MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1940, Page 9

MAORI MEMORIES

HOME AND HEALTH. (Recorded by o£ Palmerston North, for the “Times-Age.”) Maori houses were of varied patterns and uses. The walls were limited to about four feet and used only to support the rafters (Heke). These walls (Pakitara) were lined . with smooth canes of the toitoi, standing upright and lashed neatly with strips of dried flax (Harakeke); with coloured canes ornamental panels were made between the studs (pou). Dwellings were of a single room used as a bedroom', by family and guests, who slept, on the dry clay floor each clothed in a single mat of dressed flax. A fire of embers on the floor in the centre of the room gave warmth and dim light. They had no idea of a chimney for ventilation or relief from smoke. The only fresh air came through the thatch of raupo or toitoi. The wood smoke seemed to prevent pulmonary troubles. Tobacco or the use of pipes were unknown. The doorway faced north in order to allow the spirit of a dreamer to visit Te Reinga, their Heaven under the earth, of which they had clearly defined ideas. Cooking or boiling was Tapu within the walls of the whare moe. Should a death occur inside, the house, however well constructed, was disgraced and burned with its contents. The Whata (food store) was built on piles to keep out the swarms of native rats (Kiore). Though a plague, these vegetarian little creatures were prized for their delicate flesh, so no steps were taken to exterminate them.