Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 47 



From cutting and maiming this man. 



O thou god of the wizard, 



When thou descendest to the world below, 



To thy many, to thy thousands, 



And they ask who required thee there, 



Say Whiro the thief ; come back then 



And we shall find thee, we shall see thee. 



When thou goest inland. 



Or to the ocean, or above, 



And the thousands there ask thee, 



Tell them the sams. 



Go thou even at day-dawn, 



Where the night's last is, 



Hide thyse f in it, and go. 



Go thou, but the skull of the wizard shall t»e mine 



To cut and to tear it, 



To destroy its power and its sacrednesi 



Cut off the head of the god. 



Then patient and priest return to the village. The invalid 

 being very tapu, he is ihowaka, and must not eat ordinary food 

 for three days : at the end of that time the cure is supposed 

 to be complete. 



That class of priests termed tohunga matatuhi or matakite 

 (mata, a medium of communication with a spirit) usually per- 

 formed the hirihiri rite, inasmuch as they were supposed to be 

 masters of divination and second sight. It is, of course, the 

 god (atua) or familiar spirit of the tohunga who enables him to 

 ascertain the person or object which is the cause of illness. 

 Sometimes the priest would perform the hirihiri at his sacred 

 place, where he kept the symbol of his atua, and addressed 

 his karakia to it. And the god would explain the cause of the 

 illness through his human medium (waka, kauwaka, or kaupapa) 

 — that is, through the tohunga. When the priest had performed 

 these rites over a sick person, it was customary to present to 

 him the cloak or garment which had been used to cover the patient 

 when being taken to the sacred pool. _ 



Many of the sacred rites of the Maori were performed in or 

 •on the banks of some sacred pool or stream. A pool or pond 

 was preferred, inasmuch as the permanent tapu placed over it 

 did not interfere with the domestic requirements of the tribe. 

 The water of a tapu stream would not be available for household 

 purposes. The sacred pool was called wai tapu, or wai wha- 

 kaika, and people were not allowed to approach near it unless 

 conducted thither by a tohunga, in order to go through some 

 religious rite or ceremony. The reason why a sick person is 

 taken to the ivai tapu is thus explained by the Ngatiawa Maoris : 

 " He is taken to his ancestress Wainui, who makes all such things 

 clear in regard to the troubles which afflict the Maori people. 

 The cause of his sickness will there be disclosed, whether it be 



