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VI Religious Beliefs and Practices of the Maori-Maori Magic

In describing the religious concepts of the natives of these isles it is well to bear in mind that they had not evolved any such a well-defined theological system as we are accustomed to. It may then be said that the heading of this chapter is an appropriate one, and that it is more correct to speak of Maori religious beliefs and practices than to dignify such by the name of religion. Had the cult of Io been known to, and practised by, the whole of the people, then assuredly the term religion might have been employed. But it was not so known, it was confined to the few, and the bulk of the people knew of no cultus superior to that of the departmental deities. This secondary phase was in the hands of the priesthood, whose duty it was to placate such beings and to perform the rites pertaining to the cultus. The ordinary man had direct interest only with inferior beings of the third and fourth classes. Thus the religious practices of the average person of a community were but little removed from shamanism.

The leading features of Maori religion, those of the greatest interest to the ethnographer, are the concept of the Supreme Being, that of the spirit world, with those of the spiritual potentiæ of man, and the institution of tapu. The first three present some novel and little-known phases and peculiarities; it is doubtful if we have acquired such a close insight into those of any other barbaric folk. These details are of much interest to students of comparative religion, and

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tend to prove that the ancestors of the Maori must have devoted much thought to the subjects of the whence and whither of man, and of his spiritual nature.

In order to give the reader an insight into the Maori pantheon and Maori theogony, it will be well to review his numerous gods, and to make an attempt to classify them. Unless this be done, any attempt to explain their attributes and manifestations may well confuse the reader. I would divide our atua maori, or native gods, into four classes, as follows:—

• 1. The Supreme Being.
• 2. The departmental deities, or tutelary beings.
• 3. Tribal gods, so called for want of a better term.
• 4. Family gods; familiar spirits, as the souls of defunct forbears.

One may well take exception to the term god as applied to some atua, but it is not easy in many cases to find a suitable substitute. The term atua is employed to denote, not only such beings as we term gods, but also anything believed to possess supernormal power. It is often applied to anything mysterious, or that is believed to exercise a malign influence. Thus a serious epidemic may be termed an atua. It has been applied to living persons; in many cases it may be rendered as “demon.” Inasmuch as it was, and is, applied to any malignant being, it does not seem to have been a happy choice to employ it to designate a benignant deity. Like the word tohunga, supposed by most of us to denote a priest, the word atua is used in a very loose manner.

With regard to the first class division of our gods, there is but one being to mention, for here Io stands alone, as a Supreme Being necessarily must. Some account of this deity has already been given in a former chapter, to which description, however, a few notes may be here added.

We have been told by divers writers that the Maori had formed no conception of a Supreme Being, and that all his gods were of a malignant nature. Both of these statements are erroneous. The Maori conception of the Supreme Deity is a very remarkable achievement for a neolithic and barbaric people. It occupies and illustrates a high plane of thought, and, moreover, it was never permitted to detericrate, but was

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preserved in its original purity. This result was achieved by means of the only possible way in which it could have been effected, namely, by the preservation of the cult of Io in the hands of the few. Hence it never became degraded. Io was viewed as a beneficent being who had no dealings with evil, to whom no offerings were made, of whom no image might be fashioned. He was invoked only in regard to matters of high importance, and the invocations addressed to him were known only to the superior class of priests. These invocations were somewhat numerous, and a number of them have been preserved. They are couched in exceedingly archaic language, contain many cryptic, metaphorical and sacerdotal expressions, while their general tone is of a high order. Here we meet with instances of true invocation, and a wide difference exists between these effusions and the lower class formulæ pertaining to inferior deities and shamanistic ritual.

Ritual performances connected with the Supreme Being were not performed in public. If any excessively tapu ritual formula was repeated at any place where ordinary people might hear it, then certain parts were omitted, more especially any lines containing the name of Io. As a rule such ceremonies were performed out of doors, but some were held at the ahurewa, a particularly tapu place in the sacred lore house of a village community, if such a house existed, for they were few and far between. Io was invoked only in connection with matters of importance, in no case was he appealed to in connection with minor affairs, or black magic.

Here then, among a barbaric and cannibal folk living at the ends of the earth, we encounter a remarkable concept of the Supreme Being. He is called Io the Parentless because he was never born of parents. He was Io the Parent because all things originated from him, or through his agency, albeit he begat no being. He was known as Io the Permanent because he is eternal and unchangeable, and as Io-te-waiora because he is the welfare of all beings and all things in all realms.

We have been told by one of our leading anthropologists that, when a people possess a number of departmental deities, then, sooner or later, the institution leads to the conception of a Supreme Being to stand above them. Presumably

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this was the process with the Maori, but the cult of the Supreme One was closely retained by the higher grade priests and the leading families.

The departmental gods were provided by the primal parents, they are members of the offspring of Rangi and Papa. Thus we see that Rongo presided over the art of agriculture and all peaceful arts and institutions, including the making of peace in time of war. In vernacular speech the word rongo denotes peace. This deity is known far and wide throughout the island system, being one of the great Polynesian trinity of Tane, Tu and Rongo. We have seen that the name of Rongo was coupled with that of Tane in a peculiar manner, as Rongo-ma-Tane (Rongo and Tane). This title was used as though pertaining to a single deity. Certainly this double-barreled deity should have been useful to an agricultural people such as the Maori, for it meant a combination of the two beings representing fertility and reproduction.

Tane has been shown to represent the sun, light and the male fructifying power; he is essentially Tane the Parent and Tane the Fertiliser. It was he who begat trees and plants, who fertilised the Earth Mother and caused her to produce the first woman, he who placed the Children of Light on high and so brought Light into the murky world. Tane is the tutelary being of forests and birds, hence he was placated by fowlers, and by craftsmen who sought material for canoe making, house building, etc. Thus many offerings were made to Tane in connection with divers activities.

In Tu we have the tutelary deity of the war department of Maoriland. Tu represents war, bloodshed, and the present writer is inclined to hold the view that Tu personifies the setting sun, which is ever associated with death. If Fenton's statement that one Tu held the same position in Babylonia be correct, then it is a very remarkable coincidence, especially when viewed in conjunction with the parallels pertaining to Ra and Sin. Inasmuch as Tu was the chief war god of the Maori, it was his tapu that lay heavy on fighting men when on active service. His mana was over the warrior, and any who infringed the many restrictions imposed by his tapu were indeed in parlous plight. Offerings of the hearts of slain

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enemies were made to him. He was the presiding genius of war, but, at the same time, any fighting force was also under the sway, mana, and guidance of one at least of the many beings who may be termed tribal war gods. These latter belonged to the third and fourth classes of atua maori, or native gods.

In Tangaroa we have the patron of fishermen, for he represents all fish; thus we meet with his name in the charms recited by fishermen. In some of the isles of Polynesia Tangaroa (as Ta'aroa, Tanaoa, Kanaloa, etc.) occupied a much more important position than he did in New Zealand.

Tawhirimatea, as the principal personification of wind, was placated by voyagers and fishermen, whose offerings and charms were made and recited with a view to the enjoyment of placid seas.

In some accounts we find one Haumia, the personified form of the edible rhizome of the common bracken, included as one of the primal offspring.

Kiwa appears as a being invoked by sea-farers, inasmuch as he is the guardian of the ocean. Kiwa and Tawhirimatea were presumably very important beings in Maori eyes in the old sea-faring days when they ranged far and wide athwart the realm of Hine-moana.

Whiro was viewed as one of the most active, and certainly as the most pernicious, of these departmental beings. Representing, as he does, both evil and death, his activities are ceaseless, and so many offerings were made to him. Presumably the Maori considered it highly advisable to placate him, whereas in the case of Io no offerings were made. Either the latter was considered too august a being to be placated, or it was not considered worth while to placate a benignant being from whom no hurtful action proceeded.

Ruaumoko occupies a subordinate position as a departmental genius. His realm is a subterranean one, and his noxious manifestations are rare, hence we do not hear much of him and his activities, save in connection with the change of seasons, and when an earthquake occurs.

In one version Uenuku-rangi, personified form of the rainbow, is included as a member of the primal offspring, and, if this be correct, he should find a place in the class being

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dealt with. He is, however, usually viewed as a member of the third class of atua. His fame as a war god certainly extended far in these isles, and he was much in request as a controller and presiding genius in time of war. Many omens were derived from the appearance of rainbows.

We have now scanned the more important members of the second-class Maori deities, and will now pass on to the third-grade beings. Here there is just one explanation to make, however, regarding our departmental gods. They were viewed as supernatural beings, and so may be termed atua, but the Maori seems to view them more as originating beings, or parents, than as ordinary gods such as those of the third class.

The members of the third class of our Maori gods may be looked upon as being tribal gods, though in a number of cases such beings were known to many tribes, even throughout both islands. In a few cases they are known in Polynesia. Others, again, were known over a restricted area only. Among those most widely known were Aitupawa, Maru, Kahukura, Haere, Ruamano, etc. These beings are in many cases personifications of natural phenomena. Thus Aitupawa is said to represent thunder; Maru personifies some celestial phenomenon, a glow seen in the heavens, possibly the zodiacal light; Kahu-kura and Haere are personifications of the rainbow, while Ruamano is a denizen of the ocean, though in what form we know not. Another such atua, known as Tunui-a-te-ika, personifies comets, Tamarau represents meteors, Hine-korako the lunar halo or bow, Rakaiora the lizard, Rongomai apparently represents meteors, and so on. A long list would be tedious.

The atua of the third and fourth classes were the ones most frequently appealed to; they were “for every day use” in connection with the ordinary affairs of life. Many of the third-class beings were utilised, if one may use the expression, as war gods (atua mo te riri), as directing experts, whose instructions, interpreted by their human mediums, were faithfully obeyed. They were also the power behind the arts of black magic that rendered such arts effective. The power that rendered the institutions of tapu and ritual formulæ effective emanated from the gods of all classes.

