Best. — Maori Marriage Customs. 23 



the whole, wide prohibitions of marriage are archaic : the 

 widest are savage ; the narrowest are modern and civihsed." 

 On this basis the marriage system of the Maori may be termed 

 civihsed, inasmuch as not only could a person marry another 

 of the same clan-name, but also one of the same gens or 

 family group, providing that they were at least of the third 

 generation from a common ancestor. So long as this rule was 

 respected no very serious opposition to a marriage would be 

 made by these people. A young man might inform his elders 

 that he wished to marry a certain relative of his. His elders 

 would remark, "Emoehorua ho to tuahvie, kia kai tho ana 

 korua i a korua" — i.e., " Marry your sister, that you may assail 

 each other" — the meaning of the remark being that it is 

 desirable to marry within the clan, and that when the couple 

 quarrelled and proceeded to kai upoko, or curse each other, 

 the remarks would not be so serious coming from a relative as 

 they would if they were uttered by a non-relative. The epi- 

 thets would not in the above case be deeply resented, or be 

 treasured up as a wrong to be avenged [kaore c maniaetia). 

 In regard to the use of the term "sister," a perusal of the 

 table of consanguineous nomenclature, to follow, will explain 

 this. 



Filiation, Consanguineous and Affinitativb Nomen- 

 clature. 



Letourneau, in his work " The Evolution of Marriage," 

 states that "filiation by the female line seems to be generally 

 adopted in Polynesia." This statement is misleading in 

 regard to the natives of New Zealand, where kinship is 

 certainly claimed through either or both parents. This is 

 probably the result of the system of permanent marriage 

 which here obtained, and which has evidently been in force 

 for many generations. The various tribes and clans (hapu) 

 are usually named after male ancestors, but some after 

 females. Such a tribe or hajm (sub-tribe) consists of the 

 descendants of such ancestor. Thus, Ngati-Tawhaki (the De- 

 scendants of Tawhaki), a hajm of the Tuhoe Tribe, is com- 

 posed of the descendants of Tawhaki, who lived nine gene- 

 rations ago ; Ngati - Tuhea, a suh-hajm {gens or family 

 group) of Ngati-Tawhaki, are the descendants of Tuhea, 

 who flourished four generations back; while Ngati-Hinekura 

 are the descendants of a woman named Hinekura. Blood 

 relationship was, and is, counted through both parents. The 

 rank of chiefs is transmitted through both the male and 

 female lines. Perhaps the descent through first-born male 

 children of chiefs — i.e., aho ariki — was, and is, most highly 

 esteemed, but the mother, if of high birth, and more especially 

 if an eldest daughter, had, and has, great prestige and 



