Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 245 



would never be finished ; some untoward incident would prevent 

 its completion : so sayeth the Maori. 



There are different methods of adzing timber. In finishing 

 off slabs for a house a sort of pattern was often adzed on, marked 

 by the " bite " of the tool as it took the timber at each blow. 

 These different modes are known as toro, keretua, miri, ao 

 marama, and ivhakahekeheke. 



In felling a tree the Maori proceeded in the same way as we 

 do — that is, by first cutting a front scarf on the side towards 

 which the tree was supposed to fall, and then cutting a back 

 scarf on the opposite side. A scarf was termed umu, imu, 

 tuaumu, tuaimu, and tarawaha, the last - mentioned being a 

 Ngati-Raukawa word. The front scarf I know not any special 

 term for, but the back scarf (skarf) was called the imu whaka- 

 hinga — i.e., the imu which causes the tree to fall. To continue 

 a scarf right round the trunk of the tree was looked upon as the 

 work of an ignorant workman, as it is with us. Such a scarf 

 was termed an umu potaka or more potaka. In felling a big- 

 based tree, a stage, termed whata or whatarangi, was erected, 

 on which the tree-fellers stood to work. In beginning the work, 

 the large, heavy stone axe described above under the name 

 of poki was employed. Being fastened on in line with the 

 handle (by means of lashings of aka, the poll of the axe being 

 butted against the base of a scarf in end of handle), this weapon 

 was really used as a chisel. The handle was long, and held bv 

 several men, who grasped this shaft firmly, and at a given 

 signal thrust it forward with all their strength, bringing the 

 huge stone chisel into contact with the wood with considerable 

 force. The process may be described as " bashing " rather 

 than cutting as do metal axes. Personally I would prefer to 

 use a Michigan double bit. Having " bashed " out a groove 

 or channel of some depth for a desired distance round the trunk, 

 the process was repeated higher up the trunk, the two grooves 

 being horizontal and parallel, and some distance apart, in order 

 to allow room for carrying the scarf in, and also to give sufficient 

 space to kindle a fire therein. Having formed these two channels, 

 the next thing was to split out the block of timber between them. 

 This was chipped out in pieces by the same battering process 

 with the poki, and in some cases hardwood wedges were em- 

 ployed. In the latter case a perpendicular groove would be 

 formed by punching with a poki, in which slot the point of a 

 wedge would be inserted, the wedge being driven in by means 

 of a heavy wooden beetle or maul (ta). 



Having carried the scarf in for some little distance by this 

 process, a fire was then kindled in the scarf, and kept burning 

 for some time. When the inner part had at last become charred 



