92 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



black magic, are used. When a man has served his time as 

 a learner of the sacred history, religious rites (including 

 magic), genealogies, mythology, &c, of his tribe, the time 

 then comes when he must make some sacrifice in order to 

 give power, force, mana, to the magic rites which he has 

 learned during his novitiate, taught to him by the learned 

 priests of the tribe. The teacher is not paid for his services 

 by the pupil (tauira) ; the only payment made by the latter 

 is the sacrifice above mentioned. The priest who taught him 

 will tell the pupil that he must now, by his newly acquired 

 magic powers, destroy one of his relatives — his wife, or father. 

 or brother &c. This is done, and the rites of the pupil will 

 thus have due effect afterwards. Sometimes the pupil would 

 first be given a stone, over which he would recite one of the 

 numerous incantations which come under the generic term of 

 " hoa." He would then cast the stone down on the ground, 

 where it would be shattered. Should it not break, however, 

 then his learning has been in vain, his karakia, or charms, will 

 not be effective. 



To prevent an enemy from passing up a river in canoes 

 a pole is stuck in the river-bed, and a bunch of fern, <fcc, tied 

 on to the part of the pole above water. After certain magic 

 spells are recited over it any enemy passing up the river 

 above the pole will be afflicted by divers disorders. Also, 

 when a tribe wishes to prevent eels from going up a river 

 beyond the limit of the tribal lands they set up a similar 

 pole. A totara log in the river Eangi-taiki, at Nga-huinga, 

 held this magic power until it was interfered with by the 

 godless soldiers of Fort Galatea. 



The evil eye (titiro makutu) is believed in by the Maori. 

 When bathing one day at Bua-tahuna I was amused when a 

 small child said to me, " I titiro makutu a poti ki a koe, 

 i a koe e kaukau ana " (The cat was looking upon you with 

 an evil eye whilst you w r ere bathing). Fortunately I felt no 

 evil effects from the evident hostility of her cat ; possibly my 

 immunity from trouble lay in my knowledge of the art of 

 matapuru. 



Fire-walking. 



You have heard of fire-walking as practised by the 

 Tahitians and Fijians, as also by Oriental peoples. Maori 

 traditions assert that this rite was formerly practised by their 

 priests in order to give force, power, to their incantations. 

 The following is the only clear account of the rite that I have 

 succeeded in collecting : — 



"Te Rangi-kaku, of Nga-maihi, was in a bad way. Evi- 

 dently the gods had deserted him, or he had not sufficient 

 mana to call the demons of the deep to his rescue. It was in 



