Outer Defence of a Fort

It would appear that the outermost defence of a pa of olden times might be either a stockade, scarp, rampart or fosse. The extracts given from early writers, as also native accounts, bear out this page 83statement. Apparently the matter was decided by several circumstances, the contour of the ground, the presence of rock near the surface, or the decision of the consulting engineers of the clan. An elderly native informed the writer that, if the defenders of a place were numerous, then the outer defence would be a stockade, for plenty of men were available to man it and prevent its destruction by fire or other means. If not so numerous then an earthen rampart was constructed as an outer defence, for this would not be so liable to destruction. This rampart would have a fosse outside it, if the nature of the ground permitted of it, which was not always the case, as seen in ramparts formed round a hill face. It would also probably have a stockade on it, and a scarped face below it.

The old saying:—"He umauma tangata, he umauma rakau" was applied to a well fortified village with a strong body of defenders. This singular apothegm is capable of several renderings, owing to the double meaning of two of its component words. It might be given as "Human breasts and wooden breasts," referring to the fighting men and stockades. But rakau also means 'a weapon,' and umauma tangata is an archaic form, now obsolete, denoting a numerous folk, or many persons. Hence the hapless translator is in somewhat of a quandary. It might be rendered as 'numerous defenders and many weapons.'