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The Maori Race

Chapter XI. Tapu.—Curses.—Dreams and Omens.—Offerings

Chapter XI. Tapu.—Curses.—Dreams and Omens.—Offerings.

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Tapu.

Tapu is the word which has been adopted into the English language as “taboo,” when we say that such and such subjects are tabooed. Its proper sense seems to be neither “sacred” nor “defiled” although it may take either meaning, and that medial expression “prohibited” perhaps translates it best—“prohibited” for sacred reasons, “prohibited” for objectionable reasons. The true inwardness of the word tapu is that it infers the setting apart of certain persons or things on account of their having become possessed or infected by the presence of super-natural beings, particularly of the ancestral spirits who were guardian deities of the tribe. Great chiefs were by nature tapu on account of their divine birth, they being able to trace their genealogies up to the gods of heaven and earth. If such chiefs performed certain actions, such as entering a page 193 common house, leaning against a post, eating a portion of food, etc., the house, the post, or the remaining scraps of victuals were tapu to others. If the chief in question devoured the body of an enemy, in doing so he not only insulted the tribe of the fallen man, but, secure in the protection of his victorious gods, he was challenging in a daring way the guardian spirits of his foeman's tribe. If a common man partook of scraps left by his noble master he was then “eating the god” of his own tribe, and thus not only committing a terrible sacrilege against his protecting deity, but probably bringing down upon his leader the wrath of heavenly beings whose essential sacredness had been conveyed to the food by the touch of the chief. That is the reason why the chief himself would feel violent personal anger at his tapu being broken by the act of an inferior. If a chief made a thing tapu, a canoe, for instance, by touching it and saying “This is my head” such prohibition was only held binding on lesser men; if some more powerful noble came and wished for the canoe he would take it, disregarding the tapu of the other, very much as if he had said “This fellow's position in regard to he gods is nothing compared with mine,” but of course he might have to maintain such superiority at the point of the spear. It must not be inferred in all cases that this “Eating the god” was sacrilege. The act of partaking of the flesh and blood of the tribal deity is the soul of most savage religions, but such a communion must be a “Communion of saints,” that is, of people prepared by proper ceremonies page 194 and at a certain time to undertake the solemn office. It must not be done accidentally or carelessly, if so, such an act is sacrilege, that is, it is tapu.

Sometimes when travelling at night a Maori would carry in his hand either some cooked food or a firebrand from a cooking-fire as a protection, because spirits disliked cooked food very much. If a spirit was to touch such food and it was afterwards eaten it would be as though the spirit himself had been eaten. The priests, especially the priest-chiefs (Ariki) had the power of releasing from tapu and making things common (noa) again; if this could not have been done the laws of tapu would have been too heavy to be borne, and all social life must have ceased. As it was, it was almost impossible not to infringe this dreaded custom, even if scrupulous and pious care was taken. The annoyance was almost as great for the sacred person as for the sinner although not so unpleasant or perhaps fatal in its consequences. Thus, the chief must eat in the open air, whatever the weather, so as not to tapu a house; must not eat from a plate (really a little woven basket) that another shared or that another might afterwards use; must gather up all scraps and take them away to some tapu spot least another consume them. He could not drink from a vessel if it was probable that the lips of another would approach that vessel, so he had to hold his hand curved upwards below his lower lip whilst water was poured from a calabash into his mouth. The head and back of a chief were peculiarly sacred and he had to page 195 be careful not to leave his comb or hair-fillet or shoulder-mat in any place where a common person could touch them. If anyone touched the sacred head it was a dire offence (the god Rauru dwelt in the hair; rauru or laulu is a Polynesian word for “hair” or “head”) and even if another relative equally sacred was to do so (to comb or cut the hair of an aristocratic infant, for instance) he would be tapu till the next day when the purifying ceremony (horohoronga) would proceed. This ceremony was not complicated. A new sacred-fire was kindled by friction and fern-root cooked thereon by some “unprohibited” person. The food was then rubbed over the disqualified hands and afterwards eaten by the female head of the family. The children of well-born people often suffered much from vermin because the head of a chief's son could not be touched except by a person of rank. A tapu child might on no account be washed.

