36 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



nor yet partake of food, but proceed direct to where the 

 desired woman happens to be. Even if she were in a cook- 

 ing-shed preparing food he would go straight to her and 

 cram the substance into her mouth. That is sufficient. Even 

 though she spits it out, yet the charm will be effective and 

 she will come to him, her dislike will be overcome. 



The expression ^uhakaivherewliere is applied to conciliation 

 of a desired woman by means of gifts. A man will give or 

 send to a woman some present which he hopes will cause her 

 to like and desire him. The term arwant signifies " to chase " 

 and " to woo." while viatdrd means " to woo, pay addresses 

 to." 



The custom known as kai tamdhine was a singular one. 

 A party of young, active, and presentable men would form 

 themselves into a party and go on a visit to some village 

 where resided a young woman noted for her good looks and 

 qualities. The visit was for the express purpose of showing 

 themselves and their accomplishments to the girl, in the hope 

 that she would accept one of them as a husband. The period 

 of the visit would be quite a gay time, for the party of young 

 men would give performances of various kinds, in order to 

 exhibit their skill, grace, dexterity, and so forth, each endea- 

 vouring to excel his companions. They would perform haka, 

 or posture dances, of various kinds, and play games of skill. 

 Each would hope that the girl would select himself as a 

 husband. 



The term kai tamahine is a peculiar one. Kai signifies 

 " to eat, to bite." also "food." Tamahine = daughter. Ac- 

 cording to Letourneau, when a Kabyle father has married his 

 daughter the phrase in ordinary use is, " He has eaten his 

 daughter." Among that strange people girls were sold by 

 the father or other relative. 



The term ringa hoea (rejected hand) is used among some 

 tribes to denote a rejected suitor. Such a rebuff would some- 

 times cause the disappointed man to have recourse to magic. 

 He would make use of a magic charm or spell ikarakia 

 makutic) known as 'payaki. This had the effect of killing the 

 hapless woman — so, at least, my informants tell me, and who 

 am I that I should doubt the word of these sages ! 



In the Legend of Paoa we read that when that old-time 

 wanderer was on his travels he remained at a certain village 

 for some time as a guest. The daugliter oi his host fell in 

 love with him, and, coming to his side one night, she scratched 

 his hand as a sign of her desire for him. She had already 

 spoken to her parents about the matter and they had con- 

 sented to her marrying him. 



There was a sort of love charm, termed atahu or iri, 

 which was formerly much used in order to cause a person of 



