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Maori Agriculture

[argument and introduction]

page 21

Contents

The original settlers of New Zealand. Fern root as a new food product. Non-agricultural tribes. Cultivated food products a mere luxury in some districts. Remarks by early writers. Cultivation of the sweet potato in Canterbury. Food supplies of the far south. Southern limit of food cultivation. Fern root an important food supply. Its mythical origin. Former dense population in certain districts favourable to agriculture. Manner of life in agricultural communities. Cook's remarks on Maori agriculture. Anderson's account. Bank's account. The aute or "cloth plant." The yam seen by early voyagers. Evidence of other early writers. All ranks joined in cultivation work. Neat aspect of native plantations. Post-European decadence of agricultural methods. Remarks by Archdeacon Walsh, by Rev. S. Marsden. Fences. The pernicious pukeko. Breakwinds. Soils and soil names. Proverbial sayings pertaining to agriculture.

It is evident that, when the ancestors of the Maori folk arrived from eastern Polynesia and settled on these shores, they found that the conditions of life in these isles differed widely from those in tropical Polynesia. Here they found an aboriginal folk of inferior culture who seem to have possessed no cultivated food products, and to have subsisted entirely on the natural products of forest, stream and sea. These aborigines are called Mouriuri, sometimes Maruiwi, in Maori tradition, though they do not appear to have had any national or racial name for themselves. Our Maori settlers found here none of the desirable food producing plants of their former island homes, nor do they appear to have introduced any for some time after the arrival of the first immigrants, though there is certainly a lack of agreement about the traditions of the introduction of the sweet potato.

This sudden change from a tropical clime, with its easily obtained food supplies, including the breadfruit, banana, and coconut, which demand no trouble in cultivation, must have been a startling one to the Maori immigrants. They were at once compelled to make considerable changes in their mode of life, and to devote much more time to the task of collecting food supplies than had been necessary in northern climes. Here we have a case in which an agricultural folk were compelled to exist in a lower culture stage page 22for some time. They were urged by stern necessity to spend much of their time in fishing, and the collection of shellfish, berries, roots, and the birds of stream and forest. It was probably during this period that the Maori began to utilise the aruhe, or rhizome of Pteris aquilina, as a food supply. In later times, when he had introduced the taro and sweet potato, he found that the cultivation of these plants called for increased labour in this land, and could not be grown at all in some parts, thus lessening the supply. Thus it became necessary to still rely on fern root as the principal vegetable food supply in most districts. Such favoured areas as the Auckland isthmus, certain alluvial valleys, and some other localities, may have produced crops sufficient to form the main food supply, but most places were not so favoured. Some sterile or high lying districts, as also parts of the South Island, never produced much cultivated food, the small amount so produced was merely viewed as a luxury. Hence we are told that the tribes of the Tuhoe and Taupo districts, both inland regions, were compelled to rely principally on products of the forest, birds and berries. It was in such places that enormous quantities of berries of the tawa (Beilschmiedia Tawa) and hinau (Eloeocarpus dentatus) were collected and stored for winter use, that birds and rats were carefully preserved for that season, and inferior vegetable products, also earthworms, grubs and the tuatara lizard were utilised as food supplies. In a coastal district of sterile soil, or lands unsuited to the cultivation of the sweet potato, such as the vicinity of Wellington, the natives possessed two main sources of food supply, sea and forest, every man was both a fisherman and a fowler. These advantages were superior to those possessed by the Tuhoe and Taupo natives. Again, we must include some districts and communities where no crops could be grown, where all supplies came direct from forest, stream or sea. The natives of Queen Charlotte Sound were thought by Cook and his companions to have been living in this manner, though it is probable that they had cultivations at places unseen by the voyagers. Cook himself wrote—"To the northward, as I have observed, there are plantations of yams, sweet potatoes, and cocoas [taro], but we saw no such to the southward; the inhabitants therefore of that part of the country must subsist wholly upon fern root and fish, except the scanty and accidental resource which they may find in sea fowl and dogs." The few natives seen at Dusky Sound by Cook were undoubtedly without cultivated foods. Many places occupied by the Maori in the South Island could have provided but a very negligible quantity page 23of such supplies. Small quantities of the sweet potato were grown in parts of the Tuhoe district, but the crop never properly matured, and would not keep, hence could not be preserved for winter use.

