Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 59 



In some cases the Maoris washed their wounds, and then 

 applied a plaster of mud to exclude the air, and this was allowed 

 to remain until the wound was well : toetoe grass was sometimes 

 used instead of mud or clay. Small wounds were bruised with 

 a stone to excite bleeding, and afterwards held over the smoke 

 of certain specially selected herbs. Other applications in use 

 were the gum of the harakeke (Phormium tenax), the oil of titoki 

 and that of the kohia (Passiflora tetrandra), the gum of Podo- 

 carpus ferruginea, and a decoction of the leaves of Piper excelsum 

 or kaivakawa. These remedies have astringent, stimulant, or 

 emollient properties. The Tuhoe tribes used a decoction made 

 by boiling in water pieces of the bark of the rata-tree (Metrosideros 

 robusta), and another made from the barks of the rimu (Dacry- 

 dium cupressinum) and tawa (Nesodaphne tawa) trees, the bark 

 of the former being cut into pieces and that of the latter scraped, 

 and the whole then boiled or steeped in water, together with 

 some leaves of the tutu shrub (Coriaria ruscifolia). 



A lotion made from the namunamu {Geranium molle), or from 

 piripiri, bv steeping them in hot water, was applied to open 

 wounds, or rubbed on as an embrocation in case of contusion. 

 The leaves are also applied as a poultice. The sap of paewhenua 

 is applied to abrasions. When women who have been employed 

 catching fish in the streams return with their feet scratched and 

 sore, they find ease by applying leaves or plants heated before 

 the fire : this process is known as tapi. The Tuhoe people 

 sometimes cauterised wounds by holding near the cut a burning 

 piece of dry pirita or supplejack (Rhipogonum scandens). In the 

 cass of a slight cut it was a common practice to urinate on the 

 part, by which means swelling and inflammation were avoided. 

 This is a very old procedure. The sap of young shoots of the 

 pirita is used for wounds on dogs, when ripped by pigs. 



During the Maori war many natives died of bullet wounds, 

 for which their treatment was quite inadequate. In such cases 

 they used sometimes to kill a dog, collect its blood, and make it 

 hot by the aid of heated stones. This the patient drank as hot 

 as possible, after which the tohunga repeated certain healing 

 charms over him. In other cases the wounds mere merely 

 washed and all foreign matter removed, and the limb placed 

 in a sling (in the case of an injured arm) of flax, but no dressing 

 or healing application of any kind was applied to the wound. 

 Invocations to the gods were frequently repeated during the 

 progress of healing. No married man or woman (except the 

 wounded man's wife) was permitted to come near or see the 

 patient during his illness, from a superstitious idea they held 

 that by so doing the atua (demons) would be angry and retard 

 the cure. The man was, in short, tapu until he recovered. 



