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Maori Religion and Mythology Part 2

[argument and introduction]

page 102

Terms denoting black magic. Magic a disciplinary force. Makutu and hospitality. Magic widely employed. Magic protective and destructive. Black magic affects man's spirit Ohonga or mediumistic objects used. Intolerance and persecution of Christian lands unknown here. The practice of makutu. Irresponsible wizards liable to be clubbed. Whakaha and Ngau taringa ceremonial. Whakamania. Insults repaid by black magic. The whare o aitua. Taiwhetuki the source of black magic. Tangaroa connected with magic. The warlock and his powers. White magic. Rotu moana, etc. Ceremonial stone adzes. Alleged power of tohunga over elements. Winds affected by charms. Natural laws interfered with. Sickness and magic. Mental and moral qualities affected by magic. Spiritual condition affected by female sex. The umu hiki rite. Stream, etc., formed by magic. Fire walking. Animate and inanimate things affected by magic. Unuaho and the missionary. Black magic. Whare maire. Tests applied to wizards. Ordeals of the whare maire. Mahu and Taewha Manea. Paths rendered dangerous by magic. Rongo takawhiu. Doorways bewitched. Kai ure rite. The matatapou spell. Owl connected with magic. The hoa spells. Tipi a Houmea. Magic and tribal feuds. The hirihiri rite. Huki toto. Wairua (spirit) of man destroyed by magic. Thieves punished by magic. Wizards slain as public nuisances. The rua torino, etc. The ahi whakaene. Maori dread of lizard. Matapuru: how makutu was averted. Gifts received with caution. Dangers that beset travellers. Rahui enforced by magic. The act of kaihau.

The Maori term makutu, employed both as noun and verb, denotes what we usually term black magic; many acts that may be placed under the heading of white magic are not viewed by the Maori as pertaining to makutu. Other words used to denote the darker forms of magic were whaiwhaia, maui, kanakana and kanakanaia. Makutu and whaiwhai are the terms in common use.

The belief in makutu was universal and prominent in pre-European times, and this belief assuredly had far reaching effects on Maori life and behaviour. Such belief has by no means died out at the present time, but it has been much weakened since the European occupation of these islands. It is certain that the belief was a disciplinary force in the old days; it was one of the substitutes for civil law that preserved order in a Maori page 103community, that helped to curb the turbulent and revengeful instincts of barbaric man; it was a weapon that could be employed by the weak. The fact that the exercise of magic arts could be carried out in secret, leaving the victim in ignorance of the activities of the sorcerer, added power to the belief as a disciplinary agent, and the element of uncertainty induced caution.

Our own knowledge of magic as believed in by our forebears centres on the dreadful persecution to which so-called witches were subjected, but such persecution was never a feature of Maori life. Should a practiser of black magic become a public nuisance, a danger to the community, then he was liable to be put away, not tortured or subjected to ordeals, but simply knocked on the head. The fear of makutu was preserved by the nature of Maori mentality, and it must ever be borne in mind that there was no sharply defined boundary between the natural and the supernatural in the Maori mind: given certain conditions anything was possible. Love of the marvellous and of exaggeration, in conjunction with the above mentioned peculiarity often led to the formation of myths on extremely trivial bases, and I have myself witnessed some singular illustrations of the propensity, notably in connection with the New Messiah craze among the Tuhoe folk during the first decade of this century. Hence those who are acquainted with these characteristic traits of the Maori do not, as a rule, bestow much thought on native recitals of the marvels performed by their ancestors.

