462 Transactions. 



and squat on a limb to practise his sylvan art. He kindly offered to teach 

 me how to spear birds ; but the base of operations was too near heaven for 

 my fancy. 



But about the makoi maunu : In answer to a query, Mr. Percy Smith 

 said, " The bird-spears were in use in Taranaki as late as 1857 or 1858, as 

 I have been with the Maoris when they used them ; but I cannot remember 

 the lanyard and loose head to the spear." 



I then ^^'Tote to Tamati Ranapiri, of Ngati-Raukawa, about the matter. 

 He replied that he had never seen or heard of the loose point and lanyard, 

 adding, " E he ana te horero nei Jcei te kapokapotanga o te manu ina tu i te 

 here, ka maunu te tara i te houhanga atu ki te here. Kaore, e he ana tena. He 

 mea tino hohou te tara ki te here, kia tino mauy (Quite wrong is the remark 

 that the fluttering of the bird when speared causes the point to become de- 

 tached from where it is lashed to the shaft. Not so ; that is wrong. The 

 point is lashed securely to the shaft.) 



Some time after the above episode I received another letter from 

 Ranapiri, who said, " Friend, after I had sent my second letter to you 

 I met Alfred Knocks, of Otaki, and handed to him the letter you sent me 

 inquiring about bird - spears, and he at once said, ' The remarks of that 

 European (Colonel Heaphy) are quite correct.' He explained that when 

 a lad he Uved with his father at Wai-kanae. He was about ten years of 

 age when one day he accompanied Major Edwards on a pigeon-shooting 

 trip. They came across Wi Parata spearing pigeons up on a karaka tree, 

 and he noticed that the bird-spear used was one with a detachable point, 

 as described by Heaphy. He said also that the spears used by the Natives 

 at Otaki in those days were quite different, the point being a fixture, lashed 

 securely on to the shaft." 



This would seem to show that this manner of manipulating the bird- 

 spear was employed only by the Atiawa Tribe, who lived at Wellington 

 and Wai-kanae, and not by Ngati-Raukawa. 



A fowler would but very rarely allow his spear to leave his hand when 

 spearing a bird, but only when he could not quite reach the bird with the 

 point of it and at the same time the spear was in a horizontal position, rest- 

 ing across several branches, so that there was no danger of it falling. He 

 might then allow it to leave his hand as he made his thrust at the bird. Ka 

 kohema atu te tao describes the action. 



These long spears were so slender and pliant that they could only be used 

 with a rest, the branches of the tree being used for that purpose. In 

 travelling through the forest, they were held by the point and trailed behind 

 the bearer. 



When about to make a bird-spear the Natives always selected a tree 

 that stood well within the forest, and not one growing on its outskirts, as 

 the latter are more difficult to spht, and the timber not so easy to work — 

 a fact known to all bushmen. The time and labour expended in making 

 a long bird-spear must have been appalling, when we remember the crude 

 tools of stone used by the Maori. Mr. S. H. Drew, in a letter to the Wha- 

 nganui Chronicle (in 1898), said, " Bird-spears were made that took years 

 to make. Fancy, if you can, the patience as well as skill required to cut a 

 spear 30 ft. long out of a tree. The tree had to be felled with stone axes 

 and fire, and this long 30 ft. of lance must be as straight as an arrow and 

 about 1 in. in diameter. Imagine the labour in chipping and paring down 

 the tree to the size wanted, with stone tools. One false stroke and the 

 work of months would be wasted. We have two of these long spears in the 



