Subject: ariki / rangatira warrior chief
Culture: Maori
Setting: Musket Wars, Aotearoa / North Island 1807-1830
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Wilson 1978 p117-118
"In pre-European times the Maori of New Zealand were among the most aggressive people on earth. Raids among their forty tribes were frequent and bloody. Insults, hostility, and retribution were carefully tallied in tribal memories. Defense of personal honor and courage were the paramount virtues, victory by force of arms the highest achievement. According to Andrew Vayda, an expert on primitive war, the prime mover of Maori warfare was ecological competition. Revenge led to open fighting for land and then to territorial conquests. Alliances were based on kinship; the Maoris consciously and explicitly expanded against the territories of the genealogically most distant lineages. ... The major effect of these territorial wars was stabilization of the population. As groups became overcrowded, they expanded by displacing and reducing rival groups. The Maori population was a constantly shifting mosaic of tribal groups held at a level density overall ... by territorial aggression acting as an ecological control.
"This terrible equilibrium was finally disrupted and reversed when European firearms were introduced. ...
"Within a few years Maori leaders acquired guns of their own and began to employ them with devastating effect on their neighbors. ... Other tribes rushed to arm themselves in order to regain parity in the escalating hostilities.
"The arms race soon became self-limiting. Even the victors paid a heavy price. To obtain more muskets, the Maoris devoted inordinate amounts of their time to producing flax and other goods that could be traded to the Europeans for guns. And in order to grow more flax many moved to the swampy lowlands, where large numbers died of disease. During the approximately twenty years of musket war, fully one quarter of the population died from one cause or another related to the conflict. By 1830 the Nga Puhi had begun to question the use of fighting for revenge; the old values crumbled soon afterward. In the late 1830s and early 1840s the Maoris as a whole converted rapidly and massively to Christianity, and warfare among the tribes ceased entirely."
* Diamond 2011 p165
"The Maori ... [t]raditionally ... fought frequent fierce wars against each other but only against closely neighboring tribes. Those wars were limited by the modest productivity of their agriculture, whose staple crop was sweet potatoes. It was not possible to grow enough sweet potatoes to feed an army in the field for a long time or on distant marches. When Europeans arrived in New Zealand, they brought potatoes, which beginning around 1815 considerably increased Maori crop yields. Maori could now grow enough food to supply armies in the field for many weeks. The result was a 15-year period in Maori history, from 1818 until 1833, when Maori tribes that had acquired potatoes and guns from the English sent armies out on raids to attack tribes hundreds of miles away that had not yet acquired potatoes and guns. Thus, the potato's productivity relieved previous limitations on Maori warfare ...."
* Barrow 1978 p29-30
"With war imminent, classic Maori culture was always in a state of stress especially during the summer season. Maori ideas of traditional fighting were quite unlike those of the Medieval knightly tradition, as there was a mutual agreement among tribes that the strategy of surprise attack without warning, in which man, woman and child might die or be taken into slavery, was tika (that is, a right and socially approved act). Skill in ambush was admired and a surprise dawn attack was a favoured strategy.
"Once a course of war was decided by tribal council, scouts were sent out to determine the readiness of the enemy. If the chances of success seemed very good, that is, if the enemy seemed unprepared, then the war party (taua) was despatched. Priests were taken along to watch for omens such as might be seen in the movement of birds. A bad omen was ample cause for retreat. Open fighting was infrequent, as much war manoeuvring consisted of feints, tricks, ambush, false retreat and attack, and such tactics. To lure the enemy on by insults so as to make him lose his judgment by blind rage was an approved psychological warfare method."
* Hábitos y costumbres del pasado 1996 p302
"El prestigio era muy importante para los maoríes, y toda ofensa era vengada con violencia. Se desataban las guerras por asuntos de honor, y todo hombre adulto era un guerrero, dado al combate cuerpo a cuerpo con los tradicionales garrotes. Insultar o herir a una persona era considerado una ofensa por toda su tribu, y se procuraba vengarla, generalmente por medio de una acción militar. Esto, a su vez, era vengado por los agredidos. El resultado fue la guerra constante, aunque las batallas a gran escala no eran communes, pues el máximo honor era acabar con el enemigo a un mínimo costo, tal vez arrasar con él eurante una conferencia de paz."
* Arts of the South Seas 1946 p52
"The Maori were the most warlike of the Polynesians and their courage and determination won the respect of Europeans. Villages were built on hill tops or ridges for defense and were elaborately fortified with ditches and palisades. Attacking parties carried on regular siege operations. Chivalrous behavior was admired and in some cases a besieging force would draw off the night before a final assault and even send supplies to the besieged so that the defenders would be well rested and fed and able to put up a good final battle. Cannibalism was regular. The flesh of slain enemies was an important part of the spoil after a successful battle, and captives, irrespective of age or sex, were usually eaten. Just as in the Marquesas, the relatives of a man who had been eaten were under a revenge obligation until the account could be squared, but the ultimate insult was to cook an enemy and then discard him as unfit food."
