438 Transactions. 



of the shore, which proves how valuable it was considered as a source of 

 food-supply. It was far more valuable to the old-time Maori than any 

 equal area of land. 



Eopes. 



For use in the dredging operations to be described a special kind of rope 

 was manufactured by which to draw the canoes carrying dredge-rakes or 

 dredge-nets towards a driven-in pole to which an end of the rope had been 

 attached. This special rope was made from the leaves of the cabbage-tree, 

 or vjhanake. It was plaited in the ordinary three-ply plait, usually by old 

 men sitting in the hot pools (waiariki). The hot water softened the leaves 

 and rendered the work easier. The butts of the leaves were allowed to 

 project slightly. In hauling on such ropes they were softer to the hands 

 than the usual ropes, and the projecting butts gave a securer hold. 



Methods of procuring Supplies. 



There were four main methods of procuring supplies. There were 

 probably minor methods by means of small traps and hand-nets, but the 

 following were the methods of procuring in quantity : (1) Tau hour a, for 

 obtaining koura and also toitoi ; (2) kupenga, or nets, for inanga and kokopu ; 

 (3) paepae, or dredge-nets, for koura ; (4) kapu or mangakino, or dredge- 

 rakes, for kakahi. 



1. Tau Koura. 



The tau was, and is still, the favourite method of obtaining koura. 

 The process depends on the fact that if bundles of fern are allowed to rest 

 on the lake-bottom the koura swarm in between the leaves and rest there. 

 Best* quotes the Rotoiti people as stating that the koura feeds on the nehu, 

 or pollen, of the fern. The Rotorua people say that when the nehu is on 

 the fern the koura are fat. 



The fern (Pteridium esculentum) is carefully selected, being taken from 

 certain grounds near the cliffs and high lands, never from the flats. There 

 are famous fern-grounds, such as Kawarua, Te Tiepa, and Hauroro. 

 Battles have been fought in ancient times for the possession of such grounds, 

 thus proving the importance attached to the right kind of fern. As the 

 Maoris said, the characteristics of such fern were he kakara, he ngawari, 

 kaore e whati (it was sweet-scented, it was pliable, and would not break or 

 snap). The fern was carefully pulled from the ground and left near the 

 shores of the lake to dry — ki tatahi tahua ai — the drying process lasting 

 about a week. 



For each bundle about twenty stalks, with leaves intact, were selected. 

 The stalks were all placed in the same direction, and after a long strand of 

 the stem of a climbing-plant (aka) had been run down the middle of the 

 bundle of stalks a finer piece of aka was bound round and round the stalks 

 near the butts to keep the bundle firmly together. The aka, or climbing- 

 plants, used were aka turihanga, aka puha, aka kiore (Parsonsia rosea), aka 

 pohue (Metrosideros florida). The aka used to bind the stalks together 

 was called, no matter what its botanical name, the aka tahua, from its 

 function. The length of thicker and stronger aka was to form the line by 

 which the bundle was to be fished up from the lake-bottom. It was called 



* Elsdon Best, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 35, p. 77, 1903. 