Mention has been made concerning the head of a chief being sacred and not to be touched, but, more than this, it could not even be mentioned or alluded to casually, nor could it pass under food. Touching the sacred head constituted one of the causes of the offences or sins called morimori, and would demand a taua or hostile demonstration (muru) in which goods would be plundered or land taken. A tapu could be broken by one's own son because he was of higher rank than his father.1 If the son of a chief went upon the roof of a house and was unrecognised his father would ask in horror and indignation “Who dares to get above my page 196 sacred head?” but if he found it was his son, it did not matter. A chief if invited to stay and have food at a village would probably do so if he was invited on his approach. If, however, the inhabitants had not seen him till he had passed the place and then sent a message asking him to return and eat he would feel insulted, saying that “they had invited the back of his head.” He fancied that such food would kill his people because it had been given to the sacred back of a chief's head and such food was fit for the gods or highly tapu people only.

If the shadow of a great ariki fell across a food-store (whata) or a food-pit (rua) the contents became tapu and had to be destroyed, therefore his presence in a village was watched with great anxiety. If a chief blew on a fire with his breath the fire became tapu, if he went into a cooking-shed the action would make it useless and it would have to be destroyed. Of course such an action as that last spoken of would have its counter effect on the chief, and have to be atoned for. Sometimes this power of tapu would be used benignantly as in the case of a chief throwing his mat over a prisoner, who would thereupon become tapu and his life spared. Priests were especially sacred, and should a priest in drinking let fall some of the water from his hand (he never used a cup, always being tapu) that place was tapu and the length of time it so remained depended on the quantity of water spilt. Anything given to him had to be laid before him, not handed to him, lest the proferring hand might have held cooked page 197 food. He would not eat food cooked in a large oven, nor light his fire from a large fire—these were common (noa). If people travelling came across a shed wherein a priest had stopped they would take some of the firebrands left by him and make a fire therewith, then in this fire the sticks of the shed could be used as firewood, but only thus could the tapu be removed. No one would pass behind a priest; that would make the offender tapu. It was only in war that a priest would lead his men and the tapu of his god was supposed to be in front.

A tapu person not being allowed to feed himself sometimes great mischief was wrought by disobedience to this rule. When Tutanekai, the celebrated lover of Hinemoa was baptised, his father called upon the priest Te Murirangaranga to perform the duty. This was done, but before the priest had completed his purification he was seen one day gathering and eating poro-poro berries. This was a deadly insult to the baby he had baptised, therefore the child's father, Whakaue, had the priest (tohunga) drowned, it not being lawful to shed a priest's blood. Of the arm-bone of the victim a flute was made and given to Tutanekai who became very proficient thereon, and afterwards charmed the heart of the celebrated beauty Hinemoa with the melody evoked from the arm-bone of Te Murirangaranga.

Of course a chief's house was tapu, and on one occasion the people of a village became tapu from eating the wild cabbage which had grown on the site once occupied by a chief's house. If rain from the roof of a sacred page 198 dwelling, such as a chief's house, fell into a vessel and anyone drank the water he would die unless a certain invocation (tupeke) was recited by a priest. The tapu was a very convenient thing, spite of its immense drawbacks and constrictions, in making private small personal effects such as ornaments, dress, etc. Often if an ariki or other person of eminence got tired of an old garment it was burnt or thrown into some inaccessible place lest a common person should get hold of it and become tapu. Each village had a piece of ground (wahitapu) reserved for placing thereon tapu property, such as scraps of a chief's food, clothing, etc.

Beside what one might call the lesser or closely personal tapu there was another kind which carried an assertion of rights such as “lords of the manor” might exert with us. The right to stop traffic on a river or through a forest would often be exercised, apparently as an outward show of authority, though at great inconvenience to other people. The person who could do this, by such act showed himself a great lord, whereas without the tapu power he would be a mere common fellow. This variety of tapu appeared to be not so much a religious force, appertaining to chiefs as descended from the gods, as it was an evidence of territorial power showing that they were nobles and aristocrats. Often this was done by means of a rahui, that is by putting up a pole with a bunch of rags or leaves fastened thereon. A road was made tapu by placing a stick or branch across it. A bit of flax tied to a door secured it and the valuables within.

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All fruit, roots, etc., growing in sacred places were tapu. In great fishing expeditions all those engaged in making or mending nets were tapu, so also was the ground on which the nets were made, and the river on whose banks work went on—no canoe being allowed to pass on it. No fire might be lighted for cooking purposes within a prescribed distance from net-workers, and it was not until the regulation ceremonies were finished, the net wetted, and a fish taken and eaten by the owner of the net, that the tapu was lifted. Generally throughout this book many instances of tapu are mentioned, in regard to almost every variety of occupation and action.

