Beattie. — Nature-lore of the Southern Maori. 75 



the animals jmaka. A European who went pig-hunting with the Maori 

 in the " fifties " says their custom was to get astride the pig and stick it 

 upwards. 



Detached Information. 



I find I have a collection of stray notes which I do not seem able 

 to incorporate with the other sections of this paj^er, so will include them 

 here. 



Koura. — The crayfish found in inland streams and in the sea were both 

 called Jcoiira, as far as I know. A stream north of Gore is Kai-koura (to 

 eat crayfish) and Wai-koura is quite a common place-name. The Maori 

 had a peculiar method of treating crayfish. They would place them across 

 a stream of fresh running water as tight as they could pack them, having 

 them so fastened they could not escape. After they were dead some time 

 the crayfish were, I understand, taken out and dried. A small creek in the 

 gorge of the Taieri Elver near its mouth was described to me as a place 

 where crayfish had been thus treated in the old days. A place near 

 Tautuku is called Hiri-koura, and I was told it meant the place where 

 crayfish were fastened. The usual meaning of hiri (or whiri) is to plait 

 or twist. 



Kaio (or, as called by the northern Maori, ngaio) is 'a well-known 

 curiosity — half plant, half animal — that was eaten by the Maori. Whare- 

 kaio is the name of a beach and landing-place near where the " Tararua " 

 was wrecked, near Fortrose. My informant said, " The kaio fastens one 

 end of itself to the rocks and the other end is like a spud. You take this 

 knob and soak it all night and eat it." A European who has boiled and 

 eaten them says, " They taste like a boiled egg flavoured with oil, and 

 have a very good flavour. The taste must, however, be acquired." 



Nets. — Although I have very little information about nets, I append 

 the few items gleaned. Lo veil's Creek was known to the Maori as 

 Tuakitata, after a kind of fishing-net. This style of net (tata) was made 

 in the shape of the cockle-shell called tuaki. Other kinds of nets were 

 called kaka and houka, whilst two kinds of snares for netting birds were 

 called mahaka and here. 



Primitive Appliances. — When the southern Maori finally abandoned 

 their old methods and adopted European ones I cannot exactly say, but 

 here are some notes concerning the Maori at Tuturau in the " fifties." 

 In 1852 old Reko was working at a pine log, 25 ft. long, with a stone adze, 

 trying to hollow out a canoe. Then he got an old chisel from some white 

 man, but was not making much progress, and finally two Europeans 

 completed the dug-out for him. In 1853 Mr. Chalmers left Tuturau with 

 Reko and Kaikoura on an exploring trip, the white man carrying a gun, 

 and the two Maori had eel-spears and a stick about 6 ft. long with^ a big 

 fish-hook tied to one end. They carried no provisions, but lived on the 

 country they traversed. The three walked the whole trip in paraerae 

 (sandals) made of flax and cabbage-tree leaves, the latter far and away 

 the more durable. In 1854 old Reko would go eeling with a large hook 

 tied to his wrist and lying on the palm of his hand so when his hand felt 

 an eel he had only to pull it forward to have the eel hooked. Writing 

 in 1854, Mr. Mieville says, "Old Reko scorned matches, and had a light 

 from his firesticks nearly as quickly as I did. He rubbed a pointed stick 

 in a groove in another stick. I never could get fire, but the Maori does 



so at once." 