The fourth class of atua maori I would feel disposed to designate as “familiars,” for “god”. seems to be too dignified

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a term for them. In many cases these beings were the deified spirits of ancestors, and were placated and whangaia (had offerings made to them) in order to influence them to befriend, warn, and succour their descendants. Thus a man might become the medium of the spirit of a defunct parent, or grandparent, and so utilise the services of such a spirit for the common weal. The most marked advantage gained by such a medium was the power of second sight, termed matakite and matatuhi. The ancestral spirit's interest in his, or its, descendant, was shown principally in the way of warning him of any danger threatening him. Such warnings were often sent in the form of signs, and such signs were innumerable. We have noted many in the list of omens given in another chapter. In many cases these warnings came to the medium in dreams. In such cases the medium would believe that his wairua (soul) had quitted its physical basis during sleep and wandered abroad, and, on its observing the threatening sign, had hurried back to warn him of danger. This action of the wairua had been brought about through the influence of the ancestral spirit. Such a medium, however, had to be careful not to offend the guardian spirit in any way, for, if offence was given, its protection was at once withdrawn. The medium had to be scrupulously careful not to pollute his own condition of tapu, which emanated from the spirit god. Should he do so he would be left defenceless, his life principle would be exposed to the shafts of magic, and all other evil influences. Above all he would be rendered kahupo, or spiritually blind; that is, he would be deprived of the powers of the seer.

The beings of this fourth class were appealed to for much the same purposes as were those of the third class, that is in connection with war, magic, and the ordinary activities of every-day life. Inasmuch as the priests or mediums of the different classes of atua differed in what may be termed sacerdotal standing, then it follows that the mediums of the fourth class atua were more shamanistic in their dealings with such beings than were the mediums of higher standing.

It would be of no interest or service to give a list of names of these ancestral spirits, but a few cases known to myself may be mentioned as illustrations. When, in the “sixties” of last century, the Tuhoe tribe was in a disturbed state owing

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to fighting proceeding between certain tribes and the fairskinned Pakeha from far lands, it was decided to protect the tribal lands from invasion. During the guerilla-like bush warfare that followed the decision, a Tuhoe woman named Maraea felt herself called to a higher sphere of life, and so decided to become a poropiti. This is the Maori form of our word prophet, a tohunga matakite (second sight expert) in Maori. Our prophetess now cast about for an atua whose medium she might become, one that would endow her with the necessary powers enabling her to foretell events, and lead her people to victory. Being possibly desirous of making it a family affair, she did not placate any of the known supernormal beings, but decided to evolve a new atua for her own use. Happening to be delivered of a stillborn child, she resolved to utilise the spirit of that child as a war god, or, as anthropologists would say, as a “familiar.” Now in Maori belief the spirits of stillborn children, termed atua kahu, are exceedingly malignant beings who ever delight in afflicting the living. Thus it will be seen that they are useful creatures to employ for the purpose of harassing and destroying one's enemies. Even so Maraea set about conciliating the spirit of her own child by means of offerings and appropriate ceremonial, in which task she would probably be assisted by a priestly expert. She now became the waka or kaupapa (medium) of this spirit god, which received the name of Te Awanui.

The life story of Te Awanui is not famous; he never achieved fame on sticken fields as did his more renowned fellow tribesman Te Rehu-o-Tainui, but he figured in at least one fight. When the fight between Tuhoe and Ngati-Manawa at Te Tapiri took place in 1865, Maraea acted as the “prophet” of the Tuhoe force of warriors that ranged itself under the banner of Te Awanui. Old native friends of mine who fought under Te Awanui have described that engagement to me. As Maraea was the mouthpiece of the guiding genius of battle, then necessarily she became the director of the fighting. Truly are the usages of barbaric man a marvel to the human mind.

Dour old bushfighters who took part in that struggle have told me that Maraea claimed to possess marvellous

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powers. She undertook to catch in her hands the bullets of the enemy. In the final struggle, when Ngati-Manawa attacked Tuhoe at one of their investing camps, Maraea came to the front and was seen clutching at the bullets as they passed her. And all this was believed by people who had evolved the concept of Io the Parent, and that of the awe or refined essence of the human soul.

A similar instance of modern shamanism occurred in the fight against Imperial British troops at Orakau in 1864. One Penetiti, the “prophet” of the Tuhoe contingent, concocted a weird rongoa, or medicinal beverage, by means of boiling the bark, leaves, etc., of certain trees and plants. Prior to the commencement of the fighting he gave each member of the contingent a drink of this divine elixir, telling them that it would prevent the bullets of the enemy harming them. Unfortunately for Tuhoe some of the ingredients must have been omitted, for they found that the Pakeha bullets were extremely hurtful, so much so that many of the party never saw the forest-clad ranges of Ruatahuna again.

In the case of the fourth-class atua known as Te Rehu-o-Tainui, I can claim a fairly complete knowledge of the origin, manifestations, achievements, and wane of an atua maori. I lived for years with the tribe that fought under his sway, and among whom he originated. Many a tale of savagery have I listened to, as told by the sons of the fierce bushmen who raided the Awa lands, who rallied round the staff of Uhia the medium in the desperate fight of Lake Rerewhakaitu, and left but the drifting waters at Taupo-nui-a-Tia.

This was another atua kahu or caco-dæmon, a malignant spirit god evolved from the spirit of an immature birth. To destroy the power for evil of such a spirit it is necessary to obtain the services of an expert, who, by means of charms and offerings, can render it harmless. This particular evil spirit however, was never laid. Uhia, a member of the Tama-kai-moana clan of the Tuhoe tribe, resolved to placate the spirit by means of offerings, and to act as its medium. The offering was in the form of food, the semblance alone of which is consumed by the spirit. The newly-developed spirit received the name of Te-Rehu-o-Tainui, and his aria, or form of incarnation, was a lizard of the green-coloured species known as moko kakariki.

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Uhia was now the fully accredited human medium of the new atua. So successful was he as regards prophetic utterances, that the fame of Te Rehu became known from the rocky shores of the Star Lake to the outlands of the Boiling Water Country. One of the first manifestations of the wondrous powers of Te Rehu occurred at the Tauranga stream, where Uhia, sustained by the powers of his atua, threw himself from the summit of a lofty tree, sustaining no injury from the fall! In these early stages of his mediumship Uhia is said to have acted as does a deranged person, which seems highly probable. When his condition became more normal, it was found that he was urua, or “possessed.” And then Uhia prepared a tuahu, a special place at which to perform the rites of divination, etc., pertaining to his new calling, and many wondrous acts were encompassed by him through the powers of Te Rehu. He looked through the gates of distance and saw coming occurrences evolve in the womb of time; he foretold precisely the result of fights as yet unfought; he diagnosed mysterious maladies and traced them to their remote sources. Truly the name of Te Rehu spread across far lands, and the fame of Uhia struck against the heavens.

The feats of Te Rehu and the medium Uhia would make a long story, but they were successful on many a hard-fought field. In after days the fame of both gradually waned and now, should you enquire of Tuhoe concerning Te Rehu, of the Children of the Mist, they will reply: “Te Rehu-o-Tainui is no more. That god is dead.” Nor could you convince them that gods never die. They will reply to that remark, as they did to a friend of the writer who made it: “Gods do die, if there are no priests to keep them alive.”

When we come to examine the Maori priesthood of former times, we find that, as in the case of their gods, they can be divided into classes of ranks. A system of classification is the easiest mode of describing the tohunga maori, as they were termed. The word to hunga, be it remembered, does not necessarily denote a priest. It really means an expert, and the title tohunga maori means “native expert.” The word maori means “native, ordinary,” etc; it was apparently not employed by the natives as a racial name for themselves in pre-European times. They described themselves as

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tangata maori, native folk, or ordinary people, as in contra distinction to supernormal beings, but not as Maori. None of the early writers applied this name to the natives as a racial term, simply because they never heard it. The phrase tohunga maori simply means “native expert, or adept,” though as employed in every-day use it is understood to mean a priest or shaman. To be precise one should add to tohunga an explanatory term, as tohunga ahurewa or tohunga tuahu (a high-class priest), tohunga kehua (a shaman), tohunga makutu (a wizard), tohunga whaihanga (a carpenter), tohunga whakairo (a tattooing or carving artist,) tohunga tarai waka (a canoe-hewing expert), and so on.

The higher grade priests, whose titles are given above, confined themselves to the higher class ritual. They upheld the cult of Io and performed the higher class rites, but did not concern themselves with low class shamanistic practices. These men alone were acquainted with the ritual formulæ of the Io cultus, which contain a great number of sacerdotal expressions unknown to the majority of the people.

A second grade of the priesthood included those who were acquained with the ritual pertaining to the departmental and tribal gods, which they practised. One of their most prominent activities was in connection with war, and they were also prominent in others connected with agriculture, seafaring, fishing, woodcraft, and other industries and customs. These men did concern themselves with magic, though not with its lower phases as a rule. They were the advisers of the people in all ordinary matters, and, like the tohunga of the other two grades, posed as experts in regard to sickness. Their mode of treatment was empirical to a degree, inasmuch as all such afflictions were believed to be due to the malignant activities of evil spirits.

The shaman-like mediums of low-class atua or demons of the fourth class I would place in a third grade of tohunga; the term priest is assuredly too dignified a title to be applied to them. These shamanistic gentry were not above practising any sacerdotal jugglery they could devise, and they imposed upon the people in many ways. The superstition-ridden minds of the Maori folk rendered them an easy prey to these charlatans.

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The descendants of the different vessels that brought the ancestors of the Maori to these isles place considerable stress upon the importance of the priests who came from Polynesia. Each party seems to believe that theirs was the most learned tohunga. Three renowned priests are said to have come hither in the vessel named Takitumu, namely, Ruawharo, Mahutonga, and Tupai. Some years ago the descendants of these migrants discussed the advisability of sending a deputation to Polynesia in order to seek records of ancient lore. They finally decided, however, that it would not be worth while, inasmuch as the most learned men of Polynesia of that period had come to New Zealand twenty generations ago Curiously enough I had heard the same story told in connection with the natives of Tahiti, who concluded that only inferior priests had come to New Zealand. So that both parties are quite satisfied as to their own knowledge of racial lore.

