Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 253 



palate. The rats were then put in calabashes, and the hot fat was poured 

 over them. These vessels were then carefully covered and placed in. the 

 food-stores for future use. 



Paitini says. " Ko te huahua mnnu ka mahia hi te ahi matiti ; ko te kiore 

 <inake i rereke, ko tena i kohiiparatia^^ (The kohupara method of cooking 

 consists of wrapping the kiore or bird in an envelope of leaves, and then 

 cooking in a steam-oven). The Tuhoe Natives, some years ago, were in the 

 habit of eating the introduced rats, but I am not sure which one it was 

 that was so utilised. They were taken in tawhiti set around the potato- 

 gardens, and are said to have been very fair eating when fat on a diet of 

 toromiro berries, but by no means equal to the extinct kiore maori. 



The Natives were in the habit of camping on ranges distant from their 

 forts or hamlets in winter-time, for the purpose of trapping rats and snaring 

 birds, but they could do so only on lands belonging to them, or where they 

 had been formally given a right to take game. Any unauthorised trespass 

 was strongly resented, and often ended in bloodshed. A party of Ngati- 

 Koura, who went from Eua-toki to take game in the forests near Parahaki, 

 were attacked by the Rua-tahuna clans on the Wai-hou tributary of the 

 Mimiha Stream, and severely defeated. 



Kiore pao ivJiatu is a term applied to rats in poor, thin condition, while 

 a kiore tapapa implied a fat rat, large and in good condition. The word 

 hatikeke denotes the thieving propensities of rats. A pataka pu kiore is a 

 food-store so constructed that rats cannot gain entrance thereto. It is 

 supported by four posts, the tops of which are about 5 ft. above the ground- 

 line. Two broad slabs are placed on the tops of these posts, and the store 

 built on these slabs. Inverted tin milk-dishes now often take the place 

 of the wooden slab. No permanent step or ladder is used to gain entrance 

 to these stores : the notched pole or log so used is placed in position only 

 when in use. 



" Honoa te hono a te kiore'''' is an old saying of the Maori, meaning that 

 those addressed should keep advancing, one after another, without cessa- 

 tion, as the rat was wont to march along the rat-runs. Rats were some- 

 times termed mho roa (long or big teeth), on account of their nibbling, 

 thieving habits. A tau niho roa implied a season when rats were very 

 numerous, and bold in attacking crops, food-stores, &c. Hence the under- 

 ground potato-pits are usually lined with slabs of pu-nui, or Dicksonia 

 fibrosa, which it is said rats cannot gnaw through. 



"Me te kiri kiore'" (Like a rat's skin) is used to denote a smooth, fine 

 surface, as of a woven garment, &c. 



On returning from setting rat-traps the trapper would speak but little, 

 and that in a low tone, lest he be unsuccessful in his trapping. Should 

 he have a tumeke, or convulsive start, in his sleep, it would thus be known 

 that some rats were badly caught — i.e., were caught in snares by the body 

 and not by the neck. 



Torea-a-tai is a place-name at Maunga-pohatu, the hamlet of the Tama- 

 kai-moana clan at that place. (For torea, see ante.) 



After setting the traps on the first day of the season, says one authority, 

 no trapper would partake of food until after the tapu was lifted on the fol- 

 lowing day. This was the occasion of one of the many ritual feasts of the 

 Maori. 



If when a trapper examined his traps the first one was found empty 

 it was viewed as a sign of bad luck — but few rats would be found in the 

 •other traps. 



