

o Gwifc (Tieru,) made of whalebone, 13 cm. (5'/s in.) high, by the 

 Ngai Tahu clan. Queen Charlotte Sound; from the Te Puawaitanga 

 period (1500-1800). Collection of Nelson Provincial Museum. Men 

 tied their hair in a bun and thrust combs into the topknot. 

 Burial chest Cwaka tupapakuj made of wood, 98 cm. (38Vs in.) 

 high, by the Ngapuhi tribe, Northland; from the Te Puawaitanga 

 period. Collection of the National Museum of New Zealand, Welling- 

 ton. After the flesh had rotted away, the bones of dead chiefs and 

 other notables were painted with red ocher and placed in a waka 

 tupapaku, or secondary burial chest. The chest was positioned up- 

 right in a cave in order to frighten intruders away. 



10 



Ever since that timeless period of futility and frustration, dark- 

 ness has had awful connotations for the Maori people: 



pirau: extinguished (fire, light), decay, death, rotten, pus 

 mate: extinguished (fire, light), decay, sick, unconscious 

 tinei: extinguish (fire), destroy, kill, confused, disordered 



ngaro: hidden, lost, disappeared, distressed, 

 unavenged 



It was a younger and active son, Tane the god of forests 

 and men, who finally broke out of this impasse. He said to his 

 brothers, "We must force our parents apart." They argued with 