When a priest had taught some young man his own stores of knowledge, he would, When near his end, tell his pupil to ngau (bite), or whakaha, some part of his body just as the breath of life was passing from him. It was believed that this act had the effect of transmitting the mana (powers, prestige, psychic power, etc.), and knowledge of the dying man to the pupil. It was not the same part of the body that was so treated in all cases, for I have collected data concerning the ceremony as having been performed in connection with the top of the head, the ears, the perineum, and the big toe. In one case that an ex-pupil told me of, he had been instructed by his teacher to whakaha the crown of his head (Me whakaha to waha ki toku tipuaki). This meant that the pupil had to place his mouth to his teacher's head, open it slightly, and inhale his breath. The so-called biting meant that the person who performed it just closed his teeth on the part indicated. In some cases, when the performer had been a pupil of the dying person, the rite was performed in order to acquire his mana. In the case just quoted, the passing teacher said: “Cling to my teachings. Do not heed any other, and old age shall come to you.”

The present-day Maori makes much of the fact that teachers of Christianity are paid for their activities, which practice they condemn. They appear to forget that the

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native priests of yore were also recompensed for their services as teachers, in treating the sick, for performing baptismal rites, etc. The only difference is that the one is paid in money, the other was paid in goods. When a tohunga had performed a service for any person, then that person would present him with a garment, or some article of adornment, as a pendant, a supply of food, or some other article, as payment for his services.

The superior orders of priests were believed to possess amazing powers, as is shown in other parts of this chronicle. They were supposed to possess power over the elements, and also strange powers of mind over matter. If what we are told is anywhere near the truth, then some must have held certain hypnotic powers, while others appear to have practised suggestion in a remarkable way. It is now impossible to say how far the knowledge and powers of such persons did extend. The performance of an equivalent to what is called the mango trick, in Polynesia, reminds one of Indian performers. A well-known story tells of the visit of a distinguished Christian dignitary to an old native on the isle of Makoia in Lake Rotorua, in order to induce him to accept Christianity. The old man replied as follows: “I will accept your God if you can do this.” Whereupon he picked up a withered Cordyline leaf, uttered some formula, and behold! the leaf was fresh and green. The story is interesting, but I know of no proof of its correctness. As to the alleged powers of tohunga to blast trees, shatter stones, kill a distant person, by means of a magic formula and some form of innate, psychic mana, personally I have never placed much faith in them.

One of the most extraordinary beliefs of the Maori is that concerning what he calls the kura hau awatea and kura hau po. The first of these expressions denotes a solar halo and the latter a lunar halo. The Maori firmly believes that his tohunga of the upper class possessed the power to produce these phenomena at will, and to cause them to be seen thousands of miles away. We are told that in olden days this power was used for signalling purposes. Thus when Tama-ahua returned to eastern Polynesia from New Zealand, he told his sister, then living at Taranaki, that if he succeeded in making the two thousand mile voyage in safety, he would cause the

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kura hau awatea to appear. That voyage was accomplished, and the sign duly appeared in the heavens, to the joy of his sister at Taranaki. Again, when Whatonga returned home to Tahiti from Rangiatea, he signalled news of his safe arrival by means of both the solar and lunar halos.

It was the practice of priests to face the sun when performing rites, and, as they were generally performed about sunrise, that meant facing the rising sun. Inasmuch as the word tohunga means simply “expert,” a number of terms were employed to denote priestly experts who performed special rites, as those pertaining to the baptism of children, divination, ceremonies pertaining to war, sickness, death, etc. Such qualifying expressions as tohiora, waitohi, matatuhi, taua, tuahu, tuakoi, taurewa, and tarahau were thus inserted after the title tohunga. A tohunga kehua was simply a low-class shaman. High-class priests and ariki (head of a principal family) were looked upon as taumata atua, resting places or mediums of the gods.

It was absolutely essential that a tohunga should preserve his condition of tapu, otherwise he would not only lose all his supernormal powers, but also he would no longer be able to obtain benefits or assistance of any nature from the gods. When the system of tapu was broken down by the incoming Europeans, both Maori religion and the Maori social system were doomed, for tapu was the basis of both those institutions. Many young men who were being trained as tohunga abandoned native teachings and accepted Christianity. Some of the conservative priests, viewing with disapproval the new movement, simply withdrew into the background and treated the new religion as an objectionable innovation. These men were viewed by missionaries with no friendly eye, and to this day one may hear descendants of those who sowed the good seed speak most disparagingly of such men at Te Matorohanga, because they clung to their old faith. The whole question of Maori Christianity is one very much misunderstood, and often misrepresented. One enthusiastic early missionary reported to his society that the natives of the North Island were “thirsting for Jesus.” Those who know the Maori marvel at the effect of enthusiasm upon the human mind.

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The tohunga maori entered into many activities, and one of the most interesting of his fields of research was that of astronomy. Many of these men had a remarkably intimate knowledge of the stars. In olden days, when performing long ocean voyages, such knowledge was imperative among a people ignorant of the compass. During the long residence in New Zealand such knowledge may well have decreased, but still a constant study of the stars was considered necessary here. This was owing to the fact that it was firmly believed that the stars not only give forth signs of coming events, and weather conditions, but also have an important influence on food supplies.

There seems to be some evidence to show that the different versions of Polynesian mythys, ritual, tradition, etc., are of comparatively modern growth, though possibly centuries old. For some time after the race entered the Polynesian area no doubt their prized lore would be preserved in the various groups in a fairly homogeneous manner. Moreover, we hear half-remembered traditions of meetings of peoples from many isles at some specially tapu centre, such as Opoa, on the island of Ra'iatea, where such lore was recited in its approved form for the benefit of all. In later times dissensions arose, and, in some cases, such as that of the settlers in New Zealand, isolation would certainly have its effect as time rolled on. Thus we may account for the different dialects, and differences in ritual, mythys, etc.; discrepancies would assuredly creep in.

It often occurred that the office of tohunga descended from father to son, but at any time there might be a break in continuity, for divers reasons. When a tohunga was also an ariki, or superior chief, he occupied a very important position, and possessed much influence with the people.

When a priest invoked his atua, that being had different ways of communicating its messages to the human medium. One of these was by spoken language, and the familiar is said to have always spoken in a whistling tone of voice. Some writers believe that these mediums were often ventriloquists. The fact that the Maori seldom whistled, and appeared to dislike whistling, may have been owing to a belief that it was a special attribute of supernatural beings.

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The powers displayed by the native priests to throw themselves into a trace-like condition, and also to act in a wild, frenzied manner when the spirits of atua entered them, are met with among savage and barbaric folk the world over. Apparently the higher-class Maori priests did not indulge in these extravagances, but they were common among the lower-grade tohunga, and the people firmly believed that the medium was “possessed” at such times.

With reference to the so-called “mango trick” of India, and a similar feat formerly performed in Polynesia, the following is worthy of note. When the present President of the Polynesian Society was at Tahiti some twenty odd years ago, a native woman of Ra'iatea island told him that her grandfather, a tohunga of that isle, had possessed very remarkable powers. As a child she had witnessed the performance by him of the following feat:— Before the assembled people he plucked a breadfruit from an adjacent tree, which, before their eyes, he buried in the earth. He then recited some formula of words, and the people saw breadfruit leaves sprouting from the ground where the fruit had been buried. As they looked the tree grew before their eyes until it reached a height of about ten feet, then the flowers appeared, and finally the fruit. This performance was not witnessed by any European, and hence we cannot vouch for the truth of the story. It is, however, but a parallel of the Indian performance, and possibly the woman saw, or rather thought she saw, the marvel related by her. If true, then the tohunga must have possessed the power of hypnotising a number of people at one time.

As already observed, the duties of the tohunga were multifarious. The sick man claimed his services; at the birth and death of the individual he officiated, also at his marriage in some cases. Did men go forth to fell a tree for a canoe, or house building, he would accompany them, kindle the sacred fire and placate Tane. When a canoe was first launched he was again in request. When crops were planted his ceremonial performances were highly necessary, as also when they were lifted. He held an important position in time of war, when the bird snaring season opened, and in connection with sea fishing. So we might proceed to mention the innumerable

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activities of the native priest and the shaman. All these duties originated in the firm belief of the Maori that no occurence, however trivial, ever happens by chance, all are manifestations of supernatural forces, the outcome of the will of the gods.

We have now to scan an institution that was a highly important force in Maori life, and it is imperative that the reader should understand its peculiarities and far-reaching influence. In the first place let me state that tapu emanates from the gods. Lacking the gods, then tapu, magic (makutu), spiritual and intellectual mana (power) could not exist. the hidden force, the vivifying power, that rendered these institutions and qualities effective, came from the gods.

To put the matter briefly, it may be said that tapu means prohibition, a multiplication of “Thou shalt not.” These may be termed the laws of the gods, and they must not be infringed. The penalty for neglect of these unspoken commands is the withdrawal of the protecting power of the gods. This left the erring one in parlous plight, for it meant that his active life principle was seriously affected, and nothing stood between the innumerable evil influences that are ever active, and his defenceless body. Let us now seek the cause of origin of this fear of the gods and of the dread tapu empowered by the gods. That cause can be given briefly: it was the fact that offences against the gods are punished in this world, not in the spirit world to come.

When man believes that to offend the gods means his own death in the near future, then the punishment is so near that it terrifies him. When, as with us, the punishment is postponed to a distant period in a vague spirit world, then man's fear is much diminished.

The shadow of tapu lay over the Maori from birth until death, his very bones and their resting place remained tapu for all time. The higher the rank of a person the more tapu was he. It is interesting to note that slaves were held to be free from tapu, and yet no explanation is given as to their condition of welfare and their survival, why they did not perish in such a defenceless condition. The influence or essence of the gods that enshrouds or pervades all tapu persons is the vehicle of that quality. If it is necessary to a freeman,

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in order that he may retain life, how is it that the slave exists without it? Some native beliefs appear to be marked by certain inconsistencies, though the same remark might be applied to certain beliefs of higher races.

To trespass on a burial ground, or a forest or stream under tapu, was a serious offence, and only a tohunga could save the offender from the anger of the gods. The same may be said of many other such acts, many of them of a very trivial nature in our eyes. To eat of the remains of a meal of an important tapu person was a suicidal act. A native has been known to beg a drink of water from a European settler, who handed it to him in a cup. The native drank the water, then deliberately and very completely broke the cup. He had to from his point of view, otherwise some person might drink from it later, and so perish at the hands of the gods. Thus it was that, in former times, a tapu person never put a water vessel to his mouth in order to drink, for it would have been necessary to at once destroy the vessel or carefully preserve it for his use only. An attendant would pour the water into his cupped hands, from which he drank. A native once borrowed a cooking vessel from me in order to cook therein some food for a sick child. The child happened to die, and so the pot borrower asked my permission to destroy the vessel. The tapu of death was on it.

