86 TUTIRA 



At the crossing itself stood also a whare-tuna an eel-house or eel- 

 lodge. 



It was not a tribal possession, but belonged to the individual upon 

 whose land it was built to him and to his relatives. 



The size of a whare-tuna varied according to locality and depth of 

 stream, but was about 15 feet long, 1 feet high, and 4 feet wide; the 

 sides, roof, and ends were made of manuka lashed with flax, in the same 

 manner as raupo is bound together on the sides of a whare-puni or sleep- 

 ing-house ; there were three or four observation holes on top, sufficiently 

 big to admit a man's hand. At the outer wall, next to the stream and 

 away from the bank, stones were placed to withstand the force of the 

 current. The down-stream end was also blocked and weighted down 

 with stones. The upper end, into which the stream or part of the 

 stream flowed, remained open. Lastly, the interior of the whare- 

 tuna was made snug and comfortable by loosely filling it with water- 

 weed rimurimu. It was a permanent trap that required no watching, 

 no baiting, and no lifting, and must have proved particularly serviceable 

 to such wanderers as the Ngai Tatara. There the eels congregated, 

 sometimes so thickly as perceptibly to raise the temperature of the 

 water ; to obtain them the only precaution necessary was a soft-footed 

 approach. 1 



On occasions when eels were wanted a pliable bough or hoop tutu 

 was attached or rather jammed against the open orifice of the ivhare- 

 tuna; to it was fastened the purangi by which a secure way was made 

 towards the huge hinaki or wicker-work pot, where eels required for im- 

 mediate consumption were placed. When all was ready one man stood 

 with his foot by the small end of the purangi, whilst his companion, 

 inserting his hand into one of the loopholes of the whare-tuna, would 

 feel for an eel and gently turn its head towards the hinaki; he would 

 then give its tail a pinch or squeeze, causing the creature to rapidly 

 shoot forward, the man at the purangi simultaneously lifting his foot 

 to allow passage and immediately replacing it to prevent the escape of 

 other eels already taken. After a heavy haul from the many patunas 

 along the creek Tutira, the surplus fish were often placed in a large 

 reserve eel-pot hinaki-ruru. 



1 When asked what had suggested the idea of the whare-tuna, which seems to have been 

 peculiarly a Ngati-kuru-mokihi institution, Te Hata-Kani replied that when groping beneath 

 the banks of creeks and rivers eels were very commonly found in hollow logs, more particularly 

 in the hollow stems of certain tree-ferns, mamaku and ponga. 



