Cotenso.—On a better Knowledge of the Maori Race. 133 
Meaning: Don’t be too nice. 
127. Kai mata whiwhia, maoa riro kee! 
Food underdone (is) your own (lit., possessed), fully-cooked goes 
(with others). 
Meaning: Be quick at your cooking and eating, or visitors may eat it 
for you. 
128. Tunu huruhuru, kei wawe tu ana a Puwhakaoho. 
Roast (your bird) with its feathers on; (or'your rat) with its fur, 
lest you be suddenly surprised by an unwelcome visitor.—Here 
figuratively named Startling-trumpet. 
The meaning of this is the same as the last. 
129. Kakariki tunua, kakariki otaina. 
Eat up the green parrots whether roasted or raw.. 
Meaning: Be not over nice; as a party travelling in the woods, or going 
to fight, has no time for much cooking. 
130. Hohoro te kai ma tatou; akuenei tu ana Rae-roa, noho ana Rae-poto ! 
Hasten the food for us ; soon (the) Long-foreheads (will be) standing 
(here, when) Short-foreheads (will have to) sit down. 
Raeroa, or Long-forehead, is a name for chiefs; while Raepoto, or Short- 
forehead, is a name for the common men. I suspect this arose from the old 
manner of dressing their hair,* in which that of the male chiefs was drawn 
up tightly in front.and secured at the top by a knot, or band ; while that of 
the lower people hung loosely down. The New Zealanders, always a hard- 
working people, were quite alive to the English € of ** Quick at meat, 
quick at work.” 
X. Acamsst Maxine Muca or SMALL MATTERS. 
181. Kei maaku toku. 
Do not wet my garment. 
Lit. Let not mine be wetted: the passive being the more genteel, or 
mannerly, way of expressing it. The whole saying is, perhaps, worthy of 
notice :— 
Kei maaku toku kakahu! A, maaku noa atu? Kapaa, he wera ite ahi, ka 
kino ; tena, he maaku i te wai,—horahia atu ki te ra kua maroke !— 
Don’t wet my garment! And yet, if it were wet, what then? But 
if, indeed, it were burnt by fire, that would be bad; as it is, 
however, merely wet with a little water,—just spread it in the 
sun, and it is dry again in no time! 
Meaning : Don't complain of trifles. 
In the olden time, when no chief ever raised a cup, or calabash, of water 
to his lips to drink, but slaves went round giving them water, by pouring 
* Vide plates, 13, 55, etc., in Cook; and in Parkinson, 15, 16, 17, 21. 
