166 Transactions. 



fices pertaining to the death of members of the chieftain class. 

 As old Tutakangahau put it to me, " A person was slain for a 

 dead chief, as a koangaumu [see ante]. A person of another 

 hapu [subtribe] would be killed for the purpose, and ever after 

 the people of that hapu would be subjected to such remarks as, 

 ' You were the human sacrifice for ray ancestor.' This custom 

 of sacrificing a person was an exalting of the dead person, a 

 making much of him." 



If it was believed that the dead chief had been bewitched, 

 then the person who it was believed had bewitched him, and so 

 caused his death, was selected as an ilea koangaumu, or sacrifice, 

 or perhaps another member of his tribe if the real culprit was not 

 available. 



There were two purposes for which persons were slain, in 

 cases where no witchcraft was suspected. Men were killed to 

 provide human flesh for the funeral feast, but these were often 

 slaves of the tribe, and the butchering of them was not a ritual 

 performance. But the putu hai was a very different thing. 

 A person of good rank, perhaps a relative of the defunct chief, 

 was slain as in exaltation of, and a token of respect to, the dead. 

 In this case, however, the body of the sacrifice was not eaten. 

 The sacrifice was sometimes selected from the same subtribe as 

 that of the dead chief, but more often from a different one. He 

 would not necessarily be slain at the home of the deceased chief, 

 nor yet his body be brought there. But a party would go 

 forth and slay him wherever they might find him, among his own 

 people, and simply leave the body lying where death overtook 

 it, for his friends to bury. 



I have failed to obtain any confirmation of a statement 

 made by some writers that these persons were sacrificed at such 

 a time in order that their spirits might attend that of the deceased 

 chief to or in Hades, and that men of rank were never slain for 

 the purpose. 



Mourning for the Dead. 



When a Maori dies the body is laid out on or near the marae 

 (plaza) of the village for several days before it is buried, and 

 it is during this period that the mourning is carried on. The 

 corpse is laid upon mats of woven or plaited fibres of New Zea- 

 land flax, or of kiekie (a climbing plant with leaves which con- 

 tain a strong fibre), and is covered with a Native cloak woven 

 from the fibre of Phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax. Pos- 

 sibly a rude shed may be erected in which to so place the 

 body. In modern times a calico tent is often used. In this 

 way is the corpse exposed to view prior to burial, and before it 

 assemble the mourners, save the near relatives, who are grouped 

 near and on either side of the body. In the case of a person of 



