MAORI MEMORIES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 April 1938, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES.

(Recorded by J.H.S.) KAI. The staple food of the Maori was aruhe, fish, kumara, dogs, birds, rats, taro, karaka and hinau berries, and the sweet petals of the Kiekie. Aruhe (fern root) was one of the main sources of food supply, especially in winter when it was eaten from the storehouse dried. The chanting song of praise before the feast loses its rhythm in translation. Literally recited in one tongue it reads “shell-fish and fern root, root of the earth, that is the food to satisfy man, the tongue grows rough by licking, like the tongue of the dog.” Taken from rich soil, the aruhe is soaked in running water, dried in the sun, cut in short lengths and stored for six months under a roof without walls —then roasted and masticated, the hard woody fibre being spat out —even Hindoo visitors preferred it to their native food of rice.

Tui and mutton birds preserved in their own fat and stored in bags made of seaweed were used as winter food —other birds were eaten fresh. The native rat (kiore) was caught in traps and pits by thousands, cooked and eaten with relish. The introduced Norway rat, not being a vegetarian, was never eaten. The native dog (kuri) shared the family meals and was in turn highly relished in an emergency. European dog flesh was not to their taste.

Seals (kekepo), found only in the far south, was a tasty morsel. Whales stranded after a fishy love affair at sea, were a harvest. Land worms (toke), up to two feet in length, were cooked and eaten, and when taunted with the indignity of it they quoted the European “Diet of Worms.” The pith of Nikau and the petals of the kiekie were a real delicacy. Pure water was their only beverage and sound health their universal privilege. The necessary salt came with fish steeped in the sea and dried.