Island Forts

Numerous island pa, or fortified islets and refuges, were seen by early visitors to New Zealand and others have been noted of the occupation of which we have no information. In some cases artificial islets were made in lakes, lagoons and swamps, and used as refuges, as at Muhunoa, Horowhenua and Te Hurepo. The following extracts from The Maoris of New Zealand will show a method of forming such islets, as practised at Horowhenua lake: Six of these places were constructed, the names being, Karapu, Te Namu-iti (both at the north end of the lake), Waikiekie, Te Roha-a-te-Kawau (near the Hokio stream), Wai-pata and Puke-iti. "The waters of the lake are nowhere more than twenty to twenty-five feet in depth. … Most of the islands are in shallow water, not more than six or seven feet in depth. They are now luxuriant tangles of raupo, toetoe, flax [Phormium], and shrubbery; one or two of the southern ones are mere dots of flax clumps, with here and there an ancient palisade post. In building them, as the late Rangi-mairehau, of Horo-whenua, described to me, the Mua-upoko [the natives who constructed them] first of all drove down lines of strong stakes in the lake bed, making large circular fences. Then tussocks, flax, raupo [bulrushes], etc., were brought in canoes and pressed down over the sharp-pointed page 360stakes, so as to form a wall; and baskets upon baskets of earth from the shore were emptied within the enclosure, until the islands were made. Inside the encircling fence more saplings and stakes were driven down into the soil, and others crossed upon them, and, as the ground grew solid, huts were built thereon, and strong lines of stockades were built round all. The approaches to the islands, all of which are close to the mainland, were defended by a series of marine chevaux-de-frise-rows of sharp stakes driven down until their points were just below the surface of the water, in such positions as to offer serious obstruction to canoeists who were not acquainted with the intricate channels."

A native described to Sir W. Buller the process employed in constructing the artificial islet in the Muhunoa lake, in Horowhenua County:—"First of all poles were driven in to define the extent of the proposed island. Then great lumps of 'negrohead' were brought from the shore and cast into the water within the lines of the poles, and this was continued until a mound was formed level with the surface of the water. Then great quantities of refuse shells were brought and cast upon the surface, then soil, many canoe loads, was thrown on top, etc."

In the Dominion Museum is a sketch of the Horowhenua lake showing the six islets; this was the work of the Rev. R. Taylor, who was the first to describe these artificial islets. See Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. 5, p. 101.

At the pa on Mokoia island, at Rotorua, it is on record that fences were continued out into the waters of the lake so as to enclose the canoes within them, as was done at the Mawe pa at Omapere.

D'Urville, who sailed up the East Coast in 1827, states that Bare Island [Motu-o-kura] was scarped and occupied as a, pa:—"It is an escarped rock, naked, and a mile or more from the land. A pa or fortress of some size occupies the summit, and ought to be an impregnable position. There were also to be seen several houses on the slopes of the isle, and by aid of the glass we easily distinguished the inhabitants moving about their fortress, and occupied in regarding attentively our passing. As at other points of the coast they made some great fires to call our attention."

There was a partially artificial island pa in Tutira lake named Tauranga-koau. It was used as a place of refuge.

The pa known as Te Pakake was situated on an island in the harbour at Ahuriri, Napier. A native account of it states that it could be reached at low water, by sandbank stretching out from the east side of the harbour. In 1824 this pa was taken by northern raiders with page 361considerable slaughter. The assaulting force is said to have reached the pa on rafts made of raupo, but why it should do so when the pa was approachable on foot at low water is not stated.

The islet on which Te Pakake pa was constructed was known as Motu-kura; it was near the Spit and one account refers to it as an artificial islet. This is probably the place mentioned in the report of the late Captain W. B. Rhodes on McDonnell Inlet (the Inner Harbour at Napier), written in the 'forties' of last century. Somes Island, in Wellington Harbour, bears the signs of two old pa, one of which had on one face an outward leaning stockade (matahao). An article in the New Zealand Journal of 1840, p. 233, seems to show that the stockades were then still standing. Ward Island was also used as a refuge in olden times.

On November 15th, 1769, Captain Cook landed on a small island off the south head of Mercury Bay, of which he says:—"The island we landed upon was very small, yet there were upon it a village, the inhabitants of which received us very friendly. This little village was laid out in small oblong squares, and each palisaded round. The island afforded no fresh water, and was only accessible on one side. From this I concluded that it was not chose for any conveniency it could afford them, but for its natural strength."

Banks describes a pa seen at Mercury Bay as follows:—"We all went ashore to see an Indian fort … and landed first near a small one, the most beautiful romantic thing I ever saw. It was built on a small rock detached from the main, and surrounded at high water; the top of this was fenced round with rails after their manner, but was not large enough to contain above five or six houses; the whole appeared totally inaccessible to any animal who was not furnished with wings, indeed, it was only approachable by one very narrow and steep path."

