262 Essays. 



cooked. A few also of the sea-weeds were eaten, such as the karengo (a 

 tidal species of Laminaria found plentifully from the East Cape to Cape 

 Turnagain), the rehia, the rimurapa (jy Jlrmllcea iitilis), and some others, 

 incKiding Porpliyra vulgaris ; some of which were also used exclusively to 

 thicken the sweet juice of the tupakihi or tutu (^Coriaria ruscifolia^ ; Vvrhile 

 the small berries of the makomako {_Aristotelia racemosci) , of the heath-like 

 totara {Leucopogon fraseri) , and of two species of Muhlenhechia (M. adpressa 

 and M. complexa), of the ngaio {Myoporum Icetmii), of two species of JBlmelea 

 (P. prostrata and P. arenaria), and the large plum-like fruit of the taraire 

 {Nesodaplme taraire), fine-looking but not very gustable, were eagerly 

 sought after in their season by children ; who also, with adults, thought 

 highly of a sugary manna-like exudation (of doubtful vegetable origin) 

 called pia-manuka, and found in the summer occasionally on the branches 

 of the Leptospermum scoparium. The aromatic root and stem of the papaii 

 {Acipliylla squarrosa), and the insipid watery koreirei, or roots of TypTia 

 angustifolia, were also eaten raw ; while in times of great scarcity the roots 

 of the matuakumara {Geranium dissectum), and of the ririwaka {Scirpus 

 onaritiomts) , were also eaten. 



(ii.) The plants of utility and ornament were very numerous — from the 

 giant pine to the tiny moss. These may be conveniently classed thus : — 

 (I.)- Clothing, or fibre-yielding plants ; (2.) timber trees, and other plants, 

 whence they obtained their ^canoes, war and husbandry instruments and 

 vessels ; and (3.) plants and vegetable substances used as ornament. 



(1.) Of the clothing, or fibre-yielding plants, one only was generally 

 cultivated, and that, too, was not indigenous, viz., the aute, or paper-mul- 

 berry tree (Broussonetiapapyriferd) ; this shrub, or small tree, was assiduously 

 planted, but only for the purpose of obtaining white fillets for the hair of 

 the chiefs. It has long been nearly, if not quite, extinct. The harakeke, 

 or New Zealand flax {Phormitcm tenax and 'Pli. colensoi), of which there are 

 many varieties, was sometimes planted, but not largely so ; more to have it 

 handy, or to secure a prized variety, than with a view to cultivation or to 

 improve its fibre. The leaves of these valuable plants were universally used, 

 both scraped and unscraped, and the fibre prepared in various ways — by 

 scraping, soaking, beating, dyeing, and twisting — for clothing for both sexes. 

 Prom it the chiefs' elegant and ornamented silky paipairoa, and the shaggy 

 bee-butt looking pake and ngeri, with their many intermediate kinds of 

 clothing mats, were alone manufactured. Common articles of clothing and 

 war-mats of defence were also woven from the leaves of the kiekie {Freyci- 

 netia hanlcsii) and from those of the ti {Gordyline australis) ; while from the 

 fibres of the handsome large-leaved mountain ti (Cordyline indivisa), very 

 strong and heavy mats for apparel, called toi, were made, which, dyed black, 