The Maori folk have ever laid much stress upon the desirability of cultivating the virtue of hospitality, and proof of this is found in many sayings, recitals and homilies. A chieftain who was credited with this quality was popular, a woman spoken of as a wahine marae received the encomiums of all. The Maori is very apt to draw comparisons between the open-handed native hospitality of former times and the much more constricted exercise of the virtue among Europeans; he does not pause to consider how far sundered are the modes of life of the two peoples. Native hospitality was necessarily indiscriminate, inasmuch as the communistic mode of life led by the Maori rendered it imperative, public opinion was thus strongly against inhospitality. Now magic impinged upon even this condition, for a number of anecdotes have been recorded concerning shafts of black magic levelled against certain niggardly persons who had refused to share their food supplies. Another aspect of the matter was given as follows:

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"Ki te mea ka puta te manuhiri ki te kainga, a rokohanga mai e tai ana te tangata whenua, ka hohoro te karanga kia peka mai ki te kai me to hoatu kai e te iwi whenua ki te manuhiri, he mea hoki kei noho te manuhiri kei titiro ki te tangata whenua e kai ana, a ko ia e noho whakatiki ana, ka makuturia nga kai e te manuhiri, a ka mate te iwi whenua. Kia mohio hoki, ki te mea ka makuturia te tangata i a ia e kai ana ka tino mana ai te whaiwhaia." (Should a visitor come to a village and find the people thereof partaking of a meal, they would quickly call to him to turn aside, and would place food before him, lest the visitor should sit there looking at them eating while he was foodless, and lest the food should be bewitched by him and the people of the village perish. For you must know that if a person is bewitched while he is actually partaking of food, then the magic charm has special power to destroy.)

The above method of bewitching persons as they are eating food means that food and deadly charm enter the body together. This mode of slaying a person is known as matakai. We now see how magic may have considerable effect upon the social usages of a people. The Rev. T. G. Hammond, who has passed a long life among our Maori folk, has written as follows: "There are indications that the Taranaki tribes recognised in heathen days "Makutu" as a legitimate method of the execution of persons who had become obnoxious to the people, and were interfering with the peace and well-being of the tribe. The sentence was the result of the judicial decision of the leading men of the tribe." (Hammond, The Story of Aotea, p. 230.)

In the case of an economic prohibition (rahui) a certain symbol was placed in the prohibited area, and that object served as an abiding place for the spirit gods who rendered effective the magic spells. This then was a form of preventive magic, but in cases of ordinary theft magic was resorted to as a means of punishment after the theft had been discovered. Theft was not common and undoubtedly the feat of such punishment was inflicted by the wizard, unseen and terrible, acted as a potent preventative.

Magic was employed in connection with many activities of Maori life, and, as will be seen in the following pages, it was sometimes relied upon for a very singular purpose. For example, several natives have told me about a peculiar rite of white magic formerly practised in order to awaken a person's conscience, to render him mentally uneasy and so lead to his mending his ways. This peculiar ceremony or charm was known as ka mahunu and whakapahunu. In one case mentioned an ancestor named page 105Whakarau had been treated in a manner inhospitable and so resorted to this charm in order to cause the churlish one to repent and be more gracious.

Another form of magic was of a protective nature and by its means the life and welfare of man, birds, fish and all food supplies were protected, also the fertility and productiveness of lands. Yet other ceremonial had a restorative effect, and so the fertility and productiveness of lands, forest, etc., might be restored, also a seriously wounded person be brought back to the ao marama or world of life. A form of protective magic was much relied on in connection with food supplies received from members of alien tribes, as at meetings and when travelling. In such cases charms were quietly repeated in order to nullify the effects of possible attempts made by enemies to destroy one's life, and any other evil influences that might pertain to such supplies, I have already explained the remarkable protective powers possessed by the male organ of generation, in Maori life.

The Rev. Mr Taylor seems to have believed that in Maori witchcraft it was necessary that a bewitched person should be aware of the fact that magic spells had been directed against him to render them effective. This view was certainly held by the Maori himself. Taylor also tells us that attempts were made by natives to destroy European missionaries at Otaki and Whanganui by means of magic in the early days but that the dread spells had not the intended effect. Not only so but those spells seemed to react on the wizards who died themselves shortly after, which was attributed solely to their having failed in injuring the parties sought to be destroyed. This "poetic justice" view of the matter would be quite in keeping with Maori thought.

