Newman. — Notes on Two Maori Calabashes. 3 



rare occasions these calabashes were filled with fat worms. 

 The Maoris were, therefore, well up in the arc of preserving 

 animal food in enclosed vessels, the interstices being filled with 

 melted tallow. 



It will be seen how rich is the mahogany red-brown 

 colouring of these gourds, a result partly due to age and 

 partly to the animal oil with which they were smeared inside 

 and out. The Maoris now rarely grow these gourds, and the 

 old people say that for some unknown reason they cannot 

 grow them the same size as formerly. Mair has seen the 

 gourds so large as to fill the two arms of any Native carrying 

 them. My largest gourd is 46 in. in circumference, and its 

 height from base to where the tuki is affixed is 13 in. 



From the fact that I have seen only five specimens, all 

 told, of these tukis, that there are three or four in the Auck- 

 land Museum and none here, I think I am justified in saying 

 they are so rare now that they deserve fuller description, and 

 to be embalmed in the pages of these Transactions. 



These tukis, Mair tells me, were always made of the same 

 wood, matai. Their degree of blackness depends partly upon 

 their age and partly upon the amount of fat, and dirt, and 

 smoke to which they have been submitted. Each tuki, being 

 made of thick and hard wood, would outlast several genera- 

 tions of gourds, which were thin and brittle. The tuki was 

 attached to the gourd by holes pierced at its lower end, 

 through which flax was passed and then drawn through 

 similar holes in the gourd. Each gourd near its narrow end 

 was carefully pared down until it closely fitted the end of the 

 tuki. The flax was then tightly tied, and the result was a 

 very creditable piece of close-fitting workmanship. Outside, 

 to cover the junction of the tuki and gourd, a broad strip of 

 flax was very tightly tied. When the melted fat was poured 

 in it filled all the crevices, and the huahua inside was pre- 

 served in an airtight chamber. 



The Maoris used to preserve birds also in calabashes slit 

 up in a difi"erent manner, of which pictures may be seen in 

 White's " History of the Maori." They were frequently 

 covered with a fine carving, necessarily very shallow owing 

 to the thinness of the gourd. They were called papa, or 

 kumete. White, though depicting with great care several 

 specimens of papa, or htmete, does not depict a single speci- 

 men of a taha with a carved tuki. Moreover, the carving on 

 a papa was radically difi"erent from that of a ttiki. 



The gourd of the larger taha is a rich mahogany red- 

 brown, whilst the tuki is darker. The gourd is surrounded 

 by flax knotted so as to form large diagonal four-sided figures 

 surrounding the gourd and gathering together to be formed 

 into a handle, thus making it easy to carry. It is quite likely 



