Walsh. — On the Cultivation and Treatment of the Knmara. 21 



the occasion of a hakari, or harvest festival, accompanied by 

 religious rites ; but of these I have been unable to learn any 

 details. 



The storing of the crop required the greatest care and 

 judgment, as, in spite of every precaution, it was barely pos- 

 sible to preserve the stock until the next planting - tune. 

 Besides being a delicate article to handle, the kumara is 

 susceptible to every change of weather. A single bruised 

 or chafed tuber will soon rot and communicate the decay 

 to those in contact with it, while a very short exposure to 

 damp, or even to cold air, will quickly spoil the whole lot. 



In constructing their storing-places the Maoris followed no 

 uniform fixed pattern. As was usual with them, the idea they 

 had in their minds was worked out subject to local conditions, 

 and, as these varied more or less in every locality, it is not 

 surprising to find a corresponding variety in their appliances. 



The chief question being the exclusion of damp and the 

 maintenance of a moderate and even temperature, the object 

 was very simply attained in a dry porous soil by the rua. 

 This was a circular pit sunk in the ground 5 ft. or 6 ft. deep 

 and about the same in diameter, narrowing in at the top and 

 closed by a trap-door made of a wooden slab. The kumara 

 were handed down to a person standing in the middle, and 

 were piled radially round the sides on a bed of soft fern or 

 Lycopodium (waewaekoukou), a layer of the same material 

 being placed between them and the wall. If sufficient accom- 

 modation were available only one pile was made, as they kept 

 better if not packed in too large a mass. The enormous 

 number of these ruas on the volcanic plains of Taranaki and 

 elsewhere shows the extent of former plantations. They are 

 called " Maori-holes " by the settlers ; and before the country 

 was thoroughly reclaimed they caused the loss of a good 

 many horses and cattle, as, being frequently covered over with 

 tangled fern, they were not generally discovered until a beast 

 had fallen through. 



In situations where the soil was not sufficiently porous to 

 allow the rua to be self-drained it was built partly above 

 ground, generally on the slope of a hill. The pit was dug 2 ft. 

 or 3 ft. deep, and of an area proportionate to the quantity of 

 kumara to be stored. An outfall drain was made from the 

 bottom, and a surface channel round the top carried off the 

 storm-water. A roof was made over the pit, the rafters 

 being set in the ground at an angle of about 30 degrees, and 

 covered with sticks and fern, on which was piled a thick layer 

 of earth, and the whole was coated with fronds of nikau to 

 preserve the earth from the wash of the rain. The entrance 

 was made in the outfall drain, and was closed with a moveable 

 wooden slab or sliding door. 