Not only was the chief's house tapu on account of his sacredness—so that he could not even eat food himself therein, but every house was to be avoided in reference to some of its parts. A person could become tapu by sitting on the inner threshold (paepae-poto) of a house. The walls of a house were particularly shunned as a support or leaning - place by natives of any standing, and great care was taken to keep a space between a chief's back and the wall. This was not only on account of the house thereby being rendered useless through their sacredness, but because they themselves would acquire the unclean tapu. The walls of a house were apt to be infected by malignant infant spirits (kahukahu). 2 If a chief of exalted rank entered an ordinary house the passage of his sacred head beneath the door - lintel would probably ensure the page 200 destruction of the house, but if the building was of value it could be redeemed by certain ceremonies being performed to make it “common” once more.

The tapu for touching a dead body (except in case of war) was the worst kind of the defiling tapu. There was generally in every village some person (kai tango atua) who was almost continuously unclean from handling the dead; silent, solitary, daubed with red ochre, he lived as an outcast, almost as a leper. He took the displeasure of deities or malignant spirits upon himself, and so was victim or scapegoat for the whole community.

The infringement of tapu was not only a spiritual offence, but sometimes produced actual physical consequences. Thus it is related that on account of common men taking some palm (nikau) leaves from the sleeping-shed of a priest who was engaged in important funeral obsequies an epidemic disease broke out that carried off two hundred warriors. Consumption or a wasting (kaikoiwi) of bodily strength was a sign of having offended the gods. The physical consequences of broken tapu have been noted in numberless individual instances. Death would almost certainly ensue if a common man found, for instance, that he had cooked his food with timber from some tapu place, whether it was a fragment of a house once dwelt in by a chief, or twigs from a tree in among the branches of which the bones of a dead person had once been deposited. The story is told that a certain tribe killed and ate the favourite dog of the chief's wife; the way page 200a Kapikapi, Rotorua. page 201 the tapu punished them was that thereafter the members of the tribe became doglike in speech, and that when they are talking it sounds like the au, au, au of a barking dog. A slave when cooking birds for his master burnt his fingers and foolishly put them in his mouth. This was a wicked action and was instantly punished.3 If a person was struck by lightning it was a sign that some rule of tapu had been broken, and that the god Tupai (one of the lightning deities) had punished the offender.

The variety of tapu called tapa consisted in transferring personal sanctity to an inanimate thing by calling it after a part of oneself. Thus if a chief said, “That mountain is my backbone,” or, “That canoe is my head,” the mountain or canoe would acquire the sanctity of the part named. Sometimes a mountain or river would be “named” (tapa) for an ancestor, and thus become sacred. The name (or a syllable of a name) belonging to a chief was not allowed to be used in common conversation lest a reference should be inferred to the chief himself. Thus if a chief's name was Upokoroa, “Long-head,” the word upoko for “head” would be dropped by his followers, or by those who had reason to be careful, and synonyms such as pane or uru or mahunga used instead. If a chief had a long life the tapu word would almost drop out of recollection, and this accounts for much of the difference in dialects found between certain tribes.4

If one fell ill and could not remember having committed an action that had broken the tapu, then he had to make enquiries as page 202 to whom had secretly thus caused him to offend, for an old way of paying out a grudge was to make the person you hated annoy the gods unwillingly. Generally this was done by one in an inferior position, or one who did not openly dare to show his animosity. To discover the malicious person recourse had to be taken to a Seer (matakite) who by means of his art could find out the offender and nullify the evil effects.

When Christianity was introduced sacred things were made “common” by the effects of food—thus by washing the head in water heated in a cooking-vessel.

Closely connected with the subject of tapu is that of sanctuaries or “Cities of Refuge.” At Mohoaonui on the Upper Waikato River stood a fortress that received its name from Hine* the daughter of Maniapoto. Hine was a woman so highly thought of by her tribe that her home was held for ever inviolable and sacred. Even her foes respected her so greatly that when the fort in which she lived was attacked it was sufficient for her father to say to the storming party “Do not intrude on the courtyard of Hine!” to make them stay their steps and retire. No human being was allowed to be killed on that spot, and “the courtyard of Hine” became a synonym for “sanctuary.” Thence arose the widely known proverb “The Courtyard of Hine must not be trodden by a war party,” and if one tribe was asked to assist page 203 another in battle and made answer “Come to the courtyard of Hine” it was understood as a refusal and a message of peace. It is a beautiful thought that even among such ruthless warriors as the old Maori the memory of one good woman could be kept so sacred that for generations after her death her name and that of her house were equivalent for “Sanctuary” and “Peace.”

