The Newtown bee., 1902-05-16
LITCHFIELD COUNTY
WASHINGTON.

WILLIAM CoAD WRITES OF A MAORI RE
 aArTA IN NEW ZEALAND.
 The Maori Regatta was held at place called Nyamawahia about five hours railway journey from Thames, and in getting there passed through the town where my family were hay ing their holiday, so Muriel joined me there and went with me to the regat- ta. The program comprised good number of aquatic events, but the ma- jority of them were confined to Maori competitors only and they took place at juncture of two large fresh wa ter rivers known as the Waikato and Waipa. Among the items were two events for what are known as Maori war canoes, which canoes are con- structed out of large logs, hewnout by the MaOris themselves. In the two war canoe races that l am about to write of, five large canoes took part and in each from 30 to B men were seated. The distance they had to traverse was about three miles and they started from point some little
 way up the Waikato river, proceeded down stream past the junction with the Waipa, then turned and rowed an equal distance up the last mentioned river. The crews in each canoe ap- peared to be pretty evenly matched, for they kept closely together nearly the whole distance and it was de- lightful spectacle to see them striving to reach the winning post first. They
 kept perfect time with their paddles and worked together as regular as clock work and as they passed where l stood the sight of all the paddles and
 men working so tremendously to- gether made it appear like one huge piece of mechanism. There were sev- eral thousand people assembled along the banks of the two rivers watching
 the proceedings, including very large
 number of MaOris, and the latter
 worked themselves up to great state
 of excitement in shouting and urging
 on their respective representatives in
 the canoes to do their utmost to win
 the prize. In each of these two events the finishes were remarkably close and in the first the winning canoe only | won by matter of a few inches Here are the names of the canoes and I Ctrust you will not dislocate your jaws in trying to pronounce the words:
 Kaiwho (pronounced Kai-ja), Taparata (Tapa-rata), Whawhakia, Tiki Hanata,
 and re WaOnu-o-Tana. There were
 also hurdle races for canoes rowed by
 both men and women and these events
 caused great mirth. In the wOmen's
 race five or six canoes started, each
 canoe carrying two women. They
 had to row distance/of about mile and in that distance they had to shoot
 their canoes over three sets of hurdles. The hurdles were erected about a foot above the level of the water, and when they were being approached the
 rOwers would row or paddle as hard as they cOuldin order to run their canoe
 well up on to the hurdle. (The prov of the canoes rounds or curves up in l POlAUS U UO uU OLl
 the hurdle.) In these races one of the
 rOwers sits in about the middle of the canoe and the other right at the stern.
 AS soon as the canoe commences to run up the hurdle, the rover sitting in the center stands up and runs we'll forward, which aids the momentum of the canoe and helps to carry it over the hurdle. In many instances the canoe upsetS and throws it's occupants into the water and then the fun com mences. But the Maoris, both men and women, are like ducks in the wa ter. and can swim all right. They quickly right their canoes, get into them again and are off once more in double quick time, but it's great sport to see them struggling and spluttering In their hurry to get their canoes on the way once more. In the mems canoe hurdle races there is this differ ence-they have to shoot their canoes over the hurdles in similar manner to the women, but they themselves must jump out of their canoe before it gets over and pass underneath the hurdles. It was splendid fun watch ing them. Then there was also anoth- CT race which caused considerable mer- riment and excitement This was called "A Race for Bride" In this event a nice looking Maori wahine (Maori for woman) was placed in canoe with pakeha rangatira (which means white man of good birth.) In three other canoes there were 10 men each and they had to catch the canoe with the bride in it, the latter's boat having start of some 300 yards out of a distance of about mile and half l that has to be traversed. At the word "go'' all the canoes started off, the three canoes with the men in them giving chase to the one with the bride, l who with her companion endeavored to elude the pursuit by the others. They had a right to turn and twist their canoe in whatever direction they | chose, but eventually they were over taken by one of the pursuing canoes. | The bride then had to spring from her clnoe into the one that had captured | her and then that canCa wac p,,rcuo3 |