Beattie. — Nature-lore of the Southern Maori. 77 



the flax into tlie holes in the offending molars as a palliative. According 

 to a southern Maori, a water-plant called the runa was applied to the skin 

 of sufferers from ringworm. It is said to be a sort of water-lily, and the 

 Wairuna Stream derived its name from it. 



The ancient people of the South Island, said one Maori, were skilled in 

 the use of shrubs and herbs. They had known a cure for consumption, 

 but now it is so much needed the shrub cannot be found — the white man's 

 fires and cultivation seem to have destroyed it. This shrub is said to 

 have grown on the Canterbury Plains. 



I was reading lately of a herb, called " dortza," which the American 

 Indians asserted would cure influenza, pneuinonia, and incipient consumption. 

 Tests by medical men were to the effect that it had done remarkable work 

 in many cases. 



The claim by southern Maori that they had once known such a herb 

 seemed to me a noteworthy one, and the fact was told to me years before 

 the fame of dortza got spread by the Press. 



" The Old Order Changes. 



A thoughtful old full-blooded Maori, in saying adieu to me last time 

 I visited him, remarked, " The Maori knew how to gather his food from 

 of old, and it suited him, and he raised a vigorous race. Look at him 

 now ! There are few middle-aged and few young people ! Why ? It 

 is largely ignorance of food-values. It takes a lot of food to maintain 

 a Maori in health. In the old days he could eat as many fish and birds 

 as he wanted, and all beautifully cooked in the earth-ovens. Using 

 European foods, he does not know how much to use, or how to cook it 

 properly. He eats it half-pre]?ared or in insufficient quantities, and by 

 not keeping his strength up throws the way open to consumption and 

 wasting diseases. The hope of the Maori is education. The old people 

 had not learned through generation after generation to be farmers or 

 roadmakers and they could not settle to work as the young can. 

 I always urge the young to learn to read and write and get knowledge. 

 A young woman in the ' kaik ' had a little bo}- ill and gave him castor- 

 oil ; and this not working quickly enough, she gave him Epsom salts. 

 The boy became worse, and a friend raised the money to take the boy to a 

 doctor, who said the two medicines combined formed a poison, and that 

 if the boy had not been brought "then he would soon have died. The 

 doctor gave a corrective remedy and the boy recovered. In the same 

 way I reckon want of knowledge is causing many Maori to eat wrong food 

 or to prepare it wrongly and so to slowly poison themselves, or, at any rate, 

 to imdermine their constitutions. I have often told the people this, but 

 my words have received little attention. It is impossible to go back to 

 native foods, as these have been mostly destroyed by civilization, so the 

 people must read the proper books to learn how to thrive on the proper 

 European food. The Maori girls should all be taught housekeeping, the 

 proper value of food and how to cook it, as I am convinced this is the only 

 way to save our race." 



