48 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



witchcraft, or desecration of a taj,u or sacred fire, house, bed, 

 or burial-place, &c. For Wainui was of the offspring of Rangi 

 and Papa, the primeval progenitors of the universe and of man. 

 And Wainui is the Mother of Waters, the origin and personifi- 

 cation of waters, of the ocean, of lakes, of rivers and streams, 

 even as Para-whenua-mea is the personification of floods." 



The Prognostic Rile. 



The morning after the patient has been taken to the sacred 

 pool the tohunga performs further rites over him in order to 

 divine whether the patient will recover from his sickness or 

 whether death will ensue. For this purpose a sacred umu or 

 steam-oven is prepared by the priest, and among the food placed 

 therein the priest places a certain portion over which he has 

 recited a charm or spell which comes under the generic term of 

 hoa. When he uncovers the oven, should that piece of food 

 be found thoroughly cooked it is a sign that the patient will 

 recover, and that if he has been bewitched the offending wizard 

 will die. On the other hand, if the food is found to be uncooked, 

 that is a sign that the patient will die. The food cooked in 

 the oven is eaten by the sacred first-born female of a family of 

 rank, who is employed as a ruahine (priestess) to remove the 

 tapu, in this and many other rites. The afflicted person is 

 often told to procure some special food for the above oven. 



(3.) Takutaku (the Exorcising Rite). 



The illness having been diagnosed by the tohunga as being 

 due (a) to demoniac possession, (b) to sorcery, or (c) to an 

 infringement of the tajtu. he proceeds to repeat the takutaku 

 karakia suited to the particular disease. This form of incan- 

 tation is used to exorcise the evil spirit which is the cause of the 

 trouble. 



The takutaku, like the hirihiri, was often performed at the 

 waterside, the person being sprinkled from the sacred staff of 

 the medicine-man, as before described. The general meaning 

 of a takutaku was given to Mr. Elsdon Best — to whom I am 

 indebted for most of the information on the rites now under 

 consideration — as follows: The tohunga in his karakia endea- 

 vours to coax the (ilnd out of the body of his victim by saying, 

 "Here is your path by which to leave. Cease afflicting this 

 person. Return to your origin, to your caretaker. You are 

 an important person. Will you not succour this person '. ' 

 The flattery here is doubtless diplomatic, but a request made 

 to the malicious devil to succour his victim could hardly be 

 followed by the desired effect. If the atua refuses to leave 

 his victim, it is the duty of the tohunga to find out the path by 



