surfresearch.com.au    polynesian surfriding : nz to 1915

"When Europeans arrived in New Zealand they found that coastal Maori tribes were surfing ('whakaheke ngaru') using relatively uncrafted boards ('kopapa'), logs ('paparewa'), canoes ('waka') and even kelp bags ('poha').
The sport was not as developed as in Hawaii but was a regular summertime activity.
Some tribes in the Canterbury area were reported to have used boards that could support up to three people." (1)

While it is not suprising that surfriding was practised in New Zealand, given the evidence in the rest of Polynesia, there appear to be no early reports that can be said to parrallel those of Tahiti and the Hawaiian Islands in the 18th century.
In 1921, S. Percy Smith indicated a search of the earliest journals of the European explorers for such references may be fruitless:

"It has been pointed out to me that nowhere in the literature relating to the Maoris of New Zealand is
there any mention of the use of the surf board among them." (2)

Discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642?, New Zealand was the first Polynesian culture encounted by European navigators and his, and  many of the subsequent, encounters with the Maori were confrontational and exposure to native culture restricted.
Unlike the Polynesian centres of Tahiti and Hawaii, there appears little interest in trade with the Europeans, possibly due to a restricted food surplus and continual territorial disputes amoungst the native tribes.
Common maritime knowldge indicated that the Maoris' major interest in Europeans was culinary.

By the time of European contact, Maori culture had entered a second phase replacing the earlier Archacic period following the voyages of occupation, circa 1100-1260 AD.

These second generation canoes of New Zealand were significantly different to other Polynesian designs and  the use of the double-hulled canoe, which was certainly the craft of had largely ceased.

Big, double-hulled, long-distance sailing craft were out of place in this new world.
They gave way to craft that were generally single-hulled and paddled and were better adapted to the coastal and estuarine tasks they had to perform. (3)

Hower, some remnants of the Archaic culture remained in the southern regions of the South Island and the Chatham Islands:

Versions of every type of Polynesian watercraft were still being made and used along those in-hospitable shores in the early nineteenth century.
There were simple dugouts, five-part canoes (with built up sides and added end pieces), outrigger canoes, double canoes and Taupo (bulrush) reed raft-boats with raised sides and ends, called mokihi.
Each type of craft was used for the purpose and in the place for which it was best adapted - the mokihi, for instance, being constructed near and used on inland lakes and rivers. (4)

4.2 The need and skills required to negotiate the surf zone were evident in New Zealand, similar to other Polynesian practise.
George Angas reported in 1847:

A fleet of canoes, adorned as they often are, with the snow-white feathers of the albatross or the gull,
and each manned by a numerous band of paddlers, presents a singular and beautiful appearance;
gliding swrftly over the blue and crisp waves, and lowering their mat-sails they dart into the bay, and
run up on the beach shooting like arrows through the white breakers. (5)

Anglas' comments on Maori recreation, unfortunately, were limited to juveniles:

They pass their early years almost without restraint, amusing themselves with the various games of the country : such as flying kites, which are formed of leaves ; the game of maui; throwing mimic spears made of fern-stalks, and sailing their tiny flax canoes on the rivers, or watching them tossed about by the waves of the sea. (6)

4.3 In the summer of 1884 W.H. Skinner observed local Maoris from the village Te Klturi on the Auckland-Taranaki Coast canoe surfing at the open beach at the entrance of the Mokau River, which he documented at length in 1923. (7)
The activity was enjoyed by the whole community, both as participants and audience:

On arriving there I found the whole population gathered, taking part in, or watching and encouraging
the contending parties, in a most exhilarating sport, or pastime, that was proceeding at the mouth of
the river. (8)

Skinner described the canoes, apparrently without outriggers, and the importance of selecting suitable surfriding condtions:

Two small handy canoes, varying in length from eighteen to twenty-five feet, were being used, in
each of which were two paddlers, the steersman, and one in the prow.
The position chosen for the "surf-riding " was ideal for the purpose, and here, doubtless for generations past, the old time Maori had indulged in this sport.
This canoe running had to be taken at  a certain time of the tide - about three-quarter flood - to fit in
with the locality chosen (or similarly situated positions).
The condition of the sea, too heavy, or insufficent break, also had to be considered.
This in fact was essential.

