Bush Fruits

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Bush Fruits

The early settlers -in New Zealand who took up land in the backblocks, miles from towns, lacked many of the good things which help to make life enjoyable, and their food supply was confined to the plainest sort. The fare was simple and good, but the common fruits were rarely tasted 1 , and perhaps after several years a few fruit trees came into bearing and relieved the monotony of diet. In some parts of the country apples, peaches and cherries grew wild, the stones and pips having been planted by Maoris who had occupied the land previously. At times when supplies of food were packed into the settlements, a few dried apples, peaches, or prunes were received as a special treat, but these were generally considered delicacies, and only indulged in once in a while. There were several native fruits which helped to gratify the taste for something in that line. The poroporo berry, or as it was commonly called, “bulabul,” was quite a tasty fruit, and when made into pies, was not unattractive. The fruit is about half or three-quarters of an inch in length, and a quarter of an inch thick, yellow-ish-red in colour, and found growing near the edge of the bush on darkgreen trees with long, pointed leaves. It belongs to the same family as the tomato, and has a slight flavour resembling the taste of that fruit. Another fruit or flower-fruit which the early bush-dwellers found rather good, was the tawhara, called by some people “geggie,” an awkward pronunciation of the Maori “kiekie.” This is a flax-like plant with thick, pointed leaves, and long, twining stems, somewhat like sugarcane, which climbs among the trees in the bush, and may be found close to the ground. The fruit -begins to ripen about October, and is ready for eating in December. At its best it is about nine inches in length, and! four inches across. It has a flavour resembling that of the apple. In the season when the fruit ripened, the young people made quite a day of it when they went into the bush gathering the fruit. The nutty substance forming the stalk of the flowers of the nikau was much sought after, and was considered quite a treat when peeled and eaten; if it did not contain a great amount of nourishment, it filled a gap, and was a change. In the flowering season of this flax, korari, the flowers contain much nectar, and the country children were fond of picking the flowers and sucking the liquid from the stem. The Maori found this juice to their liking also, and swallowed large quantities of it; they spoke of it as wai-korari, flax-water.—H. Maynard (Hataitai). A Pleasant Meeting Recalled Just on 50 years ago I was on a station not many miles from Moawhango where, one winter’s evening, six horsemen approached the house. They were a party inspecting the proposed route for the Wellington-Auck-land railway. Hunterville was then the terminus, and there was still another route under consideration, from Hawke’s Bay to Upper Mohaka and to Taupo. Five of these horsemen were Messrs. Walter Buchanan, W. H. Beetham, Charles Wilson and Bruce, Members of Parliament for Wairarapa, Masterton, Manawatu and Rangitikei respectively, in the days of the Atkinson Government; and Mr. W. Marshall as pilot and packman. They had come up from Hunterville, some 70 miles along the horse-track through standing bush. This track is to-day the Main Trunk railway line. In those days there was no settlement or any bush felled there or at Moawhango until one came to Dalziell’s new clearing, a few miles from Hunterville. Looking backward, it is to me a' very pleasant memory to have met such fine men, all of whom made their mark as ideal settlers. With the exception of Mr. Bruce, our member, the other three members had not been in the country before. These men stayed two nights at the station and visited the two Maori pas where the inhabitants were much impressed by the white “rangitiri," who saw the possibilities of the fine bush country, but who could never have dreamed of the towns and wonderful settlement which sprang up and grew within the next 50 years. We piloted them on to Karioi where they were astonished upon emerging from heavy bush to pumice country. The party questioned the few pakeha with them about the land, and I think Mr. Buchanan’s queries were the most pertinent. He caused much amusement that night at supper when he commented on the very good potatoes which, he supposed, were grown in a sheep camp. This made the station manager very indignant. He said they could grow such potatoes anywhere in that part of the country. He had lived at Karioi for many years and up went his hackles if anything was said criticising or poking fun at the land.—C.F. (Tikokino). “C.F.” adds that Ruanui was the station the horsemen visited when he met them. Mr. J. F. Studholme was the owner, and he was the overseer. He is now in his seventy-third year and is the only one of that pleasant meeting alive to-day.—Kaata. Wrong Sites Chosen? With a fair stretch of open country behind, visitors to Wellington frequently wonder why the site where Petone now stands was not selected for the city proper. When the first of the New Zealand Company’s' vessels arrived, Petone wag one of the busiest places in New Zealand; and in the early part of 1840 it was quite a large town, consisting mainly of flimsy whare an'd shanties. In less than a year the place was almost deserted, and Wellington itself began to grow on its present site. If an error in judgment was made in founding Wellington, so wgs an error made in founding Duue'din. The suggestion had been made, and vetoed, to build the town near where Walkouaiti now stands, but, as with Wellington, the city grew elsewhere. It is easy to see to-day that the Waikouaiti site would have been a good one for Dunedin, and perhaps better than the one chosen.—C.H.F. (Dunedin).