Downbs. — Eels <i ml Eel-weirs. 297 



Whanga-marino, the Manga-wara, the Waipa, the Awaroa, the Opuatia, 



and the two lakes Waikare and Whangape, all in middle Waikato, were 

 famed for their eels. Along all these streams (most of them navigable) the 

 Maoris in former times erected enormous eel-weirs, which have now been 

 destroyed by floods or removed to admit of navigation by launches and 

 barges. On the Maramarua there were most extensive pa-tuna, the main 

 posts of which were frequently 2 ft. in diameter, with roughly carved tops. 

 How the old Maoris, without mechanical means of driving, ever got these 

 heavy posts into position is not known, but it must have been a strenuous 

 work. (From notes by Mr. Percy Smith.) 



A note from Mr. Best states that he was informed by natives at Huntly, 

 Waikato, that their elders did not construct eel-weirs in the Waikato River, 

 on account of its depth, &c, but set eel-pots in the open river, to which 

 eels were attracted by bait. Weirs of the V form were, however, erected 

 in the numerous tributary streams, more especially those running from the 

 numerous lakes to the river. Eel-pots were also set in the lakes without 

 any form of weir. Eel-weirs are termed pa rauiri by Waikato natives, 

 on account of the wattling process by means of which the fences are con- 

 structed. 



Although the hinaki, or eel-pot. is a common object in most Maori villages 

 and in every museum, I do not remember ever having seen it described. 

 Even the late Mr. Hamilton in his fine work on Maori Art entirely omitted 

 it. Why this was done I do not know, for a well-made hinaki is a beautiful 

 object, fashioned with infinite care and artistic ability, and also made to 

 stand many years of hard use. There are, however, in Museum Bulletin 

 No. 2 some pictures of hinaki of a rather poor class, illustrating an article 

 entitled " Notes on Matters connected with the Sea, &c." In these modern 

 days the kareao, or supplejack, and even fine-meshed wire netting, often 

 take the place of the old-time kiekie root or akatea, but these work-saving 

 substitutes, though perhaps just as effective, are certainly not very artistic. 



There is in Hochstetter's New Zealand a picture of a pa-tuna, but it is a 

 very rough and imaginative affair, and gives but a feeble idea of a weir 

 made for use and wear. Hence I include some photographs which will, I 

 think, illustrate this article better than I can explain by description. 



Eels. 



The eel enters very largely into Maori mythology,* into which I do not 

 intend to enter, but the earliest reference I have come across regarding 

 pa-tuna (eel-weirs) in local history w r as in Rua-matatoa's time (seventeen 

 generations ago), when a man's leg was carried down the Whanganui River 

 till it was caught in a pa-tuna at Hiku-rangi (now Karatia) and afterwards 

 eaten, the result being a civil war.f 



In the early volumes of the Transactions there will be found some dis- 

 cussion as to whether eels migrate annually to the sea or otherwise, it 

 being pointed out by some writers that they do so, and by others that 

 they are numerous in lagoons that have absolutely no connection with the 

 ocean. It seems, however, to be an accepted theory that eels migrate. 

 According to the natives, and they are keen observers of nature — or, rather, 

 they were — there are many varieties of eels, distinguished by different 



* Elsdon Best, Food Products of Tuhoeland, Trans. K.Z. Inst., vo). ."5."), pp. 45-111 

 (see p. 65). 1903. 



tSee T. W. Downes, Old Whanganui, p. 51, 1915. 



