Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pa Maori

[contents]

page break

Contents

Interesting methods of fortifying villages not yet thoroughly described. Mr. Skinner's paper the only comprehensive one. The pa maori a minor feature in Polynesia. Sources of information. Great number of remains of fortified positions. Numerous in certain districts. Observations of Sir Joseph Banks. Pa hunting. Wellington district. Plan of Manu-korihipa. Model pa at Rotorua. The pa of other lands. Neolithic forts of England. Ireland heads the list. Names of different styles of Maori forts. Classification of pa according to site and mode of defence. Methods of fortifying villages. Irregular contour of defensive works. Maori mode of life. Open villages and fortified refuges. Hill forts. Observations of Judge Maning; Of L'Horne. A mile long fortified village. Whakawhitira. South Island data. Extensive fortified village at Poverty Bay. Remarks by Jameson; by Polack; by S. P. Smith; by Marsden; by W. H. Skinner. Fortified mounds. Evidence of Cruise, Angas and Earle. Hill site ever preferred. How defensive lines were marked. No hard and fast rule for defensive works.

The Maori folk of New Zealand have long been viewed as affording an interesting field for study, principally on account of their interesting mentality, their decorative art, and the fact that they represent a courageous race of explorers and deep-sea rovers whose original homeland has not been fixed. In the following pages we hope to show that there are other subjects pertaining to the Maori that are well worthy of study, and not the least of these is his old time system of fortification.

It is a curious fact that so little has been placed on record concerning the pa maori, one of the most interesting works of the natives of these isles. The extracts dealing with the subject in this paper have been culled, as the acknowledgements show, from many different works. All these descriptions are incomplete, many of them mere page 2fragments, and so no writer has described in detail the various forms of fortified places constructed by the Maori in pre-European days. It is now too late to obtain a thoroughly detailed account of the old time pa, though much might be done by means of studying the remains of such places so numerous throughout the North Island, and by patiently and ceaselessly pursuing inquiry among the older generation of natives now living.

The only complete and concrete paper describing any form of pa is that written by Mr. W. H. Skinner descriptive of the form of fortified place formerly constructed by the tribes of the Taranaki district, and published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. xx. p. 71. This is so good a description that we propose to insert it in its entirety. It will be found under the heading of Hill Forts.

One of the most interesting features of our subject is the fact that such fortified places as were so numerous in the North Island in former times, were but little known in the isles of Polynesia. Hence the Maori immigrants from that region must have developed the local forms of fortified villages, or adopted a system practised by another people. The hill forts of Viti Levu, Fiji, seem to have closely resembled those of the Maori, and certain parallels are also found in New Guinea. At the Tongan and Marquesas Groups a few fortified places possessing some Maori characteristics were seen.

In describing the pa maori, or native fortified place, as it existed prior to the introduction of firearms, I have had to rely upon data contributed by natives, the few and incomplete descriptions given by early voyagers, and examination of the remains of such works. A considerable number have been explored, but in many cases no measurements or other notes were taken at the time. Those described and illustrated in the following pages give a fairly good idea of the different methods employed by the Maori in fortifying his villages, but a vast number of highly interesting old forts still remains to be examined and described. Fortified positions, some showing unique features, are being discovered as the back country is cleared of forest growth. Much data of interest might be gained by means of an examination of the sites of such old forts, many of which, so far as the earthworks are concerned, are in an excellent state of preservation, and it is to be hoped that some one will yet make a careful study of such remains, and publish the results thereof.

The number of old earthwork fortifications seen in the North Island is very remarkable, and there must be thousands of such remains scattered over the country. They are exceedingly numerous in some areas, such as the Taranaki coast, the far north, and the Bay of Plenty district; while in others, such as the Wellington district, page 3they are very rare. In this latter case, the scarcity of such remains is accounted for by the fact that the district could never have supported any considerable native population, and because the formation of the country forced the people to depend upon stockade defences to their hamlets, hence but few signs of old earthworks are seen in the district.

A great number of old pre-European forts is to be seen in the west coast of the North Island, from Whanganui northward to Kawhia. Another series is found in the Bay of Plenty from Tauranga to Matata, and again on the coast line from Whakatane to Opotiki and onward round the eastern shore of the Bay. In the vicinity of Whakatane alone, including the hills bounding the valley, nearly 100 fortified places are known to exist, over eighty having been marked on certain maps. The Auckland isthmus shows some of the finest specimens of terraced hills, while the Hokianga, Taiamai, Oruru and other districts of the far north contain a great number. Other parts of the North Island show similar remains in lesser numbers, but the South Island has few.

