38 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Practically all rites performed by the priest of old were 

 executed either at a sacred fire or by the waterside, and 

 nearly always at dawn or dusk, not in the day-tinne. 



An old warlock of Awa discourseth upon the atahu, " The 

 miromiro is a bird employed in the atahu tvahine. Should a 

 man desire a certain woman, although she might be a member 

 of a different tribe, yet will he obtain her. Though her home 

 be afar off he will obtain her. He despatches a miromiro 

 bird to fetch her. He notes carefully the wind. If it is blow- 

 ing in the direction of the home of the woman he desires he 

 then takes a feather, being careful to seize it with his left 

 hand, and passes it under his left thigh, after which, holding 

 the feather upright in his advanced left hand, he recites the 

 following charm : — 



" Hau nui ana ra 

 Ko te hau — e 

 Te kura i te ipo — e 

 To ara mai, E te ipo 

 Haere ki roto i a koe mihi ai 

 Waha mai te ipo, E te hau — e 

 Tutakina iho ki au — e 

 * Whiwhia mai, rawea mai 



Tore hei. 



He then tosses the feather into the air for the wind to carry. 

 (In the charm he calls upon the wind to bear his love to him.) 

 iSefore long she will have arrived." 



Eegarding the passing of the feather under the left thigh : 

 When a priest proceeded to takahi a wounded person, and 

 recite a charm to heal his wound, it was always the left foot 

 that he placed upon his patient, for that is the ta2)u foot. It 

 is the manea of that foot that gives force, virtue, effectiveness 

 to the rite and charm. The manea is the hau of the human 

 foot or footstep, a sacred or supernatural power, essence, or 

 quality, which has great influence in preservmg human life, &c. 



When in olden times a young man of the Tuhoe Tribe 



went through the operation of being tattooed the following 



atahti was repeated over him by the priest, in order to cause 



women to admire and like him : — 



Taku tamaiti i wehea e au ki te rangi 



Ka piri, ka tata 



Ka huakina mai Tangaroa — e 



Whakina mai ko ou Hine-tuakirikiri 



Ko ou Hinc-tuarourou 



Mai te ruwha, mai te ruwha 



Mai te aroha, mai te aroha 



^lai te aroha ra koo— e. 



Here follows another atahu of the Tuhoe Tribe : — 



Tiikoto ra, K hino ! 

 I to urunga, i to moenga 

 Iri kura, iri kura, iri toro 

 Ka whana atu koe i reira 



