194 Transactions. 



(who dwelt in the Titoko-rangi Fort at Rua-toki) they made 

 a slight error, for Te Kea defeated the party and slew their 

 leader, who was buried in a swamp. 



Perhaps you are weary of swamp burial, but I want to draw 

 your attention to a singular use of the word " rumaki." My 

 informant, an old Native, said. " Ka rumakina a Pa-i-te-rangi 

 ki roto ki te repo." Here rumaki = to bury, a meaning not given 

 to the word in our dictionaries. The Tuhoe people often use 

 it in that sense. 



Use of Coffins and Small Elevated Huts. 



We have seen that the remains of Tama-a-mutu were placed 

 in a box or coffin for burial. This custom was sometimes prac- 

 tised in former times. Bodies of the dead were put in a rough 

 wooden box or coffin made of slabs of timber hewn out with 

 stone axes. This would be placed on the top of a high post 

 near the settlement, and when the flesh was decayed the bones 

 would be taken to a burial tree or cave. Perhaps the most 

 common method was a small erection, like a miniature house, 

 built on the top of a high post. These were often erected within 

 the fortified settlements of the Natives in pre-European days. 

 We notice them in illustrations of such villages as left us by 

 early travellers and settlers. These places within the village 

 seem to have been used to place the bones of the dead in. 

 The keeping of the decomposing bodies in their midst in 

 such a manner would be somewhat too much, even for a 

 Maori. 



Coffins were sometimes constructed in the form of a canoe, 

 from perhaps 3 ft. to 6 ft. in length. These were hewn out of 

 wood, and were ofttimes ornamented with carving. Lids, neatly 

 fitting, were made for them. Some very interesting and ancient 

 specimens may be seen in the Auckland Museum. These singular 

 coffins were used as receptacles for the bones of the dead after 

 disinterment. They were usually placed in burial-caves, situate 

 in secluded places. These coffins would usually be daubed with 

 red ochre. The discoverer of the coffins above mentioned 

 states, " The first cave contained some tons of skeletons, and 

 several wooden images of different sizes engraved from head 

 to toe. The largest image is about 6 ft. in length, the head 

 and legs taking up no more than 2 ft. of the length. Each 

 image has a hollow body with a lid for the back, and had 

 previously been filled with bones, the lid being tied on with 

 a kind of forest-creeper." 



Williams's " Maori Dictionary " gives " pouraka, receptacle 

 for a dead body, in shape like a square box, thatched over the 

 top." 



