236 Transactions. 



not to leaves called rau. The Natives say that the latter class 

 of leaves are killed by summer weather, which turns them 

 brown (kua tu pakaka), but that xvha die in a different maimer, 

 and hang long on the plant or trunk after becoming dry. The 

 word tuakoka is employed to describe a poverty-stricken place 

 or person — " Ou mahi a te kainga tuakoka, kaore he kaka, he 

 aha ! " 



The leaves of the gourd-plant (hue), pumpkin, &c, bear 

 different names. The first two leaves put forth are termed rau 

 kakano, or " seed leaves." When a third leaf appears, it is said 

 "kua rau tara te hue." The fourth leaf is called putaihinx 

 (putauhinu among some tribes). When the first runner (kaivai 

 or waero) appears, it is styled uma (kua uma te hue). This shoot 

 soon falls and commences to run (toro). 



The expression whatu toto is applied to the red-coloured 

 sound heart-wood of the totara and matai trees. This timber 

 takes a long time to dry out and become light when split. The 

 term komako is applied to the lighter-coloured totara wood that 

 soon becomes light and dry. Aritahi means straight-grained 

 timber, easily split. That peculiar state of totara timber known 

 to bushmen as " dozy " — i.e., pitted with small holes — is here 

 called tatarapo and kakapo, but on the west coast is termed 

 kaikaka. This condition is oft noted in totara growing on stony 

 ground, and it impairs the value of the timber. Apparently it 

 is a state of incipient decay. Makohe is another word meaning 

 straight-grained, easy splitting, of timber. This state is ex- 

 pressed as " good rift " by American Lumbermen — the timber 

 rives well. 



My late friend Te Puia Nuku, who was one of the Tuhoe 

 contingent that marched to Whirinaki in the early fifties 

 in order to save Ngati-Manawa from being wiped out by 

 Ngati-Maru, under Taraia, told me that during the hostile 

 speeches then made the latter chief said to the Tuhoe war- 

 riors, " Ahakoa he iti te matakahi, ka pakaru i a au te totara " 

 (Though the wedge be a small one, yet will the totara be riven 

 by me) — meaning that though Tuhoe were numerous and versed 

 in warfare, yet he was a match for them. Wepiha, of Ngati- 

 Awa. promptly replied. " Ac ! Me he makohe; tena, mehemea 

 he pu peka kai roto, e kore e pakaru i a koe " (Yes ! If it be good 

 rift; but if it contains blind knots, then it will never be split 

 by you). He meant that Ngati-Maru might defeat ordinary 

 fighters, but that so many famed warriors were present that 

 they could not hope for a victory. A pu peka is the hard, in- 

 locked wood which composes the internal base of a tree-branch 

 — that part of it that extends from the heart of a tree outwards 

 to the bark, but supports or shows no external limb : it has 



