448 Transactions. 



jDlane, and, as before mentioned, form an angle of 45° with the plane of 

 the teeth of the rake. This insures the teeth gripping the sand or mud at 

 the bottom when the rake is dragged. 



The punga, or sinker, is then attached, not to the end of the net, but to 

 the back of the matamata, between the cross-rod (paepae) and the ascending 

 arms (peke), where in fact it is fastened to all three. Some fern is wrapped 

 round the punga, before fastening, to save the woodwork. Its weight is 

 about 6 lb. Should the weight of the sinker be insufficient, smaller sinkers, 

 called potiki, are attached on either side of the main punga. It will be 

 observed that the function of the punga has nothing to do with the net, 

 but from its position at the lower end of the handle and directly over the 

 middle of the frame it weights down the lower beam and causes the teeth 

 to sink into the soft sand to scrape up the kakahi. The sinker described by 

 Dr. Newman, in his article already quoted, as being flat at the base whilst 

 the other side is rounded, was not so made that the broad flat surface 

 should lie in the lake-mud, but that the flat surface might rest evenly 

 against the back of the framework in the position described above. 



Method of Dredging. — As foreshadowed in the proverb already quoted, 

 kakahi dredging required great skill, or, as the Maoris say, He tino mahi 

 tohunga. It was very difficult to get a good quantity, and the kuare, or 

 unskilled dredger, was useless. It is said that skill descended in or was 

 inherited by certain families. The Ngati-Pukaki were a skilled tribe. As 

 there was so much talk about dredging, it is natural that a good deal of 

 show was indulged in. The fisherman going out to the kakahi ground put on 

 his best dress-cloak of dogskin or fine flax. The turuturu was driven in, and 

 the canoe paddled off to the end of the attached rope. The dredge-rake was 

 lowered over the left side of the canoe, and the end of the handle (tango- 

 tango) held in the left hand. After feeling that the rake was on the bottom 

 and that the teeth had gripped, the dredger would work towards the turu- 

 turu by successive pulls on the rope with the right hand. In olden days, 

 when conscientious objectors were not even dreamt of, if a Maori held a 

 stick in his hand and started moving it about his fighting-blood was speedily 

 aroused. It is known of many a Maori of the old school, peacefully walking 

 along with a walking-stick in the degenerate post-fighting days, that if he 

 struck once or twice at a tree-branch or a piece of bracken an association 

 of ideas seemed to stir the blood, and it was no uncommon sight to see him 

 leaping about from side to side and going through all the strokes and parries 

 of the ancient pastime. This would happen even with men using the ko 

 in digging. So with the kakahi dredger : as he dredged along he had to 

 move the handle from side to side ; gradually the movement would excite 

 him so that anon he was guarding and parrying with the handle of the 

 dredge-rake, quite oblivious of the kakahi below. It was considered good 

 training for war : hence my informants said, He karo rakau tonu te mahi 

 (The method was just like guarding against a weapon). Probably some 

 excitable warrior created a precedent and it became the fashion. 



When a larger canoe was used there might be three or four dredgers 

 all facing the same way, and were the angles of the handles of the rakes 

 the same all would be well ; but if one were different all would be wrong, 

 and the rake that was out of line would immediately be drawn up, so that 

 the fault might be investigated. The fault might be (a) the tying at the 

 joints (hotohoto) of the handle, (b) the teeth of the kapu loosened or set 

 wrongly, (c) more weight (potiki) needed. When the net became full the 

 weight caused the handle to assume a more vertical position — ka tu te rou. 