A very sacred spot for centuries was the temple and courtyard (marae) at Taporapora in the Kaipara Harbour. The place on which it stood has no residential existence now, for it became covered by the sea and appears as a sand-bank, but it exists in Maori legend as the “Kingdom of Lyonesse” does in the Arthurian legends of Cornwall. The temple, and all the sacred property therein which had been brought to New Zealand by the immigrants in the “Mahuhu” canoe, were swallowed up beneath the waves.

Curses.

Among the Maori a very frequent cause of bloodshed and a still more frequent cause of social unquiet was “the curse.” It had its primitive signification generally, this being to utter an evil wish; often among Europeans cursing only means the utterance of forbidden or disgusting words. In this latter sense the word had no signification for the Maori, and he has had to fall back on the resources of civilization. The real curse (kanga) was generally a page 204 wish that the indignity of being cooked should fall to the lot of the insulted person, “May your head be cooked,” etc. Another form (apiti) consisted in likening a portion of the other person's bodily parts to some undignified utensil, etc., also generally connected with cooked food, as, “Your skull is my calabash,” “My fork is of your bone,” etc. The third curse (tapatapa) was to call anything by a person's name, such as to name a vessel after him. This is not what we understand as a curse, but it would give the person whose name was used a title in the article. For instance, if a chief tapatapa'd a spear by saying that it was one of his legs, it became his property, that is if the owner was not a greater man than he, in which case he would probably consider himself cursed, and demand satisfaction. The subject is difficult, and can be best understood by giving a few examples.

An old man of Waikato was at work in a plantation at Kawhia during a shower of rain. The sun came out and made the moisture rise in a cloud from the worker's body. A lad of the Ngati-toa tribe standing by said “The steam from the old man's head is like the steam from the oven.” These words were considered a curse, and a war ensued in which many were killed. A famous battle was fought in old days because a woman was asked “Is the firewood your brother's pillow that you do not use it for the fire?” This parallel drawn between common “cooking wood” and the pillow on which a chief's sacred head rested was sufficient to convey a deadly insult. A chief jealous of the page 205 fame of the great leader Te Rauparaha said of him “His head shall be beaten with a fern-root-pounder (paoi).” War followed; as it did on another occasion when it was reported to Te Rauparaha that a man had cursed him by saying “I will rip open his stomach with a barracouta tooth.” A little boy having gone up to receive a portion of the livers of some skates that had been cooked was pushed aside by his uncles, and the child wept. He went, however, to his half-brothers, of another tribe, and told the tale of the slight upon him. Soon a war party was assembled and this taua attacked and carried the fort of the churlish relatives. The boy's uncles pleaded to him for mercy but received none, and each as he was despatched heard the taunt “This is the liver of your skate.” The old wife of a chief was pounding fern-root when a party of another tribe, passing, called out “Pound away at the fern-root; it will line the oven in which you are cooked.” This was a fearful and unsurpassable curse, so the old lady was not long in rousing up a war-party to pursue the speaker and avenge the insult.

Sometimes the curse took the form of naming some part of an opponent's body or limbs, and striking the ground at the same time, thus bestowing a blow by proxy on the part named, and this was considered as equivalent to a blow on the part itself. A curse need not always be uttered, an action was sufficient, thus when the bones of Tupurupuru were used as tools with which to dig fern-root, his tribe was “cursed” thereby.

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To liken a man to an animal or inferior was a curse. One chief noticing that the hair of a senior was white as a Maori's dog skin, called to him as one calls a dog “Moi! Moi! Moi!” This was a very deadly insult. If, when hair had been cut from the head of some person of consequence and had not been removed to the sacred enclosure (wahitapu), any one should say “How disgusting to leave it about; whose is it?” that would have been a curse on the owner of the hair.

The supposed origin of cursing was the malediction on the moon, uttered by Rona. (See Moon Stories.)

A curious legend exemplifying the extraordinary way in which a curse could be conveyed is related by the Arawa tribe. Tuwharetoa was a renowned warrior whose three sons were killed in battle. With his remaining son, and his fighting men, the old chief started out for revenge. Arriving near a fort of an allied tribe they blew the long war-trumpet (pukaea) and this sound so enraged an old priestess resident near the fort that she cursed them with a shout of “Cooked heads” (pokokohua ma). When the sons of Tuwharetoa heard this curse they repeated the sound of it on the trumpet, thus “To-roro! to-roro!” “Your brains.” The priestess replied “My fern-root is the bones of your ancestors.” So the hearts of her hearers grew dark with the shadow of so terrible an insult. Tuwharetoa was very sad and consulted the oracles how the curse might be removed. According to direction a lizard was killed and the apiti page 207 neutralised; after which the army went home and stayed for ten nights. Then said the chief “Go and slay the offenders,” and the war-party moved off to the attack; two forts were encircled and captured.

