254 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



white nor what we call civilised — were possessed of systems 

 of religion and ethics of a high character, had hardly dawned. 

 It was the fashion then to set all such things down to the 

 work of the devil, only to be approached with a view to their 

 extinction. Could any one in those early days have secured 

 the confidence of the old tohungas, it is believed that vast 

 stores of knowledge would have been disclosed that would 

 have thrown a flood of light on the origin of the Polynesian 

 race, their religion, and their ritual. But the opportunity was 

 lost, and when men of our own race appeared who could 

 sympathize with the old toliunga there were few or none 

 left in the land. It is true that there have been tohungas 

 amongst the Maoris up to late times — indeed, there are still 

 a few left alive ; but these are a degenerate crew, who would 

 not have been Vv'orthy to take their place amongst the learned 

 men of yore. They have become degenerate through their 

 environment. They no longer possess the powers of old, be- 

 cause they have lost belief in themselves, in the same manner 

 that the people have lost faith in them. 



It is probable that Tuhoto, who was buried in his house at 

 Wairoa Village by the eruption of Tarawera in 1886, was one 

 of the last specimens of the honci fide toliunga of the old 

 school. He lived for seven days in the ruins of his hut with- 

 out food or water, and with no means of escape, until he was 

 dug out by some of the white people. I saw him a few hours 

 after he had been rescued, a decrepit old man, whose years 

 must have approached a century (he was in the prime of life 

 at the taking of Mokoia Island in 1823), with white and 

 matted hair and beard, and indescribably dirty. He lived but 

 a few weeks after his removal to the Eotorua Hospital, and, 

 it is said, the contamination he suffered when his matted locks 

 were shorn was the immediate cause of his death. This may 

 well be believed when we reflect on the extreme sacredness 

 of the head amongst all Maoris, and of the tohungas in par- 

 ticular. He would feel that he had been tvhakanoa, or made 

 common, and that his personal tajju had been destroyed. 

 This, preying on his mind, would kill him. 



But whilst there are none of the real old tohungas alive in 

 the present day, there are many old men who have in their 

 younger days been educated as priests. The disturbing ele- 

 ment of Christianity has, however, caused them to forget 

 most of what they learnt. Still, it is from these men that 

 we may expect to learn something of the old ritual and 

 karakias, or incantations. To those they take a liking to 

 they are communicative to a certain extent, but the infor- 

 mation they have to impart is always given with many de- 

 preciative remarks on the old forms, and with evident fear 

 that they will be laughed at. 



