Rafts and Floats

Colenso remarks: "Besides their canoes, they sometimes made use of rafts for crossing streams and inlets when the water was deep; such, however, were only made for the occasion, of dry bulrushes, or the dry flowering-stems of the flax (Phormium) plant, tied together in bundles with green flax. In some places, as about the East Cape, where there are no harbours, the natives made use of an open framelike raft of light wood, on which they went out to sea for some distance; and of late years have not unfrequently visited ships on such."

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Concerning the east coast form of raft, Tuta Nihoniho contributed the following description:—

A form of mokihi, or raft, was formerly constructed by the Ngati-Porou folk of the east coast, the people of the more placid tai tamawahine, who used it as a fishing-craft, on which they went out to sea fishing off the coast, but not to any great distance. There were two forms of this raft, of which the following is some description.

The material used was the houama (syn. whau), or Entelea arborescens, an extremely buoyant wood. Pieces of this timber, of considerable thickness, perhaps 6 in., were cut, barked, and seasoned. From four to six of such pieces were fastened together in single tier and side by side, but so fashioned as to be narrow at one end and wide at the other, the former representing the bow of the primitive craft. The different logs were pinned together with trunnels of hard wood, such as manuka, which, it is said, if properly prepared, could be driven through the soft houama wood without any form of hole being made to receive them. A second layer of timbers, consisting of poles of houama, were laid fore and aft upon the larger pieces, and lashed thereto, thus increasing the thickness and buoyancy of the raft. As an additional safeguard the various pieces were lashed to-gether with the extremely tough, strong, and pliant stems of the pirita, a climbing-plant (Rhipogonum scandens). (See fig. 97.)

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This float being completed, another and similar one was constructed. The two parts of the raft were then placed parallel to each other, the pointed ends one way, but separated by a space of from 3 ft. to 5ft. Across the two separate rafts were now placed and secured by lashing three or four stout poles to serve as transoms.

The raft was now complete, and, when used, was occupied by two persons, one sitting on each division of the raft, and propelling it with the paddle. They were used for fishing from, and from which to manipulate the taruke, or crayfish-pots (traps), so much used along the coast. When engaged in such pursuits it was usual to make a platform between the two parts of the raft by placing some additional poles across, on which the taruke were deposited.

These rude craft were provided with a stone anchor, maybe with the curious form made by lashing two short poles at right angles across a heavy stone. Should a foul wind spring up when men were fishing off shore from a mokihi, then would they cast their anchor and ride out the wind. The water would sometimes break over the raft, and spray drench its small crew, but the rude craft was particularly buoyant, and rode like cork.

These craft were called amatiatia, a name applied to the outrigger. In this crude form, then, we see the last survival of the old double canoe and the outrigger of Polynesia, in which the ancestors of the Maori explored the vast Pacific to settle on far-scattered isles.

In former times it was not an unusual occurrence for fishermen to be blown out to sea by sudden gales, to be lost for ever on the great waters.

Colenso made the following remarks on these east coast rafts, as seen by him in 1838: "I may also mention that all along the coast, in many places, we saw small rafts hauled up above high-water mark, each being eight or ten feet long and three or four feet wide, composed of only a few small poles, roughly and distantly but very strongly lashed together, with open spaces between them. On these the east coast Maoris went out to fish in deep water, one on each; and also, when opportunity offered, to a ship, with a pig or two fastened to the raft. They said these rafts were quite safe—more so, indeed, than a small or middle-size canoe, as there was no danger of upsetting."

Colonel Gudgeon relates a case in which a small party of natives made rude rafts and crossed twenty miles of sea in order to escape from enemies.

When asked by Jameson how he managed to cross many rivers during a certain journey he had made, a Maori replied, "By making a raft of the manuka bush, with reeds and sticks, which we tied page 198together with flax (Phormium). Give me these things, and I will cross the largest river in New Zealand."

In some places on the east coast the term mokihi is, or was formerly, applied to a very small canoe, the smallest size, suitable for one person only.

In April, 1773, Captain Cook saw some natives at Dusky Sound. The first family seen, on the 7th April, was composed of one man, three women, and three children, who were provided with a small double canoe. Tame Parata informs us that in his youth he heard old men saying that the man seen at Dusky Sound by Cook on that occasion was named Te Apa-a-raki (raki = rangi), and that these were the only natives of the far south who saw Cook. Cook, however, mentions seeing a few other natives at Dusky Sound, who were using rude rafts composed of logs.

