Diminutive Elevated Stores
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
page 51potato-store, and in the lower is a woman pounding
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
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slight-looking elevated platform. In the foreground are four persons engaged in pounding the edible roots of the common fern (
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.