* Starzecka ed. 1996 p35-36 (Ngahuia Te Awkotuku, "Maori: People and culture" p26-49)
"Traditional Maori warfare -- fighting technique, military strategy and leadership structures -- puzzled Western observers and ethnographers [citations omitted]. They judged the Maori at war as lacking effective and visible command, capricious and poorly organized; they seldom acknowledged that they witnessed a corruption and drastic upheaval of traditional systems caused by firearms and Pakeha advisors."
* Evans 2014 p12-13
"On the whole, the limitation of the Maori armoury to weapons made of stone, wood and whalebone had for centuries managed to keep large-scale scenes of bloodshed in chick. But the introduction of firearms in Japan had led to the demise of the samurai warrior, the effectiveness of the Maori toa trained in the arts of traditional weaponry was negated virtually overnight by the arrival of the musket. While traditional weaponry did survive to some extent, the availability of weapons that could kill the most skilled of warriors from a safe distance, even in the hands of a relative novice, changed the face of warfare in Aotearoa for ever."
* Diamond 1999 p53-54
"On the Chatham Islands, 500 miles east of New Zealand, centuries of independence came to a brutal end for the Moriori people in December 1835. On November 19 of that year, a ship carrying 500 Maori armed with guns, clubs, and axes arrived, followed on December 5 by a shipload of 400 more Maori. Groups of Maori began to walk through Moriori settlements, announcing that the Moriori were now their slaves, and killing those who objected. An organized resistance by the Moriori could still then have defeated the Maori, who were outnumbered two to one. However, the Moriori had a tradition of resolving disputes peacefully. They decided in a council meeting not to fight back but to offer peace, friendship, and a division of resources.
"Before the Moriori could deliver that offer, the Maori attacked en masse. Over the course of the next few days, they killed hundreds of Moriori, cooked and ate many of the bodies, and enslaved all the others, killing most of them too over the next few years as it suited their whim. A Moriori survivor recalled, '[The Maori] commenced to kill us like sheep.... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed -- men, women, and children indiscriminately.' A Maori conqueror explained, 'We took possession ... in accordance with our customs and we caught all the people. Not one escaped. Some ran away from us, these we killed, others we killed -- but what of that? It was in accordance with our custom.'"
Tattooing
* Knight/Scollins 1990 p24
"A striking feature of the Maori warrior was the moko, or facial tattoo. This was a series of raised scars, coloured with blue pigment, which swirled around the countours of the face exaggerating the features. Each moko was unique, and although it was not an indication of rank, the tattooing process was painful and a moko did embody something of a man's mana."
* Barrow 1984 p81
"Maori tattoo was unlike most traditional tattoo in that its main lines were 'engraved' on the face with deep cuts made by miniature bone chisels. The fill-in areas were not tattooed with cuts but with the multiple pricks of small bone 'combs' that only lightly penetrated the skin surface.
"[....] [A] full male facial tattoo consisted of major spirals with smaller spirals on each side of the nose and sweeping curved lines radiating out from between the brows over the forehead and from the nose to the chin. These major patterns were cut deep, while the secondary koru patterns were lightly pricked into the skin.
"Some warriors, notably those of the North Aukland region, had additional large spiral designs cut over their buttocks and long rolling patterns tattooed down the legs to the knee."
* Knight/Ruggeri 2013 p20-21
"Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the appearance of Maori men in traditional society was the practice of tattooing, ta moko. Although not directly related to rank, tattooing was a long and painful process that reflected a degree of mana, and few Maori men of status or influence were without it. The tattooing itself was carried out by a tohunga, a skilled practitioner, who used a small chisel fashioned from albatross bone to cut the pattern into the skin by tapping this with a rod, rubbing the wounds with ash or vegetable dyes to stain them. The patterns of the tattoos were entirely individualistic, no two being exactly alike -- one reason why heads taken in battle and smoke-dried remained readily identifiable -- but they followed similar principles and patterns.
"The head was considered a sacred -- tapu -- part of the body, and the moko usually followed the lines and planes of the face, exaggerating frown lines and creases, decorating the sides of the nose, and ornamenting the cheeks with swirls and circles. In pre-Colonial society most Maori men shaved their facial hair so as to present their moko fully, and those who wore their hair long tied it into a bun at the back of their head. The buttocks were often decorated with swirling designs known as rape, while the thighs were marked with long vertical lines."
