206 Transactions. 



and the leading men of the place rose one by one and made 

 speeches anent the death of the child and death in general. 

 Then the principal men of our party did the same thing. 



Now, when we marched on to the plaza the chief man of the 

 place was standing in the ranks opposite. At once the woman 

 of our party who had been provided with a stick walked up to 

 him and struck him sharply across the shoulders several times. 

 He took not the slightest notice, but stolidly cont'nued his 

 wailing. The cause of this was the fact that this man had pro- 

 posed that Marewa be treated by a local tohunga (shaman), 

 a crazv man who treated patients as being afflicted by Jcehua, 

 or spirits of the dead. Although the child was not treated by 

 this ruffian, yet the proposal for him to do so was deemed by 

 some Natives to be the cause of her death. Also, the beaten 

 man's own daughter had died but a few days before our arrival, 

 and it was thought by some that she had been bewitched by the 

 same old humbug. Had not the long-armed law of the white 

 man been reaching out across the wild forests of Tuhoeland at 

 that time, it is highly probable that the old warlock would have 

 died suddenly of lead-poisoning. 



At this forest hamlet we were treated to an illustration of 

 the ancient custom of muru, or kai taonga — i.e., the taking for- 

 cibly or demanding payment for some injury or loss sustained 

 by the person or persons from whom such payment is demanded. 

 A girl of this place had been assaulted some days previously, 

 hence our party demanded compensation. Why a people should 

 pay for the privilege of being afflicted by some trouble is a 

 somewhat difficult problem for the European mind to solve, 

 though it appears to be clear enough to the Maori. Possibly 

 it was looked upon as a punishment for them not having looked 

 after the child better. It is a custom that, presumably, could 

 only obtain among a communistic people. Anyhow, the visitors 

 left the richer by two horses, two rolls of print, some new 

 clothing, several greenstone ornaments, and 5s. in silver. Ap- 

 parently the latter represented the amount of ready money in 

 possession of the subclan. 



A considerable amount of speech-making was indulged in. 

 In the course of his speech one of the village people said, " Wel- 

 come, maid ! There are none here to welcome [beckon] you to 

 the plaza. All your Maori people are dead. Your lands have 

 become digging-places for the white man" [allud ng to the Go- 

 vernment road-works then in progress]. A woman murmured, 

 " Ei / Moumou a Marewa" ("Marewa is wasted" — i.e., reared 

 to no purpose). The old chief of Maunga-pohatu (grandfather 

 of the dead child) rose : " Friends, the shadow of death has again 

 come upon us, the death that came to man in the days of Maui 