On the occasion I am writing about - January, 1884 - the day was beautifully fine, the tide about
three-quarter flood, and the sea compartively smooth outside, with an accompanying light break or
rollover the bar, a quarter to one-third of a mile seaward.
The bar had the effect of breaking up and reducing the ocean roll to a negotiable size for the small
canoes to ride on, by the time the wave reached the "surfing" course which ran along abreast of the
sand spit, forming the north side of river bank in this locality. (9)

The mechanics of canoe surfing, expertly lead by the local chief Te Rangi (a man at this time about sixty years of age), were described:

I arrived on the scene just in time to witness Rangi and his partner launch out for a "run."
Having got his canoe into the desired position, he awaited a suitable oncoming roller, just keeping a
slight forward movement on the craft until the roll had approached within a few yards of the stern of
the canoe, when the steersman gave a short word of command, and the two plunged their paddles
into the tide, and with a few powerful strokes got the required "way" on to enable it to be taken up by
the roller as it caught the stern of the canoe.
The rest was left to the action of the wave, and the steersman.
The canoe, if properly handled, was now rushing through the tide, keeping just roughly a little short
of its own length in advance of the wave, with a cascade of water thrown off from either side of the
prow, its expert hellsman as rigid as one cast in bronze, watching intently the gradual curling of the
roller (the bowman inactive, with paddle drawn in), until at the moment he judges the time has come,
with a swift twist or turn of his paddle (a movement so deft and graceful that it could scarce be
detected by those watching close at hand) the canoe was turned sharply to the right, the wave
breaking as it passed beneath its keel, and riding gracefully down the outter slope of roller, turned
seaward to repeat the manouvre. (10)

He noted that some of the surfriders included women and there was a likelyhood of mis-adventure, with wipe-outs a "great amusement of the crowd of onlookers":

Had the steersman misjudged his time for turning by a fraction of time, disaster would have followed,
and herein lay the skill of the surf-canoer.
Rangi never made a mistake in this respect, but time and again the other less skilIful gamesters,
some of whom were women, misjudged the time when the wave would break, and running on just a
fraction too long, were driven prow under and swamped, or caught on the turn by the breaking wave
and capsized, in either case the occupants of canoe receiving a thorough ducking, to the great
amusement of the crowd of onlookers.
The swamped canoe was brought ashore, bailed and refitted, and set off  again with another pair of
"surfers" to try their skill, or luck, in this exciting game. (11)

Critically, Skinner's closing comment, "Alas! that we were to witness such a scene ever again", emphatically implies that the canoe surfing he observed in 1884 was no longer in evidence, undoubtedly like many other indigenous practices. (12)

4.4 The earliest eyewitness report of surfriding in New Zealand is probably in 1921 by S. Percy Smith, who contrasted the lack of earlier references, noted above, with his personal observations and experience:

While the Maoris did not use this form of amusement to the same extent as some other branches of
the Polynesians- the Hawaiians, for instance- it was certainly practised sixty to seventy years ago,
and probably is so still when the beaches are suitable.
I have myself seen dozens of young Maoris indulging in the sport on the Taranaki coast, and have
heard of it being a popular amusement in the Bay of Plenty.
...
I can say from experience that it is a most exhilarating pastime. (13)

Smith's claim that "it was certainly practised sixty to seventy years ago" (circa 1855) is possibly a personal recollection (Smith would have been fifteen in 1855), if he was residing in New Zealand at this time.
At the time of writing, Smith was eighty-one and well past his surfriding days.

The familarity with Hawaiian surfriding may be the result of S. Percy Smith's Pacific travels, but by 1910 a number of photographs of standing boardriding substantially added to the available written descriptions and, often misleading, illustrations.
See Surfriding Images : 1788 to Photography.

Furthermore, by 1915 surfriding was once again becoming popular in New Zealand, largely influenced by developments in the surf life saving movement in Australia.
See 4.6, below.

His personal report of significant numbers of Maori surfriders "on the Taranaki coast" is on the west coast of the North Island, an area with an abundance of surfriding locations featuring right and left reef breaks, Middleton Bay said to hold waves up to 25 feet, and several river bar breaks. (14)
The boards were narrow and apparently only ridden prone, Smith doubting whether they were used for riding in a standing position and reports :

The boards used were about six feet long by about nine inches wide.
One end of the board was held at the pit of the stomach, with the arms extended towards the other end, the hands grasping the sides of the board.
The performer would swim out beyond the breakers and watching his opportunity as the wave broke would be hurled along by the breaking wave into the shallow water.
The game was called 'whakaheke-ngaru', identical with the Tahitian name 'la'ahe'e-'aru' (Fa'ahe'e?) for the same thing.
It is questionable if the Maoris ever used boards so large as the Hawaiians on which a man could stand upright. (15)

4.5 In 1924, a contemporary of Smith, Eldon Best, briefly recorded Maori aquatic activities, including board, canoe and body surfriding:

In water exercises the Maori excelled, like his Polynesian brethren of warmer climes, and this was
seen in his powers as a swimmer, his dexterity in surf-riding, and his fearlessness in jumping from a
height.
...
Surf-riding was practised both with and without a board, and also in small canoes, both plank and
canoe being known by the same name, kopapa.(16)

Variations on the word papa appear throughout the Pacific to indicate a slab or board:

In ... Maori, papa, “anything broad or flat—a slab, board, door, or shutter”; Samoan, papa, “board, floor-mat”; Tahitian, papa, “a board, seat, the shoulder-blade”; (17)

Also in Tahitian, papa faahee, "surfriding board" and Hawaiian, papa he naru, "wave sliding board".

Critically, in a parrallel report Best appears to indicate his information, unlike Smith, is possibly not based on personal observation and is comprised of oral recollections:

Young women sometimes joined the sport, and an old surfrider informed me that in his youthful days, he had seen thirty to forty persons so riding shore ward at one time." (18)

Without any other knowledge of surfboard buiding in New Zealand, it is assumed that construction corresponded to similar practices across Polynesia, although it must be noted that the Maori encounted a substantially different flora, the dominant construction timber being Kari.
See 3.15 Tahitian Surfboard Construction.
Harvesting timber certainly certainly followed Polynesian tradition:

For instance, no tree must be felled without an invocation to obtain Tane's blessing and without an offering.
Failure to do so incurred divine anger. (19)

Tane was theMaori deity of the forest, the equivilent of xxx in Tahiti and Kane in Hawaii.

4.6 Other Maori aquatic activities, identified by Best, have parrallels in other Polynesian cultures, in particular the learning of swimming at an early age.
Unfortunately, Best's description of Maori swimming technique ("the side-stroke") is unclear, but certainly varied considerably from the breast-stroke familiar to European swimmers.

This so-called diving was really jumping, as the performer simply jumped off the height and entered
the water feet first.
The Maori practised the side stroke, and looked with dislike upon the breast stroke.
Swimming races (kau whakataetae) naturally formed a pleasing exercise, and children learned to swim at a very early age.
...
Canoe races ('waka hoehoe' and 'whakatere waka') were recreations that appealed to the Maori.
In the excitement of a well-contested canoe race, with paddles as the motive power, the Maori would
find one of his keenest pleasures. (20)

Best writes that the attactions of jumping from a fixed height or from a swinging rope often entailed construction of specialized timber towers:

Where a suitable place for diving was not available, a stout pole or ricker was set up in a slanting
position and extending out over the water.
Performers ran up this beam from the earth, and jumped from its upper end into the water below.
These kokiri were supported on a stout post.
The moari or morere, our giant stride, was sometimes erected near deep water, so that when a player
swung outward he could release his grasp on the rope and plunge into the water.
These exercises had simple songs or short jingles peculiar to them, and which were chanted by the
players. (21)

4.7 Note that by the time that Smith and Best detailed Maori surfriding, it was once again becoming popular in New Zealand, largely influenced by developments in the surf life saving movement in Australia.
The earliest clubs formed in Australia around 1907 and New Zealand had an established clubs by 1911. (22)

Contacts between surf lifesaving and competetive swimming oganisations across the Tasman led to Duke Paoa Kahanamoku repeating his swimming and surfriding demonstrations in New Zealand after his record breaking visit to Australia in the summer of 1914-1915.
See Duke Kahanamoku's Australian Tour, 1914-1915.

Kahanamoku, with fellow competitor George Cuhna and manager, Francis Evans, arrived in Wellington, New Zealand on 24 th February,1915 and as well as several swimming performances, he gave a surfriding demonstration with another self-made board (23), on the North Island at Lyall Bay, Wellington.
Wayne Warwick records visiting Maranui Surf Lifesaving Club member, Mr. J. Whisker's recollection of the Duke's first ride (24):

The Duke paddled out into the middle of the Bay in quite a heavy swell, tumed the board around, and caught a wave and rode it until a short distance from the shore.
He then ran to the front of the board so that it nosedived and he dived off into the wave and bodysurfed the rest of the wave in. (25)

A second demonstation followed on the West Coast at Muriwai :

The 'Auckland Weekly News' reported that he also gave a surfing demonstration at Muriwai, on Auckland's West Coast, but it is not clear what sort of board he used or whether he stood up. (26)

There is a suggestion of a third surfriding demonstration on the South Island at New Brighton, Christchurch, but this may not have included boardriding.
In New Zealand, similar to Australia, surfriding remained centralized around the surf life saving clubs for the next forty years until the widespread adoption of the lightweight fibreglassed Malibu surfboard circa1960.

