Hamilton. — Notes from Murihiku. 175 



through the interstices. I know of no other example of this. 

 The bag itself was half-full of kokowai. 



(7.) Another very small bag of fiax(?) fibre, made in a 

 peculiar way; about 5in. long. Inside this little bag or 

 sachet was a piece of mimiha, a kind of pitch picked up 

 occasionally on the beaches in Otago, and which was used 

 by the natives as a masticatory. In the North it was known 

 as kauri taiuhiti. 



(8.) Two pairs of sandals {paraerae) , made from the plaited 

 leaves of the cabbage-tree {Cordyline). One pair was quite 

 new and single-soled (takitahi) ; the other pair had been worn, 

 and were much thicker, being double-soled (torua). 



(9.) Several large bundles of the tomentum stripped from 

 the back of the large alpine Celmisia (tikumu). This was 

 worked into warm and handsome mats.* 



(10.) A small parcel of a sticky-leafed Celmisia (C. viscosa). 

 These leaves have a very pleasant smell, and were probably 

 gathered for the viscid sweet-smelling gum (hakeke). There 

 was also a small packet of the fragrant gum of the Pittosporum. 



(11.) A hank of twisted flax-threads, format-making (alio). 



(12.) Fragment of a whitebait-net made of flax. 



(13.) Small bundle of the vascular part of the cabbage- 

 tree stem or root {kauru). 



(14.) Small bunch of albatros-feathers. 



(15.) Feathers of the kakapo. 



(16.) Several Mytilus shells, which had been used for 

 scraping and preparing the flax. 



The kete thus contained, probably, the treasures of some 

 industrious old Maori lady who had been up to the alnine 

 country to collect the Celmisia tomentum for a mat for "her 

 lord and master. She had likewise collected some sweet- 

 smelling gums, to be hung in a small sachet round her neck ; 

 and possibly the other articles were taken with her as fancy- 

 work to occupy the hours of a wet day, when she did not feel 

 inclined to travel. There were three very fine specimens in 

 this find — the shell with the flax handle or loop for suspension, 

 the bag for straining the juice of the tutu, and the little bag or 

 sachet for the masticatory, 



DiSCOVEKY OF SOME SaMOAN(?) MaTS AT HyDB, CeNTEAL 



Otago. 

 In August, 1894, Mr. Matthewson found in a small rock- 



* "At one particular place (near Mount Egmont) we met with a sub- 

 stance that appeared like a kid's skin, but it had so weak a texture that 

 we concludecl it was not leather, and were afterwards informed by the 

 natives that it was gathered from some plant called teegoomme. One 



of them had a garment made of it, which looked like their rug-cloaks." 



Parkinson; "Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas," p. 115, ed. 1773. 



