420 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Of course, we of to-day are a step in advance of our own 

 forefathers in this matter ; ice can well afford to laugh at the 

 power of such a charm or spell, based on such a belief ; never- 

 theless the New Zealanders believed in it, and we may easily 

 imagine that if, after solemnly uttering their spells by the 

 priests at their pagan altars, and with all due and fearful 

 invocations aud ceremonies, a storm came on from the sea, 

 or a high tide followed, such would be laid hold of as a 

 favourable omen, and be sure to inspire them with extra courage 

 in their fiendish work of destruction and slaughter ! Besides, 

 among a race like the Maori — keen and constant observers as they 

 ever were of the appearances of the heavens and of the varied 

 phenomena of Nature ; who had proper significant names even 

 for every day of the moon's age, with their lucky and unlucky 

 days, as well as for the different stages and seasons of the tides ; 

 who knew all about times of flood and ebb, of high and of 

 low water, spring and neap tides, with their numerous inter- 

 mediate variations — it is likely that their tohwnga, who had to 

 utter the said powerful charm, would avail himself of his know- 

 ledge of the time of the spring tides to make it appear to be the 

 more effectual. 



I scarcely need remark that such spells and invocations were 

 not confined to the New Zealanders, or to uncivilized people 

 like them. Plenty of such doings will be found among the 

 records of the oldest and most civilized nations of antiquity. 

 * # # # 



Formerly, and down to some years ago, the winding-track 

 or course from Napier into the interior to Te Aute and Waipawa 

 lay by the immediate bank of the River Ngaruroro ; and one of 

 the ugly and often dangerous places which had to be crossed at 

 its mouth was a brawling, noisy watercourse, or fall, on the east 

 bank, which drained the big marsh on the plains. This water- 

 fall was called by the Maoris Wahaparnta Parata's Mouth, 

 from the noise it made, from the ever-varying amount of water 

 it discharged, and from it being disagreeable and dangerous ; 

 besides, as I have heard old Maoris say, it was affected by the 

 high tides on the coast ; and in this respect they may have been 

 correct, as the sea is not far distant in a direct line, and the 

 River Ngaruroro (and also the River Tukituki, which bounds the 

 said marsh on its east side) is but a short distance from it, and 

 both rivers are greatly influenced by the tide for several miles 

 from their (one) mouth. Pliny relates instances of wells in 

 cities near the sea being largely affected by the tides in his time. 

 (loc. cit., book ii., chap. 100.) Many an early settler has come 

 to grief in crossing that place — Wahaparata '. I, myself, more 

 than once, among the number ; some having had to swim for it, 

 themselves and their horses, when the water in the River 

 Ngaruroro was high. 



