-hanging tongues. At every corner were stages for sentinels, and in the centre scaffolds, twenty feet high, forty feet long, and six broad, from which men discharged darts at the enemy. Suspended by cords from an elevated stage hung a wooden gong twelve feet long, not unlike a canoe in shape, which, when struck with a wooden mallet, emitted a sound heard in still weather twenty miles off. Previously to a siege the women and children were sent away to places of safety."

It should be said here that in pre-European forts, the stockades were not composed of saplings, but of stalwart heart wood timbers very firmly embedded in the ground. The larger posts only of the main fence were so high, the secondary posts were shorter, and the intermediate palisades shorter still, say ten to twelve feet above ground. These were not lightly bound together, but strongly lashed, and never with supplejack, which is not a durable lashing material, and soon becomes brash. Thomson also omits to mention the rails to which the palisades were lashed. The carved figures were not simply stuck in the stockade; they were carved on the upper parts of massive posts of the stockade. Stages were not erected at every corner, and not necessarily in the centre, but were utilised to protect weak places wherever they might be. There was no orthodox length or height for such; they were all sizes; the measurements given are those of one examined by Cook and Banks at Mercury Bay. Gongs were of differing forms and sizes, and their use was not universal. Non-combatants were sometimes sent to some refuge in time of attack, but in many cases remained within the fort.

Captain H. Eyre-Kenny, in a paper contributed to the New Zealand Military Journal, July, 1912, says:—"The Maori was a born engineer. He constructed his palisaded pa, and designed his earthworks … with infinite skill and ingenuity. The Royal Engineers could teach him nothing; on the contrary, they adopted Maori methods in several respects. … They were clever, too, in selecting the sites of their pa. They were generally situated on a narrow spur of a range of hills overlooking the sea, the rivers, or plains, the sides having a natural or artificial scarp. … The whole of the interior of the pa was intersected in every direction by low fences, each hut being fenced around, whilst latterly, to counteract the effect of Cameron's small but powerful siege train, loopholed bomb-proof casemates were provided. Thus, even when troops had effected an entrance, they would be entangled and confused, and unable to use the bayonet effectively. This was the real cause of the disaster at the Gate Pa in 1864. … The natives occasionally added an outwork, like a lunette, commanded by the pa, if the locality was suitable."

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In a paper on certain pa of Canterbury, Colonel Slater gives some notes of interest in the New Zealand Military Journal for July, 1912. Of an island pa in Lyttelton Harbour constructed on an islet called Ripapa or Ripa, he says:—"The pa was surrounded by an earthwork with palisades on the outer side, the bastions were evidently an attempt to gain flank defence … the inner earth work would have served as a rallying post and second defence…."

Bastions sounds like a modern pa, such as were constructed after guns were introduced. A plan and section of the island pa are given, showing the remains of the palisades in the middle of the earthwork. The pa was divided into two parts by an inner earthwork.

In examining old native forts, it is clear that in many cases, an outer area was not strongly defended, though used as a residential area. In the event of a serious attack these folk would vacate such a place and retire within the stronger defences.

A certain pa in the Whanga-nui district was of an oblong form, and was divided into two divisions. One of these was the stronghold, well defended with earthworks and stockades, while the other half was surrounded simply by a stockade or palisading, and this latter area was used as a site for cooking sheds, etc., not as a site for permanent dwelling houses. On the approach of enemies the latter part of the pa was abandoned, the people retiring within the strongly defended area.

The somewhat famous pa known as Pehikatia was situated on the bank of the Tauweru stream, Wai-rarapa district. The precise name of the fort is said to have been Te Ngutukoko, while Pehikatia is the name of the place where it was situated. This place is said to have had three lines of defence, the outermost of which was an upright stockade, the pekerangi. Inside this, and close to it was a fosse, on the inner side of which was a heavy rampart and another stockade. Within this again was yet another stockade, this being the innermost defence. This pa was provided with a considerable number of elevated platforms, attached to the stockades, and from which defenders could lunge down with spears at any enemies outside the pekerangi. The entrance to this fort was similar to that of the Wharekaho fort described above; to enter the place one passed through the waha ngutu or narrow entrance into the waharoa, a long narrow interior passage. Just before emerging into the interior of the inner line of defences, one had to pass underneath an elevated platform or fighting stage. For an enemy to pass along the passages would mean constant exposure to flank and overhead attack.

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* Cook's rendering of the words 'he pa', meaning 'a fortified village'.