THE
MAORI CANOE
LAUNCHING
THE
KAWA
This is the removal of the
tapu which was put in place while the
waka was constructed. The tapu kept
women away, so that the workers were
not distracted, thus ensuring it was
built as seaworthy as possible.
The kawa rite
was performed over a new canoe of
importance, such as a war-canoe, but
not over an ordinary fishing-canoe.
This curious ceremony took place prior
to the launching of the completed
vessel, and if correctly rendered,
without any mistake or mishap, then
such a fact was accepted as a good
omen for the future of the canoe—it
would be a lucky, safe, and successful
vessel. Should, however, any error be
committed during such performance,
then assuredly the craft would be an
unlucky one, and some mishap to it, or
in connection with it, would certainly
come to pass.
PAGE
166
On
the day previous to the kawanga the tohunga (priestly
adept) would enter the forest and seek
therein a small shrub of karangu
(Coprosma), about 3 ft. in
height. Having found such a plant, he
laid his hands upon its leaves, and
repeated the following words in order
to render the shrub tapu for
the purpose it was to serve:—
Tohungia
te tohu o te mate
Tohungia te
tohu o te ora
Show a
sign of death
Show a sign of
life
thus
endowing it with the power whereby to
foreshadow the welfare or otherwise of
the new vessel. He then returned home.
On
the following morning he again
proceeded to the shrub, and, grasping
the stem thereof, repeated the
following:—
Tohungia
te tohu o te mate
Tohungia te tohu o te
ora
He unuhanga a nuku, he
unuhanga a rangi
Ka unu to peke mua, ka
unu to peke roto
Ka unu to peke taha,
ka unu to peke marie.
He
then pulled the shrub up by the roots,
and, should the roots thereof be drawn
out of the earth in their entirety,
without breakage, he remarked "Turuki
ki tahito o te rangi."
If the roots, or some of them, snapped
off as he pulled the shrub up he cried
"E taukuri E! He atua, he taitahae."
This latter expression is equal to
"Alas! There's the devil to pay." For
the omen drawn from the broken roots
was a bad one, presaging misfortune
for the canoe and its owners. Hence
the operator would at once go and
consult other priestly or shamanistic
experts, and obtain their assistance
in order to kaupare,
or avert, the evil omen, or to hurt (overthrow)
it—that is to say, to remove or
abolish the ill omen by means of
invocations or charms.
Now,
this curious act of divination in
pulling up the shrub obtained its mana (power,
effectiveness) from the fact that it
had been made tapu for
the purpose, as explained above. To
pull up any other, non-sanctified
shrub for such a purpose would be idle
and useless, from the Maori point of
view.
During the performance of the kawa
rite the karangu shrub
was dipped in the water by the
officiating tohunga,
and struck on the tauihu,
or figurehead, of the canoe. This is
done at a certain stage in the
repetition of the invocation of the kawa;
at another stage the name of the canoe
is repeated.
In this curious ceremony the tapu is
lifted from the vessel. It was
constructed under tapu so
that the task might be brought to a
satisfactory conclusion; it now being so
finished, the tapu is
taken off. The essential object of the kawa rite
is to abolish the power and influence of
the previous sacred ritual PAGE
167performed over the
canoe, so that it is no longer
dangerous, that it may be approached and
handled by non- tapu persons—in
short, that it may be used.
During the hurihanga
takapau, or tapu-lifting
ceremony, the officiating ruahine,
or priestess assistant, gets into the
canoe. The female element, with its
polluting qualities, has now come into
contact with the tapu vessel:
the tapu is
destroyed; the canoe is noa.
After this it would be permissible for a
woman to stand in the canoe and act as a kaea,
or fugleman, in the rendering of a
hauling-song.
Launching
The
launching of a first-class canoe was
an important function in Maoriland; it
called for certain ritual observances,
and was followed by a ceremonial
feast. Like many other native
functions, it was also an important
social meeting, whereat would assemble
many scattered PAGE
165social units and
tribal divisions. Such meetings were
much enjoyed by Maori folk, and were
the occasion of much feasting and
indulgence in many forms of amusement,
dancing, singing, and the playing of
games. Many of the latter come under
the heading of exercises. At such
meeting also were discussed all
matters pertaining to the welfare and
activities of the tribe and its
various divisions.
