496 
MEANS OF SUPPORT. 
with scarcely any fibre in it; this is slightly sweet and 
really agreeable, when cooked, it is called pitau ; it is not 
improbable that if it were dried it might be used as sago, it 
is highly prized in winter. 
The fruit of the rimu and kahikatea pines is also eaten, 
they produce a small red berry, about the size of a sweet 
pea, the stone being outside, and are found in great abun- 
dance every alternate season. 
Fungi growing on dead timber, the harori-tui , harori- 
atua , and several other kinds, although exactly like our 
English toadstools in appearance, are equal in flavor and 
nutrition to the mushroom ; but amongst all the indigenous 
fruits, there is none superior to the tawera or pirori ffrey- 
sinetsiaj , a species of padanus, somewhat resembling a 
pine apple ; both the flower and fruit are eaten. The juice 
of the tupakihi (coriaria sarmentosa) is expressed in large 
quantities, and drank ; it is also boiled with sea-weed, and 
thus forms a jelly, which is very palatable. Several kinds of 
sea- weed are also eaten. 
The only terrestrial animal originally found in these islands 
was a small rat, scarcely more than one-third the size of the 
imported one, though now nearly extinct and seldom seen, 
it was formerly so numerous as to form a considerable article 
of food, it was taken by an ingenious kind of trap, which 
somewhat resembles ours for the mole, these were set on 
lines of road, which had been made expressly for this pur- 
pose in the forest ; and they generally succeeded in taking 
sufficient at once to feed the whole pa. 
The kiwi ( apteryx Australis ) was hunted at night with 
dogs, the natives can so closely imitate the cry of this bird, 
that they soon draw together all which may be in that part 
of the forest ; they generally carry a torch under their 
garments until it approaches ; the light is then suddenly 
produced, which so terrifies the bird that it allows itself 
to be secured ; the kiwi is still abundant in some places. 
The kakapo , or ground parrot, is a gregarious bird, larger 
than the common fowl : it was hunted with dogs and torches 
at night ; it is now all but extinct in the northern island. 
