64 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The reason why girls were usually tattooed before mar- 

 riage was that red lips were not considered sightly, but were 

 disliked. Women are still most conservative in having their 

 lips and chin tattooed. 



There is no evidence to show that the jus primcB noctis 

 ever obtained among the Maori, but a man who held the 

 power that a priest did might claim almost any girl he desired, 

 with a very good chance of getting her. I have seen that 

 sort of thing in Mexico, where the peasant class are not a bit 

 more advanced in regard to religion than are the Maori. 



When a man had been befriended or assisted in some 

 way by another, and he felt that he would like to make some 

 return, he would perhaps give his benefactor a piece of land. 

 Or on his death-bed he might say to his daughter, " When 

 you are grown up marry our benefactor ; do not heed the fact 

 that he is much older than you " (Ka ivhakatuhi ki tana 

 tamahine, " Ki te uyaro laku kanohi, ki le puta to ihu, me 

 moe i a mea, ahakoa he kaunuitica ia "). 



Natives say that it is the correct thing for a wife to leave 

 her home and live with her husband aujong his people. This 

 was not always the case among the Tuhoe Tribe ; the husband 

 sometimes settled down with his wife's people. Hence it 

 will be seen that no hard-and-fast rule obtained in regard to 

 this matter. I have noted that several women of distant 

 places who married men of this district, and whose husbands 

 died before them, returned to their parents' home after the 

 mourning ceremonies, &c., were over. 



A man who lives with his wife's people might perhaps be 

 given a piece of land by them, and his children by her would 

 inherit such land. If, however, the couple have no issue, the 

 husband would not retain the land after the death of his wife, 

 and he would then probably return to his own people, the 

 land returning to the original owners. This simply amounts 

 to his cultivating, &c., on his wife's right to such lands. 



When a man of rank married a low-born or a slave 

 woman she would have no viana (power, influence) or stand- 

 ing in the tribe, but their children would not only be free, but 

 would inherit the rank, kc, of their father. No one w-ould call 

 them slaves or low-born, except that in quarrelling a person 

 might say, " Your mother was a slave, or a low-born person." 

 The same result would follow should a low-born or slave 

 man marry a woman of rank. Tareha, a chief of great manu, 

 of Heretaunga, was the son of a slave woman captured at 

 Kohi-kete. 



1 have noted that after a man marries he will, when he 

 obtains something suitable, make a present to his parents-in- 

 law. Also that if a wife's parents see that she is badly off 

 they often try to help her by giving her things ; or if the latter 



