62 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



the gourd. This plant does not nourish in this cold high- 

 lying country, although it may possibly have been grown 

 formerly in the lower Whakatane Valley — that is to say, 

 below Karioi pa. When, however, Tuhoe acquired the 

 alluvial flats of Euatoki and Te Waimana they were then 

 enabled to cultivate the hue, kumara, and taro. A few hue 

 used to be grown at Omakoi, but they did not do well. 



The hue was the only cultivated food plant possessed by 

 the autochthones of New Zealand, and that was a poor one. 

 The origin of the hue is said to have been one Pu-tee-hue, one 

 of the offspring of Tane (see genealogy). A learned native 

 friend and tutor of mine said, " The name of the ancient hue 

 is Pu-te-hue. It was not brought hither from Hawaiki;* it 

 was grown by Toi and his people, and came from his own 

 ancestor, Pu-te-hue. At the proper season the seed was 

 planted. It was planted when the nights Turu and Kakaunui 

 of the moon arrived [these are the seventeenth and eighteenth 

 nights of the moon] . The following is the karakia (charm) 

 used : — 



Pu-te-hue 



Kia tuputupu nunui koe 



Ka porotaka i uga ringaringa 



Kia ahuahu nunui koe. 



Putehue said, ' The seeds which are within me shall be 

 [vessels] for containing water for my descendants. Some of 

 those seeds are male seeds, and they will not produce off- 

 spring.' " 



In Maoriland seeds were planted at the full of the moon, 

 in order to render them prolific and insure a good crop. Seeds 

 of the hue (and of the pumpkin in late times) are subjected to 

 a process known as whakarau before being planted. They 

 are first soaked in water and then placed in a small basket 

 (kono) which contains a mixture of earth and decayed wood 

 (popopo rakau). The seeds are imbedded in this mixture. 

 The mould is then covered over with grass or leaves, and the 

 basket is buried in the ground near a fire until the seeds 

 sprout, when they are planted. 



When the putaihinu leaves of the gourd-plant are put 

 forth, then the care of the cultivator commences, and he pro- 

 ceeds to loosen the earth round the plants. The above term 

 is applied to the second pair of leaves put forth by the seed- 

 ling. When the head of the embryo runner falls, that is the 

 hika stage of growth ; after that it starts to run (toro), and 

 ashes are placed round the roots and under the runners to 

 " feed " the plant. Earth, is heaped round the roots and 

 pressed down during the hika stage of growth. 



* i.e., not brought by the last migration of Maori. 





