Moko; or Maori Tattooing

Chapter XI — Methods of Embalming

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Chapter XI
Methods of Embalming

We are fortunate enough in recording the history of moko to have fairly full accounts of the process of mokomokai. The Rev. Mr. Taylor says the preparation of the skull was called Paki Paki, or Popo, which signified taking out the brain. The heads were then steamed in the oven several times, and after each steaming were carefully wiped with the flowers of the kakaho or reed, and every portion of flesh and brain was removed, a small thin manuka stick being inserted between the skin and bone of the nose to preserve its form. This over, the heads were dried in the sun, and afterwards exposed to the smoke of their houses. The eyes were extracted, the sockets filled with flax, and the lids sewn together. The heads thus prepared were exempt from the attacks of insects, being thoroughly impregnated with pyroligneous acid. At the neck, where the head had been severed from the body, the skin was drawn together like the mouth of a bladder tobacco-pouch, leaving an open space large enough to admit the hand, as a portion of the base of the skull was cut away.

page 149

The Rev. Philip Walsh, in an interesting paper read before the Auckland Institute, in October, 1894, says: “Those seen by

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 136.—Specimen in Author's collection.

This image is not available for public viewing as it depicts either mokamokai (preserved heads) or human remains. The reasons for non-display are detailed in the policy regarding display of images of mokamokai. If you would like to comment on this decision you can contact NZETC.

Mr. King were impaled on upright sticks set in open holes in the ground, which were kept supplied with hot stones from a fire page 150 close by, while the operator basted them with melted fat. Each of these processes would equally serve the purpose required. The

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig 137.—Specimen in Author's collection; glass eyes added.

next stage was a thorough desiccation effected by an alternate exposure to the rays of the sun and the fumes of a wood fire, of which the pyroligneous acid helped to preserve the tissues and protect them from the ravages of insects. A finishing touch was given page 151 by anointing the head with oil and combing back the hair into a knob on the top, which was ornamented with feathers, those of the albatross being usually preferred. The work was then complete. The form of the features was very fairly preserved; every line of the moko was distinct; although the likeness was sufficient to identify the departed warrior, the heads invariably bore a

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 138.—Specimen in Author's collection; lips with blue dye.

ghastly expression of life-in-death which once seen can never be forgotten.

Captain Cruise's account corroborates this; but the most page break

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 139.—Specimen in Author's collection showing tattooing on neck.

page 153 interesting is that of Rutherford, whom the reader will remember as the shipwrecked sailor who became a Maori chief. He is on the

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 140.—Specimen in Author's collection, fully tattooed head.

subject of mokomo^akai as minute and detailed in his remarks as he is on most points he touches; and his accuracy is not, I think, to be questioned. According to him, the skull was first completely page 154 emptied, the eyes and tongue extracted, after which the nostrils and whole interior of the head were stuffed with flax.

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 141.—Specimen in Author's collection, showing work done with fine instruments.

The head was then wrapped up in a quantity of green leaves, and in this state exposed to the fire till well steamed. The leaves were then removed, and it was hung up to dry in smoke, causing page 155 the flesh to become tough and hard. The hair and teeth were preserved, and the face-moko was seen as well as in a living person. The head thus cured would, if not exposed to damp, long maintain its appearance. I may remark that Captain Cruise speaks only of a current of dry air and not of smoke as being the drying medium; but I think a large part of the preservative element was due to smoke of a wood fire. It is very probable that the

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 142.—Specimen in Author's collection, forehead and nose completed.

various artists purposely differed in their methods of treatment in their efforts to acquire an enviable distinction, and it is not unlikely that in the case of the more distinguished subjects extra care would be taken, and a more elaborate system employed.

page 156

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 143.—Specimen in Author's collection. Now in Salford Museum.

It may be here noted that a French writer regards the Maori art of preserving heads as showing original connection between the New Zealanders and the ancient world; and he compares their processes with that of the Egyptians in embalming mummies. page 157 This question, however, extends far beyond the limits of ascertainable fact.

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 144.—Same head as Fig. 134

I prefer to give yet another account of this curious ceremony from the Rev. William Yates, who as a missionary of the Church page 158 Missionary Society in the North Island in 1835, had no small experience of Maori life before its change established itself. He says: “The following account of the process was given me by a chief who has preserved and assisted in preserving many after the various battles in which he had engaged. When the head has been cut off the shoulders, the brains are immediately taken out through a perforation behind, and the skull carefully cleaned inside from all mucilaginous and fleshy matter. The eyes are then scooped out, and the head thrown into boiling water, into which red-hot stones are continually cast to keep up the heat. It remains till the skin will slip off, and is then suddenly plunged into cold water, whence it is immediately taken and placed in a native oven, so as to allow the steam to penetrate into all the cavities of the interior of the skull. When sufficiently steamed, it is placed on a stick to dry, and again put into an oven made for the purpose, about the size of the head. The flesh, which easily slips off the bones, is then taken away, and small sticks are employed to thrust flax or the bark of trees within the skin so as to restore it to its former shape and preserve the features. The nostrils are carefully stuffed with a piece of fern root, and the lips generally sewn together; though sometimes they are not closed, but the teeth are allowed to appear. It is finished by hanging it for a few days to dry in the sun. Should the head not now be perfectly preserved, which is but rarely the case, or should there be any internal or external appearance of putrefaction, it is again steamed. This operation is continued till the skin is thoroughly dry, and all other soft matter removed or destroyed, so as to insure it against decomposition, unless much exposed to a humid atmosphere.”

page 159

A good deal of the bones of the palate, nose, and interior, is sometimes cut away, and more or less flax used for stuffing the nose and cheeks. The great beauty of the Maori, namely his teeth, is well seen. It may be mentioned here that the expression “Upoko Kohue” or boiled head was the deepest insult known to the Maori language.

