72 Transactions. 



this leaf, and, gravely added the narrator, his mouth was turned inside 

 out. These leaves deceived another lad, too. He came from the North, 

 and when he saw the leaves thought he was going to feast on pumpkins, 

 but he was disappointed. 



Haiimata was the name of what are now called Maori-heads, said one 

 old man, and upoko-takata was the name of a plant, possibly the snow-grass 

 of the early settlers. Papaii was a kind of spear-grass, and the name is 

 perpetuated in Upoko-papaii (" Sam's Grief," near Tuturau). Pukio was 

 the Maori name of " niggerheads," and there is a stream beyond the 

 Waiau known as Wai-pukio. The grass-tree was called nei in the South, 

 and Mantell, writing in 1852, says they formed so constant a part of the 

 " mosses " or vegetation in swampy valleys — comprising mosses, lichens, 

 sundews, grasses, shrubs — that the Maori called these mosses nei also. 



Legend says that the pikiraki was the last plant remaining in the kit 

 of Tane, the forest god, when he sowed the forest. He looked at it tenderly ■ 

 and said, " I cannot let my last child lie on the ground," and that is why 

 it is a parasitic plant perched high up on the big trees, a kind of mistletoe 

 with red flowers. 



The common bush fern is turokio ; another kind of fern is the piupiu, 

 and it is said the kakapo (ground-parrot) will bite it off at the base and 

 hold the frond over its head to shield itself from observation. And this 

 leads us to an interesting bit of folk-lore. 



A Folk-tale. 



The kakapo and the toroa (albatross), said my informant, had a dispute 

 as to who was to be " boss " of the land, and finally they agreed to decide 

 the question by a test. They were to take turn about at hiding, to see 

 which had the greater success at finding the other. A piece of open land 

 with very little cover was selected, and the toroa hid first, but his white 

 plumage was too conspicuous and he was found almost at once. " I will 

 hide again," he cried, " and this time you won't find me." But alas for 

 his hopes ! his opponent found him with very little trouble. Then the 

 kakapo took his turn at hiding, and lay down on a bare place with a piupiu 

 fern over his head. Search as he might, the toroa could not find his wily 

 rival until the latter laughed aloud, the sound disclosing his whereabouts. 

 '' I will hide again," he said, " on that bare patch over there, and this 

 time you won't find me." The cunning bird again used piupiu to avoid 

 detection, and again the toroa, search as he might, failed to discover his 

 rival. He flew backwards and forwards over the place as low as possible, 

 but all to no purpose — his quest was in vain. Having been so unsuccessful, 

 the other birds decided that the toroa was not a fit and proper bird to 

 dwell on land, so in deep disgrace he was banished to the wide oceans and 

 there he is now to be found. 



Potatoes and Introduced Plants. 



Potatoes, introduced by Europeans, were early grown in the South, for 

 in the late R. McNab's Murihiku we read that in 1813 there was " a field 

 of considerably more than 100 acres which presented one well-cultivated 

 bed, filled with rising crops of various ages, some ready for digging, while 

 others had been but newly planted." This was inland from Bluff Harbour, 

 and it was also recorded that " a spike nail would buy a hundredweight 

 of potatoes " from the Maori. One of my old Maori friends said. 



