THE MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



*3 



unless the fish is held up to see the tattooing. No gourd or cala- 

 bash must be eaten from if children have playfully made tattoo- 

 ing marks upon it. The priest and all the people are tapu on 

 account of the blood during the operation, but the ceremony of 

 making ovens is gone through, much as in the purification rites ; 



Tattooed Maokj Chief. 



and the tapu is transferred to the gods' food by the priest han- 

 dling one of the hot stones of their oven. 



Girls were given great license from a very early age in the 

 matter of lovers. Some girls, however, were born proud, and 

 either kept to one sweetheart or had none, but this was rare. 

 When a girl married she became tapu to her husband. Any one 