In the case of a person being bewitched the Maori tells us that it is his wairua or spirit that is affected by the magic spells. Wizards were called tohunga makutu, Tohunga whaiwhaia and tohunga ruanuku and the office did not necessarily descend from father to son, that of "general practitioner" was more likely to be so passed on. Any persons who confined his tohunga activities to magic was necessarily a person of inferior status compared with those experts who merely practised that art as an adjunct to other and more pacific branches of knowledge. Although the Maori believed in and practised black magic yet he recognised it as an evil, as a portion of the contents of the Basket of Evil. At the same time we must remember that many acts of what we may term white magic did not, in Maori estimation come within the meaning of the term makutu. Apparently women did not practice page 106the black art, or at least not the more serious phases of the same, but occasionally practised a form of white magic, and I have known several of these very transparent impostors.

Persons believed to possess the power of makutu were undoubtedly capable of destroying human life, simply because fear would kill the hopeless victims. In some cases a brief sentence has been sufficient to cause a person's death. There were also cases wherein the supposed victims of magic died natural or accidental deaths. At one time Pereha Te Kune, a warlock of sorts, was annoyed and jeered at by some young folks. He said to them: "Are you fit persons for this world?" Ere long all those young people died during an epidemic of rewharewha (? influenza), but it was firmly believed that they had been slain by the magic power contained in the above words.

Many different articles were employed as mediums in sympathetic magic. A garment was sometimes so used, and the warlock would take it to a place where he was in the habit of performing his magic tricks, where, waving the garment to and fro, he repeated over it his spell or charm. The garment was then sent as a present to the person to be injured, and, as the bearer handed it over to the recipient, he repeated the name of the latter in an undertone. Only the gods or demons (atua ngau tangata) were supposed to hear it, for it is the power of such demons that render charms or spells effective, the incantation itself is merely a vehicle, a medium, as much so as the garment mentioned. Over this garment would have been recited such charms as would make it a dangerous article to wear. Should the recipient, when wearing it, enter such a place as a cooking shed, or pollute that garment in any other way, he would have been slain by the gods. We now see the meaning of another Maori custom, that of performing a certain ceremony over any gifts received, in order to remove or nullify any evil influences pertaining to them, if any, in order that such influences, or evil designs, and designers may be baffled (roria/i>). These precautionary acts were specially important in regard to gifts of food. One method by which a peculiar influence was gained over a person, so that magic arts would affect him, was the repeating of a certain spell over some food, which was then left at some place where such person would be likely to find it. Should he eat of such food he would be brought under the desired influence. A slave might be stationed nearby to see that no other person ate of such food.

The Maori wizard would also be a seer (matakite or matatuhi) one who sought out the cause of sickness and foretold coming page 107events. Some tribes of the North Island were famed by their knowledge of and practice of black magic, e.g., the Tuhoe folk and those of Te Wairoa. A saying concerning the Wairoa district is Wairoa Tapoko rau, and this is said to refer to the many persons who have there perished at the hands of wizards. Another saying is Taranaki waewae hakoko, and this also is said to refer to witchcraft. But personally I have never succeeded in overtaking a tribe of wizards. When living among Tuhoe I was told that their Wairoa neighbours to the eastward were most unprincipled warlocks, whereas, when I shifted camp and sojourned among those dour thaumaturgists I was informed that it was all a mistake, and that Tuhoe were the real culprits, and a people steeped in wizardry. At one place whereat I was camped for many months I was myself looked at somewhat askance on account of my having been too diligent in seeking magic formulae of dead and gone warlocks. Of these perpicious charms I had quite an interesting collection and an uneasy feeling seemed to prevail that I might turn these fearsome weapons against my Maori neighbours. At the same time I have been told by several natives that the shafts of makutu were harmless when directed against Europeans. Now we hear that magic formulae, if correctly repeated, are effective if the reciter is a person having sufficient mana to empower them. But mana is not a self-supporting quality, both tapu and mana are really dependent upon the gods for their vital force, and this applied to even personal mana. If a Maori endeavours to bewitch a European he may possess the necessary mana and also deliver his recital in a faultless manner but the destructive power of his charms emanate from the gods of the Maori, and those gods are powerless against the white man.