There was much of tapu pertaining to sickness, death, burial, exhumation of the bones, and the final disposal thereof. Bearers of handlers of the dead, or of exhumed bones, were excessively tapu in the sense of being “unclean.” Such persons would be fed by others until freed from tapu; they could not touch food with their hands. An attendant would use a sharpened stick as a fork to put food in their mouths. If a person died in a house, it became tapu and could no longer be occupied. When camped at Ohiramoko, in the Rua-tahuna district, some twenty-three years ago, I noted a carved post overgrown with bush, and found that it was a kind of mortuary memorial. Many years before a chief named Te Puehu had been taken ill away from home, and was carried on a litter back to his own village, for a Maori always wants to die on his own land. At the spot referred to the bearers had deposited the litter for a space in order to rest, and so, when

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the sick man died shortly after, the spot had been marked by setting up the carved post. That spot had been tapu ever since. Another resting place of the bearers was also marked by a similar memorial, which was, however, destroyed by the Native Contingent when Colonel Whitmore's column raided Rua-tahuna in 1869.

Any place where a person has died, or been killed, may be proclaimed a tapu spot. When Mahia was slain at Te Papuni the place was rendered tapu. Some persons ate some of the food products of the forest at that place, hence they were attacked and slain by the relatives of Mahia. They had desecrated the tapu; it was a deadly offence. It can easily be seen that a person might unwittingly commit a dreadful act of sacrilege in Maoriland, and so lose his life, possibly an intertribal war might spring from it. Such occurrences were by no means infrequent. The infringement of the laws of tapu was a frequent cause of quarrels between early settlers and the natives, and the massacre of the French commander Marion du Fresne and a party of his men at the Bay of Islands was due to such a mischance.

When a village was attacked and some of its inhabitants slain, then the survivors might desert the place and construct a new hamlet elsewhere. I have notes concerning a number of such cases. No such move would be made unless the slain were persons of importance, however. After the eruption of Tarawera in 1886, the natives living at Ruatoki were told by Te Kooti to move away and live elsewhere for a year, on account of the place having become tapu. The tapu condition had been caused by the ashes from Tarawera having been deposited over the district, and that eruption had killed many natives in the vicinity of Tarawera. It was the tapu of death again.

When the chief Te Ahuru died at the fortified village of Te Tawhero, at Ruatoki, that village became too tapu to be inhabited, hence the villagers abandoned it and built a new one elsewhere. Such an occurrence was not, however, of frequent happening. Probably the cause of removal was the fact that no priest of sufficient mana to remove the tapu was available at that time. Battle grounds remained tapu in some cases for generations to those who had had friends slain there-

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on. Any place where the blood of an important person was shed might be rendered tapu thereby; as, for instance, a place where such a person was tattooed. The tapu of burial places and mortuary caves was particularly emphasised, and we hear of priests locating lizards at such places to act as guardians of the tapu. A pond near Ruatoki is known as Te Roto-tapu (the Tapu Pool) because, in olden times, the local natives concealed their dead therein. Bones of the dead were often painted with a preparation of red ochre ere being placed in a cave or elsewhere. Other tapu objects were often so painted, hence it has come to be said by us that red is the sacred colour of the Maori; its use, however, was not confined to tapu objects.

Tapu pertained to forests, and, prior to the opening of the bird snaring season, such tapu was lifted by an adept. During this season birds’ feathers were tapu; no one was allowed to scatter them about; they were buried so as to be out of sight. Any loose feathers, or dead birds found in the forest were also buried. The native belief prompting this peculiar action seems to have been that, should birds see such feathers, they would at once abandon that district and migrate elsewhere. Fowlers were not allowed to carry cooked food in the forest, for such an act would render it tamaoatia (poluted); that is, the tapu of the forest would be so polluted. Here, it is well to explain that tapu removing rites would, in many cases, be better described as tapu lessening rites; they do not, and cannot, wholly remove the restriction; this applies to persons and places.

Some peculiar restrictions applied to bird snarers. These were not allowed, while engaged at their craft, to use certain words connected with it, lest the birds should hear them and leave the forest, or refuse to enter a snare. In like manner those engaged in trapping rats in the forest were careful not to speak after they had set their traps the first time. After they had visited their traps the following morning, and secured the trapped rats, they were free to speak again. Among some northern tribes many common words were tapu to rat trappers when plying their craft in the forest. Thus for tamaiti (child) they employed the term moiti; for wahine (woman) the word puanga; for koroua (old man) the word purakau; for a

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young man himu; and so on, these words not being used in such connection at other times, except purakau, and that infrequently.

Among the Takitumu folk the miromiro and tatahore, two small forest birds, were considered tapu, inasmuch as birds of these species were made use of in certain ritual performances described elsewhere. A fish might also become tapu, thus the araara was tapu to a certain tribe, and could not be eaten by its members, because it was believed that the body of one of their chiefs had been consumed by fish of that species. Should a person of note be drowned, then the river, lake, or part of the ocean in which he lost his life would remain tapu for a considerable period. The Whakatane river at Ruatoki was tapu to the Tuhoe folk for years, because a dog that had been found gnawing the body of the dead chief Te Ahuru was killed while crossing that river.

Some prominent persons of yore were so tapu that, should the shadow of such a person fall on a hut, or a supply of food, such things would have to be destroyed or put away at once. When Ta-manuhiri went a-fishing with others in the canoe of Kahu-paroro, he was afflicted by a bleeding from the nose. So important a person was he that the party at once returned to land, where not only were the fish caught put away, but the canoe, the result of many months’ labour with stone tools, was destroyed. The flowing blood of a highly tapu person had rendered both unusable. Again, when a new canoe was being made, then the vessel, the place where it was being made, and the makers were all tapu. No unathorised person was allowed to visit the spot. Should a woman visit the place it meant a serious pollution of tapu, and the gods under whose aegis the craftsmen were working, would at once abandon the place. After that nothing would go well, even if the vessel were completed the gods would never deign to guard it from harm. Should it be taken to sea, it would be defenceless against the dangers of the ocean. Tawhirimatea (personified form of winds) and the whole of the Wind Children would assail it; Rakahore (personified form of rock) would strive to crush it, and ere long Hine-moana, the Ocean Maid, would engulf it. Similar conditions pertained to the building of a new house. We must note, however, that these restric-

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tions pertained only to canoes and houses of some importance, to such as would ever be more or less tapu, and not to small river canoes and rude huts.

There is a certain amount of tapu pertaining to dwelling houses, especially to the roof, and also the right hand side as you enter, where the most important of the inmates sleep. The rear post supporting the ridgepole was the most tapu part of a house that possessed a whatu, or talisman, for it was buried at the base of that post. Nothing would induce a genuine Maori to drink water that had fallen as rain on the roof of his house, and this prejudice has incommoded many who dwell in houses of European form.

The tapu of a new net for sea fishing was extremely rigid, and no one but the makers thereof were allowed near it, or that part of the beach and adjacent waters where it was first used. The tapu of cultivation grounds was of a similar nature. Any path might become tapu for any one of a number of reasons, and while in that condition no person might use it. Paths leading to cultivated fields wherein the sweet potato was planted were often rendered tapu. The planters of crops were also under tapu. These restrictions were the result of the close connection between all these activities and the gods. The favour and goodwill of those gods must be retained, no matter how irksome the various restrictions might be. The condition of tapu of these places would be notified by some mark in a conspicuous place. Early travellers tell us of such marks consisting of a bunch of human hair suspended on a pole or tree.

Persons who were heavily tapu ate their meals alone. Even ordinary persons when under special tapu, such as that pertaining to war gods, would not eat with women. Excessively tapu persons were in many cases fed by another person, as they might not touch cooked food with their hands. Persons of low caste, who chanced to become exceedingly tapu, such as handlers of the dead, were sometimes compelled to gnaw their food like dogs as it lay on the ground. These “unclean” persons could not touch the food with their hands, and so suffered much discomfiture until the tapu was lifted from them.

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The head was the most tapu part of a tapu person, and persons of importance were sometimes exceedingly unkempt, not to say dirty, so far as the head was concerned. Only a tohunga of high standing might cut the hair of such a person, and after the dread task was accomplished the hapless haircutter would for days be in a condition of helpless tapu, unable to feed himself. In very serious cases it might require two, or even three persons to feed him. One attendant would prepare the food, another would bear it to a certain place and there deposit it, while a third would come and fetch it and convey it to the tapu one, and feed him. Angas tells us that the wife of Taonui was under tapu for a week after she had cut her husband's hair. Captain Cook wrote of a native visitor: “He refrained from eating the greatest part of the day, on account of his hair being cut, though every method was tried to induce him to break his resolution.”

Any place where a fire has been kindled in connection with ritual functions remains tapu, in some cases for generations. Any desecration of such places would be severely punished by the gods; indeed the death of the offender would probably be the result, unless he hied him to a tohunga, who would, for a consideration, banish the danger and preserve the life of the credulous sufferer. The condition of such a transgressor is a form of tapu, allied to the “unclean” state already described. The peculiar act called taiki was performed by women who wished to procure abortion. Such a woman would take some cooked food to a tapu place, or place it in contact with a tapu, person; any similar action would, in native belief, cause the death of the unborn child. The word tapena has a similar meaning to that of taiki; as also have the verbs tamaoa and tapohe. To place a tapu object in a place where it must become polluted is described as a tapohe. I was once informed by an old native that an impediment in speech, or a nasal tone in any person, is the result of his mother having offended against some law of tapu.

When a young girl was betrothed, possibly in her childhood, she was said to be tapu. In some cases a person had a tapu name, and any word of vernacular speech that entered into such name could not be used by the people. To make use

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of it would be a serious insult to the owner of that name, hence either a synonym would be employed or a new word would be coined. When the tapu was taken off the name then the word would come into general use again.