In writing of the Hauraki Gulf, Mr. F. H. Bodle has remarked that the shores of the lower part of the gulf show the remains of a great number of old pa:—"At one time this gulf shore must have supported an enormous aboriginal population. Every hilltop, every point of vantage, is carved and terraced into forts and watch-towers, not only along the coast, but for miles inland. Not only this, but every foot of valley land was dug and drained, and the stones carefully removed and piled in heaps."

A most interesting series of old forts is to be seen in the Oruru valley, between Mangonui and Kaitaia, and some eight or nine miles from the former place. On a range about half a mile from the road almost every peak has been scarped and terraced, for a distance of several miles. Many others are seen from the road between Kawakawa and Hokianga.

The remains of old pa on hilltops are usually distinct, and the defensive works easily traced, but on flat land of a sandy nature, as on the coasts, the sites of many old fortified places have been covered and obliterated by drifting sands. Again, many pa so covered are now hidden also under a dense growth of scrub, etc., and when such growth is destroyed by fire, or stock, the winds, in some cases, remove the drift and expose the old village site.

A perusal of this paper will tend to show that, though pa were, if possible, built on hills or other elevated places, yet the people thereof might live much of their time outside such defences. At certain times, when not threatened by enemies, these people spent much of their time in unfortified hamlets, merely retiring to their pa page 4when expecting to be attacked. Such hamlets might be surrounded by a fence or palisading, but could not be termed fortified places. A close observation of the Wellington and Porirua districts has convinced me that the native population of those places in former times lived much of their time in places that could scarcely have been defended against an enemy.

In the Journal of Sir Joseph Banks we note the following remarks pertaining to this subject:—"Of these forts or towns we saw many; indeed the inhabitants constantly lived in such, from the westernmost part of the Bay of Plenty to Queen Charlotte's Sound; but about Hawke's Bay, Poverty Bay, Tegadu and Tolaga [Uawa], there were none, and the houses were scattered. There were, indeed, stages built upon the sides of hills, sometimes of great length, which might serve as a retreat to save their lives at the last extremity and nothing else, but these were mostly in ruins. Throughout all this district the people seemed free from apprehension, and as in a state of profound peace; their cultivations were far more numerous and larger than those we saw anywhere else, and they had a far greater quantity of fine boats, fine cloths, fine carved work; in short, the people were far more numerous, and lived in much greater affluence, than any others we saw." Coming from a writer who accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage, this evidence is of interest, as showing that many of the East Coast natives must at that time have been living in unfortified places, though we feel assured that they had strongholds on adjacent hills to retire to when threatened by enemies. The stages mentioned were, presumably, platforms (whata) for the storage of food supplies, etc. The same writer mentions that many inhabited places, fortified with fosses and stockades, were seen about East Cape. The remains of old pa are seen in the districts mentioned by him, and we know that these voyagers did not even land on the shores of Hawke's Bay.

In connection with the collection of information concerning pre-European native usages from the Maori of to-day, I may quote a remark made in my hearing, when a native, apparently some 30 or 35 years of age, said to old Tuta Nihoniho:—"I suppose that the Maori did not build pa before firearms were introduced." This from a man who has been looking upon old pre-gun forts all his life. So much for the modern Maori.

To any person who takes an interest in locating the remains of old native fortified villages, and in seeking the relics of neolithic man in pre-European middens, there comes the faculty of being able to detect faint traces of old earthworks that would not be noticed by the majority of people. Thus the writer has detected the sites of page 5several old pa by noting on range summits against the sky line a peculiarity in the growth of tall fern (bracken), possibly several miles distant. In another case a very old pa on a spur face remained undetected for some years, until the writer happened to be riding down the valley one morning when the sun had just risen above the ridge summit. The signs consisted of narrow terraces covered and filled with debris of centuries, but just a slight hollow remained along the line of each former terrace. When the sun was in a certain position in early morn, these slight hollows were in shadow and so betrayed the presence of man's handi-work. This pa site is near Ruatoki. When in Arizona the writer was informed that traces of ancient irrigating canals had been located in that region on moonlight nights in a similar manner.

