Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 239 



renga " (The clearing has become covered with second-growth 

 timber). 



Driftwood is called tawhaowhao. Uru rakau and motu rakau 

 imply a clump of trees, a small wood. Purei means a tuft, as 

 as of rushes, &c. ; while pur&irei is applied to the stump and 

 roots of a tree torn up by the roots. A single log or tree lying 

 across a track would be termed a taita, but a mass of fallen 

 trees, or of drift timber in a river-bed, is called taiha : " Kua 

 taihatia le huarahi i te rakau." 



Tree-climbing. 



The Maoris were, and are, adepts at tree-climbing, for much 

 of their food was obtained from trees, which were ascended 

 in order to set snares for birds, or for spearing the same, and 

 also when in search of various berries. For both these purposes 

 the Natives climbed to the top branches of lofty forest-trees, 

 and clambered out on the branches in order to reach the outer 

 branchlets. There are three methods of tree-climbing em- 

 ployed by the Maori — viz., the piki, the tapeke, and the rou 

 methods. To pifci a tree is simply to climb it by means of hand- 

 holds — i.e., holding on to branches, &c. In the tapeke method 

 the climber " swarms " up the tree, clasping the trunk with his 

 hands, and also gripping it with his legs. In such cases as where 

 the trunk is too large to ascend in this manner, two loops of cord, 

 or some climbing-plant, are employed. The feet are confined 

 in one such cord, and the other is grasped in each hand. After 

 drawing his feet, with their confining cord, upwards, the climber 

 slips the hand-loop up the further side of the tree. If the bark 

 be rough, then the hand-cord is jerked upwards, so as to clear 

 any obstruction. The rou method is employed in cases where 

 the two former plans are not suitable, and in cases where the 

 tree is ascended often, as a tree on which birds are taken by 

 fowlers. It is a permanent ladder, or is so as long as the poles 

 and lashings remain sound. The rou consists of saplings placed 

 upright against the trunk of a tree, and retained there by means 

 of lashings passed round the tree, such lashings being the stems 

 of climbing-plants. Two such poles are placed parallel to each 

 other, like the sides of a ladder, the rungs or foothold being 

 twisted creepers of a tough nature, such as aka tea. 



The Maori measured the girth of trees with the extended 

 arms, the process being termed whananga by the Tuhoe Tribe. 

 Each stretch of the two arms is called a pae* If the fingers do 

 not meet in so clasping a tree, or if, after measuring off two or 

 more pae, the fingers do not reach the starting-point, then the 



* Pae is also used as a verb. 



