CENTURIES OLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 12, 15 January 1929, Page 5

CENTURIES OLD.

UNIQUE MAORI CARVINGS. FOUND IN TARANAKI SWAMP. DRAGON FIGURES OF TOTARA. (By Telr ? rai>h.— Special to "Star.") NEW PLYMOUTH, this day. Did dragons run in Taranaki a few centuries ago; Evidence has jus-t been discovered that oven if they did not Maori carvers must have »e»-n dragon-like creatures or hoard of them from Tahiti or Melanesia to have been able to varve their figures on totara timber. Throe aboriginal carvings, considered by authorities to be unique in Maori - diim, wore uncovered in a swamp by Messrs. Maim While and Manu Toe at Waitara a few days ago. For at lea»t a century or so they ),ui-,t have lain there hidden from the Hutrho of Te Hauparaha and tin- Waikato invaders when puns were introduced to Taranaki. They lie to-day in a plain-fronted wharepnni at Manukorihi Pa. telling a tale •if the degeneracy of present-da v Maori art.

All three figures are of totara; two, .depicting the life of another century are twins; the other piece i* frail aiid worm-eaten. The twins, however, arc thu more uncommon carvings. They are still coated with kokowai or red ochre prepared for the purpose. Art of Other Days. Romance and interest arc not confined to the date or to the circumstances of burial. They extend to the stran-e and ancient designs which s,K>ak of art and knowledge over three centuries old Iwo inferior examples, which are also from Waitara, lie in the New Plvmouth Museum. They and these are believed to be the only examples which have been yet found in the Dominion.

The dragons, twisting an d turning and entwined with each other, are a feature of the work. The tops of the twin posts depict the hooded heal, eight inches long of a huge reptile whose mouth is w.de open with a gaping tongue while its eyes look down "the post pYst its tortuous body and barbed tail. fVtocity is strikingly expressed. Four such creatures are carved, the lower ones each

Clutching in Death Gripe. True to detail are the legs; each creature has two legs which are covered with neatly-carved scales, and thev clutch each other with talons in death grips. These slabs are each four fee? nine nches long and eight inches wide. The frailer third piece has a splendidly fasnoned physiognomy of a Maori with widely-distended mouth, tattooed, sloping forehead, prominent eyes and flat nose. This face stands out on a raised plane. There are two lizards or papas near each end which clutch with terriMe claws the mouths of two faces at the extreme ends of the carving, which tapers from the centre to the ends and is four feet -three inches long. Agony and hor-ror-stricken feelings are shown upon the outer figures. Nicely spaced bet ween the three faces appear scrolls and lines radiating from the centre, like rays of risiii" suns. The symmetry and nicetv are a revelation. Opinions of Authorities. Amongst the authorities who have inspected the relics are Dr. Ellison, of the Health Department. Wellington. Mr. W. H. Skinner and local elderly natives, including Totara, a Waitara native who is nearly ninety years old. They consider that the work was probably done over three centuries ago at least and that it contains imajres from a pa>t still furlh-r removed. The timbers were probably the embellishments of the pataka of a small house erected on poles. Patakus were used to store the valuables and food of tohungas and rangitiras. Other relics wen- found as the result of the visit of the reporter. With the aid of a cum spear and a spade two handles <»f Maori axes, fashioned from manuka, were found. Where the carvings had lain biynt stones, charred wood and ashes four feet down indicated the site of a Maori oven.