MAORI CARVINGS

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1934, Page 8

MAORI CARVINGS

DISCOVERY IN UREWERA. DELICATE CRAFTSMANSHIP. Dating back to the very early days of New Zealand’s history, and executed with all the delicate craftsmanship of which the Maori carvers of those times were such masters, two carvings now resting in the Otago University Museum have attracted widespread interest among visitors to the Willi Fels wing. The romantic story attending their discovery was unfolded recently by the chairman of the Association of Friends of the Museum, Mr. Willi Fels. A young schoolmaster, said Mr. Fels, had been living for a year in the more inaccessible parts of the Urewera country and had explored many of the old pa sites. He found the Okarea pa on a tributary of the Whirinaki River, 10 to 12 miles from the Maori village, Te Whaiti. The trenches and fortifications of the pa were still clearly visible and retained their original formation and state. The pa occupied a strong naturally fortified position, and on three sides there was a clear drop of 60ft to 70ft into the stream which then dropped away another 50ft to 60ft over a large waterfall. The remaining side sloped down abruptly for 15ft to a level clearing, strongly trenched and palisaded. One method of escape from the pa was by climbing down vines at the back of it into the river, then across to a track running to Te Whaiti on the one hand, and to Taupo on the other. The Taupo trail was reputed to have been used by Te Kooti on his way from the Okarea pa to see the Maori king at Taupo and enlist his aid.

When the young teacher reached the pa through heavy bush And undergrowth he saw that it had been destroyed by fire and was covered again by thick undergrowth. The carved face of totara was found under it, near what used to be the one and only accessible entrance to the pa. The entrance pole of the large whare, crowned with a figure, had fallen over—the butt having rotted in the ground—and had become lodged in the fork of a then comparatively small tree. The tree had grown round the figure and had completely wedged it into a position where it received the maximum shelter from the elements. The figure and face were of great age and were considered to be some of the oldest pieces of Maori carved work in the Urewera.

“The face is so artistically conceived and the tattooing so wonderfully preserved,!’ said Mr. Fels, “that it is a monument to the highest art of Maori carvers. To me it has the serenity of a Greek mask, and each time I come to the museum I bow to it in reverence. You see, there are compensations, too, for collectors.”