Goldie. — Maori Medical. Lore. 53 



Should a person be going on a journey, he will first be conducted 

 to the latrine and caused to bite the beam thereof : that will 

 avert the magic arts of those he is going amongst. Persons 

 going through this rite always stand in front of the bar, for that 

 is life. The other side, the rear of the bar, is death, and is termed 

 kouka. It is the Po : it is the rua iti ; it is the realm of Hine- 

 nui-te-Po. When performing rites of magic at the paepae 

 whereby to slay man, the performer stands at the front of the 

 bar, for that is the world of life. Should the wairua (spirit) of 

 his enemy cross to the kouka, it will assuredly be destroyed. 



But that sick person has yet to be cured. In the evening, 

 when the sun has set, the priest conducts his patient to the 

 paepae. They place themselves before the bar, the priest 

 saying, " E ngau to ivaha ki te paepae " — i.e., commanding the 

 person to bite the bar, which he does. The priest repeats, — 



Ka kai koe ki tua 



Ka kai koe te paepae 



E takoto nei. 



Koia nga tapu 



Koia nga popoa 



Koia nga whare 



Koia nga urunga 



Koia nga tapu nei 



He atua kahu koe 



Haere i tua 



Haere i waho 



Haere i te rangi nui e tu nei 



Mahihi ora 



Ki te whai ao 



Ki te ao marama 



Ko rou ora. 



They then return home, and the rite is over. It is said that the 



demon who has been afflicting the person would sometimes be 



seen to leave his body and fly off into space, and in the gathering 



shades of night a shower of bright objects would be seen flying 



off, these being the offspring of the expelled demon. 



When a person had been guilty of trespassing on a sacred 



place, such as already explained, the ngau paepae rite will take 



the tapu off him and save him from the effects of his act — i.e., 



save him from being afflicted by the gods. Here is the sort of 



karakia used on such occasions : — 



Ngaua i te pae 



Ngaua i te wehi 



Ngaua i te upoko o te atua 



Ngaua i te rangi e tu nei 



Ngaua i a papa e takoto nei 



Whakapa koe ki te ruahine 



Kia whakaorangia koe 



E tahito nuku, e tahito rangi 



E tahito pamamao 



Ki Tawhiti i Hawaiki. 



