"2">s Transactions. 



grass, sedges, or rushes grow. Treeless country on which 

 fern or scrub grows is called mania. Nuku mar aha denotes 

 open country, and the term seems to convey a sense of flatness 

 — open lands over which one can see for a considerable distance. 



High-lying forest lands, such as the high ranges of Huiarau, 

 &c, where beeches and tawhero are the principal trees, and where 

 snow lies in winter, are termed hunua by the Tuhoe Tribe, while 

 the forests of the lower country, which may also be very hilly. 

 are known as uruora. It is so named on account of there being- 

 much bird-food in these forests at a lower altitude, the trees 

 being kahika, toromiro, rimu, maire, rata, &c, which do not 

 grow on tops of high ranges. Any forest or portion of a forest 

 that produces a great quantity of berries, seeds, &c, on which 

 birds feed and fatten is termed a whenua pua, or fruitful land ; 

 sometimes simply pua : "He pua tera whenua a Te Wera-iti," 

 or " He hunua a Te Peke, engari a konei, he pua tenei." The 

 expression toiora seems to apply to hunua lands. As my inform- 

 ant put it : " Ka tau ki te whenua tawai, pipiro, tuokura, ko o te 

 rake ko ona rakau. Me tau ki reira taua toiora," (It applies to 

 tawai, pipiro, and tuokura lands, the trees of sterile lands. Let 

 the term toiora be applied there.) The term rake is applied to 

 the poor high-lying lands, such as the upper slopes and summits 

 of high ranges, whereon but a thin layer of soil covers the rock. 

 The word pukahu is used to denote the fibrous, spongy mass 

 of rootlets, moss, &c, that covers the ground in tawai forests 

 on the summits of ranges. Poor, sterile surface-matter on soil 

 is known as akeake. Tatahou is virgin soil, while soil exhausted 

 by cultivation is termed patohe. 



Scrub or brush is known as tawhao, ururua, heuheu, and 

 moheuheu, but the last two words seem to be applied more espe- 

 cially to the growth of scrub and fern over tracks : Kua heuheu 

 katoa te huarahi (The track is all overgrown). Kua apiapi te 

 huarahi has a similar meaning, the word apiapi meaning " filled 

 up, closely occupied." Arawheu is an expression denoting the 

 summer months when paths are much overgrown, as the word 

 itself implies. Travellers would gradually clear away such ob- 

 structions by breaking off encroaching branches. In traversing 

 ■old-time trails of neolithic man, we sometimes see young trees 

 which have been tied with an open single knot by travellers, in 

 •order that such might be cut and converted into walking-staffs 

 when grown to a desirable size. Such tough woods as young 

 hinau were so treated. 



A second growth of timber, such as grows up in a forest - 

 clearing, or cultivation-ground, and which usually consists of 

 such small trees as mako, kotukutuku, koromiko, and puahou, 

 i° known as waipapa and wai heuheu. " Kua ivaipapa te woe- 