2. Smith, S. Percy: Note #305 The use of the Surf Board in New Zealand.
The Journal of Polynesian Society
New Plymouth, New Zealand.
Printed for the Society by Thomas Avery.
Volume XXX Number 1. No. 117, March 1921.
Notes and Queries, page 50.

Noted and quoted in:
Dela Vega, Timothy T. et al: 200 Years of Surfing Literature - An Annoted Bibliography.
Published by Timothy T. Dela Vega.
Produced in Hanapepe, Kaui, Hawaii. 2004, page 58.
Initially based on Daved Marsh's online database (The Water Log- not currently available), the book was
compiled from contributions of a worldwide group of over twenty surfriding historians and collectors.

3. Lewis, David: The Maori - Heirs of Tane.
Orbis Publishing Limited, London, 1982, page 25.
Photographs by Werner Forman.

4. Lewis: The Maori (1982), page 25.

5. Angas, George French: Savage Life And Scenes In Australia And New Zealand.. Being an Artists
Impressions of Countries and People at the Antipodes.
A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington Auckland and Sydney, in conjunction with Johnson Reprint Corporation, New
York and London, 1967.
First published by:
Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1847, page 295.
http://books.google.com/books?id=6xPU4eeDF0oC&pg=PA1&dq=angas

6. Angas: Savage Life (1847), page 314.

7. Skinner, W.H.: Surf-riding by Canoe.
The Journal of Polynesian Society
Volume XXXII Number 1. No. 125, March 1923, pages 35 to 37.
New Plymouth, New Zealand. Printed for the Society by Thomas Avery.

8. Skinner: Surf-riding by Canoe. (1923) page 35.

9. Skinner: Surf-riding by Canoe. (1923) pages 35-36.

10. Skinner: Surf-riding by Canoe. (1923) page 36.

11. Skinner: Surf-riding by Canoe. (1923) page 36.

12. Skinner: Surf-riding by Canoe. (1923) page 37.

13. Smith: Surf Board in New Zealand (1921), page 50.

14. Warwick, Wayne: A Guide to Surfriding in New Zealand
Second Edition
Viking Sevenseas Ltd
Wellington, New Zealand, 1978, the pages are un-numbered.

15. Smith: Surf Board in New Zealand (1921), page 50.

16. Best, Elsdon: The Maori As He Was: Maori Life as it was in Pre European Days.
Board of Science and Art, Manual No.4.
Wellington, New Zealand, 1924, pages 131-132.
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BesMaor-c6-2-1.html

Noted and quoted in:
Dela Vega et al: Surfing Lit (2004), page 36.

17. Fox, Rev. C. E.: Oceanic Comparatives.
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961.
Volume 42, Art. I, 1909.
Communicated by A. Hamilton.
Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 5th May,1909.
http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_42/rsnz_42_00_000050.html

18. Best, Elsdon: The Maori. (second volume)
Memoirs of the Polynesian Society, Number V, Volume 2.
Wellington, New Zealand ,1924, pages 91-92.

Noted and quoted in:
Dela Vega et al: Surfing Lit (2004), page 36.

Elsdon Best reprised his notes on New Zealand surfriding in two further publications in 1925:

Best, Elsdon: The Maori Canoe.
Dominion Museum Bulletin Number  7
Wellington, New Zealand,  1925, page 326.

Noted and quoted in:
Dela Vega et al: Surfing Lit (2004), page 36.
 "they use also... a kind of surfboard similar to that of the natives of the Sandwich Islands."

and

Best, Elsdon: Games and Pastimes of the Maori: an account of various exercises, games and pastimes of the natives of New Zealand, as practised in former times; including some information concerning their vocal and instrumental music.
Dominion Museum Bulletin Number 8.
Wellington, New Zealand,1925, page 241.

Noted and quoted in:
Dela Vega et al: Surfing Lit (2004), page 36.
"Surf riding 'whakaheke ngaru' was conducted on a board termed kopapa by coastal tribes with suitable shore line..."

The complete texts are yet to be examined.

19. Lewis: The Maori (1982), page 33.

20. Best: The Maori As He Was (1924), page 132.

21. Best: The Maori As He Was (1924), page 132.

22. Kaler, W.F. (compiler): St Clair Surf Life Saving Club's Souvenir - 50th Anniversary 1911 - 1961.
 Otago Daily Times, circa 1962.

