72 Transactions.—Miscellaneous. 
which brought from Hawaiki to this country the progenitors of the present 
race of Maoris are familiar to most of us; one only of these—the T'ainui— 
is always mentioned as being double; and as some ships of our navy have 
been immortalized by the prowess of their crews in celebrated engagements, 
so many of the Maori waiatas or songs are in honour of their ships—most 
often in praise of their celerity, by dint of which some enemies' pa had 
been surprised, or their women and children carried away into captivity. 
Canoes may be divided into four classes—Waka-taua or waka-pitau, war 
canoes, fully carved ; the waka-tetee, which, generally smaller, had a plain 
figure-head and stern ; waka-tiwai, an ordinary canoe of one piece, and the 
kopapa or small canoe usually used for fishing, travelling to cultivations, etc. 
The Toki-a-tipiri belonged to the waka-pitau, which differed from the 
waka-taua in having an untatooed figure-head with a protruding tongue, 
and being less elevated forward. 
Canoes, being of vital importance, whether for war, or as a means of 
procuring food, a superstitious race naturally attributed to the tree set 
apart for the kiwi or hull of the canoe some power over its future fortune; 
not only was & particular site or aspect in its growth deemed lucky, but it 
was supposed that incantations by a tohunga or wizard bestowed upon the 
living tree would increase the virtue of the wood when used. 
Special trees were sometimes the cause of war between two tribes, were 
set apart, or made tapu, by a father for an infant son, remained even as an 
heir-loom for the grandson, and occasionally, in early land sales, were 
specially reserved. 
Totara was the tree chiefly prized, on account of its durability. Kauri 
was next in estimation, and in the north was easier to procure of large size. 
I have seen a waka-tiwai—that is, a canoe entirely of one piece, carry, 
beyond its crew, three-and-a-half tons of potatoes in a seaway. Kahikatea 
was sometimes used; it is light but not lasting, and I have known rimu 
canoes, but these are too heavy to be popular. 
When a tree had been selected either by an individual rangatira or bya 
hapu who had determined to build a war-canoe, it was first necessary that a 
sufficient stock of food to supply the workmen employed upon it should be 
available; if the tree grew in a place distant from the pa, a special cultiva- 
tion as near as possible to the locus operandi might be made for the purpose, 
otherwise a particular patch of kumera, or other esculent, was planted and 
set aside; then the future canoe had to be draughted; certain naval archi- 
tects were the Symonds or Reeds of their day, and were occasionally fetched 
from far to design a craft which was required to possess extra speed; many 
a deliberation of the Kaumatuas or elders took place over the prepared 
model, ere the shape was finally settled, 
