Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 7 



human form from red clay. She was named Hine-ahu-one ; 

 and after giving birth to an egg, from which sprang all the 

 birds of the air, Tiki-kapakapa, a girl, was born — the Maori 

 Eve. Tane took her to wife, and she bore a female child. 

 One day Tiki-kapakapa, who was now called Hine-a-tauira, 

 said to Tane, " Who is my father?" On learning the truth 

 the woman was sad, and fled away to Po, the lower regions of 

 darkness. There she took the name of Hine-nui-te-po (Great 

 woman of night). Her farewell words to Tane were, " Eemain, 

 Tane, to pull up our offspring to day, while I go below to 

 drag down our offspring to night." Thus was man cursed 

 for ever and doomed to death. We have already related how 

 the demi-god Maui visited Hine-nui-te-po to wrest from her, 

 as she slept, the secret of eternal life, but she awoke and 

 strangled the brave Maui. Since then all men have been 

 subject to disease and death. 



The whare o aitua, the passage by which man enters the 

 world to be assailed by disease, by death, is seen in woman. 

 As Eangi said to Tane, "The whare o aitua yawns below, 

 the abode of life is above" ; or. in the words of the ancient 

 Maori priest, " That which destroys man is the mana of the 

 female organ : it turns upon man and destroys him." 



As affording a good illustration of the strange channels in 

 which the thoughts of the Maori run, and as an interesting 

 relic of an ancient system of phallic worship, the following 

 remarks made to Mr. Elsdon Best by an old Maori may be 

 here recorded: "Friend," said the old man, "it seems to 

 me that the ora [health, vigour, vitality] of the white men, 

 and their exemption from disease and sickness and premature 

 death, is caused by their never forgetting the koutu mivii at 

 night-time; it is ever in the room to protect them. For that 

 urine represents the taivhito, and will avert any evil conse- 

 quences of any act of witchcraft levelled against them. For 

 that organ was the life and salvation of my ancestors, and 

 saved them from trouble and death." 



" According to Maori belief," says Best, " there were two 

 most important things by means of which physical health and 

 general well-being were retained. The first of these was the 

 mauri, and the second tapu. To maintain inviolate the mauri-, 

 tribal, family, or individual ; to refrain from transgressing the 

 laws of tapu, and to retain his prestige and powers, natural 

 and supernatural, was to command health, physical and 

 mental. 



" The tribal mauri is a sort of sacred talisman that holds 

 and protects the health and prosperity of the tribe. The 

 mauri of the Matatua tribes was located at Whakatane. It 

 is termed the pouahu, or the makalca, by the descendants of 

 the ancient inhabitants of the Bay of Plenty. This was the 



