442 Transactions. 



appear to have been found at the Chatham Isles, and some are reported 

 from the South Island. It must, however, be stated that natives do not 

 agree as to which weapon was called a kiirutai. Some seem to apply the 

 name to the patu onewa. 



Maruiwi are also said to have used throwing-spears, a form of fighting- 

 implement but little favoured by the Maori ; as also the wJiiimhiu, or spear 

 thrown with a whip. This latter weapon was adopted and u.sed by the 

 Maori, but not to a great extent. It was used principally in an attack 

 on and defence of fortified places. 



Was the Bow used by Maruiwi ? 



There are a few fragmentary items preserved in Maori tradition in 

 reference to a weapon employed by the Maruiwi aborigines that are of 

 much interest. An old Maori graduate of the whare wananga, or school 

 of learning, in describing the Maruiwi folk and their habits and customs, 

 at Wai-hinga in the year 1860 mentioned the weapons used by those 

 people, concluding with the words, " / wareware ake i a au tetahi o nga 

 rahau a nga iwi nei, he pere, ivhaJcawhana ai te manuka hei pere " (Overlooked 

 by me was yet another weapon of those peoples, a pere ; a piece of manuka 

 was bent as a means of projecting it). Now, pere is a name applied to 

 anything in the form of a dart or arrow. Pere and kopere are both applied 

 to the dart or spear thrown with a whip. Both words are also used as 

 verbs, meaning " to propel or cast, as a pere." They seem to be used only 

 when some instrument of propulsion is employed ; the casting of a spear 

 with the hand, minus any aid, is described by the word whiu. 



Here, then, we have a statement that the aborigines bent a piece of 

 the strong and tough wood of the manuka in order to gain a propelling 

 force for an arrow-dart. 



Another learned man of last century — Te Matorohanga, of Wai-rarapa — 

 in describing the Maruiwi folk, made the following statement : " Na taua 

 iwi tenei ha2Kii rakau te tarerarera i te tokotoko, te patu kurutai, me te kopere, 

 he mea whakaiohana ki te rakau, he kiri kuri te aho " (Employed by that 

 people was the custom of throwing spears — the kurutai striking-weapon, 

 and the kopere, which was projected by means of a wooden implement, 

 the cord being of dog-skin). Here we have a fairly clear statement that 

 seems to refer to the bow and arrow, a dog-skin thong being used as a bow- 

 string. The two usages of the word tohakawhana call for close attention. 

 Firstly, we have an allusion to the missile spear, mentioned as though it 

 were a usage not commonly employed by the Maori. Now, in the casting 

 of the whip-thrown spear no bent wooden implement was employed, nor 

 were the means of propulsion acquired by a recoil or spring impulse ; hence 

 the above account cannot apply to this method. Moreover, the very next 

 sentence spoken by Te Matorohanga dealt with the whip-thrown spear, as 

 follows : " Tetahi he whiuivhiu te ingoa, he mea here te aho ki te jnto koi o 

 te rakau, ka whakatakoto ai ki te whenua, ka takiri ai, ka rere taua rakau, 

 ka kaha te rere me te tu ki te tangata" (Another was called a whiuivhiu; 

 the cord was tied to the pointed end of the weapon, which was laid on 

 the ground and jerked suddenly, the weapon flying off and striking a 

 person with great force). 



In these sentences quoted above the double meaning of the word rakau 

 has to be borne in mind. It implies, in the first place, any form of wood 

 or timber, from a wand or small twig to a giant forest-tree, and as an 

 adjective it means " wooden." It also means a weapon : all weapons are 

 rakau, whatever the material may be. 



