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Show 10 - steer by the stars and tide winds to find their island homes. Their canoes must have been marvelous vessels in comparison to his own small canoe. Grandmother Wetekia often told the story of how their own tribal ancestors reached Aotearoa in the great migration many, many winters past. Some of their mighty canoes were: Arawa, the shark, Tainui, ^reat Tide, Mata-atua, Face of God, Kurahaupo, Storm Cloud, Tokomaru, Shade of the South. There was also the Aotea, Takitumu, Horouta and many others. The canoe was the Maori's pride in craftsmanship. Canoes were often elaborately carved in intricate patterns depicting stories of ancestors or a particular tribe. The prow often had a carved figure of Tiki or one of the gods leading the wa^ of the craft through the waters of the deep. The Maori canoe was of either a single or double type. Some were over a hundred feet long and manned by a crew of one-hundred and forty men. The original great canoes that first came to Aotearoa from the far distant land of Haiwaiki were double canoes or outriggers. Six-foot paddles or sometimes sails fixed on one or more masts were used to propel them through the sea. The double canoes often had small houses built |
