20 Transactions. — Miscellaneous, 



They were obtained from nearly all the great natural vegetable families, 

 — trees, shrubs and herbs, ferns, algas, and fungi. In fruits, leaves, and 

 roots. 



Strange to say, the trees and plants generally of this large and densely 

 forested coimtry, — blessed, too, with an excellent temperate and moist 

 climate,— scarcely bore a single fruit worthy of being eaten by a European ! 

 Still, it was wrong to write — " In New Zealand there are no fruits or 

 vegetables of indigenous and spontaneous growth ; all they have must be 

 cultivated aud tended constantly."* 



Nature was indeed niggard to the Maori people, as to fine fruits and 

 edible vegetables, yet they made the best of it, and commonly used 

 advantageousl}^ what she had provided for them. Certainly the preparation 

 of several before that they were fit for eating was highly curious. 



In remarking on their various kinds of vegetable food of spontaneous 

 growth, I think the better way will be to take them as they valued them 

 and used them ; so setting aside both their natural and botanical sequence. 



1. The first, then, is the world-renouned fern-root = ari//i(?, roi, or 

 rnarohi,\ = Pteris esculenta, — rightly so named by its first botanical dis- 

 coverer, Forster; and though very well known by its common name to 

 Europeans and to settlers (with whom, also, the plant itself is familiar), yet 

 the edible fern-root is far from being rightly understood ; I shall, therefore, 

 have to offer a few remarks concerning it. 



(1.) As to its proper localities : — 



Good edible fern-root, — that which produced a large amount of fecula, 

 was not to be found everywhere. In some districts, particularly at the north, 

 it was comparatively scarce, and had to be dug and brought many a weary 

 mile on the backs of the people to their homes, especially to their sea-side 

 or fishing villages. | Here, however, in Hawke's Bay (south side), in many 

 patches of the low-lying rich alluvial grounds, on the banks of the rivers, it 

 was more readily obtained. The best roots were produced in loose rich soil, 

 where the plant had been undisturbed for years. I remember, many years 



* Tate's " Account of N.Z.," p. 106. Tate had also resided in New Zealand 7 years ! 



t It had also several other names, some of which were mythological, and some 

 allegorical. 



I As corroborating this, I may here mention that at the reading of this paper I 

 exhibited some superior fern-root (though not of the best quality) which I had recently- 

 obtained from Pakowhai from the late chief Zaraitiana's tribe. They had had three 

 baskets of it sent to them as a present, some six months ago, from a place about 20 miles 

 inland from Te Wairoa (Hawke's Bay); it had grown in volcanic soil, the roots being much 

 pitted, and still having many bits of pumice adhering to them. They contained a very 

 large amount of fecula, and commonly measured 12-15 inches in length, and 3 inches in 

 circumference. 



