494 
MEANS OF SUPPORT. 
or gravel being laid on the ground to the depth of six 
inches ; so also the taro, which needs the aid of bush screens 
and other expedients to make it flourish, these soon ex- 
haust the soil ; three years cropping being, in general, all 
that can be obtained from one spot, the place is then 
abandoned, and another selected ; but this abandonment 
is only for a space of time ; instead of turning up the soil, 
and suffering it to lie in fallow a season, their method 
of renewing it is to allow it to remain unoccupied until it is 
covered with a certain growth of wood, if situated in wood 
land ; or of fern, if in fern land, which requires a period of 
from seven to fourteen years, when the spot is again cleared 
and planted, thus, many places, which appear never to have 
been touched by the hand of man, are pointed out as having 
been the farms of some ancestor, and, when more closely 
regarded, will be found destitute of old timber, the kumara 
taro, and even potatoe grounds, are generally selected on 
the sides of hills, having a northern aspect ; by this declivity 
towards the sun, they gain an increased degree of heat. 
The hue (or gourd) is everywhere raised, and it is, indeed, 
an excellent vegetable, bearing a white flower, and pro- 
ducing a calabash, sometimes of large dimensions, when 
young, it is a delicious vegetable, sweet, juicy, and extremely 
savoury ; fully ripe, it is of the greatest use, supplying 
the place of crockery, in it the New Zealander carries his 
water, his stores, potted birds, fish or flesh ; he also uses it 
as a dish, and even lamp, it is often beautifully ornamented 
with tattooing; the natives have a singular idea respect- 
ing the hue , that the seed can always be procured from 
-the entrails of the sperm whale, which they affirm has been 
frequently verified ; they account for it by saying, that 
in Hawaiki the hue grows spontaneously, and hangs over the 
cliffs in great quantities, which, when ripe, fall into the sea, 
and are devoured by the whales, which frequent that part. 
The melon and pumpkin are now cultivated, as well as 
the cabbage and turnip, which grow wild, having been 
introduced by Cook ; maize and wheat have been more 
recently raised, but are now grown in large quantities. 
