Story: Rongoā – medicinal use of plants

This oil painting, 'Firemaking,' by Gottfried Lindauer shows how pre-European Māori made fire. The man is rubbing a pointed stick of a hard wood, probably kaikōmako, vigorously along a grooved piece of soft māhoe wood. When the māhoe reaches ignition point, a fine fluff of dry moss, wood dust or beaten flax (the pile next to the man) will be placed in the groove to catch alight.