Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 213 



The karetu, a grass having a sweet scent, more particularly 

 when dry, was much used by girls to make waist-belts with, 

 as many as twenty plaited strands being used to form a belt. 

 The midrib (tuaka) was taken out of each leaf before being used, 

 in order to make the leaf more pliable and prevent a breakage. 



The kareturetu is a grass the botanical name of which I have 

 not obtained. 



The kauere, or puriri tree, is not found in the interior, but 

 only near the coast. 



The kawakawa is not found at the higher altitudes, but is 

 fairly common nearer the coast, as in the lower part of the 

 Whakatane Valley. The same may be said of the pukatea, 

 nikau, kiekie, kohe, mangeao, and divers plants. 



The kiekie was a useful plant to the Tuhoean bushmen, inas- 

 much as their forest lands did not produce flax (Phormium tenax). 

 Belts, sleeping-mats, and rough capes were made from its leaves, 

 which contain a durable fibre. These capes were made from 

 the fibre after the leaves had been subjected to a retting process. 

 Mats and belts were made of narrow strips of the leaves bleached 

 to a pleasing whiteness. The kiekie is not found at Rua-tahuna, 

 but only in the lower parts of the valleys, nearer the coast. 

 There is said to be one only plant of kiekie at Maunga-pohatu, 

 which is known as Te Kiekie a Rangi-wai-tatao, the same Rangi 

 having brought the plant from the coast lands. That plant is 

 but seldom seen by man, and only by those whose days in the 

 'and are numbered. Should you chance to see it, then it is 

 high time to hurry home and put your earthly affairs in order. 

 Tarry not on your way, the gods are calling you. But should 

 vour end not be near, then you will not see that ill-omened 

 plant, pass you never so close to it. 



The harakeke (Phormium tenax) and the kiekie (Freycinetia 

 Banksii) became separated in the dawn of time, according to 

 Maori myth. The kiekie followed and clung to its ancestor 

 Tane, hence you see it clinging to the forest-trees. But the 

 harakeke went to its ancestor Wai-nui (origin and personification 

 of water), and even so you now see it growing in swamps and 

 by streams. The raupo also went to its grandmother Wai-nui, 

 to be nurtured by her. The fruit and sweet flower-bracts of 

 the kiekie are eaten by Natives. 



The kiokio fern, like the poor, is ever with us, being very 

 common. Cliffs and steep sidelings bearing no large trees are 

 almost invariably covered with a dense growth of this kiokio, 

 or Lomaria procera, as you pakeha folk term it. Hence the 

 expression pari kiokio (kiokio clif£ or bluff) is a common one. 

 This fern is said to have originated with one Pari-kiokio, who 

 was born of the Wai-nui above mentioned. Another of Wai- 



