Best. — Maori Forest Lore. 4:67 



We have seen that the trees much used as snaring or spearing places 

 by fowlers were often rendered prolific by means of a mauri, and their vitality 

 and productiveness protected by very peculiar guardians. When Tuhoe 

 slew Tionga, of Te Arawa, at Puke-kai-kahu, Te Tokai, of the former tribe, 

 cut off Tionga's head and took it to Te Whaiti, where he placed it on a 

 famous birding-tree named Matawera, at Okahu, as a guardian for that 

 tree, which was a tutu. Hence the descendants of Tionga are often styled 

 Tiaki Tutu {tiaki, to guard). Such descendants, however, do not accept 

 the appellation as a compliment — far from it. 



We must now fix up that bird-tree. \Mien it was decided to use a cer- 

 tain tree as a tutu for taking birds on, the priestly adept would render that 

 tree tapu by means of a certain karakia (charm, spell, invocation, incanta- 

 tion). The priest then takes the hau of the tree — that is, something to 

 represent the hau. He takes the first bird caught on that tree, or simply 

 the kira of such bird, and hides it in the forest. That is for the purpose of 

 thwarting the evil designs of enemies. Should any one attempt to destroy 

 the fruitfulness of that tree, to tamaoa it, or drive the birds therefrom, he 

 will surely fail, because the hau {mauri) is concealed. Such a tree has no 

 hau (?) until the invocation has been repeated over it by the priest, neither 

 was the tree tapu prior to the performance of that rite. {Ma te tohunga e 

 whakatapu i te rakau. Mo te tangata raweke taua mahi. Ka patu te tangata 

 i taua rakau, kaore e mate, notemea kai te huma te hau. Kaore he hau o te 

 rakau i te iva kaore ano kia karakiatia e te tohunga. Kaore hoki he tapu i 

 taua wa.) 



A person might seek to destroy the utility of the tree by means of find- 

 ing the mauri (which represents the hau of the tree) and defiling the same, 

 or — a ka mimi, ka tiko ranei te tangata raweke ki taua rakau. But he will 

 not succeed unless he finds the mauri — a very improbable event. If he 

 does not- find it, then his base act turns on him and rends him, for the tapu 

 of the tree will kill him — that is to say, the gods of the priest who rendered 

 the tree tapu will destroy him. He will surely perish ere long, unless he 

 goes to that priest who is the medium of the destroying gods and pre- 

 vails upon him to save his life. He alone can save it. Katahi ka hikaia e 

 te tohunga. a ka ora. Then the priest will perform a rite, and so preserve 

 the man's life. 



A tree at Te Wera-iti named Te Rua o Tane, a tutu, has this tapu power 

 to destroy man. Only the owner of the tree, Te Pou-whenua, grandfather 

 of Te ^^Tienua-nui, could save the man's life. 



Concerning the right to take game on alien lands : In former times, 

 when a man received permission to take game on lands to which he had no 

 claim , he would set aside a portion of the game taken thereon and convey 

 it to the principal chief of the people to whom that land belonged. Even 

 though such tribute was not accepted, he would act in the same manner 

 on subsequent occasions. If the tribute was accepted it might give the 

 person a right to live on such lands, or be construed in that manner. 



When Paitini was shooting birds for the opening of the carved house 

 "Rauru" at Te Whakarewarewa, he procured many of them on land to 

 which he had no right, but which belonged to his niece and others. Hence, 

 at the close of the season, he gave them a double-barrel breech-loading 

 shot-gun. It was accepted, and he now considers that he has the right to 

 Again take birds on that land. 



Paitini also tells me that, if he went to Maunga-pohatu (his mother was 

 •of Ngati-Maru of that place) and found the products of the land being pre- 