A
priestly adept (tohunga)
chanted certain ritual over the new
vessel, and this appears to have been
a placing of the craft under the care
of the gods. In some cases a human
sacrifice seems to have been made,
though it does not appear to have been
a common practice. The killing of a
slave or enemy as food for the feast
is a different thing from a sacrifice
for ritual purposes. Williams's
Maori Dictionary gives
"Taitai—to remove tapu
from a new canoe, a ceremony
accompanied with the slaughter of a
slave." The term koangaumu
waka has
a similar meaning.
The
following welcome to the new canoe was
chanted by the people in some cases:
"Naumai, e Tane
Ka kau taua i te awa o
Pikopiko-i-whiti;
kia matakitakihia koe e te tini o te
tangata.
Naku koe i tiki atu
ki te wao nui a Tane."
Come hither, O Tane!
Let us
go forth on the waters of
Pikopiko-i-whiti
that you may be observed by all
persons.
'Twas I who went and brought you
hither
from the great forest of Tane.
Here we see that the canoe is
addressed as Tane: it represents the
forest of which Tane was the origin.
Pikopiko-i-whiti is said to be the
name of an expanse of water
surrounding the island of Tahiti, from
which the ancestors of the Maori came
to New Zealand, and outside which
sheet of water was a line or reef of
rocks separating it from the ocean.
After
the canoe was launched, and had been
paddled by a crew on a trial trip, a
great feast was held, for which the
materials had been long
preparing—crops grown and preserved
foods stored. To this ceremonial feast
other clans were invited, and perhaps
a human sacrifice made. A man of some
other tribe would be slain for this
purpose, his heart offered to the gods
to induce them to rest or light upon
the canoe—i.e., to protect it
and its occupants— and the rest of the
body was cooked and eaten as a special
dish at the feast. The offering of the
human heart was to the tribal gods.
The act of dipping a shrub or green
branch in water, and then touching the tapu canoe,
house, or child with it, was to ensure
the protection and assistance of the
gods.
The
quaint old ritual chanted at the
ceremony known as the kawa,
or kawanga,
as contributed by Tuta, has already
been published in the Journal
of the Polynesian Society, (vol.
171, pp. 96-98). It is of interest
only to Maori linguists, and
translations of such old matter are
always doubtful.
A
person slain at the kawanga of
a canoe was a sacrifice to the gods,
and the idea behind it was to secure
the protection and assistance of such
gods, which meant general good luck
for the vessel, and the assistance of
sea taniwha (monsters)
in any crisis.
Te
Whatahoro, of Wai-rarapa, contributes
the following: Occasionally a human
sacrifice was made at the completion
of a high-class canoe, such as a
war-canoe. In such cases, when the
canoe was finished and launched, a
leading person, probably the chief
owner of the vessel, would ask "Ko
wai he tangata mo to tatou waka?"
("Who shall be a person for our
canoe?"). Then it is not improbable
that some person, perhaps an old
relative of the chief, would say "Ko
au" ("Myself"), whereupon he
would be slain, his heart taken out
and offered to the gods at the tuahu,
or sacred place, after which it would
be taken to the latrine and there
left. It being deposited at that place
would do away with any possibility of
it being eaten by any person. The
body, being that of a relative, was
not eaten, but was placed in a
steam-oven in the earth and left PAGE
168there for all time.
If the slaying of the voluntary
sacrifice was not approved of by the
leading men, then a karearea (sparrow-hawk)
was obtained and its heart so offered
to the gods. It would be deemed a most
unlucky act to slay as a sacrifice for
such a function any person who had not
consented to be so served—that is, who
had not so volunteered for the
purpose.
This
singular custom is said to have been
introduced from Hawaiki, the former
home of the Maori people. Human
sacrifice at the launching of a new
canoe was not a custom on the east
coast, and nothing is known there of
any new canoe having been launched
over the bodies of slaves used as
skids.
A
sacrifice of six birds was made when
the "Takitumu" canoe was launched. The
object of such sacrifice was to induce
the gods to cherish and protect the
vessel.
Tuta
contributed the following additional
notes: The term taitai
waka, or koangaumu
waka, was an expression applied
to some special food obtained for the
ceremonial feast held on the
comple-tion of a high-class canoe.
