464 Transactions. 



allowed to peruse. I have extracted the following deaUng with 

 the history of the chests. Heremaia Kauere said, — 



I belong to Ngaitu Hapii, and to Ngatene Hapu, also to Ngatiteka and 

 Nga-te-po. These are the hapus that made these things. Ngaitu made 

 all these things. Kohuru was the man that made them ; he was a chief, 

 and was skilled in carving, and an instructor to the tribe. He lived at 

 Otaua, say twenty miles away, but used to go all over the place. There are 

 five tikis in the cave. One he made for Kahu Makaka, who had been dead 

 for a long time, to put his bones in. It was the custom to put the body in 

 trees, and then get the bones after. Kohuru died at Waimamaku. He 

 belonged to Ngaitu and Ngatene. The tiki was put in a cave called Kohe- 

 kohe, the cave which the Europeans have now disturbed. Kohuru himself 

 conveyed the bones to the cave in the tiki ; he took them from a stone close 

 to the cave. He was a priest. The right was limited to the priests. I 

 do not know whose bones were in the other tikis. They were all taken by 

 Kohuru to the cave. The waka was made for the bones of Tangataiki. 

 Taiki was his father. Wlien he died, his body was placed in a hollow tree, 

 a totara. Some years after, when they went to get the bones tliey found 

 the skin dried over the head, which was preserved, showing the elaborate 

 tattooing. The skin was also preserved over the other parts of the body ; 

 the legs were the only parts that had gone. The body was taken down and 

 placed in the cave at the time of the fight of Motukauri. Whitinga was the 

 man who took the body and placed it in the cave ; he died four years ago. 

 He put it in the cave and placed the waka over it. Kohuru did not make 

 the waka — it was his descendants, about five generations after. A tiki was 

 placed at each side of the entrance to tlie cave. The waka, with the lizard 

 on it, stretched across the mouth inside. The bones of each ancestor were 

 grouped along each side of the cave. There were three hapus — Ngaitu, 

 Ngatene, and Nga-te-po — on the right-hand side, and Ngatiteka on the left. 

 There were great numbers of bones there.- My grandfather, Kahu Makaka. 

 a namesake of the former Kahu Makaka, when he came with the bones of 

 Hui, one of his relations, walked over the top of the lizard and placed the 

 bones at the end of the cave. He must have been confused ; he did not 

 go round the waka as was the custom. He stepped back again over the 

 lizard, and was bitten by the spii'it of the lizard. He felt sick when he got 

 out ; went home, and died. They took his body to the cave, and after- 

 wards conveyed the bones to Otaua. My father died at Otaua. After 

 the death of Kahu Makaka my father lived at Waimamaku. and went to 

 Otaua before the Treaty of Waitangi. The lizard was endowed by the 

 incantations of our forefathers with powers of evil. It was placed as a 

 guard over the bones of the dead, to prevent interference. The too, being 

 the weapon of one of the ancestors, was taken with the remains to the cave. 

 The korowai coverings were those of Tangataiki. It is over sixty years 

 since our people lived at Waimamaku before the Treaty of Waitangi ; they 

 lived in the valley, say two miles or less from the cave. Pene te Pana was 

 one of the owners of the land that was sold to the Ci'own containing the 

 cave. Hapakuku Moetara (dead), Tiopira (dead) were also owners ; their 

 ancestors are in the cave. Hapakuku is a direct descendant of Kahu 

 Makaka. The name of the wahitapu where the cave is is Piwakawaka. 

 There are tlu-ee sets of caves there. The things refeiTcd to were all taken 

 from Kohekohe. 



It will be noticed that Heremaia Kauere distinguishes be- 

 tween the five (it should be six) tikis made by Kohuru and the 

 much later waka, carved to represent a lizard^, which was taken 

 to the cave by Whitinga. This is borne out by the condition 