* Robley 1896 p10
"The mode of tattooing practised by the Maoris was unlike that of any other race, and their artistic designs were so arranged that the skin of the face was often completely covered up to the corners of the eyes, and even over the eyelids; and that the stains, though tending to diminish in brilliancy, were indelible."
* Barrow 1978 p26
"The male, when fully tattooed, had a facial design of complex spirals on both cheeks and both sides of the nose; lines spreading from between the eyes to temple and from nose to chin, and with supplementary patterns on forehead and by the ears based on the small bulb-like koru motif. Each buttock had a large interlocking spiral on it with adjoining drawn-out patterns which extended down both thighs to above the knee."
* Robley 1896 p22-23
"The great chiefs had their faces and bodies covered with designs of extreme delicacy and beauty; and all the men, except the slaves, were more or less decorated with blue-black; and the fact that slaves were excluded from the art is significant of the views of their masters. It has been said that the tattooing on the bodies was for the purpose of identification in case the head was cut off by the enemy in battle. Moko was a sign of distinction; it told off the noble and freeman from the slave."
* Starzecka ed. 1996 p41-42 (Ngahuia Te Awkotuku, "Maori: People and culture" p26-49)
"Moko provided natural camouflage in times of war, and gave the warrior the confidence of an intimidating, even awesome, appearance. It also displayed one's capacity for pain and endurance, and it enhanced the carrier's erotic appeal quite considerably."
* Geary ed. 2006 p146 (William E. Teel w/ Christraud M. Geary and Stéphanie Xatart, "Catalogue" p36-151) (describing a wooden head, Maori)
"Typically, facial tattooing was a mark of prestige and a symbol of identity among the Maori. Specialists effected body tattoos with a needle comb; however this type of facial pattern was incised into the skin of teh face with chisels, resembling the technique used in carving wood."
* D'Alleva 2010 p114
"The gender differentiation of tattoo was quite marked in New Zealand. Elite men wore a full facial tattoo; elite women wore tattoos on the lips and chin only, unless they were the highest-ranking members of their lineages, in which case some wore full-face male tattoos as a sign of their unusual status."
* Robley 1896 p26-27
"[T]he moko on the faces [of chiefs] was very diverse, but that on the buttocks it always seems to be the same -- a neat spiral line, of which the first or starting point is at the centre of the most fleshy part, then successively embraces the whole circumferences [sic]. To have fine tattooed faces was the great ambition among men both to render themselves attractive to the ladies and conspicuous in war. The decorative art of a people reflects their character; and the fierceness of the Maori moko undoubtedly corresponded to the fierceness in their nature."
* Barrow 1984 p48
"The basic design of Maori facial tattoo consisted of a pair of large spirals on the cheeks, small spirals on each side of the nose, and lines sweeping from nose to chin and from the central brow to the temples and forehead. The koru-related areas were seen as 'fill-in' patterns in the unoccupied spaces of the main design, between the ears and cheeks, on teh upper forehead and on the chin. The illustrations demonstrate the unequalled richness of koru in this area of Maori art.
"Tattoo on warriors extended to the buttocks and thighs, particularly among the Maori of the northern regions of the North Island."
Pendants (Hei Tiki, Rei Puta)
* Barrow 1984 p80
"The pendants of jade that were worn at the neck or from the ears were of five principal types: the slim, straight or curved form (kuru or kapeu); stylised fish hooks (hei-matau); coiled eel-like forms (koropepe); manaia as a single creature or double-headed (pekapeka). Sea monsters, the marakihau, were also shaped in greenstone."
* Stafford 1996 p73 = Stafford 1997 p55-56
"The most used and prized material for ornaments was always greenstone. These took various forms such as tiki, pekapeka, matau, koropepe, and kaka poria. Some designs undoubtedly derive from earlier wood carving while others represent stylised objects such as the fish hook. Archaic forms of pendants made from sperm whale teeth, moa bone and stone also existed but were rarely seen by the end of the eighteenth century. The prefix 'hei', for example 'hei tiki', indicates the ornament was suspended from the neck."
Costume (Hair, Cloak, Belt, Kilt)
* Knight/Ruggeri 2013 p21
"In traditional society Maori men often went into battle naked, both to display their tattoos and for ease of movement. Although the gradual spread of European clothing which followed contact with the pakeha led many warriors to cover themselves, some traditionalists continued to go into battle naked until very late in the cycle of conflict.
"Otherwise, the most common item of dress for a warrior was either the maro or the piupiu. The maro was a front apron made from twisted thrums of flax, usually dyed black, and worn suspended from a thick belt, tatua, made from the same material. The tatua was usually strong enough to carry hand-weapons thrust into it, often at the back, leaving the hands free for pole-weapons or, later, firearms. The piupiu features in a number of contemporary 19-century photographs and paintings. This was a kilt made from rows of flax leaves dressed into long thin rolls and dyed dark brown at regular intervals; although a popular element of traditional Maori culture today, it was apparently less popular as a war dress in the past, because it was difficult to move in without the flax swishing or rustling.
