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The Maori Race

Habits, Etc

Habits, Etc.

The modes of thought and action are best described when considering war, religion, traditions, dress, etc., but some matters may easily page 136a Kumete—A Large Carved Wooden Bowl for Holding Food.The round portion above the bowl is its lid, fixed on a spike (for photography) to show the carving. page 137 escape notice in a general account, and peculiarities may be therefore dwelt upon in a separate description.

When a person of very noble birth arrived in a strange place and desired to make a formal declaration of rank, it was necessary that he or she should on no account use the ordinary means of ingress or egress. The visitor could not enter by the common gateway of a village fort but had to climb over the palisade or have the palisading removed. So, when the great chief Maru-tuahu came to see his father he climbed over the palisade of the pa at Whakatiwai.1 This sacredness of course only belonged to very high rank, and in one case when a celebrated ancient priestess was welcomed to a strange village, the chief of the settlement came outside and said—“Come! Welcome! If you come by the authority of Tu, the god of war, dare and make a path for yourself, but if you come by the authority of Tahu, the god of peace and plenty, I will make a path for you and open a road for you over my stockade.”

This idea of the un-sacred nature of the common or general entrance-way also pertained to child-birth, so when a child of very noble parents was born in a house the side of the building had to be broken out to allow the babe to be removed for the baptismal ceremony. When the semi-divine offspring of Tawhaki and Hapai, “the Heavenly Maid,” was born the side of the house was opened that the holy infant might be brought into the open air.2

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Women were supposed to veil their faces, however high their rank, when approaching sacred places. If they ventured to disregard this they would be reminded of the fate of a lady of old time who saw with open eyes the Sacred Dog, and was in consequence changed into a rock in the sea. The story runs thus—A magician named Wheketoro had made an island “prohibited” (tapu) to secure the safety of some very uncanny pets, but some time after a chief named Kaiawa determined to remove the prohibition. He took his daughter Ponui with him, as her presence was necessary before he could light the sacred fire kindled by friction, near which his incantations and spells had to be recited. (She had to put her foot on the wood and hold it steady while the priest rubbed on the wood with another stick—an infinitely ancient rite in the pre-historic world.) When they had reached the island they omitted to veil the face of the girl and the Stone Dog, the Moho-rangi, looked upon her uncovered face. It gazed fixedly upon her and she looked fearfully upon the monster. The father collected some seaweed, made it sacred, and presented it as an offering to the Dog. Fire was produced by friction whilst Ponui stood with her foot upon the lower piece of wood. Then the girl was put to sleep and fires were lighted, one for the gods and one for men. Then fires were kindled in many places, and the smoke rose in dense clouds, filling the nostrils of the wild creatures till they sneezed and this made them tame. When the old man returned to the place where his daughter had slept he could page 139 not find her, and he went about crying “O Ponui, where art thou?” He saw a grass-hopper jumping in front of him; that was all. Then he lifted his eyes and looking out to sea, saw his daughter changed into stone and become a rock standing in the sea. He wept for her, but in vain. Women now never go near that island, lest the fate of Ponui, be theirs, and strangers veil their faces as they pass lest they should see the Moho-rangi.

A crouching attitude was considered a mark of respect from an inferior to a superior. To nod the head was a sign of dissent; silence also implied dissent, but acquiesence was signified by raising the eyebrows. If a Maori raised his arm showing the fingers of his hand closed on the palm, the sign was understood to mean “Enough. That will do!” It was considered extremely rude to step over a person who was sleeping or lying down. Even if only the legs or feet were stepped over it was an offence, particularly if it was a woman who committed the action. If a woman stepped over a male child, the boy would never grow up to full stature, but would be stunted.

A remarkable custom was that of “plunder” (muru). It was a difficult matter for a European to understand, but was a method by which an offence was expiated. It consisted of a band of persons (taua) visiting the offender and stripping him of all his movable property, or at all events of as much as was supposed to pay for the damage done. If a man allowed one of his boy children to get hurt, the tribe would muru the father for the page 140 loss or possible loss of the child, since the boy probably would have been a future warrior. If a man's wife eloped with a stranger her relations would muru the deserted husband, since he should have taken better care of her, and not have lost to the tribe a mother of possible fighters. If a man accidentally destroyed common property, such as a forest or plantation by fire, or if he caused a canoe to upset and so endanger the lives of his clansmen, or if through carelessness he did something which made an eel-weir or fishing ground tapu and so deprived the tribe of expected food, for all such matters a taua would set out and plunder the offender's property. Sometimes to the robbery would be added personal attack, and the recipient of these delicate attentions might be severely beaten as well as stript of property. Strange to say the practice was not resented, for this would have precluded the touchy or irritable person from robbing (judicially) any one else in turn. Piles of food were prepared, dogs killed and cooked, and all made ready for a feast, so as to receive these irregular officers of justice; indeed, if anything of value was kept back it would have been of little use, for it would be sure to be taken by the taua. A chief would have been quite indignant if not “plundered,” for it would have been a sign that he was a man of no consequence, unworthy of tribal resentment.

