278
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
but little favoured by the Maori; as also the whiuwhiu, or spear thrown with a whip. The
latter weapon was adopted and used by the Maori but not to a great extent. It was used
principally in an attack on and defence of fortified places [24].
Best also considered the bow and arrow were “employed by the aborigines of
New Zealand” [25] and mentions a bow in the Dominion Museum that “closely
resembles those from the New Hebrides”. Again, as for the pa, this suggests an
ancient origin for the bow and arrow in their Spice Island homeland region.
Just as the daring of Maui the Navigator is celebrated in tradition, the shrewd
and successful military leadership of Toi is highlighted in traditional accounts of his
carefully staged rise to a position of power in the North Island. In his building of a
pa and his adoption of relevant local weapons we see the characteristic Polynesian
adaptability and quickness to take advantage of new possibilities. Toi’s campaign
to take control of the Bay of Plenty was indeed effective. Best recounts the stages:
the capturing of local men and women to swell his numbers, their acceptance of his
leadership and their agreeing to persuade others of their tribe, the Wahine-iti, to join
Toi in his pa. As evidence of the indigenous importance of women, two of the four
advocates sent to their tribe were “of some rank and somewhat elderly” women.
They brought back a hundred men and “upwards of a hundred women” to join Toi
[26]. And the single women of the tribe were given to Toi and his 40 men. When
5 men of the Wahine-iti tribe were slain by old enemies of the Pananehu tribe, Toi
sent off a group of 50 men to avenge the slayings, with the order that some be spared
and brought back to Toi. Twenty-one of these he integrated into his expanding tribe.
When another party of Pananehu came to exact revenge all but two were slain and
the two captives were persuaded to go and fetch the remainder of their tribe to join
Toi. All the principal women of the Pananehu tribe “were taken to wife by Toi and
his family group, and the forty men of his party” (p. 207). The practice of migrants
intermarrying with the indigenous women to ensure land rights in New Zealand
is seen here. For, as we have noted, land rights amongst the tangata whenua, as
in ancient Lapita practice and early Polynesian practice, were transferred through
matrilineal descent. The practice was adopted by Toi and his men as it had been by
earlier immigrants. The same practice continued amongst medieval migrants from
Eastern Polynesia for up till five to ten generations after the Heke, by which time
the Heke descendants had the numbers to take land by force [27]. In due course the
Wahine-iti and Pananehu came to be called Ngati Awa. Toi’s tribes expanded into
other parts of the North Island: Tauranga, Hauraki, Tamaki, Hokianga and Taranaki.
Tradition speaks of the Tini o Toi, the multitude of Toi, as swarming like ants.
16.11 Maori Affiliations with Western Polynesia
One technological affiliation between New Zealand and Western Polynesia, not
studied by Burrows [28], is the building of pa. As noted earlier, many constructional elements of the Maori pa can be directly sourced to the Spice Island region,
to Borneo and New Guinea so that it is perhaps not surprising to find pa in
16 The Context of Oral Traditions
but little favoured by the Maori; as also the whiuwhiu, or spear thrown with a whip. The
latter weapon was adopted and used by the Maori but not to a great extent. It was used
principally in an attack on and defence of fortified places [24].
Best also considered the bow and arrow were “employed by the aborigines of
New Zealand” [25] and mentions a bow in the Dominion Museum that “closely
resembles those from the New Hebrides”. Again, as for the pa, this suggests an
ancient origin for the bow and arrow in their Spice Island homeland region.
Just as the daring of Maui the Navigator is celebrated in tradition, the shrewd
and successful military leadership of Toi is highlighted in traditional accounts of his
carefully staged rise to a position of power in the North Island. In his building of a
pa and his adoption of relevant local weapons we see the characteristic Polynesian
adaptability and quickness to take advantage of new possibilities. Toi’s campaign
to take control of the Bay of Plenty was indeed effective. Best recounts the stages:
the capturing of local men and women to swell his numbers, their acceptance of his
leadership and their agreeing to persuade others of their tribe, the Wahine-iti, to join
Toi in his pa. As evidence of the indigenous importance of women, two of the four
advocates sent to their tribe were “of some rank and somewhat elderly” women.
They brought back a hundred men and “upwards of a hundred women” to join Toi
[26]. And the single women of the tribe were given to Toi and his 40 men. When
5 men of the Wahine-iti tribe were slain by old enemies of the Pananehu tribe, Toi
sent off a group of 50 men to avenge the slayings, with the order that some be spared
and brought back to Toi. Twenty-one of these he integrated into his expanding tribe.
When another party of Pananehu came to exact revenge all but two were slain and
the two captives were persuaded to go and fetch the remainder of their tribe to join
Toi. All the principal women of the Pananehu tribe “were taken to wife by Toi and
his family group, and the forty men of his party” (p. 207). The practice of migrants
intermarrying with the indigenous women to ensure land rights in New Zealand
is seen here. For, as we have noted, land rights amongst the tangata whenua, as
in ancient Lapita practice and early Polynesian practice, were transferred through
matrilineal descent. The practice was adopted by Toi and his men as it had been by
earlier immigrants. The same practice continued amongst medieval migrants from
Eastern Polynesia for up till five to ten generations after the Heke, by which time
the Heke descendants had the numbers to take land by force [27]. In due course the
Wahine-iti and Pananehu came to be called Ngati Awa. Toi’s tribes expanded into
other parts of the North Island: Tauranga, Hauraki, Tamaki, Hokianga and Taranaki.
Tradition speaks of the Tini o Toi, the multitude of Toi, as swarming like ants.
16.11 Maori Affiliations with Western Polynesia
One technological affiliation between New Zealand and Western Polynesia, not
studied by Burrows [28], is the building of pa. As noted earlier, many constructional elements of the Maori pa can be directly sourced to the Spice Island region,
to Borneo and New Guinea so that it is perhaps not surprising to find pa in