70 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



After the above preamble I would wish to explain that the 

 following notes on Maori magic comprise but a very small 

 portion of the items of that extensive, far-reaching pseudo- 

 science. For two reasons — first, such items, invading as they 

 do all departments of Maori life, necessarily come under 

 many headings, as "War," "Birth," "Marriage," "Death," 

 " Woodcraft," " Social Life," " Sickness," &c. Hence to give 

 a description of all branches of magic would be to compile a 

 practically complete account of Maori life, and would result 

 in an article of such appalling length that it would probably 

 be returned to me with or without thanks. (See Skeat's 

 " Malay Magic " as an illustration, and the review thereof 

 which appeared in the London Times.) The other reason is 

 that I have already described many of the items in papers 

 prepared on different subjects, that on " War " alone running 

 to some 250 pages of foolscap. Again, practically the whole 

 of these notes have been obtained from the Tuhoe or Urewera 

 Tribe alone, and hence the article makes no pretence of being 

 & compendium of the magic rites of the Maori of New Zealand 

 as a whole. Kites, customs, and superstitions differ to a 

 ■certain extent among the various tribes. 



It was Bastian who defined magic as " the physics of 

 mankind in a state of nature." Moreover, it is quite clear to 

 those who study the origin of religions, and also primitive 

 cults, that the realm of magic must be invaded in either case 

 in order to fully understand such cults and origins. Magic 

 has ever been closely associated with religion. The Ark of 

 the Covenant was the mauri of the Polynesian. The hirihiri 

 of the Maori finds its counterpart in the bones or toe-nails of 

 the rnediasval gentlemen who struck work and declined to 

 wash themselves. The tatvhito and kai-ure beliefs yet linger 

 in European lands. Do not laugh at the magic of the Maori ; 

 our houses are yet partially of glass. 



Belief in magic was formerly universal with the Maori, 

 and is yet believed in to a very great extent. Tapu and 

 makutu were practically the laws of Maoridom. Property, 

 crops, fish, birds, &c, were protected by them. The old-time 

 Maori had to carefully guard himself against magic rites, 

 against infringing the laws of tapu, for a hair of his head, 

 a shred of his clothing, a portion of the earth whereon he had 

 left his footprint would, in the hands of an enemy, be suffi- 

 cient to bring about his death. In every walk of life, during 

 every action, whether eating, drinking, sleeping, or taking his 

 walks abroad, whether among friends or foes, if no enemy were 

 •within a hundred miles, yet death ever attended the Maori 

 and walked side by side with him, awaiting the opportunity 

 to strike him down and despatch his spirit to the gloomy 

 underworld — the Po, or realm of darkness, of oblivion. 



