Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 237 



decayed or been broken off. A puku whenewhene is a " blind 

 knot " that does not extend out to the outside of a tree, but 

 is sometimes marked by a puku or excrescence on the outside, 

 over which the bark is intact. These " blind knots," or branches 

 in embryo, seem to be also termed pu kanohi. Toropuku is a 

 term apparently applied to an incipient knot inside a tree, 

 and perhaps sometimes to the heart-wood. The light-weight 

 brittle inner wood of a tree is termed puwhawha and puanga 

 among Tuhoe. Puaka seems to be applied to a rimu tree among 

 the Arawa Tribe. " He rakau puwhawha " is a term sometimes 

 applied to an old man, presumably because he has become 

 dried up, light, and withered. With this may be compared 

 the famous saying of Pou-whare-kura, wife of Kahu-ngunu : 

 " Tu ana he rakau puwhawha, haere ana he rakau wharemoaP 



The decayed heart- wood of the matai tree (i.e., natural 

 decay, not as affected by grubs) is termed popo-a-whaitiri. The 

 word waipawa is used to denote the dry brash wood of the tawa 

 tree when quite dead, dry, and light. It then breaks easily, 

 or flies well off the axe. " Kua waipawatia te rakau na, ,y 

 and " Te waipawa paif" are common expressions. Clear 

 timber — i.e., good, sound, solid, straight-grained timber, free 

 from shakes, decay, ring-shakes, blind knots, or other defects — 

 is called ngako, an expression often applied to the wood of the 

 white tawa. Mapua describes a tree bearing abundantly of 

 fruit : He tawa mapua. Poike seems to have a similar meaning : 

 Poike ana te hua o te rakau. 



The term puarere implies " run to seed." The words koiki,. 

 kohiwi, and paiore denote hard, sound, dry heart-wood, from 

 which all sap-wood has decayed : He koiki matai. The expression 

 kohiwi is also applied to a person who is mentally inert, absent- 

 minded, or listless, who has no heart for action. Should the 

 human medium of a god be deserted by such spirit, then it would 

 be said, " E noho kohiwi noa iho ana te tangata " (Nothing but 

 his kohiwi remains ; his knowledge- — hence also his power and 

 prestige — has departed ; only the earthly body is left). Koero 

 and hiwi have a somewhat similar meaning to that of koiki, 

 but more applied to anything that has become dry, attenuated, 

 old in appearance, as a dry weather-beaten branch. Another 

 way in which the term kohiwi is employed — viz. : " The Iho o 

 Kapuru is the name of a cave. The iho (severed portion of 

 umbilical cord) of Kapuru was deposited there. He totara, 

 tona kohiwitangaP My informant seemed to mean that a 

 totara tree which stands at that place is all that remains of the 

 iho, or that represents it. 



As observed, the Tuhoe Tribe apply the term parae to forest 

 lands, while pakihi is open land on which nothing taller than. 



