Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 445 



I remember the late Judge Butler telling me about a trip he took with 

 some Native pig-hunters. Before starting he put in his pocket small pack- 

 ages of salt and pepper, intending to use those condiments when they killed 

 a pig and cooked the liver to serve as a midday meal. His companions 

 strongly disapproved of his action, and s^id, " Kaore ana kia mate mai he 

 poaha, hua kainga e koe " (You are eating the pig before we have killed it). 

 And that is just the Maori idea. 



The green sprig of the fowler was applied to the implements of his craft 

 in order to remove certain evil influences. The touch, together with the 

 charm, averted the evil chance. A Maori would term this act a ripa, or 

 arai. Some of our readers doubtless remember the character in George 

 Borrow's " Lavengro " who " touched " in order to remove the evil chance. 

 He was probably a person of an imaginative and nervous temperament. 

 A learned and cultured person was he, but he ofttimes felt compelled to touch 

 certain objects, or perform some other erratic act, in order to avert mis- 

 fortune. Peradventure he deemed his kau to be in danger of pollution. 

 We have known one or two educated, intelligent Europeans who practised 

 this strange habit — a habit, or superstition, that is a survival of primitive 

 times. We knew one such who, when walking abroad, would sometimes 

 turn back and touch a certain object, or pass round the further side of a 

 tree or post. The feeling that prompted him to do these things w^as a 

 strong one, and, should he force himself to disregard it, then a sense of 

 impending misfortune weighed heavily upon him. But this is surely 

 digression. 



The Whare Mata. 



Of this institution old Tutaka said, " The whare mata was a house built 

 for the purpose of manufacturing therein all implements used in hunting, 

 fowling, and fishing, and for the storage thereof. Thus all nets, snares, 

 traps, &c.. were made in that building. It was a very tapu building, and 

 no cooked food was allowed to be taken into it ; hence no one might eat 

 therein. Nor was any woman allowed to enter it. In the whare mata 

 are stored all the implements meiitioned, when they were not in use, as also 

 the baskets used for holding and carrying seed kumara (sweet potatoes). 

 It would be wTong to allow such baskets to be taken to cooking-sheds 

 {Ko aua kete, kaore e tika kia heria ki muri). Men worked only at making 

 hunting and fishiiig paraphernalia in tliis building. They might not eat 

 or live therein. The rau huka (leaves of Cordyline australis) were prepared 

 and formed into snares in the whare mata." 



Tamarau Waiari said, " Ko nga rau ti he mea haehae ki te whare mata. 

 Ko taua whare, he whare whapiko rau huka. Kaore e tae te wahine ki 

 reira, kaore e tae te kai ki reira. Kia maoa rawa te umu rau huka, katahi 

 ka noa taua whare me nga tangata, katahi ka haere nga tangata ki te moe 

 i o ratau wahine. He whare motuhake tena mo taua mahi, kaore he mahi 

 ke. Katahi ka haere, ka heria aua rau huka, ka taia ki runga ki te kahika, 

 ka whakairia. Na, ka mau nga manu tuatahi, katahi ka homai ki te hapi 

 (umu) rau huka, katahi ano ka kainga e nga tohunga, katahi ka noa aua 

 tangata. Ko nga rau ti he mea karakia, he rau huka te inooa o te kara- 

 kia." 



(The cabbage-tree leaves are split and prepared in the whare mata. That 

 building is a place where snares are made. Women are not allowed in it, 

 nor yet is food. When the rau huka rite has been performed, then that 

 house and the persons engaged therein are free from tapu, and they may 