In the vicinity of Wellington one sees very few old pa sites, or rather it is difficult to determine the sites of old fortified hamlets. Owing to the rocky nature of the country in this district, it was impossible, in most places, to construct heavy earthworks, hence in very few places do we note any signs of old forts save the house sites. A small earthwork still exists at the old pa at Tarakena, and an old fosse still marks the little pa at Worser Bay, but earthworks are wanting at the sites of many old villages that formerly existed at Hataitai (the Miramar Peninsula). We know the sites of a good many, and these have been carefully gone over by the writer, and nothing found in the form of earthwork defences. All that remains are middens and hut sites, the latter marked by small levelled areas a few yards in length and breadth, and scarely worthy of the name of terracings. Most of the villages of this district must have been defended by stockades only.

The Wellington district was, in olden days, perhaps one of the quietest parts of the island. Incursions by enemies were infrequent and the natives lived much in small unfortified hamlets, though possessing some stockaded strongholds to retreat to when it became necessary. This condition is accounted for by the fact that the inhabitants of this district were closely related to the people of Wai-rarapa and the east coast, and also with those of the west coast as far as Otaki, also to a less extent, to those of the districts between Otaki and Whanganui. The news of raiding parties was sent on to the surrounding clans and this was a great safeguard to the folk of the Wellington area. This is one of the reasons why we see so few pa- and such diminutive ones, in the Porirua district, Pukerua on one side and Wai-rarapa on the other would send them warning in most cases.

page 6

An examination of the coast line in the vincinity of Wellington shows that, in former times, natives have lived much in places that would never have been selected as defensive positions. Thus we see old middens, shell heaps, of considerable size in hollows and the mouths of narrow gulches impinging upon the beach, plainly showing that the natives must have lived much of their time at such places. This evidence is also clear in other districts, notably at Porirua.

Nor do we know that a place occupied by house sites has ever been a pa, in many cases, as where no remains of dyke, fosse or stockade are found. It may have been nought but an open hamlet, an unfortified village. In searching for sites of forts in such a place as the Wellington district, it is well to bear in mind the words of the author of Earthwork of England.—"It needs a quick eye to see them where they are, common sense to avoid seeing them where they are not"-as also the remark that an antiquary or student of earthwork remains should be cautious, and again cautious, and yet a third time cautious.

Mr. S. Percy Smith has remarked as follows:—"I am only acquainted with one instance in which an ancient Maori fortification has been depicted by plan and sections, and on a sufficiently large scale, though we have several of their later ones modified by the introduction of firearms; and this relates to Manu-korihi pa, at Wai-tara, a work which was performed by F. A. Carrington in the early days of the New Zealand Company. This plan, beautifully engraved, was published in England about 1845."

This lack of plans and sections has been to some extent amended by a certain amount of field work done by the Dominion Museum Department, the result of which is given in the following pages.

The Tourist Department has constructed at Te Whakarewarewa, near Rotorua, what is termed a model of an old time native fort, but the result is a grotesque type of redoubt, in no way resembling the native pa of pre-European times. See Fig's. 1 and 2, p. 7. Another such reconstruction, on a smaller scale, was made by the Tuhoe tribe at Rua-tahuna some years ago, and this is a much better representation. It does not, however, illustrate the more elaborate type of pa, being a scarped hill with two lines of stockade and a fighting stage to protect the entrance. See Fig's. 3 and 4, pp. 8-9.

