76 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The earliest case of slaying a person by magic contained in 

 my notes is the destruction of Maui by Hine-nui-te-po, 

 Goddess of Hades (the Po) and personification of death. 

 The origin of the quarrel was the slaying of the children of 

 Mahuika (origin and personification of fire) by Maui. After 

 that Maui and Hine differed as to whether or not man should 

 grasp eternal life. The ohonga, or medium, obtained by Hine 

 was a drop of Maui's blood, which Namu, the silent sandfly, 

 procured for her. The mosquito was sent first, but proved to 

 be too noisy a messenger, and was heard and killed by Maui. 

 Verily it was well to be wary in the days of old, for death was 

 ever near. 



There were many ways by which personal hau might be 

 protected from magic, so long as the enemy's magic was not 

 tbe more powerful. For instance, the ahua or semblance of the 

 hau of man could be taken and protected by means of magic. 

 The material token of such semblance would probably be a 

 lock of the person's hair. This would be taken to the tuahu, 

 or sacred place of the village, and buried at the base of the 

 Ahurcwa, which is one of the forms of tuahu, and is re- 

 presented to the eye by a carved stick stuck in the ground. 

 The depositing of this talisman was accompanied by the 

 repetition of appropriate incantations or spells to render it 

 effective. 



A similar thing was the ika purapura, or taitai. This was- 

 a bird into which the semblance of the health, vitality, vigour, 

 productiveness, &c, of the people and tribal lands had been 

 instilled. After being hung up for a time, this talisman or 

 semblance of the hau of man and land was buried, as an ika 

 purapura. It would retain the essence of the desirable 

 qualities of man and land, and guard them against magic arts. 

 For reasoning in a metaphysical and anagogic sense the 

 Maori has probably no superior, so far as his understanding 

 went. 



The hau of land, or of a forest, or of a productive tree, can 

 be protected in the same way as personal hau, and in much 

 the same way, by the concealing (with proper charms or 

 invocations) of a material semblance of such land, forest, or 

 tree. Take, for instance, a tree which is much frequented by 

 birds, and hence a desirable one on which to set bird-snares. 

 It is deemed advisable to protect the tree from being killed or 

 blasted by an enemy's magic, or the birds driven therefrom by 

 tbe same means, or from being poached by other persons. 

 Therefore the tree is made tapu by the priest; after which, 

 should any one interfere with it, such person will be afflicted 

 by the atua or familiar demon of the priest. If that person, 

 so afflicted, wishes to save himself he must go to the priest 

 or wise man who rendered the tree tapu and place himself in 



