380 
MEANS OF SUPPORT 
medullary substance, sometimes six inches in diameter, with 
scarcely any fibre in it; this is really an agreeable article of 
food, slightly sweet. When cooked, it is called pitau. It is 
not improbable, that if it were dried it might be used as sago. 
This is an article of food still highly prized in winter. 
The fruit of the rimu and kahikatea pines also is eaten. 
They produce a small red berry, about the size of a sweet pea, 
the stone being outside, and it is found in great abundance 
every other season. The berry of the hinau, though very 
astringent, after it has been steeped some time in water, is 
then made into a kind of bread, which is much relished. 
Fungi growing on dead timber, the harori-tui, harori-atua, 
and several other kinds, although exactly like our English 
toadstools, are equal in flavor and nutrition to the mushroom. 
But amongst all the indigenous fruits, there is none superior 
to the tawera or pirori (freysinesia),& species of the pandanus, 
which somewhat resembles a pine apple; both the flower and 
fruit are eaten. The juice of the tupakihi (coriaria samentosa) 
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 in large quantities. 
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 our common mole-trap. 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 to them all which may be in that part 
of the forest. They generally carry a torch under their 
garments until the bird 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 