23. For the first of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku's boards made in Australia, see #100.

24. Warwick is unaware of Maori surfriding and adds to the description of Kahanamoku's ride:
"which was probably the first wave ever ridden in New Zealand."

25.Warwick: New Zealand Guide,1978, the pages are un-numbered.

26. Williamson: Gone Surfing (2000), page 6.

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polynesian surfriding : chapter 5

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surfresearch.com.au

Apart from the many accounts from Hawaii, of course another centre for study is New Zealand.
As a start, I note the following entries from 200 Years Surf Lit. (2004), page 95.
I assume that these were contributed by yourself.
Also some data I have pulled of the internet (accredited).
I have yet to source any of these in hard copy.

Please note that the quotations are drawn as widely as possible and not confined to specific references to New Zealand surfriding.
In examinating surfriding as one element of an aquatic Polynesian culture, accounts of maritime navigation, canoe building and use, swimming and diving (both underwater and high diving) may have relevance.
This approach is evident in some sections of the Surfriding in Tahiti paper, noted above.

In the works cited below, the report by Stephenson Smith (1921) appears to indicate that there are very few (none?) accounts that mention surfriding in the 18th and 19th centuries (Tasman, Cook, Banks, etc), despite his personal observations.
"It has been pointed out to me that nowhere in the literature relating to the Maoris of New Zealand is there any mention of the use of the surfboard amoung ...(transcrption incomplete)
I have myself see dozens of young Maoris indulging in the sport on the Taranaki Coast", page 50.

Any comments, advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Geoff Cater.

New Zealand
Page 295

The canoes are elegantly shaped, and elaborately ornamented with grotesque carvings, painted red
with kokowai; they have elevated stern-posts, and carry low triangular sails made of raupo (a species
of rush), and look markably picturesque.
A fleet of canoes, adorned as they often are, with the snow-white feathers of the albatross or the gull,
and each manned by a numerous band of paddlers, presents a singular and beautiful appearance;
gliding swrftly over the blue and crisp waves, and lowering their mat-sails they dart into the bay, and
run up on the beach shooting like arrows through the white breakers.
Many of the canoes that arrive at Waltemata from the Thames, will carry from fifty to ???ty men who
all paddle together, singing in unison some Maori ...

Page 296

... ?ing in measured strain, may frequently be heard when the canoe itself is but a speck on the waves,
and the distant sound falls on the ear with a wild and savage effect.

page 307

 At the present day, migrations in the Pacific are very common: canoes containing frequently a dozen
or twenty natives have been met with at sea more than a thousand miles from the islands to which
they belong; and others, driven by the wind out of sight of land, are frequently carried along at the
mercy of the waves, and their crews drifted upon the first shores that may fall in their way.
Not long since, the brig Clarence of Sydney fell in with a canoe from the Kingsmills group, containing
a number of natives who had been twenty-four days at sea, and knew not in which direction they
were drifting.
For my own part, I am strongly inclined to suppose that the original stock of the Sandwich Islanders,
and of the New Zealanders—for they are evidently the same race, and of one primitive origin —
are descendants of the ancient Mexicans; who either emigrated in then* vessels to the Sandwich
Islands (which are at a comparatively short distance from the American coast), or were driven thither
by the winds, in consequence of getting too far out to sea to be enabled, with their deficient
knowledge of navigation, to regain the American continent.

page 314

The children are cheerful and lively little creatures, full of vivacity and intelligence.
They pass their early years almost without restraint, amusing themselves with the various games of
the country : such as flying kites, which are formed of leaves ; the game of maui; throwing mimic
spears made of fern-stalks, and sailing their tiny flax canoes on the rivers, or watching them tossed
about by the waves of the sea.
These are the most favourite sports of these merry and interesting children.

page 320

In making their nets and fixing weirs for catching fish, the natives are remarkably expert.
Eels are greatly sought after in the deep streams of the interior; and crawfish are obtained by diving.
Mussels, cockles (pipi), the fish of the haliotis (pawa), and a variety of other shell-fish, are used upon
the coast as articles of food.

Page 131

In water exercises the Maori excelled, like his Polynesian brethren of warmer climes, and this was
seen in his powers as a swimmer, his dexterity in surf-riding, and his fearlessness in jumping from a
height.
This so-called diving was really jumping, as the performer simply jumped off the height and entered
the water feet first.
The Maori practised the side stroke, and looked with dislike upon the ..