In his work Forty Years in New Zealand, the Rev. J. Buller states that the kumara was not cultivated in the South Island, but this was certainly an error. It was grown to a considerable extent in the Nelson district, and also on the eastern coast of the island, where, however, more care was necessary in tending crops than at Nelson. Probably it was never a very important food supply south of Marlborough on the east coast, but would be easier to cultivate at Nelson than in some districts of the North Island.

In his account of Cook's first voyage, Anderson remarks:—"We saw no plantations of cocoas, potatos, and yams, to the southward, though there were many in the northern parts." In his narrative of Cook's third voyage, however, he gives some data supplied by a native of Queen Charlotte Sound, in which occurs the statement that the local natives, at certain times moved to other parts to work in their cultivations. It must be remembered that Queen Charlotte Sound was the only place in the South Island whereat Cook landed during his first voyage. Had he done so in the Nelson district, or certain parts of the coast north of Banks Peninsula, he would have observed proofs of native cultivation of food products.

The Rev. J. Stack in his Kaiapohia gives some account of the cultivation of the kumara in the South Island—"The inhabitants of Kaiapoi were obliged to devote much of their time to the cultivation of the kumara, or sweet potato, and to the preparation of kauru or cabbage tree stems, which they bartered with the inhabitants of other parts of the island for whatever else in the shape of food they stood in need of. The kumara being a native of a tropical climate they found great difficulty in growing it so far south, where frost was likely to prove fatal to its existence. To regulate the temperature of the soil, and to secure perfect drainage, they covered the surface of the kumara plantations with fine gravel to a depth of six inches, which was afterwards formed into mounds about two feet in diameter, and arranged over the field with the precision of the squares on a chess board, and in these mounds the kumara tubers were planted. Breakwinds of manuka branches, varying from two to four feet in height, were erected every few yards apart, and in such a way as to secure the largest amount of sunshine and shelter to each plant."

In Mr Beattie's Murihiku notes we are told that the kumara did not flourish south of Banks Peninsula. Also that, according to page 24traditions of South Island natives the kumara was there introduced about the end of the 13th century.

Mr H. Beattie has contributed the following data regarding pre-European agriculture in the South Island:—"My old friend John Puahu Rakiraki, of Te Karoro, Port Molyneux, says that a variety of kumara was grown in the South Island in little mounds formed of, or covered with, sand and gravel, but as to how far south it was grown he cannot exactly define. About 1868 or 1869 the natives at Port Molyneux procured some taro from the North Island and planted them in a suitable environment below Kuru Kowhatu's house on the Whawhapo creek. They were carefully tended, and came up, but never came to anything fit to eat. The same soil grew excellent potatoes. At the same time (1868) the natives planted maize at Whawhapo, but it did not mature.

We must not imagine that, because the southern natives did not grow kumara, taro and hue, that they did not live well. My informant says that by means of the custom of kaihaukai the people of Murihiku obtained kumara and taro from the more favoured people of the north in exchange for mutton birds and other foods which abounded in the south. Various species of duck, also weka, kiwi, kaka, pigeons, swamp-hens, quail, etc., simply swarmed in the south, according to the accounts of the early white settlers. Eels, fresh water crayfish, and kokopu (native trout) were also numerous. The forest furnished a considerable amount of vegetable food. The open lands provided fern root, the roots of the cabbage tree, and some other things. The sea yielded fish, shellfish, seals and edible seaweed. The native rat was also taken in considerable numbers, and a large lizard called karara was at least occasionally eaten.

When Rakai-hautu, forty-two generations ago, explored the South Island, tradition records that he carried his ko (wooden spades) with him. The fact that he brought them over the ocean from Patu-nui-a-Aio to New Zealand in his vessel Uruao shows that the people of that land were agriculturists, and hoped to pursue that profession in the new land. As to whether the immigrants planted any kumara here, we are left in ignorance. It is alleged that this vessel brought the aruhe (Pteris aquilina) and kauru (Cordyline), but that we take as a legendary embellishment. The tradition tells that the Kahui-roko people had the kumara but says that they stopped back at the last Hawaiki, while the Waitaha and Kahui-tipua came on. A chief of the Kahui-roko called Roko-i-tua visited New Zealand about 27 generations ago [See Transactions of N.Z. page 25Institute Vol. 12, pp. 159-162]. It is also said that the vessel Arai-te-uru landed some of its cargo at Whitiaka-te-ra, on the east coast of the North Island, but, a storm arising, the vessel ran south, and was wrecked off Matakaea, near Moerangi, where the kumara it carried became petrified, and are still to be seen there in the form of boulders."

