Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 83 



believe that this disease is caused by eating the liver of the shark. 

 Copper filings from a penny are used to cure the kotureture. An- 

 other method of treating this and other venereal diseases, as also 

 piles, is to make a hole or short tunnel in an earth bank, with a 

 small shaft for an outlet. A small smoky fire of chips or shavings 

 of Mara is made in this tunnel, the smoke escaping by the shaft, 

 over which the person sits, covered with a sheet or old cloak 

 to prevent the smoke from escaping too rapidly.* This disease 

 of the tara wahine is thought by my informant to be syphilis, a 

 disease which he thinks is not nearly so prevalent among the 

 natives as it was twenty or thirty years ago. 



Goitre, or tenga, is common in the high-lying district inhabited 

 by the Tuhoe tribes. Those afflicted by it are mostly women. 

 No attempt seems to be made to cure it. The term tenga is also 

 applied to the pomum Adami, and to a bird's crop. Elsdon 

 Best has only seen three men affected by goitre in his neighbour- 

 hood, but many women there have it, some of them being quite 

 young. 



Sneezing (matihe) is looked upon as an evil omen, a token of 

 coming disaster or sickness. Several short charms are used to 

 avert the trouble. Some simply repeat the words " mahihi 

 ora." 



Delirium in sickness is termed kutukutu ahi. It is said to be 

 the aimless talking of the wairua or spirit of the sick person, and 

 is considered a fatal sign. 



To restore a person apparently drowned the process known 

 as whakapua is employed. The person is held so that the smoke 

 of a fire will enter his nostrils, which will revive him (ka ketu akc 

 te manawa). The same treatment is adopted in cases where 

 persons have been bitten by the poisonous katipo spider (Latro- 

 dectus). Some state that the sufferer was first placed in a 

 stream. 



The bark of the manuka-tree is used for diarrhoea and 

 dysentery. Pieces of the bark are boiled until the water is dark- 

 coloured, and this decoction is drunk. Here again superstition 

 steps in. The aged lady who gave me this note states that just 

 twelve pieces of the bark must be used, neither more or less, and 

 they must all be cut of an even length and size. If this be not 

 done, then the medicine will not be effective. The bark of the 

 white manuka only is used, the branches of which are drooping 

 and the leaves fragrant, and which is said by the uatives to be 

 the male tree — rakau toa* 



* Elsdon Best. 



