Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 91 



no special attention seems to have been paid to the young woman 

 at this time — she underwent no ceremony of initiation, and was 

 not in any way tortured or operated on like her less fortunate 

 Australian sister. 



Like the Parsee woman, the Maori wahine is possessed by a 

 demon during menstruation — or. rather, she becomes dispossessed 

 of a malignant disease-dealing demon, the atuafcahu previously 

 referred to. The Hebrew woman was tapu (unclean) during the 

 monthlv period, and, like the Maori, " everything on which she 

 sat or lav during this time, and every one who touched such 

 things or her, incurred uncleanness." 



Thomson found that the Maori girls commenced to men- 

 struate at thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen. He heard it 

 stated that they commenced at ten years of age, but he disbe- 

 lieved it. Moriori women reached puberty at from thirteen to 

 sixteen years, about the same as the Maoris. " Among the 

 Maoris," says Batty Tuke, " the menstrual discharge appears at 

 regular intervals within six weeks after childbirth." The child- 

 bearing period is said to extend from sixteen to thirty-five years 

 of age, but Thomson knew of a native whose age must have been 

 forty-seven when she gave birth to a child. 



Every respectable Hawaiian family had a series of houses 

 forming its establishment, including one named the hale-pea, 

 the house of separation for the wife during the period of her 

 infirmity. No such houses were found in Maori communities, 

 nor did the menstruating woman paint her head and body with 

 a mixture of red clay, as did the natives in New South Wales, 

 nor with turmeric and oil, as did the women in various parts of 

 Polynesia. 



Thomson has noted menorrhagia and metrorrhagia among 

 the Maoris, and says that sometimes menstruation is very ir- 

 regular with them. He is of opinion that they are subject to the 

 same irregularities as women in England ; but these irregularities 

 are perhaps not so common, nor do they appear to have so much 

 influence on the constitution. Bennett* observed several deaths 

 among the Maoris from niu toto (uterine haemorrhage). 



In cases of difficult menstruation a decoction made from 

 flax-root (Phormium tenax) and a creeper called aha taramoa 

 {Rubus australis) is used. Another medicine is made from the 

 bark and berries of the rohutu-tiee (Myrtus obcordata). Womem 

 suffering from dysmenorrhoea were usually isolated in former 

 times. In native opinion it is the moon that is affecting a woman 

 when thus suffering. The natives of the Tuhoe Tribe state that 

 their women have more trouble during menstruation of late years 



* Lond. Med. Gazette, ix., 1832, p. 436. 