The other type of raft mentioned by Colenso may be described as a float, though both timber raft and reed or bulrush floats were called by the same names—mokihi, andmoki. There were two forms of these floats: one was a small affair, a bundle of dry bulrushes or flower-stalks of Phormium, which a person bestrode, paddling with his hands or a piece of wood; the other was a more elaborate and a larger float, composed of several or many such bundles lashed together so as to resemble a boat in form.

In Bishop Selwyn's diary of his journey in the South Island in 1844 he remarks that on the 17th January of that year he crossed the Wai-tangi River on a mokihi, under the care of Te Huruhuru, a native of those parts. "The mokihi is formed of bundles of rushes bound tightly together in the form of a boat. No kind of boat could be better suited to the river, which is a deep and rapid torrent… To cross it is necessary to start at some point where the main stream touches the bank, and to keep the same channel till it winds its way to the opposite bank; in order to do which it is sometimes necessary to go down the stream several miles. The mokihi are first built twenty or thirty miles from the mouth, and perform the zigzag course till they reach the sea, where they are turned adrift, it being impossible to work them up against the stream. Te Huruhuru himself took me under his care, with the whole of the baggage…. We launched off and made a rapid and prosperous passage to the opposite bank, going down about two miles of the river before we could reach it."

Tuta Nihoniho contributed the following note: Rude rafts, termedmokihi, were sometimes made whereon to cross rivers, of dry raupo (bulrushes) or timber. If the former, the raupo leaves were tied in bundles about 8 in. in diameter, after which several page 199of such bundles were lashed together to form a large one. Three of these large bundles were lashed together side by side, and two more tied on top of them, so as to break joins. Upon these two upper bundles travellers placed themselves, propelling their rude craft with poles.

Brunner speaks of making crude rafts during his west coast explorations in 1846: "April 21. The [Karamea] river much flooded. Constructed a raft of flax-stalks, in length about twenty-two feet and in breadth about four feet six inches. A raft of this kind is now but seldom seen. I will therefore give a description of its construction: A sufficient quantity of the dry flower-stalk of the flax (Phorrnium) being collected, which is not done without considerable labour, it is lashed tightly into bundles, each about ten inches in diameter, and twenty or twenty-four feet long. Two of these bundles are then placed side by side, and are equivalent to the garboard streaks or planking next to the keel of a boat. They are left with square butts aft, and the natural bend of the stalk being taken advantage of, the bundle is formed convex in its length towards the water; the top or slender part of the stalk is placed forward, and the pointed end of the bundle becomes the head or cutwater of the craft. Two other bundles similar to the first are now lashed outside and slightly above them, and the four form the bottom. Projecting gunwales are now formed of two additional bundles, which are placed over and slightly outward of the last; and the inner, hollow part of the raft, being filled up with the refuse stalk, with a pole placed lengthwise to give it strength, the vessel is complete. Paddles have then to be cut, and a mast with a blanket sail may be rigged if the wind be fair. Our raft could be carried by the four of us. With our weight of some 700 lb. upon it, it floated with the upper surface about an inch above the water. It was sufficiently strong to rise over a considerable swell without working loose, and might be paddled at the rate of about two miles page 200an hour. .. The flax-stalk is, however of an absorbent nature, and before we had far passed the middle of the stream we found, by the decreasing buoyancy of the craft, that it was necessary to throw overboard the dog."

The following extract is from Shortland's Southern Districts of New Zealand: "Our mokihi was made in the form of a canoe. Three bundles of raupo about eighteen feet long and two feet in diameter at the centre, but tapering towards the extremities, were first constructed separately, each being tightly bound and secured with flax; and were then fastened together so as to form a flat raft. Another bundle similarly made was next laid along the middle of this, and secured in that position, forming a sort of keel; the hollow intervals left between the keel and sides were filled up with raupo packed carefully and tightly in layers, and secured with bands of page 201 flax. The bottom of the mokihi being thus finished, it was turned over, and two smaller bundles were laid along its outer rim, from stem to stern, for topsides, and all the vacancies within were filled up with layers of raupo tied down with flax."

A similar float to the above, made of reeds, is still used in Mesopo-tamia. (See fig. 99.)

The leaf of the raupo (Typha angustifolia) is remarkably light and buoyant when dry, but gradually becomes water-logged when immersed in water.

Polack, an early trader at the Bay of Islands, wrote as follows: "Among the early occupants of New Zealand, canoes were entirely made of the bulrush. We have seen some of these vessels of olden times, nearly sixty feet in length, capable of holding as many persons, but they are now wholly in disuse. They were remarkably thick, formed entirely of rushes, except the thwarts, and resembled the model of a canoe in every particular. They were remarkably light … though many bundles of rushes were consumed in forming them, and were paddled with much velocity, until saturated, when they settled down in the water. These vessels are no longer formed, and specimens are extremely rare."