Page 132

... breast stroke.
Swimming races (kau whakataetae) naturally formed a pleasing exercise, and children learned to swim
at a very early age.
Surf-riding was practised both with and without a board, and also in small canoes, both plank and
canoe being known by the same name, kopapa.
It is interesting to see natives cross swift and deep rivers by means of treading water.
Making for the opposite bank in a slanting, down-stream direction, they practically walk across in an
upright position.
The breastpole (tuwhana) was also used when a number wished to ford a swift, dangerous stream.
Native children were encouraged to be fearless in the water.
Where a suitable place for diving was not available, a stout pole or ricker was set up in a slanting
position and extending out over the water.
Performers ran up this beam from the earth, and jumped from its upper end into the water below.
These kokiri were supported on a stout post.
The moari or morere, our giant stride, was sometimes erected near deep water, so that when a player
swung outward he could release his grasp on the rope and plunge into the water.
These exercises had simple songs or short jingles peculiar to them, and which were chanted by the
players.
A curious incident occurred at Rua-tahuna early in last century in connection with this swinging
practice.
In a local interclan quarrel several persons had been slain, and their relatives, in order to avenge their
deaths, erected two moari at Kiritahi.
A song was composed, the effect of which was supposed to be a dispelling of their grief, and this song
was sung by those who disported themselves on the swing.
Truly, the ways of barbaric man are passing strange.

Canoe races (waka hoehoe and whakatere waka) were recreations that appealed to the Maori.
In the excitement of a well-contested canoe race, with paddles as the motive power, the Maori would
find one of his keenest pleasures.

"Surfriding on a short plank.. was also indulged in; on the east coast both plank and small canoe were styled kopapa.
The plank used seems to have been shorter than that used by the Hawaiians."
<...>
"... then, selecting a roller, he threw himself on the surfboard, grasping the fore end thereof with his hands, and so rode racing shoreward on the roller.
Sometimes a rider dispensed with his board, and rode with his arms outstretched before him.
Young women sometimes joined the sport, and an old surfrider informed me that in his youthful days, he had seen thirty to forty persons so riding shore ward at one time."
<...>
"...Surf riding was practiced throughout Polynesia.
At Tahiti it was called fa'ahe'e (Maori whakaheke) and horne, which recalls Maori horua and Hawaiian holua, a toboggan. "

 "they use also... a kind of surfboard similar to that of the natives of the Sandwich Islands."

"Surf riding whakaheke ngaru was conducted on a board termed kopapa by coastal tribes with suitable shore line..."

"In Malagasy baba is “a wall or fence in fortification”; Formosa, babas, “an earthen dam”; Tahitian,
papani, “to block up”; Mota, paparis, “wall of a house”; Maori, papa, “to close up or fasten; the layers
or strata of rocks.”
It is from this last that the idea of a slab may perhaps be derived, and so papa or baba commonly
means “a slab, board, anything flat.”
In Wedau, New Guinea, baba means “slab, side of big canoe”; babai, “to build up with slabs”; babana,
“canoe built with timbers”; Maori, papa, “anything broad or flat—a slab, board, door, or shutter”;
Samoan, papa, “board, floor-mat”; Tahitian, papa, “a board, seat, the shoulder-blade”; Mangareva,
papa, “foundation”; Motu, New Guinea, papapapa, ???-incomplete transcription.

Critically does not include Hawaiian "papa he naru", wave sliding board.

"Surl-riding (fakatu-peau) was never indulged in to the same extent as in Hawaii and riding standing was not practiced."

The island of Niue is located east of Fiji and west of Tahiti at approximately the same latitudes, the distance roughly 1:2.

 Page 50
[305] The use of the Surf Board in New Zealand.
"It has been pointed out to me that nowhere in the literature relating to the Maoris of New Zealand is there any mention of the use of the surfboard amoung ...(transcrption incomplete)
<...>
I have myself see dozens of young Maoris indulging in the sport on the Taranaki Coast, and have heard of it being a popular amusement in the Bay of Plenty.
The boards used were about six feet long by about nine inches wide... One end of the board was held at the pit of the stomach, with the arms extended to words the other end, the hands grasping the sides of the board.. <...>
It is questionable if the Maoris ever used boards as large as the Hawaiians on which a man could stand upright.
I can say from experience that it is a most exhilarating pastime."
Hard Copy

Page 6

When Europeans arrived in New Zealand they found that coastal Maori tribes were surfing (whakaheke ngaru) using relatively uncrafted boards (kopapa), logs (paparewa), canoes (waka) and even kelp bags (poha).
The sport was not as developed as in Hawaii but was a regular summertime activity.
Some tribes in the Canterbury area were reported to have used boards that could support up to three people.

