40 Trmisactions. — Miscellaneous. 



I will shortly furnish you with some notes on Maori musical 

 instruments, and also give some particulars respecting two other 

 bone flutes (hoauau) now in the Auckland Museum. 



chief, who had his eye carried away by a musket-ball. About midnight it 

 was seen tliat Tohi te Uriirangi's end was approaching. Large fires 

 were lighted near, and the chiefs, gathering round, wept over their dying 

 leader, and addressed him with farewell speeches, making complimentary 

 reference to his great deeds in many a past battle. His faithful old wife 

 sat supporting his head, overwhelmed with grief. The other wounded 

 men lay near in pain and anguish. It was a solemn and touching scene ; 

 yet it had its comic aspect when, as the old warrior's spirit was about to 

 depart, his wife (Mata), overcoming for the moment her grief, rose up and, 

 addressing the chiefs, said, " You have bidden farewell to my lord accord- 

 ing to our usual custom and in the language of our ancestors; but it 

 would be more appropriate for me, who have been educated in a missionary 

 family, to speak in English." Then, turning to her dying husband and 

 affectio!iately clasping liis body, she exclaimed, " Kum pai mi poi. Hau 

 aiu? Wer-eivere,taikiii, ha." (Good-bye, my boy. How are you? Very 

 well, thank you, sir.) These few words comprised her whole stock of 

 English, and were uttered witli feelings of apparent pride. In a few 

 minutes all was over, then Mata was heard whispering to Apiata and asking 

 how to load a gun. Those standing by did not interfere, as they thought 

 she was about to shoot herself and accompany her lord to the spirit- 

 land, as the widows were wont to do. Indeed, it would have been a gross 

 breach of etiquette to have interfered. However, she had no such inten- 

 tion, for, having loaded the musket, she shot Te Aporotanga dead, saying 

 be was to wait upon her husband in the next world. A reference to the 

 genealogical table shows that Te Aporotanga was twentieth in descent 

 from Ngatorohaka. Old Tohi te Ururangi carried from a string round his 

 neck Tutauekai's bone flute, " Te Marirangaranga," which is now in the 

 Museum. A few minutes after his death, Pokai te Waiatua came to the 

 body and tried to take away the flute unperceived, but old Mata managed 

 to detach it from the string and thrust it into tl)e dead man's throat for 

 concealment, whence it was removed next day on arrival at Maketu and 

 given to Ngahuruhuru Pango (Tutanekai's lineal descendant), who gave it 

 to me on the occasion of the defeat of Te Kooti at Ohinemutu on the 7tli 

 February, 1870. Touching this same flute, I may state that it was made 

 from the armbone of a tohunga named Te ilurirangaranga, who lived in 

 the time of Whakane. 



Sliortly after Tutanekai's birth Whakane called upon tliis tohunga 

 to perform the baptismal rights over liis son — fe told o Tu, or dedication 

 to the war god. Having performed this sacred office, the priest became 

 strictly tapu during the lunar month, according to Maori custom, during 

 which time he could not touch food with his hands or feed himself. 

 However, before his purification (horohoronga) had been accomplished 

 he was seen one day at Paparata, on the edge of the forest behind Ohine- 

 mutu, gathering and eating poroporo berries. This was equivalent to 

 cursing Tutanekai, and a deadly insult tu Whakane, so he had the unfor- 

 tunate tohunga put to death by drowning (it being unlucky to shed the 

 blood of a priest), and had the right armbone made into a flute for 

 Tutanekai. When Tutanekai grew u[) he became famous for his skill in 

 playing this instrument, and his descendants the Ngatitutanekai still 

 pride themselves upon their ability to emulate their ancestor in this 

 respect. 



