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In references to cultivated food plants, as made by natives, we encounter the term korau, as applied to a species of turnip. Some natives insist that this root was cultivated here in pre-European times, but there is no proof that any such product was possessed by them at the time of Capt. Cook's arrival. Certain species of our garden plants were, however, acquired by them from Cook and other early voyagers. It is now very near 150 years since the Maori acquired such plants as the turnip and cabbage, so that they may well be forgetful as to their advent here.

Some East Coast natives introduce the korau into traditionary accounts of pre-European times in these Isles. Tuta Nihoniho stated that a species of korau or turnip like plant known as tahumairangi was brought to New Zealand from Polynesia about 20 generations ago. Both leaves and turnip root of this plant were eaten. It produced a tall seed stalk. Iranui, sister of Kahungunu, sowed the seed at Uawa, hence the expression ' Te kakano korau a Iranui.' (The korau seed of Iranui.) Such small seed as that of the page 274turnip is usually termed purapura, not kakano. We can only say that no such plant was seen here or in Eastern Polynesia by Cook or his companions, who would certainly have mentioned it. Colonel Gudgeon has sent me the following interesting note:—"In a case heard by me at Wai-o-matatini it was stated that a migration of strangers came to that neighbourhood some ten generations ago, and lived on the korau that was growing in a large patch of burned scrub. I questioned this, and quite a big discussion was held that evening, at which old Rapata assured me that korau and puha (root and leaves) were known to them from the earliest times of their history."

In October, 1918, Mr. W. W. Smith, of New Plymouth, wrote to me as follows:—"For two years I have grown a plant which undoubtedly is a form of the wild turnip (Brassica campestris). I discovered some stunted plants near an old time Maori pa and brought them home with me to cultivate them and test their quality as a vegetable. The Maoris say that the korau was just like the Pakeha (European) turnip, but did not produce bulbs. It is precisely so with my plants. They grow three times larger and more robust than does the wild turnip or the charlock. The leaves are two feet long, extremely robust, and form a delicious vegetable with perfect turnip flavour. So far as I am able to ascertain from the oldest native and European settlers the korau has not been grown by either people since the advent of the latter."

The korau is mentioned not infrequently in traditions of the Kahungunu tribe as a food supply of pre-European times, but as this is also the name of Cyathea medullaris (which formed a part of native food supplies) I have always supposed the allusion was to the tree fern.

In Vol. 48 Transactions of the N.Z. Institute, at p. 432, is a Maori song containing the line:—

"Ka waiho nei hei papa mo te kakano korau a Iranui."

Altogether this question is an interesting one, but I cannot see how Brassica campestris could have reached these shores prior to Cook's arrival. Cook and other early voyagers must have seen it had it been here, and would have mentioned it.

The Waiapu natives maintain that they had the korau in pre-European days, and that it was also known as aotea, tairua and tahumairangi or taumairangi. Williams' Maori Dictionary has 'aotea, a species of thistle.'

The following interesting notes have been contributed by Mr. H. Beattie, of Gore:—In common with the kumara and taro he [John page 275Puahu Rakiraki, a native of Port Molyneux] had never known the hue [gourd] to be cultivated in the south, but he made the following interesting statement: In the year 1836, my informant's father Rakiraki, and the latter's brother Kore, left the Tuturau kaika [village] to proceed to Lake Wanaka. This was in December, only a few days before Te Puoho's raiders reached Tuturau. The two brothers intended to 'live on the country,' as they knew a place north of the Kohai Bush on the Mataau or Molyneux river where they could get at least two edibles in the shape of kawakawa and pora. The first of these my informant describes as being like a swede turnip, but having not so much root and much smaller leaves. When young it was like a turnip; as it grew older it formed a shell under the skin, and the flesh inside could be easily cleaned out. He had never heard of it growing on clay or ordinary soil, but always in gravelly or sandy places. It is described as having three or four small leaves on top; the colour of the top was like a turnip, and the sides were a greenish colour. It kept well after being pulled, but if not pulled the inside decayed and the shells remained for a long time. My informant saw one of these kawakawa growing on a gravel bank at Wai-tahuna in his boyhood. It tasted, he remarked, like a turnip, but somewhat sweeter, or more palatable. It was bigger than a swede turnip and of a different shape. He had never heard how the plant originated, but it was understood to have been here for many generations. The top was cut off, and, when the flesh was extracted, the shell made a good water vessel. A hole could be pierced at either side, near the top, and flax inserted to carry it conveniently. The plant was called kawakawa; when the flesh was extracted the shell-like rind was called hue.

The other plant looked for by travellers along certain Maori routes in the interior of Otago was the pora. I think this was known to early European settlers as 'Maori cabbage.' Like the kawakawa this was edible about midsummer. This plant had a white root, generally divided into two, and sometimes three prongs. My informant says he never saw this plant with a single root, or one with four prongs. The leaves were like turnip leaves, only not so large, although they were larger than those of the kawakawa. The roots were generally about eighteen inches long, and these were eaten. The leaves were used in the oven and may have been eaten as well as the roots. The term pora was applied to the roots, the leaves being called merely rau [general term for leaf], but just before flowering, when at its most edible stage, the plant was called waikote. When it flowered it lost its value as food, as the roots became too hard and tough.

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The above contributor also draws attention to a statement made by Hay in his Earliest Canterbury and its Settlers to the effect that the hard rind shells of the old fashioned yellow and black kamo-kamo, or squash, were used as vessels by the natives, often as a vessel to contain the pulp of ripe tutu berries.

In a letter received from H. T. Tikao of Rapaki, Lyttelton, in 1918, the writer makes the following remarks:—"Regarding the kumara and the pora; these were prized food plants grown by my ancestors in olden times in their cultivations at Kaiapoi, Waikakahi, Taumutu and Wai-a-te-ruati. They possessed the pora long before Europeans reached this land; they sowed the seeds of it in their cultivations for many generations; it was sown as turnips are. When matured they were taken up, cut into small pieces, and spread to dry. When dry the pieces were threaded on strings and cooked in a steam oven. When cooked they were hung up in a storehouse and so preserved for future use. In this condition it was called kao, and before being used as food it was soaked in water."

The pora mentioned by Tikao is evidently a turnip, and was probably obtained from early European voyagers at Queen Charlotte Sound, at which place Captain Cook formed a garden and planted many European vegetables. It is improbable that the Maori possessed any species of turnip prior to that time. In a later communication Tikao speaks of ' te pora, ara te pohata,' which seems to identify the pora with Brassica campestris.

Colenso tells us that the so-called Maori cabbage is Brassica oleracea, introduced by Cook, and that it was called nani at the north and rearea further south. The rearea of the East Coast has a turnip root, formerly dried by natives as kao, as the kumara often was treated; the upper part of the turnip root is dark in colour. John White gives rearea, nanī, keha and pohata as being all names for the turnip. Pohata is given by Williams as Brassica campestris, wild turnip. The Tuhoe natives apply the name of paea to what is apparently a degenerate form of cabbage, and which they state was obtained from an early voyager named Paea. This was probably Tupaea, Cook's Tahitian interpreter, who was known to East Coast natives as Te Paea. Ngati-Porou still allude to Cook's vessels as Te puke o Te Paea. But Mr. Uren, an early Poverty Bay settler, stated that Capt. Cook was known locally as Paea, so named from the circumstance of his calling out the word "Fire!" to his musketeers. This sounds somewhat doubtful.

The name kora seems to apply to several species, including cabbage, used as greens, but as to how it differs in application to page 277the term puwha it is difficult to say. Koka is the name of a food plant unknown to us, it occurs in traditions.