The arrival of missionaries in New Zealand in the mid- to late-1800s led to many Maori becoming Christians. Surfing was not as institutionalised in Maori society as it was in Hawaiian society but concerns for religious propriety, as well as Victorian dress codes, did permeate Maori custom and hasten the demise of distinctive Maori aquatic activities, including surfing.

Page 24
At the beginning of New Zealand prehistory only one design of adze and one kind of rock were being used. These were of the generalized eastern Polynesian type, and remained in use in New Zealand throughout the Archaic period.

The early adzes were made of close-grained basalt or argillite-type rock, as were those of tropical Polynesia. They had a low angle of attack, and a curved cutting edge so that the blade bit into the wood at an angle of about 20 degrees in a slicing, gauging stroke.
An angled butt prevented the lashings that held the blade to the wooden haft from being scraped.
These were clearly instruments designed to slice out long slivers of wood, to gouge out grooves, but they were quite unsuitable as chopping tools.
These early models, which have recently been uneathed in peaty swamps, were instruments par excellence for the delicate shaping of dugout hulls, carved wash-strakes, bow and stern pieces and outrigger attachments.
The later adzes of the Classic Maori period were of coarse-grained gabro or sandstone-greywacke.
They were evenly bevilled for chopping or splitting.
Heavy wood-working adzes (or axes, depending on the mode of hafting used), their tough, coarse raw material could sustain the heavy impacts of forest clearing, grubbing up massive roots without causing damage.

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Maori agriculture demanded powerful tools for forest clearance, for shaping heavy timbers for fortifications and for digging kumara storage pits in hard ground.
The later Maori did not, of course, lack canoes, but their function, relative importance and design altered radically.
Big, double-hulled, long-distance sailing craft were out of place in this new world.
They gave way to craft that were generally single-hulled and paddled and were better adapted to the coastal and estuarine tasks they had to perform.

The pre-European-contact Maori had a very thorough knowledge of the properties of stone.
In Stone Age cultures stone was the very stuff of life.
Stone tools were needed to make canoes, houses, spears, bird- snares, harpoons, digging-sticks, fish-hooks, nose flutes, carvings and virtually all else that supported and enriched the life of man.
It is unlikely that many people today possess nearly such thorough knowledge of the properties of stone or skill at working it as had been mastered by the 'simple' prehistoric Maori.

The Archaic phase did not suddenly give way to the Classic phase in one dramatic transformation.
The processes of change, that started in the north, were irregular in space and time.
In fact, in Te Wahi Pounamu, the southern region where kumara would not grow, many aspects of the old way of life continued right up to the time of European contact.
Perhaps the best way to reconstruct a picture, though somewhat distorted by the passage of time, is to look at the early nineteenth-century way of life of the People of the Greenstone. !
Although the southern Maori were by this time cultivating the frost-resistant European potato, they had by no means abandoned their traditional, naturally occurring food resources, nor gone over to year-round permanency of settlement.
Bushbirds, groundbirds, eels, shellfish, seabirds and seals, found in their particular settings and seasons along the coasts or interior, were still important in the diet.

Thls, for mstance, was the seasonal cycle of the Ruapuke Islanders, whose inhospitable home lies in the stormy Foveaux Strait between Stewart and South Island.
January and February (the southern summer) they spent at home, harvesting potatoes and making kelp bags as containers for preserved mutton birds (titi).
In March they sailed to the Mutton-bird Islands off StewaTt Island, remaining there until May, when they returned to Ruapuke with their haul.
In June they crossed to the South Island mainland to hunt wood hen (weka).
In August they moved further inland into the forests after bushbirds.
September found them making their way up the Mataura River to Tuturau to gather lampreys.
Eeling activities were extended to coastal areas in November.
Finally, in December, the Islanders recrossed Foveaux Strait and returned to Ruapuke.

This southland of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, which retained Archaic features, can offer a few more pointers to the life and the artifacts of the tropical-bred eastern Polynesians, who showed their mettle in face of snow and savage storm.
Versions of every type of Polynesian watercraft were still being made and used along those in-hospitable shores in the early nineteenth century.
There were simple dugouts, five-part canoes (with built up sides and added end pieces), outrigger canoes, double canoes and Taupo (bulrush) reed raft-boats with raised sides and ends, called mokihi.
Each type of craft was used for the purpose and in the place for which it was best adapted -the mokihi, for instance, being constructed near and used on inland lakes and rivers.

