Book: Te Rongoa Maori - Maori Medicine
by P M E Williams
Softcover, 79pp, Penguin Group, 2008
Pip Williams was a pharmacist in Kaikohe, New Zealand, during and after the Second World War. He gained first-hand experience of the lore behind Maori medicines.
Underlying the information in the book, gleaned from his Maori patients, is his knowledge of orthodox medicinals.
He makes no recommendations in the book, but he does indicate which plants were used for various problems, interspersing his notes with anecdotal evidence. His information is all about native flora utilised by Maori, and comes from what he has been told by kuia, plus his own observations.
And so the book details the flora, one by one, explaining how they were used. For instance, the karaka tree is well known as a food source, but not in their raw state as the seeds are poisonous. So Maori would boil the berries for 8-10 hours, then rinse them in running water for days.
This would be a great book for anyone wanting to understand Rongoa Maori, for anyone wanting to create Maori remedies, and anyone 'going bush', anyone planning to do the Te Araroa Trail, or other New Zealand hikes, where they might need a remedy for wounds, stomach aches, toothache, etc.
A really interesting, useful and beautifully illustrated book, shipped worldwide from New Zealand.