The only exception to and guard against the muru was the tapu which made the clothes, weapons, ornaments, etc., of a great chief sacred to himself alone and not to be touched by page 141 others. Muru was the punishment for unintentional offences only, as a general rule. If a Maori killed another wilfully, it would probably be a man of another tribe and the act would not be considered blameworthy; at any cost he would be upheld by the whole power of his own people, but if he killed a fellow tribesman or endangered his life accidentally, that was a sin within the clan itself and had to be expiated by the seizure of his property as damages. Perhaps “damages” rather than “plunder” is the best translation of muru.

The Maoris generally have fine regular teeth and these are left as Nature made them. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, for some of the natives in the Kawhia district had pointed or triangular teeth, “shark-teeth,” as they have been called. The custom of filling the teeth to a point is almost unknown in Polynesia and must be a family or tribal usage.

Similarly, circumcision was confined to a very limited number of persons, the descendants of Tamatea Urehaea, living near Cape Palliser. Generally, even the appearance of circumcision (tehe) was regarded with contempt or dislike.

The Maoris did not yield to the unclean habit of spitting about. Saliva was one of the media by which anyone owing a grudge to the person who had spat could bewitch and bring the anger of the gods upon him. Therefore great care was taken that expectoration did not occur.

The track of a native differed from that of a European in that the feet were kept either page 142 straight or with the toes slightly turned in, one foot being set closely before the other with the sole flat on the ground. The Maori salutation (hongi) was to press the nose against the nose of the person greeted; sometimes with a low crooning song of welcome or lament. Natives disliked to hear a person whistling. It was supposed to resemble too much the voice of a spirit, as in a peculiar whistling voice supernatural beings communicated with men. The wizard (tohunga) always when “possessed” or when acting as a medium delivered his oracles in a hissing voice.

Maoris counted well up to a hundred, after that not so certainly, the word mano, now used for “thousand,” not originally being definitely that number, but “very many.” They counted by pairs for men, baskets of sweet potatoes, fish, etc. Time was reckoned by nights, not by days, so “to-morrow” was “the night's night” (apopo). The day was divided as follows:—
  • Daybreak—“The shadows of morning appear.”
  • Sunrise—“The sun mounts.”
  • Daylight—“Daylight.”
  • Forenoon—“The sun is on its way upwards.”
  • Mid-day—The sun is upright as a post.”
  • Afternoon—“The sun is tilted over.”
  • Evening—“The time of fires.”
  • Sunset—“The sun sets.”
  • Midnight—“Night and day are divided.”

The year was divided into moons, and the periods were distinguished by the names of stars or by the flowering of plants, thus the month answering to our January had its nights sacred to the star Rangawhenua and its days to Uruao, in this month the karaka tree flowers. March page 143 was Ngahuru, the harvest month for the sweet-potato crop, etc. The year commenced with the rising of the Pleiades (Matariki). There is a curious legend to the effect that the ancient year was of ten months only, till a certain teacher, full of the wisdom of the gods, came to men and instructed them to make the year twelve months long, and his precepts have been followed to the present day. The months, denoted by the appearance of the heavenly bodies, were checked by other natural means, viz, by signs such as the mating, moulting and changing notes of birds, the flowering of trees, the singing of insects and the arrival of the migrating cuckoo. Days were generally known by nights of the moon, as Whiro, Tirea, Hoata, etc.; some days were lucky and some unlucky, and on the latter journeys were not commenced or other important actions begun. The year was divided into two great seasons, Summer and Winter.

The powers of the inclined plane and the wedge were known to the natives, who also understood how to raise heavy weights by moving them up inclined slopes. Rollers or skids and the lever with a shifting fulcrum were used as helps to toil. The measures of length were the hand-span, the cubit (from end of fingers to bend of arm), the stride, the arm-span or fathom, and the yard or half-fathom, calculated from the tip of outstretched fingers and straight arm to the middle of breast. There were no measures of capacity or weight.

As looking-glasses, still pools of water were used. If a great chief fancied some particular page 144 pool that water was sacred to him and “prohibited” to others. So it is said that when Hina swam to Holy Island to find her future husband Tinirau, the fish-god, “she found his looking-glass wells, where Tinirau used to go to dress and to look at his handsome image in the water.”3

If certain places such as plantations, fruit, trees, etc., had to be kept clear of intruders, there was a rahui set up. It was done by putting in a post; sometimes a human victim was slain and his body buried at the foot of the post. Generally a girdle (maro) was put round the post, this girdle being made of petako or some other sacred plant, but sometimes it was buried at the base of the pillar. This girdle received a particular name, that of kapu, and was before using for this purpose subjected to powerful incantations which would kill any person interfering with the prohibition (rahui). When the girdle was concealed this was done lest it should be stolen and the “prohibition” made useless, if the girdle were lost it would not “bite,” as the phrase ran.

Just as among English people it is (or was) the custom to say “God bless you!” to a person who sneezed, so the Maoris also had their charm-saying to avert evil under similar circumstances. The full spell is:

“Sneeze, living Soul!
In the light of day,
Those inland are blest with plenty,
Those on the sea are blest with plenty,
There is plenty for the mighty lord.
Sneeze thou!
Baptised into life!”4

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Often, however, only the first few words— “Sneeze, living Soul!” (Tihe, mauri ora!) were used.

Litters (Kauamo matika) carried on the shoulders, after the manner of palanquins, were often used for the transportation of nobles, especially for ladies of high rank.5