White. — On the Bats of Neiv Zealand. 217 



The Maoris have a name for a certain rat — " pou- 

 hawaiki " — and the following are extracts from corre- 

 spondence in reference to this name. Mr. Tregear says it 

 is the Norway rat (M. decumanus), and that a certain Maori 

 bearing this name is now living at Little Eiver, Canterbury. 

 Hearing this, I wrote to this Maori gentleman, asking the 

 translation, or true meaning, of the word " pouhawaiki," but, 

 so far, have received no answer. 



Mr. E. C. Goldsmith, of Gisborne, sends me the following 

 by letter : " Gisborne, 17th July, 1891.— I do not know of the 

 black rat from personal knowledge, but the Natives inform 

 me that it was called by them ' pouhawaiki ' ; that it lived 

 in the bush, but did not come into the houses ; and that it was 

 good to eat." 



On my writing again for further information, and stating 

 that Mr. Tregear says " pouhawaiki ' ; is the Norway or grey 

 rat, and that any South Island native knows that as a 

 common word for "rat," and that I never myself saw a black 

 rat in the South, I received further particulars under date 

 the 10th August, 1891 :— 



" ' Pouhawaiki,' according to my informants, who should 

 know, having eaten them, are the original Maori black rat, 

 living in the bush. One informant tells me that he has not 

 seen any since 1851, but up to that date there were plenty of 

 them, and that he has eaten them, and that they were very 

 good. He also points out that the name is ' pou-uhawaiki,' 

 which would prove its being the proper name for this rat. 



" I know nothing on the subject myself, and have never 

 seen the native black rat, though I have been camped out in 

 the bush during the last twenty-six years in places far from 

 civilization, the only rat we get there being the common brown 

 one." 



This above information was kindly collected for me on the 

 east coast of the North Island ; and the following is given me 

 from the opposite coast, by Mr. W. H. Skinner : — 



" New Plymouth, 17th August, 1894. — In answer to your 

 question re the indigenous rat of New Zealand, I have asked 

 the question of four reliable old Maoris myself, and got 

 our Native Agent to put the same question to a roomful 

 of natives, and in every case the answer was, ' There was 

 only one rat in New Zealand in old times, and its name 

 was " Po-hawaiki " or " Pou-hawaiki." This is the rat our 

 forefathers used to eat.' As far as I could gather, this rat 

 was in the country when their ancestors came over from 

 Hawaiki. 



" You say, ' I never saw a black rat there ' (South Island). 

 Mr. Clarke, late Chief Draughtsman of Westland, tells me he 

 has seen numbers of black rats on the west coast of the other 