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Nevertheless, there were some beliefs that were universal throughout Polynesia as well as New Zealand.
For instance, no tree must be felled without an invocation to obtain Tane's blessing and without an offering. Failure to do so incurred divine anger.
So it was that, when a man named Rata felled a tree without having obtained sanction, the woodland spirits romptly re-erected it.
When Rata chided them for having undone his work, they replied:
'Who gave you permission to fell Tane to the ground?'
Rata was deeply shamed and admitted his error, at which the spirit servants of Tane forgave him and even went so far as to complete the canoe for him.

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The division of labour between men and women was sharply defined.
Men felled trees, burnt off fern and scrub, and loosened the soil for planting; women then planted and subsequently cared for the kumara crop.
Fern rhizomes were dug by men, collected and carried home by women.
Men usually snared birds but women sometimes participated, being allotted the smaller trees.
Open-sea fishing was men's work.
Women were .equally adept at handling canoes, however, and thought nothing of bringing cooked food out to warriors at sea, since the warriors could carry nothing cooked on the sacred war canoes.
Men dove for rock lobster and deep-water paua (abalone), while women caught fresh-water crayfish and gathered shellfish in the inter-tidal zone.
Either sex might collect berries, and women could help haul logs from the forest for house-building, but not for making canoes.
The distinction between men's and women's work being based as much on tapu as on physical strength, women could have nothing to do with the building of meeting-houses or canoes.
There were no female carvers, tattooists or warriors.
Weaving and cloak-making, on the other hand, were mainly feminine occupations.

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Canoes loomed very large in Maori life.
The tribes themselves traced descent from the distinguished ancestors of the founding canoes.
Although long-distance, open-sea voyaging had been abandoned long before the Classic Maori period, canoes remained indispensable for fishing, transport and war.

Simple dugouts, 'waka tiwai', sufficed for general use on lakes and rivers.
The larger fishing canoes, 'waka tete', which were sometimes up to 14 metres (46 feet) in length, were used for off-shore fishing and coastal transport.
Freeboard was increased by the provision of gunwale strakes, the seams being sealed with outer and inner battens.
A bow piece with a transverse washboard served to deflect head seas.
There was a stern piece which was generally uncarved.
As with all Maori craft, propulsion was mainly by paddle.
Sails, when used at all, were of the extremely ancient Austronesian type, simple inverted triangles made of plaited flax.

The war canoe, or 'waka taua', was of the same general design as the 'waka tete'.
But it resembled it much as a hawk does a hen.
War canoes were built from the magnificent kauri or to tara trees and were often 24 metres-(80 feet) long. They were the pride of the Maori and were among the most precious possessions of hapu and tribe.
They were hedged around ...

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with powerful tapu and were, possessed of great mana. Upon the decora- tion the most accomplished wood-carvers lavished'their greatest skill, and the carved bow and ,stern pieces are among the Ernest examples of Maori art. Buck wrote with feeling, 'Manned by a double row of tattooed warriors with their paddles flashing in perfect time to the canoe, chants of a leader standing amidship with a quivering jade club, the speeding war canoe must have offered" an inspiring yet awesome sight.'

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The art of adzing was regarded as the primary skill ofa Maori carver and the adze was his most important tool. Adzes ranged from those with blades weighing around 100 grams (4 oz) to massive two-handed types with stone heads of 5 kilograms (10 lb) or more. As mentioned earlier, the gouging adze of the Moa Hunter canoe-builder gradually gave way to the wood-cutting adze of the Classic period. A Classic Maori carving was begun by rough -dressing the timber with a heavy adze, then smaller adzes took over the blocking-out stage. The chisel took the place of the gouging canoe-building adze of the Archaic period; the mallet and chisel were the fine tools par excellence of the wood-carver.
There was a great variety of chisels (whao) made of basalt or greenstone. Some greenstone chisels were p.erforated at the butt end and worn by craftsmen as ear ornaments when not otherwise in use. Whether this was a badge of office or a means of-safe-guarding valuable tools, we do not know.

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Skipping over a rope swung by companions was as popular in New Zealand as it is with children elsewhere. So was anything to do with water. Boys and girls learned to swim early, sometimes assisted by gourd floats. Side-stroke, breast-stoke, overarm and back-stroke were all used. Dives were always made feet first. Body-surfing with or without small boards was a pastime for young people on suitable coasts. Tob"oganning was largely a children's pastime, using ti kouka leaves or wooden toboggans.

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Games of strength and quickness such as running races, long-jump competItIons and wrestling, tended to shade Into imlitary training.
Canoe-racing was a sport for both sexes, especially obstacle racing, but racing between the huge war canoes was a sport for warriors.

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polynesian surfriding : chapter 5

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surfresearch.com.au

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