THE INGENIOUS MAORI

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18397, 15 May 1934, Page 10

THE INGENIOUS MAORI

A KEEN NATURALIST USES OF PLANTS AND TREES THE QUEST FOR FOOD The Maori of old ns a keen naturalist who used his ingenuity to the extent that there was scarcely a plant in Ins immediate environment that did not render him some useful service in his daily or yearly routine, was depicted by Mr. W! Martin, 13 .Sc., headmaster of Hie Blenheim School, in an address which he delivered before the Blenheim Rotary Club. In a lecture on “The uses the Maori made of native plants,” Mr. Martin pointed out that in his search for materials to satisfy his needs, the Maori caused a. host of plants and trees to contribute. “The intimate knowledge of his environment possessed by the neolithic Maori was doubtless necessary for hitvery existence and preservation,” remarked the speaker, “but the fact remains that every Maori was a keen naturalist. His ‘genius for personification and his mythopoetic outlook endued him with an attitude to his dnironment very difficult for the pakeha to appreciate. Men, birds, fish, animals, insects and trees are all the progeny ot Rangi the Sky Parent and Papa the

’artli Mother, whose < intu. 'la.’ the father of us all and the presiding ,eity of the forest. An are cir.ulu u. ike attributes, each according to his rind and varying only in degree. Thus, lie trees are endued with spirits as are men. From Tune was descended Haumia, whose duty it is to see that food s available for man, though her rebellious progeny, Waevoa, the mosquito, and Namu, the sandfly, as constantly wage war against him. “THE NEVER-ENDING QUEST” “Food was the never-ending quest of the Maori, and his thoughts, proverbs, conversation, and stories largely centre round this topic,” Mr. Martin stressed. “Every month had its particular duties for the bysliman and husbandman no iess than for the fowler and the fisherman; every month had its particular taumaha or charms to he recited, its particular rites to be observed, its particular tapu to observe or remove. “What then were the chief vegetable foods of tlie Maori?” he asked. “Leaving out of account the kumara, the taro, and the hue, which were cultivated wherever possible and formed the staple vegetable food of the great majority of natives, but which were not indigenous to the country, we find the most important of the ’uncultivated plants were the hinau, karaka and tawa trees, which provided their fruits in due season, and the aruhe or fern-ropt. As greens the puvha or native sowthistle and the hen and chicken fern were the most prized. In times of scarcity the fruits of the matai, miro, kahikatea, totara and rimu were gathered, but these trees were of more value as food for the pigeon, 'which was slain in large numbers ftir human food. The bracts and fruits of the kiekie were prized, though by no means staple articles ol diet.

“Briefly, the following were the principal'articles used as a source of nourishment in addition to those already indicated : Fruits of the konini (fuchsia), poroporo, rohutn (myrtle), titoki, kawakawa, patotara, supplejack, tataramoa (bramble), and various Coprosmns. The roots of the rengarenga (Mabel Is. lily), ti or cabbage tree, convolvulus (Calystegiuj, para or king fern, raupo, various orchids, and the common spear-grass. The leaves of cress, Solatium nigrum (a small nightshade), various duckweeds, nikau, cabbagetree, and spoargrass (Aci-i phylla squarrosa). Tlie pollen of the raupo and the pith of the mainaku. Numerous fungi and several seaw r eeds.” NATIVE “GINGERi-BBEAD” Mr. Martin mentioned that a very interesting food was made from the pollen of tlie raupo. This was collected in large quantities and made • into round cakes not unlike gingerbreads and tasting not so dffercntly from gingerbread. In the case of the fungus, the common mushroom was probably not in New Zealand before the advent of the white man. blit there were plently of other edible fungi. It was worth noting that the Jew’s ear fungus, which was collected and exported to China, as much as £IOO.OOO worth being dispatched in one year, was used by the ancient Maori. PREPARATION OF FOODS “Time does not permit mention of the manner of preparing each of these foods,” the speaker proceeded. “Some were roasted, some steamed in the uinu or oven, and others were eaten raw, while a very few were stone-boiled., that is to say, placed in water in wooden bowls and boiled by dropping hot stones into the water.' Only the leaves of certain plants were used as a covering lor tin! food in the unni when available. They might be those of the manono, or the haugehange, or the pari-taniwha, according to the food being cooked, or those of ft variety of selected plants. Patches of aruhe (bracken fern) had to he carefully tended. In August every third year the fern 'was burnt off. nuthoe aiid supplejack wood alone being used for the firing. The root was usually ready for lifting in mid-summer, and after drying it was stored for winter use. The first root, however, had to be cooked on a sacred five and eaten hv the priest or tohunga.” Mr. Martin remarked that aruhe was the food commonly carried by war parties. Warriors on tlie warpath always carried their food supplies for, naturally, they could not expect to find food in a hostile territory—the local people saiw to that. It was of interest to know Unit the Maori subsisted oil two meals a Sdav. When on the war-trail, however, unless taking long and exhausting journeys, he used to eke out his food as long as possible by having only one meal. His practice on rising in the morning was to drink his fill of water; he would take a light meal in the afternoon, and then if he felt hungry in the evening ho would take another big •drink! (Laughter). Describing the preparation of other foods, the lecturer explained that the fruit of the hinau was pounded in a knmete or wooden trough after careful •drying. The meal so derived was sieved through a flax sieve, and the remainder was usually stone-boiled and drunk as gruel, The juicy part of the tawa was not relished save by children, the kcrnals alone being used after roasting and subsequent steaming for 48 hours in the urnti. THE PIKE LEGEND Mr. Martin related the legend of how the Maori came to possess the boon of fire. “But for Tlongo-nuiui,” lie recounted, “men would not. have known how. to