Such food might be human flesh, dog's
flesh, rats, or birds.
Any
such items used as offerings, or in a
sacerdotal manner, as for a ceremonial
feast, were termed marere.
The expressions pure and whaiwhainga
kai might
also be applied to them. The modern
term for such is patunga
tapu, but this phrase was so
applied by missionaries.
When
a new canoe was first used for
fishing, one fish of the first haul
was set aside as an offering to the
gods. Also, when a new canoe was first
used on a war expedition, the first
man slain was utilized as a sacred
offering to the gods.
On
a war expedition no cooked food could
be carried in a canoe, nor could a
fire be kindled on board.
Large-sized
Canoes
A
number of early writers have recorded
notes on the larger canoes seen by them on
these coasts, some of which are here
reproduced.
Sir
Joseph Banks, who accompanied Captain Cook
on his first voyage, writes as follows of
a canoe seen on the east coast in 1769:
"On an island called Jubolai [?] we saw
the largest canoe which we had met with;
the length was 68½ feet, her breadth 5
feet, and her height 3 feet 6 inches. She
was built with sharp bottom, made in three
pieces of trunks of trees hollowed out,
the middlemost of which was much longer
than either of the other two; their gunnel
planks were in one piece 62 feet 2 inches
in length, carved prettily PAGE
169enough in bas-relief;
the head also was richly carved in their
fashion."
This
was a canoe with a haumi at
each end. The sharp bottom is an uncommon
feature of the Maori canoe as known to us,
save at the two ends.
When
in the eastern part of the Bay of Plenty,
on the 31st October, 1769, Cook saw a
larger canoe: "No less than five canoes
came off, in which were more than forty
men…. Another, of an immense size, the
largest we had yet seen, crowded with
people, who were also armed, put off from
the shore, and came up at a great rate …
we could see that it had sixteen paddles
on a side, besides people that sat, and
others that stood in a row from stem to
stern, being in all about sixty men."
A
canoe seen at the Bay of Islands by
Marion's crew in, 1772, contained from
eighty to one hundred natives. It was
ornamented with fine carvings. Another
seen was 67 ft. in length and 6 ft. 4 in.
wide, made out of a single log. It was
handsomely carved, and went at a fine
speed. Another is mentioned as being a
superb canoe, 70 ft. in length, and made
all in one piece.
In Du Clesmeur's journal of Marion's
voyage, published in volume 2 of McNab's Historical
Records of New Zealand, occur the
following remarks: "These people are by no
means ignorant of the art of seamanship.
They have indeed carried it to perfection,
relatively to their needs. Their pirogues,
or canoes, are of great beauty. I have
measured some that were 70 ft. in length
by 8 ft. in width, and made out of a
single piece of timber. They are sharp at
each end, and the keel is hewn out in such
a way as to insure a good speed. They
travel at a very rapid rate. We have seen
no sails in any of them, very light
paddles being used. There are usually
about forty men in each canoe. The stern
and the prow are ornamented with two
pieces of carving; that on the stern is
about 12 ft. in height and 2½ in. in width
[thickness]. It is openworked, and painted
red like the canoe itself. Above this
board is a sort of plume of black
feathers. The ornament of the prow is not
more than 2 ft. in height, and on the top
also are feathers. The tools they use for
building are made in the same style as
those of the natives of Tahiti. It is a
sort of adze made of touchstone, fitted on
to a bent piece of wood.
Others of their tools are made of a PAGE
170green stone which is
transparent, and of which they make tools
for their carvers."
In
1815 Kendall saw at the Bay of Islands a
canoe 87 ft. long that was manned by
sixty-seven men. It was one of a fleet of
fourteen.
In
his journal of 1819 Marsden mentions
seeing one of the Bay of Islands canoes
used in raids on Hauraki and the east
coast. Natives informed him that it held
sixty men and all necessary stores for
them on such voyages, but that it would
carry eighty on bay trips or on any smooth
water. He also states that he saw canoes
80 ft. to 90 ft. in length, and remarks,
"These canoes go very quick through the
water."
In
describing the return of an expedition to
the Bay of Islands in 1820, Cruise says:
"The fleet was composed of about fifty
canoes, many of them seventy or eighty
feet long, and few less than sixty. Their
prows, sides, and stern-posts were
handsomely carved, and ornamented with a
profusion of feathers; and they generally
carried two sails made of straw matting.
