94 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



prestige or vital essence of the forest is destroyed, and 

 the result will be disastrous for fowlers, for the birds will 

 desert that forest. It is an offence against Tane, the god 

 of forests and of birds. 



No Maori of position could carry cooked food on his back ; 

 if he carried it at all it would be in his left hand. The first- 

 born male and female of a family of rank were sometimes 

 kept very tapu — allowed neither to carry food nor yet to 

 work. If it was desired to lift the tapu (or partially lift it) 

 from such a person, he (or she) would probably carry some 

 of the food to be used in the necessary rite, known as a 

 pure?iga. That act in itself would break down the tapu ; 

 after which the various sacred ovens of the pure rite would 

 be partaken of, the officiating priest repeating the invocation 

 termed taumaha. The following is a taumaha : — 



Taumaha ki runga, 



Taumaha ki raro 



Taumaha kai te whatu iria, 



Kai te whatu rawea 



Kai te whatu i nga koromatua, 



I nga ruahine. 



Ka kai ki tua 



Ka kai ki waho 



Ka kai ki te rangi nui e tu nei 



Ka kai ki te Papa e takoto nei 



He ora ki uta, he ora ki tai 



He ora ki nga koromatua. 



Enough ! The rite of ivhakanoa, or rendering common, is 

 completed. 



The whakau is an invocation repeated over very sacred 

 foods, such as those carried by first-born notables, as de- 

 scribed above, or food connected with the dead, or priests, 

 or any sacred place. The whakau renders such food noa, 

 or common, so that the people who eat of it may not be 

 slain by the sacredness thereof. The borrowed and mis- 

 leading expression whakawhetai is now generally used by 

 these natives to denote the whakau and taumaha. The 

 priest officiating at the whakau rite takes a piece of the 

 food and feeds (offers) it to the gods, repeating — 



To kai ihi, to kai ihi 



To kai Rangi, to kai Papa 



To kai awe, to kai karu 



To kai ure pahore 



Whakataha ra e te anewa o te rangi 



E tu nei 



He tawhito to tapu 



E homai nei kei taku ure 



Na te tapu ihi, na te tapu mana 



Hina (hinga) ki mua 



Takoto ki raro 



Ki to kauwhau ariki. 



