632 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



was repeated a young leaf or shoot of flax was laid across the 

 body of the invalid as a pathway for the atua which was sup- 

 posed to be gnawing at the vitals of the haura (invalid), after 

 which the tajni was taken off by the liorolioro ceremony, into 

 which entered the puwha, wrapped around a piece of cinder 

 (ngarahu ahi mate). 



Going back to the tauira, old Ngahoro, of Ngatimahanga, 

 says, "Ka moremore puwJiatia te tauira, ka ivhangaia ki a ia" — 

 the priest wraps a piece of puwha round a small stone and 

 repeats his invocation over it. He then holds it to the mouth 

 of the pupil {tauira), who simply bites the p)uxoha, but does 

 not eat it. The priest then takes the stone to the tuahu, or 

 sacred place of the village, and there leaves it. The pupil 

 will then be able to learn his tasks, and retain anything 

 shown or repeated to him but once {kua 7nara?na a roto). 

 A similar ceremony was held over a pupil in the school for 

 wood-carving. In these degenerate days the puivlia is re- 

 placed, I regret to state, by the common domestic pipe. So 

 much for the Moremore puivha and its uses. 



We have mentioned one Eua as a kind of tutelary deity of 

 the ivliare pora. One of the turiituru is named after him. 

 The name is also applied to the house-post on which the 

 maro is suspended at the time of the kaioa ceremony. At 

 some remote period in the history of this ancient tribe of 

 Tuhoe, or of the people from whom they sprang, there has 

 flourished a popular hero chief or wise man of this name. 

 Eua is probably a deified ancestor, and the name enters 

 largely into the mythology and sacred lore of Tuhoe Land, 

 usually under the forms Eua-te-hihiri and Eua-te-pupuke. 

 A member of the Ngatiawa Tribe — H. Tikitu, of the Pahipoto 

 hapii (sub-tribe) — told me that Eua-te-pupuke was the origina- 

 tor of ivhakairo, a term which is applied not only to wood- 

 carving, but also to tattooing and the weaving of coloured 

 patterns in cloaks, &c. He states that on a clifi" near Te 

 Kaokao-roa, at no great distance from Te Awa-a-te-atua, 

 are incised all the known patterns of ivJiakairo. They 

 were engraved thereupon by the gods of old, and 

 from those patterns the old-time Maoris derived their know- 

 ledge of whakairo. A strange story this, and an interesting 

 one when we reflect upon the fact that the art of wood- 

 carving as practised by the Maori of New Zealand appears to 

 be a home production. Again, it is said that Te Tini-o-te- 

 Hakuturi, a tribe of wood-elves of far Hawaiki, taught Eua the 

 art of wood-carving, and that he obtained patterns or designs 

 from spiders' webs. Others state that Eua-te-para-kore and 

 Eua-te-kuka were the fathers or originators of carving. The 

 former said, "Let all dust and small chips be carefully 

 cleaned out of all wood-carvings." "Not so," replied Eua- 