Messengers despatched on some special errand by or to a tohunga are still sometimes tapu for the time being. Under such conditions they could not halt by the wayside for a meal, or even speak to any person encountered on the journey.

A condition of tapu may be brought about by some act of a person, such as we have already examined, or by a condition, such as betrothal or pregnancy, by contact with tapu objects, by being concerned in some rite, and in divers other ways.

The left foot of such a person as a tohunga is spoken of as being the tapu one, the one possessing mana. Hence in certain ritual performances he placed his left foot on the body of a person, as, for example, when reciting the Haruru or Hono charms over a wounded man.

Meals were taken in the open, or in the porch of a house, and not eaten in the tapu dwelling houses. Tohunga and other tapu persons suffered much incovenience from many restrictions, and were very careful to preserve their condition unsullied. Mana itself hinges on tapu, and the latter on the gods. The tapu of an ariki has quite a different aspect to that of a tohunga, or priest, though the two might be amalgamated in a single person of the ariki class. The Tohi rite, of which more anon, had an important effect on the tapu of a child of the ariki class.

We have now discussed many phases of tapu, and may conclude our remarks on this subject by observing how the condition of tapu was abolished, how it was lifted from persons, places and things.

The freeing of a person, etc., from tapu bore two aspects. In some cases it was a complete removal of such restriction, but in others the act of whakanoa, as it was termed, was merely a partial removal of the restriction. For instance, take the case of an extremely tapu person, such as a priest or high chief. Such a person was always tapu, but he might, for a period, be placed under a more stringent form of it owing to one of the numerous causes we have scanned. In

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such cases the whakanoa rite removed merely the temporary excess, but not the ordinary tapu of such persons.

The ceremonial removal of tapu also differed much. In some matters of small moment, and also in some cases wherein people of inferior social status were concerned, the ceremony might merely consist of the eating of a small article of cooked food. In important matters, however, and in cases concerning persons of importance, a very much more ceremonial function was enacted, and the proceedings bore a much more sacerdotal aspect. Now cooked food is the very antithesis of tapu, it is noa (void of tapu) and also contains inherent powers of polution. Uncooked food is by no means so hostile to tapu. Thus the consuming of cooked food is an act that very frequently entered into tapu removing rites. To convey such food to a tapu place was a very serious misdemeanour, and has meant death to many persons.

I well remember an incident that occurred in one of my bush camps long years ago. A travelling native friend arrived thereat one evening, and stated his intention of staying the night. After an evening's conversation on the subject of native legendary lore, my worthy friend retired to an adjacent hut to pass the night therein. Having stripped off all his garments, after the manner Maori, he wrapped his blanket round him and lay down to sleep. Happening to look up, however, he spied a bag of flour and a side of bacon suspended from the ridgepole above him. This truly alarming sight was too much for my guest; he gathered up his belongings and stalked into my tent, where he passed the night, first glancing at the ridgepole in order to ascertain if it supported any soul-destroying food product. Now the articles that had so dismayed him were not cooked foods, but he deemed them quite harmful enough to imperil his tapu life principle.

On another occasion I camped a night at a small native hamlet, and hung up my saddle bags to the ridgepole of the tent in which my host was temporarily sojourning. This was a foolish act, and ere long he asked me, with some anxiety, if they contained any food. On my telling him that they held some biscuits, he asked to be allowed to hand them in the cooking shed. Such are the prejudices of the Maori, the outcome

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of his system of tapu. Although that system was broken down by early missionaries, yet traces of it still linger. In the isolated hill district wherein I was residing tapu, was still in evidence.

One way of removing tapu was as follows:—Supposing a person's hands had become tapu, and he wished to have them freed from that harassing condition. A fire would be specially kindled, at which a small portion of food would be roasted, and this food was applied to his hands and then eaten by the female member of his family who acted as a ruahine in ceremonial performances. Such a woman is sometimes the oldest female of a family, and she takes part in most tapu removing rites. This employement of a female represents the participation of the female element that is held to be necessary. The above is one of the very simplest of such functions. In connection with important matters, the removal of tapu from a new house, canoe, or village, or from the scholars of the tapu School of Learning, the rite was much more elaborate and spectacular, as is shown elsewhere. The food employed in this particular rite removes or absorbs, as it were, the tapu, which is then transferred to the ruahine who represents the tapu spirits of ancestral beings. A woman was always the first person to cross the threshold of a new and tapu house during such a rite. The very fact of a woman passing over a tapu spot would pollute or destroy its sanctity, for such is the effect of that sex. As a native friend put it to me—should a woman trespass on a place where a new tapu canoe was being made, then the gods would retire, and when the vessel was taken to sea they would not watch over and protect her, hence anything might happen.

It must be understood that ritual formulæ entered into tapu lifting rites, brief recitals in the case of the simpler ceremonies, and longer, more elaborate effusions in connection with important matters. Again, another fact to be borne in mind is that the whakanoa rite was, in certain cases, a purificatory one, as for examples, in connection with death, and also birth. Persons who have handled the dead, and women during childbirth were looked upon as “unclean” (tapu), and the above rite abolished that condition. The general aspect of tapu, its rules and restrictions, is of a remarkably Oriental nature.

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Occasionally human sacrifice entered into the whakahoa rite, as in connection with the tapu name of an important chief: this occurred in but few cases.

The word huhu is another term employed to denote the removal of tapu, the gerundial form thereof being huhunga; thus huhunga tapu is rendered as “tapu removing.” But enough of tapu and its removal for the time; we shall meet with both again when observing the rites of olden days.

Under the heading “Ritual Performances and Formulæ” we shall survey certain activities that entered largely into the life of the Maori. Apart from the more important ceremonies, and religious or shamanistic formulæ, there were innumerable simple ceremonies and charms known to and employed by all persons. Every man practised many simple ceremonial acts in order to bring him good fortune, or avert some feared misfortune. Many simple charms were also used for like purposes. The innumerable superstitions of the people prompted them to rely on these means to preserve life and welfare.

The number of karakia or ritual formulæ employed by the Maori folk must have been very remarkable. Hundreds of such effusions have been collected by European investigators, and I am convinced that a very large number is still unknown to us. But few examples will be given herein, inasmuch as they are not, as a rule, interesting productions.

In the first place it will be well to impress upon the reader the leading fact that, in his dealings with his gods, the Maori almost invariably relied on indirect influence. Worship and true prayer, entreaty, invocations, entered but little into Maori ritual. What there was of true invocation was connected principally with the higher gods. Indirect methods were employed in order to influence the gods, and this policy was carried to such extremes in ritual formulæ that it would be an absurdity to style such productions prayers. All Maori ceremonial was influenced, not by love for the gods, but by fear of them, and faith in their powers. Even in the case of the beneficent deity Io, the feeling of the Maori was one of awe, not love. How can one love an abstraction? We ourselves often employ quite erroneous terms when speaking of such matters.

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The native word karakia possesses a wide range of meaning. It is employed to denote the very simplest form of charm, and childish jingles repeated by little folk over their toys, also the highest form of invocation, the nearest approach to what we style prayer. In most cases there is no sign of entreaty, or of any request, to be noted in these effusions, and the words employed contain no reference whatever to the subject under consideration. As this is the case, one might suppose that one formula might have been employed for all purpose, but not so, each matter, each stage of a process, had its own particular charm assigned to it. The act of repeating the words, the fact that they are recited, and in a proper manner, is supposed to affect the gods, and cause them to be complacent. Now the origin of this peculiar attitude of the Maori, and of the aspect of aloofness noted in his formulæ, lies in the fact that they are based on sympathetic magic. Magic preceded religion, and indirectness was its most peculiar feature. In his endeavours to rise to a higher level in communicating with his gods, that is to say in his efforts to evolve a genuine religion, the Maori did not rise at once to true prayer, but continued to work on the lines of sympathetic magic.

As observed, some of the formulæ employed were extremely simple. For instance, the following brief expression was made use of by a person suffering from stomach ache. He would repeat a number of times this sentence: “Meinga atu ki a Mea he kopito toku” (Tell---that I have a stomach ache). In each repetition he would repeat the name of a chief or of a tohunga (priestly expert). The idea of the reciter would be that such persons would have influential relatives in the spirit world who might be disposed to help him. Quite possibly his affliction had been caused by one of such spirits, in which case the words uttered might induce it to relent, and so relieve the sufferer. Now, surely the above may be viewed as the most primitive form of what we term prayer. In ceremonial acts we may scan examples of equally crude ideas, examples of the ancient method of acting an invocation instead of putting it into words.

It is this fact that the wording of native charms has, as a rule, no bearing on the subject, that has such a puzzling effect

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on those who essay to make a study of Maori usages. It is this dissassociation that places Maori ritual utterances on the same level as those of Egypt in its pre-pyramid days, and those of old-time Southern Asia. We have been accustomed to rendering the native word karakia as “prayer” or “invocation,” but it simply denotes a formula, a form of words employed for some purpose, but which may be as puerile as our childish jingle: “Rainy, rainy, go away, and come again another day.” Thus it will be seen that all persons of all ages were acquainted with karakia, more or less. As soon as a child could take part in childish games it acquired certain simple but rhythmical and euphonious recitations employed to cause a kite to fly, a top to spin, and so on; these jingles were termed karakia. A wrestler employed charms to weaken his adversary, and others to endow himself with strength. A runner would charm his own footsteps to render him fleet of foot, and repeat another charm to delay his opponent. The woodsman employed them in placating Tane ere felling a tree, in snaring birds, or trapping rats. The fisherman had many charms for many purposes. The fighting man was compelled to know another budget. Others were for the purpose of confounding the dread arts of the sorcerer. And so, in every activity of life, charms were employed.

Division of labour would have been a boon to the Maori, but as every man was a soldier, a farmer, a housebuilder, a boatman, a fowler and fisherman, then it follows that he was forced to learn many trades, and to acquaint himself with many charms, and other usages. But the tohunga, the priestly adepts, were the men who possessed the greatest number of charms; they were the very stock in trade of those gentry; the higher the grade of the priest, why then the greater his supply of charms.

