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73 



near Tara-pounamu, while the islet of Moutohora, off Whakatane, is a famous fishing ground. Also districts or 

 valleys, famous for the numbers of birds taken, often had special sayings, such as ' Te Wera-iti umu tahunoa.' 



The fowler going snaring Kaka takes with him his ' mutu ' of different shapes, used according to the 

 angles of the different ' hiwi,' also his decoy Kaka (' mokai ' or ' timori '). The decoy is fastened to a stick by 

 means of a cord attached to a human bone ring (moria) on the bird's leg. If the tree is not well branched for 

 climbing, poles are lashed to the trunk to enable the fowler to ascend. This is termed a ' rou/ To ascend 

 such a tree, when it is not desired to erect this ' rou,' the process known as ' tapeke ' is resorted to. The feet 

 are slipped through a looped cord, while another and longer one is put round the trunk and the ends thereof 

 grasped by the climber, who slips the cord up the trunk of the tree as he ' swarms ' up. Having reached the 

 platform, the fowler proceeds to arrange the snares on his 'mutu,' and then takes the long stick (kokirikiri) to 

 which the ' mutu ' is attached, and thrusts it up through the head of the tree and hooks the crutch over the 

 top of the stationary pole (hiwi), which is firmly bound to a branch with vines of the akatea. The top of the 

 ' hiwi ' is notched to prevent the crutch slipping off. There is no bait of flowers on the ' mutu,' but the perch 

 must be long exposed to the weather after being made, in order to give it an old and weather-beaten appear- 

 ance, otherwise the birds will not settle upon it. The cord attached to the snare passes through the upper arm 

 of the ' mutu/ and trails down on to the platform. Having set all his ' mutu,' the fowler places close to him 

 all the cords which lead from the different snares. He then proceeds to start his decoy in business, and if well 

 trained, the ' mokai ' will, by its cries, soon attract any Kaka there may be around. The best decoy for the 

 ' mutu ' process is a ' tatariki,' and the best for the ' pae ' method is a ' tata-apopo.' Should the fowler not be 

 possessed of a tame decoy Kaka, he will make use of a 'tirore.' The first bird caught is placed on a perch just 

 over the snarer's platform, and tied by the leg to a branch, or a perch is made by lashing a piece of aka across 

 two branches. The beak of this wild decoy is then broken, that the bird may not gnaw the cOrd round 

 its leg. When our hunter returns home he does not take the 'tirore' with him, for it is tapu, on account 

 of being suspended over his head., Neither does he kill it, but leaves it there to perish miserably. 



The merry fowler waiteth with more or less patience, within his screen of fern leaves, until he sees 

 a bird settle on one of his 'mutu.' He then grasps the particular cord which connects with that snare, and 

 gives it a vigorous jerk. This drags the snare loop along the perch or horizontal shank of the inverted 

 T, upon which the Kaka has settled, enclosing and dragging with it the feet of the bird, which are jammed up 

 against the upper part of the ' mutu.' Keeping the cord drawn tight, the snarer makes it fast to the pole, and 

 then takes the pole down and deftly catching the bird by the head, that he may avoid being bitten by its 

 powerful beak, he places the top of its head in his mouth and kills it with one vigorous bite. 



The ' kiri ' is a 'mutu' used for very wild or timid birds. It is attached to a long 'hiwi,' which projects far- 

 out from the tree in a sloping position. At the villages the decoy Kaka were housed when not being used, 

 each bird having its own ' rohe ' or food basket. The cry of alarm uttered by a Kaka is termed ' tarakeha.' 

 The noise of the birds quarrelling is ' taruhae. ' 



Spearing. — The spears used for taking birds were made of the white wood (ngako) of the tawa tree. 

 They were about one inch in diameter and of a great length, the ' taoroa ' being thirty or more feet, and the 

 ' maiere ' from sixteen to twenty. The barbed head or point was termed a ' makoi/ and was made of human 

 bone. It was about twelve inches in length and worked down to about the size of a lead pencil, leaving 

 several barbs. In later times iron came into use for ' makoi,' gridirons being specially sought after, the bars 

 thereof being worked into capital ' makoi.' The ' makoi ' was lashed firmly on to the ' matahere ' or head of the 

 spear, the butt end of the spear being known as ' hoehoe.' Being so long and slender, the spears had to be 

 dragged behind one in travelling, and when not in use were hung up in a tree. For this purpose a short piece 

 of wood was lashed across the spear near the head, for hanging it up. This crutch stick was termed ' pekapeka.' 

 In climbing a tree, the fowler would thrust his spear up first and hang it to a branch. Having reached 

 his platform or standing place, he would take off the ' pekapeka ' and pull his spear up. Advantage was taken 

 of branches to act as rests and guides for these long spears, the same being pushed very slowly until quite near 

 the bird, and a quick thrust of the spear would then impale it on the ' makoi.' In rare cases the ' makoi ' (or 

 tara) was of greenstone. 



Pae. — In this method of taking Kaka the fowler relied principally upon his decoy. Having selected 



a suitable place on the feeding ground, he places a light pole in a slanting position on two adjacent trees, and 



from this another such pole slanting downwards, its end resting upon the ground. At the base of this 



slanting pole the decoy Kaka is secured, and close to the pole is the rude screen of branches or fronds of the 



Vol. ii.— 10 