The Rev. F. Dunnage, writing in Canterbury Old and New (p. 163), says relative to Maori life:—"The kumara, being a semi-tropical plant, needed careful attention and protection from the wind and cold. The large pits and trenches still to be seen round the old kumara plantations, for example at the back of St. Stephen's Church—testify to the patient industry of the Maoris in providing the plants with a light, warm, well drained soil. The planting and gathering of the crops were times of solemn interest; special honour was paid to the gods of the harvest. The shrine of one of these was close by where St. Stephen's Church now stands."

A passage in Shortland reads:—"Taumutu occupies a position at the extremity of the Waihora, a very large hapua (lagoon) which extends as far as Banks Peninsula, a distance of 20 miles. This is the most southern part of the island at which maize or kumara has ever been cultivated."

Again in Vol. XXVII. of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, at p. 148, Mr Beattie makes the following statement:—"The kumara was brought by Rokoitua [Rongo-i-tua in the North Island dialect] some four or five generations before A.D. 1350, and did not flourish south of Banks' Peninsula."

A considerable amount of information concerning the introduction of the kumara is preserved in White's Ancient History of the Maori, Vol. 4, also in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 2, p. 99; Vol. 24, p. 108, and Transactions of the N.Z. Institute, Vol. 37, p. 130.

Dr. Thomson, in his Story of New Zealand, writes:—"The small finger-shaped sweet potato, brought by the New Zealanders from Hawaiki, furnished much food. The edible part is several inches long. Sweet potatoes are planted in November and are ripe in March. Light sandy soils suit them best, and the warmer the climate the better. In the Middle Island [South Island] they grow with difficulty. After being dug up they are carefully preserved in houses built for their reception, and are eaten either cooked or raw, or after being steeped in the sea and dried in the sun."

We may thus see that there were four phases of domestic economy in Maori life, as regards food supplies:—

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1.A few districts, such as the Auckland isthmus, the northern peninsula, and some other volcanic areas, the Taranaki coast, such alluvial lands as those of Whakatane and Tauranga, etc., produced good crops, and such productive lands supported fairly numerous clans, as witness the many tokens of former occupation in such areas.
2.Lands providing a soil and other advantages of a medium quality, or a rich soil of small area, where a fair amount of crops might be grown, thus calling for more reliance on uncultivated products, and demanding a smaller population. Many areas are classed under this head.
3.Sterile or elevated areas, or regions climatically unsuited to the cultivation of subtropical products. This also includes a considerable area of these islands, and in which cultivated food products were but a luxury and formed no important part of food supplies.
4.Places where no cultivation was possible, owing to sterility of soil, a high altitude and climatic severity. Such areas were usually occupied by a sparse population; small communities.

It was owing to the fact that the aruhe or fern root was necessarily exalted to an important position in the list of native food supplies, that to it was assigned a special mythical origin, and personified form, in Haumia, said to be one of the offspring of the Sky Parent and the Earth Mother. In fact this humble root may be said to have been given almost divine honours, and in this incident we see how the Maori relied on mythopoetic conceptions in order to exalt a common product of nature, and to account for its origin.

When traversing fertile regions of the North Island, the traveller may often note numerous remains of a former dense population in the form of the earthwork defences of villages, storage pits for crops, and lands cleared of forest, or of surface stones. Such remains are remarkably numerous on the Taranaki coast, in the Bay of Plenty, on the Auckland isthmus and certain other parts of the northern peninsula.

In speaking of the numerous population of the northern peninsula in former times, Judge Maning has written as follows:—"There is also the most unmistakable evidence that vast tracts of country, which have lain wild time out of mind, were once fully cultivated. The ditches for draining the land are still traceable, and large pits are to be seen in hundreds, on the tops of the dry page 27hills, all over the northern part of the North Island, in which the kumara were once stored; and these pits are, in the greatest number, found in the centre of great open tracts of uncultivated country, where a rat in the present day would hardly find subsistence. The old drains and the peculiar growth of the timber, mark clearly the extent of these ancient cultivations ............ These kumara pits, being dug generally in the stiff clay on the hilltops, have, in most cases, retained their shape perfectly, and many seem as fresh and new as if they had been dug but a few years. They are oblong in shape, with the sides regularly sloped. Many collections of these provision stores have outlived Maori tradition, and the natives can only conjecture whom they belonged to. Out of the centre of one of them which I have seen there is now growing a kauri tree one hundred and twenty feet high, and out of another a large totara. The outline of these pits is as perfect as the day they were dug, and the sides have not fallen in in the slightest degree, from which perhaps they have been preserved by the absence of frost, as well as by a beautiful coating of moss, by which they are everywhere covered."

