Best. — Maori Marriage Customs. 53 



and eloquent accounts of the injury received were accom- 

 panied by much fierce gesticulation. Such old-time songs as 

 the following were often sung by the first speaker of the party 

 as disclosing the purport of their visit : — 



Taku wahine ra 



Ka riro koe i Te Tini o Te Manahua 

 Homai he turuturu, homai he taketake 

 Hei whakautu mo te manu nunui a Tane 

 Ka whiwhi au ki te tika — i. 



Some time before the fight at Mana-teepa one Te Hau, 

 one of Te Ika-poto's four wives, committed adultery at Te 

 Whaiti. The people of that place knew that trouble would 

 ensue for Te Ika was a person of importance among Tuhoe, 

 so they proceeded to build a fighting pa (fort) at Ahi-kereru. 

 Te Ika-poto raised a taua, who were armed with guns, and 

 marched ou Te Whaiti, where they attacked the pa, and 

 after a good deal of firing on both sides the attacking force 

 killed Te Eua-Whakatara of the garrison, after which peace 

 was made. 



In a case of adultery which occurred here the wife was 

 the erring party. The goods, greenstone ornaments, &c., 

 handed over by her relatives as satisfaction to her husband 

 were not retained by him, but by an aunt of his. " Koi nei 

 hai wahine mo te tane, ko aua taonga" ("The goods were 

 then a wife for the husband "). 



If a married man committed adultery with a married 

 woman in former tmies both of them were subjected to a 

 taua, and they and their relatives of the family group had to 

 give compensation. Also the husband of the second woman 

 would have the right to taua the first man. Or if a married 

 man had connection with a single girl both he and his para- 

 mour would be subject to a taita, and also if a married woman 

 committed adultery with a single man both suffered. In late 

 times these rules have been somewhat modified. In some 

 cases a man, if of high birth, would repudiate his adulterous 

 wife, very probably at the instance of his friends, who would 

 say, " Discard that woman and marry So-and-so." Adulter- 

 ous women were sometimes slain by the enraged husband, 

 and would very likely be cooked and eaten, if not closely 

 related, but a member of another clan. 



Smce the introduction of Christianity another custom has 

 arisen, said to have been obtained from the Scriptures. An 

 adulterous wife is isolated, taken away from the village and 

 camped in a tent or some deserted hut away from any in- 

 habited place. An elderly person accompanies and takes 

 charge of her. After a certain number of days she is allowed 

 to return to the village. Her paramour is sometimes treated 

 in a similar manner. I noted one case here in which a 



