T. H. Smith. — On Maori Piocerbs. 117 



action, and coiiiinendiug prudeuce, circumspection, and fore- 

 thought : " ]Mate wareware te uri o Kaitoa ; takoto ana te 

 paki ki tua " ("The offspring of Kaitoa perished needlessly in 

 the storm, and the cahn hxy just the other side of them " — Had 

 they waited but a Httle they would have escaped disaster). 

 Forethought : " Hapainga mai he o mo tatou ; kahore he ta- 

 rainga here i te ara " (" Bring food for the journey ; there will 

 be no fashioning of bird-snares on the way "). 



Friends plentiful in prosperity and few in time of need : 

 "He koanga, tangata tahi ; he ngahuru, puta noa " ("In the 

 planting-season visitors come singly ; in harvest-time in 

 crowds "). " Whakapiri ngahuru ; tu ke raumati " (" Closely 

 attached at harvest-time ; standing aloof in time of scarcity — 

 summer"). 



The use of iron> was well understood: "B noho, ma te 

 au o Eangitaiki koe e kawe " (" Sit still — don't hurt yourself ! 

 Eangitaiki's tide [or current] will carry you smoothly and 

 easily along ") (Eangitaiki Eiver, in the Bay of Plenty) 

 {Laisscz faire). " Kei uta nga tai o Eiripa tu ai " (" Eiripa's 

 prowess will be seen when we get on shore ") : said of a lazy 

 fisherman who takes nothing. "He is waiting till we get to 

 shore to show what he can do." 



There are many proverbs in use among the Maori people 

 which require a knowledge of the localities in order to be 

 understood. Thus, a man throwing his spear at his antagojiist 

 says, " Ana, te kai o Tama Tahei ki a koe ! " (" See, a bit of 

 Tama Tahei 's food [or play] for thee ! ") : Tama Tahei being 

 the name of a manuka grove whence the shaft of his speai- 

 was, or might have been, taken. The other, successfully 

 parrying the thrust, replies, " Ehara ! Kei tua o Kapenga e 

 haere ana " (" Never I It has passed the other side of Kape- 

 nga ") : Kapenga being the name of a flax-swamp whence the 

 flax, the material of his buckler, might have been procured. 

 Another : " Ka tare Eauwa, ka tere Pipiwhakao " (" Eauwa 

 and Pipiwhakao are afloat"): Eauwa and Pipiwhakao are 

 islands off the east coast covered with trees standing close 

 together, and the proverb is used with reference to a fleet 

 of canoes filled with armed men on a war-expedition, 

 or any large gathering where there are crowds of people. 

 Another instance : There is a rather amusing proverb used 

 in the Lake district ridiculing a person who makes great 

 show in giving an insignificant present to another. The words 

 are : "Kei rungaMatawhaura,kei raro Korokitewao " ("Mata- 

 whaura is above, Korokitewao below below [very much 

 below] ") : Matawhaura is a high cliff which rises abruptly 

 from a pretty strip of sand (Korokitewao) on the eastern shore 

 of the Eotoiti Lake. The idea is, the side of the basket con- 

 taining the gift tow^ering above the contents lying at the 



