42 



NATURE 



[November io, 1S92 



were strangers or unacquainted with it {koi umerdia e nga 

 ians;ata taiihou). You also ask what instrunnent was used for 

 cutting off the head of the niako. What, indeed! Why, the 

 saw made of the teeth of the tatere shark firmly fixed on to a 

 wooden blade [he niho iatcre, he viea hohou ki rjinga ki te 

 rakau). You further inquire respecting the number of its 

 teeth. There are eight — that is, large ones from within— and 

 also eight smaller ones of them outside. Besides those there 

 were several much smaller ones in front or outside {o waho 

 raiva), but these I never counted, and therefore cannot give 

 their exact number." 



He also wrote (in another and subsequent letter) in answer to 

 my further inquiries : "There are four very large teeth from the 

 beginning, or within. These are called rci, and are kept for 

 ear- pendants. Altogether there are eight teeth— that is, four 

 very large ones, and four smaller, making eight in all. The 

 outside teeth resemble those of the tatere shark, and are only 

 termed teeth \niho) ; these have no other name, but those that 

 are kept for ear-pendants are called au rei. Then, you wish to 

 know how the 7nako was captured by us Maoris in the olden 

 times. Listen. This fish was never taken as other sharks 

 {niatigo) were, with hook and bait : none of our fish-hooks 

 would be strong enough to hold it, they would soon be broken. 

 Now, when the fishing-canoe was out fishing, and had been a 

 long time there catching fishes of various kinds, %nAAer\\y a.mako 

 would be seen coming leisurely along on the surface of the water 

 {e hara mai mm ana i te kiri o te ivai, ara i te kare o te wai). 

 Then the man who saw it would shout out to his companions in 

 the canoe, ' Haul up our land ' {Hutia mai to tatou whentm), 

 not naming the fish ; and when the mako was pretty near to the 

 canoe, about three yards off, then the big tempting bait was let 

 low down before it, and on the mako seeing the bait it would 

 bend down its head to seize it [ka tupou te upoko), when its 

 tail would be upraised above water. Then a noosed rope 

 would be flung over its tail (lasso- fashion) and quickly hauled 

 tight, which would secure the tail within the noose hard and 

 fast. And away would speed the canoe at a fleet rate towards 

 all sides of the sea and sky, being continually turned about in 

 all directions by the fish, the man who had noosed it always 

 holding on to the rope. At last, being exhausted, the mako 

 died ; then it floated, when its head would be cut off, as I said 

 before. This was our common manner of catching the mako 

 fish {kotona hit toiiu tenet o teneiika o temako), often also called 

 by us a monster {taniwha) ; and hence arose the term of monster- 

 binding ( heretanixvha), owing to it being securely noosed and 

 bound with a rope flung over its tail." Here ends the interest- 

 ing narration of my worthy old Maori correspondent, who died 

 soon after. 



I have never seen a mako fish, and I am in doubt whether 

 it is yet fully known to science. It is evidently one of the 

 deep-water fishes. The first mention of it by skilled scientific 

 observers that I have noticed is in Sir James Ross's "Voyage 

 to the South Seas," wherein it is stated that on nearing the 

 Chatham Islands, in November, 1841 (within a week after 

 leaving their winter quarters and anchorage in the Bay of 

 Islands), " the long-snouted porpoises were particularly 

 numerous. One of these creatures was struck with a harpoon, 

 and in its formidable jaws we found the teeth which the . New- 

 Zealanders value highly as ornaments, and which had puzzled 

 us greatly to ascertain to what animal they belonged" (vol. ii., 

 p. 134). Those Antarctic Expedition ships had spent several 

 months in the Bay of Islands, and the officers had frequent 

 opportunities of seeing and examining the teeth of the mako, and 

 very likely had purchased some from the Maoris, as they were 

 diligent in acquiring natural specimens, and curios and ornaments 

 of all kinds. 



Professor Hutton, in his "Catalogue of the Fishes of New 

 Zealand " (published by the Government in 1872), considered 

 the tnako to be the " Lamna glauca = \\^tx-^ix^ ; " but he says, 

 " The shark from which the Maoris obtain the teeth with which 

 they decorate their ears is probably this species, but I have seen 

 teeth only" {I.e., p. 77). 



