MAORI MEMORIES.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18928, 24 April 1933, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES.

INTERESTING VIGNETTES. (Recorded by “J.H.S.”) POTTED N.Z. SEA PIGEON. ' A familiar sight to travellers passing in the vicinity of Patea, Wanganui Waitara, or other freezing works near the coast, is that of tens of thousands of the small black-backed gull which feed upon the rich pickings from the works. Of later years quite large numbers begin to find their way far inland where such food is more easily obtained than a fish diet in a storm. When fish, and fernroot were the staple food of the Maori, these small gulls, which they believed to be not a distinct variety but the young of the ordinary large white gull, were much esteemed for their delicate flesh. Cooked by a pakeha they may not appeal to us, but steamed in a Maori umu they are equal to any of our game birds. The Maori snared them in hundreds, and if the law permitted, the freezing works might pot them in millions to keep going in the off season for lamb and mutton. They nest in the rocky headlands, and their number, attracted by this new source of food supply is rapidly increasing. The .feathers alone would be a source of revenue.

Prejudice is a hurdle to the untaught; only those who have tasted are entitled to judge. The Maori declares that potted "New Zealand Sea Pigeon” would capture London at fancy prices. On the other hand, the Ngatiapa tribe had regarded the Ivuaka and the Tara for centuries past as sacred (Tapu), and they were therefore immune even to a starving tnan’s appetite.