CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 85

CORRESPONDENCE.

St. Leonards, December 21. Dear " Magister," — It is a long time since I wrote you last, but it has not been for lack of interest, but rather through lack of energy, and partly because you have been for a long time so pressed with correspondence that there teemed no room for me, of which lam glad. [Which way must I take this? — Magisteb?] But row you ask for information which I think I can supply, and so I must respond!, as no sue else seems inclined to do so. Tutu and tutu poisoning are items you ask for notes on. Well, m my early days I saw a good deal of this trouble, and, as far as my memory will serve me to go back nearly 50 years, I witl describe the effects produced on stock by tutu poisoning. Stock are mostly, if not always, poironed by the eftting of the young, succulent shoots, noi, the seed, as is the case with ths human beang ; but the effect produced by either is much the same. The animal poisoned would get restless, then run about, generally in a circle, with a staggering gait, then it would begin to froth at the mouth, the eyes would protrude, assuming a wild expression, and the stomach would swell up to en enormous extent. The animal' would by this time be mad, and dangerous to go near, and so out in the open H was not often easy to apply remedies in the early stages. It is only v, hen ths animal gets to that stage when it oan no longer stand, but fells to the ground, that it can be approached and remedies applied, I do not know what would ba done now iv such a case, but m those days oi which I write the treatment adopted by some was at ones to puncture the stomach fhrough the flank, and so ollo'.v the gas to escape; this gave great relief to the poor animal, if it did no more. The treatment ustd by others was that of bleeding in one or two places, either by cutting & vein on the under side of the tail close up to the root, or else in the rcof of the mouth. If any benefit was gained, I think it was by the mouth bleeding, as f he animal swallowed the blood, which might act as a mild emetic; but though I have tried both, and both on the same subject, I never thought they did any good, but that if the animal recovered it was because the dose of poison ha-d not been sufficient to kill. Cattle that got so bad es to fall hardly ever got up again, as far as I remember. Cattle accustomed to tutu land' were not often affected unless fiist starved and then turned out on young tutu. For instance, my team of 10 bullocks travelling m the early sixties to the diggings over the "VTaipori hills were one night turned out on land which had been burned, and on which a strong growth of young tutu had sprung up. Of this my bullocks, all m good condition, ate greedily, and weie rone the worse for it, while several other teams travelling in company with mine suffered badly, one team being neaily all killed. The teams that suffered were all in very poor condition, so my bullet k-duver reported 1 to ma I once ?aw a ruftn under the influence of the po:son, and tiie effects were similar to those in the case of stock, and very repulsive to behold My falher w*as called in to attend him, and was supposed to have pulled him throug[h ; anyhow, the man gat batter. Perhaps m this case the doso of poison was not enough to kill, but I think it was with belladonna, and nux vomica thai my father treated biro. Of this, however, I cannot be sure, after the lapse of nigh on 50 years. There are some interesting notes on tutu in Laing an<j Blackwell's book, " Plants of iSTew Zealand." Rs your query about bats and moreporks, I have never seen the former mole^ed by fcho latter, although I haye seen numbers, of both in the eauie locality. The bat, I think, would be too quick tor the mprepork. Bats used) to -Jive dyrcig the day u»der tne loose bark of the manuka trees. I kept one atyve for a long lime in c dark cupboard during tho day, and let it 01)1 at nighi info <&• rooms tg catch HieSi '

I am glad to see my old friends the dragouflies are to h-ave a "turn now. Eric Baker had better look for nymphs in waterholes, as the dragon-fly deposits its eggs in water. There is a great deal more I wish to write, but I must ring ofi now for fear I be dismissed with more than a caution. Wishing a ha-ppy and interesting New Year to you, good " Magist-er" and all fellowcorresnondenis.—•Yours, you know. I \ Rambler. [Thanks fo- reminiscent and informative letter. — Magisteh.] Dear " Magister." — I am afraid it will be difficult to got much information nowadays regarding "The Forest of the Past," referred to in " Past's " letter to you That nrany of the ranges in th-e interior were covered with forest in regions now treeless there can be no dcubt. as charred logs, the remains of what must have been large trees, are, or were, to be met with on many of cur mountain ranges. I have seen them in more than one locality, and I remember being at a station on the Wsitaki over 40 years ago where a large quantify of such timber was lying for use as firewood, and on asking where it came was told that it was sledged down from the ranges It must then have existed in considerable quantity to make it worth while to gather it. The wood was i supposed to be totara, bu' v it probably was cedar (labocedrus bidwillii). which is a mountain tree yielding very durable timber. I have heard that a tremendous fire swept over the South Island many years ago. and that the Maoris have a name for it, and could tell traditions of " the fire of Tamatea. I am not certain as to the accuracy of the last Maori word. Can any of your readers obtain information from any ancient Maori regarding such tradition? It has been a favourite theory of mine that the final extinction of the moa was large'y due to this conflagration. Large deposits of moa bones have been found in swamps in difficult parts. How did

they get there? "Was it a habit of the dying inca to retire to a swamp to spend its last ■ hours? Is it not much more likely that they endeavoured to take refuge from the fire in the swamps and were suffocated by the smoke. James Donovan's letter was very interesting The Okgrito lagoon an<l neighbourhood i should certainly be made a sanctuary for tW 1 white heron. Mr Donovan's snipe is th« godwit ox kuaka, an-d the -bhrd comes frcn! Siberia, not Switzerland. It is very interesting to hear of its resting at Tonga on its kmg journey. By the way, "What na" is quite a good Scottish idiom, but brute is not usually spelled ' bruit, though so pronounced. — I im, etc., Old .Boy. [Caai any readei tell me where I can get any information giving an account of the actual or conjectural fire mentioned by " Old' Boy " ? And another question suggests itself here, one I have often asked — but not in mj columns, — but got no reply to. Is there anyclear account published of the Maori journeyings from the West Goast over to the head of the Mataura end down that river? "What na, " didn't stick me up j it was the word following. — Magisteb.] Dear "' MagisteT," — Will your correspondent Zinnia " tell us a httle more about the nest of the morepork, because if what she s»ys is correct she has found anoiher strange fact of naiure — an owl building a nest. So> far as I know, no owJ builds a nest. She lays her eggs in hole 3 of trees or e~.ee appropriates an old disused nest of bird or beast. How did she see all this performance of the old birds flitting about? How did she firau find the nest, daytime or night time, and did? she see the mother bird feeding the little ones? Is there no possibility of there being: » mistake as to th« identity of the birds? " Fast " asks as to the origin of -the tree trunks that strew some of our mountain sides, with no -"stumps or evidence that they had grown where they lie. Is it not possible \