Best. — Clothing of the Ancient Maori. 631 



tricate but handsome pattern for the ornamental border {ta- 

 niko) of a maro-kopua, which I wished to have reproduced. I 

 therefore sent for the old lady who is chief rnwahine of the de- 

 caymg ivhare para of Rua-tahuna, and requested her to weave 

 me such a one. The pattern was new to her, but she sat 

 down and studied it for about half an hour. She then 

 departed, with a promise to complete the order, but with no 

 request to be allowed to take the pattern. She finished the 

 piece to perfection, it being an exact counterpart of the 

 pattern. The only error she made was, I grieve to state, 

 caused by myself. I stopped at the kainga one day to see 

 how my taniko was progressing, and foolishly continued to 

 smoke as I sat in the weaving-house. Of course, there could 

 be but one result from such a godless and impious act. A 

 mistake was at once made in the pattern of the weaving, and 

 I was requested to leave forthwith. 



The term " po2c " is apphed to the karakia given, but 

 it is also used as a verb. Old Whatu, speaking of his wife's 

 knowledge of weaving, said, " Kua poua e au taku wahine ki 

 tenei mahi, kua tohangaia ki te puioha, kua karakiatia." 

 She was therefore supposed to be able to do anything in that 

 line. 



The above ceremony would also appear to have the effect 

 of rendering a person energetic at the work taught. An old 

 man said m my hearing, " Of a woman indolent at weaving it 

 is said, ' Ko teup.i tamaiti, kaore i poua c ona matua' (she 

 was never ^oz^a by her parents)." 



The puivha (sometimes " piiha ") used in this ceremony has 

 been the source of much tribulation to me. Some assert that 

 it is the common edible puwha that is used ; others tbat the 

 term is applied to the kohukohu and other small plants. Yet 

 again I have been informed that it is a generic term for what- 

 ever sacred food is used in the ceremony, and that its use is to 

 cause the pupil to retain the knowledge imparted to him or 

 her, and to assist the pan invocation in driving home the 

 lesson. This puivha is also used in other whakanoa cere- 

 monies, when it is eaten by the rmvahine employed to take 

 the taj)^ oii'. Also, when a priest is reciting the invocation 

 known as '' takutaku" over a sick person, in order to cause 

 the evil spirit assailing such person to leave him, that priest 

 takes a piece of the long-leaved picivha and passes it under or 

 round (tapeka) the left thigh of the invalid, and then across 

 his body — hai ara vie te mate, kia puta kl luaho — as a path by 

 which the affliction or evil spirit may leave him.* On this 

 same subject another authority states that when the takutaku 



* After which the priest throws or waves (poi) the puwha towards the 

 heavens. 



