Stack. — Notes on the Word "Moa" xxix 



On page 180 



u Tahuri raai o mata 

 Te tihi ki Tirau, 

 Mo wai roki roki 

 Ko te huna i te Moa 

 I makere iho ai 

 Te tara o te rnarama." 



Moa here is a contraction for moana (ocean). 



On page 324 



a ]STa hikuao te Koroliiko 

 Ko te rakau i tunua ai te Moa." 



(Of Hikuao was the Korohiko, the wood with which the Moa was cooked.) 



Koromiko, or Veronica, was used by the Maoris in certain sacred rites, and 



tradition asserts that the twigs of the korohiko alone of all woods in the forest 



availed to cook the flesh of the Moa. It is difficult to accept this tradition as 



a plain statement of fact. 



I am inclined to look upon the expressions, " Ka ngaro i te ngaro a te 



Moa," " Te Korohiko te rakau i tunua ai te Moa," and "Te Moa kai hau" (if 



the words refer to the Moa at all) as proverbial, and to be accounted for by 

 the theory proposed in my former paper.* The absence of any reference to the 

 appearance of the Moa, or to its habits, or to the hunting of it, is significant 

 when taken in conjunction with the fact that frequent allusions of the kind 

 are made with reference to other birds, and with reference to hunting and 

 fishing. As, for instance, on page 62, "The owl is hooting near." On page 

 98, a charm to be used by rat hunters, also one for fishermen. On page 

 107, "The notes of the kiwi, weka, etc., sound in the listening ear." On page 

 109, enumerating feather ornaments, Moa omitted. On page 381, a charm 

 for use by fishermen. On page 388, a charm for hue cooking. 



After careful examination I cannot find any evidence in the Poetry of the 

 New Zealanders, contained in the work to which I have referred, that the com- 

 posers were familiar with the JDinornis. Though this work does not of course 

 contain all the poetical compositions of the people, it is a fair sample of their 

 productions, and must be more reliable for the purpose of affording evidence 

 upon a disputed point than any subsequent collections made after controversy 

 has arisen about the subject matter of the poems originally collected. 



» 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., IV., Art. V. 



A3 



