Dkndt. — On Moriori Relics. 129 



so that the outline becomes somewhat heart-shaped. In one 

 case (fig. 4) the head was replaced by what appears to be the 

 figure of a hand with an eye on each side of it. This had 

 possibly some symbolical significance. The hands and feet 

 show a varying number of digits up to five, and the backbone 

 is represented by a straight line. 



The figures in question appear always to have been carved 

 in the bark of the kopi-tree or karaka (Coryiiocarpus Icevigata), 

 whose large succulent drupes formed one of the principal 

 articles of food amongst the Moriori, and whose smooth bark 

 is particularly suited for the purpose. The outlines are 

 generally incised, but in two of the specimens in the Canter- 

 bury Museum they are left in relief. These figures may, as 

 indicated by Mr. Travers, have been marks of ownership, or 

 they may have been intended to represent tutelary deities. 

 The Maoris on the island appear, from what I learnt from a 

 half-caste, to have a curious idea that the carvings were a sign 

 that the Moriori race was doomed. 



For my own part, I am inclined to believe that the human 

 figures on the kopi-trees were connected with their burial 

 customs, for in no other way does it seem possible to explain 

 the peculiar attitude of all and the prominent ribs of some of 

 the figures. "When dead," says Mr. Travers, "the arms 

 were forced back against the chest and securely bound there 

 with plaited green-flax ropes, the hands were bound together 

 aud drawn over the knees, and a stick was then inserted 

 between the arms and knees. This was the orthodox method 

 of trussing a body, and it was sometimes a work of great 

 difficulty, for when the body became rigid the efforts of 

 many men were required to bring it into a proper position. 

 This being done, the dead was enveloped in plaited flax 

 matting and interred as far as the knees, the upper portion 

 of the body being invariably above the soil." 



It seems tolerably certain that another method of dis- 

 posing of the dead was by placing them in or against trees 

 in the manner described by Mr. Mair. The particular mode 

 of dealing with any dead body was probably determined by 

 the character of the individual to whom it had belonged, and 

 probably great importance was attached to the proper per- 

 formance of the ceremony. The earlier methods of disposal 

 may very likely have been given up for sanitary reasons on 

 the advent of Europeans, a possibility which had struck 

 me even before I came across the following significant pas- 

 sage from Mr. John Amery's work on the Chatham Islands, 

 quoted by Mr. Travers : "In my rambles through the bush I 

 have frequently observed a time- and weather-bleached skele- 

 ton grinning at me from some old tree. Walking one day 

 with an ancient native woman, she suddenly stopped and 

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