The same authority, a very good one, has left us the following account of the ordinary life and pursuits of the Maori people:—"Their ordinary course of life, when not engaged in warfare, was regular, and not necessarily unhealthy. Their labour, though constant in one shape or other and compelled by necessity, was not too heavy. In the morning, but not early, they descended from the hill pa (fortified village) to the cultivations in the low ground; they went in a body, armed like men going to battle, the spear or club in one hand and the agricultural instrument in the other. The women followed. Long before night, it was counted unlucky to work till dark, they returned to the hill with a reversed order, the women now, and slaves, and lads, bearing fuel and water, in front; they also bore, probably, heavy loads of kumara or other provisions. In the time of year when the crops did not call for their attention, when they were planted and growing, then the whole tribe would remove to some fortified hill at the side of some river, or on the coast, where they would pass months fishing, making nets, clubs, spears, and implements of various descriptions; the women, in all spare time, making mats for clothing, or baskets to carry the crop of kumara in when fit to dig. There was very little idleness, and to be called lazy was a great reproach. It is to be observed that, for several months, the crops could be left thus unguarded with perfect safety, for the Maori, as a general rule, never destroyed page 28growing crops, or attacked their owners in a regular manner until the crops were nearly at full perfection, so that they might afford subsistence to the invaders " So far as it goes this is an excellent account of Maori life; the writer was a very early settler in the north of Auckland district, whose charming work Old New Zealand is the best written book on the Maori.

"When the Maori went to cultivate the soil," writes J. A. Wilson, "he did not go by himself, taking perhaps his son or sons, as a European would. No, when he went he went with the commune. It was not his motion, but the motion of a body of people, whom the chief apparently led, while instinctively following the democratic desire. Men and women, boys and girls, all went together as to a picnic, cheerful, happy and contented, and it was a pleasant sight to see them ranged in rows, and digging with their wooden spades, as they rose and fell, and their limbs and bodies swayed rhythmically to the working of the spade, and the chorus of an ancient hymn, invoking a blessing on the fruit of their labour. Still a large yield was not always a benefit, for it would sometimes induce friends and relations to come from a distance and eat the commune out of house and home."

The term ahuwhenua means to cultivate the soil, while ihu-oneone (soiled nose) is applied to an industrious person, a hard worker. Pukumahi means industrious.

We now turn to our early voyagers in search of information as to Maori agriculture as practised when Europeans first landed on these shores. Inasmuch as Tasman did not so land, we obtain no such knowledge from his Journal, and we have to begin with the journals of Cook and his companions.

The first native cultivations seen by Cook seem to have been on the coast between Poverty Bay and the Mahia:—"In sailing along the shore we saw the natives assembled in great numbers, as well upon Portland Island as the main. We could also distinguish several spots of ground that were cultivated; some seemed to be fresh turned up, and lay in furrows like ploughed land and some had plants upon them in different stages of their growth."

The first native plantation visited by these voyagers was at the place called by Cook Tegadoo, just north of Tolaga Bay. In Banks' Journal we read—"Their plantations were now hardly finished, but so well was the ground tilled that I have seldom seen land better broken up. In them were planted sweet potatoes, cocos [taro], and a plant of the cucumber kind, as we judged from the seed leaves which just appeared above ground. The first of these were planted page 29in small hills, some in rows, others in quincunx, all laid most regularly in line. The cocos were planted on flat land, and had not yet appeared above ground. The cucumbers [gourds] were set in small hollows or ditches, much as in England. These plantations varied in size from one to ten acres each. In the bay there might be 150 or 200 acres in cultivation, though we did not see 100 people in all. Each distinct patch was fenced in, generally with reeds placed close by one another, so that a mouse could scarcely creep through."

In Anderson's account of Cook's first voyage we note the following:—"Their tillage is excellent, owing to the necessity they are under of cultivation or running the risque of starving. At Tegadoo their crops were just put into the ground, and the surface of the field was as smooth as a garden, the roots were ranged in regular lines, and to every root there remained a hillock. A long, narrow stake, sharpened to an edge at bottom, with a piece fixed across a little above it, for the convenience of driving it into the ground with the foot, supplies the place both of plough and spade. The soil being light, their work is not very laborious, and with this instrument alone they will turn up ground of six or seven acres in extent." This weird name of Tegadoo was applied to a bay just north of Uawa, or Tolaga Bay.

