Walsh. — Tht Manuaute, or Maori Kite. 379 



flax-leaves would have been far too heavy as well as much too weak to raise 

 some of the monster kites which in old times were flown at the " great 

 games," when the striug was often hundred of yards long. In fact, it is 

 expressly stated in a minute and graphic description of the manuaute, in a 

 Maori MS. by Te Rangi in the Auckland Public Library, kindly translated 

 for me by Archdeacon Hawkins, that the string for such a kite as he describes 

 was made of muka, or dressed flax- — meaning, of course, that it was spun in 

 the same way as a fishing-line or any other small cordage. 



It appears to have been customary both in New Zealand and throughout 

 Polynesia for the kite-flyer to chant a kind of song as the kite went up. 

 These songs were a variety of the karakia called turn manu, or kite-charm, 

 and were believed to make the kite fly properly. A number of these have 

 been preserved. They are often full of poetic fancy ; but the archaic 

 language in which they are composed, while denoting their great antiquity, 

 makes them extremely difficult of translation. 



Mr. Colenso relates that, on arriving at a Maori village, he was surprised 

 to find grown-up men engaged in flying kites and spinning tops. He seems 

 to imply that there was something unmanly, if not childish, in such an 

 occupation. But why kite-flying should be considered less manly than, say, 

 bowling or golf it would be difficult to explain, especially if the kite-flyer 

 was the manufacturer of his machine. 



Mr. Elsdou Best gives a very graphic account of kite-flying in the olden 

 days in a paper on Maori games read before the Auckland Institute in 

 1901.* Writing between inverted commas, probably repeating what was 

 told him by some old Maori in Tuhoc-land, he says, " In the days of old our 

 people would weave kites, and the wings and body thereof would be covered 

 with aute. Hence the name ' manuaute.' Horns or points would be fastened 

 to the head of the kite. . . . When the wind rose the people would go 

 a kite-flying {whakaangi manu), and many would gather to look on. An 

 expert person would be selected to cast off the kite that it might rise, and, 

 if a large kite, he would have to be careful lest the thing swoop down and he 

 be struck by the points thereof. Wlien the kite rose it would soar away 

 like a bird, and the cord would be paid out as it ascended. Then the karakia 

 [or kite-flying song] would be repeated. . . . Then a round object, a 

 disc, would be sent up the cord, along which it would travel. It was to 

 take water to the kite, and show that the kite had reached the heavens. 

 And it would reach the kite, although the latter might be so distant as to 

 be out of sight. Then the cord would be drawn in, and finally the kite 

 would be recovered. And on being looked at it would be found quite wet. 

 A peculiar wetness this that clings to the kite : it is not like the water which 

 flows here below ; it is like dew, or the misty wet which settles on the ranges." 



But probably the finest acco-int of the kites and kite-flying of the old 

 days is that given by Te Rangi in the Maori MS. already referred to. The 

 account is headed b}^ a pen-and-ink drawing of a kite somewhat similar in 

 shape and construction to Sir George Grey's model in the Auckland Museum 

 — i.e., of a bird with extended wings, each part of the kite being marked by 

 a number referring to a schedule of names. 



He commences with a description of the manuaute, which he says was 

 a comparatively unimportant kite, but was nevertheless a very good flier, 

 requiring from 150 to 200 yards of string of dressed flax {muka) for one of 

 moderate size, and from 300 to 700 yards for a larger one. 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. .34, p. 58. 



