The 7 Canoes
There are many different Maori traditions that convey the story of how their ancestors left their homeland in search for new land. They left their homeland, called Hawaiki, in giant, ocean going canoes, or waka.
The canoes were made of different materials. T he paddles, also known as hoe or hirau, were made from the wood of the Kahikatea tree. The steering oars were straight but the blade was set at a slight angle to better the push through the water. The sails were not always used and were made from raupo leaf. These leaves are a wetland reed which was weaved together to make the sail. Larger canoes could take up to three sails. If they were to sail into a river poling or punting would’ve been used to propel the canoe upstream. Anchors, or punga, were found in two places on the canoes. The main anchor was at the stern and the smaller anchor was at the bow. The smaller anchor was lowered to steady the boat when the waters were rough. The actual canoe was made from a hollowed out tree usually a mature Koa tree.
One of the Maori traditional stories is the story of Kupe. Kupe escaped from Hawaiki with Kuramarotini. Kuramarotini was the wife of Hoturapa, a chief and owner of one of the giant canoes called Matahoura. Kupe murdered Hoturapa, and to escape the vengeance of Hoturapa’s relatives, he stole Matahoura and fled with Kuramarotini. He discovered a land called Aotearoa, ‘Long White Cloud’ or New Zealand; Kupe explored the coast and returned to Hawaiki to spread the news of the newly discovered land. On his return to Aotearoa he was joined by six other canoes swarming with families and livestock.
Another story is that Kupe was a great chief of Hawaiki and that Rarotonga, Rangiatea and Hawaiki were all under his rule. One day Kupe’s fishermen went out with their lines and hooks to their usual fishing grounds. A long time passed and their lines had no bites, the fishermen pulled up their lines and discovered the bait had been taken. They put on new bait and lowered their hooks back down. The bait was taken over and over again until all of it was gone. They returned to shore and reported their failure to Kupe. This happened again the next time they went out to fish; again they reported their bad luck to Kupe. They decided to talk to the great priest. The Priest said that if the people planned to go fishing again, the lines and hooks should be blessed. The next morning they decided to go fishing so the lines and hooks were blessed by the priest, and they went out again to find that their bait was being taken by octopus they also saw the great octopus of Muturangi floating on the surface of the ocean. They recognized Muturangi was causing the trouble and fearing him, they turned home. Once they returned home they told Kupe what they’d seen, so Kupe went to Muturangi, who lived at Kahu-kaka, and told him, “O sir! You are the cause of our bad luck!”
Muturangi replied, “I know nothing about your problem.”
Kupe said then, “Restrain your great octopus and do not let it go to sea as the canoes plan to go out fishing again tomorrow.”
The next day, as food was getting scarce, they went out fishing again but Muturangi had not restrained the octopi so Kupe went to visit him again. This time Kupe asked, “I come to ask you to restrain your pet, or I will kill it.”
Muturangi replied with, “I will not allow my pet to be killed. The sea is its home; the people are wrong in going there to fish.”
“If you will not restrain your pet, I intend to kill it.”
“You will fail.”
“So be it.”
Kupe then returned and said to his people, “Prepare my canoe for sea.” So the canoe Matahorua was carefully prepared and Kupe went out to slay the octopus. On arrival at the fishing ground the lines were let down. They were pulled up before reaching the bottom, and it was seen that the bait had been eaten. The octopi followed the lines to the surface, where Kupe and the sixty men of the canoe began to slaughter them, while the great octopus of Muturangi was all the time waiting a little beyond. A little while later a priest yelled out, “Stop slaughtering the octopi. If you could succeed in killing Muturangi’s great octopus, the others would all disappear as he brings them here.” The fishermen then stoped slaying the smaller octopi and turned their attention to Muturangi’s octopus. But when the canoes tried to approach the monster, it made off to the deep sea. It was now night, so Kupe returned to shore. On arrival ashore Kupe said to his men, “Put plenty of provisions on board our canoe, for we will follow this monster until we kill him.” The crew did as they were told.
His wife and five children consented to accompany Kupe and were with him when he discovered Aotearoa.
Matahoura was now launched and the voyagers departed. There were seventy-two people on board. “There, there he is!” screamed one of his men so Kupe looked, and it was so. They tried to approach the monster, but the octopus only went on faster, changing his course toward the undiscovered island of Aotearoa.
Not long after this, an island was seen in the far distance, like a cloud on the horizon, toward which the octopus made straight. As the octopus drew closer to the North Island, it turned south to swim along the East Coast.
Kupe followed it down the south coast and it turned around and started heading towards the canoes then the tentacles grabbed a hold of Kupe’s boat. Kupe started to cut off the octopuses tentacles off with his axe, named Ranga-tu-whenua, but it didn’t work. Kupe yelled to one of his men “Throw the bunch of calabashes at the head of the octopus!”
The monster, that it was a man, let go the canoe, and encircled the calabashes with all of his tentacles. Then with his axe Kupe made a fierce downward blow at the head of the monster and smashed in its eyes.
And so the great sea creature died.
Although there were many different canoes for each story the main ones known are;
Aotea, Arawa, Kurahaupō, Mataatua, Tainui, Tākitimu, and Tokomaru. Other traditions name many other canoes, including the Āraiteuru, Kirauta, Arahura and Mahangaatuamatua. Many other stories from various tribes report that they migrated to escape famine, over-population, and warfare.
Information taken from
Maori History: http://www.uniquelynz.com/maori_history.htm
The Journey to Aotearoa: http://maaori.com/people/maoriara.htm
Hawaiian Voyaging Traditions: http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/ike/moolelo/kupe.html
And the random Google search...
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