214 Transactions. 



carried the bones would be tapu. Others would be a sort of 

 escort. Some women would probably accompany the party, 

 and would act as cooks on the journey. The party would also 

 take some presents, such as greenstone ornaments (the jewels 

 of Maoridom), &c, for the relatives of the dead. Ngati-Awa 

 would not make any return presents, but would act in a similar 

 manner should any of Tuhoe be buried on their lands. Relatives 

 of the dead retained the taonga kopaki. Some of Ngati-Awa 

 might attend the disentombing of their dead by Tuhoe, or none 

 of them might be present. 



Many years ago a party of Ngati-Kahungunu Natives from 

 Te Wairoa, while on a visit to Rua-tahuna, fell victims to an 

 epidemic which ravaged that remote vale. Some years after 

 the Wairoa people asked Tuhoe to disinter the bones and con- 

 vey them to Te Wairoa. This was done, and the Wairoa Natives 

 collected at one of their villages in order to receive the party. 

 As the latter entered the village and marched on to the plaza, 

 those bearing the bones were in a state of nudity, to show that 

 the tapu was on them. They merely wore a rude maro of green 

 branchlets fastened round the waist. Rumours were abroad 

 that the Wairoa people were armed and were going to fire on 

 the party — a most extraordinary thing to do under the circum- 

 stances, but the old-time enmity between the two tribes was 

 still keen at that time. They may have suspected witchcraft 

 (mahutu) as the cause of their friends' deaths. Just before the 

 party entered the village, an old woman, who was performing 

 the powhiri (welcome) from a small hill hard by, called out, 

 " Kia tama-tane te haere " (i.e., " Be cautious how you ad- 

 vance "), and Tuhoe thought that things were about to happen. 

 However, nothing untoward occurred. 



The funeral feast held at the hahunga (disinterment) of bones 

 of the dead was an important affair to the Maori people, and was 

 accompanied by much ritual, repeating of invocations, incan- 

 tations, &c. For some time prior to the ceremony the people 

 would be busy at cultivating extra food for the occasion, and 

 also preserving various kinds, as birds and fish. As the time for 

 the hahunga tupapahu drew near, all available kinds of fresh 

 foods would be obtained for the ceremonial feast. These foods 

 would be cooked in different ovens (steam-ovens), each one 

 having its distinctive name, and its contents being for certain 

 persons only. Some of these ovens were intensely tapu, as the 

 small one for the chief priest, and that for the eldest son of the 

 high chief's family. This feast was a part of the pure or tapu- 

 lifting rite. All obtainable vegetable food, as sweet-potatoes, 

 taro, greens, &c, were cooked in these steam-ovens (umu or 

 irnu), together with fish, birds, and, as a special luxury, the 



