WITH TAWHAIO AND THE KINGITES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 212, 30 July 1878, Page 3

WITH TAWHAIO AND THE KINGITES.

(Continued from No. 211.)

May Bth. —Up bydawntoHikurangi, to watch the effects of sunrise, the rosy flush" of coming day first lighting up Moungatoutere; daylight, gathering strength to clear the dimness of the western arch, rewarded the early riser by disclosing a most extensive.prospect. Far away, in the north eastern corner, could be readily discerned Te Aroha, the mount of love, with its three hummocks, that look, on Ohinemuri by the far-away Thames ; the middle distance showed i cone-shaped Kakapuka; in a straight line from the last stood Maungatoutere, with its saddle back; Rangitoto far away to the south-east. Far .distant, in the south, Tongariro and Ruapehu, half unveiled from misty clouds, displayed their snow-clad shoulders. Wood crowned Pirongia, with its leafy spurs, formed a charming foreground to the grand panorama stretched out below, which the eye could follow to the hazy ridges, distant near a hundred miles. The camp wakes up with the day, wood chopping, fire lighting, food preparation ; these homely toils come on their rounds once more. Tawhaio's body guard turn out to visit his quarters at six o'clock. The Hauhau call to prayers is sounded by the beating of pahu, a sounding piece of wood, struck on its edges by persons furnished short batons, as it hangs suspended!from a pole supported by two forked sticks ; it is made (when procurable) of the wood of the poro kaiwhiria {Hedycaria dentata), an aromatic tree. According to Porou Tuahaere, these wooden drums (if they can be so called), were formed of large dimensions, sometimes over twenty feet in length, they could be heard at some twelve miles distance ; it was struck in cases of alarm, when the people immediately flocked in to the pah. A celebrated pahu, on a hill in the isthmus of Auckland, sounded the alarm for the whole isthmus. The Hauhau service is at half-past seven o'clock; women are bringing water in calabashes (talia), or boys riding-in horses laden with fodder, consisting chiefly of leaves and boughs of the hangehange ( Qeniostoma ligustrifolium ) ; these leafy burdens are piled over the withers of the horses, almost up to the lads' shoulders. Ample feeds for teth- | ered horses are readily procurably, at a very trifling remuneration to the young providors. We visit one of the wells, dug in a cool ferny gully, carefully fitted with a timber frame to carry a close lid ;

a part of the women's work is to keep the' warri supplied with water. The potato pits are excavated in dry places, with a framed entrance of strong squared wood, over which are laid sheets of bark or broad flattened slabs of tree-fern; these well stocked stores of food also appears to be in the charge of women ; a long string of girls daily starts from the pits, each damsel carrying a flax kit heavily laden with this favourite esculent. This daily procession gives one some chance of seeing the varied costumes with which the belles of Maoridom set off their dusky charms, all hues are laid under contribution, red, yellow, orange, blue, and white, are especial favourites ; green, purple, black, seem less generally used. Although the colors make such delightful pictures, it is the natural grace with which the shawl is worn that gives the greatest charm to the native woman's dress. It may be wrapped in a score of different ways, in all of which it droops into easy folds of exquisite simplicity and beauty,

The great event of to-day was the Food Feast; a great concourse of people of both sexes formed a procession through the village towards our camp, the women bearing baskets of various kinds of native food, quite an exhibition of Maori esculents, each article had its appropriate ngeri, chanted with highpitched voice, dancing and facial contortions accompanied each song, given with the utmost precision in point of time ; as these ngeris brought out some portion of the ancient lore, long dormant, of the elders of the tribes, old men and women when not stripped for the dance, in strong contrast to their juniors of the present day, came out with flax mats and feathered headdresses of strange designs, and from their withered lips lent to the forceful chant the aid of their shrill pipes. Amongst the edibles was a preparation of the roots of the Convolvulus sepium, caJled pohua (the favorite food of the pheasant in this district), it is as flowery as potato with a slightly bitter taste 5 boiled sow-thistle often appeared in the same basket, the Hauhaus when compelled to use cooked sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) found to their surprise they did not lose condition on this spare diet. Para, the rootstock or rhizome of a grand fern {ilarattia fraxina) ; this edible is of a pinkish or pale purple tint when cut, was solid, tough, and nearly tasteless ; the plant is found growing plentifully in the deep ravines that intersect the wooded spurs of Pirongia, wheie the fertility of the soil induces a vegetable growth that is indeed remarkable for its strength and vigor. Mamuka — This esculent appeared in junks of about a foot in length; it is the mucilaginous pith of the black tree-fern ( Cyathea medullaris) ; it was presented ready dressed, was soft, with a very sweet flavor. Roi —The rhizome or root of the bracken (Pteris aquilina var. esculenta); in this district the edible fern attains a great size, and is said to be of a very superior quality for culinary purposes ; it was offered in the uncooked state, in which it was usually kept ready fer use. Tawha—the prepared berries of a very common forest tree in many part 3of the North Island (Nesodaphne Tawha). Hakeke —The Jews-ear fungus (Hirneola auricula — Judo?) ; it is found rather plentifully in the forests of Pirongia ; that which grows on the Ivaraka is most esteemed. It is cosmopolitan, and in England is found on the elm and elder trees.

In addition to other agricu'tural products, the King Natives grow and manufacture a fair sample of tobacco, which at least possesses the merit (possibly a rare one) of being free from any deleterious admixture. A useful substitute for soap is also made, of which article there must be considerable consumption, if conclusions may be drawn from the amount of washing in progress. The buildings have very much of the ancient style of warri about them, notwithstanding the advance of modern improvements ; most of them are built of raupo, tied closely in bundles ; these are firmly secured between the wall posts, the roof warmly and neatly lined and j thatched with raupo. This thatch is j often overspread with the long broad fronds of Lomaria procera, a swamp fern, or with a thick coating of mangimangi. Finally, all these roofing materials are held in place by strong bands made of the tough strings of this climbing fern. Wide bands are tightly strained lengthwise and crossways, giving the roof the appearance outwardly of being devided into large squares. The mangi-mangi is of so durable a character that the Maoris have a saying that it lasts for a hundred years ; it is one of the common plants about Hikurangi, where its streaming stems of immense length often entwine around the top of the tallest trees. Although the old form of doorway is giving way to a more comfortable mode of entrance, yet new warris are still being built with the old-fashioned kind of opening of some three feet perhaps in height, with a width of about two feet. Light is only admitted through a narrow opening or window beside the door, fitted with a sliding panel, just as in the old days, when the astonished 6lave peeping in saw four feet in the warri of Tuienakai. These warris are quickly built ; the great house or wharau for the use of the Kupapas was erected in nine days. It is ninety feet long by thirty-six broad, firmly and neatly constructed of raupo attached to a stout frame of timber. Some of the older dwellings are made of tree fern stems ; in every case a ditch is drawn around the walls, the excavated soil being placed against the bottom of the building.

(To be continued.)