CoLENSO. — On a better Knowledge of the Maori Race. i2l 



45. He kakariki kai ata ! 



(Like) a little green parrot (wliicli) eats at daybreak ! 

 Si^oken of a person who looks to eat on rising before going to work. 



46. He kuiikim tamjaenui ! 



A pigeon bolts his food. 

 Used of a greedy fellow, never satisfied. 



47. He kuukuu tangaengae nui ; he parera apu para. 



The pigeon bolts, the duck gobbles up mud and all. 

 Said of a gluttonous fellow, 



48. He kaakaa kai honihoni ! 



A parrot eats leisurely, bit by bit. 

 Said to a person who eats moderately and slowly. 



49. Ka whakarongo p)ikari nga taringa. 



(With) ears quick at listening, like yoimg birds in their nests. 

 Spoken of a fellow always on the look-out for the call to meals. 

 Here is another of a similar meaning (also one of Te Hapuku's) : — 



50. Taringa midm kai ! 



Ears on the qui vive for food ! 



51. Awhato kai paenga ; and, 



Ka mahi te aivhato hohoni paenga ! 



Bravo ! great caterpillar eating around the edge of the leaf ! 

 Those two proverbs are nearly alike. The awhato is the large larva of 

 the moth Sphinx convnlvuli (or some allied species), which ate the leaves of 

 the kwmara, or sweet potatoe, in the Maori plantations (beginning at the 

 edges and leaving the mid- veins), and was therefore a most noxious and 

 hateful animal to them. The proverb is used of a greedy person who goes 

 eating from basket to basket at meal times, selecting the best bits. 

 Formerly, the New Zealanders had then- cooked food served up in numerous 

 small baskets ; they often sat in a circle to eat their food, and always out 

 of doors. 



52. Aivhato ngongenga roa ! 



Ugly great caterpillar, always slowly nibblin 

 This is similar to the last two. 



53. Ko Uenukic to korokoro ! 



Thy throat is even as Uenuku's. 

 Apphed to a great glutton. This is even stronger in Maori, — " Thy 

 throat is Uenuku." He was a desperate old glutton of very ancient times, 

 who had dwelt at " Hawaiki." Many things are related of him. 



54. Tohu noa ana koe, e Hangikiato, he ivhata kei te kakii ! 



Eangikiato ! what are you after ? Laying by food ! Verily, a 

 food-store is in thy throat I 9 



