MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 April 1940, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES

LED BY THE BIRDS. ‘(Recorded by J.U.S. for the “Times-Age.”) Captain Cook’s discovery of Now Zealand in 1769 is said to have been prompted by the same observation as that which led the Maoris to this ideal country—the flight of the godwits. The Maori saw in lhe endurance of those marvellous birds, not only a guide across the trackless ocean, but an ideal climate which could produce such creatures. Captain's Cook's objective was lhal of a botanist who s:tw an ideal forest which must nourish such enduring flights. Neither of them were disappointed. Cook- found a natural garden of evergreen beauty without a rival in all the world, making h’s long voyage and daring its dangers on kind and sea no loss than five times in many years. The Maori foresight was equally acute, for they came upon what has been proved by statistics to be a climate showing tile lowest death rate in the world. Of all the pine family the kauri is distinctive. Al one period it occupied the whole of lhe north to lhe exclusion of other growths. This is shown by the extensive deposits of kauri gum below Hie surlaee, exceeding in value per acre that of any other crop. The rimu was the king of the south. Both trees were sacrificed I'or their ex- ] ceptional value for building and furnishing.