Best. — On Maori Games. 59 



" A Karakia Whakaangi Manu (a Kite-flying Charm). 



Piki mai, piki mai, 



Te mata tihi o te raDgi 



Te mata taha o te ratigi 



Ko koe, kai whaunumia e koe 



Ki te kawe tuawhitu, ki te kawe tuawaru 



Tahi te nuku, tahi te rangi 



Ko te kawa i hea ? 



Ko te kawa i Taumata-ruhiruhi 



Te takina mai taku manu nei 



Ka piki. 



" Then a round object, a disc, would be sent up the cord, 

 .along which it would travel. It was to take water to the kite, 

 and show that the kite had reached the heavens. And it 

 would reach the kite, although the latter might be so distant 

 as to be out of sight. Then the cord would be drawn in, and 

 finally the kite be recovered. And on being looked at it would 

 be found quite wet. A peculiar wetness this which clings 

 to the kite. It is not like the water which flows here below ; 

 it is like dew, or the misty wet which settles upon the high 

 ranges." A reference to the above messenger sent up the cord 

 of a kite may be noted in Mr. White's Lectures, page 176. 



Teka, or Neti. 



This was a favourite pastime of olden times, and quite a 



game of skill. It was Maui-tikitiki who invented the game of 



teka. He expectorated upon his dart and repeated this 



charm : — 



Taku teka, tau e kai ai he tangata 

 Haere i tua o nga rnaunga 

 Me kai koe ki te tangata 

 Whiwhia, rawea. 



Then Maui threw his dart, which flew apace and stuck in the 

 jaw of an old man who was sitting in the entrance of the 

 house known as Tane-kapua. The old man's jaw dropped off. 

 Maui arriving, said, "Old man, your jaw has dropped off." 

 The old man nodded. Maui said, " I will take your jawbone 

 with rne." That old man was Muri-ranga-whenua, the grand- 

 father of Maui. That jawbone was the hook by which this 

 land was caught and dragged from the ocean depths. The 

 fish caught with that hook was Papa-tuanuku (Mother Earth) 

 herself. The hook may still be seen at Heretaunga. 



But about the teka. It is a dart, usually made of a stalk 

 of the fern rarauhe, about 3 ft. in length, the after-end bound 

 round with a piece of flax. This dart is thrown so as to 

 glance off the surface of a small mound of earth, which is 

 cleared of weeds and made smooth. The thrower stands a 

 little way behind the mound and holds the dart (tek<x) by the 

 rear end, between thumb and second finger ; the forefinger is 

 on the end of the dart, to propel it. The dart was thrown 



