348 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



names originate from the different operations of the one cere- 

 mony. A fourth name, Whangaihau, is also connected with 

 the above, and is, I think, to be found in the altered name 

 Wangaehu, near Cape Turnagain. It would seem reasonable 

 to expect that all the names pertaining to the ceremonies 

 above referred to should be found in use, rather than that 

 three should be found and one absent. 



Dr. Shortland, in " Traditions and Superstitions of the 

 New-Zealanders," published in 1854, page 247, gives, " Tara- 

 pipipi's Narrative " on customs of warfare, from which I quote 

 as follows : — 



" Of the slain, some are cooked and eaten. The first man 

 killed is made sacred to the Atua (' Spirit' or ' God') in order to 

 propitiate him. He is called the mata-ati, and is thus disposed 

 of : His heart (manaiua) is immediately cut out and stuck on the 

 top of a post (tu) — Manawatu. His ear and some of the hair 

 of his head are preserved to be used at the ceremony called ivha- 

 ngai-hau (' feed- wind '). The ear is for the female ariki of the 

 tribe to eat in the ceremony called rua-hine (old woman), by 

 which the war-party are made noa (made common, not under 

 tapu or other restriction). The heart is for the male ariki to 

 eat at the ceremony called taiitane. The second person slain, 

 called mata-toJmnga, is also sacred, the priest {tohunga) alone 

 being permitted to eat of his flesh. When the war-party 

 return to their own settlement they perform the ceremony of 

 whangaihau, after which they are noa, and are at liberty to 

 go about their ordinary business. As for the remains of the 

 flesh which the war-party had been eating, it is thrown away 

 in the bush, for it must not be eaten by women. Such food 

 is sacred; the males alone may taste it. If any of it were 

 eaten by a woman some misfortune would happen to the 

 tribe." 



Of the cannibalistic habits of the Maori we have proof, 

 therefore, in the place-names Manawa-tu ("heart standing 

 up "), Eua-hine ("old woman"), Tau-tane {tane, " a. male," 

 probably the oldest chief of the tribe, or male ariki), and Kai- 

 tangata (" eat-man"), near Dunedin, in the South Island. 



The ceremony performed after the birth of a child also 

 includes the names Tautane and Kuahine, described by Short- 

 land thus : " The infant comes into the world an exceedingly 

 sacred object, and must be touched by none but the sacred 

 few present till the tajm, or restriction, has been removed. 

 The ceremony attending the removal of tapu from a child is 

 as follows: A small sacred fire being kindled by itself, the 

 father takes some fern-root and roasts it thereon. The food 

 so prepared is called horohoronga. He then places the child 

 in his arms, and, after touching the head, back, and different 

 parts of its body with the horohoronga, he eats. This act is 