Anderson also states that the three native boys captured at Poverty Bay:—"Informed us of a particular kind of deer upon the island, and that there were likewise tars [? taro], capers, romara [?kwnara], yams; a kind of long pepper, bald coote, and black birds." In his narrative of the sojourn at Tolaga Bay, this writer makes the curious statement that sweet potatoes and plantains are cultivated near the houses." Of the same locality he says—"The only roots were yams and sweet potatoes, though the soil appears very proper for producing every species of vegetables." Elsewhere he remarks—"We found ... of eatable plants raised by cultivation only cocoas, yams, and sweet potatoes. There are plantations of many acres of these yams and potatoes. The inhabitants likewise cultivate the gourd; and the Chinese paper mulberry-tree is to be found, but in no abundance."

Of the coastline in the vicinity of Maketu, Anderson writes—"The mainland … appeared to be of a moderate height, but level full of plantations and villages." Of Mercury Bay he says—"Very little of the land was cultivated, and sweet potatoes and yams were the only vegetables to be found." He also states that cultivations were seen on Portland Island and on the mainland in its vicinity.

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As to what this writer meant by inserting plantains as a local product one cannot say.

In Becket's account of Cook's first voyage occur the following remarks concerning Tegadoo Bay:—"The lands in the adjacent vallies being regular fiats were neatly disposed in small plantations; the ground appearing to be well broken as if designed for gardens. Sweet potatoes, like those of Carolina, of which they have large quantities, commonly occupy a considerable part of these plantations. In many places we observed the cloth plant growing without cultivation." This final remark is of doubtful truth, and all other evidence points to the shrub being by no means plentiful.

These observations by Cook and his companions were made in October, during the season in which the Maori performed his principal tasks in his plantations.

Parkinson does not tell us much, but states that:—"Adjoining to their houses are plantations of kumara and taro. These grounds are cultivated with great care, and kept clean and neat."

At Mercury Bay Banks speaks of seeing half an acre planted with gourds and sweet potatoes, but later on saw in the Thames district 'very large plantations of sweet potatoes, yams, etc.' Near a pa visited on December 4th were 'very large plantations of yams, cocos and sweet potatoes.' Cook alludes to the fact of 'little plantations of the natives lying dispersed up and down the country.' Of the East Coast district he remarks:—"The soil of both the hills and valleys is light and sandy, and very proper for producing all kinds of roots, but we saw only sweet potatoes and yams among them; these they plant in little round hills, and have plantations of them containing several acres neatly laid out and kept in good order, and many of them are fenced in with low paling which can only serve for ornament." The low paling alluded to would be a breakwind or brush fence to shelter the kumara plants, or a fence to exclude the destructive bird pukeko.

"After we had rounded the East Cape," continues Cook, "We saw, as we run along shore, a great number of villages and a great deal of cultivated land; and in general the country appeared with more fertility than what we had seen before." On the next day, November 1st, 1769, he makes a similar remark—"As we stood along shore we saw a great deal of cultivated land laid out in regular inclosures, a sure sign that the country is both fertile and well inhabited." In running along the coast past Matata, Maketu, etc., in the Bay of Plenty, Cook describes the coastal lands as being 'pretty clear of wood and full of plantations and page 31villages.' At Mercury Bay no cultivation grounds were seen; probably they were situated at some distance from the villages seen by Cook and his companions. Cook remarks, however, that no cultivated products were seen at that place,* the people living on fern root and fish; also that the houses, canoes and manner of living of the people were much inferior to those of the East Coast natives further south. These voyagers saw cultivations at the Thames, and north of Bream Head saw 'several villages and some cultivated lands.' Cook's first reference to cultivated crops at the Bay of Islands is the statement that he ordered three men to receive a dozen lashes each for 'digging up Potatoes out of one of the Plantations.' On December 1st, on the southern shore of the Bay, they noted 'several little Plantations planted with Potatoes and Yams.' On December 4th, Cook, Banks and Solander visited one of the islands in the Bay, where they saw '40 or 50 acres of Land cultivated and planted with roots,' while on the mainland they also observed a good deal of cultivated land, planted mostly with sweet potatoes. In Cook's description of this walk on December 5th, is his account of meeting with the aute (Broussonetia papyrifera), which was apparently a somewhat rare object at that period:—"We met with about ½ a dozen Cloth plants, being the same as the inhabitants of the Islands lying within the Tropics make their finest Cloth of. This plant must be very scarce among them, as the Cloth made from it is only worn in small pieces by way of Ornaments at their ears, and even this we have seen but very seldom. Their knowing the use of this sort of Cloth doth in some measure account for the extraordinary fondness they have shew'd for it above every other thing we had to give them. Even a sheet of white paper is of more value than so much English Cloth of any sort whatever; but, as we have been at few places where I have not given away more or less of the latter, it's more than probable that they will soon learn to set a value upon it, and likewise upon Iron, a thing not one of them knows the use of or sets the least value upon." The next port of call during this voyage was Queen Charlotte Sound, where no sign was seen of any cultivations or products thereof. Of the natives of this Sound, Cook writes:—"They live dispersed along the Shore in search of their daily bread, which is fish and firn roots, for they cultivate no part of the lands." In his final account of the country and its natives, Cook remarks:—"Cocos, Yams and Sweet Potatoes is not Cultivated everywhere."

