S. p. Smith. — Tongarcira, or Pcnrlnjn Inland. 91 



Eeligion. 



It cannot be gathered from Laiuont's accounl whetlier the 

 Tongarewans behevedin or worshipped the gods conuiiou to the 

 Polynesian race, such as Tangaroa. 'J'ane, liongo, Tu, itc, but 

 that they had some form of rude worship, accompanied with 

 many ceremonies, is evident. The same word, atua, common to 

 Polynesia, was apphed as a general oi:e, signifying a spirit or 

 god. Of these they possessed four minor ones (the names are 

 unfortunately not given), represented by various objects ; two 

 of them being in their attributes malicious, and two bene- 

 ficent. The latter were supposed to give life and all necessary 

 to maintain it. The visible representation of one of these 

 atuas was a long stick with a large bunch of feathers fastened 

 to one end ; of another, a piece of wood with a bunch of human 

 hair attached." Others were made of cocoanut-wood, a wood 

 which, in some form, was generally connected with their 

 superstitious observances. They believe that the spirit, after 

 the death of the body, haunts its former home for some time, 

 and then leaves for distant regions. The stars were supposed 

 to represent deceased spirits. In the case of severe illness 

 the patient was taken to the tnarac, where the priest invoked 

 the atua in his favour with many prayers and incantations, 

 finally touching the suii'erer with one of the emblematic gods. 

 Fn the case of death the body was wrapped in mats and taken 

 to the marae, to remain there some days, and was then returned 

 to its former dwelling, where it was hung up on the rafters of 

 the roof, the widow remaining constantly with it for lengthened 

 periods in a state of mourning, and tapu, or, as the Tongarewans 

 appear to call it, liui-atiia. After a time the body was buried 

 in the viarae. 



The priests appear to have had great power, and were con- 

 sulted on all important occasions. The inaraes, or sacred 

 enclosures, some of which were as much as a hun(h-ed yards 

 square, and where all the religious ceremonies were conducted, 

 were enclosed by upright slabs of stone, standing as much as 

 6ft. out of the groun;l. Inside were other stones standing on 

 end, said to be tombs. There were several of these maraes 

 in different parts of the group, some deserted and evidently 

 not in use for ages. One, at Te Puka islet, aj)pears to have 

 been the most celebrated of them all, and here, tradition 

 says, was the tomb of Mahuta, their great progenitor. Any 

 one entering a vinrae became tapu, and could not mix with 

 his fellows until he had gone through certain ceremonies. In 



* Mr. John White, in his lectures on " Maori Customs and Supersti- 

 tions," describes Ihungaru, one of the Maori gods brouglit here from 

 Hawaild, as " formed of a lock of human hair twisted with a rope of 

 ante (paper-mulberry bark), kept in a house made of wood brought from 

 Hawaiki." 