A newspaper item has turned up which contains some critical remarks made by Tarakawa of Te Puke on the so called native pa constructed by the Government at Te Whakarewarewa. The type looks like that of the Auckland Herald. Like most elderly natives, page 7 Fig. 1—Model Pa erected at Rotorua. Showing very light modern palisading and rails outside posts, also a fighting stage at angle. (See p. 6.) J. McDonald, Photo Fig. 2—Entrance to Model Pa at Rotorua. The palisade work here depicted is entirely unlike old work. (See p. 6.) J. McDonald, Photo page 8 Fig. 3—Model Pa at Ruatahuna. The levelled summit of the hill would form the residential area. (See pp. 6-12.) T. Pringle, Photo page 9 Fig. 4—Entrance to Ruatahuna Model Pa. The illustrations show this pa ere it was completed, the second stockade and fighting stage to protect the entrance had not been erected. The stockade is a light one of the low modern type. An elevated stockade (pekerangi) was erected in front of it later. (See pp. 6-12.) T. Pringle, Photo page 10 Fig. 5—Model of a Pa Tuwatawata or Stockaded Village Constructed by J. McDonald. Now in the Dominion Museum. (See p. 12.) page 11 Fig. 6—Model Pa erected at the Christchurch Exhibition of 1906. (See p. 13.) Leslie Hinge, Photo page 12 Tarakawa strongly condemned the work, and spoke of it as a European redoubt, and as in no way resembling a Maori fort of olden times. The old man's strictures are as follows:—"The earth-work walls were too upright, and there was no stockade outside them as there should have been. In form the place was too regular and rectangular. The interior was too level and the whole place looked more like a stockyard than a native fort. The gateway or entrance was a caricature, and in no way resembled that of former days. No Maori ever carved one like it before. The stockade work was entirely wrong. Only carved main posts (tukuwaru) were erected, the intermediate posts (tumu) had been forgotten. Also the main posts were too regular in position, and all of one size, shape and height, all foreign aspects to a Maori fort. There should have been four large aka (vines) rails lashed to the posts, instead of planed scantling secured with spikes. In olden days, before guns were known, the maioro, or ramparts, were very high and wide, and the trenches were deep. Those pa were generally built on a promontory, or on the top of a hill, with a number of terraces (rengarenga) one above the other, so as not to be taken by surprise, and in order to impede any sudden attack made by the enemy. Since then the Maori has obtained and learnt the use of guns, and found it necessary to alter the old plan of a pa into one more suitable to the changed conditions. These latter would be built with bastions (koki), with their places (ngutu-ihe) to enable the holders to have a full view of the curtain (tiaroa) with a double row of palisades, parapets pierced here and there with loop holes (kotaretare) for spying out and firing at the enemy, and many other things. I have seen pa of the old style, and I saw two pa built in 1856, in the fighting against Ngai-Tai."

The above extracts from Tarakawa's letter are of much interest, but his explanatory remarks are all too brief. He does not make clear what the ngutu-ihe is, and the curious application of the term kotaretare to a loophole calls for some explanation. His remarks on the dyke or vallum, the mention of aka (large tough stems of climbing plants) as being used for rails, and the introduction of bastions or flanking angles in post-gun days, are noteworthy.

The pa constructed by the Tuhoe natives at Rua-tahuna some years ago is a much better reproduction of the old Maori fort. See Fig's. 3 and 4, pp. 8-9. It is a scarped hill pa, with two stockades and a fighting stage. The scarp is a deep one and a great protection to the levelled summit of the pa, where the inmates would live.

There is in the Dominion Museum a model of a pa that was constructed by Mr. J. McDonald. See Fig. 5 p. 10 It does not repre-page 13sent the better type of fortification, the heavy earthworks and ditches supplemented with stockades, but gives a good idea of the pa tuwatawata, or hamlet defended by stockades only. In order to illustrate Maori methods of fortification by means of models, it would be necessary to form four such illustrations in order that the different types might be shown.

Three views are here given of a model stockaded village that was erected at the Christchurch Exhibition of 1906. The stockades are very light ones, and would be better described as fences, hence the place does not represent a pre-European defence. It will also be noted that rails are secured to the outer sides of posts. The three platforms of one of the puwhara is also unknown as a pre-European usage; platforms so close together would prevent the use of the long spears of yore. Such erections were, however, sometimes used by gun fighters. See Figs 6-7-8, pp. 11-14.

A model of a small modern pa is in the Hobart Museum; it is reproduced here in Fig. 9, p. 15. The defences consist of a double stockade which probably contained a trench, from which the defenders would fire through the outer palisading. The original was probably a hastily constructed place; no strong posts are in evidence.

