Appendix D.

The best kinds of aruhe, or fern-root, at the north were known by the general names of maahunga=mealy, and motuhanga=brittle, easily snapping. Here, however, on the East Coast, the best kinds were called kaitaa= gentlemen's food, and renga=mealy.

The motuhanga was really a splendid sort. I have seen it, a fine-looking black-skinned smooth root, eight to ten lines in diameter, with scarcely any woody fibres, and these were small, like a very fine rush, lustrous, hollow, and white. It would snap readily, like good biscuit, before being prepared or beaten.