Subsequently Professor Julius von Haast (in 1874) read a 

 paper before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury (Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. vii., p. 237) on the mako of the Maoris, which, 

 he says, is Lamna eormibiea, the porbeagle shark, and not 

 L. glauca as had been supposed by Professor Hutton. But 

 Professor von Haast had only a small young specimen (or, 

 rather, its skin) to examine, which two North Island Maoris, 

 then engaged at Christchurch Museum, pronounced to belong to 



NO. 1202, VOL. 47] 



a young mako, and informed him that this fish in its adult state 

 was about 12ft. long. The animal to which the skin belonged 

 was 4ft. loin. long. Professor von Haast also gives much in- 

 formation relative to the teeth of his small specimen (differing 

 widely from my Maori friend's description given above), their 

 number, form, and size, the colour of its skin, &c. Still, as I take 

 it, there are reasonable doubts as to that specimen being a true 

 mako ; I think it is highly probable that his two Maori inform- 

 ants had never seen a real mako shark. 



Couch, in his celebrated work on "British Fishes," in his 

 account of the porbeagle shark, gives a drawing of it from 

 nature, and also others of its teeth and jaws, which appear to 

 be different from those of the mako, being much more slender, 

 and semi-terete, undulate, and sharply pointed (vol. i., pp. 41- 



44)- . . . 



My object in writing this notice of the mako shark is mainly 

 to relate the ancient Maori mode of capturing it. 



Of the Preparation of Black Pigment for Tattooing. — The 

 ancient Maoris had more ways than one of obtaining the black 

 substance used in tattooing, which colouring-matter also varied 

 in quality, partly owing to what it was made from ; that for the 

 countenance being superior to that used for the lower parts of 

 the body. One way of obtaining the best kind was as follows : — 

 First, two proper careful men were selected for the work. 

 This, too, was done with ceremony, they being (for the time) 

 tapu {i.e., under the laws of taboo) — rigidly set apart. A small 

 kiln-like furnace (ritangarehu) was excavated in the side of a 

 hill suitably situated. The substances to be used in burning 

 for their soot — kaicri-rtsm {kapia) and the resinous veins of 

 white pine wood [kapara) — were got ready ; a net made from 

 the wharanui flax leaves finely split, composed of very small 

 and close meshes, and beaten well, so as to be rough and 

 scabrous from long broken fibres, in order the better to catch 

 and retain the soot {awe), which was intended to adhere only to 

 the network : this net was fixed properly and securely over the 

 top opening or chimney of the kiln, and above it were placed 

 thick mats and such like, to prevent the escape of the burning 

 soot and smoke. All being ready, a very calm fine night was 

 chosen for the firing of the kiln — a night in which there should 

 not be the least breath of moving air ; and, the kiln being fired, 

 those two men remained all night at their post, attending to 

 their work, carefully feeding the fire. When all the resinous 

 substances were burnt up, and the kiln cold — the calm weather 

 still continuing — the soot was carefully collected and mixed up 

 with the fat of birds, and then given to a Maori dog to eat, 

 which dog had also been early set apart for this work — tied up, 

 made to last, and kept hungry, that it might perform its part 

 and eat the prepared morsels with avidity. After devouring 

 the mixed food the dog was still kept tied up, and not allowed 

 to eat any other aliment until it had voided the former. When 

 the fseces were evacuated they were carefully gathered, and 

 mixed up and kneaded with bird's oil and a little water, and, 

 when this mixture became dry and hard, it was put up securely 

 into a large shell, or into a hollowed pumice or soft stone, and 

 laid by carefully, buried in the earth, for future use. It is said 

 to have possessed no disagreeable odour when dry (though it 

 had while fresh), and, though long kept, it did not become bad 

 nor spoil through keeping, which, on the contrary, was said to 

 improve it, and it was very much prized. 



It was this pigment, so put up and kept, that was th*" origin 

 of one of their proverbs, " Puritia to ngarahti kauri "=^ Keep 

 to thyself thy kauri-resin-soot pigment. This saying was used 

 when a person was unwilling to give what was asked, the same 

 being some common thing, and not at all needed by the ava- 

 ricious owner. But there is a double meaning here in this 

 simple sentence (proverb) — namely, " You may never require 

 it, or live to use it." (See Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xii., p. 145.) 

 Of the Manufacture of their Long Spears. — Some of their 

 spears were very long. Of these there were two kinds. One 

 kind was made of hardwood, rimu {Dacrydium cupressimim). 

 This was used in defending their forts and stockades before the 

 introduction of firearms, being thrust through the palisades at 

 close quarters against the legs and bodies of the invaders. The 

 other kind was much lighter, though longer, being made of the 

 light wood of the taiva-Xxee {Beilschmiedia tawa), and used 

 only for the spearing of pigeons when they were sitting on the 

 top of a high tree. This spear was tipped with a flatiish 

 serrated bone 3 inches — 5 inches long, usually coarsely barbed 

 on one lateral edge, and sharply pointed ; the bone being human, 

 and a portion of that of the arm or leg, and, of course, of their 



