362 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



tended with Mihiti, the captain of " Eangimata," and his 

 people on their landing there, pulling out a post erected by 

 them to indicate taking possession of the land. " It is said 

 the hekc put in one post, first on the sand-spit (tahuna) : this 

 the tangata wJicnua took no notice of ; but on seeing the heke 

 put in another at Poretu (north side of the Awapatiki), and 

 with it the image of their god Heuoro, they pulled them up." 



In the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," vol. v., page 

 153, under article " The Maori Whare," by the Eev. H. W. 

 Williams, a note is appended by the editors (Messrs. Percy 

 Smith and Edward Tregear), which I have referred to in the 

 body of this paper. This I am now enabled to bring to your 

 notice : — 



" In the building of all large houses intended for meet- 

 ing-places of the tribe or for the entertainment of visitors, 

 on the erection of the main pillar, or po2i-toko-manaiva, a 

 slave, or in some instances a member of the tribe, was sacri- 

 ficed, and, after the abstraction of the' heart, the body was 

 buried at the foot of the poic-toko-manaiva. The heart of the 

 victim (whatu) was cooked and eaten by the priest, or tohunga, 

 presiding over the w^ork, accompanied by karakias (incanta- 

 tions). This was the practice in some districts, as, for in- 

 stance, among the Arawa tribe ; but the Eev. Mr. Williams 

 tells us that the victim {whatu) was buried at the left-hand 

 back corner of the house, at the base of the poupoii in that 

 corner. Amongst the Urewera tribes the lohatu was called 

 ' ika purajmra,' and it was buried at the foot of the pou-toko- 

 manaiva. After some time the bones may be exhumed and 

 taken to the tiuUm (altar), and there used as a manea, or 

 means of beneficial influence for the owner of the house. 

 Manea means the hau or spirit, essence of man, and also of 

 the earth. The followmg lines from an old song are the 

 only references (in song) we recollect alluding to this custom ; 

 it is part of an oriori, composed by some member of the 

 Ngati-kahu-ngunu Tribe of the East Coast :— 



Ka whaihanga Turaia i tona whare, 

 Ka makaia tana potiki 

 Hei whatu mo te pou-tua-rongo, 

 tona whare, o Te Raro-akiaki. 



T^en Taraia built his hou8e. 

 Placing his youngest child 

 As a whatu for rearmost pillar 

 Of his house, of Te Raro-akiaki. 



Taraia was a very noted ancestor of the Ngati-kahu-ngunu 

 Tribe, and the house whose name is given above was erected 

 at Herepu, near Karamu, Hawke's Bay." 



