THEIR GAMES and THEIR TOYS

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

THEIR GAMES and THEIR TOYS

that the kit© must have delighted the ears of the children as it soared and swooped on the long, hand-made flax cord. The long tails we fasten to our kites do not eeem to have been used on those of the Maori, but their place seems to have been taken occasionally by balancing rods, light reeds which projected from the ends and must have kept them steady.

The men made great bird-like kites called maim, with hovering wings and curved claws, but in place of the bird's head was a mask like a human face. The framework was once covered with aute, the precious cloth made from the carefully cultivated paper mulberry, or sometimes with sedges. Kite-flying contents were a popular sport, when the opponents tried to bring down each others manu by crossing and tangling the strings. A Favourite Toy Throughout the World. Loved by nearly all the children of the world is the spinning top and the Maori, young and old, shared the widespread delight in this fascinating toy. Just as we have treasured some gaily-painted top, which '.'slept" particularly well, with blending colours, the Maori child had his favourite ones, to which he even gave special names.

Humming tops, with their upright pieces round which the string was wound, were carved from a solid piece of wood. Sometimes, though, they were more easily made by pushing a pointed stick through the rind of a small gourd, in which several holes were bored' to make a humming sound. One end of the stick formed the point on which the top was spun and round the other the Jlax cord for spinning it was wrapped. The hollow, pumpkin-like rind made % wailing noise as it "slept."

The singing tops were set spinning with little songs of encouragement by their owners. The one which "slept" the longest, spinning evenly, was the winner, a toy to be valued by the proud possessor if it was easy to spin and if it hummed loudly. Whip tops, too, were made by Maori boys in the same way as the wooden humming top, except that there was no place to wind the cord. The heavy potaka ta were spun with whips quickly made from a few strips from a green flax blade fastened to a handle and used juat as you would use it.

To these children the spinning waa an exciting same played on a smooth piece of ground called a marae potaka. Little hurdles and mounds were set up along the course along which the tops were raced, the players lashing them so that they Tvent leaping over the obstacles and *?pui> to the end of the track.

Occasionally, in places where the people have once lived, we find whip tope made from stone, and think how difficult they must have been to spin, but we do not have the chance of aeein? one used. Like so many other of the toys of old they have heen forsotten by the children in their enthusiasm for the bright new ones they share with us as we play.