[Read before the Auckland Institute, 4th August, 1902.]

Previous to the introduction and general distribution of European food plants—that is to say, up to the early part of the last century—the only vegetables cultivated by the Maoris were those which they had brought from their original homes in the Pacific islands—namely, the kumara (Ipomœa chrysorrhiza), the taro (Caladium esculentum), the hue (Lagenaria vulgaris), and the ti pore^* (Cordyline terminalis).

Of these the first-named was by far the most valuable and important. The taro would only flourish in particular spots, and even under the most favourable conditions took a long time to come to maturity, and gave but a small return for a good deal of troublesome labour. The hue was tasteless and unsustaining; and the ti pore, in reality a tropical plant, never became properly acclimatised, and the limited quantity grown was used more as an occasional delicacy than an article of every-day food. But the kumara freely responded to care and attention in the most varied situations, and yielded a large crop of an article at once palatable, wholesome, and nutritious. With the primitive Maoris, in fact, the kumara stood in a class by itself, above and apart from everything else. As the mainstay of life it was regarded with the greatest respect and veneration. It was celebrated in song, and story, and proverb. Its cultivation and treatment called forth the utmost care and ingenuity, and were accompanied by the strictest and most elaborate religious observances.

The old customs have long passed away, and very soon all personal recollection of them will be lost. I have therefore in the present paper endeavoured to rescue a few of the most interesting facts connected with the subject from oblivion. In doing so I have been greatly helped by Mr. James Bedggood, of Kerikeri, who has not only given me the result of his own observation during a long lifetime spent in intimate relation with the Maoris, but also the information he has gleaned from some of his old native neighbours whose recollection reaches back to the primitive times. I have also gathered some facts from a very interesting paper by the late Rev. W. Colenso, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.,^† as well as from Mr. A. Hamilton's “Maori Art,” and from scattered notices in