MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 September 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

KAI IKA ME MANU (Fish and Birds).

(Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”)

Think of the plight of an island of civilians without animals, weapons, implements or metals, and consider how long they would live. Maori ingenuity not only survived but they grew apace in number and health. Using barbless hooks of bone or shining paua shell, their line fishing was tedious and poor, but in the weaving and use of nets they were well ahead of us. In stormy days they depended upon Koura (lobster), toi (oyster), and pipi (cockle) from rocks and sands. As a substitute for fish, fowl or flesh they were literally reduced to “a diet of worms,” the great Toke (earth worm) seven inches long as thick as an index finger, was said to be a rare delicacy by those few whites who ventured • or were driven to it by hunger. The Huhu a large white wood grub was also a Maori delicacy. Birds were caught by snares and in the case of the Kaka (brown parrot) by a decoy. A Maori holding a tame kaka hid in the foliage and teased the decoy until it shrieked as in distress. Its fellows would come a dozen or more to its rescue when they would.be seized by hidden hands and dropped with broken necks. Pigeons and tuis placed their heads through snares hanging round little canoes of water in the midst of tree tops where they drank and fed. The Huia being tapu (sacred) acquired a confidence which led to its extinction when our cats, and pigs where let loose. They shared the fate of pampered young men and women whose parents did everything for them.