Maori name for a New Zealandpalm-tree, Areca sapida, N.O. Palmeae. Speltalso Necho and Neko.
1843. `An Ordinance for imposing a tax on Raupo Houses,Session II. No. xvii. of the former legislative Council ofNew Zealand':
[From A. Domett's collection of Ordinances, 1850.]
«Section 2. . . . there shall be levied in respect of everybuilding constructed wholly or in part of raupo, nikau,toitoi, wiwi, kakaho, straw or thatch of anydescription [ . . . L20].»
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. i.p. 270:
[The house was] «covered with thick coating of the leaves ofthe nikau (a kind of palm) and tufts of grass.»
1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' [Note] p. 75:
«The necho or neko is a large tree-like plantknown elsewhere as the mountain cabbage.»
1862. `All the Year Round,' `From the Black Rocks on Friday,'May 17, No. 160:
«I found growing, as I expected, amongst the trees abundanceof the wild palm or nikau. The heart of one or two of theseI cut out with my knife. The heart of this palm is about thethickness of a man's wrist, is about a foot long, and tastesnot unlike an English hazel-nut, when roasted on the ashes ofa fire. It is very nutritious.»
1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 86:
«The pale green pinnate-leaved nikau.»
1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iii.p. 210:
«With the exception of the kauri and the nekau-palm nearlyevery tree which belongs to the colony grows in the`seventy-mile bush' of Wellington.»