A laboriously intricate ceremonial accompanied the removal of a curse (kanga). The person insulted had to accompany the priest (both being naked) to the side of a moving stream beside which mounds of earth were raised. The priest set a twig of mangeao (Tetranthera calicaris) into the bank; on this the gods were supposed to alight and rest upon the mounds. The two men then went into the water and an incantation was uttered.5 Then returning to the village a place was swept clean of grass and leaves as a resting place for gods, and the “Sweeping” spell (tahinga) was recited. After this a hole about two feet long was made as a grave for the souls of the people who had uttered the curse. With a mussel-shell these spirits were swept or scraped into the grave. The priest brought stones and gave each of them a name of one of the cursing persons, then put them one by one into the grave and covered it up, patting down the soil with his hands. The next day the priest and the injured party again visited the spot and wove a little “god's basket” (paro taniwha) repeating an invocation which fixed the soul of the enemies in the basket and this basket was hung over the grave and squeezed by the hands of the priest, the contained spirits being offered to the gods. There were several other ceremonials before the whole page 208 matter was concluded, but they are wearying to peruse except by those persons to whom the study of ecclesiastical formulæ is of interest.6

If one person insulted another who could not at the time practically revenge it, the injured person would perform the “clutch” action (kapo); that is, would raise his arm above his head and clench the fingers as if clutching an object. This had the meaning of intention to attend to the matter later on.

Dreams And Omens.

We have treated of the omens that were particularly noticed by a war-party (or in time of war), in those parts of this book which treat of war itself. There were besides these, omens drawn from dreams or from circumstances not having direct connection with the “alarums and excursions” of actual conflict.

Dreams were supposed to arise from one's spirit (wairua) leaving the body and wandering about. Sometimes dreams were accepted as warnings, sometimes as prophecies, but there was hardly a case to be thought of in which they would not be regarded as of importance. It was GOOD to dream that— Your spirit was flying along with another pursuing it, but you escaped. You were embracing a woman. A lucky hunting sign. You saw alive one who was really dead (as one's late wife, etc.). You saw a calabash of preserved birds. page 209 You had a new house. You saw feathers. If a woman dreamt this, it signified conception.

An evil dream was called a kotiri.

It was BAD to dream that Your spirit was flying along pursued by another, and that yours was captured. You saw someone carrying an ornament of green-stone. It was evil for him or her. You saw a man spilling tutu juice on the road. Tutu juice symbolized blood, and the dream showed that a murder would soon take place. Someone made an insulting gesture to you. You were inside a house with two doorways. You could see a house facing towards the back of another house. Someone used threats to you. This was a warning. You saw a garment hung up before you. This was only for a woman who had been weaving by day. You beheld the vision of a god or supernatural being (atua) hovering about you. It showed that the spirit, probably of your dead father or your child, was telling you to beware of some unknown danger. A spirit was doing you mischief. You were inside a house that had carved slabs. Evil for the owner of the house. Your hair was being cut. Evil for your elder brother or his child. You saw the spirit (wairua) of a human being. An unlucky sign in hunting or fishing. You visited a place and the people thereof offered you no food. Evil for them. A fence lay across your path. You were eating provisions, particularly if they were bad provisions. You were out in a canoe catching sharks. It foreboded war. You saw death-wounds, or people wailing, etc. It foreboded death, particularly if it was yourself you saw being wounded or killed.

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The above instances will suffice to show the nature of the auguries derived from dreams. Of the omens the greater number by far were evil, and the path of the Maori was beset by innumerable warnings and gruesome portents.

