New Zealand War Canoe, drawing by Sydney Parkinson

Canoes were among the most elaborately carved structures in New Zealand. War canoes, like the one depicted in Parkinson's drawing, were vast and could carry large numbers of people.


In New Zealand, wood carving was tapu because - in making by cutting - it resembled the gods' act of creation. It was carried out under strict ritual restrictions and failure to observe them could result in faults in the carving, or even in the death of a carver or patron.

Parkinson's drawing depicts a fully laden canoe with a chief-like figure standing almost at its centre. He is wearing a long, large cloak seemingly in accordance with another aspect of tapu, that of protecting and managing the power of the gods embodied by the chief, their direct descendent.