172 Transactions. 



Itpvill be observed how mourners farewell the dead to Ha- 

 waiki. to Paerau, &c. The latter seems to be a term applied 

 to the spirit-world. But Hawaiki and. the various Tawhiti are 

 names of lands wherein the ancestors of the Maori sojourned in 

 times long past away. Hawaiki, say the Native legends, is a far- 

 distant land where originated the Maori race, hence the spirits 

 of the dead are supposed to return to the primal home of the 

 Maori, and are so farewelled by the living. Hawaiki lies to the 

 west, towards the setting sun, and the departing place of spirits 

 is situated on the western or north-western parts of not only 

 New Zealand, but also the isles of Polynesia inhabited by the 

 Maori race. 



" A Native dies. The living bid farewell to him. The cry 

 is, ' Go to Hawaiki.' That was the permanent home of our 

 ancestors, hence this ancient cry of farewell to the dead. Al- 

 though dead, and separated from the living, that is the address 

 to them, to those whom death has taken." Here in this ex- 

 planation, given by a Native, we see the Maori idea that spirits 

 of the dead fare to Hawaiki, the cradle of the race, where man 

 originated. 



When a chief dies, the high mountains or ranges of his dis- 

 trict are mentioned in such funeral speeches, for such natural 

 objects, or some of them, possess considerable prestige. Such 

 hills in this district of Tuhoeland are Maunga-pohatu, Te Peke, 

 and Manawaru. " Ko Maunga-pohatu te maunga, ho Pohokorua 

 te tangata o raro" ("Maunga-pohatu is the mountain, Pohoko- 

 rua is the person beneath it") is a common style of expressing 

 this idea. 



" Whare mate " is an expression applied to mourning re- 

 latives of the dead. The near relatives of the deceased would 

 not take food until after the burial, except at night, and in secret. 



A peculiar term, " makau" : This is given as = spouse, wife, 

 or husband, in Williams's " Maori Dictionary," but Tuhoe do 

 not seem to use it in that sense. Here it is applied usually by 

 elderly women to their children or grandchildren, perhaps only 

 in laments or addresses to the dead, as, e.g., " Te makau a te 

 vpo—e," or " Mai ra te makau—e." A great many endearing 

 terms are applied to children in funeral speeches, as " my sweet- 

 scented necklet," " my jewel," &c. In like manner are men 

 compared with, and addressed as, " the white hawk," ' the 

 Mara sapling." 



Some time after the funeral ceremonies are over, perhaps a 

 month after or longer, sometimes a full year, according to 

 inclination and leisure from crop-work, the relatives of the 

 deceased will form a party and proceed to visit other places 

 and other subtribes or tribes as an uhunga, or mourning party. 



