MAORI CANOE BUILDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAORI CANOE BUILDING.

THE CRAFTSMAN AT WORK. BY W. 8., OTOROHANGA. An interesting double questionaire from two South Island readers desires of me —the one, a detailed description of how tho Maori made his canoe, and the other concerning the tools he used and how. A rather weighty order for private information, and as these suggest that there be others of like antiquarian bent, I propose in this wise to answer all:

It was my privilege to know intimately two masters of their crafts, Te Kanawa, a " kai ta moko" (tattooer) and expuisite " fine " carver, and Raharui, a foreman hewer of canoes when stone tools still were used. An old man of over fourscore years, Raharui was happiest when a clientele of Maori youth requested knowledge of ancestral times and themes. Then with voice and gesture, from halting quaver, emerged a stream of language that left no crevasse of detail unexplored, rising to mnemonic inspiration when his pet craftsmanship came for review.

I will omit the search for and selection of the tree, also the sacerdotal rites Maori mythology demanded should be tendered to placate Tane. the father-god of forests, as being purely incidental and not descriptive of mechanics.

A tree fit for a largo canoe might be difficult of access, requiring laborious haulage to a stream, but neither time nor impediments which manual exertion could surmount deterred the charftsman from attaining his objective. Having selected a tree, one without wide fiangy roots, as such indicated heart-shakes and twisted non-free cutting grain, he studied the probable direction of its fall/ and to that end planned tho fore and after scarves, opposite to which, and at a distance of about four feet, he firmly planted two stakes the diametric width of the tree from stake to stake, tho same back as front. These front and rear stakes were connected past the sides of the tree by two riclcers the height and width of the intended scarves apart, on which were lashed two cross-pieces to act as guides and rest the following tool upon, namely, the "poke," a stout pole on the end of hich was fixed that broad heavy stone implement whose use has been variously conjectured to be a "wedge," etc. This so-furnished pole, resting on the cross guide pieces, was grasped by four strong hands and "butted" against the tree, indenting a kerf across the whole face of tho tree. The guide pieces were then lowered to similarly indent.—cut —the bottom kerf, and the wood was patiently hacked out with the " toki kapu —adze —and the process, fore and rear, repeated till the tree fell. At the proposed length of the canoo a similar arrangement of guido-rests —but perpendicular —was erected to separate tlx- end. The side of the tree most conforming to tho hull was turned uppermost, and the outside completely finished—a comparatively easy job all but-the removal of those large portions to form the pointed stem and stern. Th's meant a slow process of first scoring grid-shaped channels across the grain, some 4in.—a hand-breadth apart—with that slender cigar-shaped "whao" (chsel), and that in cross-section with the " weherua (parting tool), a frustrum of a cone-shaped narrow tool, both tools helved and used as an adze. Thus the ridges between - the grooves were eesilv chipped out. The outside finished, the log was turned over and the hulling oat begun. Hulling Out the Canoe.

It has been suggested that fire was used'to char the surface and thus assist th.=> hulling out. In some cases this may havt been done, but Raharui did not mention it. It had several objections: it was liable to create incipient flaws. Also the cutting of sufficient dry wood With stone tools would entail more labour than the chipping out from the wood the" thin crust of fire would char. The standard procedure in hulling out was to hew with the narrow " weherun," a central longitudinal groove, say 6in. deep, from end to end, and nibble down from both sides into it, which with a gang of heavy man-handled adzes made comparatively short work of this beginning.

Directly a working surface was obtained the "grid" pattern grooving with narrow tools, followed by the heavier, also the sinking of the central groove, there presently ensued a progress, as Raharui phrased it: " Ka kitea te rere maramara! Mete pokai kauka!" (like a godwit covey was then seen the flight of chips!) The Maori used no percussively urged chisel, for no stone, however fine or close of texture, can bo ground to such sharp cutting edge as to leave those clean unbruised angles one finds in pre-pakeha chisel and true ancient pierced tracery work. For such he em-, ployed a drill, the mounting of which with a fragment of obsidian and revolving mechanism he had brought to great perfection. Thus to get out the wood from corners around the cleats and inside projections to pass lashing through the. work had to be patiently and accurately drilled and the burred edges shaved with obsidian flakes.

Thus far the labour required has been mostly brawn and thew with little expert skill. We now arrive at the joining on of the bow and stern ornaments, which only masters like Raharui can touch. For this slots are cut and ■ "tongues" to fit them shaped. Say that the slot in the bow to receive the headpiece has been truly cut and finished, as also the tongue of the headpiece, as near as eye can judge, the slot receives a "tutu," or charcoal-wash, the tongue entered in the slot, pressed home, then removed, the parts showing contact reduced, and the process repeated till an accurately touch-all-over fit has been attained; which, considering that he had neither rule nor calipers, but all measurements those of the eye, also that the tools were of stone, distinguish this artisan for the superb master his works prove liim. Ritual of Canoe Building.

Every section of his labour had its ritual. Certain tools were endowed with that esoteric something, elusive to define, expressed in Maori ideology as a "mouri" —an essential'gift, a spirit of power to perform not granted to others though of identical material and shape. An idea of this possession having percolated among some reading pakeha is probably • why that already described large stone tool, the "poke," has been misjudged to be, among others, a heirloom deity symbolised in the shape of an axe. As the slaving of Tane's son was an especially sacred, though necessitous act, its canons drastically forbade as a sacrilege the burning of chips hewn from the tree and any timbers employed thereat. Nor must food be cooked or eaten near the work. It was an occupation demanding reverent deportment. Boastful, unseemly demeanour was rigidly barred as an insult to the deities controlling the various sections of this great undertaking This applied to not only the hull, the " pitau " and " rapa "—bow and stern ornaments but also the ' rauawa

upper free-board strake —its strong fine sinnet lashings, the baler, the paddles—of which each crew member preferred to make his own. The complete craft must be worthy of the name and fame of the tribe and naval architect, which assembled in full repalia, all paddles dipping in live unison—as some of us yet living have 'witnessed the same—presented a perfection of btir baric art and an achievement of which the race can boast with pride, It has been said with ques tionable truth that slaves were killed and hi id down for skids over whose bodies to launch the new canoe, a charge which Ealiarui denied when taxed with it. Lot f&s latave it there.