The 9th and final Crusade to the Holy Land had failed to rescue Jerusalem from the infidels. Edward I returned to find William Wallace (‘Braveheart’) leading a Scottish rebellion against English rule.
Kublai Kahn, grandson of Genghis Kahn, ruled an empire reaching as far west as Turkey and Poland. Marco Polo reached Peking carrying papal letter for the emperor.
In South America the Mayan civilisation had been, and gone. The Aztecs were expanding and established what is now Mexico City. Further south, the Inca’s were building the world’s first suspension bridges.
The Sun moved around the Earth; to suggest otherwise would get you burned as a heretic.
Columbus would not discover America for another two hundred and fifty years.
On the boulder bar of the Wairua River, near Blenhiem, in the South Island of New Zealand, an old Polynesian man and his dog were buried.
On tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, people were building ocean-going boats, and preparing to set sail for New Zealand.
Rangiatea, Society Islands
Rangiatea is in the Society Islands, 200km wnw of the largest island, Tahiti. Cook called them the ‘Society’ Islands, not because of the nature of the people he met there, but because the islands were grouped together.
The Kurahaupo may have come from somewhere before Rangiatea, but any location is not remembered in a way that allows us positively locate it.
I imagine the Kurahaupo initially coming from the Marquesa’s Island. There is no conclusive evidence to support this view, and I hold it largely as it has a particular romantic appeal… which could be entirely incorrect. I’ll explain this later, when this account of the Kurahaupo’s journey reaches Mahia.
The voyage of the Kurahaupo was a long time in the planning.
We don’t know why the people on the Kurahaupo left their island homes, it is not remembered in the oral traditions. The most common reasons were; to escape enemies made, or to escape starvation. Whatever the reason, it had to be very pressing indeed; the journey was incredibly perilous. Few had attempted it, virtually none had returned. It involved an ocean passage of about 30 days beyond the known and traveled routes, and it required a boat… a big boat, twenty something metres long, and building a boat that size demanded all the resources they had available. All ways round it was a huge undertaking.
To build a large ocean going waka was an enormously labour intensive task, and it took a long, long time to complete. After the two trees that would form the keels of the individual hulls were felled, they were trimmed into log and then fashioned into their rough end form. This was done where they fell… which meant that they only had to haul a smaller trunk from the forest down to the beach where the main assembly would take place.
There were be many people involved in felling, trimming and shaping the hulls… and these people all had to be fed. A suitable area nearby was cleared, and seeded with crops, a whole season before the trees would be felled.
Taking a big tree from the forest was not just a large and arduous task, it was surrounded in ritual. The trees did not belong to men, they were of the gods. Big trees were never destroyed frivolously for fear of offending the Gods. These particular trees would form the main parts of an ocean going waka. If they were cursed or bewitched then the vessel and its occupants would be doomed. Scrupulous adherence to due ritual was applied to these trees, and all the off-cuts, and all the chippings.
Women were largely excluded from the construction process. Most particularly, menstruating women were thought to bring misfortune onto whatever they came in contact with. However, they were not entirely excluded. It was the women that made all the ropes, and the women that wove the sail. Nevertheless, most of the womenfolk would not even see the vessel until it was finally completed, and hauled from its house.
In the days following the launch, preparations gathered pace. People began to say their goodbyes, and important items for the voyage, and subsequent settlement, were moved towards the beach, then to the boat. The best time for voyaging was November to February, when the wind was most reliable and the sky was clearest. Long voyages were best begun at the start of the voyaging season.
There was a lot to take. Of course, they needed food and water for the voyage, but they also had to prepare for survival in a new land.
They would take whatever tools they had; knives, adzes, hatchets, chisels, and hammers, and things that would help them catch food; fishing line, hooks, nets and lures. They would use these on the journey as well as when they arrived. They would also bring whatever weapons they had.
They also took plants to cultivate on their arrival. We don’t know exactly what they took, but we do know of the ones that succeeded in New Zealand. Gourd, taro, yam, and aute (paper mulberry) were all brought, they did not exist in New Zealand before the arrival of the Polynesians. Presumably they also brought other plants that did not prosper in the colder climate.
We know that they brought dogs with them, as dogs bones are commonly found in archaeological excavations, and it is inconceivable that they did not also bring pigs and chickens; the only large source of meat in East Polynesia, yet there were no pigs or chickens among the Maori when Europeans arrived. Cook made particular note that among the Maori he only saw dogs and rats.
The men and women to go on the voyage would have been carefully chosen. In the new land they would create a new population, so they could not all come from the same family… or the population would fail. So the Kurahaupo carried people originating from more than one island. They were selected to include all the important skills and knowledge to aid their survival. Their tohunga and personal skills would encompass knowledge of the Gods and ritual, history, navigation, astronomy, meteorology, gardening, fishing, sailing, hunting, healing, and wood and stone working.
Finally, the day came that the Kurahaupo was fully loaded, and they were ready to leave.
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