Some of the GOOD OMENS were as follows: If anyone sneezed while eating, visitors or news would soon arrive. If a dog twitched or barked in his sleep, you would go hunting with him soon, and he would catch plenty of kiwi (apteryx) for you. If when catching mutton-birds one bird flew against the lower rope of the net. If when hunting, your dog ran ahead and waited for you on the right hand side of the track. If an owl hooted when the tribe was in council. If a hawk flew over the heads of a council when they were deliberating as to projected war. If a pigeon cooed at the moment a child was born. If when men were voyaging in a canoe one of them in changing his paddle from side to side accidentally allowed the outer end of the paddle to come into the canoe. It presaged plenty of food at the termination of the journey. If when travelling by land the feet got filled between the toes with fern. It was an omen of abundant food, but to ensure this a charm had to be repeated, which ran thus, “Omen of sweet food, hold; go thou to the oven that I may arrive ere it be opened.” If a travelling party heard the bird called the Saddle-back (tirauweke: Creadion carunculatus) cry on the right hand of the path, it was a sign of feasting. If the chin itched, the person owning the chin would soon have a meal of oily or fat food such as eels, dog, whale's blubber, etc. When spiders built their webs. A sign of fine weather. page 211 If the sign was a jerking (takiri) of the limbs, etc., in sleep. The jerk on the right side was generally held to be fortunate. The lucky ones were the hokai, a starting of the leg or foot in a forward direction. (If in war time, it denoted a repulse of the enemy.) The tauaro, a starting of the arm toward the body. The whaka-ara, the head starting upwards in sleep. It signified that the chief (ariki) would soon arrive. The kapo, when a man lying asleep with his arm for a pillow started so as to strike his head. If in war-time, the sleeper who had experienced a kapo would not speak of it, for if not revealed to another it was an omen that the man who had felt it would kill the first man slain (mataiki) of the enemy.

There were omens that were neither good nor bad. Of such are— Should burning wood shoot out a jet of bright flame (hutarore) it was a sign of approaching rain; a spirit had come to obtain fire. Should food fall from the mouth of one who was eating it was a sign of visitors coming. If, in weaving, the woof threads became knotted, visitors would arrive next day. Should the weaving-rods (turuturu) fall, visitors would soon arrive. If one felt hungry when cooking it was a sign that strangers were on the road to that place. When one heard a singing in the ears it was time to ask a question, such as, “Is it peace?” “Is it war?” “Is it murder?” “Is it good news?” and so on. The ears would cease singing when the correct question was asked. If the sign shown by involuntary twitching (io) of a part of the body was given it was interpreted thus. If on the right leg between thigh and knee visitors who had never been in that district before would arrive. If between thigh and stomach, visitors were coming who had never been to that village before. If in the groin a visit from relations coming that same evening or at dawn next day. The subject would say, page 212 “My parents?” “My elder sister?” etc., etc., and the io ceased at the right name. If on right arm a present of food would soon arrive for the person perceiving it; if on right shoulder the food would be birds and eels. If on the lower lip food would soon arrive for that person. If a sleeping man's right hand closed convulsively (as if clutching something) or if he ground his teeth, these were signs that plenty of food would soon arrive.

