MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 January 1941, Page 9

MAORI MEMORIES

LIZARDS (NGARARA)

(Recorded try J.U.S., of Palmerston North for the ■■Times-Age.”l

Then- are neither serpents nor snakes in this Paradise of the Pacific, and an eminent theologian preached or the impropriety of naming a certain extinct volcano "Mount Eden,” because there was no trace of the historic ser* pent ever having been there' There are three small harmless lizards regarded by the Maoris with .superstitious terror because they believed the spirit of their Tupuna <ancestor:'.) came back in this form to avengt wrongs. The colours of these little fellows change with their locality, brown yellow or green. This change is |h> vidcd by the Great Architect as an effective protection. The Tuatara ‘numerous points) with its [jointed spines along the buck is the sole survivor in the world of th< most ancient fossil reptiles of the stone age One singular feature which inter esis all naturalists is the third <■*,< covered with a thin skin on the upper •kill*. Obviously this would appear to have been designed by The Creator t< guard them against air attacks by living enemies It is still a matter <<f <■ ■*> jegtiii'e as to whether this covered ey< is capable of seeing. Severn! early historians stated that there are no frogs in Mew Zealand. ye ? ns far back as ar 18:"? a few PcjH‘l-;-■bent limb-i were found near Auckland Now number- •>'. them an- found near C<ir>.mondel They are known a"Little Red Men," the face and hand-: being like those of an infant child They live on dry land and avoid waler The egg is covered with a thus .-km contaiiiing moisture which <tipplGtheir sustenance when hutched ,i; the ■tunlighi. Dtituik' 'he year IiGH wvcral linguthere w;r no Mams word 'Hwy were wrong Pcpcke ,bh-<i -.H ? hi the w<>rd