All students of primitive culture are aware that the pa maori or native fort, as described in this paper, is by no means confined to these isles, that it may be termed a cosmopolitan usage, and that similar earthworks, as also stockades, have been employed in many lands. Indeed it may be looked upon as a foregone conclusion that earthwork defences erected by neolithic man in any land would necessarily be much alike. Even the fighting stages over the entrance to a fortified place are known in many lands. We know that certain minor features were peculiarly Maori, but the ruined dykes and fosses of the old Maori fort are much the same in form as those of America and Great Britain. Remains of some 900 pre-Roman camps have been noted in England, and many more must have been destroyed, Scotland is credited with 1079, and Ireland has an enormous number of such relics of man of the neolithic and Bronze Periods. Many of these old earthwork fortified places date from long before the Christian era. The old forts of England are, in most cases, more extensive than our Maori forts, and have heavier earthworks. They are usually situated on hills, some on promontories, some on hillocks, that, in those far off days, were islands in lagoons or swamps. Terraced hill forts are also known, as shown in A. H. Allcroft's most interesting work Earthwork of England. In some cases the earthworks show ingeniously guarded entrances, page 14 Fig. 7—Model Pa at Christchurch. View of lake face of Pa. (See p. 13.) Fig. 8—Another view of Model Pa at Christchurch. (See p. 13.) Leslie Hinge, Photo page 15 Fig. 9—A Model of a Modern Pa in Hobart Museum. (See p. 13.) and it has been found that circular huts with extremely small doorways and deeply sunk floors were used, as also pits for the storage of food supplies.

The size of some of the old earthwork forts of England is startling to us; thus one at Ham Hill, Somerset, has an area of 210 acres. Its earthworks are enormous. Another in Shropshire covers upwards of fifty acres, and has five lines of earthen ramparts and fosses.

Another old English pa, Maiden Castle, had five miles of earthworks. These dykes of old forts are believed to have been surmounted by stockades, indeed the remains of posts have been found in some of them. Of the entrances to these forts, Allcroft writes:—"The ingenuity of the builders was chiefly exercised in making the entrances difficult and dangerous of access."

In describing the earthworks known as Maiden Castle, situated about two miles from Dorchester, England, the authors of Neolithic Dew-ponds and Cattle-ways enlarge on the defences of the entrance as follows:—"The complexity of the maze of stupendous earthworks by which the entrance is guarded baffles description. It suffices to say that an approaching enemy, furnished only with such weapons as were known to primeval man, must have found the place impregnable… every inch of its lengthy and tortuous course is dominated by a succession of spurs and embankments on either side, so arranged that tier above tier of the defending forces would be continuously encountered." It is also pointed out that an attempt to enter the fortress from any other point would demand the scaling of great embankments, even now 50 to 60 feet in height, with steep scarps, in the face of the defenders; there being three or more of such ramparts.

page 16

This fortified area contains 40 to 50 acres. The authors of the above work hold the view that the inhabitants of the district in neolithic times kept cattle within lines of earthworks, to protect them from wolves at night, and that these folk constructed the curious dew ponds of that region in order to conserve water on the streamless downs. The people are supposed to have lived within the inner earthworks, while the cattle occupied the outer area.

A remark by Greenwell reminds one of Whakatane:—"In Northumberland every hill end has its place of defence, in some instances two or three in connection." I have been told that, from the summit of a hill called Simonside, near Elsdon Tower, one can see old fortified places on nearly every hill top in view. Their history is unknown; the folk who constructed them are unknown.

Allcroft also speaks of the numerous remains of old cooking places found in Great Britain. These are in the form of pits, and this writer states that water was conducted into them from an adjacent stream. "In the pit they laid their meat, and brought the water to boiling point by flinging in stones made red hot in a fire close beside it." This looks a most improbable procedure, and it is more likely that the method employed was the hangi, or steam oven, of Polynesia, which was certainly used in Scotland. In this mode the fire is kindled in the pit and the stones heated therein, after which they are sprinkled with water to generate steam, covered with leaves or other herbage, the food placed thereon, then all carefully covered with leaves, etc, and earth to contain the steam. A passage in Ossian refers to this method. In describing pre-historic huts of Dartmoor, this writer remarks that most of them contained both a hearth and a cooking pit. "These pits were mere holes sunk into the floor, not more than 2 ft. long, 1½ ft. wide, and 9 in. deep. Numbers of cooking stones, much fired and cracked, were found." As these pits could scarcely have been fed by running streams, he thinks they were filled with water by hand, but it is pretty certain that they were steaming pits, not boilers. Many such cooking pits are seen about old Maori forts.