The EVIL OMENS were as follows— If a woman stepped over a male child. Bad for the child; it would become stunted. If one beat out fern-root at night. One's head would soon be pounded by the enemy. If a chill wind blew through the village and sent a shiver over every one. This was the icy Wind of Battle (Tokihi kiwi), and that village was threatened by a foeman near at hand. If a gurgling sound was heard in the throat of a sleeper. Murder was near. If anyone sneezed. A charm (tihe mauri) had to be said to avert the omen. If the young moon was on its back. A sign of bad weather. If you allowed a person to go by your village without asking him to stay. Even if you had no food you should have asked him to stay awhile, as only the sound of your voice requesting him to do so would avert the calamity (aitua). If you passed cooked food over a person's head. If you slept often in the day time. If when on a journey you lit a fire on the path. It should be lit to one side. If you stumbled with the left foot when going out hunting. If a spider when spinning a web on the inside of a roof let one of its threads down to the floor. The house would catch fire and be burnt. If feathers were left behind in the hands of the priest when food had been consumed by the gods in the ceremony of Kumanga Kai. 7 page 213 If you awoke and found signs of a lizard (kaweau) on the floor. If a chief quarrelled with a common man and was thrown down. Evil omen for the chief. If a sound was heard in the house like a hand fumbling with the thatch. It showed that Maikuku and Maikaka, two household gods that dwelt in the corners of every house, were moving. If you saw any demons (tipua). These demons might be stones, water monsters, etc., or only sacred birds. If there was heard a spirit voice (irirangi) singing outside the house when all the people were within their dwellings. If there was anyone ill the omen was for him. If one sang in the house at night. If a man was always singing about the place. Evil for him. If you sang when travelling at night. It was your spirit (wairua) making you do it as a sign of danger to you. If people (when not on a woman-seizing expedition) collected and sang jeering songs. If one heard the sound of a death-watch beetle. If one heard the chirp of the small house-lizard (moko-ta). If you slept in the open and did not cover your face. If you talked nonsense in your sleep, and your hands were clenched. It was not an omen to talk in one's sleep if the words were sensible. Delirium was a bad omen. If a man slept at another man's feet. A woman could sleep at a man's feet. If one awoke a man when he was dreaming. He was not to be shaken, but called so that his spirit might have time to get back again. If, when you were sleeping near another person, you received a dig with his elbow. This was unlucky for him, but the evil could be averted by giving him a pinch. If, when not asleep, you heard a tree falling, or the noise of a cracking branch. Should many trees fall or the sound be heard on many successive nights, it meant trouble for the whole tribe. page 214 If one heard a peculiar sound, said to be made by an earthworm. If heard at night it was a death omen, but some say it only presaged a deserted house. If you saw the spirit of a person who was absent. If the appearance was shadowy and the face hidden, the person it represented was in danger only; if the face was plainly seen he was already dead, and the ghost was a kehua. If a weaver wove fine garments after sunset. If a fine mat or garment was woven in the open air. This could be averted by the erection of any kind of temporary roofshed such as an old garment on sticks. If, in weaving, a cross thread was left not carried out to the margin by sunset. If a visitor arrived when weaving was going on, and the work was not laid aside. If, when a weaver ate food, the work was not covered. If, after the site of a house was levelled and prepared, the house-building was not proceeded with. If, in house building, you improperly fastened the batten that lay next the ridge-pole. If, in house building, when the pegs were put in to square the house, the pegs were inserted exactly in the right spots at the first trial. This was evil either for the principal builder or for the owner of the measuring cord. If the house should shake when on the occasion of its opening ceremony the visitors seized and shook the posts. It was an evil omen for the builders, not for the visitors. If one got up and went through antics of defiance while others joined him, all without singing. Evil for those people. If you passed anyone without speaking. You were a rude person and it was ill for you. If, on a journey to another village, you met someone who told you that a friend or relative had died in that village; if you did not go on, but turned back it was evil for you. If, when travelling, you were invited to stop at a village and refused. page 215 If you made a mistake or omission in reciting an incantation. Very deadly. If you made a mistake in singing a song as part of a public speech. If you fell when among a number of other people. If you experienced when sleeping one of the unlucky jerkings (takiri) of the arm or body. They were: Kohera, a starting of the arm and leg of one side of the body in an outward direction. Peke, a starting of the arm outward from the body. Whawhati, a sleep in which legs, neck, and head were bent doubled up to the belly. Very unlucky for the sleeper. All takiri but the last may have referred to companions. If your nose itched. It was a sign that you were being maligned. If you experienced an involuntary twitching (io); the signs differed as follows: Near lungs it meant death. Under the ear, death. At the side or below the eye, death. If above the eye the person would be smitten with leprosy or with contracted muscles. If on upper lip, you were being slandered. If a party of travellers was detained by rain or wind an io felt by an eminent person such as the chief or priest would have following meanings: If in middle of arm or leg, general misfortune. If on extremity of arm or leg, there would be bad weather, rain or wind, coming. If on left side under arm, death. If on chest and near heart, death, murder, or war. If anyone interfered with the Sacred Tree. The tree is the abode of one of the guardian-spirits of the forest. If you carried cooked food to the forest in a bird-snaring expedition, or cooked birds a second time. If, when hunting, your dog ran ahead and waited on the left hand side of the track. If, when hunting, and going along track, one's head got into a spider's web. If, when on a hunting party, you spoke of game as already caught. page 216 If, when looking for edible roots (such as perei), you uttered its name. The root would get away, or, as we should say, you would not find any. If, in snaring birds, you said “I am going to examine my snares at such a time.” If, when hunting, another person got fine fat birds and you did not. If, in netting mutton birds, any of them should bleed or strike against the upper part of the net. If you spoke when returning from setting traps for rats; if you spoke, rats would not enter the snares. The hunter had to eat his food and go to sleep in silence. If one's eel-weir was interfered with or part of it destroyed. If one took off his mat without untying the string, when about to make a public speech. If you spoke of ancestors, history, etc., in a place not made sacred. If you offered food to anyone who was in “The House of Mourning.” If, when carrying food, you met a friend and passed him without speaking for fear you would have to share the food. It was bad for the churl. If, when on a plundering party (taua muru), you stood by idle while others loaded up with booty. It was unlucky for you. If you made an error when carving wood. If you blew off the dust or chips when carving wood. If you found a pigeon's nest. A rare find. If, when a tree was being felled, it hung on the stump. If, in felling a tree, it fell backward. If, in felling a tree, one did not spit into the “scarf” or cut. If no one spat, the arms of those using the axes wearied. If, when making a canoe, you did not throw a small stone into it during the final adzing. If this was not done it was thought that the art of canoe making would be lost. If you did not bevel the gunwale of the canoe when adzing it. page 217 If, in clearing ground for cultivation, certain trees (rau-tawhiri, tawhero, etc.) were not left standing with their branches lopped off. If every limb and branch were not cut off the clearer of the ground or his wife would die. If you saw a certain kind of lizard (moko-tapiri or moko-papa) that lives in hollow trees. If a traveller saw a lizard on the path before him. This was very deadly. The omen was only to be averted by killed the lizard and getting a woman to step over its dead body. Then the traveller would search his mind to try to discover the malicious person who had sent the lizard and would say “May so and so (the enemy) eat you (the lizard).” This would bring the bad luck upon that designing one. If a land-slip occurred. Sometimes a very evil omen. If you kept seed in a house where a certain kind of wood (maire) was burnt for firewood. The seeds would not grow. If you planted seeds at any time of the moon except the full. If you lashed the palisading of a fort badly. If, in going to visit a village, you did not take some present (koparepare) for your hosts.

