The Carrying Pole, oka.

Food, or any burden is carried balanced on the ends of a pole carried horizontally over one shoulder. This is the balance pole used throughout Polynesia. A stout pole

Figure 59.
Notch in oka carrying pole.

of hau is used and a notch may be cut at either end to prevent the burden from slipping off, Fig. 59, or it may be tied to the pole with hibiscus bark.

Throughout Polynesia, the name for the balance pole is usually amo or some variation of it. In Aitutaki, the name is oka and the word amo is not used. To carry on the shoulder is hapai, and to carry on the back, hakapiki. The word oka, as applied to the balance pole, is old. When the ancestor Ruatapu arrived, he is said to have brought the first cocoanuts. The place where they were carried ashore was named Okaoka from the balance pole on which they were borne to the land.