Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 85 



•state of decomposition. When the big party of a thousand 

 Ngapuhi, Rarawa, &c, were camped near Wellington in the 

 early part of last century, some hundreds of them died from this 

 cause. The survivors said that the cause was the taking for fuel 

 of some of the brush or scrub of which their priests' hut was 

 made." It seems clear, however, that these deaths were due to 

 ptomaine poisoning, and, strictly speaking, this is not an instance 

 of epidemic sickness. 



Dysentery. 



Epidemics of dysentery (tikuku, torere, koea, tikotiko-toto) 

 were prevalent among the Maoris in 1795, and in the year 1800. 

 The former epidemic occurred just after the visit of a European 

 ship to Mercury Bay, near Auckland, and proved fatal in very 

 many cases. The natives called the disease makoko, or maripa. 

 The latter epidemic, which commenced among the natives in the 

 north, was one of the most disastrous of the pestilences which 

 have at different times decimated the Maori tribes. This was 

 the above-mentioned rewharewha. 



In the treatment of dysentery the Maoris obtained relief by 

 masticating and then swallowing the leaves and tender shoots of 

 the koromiko (Veronica salicifolia) and the leaf of kopata (Geum 

 urbanus). A decoction of the leaves of the tutu (Coriaria rusci- 

 folia) and of the ti (Cordyline australis) were likewise used, also 

 the tannin-bearing inner bark of the pohutukawa (Metrosideros 

 tomentosa) and bark of the kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum), 

 while the gum of the harakeke (Phormium tenax) served as an ex- 

 cellent demulcent. The administration of these herbs was usually 

 accompanied by the repetition of charms to make them potent, 

 and in cases of diarrhoea the proper karakia was called He korere. 

 It may be translated thus : — 



Stop up the looseness, allay the flow, 



The purging will subside, the purging is stayed. 



There is purging and there is stopping up, 



For this is the remedy that stayed 



The malady of thy ancestor Houtaiki. 



• 



Influenza. 



Influenza epidemics also came with the pakeha ships, and the 

 disease was named " the foreign disease " (rewharewha, taruta- 

 whiti, taiawa, or tarewha). The precise date of the first epidemic 

 is uncertain ; by some it is fixed at 1790, and by others at 1836. 

 In the year 1844 this disease carried off multitudes of Maoris, 

 many dying from exposure to cold while suffering from high 

 fever, and others from jumping into the sea or river to cool their 

 burning skins. " At this period," says Taylor, " the same com- 