"Flax also provided the raw material for the other two main elements of Maori dress: a shawl worn around the waist and hanging to the knees like a kilt, and a rectangular garment worn either short, as a cape, or long, as a fine cloak. The edges of both items were commonly decorated with finely patterned borders known as taniko, made by weaving together flax leaves dyed with various natural colors."
* Vayda 1969 p9
"Shields were not used by the Maoris; their nearest approach to armour was, as Graham says, the thickly woven war belts and the mats to ward off spear thrusts. The mats were sometimes wrapped around the left arm and hand. The closely woven full-sized war cloaks sometimes worn were, if possible, soaked in water before the fighting; this is supposed to have helped make them capable of stopping spear thrusts. In some combats, no more than a small apron-like garment (maro) fastened with the war belt appears to have been worn. Best says that the Maori warrior, not having any sleeved apparel, had to cast off his upper garment for the sake of free movement. Other writers suggest that some Maoris had nothing on when they fought. To some extent, war dress was probably a matter of individual preference. In 1814 Nicholas, an early European visitor to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, was struck by the variety of dress in an assembly of about 150 armed Maori warriors."
* McGuire 1968 p67
"In the later period of Maori cultural development the men abandoned the loincloth in favor of a short skirt called a piupiu. Even then, however, a common man might wear only a piece of old cloak wound around his waist. A cloak which might reach to the heels was worn when protection from the cold was needed."
* Mead 1969 p82
"A person anxious to follow the fashion to its highest level would need to dress his hair into a topknot, place a decorative comb beside it and stick two or three white feathers into the knot; have greenstone pendants and white feathers hanging from his ears; have the rei puta pendant suspended from his neck, have a dogskin cloak around his body; a belt around the waist and a string tied to his penis; have elaborate indelible tattoo designs over his face and forehead, and over his buttocks and thighs ...."
* Berry/Best 1968 p92
"The Maori men wear even less [than the women]. They are content with a kilt that is almost indistinguishable from the one worn by the women. Their torsos are bare, except on rare occasions when they wear a cloak."
* Knight/Scollins 1990 p24
"Traditionally, many toa [warriors] went into battle naked for easier movement. Otherwise male dress consisted of a kilt, maro, either of flax (a fibrous plant from which the Maoris made most of their clothing), or black cords. Heavy flax cloaks, dipped in water to make them impervious to spear thrusts, were sometimes worn as protection, and chiefs wore cloaks decorated with patterned borders and a variety of skins and feathers."
* Barrow 1978 p21
"Men usually went into battle wearing only this device [foreskin string tied to a belt] and a heavy flax war-belt into which they thrust a short club while they carried in hand a spear (tao) [toa?] or a kind of sword-club with flattish striking blade of which the taiaha with its Janus head and out-thrust tongue is the most familiar type. The various weapons are consistent in design, however variation of size and individual decoration is considerable.
"This degree of male nudity allowed the tattoos of thighs and buttocks to be clearly seen by all and it permitted quick unhampered movement in close fighting. Of course, there was no absolute rule about dress other than that modesty and status be observed. No slave dressed as a chief."
* Barrow 1984 p81-83
"When warriors went into battle, they were usually naked apart from plaited flax war belts about the waist, which were designed to hold short clubs. A cord was attached to these belts which held the penis up. It was tied to the foreskin which had been drawn over the glans -- the minimum requirement of male modesty."
Gun
* Crosby 1986 p236
"From the early 1770s on, the Maori openly coveted metal tools and weapons. In 1814 they would exchange one or even two large hogs for a small ax. That same year they exchanged 150 baskets of potatoes and eight pigs for one musket. A tribe had to have muskets, at first for the mystical power of them, the mana, and then for their firepower. Possession of muskets could make a chief the owner of many slaves. Lack of guns would surely make him a dead man and his people slaves.
"Until the 1830s, most of the guns streaming into New Zealand entered through the Bay of Islands, where whalers used them as currency to pay for what they needed and wanted. the greatest of the Maori leaders in that area was Hongi Hika, chief of the Ngapuhi, who went to England in 1820 to obtain muskets and a double-barreled gun, this last being the greatest possession a man could have on this earth. He returned with his guns, plus a suit of chain armor -- a present from George IV -- and set off on the bloodiest series of military campaigns in the history of the land. He fought in his armor, firing five muskets loaded and reloaded for him by servants. ... Under his leadership, the Ngapuhi and allied tribes, strengthened by the prestige deriving from association with the pakeha, even with the missionaries, whalers, and inflicted terrible losses on their rivals, killing thousands and taking the survivors for slaves, the women to rent to the whalers. Hongi Hika made muskets a necessity for the Maori, and within a few years his musketeers had spread the gunpowder infection from the Northland through the entire island, where people with spears and clubs in their hands waited to defend against others with muskets in theirs."
