Grilled and Dried in the Sun

Te Ao Hou, June 1965, Page 38

Grilled and Dried in the Sun The hao is hung out for a while to dry, and is then grilled and strung together with flax in bunches of ten. After this it is dried in the sun. Next come the rikos, greenish-backed tunas about three or four feet in length. They are split open and the backbone is removed. (This backbone is very good eating—when eating it, one is reminded of playing a mouth organ). Riko are dipped into a large pot of boiling salt water for a few minutes, then strung with flax in pairs and sun-dried. Next to drift down to the bar are the paranuis. These tunas are dark in colour and have thick skins. They are not as long as the riko. They are preserved in the same way, and are the best keepers of the three varieties mentioned. The last to migrate are the kokopu tuna. This is the big variety of the tuna family, being sometimes over six feet in length and over 60 pounds in weight. It is split, salted and smoked; when split open it measures over two feet in width. This fish is very good smoked. When a southerly sea is washing over the sand bar, good sport is to be had hooking these huge monsters as they meet the salt water that is coming over the sand bar. They struggle hard to get into the sea and thus to continue their journey to their spawning ground somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Dr Falla, Director of the Dominion Museum, told me that this is their destination. He also said that these huge tuna are the females, and that the hao are the male of the species. Mr Tame Victor Saunders, a member of Ngai Tahu, has lived for most of his life in the Pirinoa district, in the Southern Wairarapa. He is aged 75. Since returning from service in World War 1 he has been mostly confined to a wheelchair with a permanent war disability, but despite this he has taken an active part in many community activities: on two occasions secretary of local school jubilees, he is secretary of the Pirinoa Maori Committee, and also National Party secretary for the Southern Maori Electorate.