CoLENSO. — Beminiscences of the Ancient Maoris. 459 



and soothingly sung by a Maori mother to her child while 

 nursing and fondling it : — ■ 



Taku hei piripiri, 

 Taku hei mokimoki, 

 Taku hei tawliiri, 

 Taku kati-taramea. 



My little neck-sachcl of sweet-scented moss, 



My little neck-sachel of ftagraut fern, 



My little neck-sachel of odoriferous gum, 



My sweet-smelling neck-locket of sharp-pointed iara7;ica.* 



Here I may observe that to the last one of the four the word 

 kati is prefixed : this word — meaning, to sting, to bite, to 

 puncture, to wound sharply and painfully — is added to indi- 

 cate the excessive sharpness of the numerous leaves and leaf- 

 lets of the taramea plant (hence judiciously generically named 

 by its early discoverer, Forster, Aciphijlla = needle-pointed 

 leaf), and the consequent pains, witii loss of blood, attending 

 the collecting of its prized gum, thus enhancing its value. 



This natural and agreeable little stanza, one of the olden 

 time, has proved so generally taking to the Maori people that 

 it has passed into a proverbial saying, and is often used, 

 hummed, to express delight and satisfaction — pleasurable feel- 

 ings. And sometimes, when it has been so quietly and pri- 

 vately sung in a low voice, I have known a whole company of 

 grey-headed Maoris, men and women, to join in the singing : 

 to me, such was always indicative of an affectionate and simple 

 heart. How true it is, "One touch of nature makes the 

 whole world kin " ! j 



In the summer season the sleeping-houses of their chiefs 

 were often strew^ed with the large sweet-scented flow^ering 

 grass karetib (Hierochloe redolens). Its odour when fresh, con- 

 fined in a small house, was always to me too powerful.;]: 



* See Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xii., p. 148. 



t It is pleasing to notice that the observant artist Parkinson (who 

 was with Sir Joseph Banks as his botanical draughtsman, and Cook 

 on his first voyage to New Zealand) makes special mention of those little 

 sachels in his Journal, saying of those jMaoris who came off to tlie ship 

 in their canoes, " The principals among them had their hair tied up on 

 the crown of their heads with some feathers, and a little bundle of 

 perfume hung about tlieir necks " (Journal, p. 93). Captain Cook, also, 

 has similar remarks respecting tlio young women. 



X Sir J. D. Hooker thus writes of this fine, sweet-smelling grass in his 

 Flora Novte Zelandiie : " A large and handsome grass, conspicuous for its 

 delicious odour, like that of the common vernal grass [Anthoxanthum) of 

 England, that gives the sweet scent to new-made hay" (I.e., vol. ii., 

 p. 300). A closely-allied northern species (H. borealis), which was also 

 supposed to be found here in New Zealand, is also used on the Continent 

 of Europe for similar purposes. In some parts of Germany it is dedicated 

 to the Virgin JNIary (hence, too, its generic name of HicrocJdoe ----- sacred 

 grass), and is strewed before the doors of the churches on festival days, as 

 the sweet sedge [Acorns calamus) is strewed on the floor of the cathedral 

 at Norwich for the same purpose at such seasons. 



