Smith. — Captain Dumont D'Urville's Visit in 1827. 433 



showing that there would be a good bottom for anchors. We took a few 

 bearings to give more exactitude to our sketches, and then descended, 

 urged by the advanced hour, whicli prevented us taking a more interesting 

 course by boat. 



The Natives give the name of Manoukao [Manukau] to this bay. They 

 stated a hundred times that it communicated with the open sea, and I have 

 no doubt on the subject. It is probable that it is the False Bay of Cook. 



We distributed several articles of hardware and some small pieces of 

 French money, and then departed with Inaki, who expressed a desire to 

 see the commander. 



We traversed rapidly the narrow isthmus which separated us from the 

 boat, and, catching part of the ebb tide, returned very slowly down the 

 Mogoia Eiver. A great number of Natives were collecting shellfish on the 

 mud, and the rocks at the entrance were covered with fishermen. We 

 reached the " Astrolabe " during the night. 



Art. LII. — Maori Forest Lore : Being some Account of Native Forest 

 Lore and Woodcraft, as also of many Myths, Rites, Customs, and Super- 

 stitions connected with the Flora and Fauna of the Tuhoe or Ure-wera 

 District. — Part III. 



By Elsdon Best. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 22nd November, 1909.] 



The Lore of the Whare Mata. — The Art of the Fowler. 



The tvhare mata w&s a house set apart in each of the principal villages of a 

 tribe for the making of snares, traps, and all other implements pertaining 

 to the taking of birds and fresh-water fish. For Tuhoe are essentially a 

 forest tribe, and possess no seaboard. The whare mata and its inmates, 

 the forest craftsmen, were under strict tapu while engaged in preparing 

 the above implements and until the tapu was lifted or abolished at the 

 first-fruits rite. Neither women nor food were allowed within the portals 

 of this house. But of this more anon. 



In like manner all matters pertaining to national or tribal history, re- 

 ligion, genealogies, &c., were taught in a special house known as the whare 

 maire, whare puri, or whare takiura. The art of weaving is the art of the 

 whare pora. Mourning for the dead pertains to the whare potae, or house 

 of mourning; while all games and amusements come under the heading of 

 the whare tapere. 



We will now proceed to give some account of the fowler's art, the pre- 

 serving and taking of birds, and of some singular customs, rites, and beliefs 

 connected with the forest and its denizens. The methods by which some 

 birds were taken have already been given, but the bulk of such matter lies 

 yet before us, albeit the most of it pertains to the taking of but two species, 

 the kalca and the kereru — the brown parrot and the wood-pigeon. These 



