Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 211 



When a kahikatea tree decayed, the mapara, or hard resinous 

 heart-wood, was eagerly sought for, and was used for several 

 purposes. Implements and weapons were fashioned therefrom, 

 the wood being exceedingly hard, durable, and difficult to break, 

 hence it carried a fine point. The smaller pieces of mapara 

 were used for making torches for night fishing and travelling, 

 a number of such pieces being tied together for this purpose. 

 Also, the finest pigment for tattooing was made from the soot 

 obtained from this wood when burned in a confined space. 

 Thus this child of Tane and Hine-wao-riki was highly esteemed 

 by the neolithic Maori. The white sap-wood of the tree was 

 not prized, on account of it lacking durability. Canoes were 

 occasionally made of kahikatea, but were much inferior to those 

 made of totara. 



The kai* or young tree of Podocarpas spieatus, is useful 

 to the Maori on account of its thin, pliable, and tough branches, 

 which are used for making eel-pots. I have seen a Native 

 driven off with much tongue-lashing for taking these kai branch- 

 lets from the lands of another tribe than his own. 



The kaikomako tree is met with in Maori myth, for this 

 was the principal tree into which fire, or the seeds of fire, fled 

 when the memorable contest raged between Maui, the demi-god, 

 and Mahuika, the goddess of fire. Hence it is the best wood 

 from which to fashion kauahi, or fire-sticks, by which to obtain 

 fire by friction. This tree is personified in one Hine-kaikomako. 

 She is the fire-concealer and fire-conserver of mythology. She 

 was taken to wife by Ira, the fire-seeker. I once related this 

 myth to a little Maori girl, stating that Hine is seen now merely 

 in the form of a tree, not endowed with the powers of speech 

 and locomotion. The child remarked, " Kua wkakaaroha ahau 

 ki a Hine-kaikomako " (I deeply sympathize with Hine-kaiko- 

 mako). The child mind grasped and accepted the myth. 



The kaponga is Cyathea dealbata, but the word is sometimes 

 used in a generic sense to include several or all species of arbor- 

 escent ferns. The name ponga is not used by the Tuhoe Natives. 

 The kaponga is found in all parts of the Tuhoe district. The 

 hard, black fibres found in the soft interior of the stem are 

 termed katott. The mamaku is not found at Rua-tahuna and 

 other inland places, but is seen in great numbers near the coast, 

 at Rua-toki, Te Wai-mana, and elsewhere. In fact, one often 

 sees dense groves of very fine specimens on the hillsides or in 

 gullies. The soft interior of the upper part of the trunk of this 

 species (Cyathea medullaris) was largely used in former days 

 as an article of food, more especially before the introduction 



* Also termed kakai. 



