The Introduction of European Tools

When European voyagers broke into these silent seas and came into contact with the Maori folk of New Zealand they brought with them many artifacts that caused man the neolith to marvel greatly. At first the Maori assigned no value to iron, but he very soon learned to prize it highly. The first article of iron widely used in barter was the old-fashioned flatsided, rectangular nail; these served the Maori as chisels, for which purpose he ground the lower end to a fine edge. In after days tomahawks and axes were brought in quantities and were much appreciated. Hoes and spades then appeared, but the natives always preferred the light form of spade, which they used as a cultivating implement, often as a scuffle hoe in weeding operations, and very often in a squatting position. The Maori never really approved of our mode of digging in those days. He objected to the stooping position, and to the lifting of heavy spadesful of earth, as necessitated by the huripoki or turning over method of digging. However he recognised the advantages of the use of iron tools, and so spades came to be widely used, especially in districts where wheat was grown.

In districts where the potato was often planted in land from which brushwood or forest had to be removed the ko held its own for many years, and that is how the writer comes to know the use of it. It is a highly useful tool to use in places where earth cannot be turned over, as among roots.

In some cases the Maori borrowed our names for the tools we introduced, in others he utilised his own names for similar implements, and in yet others he invented a name.

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I will now quote some passages from a paper entitled On Nomenclature, by the late W. Colenso, as follows:—"Of common working tools, which, as Cook and others truly said, they prized beyond everything! most of the common ones, as the axe, hammer, chisel, auger, gimlet, awl, knife, large spike nail, small nails, &c., took the names of their own similar stone and bone implements; a few others, however, obtained some curious and striking names as—An adze, = kăpŭ,—lit. palm of the hand, sole of the foot, &c., so named from its curvature.

A small axe, hatchet and tomahawk, = panekeneke,—lit. strike—and—keep—moving—by—small—degrees!—a good expressive name, indicative of their manner of using it in the woods, scrub, &c., clearing before them; formerly no Maori of any rank travelled or moved about without one strung to his wrist; of this little instrument they were very fond.

A saw, and also a file = kani,—lit. to cut stone by friction, rubbing to and fro; as they cut their greenstone, &c.

A plane, = waru,—lit. to scrape, cut, &c., give a smooth surface to;—as with obsidian, a sharp shell, &c.

A pinchers, = kuku,—lit. the big mussel shell fish.

A grindstone, hone, &c., = hoanga, the common name of their own sharpening stones, of which they had several kinds; the common (European) grindstone very often took the additional term of huri = to revolve.

A pick, pickaxe, = keri-whenua,—lit. earth digger.

A hoe, = karaone,—lit. to tear, roughen, pare the ground.

A spade, = puka, kaheru, karehu, hapara, &c., this useful instrument bore several names, according to the district and sub-dialects, but its general one at the north was puka. At first and for a few years this name to me was a puzzler, for I could not find out why the spade had obtained this peculiar name (which was also the name given by the Maoris to the cultivated cabbage), I knew of nothing Maori that also bore it. At last I heard from an old intelligent priest, that there was a tree bearing a large leaf named puka, and hence their name for the spade (and cabbage)! For a long time I diligently sought this plant, offering rewards for it, no one, however, had seen it; at length I found one (in 1836), in a corner of Whangaruru Bay (S);—its leaves were large, 12-20 inches long, and 8-9 inches broad, oblong, plain, entire, and stout, with a long, thick stem. [This tree is Meryta Sinclairii]. I never saw another plant; its home was said to be on the Poor Knight's Islets, a small group in the sea just opposite.

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I suspect hapara to be the Maori attempt at pronouncing the word shovel."

Of the names given above—hoanga, puka, kaheru and karehu seem to be genuine old names, as shown above, the first, third and fourth undoubtedly are so. The word kani betokens a to and fro motion, and kanioro describes the method employed in cutting stone with a stone cutter. The word kara, as meaning to tear or pare, does not appear in Maori dictionaries. Auger and gimlet; the Maori possessed no implements manipulated as these are; his awl was used as we use a bradawl; his drill was worked with a curious reciprocal motion, by means of cords.

The Tuhoe folk term a European grindstone simply huri, from its revolving motion, without using the word hoanga. A wheelbarrow they call huripara, a quaint combination of Maori and English. These tribesmen, when engaged on the formation of new roads in their district, borrowed our word "varnish" to describe the smoothing or trimming down of a batter.

Our iron rake is termed rakuraku by the natives, from a Maori word meaning "to scratch or scrape." Apparently no form of rake was used by the Maori in pre-European days; the tirourou described elsewhere is a doubtful form.