148 Transactions. 



able breadth for the meteor or a prodigious temperature, per- 

 haps both. In my opinion the meteor was not one solid mass, 



but a group of many small bodies, 

 probably derived from the split - 

 ting-up of a large mass. Appa- 

 rently it must have met or been 

 overtaken by the earth, as its 

 course was from east to west. 

 As the streak did not appear to 

 reach the horizon, I conclude 

 that the meteor did not reach the 

 earth. It either passed through 

 a segment of the atmosphere and 

 away, or it was dissipated by its 

 passage through the air. The 

 drawing shows the appearance of 

 the streak at the end of a quarter 

 of an hour, as drawn by Miss 

 Murphy. The appearance at 

 first would be represented on the same scale by a steady vertical 

 line about the length of the top coil. 



Art. XXV. — Maori Eschatology : The Whare Potae (House of 

 Mourning) and its Lore ; being a Description of many Cus- 

 toms, Beliefs, Superstitions, Rites, &c, pertaining to Death 

 and Burial among the Maori People, as also some Account 

 of Native Belief in a Spiritual World. 



By Elsdon Best. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 6th December, 1905.] 

 " Even as the moon dies, and then, having bathed in the waters 

 of life, returns to this world once more young and beautiful, so 

 let man die and revive." Such were the words of Tane, offspring 

 of Rangi, the Sky Father, and Papa, the Earth Mother, to Hine- 

 nui-te-Po, Goddess of Death and Hades. But Hine of the Dark 

 World said, " Not so. Rather let man die and return to Mother 

 Earth, even that he may be mourned and wept for." Hence 

 we see mourning parties of the Maori people wailing for the 

 dead. For what said the men of old ? — " By tears and lamenta- 

 tion alone may [a natural] death be avenged." 



Having collected some few notes anent Maori eschatology 

 from members of the Tuhoe or Urewera Tribe, it behoves me to 

 put such together in the form of an article, for the purpose of 



