266' Essays. 



(3.) 0£ plants and vegetable substances used as ornament, &c., tbe 

 following are the principal : — For dyes, the bark of the hinau and of the 

 pokaka {ElcEocarpus dentatus and lioolcerianiis), and also of the makomako 

 (Aristotelia racemosa), were used for black ; and the bark of the tanekaha 

 or toatoa (JPhyllocladus tricJioman aides') for red. Oil, for anointing, was 

 expressed from the beaten seeds of the titoki or titongi (Alectryon excelsum), 

 and also from the seeds of the kohia {Fassiflora teircmdrci). A gum-resin, 

 used to perfume their oil, was obtained from the kohuhu and the tarata 

 (JBittosforum tenuifoJium and P. eitgenioides), 'and also from the taramea 

 (Aciphylla colensoi), which last was very highly prized. The strong smelling 

 ferns, Hymenopliyllum villosum, Eoodia media, and Eolypodium pustulatuon, 

 were also used for the same purpose of perfuming and for scenting oil ; 

 and so were a few fragrant mosses and Hepaticcs., called kopura — especially 

 Loplwcolea iwvce-zealandice and allodonta. The aromatic leaves of the 

 raukawa, a very scarce, sm.all tree, sparsely growing in the high dense 

 forests {Panax edgerleyi), were also sought for a similar purpose, par- 

 ticularly to rub their limbs and bodies. The daisy-like flowers of the roniu 

 {BracJiycome odorata'), and the flowering tops of the SAveet-scented grass 

 karetu {Ilieroclilde redolens') , were worn round the neck, enclosed in fibrous 

 leaves, as a scented necklace. Elegant female head-dresses were formed of 

 flovi'ering wreaths of various species of Clematis (particularly hexasepala and 

 colensoi), and of the graceful waewaekoukou {Lyeopodium voluhile). Some- 

 times the snow-white downy fibres from the under side of the leaves of the 

 kowharawhara, and the kahakaha (Asfelia cunjiinyhamii and solandri), and 

 the thin transparent epidermis from the leaves of the mountain tikumu 

 (^Gelmisia coriacea), were also used by females to ornament their hair and 

 head. The fresh gum-resin from the kauri {Dammara australis) was com- 

 monly chewed as a masticatory,* so also was that obtained from the 

 tawhiwhi or kohuhu {Pittosporum tenuifolium), mixed with che inspissated 

 juice of the puwha or sow-thistle (Sonclms oleraceus), ingeniously collected. 

 Combs Avere made of mapara andkapara, the hard dark woody tissue or heart- 

 wood of rimu (JDacrydium cupressimmi), which, was assiduously sought for in 

 the forest among old prostrate rotting rimu trees ; they were also carved out 



* This cliewing of tlie fresh gum resin of the kauri pine by the New Zealanders explains 

 the error made by Eorster (from Crozet, Voyage de M. Marion), who had named the 

 mangrove {Avicennia officinalis) A. resinifera, beheving that the gum chewed by the 

 natives had been obtained from that tree ! Forster says, " Gummi ex hac arbore exsudans forte 

 idem est, quo barbari Novae Zelandiae homines vescuntur, ut patet e diaris navarchi galhci 

 Crozet." This error has been since repeatedly printed ; and, strange to say, more recently by 

 Lindley (who even improves upon it) in his noble Vegetable Kingdom, where (p. 665), 

 speaking of the mangrove, he says, — "It exudes a kind of green aromatic resin, which 

 furnishes a miserable food to the barbarous natives of New Zealand." (!) 