* McEwen 1986 p ix
"Up to the time of the musket warfare of Hongi Hika, Te Rauparaha and others, it seems likely that most tribal wars were a series of small skirmishes, often between related people, and there were almost certainly long periods of peace which are not mentioned in traditions because no prestige could be gained from them."
* American Museum of Natural History > Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples
"[...] Guns, brought by Europeans in the early nineteenth century, rapidly replaced traditional weapons and introduced an era characterized by fortified villages, intensified warfare and head hunting."
* Orbell 1991 p37
"The acquisition of muskets led to a frantic arms race and sudden shifts in the balance of power. There was increased warfare, and there were large-scale migrations as disadvantaged tribes sought to escape from heavily armed neighbours and move to districts where muskets were available."
* Hábitos y costumbres del pasado 1996 p303
"Ya desde 1815, las tribus maoríes combatían entre ellas con mosquetes. La destrución masiva que resultó de estas luchas, agravada por el contagio de las enfermedades europeas, facilitaron la entrada de las doctrinas de paz, llevadas por los misioneros cristianos."
* Treaty 2U online > Maori and the British > War, Migration, and Change
"The rangatira (chiefs) who came across muskets in their dealings with Pakeha realised the enormous advantage guns could give them over enemies with customary weapons. The musket's power lay not only in the damage it could inflict, but also in the fear it instilled. ... Muskets meant defeating enemies and gaining or successfuly defending territories and resources. Rangatira were willing to pay a premium for these weapons. They traded large quantities of flax fibre and food supplies for muskets. [...]
"As more tribal groups gained muskets, a time of bloody upheaval followed. The arms race between tribes escalated until almost all had muskets, leading to uneasy truces between the various groups around 1830. By then, however, some tribes had been decimated and others driven from their lands. Tribal boundaries across the North Island had been changed forever."
Long Clubs (Taiaha, Tewhatewha, Hoeroa)
* Starzecka ed. 1996 p37 (Ngahuia Te Awkotuku, "Maori: People and culture" p26-49)
"There were two principal types of weaponry -- the short club and the long club or staff. The latter were made of wood and used with both hands. They included colorful taiaha, ornamented tewhatewha with an axe-like head, and plain but effective pouwhenua. There was also the hoeroa, made from elegantly curved whalebone. Measuring between 1.5 and 2.7 m long, depending on the height of the wielder, these long weapons thrust, parried and sliced, maintaining a defensive radius."
* Barrow 1984 p90
"Long clubs were of three forms: the taiaha, tewhatewha, and pouwhenua. [....]
"Long clubs were swung with two hands grasping the shaft near the lower, pointed part. Point ends were used for jabbing, but it was the edge of the flat blade that was the deadliest part."
* Vayda 1960 p8
"The long clubs (pouwhenua, tewhatewha, and taiaha) averaged some five feet in length, were made of a tough wood in one piece, and had both a blade for striking and a proximal point for stabbing. These weapons usually were held vertically or diagonally, with the stabbing point below and the striking blade above. Dexterity and quick footwork were required for their use."
* Arts of the South Seas 1946 p52
"As with most really determined fighters, the Maori warrior's equipment was comparatively simple. Staves pointed at one end so that they could be used as either clubs or spears were made in two standardized forms ...."
* Stafford 1996 p63 = Stafford 1997 p47
"[Taiaha, pouwhenua, and tewhatewha long clubs] averaged about 1.5 m in length and were made of a tough wood. One end was flattened into a blade for striking (as with the quarterstaff) while the other was pointed for stabbing."
* Evans 2014 p11
"The longer, staff-like weapons, such as the taiaha and tewhatewha, were generally held with both hands, and were used to strike at the enemy and to parry attacks. These weapons all featured a pointed end for jabbing, and a flat blade, the edge of which was used for striking."
* Best 1952 p168-169
"The two-handed weapons employed by the Maoris in pre-European days were remarkable for their lightness, and in some cases for their slenderness. They are, as a rule, very much lighter and handier than Melanesian weapons. The Maori disliked heavy or clumsy weapons such as those used by the natives of Fiji. He relied principally upon his agility in mortal combat, and he was trained from childhood, one may say, in the art of avoiding blow and thrust. The nimbleness of a person so trained is very remarkable. Native weapons consisted of striking and thrusting implements, as spears and short striking-weapons. Others were a form of halbert or quarter-staff, and with these the Maori was much given to thrust-feinting with the point and delivering a blow with the butt end. The rapidity with which an expert could recover arms, reverse, and deliver a blow was truly surprising. ... The spear, taiaha, pouwhenua, and tewhatewha were but slightly made implements, and a hard, tough, strong wood was a necessity."
