PRIMITIVE ENGINEERING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1246, 30 September 1911, Page 14

PRIMITIVE ENGINEERING.

TIIB CHANNELS NEAR BLENHEIM. ■ A NATIVE ACHIEVEMENT. One of tho most interesting rclici ol t tho ancient history of Marlborough is to bo, found about six miles from Blenheim,.'; near tho mouth of tho Wairau River, ' and what is known as Mud Flats, In thia locality there aro a number of lagoona ; which havo been connected by a wonder-,; ful system of canals, cut possibly centuries ago by tho Native occupiers of tho.' land. The length of these ohanncls totals approximately fourteen miles, and they x average about ten feet wido and from two to threo feot deep. It has boon esti-"\ mated that in cutting these artificial waterways tho Maoris, with their crude I ,' implements, must' havo excavated fully _ sixty seventy thousand tons of earth. •. Tho main channel leads from what ia i known as tho Big Lagoon (somo twof thousand acres in extent) to tho mouth of tho Wairau River. A tortuous, and indeed remarkable, course is taken by an- . other channel. It first of all cleaves a i narrow ridge of land separating tho Up- J per and Chandler's Lagoons, and after ' skirting the edge of another of the small lakes, runs out at tho point of a long • narrow strip of land projecting into Big . Lagoon. .Tho channels aro still in fairly good repair and aro navigablo for small , canoes. *. - t ; Tho carrying out of this work must ; havo occupied many years, tut it is not t) be supposed that the lordly. warrior bent his back to tho task. This was work ■ fit ouly for women and slaves, and when S mß?o^'iolll;rs^wer<{ I ' : i4^uii'^ti' ,1 u) expedite 5 the'work, all that was necessary, .was thai , a raid should bo mado on a weaker tribo . and a sufficient number of prisoners 01 ■ war carried off. There aro othor evidonees. that the spot was. once occupied , by a big tribe. Near tho banks of a , stream nro to bo soen a number of pit ; dwellings, extending for . fully a quarter , of a mile. There are also traces of -an ■ extensive burial ground, and on the ad- . jicent sandhills many human skeletons • havo been found.

It has been surmised that tho scheme of channels was conceived for defensive purposes, but whether this is correct or not it is certain that they were turned to good account in providing the primitive engineers with food. Great drives ol eels (and in the moulting season of ducks also) wero made from tho lagoons into the channels, where they were netted. Some of the oldest settlers in Marlbop. ough havo witnessed these drives of eels and havo 6cen thousands of fish landed at a single catch. Tho method of procedure was for tho Maoris to spread out in a vow extending right across the lagoon, and while stirring tho mud with their feet and beating tho surface of the water with long poles, gradually converge on tho mouth of the channel. Once in the channel tho eels wero easily captured. For many years after the coming of the pakeha there wero countless thousands of ducks on these lagoons, and if » gun was fired they would riso in such vast numbers as to completely blacken tho sky overhead