Te Rangi Hiroa. — Maori Food-supplies of Lake Rotorua. 447 



(b.) Heheki, or Net. — The net is a bag net with a If in. mesh and about 

 34 in. long. At the end away from the frame it is wider, if anything, than 

 at its attachment. It is attached to the paetara below, and the upper edge 

 comes up as high as the paepae above, but is not fastened to it. It has a 

 string attached to this upper edge, which is drawn taut and tied to the 

 lower end of the pole or handle. The net has a special name, the heheki. 

 In Museum Bulletin No. 2 Hamilton quotes Best as giving the name 

 of the dredge-rake used at Rotoiti as heki. The Rotorua people were 

 very clear that it is the actual net that is the heheki. In fig. 76 of the 

 above publication a dredge-rake is shown with a punga, or sinker, attached 

 to the end of the net. This is incorrect, as there was no necessity for 

 it in this position, the kakahi weighting the net back as they were 

 dredged up. 



(c.) Rou, or Handle. — The handle was called the rou. In order to drag 

 the rake along the bottom the handle had to be from 28 ft. to 30 ft. long. 

 It was not a simple case of getting the longest pole from the adjacent 

 forest, as Newman* states in his article on Maori dredges. To get a pole 

 of the right length without being too heavy or unwieldy, and yet with 

 sufficient slimness and spring without being too weak, was the problem 

 that faced the neolithic Maori. He solved it by joining four pieces 

 together, thus obtaining length without excessive thickness. Of these four 

 pieces the most important was the lowest, called the matamata. This was 

 carefully sought for in the bush. It had to be a straight piece of toro 

 (Myrsine salicina) or mapou (Myrsine Urvellei) of the right thickness. 

 These woods are very springy, and will not break or snap. In the rou I 

 saw in use the matamata was 12 ft. 4 in. in length and 3^ in. in circum- 

 ference. The thin end was downwards, and near this end a groove was 

 cut round, for a purpose to be detailed later. 



The other three pieces were not so important, and the wood was not 

 so carefully selected. The ones I saw were of tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa). 

 The piece next to the matamata was named the whakatakapu. It was spliced 

 to the matamata with an overlap of 11 in. and had the thick end down, and 

 was 4 ft. 7 in. in length. The third piece was of the same length, and was 

 called the whakangawari, and had an overlap of 11 in. The last piece was 

 the one which was grasped by the hand, and hence was called the tango- 

 tango (what one lays hold of). It was 9 ft. 6£ in. in length, and had the 

 thin end uppermost, being here about 1 in. in diameter. The overlap with 

 the whakangawari was 9f in. 



The various parts of the rou were joined together as shown in the 

 diagram, with a 9 in. to 11 in. overlap, by a double tie. These ties at the 

 joints are called hotohoto. 



When the dredge-rake was not in use the handle was untied, taken to 

 pieces, and put in water to preserve it until the next season. In northern 

 France the French farmers, after the pea crop i« gathered, place the wooden 

 stakes or pea-props in ponds for a similar reason. 



Joining the Rou to the Framework.- — The rou, or handle, having been com- 

 pleted, the lower end of the matamata is fastened to the kapu. It is passed 

 down at the back of the two ascending arms (peke), and the groove already 

 mentioned at the lower end is fitted on to the cross-rod (paepae) and securely 

 lashed to it and the peke. The handle, peke, and kauae are now in the same 



* A. K. Newman, On Maori Dredges, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 37, p. 141. 1905. 