Short Clubs (Patu, Kotiate, Wahaika)
* Vayda 1960 p8-9
"In addition to carrying a long weapon, whether spear or club, in his hand, a Maori warrior usually had a short club or patu -- made of wood, bone, or stone -- stuck in his belt. The short clubs are said to have been preferred by warriors who were dangerous in-fighters and relied on quick footwork to get inside the guard of the longer weapons.
"Different varieties of Maori short clubs were called the mere, kotiate, and wahaika. All these varieities had flat blades with spatulate-shaped distal ends, which were ground to a sharp edge extending down the sides. The grip or handle of the clubs had an enlarged, carved butt end. A strip of dogskin was passed through a hole bored near the butt and was tied in a loop for passing over the thumb and around the hand. In the quick in-fighting in which the clubs were used, a fraction of a second could not be wasted in raising the weapon to deliver a blow. The usual object was to employ a thrust or a half-arm jab for bringing the front edge of the club into contact with an enemy's temple, neck, or ribs and then, as the enemy was falling, to deliver a downward blow on the skull with the butt or heel of the club. The turns of the dogskin loop kept the hand from slipping along the grip when the front edge connected; in this way the force of the thrust was not weakened."
* Stafford 1996 p63 = Stafford 1997 p47-48
"As well as this long weapon, a patu (short club) was usually carried. Made of wood, bone or stone (the most prized being greenstone) it was stuck in the warrior's thickly woven war belt. Known as mere, kotiate and wahaika (depending on design) each had a wide, flat blade, the extremity ground to a sharp edge. A thrusting rather than a striking weapon, the patu's sharp front edge was brought against an opponent's temple or neck, a final blow being delivered to the skull as the enemy fell."
* Arts of the South Seas 1946 p52
"[T]he favorite weapon was a short club, never more than two feet long. This was made from stone, preferably jade, or whalebone, or hard wood. The end of the weapon was ground to a sharp edge and it was used for stabbing rather than striking. The favorite thrusts were those delivered at the temple or just below the ribs. Apparently this weapon was developed from a stone adze blade or chisel held in the hand."
* Barrow 1984 p90
"Short clubs were made of wood, whalebone, or stone; the most valued being those of greenstone."
* Starzecka ed. 1996 p38-39 (Ngahuia Te Awkotuku, "Maori: People and culture" p26-49)
"Some fighters preferred to use only short weapons, though both [long and short] types were carried into combat, the staff in hand, and the club tucked into a folded fibre belt. Short clubs were grasped in either hand, and struck, jabbed and sliced in swift, dance-like motions. The most prestigious were mere pounamu of nephrite, whose spatulate shape was also worked in whalebone as patu paraoa, and stone as patu onewa. Others were made of wood or bone: wahaika, with a crescent-like profile, and the figure-of-eight shaped kotiate. ...
"Weapons were regarded as precious heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next. They were also coveted battlefield trophies, and many of the most acclaimed carried personal names, such as 'Kaitangata' ('Man-Eater'), 'Te Ngaheretoto' ('Forest of Blood') or 'Te Ngakimate' ('Vengeful Death'). Being intimately associated with the god of war and the shedding of blood, they were highly tapu and were concealed when not in use; possession of such treasures was a weighty responsibility."
* Berry/Best 1968 p68-69
"In New Zealand among the Maoris a small club was used for infighting. Sometimes it was carried in place of the long club, sometimes it was slung by a cord of dog hide to the wrist, which allowed the long club to be used as well. This smaller Maori club was roughly the shape and size of a ping pong racket, and as held in much the same manner. Sharpened on both edges and heavy, it was made of a hard wood, or the rigid bone of a whale, of black volcanic stone, or even of the precious New Zealand jade, chipped, ground, and polished form a single piece.
"This club usually had a magic head or the distorted tikie-like human figure carved on one edge of the short handle. Another pattern was indented on both edges and was roughly the shape of a miniature violin, or was sharp only on one side, with a protective guard on the other. Such highly specialized short clubs were used both for jabbing and striking, and as swords or knuckle-dusters. To modern eyes they look somewhat ineffective but when backed by some two hundred and fifty pounds of fighting fury they were sufficiently deadly."
