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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

The Auckland Museum

The Auckland Museum is situated at the corner of Princes Street and Eden Crescent. It consists of a galleried hall, in which are placed the zoological and mineralogical collections, and a large annexe principally devoted to the exhibition of articles illustrating the manners, customs, and mode of life of the Maori race. This department is unrivalled in the colony, and visitors anxious to form a correct idea of the Maori life of the olden days cannot do better than spend an hour or two in examining it. Prominent among the exhibits is the huge war canoe, Toki-a-tapiri, over 80 feet in length, and capable of carrying more than a hundred fighting men. The hull is hollowed from a single totara tree, and is furnished with topsides, which are carved from end to end. The prow and stern-post are also both elaborately carved. The canoe was built at Wairoa, in Hawke's Bay, about 1835, but shortly after its completion was presented to the celebrated northern chief, Waka Nene, who gave in exchange a piebald horse, then a very great curiosity to the Maoris. Waka Nene, or his brother, Patuone, sold the canoe to the Ngatea[unclear: t]a tribe, residing on the southern shore of the Manukau harbour, and it remained in their possession until the outbreak of the Waikato war in 1863. It was then seized, together with a number of other canoes, by a detachment of the colonial forces, and brought to Onehunga, whence it was ultimately conveyed to Auckland. At the close of the war, the Maori owners were compensated for their loss by a payment of £650, the estimated value of the canoe. Even in the early days of the colony the Toki-a-tapiri would have been considered an unusually fine example of Maori canoe-making; at the present time it is the sole survivor of the fleets of war canoes which once navigated the harbours and rivers of New Zealand.

Next in interest to the canoe is the large carved house known as “Te Puawai o te Arawa,” or “The Flower of the Arawa.” It was built at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty, about 1886, and was the property of Pokiha Taranui, a leading chief of the Ngatipikiao section of the Arawa tribe. The verandah in the front of the house is probably one of the finest specimens extant of Máori carving. Several of the carved figures on the front and sides of the house are said to be representations of remote ancestors of the Arawa tribe; thus a large figure over the doorway stands for Tama-te-Kapua, one of the most celebrated personages in the mythological history of the Maoris. He was said to be the captain of the Arawa canoe, one of the vessels which conveyed the Maoris from distant Hawaiki to New Zealand, and was the chief progenitor of the Arawa tribe.

Another and smaller carved house which is shown, formerly stood on the shore of Lake Rotoiti, in the Hot Lakes district. It is of much older date than “To Puawai o te Arawa,” and its style of carving is in many respects different. Its sides are remarkable for showing representations of human figures attacked by a mythological animal termed by the Maoris “Manaia,” the significance of which seems to be entirely lost.

At the extreme end of the hall are placed two large carvings of exceptional interest. One is the gateway of the Pukeroa pa, a fortification of great renown in Maori history, and which once occupied the crest of the Pukeroa Hill, overlooking the present township of Rotorua. The other is the upper part of a huge “tiki” or carved post, from the
Interior of Maori Room, Auckland Museum.

Interior of Maori Room, Auckland Museum.

page 175 walls of the same pa. Both these carvings are of great antiquity, and had been standing for many years when Rotorua was visited by Europeans in 1822 and 1836. They are probably the only carvings of any size now remaining which were entirely carved without the use of iron tools.

The show-cases built along the sides of the hall contain a large collection of the smaller articles of Maori workmanship. There are good series of the weapons, starting with the larger ones, as the battleaxe or tewhatewha, the taiaha, or short spear, the pouwhenua, or wooden sword, and descending to the smaller, such as the meres or fighting clubs—some of wood, some of whale's bone, and others of ordinary stone or the much-prized greenstone. One of the latter has a historical value on account of having belonged to the chief Te Kooti, the leader in the barbarous massacre of Europeans at Poverty Bay in the year 1868. Implements of all kinds are well represented. Stone axes of various shapes and sizes; chisels and gouges; fern beaters and flax pounders; fish hooks, fishing weights and net sinkers; spades and paddles; and many other articles too numerous to particularise here. The carved boxes and bowls exhibited are worth careful examination; although the Museum possesses many fine examples of the art of the Maori carver, none approach these so far as originality of design and fineness of execution are concerned. Ornaments, such as greenstone hei-tikis and pendants, combs, etc. are shown in great variety. There is also an interesting collection of musical instruments, comprising trumpets of shell and wood, and flutes of wood and bone. One of the latter is said to be the flute which Tutanekai, the lover of Hinemoa, played on the night when Hinemoa swam to him across the lake of Rotorua. Several cases are devoted to the exhibition of the clothing of the Maoris. There are dogskin mats, feather mats, and the various kinds of flax mats, from the soft and silken kaitaka, reserved for the use of the chief men of the tribe, to the rough and shaggy whariki, the garment of the slaves and common people. The whole of the exhibits are carefully mounted and displayed, and furnished with printed descriptive labels.

The main hall of the Museum, as already mentioned, is chiefly occupied with the zoological and mineralogical collections, but the ground floor also contains a number of plaster casts of the celebrated statues of antiquity, presented by Mr. Thomas Russell, C.M.G. In the centre of the hall is placed a large case containing specimens of apes and monkeys, prominent among which are the orang-outang, the chimpanzee, the gibbon, the proboscis monkey, and several others. The remainder of the mammals are arranged in wall cases on the south side of the main floor. The whole of the north side and east end are devoted to the collection of foreign birds. Most of the families are well represented, the number of species exhibited exceeding 600. The shells, both New Zealand and foreign, and other invertebrata, are placed in desk cases in the centre of the hall. The north side of the gallery is occupied by the New Zealand birds, a very complete collection of which is shown. Special attention should be given to those compartments containing the kiwis, or species of apteryx, and the parrots, including the well-known kakapo and kea. At the west end of the gallery will be found a case containing specimens of moas, or dinornis, and others of the extinct flightless birds of New Zealand. Unfortunately, the Museum is not well supplied in this department, most of the chief finds having been made in the South Island. The fishes, of which only a small series can be at present shown, are at the east end of the gallery. The wall cases on the south side are filled with rock specimens and New Zealand and foreign fossils. The mineralogical collections are placed in desk cases surrounding the whole of the gallery. Very great care has been taken in their arrangement, and the whole of the specimens are mounted on wooden tablets, and supplied with printed labels. The Auckland Museum was originally founded in 1854, through the exertions of the late Dr. Sinelair, a man of considerable attainments in natural history. After his death in 1862, it made little or no progress for several years, although nominally supported by the Provincial Government. In 1868 it was handed over to the care of the Auckland Institute, and the formation of collections illustrating the natural history of New Zealand was at once commenced. The first portion of the present building was crected in 1876, and in 1893 the Ethnological Hall. Since 1874 the collections have been under the care of the present curator, Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S.