POISONOUS HONEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11952, 29 April 1902, Page 5

POISONOUS HONEY.

SENSATIONAL OCCURRENCE- NEAR

MORRINSVTLLE.

•EIGHT MAORIS AFFECTED.

FIVE DEATHS.

[BY XKLSGIUfH. — OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Moimi ssville, Monday. Ten natives of Te Hoeatainui, near Morrinaville, while searching for an old man who was missing, found a box of bees near the bush. Eight of the men ate ' heartily of the honey, being very hungry. An hcur afterwards all the eight were ill. Three died on the same night, and two next day. Three recovered, after being unconscious for about 24 hours.

Mr. Forrest, coroner, ' accompanied .by Mr. J Clifford, Constable Wild, and others, went to the settlement and held an inquest on the bodies. Verdicts were brought in that the deaths were caused through eating poisonous honey, a rider being added to the effect that the police should take possession of a portion of the remaining honey.

The following is another account of the air:—A Maori said to bo 100 years old. and certainly hut little if any short of that age, feeling unwell, recently told his friends not to bother about him or to trouble themselves by coming much to the whare where ho lived alone, near Waitanui. lie said ho would find a grave for himself, which they understood to mean that he would probably retire to cue of the caves near there and die. Last Friday lie was missed, and eight stalwart Maori men started to search for him. Having been unable to find him, they retired in tho evening to his whore, and in their hunger regaled themselves with honey from one of his hives. ' They were soon tak >n very ill, and recognised that they had eaten honey gathered by tho bees from poisonous tree blossoms. Five of them are dead, and tho other three have recovered after fearful sufferings; only one of them has his tongue badly mangled as a result of convulsions. The constable has been instructed to destroy the remainder of the heney, except a sample for analysis. The deceased Maoris were intelligent, industrious, upright men, and pleasant neighbours. They wore well known in Morrinsvillp, where they often came, with four-horse waggons, bringing flax or other produce. The names of three of thorn v.ere Matate, Hatara, and Tutnakero. It is but a fortnight since a biy; feast terminated, which had been given by Ihe Waitanui natives for the opening of a public lull. On that occasion a largo number of palceha visitors were cordially entertained day after day Now it is a tangi. The cries of grief could yesterday be sometimes heard for half-a-milo.

.Soma years ago an alleged honey-poison-ing cine oceunod at Matatti, Bay of Plenty, two Maori lads dying after eating honey taken from a tree hive in the bush. Father Mad an, in a report on this case, said: — Three Maori youths, Totiern. To Ngarara, and Tcri, whoso ages ranged from 15 to 19, started on a wild pip hunting expedition in the bush, about 10 miles inland from the ssa, at Matata, Bay of Plenty. About 30ft from the bottom of a ravine they observed bits entering a hole in an old tree called the tawhoro. The tree was leaning at an anjle of 45 degress over the slope, and was in that stage of decay when, although rotten inside, there is still strength left to throw out young shoots from odd parts. The three lads at once proceeded to extract somo honey to eat then and there, resolving to return later on with cans to obtain the rest. When questioned as to how much he oat, the survivor described it as about three-fifths of his hand, or about 4Jin by 3iin. When questioned us to what he eat, ha said it was honeycomb, not brood nor cells of bee bread, although his meaning was not to exclude some of the latter, which might per accidens be present. To look at. it was a piece of clean comb honey. The lad in question, viz., Teticra, the survivor, then cut his name on the tree, and they all proceeded on the hunt. They crossed the stream, climbed the opposite'bank, and after some time caught a pig, and proceeded to rat it,up. While thus occupied, about two hours after eating the honey, they became conscious of having eaten what is known amongst the natives aa poisonous honey. Giddiness came on, then vomiting. There was little or no rain, hut some headache. They resolved at once to adopt the Maori remedy, vis., drinking all the water they could, and sousing themselves in it. They all started off for the stream they had left, now some distance off, and two of them were, subsequently discovered dead. There are throe flowering plants known as producing deleterious honey or pollen. (1) The wlmrangi, a plant, about sft high, bearing white flower's in the early spring: (2) the puawangana, a climbing plant, described to me as the white clematis, and also as the wild vine, bearing white flowers in tho spring; (3) the whauriki, a small plant resembling watercress in its habits, but bearing a yellowish flower like the yellow buttercup in tho autumn. It grows by the edge of swamps and running streams, and flowers in the autumn when tho water goes down. A gentleman, who was for years engaged in the bush in surveying, states that as regards tho first two of the above plants, it is certain that after about two months the do'oterious substance, whatever it is, disappears, and that the comb can lx> eaten perfectly inoccuously. With regard to tho whauriki, be happens not to have been able to test it either one way or the other. Ho further stated, that the honey in question could only have been gathered from the whauriki; and the natives state that its poison also disappears after a time. ft will bo remembered in Zonophoos " Anabasis" that some soldiers in the ' Retreat of the Ten Thousand '* eat some wild honey in Asia Minor, and boeamo, as it wetv, drunk, but none died from it. Tho report concludeslt will be nottcxl from the abovo:—II) That the Maori ,ad most affected was the only one of the original party that recovered, and that a cam of death simply and solely from eating tin* or similar honey is not yet before the public, as far as I can ascertain; (2) that it seems to bo accepted as a known fact that the, deleterious substance, whatever it is, disappears in all oases two months after storing in the comb.