134 Transaction*. 



Summary. 



As a specimen of a Maori eel-god it stands alone ; it is unique. 

 Mr. Hamilton showed me a figure in the Museum of a Maori 

 god with a strange burly figure representing some unknown 

 animal object, but certainly not an eel. A god with an eel- 

 like body was worshipped in Samoa, and that is the only god 

 I have found anywhere resembling this. 



It is not surprising that Maoris should have carved an image 

 of the god of eels, as they had so many religious rites in con- 

 nection with eels and eel-fishing ; but it is singular that so far 

 this is the only image of an eel-god discovered, and therefore, 

 doubtless, even among the ancient Maoris, such a figure was 

 very rarely depicted. Tinirau, god of fishes, was described as 

 being a merman — "half man, half fish"; and this figure of an 

 eel-god is embodied in this figure — half a god and half an eel. 



Art. XXII. — On the Musical Notes and Other Features of the 



Long Maori Trumpet. 



By A. K. Newman. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 2nd August, 1905.] 

 This 5-ft.-long black Maori trumpet was made either by the 

 Arawa or by the Tuhoe Tribe. They were always extremely rare, 

 and only a few exist in museums. I have asked Mr. Warren, 

 an expert bugle-player and accomplished musician, to blow this 

 trumpet for me to - night. [Mr. Warren here played a number 

 of British and other army bugle - calls upon this instrument, 

 fashioned by savages; and on another occasion to a gathering 

 of musicians, to the manifest pleasure of the audiences.] Ex- 

 perts declared that its tones were so clear and good that had 

 they not seen the instrument they would have believed the 

 sounds were made by a modern silver bugle. 



Unlike the mouthpiece of a modern bugle, which is small and 

 round, this is a long, wide slit, and Mr. Warren found it difficult 

 to get his lips into shape. He suggests the opening was made 

 to suit a wide-mouthed 17-stone Maori. He found it in conse- 

 quence difficult to play long calls, and not until he had taken it 

 home, lived with it, and practised with it for some time was he 

 able to get the full tones out of it. Blown by a big-chested Maori 

 giant, the sound of this instrument would travel an enormous 

 distance. 



I was anxious to learn what calls the Maoris played, but 

 this is impossible. Many modern Maoris have never seen this 



