Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 453 



the first time I tell them. I have never divulged them before. You alone 

 know them, and you shall remain as a tohunga [priest, adept] for the tribe.) 

 But Tutakangahau, son of Tapui. of the Children of the Mist, has hfted 

 the trail of Maui of old, and has entered the snare of great Hine, the goddess 

 of Hades. And he has taken the bulk of his knowledge with him. Only 

 the fragments, filched by a member of an alien race, are here offered. 



About that mntini : We find not this word in our Maori dictionaries, 

 but the tribes of far Polynesia have preserved it. The Rev. J. B. Stair 

 mentions it in the " Journal of the Polynesian Society," vol. v, p. 47, where 

 he says that matini was the name applied to offerings of food made to spirits 

 (oitu). Mr. Tregear, who kindly looked up the word for me, says, " Li 

 Samoa matini is an offering made to induce aitu (spirits, gods) to pass over, 

 without calling, the place where such offering is made. In Futuna matini 

 means a bundle of coconuts or bananas for use in certain heathen cere- 

 monies. In Mangareva matini means ' formerly, in old times.' The 

 Sunda (Java) matih means ' efficacious, powerful.' " 



The word ta (as also tahei) we have noted as meaning " to arrange 

 numbers of snares on a tree." This is presumably allied to ta, to net, as 

 in making a net. Paitini says, " He ta mahanga te malii o te whare mala. 

 Ko aua mahanga ka taia ki te rnkauT (The work of the whare mata is the 

 making of snares. Those snares are arranged on trees.) He goes on to say 

 that the first birds caught are taken home and roasted at the ahi ka huka, 

 sometimes termed ahi huka and ahi ran huka, which is evidently the taitai 

 fire. This was done, says Pai, in the tapu-liiting ceremony, and when that 

 was concluded the fowlers might return to their wives and famihes and again 

 enter the meeting-houses and mix with the people ; for they might do none 

 of those things while ta-pu. 



This same old man also gave me another taumaha charm, as recited over 

 first-fruits of birds and fish. He said, " The taumaha is a charm repeated 

 over the food products of forest and stream. Here follows the charm said 

 over the first bird taken in the season. That first bird serves to collect 

 all birds of the fruitful forest. {Ko te taumaha, he karakia mo nga kai a te 

 ngahere, mo nga mea o te wai. Ko te manu tuatahi e ami ana i nga kai o te 

 motu huahua.) 



" Te manu niru inai, 



Ruru mai, neneke mai, 



Ki te pae ruuga, 



Ki te pae raio, 



Te manu te ruru pae, 



Te no ho pae. 



Te manu kai te whio. 



Kai te taki, kai te kowiri 



Kai te ioio nui no nga (? nona). 



Te manu kai toroti, kai torota 



Kai toro atu rama ki a Tane 



Te manu te ruru pae 



Te noho pae 



Te manu kai te whio 



Kai te taki, kai te kowiri 



Kai te ioio no nga (?). 



" This charm is recited in order to cause all birds in the district to gather 

 to the forest lands of the tribe or family group of which the reciter is a 

 member. The next act is the cooking of the bird. It is stuck oii a spit 

 -and roasted. It is then eaten by the officiating priest. He may not touch 

 the birds with his hands, hence he has to pull it off the spit with his teeth. 