In his account of the Bay of Islands, Captain Cook writes:—"We came at last to a little fort, built upon a small rock, which at high water was surrounded by the sea, and accessible only by a ladder. … The ladder consisted of steps fastened to a pole, but we found the ascent both difficult and dangerous. … We examined the house … and two others, which were all that the fortification contained."

Cook also visited a small stronghold on a rocky islet in Queen Charlotte Sound:—"On the 24th [January, 1770] we went to visit our friends at the Hippah [corruption of he pa=a fortified village].… The island or rock on which the town is situated, is divided from the main by a breach or fissure so narrow that a man might almost leap from one to another: the sides of it are everywhere so steep as to render the artificial fortification of these people almost unnecessary: page 362there was, however, one slight palisade, and one small fighting stage, towards that part of the rock where access was least difficult."

On January 26th, Cook visited another such place in the same Sound:—"We went to the town of which the Indians had told us: … this, like that which we had seen before, was built upon a small island or rock, so difficult of access that we gratified our curiosity at the risk of our necks. … This town, like the other, consisted of between eighty and a hundred houses, and had only one fighting stage."

In a general description of Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook remarks:—"The number of inhabitants scarcely exceeds four hundred, and they live dispersed along the shores, where their food, consisting of fish and fern roots, is most easily procured; for we saw no cultivated ground. Upon any appearance of danger they retire to their Hippahs [pa] or forts."

An island stronghold at Queen Charlotte Sound is mentioned in Bayly's Journal of the voyage of the Adventure (Cook's second voyage), as published in McNab's Historical Records of New Zealand, vol. II., p. 207:—

"April 17th, 1773.-I went ashore on a small island called the Hippa by the natives, which I named Observatory Island. It is a rock whose sides are perpendicular in many places, and indeed the whole was well fortified by nature, there being only one landing place and the passage up from it exceeding difficult…. On the top of this small island was a town consisting of 33 houses. The most elevated part was tolerably level for about 100 yds. long and 8 yds. or 10 yds. wide. This was fortified with strong posts or sticks drove into the ground and those interwoven with long sticks in a horizontal direction and then filled with small brushwood with one place two feet square where was a wooden dore, so that only one man could get in at a time and that on his hands and knees, and of course easy destroyed if at war."

The remarks about the small size of the 'dore' or entrance corroborate statements made by other early writers. The fact that timbers horizontally laid seem to have taken the place of vertical palisades has not been noted elsewhere. Doubtless this arrangement was due to the difficulty of inserting palisades in the ground, owing to its rocky nature. We see native fences of this style still in use.

Of Pa-tangata, an island pa at Tonga-porutu, Mr. Percy Smith writes:—"Pa-tangata is an island at high water, standing about 200 yards off the line of cliffs forming the shore. Its sides rise sheer to a height of from seventy to eighty feet, making it practically impregnable in the days before firearms were introduced."

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The three islands of Tapu-tē-ranga, (Watchman Isle), Te Iho-o-te Rei and Koparapara, in the inner harbour at Napier were occupied by the natives in former times, but we have no information as to their being fortified. Quite probably stockades were employed.

The islet at Island Bay, Wellington, was used as a refuge. It was called Tapu-tē-ranga by the natives, named after Watchman Isle in Napier Harbour.

Occasionally strongholds were formed on mounds almost entirely surrounded by impassable or difficult swamps.

After Te Rangi-haeata was driven out of the Pori-rua district, and disappointed in his desire to wipe off the map the young settlement of Wellington, he sullenly retired up the coast and built a pa on a mound situated among swamps near Levin, the only approach to which was along a narrow strip of dry land running out into the swamps. The Rev. R. Taylor, who visited the place, thus describes it:—"The pa was on a mound, the only one in the vicinity, and strongly fortified in the native style with thick lofty posts deeply sunk in the ground, and bound together with a huahua, or connecting pole, running round at the height of about ten feet from the ground. Inside the outer fence was another, behind which the defenders could post themselves and take aim through the outer one. The page 364pa was divided into a number of small courts, each equally well defended, and connected by very narrow passages."

Mr. John White mentions the case of a clan of very inferior numbers which, on being assailed by the powerful Ngapuhi tribe 'built a pa on long posts in the midst of a deep swamp and there defied the attacks of their foes.' This must have been such a platform hamlet as those of Switzerland and Western Europe in former times, and those of New Guinea and other places. Paseems to be a misnomer in such a case as the above.

An artificial island formed in a lagoon or swamp at Te Hurepo, Whakatane valley, centuries ago, still exists as a low mound in a grassed paddock. Butts of stockade posts were found in it when the land was ploughed.

In vol. 5 of White's Ancient History of the Maori, is some account of a so called pa constructed in a tree top; this appears to have been merely a tree dwelling that could be defended by means of stones, etc. In vol. II. of the Journal of the Polynesian Society is a description of another such tree dwelling at Whakahoro, Otaki district; this became untenable on the introduction of firearms. The Rev. R. Taylor mentions a tradition of a similar refuge at the base of Mt. Egmont, and another in the Opotiki district is mentioned by Polack.