![Thumbnail: [Volume 48, 1915 page 442]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_48/thumbnails/rsnz_48_00_0498_0442_ac_02.gif)
Was the Bow used by Maruiwi?
There are a few fragmentary items preserved in Maori tradition in reference to a weapon employed by the Maruiwi aborigines that are of much interest. An old Maori graduate of the whare wananga, or school of learning, in describing the Maruiwi folk and their habits and customs, at Wai-hinga in the year 1860 mentioned the weapons used by those people, concluding with the words, [ unclear: ] “I waieware ake i a au tetahi o nga rakau a nga iwi nei, he pere, whakawhana ai te manuka hei pere” [ unclear: ] (Overlooked by me was yet another weapon of those peoples, a pere; a piece of manuka was bent as a means of projecting it) Now, pere is a name applied to anything in the form of a dart or arrow. Pere and kopere are both applied to the dart or spear thrown with a whip. Both words are also used as verbs, meaning “to propel or cast, as a pere.” They seem to be used only when some instrument of propulsion is employed; the casting of a spear with the hand, minus any aid, is described by the word whiu.
Here, then, we have a statement that the aborigines bent a piece of the strong and tough wood of the manuka in order to gain a propelling force for an arrow-dart.
Another learned man of last century—Te Matorohanga, of Wai-rarapa—in describing the Maruiwi folk, made the following statement. “Na taua iwi tenei hapai rakau te tarerarera i te tokotoko, te patu kurutai, me te kopere, he mea whakawhana ki te rakau, he kiri kuri te aho” (Employed by that people was the custom of throwing spears—the kurutai striking-weapon, and the kopere, which was projected by means of a wooden implement, the cord being of dog-skin). Here we have a fairly clear statement that seems to refer to the bow and arrow, a dog-skin thong being used as a bow-string. The two usages of the word whakawhana call for close attention. Firstly, we have an allusion to the missile spear, mentioned as though it were a usage not commonly employed by the Maori. Now, in the casting of the whip-thrown spear no bent wooden implement was employed, nor were the means of propulsion acquired by a recoil or spring impulse; hence the above account cannot apply to this method. Moreover, the very next sentence spoken by Te Matorohanga dealt with the whip-thrown spear, as follows. [ unclear: ] “Tetahi he whiuwhiu te ingoa, he mea here te aho ki te pito koi o te rakau, ka whakatakoto ai ki te whenua, ka takiri ai, ka rere taua rakau, ka kaha te rere me te tu ki te tangata” [ unclear: ] (Another was called a whiuwhiu; the cord was tied to the pointed end of the weapon, which was laid on the ground and jerked suddenly, the weapon flying off and striking a person with great force).
In these sentences quoted above the double meaning of the word rakau has to be borne in mind. It implies, in the first place, any form of wood or timber, from a wand or small twig to a giant forest-tree, and as an adjective it means “wooden.” It also means a weapon: all weapons are rakau, whatever the material may be.
![Thumbnail: [Volume 48, 1915 page 443]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_48/thumbnails/rsnz_48_00_0499_0443_ac_02.gif)
Here we have two statements made by two different old men, acknowledged as being well versed in Maori tradition. Both seem to allude to the bow and arrow as having been known to, and employed as weapons by, the aborigines of New Zealand. One other item may here be mentioned—namely, the bow now in the Dominion Museum, having been deposited by Mr. Tregear. This bow was found by persons engaged in excavating a draining-ditch north of Auckland, and is said to have been found about 2 ft. below the surface. It closely resembles those from the New Hebrides in the Museum. How long has that bow been so buried, and to whom did it belong? This query will never be answered; if it were, then probably a new chapter of the story of man in these isles would be opened.
It may be asked, How is it that the Maori did not adopt the bow and arrow as a weapon, if it ever existed here, as they adopted other Maruiwi weapons? Now, the answer to this query illustrates a very singular trait of Polynesian character. The bow has been known to the Polynesian for many centuries, and he has frequently come into contact with bow-using Melanesians, yet he has ever steadfastly refused to adopt it as a weapon. He has used it for killing game and in archery contests, northward to the Hawaiian Group and eastward to Tahiti, but never as a weapon. And that is the reason why he would not adopt it here—that is to say, if he really had the opportunity to do so. When the Maori fought, he loved to feel his weapon bite into the skull of his enemy; he felt the keen joy of the fighting-man as he thrust his slim spear-head through the fish of Tu.
That is how the bow has been forgotten by the Maori people, and why the natives of Cook's time were ignorant of it. The knowledge their ancestors had of it was preserved only in old, old traditions handed down orally from one generation to another by the wise men of the whare wananga, the trained and close-lipped record-keepers of the Maori school of learning.
As an illustration of how a people may possess the knowledge of usages among a far-distant race, we may note a remark made by a native of the Marquesas Isles, away off in eastern Polynesia, to Porter, an American voyager of the “twenties” of last century. This was to the effect that far away across the ocean, in a southern land, dwelt a black folk who used the bow and arrow as a weapon.