Corenso.—On the Maori Races of New Zealand. 347 
dried in the sun, and called kao, and were reserved to be used as a kind of 
sweetmeat, or delicacy at feasts, boiled and mashed up in hot water. And 
when the kumara was fully ripe, the labour in taking it up, sorting and 
packing it into its own peculiar baskets for store—including the weaving 
of those baskets, and the half-digging, half-building of the stores supposed 
to be absolutely needful for effectually keeping it (and which were often the 
best-built houses in the village, and often renewed)—was very great. The 
taro (of which the leaves and stems were also eaten) required a moist, and 
the hue and aute, a rich soil, with much less care, however, in raising them ; 
but the manufacture of the bark of the aute into cloth-like fillets for the hair 
of the chiefs (it never was made into clothing in New Zealand) was also a 
tedious work. 
(4.) Of wild edible vegetable substances they made great use; par- 
ticularly of the fruits of three trees,—the karaka (Corynocarpus levigata), 
the tawa (Nesodaphne tawa), and the hinau (Eleocarpus dentatus). The 
kernels of the first two they annually collected in large quantities, and 
prepared, by baking, steeping, and drying, for future provision, and which 
Gf kept dry) continued good a long time. The flesh of the karaka was 
also largely eaten when ripe. The fruit of the kinau was also collected 
and placed in water to steep, to separate the dry flesh from the nuts; which 
powder or flour was subsequently strained, made into coarse cakes, and eaten. 
The common fern-root aruhe (Pteris esculenta) was also generally used ; 
and the spots in which it grew to perfection (mostly a deep light soil, 
especially on a hill side or slope) were prized, and sometimes fought for. 
It is a great mistake, and one often made by foreigners, to suppose that, 
because the fern is common, the root which was eaten was also common. 
The writer has known the natives to dig and carry it a distance of upwards 
of twenty miles to their homes. Much labour was also expended in procuring 
and preparing it; on being dug up, it was sorted and loosely stacked, that 
the wind might pass through and dry it; after which it was put up into 
bundles or baskets, and stored for use. When used, it was soaked, roasted, 
and repeatedly beaten with a small club, on a large smooth stone, until it 
was supple; a process always tiresome, both to eater and to beater, to 
master and to slave. It was seldom, however, eaten alone, mostly with 
fish; and in the summer, soaked in the juice of tupakihi or tutu. The 
large sugary roots of the great cabbage-tree, or či (Cordyline australis), 
and also the small ones of the little ¢i-koraha (Cordyline pumilio), were also 
baked and eaten, or rather the pulpy substance which is among its fibres. 
The sago-like pith of the stem of the large black tree-fern, korau, or mamaku 
(Cyathea medullaris), was also baked in their earth ovens and used; it is 
very good and nourishing eating. The heart and blanched stems of leaves 