When the head of a friend is preserved, as is the case on his being slain in battle, and it has not been possible to carry off the

Fig. 145.—Mourning over the head of a friend.
(After the Rev. Mr. Yates.)

whole body, the head is deposited in the sacred grove; and when a friend or near relation visits the village, it is taken out in order that he may weep over it, and cherish the spirit of revenge against those by whom he fell. The head is generally placed in some conspicuous part of the residence on a piece of fence, or on the ornament of the roof over the doorway of a house. The stranger is then led to the spot, and his eyes are directed to the ghastly object before him; when he immediately assumes the attitude of grief. He stands in front of the skeleton head with his body bent page 160 almost to the earth, the big tear rolling down his manly cheeks, and in the most melancholy tones gives utterance to the over-powering feelings of his heart; till at length, as his grief subsides, he works himself into a fit of rage bordering on madness, at which time it is well for all poor slaves, both male and female, to keep out of sight, or he might slay one as a satisfaction to the trunkless head of his friend, which is placed before him. When the ceremony is concluded, the head is rolled again in its grave-clothes, and carefully deposited in the burial place till required again to excite the passions of some other friend.

I give a drawing of the enlarged opening at the base of the dried head, the aperture being wide enough to admit the hand. The rim of the aperture is generally bound with hoop and flax. The smoking of the head has different effects on its colour and appearance. Some heads are brown, some yellow, some even reddish. But all preserve the pattern of the moko. It is noticeable, too, that the eyelids in dried heads are usually closed, unless the natural eyes were kept or false ones added. The Maoris feared they would be bewitched if they looked into the empty sockets. The eyes were no doubt difficult to preserve even when left in the head. The Maori warrior had a way of gouging out the eyes of a vanquished chief and of swallowing them, thinking that he thus incorporated the dead man's spirit. The Atua tonga (divinity or soul) was thought to be located in the eyes—each eye was believed to have a separate immortality—the left eye ascending to heaven, and becoming a star, unless swallowed promptly, the right eye becoming a spirit and taking flight for the Reinga or leaping-place unless similarly “incorporated” page 161 by the victor. Latourneaux has carefully worked out these picturesque details for the instruction of modern writers. He adds that the greatest importance was attached to the eating of the left eye. In my drawing of a dried head at Saffron Walden, false eyes have been added to the head; and the earliest mention of dried heads in Captain Cook's writings refers to heads with ^apparently false

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 146.—Head with false eyes inserted by native taxidermist. (Saffron Walden Museum.)

eyes. So the eyes of a chief slain in battle were generally missing; these scooped out and swallowed, his vanquisher obtained the spirit and power of the slain, and was raised above his fellows, becoming, if he swallowed enough, a god even upon earth and after death a heavenly luminary of the first magnitude. Of course attempts were made by the chief's friends in battle to preserve him from such a fate as loss of eyes. There is a fine specimen in my collection, where the original eyes have been well preserved. They are shrunk and look like raisins. I give a drawing, too, of a head in page 162 another collection, the head of a boy with post-mortem moko. The left eye is gone, but the right eye is well preserved. There is in a provincial museum the dried head of a woman with eyes well preserved; her moko is post mortem, and was possibly done by the

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 147.—Head of a boy with post-mortem moko, in the possession of J. W. Colmer, Esq. one eye depicted

possessor of the head for purposes of sale (Fig. 132). The finishing touches were given to the embalmed head with oil, careful decoration of the hair with feathers, and equally careful combing and tying of the hair in a knot at the back of the head. In the result the features were preserved, and the identity of the deceased easily recognised.

I will quote here an extract from the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (1882–3) of the Smithsonian Institution, page break

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 148.—Specimen in Author's Collection,

page 164 Washington, B.C., dated 1885 (p. 75): “Two beautifully tattooed heads are in the collection of the Army Medical Museum at Washington, D.C., of which illustrations are presented in the accompanying Plate III. No history of these heads can be obtained. The skin is almost perfect, and has become much brighter in tint than the original colour. The tattooing is a blue—black and in certain lights becomes almost bright indigo. In many of the markings there appear slight grooves, which add greatly to the general ornamentation, breaking the monotony of usually plain surfaces. Whether any mechanical work was performed upon the heads after death is not positively known, though from the general appearance of the work it would be suggested that the sharp creases or grooves were done subsequent to the death of the individual. The tattooing shows subcutaneous colouring, which indicates that at least part of the ornamentation was done in life.”

[Note added by NZETC as annotator:]

Description: Fig. 149.—Specimen in Army Medical Department at Washington, U.S.A. obtained by Wilkes Expedition. 1840.

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Fig. 150.—Head of a Chief.
Paikia ?
of Thames

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Moko; or Maori Tattooing

Chapter XI — Methods of Embalming

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Methods of Embalming

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Moko; or Maori Tattooing

Chapter XI — Methods of Embalming

Chapter XI Methods of Embalming

Chapter XI
Methods of Embalming