Best. — Maori Eschatology. 227 



Used by an old person, feeble from old age, when asked to leave 

 home. He sticks to the house or house- wall, like the species of 

 Veronica called " kokomuka-tu-tara-whare^ which grows on the 

 earth-covered sleeping-houses. 



; ' Kai hea te ua o te rangi hei ua iho i te rae o Tane-nui-a- 

 rangi " (How may the rains of the heavens fall from the brow 

 of Tane-nui-a-rangi). Quoted by a person who saves another 

 from death in battle, especially when his power to do so is ques- 

 tioned. 



' c He iti na Tuhoe e kata te Po " (A few of Tuhoe and Hades 

 shall laugh). A saying applied to the Tuhoe Tribe, on account 

 of their valour and ferocity in war. 



" Ka pa te hau mihi kainga, he hurihanga kaupapa " (When 

 soft, gentle breezes blow, then disaster is nigh). Such winds are 

 deemed an omen of death or disaster. 



" Ehara i te ti e wana ake " (When man dies he is seen no 

 more, unlike the Cordijline, which when cut down sends forth 

 shoots from its stump). 



" He ai atu ta te tangata, he huna mai ta Hine-nui-te-Po " 

 (Man begets offspring, while the Goddess of Death destroys 

 them). 



" Ka mate tino tangata, tena e rewa mai " (When a chief dies 

 plenty of uhunga or mourning parties will come). 



" He wahine, he whenua, e ngaro ai te tangata " (Through 

 women and land do men perish). These were prolific causes of 

 war. 



" He toa taua, mate taua ; he toa piki pari, mate pari, he toa 

 ngaki kai, ma te huhu tena " (The warrior dies on the battlefield, 

 the cragsman by cliff-side, but the industrious cultivator perishes 

 of natural decay). 



" / paia koia te Reinga?'''' (Is the underworld closed ?) Be 

 not foolhardy or you will perish. 



The term " aroarowhaki " denotes the quivering of the 

 hands, with arms extended, as seen performed by mourners, 

 usually by elderly women. 



When Big Jim, the guide, of Taranaki, was killed at Manawa- 

 hiwi, just where the road from Te Whaiti commences to ascend 

 Tara-pounamu, by an ambush of Tuhoe, the force camped at 

 that place for the night. Major Scannell informs me that the 

 force buried the body of the scout, and lighted a large fire on the 

 grave that it might not be noticed by the enemy when the party 

 moved on. 



When the famous Winiata, of the Native Contingent, was 

 slain at Taupo his body was buried in the bed of a stream for a 

 similar reason. 



In H. B. Sterndale's writings we find a description of exhuma- 