A. H. Allcroft also tells us that he has located many sites of old time occupation by neolithic man and Roman invaders by means of the burrowing of rabbits. These creatures bring to light not only such evidences as pieces of pottery and flint chips, etc., but also manufactured implements of divers kinds. In like manner the writer of this paper has located old pre-European native settlements in the Porirua district, where old middens are completely concealed under a close sward of grass.

page 17

Writers describing the old earthwork forts of Ireland tell us that the plan is based on the physical conditions. The simplest type is the enclosure, circular or oval, of the ring mound or ring wall. Variants have two or more walls or earthworks and fosses, up to five or seven rings. This type of fort is widespread, occurring in Thessaly, Bosnia, Herzgovina, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Isles of the Baltic, Switzerland, France and the British Isles. The second type may be called a promontory fort. Worth Head near Weston Super Mare has seven fosses and a partition of loose stones. Ireland has thousands of these old forts, one writer says about 20,000.

In studying the Maori forts of yore and noting their great diversity of form, we shall see that the above remark, viz., 'The plan is based on the physical conditions' will explain such differences. The character of the soil affected the form of the defensive works, but not so much the contour of the fort. Hills composed of such light, loose or friable material as sand and certain forms of volcanic ejecta, did not lend themselves to the formation and durability of fosse and parapet, hence the terracing system was employed on such sites.

The following terms were employed by the Maori to denote the various forms of fortified places:—

Pa taua.—Denotes a fortified place. A generic term.

Pa whawhai.—Cf. pa—to obstruct. Any barricade or screen may be described as a pa, but pa taua implies something to obstruct enemies, while pa whawhai may be rendered as 'fighting pa.'

Pa maori.—Literally 'native fort.' Any fortified hamlet is included in this term.

Pa maioro.—Earthworks, both rampart and fosse, are termed maioro. Hence a pa maioro is a fortified place the defences of which are earthworks (stockades being an additional defence).

Pa tuwatawata. Pa tiwatawata.—A fortified place having no earthworks; stockades being the form of defence employed.

Pa kokori. Pa korikori.—These terms were applied to any defences of an inferior nature, such as a few huts surrounded by an ordinary type of palisaded barrier. Such places were often constructed at cultivation grounds away from the fortified village, and at fishing camps on the coast.

Pa tahora.—Applied to pa tuwatawata or any inferior type of defended position situated away from the main pa of the clan.

Pa whakairo. Pa whakanoho.—These terms imply a first class type of fortified village, defended by earthworks and stockades. Such pa had some of the stockade posts embellished with carvings, page 18hence the term whakairo. They were also protected by a mauri, a material symbol that served as a shrine for certain atua or spirit gods who were placated in order that they might act as guardians of the place. The inferior type of pa had no such protection, not being provided with a mauri.

Pa punanga.—A term applied by some clans of Wai-rarapa, etc., to retreats or places of refuge provided for non-combatants in war time, as when a district was invaded. These places were often situated in the depths of the forest. Survivors of a defeated force often retired to such places. The two islands in Wellington Harbour were sometimes utilised as places of refuge for non-combatants when the villages on the mainland were attacked. It would appear that many of these places of refuge were not fortified in any way. Major Large informs me that the term punanga means a stronghold in the Cook Islands dialect.

Pa ukiuki.—This expression denotes a permanently occupied fort.

The word pa, as a verb, means 'to obstruct, to block up'; as a noun 'fortified place, stockade, barricade, screen.' Also it carries the sense of enclosure. These meanings seem to be fairly general throughout Polynesia. The term maori, as a word of the vernacular, means 'native,' hence pa maori-native fort. Max Muller tells us that pa is a word that is the origin of terms for 'father' and 'fort,' as in the sense of protector.

Special names were assigned to nearly all fortified hamlets and villages, such names being distinct from the name of the place whereat they were situated. Thus nearly every pa had its proper name, though the names of some that have been long abandoned are now forgotten and they are known by the name of the place. The superior posts of the main stockade, the upper parts of which were carved into grotesque human figures, were usually named after ancestors of the inhabitants. The superior dwelling houses, storehouses and storage pits within the fort also received special names.

Certain ceremonial observances pertained to the construction of a first class fort, and this paper contains some account of ritual performances observed on the completion and opening of such a place. Attention is directed to this ceremony as being of much interest.