156 Transactions. 



This underworld of the dead will be treated of later on, but 

 I wish to state here that the " po " is a term often used as a 

 synonym for death. In like manner the expression " ao mamma" 

 (light world, or world of light) is employed to denote life, the 

 world of life, this world we live in. Hence " light " and " life " 

 are, to the Maori, equal terms, as also are " darkness " and 

 " death." 



A natural death is termed " mate aitu" or " mate tara wkare" 

 sometimes " ~hemo-o-aitu" Suicide is known as " wkaka»<o- 



In the very old myth of Mahu and Haereatautu mention is 

 made of Noke, the Worm of Death. This Haere was one of the 

 rainbow-gods of the Maori. He was taken by Mahu to a paepae 

 (latrine), where Noke entered his body and caused his death. 

 This myth, as obtained, is too fragmentary to carrv any ex- 

 planation with it. 



How the Maori dies. 



As a rule the Maori meets death calmly and without betraying 

 fear, but not cheerfully. (Who does ?) He had no belief in any 

 future state of happiness, in any realm of peace where the spirits 

 of the dead abide amid either sensual, social, or intellectual 

 pleasures ; no spiritual happiness and contentment awaited him 

 after death. His mentality had not evolved any form of belief 

 in judgment of the soul after death, in any system of reward 

 or punishment in the spirit-world for virtuous conduct or sins 

 committed while in the flesh. Hence he had no fear of future 

 punishment, of suffering in the next world for sins committed 

 in the world of life. No priest terrorised imaginative minds with 

 threats of awful sufferings after death, or demanded any form 

 of payment for services rendered in averting such sufferings. 

 To state, however, that the Maori possessed no system of etho- 

 logv, as some writers have done, is quite wrong. His moral code 

 differed considerably from our own, hence, with Western obtuse- 

 ness, we cannot grasp it, or even recognise it. To discover and 

 study that system you must examine the working of the laws 

 of the tapu cult, the intricacies of which have never yet been 

 fully explained by any writer. Sin to the Maori was invariably 

 connected with some infringement of tapu. No man in olden 

 times was allowed to take part in any sacred or important under- 

 taking until his mind, or heart, had been purified by means of 

 a very singular and sacred religious rite, which imparted to him 

 moral, mental, and intellectual cleanliness. In the days that lie 

 before we will endeavour to explain these matters. 



The old-time Maori generally met death bravely on the battle- 

 field, even when put to torture by enemies. When dying from 

 disease or natural decay they do so calmly, and even in an apa- 



