Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

Account of introduction of kumera [sic.], taro and "Ui" sic. (calabash) before Cook.

"The only natural production of the Country appears to be Fern, the root of which is their staple food; Karaka - a fruit of an oblong shape, about an inch and a quarter long, and two inches in circumference, the outside has something of the taste of a mellow apple; the inside kernel is of a poisonous nature until properly steeped and cooked, when it makes a very palatable food. Tawa ..... it is very plentiful, of a faint tallowish taste. Mumoki [sic.]- called by the Europeans Cassada [sic.]; it is also a very pleasant and palatable food - besides several descriptions of small berries, from one of which they squeeze a liquor of a sicly sweet flavour, but they are obliged to be very careful in straining it, as the seeds of the berry are of a very pernicious quality if taken inwardly, making the party who partook of it stagger like a drunken person, the eyes at the same time appear to be bursting from their sockets, and foaming at the mouth; the berry is called Tutu or Tuparki [sic.]; they generally effect a cure by plunging the person who has swallowed it into the water, and nearly drowning them, and then shaking the water out of them with the head downwards."

Describes how taro, kumara and gourd must have come from a warmer climate.

"The Taro... is, the only food they claim as having had originally, that is at all likely to be indigenous to the Country, as I have seen (although very seldom,) thrives during the winter; there are several descriptions of it, one of which they call the Taro Pakea, (or white man's taro) having, as they acknowledge, received it from Europeans...."

" the calibash ..... will decidely not keep without attention to them, as they rot quicker than the kumera; the young calibash is carefully lifted from the ground, when about the size of a large orange, and some dry grass is then constatnly kept under it until it gains maturity;in its small state, it is considered rather a luxury by the New Zealanders; it is very watery, but with a little assistance from butter and pepper, it becomes a very passable food, and I should imagine, a very wholesome one."

In 1837, The Sydney Herald published a series of articles describing life in NZ by a writer under the pseudonym "M". According to Alistair Matheson, in the Historical Review 30(2), November 1983, this writer was probably John Israel Montefiore, a trader who spent 4 years in the Bay of Plenty District and 18 months in the Bay of Islands.

The articles can be seen online through Trove, the National Library of Australia database:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=Sketches%20of%20new%20zealand