Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 185 



Art. XV. — Maori Forest Lore : being some Account of Native 

 Forest Lore and Woodcraft, as also of many Myths, Rites, 

 Customs, and Superstitions connected with the Flora and Fauna 

 of the Tuhoe or Ure-ivera District. — Part I. 



By Elsdon Best. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 30th October, 1907.] 



The forest lore of the Maori people of these isles is but little 

 known to those interested in ethnographical studies — or, at least, 

 the latter have placed but little of such lore on record. Hence 

 these notes are presented in order to conserve some very singular 

 old-time customs and beliefs of the ancient Maori. The paper 

 will be by no means a comprehensive one, inasmuch as it merely 

 treats of a tithe of the forest lore of a single tribe of Natives, 

 the unimportant Tuhoe or Ure-wera clan. Moreover, the old 

 men who held full knowledge of the old customs, myths, and 

 quaint beliefs have now passed away, and much interesting 

 lore has died with them. The items herein given are but frag- 

 ments, lacking many connecting-links and explanatory notes. 

 The ritual pertaining to all work connected with the forest 

 and its fauna was of a most extensive and pervading character. 

 We can give but the skeleton thereof ; the bulk of such matter 

 is lost. 



Here follows some account of the forests of Tuhoeland, their 

 sylva, flora, and fauna, as given not by the botanist and ethno- 

 grapher, but by primitive man. He who evolved the peculiar 

 customs, myths, and superstitions herein described shall tell of 

 them. 



Mythical Origin of Trees and Birds. 



The most widely used term employed by the Natives of 

 New Zealand to denote a forest is ngahere or ngaherehere. In 

 some parts, as among the Aotea tribes, the word motu takes 

 its place. In others, the latter term is only applied — as motu 

 rak.au — to an isolated clump of trees, a grove or small wood. 

 Such a small patch of timber-growth would be called an uru 

 rakau by the Matatua tribes. 



There is, however, another term used to denote a forest, 

 but which, as a rule, is only employed as a kind of emblematical 

 expression. This is the word wao, which is usually connected 

 with the name of the tutelary deity or personification of forests, 

 the great Tane, offspring of the Earth Mother and of Rangi, 

 the Heavens. Thus, forests are termed te wao nui a Tane (the 