The above long list will serve to give some idea of the innumerable omens and presages which surrounded the daily life of the Maori. Of course there were other signs which connected with the religion, superstition, tapu, etc., etc., complicated observances and encircled, as with a fine net of unseen rules, every thought and action of the native, but these can only be gathered by inference as we describe the customs and beliefs of the people.

The antidote to some kinds of evil omen was to be found in a “luck-post” (tuapā), a slab of adzed timber painted red and set up in a village. Persons going on an expedition page 218 would avail themselves of its powers somewhat as follows: A fisherman before setting out would take a splinter from his torch, touch his fish basket (puwai) with it, and then throw the splinter down before the luck-post, reciting a charm the while. So, a person going bird-snaring would take a small branch, touch his bird-spear or the basket in which the snares were carried with the branch, throw the branch at the foot of the luck-post and repeat the charm.

Offerings.

Mention has been made of offerings presented to deities or during ceremonial rites of different kinds. It may be remarked, generally, that the character of the offerings differed according to the nature of the person to be propitiated or the character of the occasion. Sometimes it appeared as if in offerings to unseen beings, such as deities, only the spiritual part of the sacrifice was accepted, while in offerings to human creatures (themselves representatives of the gods) the actual substance of the sacrifice itself became the property of the person addressed.

In an offering of first fruits to a chief, kumara, birds, fish, taro, etc., were presented, while hymns (waiata whangai ariki) were chanted; these offerings were accepted wholly and in full. Again, food set apart for the gods, “food of propitiation” (kai popoa), was offered to and received by a chief as a sign of his supremacy and because he represented deity. page 219 Even to the gods themselves the most simple of sacrifices was at times presented, such as fern-root, seaweed, grass, etc. One ceremony consisted in making a canoe of bulrushes (typha) and putting stones therein to represent men; also food cooked and uncooked. Then the canoe was set adrift as an offering to the gods of Hawaiki. A calabash of potted birds was the thank-offering for the recovery of a sick person. To the spirit of a deceased chief a dog was sacrificed, and birds before setting out on a war party.

More terrible were some of the sacrifices offered to the gods of a battle-loving race. Libations of blood before a war began and presentation of the scalps, hair, and hearts of enemies in the Whangai-hau ceremony at the return from the fight were usual and common. A war-chief would cut out the heart of his own son, and offer it to the gods as a bribe for victory. To Whiro the head, heart, and liver of a victim would be sacrificed, and a human head was offered to Maru in the Whangai-hau. The fatal sacrifice was not confined to war alone; the opening of a new house, the tattooing of a chief's daughter, solatium to mourners in the House of Mourning, erection of the palisading of a fort, all these and other occasions (alluded to elsewhere) called for offerings of human beings to appease the bloodthirsty ghosts of religion and custom. It seems almost impossible to reconcile the ideas we entertain of the ordinary life of a race like the Maori—simple, cheerful, industrious, affectionate—with such barbarous practices, but the page 220 nature of man is full of anomalies. Human life is freely sacrificed every day in the crowded industrial centres of population for the production of wealth, and the recipients of that wealth are accustomed to spend the proceeds of sacrifice very cheerfully. It may be said to the credit of the Maori that little children were never among the victims offered to their gods—as they are to ours.

* Hine is pronounced somewhat as if written in English, He-nay.