CoLENSO. — On a better Knoivledge of the Maori Race. 145 



This saying was used when a person was unwilling to give what was 

 asked, the same being some common thing and not at all needed by the 

 owner. 



Soot from burning kauri-vesin (a genuine lamj^-black !) was carefully 

 collected in a very peculiar manner and only by much pains, and buried in 

 the earth placed in a hollowed soft-stone, where it was kept for years, and said 

 to improve in quality by age ; it was used as a black pigment in tattooing. 

 But there is a double meaning here, viz. : You may never require it, or live 

 to use it ! 

 213. Waiho noa iho nga taonga; te^ui te mana o Taiwhanake. 



Leave (your) goods anywhere ; here is the power and might of the 

 Eising-tide. 



Used to strangers, to show, that the people of the place were honest, 

 etc., and under their chief, who is figuratively called the Overwhelming Sea 

 or Eising-tide; 

 214 Te aute tee ivhawhea ! 



The paper mulberry bark is not blown away by the winds. 



Meaning : Peaceful times ; all going on well ; no disturbances. 



The bark of the paper mulberry shrub, or small tree, [Broussonetia pa2)yri- 

 fera) which was formerly cultivated by the ancient New Zealanders, and 

 used as a kind of white cloth ornament for the hair, was, after being beaten 

 and washed, etc.,, spread out to dry in small pieces, but only in fine, calm 

 weather. 



215. Haere maiki Hauraki, te aute tee aivhea! 



Come hither (to us) to Hauraki, a district in the Thames, where the 

 prepared paper mulberry bark is not blown away {or disturbed) 

 by the winds while drying and bleaching. 

 A proverb of similar meaning to the last one. 



216. Haere i mua, i te aroafo o Atutahi. 



Go before the presence (or rising) of (the star) Atutahi; or, Work 



away diligently in advance of the appearing (of the star) 



Atutahi. 



Formerly used (1.) concerning the proper time of annual friendly 



visiting, — viz., in the autumn, when food is plentiful, and before the frosts 



set in ; (2.) also (and more commonly), for the early digging and storing 



securely in their neatly-built storehouses of their precious kwnara crop, on 



which so much depended ; which roots if but shghtly touched by frost, 



rotted. The star Atutahi"^' rises in April, and was to them indicative of the 



season of approaching frosts. 



* See a future paper on the astronomical lore of the old New Zealanders. 



12 



