Stockades

The timber stockade was one of the most important defences of native forts. In the case of the type of pa termed a pa tuwatawata it might be the only defence if the place was situated on flat land. In the case of a hill fort it would be accompanied by scarped faces, etc. In the old days of hand to hand fighting the Maori well knew the advantage of the defence when the enemy was compelled to expend most of his energies in escalading a precipitous scarp.

As is shown in the illustrations given herein, there were several forms of stockade employed by the Maori. In the case of a hamlet or collection of a few huts used as a temporary residence when sea fishing, fowling, or working in cultivations, etc., the defences were not formidable. A comparatively light stockade defence, showing no carved posts or other elaborate work, was deemed sufficient, the approach of enemies causing the people to retire to their permanent stronghold. Again, for divers reasons, certain fortified page 56places possessed but one or two stockades of no impressive appearance, for example a hill top that was difficult of access. But the superior class of fort, the pa whakairo, often presented four lines of strongly built stockade, and occasionally more; a terraced hill fort might possess a dozen such, or even a still greater number.

Now in most superior forts one of these stockades was selected as a katua or main stockade, which was of better and stronger construction than the other lines; more work and care were lavished upon it. It was also noted for two peculiar adjuncts; some of its supporting posts were much higher than others and had their upper ends carved into grotesque human images,-and in this stockade was usually situated the principal gateway of the fort. This was the show gateway of the place and, in some cases, had a carved post flanking it on either side, in others the entrance was through an aperture in the base of a huge slab of timber which carried some carved designs, for which see illustrations. In the more orthodox style of forts this main stockade was the third in order from the outside. Williams' Maori Dictionary gives the following order of stockades in such a pa, with their names:—

1.	Pekerangi.-First and outermost stockade; an elevated screen.
2.	Wita.-Second line of stockade.
3.	Katua or Tuwatawata.-Third line of stockade; the main fence.
4.	Parakiri.-Fourth and innermost stockade.

The pekerangi or elevated outer stockade was also known as a teki and kereteki. This word teki carries the meaning of 'suspended.' Cf. whakateki, to suspend so as not to reach the ground. The term rangi conveys a similar meaning, as in pekerangi, whatarangi, purangi, etc. On the East Coast the outer raised screen was sometimes called the wita or karewa.

This arrangement might be taken for a somewhat idealised model, or as peculiar to some districts, for a great number of old forts had a different arrangement of defences, in fact the matter depended largely on the configuration of the ground, and also on local usages. In some cases the second stockade was the main one, in others it was the outer stockade that was the strongest, as noted by Colenso and corroborated by Hurae Puketapu.

In some pa stockades were erected on the ramparts, in others they were a distinctly separate defence, and no form of palisading occupied the earthen walls. The latter seems to have been a common custom on the east coast, as far south as the Wairarapa district. Information collected from natives of different districts on this and some other subjects is decidedly confusing. Probably the stockade was, at least in some cases, erected first and the earth wall or dyke page 57formed up afterwards so as to enclose them. This would be in order to gain stability for the stockade. Cook states that he saw stockades on ramparts at Mercury Bay, but not in their middle parts, thus giving defenders space to stand on the top of the wall. Nicholas saw the same arrangement in 1814 at the Bay of Islands, and other evidence will be forthcoming. Both of these also noted stockades not so elevated and in the same forts. In Fijian forts ramparts were surmounted by stockades.

In Mr. T. White's short account of an old native fort near Herbertville (Transactions N.Z. Institute, vol. 32, p. 398), he remarks:— "It is quite a novelty, I believe, to find that the Maori has defended a position by earthworks, the present height of which would seem to indicate that they could never have been surmounted by a palisade of woodwork. As it now stands there is a double wall of earth, having an interval of about 12 ft. between the two walls, and also a broad dry ditch. The outer wall is almost or entirely perpendicular on both faces; it stands 5 ft. in height and shows signs of a ditch along its outer face. … The inner and parallel wall is similar, but is 6 ft. in height. Neither wall shows much sign of decay."

