444 Transactions. 



speak of men- — of course they may do so. That tuapa may be used for two, 

 three, or four generations. The same one will be used, no second one will 

 be erected. When a person goes to the forest to kill birds, or goes fishing, 

 he takes a branchlet (or a fragment of his torch if going fishing) and touches 

 with it his implements — his net and fish-basket if going fishing, or, if it be 

 a man going fowling, he touches with the branchlet his bird-spear, or the 

 basket in which he carries his snares. Then he throws that branchlet (or 

 piece of torch) down at the base of the tuapa post. When people so cast 

 such items they recite the following : " 111 luck and indolent desires, lie 

 ye here heaped up. Ward off ill success. Cause man to acquire." A 

 tuapa is not concealed ; such things stand near a village. Nor is it a very 

 tapu affair. It has just sufficient tapu to render the ceremony efficacious : 

 such is its tapu.) 



We see that, if a man is going birding, he takes a gTeen twig and touches 

 his implements with it, then throws it down by the post, and recites a charm 

 to ward off bad luck in his venture, and also any evil results that might 

 spring from the envious desires of those too indolent to go trapping, &c., 

 but who would like to acquire some of the products of the industry of 

 others. In taking the kokopu fish by torchlight, which was usually 

 done by women, a fragment of the torch was used, and deposited at 

 the post. 



Some of the expressions used in connection with the above are highly 

 curious. Tionanako means " to desire some absent object." Tuhira is 

 more rarely met with, and seems to bear almost the same meaning as toitoi- 

 oTcewa. It is applied to a person who refrains from joining a hunting or 

 fishing party, but who lets his thoughts dwell upon the game they will biing 

 in, the toothsome dishes that will follow, and so on. He partakes, in anti- 

 cipation, of the fruit of the toil of others, while yet such fiiiits, birds, fish, 

 &c., are at large and may escape. If you ask a Native the meaning of the 

 term tuhira^ he will at once reply " indolence." But it means much more, 

 and does not apply to ordinary laziness. It would not be applied to a 

 person because he was lazy in procuring firewood, for that wood possesses 

 no powers of locomotion, and hence cannot escape or evade pursuit. " Ou 

 maJii a te mamjere he tuJiira.'''' says the Maori. The result of indolence is 

 tuhira. An indulgence in tuhira, tumanako, or toitoiokewa is beUeved to bring 

 bad luck to a hunting-party. To talk about the game you are going to 

 catch is a toitoiokeiva, and will bring bad luck ; it is a puhore, a token of 

 non-success. But if you talk about firewood you are going to get, that is 

 neither a toitoiokewa nor yet a puhore. That wood cannot run, or fly, or 

 swim away. At one time old Paitini was going pig-hunting, as a large 

 boar had been seen at Ma*-te-ra. I said, " Now you will get some fine tusks 

 from which to fashion autui (cloak-pins)." He replied, " E tama ! Kaxia e 

 toitoiokewa, koi patu turi noa iho matau " (Young man, do not toitoiokewa, 

 lest we weary our knees to no purpose). 



The word mahoro has a somewhat similar meaning to the above. It 

 seems to mean that the home-stavers are thinkino- of the "ame or fish that 

 they expect to be brought in, and desiring such, but they do not express 

 their desires in spoken language. Mahira, again, seems to imply a churlish 

 selfishness. If I handed over some game to others to cook for me, and 

 watched them closely to see that they did not give any away, then the term 

 mahira would apply to my action. 



There are innumerable puhore — signs or actions that bring bad luck 

 to hunters or fishers. Their name is truly legion. 



