Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 69 



monest and most troublesome complaints from which the Maoris 

 suffered. This is not to be wondered at when one notices their 

 aversion to soap-and-water, the custom of living crowded to- 

 gether in common sleeping-houses, and their close contact with 

 such domestic animals as dogs and pigs. This distressing 

 malady was formerly treated by the use of lotion applied to 

 the affected parts. The outer bark of the nianono (Coprosma 

 grandifolia) was scraped off, and the inner bark obtained. This 

 was squeezed in order to express the sap, which was applied, 

 the affected regions being first rubbed with oil or fat in order 

 to soften the cuticle and expose the inflamed spots. The inner 

 bark of the kowhai and the poroporo were used for the same 

 •complaint. As internal remedies they took rimu-roa (Lamin- 

 aria sp.), a long marine alga which grows on the rocks on the 

 ;sea-coast ; its tender end was roasted and eaten, as were also 

 the young shoots of the Jcareao plant. These latter medicines 

 were probably totally useless, but some relief was doubtless 

 obtained from an ointment or salve prepared by drying cer- 

 tain parts of the kohu-kohu (Pittosporum obcordatum), in the 

 :sun, pounding them into a dust, and finally mixing into a paste 

 with hinu-kohia oil, made from the seeds of Passiflora tetrandra. 

 Pakeivakewa, probably a form of eczema, was attributed 

 (erroneously, no doubt) by the natives to the use by a woman 

 of her own or another woman's clothing for a pillow. ' The 

 skin of her face and neck becomes rough (whekewheke), possibly 

 pimply, or covered with eruptions. Te mutunga iho o te pake- 

 wakewa, he kiri hoko (the pakeivakewa ends in, or leads to, the 

 kiri hoko)." The latter disease causes the affected parts to turn 

 white. This blotched skin is particularly repulsive in appear- 

 ance, but is not identical with kotureture. The treatment is to 

 rub the parts with oil. 



Overindulgence in the favourite Maori delicacy, potted 

 mutton-bird, caused an eruption about the arms and thighs, 

 accompanied by intolerable itching, which, however, soon dis- 

 appeared with the aid of cleanliness and abstinence from such 

 gross diet. This eczematous eruption was no doubt much ag- 

 gravated, if not partly caused, by the repeated application to 

 the skin of the rancid fat in which the bird was potted, that 

 irritating substance being unavoidably transferred from the 

 hands to different parts of the body. 



The paipai, a pre-European cutaneous disease, which is 

 also called tokatoka and patuheni, was perhaps eczema intertrigo. 

 It was cured by means of the smoke of a fire of totara wood 

 (Podocarpus totara). The term paipai is also given to gonor- 

 rhoea, while tokatoka is one of the Maori designations of syphilis. 

 Hawaniwani was a skin-disease affecting children. The skin 



