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The Maori Race
Preserved Human Heads
Preserved Human Heads.
It has been incidentally mentioned that the heads of men fallen in battle were preserved and dried. Generally these heads were page 371 those of enemies, but under certain circumstances the custom was extended to the mortal remains of friends.
The process of preservation was as follows: The head being separated from the body, the inner portions such as the tongue, brain, eyes, etc., were extracted; the interior was then stuffed with dressed flax, and the skin of the neck drawn together like the mouth of a purse. A couple of long hairs were passed through the upper eyelids and the lids drawn down thereby, the hairs being tied together under the chin. This was done lest anyone should be bewitched by looking into the empty eye-sockets. The lips were generally fastened together with stitches, but not always. The heads were then steamed, sometimes in the ordinary earth-oven, but at times another process was followed. The skull was well wrapped in green leaves and spiked on to a stick set in a shallow hole. Into this hole hot stones were placed and constantly renewed from others heating in a fire burning close by. A man, whose duty it was to move the stones and attend to the fire, basted the heads with oil to keep them from charring with the heat. When the heads had thus been prepared, either by steaming or roasting, they were exposed alternately to the rays of the sun and to the smoke of a wood fire; this not only tending to preserve them as we preserve smoked fish, but also delivering them from the attacks of insects. When the head was considered ready it received its toilet, the hair being oiled and fastened up into a knot, sometimes with page 372 feathers, albatross feathers for preference. If the process was properly performed, the features suffered so little that recognition of the personality of the deceased was easy.7
The preserved heads of enemies were commonly exposed on the palisading of forts, the tops of houses, or on poles by the wayside, where they could be taunted by the passing visitors. In this way, the head of Raumati, the destroyer of the “Arawa” canoe, was set upon a post at Tauranga. Sometimes a woman would place the head of a dead enemy on the loom-post of her weaving frame that she might mock it in the intervals of work.
It must be remembered that an insult offered to the chief of a tribe was an insult to all his followers, and therefore the contempt expended on such a trophy as a chief's head was extended to the tribe itself. It sometimes happened that if a famous man fell within the lines of his own party, so that the persons who had killed him could not obtain his head, they would demand it from the dead man's followers. If the idea was entertained it was a confession of defeat, if not the head would be preserved and taken home to be sent round to relatives and allies to show that the deceased had preserved his prestige. If many heads had been taken by one side, and that party thought that they had enough fighting and were tired of the contest, being perhaps a long way from home, or having themselves lost many warriors, they would exhibit their trophies to the feebler or defeated people. If the losers cried out loudly and wailed on seeing these forlorn relics of page 373 their relatives thus held up, this was a sign that they confessed themselves worsted and were prepared to accept terms. If they remained silent when the heads were exhibited it was a sign that they would renew the conflict and fight to the bitter end.
The preserved heads of friends were only brought out on great occasions, such as when a chief's bones were exhumed or the departure of a very important war-party. At other times they were kept in some very tapu place, and in strict seclusion.
Sometimes a head that had been taken and preserved by a victorious enemy would afterwards be borrowed for a little while by the relatives of the deceased to cry over through family affection, or to divine with by means of witchcraft.