Best. — Food Products of Tuhoeland. 51 



When engaged in digging for fern-root a karakia, or charm, 

 known as a iewha was recited in order that a plentiful supply 

 might be obtained. We append specimens of these charms :— . 



Ko rua nri, ko rua tea 



OS 



Ko rua i te whatiwhati 



Ko rua i te monamona 



Te peka o cu aruhe 



To homai nei 



Te wbakawhiwhia mai 



Te wliakarawea mai 



Ki tp mata o tenei kaheru 



Oi whiwhia, oi ravvea 



Hato whano 



Tu mai te toki 



Haumi — e ! 



The following is a taumaha, a form of charm used for 

 much the same purpose as we say grace before meals. Such 

 invocations were much used in ceremonies pertaining to the 

 first fruits of birds, fish, crops, &c. 



Taumaha te peka o tu aruhe 



Te homai nei 



Te whaka whiwhia mai 



Te whakaraw^a mai 



Ki te mata o tenei ko 



I whiwhia, i rawea 



Homai taku aruhe. 



Prior to the repeating of the above the first root dug was 

 roasted at a sacred fire by the priest officiating, who would 

 probably eat the roasted meal of the aruhe himself, he being 

 the medium of the gods. 



A place where fern-root was dug was termed a taiuaha 

 aruhe or haringa aruhe. The fern was burned off these places 

 about every third year, for two reasons — to render the roots 

 white, and to prevent the fern being smothered or overgrown 

 (kaikairakau) by scrub, such. &s manuka, mako, &c. This burn- 

 ing was done at the time when the liinau and tohakou : > ; were 

 in bloom. If the burning was left until the blooming of the 

 rata and the korukoru,\ then the fern-root would become 

 brownish (maivera) in appearance, and be unfit to eat. Fern- 

 root was dug when the mokehu, or young growth of fern, had 

 attained its full height — that is to say, in the early summer. 

 But in times of scarcity it would be dug at any time. 



The fern-root when dug was thrown into heaps (kopuhi), 

 and afterwards carried to the village and stacked on a sort of 

 stage termed a titara aruhe, where it was left exposed to 

 wind and rain until "cured," or dried, when it was packed 



* Whahou : The flower of the tawari tree is so termed in Tuhoeland. 

 t Korukoru : Name of the pirinoa, a parasitical plant, when in flower. 

 It usually grows on tawai trees. 



