Old Maori Fish Trap.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20484, 10 December 1934, Page 6

Old Maori Fish Trap.

A recent acquisition by the Dominion Museum is a Maori bait-trap for catching small fish. This was presented to Mr W. J. Phillipps for the museum by Mr L. S. Mackie, of Otakeho, in Taranaki, and is of more than passing interest since it represents a type not previously included in the Dominion Museum collection. This type of trap is called whakarapa by the Maoris, and the specimen in question was made by Whakamotounga. who belonged to the Ngati Ruanui tribe, and who died about ten years ago. It is typical of similar artifacts formerly used in the locality whence it came. The trap, which is something similar to the baskets used by pakehas for catching crayfish, is about two feet in diameter and about one foot high. It was used probably on an incoming tide to catch herrings for bait, but in rock pools and in the mouths of rivers and creeks it would catch other small fish as well. The type of netting knot employed in its construction is interesting to those who have made a study of the Maori art of netting.