* James Cook 1998 p298
"The Maori distinguished between three types of club: mere, kotiate, and wahaika. The mere was the simplest and was made of stone, bone, or greenstone. ... [O]nly the greenstone clubs should actually be referred to as mere. The stone clubs were called patu onewa, and those of whalebone patu paraoa. The mere is decorated with parallel grooves at the grip end. The kotiate features a broader blade and is shaped like a violin. ... [T]he kotiate were mostly made of whalebone; however they were often fashioned out of wood for the Europeans. The wahaika was a one-sided mere, with a concave indentation on one side for the image of a face or figure. The sharp edge at the end of the blade is a common feature of all clubs. A piece of dog skin was usually drawn through an eye and wound into a strap to fit over the thumb and hand. The patu were used in close combat and would be thrust forward. According to Banks, they were 'most admirably calculated for the cracking of the sculls', and were worn on the belt." [citations omitted]
* Evans 2014 p10-11
"Patu were used as a thrusting weapon, rather than as a club, with the leading edge being the primary striking point, although it was common to finish an enemy off by striking them with the butt of the handle. These short weapons were made from whalebone, wood or stone, including the valued pounamu (nephrite), commonly called greenstone. The only weapon known to be used as a club (that is, with a clubbing motion) was the patuki, a comparatively rare weapon that survives in a limited number of collections around the world."
Knife
* Allen 1996 p168
"The Maoris of New Zealand call the seven gilled shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) that lives in their waters a tuatini. From its teeth they once made a sawlike instrument, the mira tuatina, which reputedly had one special use: cutting human flesh."
* Evans 2014 p30
"... Best states [that mira tuatini] was a generic term for a patu, although Williams describes it as a saw-like cutting instrument made by lashing strips of obsidian or shark's teeth to a wooden handle; tuatini is also the word for a whaler shark [sic] or seven-gilled shark".
* Meyer 1995 v2 p563 f652
"Human-flesh knife, or maripi. Maori people, New Zealand."
* Starzecka ed. 1996 p80 f49 (Robert Neich, "Wood-carving" p69-113)
"A shark-tooth knife, maripi, designed for cutting meat. The wooden frame of the knife is in the form of a manaia biting into and grasping the cutting edge. Surface decoration of unaunahi and puwerewere patterns follows the curves of its body."
* Andersen 1928 p158 (from "Whai-tiri seeks Kai-tangata")
"She speared him, he fell into the water, and she put him into the net. Tupeke-ta hastened to the middle of the canoe to spear her, but she struck him with a koripi, a knife edged with sharks' teeth, and he too fell into her net."
Adze
* Barrow 1978 p30
"A rare kind of ceremonial adze (toki-pou-tangata) has a long jade blade and carved helve. It marked the noble person, served as a baton on the field of battle, and became a mace of authority for the chiefly orator."
*Barrow 1984 p92-94
"The most remarkable baton of authority is a form of ceremonial adze called toki-pou-tangata. This consisted of an ornate wooden handle with a long, narrow jade blade, which often had a lashing hole at its butt end. The carved design of the upper part of the wooden handle varied in design, but was typically an out-turned tiki, its lips interlocking with those of a manaia. A mask was usually carved at the lower end of the handle.
"The use of the toki-pou-tangata is not exactly known. That it marked a man of authoritative rank is certain. Some believe it was a baton of war used to kill distinguished prisoners. The weapon used to kill a captive chief was an important matter to both the despatcher and the man who died. A chief taken prisoner might request, before his execution, that he be slain by a certain, famed weapon. To be struck down by a special patu was a point of honor. Of course to be killed was far preferable to be taken into slavery. Slavery was the ultimate humiliation for a noble person. Those taken into slavery were regarded as dead by their kinsfolk. Even if they escaped or were released and returned to their people, they were disregarded and treated with contempt."
* Starzecka ed. 1996 p28 f16 (Ngahuia Te Awkotuku, "Maori: People and culture" p26-49)
"Ceremonial adze, toki poutangata, an emblem of chiefly authority and spiritual power. The highly polished nephrite blade is lashed to the carved haft with flax braided cord."
* Simmons 1985 p48
"The tokipoutangata (ceremonial adze) is a symbol of an ariki, a paramount chief. The blade, whether of greenstone or ordinary rock, is a named and treasured heirloom, a visible symbol of the genealogical descent and mana of the ariki. Like all such items it is regarded as being in the keeping of the present holder, a trust to be guarded and passed on to his heirs. It is the tribe who are the owners. Each time a holder of a tokipoutangata died, the handle was buried with him. Often the whole adze and handle were buried or placed in the cave with the body, the blade being recovered later when a new holder was installed. A new handle was then carved and the tapu blade lashed to its new handle. Thus, visibly, the new ariki was proclaimed.