cook their food, but must needs have eaten it raw, like other animals. On returning from the heavens he brought back the kumara, and, giving it to Panitinakau, lie explained to Tier bow it must be cooked. Auahi-tu-roa was the personified origin of five by which food is cooked. He was a descendant ot tly; sun, and marrying Mahuika, became the parent of the fire children. The story of how Maui tricked Mahuika into parting with her fire-fingers; how she set the forest on tiro as she flung aloft her sole remaining TTugcr; how the Rain God was invoiced by Maui to quench tlie flames, and how fire finally took refuge in the kaikomako tree are well known. Tims Hine-Kaikomako, the lire concealer, later married Ira, the fire-seeker; so that fire can now. he obtained only by bringing together the wood of the mahoe and the kaikomako. Ihe dried .wood of the native passion vine was regularly used as a fire-stick by travelling parties, as it smouldered slowly but surely for lengthy periods. CLOTHING MATERIALS Changing the subject from food to clothes, the speaker said that the plants most serviceable as. a source of clothing material were in early times the ante or paper mulberry—long extinct in New Zealand—the haralteke or flax, the ti or cabbage tree, the kiekie, and the pingao. The Maori, though a hand weaver, was a thorough expert in the art. These arts were taught only in the whare pora and then only with ’due attention to the appropriate ceremonies and tapu. The novitate must neither cat food nor converse with the family during the initiation ceremonies. The Maori recognised many kinds of flax according to the quality of the fibre—about 50 of them. ■Sandals were of flax or of tumatukura, and when used in crossing snow-clad ranges they were lined 'with moss. “The Maori maiden was not unaware of such toilet requisites as face paints,. hair oil, scent sachets, hair-ribbons, and! iiair-combs,” the speaker added. “Rouge i was obtained from the berry of the Aslelia or the eoastal spinach, oil from the expressed berries o) the titoki or passion fruit, and even from the fat of the pigeon. The fragrant leaves of the raukawa, tarainca, tarata, karetu, and other plants supplied the filling for the sachet, and the inner hark of the auteta.ur.anga (fPiinelca) or houhore (lacebark), and sometimes the leaves of the mountain daisy did duty for hair ties. Combs were made of kahikatea, manuka, or the horny bases of the crepe fern. “Garments were usually ornamented with very characteristic designs worked in fibre of varying colors. The black fil,i p was first steeped in a mordant obtained by steeping in water, bark from the hinau or makomako and then placed in certain swamp muds for a period of hours. For red the bark of the tanokaha or toatoa was used, and that of the manono for yellow ; but in any case the natural fibre of flax was cream, ot kiekie white, and of pingao yellow, so tlie Maori had quite a variety of colors without recourse to dyes. A VARETY OF USES Touching briefly on tlie uses made of other plants, the lecturer said that canoes were cut with infinite labor from tho straight trunks of totara, kauri, or kahikatea, while the paddles were commonly of manuka, or maire. Totara was the most desired timber for the framework of their houses, though the battens were often of tawa and manuka, tied with supplejack or other vine, ancr lined with the stems of toitoi or with nikau leaves and rushes. Fern-tree slabs were used as a protection against native rats entering the food storehouses. Totara and matai were selected for bawls, troughs, and trays tiiougli the calabash was also used. For tlie carved figure-heads of the canoe, pukatea was commonly used. War weapons were carved out of such heavy timbers as maire, akeuke, or manuka, The carving expert fancied totara, matai, and kauri for the houses; neinei, toatoa, and tanekaha for ornamental walking sticks and the like; and manaoa for the carved burial chests used to hold the bones of the chiefs. “In the economy of the Maori the raupo was a particularly valuable plant,” continued the lecturer. “From the loots he got farinaceous food, cakes from the pollen, calking material from tho fluffy seed heads, this also serving as - punk in the art of making five. Canoe sails were of raupo leaves, interlaced with flax. There is one native sail extant; it is in the British Museum. Raupo was universally used to cover the framework of houses and for making rough mats, while the well-known poi halls are made of this same material.” MAORI MEDICINE CHEST

The bush was the old-time Maori’s medicine chest, ami Mr. Martin referred in passing to some of tlie principal plants employed, lie. remarked that the natives had quite ti variety of medicines, and many had been found to be efficacious by white people. “It was not always faith-healing, as it is today,” he averred, slily. (Laughter), As a purgative the use of flax root and kowhai hark were recognised; as a demulcent for coughs the laccbark and the supplejack had their use; and as a mild laxative the clematis or the root of tho sand coprosma were employed. Astringent and styptic qualities were known to be possessed bv the juice and gum of the rimu and the rata vine; whilst, koromiko was popularly used for stomach troubles. Ivohekohe was used as a tonic, while to deal with sandflies the Maori, rubbed m ngaio juice. It was only recently that the principle in the extract of that plant had been detected.