196 Transactions. 



together in a roundish ball (the knees under the chin, as the 

 Maori formerly handled their corpses), was adorned, and put 

 into a box made for the purpose, and buried in the house near 

 the wall."* Also see " Transactions of the New Zealand Insti- 

 tute," vol. xxxiv, p. 574, for a similar case which occurred 

 among the Arawa Tribe in 1882. 



Old canoes were sometimes cut up to form coffins in former 

 times. When the famous chief Te Whare-pouri died at Welling- 

 ton, a part of his canoe was set up at Nga-uranga, near Welling- 

 ton, as a mortuary memorial, although the body was not buried 

 at that place. 



Speaking of funeral ceremonies in ancient Greece, Max 

 Muller says, "It is supposed that in ancient times the Greeks 

 deposited the remains of the dead in their own houses, near the 

 hearth, which was the primitive altar of the family, f 



Articles buried with Body. 



A singular custom, and a widespread one, noted the world 

 over, and even seen among civilised peoples, is the depositing 

 of articles in the grave. I have not been able to obtain from 

 Maoris any corroboration of the opinion expressed by most 

 writers on primitive eschatology — viz., that such articles were 

 intended for the use of the departed in the spirit-world — but 

 rather that such offerings are a sign of affection for the lost one. 

 I have never heard that food was placed in the grave by the 

 Maori, but the dying person was fed for the death journey, as we 

 have seen. 



It often occurs, even in these times, that cherished possessions 

 are placed in the grave of a loved relative. I give a few instances 

 as illustrations : — 



When the child Haere-huka, a descendant of Maru-wahia, 

 died, the body was buried at Whiria, on the Hikurangi Block, and 

 a prized greenstone ornament was placed in the grave. 



Somewhere about 1850 a party of the Ngati-Manawa Tribe, 

 of the Galatea district, went to Hauraki in order to obtain muskets 

 and ammunition. When they left to return home, the grand- 

 father of Harehare Aterea stole an axe which had been placed on 

 a grave of the Ngati-Maru people. On it becoming known to 

 Ngati-Maru that their visitors had desecrated their burial place 

 they raised an armed force, which, under Taraia, marched to 

 Whirinaki, on the Rangitaiki River, to teach the children of 

 Manawa better manners ; and it was only by sending to Tuhoe 

 and Taupo for armed assistance that Ngati-Manawa escaped a 

 severe drubbing. But they had to pay for that axe. 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. viii, p. 115. 

 f "Anthropological Religion,' 1 p. 2G4. 