"[...] The handles of tokipoutangata are an expression of relationships with the forces which govern men. The toki could be used to take life and when this happened, the mana of the person killed was increased, not diminished. Rangikotama [god of water/lizard figure carved on the handle] relates to the waters of life and death, and the head on the butt to the primal parents."
* Fryer 1969 p89
"Toki A Maori axe. Some were fitted with European iron-trade heads, and these were used for fighting. Others had stone heads. teh hafts were of wood or, sometimes, carved bone."
* Stone 1934 p3
"ADZE. The adze is a carpenter's tool something like an axe but with the edge at right angles to the handle. The Maoris were the only people who used it regularly as a weapon. Their war adzes had jade blades and elaborately carved handles, while those used as tools had plain ones."
Box
* Barrow 1984 p94
"Treasure boxes called wakahuia were small wooden boxes used to store personal valuables. Maori houses had neither cupboards nor drawers so containers were necessary. These boxes varied in size from about 25 to 90 centimetres in length, were usually much decorated, and are superb examples of the woodcarver's craft. The variety of design is the most remarkable feature.
"Wakahuia illustrate the diversity of regional carving styles and a large portion of those preserved date from early periods. As with hei-tiki, these boxes were sought by early visitors as attractive, portable 'curios'. Hundreds of them were carried away from New Zealand by early travellers, some by Captain Cook and his crews. Fortunately many of the best wakahuia were returned to New Zealand in the W. O. Oldman and K. A. Webster collections and are now to be viewed in museums.
"'Wakahuia' is a composite word: 'waka' means a canoe or vessel while 'huia' is a thing prized. The association of wakahuia with the bird 'huia' (whose white-tipped, black tail feathers were so highly valued) and the inclusion of rare feathers in these storage boxes, gave rise to calling them 'feather boxes', but many prized objects, particularly jade ornaments, were kept in them. The larger boxes were used to store treasured objects such as combs and jade clubs.
"Wakahuia were carved in many shapes. The single common feature of them was an inset lid which was fitted in a number of ways, some methods being quite ingenious.
"Many of the boxes were designed so that cords could be tied to their projecting ends then passed through holes in their lids. They were then suspended from rafters or walls. In most traditional Maori houses the rafters were within easy reach. One remarkable feature of a number of boxes is that teh suspension string or cord passes from box to lid in such a way that the lid is drawn closed when the box is hung up.
"Wakahuia were usually carved on all sides and on the ends. The most elaborate decoration usually appeared on the underside as the boxes were mostly viewed from below. Their lids were also frequently elaborate in their decoration.
"Some wakahuia were of a canoe hull form with tiki heads projecting out from each end, similar to the heads seen on the prows of certain canoes. The 'bodies' of these heads were, in some designs, placed on the underside of the box."
* Metropolitan Museum of Art 1987 p53
"The wooden boxes with fitted lids made by the Maori of New Zealand were always carved with elaborate designs -- scrolls and figures of ancestors -- covering the entire surface in splendid profusion. The ultimate reason for the decoration and detail of such boxes was the belief, which the Maori shared with many other Polynesians, that the head of a chief was sacred, holding a concentration of his tapu (power and sanctity). By extension, anything that touched a chief's head became imbued by this potentially dangerous force: particularly his hair, which had to be ritually buried when it was cut, and the feathers he wore in his hair. The most prized feathers were those of the now extinct huia bird; hence the name of this type of container (waka), in which the chief kept his feather ornaments. As much to keep their sacredness from endangering others as to keep the feathers, jade ear pendants, and so forth out of danger, the boxes were hung high in the rafters of the house. Since they were usually seen from below, the undersides of the boxes were carved as fully as were their lids and sides."
* Geary ed. 2006 p149 (William E. Teel w/ Christraud M. Geary and Stéphanie Xatart, "Catalogue" p36-151)
"Chiefs used containers such as this to store personal property and valuable family heirlooms, among them nephrite pendants, ear ornaments, and bone combs. Often referred to as feather boxes, the receptacles also held the black-and-white tail feathers of the huia bird (Heteralocha acutirostris), which served as hair decoration emblematic of high rank. Since the boxes hung from the rafters in chiefs' houses, their undersides were visible and were usually as elaborate as the lids. An owner could pass the box down as a family heirloom or give it as an honoured gift to someone special. The object sometimes also received its own name. As personal possessions of chiefs, the container and its contents became imbued with tapu."
* Brooklyn Museum > Oceania
"Treasure boxes held small personal valuables, such as nephrite neck pendants (hei tiki), ear ornaments, and precious feathers. A fiber cord attached to each end and passed through the holes in the lid would have been used to suspend the box from the rafters of the owner's house." ...
Cup
*
