14 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



were attributed the diseases occurring in those regions. Thus 

 Tonga was the god of the head, and he produced headache 

 and nausea; his abode was the forehead. Mokotiti, a lizard 

 deity presiding over the chest and lungs, was the cause of 

 consumption and pulmonary diseases. Tutangatakino, son of 

 Tutewanawana, the father of reptiles, and half-brother of 

 Tuatara, was the god of the human stomach. Titihai occa- 

 sioned pains in the ankles and feet. Korokioewe produced 

 the disorders of childbirth, and Taiepa, one of the inferior 

 deities, assisted him in his wicked attacks on parturient 

 females. Hineteiwaiwa, on the other hand, was the benefi- 

 cent " goddess of parturition," who was always approached in 

 times of painful or delayed labour, and one of the most ancient 

 of Maori karakia (incantation) is that which they used when 

 seeking her aid. She was also called Hina, Hinauri, Hina- 

 teotaota by the Maori, and is the most prominent of all Poly- 

 nesian deities. Rongomai, who assumed the form of a whale, 

 and on another occasion appeared in the heavens as a meteor 

 or comet, with Tupantapu or Tuparimaewa, the god of the 

 liver, are responsible for consumption, and wasting away of 

 the arms and legs. Paralysis and wasting sicknesses were 

 attributed to the devouring influence of Hanake, sometimes 

 called Niho-oa. Among the Tuhoe people, when a person has 

 infringed the tajni by eating food in a sacred house, or by 

 resting on a sacred pillow, revenge is taken by the god Te 

 Hukita, who enters his victim's body and causes disease. 

 Such a patient is taken to the nearest stream and sprinkled 

 by the tohunga, who recites the takntaku: — 



Ara to ara 



Mehemea he uruno;a to take 



Ko Te Hukita koe 



Haere i tua, haere i waho 



Haere i a moana nui 



Haere i a moana roa 



Haere i a moana te takiiitia 



Ki te whai ao 



Ki te ao marama 



Ka uru to ora ki rote 



Ka uru te mate ki waho 



Uru toro liei 



He urunga koe e patu nei 



! Caere ! 



Te Hukita koe e patu nei 



Haere ki o take 



Co rou ora 



Ki te whai ao 



Ki te ao marama. 



In another similar takntaku, repeated over a person who 

 bad polluted the garments of a tapu individual by bringing 

 cooked food near them, the words " He kakahu koe e patu 