* Compare remarks by Anderson and Banks on pages 29 and 30.

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The furrowlike appearance referred to by Cook in regard to cultivations in Te Mahia district, as seen from shipboard, doubtless through glasses, would be caused by the straight rows of diminutive but isolated mounds in which sweet potatoes were grown. The plant of the cucumber kind mentioned by Banks, was, of course, the gourd. From the many references to sweet potatoes and yams, it is evident that the yam (Uhi and uwhikaho, Diascorea sp.) was cultivated on the East Coast and at the Bay of Islands in Cook's time, though it has since been lost. The name, however, has been preserved by the natives. Apparently the yam was more difficult to cultivate here than the kumara (sweet potato), hence its cultivation was given up when our potato (Solanum) was introduced here. It would also appear that the cultivation of the yam was not so widespread as that of the sweet potato; it was probably confined to the warmer parts of the North Island.

It was a somewhat unfortunate thing for our present day writers on native industries that Cook saw little of Maori Agriculture. His short sojourns at Tolaga Bay and the Bay of Islands were the only occasions on which he had any opportunities of observing native methods in the cultivation of food products, hence the information we gather from his journal is somewhat scanty. During his lengthy sojournings at Queen Charlotte Sound he saw no cultivated grounds.

Banks made the following remarks:—"Tillage, weaving, and the rest of the arts of peace are best known and most practised in the north eastern parts; indeed, in the southern there is little to be seen of any of them; but war seems to be equally known to all, though most practised in the south-west."

In Du Clesmeur's Journal of the voyage of the Marquis de Castries, the writer gives us a brief note on cultivated products seen at the Bay of Islands in 1772:—"In the country round Port Marion we noticed some slopes which were cultivated with great care. They only produce, however, sweet potatoes and pumpkins in small quantities." Apparently the writer had not seen the taro in those gardens on the uplands; the taro crops would be situated in low lying situations. His pumpkins were doubtless gourds.

Capt. Furneaux, of the Adventure, who visited Tolaga Bay in November, 1773, tells us that—"The natives here are the same as those at Charlotte Sound, but more numerous, and seemed settled having regular plantations of sweet potatoes, and other roots, which are very good; and they have plenty of cray and other fish, page 33which we bought off them for nails, beads, and other trifles, at an easy rate.

Nicholas, who visited the Bay of Islands district with Marsden in 1814-15, made some remarks on native methods of cultivation:—"We observed some plantations of kumara and potatoes belonging to Bennee and his tribe; these were not contiguous to any village or habitation, and I consider it a great proof of the insecurity in which these people live, that their grounds are rarely cultivated to any extent in the immediate vicinity of those places where they reside in congregated bodies. The plantations, though they very frequently surround the village, are generally at some distance from them; and the latter are always constructed either upon the summit or at the foot of some high and almost inaccessible hill. This is most certainly occasioned by that state of disunited barbarism and feudal enmity in which the different tribes reside among each other; who, having no moral institutions, but resorting on all occasions to physical strength, are obliged to choose those places for their defence which are best calculated for that purpose, without any regard to the barrenness or fertility of the situation. Hence the plantations are commonly in detached places, where the soil is favourable, and they have no idea of concentrating their industry. But this casual plan of cultivation is, however, disadvantageous to the regular improvement of the island; and could the tribes be brought to live in amity with each other, and build their villages on the fertile grounds, their respective districts would in a short time assume a much more civilised appearance."