The following pages will show that magic was a part of the social system of the Maori, that it was one of the substitutes for that civil law that preserves order in communities of the higher culture stages. It had not the extraneous aspect that marked the use, or alleged use, of magic in Britain a few centuries ago. The wild orgy of witch-hunting and fiendish cruelty that raged for some time was rooted in fear that was the fruit of ignorance and superstition. Ignorance alone may be viewed as deplorable, but combined as it usually is with strong prejudices, and often with gross superstition, it may lead to anything. The Maori was terrified by firearms when he first encountered them, and looked upon them in some cases as atua, or manifestations of such. The effect of them, men and animals struck down from afar, seemed appalling.

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Dr Thomson in his Story of New Zealand explains clearly the cause of many deaths among the Maori folk in former times, and some of us who have lived among these people have seen individuals will themselves into the spirit world, that is they made up their minds that there was no hope for them. Of a native seized with an illness Thomson wrote: "Instantly it flashed through his mind that he was cursed for doing what he ought not to have done, and that a spirit was feeding on his vitals; he refused food, and lay prostrate in a state of apathy. Bereft of hope, the great sustainer of life, and worn down by want of food and a disease of the imagination, he died." (The Story of New Zealand, vol. 1, p. 177.) It may be said that the two most prolific causes of sickness and disease, in Maori belief, were magic and hara, the latter term denoting all acts offensive to the gods, all derelictions and transgressions connected with the potent quality of tapu. The term mate maori (native complaint) is often employed to denote an illness caused by makutu.

It has been stated by well informed natives that only low born persons indulged in the arts of makutu (see The Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 30, pp. 175-177), that it was not practised by the higher class of tohunga. It is quite possible that a few superior experts in oldtime lore confined themselves to what may be termed white magic, though there is not actual proof of this. On the other hand we note a number of cases in recitals of olden days and their doings wherein tohunga of apparently high standing practised destructive magic. An illustration of this will be given in the story of Mahu and Taewha. It seems not improbable that natives who made the above statement drew a line between what they deemed necessary and unnecessary exercise of magic powers. We must bear in mind that magic formed, as it were, a part of the constitution, it was, as we have seen, a disciplinary force, and such a use of it might be deemed legal. The employment of magic in a haphazard way, to destroy human life for insufficient reasons, would be quite another matter. An almost parallel case is the use of firearms in well-ordered civilised communities at the present time. We march an armed multitude to break German aggression, but we do not allow the individual to redress his wrongs with firearms. It will be seen that Taewha himself, a noted expert, warned Mahu concerning the use of his newly acquired powers of magic. Te Matorohanga also condemned the art of black magic, even as it was recognised as an evil force in the days of Tane and Whiro, hence the latter became head of the famed Taiwhetuki, the page 109source of all makutu. The indiscriminate or irresponsible use of black magic was a serious danger and an extremely disturbing activity, hence such firebrands were sometimes put out of action by the community, as Ruru of Ngati-Tawhaki was shot at Ruatoki in 1865. As in the case of fear-crazed European regulations of former times we may be sure that innocent persons sometimes suffered in Maoriland.

The Rev. Mr Yate (in An Account of New Zealand, pp. 95-96) tells us that the belief in makutu was the cause of much suffering, of many unjust acts. Thus the illness or death of a prominent person might be attributed to magic arts of some neighbouring folk, who would be attacked in order to equalise matters. Or some person or persons much disliked would be accused of bewitching people, and so be attacked and slain. He also notes that few of the professors of black magic attained old age, enraged natives or those who were supposed to have been bewitched attended to that matter. Such attributing of death to sorcerers, often of other clans or other tribes, was by no means uncommon, and such things were done long after the introduction of Christianity; a number of cases occurred in the "sixties" and "seventies" of last century.

