188 Transactions. 



to his incantation the priest then, by means of other old-time 

 ritual, raises the tribal hau, or wind, that of the Tama-kai-moana 

 clan being tutakangahau, and that of Te Ure-wera clan uru- 

 karaerae. In some cases he will cause thunder to roll by reciting 

 the oho rangi invocation. Having thus shown his power over 

 the elements, he and the local ruahine, or wise woman, take the 

 tapu off himself, and the function is over. 



In some cases a stone might be placed to mark a grave — i.e., 

 an unworked stone, a boulder. It would be placed above the 

 head of the body. These would probably be cases where the 

 bodies were buried within or near a village, or in some remote 

 spot where it was not likely to be found by enemies. For the 

 Maori of yore was essentially a necrophagous animal, a ghoul 

 of the first water. 



Burial. 



The Maori terms for burial are " tapuketanga " and " ne- 

 hunqa" derived from the verbs tapuke and nehu = to bury. 

 Exhumation he styles " hahunga," from hahu = to disinter. 

 Cremation he has no distinctive term for, but simply states 

 that certain persons were " burned with fire." 



We have already seen the mythical origin of the burial of 

 the dead, when the Earth Mother said, '" Leave me the dead. 

 Let them return within me. I brought them forth to the light 

 of day, let them return to me [when dead]. Mine shall be the 

 care of the dead." Hence man is buried in the ground ; he 

 returns to the bosom of the ancient Earth Mother. 



A single word : Ever bear in mind that the elaborate cere- 

 monies and sacred rites described in this paper applied to per- 

 sons of good birth only, not to people of low social status or to 

 slaves. But little ceremony was wasted on common people, 

 and as for slaves, their bodies would be thrown anywhere out 

 of the way. 



The general scheme of burial among the Maori people was — 

 first the burial, or other disposal of the body, until the flesh 

 had disappeared ; and secondly the disposal of the bones of the 

 dead in a permanent manner. 



Among the Tuhoe Tribe the mode usually adopted was either 

 to bury the body or place it on a covered stage or in a hollow 

 tree until the flesh had disappeared, when, with great ceremony, 

 the bones were for ever disposed of by placing them in certain 

 burial-caves or in hollow trees, or concealed among parasitic 

 plants on tree-tops. In the case of swamp and sandhill burial 

 only was the body and its bones left in its first burial-place — 

 in the first place on account of the difficulty of disinterring the 

 bones, and also for the reason that they were safe from tribal 

 enemies, seek they ever so closely. 



