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The Maori Canoe
[argument and introduction]
Contents
Three main types of canoes. (1.) The double canoe. (2.) The single canoe with outrigger. (3.) The single canoe with no outrigger. Subdivision of class 3. (A.) The waka taua. (B.) The waka tete. (C.) The waka tiwai. The double canoe seen by early voyagers. Tasman's remarks. Banks's remarks. Two forms of double canoe. Shortland's remarks. Missionary notes. Vessels of immigrants from Polynesia. Origin and distribution of double canoes. Late use of double canoe. The outrigger canoe. Seen by early voyagers. Origin and distribution of the outrigger. Outrigger employed in India prior to Christian era. Disuse of outrigger in New Zealand preceded that of double canoe. The double outrigger. Maori tradition of. Distribution of. Use of same abandoned in several regions. The single canoe lacking outrigger. Native names for canoes. Mohi Turei's remarks. Description of waka taua, or war-canoes, by early voyagers.
There may be said to be three main types of Maori canoes as used in pre-European times—(1) the double canoe, (2) the single canoe with outrigger, (3) the single canoe with no outrigger. Types 1 and 2 went out of use many years ago, but both were seen in Cook's time, and the double canoe was seen in the South Island coasts by early European settlers as late as the "thirties" of last century.
1. The Double Canoe.—There appear to have been two forms of this kind of craft in former times. One of these was a permanent type, two canoes from 1 ft. to perhaps 3 ft. apart being connected by cross-beams securely lashed; the other consisted of two vessels connected together in a more temporary manner for a coastal voyage or fishing excursion. Two canoes were also temporarily united for other purposes, such as the raising of sunken logs. Such a vessel was called a taurua. Mr. Stowell furnishes a note concerning a type in which the two canoes were close together.
2. Of the single canoe furnished with an outrigger we find no details in the works of early voyagers. They seem to have fallen into disuse before the abandonment of the double canoe.
3. We now come to the single canoe used without an outrigger, the one type that has survived and is familiar to us, it being still in use to a limited extent, and some specimens are also to be seen in our page 24museums, notably the fine hull of the "Toki-a-tapiri" in the Auckland Museum. This type is usually divided into three classes, as follows:—
| (A.) | The waka taua, or waka pitau.—The finest type of Maori canoe, often of great size, and used in war expeditions and coastal voyages. Much adorned with carved work, painting, and arrangements of feathers, the prominent features being highly carved prow and stern-pieces. Usually termed a "war-canoe" by Europeans. The dugout hull might consist of one, two, or three pieces, a top-strake being added. |
| (B.) | The waka tete.—A canoe with a plain figurehead and sometimes an inferior stern-piece. Usually smaller than a waka taua, and used in coastal voyages and for sea-fishing. Furnished with thwarts, top-strakes, and rough floor-like grating, as the A class was. The dugout hull might consist of more than one piece, or, like A, be hewed from a single tree. |
| (C.) | The waka tiwai.—Plain dugout hulls, usually in one piece, and lacking top-strake, thwarts, floor-grating, and adornment. Small vessels used for many purposes. The smaller forms were known as koki, kopapa, korea, &c. |
These are the three forms of the ordinary Maori canoe, though other canoe-names were in use, and some minor differences existed, as is explained below. Having classified our canoes, we will proceed to describe them by quoting the remarks of early voyagers and others, to which will be added notes obtained in later times.