Again, the same writer remarks: "On the shore, half buried in drift sand, lay an ancient canoe, made solely of the raupo bulrush. It was about forty feet in length, and had been neatly put together. These vessels of the olden time are not to be found in use at the present day, though a bundle of these rushes are often tied together to enable a person to cross a stream."

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The first remark of Polack's is likely to mislead. There is no evidence to show that rafts and floats were ever used by any people inhabiting these isles as other than makeshift conveniences for temporary use.

The above writer also refers to the small type of float used by one person, and illustrated in Taylor's Te Ika a Maui: "In the absence of canoes, a quantity of dried bulrushes are fastened together, on which the native is enabled to cross a stream by sitting astride and paddling with his hands .. They are extremely buoyant, and resist saturation for a long period." (See fig. 100.)

In the Auckland Museum is a mokihi 11 ft. or 12 ft. long, and constructed of raupo, or bulrush-leaves, lashed in thick masses on to a canoe-shaped frame made of kareao (pliant stems of a climbing-plant), the interior being filled with raupo up to within 4 in. or 5 in. of the top of the sides.

The Rev. J. A. Wilson speaks, in his Missionary Life in New Zealand, of using one of the small mokihi that the navigator sat astride on: "You sit as on horseback; the legs dangling on each side in the water act as ballast; the moki being very light, it requires great steadiness in the person who bestrides it to prevent a mishap."

Wakefield tells the following: "We descended the [Pelorus] river in company with four or five canoes, in which they [natives] stowed themselves, with their women and children, cats, dogs, and pet sucking-pigs, who all took their places among the baskets of flax and potatoes, and seemed as much at home when shooting a ticklish rapid as on shore. One boy of twelve years old made himself a canoe of two bundles of soft bulrushes, called raupo, which he bound together with flax, and guided with great dexterity from his perch in the middle."

Bishop Selwyn relates that when travelling on foot through the Roto-rua and Taupo districts he carried an air-bed, which he frequently used as a raft in crossing rivers, and also sometimes in traversing them. The bed, having been inflated, was placed on a frame-work of sticks constructed by his native companions. It was thus used by two natives whereon to descend a part of the upper Whanga-nui, somewhere about Taumaru-nui.

The Tasmanians used a rude float made of a number of strips of bark tied together into a long bundle pointed at both ends. Californian Indians used a similar float made of rushes, and in ancient Egypt a double-pointed float of bark was employed. In modern times such primitive contrivances, made of straw or stalks, have been seen on the upper Nile, where the natives sit astride them, page 203 propelling them with their legs or a double-bladed paddle. The Australians made a rude float of bark or rushes like those of the Tasmanians.

The log raft (balsa) seems to have been used on the west coast of South America from Paita northward to Darien. (See fig. 102, p. 204.) Some are said to have been 70 ft. long and 20 ft. wide. Lacking a keel, a rude form of centre-board was made use of by means of thrusting planks down between the logs. This had a considerable effect on the navigation of these rude crafts, and is a curious illustration of advancement from most primitive conditions. On the other hand, these folk had not grasped the idea of the built-up raft, by which resistance to the water is so much lessened, as in constructing a platform on the top of two parallel logs, though they employed sails. At page 274 of volume 1 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society occurs the following: "The group now known as the Galapagos Islands was discovered by an Inca of Peru named Tupac Yupanqui, who flourished towards the end of the fifteenth century, and was the grandfather of Atahualpa…. After the con-quest of Quito, he collected a large fleet of balsas on the coast of the Province of Manta, put to sea, and discovered the islands."

An illustration of one of these log rafts in the account of Spil-bergen's voyage of 1615 shows one with two triangular sails, but the square sail was introduced later. On Lake Titicaca the natives construct floats or rude boats of reeds resembling the mokihi de-scribed by Brunner. A description of the Peruvian log rafts and the use of lee-boards may be found in Morrell's Voyages.

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In the account of the voyage of Francisco de Ulloa, in the year 1540, is a brief description of log rafts seen on the coast of Lower California: "The canoes of these Indians were made of the trunks of cedars, not hollowed, but merely fastened parallel and close to each other. Some of these trunks were twice the thickness of a man, and six yards in length."

Swimming-powers of the Polynesians.—This is not the place to describe the astonishing powers of the Polynesian as a swimmer, but his being so much at home in the water has ever been to him one of his most useful accomplishments—as, for instance, in the case of capsized or swamped canoes. La Perouse remarked of the natives of Easter Island: "They swim so well that they will leave the shore to the distance of two leagues in the roughest sea, and by page 205 preference, for the sake of pleasure, land on their return at the place where the surf beats the strongest."