MAORI MEMORIES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1938, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES.

LEISURE (Atea tanga.) (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) Hindoos, Malayans, and Pacific Islanders drink narcotic juices or chew the Kava root and the acrid areca nut: but the Maoris use the gummy substance "Mimi aha'’ from the sap of the Rauriki (sowthistle) as a diuretic, which also produces a healthful flow of saliva. Another favoured Ngau pia (chewing gum) was obtained from blocks of bitumen from the subterranean bitumen springs off Cape Egmont. Though the Kawakawa (Kava of the Pacific Islanders) grows everywhere in New Zealand, it is singular that the Maori has lost the art of extracting an intoxicating beverage from it. There is still an unexplored field of profit in prospect for it as a patent remedy for certain diseases here. Having no knowledge of the pipe as an aid to leisurely reflection they' used chewing gum in its place.

Singing in unison and dancing, known as Waiata and Kanikani, were also used ..freely to wile away their leisurely Jives. Their rhythm and tuneful voices were perfect; but rhyme and an aid to memory was unknown, and to them quite unnecessary. Action songs were their special pleasure, clapping hands on naked breast or thigh, each one played his or her part in outdoing the others. This was accompanied by a peculiar noise of deep breathing inward and outward. These, and what was thought to be indelicate movements of the body were strictly hygienic exercise of the hips and abdomen, taught from childhood as a valuable aid to digestion. Maori women even today use it habitually in walking. The quivering of the hands, a conspicuous feature in Maori, speech, song and dance, is said to be a valued aid to the nerve centres. Maori men and women of old age were free fromthe shaky hands so common in the Pakeha people.