Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. Go 



It was he who taught Tawhaki many powerful incantations 

 for the purpose of healing diseases." 



" A singular belief," writes Elsdon Best, " exists among the 

 old natives that the ngerengere disease is caused by the fish of 

 the sea and by the land-birds. The aged Pio, of Ngatiawa, 

 said to me, ' Another atua (demon, disease) of the Maori people 

 is ngerengere. No one recovers from that disease. The persons 

 (ancestors) who destroy the Maori people by that complaint 

 are the fish of the ocean and the birds of the land. I say that 

 the ngerengere is a plebeian complaint, unlike the whewhe (boils) 

 and hakihaki (probably the itch), which are aristocratic com- 

 plaints. If a person appears to be recovering from the ngere- 

 ngere, that means that the causes of the disease have fled to the 

 •ocean, but ere long they will return and again assail the person : 

 then he will die. This disease was first introduced by the Nga- 

 tiwhatua Tribe. It appeared at Taupo a long time ago, and 

 the first person afflicted by it there was cast into a cave called 

 Oremu.' " The Ngatiwhatua termed the disease tuivhenua. 



At the present time the Maoris believe that ngerengere can 

 be caused by the means of a magic rite termed wero ngerengere. 

 and some assert that Te Whetu, a sorcerer at Taupo, still 

 possesses this power. It has always been regarded as an atua 

 (demon) disease inflicted by makutu (sorcery), or by their deified 

 ancestors {atua) as punishment for infringement of the tribal 

 iapu laws. Accordingly the leper was tapued and fed apart from 

 healthy people. Some say that the natives believed the dis- 

 ease might be communicated by contact, but this is doubtful. 

 They attribute its gradual disappearance to the introduction 

 of Christianity, which has deprived their gods (atua) of the 

 power of inflicting the malady. 



The Maoris endeavoured to cure the disease by keeping 

 the leper from sunrise to sunset in a vapour bath. During the 

 process of steaming, the tohunga (priest-physician) repeated the 

 Jcarakia and charms especially applicable to such a malady. 

 The diet during treatment was entirely vegetarian, no fish or 

 pork being allowed. In spite of treatment all cases ran their 

 course unchecked, although temporary relief from certain dis- 

 agreeable symptoms was gained by using the vapour bath. 



The following laments, composed by Te Rohu, of Taupo. 

 when he was attacked by ngerengere, were sent to me by Mr. 

 Elsdon Best : — 



Ka lira mai te ra, ka kohi an he mahara 



E hoa ma. E ! He aha tenei hanga e te rau e pae 



Tirohia mai ra akn pewa i taurite 



Tenei ka titoko kai te ngaru whakakeo 



E tere i Taupo 



Ko te rite i taku kiri, ka ura mai i te rangi 



