Te Rangi Hiroa. — Maori Food-supplies of Lake Rotorua. 451 



visit of the Prince of Wales to Rotorua Jcoura, though late in the season 

 (April), were supplied in the Maori canteen, to the delight of the Maori 

 visitors. They are cooked in baskets in the steam-holes, and it is interest- 

 ing to see how neatly and quickly the local people get rid of the shell and 

 expose the flesh. The abdomen, or tail, consists of seven segments, the 

 hindmost, or seventh, being biologically called the " telson." In the large 

 sea-crayfish it is usual to separate this abdominal part and remove the 

 exoskeleton, or tergum, from each segment in turn. With the small 

 fresh-water Jcoura, however, the Maori removes the tergum in one piece, 

 without detaching the fleshy mass from the anterior cephalothorax. 

 Grasping the cephalothorax with the left hand, with the right hand he 

 first squeezes the sides of the abdominal segments. This loosens matters 

 up, and, grasping the telson, or end segment, above and below, he squeezes 

 it firmly. This pushes the flesh forward out of the end segment, and by 

 now pulling backwards and slightly upwards the whole exoskeleton comes 

 away. The carapace, or covering of the anterior part, is then flicked 

 forward and upward and detached. The tail part and the viscera of the 

 anterior part are taken in a mouthful ; whilst the head, legs, and under 

 part of the cephalothorax are rejected. Care must, however, be taken 

 to avoid the bile-ducts, which show up black just behind the head. They 

 are usually pinched off beforehand. One has only to struggle with a Jcoura 

 himself to appreciate the quickness, neatness, and ease of the above method 

 in the hands of the cognoscenti. 



For preserving purposes the fleshy tail parts, after being cooked, were 

 threaded on a string of flax-fibre and dried. They were thus stored in long 

 strings, shell-fish being preserved in a similar manner ; and in condition 

 they would keep for a year. The strings were packed in baskets. Eight 

 baskets were called a rohe, which was equivalent to a sack. 



Feasts. — At a large Jiui at Awahou in 1899 there were six hundred 

 people present from the Bay of Plenty and East Coast. The gathering 

 lasted a week, and houra was the chief food. A great present of Jcoura 

 was sent to Kawana Paipai at Wanganui in 1859, but my informants had 

 forgotten the quantities. At the opening of Tama-te-kapua at Ohine- 

 mutu, in 1873, it is said that at the feast there were five hundred rohe of 

 dried Jcoura and inanga. As this would mean four thousand baskets, some 

 idea can be formed of how the lake must have teemed with food and what 

 an invaluable asset it must have been to the tribes fortunate enough to 

 possess it. 



Conclusion. 



The notes that form the basis of this paper were made at Rotorua some 

 years before the war. I have to thank Mr. H. Tai Mitchell and his 

 committee of old men who gave me the information for the purposes of 

 record. A tail was visited and demonstrations given in the manner of using 

 the dredge-net and the dredge-rake. Mv thanks are also due to Miss Preen 

 for some of the photographs used to illustrate the text. 



15* 