We are told by anthropologists that a gulf exists between magic and religion, but one cannot explain the religious beliefs and rituals of the Maori without entering the realm of magic, as one finds much of myth and magic mixed with Christian teachings. Joshua and Maui both arrested the sun in its course, but we have committed the error of proclaiming the one case as an actual occurrence and the other as a myth, whereas both belong to the realm of myth, albeit they might both be credited to wizard craft. In the case of the oho rangi rite, to be described anon, the highest grade of tohunga would certainly perform it, but, although it comes under the range of our word magic, yet the Maori would scarcely admit that it could be described as an act of makutu. These matters are by no means clear in the minds of any European I have discussed them with. When Te Matorohanga said of makutu "Na te ware ena mahi, na te marua a po, he mahi kohuru" (Such acts pertain to plebeians, they are evil, and treacherous) he assuredly did not include all that comes within the meaning of our term magic.

The tohunga of old have been credited with strange powers by their descendants, marvellous stories are told of their exploits in days of yore, to all of which the present writer pays little heed. page 110Knowing as I do their very elastic credulity, their intense love of exaggeration, and, moreover, the vague boundary between the natural and supernatural, the possible and impossible, in their minds, then my faith in miracles is reduced to a sadly low level. I would wish to see, to experience one or more of these marvels, and I have never seen one. During the New Messiah craze among Tuhoe I heard of marvellous things happening around me, but never a marvel came my way. Perchance the eyes of faith were lacking. Some writers have credited the tohunga maori with posessing powers of hypnotism and telepathy, and possibly he did possess them, but I cannot prove it.

As in the case of Asiatic myths described in the Bible we find many interferences with natural laws in Maori traditions and accounts of old usages, and the Maori faith in his powers in this direction is copiously illustrated in the following pages.

When a Maori possessed of any prized or hard earned knowledge wished to pass such on to a son or other relative, together with the mana pertaining to it, then a peculiar ceremony was performed in order to effect the desired transfer. The striking part of the performance was a certain personal contact that was deemed necessary, and which is said to have marked the precise moment at which the knowledge passed from a dying parent or other relative to the recipient. Among the Takitimu folk the act is called whakaha and consisted of making contact with the head of the repository of learning or pu wananga. The recipient placed his mouth to the crown of the head of the dying expert and just closed his teeth on it, at the same time making a short inspiration, a breathing inward. In some districts the act was that known as ngau taringa or ear-biting, though no actual biting occurred, but merely contact. Another recital mentions the big toe as being the part so treated. Shortland, in Maori Religion and Mythology, p. 53, refers to another such incident in which the teeth were placed in contact with the forehead and the tahito. Shortland renders the latter work as "perineum", but a considerable amount of evidence collected shows it to be a term employed to denote the generative organs.

When reciting any karakia of importance, such as those pertaining to black magic, it was considered highly necessary that the charm, incantation or invocation be rendered in a faultless manner. Should any error be made in the repetition, the omission of a word for example, then the charm was powerless to effect the desired purpose; not only so but the error recoiled as it were with the probable result of the death of the reciter.

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The mentality of the Maori is of a peculiar quality and interesting withal. It is sometimes extremely difficult to follow his channels of thought, while at other times he assuredly followed the methods of direct action with what appears to us to be remarkable simplicity. These singularities are likewise noted in his language, and similar evidence will appear in the descriptions of his thaumaturgic activities. We have seen that evil influences may pertain to any form of gift received, also when a person passed outside the bounds of the tribal lands he was surrounded by evil influences and hostile powers; such conditions called for extreme care and the exercise of precautionary measures. On the other hand a person afflicted by demons, say in the form of sickness, was often relieved by removing to another district for a time. The belief seems to have been that he left the local demons behind him when he moved away, and so found relief; such a movement, however, would scarcely be made to an extra-tribal district. This method of foiling malicious demons is termed whakaheke by the Maori. Again, any form of insulting, contemptuous, or belittling expression was looked upon as being possibly dangerous, and such expressions or incidents were called whakamania. When the sons of Tuwharetoa wished to set off to follow and attack certain raiders who had harried the vale of Kawerau, near Te Teko, their father objected and wished to postpone the expedition for a time. His impetuous sons announced their intention of starting at once, and made a petulant remark to their father, who replied with: "Very well. Go your own way, but you will probably meet with disaster." Now, that remark was a whakamania; an unlucky and ominous utterance, to the Maori mind it was equivalent to consigning the party to death. The Maori views of such things is that the remark itself would be the cause of what ever misfortune followed. In this case the Kawerau party was defeated by Maruiwi at Kakatarae and lost a number of men; it was only by resorting to the kete poutama rite of black magic that the survivors were enabled to obtain some revenge for their loss, and so Maruiwi pursued their way exulting, but nevertheless "foredoomed to dogs and vultures".

