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The Pa Maori

The Pahi-tere Pa at Oakura

The Pahi-tere Pa at Oakura

The Okoki and Otumoana forts described elsewhere are specimens of pa constructed on long ridges in which advantage has been taken of superior altitude in the ridge end, the works terminating at a low saddle or dip in the ridge that lends itself to defence. Pahi-tere illustrates another type, that of a small and completely isolated mound, or hillock, situated on flat land, and the whole of which is included within the lines of defence. Such fortified places are seen south of New Plymouth, in the Cape Egmont district and elsewhere. The Pohokura pa, already described, illustrates one defensive method, in which the slopes of the hill were simply terraced and protected by lines of stockade. Pahi-tere represents another method of defence, in which a fosse with an outer wall was formed round the slopes of the hill, with a high steep scarp extending from the fosse to the summit area.

The small pa of Pahi-tere is situated on the level plateau on the right bank of the Oakura river, and about a mile from the sea coast. The rock column of Paritutu lies about N.N.E. from here, and the Oakura village about S.W.

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Fig. 60—Sites of old Villages of the Coastal Area between the Onaeroa and Mimi rivers, Taranaki. (See p. 222.) G. L. Stephens

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The small hill is of an elongated form, as is frequently the case with such mounds. The two sides have been fortified by forming a steep scarp about 12 ft. high on the upper part of the slope, to isolate and protect the summit area. The base of this scarp represents the bottom of a wide fosse up to 16 ft. in width, or it may be looked upon as a terrace with a heavy rampart or outer wall, now 6 ft. to 8 ft. in height. Below this wall on the western side is a terrace some five yards further down the slope, while on the eastern side are several terrace formations outside and below the wall. These were undoubtedly the sites of dwelling huts, as also was the small summit area, and possibly also the space inside the wall.

Apparently the entrance has been at the south end, where an extra defence exists, an inferior wall or parapet outside the main one. There seems to have been a causeway across the trench.

Around the edge of the flat summit area, which is but 30 yds. long by 12 yds. wide, are seen the remains of a parapet still 3 ft. high in some parts. The corners of this area have been partially built up with waterworn stones that must have been carried hither from the river bed. A stockade must have supplemented the parapet as a protection for this summit area.

The low outer terrace on the western side transforms itself into a fosse with outer wall at the north end, as we have noted at the south end. The summit area is 60 ft. or so above the level of the flat. A small stream on the eastern side would provide the water supply. An outer terrace below the wall on the eastern slope corresponds with that on the western side, while below it are apparently incomplete works that bear every appearance of a terrace in process of excavation some 8 ft. below the level of the upper one.

On the brink of the terrace about a quarter of a mile N.E. of Te Rewarewa pa, Taranaki, is situated a small mesa or flat topped hillock with steep sides. See Fig. 61 above. This has been fortified and occupied in former times, though the habitable area is very small. The side toward the low flat is a steep bluff along the top of which a stockade must have been erected. The summit of this hillock is about 25 ft. above the level of the terrace, and about 60 above the lower flat. This habitable part is twenty-five yards long and twelve yards wide in the middle. The sloping curved sides of the mound have been scarped on the upper part, at the foot of which scarp is a ditch, outside of which rises a heavy rampart 7 ft. above the ditch bottom. Outside this rampart the sides fall away to the terrace level. These defences are continued right round the curved line of the mound to impinge upon the bluff at either end. The entrance was at the western end near the cliff head.

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Fig. 61—A Small Mound Pa near Te Rewarewa, Taranaki. Miss E. Richardson

This diminutive pa was probably an outpost, or was occupied when the terrace lands near it were under cultivation. It was not an uncommon thing for the natives to have small refuges of this nature near their crops.

In selecting a hillock, or mound situated on flat land as a pa site, the Maori usually employed one of two modes of fortifying. He either steeply scarped the sides of the hillock and erected stockades along the scarp brows, or he formed round the sloping sides a heavy earthen wall or parapet. In the latter case the inner and superior scarp would be a secondary defence. The wall might be at or near the base of the slopes, or halfway up them. The space between the parapet wall and the interior scarp might be merely a trench or fosse, or it might be wide enough to contain hut sites. This latter feature, in larger hill forts, develops into the wide residential terrace with an outer rampart. In some cases the mound or hill was terraced as to its slopes, the scarps of which terraces would be surmounted by stockades.

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The Koko-ariki pa on the right bank of the Waikohu river, just below the Manga-mahaki stream is a good specimen of the fortified mound. It is of very limited area.