12 Transactions. — Miscellaneous . 



Art. II. — The Cultivation and Treatment of tlie Kumara by 



the Primitive Maoris. 



By Archdeacon Walsh. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 4th August, 1902.] 

 Previous to the introduction and general distribution of Euro- 

 pean food plants — that is to say, up to the early part of the 

 last century — the only vegetables cultivated by the Maoris 

 were those which they had brought from their original homes 

 in the Pacific islands — namely, the kumara (Ipomoza chrysor- 

 rhiza), the taro (Caladium esculentum), the hue {Lagcnaria 

 vulgaris), and the ti pore :;: (Gordyline tcrminalis). 



Of these the first-named was by far the most valuable and 

 important. The taro would only flourish in particular spots, 

 and even under the most favourable conditions took a long 

 time to come to maturity, and gave but a small return for a 

 good deal of troublesome labour. The hue was tasteless and 

 unsustaining ; and the ti pore, in reality a tropical plant, never 

 became properly acclimatised, and the limited quantity grown 

 was used more as an occasional delicacy than an article of 

 every-day food. But the kumara freely responded to care and 

 attention in the most varied situations, and yielded a large 

 crop of an article at once palatable, wholesome, and nutritious. 

 With the primitive Maoris, in fact, the kumara stood in a class 

 by itself, above and apart from everything else. As the main- 

 stay of life it was regarded with the greatest respect and 

 veneration. It was celebrated in song, and story, and proverb. 

 Its cultivation and treatment called forth the utmost care 

 and ingenuity, and were accompanied by the strictest and 

 most elaborate religious observances. 



The old customs have long passed away, and very soon 

 all personal recollection of them will be lost. I have there- 

 fore in the present paper endeavoured to rescue a few of the 

 most interesting facts connected with the subject from 

 oblivion. In doing so I have been greatly helped by Mr. 

 James Bedggood, of Kerikeri, who has not only given me the 

 result of his own observation during a, long lifetime spent in 

 intimate relation with the Maoris, but also the information he 

 has gleaned from some of his old native neighbours whose 

 recollection reaches back to the primitive times. I have also 

 gathered some facts from a very interesting paper bv the late 

 Rev. W. Colenso, P.E.S., F.L.S., &c.,| as well as from Mr. 

 A. Hamilton's " Maori Art," and from scattered notices in 



* For an account of the ti pore, see Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxiii., 

 art. xxxi. 



f Trans. N.Z. Inst., xiii., art. i. 