They were filled with warriors, who stood
up and shouted as they passed our boat,
and held up several human heads as
trophies of their success."
PAGE
171
Again,
this writer remarks: "The largest canoe we
saw was eighty-four feet long, six feet
wide, and five feet deep… It was made of a
single kauri tree
hollowed out, and raised about two feet
with planks firmly tied together and to
the main trunk, with pieces of the
flax-plant inserted through them. The
crevices were filled with reeds to make
the canoe watertight. A post fifteen feet
high rose from the stem and stern, which
together with the sides was carved in
openwork, painted red, and fringed with a
profusion of black feathers. The chief sat
at the stern, and steered the canoe, which
was impelled by the united force of ninety
naked men, who were painted and ornamented
with feathers. Three others, standing upon
the thwart-sticks, regulated the strokes
of the paddles by repeating, with violent
gestures, a song in which they were joined
by every one in the vessel. The canoe
moved with astonishing rapidity, causing
the water to foam on either side of it;
and we have observed other war-canoes
cross the Bay of Islands in perfect safety
when it was thought imprudent to lower the
ship's boats."
Polack
speaks of travelling in a finely finished
canoe 72 ft. in length that had two
triangular sails made of raupo,
while the ropes thereof were made of
"common flax", which may mean undressed Phormium.
He also writes as follows of Maori canoes:
"Some canoes are fully eighty feet in
length, upwards of six feet beam, four
feet in depth; the bottom being worked to
the sharpness of a wedge, the sides are
consequently well projected… A variety of
hieroglyphics, resembling tattooing,
adorns the hull, painted in white or black
on a red ground… The canoes made in the
vicinity of Hawke's Bay will carry easily
one hundred men, and are paddled
double-banked."
When
Polack visited Uawa in 1835 he remarks
that "about thirty canoes, each of a very
large size, and filled with people," came
off to meet his vessel. Again, he writes:
"I purchased a canoe at Uawa that was
seventy-six feet long, six feet wide, and
four feet deep, the bottom being as sharp
as a wedge. The sides were well projected,
and about two inches thick, and near the
bottom full three inches. On each side was
raised a plank, to the making of which a
whole tree had been used; these were
sixty-six feet in length, fifteen inches
wide, and two inches thick, fitting to the
hull by a piece of lath painted black and
placed outside the vessel, which, when
lashed, bound the gunwale board to the
hull exceedingly firm, by holes being
bored above and below the band [lath],
fastened by flax well scraped. The small
spaces of the holes were closed up with
the down of bulrushes, which answered the
purpose of caulking. A considerable number
of thwarts were laid across the gunwales,
and PAGE
172strengthened the
compactness of the vessel by being
securely lashed. The figurehead at the bow
projected six feet beyond the hull, and
was about three feet in height. The rapa,
or stern-piece, was about twelve feet
high, two inches thick, and eighteen
inches in breadth."
The
bottom "sharp as a wedge" does not
recommend itself as a feature of the Maori
canoe; possibly its sharpness near the
prow was referred to.
Of
a canoe seen at the Bay of Islands in 1835
Darwin wrote: "In examining one of their
larger canoes, seventy feet in length,
from three to four feet in width, and
about three in depth, I was much
interested by observing what trouble and
pains had been taken in building and
trying to ornament this (to them)
first-rate vessel of war. Her lower body
was formed out of the trunk of a single
tree, the kauri,
the upper works by planks of the same
wood; the stem and stern, raised and
projecting, like those of the galleys of
old, were carved and hideously disfigured,
rather than ornamented, by red distorted
faces with protruding tongues and glaring
mother-of-pearl eyes. Much carving of an
entirely different and rather tasteful
design (arabesque, like the ornaments at
Tahiti) decorated the sides; Beneath the
thwarts a wickerwork platform, extending
from end to end, served to confine the
ballast to its proper position, and to
afford a place upon which the warriors
could stand to use their weapons. From
forty to eighty men can embark in such
canoes… Judging only from description, the
largest canoes ever seen by the oldest of
the present generation must have been
nearly ninety feet in length, formed out
of one tree, with planks attached to the
sides, about six or seven feet wide, and
nearly as much in depth."
