360 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



could be obtained, and he and Hoake set to work to make 

 a canoe, which, when finished, was named " Te Aratawhao." 

 The canoe started on the voyage under the command of 

 Tama ki Hikurangi, and quickly arrived at the land of the 

 kumara. Hex'e they not only received a supply of kumara, 

 but were also instructed as to the method of planting and 

 storing the crops, and were, moreover, warned that if they 

 wished to retain the kumara as a permanent article of food in 

 New Zealand it would be necessary to appease the gods by 

 the sacrifice of some human bemg, and suggested Taukata as 

 the victim. This advice was carefully noted, and Tama ki 

 Hikurangi returned with his valuable cargo. The seed ob- 

 tained was planted in a mara, and when m due season the 

 crop had been gathered and stored in the ruas provided for 

 that purpose Taukata was slain as an offering to the gods. 



In vol. iv. of the "Journal of the Polynesian Society" 

 the Eev. Mr. Williams gives a rvaiata, or song, in which 

 a Maori chief tells us that he buried his child at the foot 

 of the main post when erecting his new house, according to 

 the traditions of his people in such a serious undertaking. 



Major Ellis, in " The Ewe-speaking People " of Africa, says 

 that in times of danger, or when the people are especially 

 excited, the priestesses of the temple protect themselves by 

 laying in the paths leading to their quarters palm leaves, or 

 is it branches? These have a sacred significance, and the 

 riotous crowd are afraid to pass over even a single leaf. Thus 

 man in all countries is greatly afraid of any "hocus-pocus" 

 which he does not rightly understand. 



The French navigator Crozet, after the death of his 

 superior, Marion, who was killed and eaten by the Maoris, 

 made use of an expedient when taking from the shore some 

 of his people who had been collecting wood. The natives, 

 seeing those whom they regarded as a prey about to escape, 

 began to close in on them, but Crozet, with great coolness, 

 drew a line around on the sand of the beach with the butt of 

 his musket, and commanded them on peril not to pass over 

 the mark. This had the desired effect, and the party were 

 safely embarked. Captain Cook, in a like difficulty, made use 

 of the same expedient, with equal success. This custom of 

 the topw-mark must have been in use among the Polynesians, 

 but this fact would not be known to the two commanders. 



The Eev. W. Wyatt Gill tells us that at the island of 

 Nanomanga, when his party landed there, " a charmed circle 

 was drawn round the beach, beyond which none of our party 

 was permitted to wander. We were the first visitors fortunate 

 enough to escape being 'devilled' — i.e., detention for hours in 

 a broiling sun, whilst the heathen performed incantations to 

 prevent the introduction of disease." 



