![]() ![]() Hooks were generally barbed, but not always. A hook used with the line running behind a canoe was decorated with the iridescent shell of the haliotis (paua). The large hooks such as those for catching sharks were of wood with bone tips. It (the hinaki) was woven of the wiry stems of the Climbing Fern ( Mangemange: Lygodium volubile) and was utilised in the narrow openings of eel-weirs whereof the wings were strong palisading.įish-hooks (matau) were of all sizes and were generally made of wood or bone. The eel-basket (hinaki) was nearly of the same shape as that used in England for the same purpose, the form being that of a pear, and the length from five to eight feet. An eel-net (pukoro), in shape like a long bag, was to be seen at times, but generally the eel-basket (hinaki) or the many-pointed spear ( heru or matarau) were the more favoured methods of catching eels (tuna). With very fine meshes was used for catching white-bait (inanga). Small nets (rohe, kori, etc.) were used by hand, some of these over hoops and fastened to poles, some (toemi) were made to draw together like the mouth of a bag. One measured 75 feet in length with a diameter of 25 feet at the mouth and this particular net was the work of one man who was over 90 years of age at the time. Sometimes nets of this kind were very large. A funnel-shaped net (riritai) was also used. The seine net has been known to have been cast for human fish on several occasions of which tradition has recorded tragical adventures. Great care was taken of the nets, and, after they had been used, they were dried, folded, and put away on a stage or in a regular store-house (whata) raised on piles ( see, also, nets, under Textiles). ![]() The centre float was often highly ornamented. The upper (kaharunga) and lower (kahararo) ropes of the net were of undressed flax to the upper were fastened the floats (pouto) of buoyant wood placed at about eighteen inch intervals, the lower rope being weighted with stones. The meshes were closer and the material stouter towards the centre or belly of the net, where the strain was greatest. It was made of flax the mesh (takekenga) being formed over bunched fingers, and the knot was identical with that used by European net-makers. The fishing-net (kupenga) was, when of a large size, a most valuable possession of the Maori. ![]()
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