MAORI VOYAGERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1915, Page 8

MAORI VOYAGERS.

HOW Till': PACIFIC WAS KXI'UmKD. BROWN-SKIN NEI) ROVERS OF THE SKA. I he wonderful feats of navigation pel'formed liy sailors of the Polynesian race in punt centuries fornieil I lie subject of a paper read liy Mr. Elsdon Best liefore the Wellington Philosophical Society. The inlands of the Pacific were practically all inhabited long before Tas man and Cook made their appearance in Pacific waters, intrepid navigators had sailed their canoes north and south, east and west, until their language and their customs had been carried into every corner of the ocean. Those Polynesian sailors had extended their voyages from .Hawaii in the north to -,he fringe of the icefields in the Far South, and from the coast of South America on the cast to the .Philippine Islands oil the west. No voyage seems to have been too extended for them, no peril too great for them to brave. "We have evidence to show that at a time when our ancestors feared to sail out of sight of land, the Maori voyager was sweeping over the Pacific Ocean as though it were an island lake, making voyages of many hundreds, e\cn thousands, of miles, settling and resettling islands over a huge area of about 40DO by 8000 miles in extent," said Mr. Best. "When some 400 years ago Columbus was feeling his way over the Western Ocean, and his half-crazed 'men were crying to their gods to keep them from falling over the edge of the world, tint Maori, the uncultured barbarian, had a) ready long' settled New Zealand and made many voyages to these islands, tic carried the language of his sea-roving I ancestors across 5000 miles of the blue Pacific and bad faintly heard his mother tongue in the far-flung Carolines, 7000 miles from his eastern outpost. In his rude dug-out craft, lacking compass and scientific knowledge, lie held his prow to a low-hung star, or followed the re gular •oil of trade wind waves across the great ocean to far distant isles Trimming his lofty lateen sails and grasping his long steer oar, he threw the racing seas astern and rode down degrees of longitude with a deep and calm faith in his own powers as a voyager and in the powers of his gods to protect him. Little rooked he of the dangers of the deep when the lure of :hc unknown called him across strange seas. As Toi said when leaving Raratonga to seek the island of New Zealand thirtv generations ago: 'I will range the wide seas until 1 reach the land-head at Aotca-Roa, the moisture laden land discovered by Ktipe, or be engulfed for ever n the depths of lline-nioana." Some writers have suggested that the Maoris could not have made prolonged voyages across stormy seas in their frail canoes. As a matter of fact, said Mr. Best, the sea-going canoe of the ancient Maori was hv no means frail; it was a very much stronger vessel than the , eighteen-foot boat in which liligh and his ' companions navigated 31100 miles of the | Pacific after the mutiny of the Bounty. | With a stout dug-out hull and securely . attached top-strakes, the Polynesian canoe was 110 frail cjraft; it was a ves- ' Bel that withstood the rough seas of many regions and that could face all the winds that blew. The narrow-hulls wore rendered safe in rough weather by the use of out-rigges or by lashing' two canoes together. There was evidence to show that the single canoes were used without out-riggers on deep sea voyages in moderate weather, thus securing a maximum speed, but in those cases the outrigger beams were tarried inboard, ready to be fixed when needed. Early European navigators saw double eanees ■ and outrigger canoes in New Zealand waters, but the types appear to have been abandoned owing to the large size of the trees tlmt were available for IHo construction of canoes on the New Zealand coast. The composite canoe* of Polynesia, with sides formed of planks lashed to a small dug-out bottom, were replaced in New Zealand by canoes of great beam hewn from single, logs. "In regard to the type of vessel in which the ancestors of the Maori made the voyage from Eastern Polynesia to New Zealand," said Mr. B<*t, "we knew . that both*' single and double caijoes were ' employed, the former . being ' provided 1 with an outrigger. The tradition of (he l ' coming uf the famed chieif Manaia, who " was compelled to leave his original home " between two days, states that he cmc harked his party in two double canoes " (waka uniui) and one waka mnrohi. or single canoe. . . In his deep-sea ■' voyages the Maori relied principally upon sails to propel his lean craft, fali- '' ing back on the use of paddles when winds failed or balHed him. The long •' triangular sails employed produced a a high rite of speed.

"There is some evidence in the old traditions to show that the double fter was formerly employed by the Maori. In the story of the coming of the ancestors of the Maori from the original home of Irihia, we are told how the vessels were prepared to meet a storm. When the adepts saw that rough weather

was nt liantl they gave thr command

'lviuioia (c waka,' and instantly the trained titters leaped in the footboards, tin- out risers uciv fixed and lathed. ']n i stannehions (tokotu) were erected and secured, tin' curved rods (whiti) were placed across, tin 1 mat covers (tmvhar-0 v.'civ drawn over the framework, haul-d taut and sci-nrcd I*> the sides of the wv

-«•). an! tin- -phshln anls ilaupn karekare wait were lashed mi. Then thi lighter stone anchors (makei wire lowered at the how to stead v the ve>s ; d,

and the hi'avy -rmiiiil anchor (pumx.i whakaw lienua i was lowered at tlic stern in order to steady the Low. (''our m"!i with lomr steer oar,-. hehl ilie craft li".ul en. and lhen. in a Miuir vessel, with stecreis.. balers, drift anchor tender* and di reeling expert in their places, relying lirmly on tlieir own trained powers and lle 1 assitance of the god s, the courageous voyagers calmly awaited the 'wrath of llinc-moana,' the storm at sea."