Best. — Mae>ri Eschatology. 195 



An illustration of one of these bone-coffins is given in Hamil- 

 ton's " Maori Art," p. 159, where may also be seen illustrations 

 of the handsomely carved slabs of wood erected over a chief's 

 grave. Some fine carved slabs of totara wood, about 3 ft. in 

 width, are still standing in the old fort of Mana-te-pa, at Rua- 

 tahuna. They were erected over the graves of those Natives 

 who were shot there about the year 1842. 



House Burial. 



It sometimes occurred that a person would be buried in his 

 own house, with the inevitable result that such house would 

 become tapu, and would no longer be occupied, but allowed to 

 decay. 



When the. inter-clan fight occurred at Mana-te-pa, as men- 

 tioned above, several of the Ngati-Ta-whaki clan were slain, 

 including Te Whatu. The latter's body was carried to his per- 

 manent home at Oputao and there buried in his own house,, 

 which of course became tapu, and could no longer be used by 

 the living. Shortly afterwards his name was given to a newly 

 born child, who in after-years assumed the name of Paratene, 

 which in later life was abandoned and the name of Paitini as- 

 sumed. The above pa (fort) was abandoned after the fight, 

 on account of human blood having been shed there. The other 

 dead were buried within the fort, as we have seen, and the place 

 has ever since been tapu. 



The bones of persons buried in houses would in after-years 

 be exhumed and placed in a burial cave or tree. 



In late times, since fighting has ceased, bodies are buried 

 in the ground, and either the grave is fenced in with a picket 

 fence, or, as is generally the case among the Tuhoe Tribe, an old 

 fort (pa maioro) is set aside for the purpose of a graveyard. 

 Graves made in these old forts are often not fenced, as the old 

 earthen walls and ditches prevent the entrance of stock. In 

 some cases the body, enclosed in a coffin of rough boards, is 

 placed on the surface of the ground and an oblong mound of 

 earth built over it. Over this a small wooden house is erected 

 and painted in bright colours ; red and blue is a favoured com- 

 bination, or white and red. At other times the coffin is buried 

 beneath the surface and the little house built over the grave. 



Colenso states in his admirable essay* that in former times 

 corpses were sometimes placed in such little houses or huts in 

 a sitting posture, having been tied, dressed as in life, and with 

 its greenstone mere or cutting-club. 



Wohlers speaks of house burial as having occurred among 

 the South Island Natives : " The body, having been bent 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. i. 