It is somewhat unfortunate that the Maori should have but one term to include all formulæ, from rhythmic cosmogonic chaunts, couched in fine language, to the crude incantations of the low-class thaumaturgist. It is in the widely embracing use of such words as karakia and tohunga that the native tongue shows one of its weaknesses.

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With regard to the performance of rites, ceremonial functions, all persons were acquainted with a certain number of simple acts performed in order to avert evil omens, etc., but what may perhaps be termed religious rites were in the hands of the few, the priest class. There is another matter that should be stressed, namely, that mana was an important factor in the attainment of success as a priest. A man who possessed human mana (mana tangata) was neccessarily a person of importance and influence. An incantation uttered by such a person would be effective. Mana atua, again, is a yet higher quality; by its aid man was enabled to perform great deeds, and such power emanates from the gods. After all a karakia, or charm, is merely a form of words, the power that renders it effective comes from the gods. Inasmuch as the Maori has lost his mana owing to the intrusion of Europeans, and their introduction of Christianity, it follows that no native ritual formulæ would be effective now. The old-time gods of the Maori are dead, or have deserted their kinsmen of the world of life.

All these formulæ were recited in a measured, rhythmic manner; indeed the higher class productions may be said to have been intoned. In the case of men well accustomed to such utterances the delivery was quite impressive, being smooth and euphonious; the sonorous tone of the Maori voice lending itself with good effect to such chaunts. In all cases of important formulæ it was absolutely necessary that such be repeated without any mistake; an error made in the delivery might result in the death of the reciter. The gods were supposed to punish him by inflicting the death penalty; certainly his fears of such a fate would affect him deeply. Another remarkable fact is that such effusions, or each division of a formula, had to be rendered in a single breath. The Maori possessed very remarkable powers in that way, but in cases wherein his powers fell short of the demand on them, he would have an assistant. The first performer would commence and continue the chaunting of the formula until his breath gave out, perhaps in the middle of a world, when his assistant would instantly take it up and carry it on to completion. Thus were the gods appeased.

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The faith possessed by the Maori in his charms was a remarkable quantity. Thus he will tell you, in all gravity, that by means of such formulæ, backed up by mana, his ancestors could shatter stone, blast trees, destroy animal life, raise or quell a storm, calm the ocean, together with many other wonderful things. It is in connection with such feats as these that the Maori employs the term mana to denote psychic force.

In most cases preists engaged in the performance of what were deemed important rites stood facing the east. In some cases a priest pointed his hand toward the rising sun, in others both arms were extended, in yet others only the forearms. Rites were usually performed early in the morning, and no food might be cooked, or fire kindled, until the performance was over. The officiating priest divested himself of his garments, and was clad in nought save some green twigs twisted round his loins. Such are the demands of tapu. The Maori held the belief, still held, I believe, by members of the Roman Catholic Church, that prayer and ritual performed on an empty stomach are much more effective than if performed after a meal. So near are we to primitive superstition.

Fasting was practised by the Maori on a number of other occasions, for many tapu functions were marked by fasting. Thus the teaching of all high-class matter was a tapu function, and so neither scholars nor teachers might partake of food until the teaching was over for the day. Again, crops were planted in the same way, hence, as may be imagined, the workmen did not work long hours. In brief, many functions and activities were marked by fasting, and faith in its efficacy was founded on the belief that fasting means purity. There was another form of purity demanded in some cases, as when a person was about to have an important religious rite performed over him. It was considered necessary that he should be in a condition of moral purity, hence he was subjected to a process consisting of confession and absolution, sometimes accompanied by immersion in water. It is here that we note a peculiar and interesting innovation in Maori religion, namely, the introduction of ethics; religion was beginning to concern itself with morality. The

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subject was called upon by the officiating priest to confess his peccadilloes, all hara and raruraru, offences against tapu and morality. The absolutory rite left the subject in a condition of moral purity and mental clarity, in a fit condition to undergo the rite, and in possession of clear faculties for the performance of his duties. This freeing of a person from all disabilities is described as “he wetewete i nga raruraru,” and as “e ruke ana i nga he, i nga mate”—a loosening or setting free from pernicious hindrances, a casting forth of troubles, transgressions and disabilities. Briefly it is termed the hirihiri rite; when performed over men about to tread the path of the war god, it is known as tohi taua. In this case it was accompanied by aspersion. Lustral rites were often marked by aspersion, immersion, or ablution. These purificatory ceremonies left the subject in a pure and fit condition for consideration by the gods. In cases of aspersion a branchlet of the karamu shrub (a Coprosma) was usually employed as a sprinkler; or one of kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum).

Many of the religious rites of the Maori were performed at or in water. Thus some stream, pond or pool near a village was set aside as a wai tapu (prohibited or sacred water), at which such functions, took place. Such a place would be avoided by the people, and the waters thereof could not be used for domestic purposes. It is a curious and interesting fact that many practices of Christianity have been borrowed from paganism, and have come down to us from barbaric man.

A form of vegetable scapegoat was employed occasionally, as when a hamlet was suffering from some epidemic sickness. A priest would loosely attach a stalk (stipe) of bracken (Pteris aquilina) to the body of a person, over whom he then recited some formula that had the effect of locating in the stalk the evil influences that had been affecting the people. The person then entered the water, immersed his body therein, and, while under water, released the stalk and allowed it to float away. It was supposed to carry away the aforesaid evil influences.

A very marked feature of Maori ritual was the use made of what we may term sacred fires, in fact, the word “fire” entered in many cases into the name of the rite. These

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sacred fires are called ahi tapu (ahi=fire). The kindling of special fire in connection with ritual functions is a very old and widespread custom. Its use for such purposes by the Maori may have been influenced, or even caused, by the belief that fire was originally of celestial origin. These sacerdotal fires were rendered tapu by the karakia or formula recited over them by a priest; in fact, there were certain spells repeated while the fire was being generated. By means of another formula the priest would, as the Maori expresses it, locate the gods in the fire, the gods to whom he was about to appeal. The act of generating fire by friction, the “fire plough” of the Polynesian, is termed hika ahi.

The tapu fires were employed for many purposes, and in the following examples the ritual functions are called fires:—

There are many other names pertaining to the above list, names denoting rites in which tapu fire was employed. In some cases, we are told, the priest did not actually kindle a fire, but simply went through the motion of the fire-generating process with a piece of stick held in his hand. Any spot on which a tapu fire has been kindled remains tapu, and to trespass on such a place is highly dangerous, for the trespasser is punished by the gods, usually in the form of illness. A person so afflicted would apply to the priest, who would, for a consideration, rescue him from a highly dangerous position, otherwise death would probably ensue. Priests of all ages and all culture planes have traded on superstition.

Fire entered into the rite termed whakau, by means of which travellers were protected from all the malign influences supposed to exist, and be active in, all lands outside the tribal

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area. The very air is full of danger to one's life principle in such regions. At the above fire an article of food was cooked, and each one of the party of travellers would carry a small fragment of that food in his belt. These travellers

would be placed under the protection of the gods for the time, and the food fragment would ward off the shafts of magic. When the travellers returned from their journey they would

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betake them to the priest again, and he would remove from them the tapu of the gods who had protected them.

When a frost threatened the crops of a village community, a person would seize a live firebrand, proceed to the mianga (village urinal), and there wave it to and fro as he recited an apparently meaningless formula called a tatai whetu (star recital). While reciting this jingle he kept moving the index finger of his right hand as though counting the stars. This act is said to have dispelled a frost.

In a singular rite performed over a sick person, the operator procured a dead ember and a piece of the herb styled puha, both of which he passed under the left thigh of the invalid, and then waved towards the heavens.

The following form of the tuapa, or “warding off” rite, was explained to me by old Tipihau of Maunga-pohatu. Its object was to prevent the wairua (soul) of a deceased person returning to annoy the living. A wooden post or slab was set upright in the earth as a tangible object to represent the wairua. At this post an adept would repeat certain karakia or formulæ to “lay” the ghost of the dead. One of those so repeated was the Ahi, or fire-generating charm, and, while reciting it, the operator went through the motion of fire kindling by rubbing a stick on the ground. As a climax, to show his mana, the priestly adept would then raise the wind called tutaka-ngahau, or cause thunder to resound. The tapu of the proceedings was then lifted, a woman, termed a ruahine when so employed, assisting in this latter function.

The ceremonial “fire walking” act of Polynesia and other lands was also known and occasionally practised in New Zealand. Its only purport here, so far as I have been able to ascertain, was to add mana, prestige, force, renown, eclat, to ritual functions. In Polynesia it is called the umu ti, and is manuipulated as a huge umu or steam oven. After the performance of the fire walk, the oven is utilised for cooking a collection of roots of the ti, a species of Cordyline. It was this same umu that was utilised in New Zealand. The act was one, not of walking through fire, but of walking barefoot over extremely hot stones, heated for hours on a huge fire kindled in the pit. Apparently only a certain kind of stone

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is fit for the purpose, and that there is nothing wonderful in the performance is shown by the fact that a number of Europeans have so walked barefoot across the umu ti of Tahiti and the Cook Group. The Journal of the Polynesian Society contains several accounts of such performances. Fire-walking can be traced back to Asia.

In the above ceremonial affair we note a curious usage, the inclusion of a food steaming oven in ceremonial functions. Religious ceremonies were, among our Maori folk, often marked by a similar practice. A steam oven or steaming pit, the ordinary mode of cooking, was utilised for the cooking of food to be used in a ceremonial manner. That food might be a single tuber of kumara, to be used in the Whakanoa rite, or it might be a large quantity of varied foods destined for a ritual feast. All important religious functions were marked by a ceremonial feast. As in the case of the sacred or ritual fires, so also with these umu or steam ovens, the name of such oven came to be used as a name for the rite itself. Thus Umu hiki is the name of a certain magic rite; Umu tamoe that of a rite performed in order to deprive enemies of power; Umu pururangi is another to calm high winds, and Umu pongipongi a rite of black magic to destroy human life. Imu is a variant form of umu, and so we hear of the Imu horokaka, which is equivalent to Ahi horokaka, a war rite, also the Imu kirihau, Imu pararahi, etc.

