296 
Memoranda of an Excursion 
across the harbour to the northern shore, a distance of 
about five miles. A heavy swell setting in, we ran 
some risk, but crossed in safety; landing at Tamatarau, 
a small village, at 9 p.rm, where we passed the night. 
The natives of this place, and in fact the whole neigh¬ 
bourhood, stunk insufferably from shark oil, and the 
effluvia arising from thousands of the Squalus genus, 
which were hung up to dry in the sun in all directions. 
This bay being shallow and sandy, is a favorite resort 
of several species of Squalus in the summer season; at 
which time the natives congregate together, and take 
them in great numbers. They call them Mango; their 
ova, which they carefully preserve and dry, is consi¬ 
dered a great delicacy. Several species of the genus 
Raia , Linn. } are also taken here in multitudes. I have 
seen the natives capture them, by plunging a long pole 
through their horizontally flattened bodies, when pass¬ 
ing in a canoe over the extensive mud flats with which 
this bay abounds. The tail of one large species, is 
armed with large spines of three inches and upwards in 
length, which spines are deeply, closely, and sharply 
serrated. One pretty little species, I once saw, had a 
very long filiform cylindrical and smooth tail. These 
fish are called ’Wai, by the natives. A species of the 
Hammer-headed Shark ( Zygcena , Cuv.) is sometimes 
met with on these shores among the shoals of its con¬ 
geners in the summer. I have only seen a small one, 
about 2 feet 6 inches in length; the natives know them 
by the name of Mangopare. 
The next morning we again re-commenced our march. 
On the clayey hills near Te Karaka, in this neighbour¬ 
hood, I discovered a graceful and minute Lycopodium; 
a curious and unique little plant, scarcely two inches 
