546 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



hair close and stiff : the ears have been trimmed, so cannot 

 say if prick or not ; inchned to think they were originally 

 prick : long tail, with short hair : length, 3ft. Sin. by 1ft. 6in. 



"No. 3.— Black: long soft hair: long tail, with long 

 hair (I have sometimes seen this long black hair in the de- 

 corations used for the taiaha spears) : prick ears : length, 

 2ft. lOin. by lOin. 



" No. 4. — Slut : creamy white : short, stumpy tail : prick 

 ears: hair about lin. long, a little longer on hind-quarters : 

 bare underneath the loins : smallest skin in the mat — length, 

 2ft. 7in. by 9in. 



" No. 5. — Black : long soft hair : long tail : prick ears : 

 length, . . . by 1ft. 3in. 



" No. 6. — White : long hair, especially on tail (this is the 

 kind of dog from which the long white hair used in decorat- 

 ing spears, &c., was obtained) : length, 2ft. Sin. by 1ft. 



" No. 7. — Tawny-yellow : long shaggy hair : very small 

 prick ears : narrow head : much the colour and appearance of 

 Australian dingo : length, 3ft. by 1ft. 



" No. 8. — All black, except, under tail, a light-tan spot : 

 long soft hair : long tail : large prick ears : length, 3ft. 6in. 

 by 1ft, 



" Nos. 5 and 8 are slightly freckled with white hairs. 



" The skins have been trimmed sh'ghtly, I think — so as to 

 make them of one width with the skin of the head. I do not 

 find any spots or marks of any kind whatever over the eyes, 

 or difference of colours on the cheeks. In three or four of the 

 skins the tails have been slit into three or four strips — not 

 pieces sewn on, but the original tail cut into strips to make it 

 look more ornamental. The whole of the under-portion is 

 open to the view, and is covered with tags of dogskin with the 

 hair attached : these are there purely as an ornament, in the 

 same way as you see the black tags or threads attached to 

 certain kinds of flax mats. The han-y side of the mat was 

 worn next the skin ; the under-side, with tags attached, came 

 on the outside when in use. The skins are sewn togetherwith 

 thin lashings or laces of dog's hide, not a scrap of Sax in any 

 shape or form coming into the mat. 



" The history, by Whauhoka, is simply the names of, 

 first, his uncle, from whom I bought the mat ; then his 

 grandfather, who made the mat. He does not give the name of 

 his great-grandfather, by whom the skins were in part collected 

 a^^ cured. ,<^V^ ^ Skinneb." 



Mr. Tregear gives me the following description of a stuffed 

 specimen in the Wellington Museum : "I should think it 

 must be a genuine kuri, for it is like no European dog that I 

 ever saw. A low long-bodied dog, prick-eared, sharp-snouted, 