The lack of concentration in industry was owing to an objection on the part of the Maori to putting all his eggs in one basket, as illustrated in the popular saying: "Ka mate kainga tahi, ka ora kainga rua," showing that single homed folk perish, or are overtaken by disaster, when two-homed people survive.

In Crozet's account of his sojourn at the Bay of Islands in 1772 he remarks that 'the basis of the food of these people is the root of a fern absolutely similar to ours, with the sole difference that in some places the New Zealand fern has a much bigger and longer root, and its fronds grow to a greater length…. They also live on potatoes and gourds ... I think it well to repeat here that fern root forms the basis of their food.'

Regarding Maori agriculture, Crozet writes:—"These people have already made a start in the art of agriculture. They cultivate a few small fields of potatoes similar to those of the Two Indies; page 34they also cultivate gourds, which they eat when they are small and tender, and when they are ripe they take out the inside, dry them, and make use of them for carrying and conserving water. Some of these calabashes will hold as much as from ten to twelve pints of water. They also cultivate an aloes-pite [? taro] and a sort of reed [? Phormium tenax] which, when ripe, furnishes them, after retting, with thread to make their cloth, and cords for various uses. In the cultivation of these crops they make use of the same instrument [the ko] of which I have just spoken, sharpened and trimmed so as to form a sort of spade. It seemed to me that they confined their whole agriculture to two or three objects. They have no knowledge of any sort of grain, and excepting some small fields planted with potatoes, gourds, aloes-pite, and very small flax, the whole country appeared to me to be lying fallow, and producing only the wild natural growths. I saw nothing which might be taken for an orchard, and I did not even meet with the least fruit, either wild or cultivated." It is difficult to say what this writer meant by "very small flax."

In a work entitled New Zealand and its Aborigines, by W. Brown, published in 1845, occurs the following statement:—"Chiefs do not cultivate the ground themselves, the labour being always left to the slaves." This statement is absolutely wrong, and conveys a totally false impression of Maori custom and the attitude of the people toward the art of the husbandman. All persons took part in some of the tasks of clearing and preparing the ground; planting, tending and gathering the crop. Chiefs, warriors, commoners, slaves, women, old and young, all assisted in some way. "They broke up," says Colenso, "and prepared their extensive tribal kumara plantations, working regularly together in a compact body, chief and slave, keeping time with their songs, which they also sang in chorus."

With regard to the principal crop, that of the sweet potato, when it was planted, tended, dug and stored with proper attention to ceremonial functions, only chiefs and freemen were permitted to take part in the more important labours, that is to say those affected by the law of tapu. It is assuredly a fact that the art of agriculture was one held in high respect by the Maori, as will be shown in this paper.

Earle, who spent some months in the north during the year 1827, wrote as follows:—"The regularity of their plantations, and the order with which they carry on their various works, differ greatly from most of their brethren in the South Seas, as here the chiefs page 32and their families set the example of labour; and when that is the case, none can refuse to toil. Round the village ... at one glance is to be seen above 200 acres of cultivated land, and that not slightly turned up, but well worked and cleared, and when the badness of their tools is considered … their persevering industry I look upon as truly astonishing."

Dieffenbach wrote as follows:—"The kumara are planted in regular rows, and the caterpillars of a sphinx which feed in great numbers upon the leaves, are at all times carefully removed. In neatness such a field rivals any in Europe. Every family has its own field, and the produce is its private property."

In his essay on the Maori race published in Vol. 1 of the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute, Mr. Colenso writes as follows on cultivated products:—"A large portion of their time and attention was necessarily given to their cultivations, especially as the few plants they cultivated, two edible roots, the kumara and taro, and a gourd like fruit called hue, and the cloth plant, or paper mulberry tree, aute (Broussonetia papyrifera), each required a different soil to bring it to perfection; added to which they always wisely preferred cultivating in patches far apart, so as perchance to save one or more in case of a sudden inroad from a taua (war party)."

These remarks would not, of course, apply to some districts where but little cultivation was done, as we have already seen.

