Ngati-Porou Tribe Engaged in Rye-grass Industry

In summer, hundreds of the Ngati-Porou tribe, both men and women, went to Poverty Bay to engage in the rye-grass industry. The East Coast Maoris were so poor and ignorant that they were a by-word amongst the other tribes. Many of them rode without saddles and, to avoid being seen and ridiculed for their uncouth appearance, they waited till it was dark before they passed through the town of Gisborne. As they rode along the roads the night was loud with their boisterous talking and the clattering of the hoofs of their horses.