SECTION VIII page 174 - 225 [8 MB, PDF] - Christchurch City Libraries

ed-funnel steamers that rattle out their hu~~drecls
of cases of bananas and thousands
of boxes of oranges for New Zealand's consumption, their tons of copra and pearl-shell
for the European market, are bus? and useful links with "the gateways of the
day," but it is the sailer that one associates more with the Isles of Roman-the
handily-rigged fast white schooners, hanging off and on outside the fringing reeh of
bitutaki, or Niue, or Penrhp and its pearl-lagoon, boating cargo through perilous surfs,
booming along wing-and-wing before the fragrant trades that blow over many a palm-
clothed island, with the flying-fish leaping in silvery showem before their bows, or furling
to a rag of sail before the gales of the " Great Ocean of Kiwa."
The weapons, utensils, dtc., shown in the Cook Islands Court numbered over a hnn-
dred items. The most valuable of these were the canoes, of which there were four large
specimens, representative not only of the canoe-building art of the Cook Group, but
a h of the outlying northern atolls Rakahaqa and Manihiki. The Natives of these
remote pearl-* islets are exceedingly deft and &tic decorators in mother-of-
pearl, and their canoes were beautifully inlaid with the irid-t shell. The Raks-
hanga-Islanders' canoe bore the famous Polynesian name " Maui " in pearl-shell letters
on the bow, and the mine " Rakahanga " was similarly lettered on the stern. The
sides of the canoe were inlaid from stem to stern with pearl-shell stars and other
devices, and even the curving thwarts were brilliant and glittering with the shell-made
adornments. At the cloee of the Exhibition this pretty wb was purchaed for the
British Huseum by Captain Atkin, the British Commissioner.
The Xanihiki outrigger canoe, about 31) ft. long, bore the name " Tauhunu," and
was inlaid h m end to end with pearl-shell. From Mangaia Island came an outrigger
canoe, with painted sides, and carved topsides and thwarts ; right in the bows was a
peculiar stylet, with lines attached leading aft ; these linea were said to have been used
by the ancient mariners as guides in steering a course. Thie canoe is now in the
Colonial Museum, Wellington. Xiue Island also sent a canoe-one of the ordinary
small outrigger craft, with remarkably broad-bladed paddles.
These primitive sea-craft of the Pol-mian island-dwellers were the most conspicuous
exhibits in the court, but there were many other curious and beautiful articles displayed.
There were cleverly woven mats of leaf and fibre ; beautifully plaited hats from Niue
Island ; ancient wooden drums from the Cook Group ; an ArWn's or high-chief s throne
from Rarotonga ; the 3iangaia-Islanders' ceremonial axes of stone (bki-tiLdiL-1, mounted
on peculiarly carved wooden blocks ; a Lurnetc or wooden trough or bowl of immense
size ; tap or native cloth, made from the bark of a tree and coloured and decorated
in various patterns, and with the wooden beaters and the blocks used for beating out
the cloth ; pearl-inlaid fish-hooks, baki or eel-catching baskets, long barbed iighting-
spears and fish-spears, r taka or war-helmet, ancient swords and *IS of hardwood,
and clubs of various strange and formidable shapes. A " peace-drum " shown in the
collection came from Xangaia, where it had been used for about a hundred years on the
occasions of peacemaking after war, when it was beaten h m village to villapa signal
that strife was ended and that refugee in hiding could venture abroad in safety again.
A remarkable spear shown was nearly 30 ft. in length, and had to be used by two men
in battle. Besides, there were some beautiful specimens of a valuable gold-edged pearl-
shell, so much sought after by the divers of the northern atoh ; banana and tam plants
growing ; and a ,dery of excellent photographic enlargements illustrative of Island
scenery and Island Xative life.
The exhibits in the court were mostly sent through the in&mmlt.Slity of Colonel
W. E. Gudgeon, C.I.G., the New Zealand Government Commissioner for the Ialands,
whose headquartem are at dvarua, Rsrotonga The Hon. C. H. Mills, ex Minister in
Charge of Island Maim, also assisted by sending some interesting exhibits of Native
workmanship.