Two forms of earthworks were constructed in former times, one form being a comparatively low dyke of six to nine feet in height, with a stockade on it; the other was a higher, more wall like earthwork. These high walls are said to have had no stockade or any form of palisading on them, but the fighting men of the garrison manned the top of the wall when the place was attacked. The rampart seen bearing a stockade by Cook was eight feet high. Where a stockade page 58 was erected on an earthwork the defenders stood behind it on the top of the wall, and thrust their spears through the palisades to repel attackers, or, in some cases, they were stationed on elevated platforms secured to the inner side of the stockade and supported by posts. It will thus be seen that these earthen ramparts were of considerable width in order to accommodate the defenders who stood on them.

The trenches of Tongan forts were about twelve feet deep, while the ramparts were wide enough on top to allow defenders to be stationed thereon. Note a sentence in Mariner's work—"On the top of the banks [ramparts] a number of warriors, armed with clubs and spears, were running to and fro."

The following are Colenso's remarks on the defences of native forts referred to on p. 56:—"No observable order was followed in placing their houses in a village; throughout which there were ways of communication in all directions, but no proper streets; each sub-tribe or family generally enclosed within an inner fence, having around their own houses apertures for ingress and egress. The outer fence of the village, often composed of whole timber trees set in the ground, without their bark or branches, and from fifteen to twenty or even thirty feet in height, and strongly secured with transverse timbers cross-lashed to the uprights with durable supplejacks and vines from the forest, looked very formidable and was very strong. All its posts were surmounted with human figures as large as life, elaborately though roughly carved out of solid wood, with faces in every conceivable or inconceivable state of distortion. Inside this was generally a second wooden fence, made like the outer one, but of lighter materials; within this were excavated earthworks. Sometimes the wooden fences, or some portions of them, were raised on earthworks; and sometimes they were made to overhang a cliff or side of a hill as a chevaux de frise, presenting a low angle with the horizon."

It is doubtful if any fort had all its stockade posts carved, and the kareao or supplejack would not be used save as a temporary lashing; it is not durable. The opening part of the description of the stockade looks as if the whole fabric was composed of huge trunks or posts, which is improbable and contrary to the evidence. The large heavy posts were closer together, in some cases, than the usual 6 ft. or so, and occasionally a stockade was constructed with only four or five palisades between two posts, which would mean that the heavy posts were about 3 ft. apart. The description of such a defence has been handed down in tradition. We know of a few cases in which none but very heavy timbers were used in the construction of a stockade.

Hurae Puketapu, of the Wairoa district, East Coast, states that he has heard his elders remark that stockades were not erected on page 59ramparts in that district, but outside them. The series of defences known as aparua consisted of an outer stockade, inside of which was a trench, then another stockade inside that, and then an earthen rampart as an innermost defence. The outermost stockade possessed the largest and tallest posts, those of inner stockades were smaller. The large, tall posts were termed himu; they were carved and named after ancestors. The rails were lashed inside the posts. In lashing the palisades two methods were employed: the apatahi and kauwaerua.

Hurae illustrates his remarks with two sketches which show the apatahi to be a single lashing and apparently a running one, while the kauwaerua is a crossed lashing. The aparua method of fortification, as described by him, corroborates other statements made by natives of the East Coast as to the innermost defence being an earthwork. The statement as to the outermost stockade being the heaviest, and the one containing carved posts, corroborates Colenso's account, and shows that the arrangement of stockades given by Williams was by no means always adhered to, indeed many pa possessed no more than two lines of stockade, and some had but one.

The position of the rails, as to whether or not they were lashed on the inner sides of all posts is a somewhat disputed point. In late times they seem to have been not infrequently on the outer side, or possibly on the outer side of some posts only, as noted by Major-General Robley and others during the fighting in the 'sixties.' This may have been on account of the use of firearms demanding fighting at longer range. Several of our best native authorities state that rails were fixed inside all posts in pre-European times. The palisades were secured inside the rails. The trench between the two stockades of the aparua was not universal, and may not have been a pre-European usage.