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Kōrero: Energy supply and use

Muscle power

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Muscle power

When no other source of power was available, human muscle power (and a little ingenuity) was used to move waka. Stout ropes plaited in five strands, as wide as a man’s wrist, and skids made from limber green timber both helped.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Reference: Elsdon Best, The Maori canoe. Wellington: Dominion Museum, 1925, p. 103-104

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Megan Cook, Energy supply and use – Energy before the 20th century, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/artwork/23999/muscle-power (accessed 25 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Megan Cook, i tāngia i te 12 April 2010.