There is ever an element of serious danger in insulting a person, for the injured person may clutch with his hand (kapo) the biting words hurled at him, and so, by the powers of black magic, bring disaster upon the offender. In such a case the avenger is said to catch the breath or tenor of the speech of the offender, and over this medium the dread makutu recital would page 112be uttered. In such cases, I have been told, the operator, having "clutched" the insult or its semblance, would be careful to keep his hand closed until he had recited his spell over the invisible, immaterial medium.

It is generally admitted that strife, dissension, evil generally, entered the world when the primal offspring turned upon their parents, the Sky Father and Earth Mother, and forcibly separated them. Then came the long drawn contest between Tane and Whiro, and the Dawn Maid opened the path of death to the underworld. The sky world is termed the whare o te ora, the abode or home or life, of welfare, among the Matatua tribes; all denizens of that realm know eternal life. The lower world, the world we live in, is the whare o aitua, the abode of misfortune, the origin of calamities, the home of suffering, decay and death. These concepts are based upon a very old belief, that of the inferiority of the female sex. Mortality itself emanated from the Earth Mother, Papa the Parentless, immortality pertains to celestial realms, to the Sky Father Rangi. The female organ of generation represents destructive power, that of the male creative and protective power. It was the tawhito of Hine-nui-te-Po that destroyed Maui; from the whare o aitua man comes forth into this world to meet tribulation and death. Makutu or black magic is concerned with death and the female principle, hence it is known in, and confined to, this world and the realm of Whiro.

We have seen that Wharekura was the first house erected on earth, at a place called Rangitatau, situated on the mountain Tihi-o-manono in the land of Irihia, and that house was designed after an edifice that existed in the third heaven. Now the next place constructed, we are told, was Taiwhetuki, and this stood at the Pakaroa, Kaupekanui, in the underworld, the subterranean realm of the dead. This edifice belonged to Tangaroa and Whiro; it was a place of evil powers and arts, the home of makutu, in it were conserved the dread arts by means of which are destroyed men, birds, fish, demons, trees, and all other forms of life. This place was the true origin of the whare maire, the school of black magic, the arts of makutu that destroy life. It is interesting to note that, in this myth, the Maori connects Tangaroa with evil and the underworld, an unusual position for that being a local myth, but a well known one in the Hawaiian Isles. The following comes from the East Coast:

Na, ko te whare tuarua i muri mai o wharekura ko Taiwhetuki, no Tangaroa tenei whare. Ko tenei whare he whare kino, he whare patupatu i te ika, i te kai, i te atua, i te manu, i te tangata, i nga mea katoa; no Tangaroa raua ko Whiro-te-tipua tenei whare; i page 113tu ki te Pakaroa ki kau pekanui; he whare no nga karakai kino katoa, koia nei teputake mai o te whare maire, e kiia nei he whare maire, ana he whare whaiwhaia.

The Taranaki folk seem to apply the name of Tatau o te po to the place in the underworld from which the knowledge of black magic was obtained. This brings us back to the story of Miru of the underworld already given, and of the visit of Ihenga and Rongomai to that realm, whereby they acquired knowledge of the fell arts of the warlock.

