Rest. — On Maori Games. 57 



Whiti Tuarua. 



E kui ma ! Kia ata tono mai ki abau 



Kaore raia he lwi tu atu ki runga ra 



E taia ana au e te mate 



Kai te potaka tu-nawhanewka, 



Ka taia, ka haere, ka anewhanewha. 



Humming-tops were also made of a small hue, or gourd, 

 through which a stick was thrust and both ends thereof left 

 projecting, the lower one to serve as a spinning-point and the 

 upper one to wind the string on. A hole was made at one 

 side of the gourd, which caused a humming, wailing sound 

 when the top was spinning. This was the true humming- 

 top ; the name was used by myself to denote the wooden 

 potaka takiri for want of a better term. 



These gourd humming-tops entered into a very singular 

 custom among the denizens of Tuhoeland and adjacent 

 peoples. They were used in order to avenge death, in the 

 same manner" that, the wailing of a lament or dirge, with 

 weeping, was said to avenge the stroke of death. This is a 

 world-old idea, a relic of universal personification of all 

 natural events, &c. As the men of old said, " Ko roimata, ko 

 hupe, anakc nga kai utu i nga vain a aitua " (By tears and 

 grief only may the strokes of misfortune be avenged). 



Humming-tops were spun that the wailing sound thereof 

 might accompany the lament for the dead chaunted by the 

 people after a defeat in battle. The humming of the tops, of 

 which many were used, resembled and represented the mur- 

 muring wail of the mourning widows. Appropriate songs or 

 chaunts, termed " whakaoriori potaka," were composed for 

 such occasions, and were chaunted as the tops were spin- 

 ning. 



When after they had been defeated in battle a party of 

 people came to condole with them, they all assembled in the 

 plaza of the village to receive them, and there was chaunted 

 the lament for the dead. And as the lament was sung the 

 wailing tops were spun- — hai ranaki i te mate — as an avenging 

 of the defeat. The tops were spun at a given word at the 

 conclusion of each whiti, or verse, of the song. After this 

 performance was over the tops, together with presents of 

 clothing, &c, would be handed over to the visitors. 



Many of the people would be provided with tops for this 

 performance. This custom was revived after the defeat at 

 Orakau. The following whakaoriori potaka was thus sung 

 in many a native village after the defeat of Ngati-porou and 

 Te Whakatohea on the field of Maketu : — ^-r. 



Kumea ! Toi te roroa o ta tangata— e 

 Ina noa te poto ki te oma i Hunuhunu — a 



Hai ! Tukua ! AC 





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