In
another place he says that he had seen
canoes 80 ft. long. "The sails are
triangular, and made of the light raupo rushes.
They can sail very close to the wind, and
are steered by a paddle."
The
late Judge Fenton stated that, long years
ago, he saw at Wai-heke a canoe over 90
ft. in length. Again, he remarks: "The
Maoris of New Zealand build, or used
lately to build, very beautiful and
powerful canoes, capable of carrying one
hundred men and more, with which, even in
our time, they were accustomed to make
voyages round the coast."
Colonel Mundy, in Our
Antipodes, wrote: "Some of the larger
war-canoes are from eighty to ninety feet in
length, six feet wide and five feet deep,
with high topsides and deck … capable of
containing a hundred men, and propelled by
ninety paddlers."
C.
O. Davis states that Te Haupa, of
Ngati-Paoa, felled a very large tree,
which he intended to make into a
war-canoe, but which was not finished.
"Its length is said to be 118 feet, and
its width about ten feet. The following
note on an old unfinished canoe probably
refers to the above. It was 90 ft. long,
but 10 ft. or more of one end had rotted
off. Even that was not its original
length, for one end had been broken off in
hauling it from the forest: the huge hull
took charge and plunged into a gully. Its
greatest beam was 10 ft.
The
canoe known as "Te Mata o Turoa," at
Whanganui, is 71 ft. long and 4 ft. 8 in.
wide at the broadest part. The dugout hull
is of one piece, except a short haumi a
few feet in length at one end. Several
patches have been put on near the fore
end, and a few small pieces let in on the
sides. It has no rauawa attached,
and no prow or stern pieces: all have
disappeared. Several bullet-holes and
embedded musket-balls are seen in the
canoe, which natives say date from fights
early in last century. The prow end is
long and sharp. Its name is marked on it
as "Te Mata Hoturoa," which is probably
intended for "Te Mata o Turoa," for Turoa
was a chief of renown in those parts. Te
Mata o Hoturoa, which possibly may
be the correct form, is an expression
denoting the crescent moon, or the cusps
thereof.
The
big war-canoe "Te Toki-a-tapiri," in the
Auckland Museum, seems to be the only
first-class Maori canoe that has been
well preserved. (See fig.
77,
p. 174.) It is a fine specimen, and its
lines are admirable. The length of the
hull is 83 ft. At the stern end is a haumi about
10 ft. in length; the rest is in one
piece, hewn out of one huge
The
most interesting local canoe of which we
have heard is one that was made at
Whanga-nui fifteen generations ago for a
chief named Rua-matatoa, concerning
which Mr. T. W. Downes contributes the
following notes: The canoe known as
"Tauwhare-puru" was famed all over New
Zealand as being the largest ever made
by the Maori. It was hewn from a huge totara tree
named "Nga Mahanga," and its two haumi were
formed from two other trees having the
special name of "Tauwhare-puru," which
trees grow close together. This name was
given to the canoe. (Probably the name
"Nga Mahanga" was that of the double
trunks.) The supervisors of the task of
making this vessel, the tohunga
whaihanga, or industrial experts,
were Te Kowhiro and Pataua of
Whanga-nui, also Taka-wairangi of
Ngati-Tama, who came to assist them. The
numerous workmen were local men. The
various pieces having been roughed out,
they were then buried in trenches, where
they laid for months, after which they
were taken up and laid on platforms
exposed to air and wind, the same being
a seasoning process.
Each haumi of
this canoe was over 20 ft. in length,
and on each side of the hull were lashed
six rauawa,
or top boards.
This
form of vessel carries us to Polynesia;
the Tahitian canoes were so built up.
"Tauwhare-puru" is said to have
accommodated 400 persons, including 144
paddlers. This seems very unusual, but
the tradition is about four hundred
years old, and may have grown as it
passed down the centuries. The width of
the canoe was half an arm more than a
tall man could stretch. It is not
explained as to whether the maro or takato mode
of measuring was meant; if the latter,
then the width would be about 9 ft.
This
great canoe was taken to the South
Island and there given to local natives
in exchange for manufactured greenstone
(nephrite) objects, including three mere (weapons),
six mau
kaki (neck-pendants),
and two heitiki.
PAGE
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