We have another reference to Tangaroa that throws quite a new light on that being's disposition and activities, and this item was given by a responsible po korero expert of the Takitimu folk. It is to the effect that Tangaroa indulged in magic arts whereby are destroyed man, birds, fish, food products, waters, the ocean and lands, but, on the other hand he possessed and exercised great restorative and preservative powers, he was the repository of many potent charms whereby the vitality, productiveness, health and general welfare of man, animals, trees, sea, land, etc. were preserved, promoted or restored. He held the power to succour all things, or to alter them in any way that he saw fit. The original follows:

Nga mahi a Tangaroa Koia tenei—he makutu i te tangata, i te manu, i te ika, i te kai, i te wai, i te moana, i te whenua kia mate e enei mea katoa. Na, he mea ano nana tenei, te karakia whakaora i te tangata, i te kai, i te ika, i te manu, i te wai, i te moana, i te whenua, i te rakau me era atu mea katoa, ka taea e ia te mahi kia ora, kai pai ranei, i a ia ki tana i whakaoro ai.

This dual character of Tangaroa is a revelation to us, he now appears as both destroyer and preserver, and it seems possible that this fact has reference to the double aspect of makutu. The power to destroy may be a terrible one when exercised in destroying what is beneficial, but when that power to destroy is employed in defending what is beneficial or in destroying what is evil, why then good may result. Much harm was done in former times by persons who exercised these pseudo-powers of makutu, but the belief in those imaginary powers certainly had a steadying effect on turbulent persons in the Maori community. The above surmise, however, is a mere conjecture of my own, and so may be negligible.

So it was, saith the Maori, that the knowledge of black magic entered the world of life. It originated in the days of the gods in remote times, it sprang from Whiro and Tangaroa in the underworld, it was then introduced into this world, the world of life and light, where its shadow still lies. So it was that Maui fell in page 114death when Namu the silent one obtained a drop of his blood and carried it to Hine-nui-te-Po to serve as a medium in wizardry.

The Maori has ever held very peculiar views as to what is good and evil, right and wrong, harmless and harmful. He certainly made no attempt to abolish the practice of magic, but occasionally disciplined fervent wizards with a club. He did believe, and state, that black magic was bad, kino, but kino and riri are words used in a very peculiar manner at times. At least the Maori placed his higher myths, early traditions and religious formulae far above magic in general estimation. In some places the arts of makutu were not taught in the same house wherein superior matters were taught, but in a separate building or out in the open. Thus we hear of pupils in wizardry being instructed at or near the village latrine, or in some forest solitude. The school of magic was known as the whare maire among the Takitumu folk of the eastern side of the North Island; this term denoted the curriculum, the course of study, it might or might not be taught within a building. In the same district superior subjects were alluded to as whare wananga matter and the name was applied to the building in which such matter was taught. Among the Tuhoe folk, the term whare maire and whare takiura were applied to ordinary schools of learning in which tribal lore was taught. Altogether it seems as though the Maori looked upon makutu much as we do upon a standing army, as being a bad thing from one point of view but at the same time necessary and useful.

In my own time we have heard very strange and impossible stories concerning Maori powers of magic, owing to the love of the marvellous inherent in our native folk, some curious examples are given in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 29, pp. 132-4.

In the fight at Tapiri in 1865 the Tuhoe folk had with them a female tohunga who undertook to catch the bullets of the enemy in her hands, however, some hitch occurred, for she not only failed to catch all such bullets, but those she did catch did not seem to do her much good.

The late Colonel Gudgeon told me of an incident that he witnessed during the sitting of a Land Court in the Cook Group. An old man giving evidence was much annoyed by an opponent constantly ridiculing that evidence. At length the old fellow turned furiously, pointed at his opponent, and said, "Go away and die." The condemned one turned as white as he conveniently could and was slinking away when the people interfered and induced the warlock to recall his anathema.

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Innumerable attacks and raids have been the result of the belief in makutu. A person would die a natural death, friends would suspect witchcraft, probably a seer, a matatuhi, would be called in, his reply might be "the cause of death lies in the south!" Enough said, an armed party would lift the war trail for the south, a village would be surrounded and rushed at dawn, or some workers or stragglers cut off and slain. Result, a sense of injury on both sides, an inter-tribal feud started that might be kept green down the changing generations and claim victims by the hundred. We hear of a few cases in which clans or weak tribes have been expelled from certain districts because they were held to indulge unduly in makutu. Thus it was that the Ngati-Hika clan was driven away from Te Mahia some 200 years ago to find a refuge at Ruatahuna.