436 Transactions. 



Tautawhi, or tautaawhi, here implies holding or retaining the feathered 

 denizens of the forest, lest they leave the forest. Tamaoa means " to deprive 

 of tapu, to pollute or defile by means of cooked food," which same is a most 

 soul-destroying thing according to Native ideas. No cooked food may be 

 taken into the forest during the game-taking season. . Such an act would 

 destroy the tapu of Tane and his offspring, and impair their vitality and 

 the productiveness of the forest. 



The Mauri of the Forest. 



We must give some explanation of the mauri, an expression often met 

 with in Native forest lore. The mauri or mauri ora of a person may be 

 termed the soul, in one sense, inasmuch as it represents the vital spark, 

 the spiritual, intellectual, and even the physical well-being of the genus 

 homo. Should the mauri become in any way defiled or polluted, the conse- 

 quence is that the person is left in a dangerously defenceless condition, 

 exposed to countless dangers, physical and otherwise. The protective 

 divine spark is quenched, the vitality is impaired. In some ways the mauri 

 of a person resembles the hau, which latter is the very essence of vitality. 

 If a person's hau be taken and brought under the influence of black magic, 

 then death comes swift and certain. But it is not the real hau that is so 

 taken — merely something to represent it, to act as a medium in sympathetic 

 magic, such as a portion of the person's clothing, or hair, or spittle. This 

 medium is termed a hohona {hohonga) by the Tuhoe people, but ohomja 

 by other tribes. 



Now, the hau and mauri pertain not only to man, but also to animals, 

 land, forests, and even to a village home. Thus the hau or vitality, or 

 produ^ctiveness, of a forest has to be very carefully protected by means of 

 certain very peculiar rites, otherwise such forests would lose their vital 

 functions, their vitalising power, their life-principle. In a word, the hau 

 is the sacred life-principle of man, land, forests, &c., and if lost or polluted, 

 then disastrous are the consequences. For fecundity cannot exist without 

 the essential hau. 



Now, in regard to the forest, it will be found that the mauri of a forest 

 is a term applied to the material token selected by the owners of such forest 

 in order to represent the vital spark, productiveness, life-principle — in 

 fact, tKe hau of the forest. This material token is placed at some selected 

 spot in the forest. It is carefully concealed, and also protected by means 

 of certain rites and incantations. Certain rites are also performed over it 

 by tribal priests in order to endow it with the necessary powers, sacredness, 

 &c., to represent and protect the hau of the forest lands and the denizens 

 thereof. If this mauri be discovered by tribal enemies, they will assuredly, 

 by means of certain rites and charms, destroy its powers, thus bringing 

 much trouble on the owners of the forest, who probably rely on such forest 

 for a large part of their food-supply. 



Ngahooro, of Te Whaiti, a very old man, said, " The mauri of a forest 

 is usually a stone. It is carefully concealed, lest it be found by an enemy. 

 If placed at the base of a tutu tree (a tree on which birds are taken by the 

 mutu system), then birds will frequent that tree in great numbers. Only 

 a tohunga could discover a mauri when so concealed ; no ordinary person 

 could do so. A small platform {kahupapa) would be constructed among 

 the branches of such a tree as a stand for the fowler. In some cases a moko 

 tapiri was kept under such stage, in order to guard and take care of the 

 tree." 