When a tapu ceremony, as those pertaining to birth, death, exhumation, etc., was accompanied by a ritual feast, then the food for such feast had to be prepared in different lots, which were cooked in separate ovens. This was owing to the different gradations of tapu and social rank. In the Bay of Plenty district the following are the names of the four ovens in which food was cooked for the ceremonial feast pertaining to such functions as the Tua or baptismal rite performed over an infant:—

• 1. Umu tuakaha. For the priest officiating.
• 2. Umu potaka. For the arero whero (fighting men).
• 3. Umu ruahine. For the kaihau women
• 4. Umu tukupara. For the bulk of the company.

The kaihau women, or kairangi women, are those who act as ruahine (priestesses) in religious rites. These oven names

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differ as among different tribes; all persons had to be very careful not to partake of food from any other oven than their own. The Umu whangai was a rite performed when making an offering to the gods.

Some explanation should be given here of the curious uses to which hair was put in connection with ritual performances. Human hair entered into ceremonial observances in a peculiar manner, presumably for the same reason that human saliva did, because it was something by which the human body could be represented. Also, the hair of the head of a man of rank and important mana might be thought to represent that mana, as also his tapu. The head of a tapu person is the most tapu part of his body, and hence hair-cutting in connection with such persons was really a religious function. The operator would remain tapu, and so practically helpless, for some time after the ceremonial hair-trimming; in fact, until the Whakanoa or tapu lifting rite was performed over him. One singular fact connected with hair-cutting was that it sometimes entered into important religious rites as a sort of climax; it was the final act of the ceremony with the exception of the removal of tapu from the participants.

Hair was cut with sharp-edged flakes of obsidian, the operator holding a small truft with his left hand, and cutting it with the flake held in his right hand. The result must have been a somewhat ragged clip. We hear of certain communities that had special days for hair-cutting, days that were highly tapu, when many people assembled at a central village. The act of cutting was accompanied by ritual formulæ, and the whole performance was conducted as a religious function. The people would fast until the operations were over, when a ceremonial and general feast would be held. The severed hair would be burned, or deposited at a tapu place, such as the tuahu. Offerings of human hair were made to the gods, as in Polynesia.

We know that, in many cases, the tapu was lifted from participants in a rite as soon as that rite was concluded. It is by no means clear why this was not done in all cases, but it certainly was not. Persons who had become tapu by such participation often remained so for days, even many days on some occasions, during which time they would be under the

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most irksome restrictions. Presumably these were what may be termed “severe cases” of tapu. To be compelled to live a life apart from others, to be unable to enter a hut that was not tapu, to be unable to touch food with one's hands, and so on, must have been extremely trying, if not exasperating. We hear of men whose heads were so sacred that they could not scratch them, a truly distressing state of affairs when we remember that they would also be too tapu to be washed. Little wonder that the Maori was afflicted by two species of unpleasant parasites. But to proceed—the following extract from an old missionary record illustrates the above remarks:—“Rauroha…had suffered whilst on board from one of their superstitions; he had cut and dressed his brother's hair prior to his coming on board, and therefore dare not go below lest he should be killed by the atua (god). The weather being bad he had been obliged to squat for three nights under the longboat.”

Again, Angas tells us of a tapu man named Nohorua he saw at Porirua. This man had been seated on the ground near his hut, and, when he left the spot, he stuck some twigs or stricks round the precise place he had been seated on, to proclaim its tapu, lest some person should trespass thereon.

Cook tells us of seeing human hair tied to the branches of trees, and it has been found deposited in caves and crevices in rock. Of cource hair was employed as a medium in black magic intended to destroy human life, but if that was the only superstition connected with it any person would naturally destroy his hair when cut.

Ceremonial hair-cutting entered into mouring for the dead. Widows often cut off all their hair; sometimes one long lock, called a reureu, was left at the side of the head. A hair or two was sometimes plucked from the head of a dead person, and a form of words was repeated over it in order to prevent the spirit of the dead returning to molest the living. A small cord made from the hair of a slain enemy, and termed a kota, was occasionally used by a man to confine his own long hair. Hair from the head of a slain enemy was also taken by victors of a fight, and over it was performed a rite to enable the victors to retain their superiority over their enemies.

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In olden times hair was used in connection with certain simple ceremonies performed at critical times, as when a person was in danger of losing his life. It was exceedingly useful to those attacked by taniwha, or other ferocious creatures. All that was necessary in such a case was for the threatened person to pluck a hair from his head and cast it towards his assailant, at the same time repeating a spell called a whakaeo. This procedure deprived the creature of all strength to harm him, and so it would retire baffled. In a Taranaki story of a canoe full of fishermen being assailed by sea monsters, the chief man on board pulled hairs from his head, armpit, and the lower part of his abdomen to use in the rite.

In a certain rite performed by travellers ere undertaking a journey, parts of the performance consisted of the kindling of a tapu fire, and the casting of a hair from each man's head into it. In a folk tale of the Bay of Plenty it is told of one Tu-tamure that, when athirst in one of his journeys at Te Wera, he plucked a hair from his leg and cast it on the ground, whereupon a spring of water broke forth at that spot. I have been informed by natives, as a proof of the truth of the above tale, that the aforesaid spring is still flowing. In the story of Hape and Tamarau, the latter, after the death of his father, procured a hair, or lock of his hair, as the aria of his father's soul, that is as a material representation of the same. Hair was also employed as the aria or symbol of a god.

The employment of human saliva in ritual was also practised by the Maori. This has been a very far-spread custom in former times and survivals of such usages are noted among highly-civilised peoples. The best-known of these superstitious practices of the Maori was the employment of saliva as a medium in black magic, a practice known the world over. By obtaining some of the saliva of an enemy a Maori could slay that enemy by means of uttering a certain spell over it.

In olden days the act of spitting seems to have imparted mana to any act or statement; it might be beneficial or harmful. The Archbishop of Abyssinia spits upon his congregation as a blessing. Elsewhere a malignant curse is accompanied by spitting. Maori adepts performed a rite over the saliva of a dead person in order to ascertain what wizard had slain him; this in cases wherein witchcraft was suspected. Previous to

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engaging in a fight a Maori would spit upon his weapon and repeat a charm over it in order to render it effective in his hands. This seems to be equivalent to our spitting on a thing for luck. A tree-feller would expectorate into the umu, or kerf, in order to prevent his arms becoming weary in using the heavy stone tools. A person who was unfortunate enough to encounter a lizard in his path would kill it, spit on it, cut it into pieces, and then burn the pieces; all this being done in order to avert the evil omen.

Should a Maori, when fighting, chance to strike down a relative, or other person whom he did not wish to slay outright, he would recall the senseless one to this world by means of spitting on his fingers and then rubbing them on the face and body of the stricken one. At the same time he would call him back to this world by repeating these words: “Hoki mai ki te ao nei; mahihi ora ki te whai ao, ki te ao marama; korou ora.” The man performing this act would be under the tapu of the was god at the time, as he would be on active service, hence he would possess the mana necessary to make the act effective. Ceremonial spitting was an old Asiatic and European usage, and entered into many ritual performances.

All these ritual acts, however simple, were accompanied by some form of utterance, however crude, and all these are termed karakia. If a person stumbled when walking, struck his foot against some object, he would ejaculate: “Kuruki whakataha,” and these two words were supposed to avert the unlucky omen. When a fowler wished to placate the god Maru, he would make him an offering of a bird. He would simply cast it aside in the forest, with the words: “E Maru! Ina tau” (O Maru! Here is thine).

Many writers have remarked on the absence or paucity of evidence as to sun worship in Polynesia and New Zealand in former times. It is true that there is but little direct evidence of a former existence of a sun cult in these regions, yet such a cult unquestionably existed. It is owing to the Maori genius for personification that we have not recognised his mode of sun worship. He did not practise a direct worship of the sun, as was done in Peru and other lands, but personified the sun in Tane, and made Tane the most important of his departmental gods; Io alone ranks above him. Tane also occupied an im-

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portant position at the Society and Hawaiian groups. The cult of Tane was a far-spread one, and, as we have seen, he was prominent in several departments. Many offerings were made to him, and there was much of ritual pertaining to his cult. Apparently the people on the whole were not aware that Tane represents the sun, and it was only when we gained a closer knowledge of native myths that we recognised in him a personified form of the sun. The publishing of the Fornander collection of Hawaiian myths greatly assisted us in the task of identifying these personifications.

In the honorific name of Tama-nui-te-ra we have always recognised the sun (ra). The Maori himself told us plainly its application. In connection with Tane, however, we had no direct assistance from natives, and the identification was a slow task; early collectors did not grasp the inner meaning of Maori myths. When we reflect that Tane was viewed as the most important of secondary gods, in connection with such diverse subjects as the tapu School of Learning and the felling of a tree, and was appealed to in both, then we have some idea of his widespread activities and influence.

Fornander, of Hawaii, gave many proofs in his work on the Polynesian race that Tane represents the sun, yet he makes in that work the statement that solar worship had faded from the Polynesian mind since the race entered the Pacific. Nor did he recognise the fact that moon and star worship were practised by the Polynesians. He writes: “I have found no trace in Polynesian folk lore that the moon was ever regarded as an object of adoration, nor, though the planetary stars were well known and named, that these latter ever received religious consideration.” Now both Sina (Hina) and Lono (Rongo), the two personified forms of the moon, the moon gods as we would term them, were prominent at the Hawaiian group, and were appealed to widely throughout Polynesia, as in New Zealand. Here again we gain proof from Fornander's own data. Star worship was practised in New Zealand, and I feel confident that it was introduced from Polynesia; a number of star names of the two regions agree. It is highly improbable that the cult originated in New Zealand. The Polynesian belief in the influence of the stars and planets on food products would naturally lead to some form of astrolatry. Many Maori myths are astronomical in origin.

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The brief reference to sun worship in New Zealand said to be given in Vol. 2 of Mr. White's “Ancient History of the Maori” appears to me to be doubtful. The matter hinges upon the meaning of the word tui in the phrase “Kei te tui i te ra,” and the rendering of this sentence in the translation is very peculiar, and moreover is open to doubt.

