Hamilton. — Moriori Carving on Trunks of Karaka-trees. 11 



Akt. III. — Moriori Carving on the Trunks of Karaka-trees. 



By A. Hamilton. 



[Bead before the Otago Institute, 3rd December, 1903.] 



Plate III. 

 A RECENT paper in the "Annals of Botany" on the genus 

 Corynocarpus'-'' draws attention to the remarkable character 

 of the genus, and to the fact that up to the present time 

 it has not been found outside certain parts of the Colony of 

 New Zealand. Now, however, it has been found that New 

 Caledonia and the New Hebrides have what is practically the 

 same tree so far as the fruit is concerned, the specific diifer- 

 ences being based on small variations in the flower. 



The Corynocarpus, under the name of " karaka," has long 

 been reputed to have been brought to New Zealand by one of 

 the canoes from distant lands.! One of the earliest of these 

 traditions, given by Mr. Shand in his valuable notes on the 

 Chatham Islands, is to the effect that Maruroa and Kauanga 

 brought the karaka-berry from Hawaiki in the "Kangimata" 

 canoe and planted it all over the island, the places where it 

 was set being named. They planted it first at a place which 

 they called Wairarapa, that being their name for the tree 

 (according to one statement), near Te Ika-rewa. Mr. Shand 

 says that it is found growing plentifully not far from the sea- 

 shore on the main island and in Pitt Island wherever the 

 soil is at all suitable, but not in the higher parts of the 

 southern portion of the main island. He also notes that the 

 natives used certain incantations or spells to insure a good 

 crop of the berries. The kernels when gathered were cooked 

 in a native oven, or U7nu, then put into flax baskets and the 

 outside pulp removed by trampling with the bare feet, after 

 which they were steeped in water for not less than three 

 weeks to remove the poisonous element — the same process as 

 the Maoris practised. 



Many years ago the late Mr. W. T. L. Travers| drew at- 

 tention to the various marks which his son saw on the trunks 

 of the large karaka-trees, and states, the quarrels of the Mori- 

 ons "appear to have arisen chiefly out of conflicting claims 



* " On the Genus Corynocarpus, Forst., with Descriptions of Two 

 New Species," by W. Botting Hemsley. Ann. Bot. 17, p. 743, 1903. 



f In his account of the coming of Turi the navigator to the west 

 coast of the North Island of New Zealand in the " Aotea " the Rev. T. G. 

 Hammond says, " On the north bank of the [Patea] river is Papa-whero, 

 where Turi planted the karaka-seed from Hawaiki, which grew to trees 

 and flourished till the war with the Europeans, when the parent stock 

 was destroyed " (Polynesian Journ., vol. x., p. 194). 



+ Trans. N.Z Inst., 1876, vol. ix., p. 15 (seep. 22). 



