50 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



the game. In regard to the term and office of the ruahine, 

 this is an aping of more serious matters. In olden times a 

 woman was usually employed, under priestly direction, in 

 taking the tapu off a person or house, &c. This woman was 

 termed a " ruahine." 



The taking or abstraction of the dexterity of one's oppo- 

 nent, as above described, is on the same lines of belief as the 

 taking of the hau, or vital life principle of the human body, 

 and thus causing the death of the individual. The ruahine 

 could cure a person suffering from the evil effects of trans- 

 gression of the laws of tapu, and was an extremely useful sort 

 of person to have in camp. 



Musical Instruments. 



Several forms of nose and mouth flutes were manufactured 

 in olden times from wood and bone. The former were termed 

 li koauau " and the latter " pu-torino." Young men or chiefs 

 would amuse themselves of a summer evening by playing on 

 these instruments as the people were assembled in the marae, 

 or plaza, of the village. Chiefs at such a time would prob- 

 ably be seated on the tapurangi, a stage or platform erected 

 in front of the house occupied by a chief. Songs were sung 

 to the sound of these flutes. One such, a rangi pu-torino, is 

 given in " Nga Moteatea," at page 175. 



Other instruments used were the bones and paktiru, 

 already described. The pu-tatara are a sort of trumpet made 

 from a sea-shell. They were sometimes carried by chiefs in 

 olden times, who would use them to summon his people or to 

 announce his approach to a village. The pu-kaea was a long 

 wooden trumpet, about 6ft. in length; it was used in war to 

 assemble the fighting-men, or to give warning of an enemy's 

 approach. A sort of imitation pu-kaea was made by children 

 from leaves of the native flax wound in a spiral manner. 



The pahu, or war-gong, was made by hollowing out a piece 

 of matai wood. The ends, by which it was slung between 

 two uprights on the watch-platform of a fort, were sometimes 

 ornamented with carving. It was struck with a wooden 

 mallet. 



Korero Tar a. 



A favourite amusement during long winter evenings was 

 the repeating of fabies, folk-lore, and weird legends, the whole 

 being included under the term of "korero tara," or '• paki- 

 waitara." Some of these would be fables of olden times, 

 handed down for centuries by succeeding generations. Such 

 are the fables of the ant and the cicada, that of the lizard and 

 the gurnard, and that concerning the Wai-kato and Eangi- 

 taiki Eiveis in their race for the sea ; as also the wild legend 