The late Mr. Charles Nelson collected some account of a “sun feast” or hakari, but did not publish it. Mr. Tregear inserted it, or a portion thereof, in his work “The Maori Race.” This sun festival was marked, we are told, by a peculiar arrangement of the tahua, or heaps of food supplies stacked up for the feast. These long heaps were arranged in the form of a heptagon, a fire being kindled at each of the seven interior angles, and a pole bearing a pennant set up at each of the exterior angles. In the middle of the enclosed space was a larger fire, said to represent the sun, and around it stood four larger poles bearing pennants. A human sacrifice, termed whakahere, was burned in this central fire. These pennant bearing poles were called wana and toko, both of which words carry the peculiar double meaning of stake or pole, and ray of the sun. Wana also bears the meaning of a division or heap of food at a hakari (ceremonial feast). With regard to the rites performed at these festivals we have no information. Mr. Nelson was a good Maori scholar, and these brief notes gathered by him I believe to be perfectly genuine; he was on friendly terms with some well-informed old natives.

With regard to moon worship, as we term it, it has already been shown that the female personification of the moon was the patroness of women, presiding over childbirth and the art of weaving. She was appealed to by women, and on behalf of women. In the stage of culture in which the Maori lived the ordinary man knew a budget of charms for every-day use, but when in need of any special ritual he had to apply to a priest, as occurred in cases of sickness. Thus the priest and his endless series of charms, spells, incantations, with perhaps a few invocations, took the place of the private individual and his private prayer as seen in higher culture stages. The Christian priests of the Middle Ages who cast out evil spirits were not much superior to the tohunga of Maoriland.

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Rongo, the male personification of the moon, was connected with agriculture, peace, and peace making. He was the sheet anchor of the husbandman.

As to star worship among our Maori folk, certain invocations were repeated in which the principal stars and planets were invoked and asked to send a bountiful food supply. These formulæ were repeated at the first fruits ceremony, when the mata or huamata, first fruits of wild and cultivated products were collected for the ceremony. Forest products were represented by young shoots of trees, etc. The mara tautane, to be described later, was connected with this first fruits function.

The names applied to the stars are employed by the Maori as proper names, that is as personification terms, as seen in a form of ritual given by Tutakangahau of the Tuhoe tribe. It runs as follows:—

“Whanui atua ka eke mai i te rangi e roa e
Whangainga iho ki te mata o te tau e roa e.”

Here Whanui, the star Vega, is addressed as an atua (supernatural being) and is requested to send a generous supply of food by causing the first fruits to flourish abundantly. Throughout the invocation the above two lines are repeated, another star name being inserted at each repetition, as Atutahi (Canopus), Tuputuputu (one of the Magellan Clouds), and so on. The expression mata o te tau denotes the first fruits of the season. The Maori is firmly convinced that the stars have an important influence on food supplies.

The word whangai is also employed to denote the making of an offering to a god, and to a peculiar ceremonial function intended to aggrandize the tapu of a person. Many offerings were made by the Maori to his gods, usually consisting of food products, occasionally of blood, hair, etc. One of the most important of such offerings was a human heart; this was offered to the war god by a party of warriors on active service. That heart would be procured from the body of the first enemy slain. The fowler made an offering of a bird to Tane; the fisherman gave a fish to Tangaroa. The sea-farer invoked and placated Tawhirimatea; on completing a voyage, or landing on a strange coast, he made an offering of seaweed to Tangaroa in the rite called makamaka rimu. In many cases

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offerings were made to gods at the tuahu or sacred place of a village, where they might be placed on the ground, on a stone, or on a small elevated platform called a tiepa. Fowlers and others made their offerings wherever they plied their trades.

A very peculiar feature of some religious functions was the act of releasing a captive bird at a certain juncture of such performance. This singular act took place during the performance of the Tohi rite over an infant, a form of baptism, at the lifting of the tapu from a newly built fortified village, during the initiation of a tohunga matakite (seer), etc. In the Takitumu district the birds utilised in this performance were the whitehead (tatahore—Certhiparus albicapillus), and the miromiro (Petroeca toitoi), hence a certain amount of tapu pertained to these two species. The present writer is by no means clear as to the precise meaning of the above act, but apparently it was a form of communication with the gods. During the ceremonial removal of tapu from a new village, two birds were so released at a certain stage of the proceedings, when, in the intoned invocation, prosperity for the new home was asked for. In this function two assistant priests were stationed at different parts of the defensive works, each holding a captive bird in his hand. At the repetition of the words “Tihe mauri ora,” the two birds were released, and allowed to fly away. In this case I was told that the releasing of the birds was a symbolic act, that the supplicants craved for the new village such welfare as was represented in the freedom bestowed on the birds.

This interesting performance is another of our Asiatic-Polynesian parallels. In a certain ceremony performed in India in connection with Kali or Durga, an image of that atua is allowed to sink in the waters of the sacred river just as the sun is setting. At the same time a bird, the beautiful Indian jay, is allowed to fly away to Siva to tell him that his beloved Kali is coming back to him. Again, in Babylonia a raven was sometimes released by a magician during the performance of a rite to exorcise demons, as a hint to such demons to depart in a similar manner.

The reliance of the barbaric mind on mediums, symbols, and symbolic acts is a very prominent characteristic of

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such people. Many acts performed by the tohunga of Maoriland appear not only puerile, but also downright absurd to us. For instance, when, in 1820, a severe epidemic sickness, introduced by the ship Coromandel, swept across the island, the native priests of Taranaki acted as follows in order to stay its ravages. They fashioned a small representation of the European vessel, and over it they recited their charms or incantations to induce the gods to cease afflicting them. Quite possibly they believed that the gods of their European visitors were responsible for the distressing visitation. However, we will not condemn the superstitious Maori too deeply, for, if memory serves me, when a heavy shock of earthquake was experienced here at Wellington in the “forties” of last century, a solemn fast was proclaimed by certain authorities!

Among the material mediums employed by the native priests were certain small wooden images carved as to the upper part into the form of a grostesque human figure. These are said to have represented the departmental gods Tane, Tu, Rongo and Tawhirimatea, etc. Mr. John White, in his writings on the Maori, calls them tiki and tiki wananga. The word tiki denotes an image in human form. It has been asserted that wananga bears some such meaning as prophet or prophecy, but the definitions of the term, as given in Williams' Dictionary, do not bear this out. It does bear such a meaning in the Hawaiian and Marquesan dialects, however. An east coast native termed the above images atua kiato. They were used as mediums, temporary shrines or abiding places for the gods, during such time as the officiating priest was engaged in invoking the aid of those gods, after which the spirit god abandoned the image, which again became merely a lifeless piece of wood. The average collector alludes to them as “god sticks.” Like the stone images of rude form placed among crops they might be called taumata atua (resting places of the gods). Some of these images have been preserved, and it is interesting to note that the one representing Rongo is two headed. Evidently this represents Rongo-ma-Tane (Rongo and Tane), the twin deities of agriculture.

Mr. White speaks of the atua Kahukura, personified form of the rainbow, as also being represented by one of these whakapakoko, or images. In this case it would appear that

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an atua of the third class was included in the gods so represented. Mr. White apparently gained his information from a Ngai-Tahu source. The lower part of these peg-like images was not carved to represent part of the figure, but was brought to a point, so that the object could be stuck in the earth in a vertical position. When utilised as shrines during a seance the priest consulter usually erected his image at the tuahu or sacred place of the village. The image sticks were about a cubit in length, and, when not in use, were put carefully away by the priestly custodian, sometimes kept in a wooden box (waka) adorned with carved designs. South Island notes on these images tell us that, when one was to be used, it was taken to the sacred place of the village where certain ritual was recited over it. After this performance there was attached to it a bone of the remains of some man of note, usually a thigh bone or arm bone. Then it was that the atua, the spirit god, came and entered the image, taking temporary possession of it. The carved peg would then be inserted in the earth at the wahi tapu (sacred place) of the village, and the priest would proceed to invoke the aid of the indwelling spirit. In some districts we are told that the operator tied a kind of ruff of red feathers round the neck of the image ere commencing his formulæ.

In some cases, we are told, such images were carried abroad by priestly experts accompanying war parties, bands of fighting men making forays into enemy country. In this usage we recognise the amorangi, or emblem of an atua carried by a priestly expert in the van of such a force, as shown in an old aphorism: “Ko te amorangi ki mua, ko te hapai o ki muri” (the amorangi in the van, the food bearers in the rear.

Evidently the contact with, the bone of the defunct rangatira (chief) would impart mana to the image. That it possessed such mana is assured, for, when a person was seized with illness, the priest would bring his wooden image and lay it upon the body of the sufferer, this in order to cure him.

When engaged in consulting one of these images, or rather its indwelling spirit, it was customary to attach a cord to the image, and this string the officiating priest gave an occasional tug at. This was an act of whakaoho, to “rouse up” the spirit, to call it to attention, and as a hint for it to

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prepare for business. In some cases a bone of a dead chief was used as a medium for an atua, in place of the image described above. In using bones of the dead for the purpose of imparting mana to a medium, or rite, or incantation, it was quite necessary to procure the bone of a well-born person. Those of a person of no consequence would not possess any virtue, they could not impart the necessary mana.

In certain cases the Maori introduced into his ritual formulæ genealogical tables, lines of descent, usually the earlier parts thereof pertaining to descent from the gods. These would be held to possess mana. In cases of difficult birth such a recital was supposed to be very effective. The belief that man is descended from the gods was firmly held by the Maori, and that belief assuredly had some very peculiar results. When man believes that he is partially divine anything may happen.

Ceremonial dancing entered into Maori life to a considerable extent, as in connection with war, peace making, reception of visitors, divination, mourning the dead, greeting the new moon and the reappearance of stars, etc. The reappearance of the Pleiades (the heliacal rising thereof) was marked by songs, dancing and cries of welcome. It was not only the sign of the commencement of the year, but also marked the principal festival of the year. Rhythmical movement has a very great attraction for the Maori; he seems to indulge in it on all possible occasions. His posture dancing, for so it must be termed, may be slow, as in some maioha or greeting ceremonies, or energetic, as in haka, or downright fierce, as in the war dance, but always is it performed in remarkable time. The ceremonial carrying of food to a party of visitors illustrates this love of rhythmical movement.

The following account of a rite performed over a person in order to endow him with powers of matakite or secondsight, is inserted as an example of the general aspect of rites per