82 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



thoroughly cold and set. This tends to prevent them going 

 bad (koi kino i te pumahana, koi pirau). On being taken 

 from the water the birds are ready for the ahi matiti. 

 This is the name of the fire at which the birds are both 

 dried and cooked. Before a strong, clear fire are set up 

 several stakes in a line. These stakes have a series of 

 notches cut in them on the side next to the fire, the notches 

 being cut in level lines on the posts, so that a straight pole 

 may be laid in them. Another series of such notches is cut 

 a little higher up the stakes, and so on. The birds are 

 spitted on long sticks (Jiuki) or poles, and when the pole is 

 full of birds it is laid in the bottom row of notches (kanivlia) 

 in the stakes {pou). Another series of birds are spitted on 

 another pole, and the pole inserted in the next series of 

 notches, a little higher up the stake. The series of notches 

 are close enough to each other to allow the layers of spitted 

 birds to overlap to a certain extent. This process is repeated 

 until the matiti is full. Beneath the bottom row of birds 

 runs a wooden trough — a wooden slab hollowed out (kowaka) 

 — one end of which is raised somewhat higher than the other. 

 Beneath the lower end of this trough a wooden bowl, or 

 kumete, is sunk into the ground. The heat of the fire melts 

 the fat of the birds, which fat drips into the trough (tvaka) 

 and runs down into the kumete. When done the birds are 

 placed in vessels, usually large gourds (taha), the calabash, 

 or sometimes vessels of bark. Red-hot stones are now put 

 into the bowl of fat until it boils (this process is termed 

 huahua), and then the fat is poured into the calabashes which 

 contain the birds until the birds are covered. These vessels 

 of preserved birds {taha huahua) are then set away in the 

 storehouses for use in the future. Rats (kiore) were pre- 

 served in a similar manner. Food so preserved is spoken of 

 as huahua. The expression matiti seems to imply numbers 

 —"Matiti ana te haere a te koko ki rung a ki te kahika" — 

 of a large number of koko (tui) birds alighting on a white- 

 pine tree. The modern expression would be, " Korc e rika- 

 rika te mahi a te koko." Te Matiti is a place-name at Te 

 Whaiti. 



i When these calabashes of preserved birds or kiore were 

 brought to adorn a feast, or be placed before a distinguished 

 guest, they were adorned in a manner truly Maori. They 

 were the centre-pieces of the banquet. The calabash was 

 covered with a piece of fine woven matting and three or four 

 carved wooden legs were lashed on, from the top of which 

 were suspended bunches of feathers, from which the quills 

 (tuaka) had been stripped, in order to render them less rigid. 

 A carved wooden mouthpiece (tuki) was placed on the top of 

 the calabash, and this was sometimes covered with a carved 



