Best — On Maori Magic. 77 



his hands for treatment. Nor is it wise to delay the matter ; 

 the gods who live for ever are not to be trifled with. 



In the above rite the priest takes the hau of the tree, or 

 the semblance thereof. The usual plan is to take the first 

 bird snared upon the tree — or the long wing-feathers (kira) — 

 which is taken away and hidden in the forest somewhere, 

 aud incantations said over it to render the tree tapu and so 

 protect it. It cannot now be injured by the magic spells of 

 enemies. 



Should a person sell or barter the property of another, 

 that is termed a " hau ivhitia," or " averted hau." The 

 person who so received the article will surely die ; he will not 

 survive. 



Theft was often punished by the dread arts of magic in 

 this wise : When a person lost an article by theft he would 

 take the alma (semblance of personality) of such article to 

 the priest, the material token of which ahua would be some- 

 thing that had been in contact with the stolen article. Two 

 cases came under my notice. In one some eels were taken 

 from a man's eel-pot. In the other case money was stolen 

 from a box. In the .first case a fragment of the eel-pot was 

 used as a material token of the personality of the eels. In 

 the other a coin which had been overlooked by the thief 

 was used. This medium would be taken to the priest and 

 laid before him, with the explanation that it was the ahua of 

 an article which had been stolen. The priest would look at 

 the material medium and say to the applicant for justice, " I 

 see the wairua (spirit) of the thief standing by your side." 

 He would then describe the appearance of the thief whose 

 spirit he saw. Such spirits are always anthropomorphous 

 with the Maori, and probably to all other primitive races. 

 The plaintiff in the above case would, when he recognised 

 the thief from the priest's description, sometimes go and 

 demand his property so as to give him a chance of escaping 

 the awful effects of the priest's spells of witchcraft. When 

 the thief refused to return the article stolen it was time 

 enough to put the law of makutu in force. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, the sufferer of the theft would say at once, " Patua 

 ■atu" (Destroy him). The priest would then perform his 

 magic rites over the medium which had been brought to him. 

 ' And it was not well for that thief ; death or insanity lay 

 before him. The priest who performed the above rite would 

 be one of the class of tohunga (priests) known as a " tohunga 

 ruanuku." Other classes of priesthood are tohunga taua, or 

 war-priests ; tohunga pukenga, or teachers ; and tohunga 

 puri, who are also magicians. The above priest would also 

 be a matatuhi (matakite) , or seer. The material medium 

 mentioned above is sometimes termed " hau " or " maawe." 



