Smith. — On the Tohunga-Maori. 263 



hand. It must be understood this operation is accomplished 

 by the mental operation of willing and by repeating the hoa, 

 not by a physical effort. The word hoa we have no exact 

 equivalent for in our language. It means in one sense "to 

 charm," or " to destroy by the power of the will," the spoken 

 words of the hoa acting as the vehicle connecting the will- 

 power with the object. The action of our Lord in destroying 

 the barren tig-tree would be, according to old Maori belief, 

 an exact illustration of the word hoa. The word is of very 

 common use in old Maori narratives, always with this mean- 

 ing of an exertion of will-power generally for the destruction 

 of some animate or inanimate object, or to affect its state of 

 being. Sometimes a flying warrior will use a karakia called a 

 tapuae to hasten his flight. This is the use of the hoa in a 

 sense beneficial to himself. Again, he will hoa a flying enemy 

 in order to retard his flight ; but the meaning is always the 

 same, and the efficacy of the karakia thoroughly believed in 

 by the old Maori. 



If the tauira, or pupil, succeeds in the above test of his 

 powers he next is directed to try them on some animate 

 object, such as a dog or a flying bird. The process is the 

 same in both cases, and, according to the Maoris, the bird 

 was always killed if the tauira was proficient. 



After this comes the final test, by which the tauira shall 

 prove to his teacher that he is adept and accomplished in the 

 highest art of the tohunga. From what follows it will be seen 

 .that this last ordeal is a very severe one. We may believe in 

 it or not, but the old Maori had implicit faith in it, and fully 

 beheved their tohungas capable of exercising the power. The 

 tauira was told that he must now exercise this power of wil- 

 ling to death on some near relative of his own — an uncle, aunt, 

 brother, or sister, but never a child of his own, and, I think, 

 never a parent. The selection of a relative was made in 

 order that the pupil might thereby show that, in the exercise 

 of his powers, he rose superior to natural affection — the do- 

 minion of the teaching priest was so powerful over the tauira, 

 together with the delight felt in the acquisition of such extra- 

 ordinary power, and the dread that it was known to excite in 

 the multitude, were sufficient, say my informants, to over- 

 come all feelings of love and affection towards the victim. 

 The extraordinary thing is that in a race whose strongest 

 passion was love of revenge these alleged exhibitions of the 

 tohungas' powers on human beings never led to retaliation. 

 So say those of their own race. 



I have mentioned the karakia-pou, or incantation to in- 

 delibly fix in the memory of the pupil the information taught. 

 The word you also has the meaning of " teaching " — that is, 

 in its higher forms — accompanied by all the forms and ob- 



