FOOD OP THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 107 
is a remarkable circumstance, that these two 
months are not in their calendar ; they do not 
reckon them ; nor are they in any way accounted 
of. It is a time,''’ the natives say, ‘‘ not worthy 
to be reckoned, as it is only spent in visiting, 
feasting, talking, playing, and sleeping.'’’’ They 
compute time by moons, of which they count ten 
in the course of the year, reckoning three moons 
for one at the latter end of autumn. The reason 
they give for this is, that, during two months be- 
tween autumn and winter, they have nothing to 
do in the way of cultivation : their time, conse- 
quently, is then occupied, as has been stated above, 
in comparative idleness. They are generally 
very correct in their time ; and take their season 
for planting by the blossoms which appear upon 
some of the early shrubs. 
The food with which the New Zealanders now 
provide themselves, is various. It was formerly 
confined to the sweet-potato, the fern-root, and 
fish, with the sweet stalk of the Tawara (Astilia an- 
(justifoliay a parasitical plant, growing between 
the branches of the Kahikatoa and Puriri trees. 
They have now potatoes of various descriptions, 
a larger species of the Convolvulus batatas than 
they formerly possessed, melons, pumpkins, green 
calabash, cabbage, onions, yams, peaches, Indian- 
corn, and various esculent roots ; besides a large 
quantity of pork ; which, with the birds they are 
now able to shoot, and the immense quantity of 
fish they catch, renders their bill of fare no very 
