Wellington Philosophical Society. 527 



Mr. Maskell doubted as to whether these winged birds could be kept 

 on the islands, and questioned if the food on the islands would suit all the 

 birds it was proposed to conserve — the huia, for instance. If they were 

 sure of this it would be a good thing done. 



Sir W. Buller said he considered the plan would answer well in every 

 way. The huia adapted itself to almost every place. 



3. Sir W. Buller exhibited two very interesting Maori 

 objects, namely, — 



(1.) A Jcapu, or carved funnel, used in former times for con- 

 veying water into the mouths of chiefs who were in a tapio or 

 sacred condition, and therefore unable to touch food with their 

 hands, or to permit themselves to be touched by the hands of 

 others. This condition always followed the hahunga, or 

 scraping of human bones before depositing them in their final 

 resting-place, as well as other religious ceremonies, and lasted 

 until the subjects had undergone the function of whakanoanga 

 or purification. On these occasions the tohungas or other 

 " sacred persons " squatted on the ground with their hands 

 behind them, and were fed by young girls, who, using a fern- 

 stalk after the manner of a fork, tended them with cooked 

 food from a hono, or open green-flax basket, and at intervals 

 poured water into their mouths from a calabash by means of 

 a Jcapit or funnel. 



The specimen exhibited was dug up in an old limestoue- 

 cave deposit at the Bay of Islands, and is evidently of extreme 

 age. It is fashioned out of seasoned kotukutuku, or native 

 fuchsia, and the shell-carving with which it is embellished all 

 over is of an ancient type, and very curious in its design. 

 There are two specimens in the British Museum (one of them 

 presented by Sir George Grey, about the year 1852), and 

 another in the Ethnological Museum at Cambridge, and these 

 are the only ones of which we have any knowledge. So far as 

 colonial collections are concerned the specimen exhibited is 

 quite unique. 



(2.) A Jcaea, or Maori war-trumpet. This instrument is 

 now extremely rare. There is a specimen in the British 

 Museum, and another in the Ethnographical Museum at 

 Berlin, but so far as is known there is no other example in the 

 colony. This specimen is nearly 5ft. in length, and has a 

 firm outer lashing of split kareao, or " supple-jack," whereas 

 the British Museum specimen, which is apparently of more 

 modern construction, is bound round in its whole length with 

 strong whipcord. The most interesting feature in this 

 sounding instrument is an ingenious contrivance, in imita- 

 tion, it is said, of the human tonsil, about a foot within the 

 larger orifice. In the hands of a practised Maori warrior this 

 trumpet is capable of producing a very extraordinary and 