Some remarks should be made on the subject of the decadence of agriculture among the Maori people.This has been going on for many years, since the settlement of Europeans here, and has led to many strictures being passed on the indolence of the natives. We hear occasionally of a great dearth of food among them, owing to the failure of the potato crop, and marvel how it is that they should rely to so great an extent upon one product. Possessing fertile land of ample area, and in a position to cultivate the many species introduced by Europeans, as well as their own products of preEuropean days, yet but little advantage is taken of these facilities, little energy and no enterprise is now shown by native cultivators of the soil. European settlers on the same land would assuredly cause it to produce many species of food plants, and would store ample supplies for winter use. The Maori has become careless and indolent in such work, and seems to look on unsatisfactory circumstances generally with the mental outlook of a fatalist. When the potato blight assailed the crops at Ruatahuna some years ago, the natives appeared inert and accepted the page 36prospect of starvation with calm despair. In answer to queries they replied—"We are afflicted by dire misfortune; nought remains but to greet the world of life." It was easier to say farewell to life than to display any form of energy. And this is ever the tenour of native expressions when anything goes wrong—"Heoti ano ta matau he mihi ki te ao marama."

To such a condition, then, has the old time ordered industry of the Maori descended. "We are apt, at the present time," writes Mr. T. F. Cheeseman in his above mentioned paper—"To think of Maori agriculture as being slovenly, careless, and without method. But it was not always so. Let anyone read the account given by the first visitors to New Zealand, especially Cook, respecting the Maori cultivations of those days, the care that was taken to keep them free from weeds, the labour expended in conveying gravel to hill up the kumara, the trouble taken to protect them from strong winds by means of temporary screens or fences … the amount of patient care and selection required in raising new varieties, for it is not generally known that more than fifty varieties of the kumara alone were cultivated—when all this is considered it cannot be denied that the Maoris were patient, careful, and expert agriculturists."

In this connection the following apt remarks taken from a paper on The Passing of the Maori, by Archdeacon Walsh are of considerable interest*:—"The adoption of European methods of cultivation was, of course, inevitable; and the Rev. Samuel Marsden, the founder of the mission to the Maoris, thought that when they were provided with ploughs and bullock-teams they would enter upon a new era of progress. The new era certainly dawned, but it was not the era expected by that great humanitarian; or, to be more correct, the new era did not fulfil its early promise. In the pre-European days every kind of work was organised and regulated. Whether it was the breaking up of land, or the planting or taking-up of the crop, the people worked in gangs under the direction of a leader, who marked the time with a song, to which the workers answered with a chorus. Each class of work had its appointed season, determined by recognised signs and portents, as the age of the moon, or the blooming of a certain tree or flower, while in cases of doubt or uncertainty the time would be fixed by the tohunga [priestly adept] and the regulation enforced by the chief. Growing crops were under strict tapu, and it was believed that any

* See Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, Vol. 40, p. 154.

page 37breach or neglect of the tapu would involve serious disaster. In this way punctuality was secured, the labour was greatly lightened, and the work done with cheerfulness and hope. All hands worked together like a well ordered team, and each bore his full share of the common burden. For a time the new system seemed to promise very well, and as long as something of the old tribal spirit was kept up large quantities of wheat, maize, potatoes, etc., were grown, with the assistance of European implements, all over the country. But, as the authority of the chief declined, the co-operative spirit passed away, while the mere fact that the work was easier induced an element of failure. The fatal indolence and procrastination of the Maori asserted itself, and the crops were often put in too late, or under improper weather conditions, to be neglected during the growing season; or, perhaps, in the middle of a job a death would occur in the neighbourhood, or some other reason for a hui (meeting) would eventuate, when all hands would clear out for a week or more, and leave the work to take care of itself. The consequence is that the Maoris have become disheartened, and the whole thing is done in an abortive and slovenly manner. There is less and less cultivation done every year; large areas of fertile land lie waste. In many districts there is a chronic shortage of provisions, often even semi-starvation."

The following paragraph is taken from Rev. S. Marsden's account of his wanderings in the Bay of Islands district in 1814. Having reached a village near Omapere Lake, he writes:—"Shunghee's [Hongi] people here appeared very industrious. They rose at the dawn of day, both men and women. Some were busy making baskets for potatoes, others dressing flax, or making mats. None remained unemployed … Shunghee had near the village we were at one field which appeared to me to contain forty acres, all fenced in with rails and upright stakes tied to them to keep out the pigs. The greater part of it was planted with turnips, common and sweet potatos, which were in high cultivation. They suffer no weeds to grow, but with incredible labour and patience root up everything likely to injure the growing crop. Their tools of agriculture are chiefly made of wood, some formed like a spade and others like a crowbar, with which they turned up the soil. Axes, hoes and spades are much wanted. If these could be obtained their country would soon put on a different appearance. No labour of man without iron can clear and subdue uncultivated land to any extent. The New Zealanders seem to do as much in this respect as the strength and wisdom of man in their situation is equal to."