of the native fuchsia to the time that the fruit of the hinau appears." When the Tuhoe folk burned off the bracken on a tawaha aruhe (place where rhizomes of that plant are dug) they did so when the hinau and tawari trees were in blossom. The main digging of these roots took place when the mokehu or young fronds were developed. A belief existed that if the bracken were burned off when the rata and korukoru were in flower, then the rhizomes would be of inferior quality. Certain signs of vegetation reminded natives that certain birds were in good condition, and set him looking to his snares and traps. A Tuhoe native remarked that the fourth month of the Maori year was marked by the fruiting of the puahou, the fifth by the flowering of the kowhai, the sixth by that of the rewarewa (Knightia excelsa), the seventh by that of the kahika, and the eighth by that of the tawhiwhi (Metrosideros florida). The arrival of the migratory cuckoo in spring was looked upon as a call to action in the way of planting crops. That bird is the messenger of Mahuru, the personified form of Spring, sent hither to call the Maori folk to their annual task of planting the kumara.
These methods of checking the lunar months were evidently introduced from Polynesia by the immigrant Maori. In Banks's account of the Tahitians he writes: "In speaking of time, either past or to come, they never use any term but moons, of which they count thirteen, and then begin again: this of itself sufficiently shows that they have some idea of the solar year, but how they manage to make their thirteen months agree with it I never could find out. That they do, however, I believe, because in mentioning the names of months they very frequently told us the fruits that would be in season in each of them." This writer states that each Tahitian month was of twenty-nine days, but Ellis puts the number at thirty.
Dr. Thomson gives us the best account of the Maori system of time-division in his Story of New Zealand, and also of the regulating agents employed: "Although time passes away among them like a shadow, the unrecorded year is divided into thirteen moons, and each moon is distinguished by the rising of stars, the flowering of plants, and the arrival of two migratory birds. June is the first month of the year, and it is recognized by the appearance of the Puanga star in the morning. July is marked by the stars Kopu and Tautoru and the flowering of the karaka tree. August is distinguished by the stars Mangere and Whakaau; September by the rising of the Oetahi star and the flowering of the kowhai, rangiora, and kotukutuku trees. It is in this month that kumara are planted. October, or the fifth month, is known by the flowering of certain plants; during this month the ground is got ready for potatoes. November is characterized by the flowering of the rata and rewarewa trees. December is known by the rising of the Rehua star, the ripening of the karaka berries, and in the south part of the Island by the arrival of two cuckoos. January is distinguished by the Rehua star, the appearance of the Uruao star, and the departure of the cuckoos. In February the Rehua star still shines and the Matiti star appears; it is the dry month of the year. March is known by the ripening
